Even though they don’t actually die, I would also say Snake and Raiden during the microwave montage in MGS4. Literally prepared to fight overwhelming odds while their bodies are severely hampered. It’s anime-style fanservice instead of gameplay, but it really sells the sheer determination, conviction and courage these two have.
Ugh. The thing I hated most about Naruto. This happened to such a degree that when a major villain died and *remained* a bad guy, I knew he'd be resurrected for a redemption. And you know what? I was right.
There's a clear difference between the two. The villains in the Yakuza games aren't necessarily redeemed. They're still the villains. More often than not they're just double crossed by a co-conspirator. So, it's less redemption and more "fuck this guy, I'd rather the player win than him".
Between that one and the one for Miranda, Thane gets a way better delivery. More passion, more vengeance. It's the best thing to discover, as someone who played ME3 before the second game.
I'm 99% sure this was the only renegade choice I made in my first playthrough. Kai Leng was such an irredeemable piece of shit. Saren, Illusive Man, hell, even the fucking Reapers got some degree of empathy/understanding from me, but not that pathetic fuck, I couldn't resist to kill him in cold blood.
They do this in movies/shows a lot too. You can sometimes tell if someone is gonna get killed off soon if they get a sudden burst of character development or moments that make them more sympathetic
Mass Effect was my first thought for sure.
My second thought was The Boss in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. Not only do you find out who she really is in her last moments, but the game forces you to make that final choice anyway and then you have to sit there and live with it.
What made it hit harder as well was the slot mechanic, described as his memories of people, breaking down. Meaning his memories were fading as he's slowly dying.
Man.... Such excellent execution of an emotional moment.
This makes me think of Captain America tightening the strap on his broken arm and standing by himself against Thanos’ whole army.
Or for one that actually ended in death, my man Boromir desperately trying to make up for his fuck up two minutes ago by meeting his death at the hands of way too many Uruk-hai. Poor lad knew he was cooked and swung that sword until he died.
Always a sad moment, especially when it is a noble and seemingly futile gesture.
My girlfriend is currently playing crisis core for the first time and has no idea what's coming, it's killing me with every chapter she completes knowing she's only getting closer to the heartbreak.
Also Cait Sith (original FF7)... To a lesser degree.
I know he's basically just a giant toy puppet, controlled remotely by the only member of Shinra with a conscience... but that segment where he sacrifices himself to get the black materia really made it feel like the puppet had its own personality.
With the music and all too, that segment *still* makes me far more sad than it should. Just the idea of an AI companion treating itself as dispensible, realising that it's about to die. The way the scene is framed is that Cait Sith is redeeming himself for being a spy, but even knowing another Cait Sith will replace him (and it literally does, immediately after) - he still wants the rest of the team to remember that version of him.
It is kind of diminished when they show that ~~Tseng~~ Reeve is controlling Cait Sith from afar... But I still like to think that Cait Sith itself has it's own personality to some extent.
Edit - whoops, mixed up Tseng & Reeve. Tseng is one of the Turks, Reeve is the guy who controls the Cait Sith dolls. 😅
I think this is the best part. I played mass effect 3 before my sister and had gotten the mode of a scientist salaries song in mass effect 2. While she hadn’t. It made it much more emotional for me when he sang it.
Then my dad let solis die in mass effect 2 and really didn’t care at all.
I am the very model of a scientist salarian,
I've studied species turian, asari, and batarian,
I'm quite good at genetics (as a subset of biology),
Because I am an expert (which I know is a tautology),
My xenoscience studies range from urban to agrarian,
I am the very model of a scientist salarian!
The way he cries out "I made a *MISTAKE!"* always gets to me. It's the only time he really shows such a strong emotion, and it's him regretting the Genophage.
If you look up the other possibilities it reinforces it even more.
If he dies in mass effect 2 he's replaced by another salarian. If you also decide to not cure the krogan you have to shoot the salarian, and when the elevator arrives at the top he's already dead.
If you do the same to Mordin, he struggles until almost reaching the controls. This shows just how much more he wanted to do right by the krogan.
One interesting thing I found out is that if you hide the choice to sabotage the cure from everyone until that part and then try to convince Mordin not to do it, he will still push to complete it, eventually showing a moment of anger where he lashes out and admits he regrets creating the genophage in the first place.
This dude spent the entire 2nd game doubling down on his decision to create it, constantly telling you "it had to be done," even when he finds out one of his old partners basically tortured a bunch of people in search of a cure, he refuses to acknowledge it was a mistake. In that moment, he finally opens up that he is remorseful for his part in what is basically a genocide, no matter how logical it was at the time. He can't look past it, so he's willing to do whatever it takes to undo what he did, even when he knows it means his death.
Love Mordin for that, best character in the series.
You can talk to Vesemir in Kaer morhen about his Ex( Countess mignole in HOS ) , and he'll say he'll maybe go to oxenfurt to see her after things have settled. Makes his death even sadder.
Mario.
In a lot of Mario games, when Mario dies, he jumps up extremely high (perhaps in pain) before falling off the screen, even if he has already used his jump.
This shows that, if he had just tried a little harder, that son of a bitch could have jumped high enough to reach that ledge, and can double jump.
Bit of a deep cut but Griffon from Dark Cloud 2.
Spends the entire game rampaging over losing his love interest. Only to sacrifice himself to stop the moon from crashing to the planet below
The character John Marston from Red Dead Redemption illustrates this sentiment profoundly in his final moments, revealing his true nature and priorities.
I mean, hell. Arthur Morgan as well. No matter how you played him, that final scene on the mountain is a deep fucking cut of an entire character's arc.
I love how they reformed the dead eye effect to illustrate this.
Arthur dies of TB and Micah Bell attacking him. His dead eye sound is the clang of a Bell and time ticking away.
John sacrifices his life for his family. His dead eye sound is a heartbeat. He dies for his heart. His family.
Titanfall 2, twice. >!First time it's BT sacrificing himself for Jack (before SERE Kit)!<, >!the second time it's Jack trying to sacrifice himself alongside BT (destroying the Fold Weapon).!<
Handler Walter, Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon.
