Video games and Emotion

Spoilers include Gears of war 2 and 3, Mass effect 3 the demo, Halo: Reach, COD 4, Braid, Half-life episode 2, and the Darkness.

Over the years video games have been one of my most loved things, being it for realese from the outside world, my imagination, or just loving the feel, and just plain fun of them, they have been a large part of my life.

I started out with a Snes in 1996 I believe the year was, playing donkey Kong country, and Super Mario World. Plesent games with little to no story but fun, simple, and enjoyable gameplay, and visuals. Super metroid was the first game I think that I felt an emotinal response toward, at the end when the Baby Metroid saved you, and sacrifices its self for Samus. I was a straight Nintendo fan unti the Xbox, then I fell in love with Halo, a game which at the time had a very well crafted story in my eyes, I remember the end, and thinking how sad it was that the Chief and Cortana were the only survivers, I thought that it was pretty cool that the game was able to make me feel that way though, and I wanted more of that feeling. If movies could do drama and emotion, why could'nt video games?

The next game I found that brought the feeling back to me was, suprise, Halo 2. I found that my love for the Elites made that games story carry weight, as they were replaced and thier way of life and belief's completely destroyed.

Fast forward to today, I feel that Video games havecome a long way in terms of emotoinal story telling, it is something that I love, and it is something that I know will only continue to improve.

Through music, charcter development, better voice acting, animatoin, and in some cases non of that, games have achieved some pretty dramatic, and amazing moments.

I have desided to do a list of my favorite dramatic moments in games, well because I wanted to.

1. Gears of War 2 Maria's death.

Though the follow through in the game was not necessarily handed well, the cutscene was hard to watch, me and my friend were both trying not to sob when we played this the first time. Watching a man off his wife is sad, and the eyes of the Characters, music, and voice asking sold it for me here.

2. Halo: Reach Kats death

Though many would disagree, I thought that this scene carried a huge amount of weight, how suddenly this happend really helped reinforce the games sombre tone in that we are fucked, and we are becoming more, and more lonely.

3. Call of Duty 4 the nuke

I thought that his was not only suprising but the fact that you had saved the helicopter pilot moments before bad it all the more tragic.

4.Braid the ending

I think this moment speaks for itself if you play through the whole game, this was something that I never think will be topped in a game. The play on Mario and a smothering boyfriend was amazing.

5. Mass Effect 3 the little boy

Vindication is a powerful thing and the look that Shepard gives at the end says it all, this moment was more impacting than any moment in the past games for me, and it happens in the first ten minutes of the game!

6. Gears of war 3 Dom's fate

This speaks for itself, you grow attached over five years to a character, and in Gears 3 they did something amazing, they took a one cheerful character, and changed him. he game felt lonely without Dom, and the impact it had on Marcus could be felt.

7. Halo 3 Wake me when you need me.

There is something tragic about a hero who will never be able to live a life that is not in service of others, John 117 has endured a lot of sacrifice in his life, he is a rock that is not lucky enough to be able to show weakness. Seeing Cortana and knowing that she will never really know if she is loved back, her, and John have something in commen, they were built to serve, also the fact that her lifespan is about 7 years and she may not be the same when John wakes is a bit sad too.

8. Halo: Reach Spartans never die

This ending was poetic, it left me sad but full of conviction, and pride.

9.The Darkness Jenny's death

Harsh is all I can say, this is a haunting moment.

10. Half-life 2 episode two Eli's death

And now for a lifter upper!!!!

Some good beats in there. I've heard alot of people say they just can't get emotion out of a video game, but I've never been that way. As long as the craftmanship is done well enough I can get an emotional reaction out of just about any media.

Or maybe I'm just that much of a sap.

the last time i got emotional was when my daughter was born.

video games though have never made me cry.

As I lack the capacity to feel emotion video games are pretty much just like normal life for me.

I wonder why people generally only acknowledge the feeling of sadness (or feelings tied to sadness) as an emotional response when discussing literature, film and video games. The excitement and tension in the final level of Metal Slug, the satisfaction of beating up a bunch of dudes in God Hand without getting hit once when the difficulty is jacked up all the way to Level Die, the horror of exploring the Kurosawa house in Project Zero II with a malfunctioning flashlight, the joy of dashing across a gorgeous field in Okami with incredible music playing in the background -- these things are never mentioned. It's always "I cried when I stabbed that poor giant monster in Shadow of the Colossus" or "after playing that one quick-time event in Heavy Rain I have to cut myself because the pain is the only thing that feels real".

I wonder why people generally only acknowledge the feeling of sadness (or feelings tied to sadness) as an emotional response when discussing literature, film and video games. The excitement and tension in the final level of Metal Slug, the satisfaction of beating up a bunch of dudes in God Hand without getting hit once when the difficulty is jacked up all the way to Level Die, the horror of exploring the Kurosawa house in Project Zero II with a malfunctioning flashlight, the joy of dashing across a gorgeous field in Okami with incredible music playing in the background -- these things are never mentioned. It's always "I cried when I stabbed that poor giant monster in Shadow of the Colossus" or "after playing that one quick-time event in Heavy Rain I have to cut myself because the pain is the only thing that feels real".

@Zenaxzd: When I am referring to "Emotion" in this case I am speaking more to drama.

It's not that I don't notice the other kinds of emotion one can feel in all types of media, it's just the sadness is often the most effecting, and strongest.

