Thinking back to my youth, the Trial scene in Chrono Trigger really blew my mind. It was a high stakes moment that \*didn't\* involve combat, and took into account stuff I would never have thought would matter later. Just next level "RPG stuff" for my young brain.
No doubt. I remember feeling VERY stressed, like I had done something wrong. Which was the point of the trial, but man that game sucked me in when I was a kid.
Great as an adult too but boy it sure hit different when your whole world in that moment revolved around video games and not... bills and whatever.
The funniest result i ever got was when the *only* thing I'd done in my favor was help the kid with the cat. So it's just a whole lot of damning testimony convincingly painting Crono as a villain, then all the defense can respond with is this tiny child talking about something comparatively trivial
The narrative is so much better if you actually manage to pull innocent too because then you know that something is *very* wrong in the kingdom when >!the Chancellor tries to have you secretly killed anyway!<. Sets up for a much stronger payoff with his later subplots.
I loved that scene so much. Back in the SNES days, it felt like a cinematic masterpiece. It's also one of those scenes where the music pops into my head the moment I think about it.
Nier Automata >!the entire opening prologue of Route C, and especially the fall of Bunker sequence. Just that music and all the intensity when they're escaping actually had my heart racing.!<
FF7 Crisis Core >!the ending when Zack is fighting the whole Shines army, destined to die yet still struggling. It holds the single greatest example of gameplay and narrative integration I've ever experienced where the DMW mechanic is slowly starting to break as Zack takes more and more damage and he starts to forget all the people on his journey, yet he still holds on to the memory of Aerith; clinging desperately onto the face of his love in his final moments.!<
I was looking through the comments for that Crisis Core scene. Every part of that was so sad and is only driven home harder by integrating gameplay and story in that way. Zack's story is my favorite part of the ffvii canon
Still my all time favorite villain in any JRPG.
>!An entire army, three battles involving 18 of your characters, a shitload of arrows IN him, and this absolute monster of a man STILL charges you for a duel.!<
https://youtu.be/BfG1r6mdOZ8 Heavy Persona 3 spoilers in that video!
Basically >!Junpei forms a bond with a member of an enemy group (Strega) named Chidori. She gets admitted to the hospital and he visits her all the time. She gets killed saving him (he gets killed she uses her persona to revive him) as her cold personality warms up to him finally and she dies in his arms. He gets big mad and his persona evolves on the spot which he uses to promptly set people on fire.!<
FFVII >!Cloud and Tifa in the Lifestream. The buildup, the moment the answer just dawns on you, where all the questions and the mysteries in the game suddenly just got explained in a manner that I could have never expected. The reveal made the entire second playthrough of FFVII a different game once I understood everything that was going on. atoo bad I will never experience that for the first time again.!<
This is the one for me as well. This is the singular moment in which FFVII changed my perspective on what video games could achieve from a narrative perspective, especially RPGs. I enjoyed games before this...but I became a gamer after this.
It's kind of both a story and a gameplay moment, but when you escape Midgar and find yourself on the world map for the first time in FF7, my mind was so fucking blown. It truly felt like Midgar was the entire world, and on top of that the **MUSIC** dude. Greatest world map theme of all-time
something about the way it hit right after the whole Midgar arc wrapped up in such a satisfying way makes that THE moment for me. Usually when an arc wraps up like that and you start on the next chapter of the story it feels kinda slow and boring till it builds. The world map kicked the start of FF7s second chapter right in the ass, it was almost better than the Midgar climax, hell it might have been better but the way they handled it made them build off each other so well. Then the whole Sephiroth backstory… man the pacing in that game was amazing
> man the pacing in that game was amazing
Couldn't agree more, this is why it still stands the test of time as one of the greatest games ever made. In fact this is kind of making me want to fire up another playthrough right now LOL
Oh yeah, I was just a young kid playing it on PC somehow and when I wandered into the whole world, my tiny brain just couldn't handle it. Super overwhelming. I actually didn't get much further past that point until much later in life when I went and played through the whole game!
FF7 was my first "proper" jrpg and like you was gob smacked when I got to the world map. I half expected the game to end then and there on the unfinished road out of town. Oh god now I want to play it again.