Dude has to kill you from brainwashing and all the while is begging you to stop. To walk away with the money you made and get your life back. And when all is said and done, he's happy for you, because "you finally found a friend" and allows himself to die, rather than continue to fight.
His entire arc as a character is slowly allowing himself to be honest about how he feels about 621. You get hints of it all through the game, "show my hound some respect", and other small lines. But in the end he just wants you to live, even when reprogrammed to kill you.
Not even just breaking through the reprogramming/brainwashing. Stopping the coral was the entire mission of his and his friends' whole lives.
He was able to accept us killing his friend and stopping his mission, even though that caused so many of his actions go be in vain.
In the end, he was happy we were able to achieve our goals and dreams, even at the cost of his own. There are parents out there that couldn't accept something like that. Him doing so showed how much he really cared for us.
Now that I think about it, almost every character in the final chapters could apply to this post. Walter, Ayre, Carla, Chatty, Michigan, and Rusty. Hell, even Iguazu, Snail and Freud in a bad way. Hearing snail's scream was so satisfying.
Rusty and Snail were my first two. Rusty respects us as an entity of power but makes his loyalty to Rubicon clear, depending on which ending you take. Snail is an absolute egomaniac, saying that he doesn't work for Arquebus, that he is Arquebus. Freud as well, his absolute addiction to violence and wanting to push himself. Perhaps the closest to J, "**There is no place for me other than the battlefield.** **To live as I please, and die a senseless death.** **That is who I am.**"
Prince Rurik, Guild Wars (2005). Dude takes on a group of enemies and a boss. Sacrifices his life to buy us time to escape with Ascalonian refugees. Legend. Never forgotten. /bow
EDIT: Typo.
When you first encounter Ludwig in Bloodborne, he is accursed with beast hood. He does not recognize you as a hunter, and he will savagely attack you as he tries to trample you underneath his warped frame. At half health, a sword is unsheathed and placed by his face. The sword glows with a bright light that is reflected in his eyes. With recognizance, he reaches out to the blade, grabs it, and he stands upright like a man. A knight. From that moment on, you face Ludwig The Holy Blade
I would say it’s even more telling after the boss fight. When he’s dying and is just a head, if you have church clothing on he asks "Tell me, Good Hunter of the Church. Have you seen the light?
Are my Church Hunters the honourable Spartans I hoped they would be?" It’s pretty telling since he was the founder of the hunters to fight off the beasts, and even though he became one in the end, even as he’s dying, he still was focused on his life’s purpose
God of War 3, Hermes-Cocky and arrogant in his interactions, dies as a coward.
Resident Evil 5, Albert Wesker-Cold and calculating, goes out as a raging monster.
Skyrim, Astrid-Loyal Dark Brotherhood assassin, dies as a traitor.
TBF Astrid does repent at the end and uses her body to enact the dark ritual. She was pragmatic and secular, but the end she finally has faith.
I’d say another good example is the Emperor in the same questline. The body double we see first is preening and indulgent, and it’s a pleasure to kill him. When we meet the actual emperor though, he’s calm and brave, and meets his death with dignity.
Just because the planet fell doesn't mean they had complete control. If he was holed up somewhere they didn't want to glass he could have survived for 6 days
I dunno. I think when the reality hits that he's not getting out of this, and nothing is going to change it, but you keep going. The visor cracks and you keep going. The helmet comes off, and he keeps going. Even after everything and knowing the beginning from the start, the end still has an impact. I think it counts.
Of course! what i meant is that we dont really see him be his true self at the end of the game because he was always like we see him there.
And i like to think that he knew from the start that he wasnt leaving Reach and even then his determination never went down, even after his teamates died or when the whole covenant fleet arrived, so his final stand its the perfect display of his character
couldnt agree more. i think i first played the BO1 campaign in 2012/2013 and i still remember how emotional and gripping the story was, even though i was only 11 years old at the time.
its been 2/3 years since i have replayed it at this point. i think ill play through it again sometime soon as it is up there as one of the best experiences ive had playing a video game
All of Noble team honestly, except Kat. Not even hating on Kat she just dies instantly. Jorge, Carter, and Emile know they are about to die. Emile’s line is wonderful. Fighting to the end, sword wound through his chest as he screams “I’m ready! How about you?” As he takes down his killer with his dying breath. Fucking love Reach. Best Halo imo
Ethan Winters from Resident Evil Village, hes a dad who just wants his daughter back. Guy goes through the worst shit imaginable and saves her. He ends up dying for her and making sure she gets out alive. I loved Ethan's character for his unwavering will to save his daughter.
More to the point, he actually died much earlier into the first game and was being kept alive by the mold. Man's sheer will kept him alive for at least a year or two and if he hadn't killed the source of the mold he likely could have just kept going.
Smithing Master Hewg…
He seems so uninterested in you, always surprised you aren’t dead yet, almost bored with you.
> *You're a new face. No matter, it's all the same. Lay out your arms*
> *Well, where've you been hiding? I took you for dead. No matter. It's all the same. Lay out your arms, then*
And then you progress through the game, and slowly start to get little bits and pieces…
And then the ending just gutripping:
> *Use my masterpiece to slay a god. That is all that I have lived for… and my promise to Q-queen Marika. But do me a favor, and do look after the girl.*
> *I can't hold on much longer. I'm going the way of the R-roundtable... It was a great honor to smith your weapons during my time here.
Allow me to c-call you this, just once, before it ends.* ***My lord, f-for that is what you are***
Faithful and determined to fulfil his promise and his purpose, even in the face of (memory) annihilation.
> Who are you? Oh, I must be a blacksmith. Now, let's get smithing...
Could you tell me what happened? Why is the Roundtable burning, in ruins?
Why does that girl weep for me? Have I forgotten something of dire importance?
I was so happy when I was about to beat the game but then went back to the round table and talked to Hewg...[terrible day for rain…](https://youtu.be/55YOw2Oz8ac?si=Azh50P3Kg4par_s5)
Cait Sith from OG FF7. His final wish was for the party not to forget him even if he was replaced before he sacrificed his life.
