The Daily Grind: What game has generated the strongest feelings for you?

by Eliot Lefebvre on Dec 5th 2009 8:00AM

Culture, Reviews, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Roleplaying, Academic

There are some games that you just sort of play. You pick them up, you enjoy them, and then you walk away without any real feelings about them one way or the other. And then there are the games that you launch into a screaming two-hour argument with one of your closest friends about on your birthday, because they happened to say that they didn't like it. Or maybe you finished an intense, epic play session on the game, working your way through an emotional questline and roleplaying all the way, and you find out afterwards that you need to lie down for a little while. Or maybe they're just the games that inspire you to post long forum diatribes wherever you can about why this is the greatest game in history.

Whether it be in the game or out of it, what games have generated the strongest feelings in you? Whether it's an intense emotional reaction to a character's death that you would nominate as an exhibit in the ongoing "are games art" debate, or just some impassioned soapboxing off-the-cuff, we're sure you have some moments and games that just resonate with you. Tell us about them. We're all ears.

Tags: academic, anger, culture, emotions, joy, opinion, passion, reviews, roleplaying, tdg, the-daily-grind

Reader Comments (46)

Star Wars Galaxies NGE and the break up of my and other guilds.

Pre-CU SWG was the same for me, CU brought some interesting changes but not nearly as game breaking as that NGE. I felt like someone stole something from me. I got really sad that day, I never thought a game could bring out such strong feelings, but it did. I learned to not take things so seriously since then, but truth be told, I have not had nearly as much fun in any MMO since then either.

Weird part is when i went back a few years later and tried the EMU, I just couldn't get back into it, its like my brain just blocked it out or something.

SWG for me too, for the same reasons listed above. I put so much work and time into my characters, that when SOE and LucasArts made the NGE changes I really felt like everything I did for 2 years was just stolen from me. Their changes weren't like the big nerf that eventually comes along in every game and lessens your damage or makes a buff or skill not as useful. These were changes that not only ripped the characters you worked on apart, but all the equipment that you worked to purchase, craft, or obtain to get those perfects stats were rendered useless as well. Then to top it all off, the mass changes wound up breaking up guilds and friendships with many moving on to WoW and other games.

Starwars Galaxies for me also. I have been playing off and on since 2003, and I still go back to the game NGE and all. I have met so many great people on this game, and lately there is always something for me to do in game. This was the game I got my greatest accomplishment in, which was getting my elder jedi after grinding out 26 professions. Good times lol.

I used to say "I want my children to play Phantasy Star Online"

Once we were leaving to go get food, and my friend was transfering my character back to my memorycard, for no reason, and while I was telling him how useless it was to do so because we were coming right back to farm Red Sword, the power flickered and there went my character T_T

Needless to say, I punched the house.

I gave that house "what fore"

Haha, I still love PSO (still wish they would release another iteration that isn't PSU-like), but damn, losing your characters to corrupted save files or whatever else was too common :(

One of the best, most exciting gaming experiences I would have to say was in Lord of the Rings Online, when my kinship and I finally got to the Balrog in the Rift 12 man raid for my first time. My heart was beating a million times a minute, and I just KNEW I was going to forget to cure a wound, or not transfer power when I needed to help out a friend or something equally as stupid. An hour after arriving in the Balrog's lair, we managed to take him down perfectly! I was psyched about that encounter for the following week, showing screenshots to my friends and family members. Yes, even those individuals who could give a crap, or really had no idea what a Balrog was, let alone why someone would want to kill it! One of my best gaming experiences in an MMO ever!!

Not got that feeling yet from an MMO. Still living in hope.

Haven't played a lot of MMO's so i got to say World of Warcraft because about 3 months into playing it i joined a guild, met some really cool people who i still continue to talk with even though i stopped playing 2 months ago.And i actually did get into an argument with my group of friends because they said WoW was gay and had no good reasons to say it.

The only game I ever really was emotionally connected/invested in was EverQuest, it was a way of life to me for nearly 10 years, & I formed some very close friendships that while far more ephemeral than they were still endure to this day.

I was a part of a few small family guilds & seeing those fall apart really hurt, I later joined a raiding guild and made new friends and gradually lost contact with my old guildies and the new guild eventually came to be like a real family to me, complete with daily drama lol.

I'm kinda "out of the loop" right now but keep in touch with them & will rejoin them in whatever game they are all in at some point in the future.

But still, I'll never forget how much those first really close-knit guilds affected me when they broke up, it surprised me just how much I was emotionally connected to those people, and how much I missed them when they left the game.

Everquest for me as well. I met about 6 of my now real life friends in there. I am currently working with one specific friend (in real life). None of us play EQ anymore, but without EQ I would have never had the chance to meet these wonderful people.

Hmmm...First FFXI, I still have debates on why I loved this game. Next I'll talk about WoW, LOTRO, and EQ2 and how if someone would make a game combining all 3 I would never leave it.

Super Metroid.

Super Metroid for the freaking legendary win. I salute you good sir. Half of me wants to ask for a Metroid MMO but I doubt that anyone would do it justice.

*salutes back*
Oh gosh I do hope they won't try.

It must have been the depression and guild break-ups Pre-BC for WoW. Everyone knew what was going to happen with guilds going from 40 to 25-man. So a lot of guilds just broke apart and then having the anger of over two years of progression raiding become obsolete in the first 30-min in Outlands.

Another, for a community in general, was when Warhammer cut all but two capital cities and two classes. The nerdrage that followed was pumped all the way up to 11, it was not pretty. So much disappointment in the course of a month or so, not a good way to start things off.

The only MMO that has gotten any emotional response from the game itself is FFXI. No MMO comes remotely close to FFXI's level of story telling. Completing the Chains of Promathia mission line was a very emotional moment. First of all, it took me literally years to find a group competent, and committed enough to complete the insanely difficult, insanely long mission series, and when I finally did, that familiar Final Fantasy crystal theme chimes in and shows you a very mushy cutscene of all the (npc) friends and characters you met along the way. It's guaranteed to evoke emotion even from someone like me who had no frickin idea what happened in the story by the end.

My other emotional moment was also in FFXI, when our alliance wiped fighting Hakutaku, it despawned and I lost my pop item that took me a month to farm the items for. I lost my mind. Spammed up the chat with capslock and profanity for probably 30 minutes. I've never been so mad/sad/frustrated at a game.

Assuming we're talking about mmo's only, definitely SWG for me.

Everquest. I was in a guild for 3-4 years, they were my family. I became leader the last year, and eventually the drama built to the point I left. I guess in a way i'm still not over it.../emotear.

But as far as game eliciting emotions from me, I'd have to console based games for the most part. Call of Duty 4:Modern Warfare's story in the solo game was excellent, especially for a first person shooter. I'd also like to mention Final Fantasy X for an epic story, loved it, got all emo at the end and such. No lie.

But as far as mmo's go, again, not too many real emotional responses from the in-game stories, except for a few quests here and there. I remember the Stalvan quest line from WoW always kinda struck a chord with me.

First it was WoW. Well, not really WoW specifically, but guild drama that finally pushed me to quit.

These days I sometimes get emotional about EVE, but I'm trying my best not to fall into that same trap that killed WoW for me.

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The Daily Grind: What game has generated the strongest feelings for you?

Reader Comments (46)

Posted: Dec 5th 2009 8:25AM Greeen said

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