What were the earliest games that invoked real emotion in you?

[Emperor Megas]

I'm not just talking about 'fun, excitement, or frustration' -- even the earliest games did that -- I mean deeper feelings like sorrow, melancholy, fear, elation, tension, uneasiness... And I'm talking about feelings that were brought on by the content of the games themselves. NOT an emotional attachment to a game for reasons outside of the game itself, like if you and your grandmother used to play it and that made it special to you, for example.

Anyway, it seems like most gamers had their first genuine, cerebral and visceral emotional experiences in the 5th console generation, when 3D worlds and CD quality audio became the standard. The tension of stealth action in Metal Gear Solid, the visceral jump scares of Resident Evil, the suspense and terror of Silent Hill, the pain of loss in Final Fantasy VII.

Was it the same for most of you, or did you experience genuine emotion from earlier games? Or, perhaps you didn't until later generations?

For me, games like Alone In The Dark, and MYST, on the 3DO really sucked me in. I don't know if I'm the only one, but AitD was scary as HELL to me. It's hard to imagine when you go back to it now, but it was my first survival horror game and I'd never experienced anything like it before. The shit used to keep me awake at night.

[celerystalker]

Enemy Zero on Saturn got me pretty tense during the section where you're going through the ventilation with lots of sharp corners and your earpiece goes of like nuts... not really scared, but a bit on edge. Eartbound made me genuinely chuckle and kind of... cozy, as it were. Aside from those, the only other one that jumps to mind is Nier. I remember feeling genuinely conflicted at one point where you have the opportunity to tell an old lady nearing death a truth that makes her aware that her entire adult life was a lie and a waste, or you can let her live the rest of her days ignorant in a town where everyone else knows the truth.

[Emperor Megas]

Man, I LOVED Nier, but I don't recall which part that was. Was it the women in the lighthouse?

Sidenote, I didn't learn until recently that Nier was an (unofficial?) sequel to the Drakengard series, which I've never played yet. I own Drakengard 2, but I won't play it until I get the first one.

[celerystalker]

Yes, it was the woman in the lighthouse. That part actually caused me to set down the controller and think for a second. Also, those text dream sequences were well-written and intense. A real pleasant surprise!

[Tanooki]

There were some genuinely sad moments within Final Fantasy II on the SNES. You could feel how they characters would have had they been real. I don't also consider cheapy pop scares a real emotion from a game, someone moving a hand in front of your face would make you jump too if you didn't see it coming and it's a reaction not a feeling. Games don't really give me any deep emotional attachment, not sure if I should tack 'sadly' onto that but they're just sources of entertainment. I can feel a bit of a rush from one or maybe notice a down moment, but I don't start feeling all moody, sad or genuinely scared or touched really.

[Emperor Megas]

T I don't also consider cheapy pop scares a real emotion from a game, someone moving a hand in front of your face would make you jump too if you didn't see it coming and it's a reaction not a feeling.

I don't really consider jump scares in and of themselves to be emotional, HOWEVER, being on edge and extremely nervous and paranoid afterward BECAUSE OF the jump scares I think is an emotional experience.

I've had too many jump scares from games that made me shut the game off immediately after the event or sequence was over because my nerves were shot. I'm a complete pussy when it comes to horror games. I've been playing The Evil Within for like 6 MONTHS or something because I have to play it in itty-bitty increments. With that said, survival horror is my favorite (modern) genre.

One of my friends jumps EVERY SINGLE TIME an enemy surprises him during the room exploration in Dr Chaos.

I love Dr. Chaos!

[Aussie2B]

32/64-bit era? No way, it was way earlier than that for me. There were a number of 16-bit games that got me choked up and otherwise emotional, like Chrono Trigger and Lufia II. FFVII was hardly the first RPG to kill off a playable character or otherwise invoke a strong emotional response in players.

And though earlier games were generally lighter on storytelling, even 8-bit games could create an atmosphere of tension and unease (speaking outside of the tension that comes from a game being very difficult to clear). I thought Metroid and the Castlevania games on NES were plenty creepy. Not like a horror games, sure, but enough to put me more on edge than with a cheerful, light-hearted game.

[celerystalker]

32/64-bit era? No way, it was way earlier than that for me. There were a number of 16-bit games that got me choked up and otherwise emotional, like Chrono Trigger and Lufia II. FFVII was hardly the first RPG to kill off a playable character or otherwise invoke a strong emotional response in players.

And though earlier games were generally lighter on storytelling, even 8-bit games could create an atmosphere of tension and unease (speaking outside of the tension that comes from a game being very difficult to clear). I thought Metroid and the Castlevania games on NES were plenty creepy. Not like a horror games, sure, but enough to put me more on edge than with a cheerful, light-hearted game.

One of my friends jumps EVERY SINGLE TIME an enemy surprises him during the room exploration in Dr Chaos.