Games that actually make you feel for the characters...

[*Laurelindo*]

Don't misunderstand me now, I definitely think video games are wonderful in almost every aspect, and I've played tons of games that touch my heart with their beautiful storylines, music etc - but I almost never feel that I actually personally care for the characters.
I do think characters like Link, Mega Man and Chrono are great, but I never get a real chance to sympathize with them, because honestly they don't have much of a personality.
The game that has come closest to this (and managed very well, I must say) is Ico - I can't put it into words very clearly, but in that game I really felt like I was helping a friend; that's the kind of connection I'm always looking for in a game.
Another game that pulled this off very well was Final Fantasy 9 - except for Quina and Amarant (who were basically the funny guy and the tough guy) I felt a very close connection with all the characters (especially Zidane and Vivi!), and Squall and Rinoa in FF8 also had their moments; but except for these games (who should set an example for other games to come) it is highly unusual to actually feel anything for a video game character.

I seriously think that game developers should think of character development as more of a sort of hobby, and not just something that "takes up time during development".
If they do their best to create characters for their own sake during their free time (which really isn't that hard, they can come up with character ideas in their head during a tedious train trip or something), without any commercial interests, they can use those characters later if they feel like it, when they have got an own feel for the characters and made them "alive", with short background stories and so on.

[Raistlin]

The two games which make me feel the most for the characters are Lunar: SSSC and Suikoden II. For the former, every character in the party had a very compelling back story. For the latter, there were a few excellent characters (especially Jowy) that really made me empathize with them. The only FF that comes close to those is FFT, with Ramza and Delita being very realistic characters.

[Pheesh]

Kingdom Hearts I and II. Probably more so I, but there were moments in II ("looks like my summer vacation is over") that also made me emotional.

[Rad Bromance]

Final Fantasy V, Final Fantasy XIII and Suikoden II do a pretty good job of this with me.

[bipper]

Games that actually make you feel for the characters...

Marco Polo?

[Bolivar]

Heavy Rain, close thread.

[ANGRYWOLF]

FFVII and FFX and X-2, Baldur's Gate 2, Suikoden, Breathe of Fire, Ogre Battle.

[~*~Celes~*~]

I can already tell I'm going to be ridiculed for this ... but when I played through FF X-2 for the first time and got to the 1000 Words concert, I cried.

[VeloZer0]

I tend to run against the grain on characterization issues. For me having characters too well developed actually tends to make me identify/sympathize with them less that a medium level of development. When they throw a whole lot of effort into character (fresh on my mind is FFXIII) I tend to draw away from them. This is most likely because I tend to not like people in general.

In sprite and crude polygon based RPGs no matter how hard they tried to nail character there was always a significant amount left up to the imagination. I'm guessing the reason I could become so much more attached to these characters (which for me is the equivalent of not being repelled) is that I somewhat filled in the blanks with something that appealed to me. FFT is an extremely unique case where I can't think of a single character I didn't like. If they had huge long exposition dialog like is the standard nowadays I would probably have found something to dislike about all of them.

It was interesting that you brought up Mega Man because that is one series where I have become extremely attached to the characters, despite the fact that they have extremely little dialog. A sort of personality formed based on the little lines I had, their sprites/animations and what I wanted them to be. Sonic was also sort of like that, until they ruined the series post S&K3.

[MJN SEIFER]

Most Final Fantasys I've played. Mostly FFVII and FFVIII - I'll have a think of some non-FF games if I can.

[qwertysaur]

Portal.

[Slothy]

Heavy Rain, close thread.

Pretty much.

[Jiro]

I can already tell I'm going to be ridiculed for this ... but when I played through FF X-2 for the first time and got to the 1000 Words concert, I cried.

Kingdom Hearts I and II. Probably more so I, but there were moments in II ("looks like my summer vacation is over") that also made me emotional.

These.

[Meat Puppet]

grand theft auto

[Dreddz]

Heavy Rain, close thread.