I definitely just feel in love with Clementine and Lee from the walking dead. Especially towards the end...I just lose it...it so strange when I think about it, how I got so attached to the characters. Also I never played the game myself, I've only experienced it through let's plays. So to me I treated it I think more like a movie than a video game since I had no control of the choices whatsoever. Perhaps that was one of the ways it effect my feelings to the characters. But nevertheless the less, I still think I would be even more immersed in the game play if I had played it myself.
Dear lord, when I fall for a fictional being, they become my obsession for years. I usually pick out characters that I can relate to, and they need to have a rather friendly disposition in order for me to be really hooked. The attraction forms as I explore their character on a deeper level, maybe even going so far as to finding out the little things about them like what their favorite color is based off of their clothing color, what their birthdays are, or what they'd prefer to eat. It's comforting, though. Fictional characters have saved me from myself for years.
I know this is a very late response(I only discovered this channel now), but I personally have felt the most emotional reaction to the video-game character "Chloe", in Life Is Strange(That is the only video-game that has caused me to cry(twice, because of "Chloe")). The characters are not very realistic(visually(In shape, color and motion)), contraire to the statement of using visually believable characters to create an emotional connection, yet they invoked a very strong and personal emotional attachment in me. I'm not saying that visual realism can't benefit the creation of empathy for these fictious characters, but I am saying that it is not in any way crucial...
Thank you so much for bringing up Thomas Was Alone! I had that in mind the entire video and broke into a massive smile when you started playing the music.
Jeff Taylor You are not the only one. I got attached to them too. On my 2nd playthough I didn't help Tali's peoples and she jumped from that cliff....I had a small tear falling from my eye.
I think better was The Walking dead. I really cared about Duck, Clem, Lee, Ben and Kenny the most. I almost cried about their die, and trully cried for Lee.
great show ! GameSpot you proved that you're much more than just a casual TH-cam gaming channel who only give us the same news as every other channels... Great job, Love U GameSpot !
+The "Do what I wanna do" Channel Dude I second that. It nearly broke my heart to think I almost chose for her to go and I was like nope! Fuck it. We can make this work without the cure. As long as this kid lives a long happy life, I can die knowing she was one of the few that got to live. <3
In that operating room, I actually stood there and wondered, "Should I take Ellie?" Like, I thought I had a choice and that choice would give me two different endings. I did research and found out I was wrong about that >_>
Ryu from Street Fighter series. A lone warrior with a unknown past, a Dark entity within him he has to deal with everyday, and overcoming challenges he encounters. Still keeping himself true to being a kind person and hero.
Hey, you just got yourself a new subscriber. Awesome video! :-) Aeries death in Final Fantasy 7 is one of the stand out memories I have, possibly the earliest memory in fact, of myself being truly affected by a character in a computer game. *SPOILER* - when I saw Sephiroth kill her I actually felt a range of emotions; anger, helpless and sadness being the most abundant, but at the end of the day I was playing a computer game - yet the emotions I was feeling were very much real. I think the same can be said about characters in films, but what's different about the empathy towards those characters vs characters in computer games is that I feel that the empathy in a film context it is very much based on being able to relate to them, due to being so removed from the participation of the story youself.
I don't really ever get all THAT attatched to video game characters, but my top three are probably: 1) Elizabeth from Bioshock Infinite. 2) Cortana from Halo 4. 3) Pretty much all of the major characters in the Mass Effect and Dragon Age series (when Mordin died in ME3 I literally almost fucking cried lol).
Definitely Clementine. The Walking Dead:Season One was a game I was expecting to hate, cos it seemed like those typical overrated games I can never understand. I was wrong. It hit me hard and I was a bit depressed by the end, cos I played the whole season in a day. Also: Leliana, Alistair & Morrigan (from DA:O), and Elizabeth.
Károly Németh That was a good game, although I have to admit I wasn't *that* sad when she died. Maybe I have to replay the game because I haven't touched it in years.
I recently played Castlevania's Aria of Sorrow and I found that I really feel for **SPOILERS!!!** Soma and how he figures out he's the reincarnation of Dracula. How he tries his best to keep from becoming that terrible dark lord and how its always inside of him. What really hit me was when you go and talk to Mina afterwards and he acts so distant to her and she's really worried about him but he turns and runs after the dialogue and the audio clip still sounds "kiotsukete ne". Little things like that, when played right, can really add to an overall experience and the characters. I love it. Cant get enough of this series. :D
Characters the affect me the most- Joel and Ellie, Solid Snake and Big Boss, Kratos(yep), James Sunderland from Silent Hill 2, Jodie Holmes(Beyond), The ''detective'' from Heavy Rain, Nathan Drake and Sully, Vincent from the game Catherine(highly recommended if you haven't played it), the mysterious thing you play as in Journey, Batman(of course!). Great video!!
I think some else that makes us feel for a character is the growth of said character. Not like young kid to old man growth but like seeing a story of their life or parts that we as humans can relate to and find emotions in. For example in Crisis Core, I find Zack a very likeable person that I relate to and feel for because I see the hardships he faces and share in them. That feeling or sadness, achieving your goals, and happiness really makes you care about a character and feel for them.
Tali in Mass Effect. I felt bad for her because she had to stay in an environment suit all the time. But she had a wonderful personality. That scene where they found her father in Mass Effect 2 had me in tears. So did the scene at the end of Mass Effect 3 just before Shepard runs into the beam and he has to say goodbye. It's amazing that you can care so much about someone who isn't even real and who's face you can't see. But you could see her eyes and most of the time that was enough.
The reason those blocks seem cute is because they exhibit human like characteristics without actually being human. When he mentioned the uncanny valley earlier that is like the divider between almost human (the side that contains cute) and actually being human. When something is well before the valley, we know they are not human, but we are attracted to their human like characteristics. Also if something tends to exhibit characteristics of an infant or a child we tend to respond with "oh that is cute", people believe this is due to a preprogrammed desire for us to like and adore younger humans to help us protect our own species, thus helping early humans survive. Just some food for thought.
