Quote Originally Posted by Aux-Ash View Post
Warty goblin has a point though, most games speak about fate despite not meaning it. Usually you achieve stuff by your own power despite being "fated". So I suppose the term was a bit diluted as well.
Also setting up a bunch of waffle about 'fate' in a format entirely dictated by the whims of the writers is prone to going all faux-depth right off the bat. About the only thing interesting to do with fate in a story is to make those fates known to the principal characters, and using their processing of that understanding as character development.

Pausing at the end to say 'it's all fate all along dya'see' is fairly meaningless since all it really does is point out to the audience that the schmuck who wrote everything has complete control over what he/she has written. Starting off with a bunch of waffle about fate, ignoring it for the course of the story, then whipping it out at the end basically shows that the author knew the plot before writing it, but not a lot else.

(Naturally having characters 'break' fate is also totally meaningless. All it means is that they obeyed the higher destiny of author chosen Plot, rather than stated, inter-story fate. Doing this also tends to go hand in hand with terminal cases of Special Snowflake Syndrome)

I've got no problems with not being able to change or alter certain outcomes in games in principle*. I don't necessarily even mind if my failure to alter those events comes off as arbitrary. But if the game starts smearing fate all over everything, it doesn't make that failure more poignant unless I knew I was going to fail beforehand. It's just the author pointing out how clever they are in the most unbearable and wanky way possible.

*There are obviously exceptions, such as when all my choices are completely stupid.