AAA games can tell great stories, but why don't they hit me emotionally?

GR:

"Point of fact: video games are the only major medium never to flick my sob switch. Now I won’t unleash the water works over just anything. In fact, I'm not much of blubberer at all. I'm actually more of the 'onion-eyed' type, occasionally shedding a single tear a la that sad-eyed Native American man trudging along the highway. That being said, the further I get from my cynical teenage days, the more I seem to notice myself becoming emotionally invested in my media."

[gangsta_red]

Because they're video games and these characters trying to convey these complex emotions are still very unconvincingly animated. At least for me it's hard to get emotionally attached or even care on that level when there is supposedly a sad scene.

[Aloy-Boyfriend]

I don't know... The Walking Dead and TLOU hit me really hard and made me cry, same with the ending of Crisis Core. TLOU, in particular, was totally unpredictable that opening sequence. It was perfect the way Troy Baker delivered that scene. It was his performance that made that scene with Sara beliavable and pretty emotional. Still gives me the goosebumps... At least these games I mentioned are convincingly animated imo because of the actors.

Of course there may be others who that didn't strike them as much. Not everyone is supposed to feel the same emotional impact.

[Gazondaily]

The TLOU starting bit was obvious from a mile away! It was a question of how it would happen.

Annyway, the reason why TLOU succeeded emotionally was because it did what gangtared says most games don't do and that's successfully deliver on those complex emotions with incredible animations and voice acting.

But by in large, I don't feel that much of an emotional connection.

One game that tried SO HARD and completely failed is Gears of War, particularly the third game. I absolutely did not care for the story.

Games that really made me feel something are few and far between but from the top of my head, aside from TWD and TLOU which you mention, they are:

MGS1 on PS1

Lost Odyssey (but never completed it because..evil friends)

Splatterhouse on Sega MD- because it was depressing as ****

FF8- Squall and Rinoa romance; yes I'm a sucker for that stuff- another game I have yet to complete

Saints Row 1- odd choice I know but there was this racer chick who dies in it iirc. I genuinely felt dem feels. Then SR2 onwards the game just went batshit crazy

And others which I cant remember right now.

It all depends on the delivery.

[gangsta_red]

@XiKurapikaKurta

Crying? Wow...I would hate to see you at a real emotional movie. You would be a mess.

@Septic

I agree, IMO the TLOU scene was a cheap and clich'd way to try and make you feel sorry for a character.

The Gears scene was terrible and another over use of cliche's to make you feel some sort of sad emotion for a character forcibly delivered down your throat.

It's nice that these devs are trying to add a little more to stories than just kill, kill, kill but a lot of times it feels cheap and on the level of a college film school attempt of story writing.

*Hmmmm...lets add depth to this character...let's kill his/her child!!*

Game stories have a better chance of having unexpected twists or thought provoking situations like the ending of Bioshock or the airport scene in CoD. Also tension from suspense like games P.T. or Silent Hill, but sadness...just can't do it.

[Thatguy-310]

There a few games that are bale to do thatthat. At the moment not every studio has the same talent that know how to pull this off. Maybe he's just playing the wrong games.

[Genuine-User]

@gangsta_red

"IMO the TLOU scene was a cheap and clich'd way to try and make you feel sorry for a character."

Care to elaborate.

[gangsta_red]

@Genuine

"Care to elaborate."

Pretty sure I already did. What exactly do you want me to elaborate on?

I mean Septic already established the scene I'm referring too, what else do you want to know?

Do you want me to elaborate on the Gears scene also..or just TLoU?

[Genuine-User]

@gangsta_red

Just The Last of Us.

Could you elaborate on why you think the opening 15 minutes are cheap and clich'd.

@Septic below

I have read your comment, I'll give my take once I read red's as well.

[Gazondaily]

@Genuine

"Could you elaborate on why you think the opening 15 minutes are cheap and clich'd."

He has done that already?

************SPOILER ALERT BELOW**************

(for the 1% who haven't played TLOU)

****Hmmmm...lets add depth to this character...let's kill his/her child!!****

In fact, I agree with him in terms of thought process but I wouldn't use the words cheap or clichéd. It was predictable and somewhat blunt but its just a question of perception.

It was obvious the daughter was gonna get killed. The trailers, the cover for the game, all of it showed Elle featuring in it.

The tightly super linear bit where you're essentially barely controlling a glorified cutscene. The daddy and daughter child bonding scene etc (although the later reference to the watch (iirc) was a good touch)

In fact, my mate actually burst out laughing the way Joel chucked the girl (that's what he said- don't remember the exact segment of the scene). Its been done in movies all the time.

