Emotive Scenes

[Avida]

I've got Grave of Fireflies on dvd, when I reached the ending I was like wth? =( I'm going to go be depressed in a corner somewhere now.

I've heard about the other two, mostly about Evangelion, but I haven't got around to them yet.

Im surprised it took you untill the end to be saddened, that film was a plummeting and serrated series of tragic lows and slow, building optimism that was ultimately shot down to repeat the cycle.. but soo good...

I think every anime fan should see evangellion at some stage as the ending decending into madness is not something you'll really see again. Ill check out what you recommended if i can find a link to a torrent, sounds good from the synopsis.

Anyway, this is off topic so to bring things back on track wow im surprised how callas some of the escapee's seem to be :s that scene was sad because she brought up how she wasted the boy's time instead of shouting that she's lost a hand, and seriously if you havnt found any game sad you're either emotionally deprived or are buying the wrong games...

 

[ThePlasmatizer]

I've got Grave of Fireflies on dvd, when I reached the ending I was like wth? =( I'm going to go be depressed in a corner somewhere now.

I've heard about the other two, mostly about Evangelion, but I haven't got around to them yet.

Im surprised it took you untill the end to be saddened, that film was a plummeting and serrated series of tragic lows and slow, building optimism that was ultimately shot down to repeat the cycle.. but soo good...

I think every anime fan should see evangellion at some stage as the ending decending into madness is not something you'll really see again. Ill check out what you recommended if i can find a link to a torrent, sounds good from the synopsis.

Anyway, this is off topic so to bring things back on track wow im surprised how callas some of the escapee's seem to be :s that scene was sad because she brought up how she wasted the boy's time instead of shouting that she's lost a hand, and seriously if you havnt found any game sad you're either emotionally deprived or are buying the wrong games...

Nah I was sad before then, it was quite sad all the way through but it reached it's peak at the end, especially at the funeral.

On topic: It's hard not to encounter emotive scenes in games now, it's part of their mission to make the player feel something, even if someone just plays one genre like fps they'll still encounter an emotive part, the end of CoD 4 is a good example.

 

[Mr Frogurt]

Argo's death in Shadow of Colossus, i don't know if it has already been mention, but me and a friend was playing it through together and once he fell, my friend and me but both simultaneously shouted 'NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!,' Star Wars style.

 

[ElArabDeMagnifico]

hrmm... The first (and only) time I was surprised by the "Mentor turns evil" was in Jade Empire. I remember watching my screen and thinking "NO! WHY!? WHY DID YOU DO THAT MASTER LI!? NOOO!! YOU WERE LIKE A FATHER TO ME!"

I also felt emotions in Fallout 3 regarding my character's dad.. I don't know why really, he just struck me as a real character, and Liam Neeson's voice is so calming..

Spoiler

When he died, I almost cried.

as to why these instances brought up emotions in me, I really don't know, and I wish that I could add more to this thread but Anecdotes, but at this time, I can't really grasp it.

Quick question regarding Fallout 3, I hear there is multiple endings and such so, can you get a different outcome than what is in your spoiler?

 

[Avida]

On topic: It's hard not to encounter emotive scenes in games now, it's part of their mission to make the player feel something, even if someone just plays one genre like fps they'll still encounter an emotive part, the end of CoD 4 is a good example.

That scene didnt work on me but i put that down less on the game and more me zoneing out a little bit, letting go of the controller and subsequently getting killed before it ended *embaressed*

Its still a good point though, especially since the many times aforementiond Valve games reside in that genre too, I think emotion will take a larger and larger part in games as character models become imcreasingly lifelike and voice acting budgets skyrocket. Cant wait.

 

[Beowulf DW]

Best example I can think of is the Gamecube game Tales of Symphonia. I really got attached to the characters in that game. And while the voice actors were... sub-par (except for the always excellent Jennifer Hale), the writing was superb and the plot deep, and twisting just enough to keep you interested. (Yes, I realize it's got just about every cliche imaginable, even the unforgivable "X is Y's father!")