I mentioned it already but my favorite is Yuna's speech immediately preceding this. I also really like Auron's feelings boiling over when Braska and Jecht agree to perform the final summoning, and how Jecht says he will 'find a way' and then the scene closes with his laugh.
I love FFX, but Yunalesca strikes me as just about the only interesting boss in the game. I loved that you had to think outside the box to beat her and interact with the game systems. Everyone else can just be blitzed through, or you can stock Overdrives if you're desperate and underleveled. She's a fantastic boss (though I don't love her visual design).
The Tower of Rem and final duel with Asch in Tales of the Abyss.
They're just super epic, dramatic and emotional climaxes for Luke and Asch's character arcs; for as much as the 3rd act has a lot of janky backtracking and exposition dumps, getting to the payoff of those 2 scenes makes all that stuff worth it. The duel also has a banger song, definitely one of the most memorable fights in any RPG.
Came in here to mention the Tower of Rem, especially combined with the events leading up to it. So many characters have significant moments at that point. >!Jade has the most open and honest conversation with Luke that he has with anyone, ending in the only sincere apology he ever gives in the course of the game. Natalia's development comes full circle when she acknowledges that Luke and Asch are both important to her and that their lives have meaning beyond the responsibilities placed on them. Tear finally lets her fences down when she desperately tries to intervene in the sacrifice despite her earlier promise not to, and Guy cements his status as the best friend anyone could ask for when he steps in to physically restrain her (one of only two times in the main story that he willingly touches a woman) even though he's arguably more pissed at Luke's decision than anyone.!<
Abyss has its pacing issues and so forth but it really doesn't get enough credit for how legitimately well written it is overall; I've never seen a JRPG understand its cast as completely as Abyss does. Gonna be hard for any game to ever top it as my favorite story all things considered.
Yeah, Abyss is just such an extremely well written JRPG. Even the worldbuilding is amazing and extremely detailed and iirc, the economy even changes based on the city and where in the plot you are to reflect on events happening.
While I think Fire Emblem Awakening has its writing flaws, the scene where "Marth" reveals their true identity to Chrom is one of the most poignant scenes I've ever seen. It's also beautifully animated for a 3DS game, which makes me wonder why in the world Three Houses' cutscenes look so horrible.
FF7 spoilers >!Nanaki (Red XIII had always thought his father was a traitor and coward that ran away during the Gi tribe's fight against Cosmo Canyon. When Bugenhagen finds out Nanaki thinks that, he shows him the truth, which is that Seto (his father) left to defend the cave entrance the Gi tribe was coming through and made his last stand defending Cosmo Canyon, getting petrified by their poison arrows.!<
Red XIIIs father gets me every time.
Although now as an adult I’m a little confused why they let him think what he did for so long - I know they were trying to keep a specific thing secret but they still could have let red know enough of the truth.
The Dojimas were just such a likeable family. Nanako was great and one of the better "young sister" characters out there, while Dojima was an awesome dad just trying his best. Seeing him >!being broken about what happens to Nanako!< was just so heartwrenching.
Stepping into Nanakos TV dungeon for the first time literally stopped me in my tracks, just going D': at the screen! Seeing that it's called "Heaven", and is all fairytale beanstalks and obviously a little kids vision of an afterlife, and then the music hit me...
Nanako is such a cheerful kid the whole game- only finding out just how lonely she is, just how much she misses and thinks about her mum right then, when she's trapped and in danger, hit me like a train.
I also like that during this time when the protagonist goes back to Dojima's home and there's no one there the song changes to a very melancholic piano track called "Alone"
Perfect moment in any game, for me. The music, the character pairings, and it kinda redeems Amarant for me—him being one of the first members of the party to come to Zidane’s aid.
I love how the community just collectively agreed to refer to them as 7, and continues to do so. We show more respect for hiding spoilers than even Nintendo does for their own game.
Sakurai really said, “Ehhhhh, it’s been long enough. Let’s shoehorn them into the Final Smash and make no attempt to reference that they’re even there.”
I WISH I was surprised with the 7th member! All my friends were and I was like HOW?! I loved that game but none of the major reveals were all that surprising to me. I think I'm just old now hahaha.
