Games that Stick with You

[Brown Cap]

It is completely understandable that video games require plenty of emotional investment. I can think of plenty: Red Dead Redemption, Heavy Rain, Walking Dead, etc...
But have there been any games that have just clung to your heart strings well after you've beaten them?
I beat the Mass Effect series in April of this year (I understand I was a bit late to the party), and I ordered the novels earlier this week. I'm by no means obsessed (at least I hope not) but this series had really captured me: I have no intentions on beginning a new rant on the endings, but I felt the game (and books) are masterfully created with such a fine level of detail and considerations put into it - I feel like the story has taken a part of me. It was all so beautiful to me, right up to the very end. I think about it all the time.

Do any of you feel the same about a game?

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Okami and Beyond Good & Evil come to mind. Beautiful games in every sense possible, and I was the saddest when they were over. Beginning to play them, I knew I was in for something wonderful and cherished every bit of it.

 

[deleted139124]

DELETED

 

[shrekfan246]

Quite a few.

The ones that come to mind off hand include the Star Wars: Jedi Knight 'quadrilogy', Okami, Persona 4 Golden, Metal Gear Solid 3, the Mass Effect trilogy, Sonic the Hedgehog, Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy IX, Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie, World of Warcraft, Mirror's Edge, the Bioshock games, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II... you get the picture.

The Mass Effect games are some of the very few games from this console generation that I've actually played through multiple times.

 

[IllumInaTIma]

There are very few games that I have a wish to replay again and again. In fact, I can name them all.
Front Mission 3-Replayed at least 8 times across multiple platforms (Playstation 1, hacked emulator of Playstaion 1 on PSP, hacked emulator of Playstation 1 on PC, official emulator of Playstation 1 on Vita). Every completion takes around 40-50 hours, so I've spend at least 2 weeks of my entire life just playing Front Mission 3.

Dino Crisis 2-Just as Front Mission 3 replayed at least 8 times across multiple platforms, but at least you can complete it in 2 to 3 hours.

Mass Effect 2-Steam says I've spent 145 hours playing that game, and that feels like too little to me.

Persona 4: Golden-I'm on my 4th playthrough and I've racked up 213 hours.

 

[SweetShark]

Many games to name, but if I had to choose one it would be Saya no Uta

Spoiler: NSFW inside

This specific "game" is something I believe every single gamer must play to experience a unique take of horror.
No, I don't mean the bullsh*t jumpscares or monsters....
But the way your heart and mind feel about the characters inside the game....
I tried hard...but I only manage to make my heart bleed....

 

[Exius Xavarus]

Tales of Symphonia would be the biggest one. I also love Dark Souls, well into today. I still play it.

 

[Terminate421]

The Halo games always represent a keen sense of polish and fun and imagination that very few games offer so I hold them in high regard.
Pokemon is also a good one, each generation provides something I can do anywhere at any time. Also the PVP is fun.

 

[Pink Gregory]

Probably (and somewhat embarrassingly) Final Fantasy VIII, which was probably the first proper story-driven game I ever played.

It's the music and the art direction in particular. Utterly fantastic.

Not saying that others don't (I am a Bioshock fanboy after all), but FFVIII is probably the oldest. Though some of the music and sounds from Donkey Kong Country 2 probably pre-date that in mah consciousness.

 

[JagermanXcell]

Persona 4. Cause the ending, characters, gameplay, EVERYTHING.

And Dark Souls. Cause the pvp.

 

[Legion]

Up until Mass Effect 3 I was a fan of the series to a ridiculous degree. Not that I'd pester people by always talking about it, but I'd spend a lot of time on the Bioware forums discussing it. I replayed it so many times because I enjoyed it so much, and I wanted to get the "best" story and ending I could. Then ME3 came out...

Gears of War is a game that hooked me in, but I can't entirely explain why. The dialogue and games plots are terrible, but I love the visual style, universe and the over-arching story and the ideas behind it. Although I started to get tired with those terrible plots and dialogue after a while. It began to feel like a great idea changed to appeal to the same demographic as most Triple A games, the ones for whom emotions and moving stories are for "fags" and such.

Katawa Shoujo had me depressed for a couple of weeks, the The Walking Dead wasn't quite as strong when it came to longevity, but the feeling I had after finishing it was similar. The writing for both is absolutely fantastic. Definitely two amazing games. As well as being two of very few games where I felt genuine emotion for the characters.

Many games to name, but if I had to choose one it would be Saya no Uta

Spoiler: NSFW inside

This specific "game" is something I believe every single gamer must play to experience a unique take of horror.
No, I don't mean the bullsh*t jumpscares or monsters....
But the way your heart and mind feel about the characters inside the game....
I tried hard...but I only manage to make my heart bleed....