Tali'Zorah vas Neema (from Mass Effect 2). Her loyalty mission is probably one of the greatest things I have ever played through as a gamer. Not for the gameplay (the mission was relatively easy), and not for anything that came out of the gameplay itself, but for the development of Tali's character and her people (the quarians). There were several times during the mission when I nearly broke down in my chair. By the end of it, when I defended her honor against the quarian Conclave, I was so awed and relieved, but still so crushed by the events aboard the Alarei, that I had to lie down on my roommate's futon and weep for a little bit. My first play-through of the Mass Effect series was as a female Shepard, and for what it's worth that playthrough will always be my canon playthrough. But sometime in the future I plan on playing as Male Shepard, just to have a more intimate relationship with Tali. I know that she's not real, but there are few characters I've connected with as strongly as her. A little part of me is still crying its eyes out, because it knows that Tali isn't real and I'll never actually meet her. But there's always the possibility I'll meet somebody LIKE her, isn't there? Not to pull the wool over my own eyes, but even so... it's a pleasant thought.
subject delta from bioshock 2, never had played the 1st game, didnt know much if anything. i could relate to the main character seamleassly cause he knew as much as me. and also i had some choice:)
the two characters I attached to the most was Alvin H. "Chopper" Davenport from Ace Combat 5, because I when he dies, I felt a mix of emotions, disbelief that he was gone, sorrow that I wouldn't hear him anymore, anger at those who shot him down, and a sense of respect for a very skilled warrior and friend. There's also "Solo Wing Pixy", tho for him, it was more of I liked him since he did a good job at keeping the AI off of me, and he felt like a friend.
The characters I came to care for were my wife and daughter on Fable 2. After a little sidequest I found that she was sweet and beautiful. After the quest that took me years in-game away from her, I came back to see this little girl. "Are you really my dad?" Maybe it's because I didn't play the Sims, but a game never gave me this little life and told me "this is your child" before. It touched some deep within me. By the end of the game I was ready to tear Lucien's heart out.
Awesome video! Very inspiring There are many characters that I care about. Most notably, in the recent years, Persona 3 & 4, it's just amazing how real all the characters feal, having their own share of flaws which make them more human and how they overcome their own flaws and that you, as the player, can decide with what person you can spend more time with to find out more and so on. Also, The Last of Us, Vincent from Catherine, Kingdom Hearts (main cast), Ezio Auditore, Prince of Persia, Ryo from Shenmue, Characters from Dust: An Elysian Tail and many characters from the BlazBlue universe
All Persona games are gems in today's gaming industry, however... Persona 3 is a downright-unquestionable masterpiece and I will defend it tooth and nail. Also, I quite like Noel and Ragna, the rest I'm kind of indifferent towards. Ezio was a great character too.
My Mass Effect Team, My Dragon Age: Origins Team, Varric and my Siblings in DA2, Ezio Auditore (not an RPG character, but the fact you see his whole life from birth to death hits me right in the feels and I have friends in real life that have a personality like his), Your Dad in Fallout 3, My Pokemon Teams in HGSS and XY (having them follow you or interacting with them via Pokemon-amie and Super Training), and some other characters I've encountered in Skyrim and other RPGs.
Ayane from Dead or Alive. Physically: Beautiful. I stay on the character select screen just to look at her face, and into her eyes. ^-^ By the way, this is DOA 2-4 I'm talking about. 1 is okay, and 5 just makes me cringe.) DOA 2 Ultimate is my childhood. Socially: Her attitude is so awesome. She just makes snide comments as taunts and when we win the battles. Sometimes, she gives me a really warm smile when we win a match or two. :) Tasks: I press the buttons to tell her what to do, and she pulls them off as best as possible. Enough said. I don't know where this falls under, but her voice fills me to the brim with joy everytime I hear it. No, this isn't nostalgia talking, because I'm not THAT old. I'm not obsessed, either. With that logic, you would be obsessed about your girlfriend/boyfriend, too. Two questions: 1.) Has anyone else felt as deep as I do about a video game character, and if so, how so? 2.) My case cover for Dead or Alive 2 Ultimate for the Xbox has not ESRB Rating and it doesn't say "Xbox" across the top. The disc is normal, but the cover isn't. It's NTSC, also. Is this normal? (Got it at a Pawn Shop...)
Well this certainly explains why I felt such an attachment toward my Pikmin back when I got the game in 2002. Adorable, friendly, and completely necessary to your survival, those little guys were the complete package. I have not felt much more satisfaction in a game than when I successfully completed all 30 parts without losing a soldier, and not much has crushed me as much as when I unwittingly led 100 Reds to their utter destruction against the giant mushroom's spore cloud. Bless them.
Jodie from Beyond:Two Souls, Ellie from The Last of Us, Elizabeth from Bioshock Infinite, FTL crew members, XCOM squad members, Lee & Clementine from The Walking Dead, John Marston from Red Dead Redemption and Nathan Drake & Victor Sullivan from Uncharted series. These are all characters i've cared about that I can really remember
Mass effect 2 the Assistant to Shepard was such a kind person. she( to me) fits all three of the groups of liking someone and then the last mission I felt so sorry and I cried for losing my crew and the father in one of the rooms of the ship that talked about his wife and child I felt that I had to do get him home but he died too. I talked to my crew after every mission I still fell sorry.
After I have played so many hours in skyrim I got attached to my follower brelyna maryon that when she died I loaded an earlier save even it ment that I had to restart some quests only to marry her in the game ... maybe I sound retarded but I think if there were another person experienced the same thing he would excuse me
wow man, gamespot, you guys really have some very nice shows... the point with the genius danny, reality check with you dude, its just awesome. learn something new every time i watch these. gamespot really turns out to be more than just a review site for me. :) nice. thanks! ofc i have related and liked/disliked characters in games, thanks for clearing up to me WHY i actually did. hehe.
