Greatest emotional investment

[theundeadhero]

Other emotions I commonly feel are amusement, anger, shock (the first time I saw Aeris die it was spoiler free and my mouth dropped open), and sadness but not to the point of crying over it.

[JKTrix]

Dragon Quest 5 on the DS really impressed me with how effective it was with evoking certain feelings through its rather simple presentation. There are various setpieces through the game that are pretty strong, but to choose one that isn't as much of a spoiler:

Very shortly after you get married and give birth to your twins (it's not a spoiler if it's on the game box!), ...but this is spoilers...your wife is kidnapped by some baddies to lure you into a trap. Upon finding your wife, both you and your wife are turned to stone and are just abandoned in this dungeon. Some bandits come and steal the statues of you two, and eventually auction you off to some rich guy (while keeping your beautiful Statue Wife for their own ambiguous amusement).

Now, the rich guy you got sold to, he also just had a baby... just like you! He bought your statue as a good luck charm for his newborn son and erects you in his front lawn. Then a sequence occurs showing the passage of time. Every time the baby comes out of the house, he is a little older. You see his first steps and all of that. So you're watching the growth of this other man's child as an immobile stone statue, instead of watching your own children grow. For 10 years.

I'm not sure what most other players would think of that setpiece, particularly younger gamers who may not have any parental instincts in them yet. But it's something that is executed quite well in the game, where other games may have simply faded to black and said '10 years later...'

DQ5 has a deceptively simple, but masterfully executed story that may very well be timeless. That's not something I can say for most games I've played in any genre or platform. It is probably the most unexpectedly moving game I have ever played. Other games, particularly JRPGs, you kind of expect certain kinds of things to happen because--it's that kind of world! Persona is kind of dark, FF is kind of serious, but Dragon Quest games are usually pretty easygoing and lighthearted. So when they pull off something that is really emotionally moving, I think it's quite a feat.

[Meat Puppet]

The only real time that comes to mind is when my stack was awesome, although those Tetriminoes were piled dangerously high to that point of doom
there were those sweaty thumbs of mine and my heart was racing
It was make or break
when along came the line and saved the day with possibly my most satisfying tetris ever

[xXsarahXx]

Im a really emotional person,

I cried whilst playing the following games...

FF7 - Nooo dont kill.....too late
FF8 - Happy Tears
FFX - Ending...just too sad
FF X-2 1000 words, that song is beautiful. Bought me to tears
FF X-2 Ending - All of them
FF XII - All of it, the entire game was just too painful to play. (quality wise)
FF7- Crisis Core - The ending

Kingdom Hearts - Ill find you Kairi... *sob sob*
Kingdom Hearts 2 - Happy tears
Kingdom Hearts - My sanctuary/passion. I love this song so much.

Silent Hill 2 - Endings, odd i know

thats all i can think of right now, im sure there are loads more

[TurkSlayer]

Oh god, Final Fantasy Tactics. Multiple parts of that game just break my heart.

FFX definitely had one of the most emotional endings as far as I'm concerned. Persona 4 I invested a lot of myself in too. And Chrono Trigger/Chrono Cross.

... Actually, screw it, I get attached in just about every game I play. Even Sid Meier's Pirates! had me grieving as I watched my pirate's skill deteriorate as he became old. T.T

[Vyk]

Visas Marr made me blush in KOTOR 2 :[

[qwertysaur]

I still want to throw Algus into a pit of cacti!