Video game endings that moved you

[BlackCatWhiteCat]

I got this idea after reading an article wherein the author complained of feeling no emotional involvement with the characters of FFXII. I found myself musing over games that have made me feel close to the little bundle of pixels I'm controlling, some to the point that I have cried tears of happiness/sadness at the end of the journey.

So my question to you, brave souls, is what video game endings set your emotions on fire, be it for better or worse?

I'll throw out a couple to get things rolling:

I have the unique attribute of being a woman who almost never sheds a tear, ever, for any reason. Not only do I strongly dislike most chick flicks, but it is the rare romance that can cause even the slightest sniffle to escape me.

Be that as it may I cried like a baby at the end of Okami when it looked like the end for Amaterasu and Issun came to her rescue.

Most recently I found myself leaking over the end of Final Fantasy X when Tidus walks through Yuna and jumps off the airship. I'm totally not about to weep a little thinking of it.

Really.

Your turn...

[PoolMan]

The ending of ICO, as mildly confusing as it was, was actually pretty moving. I assume the new Trico project (as the Penny Arcade have most likely correctly alluded to) will actually yank tears right out of your face.

FF6 comes leaping to mind, mostly because the whole thing is a terrific story start to finish.

I was recently surprised by the end of the most recent Prince of Persia. For such a peppy game, it sure ends on a dark note. But then, they pretty much all have, haven't they?

[TheLuckyOne]

I'll nominate Silent Hill 2. The game has multiple endings (5, I think, if you count the joke UFO ending), all of which hinge on decisions you made in the game, and all of them tie into the huge plot twist encountered near the end, which forces you to reexamine everything you thought you knew about the protaganist. I'll post it in black because if you ever plan on playing the game (and you should), you owe it to yourself to do so with no advance knowledge.

The premise of the game is that widower James Sunderland receives a letter from his supposedly deceased wife Mary, who passed away recently after suffering from a debilitating illness over the course of a few years. In the letter Mary asks James to meet him at their special place in Silent Hill, where they honeymooned, but James doesn't know what place she's referring to; so much of the game consists of exploring various locales of the town, finding clues and encountering strange people, some of them with a connection to Mary. The big plot twist occurs when James finds a videotape and plays it, which reveals that Mary did NOT die of her illness. Rather, James, weary of constantly having to care for her and angry at having to watch his wife slowly die in front of him, took a pillow from her hospital bed and smothered her. Until that moment James had completely blocked the murder out of his conscious memory, but the letter (which is shown to be a blank sheet of paper if you examine it afterward) drew him back to Silent Hill and the town itself has been fulfilling James' subconscious need to punish himself by manifesting monsters tied into James's mental state. (For instance, the busty nurse monsters and supporting character Maria, who resembles a skanked-up version of Mary, both represent James' sexual frustration at his sick wife being unavailable... uh, you know, in that way.) Which final boss you fight and what ending you get depend on your actions throughout the game- the happiest one shows James coming to peace with his horrendous actions and being forgiven by Mary, but another one shows him leaving with Maria, who coughs as if to hint that she'll soon be ill herself. Yet another shows James being unable to forgive himself and committing suicide by driving his car into the lake.

No matter the ending, all of them are powerful, and that game completely blew my mind when I first played it. An example of storytelling in video games at its finest.

-D

[Rett Mikhal]

You know my answer, Matriarch. Lufia II, once again, for its engaging characters, fascinating story, little mysteries and of course, the absolute tear jerker ending.

Assuming none of you have 40+ hours to invest (give or take 10 hours or 10 years depending on some puzzles) to see it, I bring you youtube. Technically this is not a spoiler... since the main character, Maxim, and his destiny are told via flashback in Lufia I. However if you haven't played Lufia I, then huge spoiler.

Wow, three parts. Youtube sure has fallen on hard times.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=jE4WoHl1KJE
www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeOVLFEyCJo&feature=related
www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7F_3uCAxJA&feature=related

Even if you plan to eventually play the game, I highly recommend watching. After all the story was written with the idea that you know of your destiny already.

[Lordmoon]

For me it was Lunar: The Silver Star Story and Lunar 2: Eternal Blue. These two games are still my favorite RPG's of all time. If you're an RPG fan you owe it to yourself to track down either the original Sega CD or the revamped Playstation version and play them.

[Al]

I probably don't finish enough video games to have the kind of answers I should, but, for my money, Illusion of Gaia has one of the best stories and endings you could ask for. Very underrated, but I've never forgotten it.

Also, while the ending of FFIV doesn't qualify for me, I remember getting all goose-pimply when the nations of the world band together to distract the big robot so you can finish your mission.

EDIT: The original Halo had an amazing, amazing ending, too. Not emotion-wise, but the final jeep ride was totally unforgettable.

And Pro Wrestling for Nintendo moved me to tears. Of laughter. FWIW, this is also one of the few internet memes I knew before it was a meme. Go me!