Top 5 Emotional Gaming Experiences

[Thadeus]

Top 5 Emotional Gaming Experiences

 

Welcome to this little top 5 list of mine, here I will go through some of the most emotional experiences I've had in gaming, feel free to post your own views on my list or your own list below, without further ado, let's go.

 

5: Legened of Zelda Ocarina of Time

 

I'm kind of cheating with this one as the emotional meaning comes from assossiations with the game, not from the game itself on a technical level, hense why its so low on the list.

Now then, with that out of the way, the reason it's on the list in the first place is because I used to play this game over at my aunt's place, before I got the game for myself, when I hear the intro to the game I can still smell the unique scent in her house, it brings me right back to being a child again.

 

4: Mother 3

 

Ahh the Mother series, this series is one of those that everyone and no one knows about at the same time. The reason Mother 3 is on this list is because of the entire game tugging at my heartstrings throughout the entire experience, and since saying much more then that will be spoilers, I will include the info in a spoiler tag, view at your own risk.

 

 

The first moment in the game that really got to me was the death of Hinawa, I won't go into much detail, but long story short, the village where this adventure begins is out looking for Hinawa and her sons, Lucas and Claus, they find the two kids in the river, shivering and freezing, seemingly in shock. A short while later you find out why, as Hinawa most likely sacrificed herself to save their lives.

A great part of why this scene is so sad is the exelent music that plays during this scene called Gentle Rain

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3: Legend of Zelda Majora's Mask

 

Anyone who played this game knows that it isn't scared of mixing in the emotional scenes, since this game is a lot older and a lot more people have played it, I wont add a spoiler tag for this one, just give you a few examples.

One of the most emotional parts for me is the fact that the transformation masks Link use throughout his adventure are all basically the bodies of others who died, who let Link use their body after he healed their regrets.

Another part that gets to me is the sidequest involving Kafei and Anju, it is however to long to go into detail here unless you want to be here all day.

 

2: Journey

 

Man, I had a hard time choosing between this and number 1, but finally Journey made it into a strong number 2. Like I said in my review of the game, it's a experience that is very difficult to explain in words, as this game manages to bring out large amounts of emotion without a single line of dialog, without any real backstory. The only way to really explain it is "Go play it if you can"

 

1: Okami

 

Many people won't agree with me here most likely, but it's my list, I do whatever I want with it.

Now, the reason it's here are waist deep in spoilers, so I'll be using the tags again. The game, in my oppion, is beautiful in every sense of the word, I love the graphics, the music and the gameplay, and while I realise that it appeals to a very spesific demographic, that's what I think.

WARNING, Whats with in the spoiler tag spoils the ending of the game, you have been warned!

 

 

Now then, on to why this game is here, the ending.

You've faught your way through the source of all the evil thats caused so much trouble, and you come face to face with it, Yami, the ruler of darkness, the natural enemy of Amaterasu (your character) who is the goddess of the sun. And just as you are about to begin the battle, Yami steals all your brush powers, leaving you little more then a wolf when the battle begins, but with persistance you beat your powers back out of him, slowly regaining your powers one at a time and as you fight him, Yami's form changes to reflect different aspects of human evil:

 

 

Humanity's desire for destruction.

Humanity's desire to burn.

Humanity's desire to gamble.

Humanity's desire to use energy for destruction and evil.

When you defeat Yami, you see it collapse into a heap, and Amaterasu begins her signature howl, to show she is victorious, however just as she howls, Yami grabs her, inflicting enough damage to shatter your powers, nearly killing Amaterasu and revealing its final form, symbolizing humanity's desire to use their hands for evil.

 

Now barely alive, Amaterasu lays wounded, however, she hears the voices of all those she met on her journey, all of them offering support and prayers for her success. Since she is a god, her powers come from humanity's faith in her, and as the whole world prays for her, Amaterasu returns to her full power, even more powerful then she were before she went to face Yami, and with her powers back to 100% you procceed to kick Yami's ass and restoring peace.

This scene is, to me, extremely powerful, as I spent hundreds of hours in the world of Okami, traveling and meeting people, and seeing them all root for you just really gets to me, along with the exelent music once again.

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With that, this list comes to a close, I look forward to seeing what your emotional moments are.

[Alyxx Thorne]

Very good list, Thad. <3

Mother 1 was very emotional for me so I can't wait to play Mother 3.

[Doublenature]

MASSIVE SPOILERS AHEAD DO NOT LOOK IF YOU WANT TO EXPERIENCE THESE GAMES FOR YOURSELF

 

1. Red Dead Redemption

John dies, man that took me by surprise. This character that I had been getting attached to through the entire game dies to protect his family. The only thing he wanted was to live normal life with his family, get away from all the bad stuff that he did, but gets backstabbed by almost everyone he helps. Best written character in any game IMO

 

 

2. Ace Combat Zero

When Pixy turns on you and actually has a very good cause for doing so. Also, when PJ gets shot down, at first I didnt really care, but the more I play, the more sad I get. He bought his girlfriend flowers and everything, and then just dies.

