Metal Gear/Tear Jerker: Difference between revisions

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There is probably not a single video game series more tear jerking than [[Metal Gear Solid]].

 

'''METAL GEAR SOLID'''

* Those who entered the game with little idea that {{spoiler|there was a bad scenario, when you fail to restrain yourself from the torture, you realize you just killed Meryl. I played the rest of the game in a depression that I just killed Snake's love interest. Perhaps the most immersive moment in any game I played.}}

*** To make things worse, try playing the game and {{spoiler|attempting to resist the torture, but having to surrender because you haven't saved for half of the game, and death there brings instant game over.}} It's possible that it's because this troper is a male raised with the thought men should protect women, and I just killed her because I was to weak (slow) to keep going. It's one hell of a reason NOT to fail for me.

*** It gets sadder. You know how Campbell tells {{spoiler|Meryl}} for most of the game that {{spoiler|she's his niece?}} If you get the bad ending, he actually reveals that {{spoiler|she's his ''daughter''}}.

* Hard to pin it to a single moment, but the fate of Olga Gurlukovich is a very sad one. It made this troper realize: Don't root for the blond [[Action Girl|Action Girls]]!

* Your Mileage May Vary, but this part brings a tear to this troper's eye every time she hears it:

'''Emma''': We were...back then. }}

** It also doesn't help the fact that Emma and Otacon hadn't seen each other in years, and then when he sees her again, {{spoiler|she dies.}}

 

'''METAL GEAR SOLID 3: SNAKE EATER'''

** The End's death was especially hard for this troper because The End reminded her of her own grandfather that had died a few months before she played the game. That parrot made it even worse for her, always squawking 'Grandpa'…

* The ending of ''[[Metal Gear Solid]] 3'' and the death of {{spoiler|The Boss}} was a very intentional example designed to show {{spoiler|Naked Snake, aka Big Boss'}} [[Start of Darkness]]. {{spoiler|When she is defeated and asks Snake to kill her, he aims a gun at her head and the game waits for you to press the fire button}}, which is probably the cruelest thing a video game developer has done. Ever.

** Anyone who has a caring heart will think to themselves, "No, I can't do this..." during that part. I (MGC) am one of those many. When I first played through the game, I kept thinking, "I can't do this, I can't do this, I can't do this..." but the game wanted me to, so...I did. And then I cried so much.

*** The ending takes on an interesting (and somewhat darker) twist if you consider {{spoiler|whether the Boss always intended for Snake to know the truth (she obviously knew EVA would eventually tell him), or if she did it impulsively toward the end, unable to die thinking he'd always see her as a traitor. If it's the latter, then it begs the question of what would have happened had she not said anything. Would Big Boss have still lashed out against the world and tried to create his warrior's heaven, or would he have simply become disillusioned but ultimately harmless? It was the outrage and sense of injustice that drove him all that time - would it have been such a powerful motivation if he didn't have to live alone with the truth? Could the Boss's one moment of weakness regarding her legacy - or at least her overestimation of her protege's ability to cope with it - have been the thing that started all of this?}}

** This Troper remembers holding back tears throughout that entire sequence. Started to get over it with the 'congratulations, job well done' scene with the president, was perfectly fine through the bit with EVA, although pissed at the fact that {{spoiler|she was really just screwing you over (literally) to get the Legacy}}. Then they showed the graveyard scene, and Big Boss saluted her grave... This Troper started bawling.

**** You think that's bad? Holding L1 during that sequence will make the scene first-person.

** You don't see EVA's face for any of the last portion of the ending scene, but you hear her start to break down and sob. Listening to her voice cracking on the last part of her voiceover, coupled with the visual on-screen at that moment, makes it very hard to not get choked up along with her.

* I can't help but tear up when I hear the Boss' monologue prior to the fight, in which she explains everything she has lost in service to her country and its pointless Cold War (most poignantly, having her child taken away from her, and having to kill her Russian former comrade and lover), as well as her dream of uniting the world. Its bad enough when it just seems like a non-ranting version of a [[Motive Rant]]. {{spoiler|It's even worse when you realise that her speech is to explain her [[Fake Defector|continuing loyalty]] ''in spite'' of everything she's lost}}.

* The song "Way to Fall," which plays during the credits, is a very sad song, especially because the lyrics go so well with {{spoiler|The Boss' death and how Big Boss feels}}.

