13 greatest dying words from video game characters - gamebasin.com
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13 Greatest Dying Words From Video
Game Characters
http://www.gamebasin.com/news/13-greatest-dying-words-from-video-
game-characters
When it comes time for a character to bow out, it’s important to capitalise on the unique
relationship only gamers can have with their characters. We’ve most likely grown to love certain
people over the course of a game’s runtime ‐ sometimes close to hundreds of hours. Death in these
sorts of narratives is when gaming borrows the most heavily from film, with the vast majority
happening in cut‐scene rather than gameplay. Many will remember that scene from Final Fantasy
VII where a downright loveable teammate we’d started to genuinely care about was taken away,
simultaneously establishing one of the greatest villains in gaming history because of it. It all worked
so well we because of the time spent with that particular character beforehand, and as becomes
evident with some games ‐ it’s a mix of gameplay and cutscene that packs the biggest punch.
Another factor when creating someone we’re going to love to hate – or a hero we going to love to
embody – is that gaming as a medium is far more susceptible to sequels and reboots, meaning it
makes far more sense to keep a character alive. Sure, Hollywood is no stranger to letting only a few
years pass before forcibly Frankenstein’ing together another incarnation of a popular series
(Spider‐Man, anyone?) but still, gaming’s library is comprised of a whopping 70% of sequels overall.
It’s a pretty staggering statistic, and therefore if creators are actually going to kill someone off for
good, it has to be worth it, and in a way that does the character the utmost justice in retrospect.
13. The Joker (Batman: Arkham City)
The line: “That is actually… pretty funny” Many still refuse to believe Joker’s supposed final words
in City were actually his last, as at time of writing the identity of the new titular Arkham Knight
(from next year’s Arkham game) is yet to be revealed. Back to Arkham City though and the last title
developer Rocksteady put together, as they firmly made their mark on the Batman mythos by
having Joker’s final plan ruined by his own hand. You see, following the events of Arkham Asylum
Joker was infected with the Titan formula – something which he promptly ends up infecting Batman
with too. To cut a long story short, the two of them end up in an abandoned theatre with only one
phial of the antidote left. Batman thusly drinks half before Joker once again attacks him; causing
the rest of the antidote to spill out across the floor. Batman remarks following this that he even
after everything Joker had done to him and everyone else, he wouldn’t have broken his rule and
would have saved him, leading to Joker having to accept his self‐inflicted fate in a way that perfectly
mirrors his twisted outlook on life.
12. Grey Fox (Metal Gear Solid)
The line: “We’re not tools of the Government, or anyone else. Fighting was the only thing – the
only thing – I was good at. But at least I always fought for what I believed in. Snake… farewell.” This
is one of the greatest moments in gaming history, and especially for back in 1998; one of the most
progressive. Never had we seen this ‘Hollywood‐style’ set up of characters delivering their dialogue,
let alone for a fight scene that’s as masterfully done as Grey Fox’s. After villain Liquid Snake takes
control of the gigantic walking tank Metal Gear Rex, you’re forced to take him on with mix of stealth
and homing missiles, only for the game to switch from gameplay to cutscene and Fox to come to
the rescue. Metal Gear’s insane plot is one of the best, but what emerges is that your once former
enemy is now on your side, and after having his arm sliced off by one of the Rex’s weapons, Fox
ends up being crushed underneath the hulking machine. That’s not before delivering the above
line though, and another completely badass one just before it in response to Liquid’s mentioning
that he doesn’t hunt foxes, he hunts jackals: “A cornered fox, is more dangerous than a jackal!”
11. Professor Von Kriplespac (Conker’s Bad
Fur Day)
The line: “Oh! I forgot about ze airlock! Oh! Sh*t! What the f**k?! Oh! I didn’t put ze high powered
boosters on my chair… I knew I should have done zat! Whose idea was it to go into space?? Oh! It
was mine! Sh*t!!! This is it!! This is the end!! No legs! And now no life!” It’s a strange thought when
you’re weighing up the gravitas of the above line versus that of another spewed from a character
called The Great Mighty Poo, but here we are. The Professor’s lines just edge it on hilarity alone,
as come the final boss fight against a copyright‐baiting Alien named Heinrich, you’re fully expecting
some sort of showdown with Kriplespac himself – only for his already fragile frame to be whisked
away out the spaceship’s airlock. Both the original Conker and the Xbox 360 re‐releases have gone
on to develop cult followings due to their extremely off‐kilter and offensive humour, but the
sight of an evil Nazi‐esque weasel dictator being sucked out to space while swearing his head off is
a damn special one regardless.
10. Aeris (Final Fantasy VII)
The line: “I’ll be going now, I’ll come back when it’s all over” It’s weird when you look back on Aeris’
death (or Aerith if we’re being fancy) as chances are you remember their being far more dialogue
than their actually was. That is to say, any dialogue, being that back then the characters weren’t
voiced at all, so her final lines come just before you meet up again in the City of the Ancients.
