@naylorboy: Yeah, me too :(

I was reading the gamedev thread and they mentioned Futurama's Jurassic Bark, I don't think anything has ever left me as depressed as that episode. And reading about it again made my eyes well up...

Tearjerking moments in gaming? Plenty, the whole of Grim Fandango, The Longest Journey/Dreamfall or Omikron were pretty heavy and emotional for me.

zoesch

Well, I cried at the point when Aeris (FFVII) died... I think a lot of people did, because the PS was the first system with close enough graphics to life to draw you into to a storyline without breaking the illusion really sealing the deal and your connection to the characters.(I know, it's an opinion... everybody has one, and they all stink).

I also cried when we learned that Zidaine had NOT died after all (FFIX). Watching the epilogue explaining how Garnet had taken up the mantel and led her people, were everyone fell, and their lives had taken them, everyone was happy, 100% happy except for her. She did what needed to be done, what her people and her country needed, so in some small way it made up for losing him. And then the play (just like in the opening) a cloaked and masked figure plays the lines so seriously as if not really playing them, but telling the truth in them... screaming the truth in them, you can't see his face, but you are hoping beyond hope... hoping and hoping... and BAM! He throws off that cloak and it's him for real... and he's alive and I cried.

So sue me. =)

PugDaddyD

I was very close to crying at the end of MGS4 and i remember being pretty sad about MGS3.

deathroro

MGS4 wasn't very emotional for me. I thought the characters were too much of a cardboard cutout of their former selves to be classified as anything other than awkward. It certainly didn't compare to previous games in the series in that regard.

MGS3 on the other hand, is a different story. I was really sad after that ending. Same goes for FFX.

Oh and MGS1's Sniper Wolf death scene (specifically the PS1/PC version, not from TTS - I thought they lost all the emotion in that game). That was genuinely saddening, if you ask me.

akwinters

The tear jerking factor ain't an easy achievement in gaming, IMO. Half-Life 2 ep. 2 was moving, without a doubt. I didn't want Eli to fall victim, but he did, and it was pretty sad.

GTA IV also had quite an effect on me. Niko has become one of my all-time favorite characters. I wanted him to be able to find some redemption for the garbage he'd done in his past, so I played the good guy (to the best of my ability, of course.) When everything seems like a bit of sunshine is about to crack through the clouds with Roman's wedding, an important character is rudely capped off (trying to keep from too many spoilarz, just in case..). GTA IV moved me in a number of ways. And for a GTA title to pull that off, it's gotta be good in my book.

BlackdogGT

Like others have said, The Darkness when your girlfriend is shot and you're forced to watch, Final Fantasy VII when Aeris dies, the end of Half-life 2: Episode 2, the end of the first Kingdom Hearts, Lost Odyssey, and I'm sure many many other things that I can't recall off of the top of my head.

Heliophage

I've had several moments where games moved me in some way. Not necessarily cry, but games sometimes leave a certain impression that sticks with you. The most recent experience for me was Half Life 2: Episode 2. I didn't expect the end and I was quite stunned. It didn't make me cry, but it made me sit around for a while to think about it...

Ganonmaster

@Proto_Man: god yes. easily the best example.

@Pombar: also a good one; way more moving for me than FF VII was.

@gamadaya: i agree with that, actually.

@rofltravolta: damn, never got to beat Lufia 2, damn close though.
which brings me to a great, great example: Cosmic Fantasy II . jesus, saddest ending evar.

TheIrishNinja

The end of GTA4 (Partial Spoiler coming up:) with what happened at the wedding made me sad, but I didn't cry. That's not to say I'm uber manly and never cry, I mean the movie I Am Sam brought out quite a few tears in me. But I haven't played many emotionally attaching games.

Pata-pwn(TM?)

Final Fantasy 7 :( I /cryed ....but only a little

Viper

My lady friend in FFVII getting a Samurai sword through her stomach really sucked...

I wasn't bawling or anything, but I get misty during many games... like someone said above, I don't think it's very hard to orchestrate such scenes assuming that one likes the characters involved and such (which is really hard without a good voice actor). Just play the sappy music at the right time and you're done.

The downside is that if you do it wrong, it goes very wrong... like some parts of Metal Gear Solid 2... it was just very awkward.

More often though I get the misty happy feeling... like the last few cutscenes in Devil May Cry 3... I thought they were pretty poignant. Though I guess that kind of counts too...

Ninegauger

Seeing your girlfriend die in The Darkness is probably the closest I've come to it.

Kamakazie

When Agro fell in Shadow of the Colossus.

Sesshu

I guess I'm an asshole, but the only thing that went through my head when Aeris died was, "MY MATERIA!"

The dreams in Lost Odyssey had me going. Ending of Persona 3 wasn't. . . tear jerking really, but very emotional I thought, just don't remember crying at it.

Parts of Xenosaga had me going as well. Especially in Episode 3.

Outside of games though the Finale of this season ("4") of the new Doctor Who had me absolutely bawling!

Bookburner

This still makes me cry

+ Watch video

Neeks

I never cried or felt sad or anything depressing after or during any game I have played.

RtFusion

I cry myself to sleep every night just thinking that I may not ever see an ending to Shenmue.

Valshar

@Jippon: No kidding! o.o

Zho

@Jippon: This was ofcourse after I finished the game... not just when I listened to the song.

Jippon

Crisis Core

Pombar

Not for me. No game even comes close. I've seen sad movies, but they all stop short of tear jerker as well. A lot of people say that MGS4 had a really sad ending, but I actually thought that Kojima pussed out and went with a happier ending than he should have.

gamadaya

The ending to ffx left me depressed for the rest of the day.

