Ever gotten emotionally attached to a video game character?

[aescuder]

Players are bound to get attached to avatars/characters in a game just because of the sheer amount of time and effort we put into them. But have you ever gotten really emotionally attached to a video game character up to the point where it doesn't even make sense? Even ones that you can't even interact with (i.e. companion cube).

You can't really fully orchestrate player experience but there is something to be said about being truly emotionally attached to a set of polygons and pixels.


I can name a few instances:

-- Morrigan from dragon age, (Leilana disapproves -10? who gives a f***. Morrigan disapproves -1?! NoOoo!)

-- Silly game back in the day called Dragon Seed. They should never let you name and raise your own pet dragon only for it to die later. *sniff*

-- a couple of characters from Legend of Mana characters. that game is so charming.

-- the horse from Shadow of Collosus.


P.S. never got attached to companion cube...don't know why.

 

[SpaceGnome]

when i saw the new spyro i died a little inside...
dose that count?

 

[Pinkamena]

Alyx Vance. Watching her cry over her dead fathers body in the end of HL2 ep2 was heartwrenching.

 

[vrbtny]

Most of the characters in the first fire emblem to be released in the West.

Damn you hector, stop being mean to lyn! And goddamnit Sain, you are handsome! And Erk, grow some balls. Seriously, your becoming embarrassing.

 

[Ready2Go]

Tali from the mass effect games, bonnie MacFarlane from Red Dead Redemtion, and weirdly almost all the characters from Sakura wars V: So Long, My Love, I almost cryed at least 3 times in that game.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

Captain Falcon and Fox Mcloud were the heroes of my childhood. So I am quite attached to those characters. I also really love the dog from Secret of Evermore.

 

[inFAMOUSCowZ]

Dragon Age 2- My mother/brother/sister(which ever lived through out the game) I actually cared for them

Red Dead- John Marsten we dont need to talk about this...

 

[werty10089]

when i saw the new spyro i died a little inside...
dose that count?

Oh fuck, that. I truly hated what happened to the series, although once Insomnaic jumped ship it was obvious that major shittery was to occur. I'd say that one of the more emotional scenes in a game was when I completed all of the skillpoints in Spyro3 and had unlocked the epilogue. After reading the epilogue, the last page had a group pose of all of the characters from the trilogy with a caption "we'll miss you". Fucking cried. Something is wrong with me.

...So, yeah. Having to kill Caesar in Fallout: NV.

 

[WaywardHaymaker]

To name a few:

Liara, Garrus, Tali, Leliana, Alistair, John Marston, Anders (In Awakening, not 2), Mordin, and Bill from L4D.

There are probably more, but those are the biggest seeing as I can just rattle them off like that.

 

[Smurf McSmurfington]

Let's see...
Alyx and Dog from Half Life 2.
Minsc and Boo, obviously. Imoen too. And strangely enough, Sarevok. And Cespenar... and that Seamon chap, who gave me the blade of a githyanki silver sword... and Jaheira
Morte from Planescape: Torment. Actually, come to think of it, I sort of got attached to ALL my party members there, Annah-of-the-Shadows, Nordom, Fall-From-Grace, Dak'kon. Brilliant game.
Tali'Zorah from ME and ME2. And EDI... and Joker... and to a lesser extent Wrex, Mordin, Garrus and Legion.
Triss Merigold from The Witcher and The Witcher 2. Shani from The Witcher. Zoltan and Dandelion as well...
Alistair, Morrigan and Leliana from DA:O. And Sandal, obviously. And the companion doggy.
Kaelyn, Safiya, Okku and Gannayev-of-Dreams from NWN2: Mask of the Betrayer. MotB was quite atmospheric, melancholic and otherworldly and so were the characters... and their voices, which mesmerized me to no end. Ammon Jerro from NWN 2. MotB was just great, almost as good as the original BG series. Almost. The original NWN 2 wasn't even close (which is not to say it was a bad game, no, it was really good, just not great).
Mona Sax from the Max Payne games.
Jin from F.E.A.R.
Scarlett Lake from Alpha Protocol.
Kerrigan since the original StarCraft. Raynor since SCII. Zeratul.
The rogue companions you could take from Act I in Diablo II.

And if this list seems long to you, well keep in mind I've been playing games for a relatively long time and I've played through LOADS of games, and there are far more games(not to mention characters) not mentioned here. And it took me like 30 minutes to actually recall and write all of this. And I'm fairly certain theres more to add, but at the moment I can't think of any more characters.

