8 Heart-Wrenching Videogame Moments
- Thread starter ffronw
- Start date
Recommended Videos
I'm glad that Dom's wife was put on this list. So many people like to mock that scene, saying it has no place in Gears of War and that Dom's reaction was way too over the top, but I disagree. This is a man who has just lost the last link to his previous happy life, the last link to his loving family, and the entire thing that has been giving him hope and keeping him going for years. To have that ripped away--and worse, to have to rip it away yourself--would crush even the hardest badass, and it shows. Dom is never the same again for the rest of the series. He becomes a shell of his former self that is just going through the motions of survival.
That part with Sarah in The Last of Us was terrible. We all knew what was coming the second we turned on the game because Sarah wasn't the girl on the box, and it still felt like a punch to the gut. The desperation in Joel's voice, combined with the whimpering gasps of Sarah just added fuel to the fire, and to top it all off, you were right about the killing blow coming not from the not-zombie-zombies, but from someone that they thought they could trust and who would help them.
That part with Sarah in The Last of Us was terrible. We all knew what was coming the second we turned on the game because Sarah wasn't the girl on the box, and it still felt like a punch to the gut. The desperation in Joel's voice, combined with the whimpering gasps of Sarah just added fuel to the fire, and to top it all off, you were right about the killing blow coming not from the not-zombie-zombies, but from someone that they thought they could trust and who would help them.
That scene isn't mocked because it has no place in a Gears of War game, it's mocked because it's abysmally written. Really, Gears of War, the only possible cure for mental trauma is a bullet through the brain!? We clearly see in game that medical and psychological assistance is futile and we know from multiple prior interactions with the character that she wouldn't want to carry on? Wouldn't want to try and live on?Sniper Team 4 said:
The message is even more insidious as it openly posits that as she isn't "pretty" any more, as she's "damaged goods" she's not worth any effort to try and save any more, worth only a single slug to the cerebellum.
Simply put, in a game series not exactly renowned for it's high concept story telling, that scene is an infamous low point.
And honestly, after everything Dom's gone through, that he'd give up there!? It's nonsense, a shock scene that falls flat as it fails to illicit any credulity whatsoever.
It's not "mental trauma." It's a lobotomy that leaves anyone who it's done to as a mindless slave to the Locust horde. Here's an entry describing it in the Gears wiki (http://gearsofwar.wikia.com/wiki/Processing)Cartographer said:
I thought the part in ME3 was bad, then I happened to play some messages in the Citadel DLC, for the hell of it...
Mordin attempting Amazing Grace and trying to figure it out. Ow, my feels hurt still.
One game has made me cry, and it did so twice. Final Fantasy 6.
Just because it's not a recent game doesn't mean it's not capable of tugging at the heartstrings.
the Locke and Rachel flashback
Celes throws herself off the cliff after Cid's death (I know that can technically be prevented, but I didn't on my first playthrough and I don't think I ever successfully have)
I have one, From Planescape: Torment. I played it quite some time ago and I may not remember everything properly, but the core idea I remember perfectly:
At one point, The Nameless One and his companions visit the Sensates, who are basicallt a society dedicated to experiencing life and all it's aspects. One of the ways to do so is to touch a Sensory Stone, which contains memories of other person, and experience those memories.
TNO touches one. He understands, that those are the memories of Deionarra, a woman whom he encoutered earlier as a ghost and who called him "her love". In those memories, one of the previous incarnations of TNO is leaving her and TNO feels her pain, her suffering. And those memories trigger the appearance of his own, namely memories of the Practical Incarnation, the one that is leaving Deionarra in her memories.
TNO is drowning in memories of two people: a woman, who was willing to do anything for her beloved, to go to Hell, to throw her life away, to take her life by her own hand, yet he was leaving, leaving her alone. And memories of a pragmatic, ruthless bastard he ones was, who KNEW that if he plays her a bit more, if he pulls the right strings, she will do ANYTHING for him if he promises to stay. Even worse, in her memories, he sees that she knows that she is being played, toyed with, but she can do nothing, she loves him so.
As soon as he can take away his hand from the stone, TNO loses his ballance and drops to the floor. He is shacking, he is on a verge of being mentally destroyed. He even cries, I think. And then Grace, a kind, soft-spoken succubus, tries to calm him down, to sooth his pain.
This piece gets bonus points for making me feel emotions with text ONLY.
P.S. Not enough old school, ffronw my boy.
At one point, The Nameless One and his companions visit the Sensates, who are basicallt a society dedicated to experiencing life and all it's aspects. One of the ways to do so is to touch a Sensory Stone, which contains memories of other person, and experience those memories.