There's part of the ending for MGS4 which left me feeling upset (tiredness at 4am didn't help) when you think that Snake-(I'll stop here on that) and the bit where Dom dies in GoW3. HOWEVER, I think that music plays a big part in the latter one, for example, the soundtrack to Killzone 3 left me with goosebumps and a sad feeling as if it was a final stand and all was lost, on the XMB before loading the game for the first time! Music when scored properly can trigger emotions out of context.
When Dom died in Gears of War 3, and when Master Chief (Spartan 117) was presumed dead at the ending of Halo 3. Those two moments made me feel something for video game characters. Oh yes and one more. Borderlands 2 on two separate occasions made me actually sad, when Bloodwing and Roland died.
Ellie from The Last Of Us, Jodie from Beyond: Two Souls, John Marston from Red Dead Redemption, Lee and Clementine from The Walking Dead. Those are the main characters in video games i have had some kind of relationship, like i have cried because something happened to them or i have been happy because they accomplished something etc..
I liked that Zevran from Dragon Age: Origins was mentioned in this video. But when we think about the character of Solas in Dragon Age: Inquisition, it brings the concepts that they are talking in this video to a all new level. I find it fascinating! Thank you for sharing this knowledge.
john marston, Ellie & Joel, Gaurrus (any mass effect or dragon age character), Jackie estacado, Booker & Elizabeth, and Cortana are some of the characters that have left some of the greatest impression on
I see a few other people have mentioned Mass Effect. I agree, and what really struck me was that when a teammate died in the 2nd game, I was not only shocked and upset, but I cried. It was my fault and I got really mad.
The most that I've ever cared about a character is in the first Walking Dead Game. I cared up to the episode three when it became apparent to me that Lee was going to die by deciding to go to Savanna. That "choose" instantly broke my immersion with the game because it was something that I wouldn't do. From that moment on, I played the game thinking: What would Lee do? instead of: What would I do? Any rate, that was the last time I got truly immersed in a game.
I think that most of the characters in Mass Effect were the first video game characters that I really felt a bond with. You got to see them change as time went on see how life effected them for better or for worse.
Thomas Was Alone is a good example of imbuing emotion to a featureless block. That was an interesting experience. I knew it was a block, but the narrator made me care about the red block on the screen. Very unique.
The main characters from Persona 4 Golden, especially Marie and Nanako. God I actually cried at certain moments when they we're distressed, i.e. Nanako's death and Marie's sadness that someone actually cared about her enough to save her life
Elizabeth from Bioshock Infinite, Ellie from The Last of Us, Emily from Dishonored, Garrus from Mass Effect. Especially these last couple of years, there have been some REALLY attachable characters in gaming, hope it keeps getting better!
Oh god! Where to begin, great video by the way, my favourite characters from games and the ones I care a lot about, connected with and felt heart broken at deaths or bad experiences: Ellie-physically love this girl, would marry her if she was real aha Joel-he had to go through a lot, losing his daughter at the start made me cry so much. Ratchet-when I thought he got killed in a crack in time, I thought it was all over!! Elizabeth from bioshock-her character and relationship development throughout the game was amazing, kinda shy but cute.. Aha Where to begin with infamous!- when cole died I cried, when nix died...I cried....when zeke died....I weeped! (Sorry forgot one for last of us LEFT BEHIND) Riley, she was so funny and just out there! (Remember me)- Nilin- her whole story about her family and life upset me. And of course, Nathan drake and all the main characters from uncharted!!!!!:)
When it comes to contingency, I always tend to hear how amazing it is to do a nuzlocke run in pokemon. How people get stuck with a pokemon the didn't like, then they start to love the pokemon later, and how bad some players feel when they lose a pokemon that's been with them since the beginning. However, most games I've seen, contingency is usually a very very small part of the game to the point where it's not even effective.
I know we can attach more easily because of realistic graphics, but honestly Final Fantasy 6 still stands out today on that level even if it's sprites. I'll always remember the first time I saw that Opera scene.So masterful.
Will at first THANK YOU sooo much for this program!, Reality Check is the best show in TH-cam,this episode it the best one i've seen so far after that Metal Gear cloning episode....thank you so much for all the great info you've given to us and i hope that you'll always keep going and get us more and more Gaming great infos!
Several characters affected me, and one of them so much that I honestly could not take my mind off of her for a long while and the amount of attachment and love I had for her was unlike anything I have felt before towards a fictional character, as if I had forgotten she wasn't real. Alyx Vance (Half-Life Series) Liara T'Soni (Mass Effect Series) Eli Vance (Half-Life Series) Joel (The Last of Us) Lara Croft (Tomb Raider Series) Shepard (default) (Mass Effect)
Really nice video, I personally get attached to characters real fast in games & reality as well Like Clementine from TellTale's TWD, but mostly characters from TV shows like the girls from PLL & Ellena from TVD & stuff like that..cause they last longer than those in games..far from the eye far from the heart, I always say!
The only game that has ever had anyone in it that I truly cared for and love was the wither 3 Ciri was the absolute best character ever created I almost cry when I see people play that game and see them get the ending where ciri dies. She also feels alive and has feelings so When I play that game I do everything I can to keep her alive,happy, and just all around in good spirits
gotta love any character you can relate too love, friends, family, betrayal, loss, struggle we can all relate to those things that attach us to these characters
Ironically, the character I felt the most attached to was a character I started off really disliking at the start of the game. In one of the Ace Combat games, there is a character named Chopper. He was excessively talkative over the radio to the point of irritating me, but over time I just got used to him being there and keeping the radio lively. All I will say is later in the game something happens to him and it is one of the few instances in gaming where I have actually cried over the loss of a character. If anyone is curious, it's Ace Combat 4: Shattered Skies for the PS2 and it's a game I would strongly suggest anyone who likes Top Gun try.
Master chief, soap mctavish, and Elliot and rios from army of two played the game when it was made and it was one of the first overaged games i played giving them a special place in my heart. Cam i was expecting one of the reasons to be when we played as a character at a young age we would always relate to the character as you would an uncle that looked after you as character so when they unfortunately died it would have a larger impact on you
Interesting video, I don't think I have truly felt like a cared a great deal about any video game characters, to some degree but not a lot, for me, I more so get this with TV Shows, such as the characters in Breaking Bad, Dexter and Game of Thrones, those shows to a fantastic job of really getting you to care about the characters. I am more a multiplayer gamer, so maybe that's why I have just started playing Beyond Two Souls, so perhaps that's all about to change for me.