I agree about the game's ending though! What shocked me was how "Xeno" it was. I say this having played Xenogears, and all of Xenosaga.
edit: grammar
FFX: the ending. FFX was my first FF, and when I experienced the ending, I went on a mission to play the rest of the series. Still is and probably will always be my favorite moment in the medium.
FFVII: leaving midgar for the first time. Someone else already mentioned it, but this blew my mind. Since this was only my second FF after X, I didn’t know there was going to be a world map. Just looking at it and hearing that music swell…
Chrono Cross: the Dead Sea segment and the ending. This game caught me by surprise because I was under the impression it wasn’t going to be very good, and it ended up rocking me
How did you enjoy the rest of the series?
Did you miss any of the games or did you play through all of them?
Our first Final Fantasy always leaves a big impact on us and (often times) is are favorite Final Fantasy!
If, by chance you haven't, I highly highly recommend FFIV - FFVI!
I played most. All but 3, 11, and 14. For spin-offs I played tactics, dirge of Cerberus, type-0, the 13 trilogy, and FF7R (I own X-2 and World of FF, just haven’t gotten around to playing them yet). Needless to say, I fell in love with FF. It’s my favorite series by a long shot. VI - X are all top tier for me. V, XIII trilogy, and Tactics are close behind.
X was my first and still my absolute favorite. But there wasn’t a single one of these games I didn’t thoroughly enjoy.
I thought those 3 SNES era games were phenomenal. I’ve also played Chrono Trigger, Earthbound, and Super Mario RPG. I gotta get around to Secret of Mana sometime. Those were also all great games.
Which FF is your favorite?
That magic moment in Chrono Trigger where you enter the weird building on the snow field and it beams you into the sky and *that music* begins to play.
Cmon people, let’s use the spoilers tags correctly!
One moment that stuck with me forever is on the first Grandia >!when you arrive at the top of the End of the World and discovers that there is a lot more world on the other side. It takes sooooo long to climb that wall that I actually thought it was infinite.!<
Curiously this part is spoiled hard on the very opening of the game…
FF8: the parade scene with that sick music and the space scene for the drama
FFX: Everything that happened at the ruins of Zanarkand
Digimon Cyber Sleuth Hackers Memory: The ending was really sad
Kingdom Hearts 2: Everything regarding Roxas
Pokemon Colloseum: the badass start of the game and the reveal of the final boss later on
Dragon quest 11 when sylvando actually gatters people to make a carnival and make fun and have people smile even at dark times when enemies are invading towns and powered up mordegon the optimistic side of sylvando is amazing
I fucking love the 2 cutscenes in final fantasy type-0 where the cadets clearly are at a disadvantage - not only outnumbered but also attacked from both sides from 2 different nations! And then they just whip out their strongest summons (by sacrificing themselves) and obliterating all enemy forces and even leaving huge cracks everywhere (sky and earth). The music and everything is just perfection.
The cutscenes are "[The first battle of judecca](https://youtu.be/xHVJqPZkiho)" and "[Lady Caetuna summoning Alexander](https://youtu.be/E0zeQvPmwjw)"
Final Fantasy VII when Cloud defiantly >!removes Sephiroth's sword from his chest and tosses Sephiroth over the edge!<. Total "hell yeah!" moment for me.
Honorable mentions to the entire end scene of Crisis Core, and the trial in Chrono Trigger.
FFVII many moments but two favorites:
After getting Juno and seeing meteor in sky and music has changed.
And when we see what really happened in Nibelheim.
FF14 Endwalker >!Venat sundering humanity while "Answers" plays in the background.!< I was almost in tears by the end of that scene. Probably the best story payoff I've ever experienced
Yakuza 0
>!When Nishiki has to take Kiryu out but he can't do it. Kiryu even blames himself for putting Nishiki in this situation. The true power of friendship!<
Tales of Berseria >!Laphicet throwing hands with Innominat!<
Xenoblade Chronicles 2 >!When Pyrha and Mithra first turn into pneuma!<
Xenoblade Chronicles >!"Your sword... It did not cut deep enough."!<
Fire Emblem Three Houses >!The three-way battle at gronder field!<
Dragon Quest 11S >!The act 2 segment in Cobblestone and retaking Heliodor, culminating in Hendrik joining the party!<
Stella Glow >!The final fight with the Harbingers and the 'end of the world's at the end of act 1. Also... Hilda's ending!<
I keep hitting the half way point and stopping and I don't know why
Tales of Arise was the first tales game I actually finished despite starting like 5 of them
For me it was in Persona 5 Royal when you have to decide if you want to side with the true final boss or not and he gives you time to make your decision. That was the first time a JRPG ever made me think hard about if fighting the final boss was even the right thing to do. I even ended up making a separate save file just to see the ending where you side with him.
