Crying Over Video Game Deaths

Zillah

Never shed a tear for a game, but there have been a few emotional moments.

"Kharak is burning..."



Revenge will be mine!

mayordenis

I've been emotionally spent definately at the end of ocarina of time as in it affected me I wasn't right for days.

With Bioshock

I was left with that same feeling as in the Usual Suspects The game like the film had told the story and I had bought it hook line and sinker - the ending left be feeling like a failure - I got the bed ending

I think there was a scene in Warcraft 3 where I got pretty upset anyone who played it will remember it involved thrall, grom and mannaroth if I remember correctly.

found it - dont watch if you intend to ever play it
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=IJpZaip2QjQ

probably more I cant think of right now

Shinji Ikari

NunianVonFuch wrote: »

From Kotaku:


Reviewer responded to gamer comments here: http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment_movies_blog/2008/10/max-paine---er.html?cid=135151959#comment-135151959

Anyone ever cry or really "feel" a characters death in a game? I know there's been a couple of threads along these lines over the years, but with all the games out over the last few years its due an update!

Big emotional hitters I've played were: Silent Hill 2, Lost Odyssey, Half:Life Episode 2, Bioshock, Call of Duty 4. Most of them are pretty recent so there's gotta be loads I'm forgetting or just didn't play.

Silent Hill 2 - I got the bad ending. Ended up staring disbelievingly at the screen. Can't recall if I shed a tear or not but certainly pretty emotional.

Lost Odyssey - Didn't get too far in it yet, but far enough to hear the tale of the "sick" girl who can't leave the tavern. So Kayim (main guy forget his name) travelled about bringing her tales of the wonderful world she'd never see. Are all the stories in this game as sad?

Half:Life Episode 2 - The bit where

Alex gets "killed" in front of you. Thought she was done for and came as such a shock!

Bioshock -

The big reveal bout halfway through where you promptly beat Ryan to death. Guy was a legend! All the right ideas, just chose a bad lot to inhabit his city!

Call of Duty 4 -

After the nuke hits and you think you've somehow survived okay, only to stumble out of the copter and despite your best efforts roll over and die pitifully on the sand.

When Aeris died in Final Fantasy VII I came close. I was depressed for the rest of the day. I could'nt understand why, it was only a videogame, but yes I was depressed. The Snes r.p.g. Terranigma moved me and to a lesser extent the Illusion of time.

Shinji Ikari

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Now a game that really did bring me close to tears was Suikoden 2. Now that games ending was harsh and really didn't hold back especially the bad ending.

Yes the first two Suikoden games had some tragic moments.

Karl Hungus

Largely, I find that games as a medium can deliver a very powerful emotional punch, moreso than films. And this is coming from someone who would prefer films. Now, when I say 'can' deliver, that goes with the qualifying statement that more often they don't, and when I say emotional punch, I'm talking about more than just shedding a tear.

I'm a big horror fan, but I will say straight up, that games can be scarier. No film has ever engaged me on an emotional level (fear) to the same degree that Clive Barker's Undying has. Silent Hill, Doom 3, they've all been far more terrifying than any film, and I think that the medium of games lends itself to horror brilliantly, because you as the player can often be extremely hesitant to continue, or to look round that corner in case something pops out at you.

Now, with regards to shedding a tear for a game character, I cried when Aeris died, but that's about it. With film, there's far more examples I could give of when I welled up, but I do recognise the potential for games to engage us in this regard as well, it can give us more time to empathise with a character (depending on the kind of game it is) and really rip our hearts out so to speak.

I also think that a good shooter can be far more exciting than an action film. Is there really a film that's as absolutely exciting as Half Life or Far Cry?

SeantheMan

Cried in the first 20 mins of Medal of Honor Pacific Assault....but only because i couldnt believe i had spent 60 quid on it

Soby

+ for cod4..
and Hitman

Blood Money....but then i realised he doesnt die:):):)

steviec

Lost Odyssey is the closest in recent memory, although it just cheats by containing tons of short stories that you literally just read and have no connection to the actual game, they could easily have been a book.

But then that's kinda the point - I don't understand why people say games can never have the same impact as books and movies when games are capable of replicating everything either books or movies can do 100%, and then add more besides. I think that was key to Aeris - I had no idea it was coming, and I naturally assumed it wasn't since this was a character I actually controlled and spent time customising and developing - surely nothing can happen to them? So it gave it bigger impact, and the fact of course I'd spent the previous 30 hours or so developing this character meant I was a lot more attached to them than I would be if it was a movie where I was just watching passively.

