Tales (series)/Tear Jerker

Tales of the Abyss
"Jade: That's what I would say if I was an emperor, with a country and people to look after. As your friend... I feel compelled to stop you."
 * At Luke's lowest point he finds out The sum of all this caused this troper to not only burst into tears, but somehow felt as if everyone around him hated him Luke's feeling of guilt hitting way to close to home.
 * reveal is made even worse in the anime as you watch Luke
 * The worst part is probably playing a second playthrough and knowing what's going to happen but not being able to do anything about it.
 * If that part of Abyss makes you cry, then...well...here's hoping you didn't get attached to some of the other characters.
 * gets this trooper every single time. If you can believe it, it's even worse in the anime - at least in the game,.
 * This tropette refused to play the game for a good week or so after seeing . He came to be this tropette's favorite character after a while, so it dealt a ginormous Player Punch. She was very satisfied when she got the chance to beat the ever-loving shit out of . And on subsequent playthroughs... Yah. Me playing as Jade. Completely owned by Indignation.
 * The Tower gets this troper. This Tower's worse than Symphonia's, in this troper's opinion.
 * Not just the Tower of Rem, but the scenes preceding and following it, as well.
 * The part before the Tower that gets this troper each time is the conversation with Jade, who has just . Luke asks Jade if that's really what he thinks is best, expecting a 'yes'. Jade does say yes, and then...


 * What got me was hearing Jade actually saying "I'm sorry." to Luke. Never saw that one coming.
 * The ending.
 * That ending actually affects this troper more than anything else she's played;
 * The ending is a different flavor of bittersweet depending on how you interpret
 * This troper fully agrees with Luke's turning point, especially the part where The start of a nasty inferiority complex for Luke...and one that resonated all too well with this troper, who's lived in the shadow of his older brother for most of his school life. I knew all too well what it seemed like when  Thankfully, these feelings have long since been put to rest - and so, Luke's decision and the resulting Important Haircut warms this troper's heart.
 * "Class M and Class I's " Made all the worse in the anime.
 * The death of wasn't so bad when playing the game. In the anime, it was absolutely heartbreaking as
 * She's a real asshole to Luke after Akzeriuth, but when the chips are down, Anise is a good person. Guy also deserves a mention for one of his lines during the handful of introspective scenes he has with Luke in Aramis Springs:
 * death. It's bad enough as mandated by the plotline, but you have the option of spending an entire long sidequest chain To have done all that work for them, and seen the honest joy  it makes his death really hit that much harder. This troper nearly had a Heroic BSOD upon realizing that it was for real.
 * She's a real asshole to Luke after Akzeriuth, but when the chips are down, Anise is a good person. Guy also deserves a mention for one of his lines during the handful of introspective scenes he has with Luke in Aramis Springs:
 * death. It's bad enough as mandated by the plotline, but you have the option of spending an entire long sidequest chain To have done all that work for them, and seen the honest joy  it makes his death really hit that much harder. This troper nearly had a Heroic BSOD upon realizing that it was for real.

