Which was the first game you actually cared about the characters?

[Omikron009]

I've been playing video games for quite some time, but I think I only started to get attached to characters during my second playthrough of Mass Effect. Before that I was able to be a complete bastard to everybody and not feel bad, but I actually talked to my party members on my second playthrough and started to care about them, and I guess that jumped over to other games, because now I sometimes feel bad when playing as an evil character and have trouble making mean dialogue choices with central characters.

 

[Dimensional Vortex]

I'm not sure about my first but I definitely cared about Ethan in Heavy Rain, that was probably the most emotional game I have ever played.

 

[Vancleef]

I would say Mass effect 1 and 2... You do care about your crew-members.

Though, I did care about my covenant/marines in halo when I was younger. (I thought you actually needed them to complete a level and the flood levels were not as creepy if you had company)

 

[Mr. Meslier]

I don't think its the first game, but the game where I cared the most about the characters is actually a mod. It's called "Blue Planet: War in Heaven" and its a mod for the space sim FreeSpace 2. The game itself come out like ten years ago or so, but the modding community it has is simply incredible.

Here's a short video showing off some of the visuals this game has now. It's the definition of a game aging well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhAR8rWPluQ

I say without hyperbole that War in Heaven is probably the best game I have ever played. Even with a lack of voice acting (Director's Cut version will include it), I don't think I've ever had so much emotional investment in the characters of a video game before. I felt excited when they were excited, surprised when they were surprised, and furious when they were furious. Your character loses friends throughout the story, and it's downright painful.

 

[Harlemura]

I've had a soft spot for most characters I've had to lug through a game, but the only ones I remember genuinely nabbing my feelings is the Final Fantasy XIII guys.

Spoiler

The ending really got to me. Fang and Vanille gone to save Cocoon, then everyone else all happy, with Sazh and his kid and Snow with Serah... That shit's touchin', man. It's fuckin' touchin'.

 

[Catfood220]

The first game in which I actually cared what happened to the characters was in Illusion of Time for the SNES. It wasn't very long or very hard for that matter. But the story was more involved and character driven than the "go here, get object, save Princess" story of Link to the Past (which was a great game before anyone says anything) and I found myself really liking the characters so much that I played this game over and over again

Its a shame that it never got a re release on the GBA unlike a lot of other SNES titles.

 

[Deathfyre]

Probably whichever was my first fire emblem game... Perma death really makes you careful

 

[Zeema]

I really Cared for the dudes in Modern Warfare i was so annoyed that ghost got killed

 

[DragonBorn96]

Ezio from AcII, anyone who has played it and knows what happens to him to at the start is a pretty bad thing to see and experience and yes i know its agame

 

[Vuavu]

Golden Sun and Golden Sun: The Lost Age for Gameboy Advance. Or Ocarina of Time... I never did get over how you can't ever unfreeze Zora's Domain

 

[Athol]

REALLY cared for?....hmmm, it would have to be John Marston, I shed a manly tear at the "end" of RDR.

Spoiler

but I made sure he went down fighting HARD

 

[lighto]

Hm, Fallout 3.. Uhh KH 356/2 days, Both mass effects... Dragon age too, ^^;

 

[Rachel317]

Man, every time Simba kicked it and Rafiki showed up all disheartened and shaking his head... god the pain in my heart.

That scarred me as a child. It seemed so...unnecessary that it verged on disturbing.

OT: Probably Trip and Monkey from Enslaved. I've played many games, and not once have I hoped for a happy ending more.

Spoiler

I hate overblown, cliche romances, so the fact that this one was handled so tenderly and delicately without any REAL conclusion to it just blew me away. It was cliched in the sense that the anti-hero changes a bit and opens up from being a loner, fair enough, but it wasn't cliche in the typical sense.

I think the genuine, excellent facial expressions get you first then the superb voice acting just draws you in. The character interaction and motion capture is some of the best I've seen implemented in a game.

 

[tombman888]

I cared about the Yoshi's from Yoshi story... NOOOOOO, why you have to die!!! COME BACK!!!

 

[baddude1337]

Probably Metal Gear Solid. It was one of the first game stories that really hooked me.

 

[Agent Cross]

Final Fantasy VI, first scene in the World of Ruin. I didn't quite get the point of the fish minigame, so...

Followed immediately by "holy shit...wow!"

You know, that almost slipped my mind. Back when RPGs where still making us care.

OT: FFVII, do I really need spoilers? All that time grinding and this mother has to come in and ***** slap the whole game for me. 6 & 7, good times.

 

[Sinspiration]

Alundra and too many of the characters in it.

Granstream Saga and the main trio of characters (Eon, Arcia and Laramee)

People will laugh and say I have no taste but... Gears of War.

Eeeyeah on this one I'll have to giggle a little. No offense intended, dont get me wrong, I love emotional scenes in games, but I personally found that (and Dom's continuous "zomg-must-find-her-whail-cry-sniffle") to be a lame attempt at injecting a feeble amount of emotion into an overly steroid-driven game. (Again dont get me wrong, I like playing Gears sort of, me and my pops like to tag team and bring the locusts some real pain. Always play Dizzy in horde mode, yeehaw!)

 

[Archangel768]

If I remember correctly, I believe it was the original Jak and Daxter. Afterwards, the first game I really really cared about the characters was Final Fantasy X. When I say really really, I mean like, it made me feel emotions "heavily"? I cared about the characters in Jak and Daxter but, Final Fantasy X was on another level.

 

[octafish]

As strange as it sounds - it was X-Com for me. Though I can't remember the name of the trooper I really cared at the moment.
He was the only one whose death would cause a loading of game...

Quite so, although I never went as far as save scumming. That guy who was the only survivor of your first raid and then went on to become your front line soldier, climbing the ranks, becoming more efficient with grenades, when he got tagged by a chrysalid, man that hurt.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Metal Gear Solid.

The story was compeling and the characters were engaging. I truly felt bad for some of the characters, and that one moment where you have to leave Meryl behind - bleeding and at the mercy of Sniper Wolf - to go all the way back to get a sniper rifle, really tore me up the first time I played it.