Still, it worked for a lot of people and in that respect, it was ahead of a lot of other games (movies and cinema not so much).

I don't really think of the start of the game when I think of TLOU.

[gangsta_red]

@Genuine

The same reason(s) I and Septic already stated. The foreshadowing was painfully obvious, clich'd attempt to try and make you connect or feel sorry for a character just introduced by killing someone close.

Cheap because they used that obvious angle to set up the relation with Ellie. It wasn't imaginative and has been done many times before in movies, but more importantly didn't get the emotional response from me it tried hard to obtain.

Great story, great ending, but an emotional one, not at all.

The same reasons go for Gears just so we're clear and people don't flock to my comment of start accusing me of hating Sony. :)

Edit:
Septic basically nailed it. I wasn't going to do the spoilers since I was dinged as SPAM and lost a bubble in a past comment when I had to "elaborate" on a game's story.

[Outthink_The_Room]

You also aren't taking into consideration that the cut-scenes in TLOU are pre-rendered.

That allowed the animators to do significantly more touch-up work to the actors face. Doing that in real-time would have never been as close to believable.

And there-in lies the problem. Believability in characters, especially game characters is hard to replicate. We aren't at the point yet where perfect performance capture is readily available, nor is it functional from a cost-effective standpoint.

Look at Avatar. That movie came out 6 years ago. The technology behind their performance capture was created in 2005. That's decade old technology and it's still the gold standard for believable characters.

Think that about. 10 year old tech blows away anything gaming can do. Once developers have the needed performance capture technology along with significantly more power to render complex animation, then I think we'll start seeing characters with more emotional range.

[BitbyDeath]

TLOU nailed it, best opening scene in a game ever, I stayed on a blackout after the first video was shown so did not have the intro spoiled like the others mentioned above.

[Genuine-User]

@ Septic and Gangsta_red

I won't go into much detail but I simply can't agree with the two of you.

Septic, are you saying that your friend burst out laughing while Joel and Sarah were under fire?

Gangsta, her death wasn't suppose to be a twist, neither was it an attemt to make you feel sorry for Joel; clearly made more evident 20 years after the initial breakout.

It wasn't imaginative therefore it's cheap? The execution was impeccable, but more importantly it got the emotional response from most of us that it tried so hard to obtain.

Not an emotional story? As opposed to what other game or post apocalyptic, zombie-esque infected movie?

"Sarah is alone, defenseless, and scared in a big, empty dark house. You’re in control of her and there’s no help to be seen. You are entirely responsible for her safety. Sound familiar?

Yeah, the game is immediately conditioning you into the mindset of the character you’ll inhabit for most of its running time. The mix of protective duty and paternal paranoia is tangible throughout. The game is training you to think like Joel before you even get anywhere near playing him. So when Sarah ultimately dies, it’s not just Joel who has failed to save her. It’s you, the person who was first made responsible for her. In that way, yourself and Joel are emotionally bonded throughout the game, and the loss that informs his every action is one that you feel yourself every step of the way."

Please don't use Gears for anything except gameplay.

[Aloy-Boyfriend]

Nailed it @Genuine!

Sep and Red are paying too much attention to the fact that "it has been done in movies." and not the execution. this is video games we are talking about. It should be compared to other games. Also when was the last time a movie has been as emotional? As I said, it was the execution that made that scene believable. ND and the actors delivered it in a very impeccable way you barely see anywhere else. I honestly didn't see that coming.

Also how are both of you supposed to enjoy or immerse yourself reading books, watching movies, or play games with the mindset, "this is fake." or "It's been done?" just because they didn't find an new imaginative way to make you care and give the character depth it was cheap? The theme may be cliche, but the execution was impeccable. You can have a bunch of overused ideas on the table, but you could make a fresh execution by combining them in an unique way and delivering a believable experience.

And if you saw the ND video about TLOU, you could see Troy Baker had a very hard time getting that scene alone right and unique instead of the same ,"nooo why god" reaction. It took him days and messed with his own emotions to the point he wanted to quit. That alone says a lot about the quality of emotion they were aiming to, not some clishe whatever reaction has been done to death

[gangsta_red]

@Genuine

"her death wasn't suppose to be a twist,"

Never said it was. It couldn't be a twist since it was so painfully obvious that it was going to happen.

"..neither was it an attemt to make you feel sorry for Joel."

Going to disagree with you as it was definitely an attempt to make you feel sorry for Joel and to also set up his relationship with Ellie.

"Not an emotional story? As opposed to what other game or post apocalyptic, zombie-esque infected movie?"

