Now, since I'm having a hard time tying all these things together in a way that I think work, I thought of the idea to maybe let the player tie it all together in whatever way he or she seem fit. The only thing that the player would have to do is finding those things that is required for starting the events that will lead to the ending (the stones and the sword). If the player thinks he can do it without finding the Chosen person, I'll let him do it.
But all the different choices that the player makes along the way would affect the outcome of the game in one way or another. Like, if he decides to do one thing, instead of saving this one person, that might come back and turn out in a bad way in the end, because that person might have been a great help later on or whatever.
The first thing I thought of was this girl that's about to join the mage school and become a mage. You first meet her in a town, and then in the school which has then been attacked. She's the sole survivor and is protecting the mystical stone that the enemies are after. Now, if you met her earlier in the game and made friends with her, she'd be happy to see you and help you out. But if you hadn't, she'd think you were just another bad guy after the stone and attack you, and you'd have to fight her, possibly to the death. You get the stone in either case, but the girl was supposed to show and help you later in the game, so your decision had consequences that are, if one would sit down and think about them, perfectly logical.
I think this would greatly add to the replay value of the game. If I have tons of these kind of decisions that the player might not even be aware of that he's making, then each time he replays the game and does something different the whole story might play out completely different. Sorta like chaos theory (not the game though, as I haven't played it).
Another thing I thought of when testing out a new feature in my dialogue engine was that maybe you should be able to choose your own love interest as well, and to choose wether you're actually going to have one at all. It could be a conscious decision of the player - he actually pursues someone as a love interest - or otherwise; it's something that just happens because of the way the player acts throughout the game.
That mage girl was supposed to be the love interest, but what if some players didn't like her? Maybe they thought that he would be better of with some other girl? (This idea of choosing your hero's love probably partly come from the Malon/Zelda debate of the Zelda communities (it can be quite awful and funny at times)). Or boy? Wouldn't having the possibility of a gay hero be pretty cool? It wouldn't have to be obligatory, but how surprised would the players who tried it be if it turned out that it worked? Would that increase their level of enjoyment? I think so. It would probably encourage them to explore other aspects of the game, without forcing them to do so, like many games does (you have to meet that person and do that precise thing to get that other thing and so on).
The love interest you choose would of course also influence the story, and depending on your previous actions, maybe that particular love interest would not be available (maybe she's dead or have learned of some of your despicable actions. Of course, despicable actions might lead to the option of having bad girls
Or maybe THE bad guy. Okay that's probably pushing it a bit far... or maybe... you'd get to rule the land together as lovers ). Perhaps some players want to pursue multiple loves and that could lead to uncomfortable situations...So what do you people think? Do you think a game like this would be any fun? Or would the seemingly infinite amount of possibilities only make the player confused? I think he wouldn't be, because he won't know that he's making most of these decisions. He chooses this way over the other and doesn't really think about it, but it has an effect on the story.
This will be hell to program, I know, but I already have a pretty smart system so I can probably pull it through. But if it's not a good idea to start with, I'll go for the old usual linear story with non-linear elements (side-quests), instead of this.
Phew, that's a huge post, and it's almost 2 a.m. I'd better get some sleep. Any weirdness in the post is probably because of me being tired and having a headache.