Spoiler

First thing that comes to mind for me is the scene in which each of the six characters in your party sacrifice themselves to enable the main character (Lloyd Irving) to continue towards the battle with the final boss.
Not exactly the best scenes; writing was amazing, voice acting was 100% fail, but it evoked some truly deep emotions in me, especially when these characters, which I've grown extraordinarily attached to (due to TOS's skit and "friend" system) showed their love for the world and their friends.

Yeah, I was on the verge of tears that entire time. And in the scene immediately after all that, I experienced my first WTF moment. It was dispelled shortly afterward, but the combination of Lloyd's fall, the sudden stop of the music, and the length of time he lay motionless had me convinced that they had killed the hero before he accomplished his mission. That's something you just don't see in almost any media.

 

[ThePlasmatizer]

hrmm... The first (and only) time I was surprised by the "Mentor turns evil" was in Jade Empire. I remember watching my screen and thinking "NO! WHY!? WHY DID YOU DO THAT MASTER LI!? NOOO!! YOU WERE LIKE A FATHER TO ME!"

I also felt emotions in Fallout 3 regarding my character's dad.. I don't know why really, he just struck me as a real character, and Liam Neeson's voice is so calming..

Spoiler

When he died, I almost cried.

as to why these instances brought up emotions in me, I really don't know, and I wish that I could add more to this thread but Anecdotes, but at this time, I can't really grasp it.

Quick question regarding Fallout 3, I hear there is multiple endings and such so, can you get a different outcome than what is in your spoiler?

That's not at the end of the game, that part in the main quest is unavoidable.

 

[Ranooth]

For me i think what really brings out the emotion is the way you feel and the way you are treated after the event. For example

Spoiler

In Fallout 3, i (accidentally) killed The Overseer at the beginning. When his daughter started talking to me and crying i actually felt that bad about it that i HAD to start over so that i didn't kill him.

 

[Hunde Des Krieg]

Well when Aeris died...just kidding. The bit in KOTOR when you could get Zalbaar to kill Mission (the Wookie with a life debt to you kills his best friend), not emotional as in sad but more, damn I'm really sick.

Spoiler For Half Life 2 episode 2

Spoiler

When Eli Vance gets killed I literally shouted 'NOOO' at my screen. That was really well done.

I don't know that part in HL2 made me more vengeful than sad

Made me annoyed that EP3 isn't out... I wanna know what happens!!

A sentiment we all share...

 

[Flying-Emu]

Yeah, I was on the verge of tears that entire time. And in the scene immediately after all that, I experienced my first WTF moment. It was dispelled shortly afterward, but the combination of Lloyd's fall, the sudden stop of the music, and the length of time he lay motionless had me convinced that they had killed the hero before he accomplished his mission. That's something you just don't see in almost any media.

Like I said; well-written, badly acted

 

[Dr Pussymagnet]

The scene in Painkiller where the dude's wife dies in the beginning was totally full of emotion.

 

[Dr Pussymagnet]

I forget the name of this one game...but you're playing as this Native American guy on an alien spaceship, and his girlfriend's body was surgically attached to this giant monster dog thing you have to kill and killing the dog kills your girlfriend. That was a pretty heart-rending moment for me.

That's Prey, and I hardly think it counts as an emotional scene. That game had all the depth of a teaspoon of coffee sludge.

Given that I'm in this gray area where a shallow game doesn't really kill the experience and a game with too much depth would be crushing my perception, I think it should still count.

Besides. It's the only emotional scene I can recall out of the massive library of FPS games I've played so far.

Well,

Spoiler

Just the realization that you've traveled all this way to save your girlfriend, only to lose her again, and when you finally catch up to her a second time, you realize there's nothing you can do for her now. All you can do is put her out of her misery. Just hearing her tell you "Let me go," was sad enough, but when Tommy gets his strongest weapon, and you have to go on a killing spree against some of the strongest aliens yet, you hear him yell out in anger saying things like "This is for Jen!" I really felt sad about that.

 

[SomeBritishDude]

EDIT: Music isn't essential. The scene with Alyx didn't have music. Music can help, but it's easy to create a sense that you're telling the viewer what to feel rather than just letting them feel it.

