Jimquisition: Crying Through The Laughs

4173

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Obligatory
killing Mordin in ME3
. I did it just to see what would happen, and it was like eating a live kitten.

I think DX: Human Revolution did a fine job doing the gradual version. The game starts in a reasonably bright world that gets stripped away layer by layer.


The most memorable example for me is
Gorion's murder
in Baldur's Gate. Shit gets real quite quickly, after happy-go-lucky prologue of squishing rats and fetching cow tonic. The game continues to have nice highs and lows (Friendly Arms Inn, the fancy Ball, return to Candlekeep).
 

Strife2GFAQs

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FFX had great voice acting for the time. I'm playing Lunar 2 right now. You want ****** acting? I'll listen to "the laughing scene" for eternity before I listen to Lunar 2's "actors" again. Xenogears (for what acting there was)was also ****.

FFX destroys those by miles.
 

ex275w

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A very important topic that a lot of game writers forget most of the time.
I think Mother 3 is the game that perfects this principle, the game is incredibly sad yet incredibly happy at times. The jokes and witty writing enhance the tragic and sad moments.

I think Bioware deals with this horribly, as much as people are saying to the contrary, all their games begin bleakly, Dragon Age with you being exiled, your family death, etc. Sure it kind of lightens up in the middle, but the game is always brooding and I don't like it.
Dragon Age 2 is even worse with half your family dead at the beginning and since most of the characters come off as unlikable, and the Templar/Mage fight is a lose/lose situation, it just takes you out of the game and makes you not care. Same as Warhammer 40K, which is also relentlessly bleak all the time.
Mass Effect also tries to do this, and does it better than Dragon Age, but the tension is never completely broken and it makes me care less for the story and characters.

Games that do break the tension completely and are still bleak are: Max Payne 1&2, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Half Life 2, and Persona 3.
 

ex275w

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BreakfastMan said:
Sorry, but um... Duh? This is pretty basic story-telling stuff you are commenting on right here. Did people really need this pointed out to them? 'Cause I thought most had already realized this. :\
Well it doesn't seem that many developers got that memo, since the later Final Fantasy games, Gears of War, God of War, and David Cage games all fit into this GRIMDARK pattern.
 

BreakfastMan

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ex275w said:
BreakfastMan said:
Sorry, but um... Duh? This is pretty basic story-telling stuff you are commenting on right here. Did people really need this pointed out to them? 'Cause I thought most had already realized this. :\
Well it doesn't seem that many developers got that memo, since the later Final Fantasy games, Gears of War, God of War, and David Cage games all fit into this GRIMDARK pattern.
I think we all know by now that developers often don't get the memo on a lot of things that are considered obvious by a whole crap-ton of people...
 

ex275w

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BreakfastMan said:
ex275w said:
BreakfastMan said:
Sorry, but um... Duh? This is pretty basic story-telling stuff you are commenting on right here. Did people really need this pointed out to them? 'Cause I thought most had already realized this. :\
Well it doesn't seem that many developers got that memo, since the later Final Fantasy games, Gears of War, God of War, and David Cage games all fit into this GRIMDARK pattern.
I think we all know by now that developers often don't get the memo on a lot of things that are considered obvious by a whole crap-ton of people...
Well then we need for them to get the memo or laugh as they fail to do the obvious things, it's a win-win situation for the audience watching. Either video game stories get better or they are treated as a punchline or as a warning for future games as what NOT to do in a video game storyline.
 
Aug 1, 2010
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Richardplex said:
MrDeckard said:
And now some people might not get to feel those awful moments, since you blurted that out unspoilered, good job.
1) The game has been out for almost a year.
2) This entire episode and thread are about the sad moments in games, so spoilers should be expected.
3) Several of the deaths I mentioned do not always happen.
4) Despite all of this, I'll still spoiler it, just for you

There, I fixed it.
 

Thedutchjelle

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A reference to Illusion of Gaia! Didn't expect that. That game was very good though. It's sad scenes were indeed sad, or atleast they were to me when I was a young gamer.

