Emotional Videogame Impact (E.V.I.)

***SPOILERS ARE HERE FOR LIFE IS STRANGE AND TELLTALES THE WALKING DEAD BEWARE!!!!***

I forget sometimes on how much of an impact video games can make on us. 

Especially the interactive story games. I have recently completed Life Is Strange: Before The Storm and during the process I've teared up and had my emotions go all over the place. From smiling one minute at how happy the characters are to mistrusting and being suspicious to people to missing them to annoyance to tears of sadness to gobsmacked-ness (if it aint a word auto correct well it is now!).

I originally completed the first LIS (Life Is Strange) on Xbox 360 when it first came out back in 2015, and i originally found Chloe to be such an annoying character who was only using Max.

However after before the storm i understand so much more and i feel for her, i feel so sorry for her, its crazy, god it sounds so stupid out loud as we all know and you know she aint real at all, just a piece of writing pieced together with code, cgi and a voice actor. I feel so sorry for Chloe and I just want to hug her but alas i cannot.

It's truly amazing how some games can take you out of all that and make you feel as if the characters are real because that's damn good writing! Sorry it seems like i grew too attached to these characters but this is only the beginning of this blog post lol. Now let's get spoiling and opening up more. 

As my post indicates I grew quite attached to the game series Life Is Strange. I've finished all of them and even though I did Before The Storm last, there was apart of me that felt like I could do it, I can actually save Rachel from dying! I was happy at the end of Before The Storm to see Rachel and Chloe messing around being so happy BUT It's only when after the credits roll you realise that's not the case, you can not save her! 

She was doomed to die from the start. It's so sad, just tragic, depressing even. It's crazy that this girl whom you never really meet in the first Life Is Strange made so much of an impact in that game because all you really know about Rachel is her name and the fact she was this perfect student who has up and vanished one day. 

I will say she makes a hell of an impact in Before The Storm and on every character that ever came in contact with her. This girl who was full of life, so well known yet she is taken so young. This girl whom I made happy playing as Chloe and who made Chloe happy there's no saving her, you couldn't. 

God damn this series is so bleak, even its soundtrack is bleak but it's quite beautiful, poetically speaking.

I can only hope that as a writer I can create characters which can give people the same effect as these characters have made on me. If any of the Life Is Strange writers do read this I want to say THANK YOU SO MUCH! 

I talked about the tragedy of Life Is Strange and how beautiful it is even in it's bleakest of moments but now to talk about a game and a man from another interactive episodic game series. 

Now it's time to talk about Telltales The Walking Dead with Lee Everett!

Season 1 of Walking Dead by Telltale games featured a man named Lee. Now we don't know a whole lot about Lee besides he was on his way to prison when all of a sudden his life got flipped upside down and boom, it's the apocalypse! The other thing we know about Lee is he has a family who runs a pharmacy. Mostly we are Lee, the player is Lee and so we choose what he does and says.

So you go through this episodic first season looking after a little girl you meet named Clementine who is the sweetest girl in all of gaming let's be honest. 

She's helped us the player out at times aswell during the game. 

Now one thing happens in episode 4 which leads you to get bitten (it happens no matter what sadly). So your then infected and on your way to become a zombie. After losing some friends and encountering massive odd of bandits and zombies of course Sweet Pea gets kidnapped by some psycho and we have to get her back. 

We fight through the hordes of zombies to get to Clem even though we suffer great blood loss and the fact we are losing our time to live and we save her BUT then as we try to escape together our time is up together. 

Here we lay unable to move as our body gives out and we are faced with a decision and the first one we ever make with Clem. 

Kill Lee or let him turn into a monster? 

It's tough because we want a different way Clem does. She is so upset she does not want to lose this man who's been like a dad to her but we have no choice.

I personally shed a tear and shot Lee. 

I didn't want him to turn into a monster and Lee end up killing her. I raised Clem to not let the monsters get to her and she's a tough badass woman now.

After shooting Lee the credits song rang and I'll never forget that. The song still makes me sad now when I hear it. 

The brilliant tense adventure of Lee and Clem has come to an end.

Now flash forward years later Telltale has their final season of Walking Dead coming and I have a sinking feeling this will be it for Clem she won't be surviving the end of the season but who knows for sure.

As for Life Is Strange well a sequel is coming so who know's what will happen and how much more heartbreak we gamers will suffer with that!

That's all I have for you another slice of emotional gaming memories. If you did read this, thank you! I got a lot of this on my mind right now, along with the sad thoughts and songs that followed each sad scene of the games. I've grown so attached to these characters and games it's crazy I know. 

Share yours below!

#EmotionalVideogameImpact

Written by Scott Jones

Top 10 Song's That Make Me Cry! (I cri evrytim)

Alri? Been a while since I did a top 10 i know but whilst I was talking to my good friend James Davie on skype the other night he asked me what song's make me cry so I named a few and then I thought what if i make a top 10 list of this? So I challenged myself to do it and here it is! I hope you enjoy and hope you feel something to these songs as I do. CLICK ON THE NUMBERS TO LISTEN TO THE SONGS!

