Games with lasting emotional impact

[dux]

Do you get drawn into a game, a game that's so finely crafted that upon completion you find yourself feeling a bit odd? The tangible feeling of disappointment, disappointment that it had to end. I've been getting this emotion a lot with recent games, I guess it goes to show the power that games can have upon you. The last time I felt like this was after watching a marathon Lord of the rings extended edition back to back (big lotr fan). Everytime I watch those films they leave a long lasting impression on me for weeks where it takes me a while to feel my normal self again. Am I making sense here?

The reason I brought this up again is because of a marathon Half-Life 2 session, starting with the first then ploughing through all the episodes back to back. I had forgotten what a good game it was, and its left me feeling as if I've been away from my home for several days and now that I've finished it, my surroundings feel a bit alien and unfamiliar to me. I got that sucked into it and felt as if I was actually there. I got the same with Dragon Age as well actually, I got so absorbed into its story and characters that every time I came away from the computer to resume my regular life I felt as if I had just come away from something totally epic that it was making me feel disjointed in my normal surroundings.

Do any of you experience anything akin to what I'm jabbering on about, or should I go and seek medical attention? And lay off the wacky backy.

[2d-chris]

less

[dux]

It's really good stuff though

[Warby]

some stuff does this for me

psychonauts the first and second metal gear solid or ico and sotc for example did

and other stuff doesn't even though on the surface it looks like it would ( braid brütal legend limbo mgs 3 +4 ) ( still great games mind you ! )

so i haven't found a formular to determin if a game will do this or not

but i am actually exclusively seeking out those games that do have that strong emotional impact on me

and i am rather turned off when games dont end up delivering on that front

[-HP-]

I can relate, obviously. and what Warby said too.

Not a lot of games made me feel like that tho, but there's a few. DeusEx (duh) MGS1, Mafia, and NOLF maybe.

[Steppenwolf]

I know that feeling but not so much with games. I get it after finishing tv shows that i really liked. It's a certain sadness because a) it's over and i would love to see more of it b) because i know i will never again experience the awesomness of that show for the first time.

[Minos]

I felt like that when mass effect ended =) The first half of the game is great but the second half (virmire - ilos - citadel) are mind blowing!

[Thrik]

Yeah it doesn't happen much, but games that've left an impression on me are definitely Grim Fandango, Metal Gear Solid (all of them really, especially the legendary MGS3 though), Uncharted 2, and Beyond Good and Evil. Some rare examples of truly superb writing in games. We can only hope one day all games have such good writing.

[D3ads]

Max Payne games definately spring to mind here...

[sarge mat]

A few like Half Life, Uncharted, Mass Effect and Republic Commando. I do get real feelings of attachment to some game universe's. Halo as well but, than tends to be more from the books. I find Dragon Age and Half Life 2 really great for just forgetting about everything.

[-HP-]

Max Payne games definately spring to mind here...

Oh fuck, how did I forgot about Max Payne, of ALL fucking games!

[syver]

Everytime I watch those films they leave a long lasting impression on me for weeks where it takes me a while to feel my normal self again. Am I making sense here?

I feel like this very often with films. I wish video games would give me the same feeling more often.

The last time I can remember feeling like this was when I played Limbo, both at the ending and during a part where I had to kill the large spider. For some reason I felt a bizarre sense of sadness when I had to "kill" it. It was heart-wrenching to remove its leg and then roll its body into the water pit. I had probably died (gruesomely) 3-4 times to the spider prior to that and it had done nothing but chase me down to kill me the entire game. It was just sad to see how helpless it was. I can't really make sense of the feeling or why I felt that way.

Also when I finished MGS4, which is strange because I don't really like the game that much in retrospect. Demon's Souls also made a lasting impression on me. I think that was just the catharsis of everything I had gone through to finish it.

edit: forgot about mafia 1 and super metroid

[cincinnati]

the absolute desolation of tomb raider 1. been searching for something like that experience in an sp ever since.

the follow-ups certainly didn't deliver.

[e-freak]

What steppen said. More in series like Lost or Chuck or HIMYM.

Games - only Half-Life series maybe. Everything else is more meh meh, Crysis did a kind of good job but it was so dissappointing ending that it destroyed the nostalgic moments.

[AlexM]

Hotel Dusk 215 did that for me, I'm looking forward to playing Again (the game again, not playing hotel dusk again...)