the HERO must DIE.

[Pete for President]

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

[Flying Mullet]

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.

[Bunny]

Chrono Trigger did this awesomely imo.

[Darkswordofchaos]

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.

[blackmage_nuke]

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.

[Madame Adequate]

Shadow of the Colossus.

[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.

[I Don't Need A Name]

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)

[Quindiana Jones]

Shadow of the Colossus.

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.

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.

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

[McLovin']

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)

[Quindiana Jones]

Jacks return was infinitely more awesome than Barbosas.

[Pete for President]

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.

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.

[The Man]

Chrono Trigger did this awesomely imo.

Yeah, this.

I really need to play Shadow of the Colossus.

[black orb]

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

[Madame Adequate]

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.

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 .

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.