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[ScOULaris]

I've been thinking back on my recent playthrough of Grim Fandango Remastered, and I find myself appreciating how unique it was for telling a story that spanned four years in its main character's life (or death, in this case). While most of that passage of time is conveyed via quick jump cuts one year at a time into the future, the feeling of that span of time having passed is accomplished through some exceptional writing for all of the game's minor characters. The bulk of the game takes place during Year 2 in Rubacava, a high-life coastal town, and by the end of that chapter it feels like you were able to fill in the unseen portion between Year 1 and Year 2 via all of Manny's interactions with Rubacava's various inhabitants. Minor characters talk of events and past discussions that occurred unseen to the player prior to the jump from Year 1 to 2. Major characters like Manny and Glottis express contentment with their newfound stations in life in Rubacava, even if the plan all along was never to stay there permanently. By the time the story takes Manny and Glottis away from Rubacava, I could almost feel their hesitance to leave a place that they had come to call home. It felt like leaving behind all of the memories that these characters had made both seen and unseen to the player.

To summarize, I was just really impressed by how Grim Fandango told Manny's story over the course of four years and managed to capture that feeling of time passing via character interactions rather than long cutscenes or stretched-thin gameplay segments.

So I got to thinking... are there any other games that do this?

I know that Beyond Two Souls tells the story of the main character's life over many years, but I never played it and don't really intend to. Freedom Fighters definitely took place over the course of at least a year going by the changes in seasons and the main character's looks. Bully also took place over the course of one school year.

Mural depicting the journey through Grim Fandango's "Land of the Dead." Click to enlarge.

 

[dugdug]

From AC2 to Revelations, you get to see Ezio from when he's born to when he's a senior citizen. The games skip a few decades, but, I always thought that was pretty cool.

 

[FluxWaveZ]

Beyond: Two Souls, as mentioned, is a good example. If anything about that game, I did find that aspect of the game interesting.

Fable is another game that does this, though it doesn't quite feel that time is progressing naturally, outside of the few time skips.

I suppose the Ace Attorney series is like this, with each game in the first trilogy taking place a year after the last, and then a big 7 year time skip to the fourth main game, and then another year to the fifth. It's really neat to see Phoenix Wright noticeably evolve as a character, over the years.

 

[jacobeid]

Edit: Nevermind, my games don't count.

 

[jonno394]

Mafia 2 - again the periods of time are done more so by time skips, but the changing world really adds to the feeling that we are seeing different periods of time. Changing architecture, clothing, cars etc really captures how I imagine those periods to be too.

 

[Corpekata]

Asscreed series does but I think they do a pretty poor job of communicating it usually. Hard to really make time passing have weight and not feel like just arbitrary numbers thrown on the screen.

 

[Springy]

Don't know about characters, but I felt myself becoming an old man trying to get through Dragon Age: Inquisition.

Oh wait, DA2 takes place over several years.

 

[ULTROS!]

Dragon Quest V

 

[maxcriden]

 

[Laevateinn]

In Shining Force 2, your characters are basically still children when the game starts. Later in the game your town/country is forced to rebuild in another part of the world and a few years go by. I guess this might be a story-based way to justify why your characters look like adults after they're promoted.

 

[ScOULaris]

Dragon Quest V

Damn, how did I not think of this?! One of my other favorite examples for sure.

Hard to really make time passing have weight and not feel like just arbitrary numbers thrown on the screen.

I agree. That's why I was so impressed by Grim Fandango. I think it nailed that aspect of making the passage of time feel like it had weight.

 

[E92 M3]

Dragon Quest V

One of my favorites!

 

[tcrunch]

Dragon Age 2...

 

[Fury451]

Fallout 3? Don't know how many games let you actually be born.

Thinking of Assassins Creed as well with Ezio- Connor in 3 additionally but that's more of a time skip.

Max Payne series also- a young(ish) DEA agent to a fat, middle age man consumed with self loathing. It's not one game obviously, but it's fairly unique in that it shows a progression.

