I got thinking about this while I was listening to snippets of the Earthbound soundtrack and decided to post this question. Simply put...what are some of the most touching and/or emotional game moments that you've seen?
And it's only fair I put down some of mine. And one of them, of course is Alys' death in PSIV. I think that one belongs on just about every PS fan's list of emotional game moments (probably along with Nei's death, but I didn't mention that as I haven't beaten PSII). But I have a lot outside of that and I'll mention three. One is the end of Okami, in which Amaterasu has her powers sucked out of her and then returned by the prayers of all the people's she's helped is one of the most touching for me. Part of it is the music, and part of it is because of some of the things Issun said before he and Amaterasu parted ways before the final area, and he is the one who gets the people to give Amaterasu some help when she needs it.
Another is the end of Shadow of the Colossus. And I'm talking about the part where the credits are rolling, a beautiful soundtrack is playing that sounds like it should be in a movie, and you see the corpse of each slain colossus. That game has a way of making you feel guilty about killing each colossus but still making you want to go and take down the next. They individual colossi are absolutely amazing works of art and I really do feel a little twinge of guilt killing them and seeing them dead over the ending credits. Yet I've beaten this game at least 20 times and felt a little guilty every time for it. I have a hard time describing this one, but it's there.
The last one, and possibly most touching to me, is the brief sequence before Ness enters Magicant in Earthbound. I really do love this sequence, and I can't pinpoint a precise reason. One of them, though, has to be the Earth's melody...this is after the whole thing has been recorded, and it plays over the entire sequence. I think I've said before that I consider the Earth's melody one of the best bits of game music ever written; it goes well when Ness sees himself as a baby, getting a name from his parents and his PSI powers first manifesting. Within the context of the game, this is a powerful moment. Definitely one of those that you have to play through yourself to get. Really, I could probably do a very long post about moments like this just in Earthbound, because there are so many of them for me; Earthbound has probably touched me on an emotional level more than any other game.
What are some moments like this for all of you?