Emotive Scenes

[ThePlasmatizer]

One of the major points in an rpg is to get the player to connect with the characters and make them care about what happens to them. This can be done through emotive scenes but the problem is not very many scenes will actually connect you with the character.

I remember a scene from Lost Odyssey where a character dies and it was meant to be emotive and make me care but really I just felt it was tacky and embarassing. I feel it's because they didn't get the human element right at all; just making characters cry doesn't portray pain at all, in fact it can be accomplished without any tears at all with the protagonist silently hugging the dead character to him in silence to show he's a broken man but instead it turned out to be a big wet ordeal with tears and bawling children.

So what makes a good emotive scene? (gawd, I'm just bracing myself for the ff7 fans' comments)

I think what's missing is humanity, developers don't know how to make a character human.

What's your thoughts on emotive scenes? are they done well in games?

(For anyone interested I thought this was a rather good example of an emotive scene that works: link [http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=WDYPOS00fsc&feature=related]).

 

[Bob_F_It]

For one, there needs to be good music playing in the background. Music makes any atmosphere. Heck, the music industry relies on that.

 

[ThePlasmatizer]

For one, there needs to be good music playing in the background. Music makes any atmosphere. Heck, the music industry relies on that.

That's definitely a part of it, music's a powerful medium for emotion it's terrible when they get it wrong though.

 

[Good morning blues]

There are a lot of important things to get right. The most important is probably the buildup; you need to care about the characters before the scene happens in order to care about the scene. In Half-Life 2 Episode 2:

Spoiler

The scenes where Alyx gets impaled by the Hunter and Eli gets killed by the Advisor are both extremely brutal, but that's not why the scenes are effective. You've come to know those characters before those things happen; it's not just another dead human in a world of dead humans, it's something horrible happening to someone that they player feels like they have a history with.

Another part of it is voice acting. The importance of voice acting is highly underestimated. It really sells the reactions in scenes like the ones I described in the spoiler up there.

A game that I thought failed completely at emotional scenes was Brothers in Arms. The voice acting was terrible ("TAKE ME, YOU BASTARDS! TAAAAAKKKEEE MMMEEEEEEE!") and I couldn't tell any of the soldiers apart except for the one with the glasses and the one that you always talked to at the end of the mission. When one of them got killed, it was just another one of the guys that I guess I'd heard his name before, but I had no idea what he'd said or done previously.

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.

 

[Altorin]

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.

 

[Altorin]

it's [ spoiler ] [ /spoiler ] btw

edit: nvm

 

[philios82]

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.

 

[The Sorrow]

I cried several times throughout MGS 4. Despite the fact that some of the plot points were patently absurd, they were done beautifully, and you could really connect with the characters.

 

[Hunde Des Krieg]

well emotional scenes may not be done the best in all games but some pull it off (HL2 ep2), and music can definitely help to influence emotion, but the make or break things are probably voice acting and animation, like facial expression and body language. It will help if the voice actors can actually bring themselves to tears, it will make an audible difference in the game. and the devs could mo-cap the facial features of someone crying, and so forth

 

[Altorin]

well emotional scenes may not be done the best in all games but some pull it off (HL2 ep2), and music can definitely help to influence emotion, but the make or break things are probably voice acting and animation, like facial expression and body language. It will help if the voice actors can actually bring themselves to tears, it will make an audible difference in the game. and the devs could mo-cap the facial features of someone crying, and so forth

music is almost required for an emotive scene.

the best emotive scenes have the best music, and you don't even remember because the music is just floating in your head tickling your subconscious

 

[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

 

[Bob_F_It]

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.

Well, some scenes are well accompanied with dead silence. Hard sci-fi does that to emphasise the loneliness.

 

[Good morning blues]

and the devs could mo-cap the facial features of someone crying, and so forth

Well, motion capture doesn't really work like that - movements like that are too tiny and specific to be effectively captured using that technology. I agree about its importance, though - Valve's facial modeling and animation technology is a very large part of their success in creating emotional experiences in their games.