MyLittlePwny

The end of Kingdom Hearts. I didn't cry, but damn, that was depressing.

TJH518

The Portal song... at the part where she sings: Go ahead and leave me, I think I prefer to stay inside...
I didn't cry, but it felt crushing.

Jippon

@Highlander Wolf: The Sniper Wolf scene was blunted for me by the fact that I beat her with the tranq rifle, so she shouldn't actually have been dead.

Torgen got his apology faceplate but not his fixed GH3 disc

I pretty much never cry (srsly like maybe twice in the year 4 years and i had to be asleep for it to happen, i r emoshunless void...rawr >.>)

seriously though, i've seen sad stuff in games and such but never actually cried from it.

not to say they couldn't make other people cry, just not me. Games can definitely be an emotional medium if done right (just like a movie or book, do it right, it works, do it wrong, it doesn't)

demonknightinuyasha

When I was younger I was brought to tears by a lot of games, namely the endings of:

Lufia II
Earthbound
Final Fantasy III (VI) -- Gau's portion always choked me up

rofltravolta

Yes, but not too terribly often. Not because of a limitation of the medium, but rather because its just not what most developers aim for.

I did shed tears when a certain character died in FF7, I'll admit that. Granted, I was up for over 24 hours straight and had hardly stopped to eat or use the bathroom, but still.

WolvenOne

@DaveStampeed: wow! My god, havent got to that yet. Better get bloody playing.

HarmanSmith

I think a game could be a tearjerker, but I've yet to find it.
I didn't even find the end of MGS3 that sad. I was like, "so?" When it was all over.

Zerbrechen

@Thorax: I couldnt agree more. Its... Its so sudden!

HarmanSmith

almost at end of mgs3, and i emitted 1 tear drop at the end of mgs4...

DAMN hideo knows how to write a story!!

Flurp

Ah! THE DEATH OF DOCTOR CARROL. PERFECT DARK.

HarmanSmith

Oh god, the Jurassic Bark post brings back painful memories. I cried like a baby, oh god... no! That song!!

"If it takes foreverrrrr, I willlllll waiiiiiit for yooou"

soviet_

Shadow of the Colossus, pretty much when it looked like Agro died. And the end...jeez. All that work and then that happened to Wander :(

Zho

In terms of nostalgia. Aeris being dropped into the water in ff7 gets me there every time. And. The wedding mask comeraderaie in Majoras Mask. God that makes me almost blub. Finding out about Garcian Smith in killer 7? got me upset.

Agro falling. Jesus. Couldnt take that, and generally shadow of the colossus gets me emotional in every direction.

and last but not least. Sonic 2's ending music, or sky sanctuary. I think you can cry at perfection!

HarmanSmith

@Terrorsaur.: lol!

warf0x0r

Metal Gear Solid 3, because it was sad.

Kingdom Hearts II, because it was happy.

TheDaftPunk

I got a little teary during the final sequences of MGS 4, as well. It really brings it all home you realize, "Wow. This is the end."

DontFearTheHobo

MGS4 was great.

The Ending Cutscenes made me cry Just a Litt'l (Y'know, Man sense kicked in)

The hallway scene didn't touch me at all though, I guess I was too busy jumping up and down shouting "C'mon! Triangle, Triangle, Triangle!!"

Tw3nty0ne

Metal Gear Solid 4.

spoilers!!!!!?

When Otacon said how Snake had a hard life, I lost it at that point. No other game has got to me like that, and only a handful of movies. It's odd how you can be quite sad, but then a single line "Snake... had a hard life." just snaps something. And I got my own flashbacks, no "X" buttons being pressed, just my own thoughts of the other games and I know it sounds ridiculous, but I felt something for the characters of those games.

PirateThom

"Remember what you see here today Executor..."
/sniff

+ Watch video

warf0x0r

@Terrorsaur.: loved eli so much.
i always thought of him as the morgan freeman of video game characters.
i too was left in silent awe.

mosumi

Hell yes

See the first couple hours of Lost Odyssey, man. See the first couple hours of Lost Odyssey.

karasu is my homeboy

@Proto_Man:

totally agree. that was the first thing i thought of when reading this article

CortOfEld

I was so close to crying at the end of disc 1 of lost odyssey where you meet lirium, it was hands down the most emotional experiance I ever experienced in a electronic medium.

eternalplayer2345

@Tom Clancy's Samuraidino: Probably the most epic hug of all time.

CHU BOI

Lost Odyssey had me teary eyed. Very teary eyed... ok. I was bawling :(

So yes, games CAN be tear jerkers.

WEGGLES90

i'm not sure i've ever really wept.
i think i proably welled up a bit over mary's letter at the end of silent hill 2.
bloody powerful stuff.

mosumi

When Aggro died in Shadow of the Colossus, I think I cried a little. He was there, your only companion in that bleak world, and now suddenly you have to face the last colossus by your self.

Thorax

Not gonna lie, FFX and the MGS2 Theme Song are the only games to make me shed a tear.

CHU BOI

Lost Odyssey...just reading his unlocked dreams made me cry.

darkhado

Oh shit and how can I forget the ending of Episode 2.

Holy crap can you say ZOMG? I was mad too because someone was FINALLY referring to the GMan and I thought I was FINALLY going to get some insight on who the fuck he was and then Eli gets his skull crushed in by an Advisor penis...or something.