Tales of Symphonia and its sequel
"Regal: I... I can't! I could never kill you with my own hands..."
 * 's death scene sent this troper into a mad frenzy of hitting the reset button to do the ending properly.
 * To add to that, the rematch in the coloseum against . This is definitely salt on wounds for this troper, who  . Damn you completionist impulse.
 * During the first third of the game, the cutscenes after every boss battle, when it becomes increasingly obvious just how much Colette is suffering for her quest, all start to add up, culminating in . This troper nearly cried...and only didn't because the next boss,, made some highly disparaging comments about her, and humanity in general. As such, the emotional response shifted abruptly.
 * The tearjerker factor of what happens to Colette also has later effects: when you have her in your fighting party and she doesn't speak - no start-of-battle quote, no incantations during her spells, nothing. It's incredibly jarring, and makes the emotional response even stronger because you don't realise all at once what's wrong.
 * This troper didn't fully play to  to know the details at the time about the trial and error of chosens and quickly turned a bit sour realizing   When this troper finally did get a chance to play to this point, even though they have a bit more clarity, the feelings were made worse.
 * Raine's backstory, and especially Seeing the usually cool, rational, level-headed Raine break down in front of the brother she raised, who can do nothing but realise what Promotion to Parent meant to her... Yeah.
 * Also, the fact that on some subconscious level,
 * How about Sheena during ? That always gets to me, especially considering that   The crack in her voice is amazing.
 * When, I couldn't help hurting for the guy. He may look like a kid, but he's got 4000 years of working towards his goal... only to have it fall apart around him.
 * Not to mention . This troper found herself crying her way through the last hour of the game because every five minutes she'd remember those scenes and feel so sorry for , perhaps even more than anyone else in her party. The thought of how twisted his views had become after thousands of years without his sister, being discriminated against, being betrayed by the only people he trusted, and how young he might have been at the start of his madness ensured many tissues met their demise in his name.
 * The whole story of  and  . Not only do both share a striking number of similarities and experiences, their friendship often blurs the line between   It gets worse with an obscure hidden scene where Lloyd gets to see , which just makes  . A skit after, where  , can become a real tearjerker as a result. And should you have taken   as partner for the endgame,.
 * It affects his so much that in Dawn of the New World,
 * A tear was shed for Genis in the sequel when he reminds us that, because of his elven blood, he and his sister will greatly out live the rest of their Nakama. Lloyd also knows of this in the first game, as he tells his beloved pet Noishe to stay with Genis and Raine when he dies. Noishe will actually outlive them even, but it's rather tear-jerking how Lloyd says it, thinking of their longevity as a good thing, compared to other humans who are terrified of it * coughPOPEcough*.
 * If you've realized this, and have chosen Genis for the late-game talks, a seemingly innocent talk about how Genis intends to stay with Lloyd "As long as you're alive" becomes startlingly tragic.
 * The Bad End of Dawn of the New World is strikingly horrifying. Interestingly enough, it's more difficult to get this ending than the good ending, as you have to Thank goodness you really have to try to get this ending, huh?
 * Even the Good ending is a Tear Jerker if you think about it. Richter and Aster, two of the most brilliant minds of their generation, who could have been a shining example of half-elf/human friendship in the struggling new world are  ultimately because of a hate that was born millenia before, and about which they knew nothing.   may deserve his punishment, but damn, what a waste. Even Emil doesn't get off easy since eventually
 * Okay, how many people didn't get the bad ending on the first try?! This troper is a die-hard Yaoi Fangirl who had been shipping Emil with all the males in the game, but the bad ending made her scream at her TV screen for the Marta/Emil Gone Horribly Wrong. Her heart was already breaking, but then... then... She couldn't even pick the game back up to get the good ending until a good hour later (which of course made her cry again)
 * On the bright side, it could have been worse. In a mistranslation of the Japanese version of the game, it says that
 * in this game was heartwrenching for this troper. After fighting the two of them, Emil attacks Alice but Still makes me cry every time, even after beating the game many times...
 * The part of that scene that makes it worse is  I saw it on my second playthrough and burst into tears.
 * at the end of the Remote Island Human Ranch always gets to this Troper. He's a Mauve Shirt who has every reason to dislike the heroes' party, since they've been working at cross purposes for most of the game and are now more or less stuck in an Enemy Mine situation, but his devotion to his duty (and possibly his leader) supersedes anything else he might feel, even to the point of.
 * Where's the love for Regal? The guy


 * Kratos has perhaps the saddest story of all the characters.

spoiler: After a brief happy life together, Kratos killed his wife in an attempt to protect their infant son when she transformed into a monster. The attempt fails however, and his son falls off a cliff to his death, or so Kratos thought, until he happened upon said son years later. Not only is he burdened with the knowledge that the only woman he's ever loved died by his hands, he finds out that had he simply looked hard enough he would not have lost his only child. It's no wonder he's a [[Death Seeker.

He keeps their relation to himself for his own reasons, but Yuan spills his secret, and Lloyd goes into denial and rejects him. This doesn't stop Kratos from heroically protecting him.

Kratos needs to die to release Origin's seal, and he's picked Lloyd out for this task. Lloyd spares him, so Kratos suicidally releases Origin's seal, but Kratos doesn't get his wish to die granted. Yuan saves him.

