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08-30-2008, 01:01 AM
|  | Call my Slappy | | Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Gotham...well, the outskirts.
Posts: 111
| | | Interesting Article: Saddest Moments in Video Games
Saddest Moments in Video Games | The Exploding Barrel Quote: Saddest Moments in Video Games
By Mark Fujii ⋅ August 27, 2008 ⋅ Post a comment
WARNING: This article contains spoilers
It’s really no secret that video games can have good stories. As video games become progressively less of a recreational hobby and more of an accepted form of art, it’s almost become an expectation for a video game to have a story as well developed and crafted as its game play and graphics. Titles like Final Fantasy have always been renowned for having strong plots, but recent entries like Portal and even Halo 3 have shown a good story can easily find a home in a genre formerly classified by incoherent chaos and mind numbing violence.
But what makes a memorable plot? The characters, the script, the plot -they’re all integral components to crafting a tale. But what really leaves an impression, what really forces a story to linger in the minds of gamers, is rarely the triumphs of the story’s protagonists but the tragedies. Death, loss, defeat -those emotionally powerful moments in video game is what not only define its story, but have the power to move even the most ardent of gamers to tears.
The Death of Eli Vance
Half-Life 2: Episode Two
 Half-Life has always been a series renowned for its intense game play, but it wasn’t until Half-Life 2 that it became known for its compelling story as well. Though you played as Gordon Freeman, a mute scientist who spoke more with his crowbar than with words, all that did was allow the other characters to shine. Utilizing graphics that allowed for authentic facial features, talented voice actors, and an amazing script, Valve managed to create lifelike characters that the audience could identify with and grow to care for.
This compassion for the characters is ultimately what makes their deaths all the more tragic. Eli Vance’s death at the end of Half-Life 2: Episode Two was abrupt and unexpected. Right after the climatic showdown between the Combine’s Strider army, just when you think everything is safe, Eli Vance is attacked by a Combine Advisor and is mortally wounded while you watch helplessly. A jarring, depressing end to Episode Two, listening to Alyx weep over her dead father’s body instantly robbed you of any sense of real satisfaction and victory.
The Death of Zack Fair
Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core
 Though Zack Fair was a mere foot note in Final Fantasy VII, in Crisis Core he was the story’s primary protagonist. For anyone who has played Final Fantasy VII before, you already know of Zack’s inevitable fate, and it becomes an almost painful experience to helplessly watch such a charismatic and amiable character march obliviously to his doom. No matter how many enemies you kill, how many bosses you defeat, or how awesome your stats -there’s absolutely nothing you can do to save Zack from fate.
Zack’s death is really just the punctuation of a life full of death, betrayal, and tragedy. His mentor is dead, his career destroyed, he was betrayed by Shinra, and his life is in shambles; despite that Zack’s plucky personality refuses to give up. He sacrifices his life to help his friend, Cloud, escape before being overwhelmed and gunned down by pursuing Shinra soldiers. The only measure of solace gamers can derive from his demise is that in death he sets into motion the events of Final Fantasy VII, and dies being the hero he always wanted to be.
The Death of Princess Ovelia and Delita Hyral
Final Fanasy Tactics
 Final Fantasy Tactics is a game that has no qualms about killing off its cast. In fact, near the end, you’ll be hard pressed to find a character that isn’t murdered, martyred, or turned into a demon before being killed. However, of all the characters that die throughout the course of the game, none are quite as meaningful or sad as the deaths of Princess Ovelia and Delita Hyral.
Princess Ovelia was raised to think she was a princess of Ivalice. However, it is revealed to her that was in fact a fraud, and that her entire life was a lie. She becomes the pawn of those with ambition, and is powerless to do anything as Ivalice is plunged into civil war because of her. In the end, she succumbs to her own fears and insecurities and chooses to wrest back control of her life in one final, defining action. Convinced that her husband, Delita, was planning on murdering her, she stabs her husband in the chest. Delita then grabs the knife and kills his wife. Afterwards, as he slowly bleeds to death, he reflects that despite his achievements and triumphs, he ultimately dies with absolutely nothing. He killed his wife, betrayed his friends, manipulated his allies; in the end he dies a corrupt, power hungry tyrant -the very thing he despised.
The Death of The Boss
Metal Gear Solid 3
 The Boss in Metal Gear Solid 3 is your enemy almost the entire game. Every time you’re about to succeed, she pops out of nowhere to mess things up. She becomes more of an irritating nuisance than a genuine bad guy, and so it’s odd that when you inevitably fight and kill her to complete the game, her death doesn’t leave you satisfied. Instead, it leaves you depressed.
