Sunday, January 12, 2025

Top 10 Underrated Emotional Moments In Games

Today I'm running through some emotional moments that don't get a lot of airtime. Little jolts from various games that meant something or hit hard in their own ways. Obviously I'm missing about a hundred worthwhile things from this list, and it's just what came to mind for a top ten.


HM: Cloud letting Aerith go, and many other moments from Final Fantasy 7 - This list is about understated, not often mentioned emotional moments. If it were just a list of emotional moments in general, FF7 and Mother 3 would probably dominate it.

10. "You're too busy?", Earthbound - In Magicant - the depths of the main character's mind - a lot of strange things happen. At one point he runs into himself as a kid, and the kid version really wants to play ball. The adult version has things to do / isn't interested, prompting the kid to ask "You're too busy?" ...and for whatever reason this always got me once I was old enough to see it from the adult's perspective. Older you get, the less time you have to do the things you used to do.

9. Cyrus gets incinerated by Magus, Chrono Trigger - The whole scene is just depressing. Glenn gets turned into a frog, his best friend gets killed, and super sad music plays over all of it. Not only does Cyrus die, he gets incinerated, all while selflessly trying to get Glenn to run while he can. Glenn then gets turned into Frog simply for staying to try and help his friend, and at his lowest point, has Cyrus' medal wash up next to him. Then he has a choice: Does he take up the mantle and become a hero, or does he go home and give up?

8. Losing your horse, Shadow of the Colossus - Your hero has to make a massive leap across a collapsing bridge, and... the horse doesn't make it. No matter what you do, the horse just won't reach the other side, leaving the hero to carry on without his steadfast ally. Making the moment even more impactful is how close it is to the end of the adventure. Just a little further and they both would have finally been out of the woods.

7. Finding the baby metroid, Metroid II - This has the distinction of being the first scene in a video game to get me emotional. Getting to the end of the game and finding a harmless baby that follows you around is a really powerful moment, and you just want to protect the little guy. There are no more enemies to fight from that point onward and the music gets calm and peaceful while you run back to your ship, allowing you to relax and feel the impact of the moment (something the official remake Samus Returns totally bungled by turning the baby metroid into basically just another item, having the final area have enemies in it instead of being a peaceful safe zone, and so forth). 

Factoring in what happens to the baby metroid in Super Metroid (spoiler: he dies) just makes the whole thing sad. Taken by itself though, those last few minutes of Metroid 2 are a really nice little emotional high where Samus is able to bond with an innocent critter after going through the hellscape of the rest of the game.

6. Storming Skynet, Terminator Resistance - The best Terminator game of all time culminates with John Connor and his allies storming the Skynet mainframe and ending the war. Your character is outside the Skynet pyramid when it happens, but you still get to see all the machines shutting down and crashing to Earth. It's a tremendous moment to see in any medium, but I gotta say, this game tells such a good story that the moment means that much more when you get to it. This whole game is underrated.

5. Getting kicked out of your hometown, Secret of Mana - Getting ousted from the village by your friends and family is an awful thing for somebody to go through, especially considering your character didn't even do anything to "deserve" it to begin with. He's basically cast out as an unwanted nobody, left to go live under a bridge somewhere. Of course, this being a game, it's the catalyst for a fantastic adventure with magical field music and battles with mushrooms and bees. However, step back and look at what's actually happening and it's pretty damn depressing. Everyone in this game has got some pretty heavy crosses to bear.

4. Samus vs Rundas, Metroid Prime 3 - A fight with a former ally who has lost his mind and is hellbent on Samus' destruction, this is probably as emotional as Metroid fights ever get. The music absolutely MAKES this scene, and the mental pain of the battle (for both participants) comes through. When I think of Metroid Prime 3 this is the first thing that jumps out at me. Hopefully this fight isn't forgotten in the grand scheme of the series.

3. Reaching the top of the mountain, Journey - This game manages to say a lot without any actual dialogue, and no moment is more triumphant than finally reaching the end of the journey. This could be interpreted a number of ways. Your character clearly expired on the last leg of the climb, and gaining the sudden ability of flight through a suddenly much-cleaner landscape gives the impression that this might actually be the soul of your character ascending to the next world. Whatever the case may be, it's a real moment after the struggle of getting that far.

2. Gascoigne's daughter gives you the music box, Bloodborne - An easy to miss sidequest early in the game has you talking to the daughter of Father Gascoigne through a barred window. She's locked in at home and wondering where her parents are. After asking you to find her mum, she gives you a music box that plays a song her father used to play for her. Of course, her parents are long gone, with the father losing his mind to the beast-plague and killing the mother, but of course this little girl doesn't know that yet.

In the fight with Father Gascoigne soon after that, using the music box causes him to break down - maybe momentarily remembering who he is - and stop his relentless attack for a few moments so you can put him down. Most people see this as just a useful item to grab before the fight and use to weaken the boss, but if you're paying attention to the story being told, it's actually kind of crushing.

1. Ginso Tree Escape, Ori and the Blind Forest - A game that is already full of emotion and heartache, where your little character has his homeland destroyed among other things. However one of the most understated moments of the game is this escape sequence, with Ori fleeing from a merciless flood. Again the music makes the scene and propels it into something truly impactful.

It's also one of the toughest sections of the game and one you're liable to have to loop over and over trying to stay ahead of the waves. Which makes the final break to safety that much more powerful when you finally make it in one piece. The music plays continuously even if you fail / have to loop it again, which was a strong design choice. You're supposed to struggle here, and you're supposed to hear this track in its entirety. Just a striking moment that stays with you.





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