 

[Hunde Des Krieg]

well emotional scenes may not be done the best in all games but some pull it off (HL2 ep2), and music can definitely help to influence emotion, but the make or break things are probably voice acting and animation, like facial expression and body language. It will help if the voice actors can actually bring themselves to tears, it will make an audible difference in the game. and the devs could mo-cap the facial features of someone crying, and so forth

music is almost required for an emotive scene.

the best emotive scenes have the best music, and you don't even remember because the music is just floating in your head tickling your subconscious

I don't think Eli's death in HL2 actually had any music though... but yeah music can definitely help set the tone, especially music by John Williams

 

[the protaginist]

before anyone else says it, Jenny from the Darkness.I was suprised the game didn't make us fight up to her execution scene.instead,it puts the guns aside for a minute to show WHY jenny was so great,why she needed to be protected. It really made me mad at the Darkness,for not letting Jackie help her,when he was so close.

 

[Good morning blues]

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.

Well, some scenes are well accompanied with dead silence. Hard sci-fi does that to emphasise the loneliness.

Not just hard sci-fi, though. Silence can be very effective regardless of genre, especially when there's a lot of sound and chaos normally. This isn't a video game example, but take the movie American Grafitti; the scene where the guy attaches the cable to the back of the cop car is extremely tense, and there is no music at all there.

 

[Bulletinmybrain]

I cried several times throughout MGS 4. Despite the fact that some of the plot points were patently absurd, they were done beautifully, and you could really connect with the characters.

The end where snake trudged on was poetic..Raiden in his medical bed..Big Boss dieing..Snake+Pistol.. God to much.

 

[ThePlasmatizer]

I think it depends on the scene, sometimes silence is the best symbol for the emptiness, but on other occasions the wistful sound of a piano can create an emotive and powerful scene.

 

[Avida]

I dont know how to make a powerful emotive scene but i can definitely name a few times where they've failed and why. Recent example - Fable 2, ive been playing through this for the last few days and the ending was deeply unforfilling -

Spoiler

I felt no attatchment to the dog, reaver, the mage, lucien, my sister, theresa, or my wife, husband and child he murdered

so ultimately that scene fell flat on its face.

Why did i feel nothing for them?

Because they weren't human, they didn't have quirks or nuances from what i'd expect. Especially reaver because not only did he not vary from his stereotype but he was also an unlikeable douche - This is coming from a Stephen Fry fan!

Ill go back to the dog for a bit. If any of you have played shadow of the colossus too, hopefully, like me you've found it sad when your horse fell, thats because aside from being a faithful companion like the dog it tried to save you, it did something it wasnt required to do, so it has a personality. The dog on the other hand just hangs around, finds treasure that (essentially) you couldn't find anyway and pesters the occasional downed enemy. Now if it saved you in combat, or showed its affection for you in some way other than just hanging around i might think otherwise. I actually liked the dog in the child portion of the game because it was scripted in to do some nice things but once i turned adult and walked into the open world hoping to explore only to get dragged away constantly by the little mut to go find dig spots...

Note how i didn't include Hammer, she was done really well, she chatted to you, she showed different emotions, she abandoned the task she was doing and ripped that hammer off the wall, she sings, all personality. Why weren't the other characters like this?!

 

[Trace2010]

well emotional scenes may not be done the best in all games but some pull it off (HL2 ep2), and music can definitely help to influence emotion, but the make or break things are probably voice acting and animation, like facial expression and body language. It will help if the voice actors can actually bring themselves to tears, it will make an audible difference in the game. and the devs could mo-cap the facial features of someone crying, and so forth

music is almost required for an emotive scene.

the best emotive scenes have the best music, and you don't even remember because the music is just floating in your head tickling your subconscious

Yes, you do. Alzhimer's patients can sing and remember ballads- and, I think, the circumstances behind them. Whenever you here the music, truly powerful music, you can remember the scene.