While I suffer... }}

 

* It's positively scandalous that no one's mentioned {{spoiler|the death of Elisa}}. Especially considering that she's in her early teens, has an obvious crush on Naked Snake, and is seen by him as almost a daughter figure, considering how freely he talks to her about himself. Not to mention her vision of Big Boss' future {{spoiler|, complete with foreshadowing of the Metal Gear and Metal Gear Solid series.}} Double tear jerker for fans of the entire series.

** How about the death of {{spoiler|Jonathan}}. The cold, matter of fact message you get after is just heartbreaking.

* The potential death of Python, Snake's old war buddy.

 

'''METAL GEAR SOLID 4: GUNS OF THE PATRIOTS'''

** This Troper would like to agree with that "even" moment. The strangely emotional part is the flashing images of MGS1 graphics, and after it? The camera... falls off its support and shatters on the ground. Poignant.

** [[This Troper]] is so glad she isn't the only one. Seeing Shadow Moses again was nostalgic on its own (even though she had finished MGS1 only months before, but that's besides the point), but then "The Best Is Yet To Come" started playing... Then the tears started to flow. She tried holding them back, but ''oh god'', the flashbacks weren't helping. Yes, even the surveillance camera one. She might get shot and otherwise brutally maimed for this, but that was the tearjerkiest part of MGS4 for her.

** This Troper just discovered that when you equip the Mk23 (Snake's gun from MGS1) for the first time and aim it, Snake will haggardly say "Just like old times", which is strangely poignant.

*** Yes. This made This Troper stop and weep for longer than she should have. Then she soldiered on, because dammit, that's what Snake would do!

* During the {{spoiler|Wedding scene}} where Hal and Sunny watch the sunset together, there's a brief moment that always gets this troper. Sunny, knowing nothing about {{spoiler|Snake's plan to kill himself,}} asks when Snake is coming back. Otacon's reply is visibly painful.

'''Sunny:''' {{spoiler|..I wonder if I'll ever see him again.}} }}

** What absolutely seals it, however, is Otacon's next line, which is probably ''one of the most simple and honest statements'' in a series built around lies and deception. {{spoiler|"Snake... Had a hard life. He needs some time to rest."}} Cue the [[Manly Tears]], from both Otacon and the player.

* This Troper started crying when {{spoiler|the dying Big Boss painfully stands up to salute in front of The Boss's grave}}.

** For this Troper, it's when {{spoiler|Big Boss tells Old Snake first that the whole saga "began with a bunch of old fools" and implicitly including himself... then that "''[i]f you'd been in my place back then... Maybe you wouldn't have made the same mistakes that I did''."}} Yes, the one that we're all gay for admits that perhaps Old Snake is better than him... arguably canonizing [[Word of God|Kojima's belief]] that Solid "Old" Snake is the only true hero of ''Metal Gear Solid''.

** The whole deal with {{spoiler|Big Boss and his cigar. All throughout the game, the player sees quotes of Snake of "having one last smoke before death". I was expecting it to be true for Solid Snake, but not for Big Boss. And the way it was shown. Big boss having any life left to light the cigar up, then Snake lights it up for him.}}

* This troper may be alone in this, but {{spoiler|when she realized that Big Mama and Ocelot both did EVERYTHING for Big Boss, just so he would wake up again and be able to live his life...she found that to be pretty powerful, despite all of the things Ocelot did. Combine that with the fact that neither of them were able to see Big Boss again before they died, and you've got a ''Tearjerker'' to the 10th power.}}

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaKljTpRBjM The final fistfight between Liquid Snake and Solid Snake] was absolutely heartwrenching for [[Tropers/Ronin Aquila|this troper]]. Something snapped inside when he realized he was watching two old men with nothing left to live for beating each other to death, to a heartbreakingly beautiful sunset that symbolized the twilight of their once-glorious lives. The troper spent several-minutes crying before remembering to press pause and saving the game. Harry Gregson Willams' warm and sad guitar motiff only made the tears pour harder.

* Snake and Raiden's relationship as mentor/student and later comrades takes a turn for the tragic when Raiden declares {{spoiler|he has NOTHING left to live for except for following Snake and his vision for freedom for themselves. Snake, knowing he'll die soon tries to discourage Raiden from following him, but Raiden drags himself along the floor and desperately clutches Snake's leg, begging him not to leave him alone after having lost his parents, his innocence due to his child soldier days, his love and his child. After cursing his birth, Snake then tells Raiden, "You were the lightning in that rain."}} It hammered home that in many ways, Snake is the closest thing Raiden had to a real father. Manly tears were formed after that scene.

