Photopia did it for me. Of course, it probably also had something to do with the fact that when I played it my daughter was about the same age as the main character was at the end.
Wait, what?
Oh.
Oh.
I hadn’t thought about it that way but it does make sense. Affecting, indeed.
For some reason, text just doesn’t evoke that kind of emotional response in me. Not even great books. However, if any Infocom game came close, it wasn’t A Mind Forever Voyaging, it was the death of Floyd in Planetfall.
What? Really? My memory must be really hazy then. What was the big sad scene then?[/quote]
I don’t remember. I think he was sick in KQ4 but … he got better. Graham was the lead in KQ5 and KQ8 IIRC.
From Shadow of Colossus:
[color=white]When Agro falls off the cliff in the last mission.[/color]
Maybe it’s because I was already having a bad day, maybe it was the music, but that upset me.
Wait, what?
Oh.
Oh.
I hadn’t thought about it that way but it does make sense. Affecting, indeed.
“Even if you kill me, she can never leave this castle”
Then the girl places you on a boat in an underground river and sees you off.
Waking up on a white-sanded beach.
Maybe he’s just dreaming of seeing her again. But isn’t that even sadder?
I nearly cried when I saw the system requirements on the back of the Strike Commander box.
As for content, if two-hour movies can make people cry then I don’t see why games can’t have the same effect. Of course, one problem is that reflex-oriented gameplay doesn’t lend itself well to emotional connection; when was last time you cried during an action movie?
Let’s spin off a metathread for variations of the joke “It was so bad it made me cry.”
:wink:
Heh, Strike Commander. What was that, twenty disks plus another six for the speech pack? I nearly cried during the triumphant final cutscene–but that was from laughing so hard. Three minutes or so of every character in the game saying, “Wow! You rock! You rock! God I wish I was you!” It was pixelpeople sycophant overload.
I think a big part of the reason games have a much higher crying barrier, speaking personally, is that irritation and repetition are built right into most games’ structure. Any given movie might make one tear up, but even a good game (bear with me, I’m firmly in subjunctive land) based on that same movie probably wouldn’t–because getting to the welling-up point might involve several dozen reloads, any number of muttered swear words, fuming breaks after being killed by the camera insisting on showing a wall instead of the action, etc. It’s why games have a much easier time of satisfying emotional releases of the “Yeah! and STAY DOWN!” variety rather than the sniffling sort.
Just to throw in my two cents:
I remember feeling immense satisfaction at finishing Grim Fandango, and while it wasn’t particularly sad, it certainly was emotional.
Also, I get that welling of emotion at the end of StarCraft when Tassadar sacrifices himself. I had been playing that game for a long while, and to see that final cutscene was pretty moving.
Man…some of those Origin games made me cry twice. First on the price (which was often just astronomical) and secondly when you had to spend like a hojillion hours screwing with the damn DOS 5 or 6 or whatever memory manager thingy to get the 619k of free low memory needed to run the damn game.
At one point in time I had like eight boot menu options defined for different games.
:cry: :cry: :cry:
I just cried at an episode of Futurama, so my masculinity seems to be nonexistent. Nonetheless, no game has made me cry yet. Planescape, and Grim Fandango are great examples of stirring up emotions not normall stirred by games, and Suikoden 1+2 made me feel sad, too (Pahn and Nanami). Though I never felt as much for a game character as for my Jagged Alliance 2 crew. Good memories.
Was it the one with the dog?
I’d have to say that I’ve never cried in a game. I haven’t played Planescape to the end yet though, so that might change. FF7 didn’t phase me. The end of FFX was sad and I might have had a lip quiver somewhere in there, but no tears. Hopefully we’ll reach that point, where scenes like that are common in games. Actually, it’s one of my personal quests in development to be able to achieve that level of emotional attachment.
That said, I’ve cried in anime but never in a dubbed anime. Subtitled versions with their original actors are the way to go.
Was it the one with the dog?[/quote]
Oh, man, that one and the one with his brother and his nephew being his namesake. :cry:
Best example of cry-inducing anime: Grave of the Fireflies. Just overbearingly sad.
Can’t remember crying during a game, but I can think of some gaming moments that evoked sadness:
The other scene in the game that really moved me was when you had to defend this bridge in the British campaign, and the situation was completely desparate with German troops all over the place surrounding you, and incoming tanks to be destroyed, and then suddenly this solemn, sad orchestral score kicked in that really conveyed the hopelessness of the situation.
This ranks as my all-time favourite moment from any game. I didn’t cry, but it’s the first time a game – and especially an fps game, where the player normally feels like an invincible god – made me feel completely helpless. Like I’m sure many real soldiers did, I actually froze up (from cowardice, I guess). I’d been killing Germans and destroying several tanks with the Flak 88 gun, but eventually I got to the point where I was pinned down and couldn’t move without getting shot…so I just ducked for cover and hid there, trying to avoid any contact with the enemy for the last 45 seconds or so (which felt like an eternity) until reinforcement arrived. And the music! My god, the music! It started quietly, but gradually faded up until I didn’t even notice the sound effects from the game anymore. As I balled up in my hiding spot, I could watch my NPC allies get killed by the Germans, but I couldn’t bring myself to do anything to save them. Is it possible I actually had shell-shock induced from a game?
Man that was an excellent level.
Only if they don’t work.
Was it the one with the dog?[/quote]
Anyone who doesn’t well up after watching that episode is a cold, cold, cold-hearted bastard.
Was it the one with the dog?[/quote]
Anyone who doesn’t well up after watching that episode is a cold, cold, cold-hearted bastard.[/quote]
Yep, I was just going to say the same thing. And it’s really like the last second of the show where the dog closes its eyes that hits you. The episode featuring Fry’s brother and his legacy is pretty powerful, too. That show really had a number of moments like that.
Can’t say I’ve ever cried during a game. When I was a kid I cried while reading the end of Where the Red Fern Grows, though.