the HERO must DIE.

Lately I've been thinking about the most epic/thrilling moments in videogames and I have come to the conclusion that most of these involve the hero(es) paying a heavy (if not the heaviest) price.

And I like those. A lot.


Here's some examples;

Metal gear Solid 1:(SPOILER)Grey Fox turns out to be a helping hand and dies in a very unpleasant (but very, very heroic) way some moments later. E-P-I-C.

God of War: (SPOILER)After finally obtaining Pandora's Box the current god of war kills you by throwing a giant pillar through your chest. Wow.

And ofcourse there's Tidus (SPOILER)although he's arguably not really dying, you get the idea of X not being a perfect happy ending. And I like it that way.


Anyway, my point is; for some reason it always just feels awkward to believe that the hero will just go on to live a reasonably normal life after the game. It's almost like I need a hero to die to make a game as epic and touching as possible.

So what's your point of view on this one? Do we need more dying heroes to scale up plottwists and make the game more touching? Which endings do you think were too "perfect" to be true? Which hero or important character did you expect to die but didn't?


D-I-S-C-U-S-S :choc:

It definitely makes a big impact when a hero dies. She may not be the main character, but as a pivotal character, Aeris' death is one of the most remembered and discussed in video games in general.

Chrono Trigger did this awesomely imo.

It does make a big impact but i think one reason is because most stories games, movies, or otherwise the hero has a happy ending i like a "bad" ending once in awhile but i bet if most had this "bad" ending we would like the rare "good" ending.

Chrono Trigger and MGS1 are my favourites. I really like Grey Fox's speech while im watching through the stinger. Im sure its an extended metaphor for something. That thing with Fortune and the mislies in MGS2 was cool too i guess.

Shadow of the Colossus.

Call of Duty 4 did this. At the very beginning of the game, 'you' are dragged through a town and then executed in first person. Later on, 'you' (a different character) were a little too late in escaping a nuclear bomb and you die slowly and silently. It's pretty good.

i always find that in almost every game, i dislike the hero.
The likes of Cloud, Tidus, Link, Mario etc all are really boring, and i care little for them. its the supporting characters dieing that have an impact...
(with the exception of the likes of Snake)

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Originally Posted by I'm my own MILF

Shadow of the Colossus.

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I don't think there is anything in this game that is done poorly. I completely agree, even though I've still not yet played to the end. The fact that you are essentially watching yourself die slowly throughout the game is fantastic.

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Originally Posted by JKTrix

Call of Duty 4 did this. At the very beginning of the game, 'you' are dragged through a town and then executed in first person. Later on, 'you' (a different character) were a little too late in escaping a nuclear bomb and you die slowly and silently. It's pretty good.

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Hell yes. :Eek: pretty much the whole way through.

Or if a hero dies and returns later it is also epic. (Zidane in ff9 at the end and Barbarossa in PotC though not a game)

Jacks return was infinitely more awesome than Barbosas.

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Originally Posted by JKTrix

Call of Duty 4 did this. At the very beginning of the game, 'you' are dragged through a town and then executed in first person. Later on, 'you' (a different character) were a little too late in escaping a nuclear bomb and you die slowly and silently. It's pretty good.

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Word.

And at the ending (SPOILER)you're pretty much watching how all your comrades get shot and die while you're lying helplessly on the ground. That really shocked me.

In some occasions I actually hoped the hero would die (in a good way I mean).

For example (two MGS4 spoilers ahead);(SPOILER)In MGS4. After having watched every trailer including some scenes where Snake was about to kill himself, while playing the game I realised that would be a very fitting ending for this old, depressed Snake. It didn;t happen though ;o

(SPOILER)I also kind of expected Raiden to have died in act 4. It would be such an heroic death, sacrifing his own arm and stuff. I do think he should have at least stayed arm-less at the end of the game.

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Originally Posted by Bunny

Chrono Trigger did this awesomely imo.

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Yeah, this.

I really need to play Shadow of the Colossus.

>>> I like more when the Hero`s best friend dies.
Thats more shocking.

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Originally Posted by JKTrix

Call of Duty 4 did this. At the very beginning of the game, 'you' are dragged through a town and then executed in first person. Later on, 'you' (a different character) were a little too late in escaping a nuclear bomb and you die slowly and silently. It's pretty good.

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Oh god, that nuke scene is one of my favorites in all of videogames. Let me explain why:

This is an FPS. It's a fairly gung-ho shooter, you do play the part of some of the hardest men on the planet after all. You've dealt with tons of enemies, both infantry and tanks, fought through a fairly hardcore urban battle, all sorts of crazy :bou::bou::bou::bou:.

