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[jshackles]

I think more than any other medium, video games have the power to make us feel stuff. Instead of being passive observers (like TV and movies), games give us the ability to connect with the on-screen characters since a lot of the time the characters personify us.

What are some of your most emotional gaming moments GAF?

Spoiler: Mine

Recently I played through Xenoblade Chronicles 3. At the beginning of chapter 6, there is a scene that plays out where the two main characters (which at that point I had come to know over the course of the previous 90ish hours) had lived multiple lives - and in one of those lives they had a child together. The female main character had already passed away, and the male main character was walking in the woods with their kid and was also about to die. He explains to his son that their love will always live on inside their child, before finally fading away. As a dad, this hit me particularly hard - even harder than the game's emotional conclusion.

Timestamped here if you want a good cry:

 

[amigastar]

Ending in Max Payne 2

 

[Rockman33]

First time through last of us had me emotional multiples times.

 

[LectureMaster]

It gotta be Nier Automata ending E. Turned my heart into void for weeks.

 

[FoxMcChief]

Lost Oddysey

Spoiler: Spoiler

When the daughter dies

 

[fran.fernandez]

Idk but my wife cried with death stranding lol

She was pregnant so

 

[TintoConCasera]

The final scenes in some Yakuza games, specially 0, 5 and 7.

 

[RJMacready73]

The End of Journey was quite emotional in so much as I, a void of human emotion can actually feel, plenty of scenes throughout TLOU pt1 & 2 and I distinctly remember a scene in Gears of War years ago with a dude and his dead wife that played out brilliantly at the time, so long ago I can barely remember it

 

[ProgenitorCastle]

Ico was a pretty emotional game overall

 

[semiconscious]

shadow of the colossus:

Spoiler

 

[jshackles]

Another one that hit me hard: Telltales The Walking Dead

Spoiler

When Clementine has to shoot Lee before he turns

 

[Skyfox]

I was 15. I had a crush on a girl. I bought FF7 and decided to name Aerith after this real life girl. I managed to date this girl for a few weeks and it was amazing.

She dumped me and I was depressed for months.

I leaned heavily into the game's romance with the character (who still had the same name as my real life ex).

Yeah disc 2 was a bit of a shock.

 

[Ogbert]

The frame rate in Dishonored 2.

 

[semiconscious]

Another one that hit me hard: Telltales The Walking Dead

Spoiler

When Clementine has to shoot Lee before he turns

Spoiler

i just replayed this last week, & did what i did the first time, which's i did what lee told me to do - save the bullet. but, yeah, pretty powerful ending, nonetheless...

 

[Neff]

 

[angrod14]

You escape the island on boat, and then this music hits. Dem feels.

 

[NightmareFarm]

Probably the CGI cutscene where sin attacks this island(just before djose) in FFX. Heck, pretty much every CGI cutscene and pretty much every emotional scene in that game. FFX sent me on such an emotional rollercoaster when I played it as a kid, I wouldn't trade my memories of it for anything in the world.

 

[ZehDon]

Terranigma on the SNES. Modern games like to pretend that their mo-cap Acting® makes them so emotional. Terranigma only needed 256 colours, three sprites, and two screens to leave an impact that's never gone away. For all of the player's power, all of their combat ability, all of their items and equipment, what makes this moment work is that the game's mechanics simply can't solve the problem, no matter how hard the player tries. And that still resonates with me all these years later.

 

[Ghost of Caelid]

Leeeee *crackling voice*

TWD S1 is peak story telling.

 

[JCK75]

In The Witcher , Ramsmeat Just kept pushing my buttons and finally the game. Let me kick his ass. Tears of joy.

 

[kapshin]

The princess is in another castle. Bitch gets a gps stop getting lost!

 

[KàIRóS]

MGS 3 Ending

 

[laynelane]

The scene with Joel and his daughter at the beginning of TLoU. I went in with no spoilers and had no idea it was coming. Such a well-acted and gut-wrenching moment. There's others too, but that's the first that comes to mind.

 

[kyliethicc]

end of Knack 2

 

[Azelover]

I'm not gonna spoiler tag it because it was in the beginning.

But for me it was in Ocarina of Time when Link is leaving Kokiri Town, and Saria stops him to say goodbye. The fact there was no voice acting kind of added to it. Because as a result a lot comes forth from your imagination. And it's quiet, there is no music. It was just perfect.

 

[channie]

When Cole kills Zeke in InFamous 2

 

[BennyBlanco]

Lulu in FFX giving me a boner when i was like 12

 

[LaughingStock]

Sarah's death in TLOU 1 gets me every time..

 

[Artoris]

The clip with Lisa Garland from the silent hill in nowhere

 

[Represent.]

Never been emotional in a game. Even the very best games, with stellar writing for the medium, pale in comparison to other mediums. So I have yet to experience true emotion in a game.

I guess the closest was TLOU 2, the final cutscene with Joel and Ellie. Amazing stuff.

 

[fart town usa]

Playing through Albert Odyssey: The Legend of Eldean on the Sega Saturn.

It was a game my older brother and I played when our father was slowly passing away from cancer. I would play a few hours every few years but never wanted to finish it. It wasn't that it was too sad to finish or anything like that, it was an absolute joy to play it and go back to memories of my brother and I being there for each other during a rough time. It just felt wrong in a way to play through the entire game.

I finally saw it through like 2 winters ago and it was like a really long chapter of my life coming to an end. I'll probably play through it again this winter and revisit those memories. Good stuff.

 

[Putonahappyface]

Near the end of The Last Gaurdian where Trico is being attacked by the other chimaera like creatures and has his tail torn off really upset me.

 

[Neilg]

Disco elysium, the ex-fiancee Dolores.

 

[Magic Carpet]

Near the end of Brothers.
Oh wow pushing the thumb stick has meaning.

