Topic: Games that really hit you emotionally?

Ok, so I have just finished Valiant Hearts on PS4, and just wow. I'm not ashamed to admit that a tear was shed there. Absolutely fantastic game and a brilliant example of where a game has really connected me emotionally, which I think can be really important in making a great story driven experience.

And it got me to wondering, what other games out there have done the same for you guys? Obviously FF7 always gets dragged out in topics like this, but I'd be interested in hearing about some of the less obvious examples! For me another one is The Walking Dead (although I've not played S2 yet so no spoilers please).

Hit me with your favourite examples, but let's try and keep spoilers to a minimum and clearly marked if you are adding one

This is a really interesting topic! I shed many tears at the end of Valiant Hearts. But the big one for me was Bioshock: Infinite, as well as the subsequent Burial at Sea DLC. In hindsight, that game's story may not be quite as spectacular as I remember it being, but at the time it hit me right in the feels.

Also, I had a similar reaction to the end of Portal 2. As I recall, the ending of that game isn't terribly sad. I think I was just bummed out that such a fantastic game was over.

Obviously The Last Of Us. I was in constant fear for Ellie's safety and soaked up the world's general desperation pretty well.
There are others too, but at the moment they escape my memory.

Mass Effect 3 is what immediately comes to my mind. I played it on the Wii U, never played 1 and 2, but every bit of the ending, especially Shepard's voice-over, really got to me. The most touching moment, in my playthroughs anyways, was when Liara put Shepard's name up on the memorial wall on the Normandy.

And while I could not stand the game from a gameplay perspective, the final episode of season 1 of The Walking Dead completely tore me apart. I absolutely hated playing that game, but I doubt I'll ever forget some of those characters.

The Last of Us,The Walking Dead,Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch,Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons and Journey.

Oh man, Brothers was a serious heartwrencher, that one totally blindsided me too!

I don't remember shedding any tears with a game but I have come close. The one that comes to mind is World of Warcraft. The last time I remember feeling like that was the cut scene when Garrosh destroys the Vale and fights Taran Zhu. A few cut scenes revolving around Arthas too has got me close as well as one's containing Sylvanas Windrunner.

I haven't finished it yet but my son's mother said that she cried when she beat Dust on PS4, so that one might get me close as well.

MGS3, maybe MGS4 too.

Valiant Hearts really got me at the end, but I've never really had much of a tearful response to games before that. I thought The Walking Dead: S1 was unbelievably predictable, so that did nothing for me. The Last of Us got me angry, so I guess that's an emotional response. Both Journey and Flower gave me a good sense of empowerment, while The Unfinished Swan captured the feeling of 'finding your way' quite well, I thought.

Obviously the likes of P.T., Silent Hill 2, etc have made me scared, too.

Good thread!

Only game I've ever cried at was Mass Effect 3. I won't say why in fear of spoilers!

Felt plenty of emotions from loads of other games, though. Journey had me feeling absolutely elated, for example.

FFXIII.

Dajh. Oh god I lost it.

None really, I suppose shenmue, also, football manager always makes me turn green.

I must admit I wasn't as blown away by Infinite's finale as a lot of others were, it was still great but I think it tried to be a bit too clever and lost a bit of the impact in the process as it was just too obscure. Still, it made for a good talking point afterwards, which can never be a bad thing! Never got round to Burial at Sea, mainly due to price, but I plan on picking it up if I see it on sale at some point.

Mass Effect 3 did it for me too - my favourite characters happened to pull all the short straws with the events of that game!

But Journey is a great example of a game that sits at the other end of the spectrum (although having to stop halfway through during a particular high point and come back to it was a bit of a buzzkill for me on my first run through). This thread has been largely focussed on the sadder side so far, largely led on by me kicking off with Valiant Hearts, so it's interesting to start thinking of the other side of things.

SPOILER ALERT
For me, a particular standout moment of joy when playing a game was towards the end of Uncharted 3, when you find out Drake's been tripping balls and Sully is actually alive and well - major relief there! Oh and I guess FFX as well, I was pretty elated there when I finally finished the grind to that platinum!!

The Last of Us makes me really depressed for some reason. It's the only reason I've never really finished it yet (I did just get the ps4 version though....). Every time I try to play it I just want to quit because everything sucks so bad for everyone in that game. It's so emotionally taxing that I generally just put it off with other games...

MGS3-4 and FFXIII 1-3 were all very emotional, but not really in the same way. They all at least had lights at the end of their tunnels or bits of comedic relief.. I just don't see any joy or positive outcome in The Last of Us...

When I'm feeling down, Jet Set Radio or NiGHTS always cheers me up. Sonic Adventure 2's last boss always gives me goosebumps too.

The Last of Us, The Walking Dead, and Professor Layton and the Lost Future.

The most emotional I've ever really been from video games were from MGS3 & 4, and Infamous 2.

Naturally, SPOILAHS

MGS3's ending really choked me up. Aside from Solid Snake, and even that's a maybe, The Boss was probably the only unanimously good character in the series, and the player having to kill her off is just painful. Even more so after the ending, when she's just as much of a pawn as everyone else in the series.

MGS4 just cranks it up, with everything getting super serious throughout. That game's ending with Big Boss made me tear up. Heck I felt more sad after beating the crap outta Ocelot than triumphant.

Infamous 2 probably doesn't fit on this normally, but I felt horrible after both endings of the game. #1, save the world by sacrificing Cole, #2, kill Zeke and humanity for conduits. Killing Zeke was especially painful with being Cole's buddy and being sick to boot. Even Evil Cole looked sad after doing the deed.

The Walking Dead.

Seriously, those games were like a punch to the heart - and I didn't even play them! I just watched my brother, who was similarly emotionally affected. It err... Wasn't awkward at all.

There have only been two games that have made me close to actually shedding a tear; Metal Gear Solid 3 and Professor Layton and The Lost Future. MGS4 was pretty sad, too.

MGS 3, which I thought about for weeks after I finished it and The Last of Us. The very beginning of TLoU in particular was sad and anger inducing eventhough it was kind of obvious what was going to happen.

And I can't front, eventhough I was 13 when I played it, Resident Evil 1 got me with a few of its jump scare moments and at 16, Silent Hill did f**k with my mind a quite a bit and desensitized me to all survival/horror games that followed.

Look, to be honest, I played that game in about 3 days (which is /very/ quick for me), and I think it's sheer scale and bluster was what really got to me. Probably the huge Levine Twist™, as well. It was during a period of my gaming life in which I kinda needed something to really blow me away, or I might have walked away from the hobby completely.

Interesting enough, there was one game that actually got me to care for the characters, and play more and more to see the rest of the storyline play out...it was GRANDIA 2 for the Dreamcast (not PS2). I found myself into this game for hours on end just to get further and see the (yes...love story) between the hero and female character (forget their names now). There hasn't been many games that I got that much into (let alone, RPG games bore me after an hour), but I found myself playing this for a long time, and eventually, I actually beat an RPG (never did that before).