Unexpected Sad Moments in Games

[Zeles]

In Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines, if you trick the TV guy to going back to the hospital...even though the dialogue is funny.

Also, at the end where

Spoiler

You have to kill Officer Chunk. He's a silly character, way out of his depth, but it's his job to stop you, so he tries. He warns you several times, and is very reluctant to harm you, and doesn't know how easily you can kill him.

There are TONS of sad moments in that game that you don't expect. I'm thinking Heather, what happens to LaCroix at the end ( I mean yeah, he's a complete asshole but it's still a bit sad to see him breakdown like that), and probably the most surprising of all, that one vampire hunter that you fight that can use holy magic. I can't remember his name. Because despite him trying to kill you, he really genuinely believes that he's helping save the world. And apparently there aren't many people in WoD canon who can actually use that kind of magic.

 

[Chunga the Great]

The nuke in Call of Duty 4

Revolutionary at the time but unfortunately that kind of event is pretty common now.

 

[Tyelcapilu]

half-life 2 episode 2
holy shit it was intense
I won't spoil it (dont know how2spoilers, on phone & lazy)
google it if you care, but if you played you'd know

 

[Tyelcapilu]

-snip, accidental double-post-

 

[McMarbles]

The ending of Professor Layton and the Unwound Future

Spoiler: These spoilers remind me of a puzzle...

In a flashback, we saw how the Professor lost the love of his life, Claire, in a lab accident years ago. During the game, you are accompanied by her sister, Celeste, who...

Spoiler: A true gentleman always marks spoilers

turns out to be Claire herself, thrown forward in time by the accident. At the end, she "snaps back" to the time of her death, and Layton must say goodbye all over again.

 

[Lazy]

The penultimate level of Journey. Of course, the finale itself is pure elation, but that's largely because of how sad and oppressive this part is.

 

[vid87]

The ending for Final Fantasy Tactics will always be a classic.

Spoiler

Delita's wife, Princess Ovelia, just turns around and stabs him for being a manipulative bastard, only for him to turn the knife on her, ending with them both dead.

It was such an abrupt way to end things and left me stunned long after the credits. I wondered for a while if I had somehow gotten the "bad" ending or there was a secret one to unlock. Now that I think of all the things that happened and what it meant as character arcs, I don't think there was a better way to do it. It's perfect like a Shakespearean tragedy - heart-rending, but meaningful.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Also, Exile3 if you join, and then leave the Anama.

Holy crap, someone else has played those games!

What actually happens if you do that? I never joined up because there's no way I was going without my firestorms and anti-magic fields.

Well, you just get a few lines of text about how it was nice to be part of something, but it got to me.

 

[VaughanyT]

Pretty much the final few hours of MGS4. I know that it was basically one big cutscene at that point, but the way the series was finished was beautiful, especially in the Epilogue. I won't spoil it, but one line summed up every MGS game and the way 4 concluded;

"This is good, isn't it."

 

[Skeggers]

There was a surprisingly emotional moment in Dead Space 2 that took me largely by surprise

Spoiler: Clicky click

When Isaac forces Ellie to leave in the shuttle so that she can escape the station, leaving him behind with the apparition of Nicole to guide him to what he's sure is certain death.


It's definitely not the most sad moment in a game, but it certainly was out of the blue.

 

[Flaery]

Spoiler

Link has to give the Master Sword and Fi to the stone and end their companionship. This was really surprising for me as I never really cared for Fi one way or the other. The music didn't exactly help either....

Curse me and my curiosity! I haven't beaten Skyward Sword yet.

OT: I usually do expect sad moments in games, very few have ever really took me by surprise. I suppose the death of Aeris in Final Fantasy VII would've been sad had I not already known what would happen. Another moment would be in Sonic Adventure 2 at the end when Shadow falls to Earth.

 

[debtcollector]

I haven't finished the game yet, so I don't know if this gets resolved or fixed or whatever but

Spoiler: Xenoblade spoilers

Shulk and friends are leading a peaceful life and their hometown gets inevitably attacked. And then Fiora just gets killed. Out of nowhere. Like, I knew a death was going to happen, but I didn't think it would be one of the three party members who I'd been playing as for only an hour. And then, when she comes charging at the baddie with her mechsuit I got this sinking feeling....and then BOOM! She's gone. Caught me off guard, that.