Instead it’s in one last dream sequence where Cloud talks to her for the last time inside the Sleeping
Forest, where she seems to have convinced herself of her purpose in stopping Sephiroth from
destroying the Earth with his Meteor spell. These days graphics‐lovers might be put off by the
incredibly blocky in‐game visuals that accompany Cloud holding Aeris just after she’s been stabbed,
but the scene straight after where the team lay her to rest is still incredibly moving, with one of
the most emotional and fitting pieces of music every composed for a game.
9. Liquid Ocelot (Metal Gear Solid 4)
The
line: “You’re pretty good” Metal Gear and Final Fantasy go hand in hand in terms of which title can
‘out‐epic’ the other when it comes to creating memorable scene after memorable scene. With
both series’ making sure to shine the spotlight on every main character just as much as the ancillary
ones and any number of people who walk into particular scenes along the way, it’s hard to pick
only one or two that stand out. This scene though – where Liquid Ocelot reveals he’s actually not
possessed by Liquid Snake’s arm – is one of the best due to many reasons on many different levels.
First off we have the death of the major antagonist from the entire series, albeit he’s become a
hybrid of Liquid and Ocelot, but it didn’t stop that final fight from being incredible. Second, the
general reception around Metal Gear Solid 3 is that it’s one of the best games of all time, with a
story that can still leave any who have not experienced it yet speechless. That being said, a pretty
ridiculous (but also kinda cool) hand gesture was in that game from a young Ocelot, which is the
motion carried through to the end of MGS4 so that the same character can prove he’s still himself
after all the brain‐washing plot revelations have dissipated.
8. Dom Santiago (Gears Of War 3)
The line: “Never thought it would end like this, huh Maria?” Bet when you started out playing a
series of games where the signature weapon is a machine gun with an under‐mounted chainsaw,
you didn’t think you’d be going all teary eyed, right? Yeah, us too, as developer Epic Games actually
produced one of the most touching moments in any action game in Gears of War 2. We see
Dom finally find his captured wife after she’s been held hostage for so long – except she’s actually
been dead a very long time. The reason for the confusion being that Dom is so happy and relieved
to see her first time around that it takes a few seconds for the reality of her state to kick in.
Following that, in Gears 3 we always had a lingering sense that he had nothing left to live for, so
come the point in the story where the team are completely pinned down he decides to pilot a
tanker full of explosives straight into the heart of the enemy, buying everyone the time they need.
It’s a great scene, and includes a callback to Gary Jules’ Madworld – the song that was played in
the original Gears of War teasers back in 2006 as the score underneath all the destruction.
7. Officer Frank Tenpenny (Grand Theft Auto:
San Andreas)
The line: “Come on, a**holes. I’ll take you all. You’re mine! Mine! I run this town! Hey, over here!
Officer down! Come on! HEY! [He realises no help is coming] A**holes! You never understood what
I did! Fifty of me and this town would be okay. I took the trash out! I did! And I’d do it all again…”
Rockstar love to pay tribute to the filmic greats – you need only look at GTA IV’s first bank heist to
get a very strong Heat vibe, and that’s before you start delving into the handful of them available
in GTA V. Back on San Andreas though and the downfall of Samuel L. Jackson’s Tenpenny is straight‐
up Denzel Washington in Training Day. For those who haven’t seen that film, both it and the end of
SA almost perfectly mirror each other. Jackson’s Tenpenny and Washington’s Alonzo Harris both
find themselves burnt out and in weakened states, slap bang in the middle of gang territory – and
both decide to run their mouths off before finally dying too. Coming after one of the longest
missions in GTA history, we were more than glad to find out Tenpenny wasn’t coming back for more.
Thanks to Rockstar for finally including some form of checkpoint system in their newer games, as
there’s hardly anyone on Earth who finished this one first try.
6. Mona Sax (Max Payne 2)
The line: “God, I turned out to be such a damsel in distress.” Remedy’s film noir‐tribute series Max
Payne remains one of the most replayable games going in terms of core mechanics, and also one
of a few titles that has an identity all its own thanks to a cast of fantastic characters and dialogue
more quotable than a Stallone flick. Come part two it did feel slightly like the plot threads were
being stretched a bit thin, especially when it was revealed that Mona had survived being shot at a
very close range. However that didn’t stop Remedy from working their magic with the script,
turning Mona’s last hurrah throughout the game into a very memorable one. She even gets the
drop on Max before being shot in the back by Vladimir Lem, referencing the fate of her already‐
slain helpless twin sister with her final line.