 

 

3. Mafia II

"Sorry kid, Joe was never part of our deal" And when you find out that Dereck killed Vitos dad.

 

 

4. Mass Effect 3

Before the indoctrination theory, the "Synthesis" ending with the "I am alive" quote really got to me. Now after Ive read about the indoctrination theory, the ending is actually REALLY good IMHO. Mordin dying was another thing that I found really sad...

 

 

5. Fallout 3

The first game I played which had me make choices based on good or evil, it was really big for me at the time (I have over 4000 hours logged on my ps3).

 

[Pinkie Pie]

In no particular order and with no real semblance of narrative consistency:

 

1. Mass Effect Trilogy

 

The whole series is one big rollercoaster ride from start to end. I can't even describe the feelings you'll feel when you play the seroes, just go play the series. Mass Effect 1 has that sense of adventure and wonder that you get when you first discover a great series like this, Mass Effect 2 makes you feel like you do have a lot to lose (your squadmates) and that any step you make could be your last, and Mass Effect 3 has really powerful music that makes you BELIEVE you're feeling something other than confusion and disappointment.

 

But all in all, I'd recommend the whole series.

 

2. Metal Gear Solid Trilogy

 

Same deal, only I grew up with this series and it hasn't disappointed me yet. What's funny is one of the games that a lot of people think is one of the worst is one of the only games to make me tear up a little. I'd recommend this entire series. MGS1 was the whole reason this series got popular and since then, people's opinions of the series have gone either up or down, though the majority think it's great. I'm in the majority on this one, though it's silly and crazy and kind of stupid at times, that's what I love about Metal Gear Solid.

 

3. Assassin's Creed series

 

I'm adding the whole series, but the series kind of fluctuates with how involving it'll be able to grasp you into its storytelling, but ACII is probably the best in that regard. The first time you play and walk across the rooftops of Florence, Italy, even before you put on the assassin cloak, the entire game just feels amazing. At least, it did to me. These stories are in no way self-contained so it'd be nearly impossible for me to leave any out. ACI is a little frustrating once you start to learn it's controls but it's mysterious story will keep you invested, ACII feels wonderful and is a lot of people's favorite, Brotherhood is pretty cool because you're learning how to keep your own team of Assassins as well as renovating an entire city, Revelations is kind of dull but I still like it, and ACIII's story can feel very rushed but the gameplay is amazing for what it is.

 

4. Batman: Arkham City

 

Even though this is a sequel to Arkham Asylum (also a great game) it could be a standalone story if it wanted to be. The plot is the mayor has gotten Arkham City passed through which is basically just half of Gotham City turned into a super prison, and Batman goes in to investigate it when all sorts of crazy shit happens. This mostly applies to Batman fans, I think, but it's still a great game regardless.

 

5. Kingdom Hearts series

 

No matter how cheesy; how stupid, how childishly dumb this series can get at times, these are some of the greatest games out there. Not for it's gameplay, really, though it's pretty fun, but just for how adventurous it feels. This is one series I seriously can't describe more than, if you're a fan of Disney or non turn-based RPGs, play at least the first game.

[Arby]

I'll echo a lot of these.

 

My outrage at the first time I got the ending of Mass Effect three was probably the longest amount of time I've spent actually yelling at my TV. It was like 3 hours worth of talking it over with a friend who'd also recently finished.

 

The end of Red Dead and the strength of the characters leading up to it was so impactful that I refused to play the post-ending (I did see the credits)

 

Finishing grenade hell on the Heart of the Reich level (seriously, I counted out like 9000+ grenades and named this one particular Nazi who would spawn on a dime if I stopped looking at him,Ted) and just making it to the very first checkpoint at the foot of the staircase on veteran on the Downfall level that came next in CoD: WaW were epic moments. Among my friends we still refer to that first checkpoint moment as "Checkpoint reached!"

[Batman]

My Top Five: (some may be repeated from other peoples lists) Most impactful to least.

 

1. Zelda Ocarina of Time

-I was really sad when I beat the game, I was not a subscriber to Nintendo Power and the internet wasn't as available as it is nowadays plus 3D gaming was still relatively new so this game toke me awhile to beat, plus it was a kind of challenging game (and I was a lot younger). So after all that work, I felt a little empty cause the game ends in a strange place. Maybe it was just I didn't want the game to end, but oh well.. It has effected the way I feel about ever other Zelda game that ends, I always feel a little empty after beating a Zelda game.