Although games rarely do live up to that potential. Folklore was another good recent one, it dealt with some really strong themes and some incredibly tragic characters but was let down by poor acting and what I can only assume were occasional dodgy translations from the original Japanese.

I'm struggling to think of any good examples from outside of Japan to be honest. The closest I can think of is GTA IV of all things - that had some pretty sad moments in the story, but it's hard to get too attached to characters in a game with a bodycount in the thousands!

tman

I can't really see how they're any less emotionally involving than films, in fact some games that I've played recently have had far more likeable characters than any film I can think of.
Take Nate in Uncharted - if he'd died at the end after me spending 10 hours growing to love the scamp, then I most definitely would have been welling up.

That scene in CoD4 was far more powerful than anything in any war movie made in recent years... After all the gung-ho bull**** of the marine corp sections, it really hit home that maybe blowing **** up isn't so cool after all...

Games have the potential to better films, but only if the people making them actually have a clue what they're doing.

L31mr0d

Games have shocked, scared and angered me but I've never shed a tear over one.

Seriously, I can't believe the people saying they cried during CoD4? I mean wth? I mean it's an action game where a nuke goes off and your character gets killed. It's not like his backstory was so developed that we'd be emotionally attached to him. It wasn't like he was holding up a picture of his pregnant wife back home.

I think it all depends on the musical score in the game, the final fantasy series is a great example of excellent use of music to evoke an emotive response. I don't think I cried when Aeris died, but that scene in the game is still as vivid now as it was back then so it did its job.

Also, the most shocking ending to a game I've ever played has to be "Call of Juarez", I remember being completely blown away by that ending.

CyberGhost

L31mr0d wrote: »

Games have shocked, scared and angered me but I've never shed a tear over one.

Exactly the same here, but with more anger.

Sand

No, never cried about a video game death.

Aeris getting killed did impact though, before that FF7 was "Toodle tee doo, Sephiroth/Smephiroth, blah blah, get loot, continue, get more loot". After that it was "Bitch, it is on!" Though that may have been more to do with the game *taking* something from me, as opposed to being that bothered about Aeris as a character.

Oddly enough - almost felt guilt over another video game death when playing Silent Hunter 3. Was moving on the surface north of Scotland to my patrol area when the brave boys of the RAF buzzed me. Text book says crash dive and change course. I said, **** it, lets man the AA guns and have them!

Sadly they came back and buzzed the conning tower and killed my AA gunner. Alas, young Hans, you were but a sprite to me in life, but in death an accusation of recklessness. So I had to store the body with the torpedos and I eventually buried him at sea because A) it was a 3 week patrol and he was beginning to smell. Every time I went to the crew management screen, his body was there, accusing me!

I dont try to engage fighters with the AA guns anymore:(

Also remember feeling very depressed by the ending of KOTOR2, not only because it was gutted, but because what remained from the reformed Jedi Council on was almost entirely bleak, and overshadowed by betrayal and jealosy.

So far though, games are well behind movies/books in stirring an emotive response that isnt "**** YEAH BITCH! YOU GOT OWNED!!!!" or "OH GOD THIS IS TENSE!!!". Even KOTOR2, bleak as it was didnt affect me as much as the ending of Pan's Labyrinth which just seemed much sadder.

Maybe its because game characters have to be underdeveloped to allow any player to identify with them, wheres books and movies dont.

steviec

I won't say what game since it's sort of a spoiler, but there was a game recently where there were two well developed characters, both of whom were in your party, both of whom were controllable by the player and both of whom the player had likely spent a lot of time developing their skills and giving them equipment, and a point came in the game where they were both in danger and I was given the choice of who to save. The one I didn't choose died, and that was it, they were gone.

That's an example of how games could really have a greater impact than movies. It didn't actually live up to its potential because they happened to be badly written characters I had little or no attachment to outside of their existence as 'tools' in battle, but those sort of choices combined with quality writing could lead to some very memorable moments in games.

pwd

so video games really do desensitize you to violence eh

AlmightyCushion

L31mr0d wrote: »

Seriously, I can't believe the people saying they cried during CoD4? I mean wth?