I haven't felt truly attached to video game characters since I was little and liked Sonic the Hedgehog a lot. The most recent one I actually had THE FEELS for was Midna in LoZ Twilight Princess. She was a lovely companion, I liked her attitude. Task attraction was present, I found her helpful. She was cute, too. I have been attached to many fictional characters. I adore Karkat Vantas of Homestuck. For a troll, he's very human. He's flawed, excruciatingly sympathetic, and very entertaining.
More recently, I got very attached to Ellie in Last of Us and Samantha in Gone Home. I completely agree with Neil that the key is writing realistic, balanced, rounded characters. Characters who have strengths and weaknesses, because that makes them more human -- rather that artificially building them to be likeable.
Making characters look more realistic doesn't necessarily increase empathy. I find it easier to empathize with animated characters than with ones played by actual people. It's the big eyes, gets me every time.
A good example for one of my favorite video game characters is Garrus Vakarian from the Mass Effect Trilogy. I got really attached to Garrus and in the end of Mass Effect 3 I cried while having to walk past his dead body on the ground at the part were you are trying to get to the beam to take you up to.. The Citadel? Right? I think that's it. Garrus in my opinion was one of the most likable characters I have ever come across. I think the creators did a good job on him.
Elizabeth from bioshock infinite, trish from the witcher 2, or cortana from halo. I choose women because most men in video games tend to be emotionless, its harder to care for the men. It may upset me for a brief second if a male character died that I liked, but these three (especially Elizabeth) would be hard to lose in a video game. I think I actually shed a tear at the end of halo 4 also. These characters aren't my favorite, but they are the ones I care about the most.
Other characters I came to care for were the crew of the Normandy on Mass Effect 2. Getting them all through the final mission was a proud moment for me.
Pretty much all of the main characters from the Kingdom Hearts series, Professor Layton (Unwound Future), and Zack Fair from FFVII Crisis Core... my heart absolutely broke when he was dying and there was nothing I could do :'(
This is excellent, my favourite show on the Internet. The characters I became most attached to were: Auron (FFX) Elizabeth (Bioshock Infinite) Joel (The Last of Us) the kid from Limbo and the cloaked figure from Journey. All for the 3 requirements for like ability and explains a lot
soap, price, ghost from modern warfare. garrus, tali, liara, joker, zaed from mass effect. majima, haruka, kazuma from yakuza. sully, nathan and elena from uncharted. yep those are all the game characters that i connected to in the last couple of years.
The two characters from video games I love the most are actually two that they brought up in the video. Jodie from Beyond : Two Souls and Ellie from The Last of Us.
Of the last couple games I've played or replayed in the last year or so, I genuinely cared about Talion from Muddle Earth: Shadow of Mordor, Joel and Ellie from The Last of Us, as well as many of the side characters as well to be honest, and Batman from the Batman: Arkham series. I love Batman so obviously I feel for the character, but he was especially sympathetic and relatable in the last 2 games, Arkham Origins and Arkham Knight, the games in which Batman actually received the most character exploration and development, and that is what I think is at least part of the key to making people care about fictional characters. The quality of the voice acting is important as well.
It does not need to be realistic, but it needs to be believable. Two differnt things. Basically, writting is key.
+Marko Stamenkovic and acting, where applicable.
agreed
I definitely just feel in love with Clementine and Lee from the walking dead. Especially towards the end...I just lose it...it so strange when I think about it, how I got so attached to the characters. Also I never played the game myself, I've only experienced it through let's plays. So to me I treated it I think more like a movie than a video game since I had no control of the choices whatsoever. Perhaps that was one of the ways it effect my feelings to the characters. But nevertheless the less, I still think I would be even more immersed in the game play if I had played it myself.
Dear lord, when I fall for a fictional being, they become my obsession for years.
I usually pick out characters that I can relate to, and they need to have a rather friendly disposition in order for me to be really hooked. The attraction forms as I explore their character on a deeper level, maybe even going so far as to finding out the little things about them like what their favorite color is based off of their clothing color, what their birthdays are, or what they'd prefer to eat.
It's comforting, though. Fictional characters have saved me from myself for years.
I know this is a very late response(I only discovered this channel now), but I personally have felt the most emotional reaction to the video-game character "Chloe", in Life Is Strange(That is the only video-game that has caused me to cry(twice, because of "Chloe")). The characters are not very realistic(visually(In shape, color and motion)), contraire to the statement of using visually believable characters to create an emotional connection, yet they invoked a very strong and personal emotional attachment in me. I'm not saying that visual realism can't benefit the creation of empathy for these fictious characters, but I am saying that it is not in any way crucial...
I just finished watching Life Is Strange yesterday. And I got attached to Max and Chloe 😕 You're not alone.
The Frikster same here i cared so much about her that I sacrificed all Arcadia Bay. :)
The Frikster Dude hold on.... İ have The same feelings for her.
The Frikster same I am attached to max
Kisha Dorado we need to be friends. I'm also attached to Max
Ellie from the last of us, Alistair and leliana for DA:O, and Tali for mass effect:'(
Ellie from the Last of Us❤
I remember seeing Altaïr and Ezio dead. That was a heartbreaking moment for me.
I think we like or care about characters when we see ourselves in them or they embody traits that we would ideally like to have.
Thank you so much for bringing up Thomas Was Alone! I had that in mind the entire video and broke into a massive smile when you started playing the music.
Mass effect, first game to introduce me into this phenomenon
Garus Vakarian. Kick-Ass, while totally relatable and DAMN that sexy voice of his just... unf!
i second this :)
Yeah I got really attached to him and Tali
totally, though in some weird way I also really liked Legion.
Jeff Taylor You are not the only one. I got attached to them too. On my 2nd playthough I didn't help Tali's peoples and she jumped from that cliff....I had a small tear falling from my eye.