You are missing the point and making this into a TLoU thing. No other game has made me feel emotionally sad (or cry) because animated characters just can't convey that pain through game animations. Not even a Zombie movie has done that so why even ask me this?

----------
Edit:
Actually Land of the Dead made me cry because it was so gawd awful!
----------

And games that try to evoke that emotion usually do it through forced or clich'd ways like the game examples Septic brought up with TLoU and Gears (which for some reason you don't want to hear about).

No one is saying that TLoU has a bad story, we are discussing can games make you emotional and for me personally no they haven't, yet. Games can convey suspense, a story can have a great twist at the end that brings excitement but sadness as this article is talking about, nada.

Games just can't do it, not with the freshman type of stories that are so far being told or animations these games currently have.

Now if a game adaption of Requiem for a Dream came out with an ending like that then MAYBE I might get a little teary eyed. But then again devs may make the whole shock therapy scene a QTE thus limiting the effectiveness of the scene.

@Outthink_The_Room

Agree, it's that whole uncanny valley effect. Seeing animated characters cry doesn't and can't connect with me emotionally because I know it's fake.

[Gazondaily]

@Kura

"video games we are talking about. It should be compared to other games. "

Yes which is why I said :

***Still, it worked for a lot of people and in that respect, it was ahead of a lot of other games (movies and cinema not so much). ***

"Also when was the last time a movie has been as emotional?"

You're kidding me. You either don't watch a lot of movies, have a abnormal attachment to the story in TLOU or both.

Movies had evoked FAR greater emotions than TLOU. Far greater. There is little comparison.

Good Will Hunting
Shawshank Redemption
Requiem for a Dream...

Mate a shed load more. Please dont over exaggerate the impact of TLOU's story. I appreciate though that this may have emotionally affected you very differently.

[Volkama]

I cry every time I kill anyone in any game. I have to keep a lot of water on hand just to make sure I stay hydrated.

[Aloy-Boyfriend]

Septic

Ok I forgot to say, "lately." I know that movies like the titanic have had a greater emotional impact. Like I said, this should be compared to games since this is video games. I've played many games and I can tell very few have struck me like TWD and TLOU. And tbt, I barely watch movies with emotional themes now, but I used to before as growing up a lot. I think video games are doing a better job in that regard as of late

[Outthink_The_Room]

@XiKurapika

You keep saying "don't compare them to film", which is just a cop-out. How are TLOU cut-scenes different than film? The animators at ND had more freedom to correct imperfections in the performance, which is no different than film. You don't want to compare them to film, but you want to compare pre-rendered cut-scenes to real-time cut-scenes. Really?

You're saying that a crying scene in a game is more powerful than any of the 1,000 films that have done it before? There are films from the 50's, 60's and 70's that have more emotional arcs than TLOU. And on top, they've done it infinitely better with more believable characters.

This idea that TLOU reigns king is so ridiculous. TLOU is simply a product of it's time. In the coming years, the performance in that game will be nothing but a technical marvel for 2013.

TLOU is completely average at emotion. It pales in comparison to every other form of entertainment. But because it's better than most games, it's being hailed as king?

The writing, the story, the emotional arc, the characters, they're B-movie quality AT BEST. This idea that TLOU did something to change the landscape of gaming is ridiculous.

Once EVERY developer has better ways to do performance, then we'll start talking about emotional impact on a grander scale. Cherry picking a game that tried to do emotion is worthless. There are a thousand films that do it better and you want to completely disregard that.

Emotion = emotion. Regardless of media format or industry, evoking an emotion is what matters. And games don't even come close to other media.

[Aloy-Boyfriend]

Where does it say TLOU changed the gaming landscape or is hailed as king? Cmon dude we are discussing emotions in games and TLoU is a good example. Nowhere I said this was stronger than movies either. TLOU was a damn good game period, and I can say it was a very emotional game in my experience.

Pre rendered or not, it was a good execution overall. And few games have struck me like TWD and TLOU pre rendered or not. TWD didn't need motion capture or anything to deliver emotions. The interaction of Clem and Lee and the performance of the actors made that beliavable and emotional. Other games, pre rendered or not, can't do shit. So having these kind of experience once in a while is a good thing.

I say to compared with other games because this is gaming. I'm not saying TLOU has had a bigger than the past century movies, which you keep insisting in comparing. How about recent movies since TLOU release? Hell even in the last 5 years?

Keep in mind that, as I said, we are all different and aren't supposed to have the same emotional impact. Your experience was different from mine and that is fine. Same with many who found TLou emotional and reacted to it emotionally.

I say I don't play games for emotions, but it is good when devs try to evoke emotions in players and make them relate. And devs know when they evoke emotions in players, they've done something right

[2pacalypsenow]

Has he not played MGS4?