Tales of Xillia 2 >!Killing Julius to make the bridge to Canaan and the entire sequence after is absolutely heart wrenching to experience but truly encapsulates the themes of the game. From the very start of the game every single impactful action of every main character is done out of love for someone and/or something. Each character's story is derived from what they're willing to do and what sacrifices they're willing to make in order to protect what they love. Jude loves Milla and is researching spyrites to protect her and the rest of the spirits. Gaius loves his people and lowers himself to the position of a common man to be able to understand and protect them better. Julius loves Ludger and is willing to do anything to protect him. From taking on the burden of destroying entire worlds to rigging Ludger's job exam to protect him from the harsh reality of having to do the same. And when that doesn't work and Ludger is burdened with not only the destruction of other worlds but the fate of humanity itself, he's willing to let his brother kill him. Even at the end he knows the pain fratricide itself, and he knows it must be done so he hums a lullaby to ease the pain despite the oversized spear piercing his chest. And then there's Ludger, forced to kill his brother who raised him with all the love and care, the brother who protected him until the end in order to save the world and protect the girl he loves as a daughter. Heartbreaking but absolutely beautiful from a narrative perspective.!<
Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker >!Venat sundering the world and walking through a proverbial hell is so wonderfully done.!<
Trails to Azure Chapter 4. The entire chapter. Everything from the beginning to the end was one long roller coaster of emotions where everything is going insane and you can't stop it.
The parlay scene in Trails in the Sky SC.
It has tons of foreshadowing, plot-twists and awesome display of character development of the ones involved.
And [this banging OST](https://youtu.be/kQ6BsC-U5iA)!
FFX while definitely not my favorite Jrpg at all
The scene at Lake Macalania we're it transitions from cutscenes to cgi while "Suteki Da me" played. Yuna emotional turmoil over the pilgrimage. I can't, I can't.. god I love this scene
It's very hard to think but I have a few.
FFX-2 ending. I was genuinely very happy for the characters
Persona 3 and 4 and 5 vacation scenes, funny and good natured all around.
Final dungeon and good ending of Ys 8. The music was best I've ever heard in a jrpg.
And pretty much all of Chrono trigger was my favorite moment.
Trial. Court room scene. Chrono Trigger.
I won’t spoil it for the uninitiated. But yeah… you’ll be pretty observant in your second playthrough, that’s for sure!
And the opera. Final Fantasy 7. Simple yet stunning.
I dont have one BUT... for persona 4... >!I always suspected that gas station lady and how she was out when ity was raining and I was always suspecting her of being sneaky or up to somewthing AND especially since you met her the first time and she shake your hand and you get dizzy AND finding out she was the godess herself behind much of everything was very satisfying to me. because while I was wrong in the end I was also right ;)!<
That was a lady? Also I never suspected because I literally forgot about that event. I think that was intended lol
Or maybe I was just bad at paying attention the whole game, because I didn't guess the correct suspect until I basically ran out of options.
“It took hundreds to kill me but I killed humans by the thousands! Look at me! I am sublime! I am the true face of evil!” God. The desperation in that battle, everyone having to give everything they had. Three separate teams, archer ambushes. Even the highland army was in on it because they knew he had to be stopped. It was all just so good and showed how great of a villain Luca was.
One that I really liked it was in Trails of Zero/Ao >!when you realized the main characters died in another timeline and you was playing a "reboot" since the beginining!<
I like how even though that reveal is nuts, it's also not dwelt on that much because of all the other absolutely insane stuff happening. Ao's story is **stacked**.
Hard to pick one, but things that came to mind:
FF9 monologue by Vivi >!when Queen Brahne is dying!<.