I agree to an extent, but I think what slightly ruined it for me was the unnecessary parts that seemed gratuitous. Namely what happens to Yō Tsukuba. It felt wrong, but not in the "good" way like the rest of the story, but in a "Why? What was the point?" kind of way.

If it didn't have that part, I'd completely agree.

 

[The Wykydtron]

Persona 4 because Persona 4 is the best thing ever.

Also BlazBlue because fucking HAZAMA! I love that guy so damn much...

"I'm really not the fighting kinda guy y'know?"

Umm, Katawa Shoujo is one (Hanako's route is one of the best character stories i've seen for a while) and some of Persona 3. I swear, if the main character had been at least tolerable in Persona 3 we would have been best friends...

 

[templar1138a]

Mass Effect 3 and Dragon Age 2 have clung to me well after finishing them. And I played TOR long enough to complete the Sith Inquisitor storyline. When that happened, I was genuinely terrified of the Darth I'd created (and he had a rating of Light II).

 

[Chris Tian]

I was sooo into the Mass Effect Games, then ME3 took that down a notch, sadly.

I think Baldurs Gate 1/2, but 2 in particular, will always be THE game of games for me. If Somebody says "best game ever" or "the game that made you a gamer", I will always think of Baldurs Gate 2 first.

 

[EHKOS]

VTM:B. I was at such a state when I first played that game, I took the Malkavian way a bit into my own life, which helped me work with social phobias and worrying about things too much. Nothing says I don't care how you judge me like a Dr. Suess hat.

 

[NeutralDrow]

Many.

Kana: Little Sister stands out, though.

 

[Yarpie]

Quite a few, actually.

Mass Effect, because I've never gotten so immersed into a universe before. At times I felt like I lived the damned thing rather than play it.

A close second would be Dark Souls. I was quite uninterested at first, but when I truly got inot the lore and educated myself to the point where I could join in on theorizing and speculating, it was like stepping into a new world. I played the game again and saw it with completely different eyes, which left quite the impression.

There is also Soul Reaver 2, because it was the first game to truly pull me head first into a story. It was the first time I felt truly engaged and I still remember how I was absolutely furious and sat grunting in anger in front of my computer towrds the very end of the game. I'd say it was the game that turned me into a "story guy" when it comes to games.

There are way more, but these felt like the most relevant ones.

 

[GonzoGamer]

No.
Maybe back when I was going through puberty but I think that had more to do with hormones.
I thought RDR (and every attempt by R* to get me emotional) was eye rollingly pretentious at the end. At least it didn't ruin the whole game. Not as bad as Heavy Rain, with that I couldn't get past the homework and dinner level so I can't give much of an opinion other than the fact that it pushed me away at the start rather than pulling me in. Played the first Mass Effect but didn't get into the series.
There are stories that I get into, just not the ones in video games. The best stories for games are the ones I make up in my head as I play. I guess I just don't consider them an emotional investment.

 

[kyuzo3567]

Ill try to keep it short: KOTOR I & II, Mass Effect Trilogy, Darksiders 1&2, Onimusha Quadrilogy, Dishonoured, Legacy of Kain series.

I think those are my top 6 game series I could replay over and over again. There are a ton more games I love but I tried to keep it to my favourites. I really wish my brother didn't sell my Onimusha games, I need to find an old Microplay to have a chance of getting them for cheap without resorting to ebay

 

[neonsword13-ops]

Of course I'm going to say Persona 3 and 4.

They are best games I have EVER played. The stories told in both games are so unique and cover subject matter that often seems like forbidden territory for writers and story tellers. The characters are fully fleshed out and are written like REAL teenagers, the music is stereo-busting good, and Persona 4 is actually the very first game to ever really make me cry. No, the Walking Dead didn't make me cry like everybody else, but it was an extremely sad ending that did manage to get me a little chocked up.

Another game would be Fallout 3.
Fallout 3 was the game that pretty much introduced me to the next generation of gaming. Not only was it a much more violent and vulgar game than what I was used to, but it was also my very first sandbox game. That moment when you walk out out of the Vault is one my favorite moments in gaming history.

And the last one is, as stated in the OP, Red Dead Redemption.

Holy shit, this game. Getting this game in the summer of 2010 was a grand treat. I spent my entire summer playing through it and the moment when you cross into Mexico for the first time with "Far Away" playing in the background is still one of the best moments I've experienced in a game. The moment was simple. You were just riding your horse to your next objective, but the song really emphasized the point that you were so "far away" from home and still had a long time to go until you saw your family again. So beautiful.
Also, dat ending.