Emotional responses to games you’ve played
I was thinking the other day (after the discussion about character archetypes) about times that I've become, for whatever reason, emotionally involved in a game. I've done this topic before for books on another board I used to frequent so I think it's about time there's an equivalent topic on this board (did a search, can't find one).
So before I start, a warning: HERE BE SPOILERS!
Now, to start off I'm going to state quite clearly that people can form emotional attachments to pretty much anything and everything – we personify inanimate objects and crave the love and attention that animals give us – so I'm not saying that these are unique experiences to games.
Prince of Persia: The sands of time, was a great game. Not so much the writing but the art direction and game play. From the moment I turned it on I loved the soft yellowy light that reflected off the great stone blocks forming the castle. I liked the wilful arrogance of the prince and the way if you died he chanted, "No, no, no. That's not how it happened!". It was as if you were pre-empting his story, like the over-eager child who tries to guess what happens next. I liked the clumsy relationship between the prince and Farah and found myself hoping (for him) that he "got the girl".
So it was quite a shock when she died (albeit in a stupid situation that never would have happened if I'd have been there) and it made my heart heavy when the prince kissed his lost love at the end of the game, only to be rejected (and rightly so) and rewind time so that it was as if it had never happened.
That got to me. I don't think there are many games I've played that made me really associate with the character as much as that. Though Final Fantasy 8 came close"… but then I was a "depressed" teenager when I played that one.
Another game I felt emotionally bonded to was Halo (PC version). I loved the war with the covenant – the setting really struck a chord with my sci-fi sensibilities, the interplay between the chief and Cortana as well as the morale boost I'd give to nearby marines. It wasn't the same tear-jerking emotional response as PoP but in its own way I connected with the characters and their near-hopeless chances of victory. Seeing the chief in the space fighter at the end gave me flashes of Alien"… where Ripley puts herself to sleep in the escape vessel in deep space. A feeling of sadness and regret washed over me and all's I needed was that cool but soulful tune to complete the hook.
This is why I've been looking forward to playing Halo 2 on PC for so long. I've read that many people have been disappointed with the game but I hope that my love of the story and characters will win out.
The Legacy of Kain/Soul reaver series was another emotionally involving game series but I don't want to make this post too long.
Ultimately, I think that for a game franchise to be successful there not only needs to be good game play or a decent story but enough of an emotional hook to make it truly successful. Imagine if Alien 3 had been released first"… would the series have been as successful? I doubt it. Exchange Pirates of the Caribbean with it's third or second instalment and you'd have a decent movie"… but would you have a franchise?
So what are the games that emotionally involve(d) you? The games which make you want to play them again, to play their successors and read the surrounding literature for no other reason than "you care""…
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I replayed The Longest Journey twice. Given my inability to finsih most games even once, this is a testament to its status as (in my opinion) the pinnacle of point-and-click adventure storytelling. Another one which came close in that genre was the more recent Indigo Prophecy/Fahrenheit.
Planescape Torment stuck some deep chords with me as well, more so than Baldur's Gate. Mostly due to its more complex and deep characters. Another (largely underrated) CRPG I really enjoyed for its story and characters (largely thanks to well above average voice acting) was Anachronox.
In the FPS genre, I'd pick Max Payne (both), No One Lives Forever and Deus Ex, again all for their involving storylines and engaging characters.
I cried when characters died in Final Fantasy IV. I was 9.
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Yeah, several of the FF games got a good response from me. FF6 was my first big rpg (I didn't have a pc until 1999 when I bought one at the end of college, and the SNES was the first console I owned, which I also purchased myself) and there were numerous poignant moments in the game. FF8 and 9 both got a good response from me; 8 because I was a very angsty college kid at the time
and 9 because it's just a well-told story with loveable characters, and I was lonely at the time (just out of college living on my own and had no friends living close enough to spend time with much outside of weekend trips).
Chrono Trigger had great moments too, and I had a very similar reaction to Prince of Persia as you did, Duoae.
Haven't really gotten much of an emotional response to many games, but for some reason jrpg's seem to be good at striking the right chords with me.
I know a lot of people don't like them, but I really dig that genre after how many titles have really gelled with me. 
Farscry, i think the possible reason why RPGs and point and click tend to get better emotional responses is that they are much more story oriented. The characters get some exposition and personality... something that's lacking from a lot of other game genres.
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Half-Life 2 had that sad, oppressive, Children of Men-ish feel that ellicited... something in me, especially early on with those desperate people either penned up or hiding in their apartments, vulnerable. I don't think I've ever really had a reaction to a character that was brought about via any sort of dramatic action, either because games don't work that way or the writing isn't there yet. There were the stirrings of feeling for me in the KOTOR games, but they never really brought it home. I feel a fair amount of guilt when I game (when either accident, necessity or foul mood leads to the smiting of innocents) but beyond that it's mostly adrenaline or relaxation. Aeris' death was sort of novel to me, I suppose, but I didn't really care. Perhaps I am a replicant.