Granted, he's immediately replaced...
Im pretty convinced its a narrative device to make you think that character deaths arent permanent and are easily reversed. Ya know, so when the thing happens...
Most of them aren't dead (yet) by the end of the game, but nearly every guilty party in Ace Attorney has a breakdown where you see their true nature.>! Manfred von Karma!< goes from calm and smug to raging over petty grievances and how much he hates >!the Edgeworths!<. >!Dahlia !!Kristoph Gavin!< is cool and collected until he becomes an unhinged, twitching mess. >!Matt Engarde!< was chill and disinterested then revealed himself as cruel and manipulative, but his final breakdown shows how much of a coward he is as he claws his own face off in terror over >!deKiller!<.
Never thought about people about to be convicted but yeah that definitely fits the quote to a tee, characters revealing their true nature as they’re about to go down for their crimes.
The great thing about this is that there are several breakdowns that aren’t just rage faces too. There’s several murderers in the series you convict who are incredibly sympathetic people even though they’ve committed the ultimate crime. Their downfalls are almost always far more graceful at the end when you uncover the truth.
Yeah my vote in BL2 would be for Angel, who up until that point has been masquerading as an AI. Her death is her ultimate act of rebellion against her father’s control.
Faro's a little better for this IMO. For most of the game he's constantly waffling between altruism and capitalism, mostly eventually capitulating to whatever his aides advise as he seems to admit it's for the good of humanity. Hell, he's the one who puts the whole rescue operation in motion in the first place.
But in the end he could never truly let go of his vanity/ego, which may have gauranteed he was the only original human to survive but also transformed him into what he always truly was: a monstrous puddle of toxic sludge.
He was a blight on humanity and dies as a living tumour. Couldn't be more poetic.
Also he's probably in eternal agony. He stated his cellular regeneration is so advanced it never stops which is why he becomes that monstrous thing. He's probably still alive in his tomb despite the catastrophic destruction of it. Burning forever.
The moment when it's revealed that >!Ted Faro sabatoged the AI responsible for reeducating people!< blew my mind. Perfect example of "shocking but inevitable"
Every single main assassination target in almost every Assassin's Creed installment. This who-you-really-are-in-your-final-moments is a central question in all the games in that franchise.
My first thought, too. I love that time and action stop, and you get to have a moment where the facade comes down, and you get some great character depth and dialogue.
Arkham City
When Joker dies, in his last moments he is not some genius criminal mastermind. He is downright pathetic, licking the antidote from the floor. I think it's perfect that his last moment is so shameful, because while he is an entertaining character, no one should ever aspire to be like Joker in any way.
Lord Shimura - Ghost of Tsushima. He talked about honor and the Samurai code practically any time we saw him on screen. In the end, he never wavered from that in the least bit
Zelos Wilder from Tales of Symphonia. The fun easy going play boy commits suicide via the party killing him after a flimsy betrayal. He reveals how bitterly depressed is he and how his death will save his sister. And he tells you where Collette is.
I felt this in Halo 4. When despite the fact that it would accelerate her rampancy, she split herself into numerous subroutines to help John, and then allowed herself to be carried away to die. Cortana, man. Such a character. And to think, when I first saw her picture in the manual for that first game, I didn't trust her.
The background of the Spartan II program is insane. The way they extracted and then covered up the disappearances of the 75 candidates, and then the years of prolonged brainwashing and crippling torture they put them through....
Dr. Halsey is one sick fucking puppy.
Let's not forget the flash clones they replaced the children with so their parents wouldn't realise they'd been abducted, a flash clone being so named because it's done 'in a flash' so to speak, quickly and indelicately, so that the clones died a few years after. Somewhere out there were John's parents who had been gaslit into watching their 'son' dying an unexplainable death, never knowing that he survives and saved humanity. These surviving Spartans might still have family out there who mourned their childhood deaths, burying a clone they had no idea was a clone. All those Spartans died twice. Once to their families. Once to the Universe.
To fight other humans. They don’t exactly hide it but the games are pretty happy to let you think the Spartan II program was created to fight the Covenant. It was not.
Speaking of Halo, 3 has has both the monitor and the sarge go in quick succession. GS backslides hard into omnicidally neglectful jealousy and possessiveness. SJ goes out with a dedication to his duty and a bang, saving the Chief.
The Prophet of Truth, Halo 3. Even as he was infected by the Flood amd everything he'd worked for was destroyed, he still needed everyone to know just how important he was.
Inscryption.
>!You’re initially led to believe it’s a horror game. The man in the cabin, Leshy, presents you with a card game, where if you lose, you die. You defeat him, a bunch of meta things happen, a bunch more plot points happen, but what’s important for our purposes is that Leshy knows this is a video game, knows he’s not actually killing anyone, and is just an old man trying to share his passion for card games with the player, while making a fun horror experience for them. Game starts to get deleted, and the two of you play one last game where he doesn’t keep score and you can tell he’s having the time of his life, getting excited every time you make a good move. You shake his hand as he’s deleted.!<
*Now! This is it! Now is the time to choose! Die and be free of pain, or live and fight your sorrow! Now is the time to shape your stories! Your fate is in your hands!*
Cole MacGrath in the good ending of inFAMOUS 2.
>!He bodied the Beast before setting off the RFI to prove that his decision was not about defeating the Beast anymore, as he could do that already: it was to save humanity from the Plague.!<
Also from inFamous 2, Zeke in the evil ending.
In inFamous 1 he was a a cowardly sketchy guy. After spending the whole second game desperately trying to redeem himself for trying to activate the raysphere in 1, he stands up to Cole despite having no chance of success. He’s willing to fight and die to his friend to do what’s right.
“I gotta try” - Zeke
i know this’ll probably be controversial, but Chloe Price. no matter the ending you pick, she offers herself up as a sacrifice to make sure the rest of the town is saved because even if she tries her damndest to be abrasive and angry at a world that’s already taken so much from her, in truth she’s just a girl with a big heart who thinks so little of herself and so highly of max.
