Saturday 23 April 2016

April Open Thread: Plot Twists

This was originally going to be an open thread for April Fool’s Day, but I didn’t want to knock down Lost Trout’s post so quickly.

The question: what is the best ‘twist’ you have encountered in AIF? Did it add a lot to the story? If an author chooses to use a twist in the plot, what steps can they take to make sure it succeeds (not saying it is essential, because it isn’t)?

To define twist via Wikipedia: “A plot twist is a radical change in the expected direction or outcome of the plot. It is a common practice in narration used to keep the interest of an audience, usually surprising them with a revelation.”

12 comments:

  1. When I think to a twist I always remember I always remember 2 pleasantville games from Lamont, in peril there were some traces before, but at some point you thought to another game, I'm not sure if I will consider those how good twiste. The double bet in camping trip was instead a good twist(nearly all the goblinboy games had a twist at some point in the story), but I have to think better what is the best I have encountered.

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  2. I remember A. Bomire had a pretty good one in his office themed mini-comp entry. I guess this is a spoiler thread, since we're listing twists, so basically the girl that the game set up as the lust object turns out not to be, and your boss (the obstacle so far) turns out to be the sex scene partner.

    That particular trick would be hard to pull off over any greater length of time, however.

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  3. The Tesliss Equation by Goblinboy is the most memorable example I can think of. It flipped the setting entirely, changing it from a sex filled high school AIF game to a fantasy one three quarters of the way through.

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    1. This is a case as Pleasentville (even if done better) or star ocean 3, the twist is very strong, but the scenery change so much that it's like playing another game, I liked it, but I'm not sure that all were happy if the game would have been longer.

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  4. Meteor comes to mind. The big reveal at the end genuinely surprised me.

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    1. Same here. Also, the twist at the end of "Key to Eternity" surprised me. ("WTF? You mean I've just released the valkins instead of imprisoning them?")

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    2. How already said Goblinboy liked twists very much, maybe it's easier to say a game without a good twist that list all, in lost horizon you aren't even sure what was each replay until the end, but probably the more heavy was in "In darkness".

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    3. In darkness was heavy, but I have always found sad that in final sacrifice, you cannot say I love to the woman that you love (The goddess only at the end tell you the true plan), and you die (naturally for an higher cause) while the woman you love fucks with a sex god. You are with a sex goddess and you cannot even have a sexy moment with her for a good last memory, because higher forces (minicomp's rule).

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  5. If we are speaking of repentine scenary change we have to speak al of the crossworlds series by Bbben, thau untile the end of the first game was a simple present days game.

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  6. I also think the Tesliss Equation is the game with the 'best' twist. While there were a few games that had surprises usually I had a rough idea that they were coming. The Tesliss Equation took me completely by surprise.

    I believe twists can add a lot to a story, but they aren't the only tool authors have at their disposal. I do think they can be dangerous for an author to use, if the twist doesn't make sense (M. Night Shyamalan) it will hurt the story more than help.

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    1. I guess it just depends on the person. I couldn't have gave an exact 1:1 guess in TE, but by looking at the comic books throughout the game I had several guesses at the connection, so it wasn't really a huge surprise to me. I still enjoyed it quite a lot.

      I agree though that twists can really help or possibly ruin a good story. The three main kinds I can think of are ones you can look back through the story and say, 'Yeah, that makes perfect sense!' Then there are those that - with added information you had to way of knowing - still constructs a reasonable twist. As a viewer you couldn't have known, but then the pieces fall into place at the end.

      And then there are some that come out of left field and seems like the author/director just knew the right people and made some nonsense up because he wanted to and the best you can hope for is that it will be a confusing ending and not ruin the whole thing.

      I've seen all three of course and can live quite contently with either of the first two (though it is more fun in the first where you slap your head and wonder 'Why didn't I think of that!?').

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    2. I agree. If done well, a twist can turn an average story into a good one.

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