** [[Tropers/Designated NPC|This troper]] held it together (if barely) 'til Snake's line. Damn it all.

* Pretty much all of this troper's friends are in the military, so scenes in any well-written drama where the military gets owned tend to be [[Nightmare Fuel]] for him. As such, the end of Act 3 after Liquid {{spoiler|uses Guns of the Patriots for the first time and slaughters the joint Army/Marines task force, with two P90s, on top of it, really got to him.}} And then the scene ends, showing the dead, some of which are doing a dead-man's float as the river carries them downstream. And it shows you the handful of survivors, probably less than ten, reeling from {{spoiler|the loss of SOP and the sudden ensuing battle fatigue}} and on top of everything, their brothers in arms are all dead around them...[[Manly Tears|manly tears that would put a waterfall to shame.]]

** {{spoiler|At this troper's count, it was six P90s. Two by Liquid. Two midway down the ship. And two at the opposite end. Not that it matters in the long run.}}

* {{spoiler|"Let it go, my son. I'm not here to fight. Or should I call you, brother? It's over, time for you to put aside the gun, and live."}}

* The microwave corridor. {{spoiler|1=Raiden is being overpowered by FROGs, Meryl and Johnny are running out of ammunition and taking a few bullets, the ''Missouri'' is being overrun by Scarabs... and all the while Snake is slowly being cooked by radiation - he's literally dragging himself along as bits of his suit (along with the Solid Eye) explode, Rose and Campbell turn away from their screen, unable to watch, and Otacon is ''begging'' Snake not to give up. And if you die... Otacon's agonised scream of "'''SNAAAAKE!!'''"}} had this troper sobbing into his controller for a good fifteen minutes. Oh gods, just thinking about it is threatening to overload the old tear ducts again.

** Even though at the time he played [=MGS4</nowiki> this troper still had a general dislike for Jack (which wasn't aided by his portrayal in the game), he was almost driven to tears when, at the end of Act 4, {{spoiler|Outer Haven supposedly made him into the second cyborg pancake on the island. As he is apparently crushed, Snake screams "No!", and Jack screams Rose's name... and then blackness. Then the flashbacks start... "Jack, do you remember the day we met?"}} Holy crap, I'm almost crying now just thinking about it. Of course, they had to ruin that by {{spoiler|MAKING HIM ALIVE IN THE NEXT SCENE.}} I mean, WTF?

* Three words; {{spoiler|You're pretty good.}}

* After {{spoiler|the [[A Is]] are destroyed}} in the end of MGS4, the soldiers from the Missouri pull the surviving FROGS out of the water, who are suffering mental breakdown without the nanomachines supressing their fears and stress. In one of the boats an exhausted mercenary is holding her comrade, patting her head. You shot these bitches by the dozen, but they probably just got pulled into this entire mess like everyone else.

* Remember the final battle in MGS3? The field of white flowers that {{spoiler|turned red when you shot the Boss}}? Look around the graveyard in the epilogue. [[Manly Tears]] will ensue.

* It's fairly subtle, but when Snake makes it to the server room aboard Outer Heaven and it seems to be filled with copies of The Boss's headstone, complete with flowers, this troper had to take a moment.

* The backstories of the B&Bs...all of them. Under all that metal, sadness, anger, laughter and pain, they were innocent women, driven insane by the shear ''horror'' of what life had thrown at them. [[Tropers/Gantradies Dracos|This troper]] was recently replaying the game, and just broke down crying at the sounds of gunfire and screaming during Octopus' Beauty phase. Oh God...

* Excuse this troper for putting this first, but he doesn't want to read any spoilers for this game yet. Just knowing Otacon's dad is hard for this troper due to knowing how he dies from MGS2.

* The game's [[Theme Tune|theme song]] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQzgI6xJEH0&fmt=22 Heaven's Divide] really tugs at the heart with just the instrumentals. Especially so if you pay attention to the lyrics.

* Some of {{spoiler|Paz's}} diary entries.

* At the end of Chapter 4, when {{spoiler|1=the mammal pod AI acts out the will of the Boss and drowns itself rather than have the United States launch a nuclear strike, all while singing [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYjcNR7W-Ow THIS.]}} If you don't tear up then YOU HAVE NO SOUL.

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[[Category:Video Games/Tear Jerker]]

[[Category:Tear Jerker]]