Moments in games that have made you feel legit sad

[Reiji-kun]

And I don't mean, like, sad as in "man, this game is so bad it's depressing".

I mean sad moments in the story that wrench you to a point. You know it's a good scene if the music is just right, the character involved is someone you care about, and is done well. Which isn't easy.

I can name some off the top of my head that I know made me feel sad (and actually made me shed a tear, surprisingly, which hardly ever happens). The most obvious would probably be what happens to Aerith in Final Fantasy VII. But that aside, I always felt sad for Ryu in Breath of Fire II as well.

SPOILER: Click to show

Especially when his mother sacrifices herself to open the door to the Infinity Dungeon. Coupled with the sad theme that plays in the game, it always gets me pretty hard.

I actually shed a tear for Ayane in Persona 4 too during her S.Link, if that doesn't sound odd. But I could relate to her, since I knew how she feels. I've gone through similar motions IRL in the past.

And I always feel sad for Rena in Star Ocean 2 whenever such moments are involved in her development.

SPOILER: Click to show

Such as her past revealed during the trials on Nede and when she finds out about her real mother, for example. The music box version of her theme really helps with that.

Course, these all happened in RPGs, since they're pretty story heavy these days. At least in my experience.

But that aside, has anyone had moments like that in the games they've played? If you don't mind admitting them.

[Ike]

The part in FF6 where transformed Terra scurries away from you in fear when you first meet Ramuh made me want to cry as a kid.

[Deleted]

- The ending of MGS3
- The ending of Silent Hill 2
- Nanami's (supposed) fate in Suikoden II
- Ashley's final vision in Vagrant Story before fighting the final boss

God, I know I'm missing a ton of examples here.

[1upsuper]

There were a handful of moments in Mother 3 that affected me. I'm actually planning on replaying it soon.

[Deleted]

Oh yeah. The ending to FFX! Always gets me.

[shelverton]

The ending in the first Seiken Densetsu when the girl becomes a goddamn TREE. Becoming the mana tree felt like such a tragic fate, albeit good for the world.

In FF6 when Celes tries to kill herself because she thinks she's all alone in the world of ruin. The Celes theme song was really emotional too.

[Deleted]

Secret of Mana - Drawing the Sword of Mana and fighting off the mantis boss in your home village...Only to be permanently exiled from the village foreverafter because of the Sword's monster-beacon effect. The music---and how quickly your character's supposed 'friends' start treating you like an outcast---are what seals it.

Transistor - The ending. Transistor takes after film noir, including not pulling its punches.

Bastion - Many, many moments. One that stands out to me is The Kid making it past the ashen, Pompeii-esque remnants of victims of the cataclysm, and the narrator grimly listing their names off.

WH40k: Dawn of War - "The man who has nothing, can still have faith."

Batman: Arkham City - Paying respects to Bruce's parents in Crime Alley.

Dark Souls - Plenty of moments, but most especially anything and everything about Sir Artorias and the Great Wolf Sif.

Dark Souls II - King Vendrick's eventual fate. Also, giving Sir Alonne a proper warrior's death---tragic, but ultimately he's one of the few characters in a Souls game that not only is spared the fate of becoming a shambling monster but also gets what he always wanted.

Dust: An Elysian Tail - "We did everything we were supposed to!..."

Hotline Miami 2 - "Leaving this world is not as scary as it sounds..."

Papers Please - All of the bad endings, and a lot of the implied backstories of some of the immigrants that come to your booth.

Telltale's The Walking Dead - Too many to count.

XCOM series - Any time a soldier you get unusually attached to bites it. There's a REASON lots of series vets just rookie spam, and it's a gloriously horrible one.

ARMA III - Your CO dying to a land mine in the midst of the first few levels.

Dead Space - Nicole's message to Isaac at the end of the first game.

Resident Evil - "Itchy. Tasty." Also, anything involving poor Lisa Trevor from the REmake.

Deus Ex - Picking the wrong story route and letting Paul get carved up.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Oddly enough, while there's lots of dramatic moments in the game, one of the lines that stuck with me most was canned dialogue from the homeless folks in Detroit who are just happy someone said as much as hi to them. Also, anything involving Officer Haas. ESPECIALLY if you manage to bargain your way past him without the social augmentation.

I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream - Do I even need to explain this one?

Red Orchestra II - The dying screams of soldiers in-game. I...Yeah. My hat's off to whoever did the voice acting for this game---I think they did TOO GOOD a job.

MOTHER 3 - Chapter 6. This...Hits a bit close to home. *sniff*

Cave Story - Letting Curly Brace or Professor Booster die.

Paper Mario: Thousand Year Door - Oh, Bobbery. Poor, dear Admiral Bobbery. ;_;

Fallout: New Vegas - Lots of moments when the game isn't busy being a silly mashup of 1950s sci-fi, spaghetti westerns and Fist of the North Star. Even the "good" endings---like helping prop up the various settlements and ending with a pro-NCR ending---have a sort of "end of an era" feeling to them.

Left 4 Dead 1/2 - The Sacrifice. No one lives forever. (;_;)7

Higurashi: When They Cry - Many moments, but the 4th arc gets me. It feels less like an investigative paper and more like survivors of some horrific disaster trying to come to grips with something horrible.

[1983parrothead]

The ending of Densetsu no Stafy 3. As well as some part near the end.

[GamerL]

The first game I remember making me feel sad was Metal Gear Solid 2 and

SPOILER: Click to show

E.E.'s death

Note, I actually played MGS2 before I played the original and when I played MGS1 a few months later I felt all sorts of feels all over again.

[JDarkside]

The only time I can remember where a game made me actually cry was the ending credits of Yoshi's Story. Dead serious, I cried every damn time I listened to that song for years. I still have no idea why it had that affect on me.

Also, Oswald's entire story from Odin Sphere. Guy's life was an endless parade of misery, so thank god the game's first story went out of its way to wrap up furthest along in the timeline and showed that he does get a happy ending. I'm not sure I could have kept playing without that knowledge.

I could also throw in the final showdown with The Boss in MGS3, mainly the ending of the fight where the game holds you in one moment and forces you to pull the trigger. That fucking hurt.

[Dingo]

The ending of Super Metroid still gets me. Also, while not a sad ending at all, the theme that plays during the credits sequence in Super Casltevania IV is worth mentioning.

[chronotigger65]

Ending of Lufia 2 though muting the TV helps in not it being sad.

First time seeing the bad ending in Castlevania 2 Simon's Quest.

Finding out about the destroyed time line in the Dead Sea in Chrono Cross.

[r0ck3rz]

May 15, 2015 3:10:51 GMT -5 shelverton said:

The ending in the first Seiken Densetsu when the girl becomes a goddamn TREE. Becoming the mana tree felt like such a tragic fate, albeit good for the world.

In FF6 when Celes tries to kill herself because she thinks she's all alone in the world of ruin. The Celes theme song was really emotional too.

How is it that you have that avatar, and didn't think of Alys?

[ZenithianHero]

A last example would be with Persona 4, events centering Nanako later on. It does not help that you have a dungeon with THIS SONG playing.

[Weasel]

Toroko in Cave Story.

SPOILER: Click to show

It's bad enough she gets kidnapped, but then you have to fight her after the Doctor feeds her one of those flowers.