Then, not only do you fail to stop the nuke from going off, you're caught on the edge of the blast radius. Your chopper goes down and you get a scene where you're the only survivor. But you've survived, right...? I mean you'll end up in hospital fair enough, but at least you lived.

Until you realize that all you can do is crawl around in a very pained manner, very slowly, with a body that is clearly broken beyond repair. No weapons. No enemies. No shooty. No nothing except a painful, harrowing death.

That, for me, is what made CoD4 so epic. Yes, it's an extremely solid game and yes, it has high production values and yes, multiplayer is brilliant. But that completely insane subversion of the genre was just incredible.

Planescape: Torment?

Well I didn't read a post in this thread besides the first one, 'cause I didn't wanna be spoiled about a game I might have wanted to play, but Persona 3 and FFX are two of my favorite games and I was nearly in tears at the end of them S:

I agree that the moment is that much more powerful, but sometimes it just feels like an epic waste of time xD
That being said, if the death was pulled off well enough then I won't care and will probably just be sitting in the corner crying :D

Its pretty awesome when its well done and used sparingly. I noticed I tend to love games that have the more "not so happy ending" (SPOILER)Persona 3 just happened to do it the best cause that game did so much to build the relationships your characters have. The very last stretch of the title is just amazing.

Shadow of the Colossus was also seriously epic. Even titles tha just flirted with it tended to do it well with BoFV and CT.

I've been finding a lot games to have bitter sweet endings lately. Sure it can get played out that beating the final boss and the team lives on happily ever after, but it can be nice. And then there's the first Ar Tonelico. Depending on how you play it you can have the bittersweet ending or a happily ever ending.

(SPOILER)If you end it at Phase 2, Lyner and Aurica/Misha do live on a happy life. However, Shurelia is put in an eternal coma type state and all song magic is sealed along with her and Mir.

However, if you play through Phase 3 and get the true ending you get one of the most happiest and satisfying endings I've seen in awhile. Not only is Shurelia saved from her coma, Misha is saved from her fate of singing Chronicle Key for the rest of her life in a small room. You also save Mir, who was the main antagonist for the entire game. And then Lyner and Aurica/Misha/Shurelia go off the live a happily ever after.

I just replayed Ace Combat Zero: the Belkan War. Don't know if anyone around here as ever played this game, but I really love the plottwists and the ending;

(SPOILER)At about 2/3rd through the game your trusty buddy and wingman Pixy goes off and defects to the enemy's side after some nuclear explosions went off. For the remaining missions he is replaced by PJ, your new wingman.

In the end, Pixy returns as your enemy and kills PJ. Ofcourse, this results in the inevitable; a one on one dogfight between you and your former friend.

And that's cool. :choc:

What was necessary about your journey and "epic struggle" if you're just going to go on with the usual bit after saving the world? Something massive has to change whether it's the loss of some friends, a dramatic change to the environment which ain't necessarily for the better, loss of technology, loss of nature, loss of home, or loss of your own life. The journey itself feels empty without loss, as oxymoronic as that may sound.

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Originally Posted by Wolf Kanno

Its pretty awesome when its well done and used sparingly. I noticed I tend to love games that have the more "not so happy ending" (SPOILER)Persona 3 just happened to do it the best cause that game did so much to build the relationships your characters have. The very last stretch of the title is just amazing.

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If only the social links worked like they did in P4, then it would be even more moving S:

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Originally Posted by I'm my own MILF

Shadow of the Colossus.

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I had a touching moment (SPOILER)when Agro fell.

[leeza]That was not nice. ~ Leeza[/leeza]

(SPOILER)Agro falls? What the hell? Damn you.

[leeza]That also was not nice. ~ Leeza[/leeza]

MARK YOUR SPOILERS DICKHEADS

This thread should have *SPOILERS* in it's title.

You should have the common courtesy to mark spoilers without a spoiler warning in the title telling you to. Especially, when, you know, everyone else in the thread is doing so. =/

(SPOILER)Persona 3's ending was very surprising. It didn't make me sad, but it was quite emotional. I didn't really see it coming and I had to check online before I fully understood what had happened.

What I meant was that the title of this thread is "The HERO must DIE", so obviously when you mention a game, it's understood that the hero dies. I'm not the only one who should have spoiler tags. Besides, I didn't technically mention the hero.