Is "No Russian" the Red Wedding of Video Games?

[striderno9]

Purely in terms of shock value does the MW2 "No Russian" level rank as one of the most shocking moments in gaming history? If not do you have another shocking gaming moment?

If you're going to be descriptive add spoiler tags, please!

 

[Suburban Thug]

Final Fantasy going multi-platform was the betryal heard all around the realm

 

[ratcliffja]

I have no idea what either of these things is despite hearing of both.

 

[Deleted member 721]

i would go with that aerith scene

 

[vestan]

Honestly as far as shock value goes, Infinity Ward have mastered it, almost like an art.

Modern Warfare 3 features a scene that is arguably a lot more shocking than No Russian and Infinity Ward reaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaally pushed ESRB and PEGI with that scene. I could give you a little description of the scene itself but I'd much rather you watch it for yourself.

 

[Pascal]

Nah. That time in XCOM 2 when three of my best units got killed by an exploding car is. Harsh lessons were learned that day.

 

[Gundam]

I watched the Red Wedding scene on YouTube the other day so I could know what people were talking about, and I was underwhelmed?

People make it sound like some massive massacre, but it's just a handful of slightly badly acted main characters, and the other "civilian" (I guess?) deaths are mostly off-screen. All the focus is on the named characters. Obviously it doesn't really impact me, because I haven't watched more than a few episodes. So the shock value there seems directly related to your personal investment of the characters.

Contrast to No Russian, where it's tasteless, edgy shock value that doesn't seem to have anything really building up to it. It's just, "Kill a ton of civilians in a mass shooting simulator". It doesn't rely on your knowledge or investment in anything, it's just offensive for the sake of it.


EDIT:

I found hilarious that your post is "RW is important because of the context. As proof, I watched it without it, and feel underwhelmed" and people comes out angry replying "Duuuh, you watched it without context!! Of course you feel underwhelmed!"

Like they're angrily agreeing with you lmao

Click to shrink...

 

[BDS]

"No Russian" was spoiled all over gaming media weeks before the game released so no, not really.

A more analogous situation would be the surprise nuke in CoD4 where your player character and everyone else gets killed.

 

[packy17]

No, because RW killed off characters the audience cared about.

No Russian was just shock value for the sake of it.

 

[Vulcano's Assistant]

I remember there was considerable talk about it before the game released, so it didn't come as a surprise. I think the nuke going off in MW1 was more shocking while playing.

 

[Zed]

"No Russian" was spoiled all over gaming media weeks before the game released so no, not really.

A more analogous situation would be the surprise nuke in CoD4 where your player character and everyone else gets killed.

Click to shrink...

I'm going with this. No Russian seemed like the creators were trying to be as edgy as possible. They even put a "warning" before the level that basically said "are you SURE you want to play this HARDCORE level?????"

 

[GMM]

Nah. That time 3 of my best units got killed by an exploding car in XCOM 2 is.

Click to shrink...

 

[BurritoBushido]

I watched the Red Wedding scene on YouTube the other day so I could know what people were talking about, and I was underwhelmed?

People make it sound like some massive massacre, but it's just a handful of slightly badly acted main characters, and the other "civilian" (I guess?) deaths are mostly off-screen. All the focus is on the named characters. Obviously it doesn't really impact me, because I haven't watched more than a few episodes. So the shock value there seems directly related to your personal investment of the characters.

Contrast to No Russian, where it's tasteless, edgy shock value that doesn't seem to have anything really building up to it. It's just, "Kill a ton of civilians in a mass shooting simulator". It doesn't rely on your knowledge or investment in anything, it's just offensive for the sake of it.

Click to shrink...

lol watches single event with no context, history or weight to back it up, and is "underwhelmed"

 

[Linde]

Is this about shitty forced deaths to try and evoke players emotions and shock despite poor writing and acting?
I nominate the deaths of Kaze, Flora and Elise in Fire Emblem: Birthrighr

 

[Linus815]

I watched the Red Wedding scene on YouTube the other day so I could know what people were talking about, and I was underwhelmed?