That ending truely left me silent. For 10 minutes.

Then I went to play spy in tf2.

Terrorsaur.

@Chronixal:
Yep, me too. FF7 got me, with the developed characters and the music. Also got a little soggy during the Sniper Wolf death scene from MGS1.

Highlander Wolf

I cried at the end of Metal Gear Solid 3.

"She was a true patriot."

N3k74r42

Disgaea, the ending you get if you accidentally kill one of your own allies. For some reason, that really, really got to me, and I never quite understood since through the whole thing, Flonne kinda annoyed me.

I think it was just that she had this utter, unflinching faith, only to be shot down hard. The song at the end is then so contradictingly sweet and light hearted, that I really lost it. Now it's hard to hear it without getting upset, since that was the first impression of the game's ending I got (got the good one after. That was just cute).

diablodevil2

@Proto_Man: The only other time I cried as much as MGS3 was Peter Jackson's King Kong. And I'm talking 100% all-out BAWLING on both occasions.

I cried when Aeris died a little, but then again I was already almost crying because I was recovering from a tonsillectomy and there was an infection or something and it hurt.

Hmmmm... a shed a few at the end of Ico... I think that's about it. Still though, I think I've cried more in videogames than in movies (and I've never cried during a book, for some reason).

Spiffyness

MGS4 was definitely filled with tear jerking moments mainly because of all the nostalgia, but...

*SPOILER*

...The scene where Snake is crawling through the corridor filled with Microwaves and you have to rapidly press the triangle button to keep him alive, was one of the most intense moments I have experienced in a game.

Other then MGS4 the two other games that made me shed man tears were FF7 (who didn't?) and Lost Odyssey

d1sCo_d3aTh

@Chronixal: Yeah, that was probably the first time I felt legitimately sad while playing a video game.

But holy hell, that Creatures story is sad.

Llanwar

The end of one of the Half Life's packed a wallop. I don't want to say which one it was, but I think most players will know which one I mean.

It's one of the series that's created an attachment to every character. Great voice work has a lot to do with it.

R0bster

Some very manly,highly acidic tears that could melt through steel were shed when You Know Who (No not Voldemort) CQCed Snake into a hug at the end of MGS4.

MGS3 had a similar reaction too

Tom Clancy's Samuraidino

I've had a few games where my eyes welled up just because I beat the game and the ending felt epic (FF6). Never any actual formation of tears though.

DaveKap

If you didnt cry at the ending of Ocarina of Time you have no soul.

Terrorsaur.

There were many parts of Lost Odyssey that were tear jerkers. thats the most emotional game i have played in a long time, maybe ever.

Soopy

zomg the flower girl is diezzzzz

willyolio

@Chronixal: This

Aerith's death and FFX's ending where the ones I remember that have made me cry.

Resso

There were parts in Lost Odyssey that were very 'emotional'. The part where *SPOILER* Kaim finds Lirum and then she dies nearly made me cry.

2SBs

I think so, definitely. I don't think it's hard. Lots of crap TV shows can make you cry just by easing up on the subtlety and pulling hard on the heartstrings. Now, if you'd asked can a game make you have a complex emotional reaction... I'd say, I think so, possibly. But I've yet to have one. I've felt engaged on multiple levels, appreciated the complexity of a game's story, felt utterly immersed, but haven't yet had a really complex emotional reaction to a game.

Hopefully one day.

wild homes is a box-offfice disaster

Any game where your dog dies.. So basically, I'm looking forward to a good cry when Fable 2 comes out.

naylorboy

MGS3 and MGS4 made me cry, the only games ever that made me.

spargo_1

Final Fantasy X

Now, I can't say that I am a "sensie" like some of my friends but Yuna's speech at the end of the game brought me to tears the first time I played in Japanese. I had gotten the game early and friends would come over and I interpreted for them as she spoke.

Fast forward several years later and I'm dating a girl named Brandi. She decided she wanted to play a game with me so I suggested FFX and I told her, "You will cry by the end of the game." She did not believe me whatsoever but, sure enough, when Titus disappeared the tears started rolling and they didn't stop until well after the credits.

KanjiGear

MGS4, which I only just completed 3 hours ago... left me very depressed. One, that the series has effectively ended, and two, the high, yet low point it ended on.

Gunmetal_Grey

MGS3 made me cry.

Aerith's death made me laugh harder than ever, specially when followed by a pretty little snowboarding minigame. =D

Ashurahori

Yes, Metal Gear Solid 4 is the most recent, but I honestly can't think of any other

Arnold Rimmer's Garden Strimmer

Bannon's last call to his mom in World in Conflict.

supercubedude

I got choked up in during the ending of HL2- Ep2.
I let out an vaderesque "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" to relief the urge to cry.

pulyx

Aerith's death. I was 13 and cried for the rest of the day.

Chronixal

I can't remember what game I was playing, but it certainly made me sad... I was so upset when it turned out to be shit.

will

That is one of the single most depressing things I've read all day....

SatansBestBuddy

playing the Darkness where your made to watch your girlfriend get shot in the head. i was in shock for a good ten minutes...

DaveStampeed

I cried at the end of MGS3, FFX and Link's Awakening...

...but I laughed at the end of Titanic.

MetalGearMax

Answer is: Yes.
Examples? Ill get back to you on that...

Shiryu

End of MGS3 almost made me cry. Eva's message to Snake about the Boss' sacrifice was really powerful.