TNO touches one. He understands, that those are the memories of Deionarra, a woman whom he encoutered earlier as a ghost and who called him "her love". In those memories, one of the previous incarnations of TNO is leaving her and TNO feels her pain, her suffering. And those memories trigger the appearance of his own, namely memories of the Practical Incarnation, the one that is leaving Deionarra in her memories.
TNO is drowning in memories of two people: a woman, who was willing to do anything for her beloved, to go to Hell, to throw her life away, to take her life by her own hand, yet he was leaving, leaving her alone. And memories of a pragmatic, ruthless bastard he ones was, who KNEW that if he plays her a bit more, if he pulls the right strings, she will do ANYTHING for him if he promises to stay. Even worse, in her memories, he sees that she knows that she is being played, toyed with, but she can do nothing, she loves him so.
As soon as he can take away his hand from the stone, TNO loses his ballance and drops to the floor. He is shacking, he is on a verge of being mentally destroyed. He even cries, I think. And then Grace, a kind, soft-spoken succubus, tries to calm him down, to sooth his pain.
This piece gets bonus points for making me feel emotions with text ONLY.
P.S. Not enough old school, ffronw my boy.
A point not mentioned in the game, at all.ffronw said:
Where is it revealed that is the case?
Lets follow up that wiki shall we...
Oh yeah, in an interview with one of the Dev's after the game was released.
See, those in "the Biz" call that a retcon.
Abysmal writing, that needed an out of game retcon to make sense of it. Thank you for proving my point.
Final Fantasy VII, Aeriths Death
The original scene to make me feel emotional and cry during a video game. The shock of seeing it happen and then the tears start shedding at the first note of her song being played right as the materia hits the ground
To The Moon, Ending
Indie RPG that tore my cynical adult heart out. Seeing how The scientist lady destroyed this guys memories to follow through with the dreams of this old man she hardly knows so that he and River could have the relationship that he had always dreamed of. How there real relationship had turned out and seeing her deal with Autism to the extent that she had it was extremely sad.
Bastion, Saving Zulf and Destroy the World Ending
Choosing to save this one guy who betrayed you is one of the hardest choices i have ever done in a video game...but to be honest i would of done the same in real life. What wrenched at my heart is what followed. Watching my character get riddled with bullets continually to save this guy. Then having them stop and suddenly, these enemies aren't mindless hordes in a video game anymore, they see whats happening, they react, they can't bear to keep shooting at me. I'm doing something selfless and they are now more than NPC monsters in my eyes.
The ending too. deciding to leave the world a desolate destroyed planet is also a difficult decision. but learning from your mistakes and moving on is what life is about. This was the perfect ending to Bastion.
Beginners Guide, Codas Depression
I'll admit i didn't play this game, i watched a youtuber play it. I'm so cheap. This is the latest game to tear my heart out because i relate so much to Coda. i deal with rejection and i relate to every single feeling of emptiness and self loathing that Coda felt. Even the creators Plea to Coda had me wishing for a happy end that i knew was never coming. Dealing with my depression, and seeing how much i relate to this character, especially since I'm in the same field as he was, hit way to close to home for me.
The original scene to make me feel emotional and cry during a video game. The shock of seeing it happen and then the tears start shedding at the first note of her song being played right as the materia hits the ground
To The Moon, Ending
Indie RPG that tore my cynical adult heart out. Seeing how The scientist lady destroyed this guys memories to follow through with the dreams of this old man she hardly knows so that he and River could have the relationship that he had always dreamed of. How there real relationship had turned out and seeing her deal with Autism to the extent that she had it was extremely sad.
Bastion, Saving Zulf and Destroy the World Ending
Choosing to save this one guy who betrayed you is one of the hardest choices i have ever done in a video game...but to be honest i would of done the same in real life. What wrenched at my heart is what followed. Watching my character get riddled with bullets continually to save this guy. Then having them stop and suddenly, these enemies aren't mindless hordes in a video game anymore, they see whats happening, they react, they can't bear to keep shooting at me. I'm doing something selfless and they are now more than NPC monsters in my eyes.
The ending too. deciding to leave the world a desolate destroyed planet is also a difficult decision. but learning from your mistakes and moving on is what life is about. This was the perfect ending to Bastion.
Beginners Guide, Codas Depression
I'll admit i didn't play this game, i watched a youtuber play it. I'm so cheap. This is the latest game to tear my heart out because i relate so much to Coda. i deal with rejection and i relate to every single feeling of emptiness and self loathing that Coda felt. Even the creators Plea to Coda had me wishing for a happy end that i knew was never coming. Dealing with my depression, and seeing how much i relate to this character, especially since I'm in the same field as he was, hit way to close to home for me.
Thanks for reminding me about that. The Sensories were one of my favorite and most memorable parts of that game.Mister K said:
I'd add to this list:
1. The short dialogue we have with Angela on the burning staircase in SH2.
2. Lugo's death in Spec Ops: The Line