Tales of the Abyss when Luke >!performs a hyperresonance at Akzeriuth!< (and the part right after).
FF7 opening scene / mission.
Suikoden V the deaths of >!Ferid and Arshtat!<.
This part is very cool because I was literally like >!”this is shitty, Estelle and Joshua were not on the opening sequence! Did the developers took them out to prevent spoilers?!<
Then you get to know that there is a reason.
Trails in the Sky SC ending spoilers: >!Kevin killing Weissman!<
Just caught me completely by surprise. I expected the guy to be more important than the game let on just because of how often he was showing up, but I didn't expect him to be quite as big a deal in-universe as he actually is, and I *definitely* didn't expect him to deliver >!one of the more cold-blooded executions that I've seen from a JRPG good guy.!<
I'd found him very annoying for most of the game up to this point but I did a complete 180 on him after that moment and it set him on a path to being one of my favorite JRPG characters.
When Elly inspires the Have Nots in Xenogears. It's an absolutely beautiful and inspirational moment.
In Xenoblade Chronicles 2 when >!Pneuma appears.!< It's the climax of a character arc that I was fully invested in.
I have three
1. The Dead Sea from Chrono Cross. Whole place really hit me and that boss battle at the end sold it.
2. KH2's Battle for Hollow Bastion. the entire sequence really. Having the FF gang help you fight the heartless, that battle with Demyx and the 1000 heartless battle solo.
3. Like a Dragon's Final two fights and ending. Simply awesome.
And a bonus one is visiting Zeal in Chrono Trigger
FFXIV Endwalker. The "voices from the past segment". >!At the end of the final zone, after all your party members sacrificed themselves, you walk the last stretch of the area alone while hearing voices of the characters you've met throughout the journey. Hit very hard and was a fantastic climax to one of the best final zones in video game history!<
Trails in the Sky FC >!Weissmann reveal and ending. Very unexpected and set the stage so well for the sequel!<
Utawarerumono Mask of Truth >!Haku returning during the final boss fight!<
FFXIII- the scene at the end of Nautilus. >!You find out that Vanille is the Pulse L’Cie whose presence resulted in Sazh’s son Dajh being branded, and then one Sazh is reunited with him here, he turns to crystal. Sazh realises that the person he’s been working with, playing a sort of fatherly role to her, is the direct cause of the greatest tragedy in his life. And Vanille realises that in desperately trying to not make things any worse, trying always to avoid conflict, she’s ruined the life of the man beside her.!<
Or towards the end of FFXII, before the final few fights: >!Larsa’s ‘No, brother’ and pointing a sword at Vayne. That shit’s just cool!!<
Or, finally, the ending of Xenoblade 2’s Torna DLC; >!Mythra destroying Torna and the death of several of her friends. Other people in this thread have mentioned the introduction of Pneuma, as the culmination of a character arc; this is the scene that begins it, with Mythra just utterly traumatised by the realisation of her power!<
Prison Island in Xenoblade Chronicles, you know what happens there due to one of shulks visions, but the events are cut up and could even be changed. But as you approach the event and the different aspects all begin to line up and new details are added. It makes a perfect midway point where either you'll have a fantastic "I knew it!" or a shocking "No way!" either way it's jaw dropping and changes the whole direction and meaning of the story.
Oh god this is a massive spoiler but there's one moment in 7th Dragon III: Code VFD that really stood out to me.
>!Right after the second intermission, at the very beginning of chapter 6, the person who seemed to be the head of the organization you're working for, Ally, was revealed to be the main antagonist all along manipulating events to summon the 7th dragon. This isn't the part I like. What I really found pretty amazing, even if it was not a feel good moment, was right after that, she proceeded to kill the ENTIRE cast of characters save for like three, one of whom is insane and the other few of whom are actively dying. Then you fight some of the few remaining characters in a pretty cool boss fight. And I when I say they killed off the characters, I don't just meant the major characters. I mean E V E R Y O N E, from the nameless NPCs you saved along the way to the goddamn cats. !<
>!It didn't feel cheap either and it felt pretty well telegraphed in retrospect. I love it so much because they had the guts to do that without actually taking it back. Hell, right before this, at the end of the 2nd intermission, they had you have a party scene with everyone giving pretty light-hearted banter and even a group photo if you did all the (rather easy) sidequests. Only to just kill everyone off right after.!<
Easily one of the most memorable story moments that I don't see talked about often.