I think better was The Walking dead. I really cared about Duck, Clem, Lee, Ben and Kenny the most. I almost cried about their die, and trully cried for Lee.
RIP Soap Mctavish
RIP Sand man and his bravo seal team
+Right nanner Soap was too young to die.......... why? god why? lol
whyyyyyyyyyyyyy
Lee and Clem. I'd die for Clementine
great show !
GameSpot you proved that you're much more than just a casual TH-cam gaming channel who only give us the same news as every other channels...
Great job, Love U GameSpot !
It has to be Ellie from The Last of Us. I truly felt sad at the final part of the game.
+The "Do what I wanna do" Channel Dude I second that. It nearly broke my heart to think I almost chose for her to go and I was like nope! Fuck it. We can make this work without the cure. As long as this kid lives a long happy life, I can die knowing she was one of the few that got to live. <3
In that operating room, I actually stood there and wondered, "Should I take Ellie?" Like, I thought I had a choice and that choice would give me two different endings. I did research and found out I was wrong about that >_>
Ryu from Street Fighter series. A lone warrior with a unknown past, a Dark entity within him he has to deal with everyday, and overcoming challenges he encounters. Still keeping himself true to being a kind person and hero.
Ellie from The Last of Us, Cole from inFAMOUS 1 & 2, Edward From Assassin's Creed IV, and Knack.
Hey, you just got yourself a new subscriber. Awesome video! :-)
Aeries death in Final Fantasy 7 is one of the stand out memories I have, possibly the earliest memory in fact, of myself being truly affected by a character in a computer game. *SPOILER* - when I saw Sephiroth kill her I actually felt a range of emotions; anger, helpless and sadness being the most abundant, but at the end of the day I was playing a computer game - yet the emotions I was feeling were very much real.
I think the same can be said about characters in films, but what's different about the empathy towards those characters vs characters in computer games is that I feel that the empathy in a film context it is very much based on being able to relate to them, due to being so removed from the participation of the story youself.
I don't really ever get all THAT attatched to video game characters, but my top three are probably:
1) Elizabeth from Bioshock Infinite.
2) Cortana from Halo 4.
3) Pretty much all of the major characters in the Mass Effect and Dragon Age series (when Mordin died in ME3 I literally almost fucking cried lol).
RIP Emma Emmerich... I bawled my eyes out despite only knowing her for like 15 minutes...
Definitely Clementine. The Walking Dead:Season One was a game I was expecting to hate, cos it seemed like those typical overrated games I can never understand. I was wrong. It hit me hard and I was a bit depressed by the end, cos I played the whole season in a day.
Also: Leliana, Alistair & Morrigan (from DA:O), and Elizabeth.
Master Chief? Prince of Persia - when Farah dies?
Károly Németh Sorry but I don't play Halo. But The Prince and Farrah were good characters.
When i played it i was a kid, and seeing Farah die, seeing the prince catch the blade.. it broke my heart T.T..
Károly Németh That was a good game, although I have to admit I wasn't *that* sad when she died. Maybe I have to replay the game because I haven't touched it in years.
Nah, if it wasn't touchy first, it wont be second, try some other though, there are plenty of good material :D!
I recently played Castlevania's Aria of Sorrow and I found that I really feel for **SPOILERS!!!**
Soma and how he figures out he's the reincarnation of Dracula. How he tries his best to keep from becoming that terrible dark lord and how its always inside of him. What really hit me was when you go and talk to Mina afterwards and he acts so distant to her and she's really worried about him but he turns and runs after the dialogue and the audio clip still sounds "kiotsukete ne". Little things like that, when played right, can really add to an overall experience and the characters.
I love it. Cant get enough of this series. :D
Lee and Clementine from The Walking Dead Game by Telltale Games hit me and a lot of other gamers hard.
Characters the affect me the most- Joel and Ellie, Solid Snake and Big Boss, Kratos(yep), James Sunderland from Silent Hill 2, Jodie Holmes(Beyond), The ''detective'' from Heavy Rain, Nathan Drake and Sully, Vincent from the game Catherine(highly recommended if you haven't played it), the mysterious thing you play as in Journey, Batman(of course!).
Great video!!
TLOU Sam and his brother. Man tears were shed that night. ;_;
I think some else that makes us feel for a character is the growth of said character. Not like young kid to old man growth but like seeing a story of their life or parts that we as humans can relate to and find emotions in. For example in Crisis Core, I find Zack a very likeable person that I relate to and feel for because I see the hardships he faces and share in them. That feeling or sadness, achieving your goals, and happiness really makes you care about a character and feel for them.
I miss Sargent Johnson from halo he was such a badass :(
Tali in Mass Effect. I felt bad for her because she had to stay in an environment suit all the time. But she had a wonderful personality. That scene where they found her father in Mass Effect 2 had me in tears. So did the scene at the end of Mass Effect 3 just before Shepard runs into the beam and he has to say goodbye. It's amazing that you can care so much about someone who isn't even real and who's face you can't see. But you could see her eyes and most of the time that was enough.
The reason those blocks seem cute is because they exhibit human like characteristics without actually being human. When he mentioned the uncanny valley earlier that is like the divider between almost human (the side that contains cute) and actually being human. When something is well before the valley, we know they are not human, but we are attracted to their human like characteristics. Also if something tends to exhibit characteristics of an infant or a child we tend to respond with "oh that is cute", people believe this is due to a preprogrammed desire for us to like and adore younger humans to help us protect our own species, thus helping early humans survive. Just some food for thought.
Tali'Zorah vas Neema (from Mass Effect 2). Her loyalty mission is probably one of the greatest things I have ever played through as a gamer. Not for the gameplay (the mission was relatively easy), and not for anything that came out of the gameplay itself, but for the development of Tali's character and her people (the quarians). There were several times during the mission when I nearly broke down in my chair. By the end of it, when I defended her honor against the quarian Conclave, I was so awed and relieved, but still so crushed by the events aboard the Alarei, that I had to lie down on my roommate's futon and weep for a little bit.