@Icemael: I definitely feel more horror, triumph, and awe in video games than sadness. Hell, even Battlefield 3 makes me feel really useful and happy when I revive everyone as a medic. Though@big_jon has posted some really good examples of games that made me feel sad, hollow, or proud at times. Gears 3 used "Mad World" to great effect, and made me a little sad even though I didn't care about Dom that much. Episode 2 was a typical second act downer, but it set the stage for Episode 3 (whenever we'll finally see that play out). Halo Reach's ending was perfect because it was already established that none of the Spartans made it off the planet, so it felt appropriate to fight it out to the end. Some games also make me feel a profound sense of loneliness, like Portal or Metroid. Or the Ishimura sequence in Dead Space 2.

I think the only time I get kind of bummed out from games is when I finish a game that had a story I was really invested in, it's the same with books. Once it's over and there's nothing more it kind of bums me out.

@WilltheMagicAsian: Yeah, it's a big part of why I was so sad at the end of Reach.

Jenny's death was a massive hit for me, to the point that I felt like I had lost my own love.

Meanwhile, I felt that the ending to Halo: Reach was easily the best moment on this list. It's not that I really cared about any of the characters in Noble. I mean, they were getting picked off like flies at every turn. However, the way the ending is handled - just an objective and seeing, as the player, that there was no way to accomplish that objective... I mean, I fought for as long as I could. You don't have to, but there was something about just surviving through the onslaught as much as possible. It was an incredibly well-played scene and shows how interactivity in these kinds of moments during a SHOOTING game of all things can really make you understand and grasp the horror of what is happening around you.

Once you have experienced Amnesia, no other game can affect you in any way whatsoever.

Way to remind me about the ending to Half-Life 2: Episode 2.

What the hell, Valve. The Episodic joke isn't even funny anymore. That was one of the most emotion-evoking moments in video gaming history, and one hell of a cliffhanger ending, and still no word...

When I think of emotion in video games, I still always come back to that simple moment in Mass Effect 2 with the reveal of the Normandy SR2. Even with my recent playthough, after two prior, it still gets to me. Chills and teary nostalgia. It's funny, because I felt next to nothing when the decision about saving Kaidan or Ashley came up in the first game. Maybe it's because I didn't really care for Ashley and always picked her as a result.

If we're continuing the trend of sappy sadness, I present:

One simple line from the ending of Max Payne 2 that gets to me, and consequently makes me irked at the existence of a Max Payne 3 because I thought it closed the series in a perfect way.

that kid in ME3 is such a transparent and heavy-handy little swing at emotion i couldn't possibly take it seriously.

@drag said:

that kid in ME3 is such a transparent and heavy-handy little swing at emotion i couldn't possibly take it seriously.

People die in war, casualities always happen to even the most innocent of victims. Sadly my own friends share the same feelings with you. Not caring at all for what it actually meant. Sure, wasn't the saddest moment ever, but it establishes the point that things are going dark and fast.

@Jay444111 said:

@drag said:

that kid in ME3 is such a transparent and heavy-handy little swing at emotion i couldn't possibly take it seriously.

People die in war, casualities always happen to even the most innocent of victims. Sadly my own friends share the same feelings with you. Not caring at all for what it actually meant. Sure, wasn't the saddest moment ever, but it establishes the point that things are going dark and fast.

The point is that it was really easy and cheap and probably took them all of 5 seconds to think of. Its fine, it sets the tone, but its still kinda lazy.

"Emotion" = / = "sadness"

Please differentiate between the two. I'd like, just once, to see a thread that goes "What video game stories have made you jump out of sheer joy?"

Meanwhile, I have never cried at a video games story. There are sad moments, like Eli Vance's death. But no, I've never cried.

The only other thing I really want to bring up is Maria's death in Gears of War 2. It made no bloody sense. If that were my wife, you can bet your bottom fucking dollar I would have found a way to carry her out of there. The scene, up until then, was well done, especially when she came out looking normal at first but changed a few seconds later. I just didn't think the way that story arc was resolved was good at all.

Then Dom had to run off and blow himself up in the third game because I obviously couldn't kill a few grunts, millions of which I'd taken care of before. I just don't much like the character after he offed his own wife.

And then there's Noble team, which is made up of cardboard caricatures. I'll admit that I felt a little for the big guy that had to stay on the spaceship, but that was crushed when I realized that my character was going to fall all the way through the atmosphere of a planet and get up with little more than a limp. Sure, he's a genetically modified supersoldier, but... really?

The Call of Duty 4 Nuke scene was great because it was a surprise moment that you couldn't have seen coming. It took me a few minutes to process that a protagonist had just been killed off in the most unexpected way possible. I thought it was going to be the action-movie run away fast cliche where everyone gets out safely, but no. My character and everyone around him got killed off for real. And now it's become cliche for Call of Duty games to kill off all but one protagonist.

Now, about video game scenes that have made me jump for joy. Um... when Sig was still alive in Jak 2? Nah, not really... damn it, I can't think of any.

EDIT: Oh! Yeah! When Ashley was kidnapped again in RE4. But that was more out of gameplay problems solved than story reasons.

I've never been brought to tears by a video-game. I wanted to be sad when Dom died in Gears 3, but I wasn't... It was an incredibly touching moment though.

Most people who don't cry due to video games are mainly the people who started on retro consoles like the SNES and NES. While the ones who do cry/have emotion over are usually the ones that started with the N64/PS1. The time when the medium matured greatly.

Gotta say, that there are to many moments to count that i have cried over. Another problem I notice with gamers is that they are not trying to immerse themselves at all and that could be another reason why gamers are unfeeling heartless jerks most of the time. Could be anyway.