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So um, a game just made me cry. ...I didn't expect that. Not from this game.

C

Chettlar

Banned
So uh, yeah, this has never happened to me before, so I thought I'd make a thread about it.

(I wish I could go into this more, but I don't really have time atm. Plus, see, I'm working on a LTTP for the Gears of War trilogy, and felt this deserved it's own thread, since it doesn't really work with the rest well.)

So yeah, this was uh...let's say thoroughly unexpected. See, I'd always heard Gears of War was good -- really good even. But I mean, I never really liked third person shooters, so I was reluctant to pick it up. But hey, there was a really decent sale on the trilogy, so I picked up Gears 3. Thought I might take it for a spin since I had played the horde a couple times before and loved it.

So I sat down and played through the game. The story was...better than I expected. I mean, isn't this Gears of War? Ya know, dude bro, tough guys, cool, not a whole lot of words, right? Well, actually yes, right. Sort of. I mean...not like that. At any rate, the story pulled me in. I enjoyed it, almost more than the gameplay (which was leagues better than I had expected it to be...like, whoa, a fun TPS. That's new).


But then I got to the Dom's part of the story. You know. The grave scene. Maria.

20080715225855!Dom.JPG

This dude.
Click to expand...

Whoa. Just...huh? What is my face doing? My eyes are...hot. WTF, how? Chettlar stop it. This a video game ffs. But nah, I started crying. I couldn't not. Then
Dom puts the COG tag on the grave.
I mean, kinda cliche right? Didn't matter, there were tears in my eyes. My lips were slightly clench. Whoa.

Then later came the scene
where Dom sacrifices himself.

Gears-of-War-3-Dom.png
Click to expand...

No. No. NONONO. Oh god please no. NO.

I just. I couldn't take it. I stopped playing. Literally put down the controller. Naw man. No. Tears in my eyes. Dom WHYYYYYYYYYYY. Not YOU!!! WHY YOU??! I...actually cared about him. I've never felt like that for a character in a game. Everything in games is so manufactured. Half-life 2 felt manufactured for example. I didn't really care about those characters. It just felt like I was "supposed to." Not this game. I actually felt for Dom. A lot. Enough to make me cry.


So I went and did what any reasonable person would do and immediately bought Gears 3's season pass, Gears 1, and Gears 2. I mean, why not? Gears 1 was...yeah. That's what I had expected. Not really the best writing. Boring story, etc. Didn't grip me at all. But hey, I expected that.

So then I played Gears 2. Was loving the campaign. I mean just loving the epicness of it. Like, I still liked Gears 3's story better. Seemed better done, but it wasn't quite as EPIC as Gears 2 was right now.

Then came the part. Dom
finds Maria
.

gears-of-war2.jpg
Click to expand...

No. NONONONONONONO. Chettlar stop. You're not...you are.... Dammit.

That scene just killed me. I mean, just killed me. NO. Goddammit NO!!!! Aw bloody hell no. :'(

Then he
pulls the gun to her head

I have no words. Just tears. Only tears. I just... I just.....


How is a video game doing this to me? Furthermore, how is Gears of War of all things doing this to me? How, when so many other games that are advertised as being emotional and with beautiful stories (and even some that I had no idea were going to try to be emotional) couldn't even touch me --- In fact make me laugh at how manufactured they were --- and yet this game could?

Dom...I'll uh...miss you? Never felt this way before. Not in video game. Weird.

EDIT: I need to clarify something. The entire point of this thread is that I did not expect this, because it's Gear of War. I would have laughed at somebody who told me they cried at it myself. That's why I'm so weirded out. Maybe it's because it was because I didn't expect it, or maybe it was just because Dom was such a nice, unassuming character who didn't deserve any of what happened to him and I'm just a really nice person who feels bad for people like that. Whatever the case, I'm...still surprised that it got me. That's the point of the thread.
 
A

alterno69

Banned
I'm with you OP, i know people make fun of this side of the GoW story but for some reason i was really moved by that scene.
 
F

firehawk12

Subete no aware
I think the moment in Gears 2 was ruined when my co-op partner started laughing at the melodrama, which just got me laughing as well.

Unfortunately, Dom's sacrifice in 3 didn't really do much for me either.
 
W

whitemex88

Member
Was hard to be moved by that scene when the writing was all over the wall that he gonna go out in a blaze of glory to save his friends cliche
 
T

Tagyhag

Member
I think that scene in 2 would have had more impact if
he didn't use a freaking monster of a gun.
I bursted out laughing when I saw that.

It's cool that a game was able to give you that much emotion though, to be honest there hasn't been a single game that could get me to shed a single tear yet. But as games become more sophisticated and writing (Hopefully) gets better, we'll see.
 