My first play-through of the Mass Effect series was as a female Shepard, and for what it's worth that playthrough will always be my canon playthrough. But sometime in the future I plan on playing as Male Shepard, just to have a more intimate relationship with Tali. I know that she's not real, but there are few characters I've connected with as strongly as her. A little part of me is still crying its eyes out, because it knows that Tali isn't real and I'll never actually meet her. But there's always the possibility I'll meet somebody LIKE her, isn't there? Not to pull the wool over my own eyes, but even so... it's a pleasant thought.
subject delta from bioshock 2, never had played the 1st game, didnt know much if anything. i could relate to the main character seamleassly cause he knew as much as me. and also i had some choice:)
On my first playthrough of mass effect 2 I was devastated when members of my crew died during the final mission
Elizabeth and booker in bioshock infinite. I cry evritim
the two characters I attached to the most was Alvin H. "Chopper" Davenport from Ace Combat 5, because I when he dies, I felt a mix of emotions, disbelief that he was gone, sorrow that I wouldn't hear him anymore, anger at those who shot him down, and a sense of respect for a very skilled warrior and friend. There's also "Solo Wing Pixy", tho for him, it was more of I liked him since he did a good job at keeping the AI off of me, and he felt like a friend.
Joel and Ellie were definitely the video game characters I cared about most.
The characters I came to care for were my wife and daughter on Fable 2.
After a little sidequest I found that she was sweet and beautiful. After the quest that took me years in-game away from her, I came back to see this little girl.
"Are you really my dad?"
Maybe it's because I didn't play the Sims, but a game never gave me this little life and told me "this is your child" before. It touched some deep within me.
By the end of the game I was ready to tear Lucien's heart out.
The ending of Valiant Hearts: The Great War with Emile. That was a punch to the gut.
Yes. yes it was
Yes. yes it was
Yes. yes it was
+TheCompute101 I know. I cried so hard.
Awesome video! Very inspiring
There are many characters that I care about. Most notably, in the recent years, Persona 3 & 4, it's just amazing how real all the characters feal, having their own share of flaws which make them more human and how they overcome their own flaws and that you, as the player, can decide with what person you can spend more time with to find out more and so on. Also, The Last of Us, Vincent from Catherine, Kingdom Hearts (main cast), Ezio Auditore, Prince of Persia, Ryo from Shenmue, Characters from Dust: An Elysian Tail and many characters from the BlazBlue universe
All Persona games are gems in today's gaming industry, however... Persona 3 is a downright-unquestionable masterpiece and I will defend it tooth and nail. Also, I quite like Noel and Ragna, the rest I'm kind of indifferent towards. Ezio was a great character too.
Clementine. The Walking Dead.
Don't Mess with Clem! That's baby girl!
ozfan2themax season 4 omg , i cant get over her
My Mass Effect Team, My Dragon Age: Origins Team, Varric and my Siblings in DA2, Ezio Auditore (not an RPG character, but the fact you see his whole life from birth to death hits me right in the feels and I have friends in real life that have a personality like his), Your Dad in Fallout 3, My Pokemon Teams in HGSS and XY (having them follow you or interacting with them via Pokemon-amie and Super Training), and some other characters I've encountered in Skyrim and other RPGs.
Kirito and Asuna from sword art online.Its an anime not a game though.
yup
Nagisa and Tomoyo from Clannad too.
Flandre Scarlet I have not watched that.Is it good?
Joshua R Stephens There was a lot of crying, but I still loved it. Up there with Madoka Magica as one of my all time favorites.
Wow, i wanted to say that!
Ayane from Dead or Alive.
Physically: Beautiful. I stay on the character select screen just to look at her face, and into her eyes. ^-^ By the way, this is DOA 2-4 I'm talking about. 1 is okay, and 5 just makes me cringe.) DOA 2 Ultimate is my childhood.
Socially: Her attitude is so awesome. She just makes snide comments as taunts and when we win the battles. Sometimes, she gives me a really warm smile when we win a match or two. :)
Tasks: I press the buttons to tell her what to do, and she pulls them off as best as possible. Enough said.
I don't know where this falls under, but her voice fills me to the brim with joy everytime I hear it. No, this isn't nostalgia talking, because I'm not THAT old. I'm not obsessed, either. With that logic, you would be obsessed about your girlfriend/boyfriend, too.
Two questions: 1.) Has anyone else felt as deep as I do about a video game character, and if so, how so? 2.) My case cover for Dead or Alive 2 Ultimate for the Xbox has not ESRB Rating and it doesn't say "Xbox" across the top. The disc is normal, but the cover isn't. It's NTSC, also. Is this normal? (Got it at a Pawn Shop...)
Girl from Walking Dead.Tali from ME1.
Well this certainly explains why I felt such an attachment toward my Pikmin back when I got the game in 2002. Adorable, friendly, and completely necessary to your survival, those little guys were the complete package. I have not felt much more satisfaction in a game than when I successfully completed all 30 parts without losing a soldier, and not much has crushed me as much as when I unwittingly led 100 Reds to their utter destruction against the giant mushroom's spore cloud. Bless them.
Kirito and Asuna.. beautiful characters that make me smile all the time :)
same.
Watch angel beats that show made me ball it was so sad
+james frazier Phahahahah!
+james frazier SAO story sucks except the first episode
Your Lie in April is one of the best I've ever seen
Jodie from Beyond:Two Souls, Ellie from The Last of Us, Elizabeth from Bioshock Infinite, FTL crew members, XCOM squad members, Lee & Clementine from The Walking Dead, John Marston from Red Dead Redemption and Nathan Drake & Victor Sullivan from Uncharted series. These are all characters i've cared about that I can really remember
ELLIE!!!!
Mass effect 2 the Assistant to Shepard was such a kind person. she( to me) fits all three of the groups of liking someone and then the last mission I felt so sorry and I cried for losing my crew and the father in one of the rooms of the ship that talked about his wife and child I felt that I had to do get him home but he died too. I talked to my crew after every mission I still fell sorry.
