Virmire in Mass Effect
The Mass Effect trilogy is full of choices that cause ripple effects from one game to the next. One of the most infamous happens in the first game. On the planet Virmire, Commander Shepard is forced to choose between saving only one of their first two crewmates: Kaidan Alenko or Ashley Williams. The decision not only takes an emotional toll on the Normandy’s crew, but it fundamentally changes your party for not one, but two games. Whoever survives Virmire will go on to become a potential rival or party member for the rest of the trilogy, and even within that fixed role, Kaidan and Ashley deviate pretty strongly from one another and can completely change a party dynamic. Mass Effect may not have nailed every instance of choice and consequence carryover across all three games, but the decision the player makes on Virmire starts one of the best-executed threads across all three games.
