Poll: Do you Love Your Video Game Characters?

[Housebroken Lunatic]

I've cared for a few characters over the years. It largely depends on the story of the game and if the characters don't feel too ridiculous.

The latest character I found myself caring for was Kane in "Kane & Lynch: Dead Men" (some spoiler alert here, quit reading if you don't want to know).


Sure Kane must have done som pretty nasty deeds in his life, and he might have deserved getting the death penalty, and his redeeming quality in that regard was due to the fact that he welcomed it and acknowledged that he did deserve to die for most of the shit he'd caused.

But when the7 kidnapped his ex-wife and daughter, killed the wife and the game ultimately ending (the canonical ending that is) with his daughter bleeding out and dying, despite how hard and desperately Kane fought to save her from The7. That was pretty harsh both on the wife, kid and Kane.

I wonder how he turned out after it, and I guess "Kane and Lynch 2: Dog Days" might answer that.

 

[wred]

Aerith, Tifa, Red XIII, Vincent and Cloud from Final Fantasy 7. Gaz from Call of Duty 4. Ghost from Modern Warfare 2. Garza from Killzone 2. Raiden and Otacon from Metal Gear Solid 4. That's about all i can think of off the top of my head.

 

[zombiejoe]

I enjoy to care for my people, it makes the game more deep

 

[kawaiiamethist]

Considering the amount of time I spend with my characters, it'd be strange to not at least attempt to form a relationship with them.

I think my most extreme case was Alistair in Dragon Age. He took me through a gambit of emotions, and broke my heart when he tried to dump me. But karma sorted that out and he did the right thing

My dear Jansen (Lost Odyssey) is something else, because our relationship was more one of hero and fan. So when he tied the noose, I was mentally throwing rose petals <3

God, I am lame.

 

[BANME111111]

Only when I can name them...then shit becomes personal.
It takes me a while to think of the perfect name for them, you know, sum up who they really are.
And if something bad happens to them; I feel as if my creativity died with them.

 

[Estarc]

Well, good on your for being so frank. I thought the wording you used is different to the way I'd describe it, but I do indeed come to care for the characters in videogames. For example, in Resident Evil Remake on the Wii, when playing through the game for speed to unlock the Infinite Rocket Launcher, I found myself unable to get Barry killed, even though it would shorten the length of my play through, because I'd feel too bad.

So yeah, you're not alone in becoming emotionally invested in the characters in videogames. Though, unlike you, I was able to overlook Bastila and Morrigan's bitchy exteriors and came to like both of them quite a bit.

 

[JeanLuc761]

It's a shame that people feel the need to justify their ability to bond with videogame characters by stating they have great social lives. I thought we were past that! Seriously, if anyone gives you shit because you're able to have feelings for characters you just spent 20+ hours with, fuck 'em.

Mass Effect 1 & 2 are a couple of the absolute best games I've ever played because I love the characters so much; I can relate to them, I build friendships with them and my mind is very easily able to think of them as living, breathing entities. It only adds to the experience.

 

[Kurt Horsting]

No. Either they are actors reading an impromptu script and having me as their director, or just a tool to get me to victory. Its like saying, "did you befriend the Fonzie from watching happy days?" or "did you ever become friends with your chess pieces?". The obvious answer is no. They are not friends, and they are not things you care for.

 

[atalanta]

Of course I care. I care about characters in books, TV, and movies when they're well-written; games are no different.

I found myself forming friendships with characters such as Garrus, Wrex and Tali.

I have this whole imaginary situation planned out where, instead of going back to Tuchanka or becoming a space vigilante, Garrus and Wrex end up buddy-movie-ing at C-Sec.

*cough* Uh, yeah.

Bioware is great for character stuff; in general I think their overarching stories are kind of weak, but where they really shine is in creating likable, human characters. The only characters I actively disliked in ME1 and 2 were Liara and Kelly Chambers, and at the end when I screwed up and got Mordin killed I cried so hard ;_;

Lessee, off the top of my head some characters that really stand out for me are Tali, Garrus, Wrex, Joker, EDI, Mordin, and Thane from ME1 and 2; Mission, Atton Rand, Canderous Ordo, and HK-47 from KOTOR1 and 2; Alistair, Morrigan, Zevran, and Shale from DA:O; Dogmeat from the Fallout series; the Prince and Farah from PoP: Sands of Time; and the entire casts of Beyond Good and Evil and Psychonauts.