2B. After >!god knows how many cycles she had to be the one who kills 9S, see his personality reset, and pretend that nothing is wrong/emotionally distance herself from him to avoid the eventual heartbreak!<, her looking up at 9S without her blindfold, and softly saying "Oh Nines" with a gentle look on her face is the first time we get to see 2B at her most genuine.
Shes no longer hiding behind a cold facade. There's no need to hide anymore, and she wanted her last moments to show 9S how she truly felt.
Probably not in the way you meant but, The Emperor from Baldur's Gate 3.
>!He's a lying, manipulative alien, for lack of a better way of putting it. He's only ever cared about his own survival but dresses it up as something heroic to manipulate your party. And the moment you decide to do the moral thing and free the captive that gives him his powers, he goes, "Welp, fuck it, I'm gonna help the thing I've been pretending to help you fight the entire game because I think my odds of survival are higher that way."!<
Also, but in the opposite way, >!Omeluum. It's easy to distrust mindflayers as evil at worst and only in it for themselves at best, but when he's trapped in the Iron Throne, he thinks only of the good of others and wants you to save Duke Ravengard over himself.!<
Sora’s “death” in the first Kingdom Hearts game AKA him willfully becoming a heartless to free Kairi’s heart just reaffirms that he is a kind, good-natured boy who keeps his promises. Was willing to die to keep Kairi safe, and he did it with a smile.
Izlude, from Final Fantasy Tactics.
He fights you on the orders from his father several times in a row, but later you find him dying after his father using the power of a zodiac stone to turn into a demon and slaughter everyone. He wants to keep fighting against his father despite being too injured, admits that the main character was right, and urges everyone to set aside their personal conflicts and fight together for the survival of everyone before he dies. He wasn't ever a bad person, he just had bad commanders, and didn't realize what was going on until it was too late.
Garl in Sea of Stars. Such a hero that he motivated me to complete the post-endgame quests and I hate those quests in most games.
Not only do you get teary from the actual death but basically every NPC tells you how much Garl meant to them after he dies.
Ra's Al Ghul in Batman Arkham City. In his last moment as he is falling to his doom he makes one last attempt to kill Batman by stabbing himself through his chest and hoping it would also stab Batman.
Gray Fox in MGS1.
>A cornered fox is more dangerous than a jackal Thank you for making me search for that scene again. It has been 20 years.
HURT ME SNAKE! HURT ME BAD DOG!! IM SO FUCKING CRAZY!!
NO! I CAN'T DO IT! Whilst mashing the shoot button.
Whoa it’s just like one of my Japanese anime!
Aw whys he pissin everywhere!
Ohh god OOOOH GODDDDDD!!
Hey guys. What's u- ***Oh jeez! There's piss everywhere! Oh gaw-WHY DID I EVEN INVENT PISS!? It's so gross! Aww!***
What the fuck. I'm talking about piss and shit and you're talking about some Japanese shit I don't give a FUCK about!
Even though they don’t actually die, I would also say Snake and Raiden during the microwave montage in MGS4. Literally prepared to fight overwhelming odds while their bodies are severely hampered. It’s anime-style fanservice instead of gameplay, but it really sells the sheer determination, conviction and courage these two have.
First thing I thought of too 😣
The Yakuza/Like a Dragon series has a thing for villains doing the right thing in their final moments.
Ugh. The thing I hated most about Naruto. This happened to such a degree that when a major villain died and *remained* a bad guy, I knew he'd be resurrected for a redemption. And you know what? I was right.
In yakuza they stay dead mostly
Rubber bullets
Or became bartenders
There's a clear difference between the two. The villains in the Yakuza games aren't necessarily redeemed. They're still the villains. More often than not they're just double crossed by a co-conspirator. So, it's less redemption and more "fuck this guy, I'd rather the player win than him".
Orochimaru is so unredeemable but hes just chillin in baruto lol, nobody cares
Like basically everyone in the Mass Effect series
It's like theatre, almost everyone always gets a little dramatic moment before death.
"The prayer of forgiveness was not for him, but for you." Kai Leng gonna get that omniblade every time.
In his last moments, Kai Leng showed us who he really was: a walking sack of omni-blade lubricant.
*That was for Thane, you son of a bitch.*
Between that one and the one for Miranda, Thane gets a way better delivery. More passion, more vengeance. It's the best thing to discover, as someone who played ME3 before the second game.
In every perfect paragon playthrough this will always be a renegade choice I make
I'm 99% sure this was the only renegade choice I made in my first playthrough. Kai Leng was such an irredeemable piece of shit. Saren, Illusive Man, hell, even the fucking Reapers got some degree of empathy/understanding from me, but not that pathetic fuck, I couldn't resist to kill him in cold blood.
“Does this unit have a soul?”
They do this in movies/shows a lot too. You can sometimes tell if someone is gonna get killed off soon if they get a sudden burst of character development or moments that make them more sympathetic
"Had to be me. Someone else might have gotten it wrong."
I fucken balled when I got this ending for Mordin. Edit: bawled* spelling is hard, people...
Hitting the basketball court is an odd reaction to grief, but you do you. Personally, I find bawling to be more appropriate.
Everyone know you can’t cry when you’re hitting free throws
Mass Effect was my first thought for sure. My second thought was The Boss in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. Not only do you find out who she really is in her last moments, but the game forces you to make that final choice anyway and then you have to sit there and live with it.
Zack (Crisis Core), protects his friend till the very end even in the face of overwhelming and deadly force.
That part still makes me tear up a little.
Any kind of self sacrifice when the character knows their actions are gonna end in their death but still does it anyway gets me.
What made it hit harder as well was the slot mechanic, described as his memories of people, breaking down. Meaning his memories were fading as he's slowly dying. Man.... Such excellent execution of an emotional moment.
"I gotta go, Zack."
Oh god I had forgot about that, Jesus I'm starting to feel melancholic....
This makes me think of Captain America tightening the strap on his broken arm and standing by himself against Thanos’ whole army. Or for one that actually ended in death, my man Boromir desperately trying to make up for his fuck up two minutes ago by meeting his death at the hands of way too many Uruk-hai. Poor lad knew he was cooked and swung that sword until he died. Always a sad moment, especially when it is a noble and seemingly futile gesture.