I believe he starts the series in his late 20s or early 30s and is in his mid to later 40s by the end. Basically he has aged in real time. I love that they kept James McCafferey as well- he's aged right alongside Max, and the consistency helps. Plus his MP3 performance was fantastic.

 

[DrMcNulty]

Phantasy Star 3

 

[adamsapple]

GTA V.

Prologue is a few years back.

 

[Magnus]

Breath of Fire III

 

[epmode]

This is such a great theme when it's done correctly. ..but very few games attempt it.

The Longest Journey and Dreamfall games follow a few characters and how they change over several years. How often do you see character arcs that span multiple games?

 

[Jackpot]

Advent Rising is probably less than a year, but you get to see the MC's hair and beard grow and his personality change over time.

 

[Rhomega Beta]

Fable is another game that does this, though it doesn't quite feel that time is progressing naturally, outside of the few time skips.

Yeah, it bothered me with a year-long skip later in the game, but outside the main plot, nothing's changed at all, and you're able to pick up on the rest of your life right where you left off.

 

[E92 M3]

This is such a great theme when it's done correctly. ..but very few games attempt it.

The Longest Journey and Dreamfall games follow a few characters and how they change over several years. How often do you see character arcs that span multiple games?

I do wish more games utilized it. Fallout and Dragon Quest did a great job with it.

 

[PsionBolt]

The timeskip in Mother 3 was great. The disparity between the things that changed (Lucas outside, Duster, the town) and the things that stayed the same (Lucas inside, Flint, Porky) was very well done.

 

[Mknzy]

Personally I thought it was really interesting in Phantasy Star III how you played each portion of the game as the child of the previous portions lead. Seeing them 15 years older as fathers of their own children as well as some of the other characters like Lyle. Sure it was only in portraits, but it was still a cool bit to me.

 

[Mr. Poolman]

Infinite Space for the DS, the whole crew gets a nice time skip.
Your main character goes from this:

To this:

 

[GKSilKamina]

I don't know if this counts, seeing as it's a game series instead of a one-shot thing, but nearly all Ys games focus on the life and adventures of main character Adol Christin. Though he never really changes/develops, you do get to see how his relationships with some recurring NPCs develop throughout the games.

There's also Breath of Fire III, which devotes the first big chunk of the game to the main character's childhood experiences before moving on to his adult life.
EDIT: Magnus beat me to the BOFIII punch!

 

[Fhtagn]

It's been said a couple times already, but Dragon Quest V does such a great job of this, especially for an SNES era game.

 

[Seven Force]

Breath of Fire III

One of my favorite little details during the child arc is how Ryu's attacking animation goes from a panicked flailing of his sword to a calm, confident sword strike. It's a subtle little detail that helps pave the way for his growth throughout the game.

 

[Nakayumi]

I know the later Resident Evil entries get a lot of hate here on GAF, but I love seeing its characters grow old and evolve over the years as the series visibly follow the timestage they are released in (more or less), even when the story and setting gets more and more crazy each time.

Seeing Chris, Jill and Leon as rookies in the first two entries, and then skipping 10 to 20 years ahead in their careers as they tackle the worldwide bio-terrorism in RE5 and 6 each in their own way is visibly taking a toll on them. Other characters making a comeback keep things interesting (Sherry and soon Barry) and I personally can't wait for Capcom to officially announce RE7 and see how everyone is 5 years after the ridiculous RE6.

Will Chris have sunk further into angsty depression? Will Jill be back in more uncomfortable and tight outfits? How much higher can the sexual tension between Leon and Ada rise before a zombie grows out of his pants? Truly, Resident Evil is one of the last series I want to see rebooted, the Revelations side-series takes care of that.

 

[BTHR Zero X]

No Metal Gear mention? for shame.

 

[RipperGrim]

Dragon Age 2 is like 10 years of Hawkes life, wasn't done that well though.

 

[mclem]

As a left-field suggestion, Retro Game Challenge.

There's not really any emphasis on the characters changing, but there's quite a well-realised undercurrent of a feeling of the games industry coming of age and evolving viewed through the games that are released in each time period.

Less a story over several years, more a (fictional) history over several years.