Now at this point it sounds like it's going to end happily, but instead it actually gets worse for Kratos: Kratos leaves for derris-kharlan, and we find out in the sequel that he is never coming back, ever. The comet drifted so far all contact between it and the word of TOS was severed, ending Kratos only connection to his son and his last living friend from over 4000 years ago. Lloyd doesn't even get one last goodbye. He doesn't know he will never see his father again.]]

You're welcome for the tissues.
 * Zelos's introduction
 * "Farewell my shadow...you who stand at the end of the path I chose not to follow."

Tales of Destiny
"Harold: Nii-san, nii-san!
 * Tales of Destiny remake also had this troper in tears when how Leon Magnus died is turned from a sadistic Jerkass death (who deserves it) into one Heroic Sacrifice. As he sends the party to safety while dooming himself to drown in a flooding death, this troper just seems to want to yell alongside Stahn... '"LEON!! LEOOOOONNNNN!!!!"
 * The sequel of the game had this on the flashback scenes, especially on Loni and Nanaly. In Loni's case, watching in full blown detail on how and how he blames himself for initially causing all of them by getting taken as a hostage was just crushing. Nanaly, on the other hand, after being given an alternate world where her dear brother was alive instead of dying, had to face the truth full blown that it's just fake happiness and while her brother constantly tells her that he exists, ALL WHILE CRYING, Nanaly had to say good bye on him, in tears, as the brother vanished. And she ends up bawling on Loni's shoulders. Seeing the usually strong hearted girl like her to eventually break down like that is just... * sniffle*.
 * Later in the sequel we see Harold a Genki Girl and also a rather Mad Scientist, when her brother Karell just do a Heroic Sacrifice right in front of her they have a heartbreaking conversation, it goes like this

Karell: Harold?...Thats odd...am i hallucinating? You always calls me Aniki...

Harold: Don't speak! The wound would get worse!

Karell: What's wrong Harold? Why are you...crying? Are you...being bullied again? Don't worry...Nii-chan will protect you...

Harold: I said don't speak!

Karell: Harold...no matter what...i'll always be...with...you..."


 * Even sadder when you realize that this happens in the past timeline. Cue to the future,
 * First game, Mary recovering her memories and talking about them with her husband. The whole scene is sad, sad, SAD. It's even sadder when he tries to kill her and the rest of the party. And it worse when he dies. This goes DOUBLE when you consider that Mary was a Cloudcuckoolander and the happiest party member. It got this troper both times he played the game.
 * Another from the sequel, when the realization hits that if the party achieves their goal of destroying the goddess Fortuna, time will be rewritten so that everything that was caused or influenced by her, directly or indirectly, never happened- meaning

Tales of Legendia

 * Many, many moments in Tales of Legendia.
 * , especially, hits particularly hard.
 * Senel and Shirley have a particularly powerful scene afterward, too. Shirley finally works up the courage to tell Senel that only to end up  It's enough to make you want to jump through your TV and strangle.
 * Not especially. It was a sad situation all around, and both were hurting immensely.
 * No mention of 's death? Before her Creepy Twin shows up.
 * The ending scene of Will Raynard's character quest. This troper doesn't cry, ever (not that he wouldn't mind, he just never gets there for some strange reason, and damned if he has to force it), but this one got him pretty close.
 * Moses's character quest, Manly Tears were shed
 * Grune's character quest, from the Wings of Light to the end. Everything about it.  She was this troper's favorite character...
 * This troper may just be overthinking it, but the ending of Norma's character quest brought her to tears.
 * The end of Chloe's character arc hit this male troper fairly hard, especially since he had a soft spot for Chloe and her character arc had been the most emotionally charged in the plot. Moses' was also surprisingly touching. Giet's final howl just makes me really sad for some reason.
 * This troper sobbed like a smacked child at the end of Moses' quest, and hugged her dog.
 * Not to mention the part where everybody is given a powerful blessing by ... except for  sure, he gets it later, but the brief period of time where he is  just tends to bring back memories of regret and exclusion for this toper.

