Death for more than shock value

[irrelevantnugget]

Prey has quite a dramatic death scene early on. Too bad the game degenerates into a simple (sick) horror shooter soon after that. The first half hour that you 'play' (as in, half of it is a cutscene in which you can look around) is pretty damn good though.

Another one would be Brothers in Arms. You see Leggett die in the very beginning, but as you go back in time, you'll see what a tough time he had by simply being in your 'oversized' squad (there were 13 instead of 12 soldiers, though 1 never got out of the plane on d-day), then getting blamed for the deaths of a few squadmates because there just had to be a scapegoat.
Even a simple discussion between who would win: Batman or Superman, made the characters just that tad more realistic; those people aren't real killing machines. They just wanted to get back home, preferably not in a box.

 

[Frybird]

What fascinates me about the death in HL2 EP2 is how unceremoniously it all happens. It's pretty much "one moment he's alive, the other he's dead", and after that, the game is just over without a sense of closure.

It sounds like i'm criticizing all these things, but actually, it gave some realistic vibe to the event that made it for me all the more dramatic.

It's kinda like Serenity, when

Spoiler

Wash gets killed "just like that", just when he pretty much saved everyone and in the middle of a moment where you think the crew would be save for a second

These "unheroic" deaths do much for realism and kill the usual expectation that every character you like will make it out alive, so that what follows will be all the more exciting and dangerous.

 

[EmperorDude]

Well in Oblivion I very much wanted to have Camaran's head on a stick for Uriel's murder. The man had 3 of his sons killed so you have to pity him. Than with Stewart as voice actor he was really tragic sorta like your grandfather you know is going to die but you can't stop it.

 

[olicon]

For me it has always been Biggs and Wedge in FF7. Their death haunted me throughout the game. I took down that one-winged bastard for those two. /Salute
Then again, I get this kind of feeling pretty easily. Even MMOG characters and overarching story hits me pretty hard. To me it's all about the believable world, not the character. When a world is painted so well, it draws you in, and every character becomes more real. Warcraft series fits this category for me. After so many games, and novels, the lore solidifies, and I feel like I can relate much more to the "world". That's why that bastard Arthas is going to have his skull crushed by my hammer some day. Lord Uther will be avenged!

 

[Copter400]

The diary of Vilenus Donton, a guild fledgeling who dies unceremoniously by a combination of trolls and insane mercenaries, was quite moving for me. Escpecially since the last words written down are a message to his mother.

Also, I too was moved by the death of Jackie's girlfriend. To this day, I can't see blood spattered on glass without shedding a manly tear.