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I played a game of Black and White where I tried to be an evil and capricious god. My creature was an orangutan, and I once tried to punish him mercilessly for doing something good. He was bruised and whimpering. I felt absolutely horrible. I deleted that saved campaign immediately, and started a new one playing as benevolent god. Just writing about it makes me sad.
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Me too. I was 24.
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I would have to say three games really caught me that way: Beyond Castle Wolfenstein (Apple IIc baby) for whatever reason had me pretty hooked in an emotional way especially for such a simple game. There was a lot of suspense for me, but then I was young and computer games were still new to me. Wasteland was another (again Apple IIc, I continue to date myself don't I?) that has left a mark. Finally Planescape Torment, it got me caught up in the stories of the npcs I added to the party as well as the guy I was playing.
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I've had similar responses to the KOTOR games, Fable, and Jade Empire. Every time I start out thinking that maybe this time I'll "have a bit of fun" and play an evil character, but I never make it more than an hour or so before I realize that I must see things through as a good guy first. I have found that only after I've played through as a good guy once, I can go back and play the evil side of things. I guess knowing that in some alternate universe I have done right by these people make it easier for my conscience to accept. Of course, of those four games I've only actually played KOTOR 1 all the way to the end as an evil character.
Likewise. Of course, the games that have really grabbed me were a bit different. FF6 and Chrono Trigger both really worked for me, but all of the PS1 FF games (FF7-9) kind of fell flat. FF7 might have worked, but the localization really fell apart towards the end and I stopped caring. FF8 was a completely different matter; Squall just struck me as a whiny morose jerk, and I just couldn't even begin to care what happened to him. It wasn't until FF10 and FF10-2 that I really felt the emotional hooks come back in the FF series. The majority of the characters seemed to have deeper and more mature personalities and motivations, and the process of the one character who did not (Tidus) growing out of his childish, angsty self really struck a chord with me. Just thinking about it now makes me want to play it again.
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Half-Life 2 really started to affect me, especially the Coast levels. But not on the first few playthroughs, curiously enough. (I have played it more than I can count..)
The kind of sadness you feel wrenched out of you from the world itself. The (spoiler) moment in the early game when you walk through the playground and hear the soft sounds of kids playing, only actually PULLED OUT by the level design itself. There's swings, and toys, and people out there, trying to live.
And there's the Combine.
Going through those levels really gets a strong response, they were just people, families, and there's no more laughter anywhere in the world.
It's really a very subtle kind of depth.
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The emotion of abject anger occured when I was playing an old game called "Star Trail," which was a poor man's D&D Gold Box game. There is one thing that happened to all of my friends and myself that was completely unfunny at the time, but awfully funny now -- make sure you always have a rope on you when you climb through the mountains. There's nothing like the computer telling you that a random one of your characters simply fell and died, which pretty much ended your game right there and made you go way back to your last save point...
Well, Cooking Mama didn't help me become a better cook, and Trauma Center certainly didn't help me become a better surgeon. I have the proof of both sitting in my freezer. -- imbiginjapan
there's a guy in deus ex, near castle clinton. he's just some homeless schmuck--probably has gray death. when you talk to him, he sings "my country, tis of thee." i think he goes through the whole song. that really struck a chord.
also, does fear count? if it does, then my whole experience with system shock 2 was very emotional.
don't you wonder sometimes...
Super Columbine.
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There is another especially haunting moment where you happen upon a ransacked house on the edge of a cliff. From the distance you can make out a small plume of smoke in front of it. Getting up close reveals the horrible truth - the smoke is from a blasted crater containing the charred remains of the house's occupants. That single moment drives home the horribleness of the Combine better than any other scene in the game, in my opinion.
Two other games with some surprising emotional depth is Thief: The Dark Project and Thief 2: The Metal Age. While the first Thief didn't tug at the heart strings much, I still smiled when Garrett told Artemus, "Well, I got my eye back", after defeating the Trickster. Not because it was particularly funny, but because that line summarised Garrett's feelings and motivations so perfectly. Unlike Thief, Thief 2 did deliver on the sadness, most notably where Viktoria sacrifices herself so that Garrett can defeat Karras. That definately blew me away the first time I saw it.
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I loved the Prince of Persia moment Duoae described in the first post. The Prince/Farah dynamic in the game was one of the few times a video game has handled human interaction without Lucas-like ham-fisted ineptitude.
It's too bad that the average gamer reacted to the Prince's vulnerable, believable character as "whiny", as we then had that character stripped from us and replaced with the "goth badass" Prince of Warrior Within instead.
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The Longest Journey and Dreamfall were the only games that really moved me and made me feel as though I had a real meaningful connection with the main character. That's why they're still two of my favourite games of all-time.
The only other games that evoke emotion in me are scary games and that's mostly cause I'm just a huge wimp. I don't generally like to be scared and don't tend to like horror anything. I played through System Shock 2 with a friend and that made us jump a few times, as did F.E.A.R. I haven't started S.T.A.L.K.E.R. yet and I don't know how I'm going to handle that one. Or BioShock for that matter. Man, I gotta' get some heart pills or something.
