I got all you guys beat.

The most emotional game I''ve ever had the fortune of playing is Princess Maker 2 on the PC. (There have been several incarnations of Princess Maker, but only the second one ever made it to the PC, unfortunately.)

The first time I finished the game, I almost cried.

The point of the game is to raise your daughter from 10 years of age to 18 years of age. You guide her progress through life. It''s your responsbility to give her a proper education, good working habits, a healthy diet, and an opportunity to make friends. You can also send her into the wilderness to gain combat experience, or you can have her participate in annual contests with other characters.

I should mention one other thing about Princess Maker: it is without a doubt the most dynamic game ever made. There are literally dozens of possible endings, and an infinite combination of skills your daughter can acquire while growing. So, if you guys want to talk dynamic plot, let''s talk Princess Maker.

When my daughter turned 18 and left me for the open arms of the world, it broke my heart. This is the only game that''s ever jerked that kind of emotional response from me. When you put that much time and thought into raising a virtual child, you can''t help but get emotionally attached to her.

As far as I know, the English PC version of Princess Maker is abandonware. If anyone would like to check it out (and I highly recommend it), let me know. I''ll try to find a place for you to download it.

I agree with most of the things that have been listed here, especially Aeris'' death in FF7 -- they did a hell of a job with that one. And I agree with A. Buza... download a Genesis emulator and get PS4! And the rest of the series for that matter.

The other thing I love in games is when something can literally make you shake... I still remember playing the original Resident Evil alone in the dark at 3am, in the basement. The game had a lot of great atmosphere in it, abysmal voice acting aside. The best, though, was when I got to the scene where you come back into the mansion and you first encounter the Hunter. They have that FMV of the thing chasing down the path you just walked, and then this clawed hand opens the door you just walked through, and you can see his beady eyes coming for you out of the darkness... anyway, right at that point in the game, there was a huge crashing sound from my room, about ten feet away, and it literally made me jump. For whatever reason my clock had chosen that exact instant to fall off the wall, heh. How appropriate.

In an FPS, going from a sixteen-player death-fest to a one-on-one match is something. The first time I played through the tournament mode in Unreal Tournament, destroying bots left and right at lightning speed, and then went one-on-one against Xan was very cool. It''s almost eerie being in a world so quiet when you''re used to flak grenades flying and heads rolling. Hearing Xan picking up all the powerups right on the other side of a wall was a little nerve-wracking, especially when you just caught a glimpse of him with invisibility on, a split second before you find yourself with a rocket in your gut, and Xan saying "You die too easily."

-Ironblayde
 Aeon Software

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I have to agree with A. Buza, Alys' death was a pretty emotional scene.The end was quite emotional too, especially when Rune told Chaz they'd never see each other again ... I loved their bickering throughout the whole game.
But the games that affected me most were the Quest for Glory series.The hate for Ad Avis (sp?) (DIE YOU MOTHERF***R), the enormous respect I felt for Erana (and love, in QFG5)...Rakeesh really felt like my mentor, you can't imagine how angry I was when he was poisoned in QFG5...You should really play those games, they RULE.

Runemaster now working on Acronia : Secrets of Magic
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""""" "'Nazrix is cool' -- Nazrix" --Darkmage --Godfree"-Nazrix" -- runemaster --and now dwarfsoft" -- dwarfsoft --pouya" -- Nazrix" -- Nazrix
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Edited by - runemaster on October 22, 2000 8:45:10 AM

Mind you, PSIV WAY predated Square''s FFVII with the killing off a main character thing...

Oh, I know Squaresoft are such a bunch of copycats. Did the greek tragedies rip off PSIV too?

Tom- Princess Maker (AKA Meat Market- Final Battle) was kinda cool. . .does your therapist know you play these games???. . .j/k My digital smack was Monster Rancher. Its alot like Princess Maker, but you raise beasties instead of women (predating Pokemon, AFAIK ). Now that you mention Princess Maker, I think Monster Rancher got to me more than any other game. When my first Tiger died, I paid the extra grand for a proper funeral, though it had absolutely no ingame consequence. Then I named my next one Toto Jr. after the first. Jeezus. . .this is how fanboys happen. And yes, I. . .I wrote fanfic. . .ok, kill me now.

If you see the Buddha on the road, Kill Him. -apocryphal

Edited by - Anonymous Poster. on October 22, 2000 2:23:47 PM

That reminds me, the Creatures series (particularly the second game) has this effect. You can become very attached to your Norns as you take care of them, and it''s rather heart-breaking when they finally die. I usually feel this way about first- and second-generation Norns. You get used to the concept after that.

You guys mention Aeris'' death quite a bit, it makes me wonder if I''m the only person in the world who didn''t really care when she was killed. To be perfectly honest, I thought it was pretty damned stupid. I mean, what happened to the eight-billion Pheonix Downs we were carrying ten seconds ago?

This is where plot supercedes reason, something I think should never happen in a good story. But that''s food for another topic, one I''m sure you guys have already discussed in my absence.

I, too, enjoy the adrenaline rush from experiencing tense and frightening situations in video games. I get that a lot from first-person shooters. Not all of you guys like Unreal Tournament as much as I do---well, I don''t think anyone could possibly like it as much as I do.

Still, my point is that sometimes the game gets me really excited. I''m not talking about a pure-white killing high, but the splendor that can only be wrought through awesome gameplay. I''m talking about those freak events when you do something really cool that you could never repeat no matter how hard you tried, and it makes you laugh out loud.

Example: I leaped out of the enemies'' redeemer alcove in Facing Worlds, did a flip and spun around at the same time while switching to the redeemer, and fired at the ground in front of the enemy base, wasting half their team. I actually caught that on a demo.

There is no way you can duplicate that in a story without making it look fabricated. So, I think randomness can provide just as much excitement as story. Not that this is particularly relevant to our discussion...

Phantasy Star is the "Final Fantasy" of Sega. The first PS was released long ago on the old-ass Sega Master System, and it was an award-winning work of art (for its time).

PS II was released on the Genesis in the late eighties. At that time, it was the biggest cart in console history (at six megabits). Phantasy Star fans ate it up like candy. It was an instant classic.

Then PS III was released in Japan, and it boasted a plethora of improvements. I don''t think it every hit the Genesis on our side of the ocean, but I can''t say that for sure. I was never a real Genesis buff.

PS IV made its debut about five or six years ago, and it destroyed its predecessors in size and quality. I particularly like the fact that you can do battle inside your vehicles. Why hasn''t Square done anything like that?

Anyway, that''s a very brief run-down on the PS series.

PS III did come out in the States, and it was a great game. One cool thing about it was that it spanned three generations, so it ended up that you could finish the game four different ways. I suppose you see multiple endings pretty often these days, but for back then it was great! The only thing I had against it was that the final battle was much too easy... not at all like going up against Dark Force in PS II! That battle took me a long time to win....

-Ironblayde
 Aeon Software

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