Emotional Gaming?

[Dragonium]

So I was playing Crisis Core (It's good, go screw yourselves*) over my holiday to pass the time, and I happened to come to the ending sequence, and final battle, and such. And it strikes me as perhaps one of the most emotional RPG endings in any game I have ever played.

Spoiler warning, and also emo-pseudo-poetic-bollocks warning.

[spoiler]So, I've nailed through the game for hours. A lot of stuff's happened, and by this point the story has been all but tied up. The only remaining loose end is that Zack and Cloud (Who's unconscious from mako poisoning, AGAIN) have made an enemy of Shinra for being "escaped test subjects", and the Turks are after them because Tseng wants to give Zack some letters from Aerith. Zack can't escape any further, so he has to fight... the entire Shinra army. You and Zack both know that he's screwed, but he keeps fighting, to defend Cloud. At this point, the familiar "activating combat mode!" comes in, and The Price of Freedom starts playing.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=MOJ91H4mraU
It's just perfect. So you fight on, and there's an endless stream of soldiers. Zack gets worn down, and injured. The DMW activates (This is the "slot machine" reels which controls Limit Breaks and levelling-up. The faces of characters roll round, and if the three faces are the same, Zack's thoughts are focused on that character and he can use their abilities). It starts breaking; characters fade out (Sephiroth first, I found this darkly amusing), the emotional flashbacks which make up some DMW sequences play, but are fuzzy and broken, and the reels start breaking and refusing to spin properly. And, somehow, it's heartbreaking. In the last DMW sequence the reels are broken, but it keeps on rolling round until all three land on Aerith, as though Zack is trying to hold onto her memory. It's crushing. In the end, he gets beaten down, and mortally wounded. In his last moments, he passes on the Buster Sword to Cloud (Who has conveniently awakened just after all the fighting's been done), tells him to look after his honour, then passes on into the great beyond. It's beautiful. This is the only time I have cried (In a manly way, of course) in a game. After the credits roll it shows Zack's introduction from the start of the game, but with Cloud in place of Zack. It works perfectly. The whole thing is just epic.[/spoiler]

Sorry about that.

So, to the discussion: what do you have to say on emotional moments in games, and do any stand out to you? Or something.



*Yes, I am aware of the irony that Dragonium is defending an FF7 prequel from the haters. Shut up.

[X_marks_the_ed]

A little odd, but in Blinx: The Time Sweeper, I have yet to reach the final boss, so I still have to kill all the bossess beforehand, the beginning video with Blinx running down the chain always just seems encouraging to me, gets me ready...... to fail again on that retarded fish. I hate that ****ing fish! I want it to die a horrible mustard-filled, fiery, Michael Jackson induced, uber-death!


>.>

[Dominicy]

I hate that ****ing fish! I want it to die a horrible mustard-filled, fiery, Michael Jackson induced, uber-death!


>.>

*Now has what can only be described as the erection of kings*

[Archem]

Not enough of these types of games. I think there should be way more. HL2 - Ep. 2 was amazing, and it was the first game to leave me stunned, speechless, and emotionally overwhelmed. Perhaps it's because I've played every game in the series, but Valve's amazing story telling and incredible ability to make you become attached to the eerily human characters shone through more than ever before with that Episode's ending.

[ZeroKirbyX]

"The Boss' defection was a ruse set up by the US government. It was all a big drama staged by Washington so they could get their hands on the Philosopher's Legacy. And The Boss was the star of the show. They planned it so that they could get the Legacy that Colonel Volgin inherited... and destroy the Shagohod at the same time. Only a legendary hero like The Boss could have earned Volgin's trust. Finding out where the Philosopher's Legacy was hidden was to be her greatest mission. Everything was going according to plan. But then something happened that no one could have predicted. Colonel Volgin fired an American- made nuclear warhead at Sokolov's research facility. Khrushchev demanded that the US government provide proof that it wasn't involved. They couldn't just abort the operation to steal the Legacy. So the operation itself was greatly expanded and revised. The authorities in Washington knew that in order to prove its innocence they'd have to get rid of The Boss... and that one of their own would have to do the job. The public couldn't be allowed to find out about it... not ever. This, they concluded, would be the best way to keep the whole thing under wraps. The Boss wouldn't be allowed to come back home alive. And she wouldn't be allowed to kill herself. Her life would be ended by her most beloved disciple... That was the way the government wanted it. That was the mission she was given. And she had no choice but to carry it out. Her death at your hands was duty she had to fulfill. Out of duty, she turned her back on her own comrades. A lesser woman would have been crushed by such a burden. The taint of disgrace will follow her to her grave. Future generations will revile her. In America, as a despicable traitor with no sense of honor. And in Russia, as a monster who unleashed a nuclear catastrophe. She will go down in official history as a war criminal. And no one will ever understand her. That... was her final mission. And like a true soldier, she saw it through to the end. But I think she wanted you of all people to know the truth. She wanted to live on in your memory. Not as a soldier, but as a woman. But she was forbidden to tell you herself. And that's why she told me. Snake, history will never know what she did. No one will ever learn the truth. Her story... her debriefing... will endure only in your heart. Everything she did, she did for her country. She sacrificed her life and her honor for her native land. She was a real hero."

(The Boss' tombstone reads: "In Memory of a Patriot who Saved the World")

"She was a true patriot."

(Big Boss salutes and a tear runs down his face)


/thread


Oh, spoilers.

[lilsniffs3]

Yes, MGS3 was awesome.

Anyway, I haven't played MGS4 soooooo, doesn't Big Boss have children? If I remember, there was a rundown of events, and the last one said "Big Boss' children are born" and ends.

[ZeroKirbyX]

...Solid, Liquid and Solidus are clones. It was stated in 1 and 2 <_<

[Zerlina]

You cried in a "manly" way, huh?

Don't sweat it, I cried in a "manly" way during the end of FFX

[Archem]

...You cry out your penis?

[Revolution911]

Boss....

[Uberpwn_w00t]

GRRR!

I can clearly remember playing a game that brought me to the verge of tears, but I don´t remember what it was! Urgh!

[Meiscool-2]

LIKE OMG SPOILERS ERRRRRRVERY1

I cried at the end of Fate Stay Night... but that's an anime.

Shadow Hearts (one) was also pretty sad because the second main character used her life force to revive the main character at the very end.

And of course we've all played FFX and it's crappy, but sorrowful, ending.

EDIT - I forgot that emotions include things other than sorrow. One of my favorite emotional events in any game was the Assault Of The White Dragons in Final Fantasy 9. It felt empowering because it was taking all the major npcs in the game, previous friends and enemies, and uniting them against a single cause.

You can see it in this movie... even though they cut out the text (text occurs during the random times the screen turns black)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3N0gIMMCXs

[RuneBlade]

I always like the "normal" ending of Breath of Fire 2, when you dont save Ryu´s father before defeating the final boss.

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

This is from the GBA edition, its a little more less feeling in it IMO than the snes original but it shows the ending at least.

[Razor]

Definitely MGS3.

[Dragonium]

...You cry out your penis?

I did not ejaculate when Zack died.