People make it sound like some massive massacre, but it's just a handful of slightly badly acted main characters, and the other "civilian" (I guess?) deaths are mostly off-screen. All the focus is on the named characters. Obviously it doesn't really impact me, because I haven't watched more than a few episodes. So the shock value there seems directly related to your personal investment of the characters.

Contrast to No Russian, where it's tasteless, edgy shock value that doesn't seem to have anything really building up to it. It's just, "Kill a ton of civilians in a mass shooting simulator". It doesn't rely on your knowledge or investment in anything, it's just offensive for the sake of it.

Click to shrink...

lmao, "badly acted"

 

[Gundam]

lol watches single event with no context, history or weight to back it up, and is "underwhelmed"

Click to shrink...

You're taking the wrong point from my post. I'm not really criticizing the scene all that much, my point is that the Red Wedding is directly tied to character investment for it's shock, whereas No Russian isn't, like, at all.

 

[Leveean]

It wasn't a shock because the scene was talked about extensively at release. Most people who bought the game already knew about it and could even skip it if they didn't like the idea.

 

[Deleted member 1726]

No Russian wasn't shocking.

One of the most shocking to the world was the release of the original GTA

 

[Burt]

"No Russian" was spoiled all over gaming media weeks before the game released so no, not really.

A more analogous situation would be the surprise nuke in CoD4 where your player character and everyone else gets killed.

Click to shrink...

100%

No Russian is a notch below killing the dog in a movie

 

[Gundam]

lmao, "badly acted"

Click to shrink...

See my previous post.

Spoiler

When the one guy walks up and says "so and so sends his regards", is pretty bad tho

 

[Haunted]

No Russian was juvenile shite. Not what I'd consider shocking.

Moments in gaming history with the most shock value...

Shodan reveal in System Shock 2
Would you kindly in Bioshock
Early body transformation in Quake 4

Surely I'm forgetting important ones.

 

[TheGhost]

No, we knew it was happening before hand and I had no emotional tie the people in the airport.

 

[MegaSackman]

I guess the moment in Black Ops 2 where the main characters are ambushed, tortured and killed is more apt to comparison.

 

[Nintendo]

Nah. That time in XCOM 2 when three of my best units got killed by an exploding car is. Harsh lessons were learned that day.

Click to shrink...

The only correct answer!

 

[Last Jon Standing]

Absolutely not. The Red Wedding has a ton of of buildup before it actually happens, the characters involved have complex and developed relationships, and the increasing sense of wrongness in the scene has a powerful payoff once the reader gets what's going on.

No Russian puts you in the shoes of a barely nameless infiltrated soldier and lets you shoot civilians. It has some elements in common with the Red Wedding, but they're all so diluted and minimal in importance you can barely say they're there.

 

[Dr Pears]

Kingsman church scene of videogames

 

[Vulcano's Assistant]

Call of Duty has somewhat of a tradition of killing the player character, I would say those are the closer comparison within the franchise.

 

[NESpowerhouse]

Honestly as far as shock value goes, Infinity Ward have mastered it, almost like an art.

Modern Warfare 3 features a scene that is arguably a lot more shocking than No Russian and Infinity Ward reaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaally pushed ESRB and PEGI with that scene. I could give you a little description of the scene itself but I'd much rather you watch it for yourself.

Click to shrink...

The Achievement notification right afterwards kinda ruins the seriousness of it.

 

[Jacob4815]

I watched the Red Wedding scene on YouTube the other day so I could know what people were talking about, and I was underwhelmed?

People make it sound like some massive massacre, but it's just a handful of slightly badly acted main characters, and the other "civilian" (I guess?) deaths are mostly off-screen. All the focus is on the named characters. Obviously it doesn't really impact me, because I haven't watched more than a few episodes. So the shock value there seems directly related to your personal investment of the characters.

Click to shrink...

What are you saying? LOL.

