Can a Game Make You Cry?
Exploring how video games affect our emotions:
I could tell something was wrong as soon as I saw my friend's eyes. It was back in 1997, and he'd been playing the recently released Final Fantasy VII. That afternoon, he'd gotten to a famously shocking scene in which Aerith, a beloved young magician girl, is suddenly and viciously murdered.
He looked like he'd lost a family member. "I'm just totally screwed up," he confessed as he nursed a lukewarm beer at a local bar. Nearly all my friends were playing Final Fantasy VII too -- so, one by one over the next week, they all hit the same scene, until every nerd I knew was sunk in a slough of despond.
2 Comments:
At 11:49 AM, Lady Wyntir said…
YES!!! That was some good story telling. However, i preferred FF VIII
I don't think i was mortified, though. Caught up in the moment, maybe, but i don't think i gave it another thought the next day.
Now where do VG RPG's fit in technology? This is just an electronic version of D&D. You're missing the creativity of creating your own character, but you still have some say on how the story goes.
~wyn ^_^
At 3:49 AM, J.W. Koebel said…
That's what good storytelling can do to you. I've played Final Fantasy 7 (along with most every other game in the series) and they all have powerful, emotional moments.
Most RPG videogames in that style are, for all intents and purposes, just like reading a book with the visuals done for you. There is a definite story -- and in the case of Square/Square-Enix, a brilliant one.
I eschew shooters and other mindless games, about the only kind I'll play is an RPG. And that's what I'm looking for: a story with characters I can form an attachment with and follow through their life cycle.
Good post!
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