L

Listonosh

Member
Metal Gear Solid 3. That is all.

No but seriously, I can count a handful of games that either pushed me to the brink or actually made me tear up.
 
G

GrizzNKev

Banned
I want to let the OP know that I had an entire discussion with a friend about how absolutely shitty and awful and insulting to the player and poorly written that scene was. An embarrassment to the medium. It made you cry? Wow.

Speedy Blue Dude said:
Only game to ever make me cry was the ending of Halo 4 and midway through The Last of Us (and part of the ending).
Click to expand...

Same goes for you. I don't even need to start explaining why.
 
F

Flipyap

Member
I had a really good laugh when Mad World started playing during that scene.
Nothing quite like an instrumental version of a sappy cover version of a goofy pop song used to heighten the emotional impact of a scene by letting you relive the feels you got from watching an advertisement five years prior. Video games.
 
E

Eusis

Member
The stuff in 2 definitely got me to put down the controller and walk away from the game for awhile at least from... shock, I guess? Not stuff I'd just go laughing at anyway, even if I'd laugh at a LOT from the game because I now knew that Fenix was voiced by John DiMaggio and couldn't stop hearing Bender, making scenes like "IT'S A GIANT WORM" amazing.

But yeah, it had moments of impact, and while I sure as hell wouldn't prop these games up as LITERARY MASTERPICES it does seem odd to me to go laughing at them. Eh, whatever, melodrama can just as easily set off that reaction as the intended emotional blows.
 
M

MasterForm

Member
Really? Gears, though? I've no issues with man tears or anything because those things are like Pokemon tears. They can cure everything. But Gears, though?
 
P

PaulExcellent

Member
Go play To The Moon and Katawa Shoujo.
Oh, Lily. ;(

I felt emotional on the scene with Tai on the second Gears, but not the one with Dom's wife. lol
 
A

Artorias

Banned
So uhhh yea errr... ummm pssst pssshhhhawwwwww.... grrrrr NAH.

If this is pleasant to read, you might be the OPs target audience!

Edit: Damnit, did I just fall for a joke thread? :(
 
F

FaintColt388301

Member
Gears of War story was pretty bad imo. I would cry playing multiplayer before I would during the campaign.

Tearaway was the game that got me though. Just a lovely simple little game to play through. It made me so happy.
 
C

Coffee Dog

Banned
Wow, considering that entire subplot was hamfisted as hell you probably would bawl at the end of harry potter or twilight, too.
 
R

Roto13

Member
ButtSmasher said:
Gears of War story was pretty bad imo. I would cry playng multiplayer before the I did during the campaign.

Tearaway was the game that got me though. Just a lovely simple little game to play through. It made me so happy.
Click to expand...

Tearaway was very touching. Not sad, but touching. I could see someone tearing up at it.
 
S

StoopKid

Member
I literally busted out laughing at that part.

Don't think a game has ever made me cry but the last of us opening scene was close.
 
I

Ivan 3414

Member
Gears of War 2 doesn't have the most well-written or executed story. Still, that scene was definitely sad and I'm not going to fault you for being emotional about it.
 
A

Alchemy

Member
Only games that made me cry were:

  • End of MGS3. Holy fuck.
  • Ocarina of Time 3D credits. The nostalgia wave was too powerful.
 
G

GreatMightySymp

Member
Lufia II did that to me as a kid, hadn't played the first game so wasn't expecting that ending.

The scene where Tia started crying after Maxim's death and then the baby crying later just helped to reinforce things.
 
P

Papercuts

fired zero bullets in the orphanage.
Tai offing himself in 2 affected me more. I think they did that one really well.

Dom stuff didn't do much for me.
 
B

BRocknRolla

Member
I see nothing wrong with being emotionally moved by a game.

Gears of War however... Boy, I have a tough time understanding that one. The games were fun and graphically impressive, but the stories were so roundly awful and full of
e
holes that I couldn't get invested in the characters or their struggles.

I admit, Gears 3 had two moments I felt emotionally touched by: 1)
When Cole has his football flashback. I just felt really bad for him as he was trying to relive and remember this moment in his life when he had been happy. It was basically the only characterization he got in 3 games, but it was well done,
and 2)
in the end when Marcus just throws his things down and collapses into the water, getting super forlorn and depressed. I remember thinking, "I bet the dudebros are struggling to process this moment right now." It was a very dark but fitting end for a character that had been continuously portrayed as some kind of super soldier bad ass.
That's all I felt though. I literally laughed at how ridiculous it was when Dom finds his wife.
 
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