Lots of games, when well written (and these days, acted) can provoke emotional reaction just as well as any other medium. I think that’s the true test for a dub of an anime with me also: Can the scenes that made me tear up in the original Japanese do the same in the English version? If not, something is wrong with the acting.

-Corey

I’m trying to think of other times when it had happened. All I can think of at the moment is when I cried during various anime.

There are plenty of games I was emotionally invested in, but not necessarily cried.

I would be interested to hear this in an episode of VG Convos. Maybe something like: Most Emotional Moments in Gaming (whether it’s sad, or scared, or whatever).

The first time I cried was during my first of Digimon World one when I was 12. I had just beaten the game, completely, and my MetalGreymon passed away. He was just too old and he reverted to an egg. I cried my little eyes out! I had worked so hard to obtain an ultimate level digimon, and it was incredibly hard. But I got MetalGreymon back after a week or so.

The other time was Sora and Riku working together during the fight with Xemnas in Kingdom Heart 2. The two friends finally get to help each other, which was just so climactic. But the scene that got me s when you’re getting blasted at and the screen goes white. Xemnas knocks you and Riku down points a laser-sword at your face. He is about to cut you down, until Riku jumps in takes some heavy blows for you.
I was thinking wow! Riku does care about Sora, and we, as fans of the story, have come this far. Then of course the two bring their swords together and blast Xemnas down.
After some random stuff, you and Riku get stuck in this other dimension. It’s some beach. For the life of me, I can’t remember what was said, but it was a little on the gay side, and I really mean that. But I started crying like a bitch!

I need to buy that game again…

If you take too long the game does it for you, which really ruins it, but most people porbably pull the trigger on their own.

Like I said, maybe I don’t understand the argument but to me the story is part of the game. Therefore if the story in the game can make me cry then the game has in fact made me cry. A game with no story can’t make me cry, but a game with a good story can, and to me that means the game has made me cry. Transitive property and all that…or whatever.

Besides story though, the gameplay coupled with the story can also do the job. Like you mentioned with Crisis Core and like others have mentioned with MGS3 (where after fighting against your mentor and learning her motivations and reasoning for her “betrayel”. You physically have to pull the trigger to advance the story. If you don’t press the button then Snake just stands there pointing the gun at her, very emotional).

I don’t know, it’s just silly to me I guess. Like I said, to me if the story in the game makes me cry or the story coupled with the gameplay, whatever the combination is, it all means that the game made me cry.

I cried a lot.

Being a FF7 fan, I knew this was coming from the moment I started Crisis Core. What I didn’t realize was just how attached I would get to Zack. Having control of that sequence didn’t lessen the impact at all and I was struggling right along with him, trying to prolong the inevitable.

Another good example came in the Metal Gear Solid 4, which I just finished. Ever since Act 2 (out of five!), you know that Snake must die. There is no alternative, because the FOXDIE in his system has mutated and he will eventually become a walking WMD.

This is in the back of your mind for pretty much the entire game. You watch him suffer the effects of accelerated aging, the physical beating he takes from every battle, knowing even if you successfully complete the mission, Snake must die, for the safety of the world.

When it finally comes to the showdown with Liquid Ocelot, Snake is moving through sheer will alone. The longer the fight takes, the more he struggles just to move, always trying to stay one step ahead of his foe. As much agony as Snake is in, as much as you want to walk away from this one, you have no choice but to make him keep fighting.

(Later, watching Snake put a gun in his mouth hits pretty hard too. Though I do kinda wish the game prompted you to pull the trigger button yourself.)

Yeah, I got a little misty eyed.

Interesting stuff, Mike.