How Can Videogames Make Us Cry?

[Songbird-O]

Amazing execution is key to bringing out emotions. What use are these emotions if you can't express them.

Mother 3 is the saddest game I have ever played. I've felt sad during many games and shed tears during a select few. But Mother 3 destroyed me. It is also one of my favorite games of all time, since no other game has ever triggered such a strong emotional response in me. I would say it nailed all of those points perfectly, and then some, spoilers avoided.

It's interesting to see what different things make different people cry. For instance: when my brother played Mother 3, the final scene made him cry the hardest. When I played it, chapter 6 made me bawl like a newborn baby. Different things strike different people differently. But good writing should be able to convey the emotion, not just state it's there. If they do that, people will feel sad, even if they don't cry.

 

[Enigmers]

"May I borrow your earpiece? 'Hello? This is Scout! Rainbows make me cry, over!'"

 

[ThisWasAWaste]

"At the panel, I overheard a guy behind me say, "If I were doing this panel, I don't think I would have used any of those things. I honestly would have given that speech completely differently."

When I turned around, I saw that the guy who said that was Warren Spector."

lol

 

[shogunblade]

I think another thing that might help make videogames more of a crying medium is creating situations where you truly fight for somebody. If it was your kid, or your lover, You'd just about send the person threatening that person you care about to oblivion if it meant that they'd never touch them again.

I don't know if it's because I've never had anybody to really fight for, but when I played King Kong: The Official game of the movie, The one thing that moved me to tears was the idea of Me playing Kong, trying to save Ann.

I don't know why, she's just a video game model of a gorgeous woman I'd never have a chance with, but when she screams and the T-Rex comes after her and I slug one of those things in the face and break its jaw so it won't do it again, I well up with tears, and I don't know why. I don't know if it is the animator or the writers doing so well, but I'm certainly not a 50ft Gorilla, but I relate so strongly with him that I'd kill a CGI T-Rex if it meant he'd never touch her.

 

[DoctorObviously]

Very few games manage to make me cry. Hats off to the developers!

 

[Citrus]

There is only one video game that has ever had me close to tears, and that's MGS4.

Spoiler

The bit where Snake is crawling through the microwave is pretty touching, but it's the end that really gets me. Specifically, the part at Meryl's wedding when Sunny asks Otacon about Snake and Otacon tears up and says something like, "Snake had a hard life." Damn. I've never cried over a game before but that was the closest I've come.

Of course, they kind of ruin it afterwards by having that massive conversation with Big Boss and then Otacon calling Snake a beast after the credits. If they actually killed Snake off, it would have been perfect.

 

[Scrythe]

Okay, I'll man up and admit it. Metal Gear Solid 4 actually brought me to tears on my first playthrough, especially Act 4. Walking in such a familiar area, looking at the broken security cameras, and listening to The Best Is Yet To Come and I just sat there, reflecting on how far the series has come.

It was an emotional moment as I thought about playing the NES port of Metal Gear as a child. I thought about my elementary school friend introducing me to Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. I thought about the day I was browsing the racks at Blockbuster to find Metal Gear Solid, then taking it home and beating it in one day, completely blown away by it. I thought about the day I rushed home from school just so I can pick up a copy of Sons of Libery. I thought about how, despite the deception, I grew to like Raiden. I thought about the day I found a copy of Metal Gear on NES at a garage sale for $0.50, rushing back home to relive the memories. I thought about dominating the forests of Russia in Snake Eater, playing as Solid Snake's father and hilariously meeting Johnny's grandfather (who I spared). And here I am again, as Solid Snake, back in Alaska staring at a broken camera, listening to audio flashbacks, dodging guards that weren't there anymore, and spending the whole level on top-down view (1000 points!).

The hand-to-hand fight between Solid Snake and Liquid Ocelot had it's own emotional weight as well. Two men, who experienced things that no normal solder could imagine. Two men who fought, bled, and gave every ounce of their existence for what they believed. Solid Snake, the hero. Ocelot, the anti-hero. Adversaries for decades. And this was their last duel, their final mission. Only one of them was walking away alive.

Then in the next minute, I'm watching Snake at the cemetery, ready to take his own life. At that point, I couldn't hold back anymore. This was Snake. A character hero since my childhood. A character I played from a pixelated green blob to what he is now. This wasn't just any regular game character, this was my character. And when that screen went black, I sobbed like a *****. Needless to say I actually cheered to see the final ending, the real resolution. I cheered when Big Boss showed up, and I hissed when Zero died. This was a great conclusion to a brilliant series. And it sure went out with a bang. I know there are more Metal Gear Solid games coming out, but Snake's tale is over.

