The Moments in Video Games That Make You Feel Pity for a Character? (Hero, Villain or Other)

[SuperSaiyanMajinBuu]

That moment for me would have to be Red Dead Redemption Undead Nightmare. During the sidequest Birth of the Conservation Movement, you are tasked to kill 6 sasquatches (Bigfoot). After killing the first five with surprising ease, John Finds the last sasquatch crying. The bigfoot looks at you and he starts speaking fluent english telling you how "some maniac" has killed off the sasquatches. John then justifies this by telling them that they ate babies. The sasquatch angrily says that they eat berries and mushrooms. The sasquatch resigns his fate lamenting that he is the last of its kind, how his family was killed by John. Then he begs John to put him out of his misery having lost the will to live because of you. You are then given a choice to either let him live and leave him to wallow in his misery or put him out of his misery. I actually felt sorry for what i did and chose to put him out of his misery.

 

[Liv's Runaway Snail]

The only moment I can think of is the very end of SW: KOTOR.

When you have defeated Malak (light side), and he asks whether he would have been redeemed if their roles had been reversed and he was captured by the jedi. I feel sad because his friendship with Revan was what helped him turn to the dark side. Somewhat cheesy I know but I kind of wish there was an option to save and redeem him.

 

[The Wykydtron]

I'm not sure if pity is the best word, it's more like a pity that is pretty funny in its own right but the events of Yosuke's story mode in Persona 4 Arena has some pity in there.

You need some backstory from Persona 4 original, the long and short of it is that Yosuke is the biggest loser you have ever seen, he says and does some pretty dumb shit at times (those three opening scenes) and he can be kind of a dick. Really judgemental and on occasion even slightly misogynistic. So making such a "destined to fail" comedy character the protagonist of a story mode is hard to keep in character.

Basically he wins everything but does it in such a way that it has a decent amount of cringe in there. He stutters over his badass speech about how he's going to save Labrys at the end. Come on, what kind of anime protagonist does something that lame?

The biggest thing is that he FINALLY gets a girlfriend over the course of several scenes, really smoothly done too, 10/10 theory and execution then she turns out to be a robot. HA. Life hates you Yosuke, it really does. Well at least she didn't die hating your guts like your last crush right?

[sub][sub]Oh shush, that happens within the first hour i'm spoiling nothing[/sub][/sub]

On the non funny side of things, i'm going to go slightly obscure and say the last third or so of Michiru's route in Grisaia no Kajitsu. I know everyone has a backstory that kicks them in the teeth but Michiru has two of them. At least Sachi's backstory had some comedic value, Michiru's one is all feels all the time. Look Front Wing, that level of feels is cheating for the comic relief character.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Agro from Shadow of the Colossus.

Such a loyal companion who has no other choice but to aid his master in a self-destructive quest.

 

[Zhukov]

That one ranty Krogan in Mass Effect 2, during Mordin's loyalty mission.

Most people probably remember him because you can renegade-interrupt his big speech, which will cause Shepard to say, "You talk too much", and shoot a nearby fuel line, setting the Krogan on fire.

Personally, I always felt sorry for the guy. He was clearly desperate and in pain. I mean, Jesus Christ, between the rants about washing the galaxy in blood, there are bits about having had to burn piles of stillborn young. I imagine I'd be ready to ruin somebody's day after a life like that too.

 

[Fireaxe]

Spoiler: Fire Emblem Spoilers

Whichever of the two Reed brothers you fight and kill second, when your party fights the first brother (who is basically tricked into fighting your party) they let him live but in his weakened state one of the villains shows up and kills him, framing your party for it -- the surviving brother is maddened with grief and waits to get revenge not realising your party didn't kill the first one.

 

[bug_of_war]

Desmond Miles

Fuck using spoilers because this thread is about spoiloers (being about why you felt sorry for a character).