 

[Phuctifyno]

The Legend Of Zelda: Majora's Mask

The whole game is a bit depressing, but this still stood out to me:

Spoiler: not a huge plot spoiler, but i will hide it cuz that's what all the cool kids are doing

There are three major race masks you collect throughout the game: Deku, Goron, and Zora. The Goron and Zora masks come from dead characters (later in the game) and are said to embody their spirits, but we are never really told where the Deku mask came from. Very early in the game, before you've even learned that the masks come from the dead, you do come across a vaguely human looking tree-stump-with-a-face, however. Later in the game, you meet a Deku butler who mentions that he had a son who's gone missing. Not a major plot-point, but it leads to a little race mini-game, and the missing son thing never gets resolved beyond the butler just accepting it.

If you've already caught the scent by this point in the game, you'll be able to figure it out on your own, but the first time I played it I was quite young and didn't really add it up. During the end credits you see a quick scene of the butler kneeling by the stump-with-a-face, looking rather melancholy, mixed in amongst all the cheery "epilogue" stuff from the other characters.

 

[jdogtwodolla]

Things that make you sad are a subjective matter right? I'm almost embarrassed about mine.

I find endings sad. And not tragic endings I feel I should have been sad at like the end of Red Dead Redemption for some strange reason. I'm talking about happy endings. The end of Final Fantasy 9 for instance, or Legend of Zelda: Windwaker or Okami... [small]or Super Mario Galaxy.[/small]

 

[Elfgore]

The first mission in the Force Unleashed 1.

Fits the definition unexpected perfectly. I think the music only makes it worse. Here is a video starts at about 5 minutes in.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wr9Tkhiln4M

 

[Chester Rabbit]

Fable 2 - Walking through Wraith Marsh when all of a sudden you see a familiar land mark...
Seriously I was feeling pretty dead towards any emotional toying this game was trying to pull on me and then that happened and for once I actually felt something while playing that game. And it was the only time.

 

[Divine Retribution]

The ending to Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky. Why is it surprising? Because, well, it's a pokemon game - the franchise is not exactly one to tell emotionally involving stories

Spoiler

The game follows a general logic of time travel. After you change the past to avoid it becoming a rather horrible future where the night ever ends and pretty much everyone has been driven insane and as a result, you'd have no reason to go back in time, thus you die. A pokemon game killed 'me' off in the story line - never thought I'd see that! Not to mention a montage of your friend being miserable over your death accompanied by a somber soundtrack at this point to really seal the deal.

As for the first Mystery Dungeon...that one just annoyed the hell out of me as

Spoiler

It MAKES 'you' want to go back, regardless of how dangerous the pokemon world is. Much rather be home with my friends and human comforts! Not sad at all, just aggravating.

 

[Eomega123]

Feels thread? Feels thread.

This one is kind of weird, but

Spoiler: Spoilers for Antichamber

The last section, when you confront the black box. It's so weird, but that box arroused more feelings in me than several actual characters in other videogames. The alien way it moves, its contrast with the white background, that odd buzzing and chanting that you hear whenever it's close. Throughout the whole game you aren't sure quite what it is, and you're pretty scared of it, but it's the only other aparently sentient thing in the complex, so you chase it down and eventually catch it and pull it into your gun, sending you to a very strange and sombre world. Even though I'd finally caught and 'conquered' this thing, I was left even more confused than before, and that final puzzle serves as a great chance to walk and reflect on the meaning of what you'd done.

Also, and several people should share this one, the first time I had to leave a Pikmin behind. Especially stinging if you spent the last seconds before sundown running around the map calling for it, only to see it get eaten as it frantically chases after your ship.

Also, the final level of Braid. I never thought I could get so much feels and shock from just holding down the rewind key.

Also,

Spoiler: Super Paper Mario Spoiler

Tippi sacrificing herself. Yeah, I knew the game was darker than the earlier two, but man, Tippi was my friend! And she was nice and helpful the whole time. Walking around the world without her just feels so wrong afterwards, and Tiptron does not fill the void!