There was near the end. There was a really creepy kind of music just before the credits rolled and the scene black. It really kind of hit me that music, combined with the last words of the game. It actually brought a lump to my throat. I don't any other time thats ever happened to me in a game.

 

[Good morning blues]

EDIT: Music isn't essential. The scene with Alyx didn't have music. Music can help, but it's easy to create a sense that you're telling the viewer what to feel rather than just letting them feel it.

There was near the end. There was a really creepy kind of music just before the credits rolled and the scene black. It really kind of hit me that music, combined with the last words of the game. It actually brought a lump to my throat. I don't any other time thats ever happened to me in a game.

I am referring to the scene with the Hunter, not the scene with the Advisor.

 

[Zyrusticae]

Maybe I'm just a sap, but I have to agree on the topic of Prey. It made an impact, and I could really feel Tommy's anger -- the voiceovers as he totally killed the shit out of the aliens was genius, I say. He's a good example of how a non-silent protagonist can add to the game.

And Call of Duty 4's end scene was quite great. I think it worked especially well because, yes, they actually developed all of the characters involved within that scene throughout the entirety of the game. Even better was

Spoiler

the sheer satisfaction I felt when I finally got to clock the one-armed bastard in the back of the head, in slow motion, with the pistol my CO threw me just as he drew his final breath.

Really, there's many ways to pull off an emotional scene. It all depends on the style of the storytelling and the resources in the developer's hands.

 

[chronobreak]

Everyone's favorite scene in FF7 always gets me, and I'm not ashamed to say it, like a lot of people seem to be. Just wanted to get it out there with no negativity surrounding it. I guess I'm just a fanboy noob or whatever.

 

[JMeganSnow]

Fallout 3 had excellent voice acting, a pretty good script, and a convincing plot but I never felt bad

Spoiler

when daddy died

he just wasnt very well characterized, I get that they made his personality rather ambiguous so he'd seem like a more consistent character no matter what course of action the player took. But it made him seem like just some random semi-detatched, semi-heroic guy who had little actual connection to the protagonist.

Precisely. Although I love Liam Neeson's voice, your father in Fallout 3 had no distinctive personality so it was really difficult to feel much for him.

Spoiler

I was really enjoying the main plot up until you have to go rescue him from Vault 112--I was looking forward to being able to tell him off for stupidly dumping me with the psycho Overseer in Vault 101 while he ran off. But the dialog options and his responses didn't lead to a logical resolution. It was like getting angry at one of those infuriating people who just shut you out by saying "I'm sorry you feel that way" without ever letting you address the issue.

That, and the fact that you're standing on the other side of a glass door with a majorly powerful gun during the scene where he kills himself inspired a serious facepalm. I really wanted to yell, "Open the door, goddammit, so I can shoot this god damn idiot in the god damn back with my god damn gun!! Oh, you're going to irradiate yourself to death. Good job, you moron!!"

I was in a discussion in another board about creating feelings of sadness in tabletop games and the requirements I came up with were these:

1. You must be personally involved in the situation somehow.
2. There must be an unfortunate outcome involved.
3. The outcome must be logically necessary in a way the involved person can understand.

That's your scene setup. The subtle tricks that wind up satisfying all three of those conditions are too many to list.

That's just for sad scenes, there are other emotions you can evoke and they all have different requirements. Gothic II has a great (for me) scene about halfway through the game that almost got me to plant my face straight into my desk.

Spoiler

The first half of the game revolves around the wizard Xardas sending you to get a special amulet from the Paladins. You go through a *lot* of crap to get this amulet, going on an entire series of quests and doing some ridiculously dangerous travel. So, FINALLY, you march up to present your credentials to the chief Paladin, and he says, yes, we have no choice but to turn the holy relic amulet over to you. So he tells you where to go pick it up and you set off.

When you arrive at the monastery, you find out that it's been stolen. So, off you go, chasing after the thief. You finally chase him down and retrieve the amulet off his broken corpse, only to find . . .

It's now broken.

I have never had a better "Oh no, they didn't!" moment in a game before, it had me laughing even as I was shaking my head.