Never did any of the FF games so I have no idea what's that all about :p
 

Rob Jacobs

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portal_cat said:
what about Mass Effect 3? It was really sad when Thane died (or at least it was for me).
It was sad because it was a poorly written, terrible scene.
It didn't matter if you romanced thane or how nice you were to him, you get the same generic prayer (that actually makes zero sense in the context).
Mordin dying, now THAT was something.
 

Richardplex

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MrDeckard said:
Richardplex said:
MrDeckard said:
And now some people might not get to feel those awful moments, since you blurted that out unspoilered, good job.
1) The game has been out for almost a year.
2) This entire episode and thread are about the sad moments in games, so spoilers should be expected.
3) Several of the deaths I mentioned do not always happen.
4) Despite all of this, I'll still spoiler it, just for you.
1) 6 months and a bit actually, and I could ruin Spec Ops the line by saying it's been out for a whole .
2) Jim doesn't do spoilers that not everyone knows about, and by that I mean have entered it-was-his-sled level of knowledge like Aerith's death, and didn't actually mention ME3. By that logic, I'm not allowed to enter anything discussing sad moments unless I've seen everything that might have a sad in it ever.
3) True, but the first 2 happen if they are alive, or if some very specific circumstances are met. But despite all that
4) is true, so thank you :>
 

Fr]anc[is

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Good to see you are still capable of putting more effort into something than just copy pasting facebook comments and calling it news Jim.
 

wwmcfar

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Oct 12, 2009
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They're letting Elton John into Mississippi, really. Maybe they think it's a lynching.
 

Punch You

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I guess I'm te opposite to most people when it comes to FFX. I thought Tidus was reasonable in his whining. I mean, he was forced out New York City and sent to Afghanistan (Moving from a culturally and technologically advanced city to a place obsessed with religion and shuns technoogy).

Daddy issues? It's one thing having a horrible dad, but having a dad you hate and everyone else glorifies? Ghandi's son committed suicide, you know.

I also think Auron is a boring, flat character.
 

Triaed

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Jan 16, 2009
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That applies to people too. There are a few out there that they are always so gloomy that when something "bad" happens to them, like they lost their job, or flunked school, etc is difficult to feel bad for them.

That is not to say that one is not empathetic; in a true "tragedy" I am there for them... but I just try to avoid being sucked into their misery.
 

GamemasterAnthony

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I definitely agree with this. Any amount of brevity, regardless of how tragic the situation, can help nail the emotion home a lot better and make the tragic parts stand out and work better.

Actually, this could work in reverse too if done correctly. Take a look at Portal. This has some very dark imagery, yet comes off as very lighthearted and not to be taken too seriously. The pitch-black humor (as Yahtzee calls it) really helps bring the humor home while still retaining a sort of eerie feel.

Butthead of "Beavis and Butthead" said it best: "You've got to have stuff that sucks to have stuff that's cool."

Soviet Heavy said:
DVS BSTrD said:
Tragedy is when Aerith cuts her finger
Comedy is when Lighting falls into an open sewer and dies.
Mel Brooks directing Final Fantasy? I like it.
I am the Gamemaster, and I approve this idea. In fact, I am picturing such a game...and it is AWESOME!!!
 

SoDaRa

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Throughout the whole thing I couldn't help but think about Chibi-Robo. The game is overall very happy, but when its sad it really hits hard. Yet, I've always loved how the game never wallowed in its dark themes, but used them to instead to accent the main moral, spread the happiness.
 

ItemCrisis

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I am really glad that FFXI is featured in this video. Not only is it one of the most interesting and sprawling story lines in the series, it is also the most underrated FF game. Garnet losing her bloated, power-hungry mother is tragic, Vivi's feelings toward death mirror our own (and he is missing from the end sequence/or so it seems), and Zidane goes through a wash of emotions.
Is it the art style that puts people off?

Nice to see you this weekend, Jim. Thank (insert deity of choice)for you.