Proto_Man

Obvious: End of MGS4

In the the first Silent Hill when the nurse realizes she is a demon or whatever and begs you not to leave her as she turns, but you leave the room anyway. That was probably the first time a game ever made me shed a tear.

Dagonis

I just remembered. I did get watery eyes one time. The game was Soul Caliber 2. Sort of. I accidentally pulled my Gamecube off it's shelf and it hit my toe with it's corner. That jerked tears.

gamadaya

Many points in Mother 3 made me cry buckets. Even with having to go back and forth between a translation guide and the game itself, I don't think any other game, movie, or book has made me that upset.

Especially the final boss/ending scenes. Whenever I need a good cry, I fire up my DS Lite and beat the game...

AdrianTepes

I'm gonna have to go with Lufia II here.

QC8472

When the spy sapped my sentry I just couldnt take it.

robbie158

hmmm, I haven't really cried really but was pretty sad at the end of Persona 3 and MGS4 are two examples from recent memory.

*spoilers*
Persona 3 being when the main character dies in the lap of Aegis

rimaa

There was a scene in the first System Shock, in which the final and last treason of Edward Diego, the man responsible for the "awakening" of Shodan, was revealed. In a hall full of dead bodies, blood and body parts. Remnants of the last human resistance on citadel station.

I stumbled on this scene, listened to last voice mails of some of the people killed there ... and then the rage took over. I was SOOOOOOOOO angry! So upset!! I cried out of pain and anger! I emptied whole ammo clips in the walls to relieve myself. I stood up from the computer, ran several times through the house, still angry. I grabbed my bike, to blow of steam. And finally i realized ... calm down, boy. It's "only" a game!

Kajetan

Also: I'm not sure if this was a tear-jerker moment, but the revelations behind SH2 fucked me up bad, for a while. Really, really made me think.

JustThisGuy

@Detre: AAAAHHH CIIIIIID :(

Also many points in the original Xenogears.

onidavin

Great Creature story, thanks for posting it.

Ultima IX brought me to tears, but I don't think that was intentional. *shakes fist at EA*

"Is such emotion a worthy goal of a product engineered to be fun?"

That's a loaded question that makes some bad assumptions about games and the concept of fun. Games are interactive entertainment engineered to be dynamic, engaging, and rewarding experiences. None of that precludes the exploration of any of our emotions. All films should be entertaining, but should all films be comedies?

xot

Not much of a crier, the last time I remember shedding a tear with anything entertainment related was Million Dollar Baby.
Admittedly I've had my emotions played with in number of games, especially from the Metal Gear and Final Fantasy series games(most notably FF7, FF10, MGS3, and MGS4), and I'd also say a bit with Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross. That really has more to do with how good of a job the characters and their stories are developed in those games.
In any form of media, if the direction does a good job of developing characters to the point that the audience/gamer becomes attached to those characters there will be an emotional response. IMO that's a good thing. It just makes the overall experience that much more memorable/enjoyable. That's probably why there is such a cult following of FF7. If **spoiler alert** Aerith didn't die **spoiler alert** I have a feeling that game wouldn't have ended up as beloved as it was.

rabbibert

I used to be one of the many who thought games' stories would evolve until they rivaled movies, and that this was a good thing. But when stories that looked like they were written by emo teens started becoming the main focus of a lot of games (accompanied by cookie-cutter firmly-in-genre gameplay), I lost interest.

Playing through a tough but entertaining section of the game and being rewarded with a cut-scene? Good. Putting up with the same damn stuff just to get to the next cut-scene? Bad.

All that said, there are only two games that had any kind of real emotional impact on me: Banjo-Kazooie (Click Clock Wood, where you grow the flower through the seasons only to see it dead in the winter) and Grim Fandango (the death of Lola).

sxp151, the happy-headed nose

HL2 Episode 2. I didn't cry, but the end was certainly jacked up, I think I may have slightly teared up a little. :'(

LordMagnusMastah

letting cid die in FF6, and the opera scene.

Detre

@Chronixal: Aerith DIES?! Thanks for ruining the game for me, you f-ing jerk!

omnibot2000XL

Persona 3 got me misty. DDS2 as well, the scenes where we finally see Sera's origin stories.

FF7, I don't understand how people find the Aeris scene meaningful. She's barely had any room to grow as a character, no time to really get attached.

onidavin

I0ve to jump on the Lost Odyssey train here: I too cried after/while reading one dream in the game and many more had a strong impact on me. And I'm 33, not 16! :)

Also it took me more than 5 minutes to decide in Mass effect who has to die and who'll live (no spoiler here but if you played the game, you know what I mean). It was a tough call and I had to go with logic more than emotion.

mendo

Oh, and the whole Emma/Otacon scene. Snake and Otacon just do the extremely legit handshake, and then Otacon is walking off and Emma's parrot is saying stuff like "Hal, I miss you."
D':

superevilcube

Four words:
Kingdom Hearts,
Crisis Core

Ryuk

Final Fantasy 7. Everyone should know which part. Final Fantasy X, at the ending. Very emotional stuff.

Walker

MGS3, when they made you kill The Boss. Pushing the button was kinda hard for me.

And this is gonna sound super-lame, but there's a quest in WoW where you have to kill the spirit of some Night Elf's dead wife, and then they get reunited afterward. I didn't cry, but I thought it was touching.

TheLoudCowboy

Ending of MGS3
Ending of FFX
And then the ending up to the point where Sunny and Otacon look into the sun.

superevilcube

@riqued:
I laughed at the CQC hug.

gamadaya

I got all worked up when Tellah sacrificed himself with Meteo in FFIV

iFlingPoo

I link Aerith's death with being about as dramatic as Padme's in Star Wars: Episode III, and Padme had more character development (which isn't saying much).