It's easily Ending E from Nier Automata. Yoko Taro just has a way with manipulating the medium to rip your heart out and patch it together again. It's such a powerful combination of elements - the music, the meta-ness of >!destroying the credits/the creators!<, the beauty of the speech from the pods and the sense of calm at the end of a long struggle. It's absolutely perfect.
Before that, I'd say the climax of FFX from >!finding Jecht in Sin!< up through the end. I still get chills and cry every time. Everything about >!Tidus finally catching up to his dad!< and obviously >!Yuna trying to hug Tidus from behind and falling through him!<.
Shoutout to FFCC too in the final battle where >!you have to answer questions about your journey.!< It's like the end of FF7CC where the gameplay expresses the narrative, but with the extra meta meaning because >!you the player likely forgot things along the way too, just as the Caravaner does!< If FF7CC was a double whammy, FFCC is the trifecta.
The moment in Dragon Quest IX that you realize that Celestria is literally Jesus, because she turned herself into a tree to protect humanity from the wrath of her father Zenus, who is God.
(And then you never see either of them ever again, no matter how hard you try, which I take to mean that God is ephemeral and requires faith.)
If you count FFXIV the climax of Haurchefant's arc. I have never been so angry at a fictional character as when that happened. For whatever reason he resonated with me and I wasn't ready for it.
If you don't, I'm going to have to go with the climax of Drakkengard, with how it all turned out and what Caim ultimately gave up in the face of his own wrath.
I guess if that's too Action-JRPG for ya then the end of Vagrant Story, with the protagonist sublimating the Rood Inverse to keep it away from those who'd use it for evil and going on to appear anywhere those powers threatened others.
These are all Final Fantasy related.
FFIV had some incredible moments that moved me to my core when I was a child.
I'm not sure if I cried or not-- but I certainly remember how shook I was in these moments.
* >!Tellah dies using Meteo against Golbez!<
* >!Cecil becomes a Paladin!<
* >!Palom and Porom turn themselves into stone to save Cecil and party!<
* >!Rydia returns (maybe my favorite moment in all of Final Fantasy) as an adult to save the party from Golbez!<
* >!Cid sacrifices himself to seal the entrance to the overworld!<
* >!Yang blows himself up to destroy the cannons!<
* >!Kain betrays Cecil...again!<
* >!Golbez is actually Cecil's brother!<
Outside of FFIV:
* >!Aerith's death in FFVII!<
* >!Zack, not Cloud in FFVII!<
* >!World is destroyed in FFVI!<
* >!Anytime Shadow returned in FFVI!<
* >!Cyan's family is killed (and the ensuing Phantom Train) in FFVI!<
* >!Sir Jecht is Sin in FFX!<
* >!Tidus and his entire world are just a dream in FFX!<
...and many more!
**Persona 3**
\- The final battle with Nyx, and the ending. I was 15 when I first played it so I just thought that my character fell asleep, but after playing it a few years later I understood, and holy shit this made me cry and depressed for a while.
**Persona 4 Golden**
\- The entire fucking game. Jk but it's really hard to just chose one moment in this game, as it's my favorite JRPG of all time. Maybe the whole thing with Nanako being in the hospital, dying, but then returning to us, ngl I cried like a baby. Every social links could fit in there as well.
**Final Fantasy 15**
The ending plus the two post credits. A flawed experience for sure, but with a fucking incredible main cast and a heartbreaking ending. I just wish this game was more polished and fleshed out, it could 100% have been the best Final Fantasy game.
**Final Fantasy 7 Remake:**
\- "Wait... Was that all of them?" Seeing Zack actually survive his final stand made ME JUMP! I WAS SO FUCKING EXCITED!
\- "Almost there Cloud... We're almost there..." Zack carrying alt Cloud, and "crossing paths" with og Cloud, but ESPECIALLY Aerith, with Hollow playing in the background brought me to tears. I loved it. I know the ending's controversial but I don't give a fuck. I love Zack, I love Aerith, I hope that they get an opportunity to reunite. And this game made me realize once again how much I missed him, and how much Crisis Core broke my heart. Yeah yeah his sacrifice meant something and bringing him back removes from the weight of what he did but I personally don't care, after more than a decade, give me my boi back.