I cried my eyes out in COD4. That playground scene had me blubbering like a baby. "Where's the chopper?", "What's taking so long?" I wailed numerous times during that part of the game. The rest was tear free though.

Ross_Mahon

Soby wrote: »

+ for cod4..
and Hitman

Blood Money....but then i realised he doesnt die:):):)

Custom Silverballers over his chest during his hasty funeral as 'Ave Maria' plays in the background, A heart beat...Then another...*Sits up* "Take that feds! Muhahaha" *bang bang* :mad:

Or the antidote fails to work, and 47 descends into the crematorium.

A sequel? I hope so!

Vic Vinegar

L31mr0d wrote: »

Also, the most shocking ending to a game I've ever played has to be "Call of Juarez", I remember being completely blown away by that ending.

Can you let me in on what happened? i never finished the game.... I'm intrigued now though....

L31mr0d

Bombleswizzum wrote: »

Can you let me in on what happened? i never finished the game.... I'm intrigued now though....

Well like most movies, as well as games you can't really capture the impact of the ending as its more of a gradually build up throughout the game. Like FF7, If you shown someone the scene where Aeris dies without them ever completing the game it will mean nothing to them. But anyway, this is the ending.

Well you know the main story then, that you play as both a half mexican, Billy Candle, and a preacher, Reverend Ray McCall, who's trying to kill you because he believes you murdered your mother and step father. As Billy you eventually track down the man responsible for the murder of your mother and find that it was actually your estranged Father, he tells you how he had his men abuse and then kill your mother, he then threatens to kill the woman you love if you don't find the gold for him. Eventually you have to have a gunfight with your Father, you think you have killed him but he comes at you again and you have to beat him up until he falls to the ground, you then hug the woman you love but as you are doing so your father comes at you again and tries to stab you in the back. The preacher, who had been trying to kill you all this time, with his last breath, shoots your father before he can stab you and then dies. It ends with a somber musical score playing and Billy and his love Molly standing over the reverends grave.

Vic Vinegar

L31mr0d wrote: »

Well you know the main story then, that you play as both a half mexican, Billy Candle, and a preacher, Reverend Ray McCall, who's trying to kill you because he believes you murdered your mother and step father. As Billy you eventually track down the man responsible for the murder of your mother and find that it was actually your estranged Father, he tells you how he had his men abuse and then kill your mother, he then threatens to kill the woman you love if you don't find the gold for him. Eventually you have to have a gunfight with your Father, you think you have killed him but he comes at you again and you have to beat him up until he falls to the ground, you then hug the woman you love but as you are doing so your father comes at you again and tries to stab you in the back. The preacher, who had been trying to kill you all this time, with his last breath, shoots your father before he can stab you and then dies. It ends with a somber musical score playing and Billy and his love Molly standing over the reverends grave.

Gees! sounds good! i played a good bit of the game myself but had to trade it in to get a new game that was out (no job back then! )

Zillah

Ross_Mahon wrote: »

blah blah blah I'm going to ruin a big suprise in blood money!

Spoiler tags, can you use them? Jesus.

Bruce Willis' character is a ghost in the Six Sense.

Ross_Mahon

Zillah wrote: »

Spoiler tags, can you use them? Jesus.

Bruce Willis' character is a ghost in the Six Sense.

Nah it ruins the fun of it... I'm one of them bad people that shouted the ending of the last Harry Potter book on the night of release. :pac:

Cunny-Funt

FF7 got me allright.

DAAAAAAAAMN YOOOOOOOOOU SEPIROTH!!!

Zillah

Ross_Mahon wrote: »

Nah it ruins the fun of it... I'm one of them bad people that shouted the ending of the last Harry Potter book on the night of release. :pac:

No really, don't act like a retard. Put spoiler tags on spoilers.

L31mr0d

Zillah wrote: »

No really, don't act like a retard. Put spoiler tags on spoilers.

seriously though, how long does a game have to be out before you can stop using spoiler tags. I mean people talk about Darth Vader being Lukes father all the time without spoilering it.

If I was to detail the ending of Super Mario Bros, would you expect me to spoiler it?

thelordofcheese

Ross_Mahon wrote: »

Nah it ruins the fun of it... I'm one of them bad people that shouted the ending of the last Harry Potter book on the night of release. :pac:

So you ran around screaming "IT'S A REALLY SHIT BOOK!"