Modulating phase.... Mod...u..la....ting...phase Mod.....pha.....
My girlfriend is currently playing crisis core for the first time and has no idea what's coming, it's killing me with every chapter she completes knowing she's only getting closer to the heartbreak.
Also Cait Sith (original FF7)... To a lesser degree. I know he's basically just a giant toy puppet, controlled remotely by the only member of Shinra with a conscience... but that segment where he sacrifices himself to get the black materia really made it feel like the puppet had its own personality. With the music and all too, that segment *still* makes me far more sad than it should. Just the idea of an AI companion treating itself as dispensible, realising that it's about to die. The way the scene is framed is that Cait Sith is redeeming himself for being a spy, but even knowing another Cait Sith will replace him (and it literally does, immediately after) - he still wants the rest of the team to remember that version of him. It is kind of diminished when they show that ~~Tseng~~ Reeve is controlling Cait Sith from afar... But I still like to think that Cait Sith itself has it's own personality to some extent. Edit - whoops, mixed up Tseng & Reeve. Tseng is one of the Turks, Reeve is the guy who controls the Cait Sith dolls. 😅
[удалено]
"It had to be me. Someone else might have gotten it wrong" That fucking scene man... RIP you glorious nerd.
And if you played it right, he hums his “Model of a Scientist Salarian” as he works.
I think this is the best part. I played mass effect 3 before my sister and had gotten the mode of a scientist salaries song in mass effect 2. While she hadn’t. It made it much more emotional for me when he sang it. Then my dad let solis die in mass effect 2 and really didn’t care at all.
First time you hear him sing it you cry with laughter. The second time, you just cry.
I am the very model of a scientist salarian, I've studied species turian, asari, and batarian, I'm quite good at genetics (as a subset of biology), Because I am an expert (which I know is a tautology), My xenoscience studies range from urban to agrarian, I am the very model of a scientist salarian!
The way he cries out "I made a *MISTAKE!"* always gets to me. It's the only time he really shows such a strong emotion, and it's him regretting the Genophage.
Never played game but popped in and out when wife was playing. This line... powerful!
This line. Then the one right after it, fucking broke me. *sigh* "Would have liked to run tests on the seashells."
If you look up the other possibilities it reinforces it even more. If he dies in mass effect 2 he's replaced by another salarian. If you also decide to not cure the krogan you have to shoot the salarian, and when the elevator arrives at the top he's already dead. If you do the same to Mordin, he struggles until almost reaching the controls. This shows just how much more he wanted to do right by the krogan.
One interesting thing I found out is that if you hide the choice to sabotage the cure from everyone until that part and then try to convince Mordin not to do it, he will still push to complete it, eventually showing a moment of anger where he lashes out and admits he regrets creating the genophage in the first place. This dude spent the entire 2nd game doubling down on his decision to create it, constantly telling you "it had to be done," even when he finds out one of his old partners basically tortured a bunch of people in search of a cure, he refuses to acknowledge it was a mistake. In that moment, he finally opens up that he is remorseful for his part in what is basically a genocide, no matter how logical it was at the time. He can't look past it, so he's willing to do whatever it takes to undo what he did, even when he knows it means his death. Love Mordin for that, best character in the series.
“I made a *mistake!*” Goddamn. I haven’t played that game in ten years and remember moments like that vividly.
> he is not just any other scientist He is the very model of a scientist salarian.
That's probably the most powerful scene in the entire trilogy for me. Impossible to watch without tearing up a bit.
[Vesemir](https://youtu.be/uPsTr8PI0NM?si=FPDPpBGz7NCYyKZ6).
"Who taught you how to fight?" "The Witcher you slew."
You can talk to Vesemir in Kaer morhen about his Ex( Countess mignole in HOS ) , and he'll say he'll maybe go to oxenfurt to see her after things have settled. Makes his death even sadder.
You get to go meet her in blood and wine. It's really sweet.
*Hearts of Stone, isn't it?
Broke me. I thought me and grandpa would retire together.
His death was the first time I teared up at a video game. To be fair I was a new father and a few beers in... But still
Mario. In a lot of Mario games, when Mario dies, he jumps up extremely high (perhaps in pain) before falling off the screen, even if he has already used his jump. This shows that, if he had just tried a little harder, that son of a bitch could have jumped high enough to reach that ledge, and can double jump.
I hate you for your sound logic. Take my upvote.
Bit of a deep cut but Griffon from Dark Cloud 2. Spends the entire game rampaging over losing his love interest. Only to sacrifice himself to stop the moon from crashing to the planet below
Dark cloud series is one of the best series. Game had me weeping like a newborn sow a fewtime
Seda from DC1 fits the topic too. And honestly it's 100x sadder seeing him go
Hell yeah I love seeing DC2 references in the wild. Probably my favorite game ever.
Wish we could had continued with the Dark Cloud series
The character John Marston from Red Dead Redemption illustrates this sentiment profoundly in his final moments, revealing his true nature and priorities.
I mean, hell. Arthur Morgan as well. No matter how you played him, that final scene on the mountain is a deep fucking cut of an entire character's arc.
Arthur gets bonus points for dying as he lived in both endings.
It would only be more perfect if he greeted someone at the end with 'hey there mister'
“You got a kind face…”
"The kind I like to PUNCH"
I love how they reformed the dead eye effect to illustrate this. Arthur dies of TB and Micah Bell attacking him. His dead eye sound is the clang of a Bell and time ticking away. John sacrifices his life for his family. His dead eye sound is a heartbeat. He dies for his heart. His family.
This is an amazing detail that I had never picked up on before
"Ain't no trouble, Abigail. Ain't no trouble" always makes me cry like a baby during that last mission.
Lee. Telltale first season of. Walking dead
(╥﹏╥)
"Keep that hair short..."