After I have played so many hours in skyrim I got attached to my follower brelyna maryon that when she died I loaded an earlier save even it ment that I had to restart some quests only to marry her in the game ... maybe I sound retarded but I think if there were another person experienced the same thing he would excuse me
wow man, gamespot, you guys really have some very nice shows... the point with the genius danny, reality check with you dude, its just awesome. learn something new every time i watch these.
gamespot really turns out to be more than just a review site for me. :) nice.
thanks!
ofc i have related and liked/disliked characters in games, thanks for clearing up to me WHY i actually did. hehe.
Clementine..
#ForClementine !
There's part of the ending for MGS4 which left me feeling upset (tiredness at 4am didn't help) when you think that Snake-(I'll stop here on that) and the bit where Dom dies in GoW3. HOWEVER, I think that music plays a big part in the latter one, for example, the soundtrack to Killzone 3 left me with goosebumps and a sad feeling as if it was a final stand and all was lost, on the XMB before loading the game for the first time! Music when scored properly can trigger emotions out of context.
Tali from Mass Effect
When Dom died in Gears of War 3, and when Master Chief (Spartan 117) was presumed dead at the ending of Halo 3. Those two moments made me feel something for video game characters. Oh yes and one more. Borderlands 2 on two separate occasions made me actually sad, when Bloodwing and Roland died.
I care for anime characters but rarely or not at all for video game characters.
Same.
I dont care at all about Anime characters
Ellie from The Last Of Us, Jodie from Beyond: Two Souls, John Marston from Red Dead Redemption, Lee and Clementine from The Walking Dead. Those are the main characters in video games i have had some kind of relationship, like i have cried because something happened to them or i have been happy because they accomplished something etc..
john marsten damn... now i am sad
i did not really care for him but that ending though :( especially the music
Graba Turkey omg. You brought me here. God he is awesome
I liked that Zevran from Dragon Age: Origins was mentioned in this video. But when we think about the character of Solas in Dragon Age: Inquisition, it brings the concepts that they are talking in this video to a all new level. I find it fascinating! Thank you for sharing this knowledge.
Simon "Ghost" Riley R.I.P 2009
"Soap" Mactavish RIP. 2011
Frank Woods RIP. 2010.
Oh, wait he's not dead. Well, I thought he was at the ending of Black Ops.
That was sad
Ghost we will always remember you......
CorMas Productions ghost, you will be in our hearts. Rest in pepperonis
john marston, Ellie & Joel, Gaurrus (any mass effect or dragon age character), Jackie estacado, Booker & Elizabeth, and Cortana are some of the characters that have left some of the greatest impression on
I see a few other people have mentioned Mass Effect. I agree, and what really struck me was that when a teammate died in the 2nd game, I was not only shocked and upset, but I cried. It was my fault and I got really mad.
Link's grandma in wind waker made me cry when i was about seven years old... It's now my favorite game ever.
The most that I've ever cared about a character is in the first Walking Dead Game. I cared up to the episode three when it became apparent to me that Lee was going to die by deciding to go to Savanna. That "choose" instantly broke my immersion with the game because it was something that I wouldn't do. From that moment on, I played the game thinking: What would Lee do? instead of: What would I do? Any rate, that was the last time I got truly immersed in a game.
I think that most of the characters in Mass Effect were the first video game characters that I really felt a bond with. You got to see them change as time went on see how life effected them for better or for worse.
Thomas Was Alone is a good example of imbuing emotion to a featureless block. That was an interesting experience. I knew it was a block, but the narrator made me care about the red block on the screen. Very unique.
The main characters from Persona 4 Golden, especially Marie and Nanako. God I actually cried at certain moments when they we're distressed, i.e. Nanako's death and Marie's sadness that someone actually cared about her enough to save her life
Elizabeth from Bioshock Infinite, Ellie from The Last of Us, Emily from Dishonored, Garrus from Mass Effect. Especially these last couple of years, there have been some REALLY attachable characters in gaming, hope it keeps getting better!
Oh god! Where to begin, great video by the way, my favourite characters from games and the ones I care a lot about, connected with and felt heart broken at deaths or bad experiences:
Ellie-physically love this girl, would marry her if she was real aha
Joel-he had to go through a lot, losing his daughter at the start made me cry so much.
Ratchet-when I thought he got killed in a crack in time, I thought it was all over!!
Elizabeth from bioshock-her character and relationship development throughout the game was amazing, kinda shy but cute.. Aha
Where to begin with infamous!- when cole died I cried, when nix died...I cried....when zeke died....I weeped!
(Sorry forgot one for last of us LEFT BEHIND) Riley, she was so funny and just out there!
(Remember me)- Nilin- her whole story about her family and life upset me.
And of course, Nathan drake and all the main characters from uncharted!!!!!:)
When it comes to contingency, I always tend to hear how amazing it is to do a nuzlocke run in pokemon. How people get stuck with a pokemon the didn't like, then they start to love the pokemon later, and how bad some players feel when they lose a pokemon that's been with them since the beginning.
However, most games I've seen, contingency is usually a very very small part of the game to the point where it's not even effective.
I know we can attach more easily because of realistic graphics, but honestly Final Fantasy 6 still stands out today on that level even if it's sprites. I'll always remember the first time I saw that Opera scene.So masterful.
Will at first THANK YOU sooo much for this program!, Reality Check is the best show in TH-cam,this episode it the best one i've seen so far after that Metal Gear cloning episode....thank you so much for all the great info you've given to us and i hope that you'll always keep going and get us more and more Gaming great infos!
I was attached to John Marston from Red Dead Redemption the most. I've felt so much emotion when the game came to an end
You were not the only one :(
first character i thought of when I read the title of the video :(
Several characters affected me, and one of them so much that I honestly could not take my mind off of her for a long while and the amount of attachment and love I had for her was unlike anything I have felt before towards a fictional character, as if I had forgotten she wasn't real.