The only game that ever came close to making me feel like this was Episode 4 of Tales of Monkey Island. I had a similar reflection, looking back at all the adventures I had with Guybrush Threepwood, from when my friend introduced me to the series up till now. After that, I was hanging on the edge of my seat waiting for Episode 5 to come out.

 

[Booze Zombie]

The easiest way to make a character cry is to spin a beliveable story, with all the ups and downs that implies.

 

[the_pleasure_is_mine]

Oh god the ending to final fantasy 10 makes me cry seriously...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPMFXfNk1IM

 

[NickCooley]

Hmm. No video game has ever made me cry. I dunno, keep trying I guess?

 

[Stabby Joe]

Fallout 3, Mr. Rouse? That game didn't make me cry. It made me angry. It made me think "this could've been game of the year, but the ending sucked so badly that I have to give this award to another game". It's the reason I wouldn't recommend anyone even consider the game without at least Broken Steel added on to it.

Bad example.

I'll agree with it as an example but "not even consider"? It's just one mission at the end, if you don't do it you can keep on playing or at least reload after the ending.

As for this topic, I have yet to get teary from a video game but I think it is possible... still waiting on it though...

 

[Cliff_m85]

I have never cried at any video game. Never.

Until this week a movie has never made me cry either. "UP" made me a bit sniffly. Made my eyes glisten a little bit. However I just saw "Grave of the Fireflies" and sobbed like a baby. That movie just keeps punching you in your grief-box.

If they made a game that would make me cry, it'd have to elicit the gamer to have a connection to the characters and care then consistently hammer home depressing events with the characters desperately trying to overcome them and failing.

 

[Singularly Datarific]

I thought it'd be about revolutionary force-feedback onion cutters.

 

[Arisato-kun]

The only game that has made me shed a tear is Persona 3.

Spoiler

At the end of the game when everyone's all but sure that Nyx has defeated them the main character stands up and sacrifices his soul to seal Nyx away from the world forever. Even as he's fading away he still manages to hang on long enough to keep his promise to his friends and then dies in Aegis's arms.

That coupled with the song Memories of You in the credits made me cry like a *****.

 

[Omegatronacles]

Video games should be, at their core, novels where you can control the main character.

Take for example, Final Fantasy VII (Because I just loved it that much), the game was so amazing, not because of the turn-based combat, but because of the story telling elements.

Final Fantasy successfully familiarized the player with all the characters well enough so that when one of them died, Aeris for example, the player felt as if someone that they had known for more than 10 minutes had died.

Furthermore, Aeris was an extremely amiable character.

Most of the Final Fantasies, Lost Oddysey, and etc. Are the most ready examples of good story telling and tear evoking games.

- In conclusion we don't need a game developer telling us how to make good games, but a good writer.

It didn't even have to be as drastic as Aeris I Was even upset when Biggs, Wedge, and Jesse died in the beginning of the game. But agreed Square Enix knows how to make you care about a character.

OMG Aeris DIES? Use spoilers next time...

Seriously though, welcome to the Escapist. May your stay be a long one. =)

OT: It all comes down to the writing. You can have the best looking game in the world, with the most awesome gameplay, but if your writing means that all your characters are made of cardboard then there's not going to be the emotional attachment needed to evoke emotional responses.

Although games have made me feel sad at points (such as the afforementioned Aeris) I have never payed on that has made me cry.

 

[Jubilant]

When Anthony Carmine dies in Gears 2. I didn't even play the game! Just watched clips from youtube...

I saw that. Teared like a baby because he was just so innocent. Also when

Spoiler

Dom found Maria again

. I wanted to throw my controller for some odd reason with that.

As well as in Assassin's Creed 2, the last part of 16's files before you see his final 'memory'. When he was just begging to be let go and telling us that 'his mind is gone' and 'Lucy. I'm just ready to go...' just made me almost bawl like a baby, I had gotten to attatched to him.

 

[Orcus The Ultimate]

Q.How Can Videogames Make Us Furburt Cry?

A. When they are The Longest Journey or Grim Fandango.

The only ones so far lads! Keep it up though.

you have good standarts, i respect that!

 

[Lunther]

Perhaps not cry, but certainly sorrow in some games. Such as a certain choice you had to make in the first Mass Effect. Of course that only helped make my decisions for that character in Mass Effect 2, and get the best ending I could for it.

 

[lacktheknack]

In Silent Hill 2, where Maria gets a spear shoved through her chest in front of James, I burst into tears, because the game was just so UNFAIR to the poor guy.