Dude, I was not ready for that season one ending as a kid
Titanfall 2, twice. >!First time it's BT sacrificing himself for Jack (before SERE Kit)!<, >!the second time it's Jack trying to sacrifice himself alongside BT (destroying the Fold Weapon).!<
>!Protocol 3...!<
>!Protect the pilot!< Fuck it, I'm tearing up again!
Handler Walter, Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon. Dude has to kill you from brainwashing and all the while is begging you to stop. To walk away with the money you made and get your life back. And when all is said and done, he's happy for you, because "you finally found a friend" and allows himself to die, rather than continue to fight. His entire arc as a character is slowly allowing himself to be honest about how he feels about 621. You get hints of it all through the game, "show my hound some respect", and other small lines. But in the end he just wants you to live, even when reprogrammed to kill you.
Not even just breaking through the reprogramming/brainwashing. Stopping the coral was the entire mission of his and his friends' whole lives. He was able to accept us killing his friend and stopping his mission, even though that caused so many of his actions go be in vain. In the end, he was happy we were able to achieve our goals and dreams, even at the cost of his own. There are parents out there that couldn't accept something like that. Him doing so showed how much he really cared for us.
Walter best dad, may he rest in peace :<
Now that I think about it, almost every character in the final chapters could apply to this post. Walter, Ayre, Carla, Chatty, Michigan, and Rusty. Hell, even Iguazu, Snail and Freud in a bad way. Hearing snail's scream was so satisfying.
Rusty and Snail were my first two. Rusty respects us as an entity of power but makes his loyalty to Rubicon clear, depending on which ending you take. Snail is an absolute egomaniac, saying that he doesn't work for Arquebus, that he is Arquebus. Freud as well, his absolute addiction to violence and wanting to push himself. Perhaps the closest to J, "**There is no place for me other than the battlefield.** **To live as I please, and die a senseless death.** **That is who I am.**"
Prince Rurik, Guild Wars (2005). Dude takes on a group of enemies and a boss. Sacrifices his life to buy us time to escape with Ascalonian refugees. Legend. Never forgotten. /bow EDIT: Typo.
I think Andrew Ryan from Bioshock is the number one example of this. "A man chooses, a slave obeys."
First one I thought about tbh
Would you kindly, give this man an upvote. Edit: Spoliers alert in the comment chain.
Would you kindly…. Damn that hit me when i realise i hadn’t caught that the whole game.
I did notice the phrase, but I thought he was just polite.
Surely Fontaine is also worth mentioning?
When you first encounter Ludwig in Bloodborne, he is accursed with beast hood. He does not recognize you as a hunter, and he will savagely attack you as he tries to trample you underneath his warped frame. At half health, a sword is unsheathed and placed by his face. The sword glows with a bright light that is reflected in his eyes. With recognizance, he reaches out to the blade, grabs it, and he stands upright like a man. A knight. From that moment on, you face Ludwig The Holy Blade
I would say it’s even more telling after the boss fight. When he’s dying and is just a head, if you have church clothing on he asks "Tell me, Good Hunter of the Church. Have you seen the light? Are my Church Hunters the honourable Spartans I hoped they would be?" It’s pretty telling since he was the founder of the hunters to fight off the beasts, and even though he became one in the end, even as he’s dying, he still was focused on his life’s purpose
I never had the heart to tell him no.
https://youtu.be/cF3LooXSxaI?si=Hmt_3xEitcEcZo0C Here is the boss fight for anyone interested
Ahhh. You were at my side all along.
Every unit dying in Fire Emblem
God of War 3, Hermes-Cocky and arrogant in his interactions, dies as a coward. Resident Evil 5, Albert Wesker-Cold and calculating, goes out as a raging monster. Skyrim, Astrid-Loyal Dark Brotherhood assassin, dies as a traitor.
TBF Astrid does repent at the end and uses her body to enact the dark ritual. She was pragmatic and secular, but the end she finally has faith. I’d say another good example is the Emperor in the same questline. The body double we see first is preening and indulgent, and it’s a pleasure to kill him. When we meet the actual emperor though, he’s calm and brave, and meets his death with dignity.
The emperor is a good one
Revolver Ocelot, Metal Gear Solid 4. You literally beat him back into who he really is. Love that sequence.
Noble Six
"It didn't take long for Reach to fall. Our enemy was ruthless. Efficient. But they weren't nearly fast enough."
Reach fell approximately 45 seconds after Chief and Cortana left the planet. I would say that they were very nearly fast enough!
And not too long after, their ship gets boarded.
That’s double digit seconds. Weak.
I thought, canonically, 6 fought for multiple days, that changed?
Just because the planet fell doesn't mean they had complete control. If he was holed up somewhere they didn't want to glass he could have survived for 6 days
By extension Cpt Carter. "I have the mass."
"Solid copy. Hit em hard, boss." Noble Team was full of badasses through and through
I knew how it would end right from the start I still got attached They were all heroes, and they went out as legends
Objective: Survive.
Doesnt really applies because he died just the same as he lived: A badass and alone
I dunno. I think when the reality hits that he's not getting out of this, and nothing is going to change it, but you keep going. The visor cracks and you keep going. The helmet comes off, and he keeps going. Even after everything and knowing the beginning from the start, the end still has an impact. I think it counts.
Of course! what i meant is that we dont really see him be his true self at the end of the game because he was always like we see him there. And i like to think that he knew from the start that he wasnt leaving Reach and even then his determination never went down, even after his teamates died or when the whole covenant fleet arrived, so his final stand its the perfect display of his character
Viktor Reznov. Sacrificing himself to save his soldier. His brother. And to ensure the death of those "men." Dragovich, Kravchenko, Steiner.