Alyx Vance (Half-Life Series)
Liara T'Soni (Mass Effect Series)
Eli Vance (Half-Life Series)
Joel (The Last of Us)
Lara Croft (Tomb Raider Series)
Shepard (default) (Mass Effect)
Really nice video, I personally get attached to characters real fast in games & reality as well Like Clementine from TellTale's TWD, but mostly characters from TV shows like the girls from PLL & Ellena from TVD & stuff like that..cause they last longer than those in games..far from the eye far from the heart, I always say!
Gordon Freeman, Max Payne, Chell, just to name a few, but so many start to make part of our lives when we play them... Great video and theme. Cheers!
The only game that has ever had anyone in it that I truly cared for and love was the wither 3 Ciri was the absolute best character ever created I almost cry when I see people play that game and see them get the ending where ciri dies. She also feels alive and has feelings so When I play that game I do everything I can to keep her alive,happy, and just all around in good spirits
gotta love any character you can relate too
love, friends, family, betrayal, loss, struggle we can all relate to those things that attach us to these characters
Ironically, the character I felt the most attached to was a character I started off really disliking at the start of the game. In one of the Ace Combat games, there is a character named Chopper. He was excessively talkative over the radio to the point of irritating me, but over time I just got used to him being there and keeping the radio lively. All I will say is later in the game something happens to him and it is one of the few instances in gaming where I have actually cried over the loss of a character. If anyone is curious, it's Ace Combat 4: Shattered Skies for the PS2 and it's a game I would strongly suggest anyone who likes Top Gun try.
Master chief, soap mctavish, and Elliot and rios from army of two played the game when it was made and it was one of the first overaged games i played giving them a special place in my heart. Cam i was expecting one of the reasons to be when we played as a character at a young age we would always relate to the character as you would an uncle that looked after you as character so when they unfortunately died it would have a larger impact on you
Jole and Ellie. They had a goal to achieve. Theres was emotion with the two characters and a frendly relationship at some points in the story.
Deekin from the Neverwinter Nights expansions. His compassion to the PC was great.
Easily for me it's Clementine on Season one of The Walking Dead. Such a well put together game, and such a likeable couple of characters.
Interesting video, I don't think I have truly felt like a cared a great deal about any video game characters, to some degree but not a lot, for me, I more so get this with TV Shows, such as the characters in Breaking Bad, Dexter and Game of Thrones, those shows to a fantastic job of really getting you to care about the characters.
I am more a multiplayer gamer, so maybe that's why
I have just started playing Beyond Two Souls, so perhaps that's all about to change for me.
I haven't felt truly attached to video game characters since I was little and liked Sonic the Hedgehog a lot. The most recent one I actually had THE FEELS for was Midna in LoZ Twilight Princess. She was a lovely companion, I liked her attitude. Task attraction was present, I found her helpful. She was cute, too.
I have been attached to many fictional characters. I adore Karkat Vantas of Homestuck. For a troll, he's very human. He's flawed, excruciatingly sympathetic, and very entertaining.
More recently, I got very attached to Ellie in Last of Us and Samantha in Gone Home.
I completely agree with Neil that the key is writing realistic, balanced, rounded characters. Characters who have strengths and weaknesses, because that makes them more human -- rather that artificially building them to be likeable.
Making characters look more realistic doesn't necessarily increase empathy. I find it easier to empathize with animated characters than with ones played by actual people. It's the big eyes, gets me every time.
A good example for one of my favorite video game characters is Garrus Vakarian from the Mass Effect Trilogy.
I got really attached to Garrus and in the end of Mass Effect 3 I cried while having to walk past his dead body on the ground at the part were you are trying to get to the beam to take you up to.. The Citadel? Right? I think that's it.
Garrus in my opinion was one of the most likable characters I have ever come across. I think the creators did a good job on him.
Elizabeth from bioshock infinite, trish from the witcher 2, or cortana from halo. I choose women because most men in video games tend to be emotionless, its harder to care for the men. It may upset me for a brief second if a male character died that I liked, but these three (especially Elizabeth) would be hard to lose in a video game. I think I actually shed a tear at the end of halo 4 also. These characters aren't my favorite, but they are the ones I care about the most.
I feel like I'm in love with Mercy from overwatch. I can't stop thinking about her. she is so nice and adorable.
Other characters I came to care for were the crew of the Normandy on Mass Effect 2. Getting them all through the final mission was a proud moment for me.
Cortana in the Halo series. Halo 4's ending was, gently said, quite emotional.
Pretty much all of the main characters from the Kingdom Hearts series, Professor Layton (Unwound Future), and Zack Fair from FFVII Crisis Core... my heart absolutely broke when he was dying and there was nothing I could do :'(
This is excellent, my favourite show on the Internet. The characters I became most attached to were: Auron (FFX) Elizabeth (Bioshock Infinite) Joel (The Last of Us) the kid from Limbo and the cloaked figure from Journey. All for the 3 requirements for like ability and explains a lot
soap, price, ghost from modern warfare.
garrus, tali, liara, joker, zaed from mass effect.
majima, haruka, kazuma from yakuza.
sully, nathan and elena from uncharted.
yep those are all the game characters that i connected to in the last couple of years.
The episode with the homeless folks made me cry my brains out. I'm just amazed that a video game could make me feel so sad, as sad as any movie.
The two characters from video games I love the most are actually two that they brought up in the video. Jodie from Beyond : Two Souls and Ellie from The Last of Us.
Of the last couple games I've played or replayed in the last year or so, I genuinely cared about Talion from Muddle Earth: Shadow of Mordor, Joel and Ellie from The Last of Us, as well as many of the side characters as well to be honest, and Batman from the Batman: Arkham series. I love Batman so obviously I feel for the character, but he was especially sympathetic and relatable in the last 2 games, Arkham Origins and Arkham Knight, the games in which Batman actually received the most character exploration and development, and that is what I think is at least part of the key to making people care about fictional characters. The quality of the voice acting is important as well.
the only characters I've ever cared for were:Soap(Modern warfare) Clementine(walking dead) and John Marston(red dead redemption)
Mass Effect and Journey have probably touched me the most in terms of attachment to the characters.
Clementine and Lee from the Walking Dead. Oh god I cried at the end