@TheIrishNinja: Ugh, Cosmic Fantasy 2. I thought I had done something wrong when I finally beat it. It wasn't that it was a bad ending either (none of that wall of text, Eye of the Beholder nonsense) just, as you said, depressing. Insanely depressing.

It didn't help that Working Designs never released Cosmic Fantasy 3. :)

HJungle

Vagrant Story when Sydney and his father reconcile. Oh, and Ashley seeing his family again before the final battle.

spikespeigel

There are only two times that come to mind where I was deeply, emotionally affected by a game. The first time was when Bastilla from KOTOR was turned to the dark side, I was shocked at how much I had invested in her character and I'll tell you I must have played the convince Bastilla to be good again dialogue tree like 20 times before I got it right.

The second time was while playing The Longest Journey and it was pretty much generally throughout the game but I particular felt really bad for Crow being sort of left behind at the end. This was my first time playing the game, and it would have been an 8 year old game at the time.

Intangible_360

Of course! A well done game can have the player very attached to a certain character, and when something tragic happens, the feelings can very easily be related as well.

I haven't cried, but I did feel very sad at certain parts of the game!

Examples:
Final Fantasy 7, when Aeris was killed.

God of War Chains of Olympus, when Kratos had to leave Calliope to save the world.

Star Wars Galaxies, when I had to kill Obiwan's best friend for some Imperial faction quest

Naia

Terranigma. Elle spent all that time hand weaving Ark that little cloak, but in the end couldn't bring herself to give it to him personally. I never EVER removed that thing, even though it's the second worst piece of armor in the game.

I'm a sentimental sap...

Pezdispenser

Killing The Boss
MGS3 ending
In MGS4 during all flashbacks from Eva and Naked Snake together.
Microwave part.
CQC hug in the end of the game.

Agro "dies"!
Wanda "dies"!

riqued

The Legend Of Zelda,: Twilight princess, had a Sad Ending.
also got shocked in The Darkness, the same as DaveStampeed

AlejandroLestad

Every MGS-game has made me cry...

Al87

There are several games I've played that just tear me up, whether it be from happiness, sadness, or just by being overwhelmed emotionally (and no I'm not ashamed to say it, being a 26 year old guy). The latest being Metal Gear Solid 4. Truly a great game.

NESv1

@mentalboy11:

crikey! i meant couldn't leave

mentalboy11

Morrowind caused me to break down in tears. It was that bad.

Xtreme_Hindu_Cow

final fantasy X is the only game to ever make me cry. like, "full blown snot avalanche 'i can't see anything' cry for an hour non stop" kinda cry.

vancealmighty

teared up after i went into dwayne's house, and i could leave.

mentalboy11

I cried at the end of Ico... Its not exactly a sad ending but it can be perceived so.

lilsamuraijoe

I'm not sure if this counts, but whenever I hear the ending theme of Super Mario 64, I feel like saluting.

gamadaya

No I have never had a tear jerker moment. Though I do get sad when a great game ends.

Majpain007

@sir_carrot: I liked the light ending

R0bster

@DaveStampeed: What, no spoiler alert? I agree, though; that part of the game was very emotional. There's also the death scene from near the end of the first Lost Odyssey disc.

*BioShock SPOILER ALERT*

Apart from those scenes, I thought it was sad when Atlus's "family" dies, but then it turned out that he didn't even have a family.

*END SPOILER*

That's about it for me this gen. I don't have a PS3, so I can't comment on MGS4. For SNES, though, there was FFVI (Locke and his dead girlfriend, Cyan and his family, Edgar sacrificing his freedom for Sabin's, etc.), Chrono Trigger (one main character dying), and Super Metroid (the ending). On PS1, there's MGS1 (the truth about Naomi's parents, Snake losing a friend, the alternate ending) and, of course, the famous FFVII death scene.

@soviet_: I've never actually seen the whole episode. I've only seen the ending on YouTube, but it definitely had me crying.

josh924

I dunno if I've ever actually cried at a game, but several have brought me pretty close. Off the top of my head: FF6 (twice, the scene with Edgar, Sabin, and the coin flip, and then the scene with Celes on the cliff), Earthbound, Persona 3, MGS3 (haven't played 4 yet), Bioshock (the good ending, it was great and I don't care what anyone says). FF7 ironically left me very cold as I didn't like Aeris as a character anyway.

Stormrider

one time, i cried, completely out of the blue, while playing darkstalkers. it was during huitzil's winning pose animation, one of the ones where he's playing with cecil. it was something about how happy cecil and huitzil were, that friendship between a boy and his now-self-aware, formerly-genocidal-robot that just made me really happy for them, their lives were so much better after meeting each other.

thetrueyuiop

MGS3
;_;

FLYBOY611

If MGS4 ended the way everyone implied it would, I might have left a few manly tears go, but what really happened was fist pumpingly-awesome

RageKage

MGS4 had a few moments that had me choked up, but that game had the benefit of wrapping up a story I had followed for ten+ years.
Seeing the end of a badass hero like Snake in such a well-made game is the closest I'd come to a game making me cry like a girl.

boxmyth

Shadow of the Colossus definitely made me tear up, FFVII when Aeris died and Pokemon Mysterious Dungeon 1 (actually made me cry) and 2 (felt my eyes well up).