You spend the entire game thinking that the Boss was a traitor, but in the end, you discover everything that the US government told you was a lie. The Boss hadn’t defected; she had consciously elected to die a martyr for the safety of a country she loved. Her unwavering patriotism and almost blind loyalty causes her to throw away her life and reputation to stave off a nuclear war with the Soviets.
When Eve reveals to you the truth about the Boss, it really destroys whatever momentary satisfaction you may have gained from beating the game. Instead of defeating the main bad guy and saving the world, you just played right into the carefully orchestrated planes of the US government and were forced to kill your friend and teacher.
The Death of Jenny Romano
The Darkness
 Whether or not you think the Darkness was a good game or not, there’s really no denying the emotional impact that Jenny’s death had on the gamers who played it. A symbol of purity and innocence in a world so full of sin and depravity, Jenny was the only thing keeping her hit man boyfriend, Jackie Estacado, from fully embracing the darkness that resided within him.
However, when Jackie is betrayed by his Uncle Paulie, Jenny finds herself caught in the crossfire and is kidnapped. Paulie takes her to an abandoned orphanage where Jackie first met Jenny as children, and right when you’re about ready to storm in guns blazing, kill Paulie, rescue Jenny, and live happily ever after, the unthinkable happens.
The Darkness intervenes and holds you back as Uncle Paulie taunts you and then brutally murders Jenny right before your eyes. Jenny’s death is so abrupt, so cold and callous, that it genuinely leaves you feeling shocked, sad, and then ultimately angry. As you stare at Jenny’s unmoving body, one thing becomes crystal clear. The evil bastards who did this were going to pay.
| I don't know, but it actually made me interested in playing HL2:EP2...yes, I've never played it.
__________________
It has always been the prerogative of children and half-wits to point out that the emperor has no clothes. But the half-wit remains a half-wit, and the emperor remains an emperor.
--Neil Gaiman
I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.
--Michael Jordan |
08-30-2008, 01:34 AM
|  | You Magnificent Bastard! | | Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: some western town
Posts: 20,684
| | | yeah, Eli dying really sucked. but you did get to see Alyx's ass as she ran over to him.
i mean, not that I cared or anything.
__________________  Admin - sR Source servers |
08-30-2008, 01:42 AM
|  | Fish with 1's | | Join Date: Dec 2006
Posts: 4,705
| | | I dont know what any of those events are, and somehow that makes me feel good
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#theoutsiders
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08-30-2008, 03:18 PM
|  | is at basic trainin! | | Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Fort Bragg, NC
Posts: 1,435
 : 42 nd | | Companion Cube was the worst. I only knew him but so long 
__________________ I am the Infantry, Follow Me  |
08-30-2008, 04:17 PM
|  | m00tini! | | Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Some Hotel Somewhere
Posts: 16,777
: 78 th | | | haha nice viper
i agree that part in HL2 was a bummer, but something tells me he'll be back anyway at some point. |
08-30-2008, 07:06 PM
|  | Better then RobxEdge | | Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: In the Boot Room in Assault
Posts: 299
| |
__________________ A sig? The hell is a sig?  
^Is this an elusive sig?^ |
09-03-2008, 12:27 AM
| | Call my Slappy | | Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Gotham...well, the outskirts.
Posts: 111
| | Quote:
Originally Posted by CoffeeShark 
i mean, not that I cared or anything.
| Wait a minute....just out of academic curiosity mind you...please elaborate on the Alyx business...
__________________
It has always been the prerogative of children and half-wits to point out that the emperor has no clothes. But the half-wit remains a half-wit, and the emperor remains an emperor.
--Neil Gaiman
I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.
--Michael Jordan |
09-03-2008, 12:28 AM
| | You Magnificent Bastard! | | Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: some western town
Posts: 20,684
| | Quote:
Originally Posted by galahad05 | it's just a video game character... but it's one in tight jeans.
__________________ Admin - sR Source servers |
09-03-2008, 12:30 AM
| | Call my Slappy | | Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Gotham...well, the outskirts.
Posts: 111
| | | Okay, I am so tempted to totally derail my own thread...
...
okay, temptation resisted.
I'm going to post another thread, titled "The Top Asses in Gaming [Domestic]". Based on a real article, believe it or not.
__________________
It has always been the prerogative of children and half-wits to point out that the emperor has no clothes. But the half-wit remains a half-wit, and the emperor remains an emperor.
--Neil Gaiman
I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.
--Michael Jordan |
09-03-2008, 12:59 AM
|  | The Sky is Over | | Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Boston
Posts: 15,846
: 89 th | | | I 100% agree with The Death of Jenny Romano ... that was insanely brutal...
I question the Zack Fair one and wonder why they didn't substitute Aries. |  | |
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