 

[Nankatsu]

The final scenes in some Yakuza games, specially 0, 5 and 7.

Pretty sure it's Yakuza for me too.

Love it or hate it Yakuza 6 made me emotional as fuck. That ending is a roller-coaster.

Spoiler

Because by the time I played it I already knew it was Kiryu's last game and his send off. I thought I was ready for it but I wasn't.

Fast forward to present and the GOAT is coming back. Sega masterfully played with my emotions.

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

 

[pramod]

Death of Nei in Phantasy Star 2 probably.

As for something more recent, something about the scene in Grandia when Sue leaves really hit me.
I mean it's nothing really super dramatic, but the way it was all setup really got to me for some reason.

 

[Facism]

The end stretch of The Last Guardian fucked me right up.

 

[Orta]

Most of Hellblade.

Senua was one truly fucked up girl but I think I felt for her most was just before the end when the voices in her head were telling her to let go. She was so pitiful, completely lost in her mind and at deaths door. We didn't see but God knows what she was really doing to herself at that moment.

Pretty much the only game I've ever emotionally connected to.

 

[Ozzy Onya A2Z]

Eh, games don't really affect me that much emotionally with their story content. Keep it tight and short, I'm more interested in the world/gameplay etc over the characters themselves.

• Gameplay and competition however, I wanted to cry for relief after solo grinding out my first 50 in Halo 3 ranked objective from Aussie connections to the US solo. I went from 49 to 48 and back for about a year first.
• Another would be having a few of my Xbox live buddies of decades being some of my best mates now and they only live around the corner.
• Playing PC/Atari/NES etc with my brother and sister growing up.
• I grew up during the golden age of arcades, Pac-Man/SFII and coins on the screen while you got brain freeze chugging your slurpy to get ready for your next turn.
• Having ACL (Aussie esports) approach me for sponsoring a team I was acquainted with somewhat.
• Being driven in a limo to the Aussie launch event for the old PC game Blade Runner by the Aussie publisher, my co-worker was hot AF so she +1'd me to tag along for all expenses paid.
• LANS (PC) and sleepovers/housemates on the SNES/N64

It's those sorts of gaming moments that mean more to me than a particular game story moment or world etc.

If I was to choose a particular game I would say Max: Curse of the Brotherhood. I played this with my son and wife when it came out. It wonderfully combines the story and gameplay elements into a seamless game and dances between the real brothers and the in-game crossover. It certainly struck many chords of fun, lessons, overcoming fears, taking responsibility, puzzles etc. A fun and mildly challenging game that could be experienced by a wide variety of gamers and ages.

 

[cash_longfellow]

As a brother..The ending of “Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons”. If you know you know

 

[CyberChulo]

Beating the SMS version of Space Harrier as a kid. I remember it playing the music from that cat-riding creature and I was vibing to it like no tomorrow.

 

[HeisenbergFX4]

Seeing this on my Xbox free via game pass got me all chokes up, not gonna lie

 

[pramod]

Playing through Albert Odyssey: The Legend of Eldean on the Sega Saturn.

It was a game my older brother and I played when our father was slowly passing away from cancer. I would play a few hours every few years but never wanted to finish it. It wasn't that it was too sad to finish or anything like that, it was an absolute joy to play it and go back to memories of my brother and I being there for each other during a rough time. It just felt wrong in a way to play through the entire game.

I finally saw it through like 2 winters ago and it was like a really long chapter of my life coming to an end. I'll probably play through it again this winter and revisit those memories. Good stuff.

Yeah I had a similar experience with Phantasy Star Online. I also had a death in the family at the time, and I was playing a LOT of PSO, I think it helped me get over the grief.
So whenever I think of PSO it always brings back bittersweet memories.

 

[PSX2007]

Ending of Klonoa was the first time I cried at a video game, and it still gets me.

 

[John Marston]

Finally reuniting with my wife & child.

 

[jufonuk]

Actraiser. If I remember you had to save a kid and the game flashes forward or something and either his parents died or it shows him dying. Let me find the video.



Updated he was sacrificed by his town.
Yeah after getting invested in that game and having the ending go back to all the towns you saved. Yeah remember that kid you saved? His village offed the little cunt. Ok next town let’s go.

Shenmue as I played that game for hours and when it ended and the Dreamcast dying I was bummed thinking they gonna leave it like this ? It was the first game I felt with a living breathing world.

BoTW mainly because it was the longest I ever played a game like this without any hand holding and open ended etc. So I felt as if I achieved something towards the final level when I knew it was coming to an end I didn’t want to enter the castle. I mean I still have to 100% the game. But that is for another time.

Return to castle wolfenstein mainly because the zombie levels freaked me out at 2 am playing to with head phones. For some reason I felt like I was there. Freaked me out. I had to take my headphones off as I was going shit someone or something is in my room.

RE 4 just felt like an epic game and at the time felt like the most advanced game ever.

SM3 and SMW just felt like hell yeah. I did it. Got the secret endings/star etc

Contra 3 me and a mate completed it and we felt bad ass.

Alan wake would shit me up with the guys looking through the window in the cabins.

Max Payne and the flash back levels would make me sad.

Doom and Quake made me feel like I was in evil dead 2 or aliens.

Street fighter2 / Virtua fighter was just martial arts excellence

Mortal Kombat. Aww shit Sonia you is fine.

 

[ACESHIGH]

Something from SOMA of course... Emotional and thought provoking.

 

[pramod]

After I beat Thunderforce 4 in mania mode I felt like Frodo after he destroyed the One Ring.

 

[DW74]

That moment in FFVII of course. I was 23 at the time, and it was my 2nd RPG ever. Wasn't really into RPGs previously, so I was not prepared for an emotional moment like that in a video game.