 

[dark-amon]

In a good rpg I will be so pulled into my character that I care about the other characters depending on how my role reacts to them. It's rares in platformers and actiongames, but in FFVII: Crisis Core (I consider it an action platformer) I was really pulled into an emotional relation with the charachters.)

 

[Housebroken Lunatic]

Aerith, Tifa, Red XIII, Vincent and Cloud from Final Fantasy 7. Gaz from Call of Duty 4. Ghost from Modern Warfare 2. Garza from Killzone 2. Raiden and Otacon from Metal Gear Solid 4. That's about all i can think of off the top of my head.

I thought about mentioning Garza from Killzone 2, but not really as an example of a character I cared for but the opposite.

I don't know the story of the game just didn't couple with the death of Garza, considering the fact that Sev, Garza, Natko and Rico had basically survived encounters with Helghast troops outnumbering them to the point of ridiculousness. And suddenly im supposed to feel "sad" because Garza gets shot and dies?

Seriously, the only thing I could think of was: "Wow. Im surprised no one in the group died sooner than that. Can't say I feel much of anything considering how ridiculously far the group managed to go without getting killed."

I guess that's one thing I dislike about games with a war setting. Managing to have the main character stay alive against incredible odds is one thing (provided that the character has to sneak around A LOT in order to outsmart and outgun several enemies at once, think Metal Gear). But when an entire "crack team" of protagonists basically never runs the risk of dying, despite the fact that they have gone up against entire battalions of enemy troops, it kind of waters down the story based event where one of them eventually gets killed. It also tend to invoke a gruesom case of the stormtrooper syndrome on the enemy, making the enemy feel less threatening overall (it's good that the Helghast possess one of the best character design concepts I have ever seen, because if they didn't they would come across as one of the most ridiculous enemies ever).

So, to summarize: Garza died. Big deal. Im surprised that it didn't happen sooner, and also pretty surprised as to why both Rico and Natko survived too. And it felt pretty stupid when the game seemed to want me to feel that Garzas death was a "boohoo, he died! I am sad nao!"-moment.

Plot protection of characters should be used with subtlety. Something many writers today don't seem to grasp...

 

[SimuLord]

I couldn't do the things I do in The Sims if I formed attachments to the characters.

Then again, the prospect of blowing up Megaton makes me feel dirty inside, in part because the people there are just scratching out a living and getting by and (contrary to most people's opinions) I find Moira Brown downright cute and lovable...but then I've got a thing for chicks with high-pitched voices.

 

[Skullpanda]

I do, for any well written characters. I've come across games with horrible narratives but outstanding characters, and I'll play those into the ground. The inverse (great narrative, boring as hell characters) tends to be left alone for a while (Persona, I'm looking at you) until I finally motivate myself to finish the game. It's really all about the characters for me.


And I've still never quite forgiven Team Ico for what they did at the end of Shadow of the Colossus...

 

[Guitarmasterx7]

Sometimes, if the character I play as is/is similar to me. For example, I felt really connected to "the boss" in SR2 and shared his emotions, not because SR2 was necessarily emotionally compelling, but because he was basically me. But really it only happens when the character either is customizable, (Shepard, The boss, The douche you play as in fallout 3) looks like me anyways (I'm sure that I would have absolutely hated Nathan Drake otherwise) or if the game is in first person and you never see the main character.

This affects how I feel about the other characters too. If I feel connected to the main character I likewise feel connected to his friends and such, because they're friends with "me" as opposed to being friends with some jackoff who I'm playing as. It really helps the overall gameplay experience for me because it makes me care about what happens in the story a lot more. Still, it's never gotten to the point where I've been teary eyed over a death or some shit.

 

[Brownie101]

Not one.
Okay, Spyro I loved. Cynder not so much due to her constant switching of sides (I don't care if it was mind control, she still seemed just a bit too schizophrenic)

And I'd say Eliphas, but I didn't really love him. He was just great Voice Acting. In Dark Crusade. He fails in Chaos Rising.