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The original Legend of Zelda gave me nightmares when I was eight or so. Kept me from sleeping as well... my sister called me names because of it. The scars don't fade.
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Dwarf Fortress. I cheered more than once for my little ASCII guys. There's something ... I don't know, something about the dwarves. They really do start being their own little people, with motivations and feelings, likes and dislikes. It's awful when one dies (even if you can't pronounce their name
). (Oh, and if fear does count, add AvP to the list for me.)
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Aeris's death. Yes, I am a lame Generation-Y child. I apologize deeply.
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I gotta get my Earthbound moment in (WARNING END GAME SPOILERS). It's at the last fight of the game with Giygas and you are getting royally whipped. Most likely your entire team is dead except for Ness who is barely hanging on enough to stand in front of Paula protecting her as she prays. Prays. For someone, anyone, to keep them from dying. It didn't hit home until the screen went black and it said, "Paula prays into the darkness." Ugh, back chills.
The end of Sands of Time too. Good game, disappointed with the Warrior Within so much that I never touched Two Thrones.
The desolation of Fallout and Fallout 2.
Standing in one of the camps in STALKER listening to everyone talk and quietly strum on their guitars.
Terranigma. Pretty much the whole game.
Yet even then we ran like the wind,
whilst our laughter echoed under cerulean skies...
Defeating in Ganon in the first two Legend of Zelda games was emotionally for me and I still get goosebumbs when I here some of the sound effects from the game like finding a hidden dungeon or item.
The desolate world of GoW also struck me hard emotionally and this trailer really sums up all of those emotions pretty well!
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This is the earliest moment that comes to mind for me as well.
More recently, some of the moments in the Prey demo elicited some genuine responses as well.
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"Lupus with a crowbar is the meaning of life itself." - Certis
I'll third The Longest Journey. That game had some moments, man. It's amazing how compelling such primitive graphics could be. The beautiful backgrounds certainly helped, but the characters themselves looked awful. Just shows how far top, top, top shelf voice acting can elevate your narrative. Dreamfall was a very intellectually interesting story, but didn't have the same emotional impact for me, for some reason.
I'll also add Psychonauts. The Edgar level was really amazing. While the story surrounding that stage was fairly simple, it was done in such an artistic way that it was affecting anyway. What's essentially a fairy-tail on the level of a two minute bedtime story becomes oddly compelling in that world, with the visuals, music, and unbelievable voice acting.
Also: Ico. SPOILERS FOR THE REST OF THIS PARAGRAPH! Anyway, it was SUCH a brilliant moment, it took my breathe away. The whole game, for at least the past six or seven hours, you've been taking care of Yorda. Literally the entire game revolves around helping her, protecting her, and pulling her up where she's too weak to reach, herself. And then, you the leap the bottomless chasm, just miss, start to fall... and Yorda catches your hand. Seven hours of reinforcing how cripplingly weak and frail this girl is, and a close up on her face as she struggles to keep you from falling, showing the first sign of emotion you've yet seen from her... Amazing.
Hmmm, some others that haven't been mentioned... Oh! One nobody's probably thinking of: The very, very end of Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines. Like, the VERY end. Not to spoil it, but the "twist," was fantastic. Not a total "sixth sense" sort of twist, one that changes the entire story, but a great little laugh moment, and a fantastic moment for that character. God that game was good. Stupid Troika QA team...
Beyond Good and Evil did it. Again, great voice acting, this time coupled with the works-though-none-knows-how combination of a very dark story with in a bright, cartoony, exaggerated art style with talking animals and stuff. I wouldn't call the game childish as much as surrealist. Something about Double-H being sad makes me sad.
Eternal Darkness. The game was a little too violent and the story was a little too manipulative to be all that emotionally engaging, but the story was just so damned interesting. One of the few games that's really given me a chill, just from the intense need to know what happens next. The incredible complexity and interconnectedness of the storylines is just dizzying, and pretty much completely impossible to fully appreciate in just one run-through. There was no way, NO WAY I was putting that game down for mere sleep. I'm about half done my third run though. Special ending, here I come!
Shadow of the Colossus. The real guilt associated with killing the benign, sometimes even defenseless colossi was an emotion unique to any game, any anything, I've seen before. It really made the ending pay off bigtime, as well.
Yoshimo in Baldur's Gate 2. 'Nuff said.
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Spoilers on the original God of War:
When Kratos gets a chance to save his wife and daughter from himself. And against all odds he succeeds in saving them. But ... well ... sorry Kratos, it was all an illusion.
It was somewhat obvious ... but so cruel.
And I can think of a few times I was just pissed at the Wing Commander series. All of your girlfriends dying in WC2 is bad enough. But to be betrayed by Hobbes ... God dammit. You son of a whore. After everything I did for you, you flea-bag. We were like BROTHERS man!!
And for a guttural, sadistic response ... I got goosebumps in Alpha Centauri any time you put an opponent's leader to death via torture after a long drawn-out vendetta. A combination of "finally, our long, national nightmare is over" ... combined with ... "but if we had tried, couldn't we really have gotten along with Sister Maryam?"
Longest Journey/Dreamfall here too.
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