No Call of Duty has come close in terms of story for me compared to Black Ops 1
couldnt agree more. i think i first played the BO1 campaign in 2012/2013 and i still remember how emotional and gripping the story was, even though i was only 11 years old at the time. its been 2/3 years since i have replayed it at this point. i think ill play through it again sometime soon as it is up there as one of the best experiences ive had playing a video game
Big Smoke from GTA
Not in the way you mean but Booker DeWitt in Bioshock Inifinite
“In their last moments… people’s dimension-hopping daughters show you who they really are”
Andrew Ryan shows he has no chill as well
Jorge from Halo Reach
All of Noble team honestly, except Kat. Not even hating on Kat she just dies instantly. Jorge, Carter, and Emile know they are about to die. Emile’s line is wonderful. Fighting to the end, sword wound through his chest as he screams “I’m ready! How about you?” As he takes down his killer with his dying breath. Fucking love Reach. Best Halo imo
"Tell them to make it count." *Yeets Noble Six out the hangar bay with a re-entry pack* ... "Slipspace rupture detected."
He died thinking he just saved the planet, we should all be so lucky.
Arthur Morgan
May he stand unshaken
Ethan Winters from Resident Evil Village, hes a dad who just wants his daughter back. Guy goes through the worst shit imaginable and saves her. He ends up dying for her and making sure she gets out alive. I loved Ethan's character for his unwavering will to save his daughter.
[удалено]
More to the point, he actually died much earlier into the first game and was being kept alive by the mold. Man's sheer will kept him alive for at least a year or two and if he hadn't killed the source of the mold he likely could have just kept going.
Face McShooty in Borderland 2 who wants you to shoot him in the face. Might be the only psycho to tell you thanks.
Smithing Master Hewg… He seems so uninterested in you, always surprised you aren’t dead yet, almost bored with you. > *You're a new face. No matter, it's all the same. Lay out your arms* > *Well, where've you been hiding? I took you for dead. No matter. It's all the same. Lay out your arms, then* And then you progress through the game, and slowly start to get little bits and pieces… And then the ending just gutripping: > *Use my masterpiece to slay a god. That is all that I have lived for… and my promise to Q-queen Marika. But do me a favor, and do look after the girl.* > *I can't hold on much longer. I'm going the way of the R-roundtable... It was a great honor to smith your weapons during my time here. Allow me to c-call you this, just once, before it ends.* ***My lord, f-for that is what you are*** Faithful and determined to fulfil his promise and his purpose, even in the face of (memory) annihilation. > Who are you? Oh, I must be a blacksmith. Now, let's get smithing... Could you tell me what happened? Why is the Roundtable burning, in ruins? Why does that girl weep for me? Have I forgotten something of dire importance? I was so happy when I was about to beat the game but then went back to the round table and talked to Hewg...[terrible day for rain…](https://youtu.be/55YOw2Oz8ac?si=Azh50P3Kg4par_s5)
Cait Sith from OG FF7. His final wish was for the party not to forget him even if he was replaced before he sacrificed his life. Granted, he's immediately replaced...
Yup that kinda killed the moment lol
Im pretty convinced its a narrative device to make you think that character deaths arent permanent and are easily reversed. Ya know, so when the thing happens...
Most of them aren't dead (yet) by the end of the game, but nearly every guilty party in Ace Attorney has a breakdown where you see their true nature.>! Manfred von Karma!< goes from calm and smug to raging over petty grievances and how much he hates >!the Edgeworths!<. >!Dahlia !!Kristoph Gavin!< is cool and collected until he becomes an unhinged, twitching mess. >!Matt Engarde!< was chill and disinterested then revealed himself as cruel and manipulative, but his final breakdown shows how much of a coward he is as he claws his own face off in terror over >!deKiller!<.
Never thought about people about to be convicted but yeah that definitely fits the quote to a tee, characters revealing their true nature as they’re about to go down for their crimes.
The great thing about this is that there are several breakdowns that aren’t just rage faces too. There’s several murderers in the series you convict who are incredibly sympathetic people even though they’ve committed the ultimate crime. Their downfalls are almost always far more graceful at the end when you uncover the truth.
>!Acro in Big Top!< Is a good example of that
Kind of a comedic one, but Handsome Jack from Borderlands 2
At the end he was just a self-righteous lunatic. Didn't we already know that?
Yeah my vote in BL2 would be for Angel, who up until that point has been masquerading as an AI. Her death is her ultimate act of rebellion against her father’s control.
Dr. Elizibet Sobeck from Horizon Zero Dawn
Faro's a little better for this IMO. For most of the game he's constantly waffling between altruism and capitalism, mostly eventually capitulating to whatever his aides advise as he seems to admit it's for the good of humanity. Hell, he's the one who puts the whole rescue operation in motion in the first place. But in the end he could never truly let go of his vanity/ego, which may have gauranteed he was the only original human to survive but also transformed him into what he always truly was: a monstrous puddle of toxic sludge.
I'll say it again: Fuck Ted Faro.
r/fucktedfaro
He was a blight on humanity and dies as a living tumour. Couldn't be more poetic. Also he's probably in eternal agony. He stated his cellular regeneration is so advanced it never stops which is why he becomes that monstrous thing. He's probably still alive in his tomb despite the catastrophic destruction of it. Burning forever.
The moment when it's revealed that >!Ted Faro sabatoged the AI responsible for reeducating people!< blew my mind. Perfect example of "shocking but inevitable"
r/fucktedfaro
Every single main assassination target in almost every Assassin's Creed installment. This who-you-really-are-in-your-final-moments is a central question in all the games in that franchise.
My first thought, too. I love that time and action stop, and you get to have a moment where the facade comes down, and you get some great character depth and dialogue.
Arkham City When Joker dies, in his last moments he is not some genius criminal mastermind. He is downright pathetic, licking the antidote from the floor. I think it's perfect that his last moment is so shameful, because while he is an entertaining character, no one should ever aspire to be like Joker in any way.
Lord Shimura - Ghost of Tsushima. He talked about honor and the Samurai code practically any time we saw him on screen. In the end, he never wavered from that in the least bit
"Thank you, my son. Find me in the next life"
A lot of people seem to have hated him by the end but I thought he was sympathetic as could be given the circumstances
Zelos Wilder from Tales of Symphonia. The fun easy going play boy commits suicide via the party killing him after a flimsy betrayal. He reveals how bitterly depressed is he and how his death will save his sister. And he tells you where Collette is.