Tales of Vesperia

 * Vesperia. Anything and everything involving  At times, it even felt like a Player Punch.
 * It felt like that, because it was one.
 * For this troper, she was actually looking forward to kicking the crap out of  due to hating the character, but the music. The music got me misty-eyed and I loved it so much. I paused the game and listened to it for a few moments, associating it more with Yuri then I did   because it made me think of a softer side of him. Another Tear Jerker was the events BEFORE going to Zaphias to , when you end up fighting
 * This troper tends to be very good at seeing what will happen next from a mile away, and the Tales series isn't exactly the most original series ever made, and while  wasn't a big surprise, the way   deflects their questions in such a flat and stolid tone really made the twist convincing, let alone dispelling the possibility that


 * In the PS 3 version, there's

Tales of Rebirth

 * Tales of Rebirth has one, in Hilda Rhambling's story arc. She finally met her blood mother, but got blatantly refused and thrown away like a thing many times. When Tohma appears trying to kill her, her mother took the hit and died. After she's dead, Hilda found a letter written by her mother that sums up that her mother really loves her, and found out that her mother refused her to prevent a prophecy that could bring about her death. All that, and Hilda has yet to even call her 'mother', which caused her to break down and cry. This troper at first didn't care much about Hilda, but after re-watching that scene, he really wants to give her a hug...
 * Your Mileage May Vary: This troper considered Naira's reasons for her actions a huge Wall Banger. If you know ahead of time your kid might get killed because of a certain circumstance, then just tell your kid! Angrily rejecting them won't work at all. However, I consider Hilda's trial the better Tear Jerker, especially how Tohma easily kills her father with one hit with his force (which her father obviously didn't have) and then kidnapping baby Hilda with the same force. The cruel subversion of the Papa Wolf trope was much sadder.

Tales of Hearts
"Richea:"
 * You can't go without mentioning Tales of Hearts. After becoming very likeable characters,  To add to the sadness,
 * There's also the part where


 * W-w-w-What?! I know that Tear Jerker is supposed to be a Subjective Tropes but this troper honestly thinks that it's more like a Nightmare Fuel than a Tear Jerker.

Tales of Eternia

 * Tales of Eternia: Pretty much every  is just heart wrenching to varying degrees.

Tales of Phantasia

 * The grand-daddy of all Tales games, has it's fair share of tearjerkers.
 * You encounter one at the very start of the game. Cless and Chester goes hunting, and their town gets attacked and leveled while they're away. Cless is effectively orphaned as a result and Chester loses his little sister. That's right, the game slams one in your face within 5 minutes of starting the game!
 * After you've avenged Arche's friend, her ghost thanks the party.
 * The scenes in Ary. The background music didn't help things. Although to be fair, it's of the happy variant since the player has come far and the party is about to enter the very definitive Final Dungeon.
 * The end of the game, where the party has to disband. Arche and Klarth has to return to the past. The game will soon be a figment of your memory as you put it away/sell it on eBay/pass it on to a friend/sibling and move on to something new.

Tales of Graces

 * Tales of Graces has a good share of tearjerking moments. Hell, even the first few hours makes such a drastic Mood Whiplash with
 * In the Future arc, where Sophie
 * This Troper had teeth marks in her arm for days after playing this scene because it was 3am and I didn't want to wake my family up with my sobbing.
 * The ending for the main game when  The quiet, sad remix of "Mamoritai ~white wishes~" that plays during this scene doesn't help...
 * There's also the part earlier when  Of course, Asbel has a good solution in mind for all this.
 * 's flashback scenes. Every single one of them. Makes you almost completely forget that he's a Eldritch Abomination.
 * Narm or not, you have to admit that the infamous "TOMADATCHIIIII" scene is also saddening when (at least in th Wii version), Richard sounds like he's crying, and he honestly feels betrayed. Your Mileage May Vary, of course.
 * Watching  and turn into the exact opposite of himself. Especially when you consider he was aware of what   was forcing him to do but wasn't strong enough to stop it. Then you realise he's.
 * Learning that  actions were done entirely out of love and a desire to not make the same mistakes   had made..

There's an old saying: If you're playing a Tales game, expect lots of tearjerkers.