The entire plot of AC has him reliving peoples lives all so that he can sacrifice himself so that everyone else can live. Imagine that after years of being trained fro something you thought was bullshit, you were then forced to relive your ancestors' lives for your remaining few months so as that you can gather information that ultimately leads to "sacrifice yourslef or watch those you care for die/become the thing you hate".

 

[FFP2]

Spoiler: Caius from FF13-2

All he wanted to do was save the only person in his life that he cared about/loved. Dude didn't even care if it meant he had to die to accomplish that.

 

[Rooster893]

Solid Snake. Poor, poor Dave.

-He's a clone of Big Boss, and Big Boss didn't want him (or his brother, Liquid) to exist.
-He was raised as an assassin, serving in countless wars, killing thousands of people.
-His best friend on the battlefield, Frank Jaeger, was killed and revived as a cyborg, neither dead or alive.
-The one chance he had at romance, a relationship with Meryl, ultimately failed.
-Almost everybody he's met (not counting Otacon) has betrayed him in some way or form.
-He almost becomes a living weapon of mass destruction.

And perhaps the worst thing to happen to him of all... he's saved the world multiple times, yet he doesn't consider himself a hero.

"I'm no hero. I'm just an old killer. Hired to do some wetwork."

 

[Mikejames]

Telltale's Walking Dead. The whole thing.

That one ranty Krogan in Mass Effect 2, during Mordin's loyalty mission.

Most people probably remember him because you can renegade-interrupt his big speech, which will cause Shepard to say, "You talk too much", and shoot a nearby fuel line, setting the Krogan on fire.

Personally, I always felt sorry for the guy. He was clearly desperate and in pain. I mean, Jesus Christ, between the rants about washing the galaxy in blood, there are bits about having had to burn piles of stillborn young. I imagine I'd be ready to ruin somebody's day after a life like that too.

I was diplomatic until he started talking about taking his vengeance out on civilians and keeping Salarians as slaves for the sake of eating their eggs. So yeah, let him burn.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Lisa Garland from Silent Hill 1 has a rather depressing arc.

 

[Sarah Kerrigan]

I would have to believe that, in my opinion, it's Hesh Walker in Call of Duty Ghost

Spoiler

Losing his home, his father, and his brother at the end of the game. It really hurt watching it.

 

[Gizmo1990]

Tidus and Yuna at the end of Final Fantasy X. In Tidus's case it is that after finaly finding peace with his dad and ensuring that the perosn he loves the most did not sacrifice herself he simply fades away and in yuna's case it is after finaly destorying the thing that has been committing mass murder for thousands of years the guy who made her belive it was possable in the first place, who she has also fallen in love with then simply fades away.

Thats why dispite how bad I think damn near most of X-2 is I give it a pass because of the bonus ending. I like happy endings.

 

[bartholen_v1legacy]

To the Moon runs the whole gamut of emotions, including intrigue, hilarity, sadness, joy, and even slight creeps. But the moment that hit me the hardest was when you find out the purpose of all the origami rabbits. The characters in question were Johnny and River, the elderly couple around whom the game's story revolves.

Spoiler: Ruinous spoilers abound

It turns out the now deceased River was slightly autistic. She made the rabbits to try to make her husband remember a childhood memory where he promised to go to the moon with her, which was later blocked out of the man's memory due to medication. She spent basically her whole marriage trying in vain to try to make an impossible promise be remembered.

I almost cried.

Borderlands 2 was surprisingly strong in the story department at certain points. When you find the data log that explains why Tiny Tina is such a nutjob, you can't help but feel sorry for her.

Spoiler

Her parents were basically tortured for information in front of her, and she had to use a grenade to escape, leaving her orphaned, with more than a slight case of PTSD, and possible brain damage.

Delacroix, one of the very few surviving crew members in System Shock 2, tries her best to get you and herself off the Von Braun for most of the game, but in the end you find her corpse and a data log with her final words.

Also, having your companions die in Far Cry 2, especially when you got to them in time to try to heal them, felt pretty rough.