Emotional moments that fall flat

Due to the nature of this topic, spoilers will be discussed. Please keep examples in spoiler tags labelled with the game, the level of spoiler, and if you can, keep it somewhat separate from your points.

Minor spoilers are defined as emotional moments early in the game, or parts that don't depend on or greatly affect major twists later in the story.

Major spoilers are defined as moments that completely change your understanding of the rest of the game. A beloved character dies, or betrays you, or a conspiracy is revealed, or maybe the nature of your enemy or quest is something completely other than you were originally led to believe. Stuff like that.

Minor spoilers for Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare and Batman: Arkham City

Spoiler

So there's been some controversy (well, mostly just poking fun) regarding the latest Call of Duty game. In Advanced Warfare, there is a scene early on that places the player at a military funeral. You can walk around, but you don't have a gun, and the only way to advance is to follow the onscreen prompt which says "Press F to pay respects".

What an immersion killing idea, right? How could they be so stupid as to think that would actually make players care about that scene?

...Except. I heard somebody point out a parallel moment from Batman: Arkham City. There's one particular alleyway in the game where you can see the chalk outline of the Wayne parents. When you find it, there is a prompt to "Pay Your Respects". This earns you an achievement. Here's a video of that part.

That's an extremely powerful emotional moment. What makes it different than Call of Duty's? It could be that Batman's story is already well-known and this acts as a reminder of an emotional moment we've already seen conveyed by some other media.

My guess: it's optional. You can completely ignore the prompt and go about your business. You might not even find that place in the first place. And pressing that button means you really do mean it. In that moment, you, the player, are Batman, and you miss your parents.

So what causes an emotional moment to fall flat in a game? Why do some feel forced, some feel ridiculous, while others cut thousands of onions?

Another example: (Major spoilers for Mass Effect 3)

Spoiler

That part at the beginning where the kid dies. I could not force myself to care, even though Shepard was clearly haunted by it, and the game kept forcing that fact in my face in the nightmare sequences. It just felt ... forced, and I suspect it was one of the main reasons the ending of the game so notoriously fell flat.

But there are other moments in that game that absolutely succeed in making me cry like a baby. Mordin's death, for one. Or even in the same sequence where the kid dies, Anderson chooses to stay behind on Earth. And pretty much every ending to the Geth/Quarian war.

Clearly, BioWare can do an emotional moment, and they succeeded throughout most of the game. But what about the beginning and ending went so wrong?

 

I hate to be "that guy" but I would have to say most of them. Although I could also phrase it as most don't register, while some just comically fail.

As for why they failed, it's usually a matter of the characters involved and it's timing. The first issue is whether I am emotionally attached to the character/s.
The next issue is about tonal shifts and pacing, namely did it go from comedy to tragedy really quickly. Understanding pacing is good here to make sure people are emotionally ready for the event.
The last matter is execution. This is supposed to be an emotional moment, it might be a good idea to understand something of cinematography to actually give the moment some impact and doesn't fail spectacularly when you just jumpcut across animations.

 

Emotion is strongly tied to our identity. When something speaks to you, it fires off all sorts of nerves and it can shake you to the core. It's your body telling you that this stuff is important.

I think we all relate to Batman, he's a sad little boy with broken toys who grows up to conquer the darkness. That's what we all strive for in life, to turn our tragedy into power, rather than suffer in silence. So in a way, we're all "Batman" and when he wins, we win. And when he says, "I'm Batman" it's saying that he is the strength, not the weakness.

Contrast that with hokey, contrived, impersonal respect for something so far from your reality that you can't relate. It might even make you angry or disgusted, because it's so alien to your experiences that it conflicts with your identity.

I think this is how we can conduct war, fight for survival... our internal "**** that guy" response triggers when someone has nothing in common with us.

What do you think?

 

For you, you need to name an emotional moment that actually affected you.

 

I really appreciate the use of spoiler tags.