Wuffles

I had a few man tears when in "Shadow of the Colossus" Argo fell down after he threw you over the falling bridge saving you from dying. I felt like my best friend died. ;_;

Silver_Back

Does anybody remember how in Majora's Mask the Deku butler finds his son? Not much of a happy ending for him. I think that was one of the sadder moments I've seen in a game. Also, even though I didn't like MGS4's ending that much, I loved MGS3's. That game pulled no bullshit. I think it was the fight between the Boss and Snake that made it so memorable.

gamadaya

the good ending in bioshock when you saved all the little girls made me tear a bit. i felt my struggle with wrenching everything in the game had really paid off and the girls really appreciated the challenge i took upon myself.

Cucco

I actually think, now that I've considered it, that the closest I've come to a complex emotional reaction in response to a game probably happened for me during Morrowind. The social climate of the game is of a land very, very divided racially-- and depending on your character's background, your journey of discovery as the reborn Neverar was marked by a pervasive sense of just how the different groups responded to the idea of having a messiah figure in their community. Some ethnic groups treated you hatefully, some were utterly supplicant, some were merely disdainful. The game confronted the realities of racism in a pretty immersive way-- lesser games (especially at the time, considering the technology) would've settled for a text scroll or something, you're a minority man in a racist land-- but Morrowind really made you deal with the reality of it. That brought out a pretty complex emotional reaction to have during a game.

wild homes is a box-offfice disaster

Jesus fucking Christ, that was an unscripted scene in Creatures? The game with the cute pictures of the wide-eyed cuddly-wuddlies on the cover?

Man. I would have been goddamn traumatized if I saw that when I was a kid. Quick! To the Jack-Mobile!

JustThisGuy

Creatures was incredibly ahead of its time.

And to be honest, I have been choked up by so many games, I can't list just one.

If there is a tinge of true sadness or joy to be felt within a story, it will get me.

This makes me probably one of the only people to have liked Bioshock's 'light-side' ending.

sir_carrot

A game that actually made my eyes water a bit was Chrono Cross. The piece that Mitsuda did for the end credits was beautiful and sad enough on its own to get to me the first time. The MGS3 ending was a close call, but no waterworks. Eva's narration, crossed with the swelling music, and Big Boss saluting the grave has certainly made a lot of other people cry.

The first ending I experienced for GTA IV was an emotional gut punch. It left me a bit deflated and depressed. I let the game save, turned it off for the night, and went on the net to look up what the other ending would be. I played something else for a week, then came back to play through the whole damn game again to keep my buddy alive (and get the "Liberty City Minute" achievement).

DiscipleofJamzy

There have been times in games where I wanted to cry (MGS3 when they say "She was a true patriot" and MGS4 where Snake is crawling came the closest, but the moments passed too quickly).

However, the ONLY time I've ever started crying was in Kingdom Hearts. Most of the game's story was really boring and disconnected (famous Disney characters go "There are these heartless things here messing crap up, let's beat them up and quickly move on with our lives"). Literally, it was painful to go through that game because the story was so dry.

But there was one part where I got to the Hundred Acre Woods, and Winnie the Pooh is sitting there pondering why all his friends are gone, and wondering if he's next to vanish. When he finally said "How do you say goodbye to Pooh?" I burst out in tears.

Only time I ever cried in a game.

JB4GDI

Where do I start?

*spoilers*

-The endings of both MGS3 and MGS4
-Final Fantasy VII (You know where)
-Shadow of the Colossus when Agro saves Wander
-Okami when Issun restores Amaterasu's power

Seihyouken

@TheDaftPunk: Oh yeah, I actually did cry a bit at the end of KHII, which is embarassing because I always rag on that game... it DOES have good characters, though, no matter how stupid the plot gets.

Spiffyness

I got kinda sad when Kain stabs raziael by mistake in the last soul reaver game, but that entire game is a tearjerker/emotional malestrom

& I actually got a little misty when (MGS4 "SPOILER", not a huge one but dont read it if you havent gotten past atleast half of the game)

When raiden grips snakes leg and says, "Dont leave me"

hahaha

SmokeFemur

I choked up at the end of Xenogears.

Also the end of the Baldur's Gate Saga was quite emotional for me, i'd had my character from the start i knew his style so the end of BG TOB is in a way heartbreaking.

Another Black Isle/Bioware game that got me was Planescape, the end cut scene is simple but effective.

Jambolia

What the hell is wrong with all you MGS fans going 3 and 4.

Meryl in the original one made me bawl like a little baby when Sniper Wolf took her out the first time. Even later on after I learned that she lived, and upon playing the game multiple times over, it still tugs at my strings when shes laying there getting shot trying to crawl to you.

But besides MGS... probably the first game ever that made me cry, and why I consider it my favourite RPG of all time:

Chrono Trigger.

(does this count as a spoiler since its getting a DS release?)

Anyways, when Robo first goes back (home) to the future and meets up with all the other Robots and is so happy, but then they reject him, call him flawed and broken, and start to pound on him because they say hes worthless. And he doesnt do anything, just sits there and gets smashed into pieces.

Totally freaked out at the TV, still do, 'ROBOS NOT BROKEN BWAAAHHHHHHHHHHH HOO HOO YOU JERKS'

Komrade_Kayce

@Sesshu:
Oh hell yes. I wasn't going to cry, but I definitely felt sad. Also, I hated having to kill the little colossus that was scared of fire. I mean, there are actual animals bigger than him, couldn't they have let that one slide.