 

[Chaosian]

I was kinda attached to James (your dad) in Fallout 3. Even though I didn't cry when he died I was really shocked when it happened. You probably think it's stilly but I'm the kinda guy that had a sad moment for my character while whatching the sunset at the citadel enterance.
I've also gotten attached to the team of L4D1, mostly because they're just so awesome together, and of recient, had some empathic revelations in reguards to Adam Jensen of [h]3.

 

[Infernai]

Solid FUCKING Snake- The guy was, and still is in my opinion, the most hardcore badass ever to grace gaming and is apart of a series that's nothing short of a total masterpiece.

when i saw the new spyro i died a little inside...
dose that count?

Oh fuck, that. I truly hated what happened to the series, although once Insomnaic jumped ship it was obvious that major shittery was to occur. I'd say that one of the more emotional scenes in a game was when I completed all of the skillpoints in Spyro3 and had unlocked the epilogue. After reading the epilogue, the last page had a group pose of all of the characters from the trilogy with a caption "we'll miss you". Fucking cried. Something is wrong with me.

...So, yeah. Having to kill Caesar in Fallout: NV.

We Devil May Cry Fans know and feel your pain...believe me we do.

 

[Neverhoodian]

Allen and Garnett from Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30. They provided a bit of respite and comic relief in the grim face of combat. When things got tough, you could always rely on their playful banter to help ease the tension.

Spoiler

Then about halfway through the game they both die in a single engagement. There's hardly any warning either: one moment you hear Leggit screaming for help, and you're suddenly met with their bloody corpses sprawled on the ground when you round the corner. It's one of the few times that a video game's moved me to tears. The rest of the squad has a really hard time dealing with their loss, and you get the impression that the heart and soul of Baker's company died with them.

 

[Vrex360]

I actually already gave my answer in the previous thread that was similar, so I'll just quote myself:

The closest I've ever gotten to a deep connection with a fictional character is easily Ashley Williams from Mass Effect. Yes, I know she gets a lot of hate but I instantly liked her for her tough girl attitude and wisecracks and found myself growing fonder of her as the game progressed.
She was a rare case of a character that I actually felt like I got to know and understand, even her faults like her aggression and distrust towards aliens actually helped me grow attached to her because flaws help define character. Plus it was kind of neat that I was able to persuade her to change her worldview or at least be more open minded and look at this whole situation in a 'big picture' kind of way.
It was pretty cool that a game where the central theme essentially was 'time to let the past be the past and move on and come to terms with change and relations with new cultures' that there actually existed a character who you could argue with and yet still be able to romance.

As far as Mass Effect 2 goes, well, Horizon sucked. But I fault that on horrific writing and unlike the many angry people with appalling spelling and doubtlessly bad grooming out there... it wasn't enough to turn me off. It was actually pretty easy to stick with Ashley even though she only showed up once and not exactly on the best of terms.
And even though the game keeps shoving Liara into my face, desperatley trying to convince me that she's the 'right' choice and pushing Ashley further and further away from the spotlight or anything to do with the main story, still I dug my feet deeper into the ground and determinedly stayed the course.
Which is a lot of commitment given that I'm talking about a fictional character.

If nothing else, the fact that I've verbally defending Ashley numerous times, regarding numerous issues that people keep bringing up against her and that I've never given up no matter how stubborn said people can be in their arguments should be enough of a sign that the character has certainly grown on me, and even though I can't say I approve of the decision made by Bioware to make her look like a spandex wearing supermodel for Mass Effect 3, it's also not going to be nearly enough to even bother me.

So yeah, to Ashley Williams. My ultimate game crush, few would I ever defend with such determination and valor.

So yes, that's the video game character that I've gotten very emotionally attached to, in fact it's gotten to the point where a lot of my enjoyment of Mass Effect 3 hinges on how well Ashley is represented in that game.

 

[ckam]

Hatsune Miku, you sing with my soul...

 

[Pape juanito arce]

when i saw the new spyro i died a little inside...
dose that count?

then does sonic counts too ?

 

[Blow_Pop]

My companion cube in Portal

and

my horse in Shadow of the Colossus(I believe his name was Argo if I recall correctly)

 

[The Virgo]

Dar-Ma in Oblivion.

After my Argonian saved her, I wished that I could have married her, but sadly I couldn't. Very heartbreaking, indeed. :'-( That's, I think, the most I have ever gotten attached to a game character.

At least in Skyrim you can marry NPCs, so that won't happen again! :-D Of course, Argonians, while much more truer to what they are and not just humans with different skin, eyes and hair, are much uglier here! D-:>