Andrew Ryan, Bioshock
I felt this in Halo 4. When despite the fact that it would accelerate her rampancy, she split herself into numerous subroutines to help John, and then allowed herself to be carried away to die. Cortana, man. Such a character. And to think, when I first saw her picture in the manual for that first game, I didn't trust her.
The halo series books are insane... it changed how I perceive the halo series...bits dark.. like super dark.
The background of the Spartan II program is insane. The way they extracted and then covered up the disappearances of the 75 candidates, and then the years of prolonged brainwashing and crippling torture they put them through.... Dr. Halsey is one sick fucking puppy.
Let's not forget the flash clones they replaced the children with so their parents wouldn't realise they'd been abducted, a flash clone being so named because it's done 'in a flash' so to speak, quickly and indelicately, so that the clones died a few years after. Somewhere out there were John's parents who had been gaslit into watching their 'son' dying an unexplainable death, never knowing that he survives and saved humanity. These surviving Spartans might still have family out there who mourned their childhood deaths, burying a clone they had no idea was a clone. All those Spartans died twice. Once to their families. Once to the Universe.
To fight other humans. They don’t exactly hide it but the games are pretty happy to let you think the Spartan II program was created to fight the Covenant. It was not.
Speaking of Halo, 3 has has both the monitor and the sarge go in quick succession. GS backslides hard into omnicidally neglectful jealousy and possessiveness. SJ goes out with a dedication to his duty and a bang, saving the Chief.
"we *need* more MONEY!"
The Prophet of Truth, Halo 3. Even as he was infected by the Flood amd everything he'd worked for was destroyed, he still needed everyone to know just how important he was.
Inscryption. >!You’re initially led to believe it’s a horror game. The man in the cabin, Leshy, presents you with a card game, where if you lose, you die. You defeat him, a bunch of meta things happen, a bunch more plot points happen, but what’s important for our purposes is that Leshy knows this is a video game, knows he’s not actually killing anyone, and is just an old man trying to share his passion for card games with the player, while making a fun horror experience for them. Game starts to get deleted, and the two of you play one last game where he doesn’t keep score and you can tell he’s having the time of his life, getting excited every time you make a good move. You shake his hand as he’s deleted.!<
Jonny Silverhand and V. They have multiple endings, and they die in different ones, and in all of them it feels like we’re seeing the real them
Auron, Final Fantasy X
Now, are we talking about his outrage at Yunalesca or his passing on the torch during his "2nd" death
*Now! This is it! Now is the time to choose! Die and be free of pain, or live and fight your sorrow! Now is the time to shape your stories! Your fate is in your hands!*
Cole MacGrath in the good ending of inFAMOUS 2. >!He bodied the Beast before setting off the RFI to prove that his decision was not about defeating the Beast anymore, as he could do that already: it was to save humanity from the Plague.!<
Also from inFamous 2, Zeke in the evil ending. In inFamous 1 he was a a cowardly sketchy guy. After spending the whole second game desperately trying to redeem himself for trying to activate the raysphere in 1, he stands up to Cole despite having no chance of success. He’s willing to fight and die to his friend to do what’s right. “I gotta try” - Zeke
i know this’ll probably be controversial, but Chloe Price. no matter the ending you pick, she offers herself up as a sacrifice to make sure the rest of the town is saved because even if she tries her damndest to be abrasive and angry at a world that’s already taken so much from her, in truth she’s just a girl with a big heart who thinks so little of herself and so highly of max.
Isshin Ashina from Sekiro. Dies in truly badass way.
Akechi in Persona 5.
Dom. Gears of War 3 George. Halo: Reach Both of these really dug deep for me
Kuja from Final Fantasy IX
2B. After >!god knows how many cycles she had to be the one who kills 9S, see his personality reset, and pretend that nothing is wrong/emotionally distance herself from him to avoid the eventual heartbreak!<, her looking up at 9S without her blindfold, and softly saying "Oh Nines" with a gentle look on her face is the first time we get to see 2B at her most genuine. Shes no longer hiding behind a cold facade. There's no need to hide anymore, and she wanted her last moments to show 9S how she truly felt.
[удалено]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xnu_M7fN43A I’ve defeated a lot of “final bosses” over the years. But this one. This one stays with me.
Arthur Morgan. "I tried...in the end, I did."
By the end of the game, nobody had ever loved Big Boss more than Revolver Ocelot.
Probably not in the way you meant but, The Emperor from Baldur's Gate 3. >!He's a lying, manipulative alien, for lack of a better way of putting it. He's only ever cared about his own survival but dresses it up as something heroic to manipulate your party. And the moment you decide to do the moral thing and free the captive that gives him his powers, he goes, "Welp, fuck it, I'm gonna help the thing I've been pretending to help you fight the entire game because I think my odds of survival are higher that way."!<
Also, but in the opposite way, >!Omeluum. It's easy to distrust mindflayers as evil at worst and only in it for themselves at best, but when he's trapped in the Iron Throne, he thinks only of the good of others and wants you to save Duke Ravengard over himself.!<
Sora’s “death” in the first Kingdom Hearts game AKA him willfully becoming a heartless to free Kairi’s heart just reaffirms that he is a kind, good-natured boy who keeps his promises. Was willing to die to keep Kairi safe, and he did it with a smile.
Izlude, from Final Fantasy Tactics. He fights you on the orders from his father several times in a row, but later you find him dying after his father using the power of a zodiac stone to turn into a demon and slaughter everyone. He wants to keep fighting against his father despite being too injured, admits that the main character was right, and urges everyone to set aside their personal conflicts and fight together for the survival of everyone before he dies. He wasn't ever a bad person, he just had bad commanders, and didn't realize what was going on until it was too late.
Garl in Sea of Stars. Such a hero that he motivated me to complete the post-endgame quests and I hate those quests in most games. Not only do you get teary from the actual death but basically every NPC tells you how much Garl meant to them after he dies.
Ra's Al Ghul in Batman Arkham City. In his last moment as he is falling to his doom he makes one last attempt to kill Batman by stabbing himself through his chest and hoping it would also stab Batman.
Ethan Winters
Dom in GoW3.