ONE SONG PER BAND. 

I'll post the meaning of the song if I can think of one or if I can find one online. 

10: Darkness - Disturbed

There could only be one Disturbed song on my list sadly as I put in the rules mentioned above. This one from the first time I heard it had tears streaming down my face. David wrote this song as an expression of how he felt when he lost his Grandfather and his journey to cope with his loss. 

9: Vermillion Pt.2 - Slipknot

Part 1 sounds like a general creep/stalker singing to himself about a girl he likes it has a dirty just gritty take music wise HOWEVER, Part 2 is not that part 2 is a beautifully structured track. The differences (between the two tracks) are subtle – 'Vermilion, Pt. 1' is about the enrapturing, the buildup, the anticipation and the neurosis," says Taylor. "'Part 2' is the aftermath, the pieces that have to be picked up later, and maybe the guilt of having lived through it.". Both songs are said to be about lost or unrequited love from a possibly suicidal person's perspective.

8: I Don't Love You - My Chemical Romance

Simply put it's an emotionally painful song clearly about a breakup. In the video the boy is completely black and the girl is completely white. I think this is to prove that they are so opposite they can't make it work. And one of them realises this. Then at the end the girl cries a black tear because she wishes they could be together and she wants to be more like him but who know's the true story behind the song I have not found anything besides other's who think like me over the song being a break up song. 

7: Simple Man - Shinedown

I like this cover much more than the original by Lynyrd Skynyrd because I find Shinedown's cover to be much more powerful and emotional. The first version of this I heard was the live version Shinedown did in 2009 I believe which they said before they started to play that it goes out to their friend Dimebag Darrell so that hit me because I am a big Pantera fan and I love Dime. It's one that hits me right in the feels.

6: Closer To The Edge - Thirty Seconds To Mars

Although it's not a sad song, it's one which I find is powerful musically, lyrically and emotionally. If I have not heard this in a while I do tear up and cry. Jared Leto explained to Musicradar.com that this song very nearly didn't make the album. He said: "Actually, we were going to throw this song out, but we decided to keep it. It was hard to mix, a total pain in ass, but I'm glad it made the record because I think it fits in with the overall framework of the album. The song is a mission, an adventure that takes you on a journey. Maybe that's why it gave us so much trouble: We had go on an adventure as a band to get it right. Some songs come very easily and other ones fight you. Oftentimes, the ones that give you trouble turn out to be the best ones - this is an example of the latter."

5: Shadow Of The Day - Linkin Park

This is a powerful song sometimes it does not get me I admit but when I sit there and think and listen to the lyrics it always does get me. Life for sure isn't easy or simple. So whether it means moving on in life or moving on through death, it's important for us to know that this is life, and if it hasn't happened to you already, it will and that's what I think this song is about and represents. 

4: Remember Everything - Five Finger Death Punch

Powerful and raw is this tune! I think of my parents and family when i hear this... because it seems like I'm never good enough for any of them... no matter how hard I try. I think this song overall is all about a guy telling his family that he is sorry for everything that happened, but he also can't forgive them for what they did to him. He wishes that things didn't happen the way they did, and asks if they could start over, would anything change? He is vividly telling the listener that abuse is real, and instead of ignoring it, one should talk about it and try to bring peace to all who were involved. It's a very powerful song, and can not go unnoticed.

3: Zzyzx Rd. - StoneSour

Zzyzx Rd. is a love song written to Taylor's wife for helping him in his struggles against alcoholism and contemplation of suicide and omg is it a beautiful and emotional track that gets me choked up every time.

2: How To Save A Life - The Fray

This one since the first time I ever heard it always makes me cry and think of my grandfather. According to lead singer Issac Slade the song was composed and influenced by his experience while working as a mentor at a camp for troubled teens: He was asked about it in an interview and this is what he said “One of the youngsters I was paired up with was a musician. Here I was, a protected suburbanite, and he was just 17 and had all these problems. And no one could write a manual on how to save him.” Slade also says that all the people who tried to help the kid were unsuccessful. And that is what the song is about. As Slade says in an interview, the boy's friends and family approached him by saying, "Quit taking drugs and cutting yourself or I won't talk to you again," but all he needed was some support. The boy was losing friends and going through depression. He lost his best friend and could not deal with it. 

1: My Immortal - Evanescence

Every single time this plays the tears come streaming down my face it's unbelievable how powerful and emotional this song is. This Song Is About Amy Lee Who Lost Her Sister At A Young Age also so I'm not sure what is sadder the song or the meaning behind the song. It's my number one what else is there to say about this. 

BONUS: Brick By Boring Brick - Paramore, Jet City Woman - Queensryche & Everlong - Foo Fighters (These makes me sad time to time because of an ex gf and yes I know how pathetic of me to say such a thing.)

ANOTHER BONUS: Through Glass - Stonesour & Disturbed - Sound of silence.

So that's all sorry for such a depressing, emotional list today but it's good to cry every now and then. Good for our eyes and good for the soul. Thanks for reading :)

Emotions are running strong....like a river free falling down...a waterfall.....a waterfall.