PB never did save imports. They always went with a canon playthrough. It's a loss in terms of reactivity to your choices, that's for sure.
Still, sometimes they handle it well, sometimes they don't. Gothic 1 -> 2 was ok, because the ending was set, and it opened on something new, so your choices didn't matter as much in the sequel. ELEX's was bound to be an issue, because they gave you a choice on how to handle the Hybrid, and that choice would've had serious consequences in the sequel. But really, taking your choice into account might've meant different stories altogether, very hard to design for, especially with a small team, or they might've just sidelined the Hybrid and made him irrelevant offscreen with a bullshit story reason to not have to deal with the variability.
All design options lead to either negating / minimizing your choice in some way, not giving you one at all in the original game, or designing a different story for every significant choice in the sequel. Personally, I prefer having a choice rather than none, and it being taken into account within the same game at the very least. I can tolerate a canon ending as starting point for the sequel.
It's the same issue with character build, across all RPGs from any dev. You always reset to lvl 1 and fight mooks at the start, despite becoming a powerful dude before. Makes sense from a gameplay perspective, but not roleplay if the protagonist is the same. Again, Gothic 1 -> 2 was "ok", you were crushed under rocks so had to find your strength again, but still jarring. The Witcher didn't do any better. Yet somehow we accept the build choices negation much easier than with story and factions/relations choices, but it's the same. Really goes to prove that at heart, we're all storyfags.
Still, sometimes they handle it well, sometimes they don't. Gothic 1 -> 2 was ok, because the ending was set, and it opened on something new, so your choices didn't matter as much in the sequel. ELEX's was bound to be an issue, because they gave you a choice on how to handle the Hybrid, and that choice would've had serious consequences in the sequel. But really, taking your choice into account might've meant different stories altogether, very hard to design for, especially with a small team, or they might've just sidelined the Hybrid and made him irrelevant offscreen with a bullshit story reason to not have to deal with the variability.
All design options lead to either negating / minimizing your choice in some way, not giving you one at all in the original game, or designing a different story for every significant choice in the sequel. Personally, I prefer having a choice rather than none, and it being taken into account within the same game at the very least. I can tolerate a canon ending as starting point for the sequel.
It's the same issue with character build, across all RPGs from any dev. You always reset to lvl 1 and fight mooks at the start, despite becoming a powerful dude before. Makes sense from a gameplay perspective, but not roleplay if the protagonist is the same. Again, Gothic 1 -> 2 was "ok", you were crushed under rocks so had to find your strength again, but still jarring. The Witcher didn't do any better. Yet somehow we accept the build choices negation much easier than with story and factions/relations choices, but it's the same. Really goes to prove that at heart, we're all storyfags.
