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#51: Lauren asked members of the GT Community about their most memorable game deaths and then wrote a paper on it. Lauren and Josué discuss what makes a game death memorable and why so many people answer the question with “Aeris from FFVII.” This topic was inspired by Gabby DaRienzo and the Play Dead Podcast.
Questions? Comments? Discuss this episode on the GT Forum.
Notes:
- Help Lauren with a research project: What is your most memorable game death? (GT Forum) – http://bit.ly/2wnpa2J
- Play Dead Podcast – http://bit.ly/2Q1hfAn
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I think the most impactful one for me is in Mass Effect 3, Mordin Solus. I’ll never forget his last words “Because I’m the only one who could do this.” Unlike seemingly most people, I wasn’t as huge a fan of Mass Effect 2 as I was 1 and 3. But Mordin I liked despite almost never having him on my party. But when he had to sacrifice himself and I couldn’t do anything to save him, I felt powerless. Despite all of my previous Triumphs I couldn’t save a friend. And I couldn’t dispute him either. He was right, someone else might mess it up and make everything up to that for naught. I was heartbroken when it was ended. It truly felt like a Pyrrhic victory simply because he died. It was then that I truly understood the weight of an individual life.
Another more recent big one for me is actually in Nier:Automata, 2B’s final death. The game plays a lot with the idea of what it means to be human, and mortality and the fleeting lives we all live. While Nier:Automata got a lot of media attention because of how intentionally “sexy” 2B was designed, the story really was something else. 2B canonically dies at an earlier part and all of the camaraderie she built with 9S is wiped from her memory. She constantly tries to keep her emotions muted but when she finally feels like opening up, she has those memories essentially deleted. It’s a bit of a sour point for both of them from that point on but they still remain comrades and friends. But when 2B gets irreparably damaged by the virus and 9S has to watch 2A kill her, I felt like a thousand lifetimes were spoken in that moment. All of the other Yorha units who died because of the virus, 2B wanting to tell 9S that she did care about him as more than a partner, 2A feeling like she’d failed Yorha because in the end, she wasn’t able to accomplish her mission fast enough and so much more. Nier:Automata really did an amazing job selling its story through both gameplay and just plain good writing. I actually uninstalled the game after getting the final ending because I didn’t want to “soil” my memories by being tempted to go back to a story that was truly finished in my heart. I’ll probably come back to play it in 5-10 years but the death held so much story impact for me that I still feel it now just typing it all out. There’s so much philosophy and such strong conviction held in the entire game that I felt like I needed to lay down for an hour and sift through it all in my head. That death had meaning for me because it felt real, I felt the same sorrows as the characters and I needed to see it through to the end after that. I needed my answers, I needed a rationalization, I needed closure.
My most memorable death was in Journey (spoilers, I guess?). Ive"died" in video games countless times. Mostly, it’s an annoyance that is usually over quickly so I can get back to the game (I’m side-eyeing ‘Too Human’ for that garbage Valkyrie cutscene), and I use the term to describe losing a game more than a life. With Journey it was different. I actually felt life in that game. I’ve related to characters in other games, I’ve had emotional reactions to scenes played out, but when I trudged up that mountain, it was so brutal. When I realized that it didn’t matter how hard I pushed the joystick, that no jumps or chirps or anything could change how fast I could go, I knew something was…not wrong, but rather important. Something important was happening. I had to make it to the peak, I had to, but a part of me knew I wouldn’t. When my character collapsed, I was devastated. The ending to that game was the most moving thing I’ve experienced. Seeing my spirit get beamed out, it gave me hope. I was around 25 (29 now), and walked to see a group of friends out right after finishing it, and I’ve yet to be able to describe to them the way it made me feel. I don’t think I can play that game again; it was an experience that I can’t recreate.
I’ve been thinking about this, and for me Red Dead Redemption. I felt I got to know Jack Marsden so well. You feel like you have reunited his family, do quests related to building the family relationships, feels like life is good… and BOOM! You think you can save him, but no. It was hard to swallow. But then the revenge was soooo sweet.
Heya everyone!
I finally finished my paper! Thank you all so much for participating, you’re amazing.
Here is a link to the paper, for any of you who would like to read or share it
I also just recorded a Headshots episode with Josué about it, so listen to that when it comes out (especially if you don’t want to read my 25 page academic paper, lol).
Thank you, again! And please keep telling me about your memorable game deaths! I loooove hearing about them <3<3<3
I just listened to this episode and I’m interested in reading that paper. I have a couple of pretty impactful ones that came to my mind that are more for the aftermath of the death.
Life is strange
Kate’s suicide probably caught a lot of people off guard and it feels all the more permanent that this time reversal power that has been established throughout the game has been temporarily taken away from you. What I found more shocking was how everybody seemed to captalise on her death by making it all about themselves with how much of a good friend they were when in reality prior to her death they seemed to relentlessly bully her. I have not played this game in a long time and I believe there is a narrow way to avoid this but it happens in most peoples experience with the game.
Doki-Doki Literature Club
This game is so unique. Everything about Sayori’s death is disturbing, the suddeness, the image, the change of music and how the game just ends on that. Then it is just so startling when you reload the game from the start with every trace of her gone and nobody acknowledges her existence at all. Its like groundhog day with an essiental foundation missing, the absense makes everything feel completely off. You spend so much time getting to know this character and it seems all the more affecting that you got a sense of her thoughts from the time spent reading her personal poetry. The utter powerless way when you try to reload a previous save to find that those too have been wiped. With narrative games like these the player manipulates the system to try and get a disired outcome but its so refreshing to have a game that flips that dynamic back around onto the player. The way Monika dies is so original, how you have physically open up the games files and delete her from the game. I also really like how you can finally hear Monika sing in the credits about the themes of the game after constantly hearing that melody & only ever reading dialogue, its such a nice way to close it off.
Also as a bonus just for fun there is a cutesy little puzzle platformer called Mr. Karoshi where the goal is to die. Avoid 'em smooches at all costs because those deadly spikes will turn into flowers! https://youtu.be/DgQ5XwPUCaI