 

[Sanctuary]

Honestly as far as shock value goes, Infinity Ward have mastered it, almost like an art.

Modern Warfare 3 features a scene that is arguably a lot more shocking than No Russian and Infinity Ward reaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaally pushed ESRB and PEGI with that scene. I could give you a little description of the scene itself but I'd much rather you watch it for yourself.

Click to shrink...

Eh, that wouldn't have really been that shocking (to me) even if you had not mentioned that it was. The way the truck parked, the fact that it was a MW game and the fact that it was being recorded meant something was about to go down.

For me, it was the Aerith scene. After that, not much of anything shocked me anymore.

Would you kindly in Bioshock

Click to shrink...

That was a pretty good reveal as well.

edit: Duh. The last "shocking" scene that actually got to me was when

Spoiler: Mass Effect 2

Shepard died at the beginning of ME2. Even though he was known to still be the main protagonist in the game, that didn't matter.

The music really helped too.

 

[giancarlo123x]

I watched the Red Wedding scene on YouTube the other day so I could know what people were talking about, and I was underwhelmed?

People make it sound like some massive massacre, but it's just a handful of slightly badly acted main characters, and the other "civilian" (I guess?) deaths are mostly off-screen. All the focus is on the named characters. Obviously it doesn't really impact me, because I haven't watched more than a few episodes. So the shock value there seems directly related to your personal investment of the characters.

Contrast to No Russian, where it's tasteless, edgy shock value that doesn't seem to have anything really building up to it. It's just, "Kill a ton of civilians in a mass shooting simulator". It doesn't rely on your knowledge or investment in anything, it's just offensive for the sake of it.

Click to shrink...

It's hard to give a shit if you have no idea who's who and what came before.

 

[BDS]

Also, the OP post sort of encapsulates why people (including David Benioff and D. B. Weiss) seem to misunderstand the Red Wedding scene and its legacy. The scene isn't about "shock value." It's not like George R. R. Martin decided to throw darts at a dartboard and went "Welp, I guess Robb Stark is gonna die in this chapter." It's not some random heinous event he threw into the book to shock people. It's the logical culmination of a series of severe tactical mistakes that Robb makes throughout the books. In a traditional fantasy story, Robb would suffer no consequences for these mistakes because he's "the good guy" and a noble man, but ASOIAF is a realistic world where people who make mistakes pay the price for them.

The correct reaction to the Red Wedding isn't supposed to be "Holy shit, I didn't see that coming," it's "Holy shit, why didn't I see that coming?" That's what makes it a good twist and that's what its many imitators fail to understand.

 

[Bhonar]

LOL xcom is so awesome, I love it

 

[Shock32]

No Russian is overrated. The white phosphorous scene was more shocking to me.

 

[IIFloodyII]

CoD 4's nuke was CoD's biggest WTF moment imo.

Most shocking game death for me was in The Last of Us, when

Spoiler

Henry shoots himself in the head

, was actually shook.

 

[data west]

MK 9 . Easily.

 

[BossAttack]

I watched the Red Wedding scene on YouTube the other day so I could know what people were talking about, and I was underwhelmed?

People make it sound like some massive massacre, but it's just a handful of slightly badly acted main characters, and the other "civilian" (I guess?) deaths are mostly off-screen. All the focus is on the named characters. Obviously it doesn't really impact me, because I haven't watched more than a few episodes. So the shock value there seems directly related to your personal investment of the characters.

Contrast to No Russian, where it's tasteless, edgy shock value that doesn't seem to have anything really building up to it. It's just, "Kill a ton of civilians in a mass shooting simulator". It doesn't rely on your knowledge or investment in anything, it's just offensive for the sake of it.

Click to shrink...

See my previous post.

Spoiler

When the one guy walks up and says "so and so sends his regards", is pretty bad tho

Click to shrink...

No, it's not.

 

[Gundam]

What are you saying? LOL.

Click to shrink...

It's the easiest thing in the world to understand.

