Touching Gaming Moments That Nearly Brought Us To Tears
In the past, video games were fairly simple and presented objectives that could easily be completed with the right amount of practice and skill. If you won, you'd feel good. If you lost, you'd feel bad but then try again. As the medium matured and the technology used in gaming advanced, so did the quality of the games and range of emotions that we could derive from them. These days, it's not unheard of to get smacked in the face with "the feels" from a game. With that in mind, we've come up with a list of gaming moments that almost had us leaking from the eyes. Get the tissues ready, because you just might start bawling. And, it should go without saying, spoilers are definitely ahead.
Suikoden II - Nanami's death
In Suikoden II, you go on a journey that transforms you from a young soldier in training to the leader of a kingdom stuck in a battle between nations while an ancient evil threatens to tear the land asunder. You meet lots of possible party members (106 of them, to be exact), who help you run your kingdom or fight. One of these members happens to be your sister, Nanami, who supports you from the very beginning and cheers you on as you build up your kingdom. She quickly becomes one of the best characters you can bring into battle and a beloved member of the community. It is a shame then, that she ends up dying towards the climax of the game if certain conditions are unfulfilled. As Nanami died in the main characters arms, we could feel ourselves awash with the feels. Time to load an earlier save and try to keep her alive!
Mass Effect 3 - Finding Mordin's Datapad
The Mass Effect series is one of the triumphs of modern gaming, giving us an engrossing sci-fi story and some very memorable characters. Choices that you make directly affect the outcome of certain events, and in one of them, a member of your team named Mordin either gets killed or sacrifices himself trying to save an entire race of aliens. He was a strange fellow but a brilliant scientist and a fan of show tunes. In the Citadal DLC for Mass Effect 3, you can stumble across a datapad he left behind, which is full of his recordings. It's comforting to hear his voice again after his death and more than a little poignant to hear him sing a song that resembles "Amazing Grace.” We're not crying, you're crying!
Telltale's The Walking Dead - Lee's death
Lee Everett, the hero of the tale, had only one objective when it came to the zombie apocalypse: make sure the little girl, Clementine, survives. Whether he was protecting her from harm, teaching her how to survive, or acting as a surrogate parent, Lee always had Clem's best interest at heart. You could see how close they got over the course of Season One's five episodes, making for a very formidable, if not wholly unconventional team of survivors. That's why it's all the more devastating when Lee gets bit by a zombie at the end of the penultimate episode, only to shamble around while running on empty in Episode Five, trying to get Clem back to her parents. When he's spent and makes his final exchanges with Clem, he does all he can to impart knowledge to her that he knows will help her stay alive. And when he draws his last breath, we feel just as alone and scared as Clem does.
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater - In Memory of a Patriot, Who Saved the World
Throughout all of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, we're led to believe that Naked Snake/Big Boss's mentor, "The Boss," is a traitor to her country. This once-decorated soldier became the subject of much scrutiny and was forever labeled a traitor in the history books and an enemy of the state. Snake had to complete his mission and terminate her, but then learned of how she was basically being used as a scapegoat in order to clear the United States's name and prevent nuclear war with the Soviet Union. When Snake looks at the headstone of his beloved mentor, you can use the alternate view button to see things from his point-of-view, which ends up being watery and distorted from his tears. It didn't help that our eyes were pretty much doing the same thing.
To The Moon - The ending
To The Moon is a story about love, chasing after one's dreams, and the ties that bind us to each other. Scientists use a machine to travel back through the memories of an old man on his death bed. They do this in order to fulfill their job of creating a fantasy in his mind just before he dies, so he can die in peace and happiness. In order to do that, they need to root through his memories to find out his motivation for wanting to fly to the moon. What ensues is about four hours of the emotional equivalent of a ferris wheel on a roller coaster. But nothing will prepare you for the feels at the end when time is running out and seconds are left to fulfill the wish. The game makes you think about the choices you've made in life and how precious time can be. Make sure to get a video of yourself ugly-crying.
BioShock 2 - Good ending
BioShock 2 is a return to Rapture, the city under the sea. Sure, there are Splicers and baddies a-plenty in this ruined utopia, but at its heart, BioShock 2 is the story of a father looking to be reunited with his daughter. Of course, this father happens to be one of the very first Big Daddies, but that doesn't mean that this monster is without a heart. As Subject Delta, you traverse the dank city of Rapture in search for Eleanor, your daughter. Along the way, you'll be given choices. How you act will determine what kind of person Eleanor will become, because she'll emulate what she sees you do. In the Good Ending, she follows your example and becomes a bastion for good. As you lay dying, she does what any Little Sister would do and extracts the Adam from your body, effectively making you one with her. At long last, Delta is reunited with his daughter and lives through her. Cue the underwater sniffles.
Journey - The end of the Journey
Journey is one of those games that's more like an experience than an actual video game. You figure out what to do on your own and no words are said throughout the whole venture. It's just you, the world, and the music. To say that Journey can stir up emotions is an understatement. It is at times awe-inspiring, tense, visually stunning, and just plain amazing. Along the way, you can find others playing online. You can work together to help each other survive and float through the wondrous landscapes, all without the use of words. Towards the end, after seemingly dying on top of a snowy mountain, you're transported to an airy peak where you and your partner fly around and end up walking through endless light while the music swells. It is an incredibly beautiful and touching sight that fills us with all of the feels.