Key things
- Games like Assassin's Creed 2 and Marvel's Midnight Suns show how the power of friendship can enhance gameplay and story.
- Both Final Fantasy 6 and Undertale emphasize the importance of friendship in overcoming obstacles and achieving happy endings.
- Titles like Mass Effect 2 and Kingdom Hearts highlight how forming strong bonds with companions can affect the outcome of a game.
'The Power of Friendship' is a concept you expect to see a lot in animated children's movies and TV shows. However, it is actually found in many different media, including video games. Of course, it is not always presented in the same way. After all, it doesn't always have to be such a cute and cliche thing. You can have stories revolving around friends that are very serious and compelling.
Technically, any game that includes a party system can be considered somewhat of a “power of friendship” game as you go on adventures together. However, some titles put more emphasis on friendship by making it a key part of the story or gameplay. Here are some of the most notable examples.
8 Assassin's Creed 2
Traditionally, hitmen are often portrayed as lone wolf types who work alone. Yet in Assassins Creed 2, the success of protagonist Ezio is partly due to his allies.
He spends the game finding and killing those responsible for the deaths of his father and brothers. For each elimination, he gets help from his friends to reach his goal, whether it's his uncle Mario, the thieves he befriends in Venice, the leader of the courtesans in Florence, or his good friend Leonardo da Vinci. They all help him in different ways. If they didn't, he wouldn't be able to avenge his family. In fact, he could have ended up dead himself.
7 Marvel's Midnight Sun
In Marvel's Midnight Suns, you create a brand new Marvel hero who embarks on an escapade to stop his evil mother Lilith from threatening the world. You won't go on this mission alone, as you'll team up with various Avengers, members of the Midnight Suns, and other Marvel characters. You all spend half your time doing missions.
The rest of your time is spent bonding with your allies. You chat, stargaze, play video games, and even create little clubs with your hero buddies. For example, you start a book club with Blade, Captain America, Captain Marvel and Wolverine. Befriending different heroes can unlock additional abilities and hero combos, so your friendship will actually make them better in battle.
6 Final Fantasy 6
Once you get to the final boss of Final Fantasy 6, it becomes clear how important friendship and bonding are to the overall story. The main villain, Kefka, is an all-powerful evildoer bent on destroying everything. In fact, he does quite a bit, being one of the most successful Final Fantasy villains ever. However, your party still has a chance to defeat him at the end of the game.
Related
Every 2D Final Fantasy game, rated
Final Fantasy started out as a 2D series, and many of the best games in the series come from that time. Every 2D input is good or bad in its own way.
But before that, your characters interrupt his nihilistic ramblings to talk about the bonds you've all formed and how important love and friendship are. Then join together to receive him. Even someone as strong as Kefka struggles against the power of friendship.
5 Grand Theft Auto 5
Most games about the power of friendship are pretty healthy. However, that's not the case with Grand Theft Auto 5. In fact, if you told the three protagonists, Franklin, Michael and Trevor, that their adventure was about the 'power of friendship', you'd get a bullet. head.
The three friends embark on many criminal jobs together during the game. Some jobs are about making money, while others are about getting the government off your back. They bicker a lot during all of this, especially Michael and Trevor, but they need each other. After all, sticking together is the only way they can survive against the many enemies they make. This certainly shows in the good ending of the game.
4 Personality 4
Persona 4 has a mechanic called social links, which are special bonds you share with other characters. You value it by spending time with them, saying the right things in conversations with them, and helping them.
Improving your friendship with party members will not only warm you up inside; improves their fighting skills. So friendship will make your party stronger and increase your chance to beat the game. Maybe if the villains had more friends they would be able to stop you.
3 Mass Effect 2
Mass Effect 2 is an RPG about a customizable Commander Shepard who attempts to save the galaxy from the threat posed by an alien race known as the Collectors and their synthetic overlords the Reapers. The hero can't do it alone, so he has to spend the game recruiting a collection of great companions.
Not only do you recruit them, but you can also get to know them and possibly do a mission for them that will make them completely loyal to you. In other words, you can make them your friends. This is important in the final mission of the game, as this loyalty increases the chance that they and the other team members will survive the final mission. So making friends with all of them could literally save their lives.
2 Undertale
Undertale takes place in an underground area full of all sorts of weird and wonderful creatures. You play as a child stuck underground and tasked with getting past these creatures and finding your way back to the surface. Much of the story depends on how you handle these beasts. You can kill them or spare them.
However, to achieve a true pacifist endgame, you need to do more than just spare their lives. You have to make friends with them all, which sometimes means hanging out with the creatures and getting to know them. By becoming friends with everyone, you get a very happy and maybe the best ending to the story that shows how important friendship can be.
1 The heart of the kingdom
One of the best and most famous quotes in the entire Kingdom Hearts series is, “I don't need a gun. My friends are my strength!” It comes from the protagonist Sora in one of the most important moments of the first game.
That alone should tell you how important friendship is to the main story of Kingdom Hearts. Sora's relationship with long-time friends Riku and Kairi is a significant part of the story, as is the formation of his bond with the likes of Goofy and Donald Duck.