I have no sympathy for the stone lion colossus though. That guy was a dick.

gamadaya

@naylorboy: Here here.

ghostadv

Several games have gotten me a bit misty-eyed but I can't recall one that actually got tears rolling. It's actually something I've been thinking a lot about lately, how I'd like to design--if not just see--a game that actually put you in deeply emotional situations, not in cutscenes, but through gameplay. I think it's possible, and I'd love to see it.

thesycophant

No, but I don't cry at movies either. Except for The Notebook. Damn them.

Eltigro

The closest I've ever gotten to crying from a video game was from Shadow of the Colossus. I don't play many games with a decent storyline, that's probably why. And because back then I was an emotional stone.

Xander

@Soopy:

Agree, I was surpraised how powerful parts of that game/the dreams were

FF7..Aeris..say no more...

TeldurUK

"Let it go, my son. I'm not here to fight. Or should I say... brother."

+ the song "Father & Son"

= unbearable weepiness on my end. it was like watching Luke & Vader reconcile all over again.

JohAE86

The ending to MGS3. It's like the game felt like I didn't deserve to be happy for beating the game

Oh and the dreams in Lost Odyssey. Man wtf

hitokirimaru

Not really sad nor crying, rather captivated by the ending for Tales of Symphonia. The song that was played during the credits is so beatiful...

Tesla7zap

Half-Life: Episode 2 didn't make me cry, but it was an ending that had me stunned, like literally not moving for at least 5 minutes.

Earthbound is the sole game that has made me ever cry. Funny thing was, it was after like, the 3rd or 4th time I had finished it.

Mini-Boss

oh shit, yeah I cried when Raiden saw his son...

SamCity

Very rarely, and typically only by cheating.

I got a little weepy during the end of Ico, and Link's Awakening for some strange reason (perhaps that I first played it when I was half my current age).

But most of these examples (MGS, FF, etc) are bogus. The only reason they carry such weight is because they show you movies. The question may as well be phrased "has a cinematic embedded in a video game ever made you cry?"

Has anybody been moved to tears by the game itself?

greyseal

Lost Oddessy and several other games have moved me to tears. MGS4 certainly did. The part where Raiden saw his kid for the first time was pretty tear jerking for me. When the kid said "kinda like a Super Hero!" and swung his little sword, i lost it.

Shin_Ein

@gamadaya: With the Mystery Dungeon series apparently. ChunSoft makes them, not the usual Pokemon team, and the first one was pretty sad too at the end (I think a poster a page back mentioned the first MD making him cry), but the second one was even more emotionally driven in story and had some VERY heavy scenes in it. Basically, the premise in both of them is you're in an all Pokemon world somehow. In the first one, you were a human and got sent back at the end. In the second, though, you're actually a Pokemon from a postapocalyptic future and by going forward in time to keep that future from happening, you screw up your time and you're just doomed to die after you do so, period.
And you learn this right before your former partner shoves the big bad evil Dusclops in a black hole to both of their dooms. Yeah. Heavy stuff.

(Though in both of them a Legendary uses his Legendary powers to bring you back for all the postgame dungeoncrawl fun. But not before you're totally bummed.)

Nekusagi

LOST ODYSSEY... have started playing this over the weekend and the hidden dreams are so well written, really tug on those heart strings. Want to play the game more for this aspect than for anything else... truly fantastic.

midnightz

yeah
MGS 3 & 4 really got me going

But the one that killed me was the end of
FF7:Crisis Core,
WHY? Damn you, WHY? he was so carefree and you ripped him away from us. Damn you shinra corparation, Damn you to hell
P.S. DIE ON CHRISTMAS, Shinra Corp.

Goron2000

Metal Gear Solid 3 made me do that emotional cry - where your face doesn't even move but tears just roll down your face.

I also want to cry when I listen to the Halo 3 soundtrack - I haven't even finished the game to know what happens, but the music makes me well up..

RagingAvatar

I have to agree, Halo 2's ending was the strongest tear jerker ever...

wordzworth

@Wuffles: Wow, I'm glad someone else was a wuss at Shadow of the Colossus. The last half hour or so of the game was just heartbreaking.

***SPOILER***

It killed me to watch that horse fall. And then the ending, wow...

/spoiler

That was probably the worst moment for me in any video game, though...

TuxBobble

Cave Story had some emotional moments. I don't think I'll ever be able to play it through without saving Curly Brace. I made that mistake once, but never again...

StealthNinjaScyther

Blade Runner made me cry. I was around age 14, but that game depressed me for an entire month. It probably made a difference that I hadn't seen the film or read any PKD before I played the game.

yoggesothothe

Final Fantasy VII has nothing on Final Fantasy VI (III, whatever). Celes attempting to commit suicide had me sobbing.

RurouniQ

@Nekusagi:
Jesus Christ dude. When the hell did they start doing that with Pokemon? Are you sure you didn't get like the worst possible ending or something?

gamadaya

Lufia 2: Rise of the Sinistrals. I never did beat the first Lufia rpg, but hearing that the sequel was actually a prequel (and that you got to play the end of the Lufia 2 in the intro sequence of Lufia 1) I had to play it for the story. I totally let a few tears loose during the ending sequence after the last boss fight when you're running around trying to keep the floating fortress from crashing into the world.

And, of course, while I didn't cry, the FFVII Aeris death scene made me the angriest I've ever been at a video game that wasn't due to frustration.

SpishackCola

Like many before me, FFVII.