 

[Crossing Eden]

Asscreed series does but I think they do a pretty poor job of communicating it usually. Hard to really make time passing have weight and not feel like just arbitrary numbers thrown on the screen.

They do this with subtle differences.
In AC2-Ezio's gets some subtle five o'clock shadow as the game goes on before having an actual beard in the final sequence and his voice also get deeper as time goes on.

-AC3-Connor speaks better english as the game goes on, Haytham also gets grayer hair

It's harder with characters like Arno and especially Edward as they're already full adults by the time the game starts while also covering shorter amounts of time.

 

[ScOULaris]

As a left-field suggestion, Retro Game Challenge.

There's not really any emphasis on the characters changing, but there's quite a well-realised undercurrent of a feeling of the games industry coming of age and evolving viewed through the games that are released in each time period.

Less a story over several years, more a (fictional) history over several years.

Good suggestion, and I completely agree with your point. I loved those games both in concept and execution. I can't even describe the levels of nostalgia that were reached when I was playing that game. The "monthly" issues of parody gaming magazines and the cheat codes embedded therein really got me.

 

[retroman]

The Lion King:

 

[Bulzeeb]

Infinite Space for the DS, the whole crew gets a nice time skip.
Your main character goes from this:

To this:

interesting character design, is there a way to find the game somewhere for a descent price and in good condition?

 

[MadSexual]

They do this with subtle differences.
In AC2-Ezio's gets some subtle five o'clock shadow as the game goes on before having an actual beard in the final sequence and his voice also get deeper as time goes on.

-AC3-Connor speaks better english as the game goes on, Haytham also gets grayer hair

It's harder with characters like Arno and especially Edward as they're already full adults by the time the game starts while also covering shorter amounts of time.

Yep, I recently finished AC4 and was pretty surprised near the end to discover that something like six years had passed over the course of the game. The only indicator you get is a beard.

 

[charsace]

Beyond the Beyond on PS1 did this. Breath of Fire 3 did this too.

 

[Elitist1945]

Only game I can think of would be Beyond: Two Souls. One of the reasons I loved it so much.

 

[Chrono Helix]

Venus & Braves for the PS2. You play an immortal who, over the course of a thousand years, must defeat a great evil. You will have to train your troops, but because they're only human, they will grow old and die, forcing you to train new ones. Party members come and go, and sometimes you'll see their kids years after their parents have passed away.

 

[SalvaPot]

Mother 3 spawns a few years and we see growth in all the characters.

 

[giancarlo123x]

From AC2 to Revelations, you get to see Ezio from when he's born to when he's a senior citizen. The games skip a few decades, but, I always thought that was pretty cool.

My favorite example.

 

[Robert at Zeboyd Games]

Lufia 2 takes place over enough time that the hero & heroine meet, get married & have a kid.

 

[mrmickfran]

Hey, your a member again! You can go back to making troll threads

 

[injurai]

Infinite Space for the DS, the whole crew gets a nice time skip.
Your main character goes from this:

To this:

this is really cool

yeah I enjoy time skips in games, it feels like you've achieved something great without doing all that much yourself

 

[Bomber Bob]

Fable

Spoiler

lol

 

[Polioliolio]

Infinite Space for the DS, the whole crew gets a nice time skip.
Your main character goes from this:

To this:

Did he go through a second puberty?

Is this is a stage of adulthood that we don't experience as humans?

Become 13 foot tall angels?

 

[Tigersprite]

Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life; it was the game's premise and it was done wonderfully well. Also Dragon Age 2, but it wasn't done very well at all.

 

[CaptNink]

Phantasy Star 3 on Genesis. Blew my mind back in the day.

 

[Coxswain]

Final Fantasy Tactics is a pretty good example, I think. I mean honestly Ramza's sort of boring throughout the years, but a lot of the supporting cast ends up going through some serious shit between the beginning and end of the game. Delita in particular, but there are a good number of other character plot threads going on too.

 

[Arkanius]

Infinite Space for the DS, the whole crew gets a nice time skip.
Your main character goes from this:

To this:

My favorite DS title