[BitbyDeath]

Any of them really, the Vamp scene in MGS2 was quite emotional.

[scark92]

The emotions these games can give are subjective.

[WeAreLegion]

It's simple. You're a monster.

[UserNameIsNotTaken]

Virtue's last reward on the vita had me crying a lot... I feel sad just thinking about it... all dem endings had dem feels in dem.

[Maxor]

We play video games to get emotional?

[MrSugarholic]

Because you're a Call of Duty fan?

[Hoffmann]

When was the last time a popcorn movie hit you emotionally?

[isa_scout]

Southpaw made me cry like 4 times. My wife laughed at me, but I'm not sure if that makes me a puss or makes her coldhearted. I absolutely love videogames, but the interactive nature of videogames means we'll probably never see something as emotionally impactful as something like Braveheart or The Great Dictator.... And I mean on ANY emotional level. I've never laughed while playing a videogame the way I laugh when I watch Jerry Lewis,Gene Wilder, or Richard Pryor. As the article states though, videogames are such a young artform compared to film. Who knows VR may be the next huge step into emotionally impactful storytelling in videogames.

[Kyosuke_Sanada]

Shadow Of the Colossus was the last game to got me teary-eyed recently while Spec-Ops the Line and the Hotline Miami made me question what I found as "entertainment". I think there are games for everyone that strike a cord one way or another but I do agree that finding a AAA game to bring some type of emotion is very rare.

[MetroidFREAK21]

Play "The Last of Us" I never cared so much about fictional characters in any game ever... First time I played that, I was speechless in some scenes. An absolute gem

[Venoxn4g]

Metal gear solid 3 and mgs1 hit me emotionally

[StormLegend]

It's plenty of games that make you cry or feel sad for certain characters.

I don't thnk you're a gamer if you've never felt sad or cried over a game.

[TheColbertinator]

You gotta open your heart.

[Loadedklip]

MGS3
Zelda Skyward Sword
The Last of Us

.... there are games with emotional scenes.

[user9950279]

God damn. Look at the agree/disagree ratio of the first few comments. Defies all rationality. Are you all such blubbering emotional hipsters? jeezum crow. I have rarely been touched by a videogame. Majoras Mask was more impactful than most games. Did I cry? hell no. Wheres ur nads, boys?

Videogames in general just dont achieve the same emotional weight as other mediums. The quality of storytelling isn't there yet in 99.9% of cases. There are exceptions, and I imagine that we are at a point where circumstances for emotional storytelling in games is/will improve with incredible speed. However at the end of the day I'll be playing the games that are fun, not the ones that go out of the way to snatch me in the feelz. Now do your N4G duty and disagree with me forthwith! If you're really in touch with your emotions you owe it to gamer kind to disagree with me ad infinitum.

[Volkama]

Your comment hit me in the feels. I'm crying right now, but I'm not sad. These tears are part of an emotional release, because what you said is so right and it just resonates with me on a spiritual level.

Will you hold me?

[Gazondaily]

HOLD ME!

[madjedi]

Hmm I would love to be a manly man except society has made anything and everything related to masculinity out to be toxic. And created an environment that makes men want to walk away and never look back.

You can have your life destroyed on merely the false accusation of rape, with little if any consequence to the women who accused you.

7 out of 10 all marriages end in divorce, the vast majority filed by women, then the court system bleeds you dry.

Men are still jailed for child support and women are still awarded custody even if they are unfit parents.

And the mainstream media is going out of it's way to celebrate any and every lifestyle that is not straight.

Mean while apparently all whites are racist, especially white men, and we are also the epitome of sexism/sexist, except in the middle east were women are still stoned for adultery or sold off as child brides ect.

Yet the mainstream media(at least in the us), never seems to want to address that little oversight.

So I will instead be a regular man, who will try to live his life comfortably alone while this society disintegrates itself.

And laugh the whole time while the left destroys itself. Case in point.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/ne...

[Rookie_Monster]

I totally cried when Dom said "Maria!!" In Gears. Totally tear dropper. :'(

[Volkama]

I cried when Don said #dealwithit.

[Rookie_Monster]

Don Mattrick never said that. It was Adam Orth. Anyways, both of those guys are ex MS employees so it is not sadness..just tears of joy from every xbox fans. :'D

[Volkama]

Whaaaaat I hate it when people ruin my jokes with petty facts.

Me and you are enemies now.

[Dagexon]

Well spec ops the line is pretty much the one piece of any form of media that has hit me hardest emotionally and I genuinely mean it.

[PlatinumGX]

I cried when Mario saved the penguin in SM64, too emotional for me.