5. Auron (Final Fantasy X)
The line: “It’s been long enough. This, is your world now” For some Final Fantasy X is the last great
game in the series, whilst others point to the emergence of characters being revealed as ghosts
and protagonists with giant alien father‐figures as going that little bit too far. Regardless, the
presence of Auron throughout is something that’s rarely up for debate despite your take on
everything when the credits are rolling. It turns out as the game progresses that under that silent
exterior he’s an ‘Unsent’ – a spirit departed from its original body, yet one that has not found peace
– and as such as helping Tidus on his journey until his time comes. Ending his time in the game on
a suitably sombre note as Yuna performs the sending ceremony and he bids farewell to each party
member, a suitably Final Fantasy VII‐sounding Shinra‐style score plays underneath, assuring the
player that this is for the best and powering us all through to the final encounter.
4. Tess (The Last Of Us)
The line: “Come on, make this easy for me. No, just go. Just f*cking go!” Tess is one of the biggest
hardasses in recent memory. Being that the game starts out showing that main character Joel is
maybe not the best of fathers – but still a man who knows how to take care of himself – he’s then
put in almost a secondary role to Tess, who it’s revealed has beaten and escaped from two men
even before her first words. She also appears to be the very reason Joel has survived for so long
following the death of his daughter, and when we visit her old gang’s headquarters they respond
in a way that shows a level of respect for her that’s not shown for Joel. It’s because of all of this
that it comes as something of a shock when Tess is revealed to have been bitten by one of the
infected, thereby choosing to stay behind to distract some pursuing enemies so both Joel and Ellie
can get away. The fact that we never find out what the relationship was between Tess and Joel just
adds further weight to what they may or may not be leaving behind, but judging by Joel’s attempts
to save her and the look of shock on his face; it was a meaningful one.
3. Cortana (Halo 4)
The line: “We were supposed to help each other, and we did. Welcome home, John” Over to one
of the most beloved and helpful characters in gaming history, and one that many fans of the Halo
series may not even be aware actually died in Halo 4. Why is this? Because after a trilogy of games
and two spin‐off titles in the form of Halo: ODST and Halo: Reach, most of us were all but burned
out on the franchise. And that’s not to mention the fact that aside from a “He’s still alive!” teaser
from the end of part three, the ‘Master Chief trilogy’ felt like it had wrapped up nicely. That was of
course, until new developer 343 Industries took the reins and – most likely with Microsoft’s ‘help’
– were forced into making another main instalment in the series. Well, how to you make sure this
iteration has something people will talk about regardless of placement? Kill off a major character
of course. And so, we got pretty touching and fitting end to Cortana’s time with the Chief after she
saves him from an explosion, but which in the process still sadly terminates herself. It’s a very
moving scene with a great score underneath – it’s just a shame it wasn’t part of the original trilogy.
2. Sephiroth (Final Fantasy VII)
The line: “I will… never be a memory” Although he goes full banana‐sandwich insane throughout
the second half of FF7, Sephiroth’s motivations aren’t entirely un‐relatable on some level, as the
poor guy finds out he’s a manufactured experiment rather than anything of a natural creation. This
is of course what leads him to burn down Nibelheim in one of the game’s many recognisable scenes,
but far after this he transforms into a being of incredible power that you must take down. His final
line was given the fan‐nod in the animated movie Advent Children, as Sephiroth is brought back
from the brink once again for the sake of a big smash‐fest with Cloud. Again he loses to Cloud’s
Omnislash attack, and again he utters this now tattoo‐worthy line, ending both the original game
and that movie in a way only the most memorable of badasses can.
1. Andrew Ryan (Bioshock)
The line: “A man chooses, a slave obeys. Now, would you kindly… KILL! [Player strikes] A MAN
CHOOSES… [Strikes again] A SLAVE OBEYS… [Again] OBEY!!!” Ken Levine and 2K Games’
masterwork takes the top spot for not just sticking the landing in the most exquisite of ways and
throwing a plot twist at us for the ages, but also in making you further complicit in its
ramifications whilst you’re reeling from what’s going on. Sufficed to say if you’ve played Bioshock
to completion then you already know what it’s like to have your world turned upside down, and
it’s that feeling that leads to you to kill the man who’s responsible for your character being in
Rapture in the first place. The twist is that although you were lead to believe – as you would in any
game when accepting help from an NPC – that you had free will, in the end there was a ‘trigger
phrase’ that was pre‐programmed into your character’s mind. The phrase having to include the
words “Would you kindly?” meaning he/you would do exactly what was described as long as it was
told in this way. Of course the genius part, is that it’s not just your character who’s being taken for
a ride here, it’s your actions along the way too, as when playing you’re just as susceptible to the
friendly‐sounding commands – thereby doing other characters’ bidding without even realising it.
Taking the fight back to puppet‐master Ryan just as you’re still figuring all this out is one of gaming’s
masterstrokes, and easily the perfect blend of gameplay and cutscene bringing everything together.
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