 

2. Zelda Ocarina of Time

-Because this is top 5 emotional EXPERIENCES, I'm going to put a different example from this game that got to me. The Shadow Temple, still brings chills down my spine thinking about it, but when I was younger I was terrified. Redeads were scary and the mini boss was equally scary, but what got to me the most were the hands on the ceiling. Those things haunted me, and scared me off from completing the temple more time than I could count. Plus the music accompanied with it was frightening too.

 

3. Red Dead Redemption

-Don't read if you intend on playing Red Dead Redemption:

 

The way John Marston dies, God damn was I pissed and sad when that happened. Playing as Jake Marston is a drag, but thank god he killed that son of a bitch federal agent.

 

 

4. Runescape

-I was addicted, laugh or whatever, but around 2006 until 08 or 09 I played the shit out of this game. But besides all the rage from dieing in pvp, I gos t the biggest sense of relief after quitting this game and tbh after wasting so much time. I've been pretty much turned off from playing MMOever again. Pretty emotional experience.

 

5. Modern Warfare 2

-CoD haters let it out now, Big time Gamer experts criticize me, but you can guess what got to me. I'll put it in the Spoiler.

 

Ghost's death. Maybe it was the music, but for a bunch of characters I really didn't have that much of an attachment to (Ghost and Roach), God damn did I hate Shepard after what he did.

 

Plus spent a lot of time raging on the multiplayer, guess counts as emotional experiences too.

 

Honorable mentions:

Any Batman game ever made, they all deserve to be game of the year.

[HoboJim]

1. Red dead redemption, reasons listed above

 

2. Mafia II / kingdom Hearts, reasons been posted above and i just cant choose between them.

[Meelis13]

1.

Mafia- the city of lost heaven. Yes, im one of those who prefers old Mafia game over new one. All gameplay, storyline and graphics are rather incredible, if to consider it was released only few months after GTA 3. Also, definetly one of the best video game storylines of all time.

2.

Assassin's creed series, for pretty much same reasons listed above

3.

Rome: total war. Despite im being huge fan of entire total war franchise, this is the game that really got the interest started. Best impulsive bought i ever made (saw its gold version in shop at discount in school trip, almost decided to put it back, glad i didnt). The prospect of playing Caesar, Pompeii the great or even become new Alexander the great with 3d battles, for me as history geek, this was just too great. By now i have spent hundreds of hours building my empires, winning almost unbeatable battles, had defeats but also victories... ahhh.

4.

GTA san andreas. I have probably spent more time playing this game (including multiplayer) than any other- just so much to do, plus great variety of terrain and most importantly- 3 whole cities!

5.

c&c tiberian sun. Nostalgy is word here- probably not first PC game i played, but definetly first one i remember playing of

[The Hamburglar]

I tried to compile a list, but i couldn't. so Katawa Shoujo.

 

Katawa Shoujo man ;_:

[Psychotic Ninja]

I have too many games/moments to form a top five. I keep on going "no, this should be on the list, not this. Or "This should be higher, and this lower". And in some cases, I can't decide wither or not just to do some of the games in the series, group all of them into one, or just pick one. So I'm just going to pick five of them, in no particular order. Also, the reasons why will be spoilered, because I know not every single person has played/beaten every single games, such a feat is impossible, and who knows, someone reading this might be playing the game for the first time.

 

 

1) Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

 

 

The death of Farah, gets to me every time I play the game. Now if you watch the scenes that play when you go to save your game, you know they show the future, and a couple of them showed death, so when it shows us Farah's death, you, the player, are skeptical, doubting it'll actually happen, and then it happens.

 

 

2) Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7

 

 

There are two major moments in this game that get to me the most. The Nibelheim incident, and the ending. First, Nibelheim: First, I just love the fallen hero story, it's something I do in moral choice games like KOTOR. Second, it's retelling the story from FF7, but telling it correctly, 100% through Zack's POV, as it actually happens. I'm currently replaying the game, and I realized just how little Cloud's role is in the game, especially during the incident. I could ramble on and on about this, but I wont. Now there's the ending. I have no words. None, zip, nada, zilch. The only thing I can think of, to share my experience is if you've beaten both Crisis Core, and Final Fantasy 7, and watch this scene:

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3) The entire Kingdom Hearts series

 

 

I just can't pick one moment, there's too many to choose from. Hell, the entire game of 358/2 days gets to me, especially the ending, with the death of Xion, and the fight of Riku VS Roxas. Also as someone once stated, the music alone is very powerful. I could go on and on and on with the series, but I wont.

 

 

Aite, I'm getting too depressed, so I'm just going to list the last two games.

 

4) Chrono Trigger

5) Half-Life 2: Episode 2