More recently it was Shadow of the Colossus. I HATE horses, but watching my loyal companion plummet to its death was pretty harsh. Actually the slow progression of Wander's loss of "humanity" down to the ending sequence was pretty strong.

Also by the same team, I just played this in the last couple of weeks, ICO. The part where you jump to grab Urda's hand at the bridge was intense and then when she loads you into the canoe by yourself... damn it! I even knew it was coming but it still got me.

namae

The main story ending in Pokemon Mystery Dungeon 2. And not just the ending cutscene, but the entire final dungeon where (spoilers) you realize you're doomed once you've saved the day I just went through with this heavy, helpless feeling, and then the cutscene where you're watching yourself slow down and stop and finally vanish, after all your adventures, I was just like, "no," and when the credits rolled over the video of my Chikorita partner crying over the beach, I just cried like crazy. Probably the first time I've ever cried playing a game (and I played Tales of Symphonia before this, but just got choked up more than anything else a few times.) Seriously, I don't think Pokemon games should be allowed to depress you THAT MUCH.

Nekusagi

The Darkness. There are two sad moments in that game. It was the closest I've ever come to crying because of a video game.

Oh, and playing DDR. Sweat gets into eyes = tears to wash out stingy sweat.

Zero_Beat

I've cried after laughing so hard that it hurt.

Mostly in MGS4 (kept making refrences to him being a senile jack bauer) and other games that try way too hard.

InHumanGamer

@gamadaya:
Oh yeah, and in Metroid Prime, when fighting the Omega Pirate, I was really into it and was moving with the way Samus moved. I slammed my head into a closet door. Metroid Prime was a real tear jerker too.

gamadaya

@HarmanSmith:

I also thought FFVII and FFX were tearjerkers.
Almost cried when i lost Agro in Shadow of the Colossus too. that was a very well done scene, and i hadn't realized how attached to him i'd become.
I also thought the duel with vergil in dmc3 was rousing.

mightyg

Some of MGS4 would put me well on the side of games indeed being tear-jerkers.

RaepGoblin

oh and Silent Hill 2....holy shit...

Hiroken

@darkhado: Lost Odyssey made me choke up a few times, and I only got about 1/10th of the way through the game on the rental. Must buy it one of these days.

MrBionic

For me yes. I even knew how Crisis Core was going to end. I cried like a little girl. The same thing with Tidus in FFX too. Its funny cause.. I didn't cry when my grandfather died. But when video game characters die... =(

EvilMetsFan

The end of dreamfall made me pretty sad..

David Whitney

I teared up a few times on FF7, Aerith's death.
FFX, was sad, but no tears there.
Ironically, I started bawling on the end of Devil May Cry 3, no matter how much Dante hated Virgil, losing him was a tear dropper.
Death scene of Sniper Wolf from MGS1.
Naomi's death, and the ending of MGS4.
Persona 3, that really got me there, loved the VO's.

zerokoolpsx

oh yeah, Crisis Core

Hiroken

Lost Odyssey sure was.

Bold_Axis

FFVII, FFVIII (tears of joy at the happy ending), MGS3, MGS4, Shadow of the Colossus...the list goes on, I'm a softie...

Hiroken

The entire funeral section of Lost Odyssey was a bit of a tear jerker. Really, I haven't seen many western games that have had me as emotional as many of the JRPG's I've played.

ThisCharmingMan

Not yet, but I haven't finished MGS4 yet. That's kind of strange since I cry at movies and some TV shows all the time but I play happy games so I haven't really had that experience. I have cried out of frustration, but not really because of the games story/contents.

Tiger-Fever

Spoilers ahead :

MGS1 : Sniper Wolf T_T
MGS3 ending : cried like a baby
MGS4 ending : Big Boss CQC hug had me choking for a while
KH1 ending : when u think u finally find Kairi and the lands split and Hikari kicks in
Shadow of the Colossus : Arrgo's Death T_T
Okami : When Isun restores Amaterasu's power

all in all i bawl on any tender occasion in a game LOL

黒天使

Some of the written stories in Lost Odyssey really tugged at me. The text + the music really had a dramatic effect and, in my mind, kept the text from becoming a mindless chore to slug through. Honestly, those written stories were the best part of the game for me.

When Argo falls in Shadow of Colossus is another one that really got me. That game was all around one of the most emotional I've ever played and yet it hardly had any words at all.

cZEAL

Yoshi's Story, the ending. I can't explain why, but that music always gets to me.
I was also pretty close at the end of Mother/Earthbound Zero.

Kulor

One emotion wouldn't mind not feeling in games is anger. Like the anger you get when a games idea of hard is to throw about 5 million baddies at you at once. Take for instance the end of God of War where you had to fight off a never ending army of Kratos', or some of the boss fights of the latest Ninja Gaiden games. Or any fighting game ever made where on the highest difficulty the CPU player just blocks non stop. Of course most of that anger partly had to do with me jacking up the difficulty to max on my first play thru on some of those games. Hey what can I say I like the challenge.

rabbibert

HL2 Episode 2. The very end. Merle Dandridge jumped to the top of my list of voice actors based on that scene alone.

mrdietsoda

why do my comments keep dissapearing its not fair i worked hard on that last one :(
anyway in short MGS3 & 4
And Final Fantasy 7: Crisis cores' ending is a bad boy of a tearjerker *sob, sob* :'(

Goron2000

Viva Pinata made me cry... it was horrible to see my little pinata get sick and die and there was nothing I could do about it. I stopped playing.

goddessakasha

@Proto_Man: Same here. The end of MGS3 was epic and emotional