Red Wedding is shocking because of your investment in characters. Without it, it has no impact.

No Russian is shocking because it's outright offensive, and doesn't even try to use investment in characters to surprise the player. You could never play the game, watch the scene, and get the same out of it as the people that did play the game.

 

[semiconscious]

I have no idea what either of these things is despite hearing of both.

Click to shrink...

i got 'no russian', but i'm also missing 'red wedding'. game of thrones, maybe? :) ...

 

[Owlet]

Honestly as far as shock value goes, Infinity Ward have mastered it, almost like an art.

Modern Warfare 3 features a scene that is arguably a lot more shocking than No Russian and Infinity Ward reaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaally pushed ESRB and PEGI with that scene. I could give you a little description of the scene itself but I'd much rather you watch it for yourself.

Click to shrink...

This one really got to me when I played it.

I'm pretty optimistic about this years game.

 

[Gundam]

It's hard to give a shit if you have no idea who's who and what came before.

Click to shrink...

Which is exactly my point?

No, it's not.

Click to shrink...

Yes, it is. How do opinion

 

[Alucrid]

Honestly as far as shock value goes, Infinity Ward have mastered it, almost like an art.

Modern Warfare 3 features a scene that is arguably a lot more shocking than No Russian and Infinity Ward reaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaally pushed ESRB and PEGI with that scene. I could give you a little description of the scene itself but I'd much rather you watch it for yourself.

Click to shrink...

i don't even remember that scene and i played the game. a bit heavy handed with the kid and a bit too comedic with the terrorist apparently being able to outrun the explosion / gas cloud on foot.

 

[DarthWalden]

Fucking not even close.

The red wedding had three seasons of character building leading up to that moment. That shit was earned, no Russian not so much.

 

[Khanimus]

MK 9 . Easily.

Click to shrink...

This is the one

 

[Vulcano's Assistant]

CoD 4's nuke was CoD's biggest WTF moment imo.

Click to shrink...

I would argue that MW2 is a string of various attempts trying to one up that scene, but not entirely successful.

 

[batfax]

A scene in Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War is probably closer. Spoilered since it's next in line for a remake, so fingers crossed.

Spoiler: halfway through the game

Your party is invited to a celebration and every single one of your party members are slaughtered or left with an ambiguous fate.

 

[Unknownlight]

The correct reaction to the Red Wedding isn't supposed to be "Holy shit, I didn't see that coming," it's "Holy shit, why didn't I see that coming?" That's what makes it a good twist and that's what its many imitators fail to understand.

Click to shrink...

That's a clever and catchy way to describe it. Thanks.

 

[MsMuerta]

The Battle of Belhalla is a literal Red Wedding on a certain Nintendo series.

 

[Pagoto93]

Absolutely not. You can't even compare the two in terms of the emotion provoked. It's literally a shallow shooting gallery.

The beginning of MGSV is a far more emotional example of a mass shooting.

 

[Pascal]

Also, the OP post sort of encapsulates why people (including David Benioff and D. B. Weiss) seem to misunderstand the Red Wedding scene and its legacy. The scene isn't about "shock value." It's not like George R. R. Martin decided to throw darts at a dartboard and went "Welp, I guess Robb Stark is gonna die in this chapter." It's not some random heinous event he threw into the book to shock people. It's the logical culmination of a series of severe tactical mistakes that Robb makes throughout the books. In a traditional fantasy story, Robb would suffer no consequences for these mistakes because he's "the good guy" and a noble man, but ASOIAF is a realistic world where people who make mistakes pay the price for them.

The correct reaction to the Red Wedding isn't supposed to be "Holy shit, I didn't see that coming," it's "Holy shit, why didn't I see that coming?" That's what makes it a good twist and that's what its many imitators fail to understand.

Click to shrink...

Yeah the Red Wedding seemed out of nowhere when I first experienced it. Then I went back and saw the clues and realized that there was always a huge build-up leading to it and I was just as blind as the Starks to not see it.