[nrvllrgrs]

Has anyone here ever had a truly deep emotional experience with a game? I'm not talking about laugh-out-loud funny or merely a beautiful experience. But something that has moved you so incredibly deeply that you are somehow changed because of that experience.

The deepest experience I ever encountered in a game was at the end of Chapter 4 in Sanitarium, specifically, the dialog with the little girl. Still to this day I don't know what it was about that scene.

Spoiler:

Was it the melancholy environment? Was it the build the amassing of the family's sadness? Was it my feeling of connection with Max (the player-character)? Or was it simply the state of mind I was in while I was playing it?

Whatever it was, I shed a tear.


...Ok...Now I feel kinda lame. Anybody else have a deeply emotional experience in a game?

[MoriartyL]

Ummm…no. Even if I'd cried at certain points in a game (and I can't think of any such instance, unfortunately), that wouldn't "change" me. I'd be exactly the same after the cry as before the cry. Actually, I'd question whether your example really changed you, or if it was just a good scene while it happened.

Are we holding videogames to a much higher standard than other mediums? Because I've never seen a movie that "changed" me. If it's a good movie, I'll laugh, I'll cry, I'll be scared, I'll be happy. And then I'll leave and do something else. (Incidentally, I don't understand why you think sadness is more meaningful than tension or humor.) If I see a beautiful painting, I stop and look at it. I keep looking at it, keep focusing on little details and trying to imagine that I'm there. And then I walk on. If I hear beautiful music, I let the music wash over me and I admire it. And then I leave the concert hall and do something else.

In what way can art ever change a person? If you're something of an artist, it can inspire you to create art. But that's not changing you. It's art effecting art. You could point to political art that changes your point of view, but I bet the point of view you come around to was already there in your head. You were already strongly considering it strongly, or else the art wouldn't have any effect at all. And if you were strongly considering it, then you would likely have gotten there anyway.

[Ninja Dodo]

I think art (games included) can definitely leave more than a fleeting impression. You can come to understand something you had not until then.

[Merricat]

I must agree with the Ninja. (That was fun to write. ) Good art moves you in some manner; great art has the capacity to change you. My perception of my place in the world was altered by the film Koyanasqatsi. My perception of math and it's place in art was changed by da Vinci. My perception of what a piece of fiction could do was shaped by Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness."

[nrvllrgrs]

I think the discussion between April and Cortez in Longest Journey expresses it rather well:

CORTEZ: What do you see?
APRIL: I see art.
CORTEZ: Art, yes. And beyond that? Beyond art?
APRIL: Truth?
CORTEZ: Truth, exactly! A deeper truth. This painting, this particular work of art, speaks a deeper truth. It has a soul.
APRIL: How can a painting have a soul?
CORTEZ: It has a soul because it has an identity, it has a heart. The memory of this painting will survive beyond this moment, it will linger in your mind, become part of the tapestry of your subconscious. It has a lasting impression on you, and you're not quite sure why.
APRIL: It's just a painting by some kid. It's not as if it's a Picasso, or a Monet.
CORTEZ: Now you're arguing technique. Not every painting by van Gogh or Michelangelo is real art either, although they all demonstrate great technique and craftsmanship. And the scribbled drawings of a five-year old child are rarely technically impressive, but they may still have a soul, they may still be real art.
APRIL: So you're saying "real art" is not defined by the skill of the artist? Then what is art, if just anybody can create something more "real" that artists who've spent their entire lives developing their skills?
CORTEZ: Art is still the work of artists. And skill, craftsmanship, technique - those things are critical to the success of an artist's work. But alone, those things are merely pretense. For something to be real, to be truthful, the artist must transfer - shift - part of him or her self into the work, to transcend the illusion and reach for the truth of art.

Video games, as a medium, is art. Or in the very least, has the potential to be art. Film has been an art but only after few artists pushed that medium past its celluloid entertainment and into something new.

[Ninja Dodo]

By the way, nrvllrgrs... your paragraph about Sanitarium, I avoided reading it closely because I haven't played the game, but I suspect you may want to use spoiler tags:

Spoiler:

like so

... for that kinda thing.

[nrvllrgrs]

Just for you I went back and changed it. Although, when I originally wrote it, I tried to keep in extremely vague so not to spoil it.

[ShadeJackrabbit]

I read this one book called The Alchemist, and it successfully brought me out of depression and changed my view of the world. Games can be like that too. I've played a few games where, after beating them, I just sit back and think "Wow, that character had such an interesting viewpoint. Maybe I should reevaluate mine..."

One example of where a game can be emotional was Legend of the Dragoon, when

Spoiler:

Lavits dies

. While the game itself doesn't register much on the art scale, I still found it quite moving. Then again, not emotionally changing. But, some games have emotionally changed me in subtle ways.

[Periglo]

Originally Posted by nrvllrgrs

Art, yes. And beyond that? Beyond art?

Ahrrt, jes. An beejond dat? Beejond ahrrt? Cortez was given a convincing Spanish accent! Seriously, I loved that dialog, too. More to the point, I have also experienced emotional moments with AGs. Many in fact, typically having to do with remembrance of the past, specially childhood. Let's see: Sanitarium, of course. One of the final scenes in TLJ. One of the final scenes in Dreamfall. And Syberia 2, I found a particular sequence rather touching. I can provide details for all those, but I think you all know about them if you have played the games. Ah, the end of Monkey Island II! Frustrating, but poignant (imho).

Also, death (if properly told) is always moving. In this regard, I recall certain events in: Loom, the Dig, Grim Fandango (seriously!), Dreamfall (again).

[Marrow]

One scene I do remember is in Knights of the Old Republic.

Spoiler:

When you're on the Levitian (Darth Malak's vessel), after you fight and nearly kill Admiral Saul, you meet up with Darth Malak. He reveals the truth that YOU are actually Revan.

I was absolutely stunned, so much that I had to replay that part again.