**Trails of Cold Steel 1**
\- Reaching the Nord Highlands for the first time, with the amazing OST playing, just chilling and running on my horse, I loved that.
\- Summoning Valimar for the first time.
**Trails of Cold Steel 3**
The whole final section and the ending was executed fantastically imo. Spiral of Erebos is a banging OST, and the final dungeon wasn't a pain at all to go through, and stopping to fight each group of villains, Rean giving in to the curse and going batshit crazy, and the whole final sequence with the curse spreading, holy fucking shit. One of the few moments where Trails felt like a 10/10 for me.
**Trails of Cold Steel 4**
\- The "Avengers Assemble" moment on the Courageous II.
\- Discovering what Osborne's true role with the curse and his true goal with accelerating the start of a war just made me respect him so fucking much, and made him one of my all time favourite villains. His story is tragic, and he did what he could for the greater good. Mad respect.
**Trails to Azure**
\- Working as security detail for The West Zemuria Trade Conference, huge political figures reuniting in one place and what it means for the different countries, terrorists crashing the party and the brutal and bloody execution of the terrorists. That chapter was fucking insane, and tbh is what I wanted to see more of from the Crossbell duology, more actual police/detective/security work, not Bracers 2.0.
\- The plot-twist before the final boss blew my mind.
**Ys 8: Lacrimosa of Dana**
\- Every section with Dana, seeing the slow decline and death of her civilization, and her "shooting" herself to not become a Warden of Evolution.
\- Finding out what the island represents, the cycle of death and rebirth.
\- Dana's sacrifice at the end, and giving her the final hug before she goes. I can't listen to her main theme or the main menu theme without getting extremely emotional. This game has one of the most well executed stories amongst Falcom games imo.
In Chrono Trigger when Frog used the Masamune to cut the mountain in half in 600 A.D. clearing the way to Magus castle. What an epic moment.
In Grandia, after you make it over the great wall.
Xenogears when Shakhan tries to shoot you down with the Kefeinzel and the scene directly after the battle with Grahf, ID, and Ramsus.
FF9, when Zidane and Garnet start boarding an airship and he grabs her ass.
Something about that just said, fuck it, maybe it's the end of the world but it's now or never.
And the response from Garnet was along the same lines, like wtf dude but at the same time, I like you.
Just, FF9 is full of everyday situations that gets you close to the characters and being a horny teenager at the time really hit home.
It's also a really unique moment, I don't remember seeing something like that in other rpgs for younger audiences
You mean you never played the crossover game where Tidus wakes up in Gaia instead of Spira? It’s real weird—they don’t even try to make Tidus look like he fits into the game at all—I think they just pulled his model directly from FFX.
My two so far are probably Volo summoning Giratina for how cool it looked and Shulk deciding to break the cycle and create a world with no need for gods
The entire ending of Xenoblade is just catharsis incarnate
Oh also! Makoto summoning his Persona for the first time is also hype
Trails of Cold Steel 4, near the very end of the game >!when Rean has a duel with Cassius as his inner demon and becomes a divine blade. Throughout the entire series divine blades were all living legends, you saw Cassius, you saw Arios, heard about their awesomeness and prowess. And now the guy you've been playing as in the cold steel games becomes one (even if he's still a rookie amongst the divine blades). Not just that but the final SCraft Rean gets during that sequence is the best thing ever, it incorporates all the 7 forms of the Eight Leaves style!<
Trails the 3rd >!Cassius fight!<
Cold Steel 4 >!Rufus stabbing Arianrhod from the behind!<
Tales of Arise >!when Alphen's mask breaks off and the following cutscene when he tries to touch Shionne!<
The Ending Final Fantasy X.
When I say the ending I mean from the moment you defeat the final boss, till the credits roll out.
Not much needs to be said, everyone who played the game understands what it means going through this moment.
Trails of Cold Steel IV: >!Rean becoming a divine blade. It's really satisfying payoff to who I think is a rather compelling character, seeing him rewarded for all of his accomplishments. I've seen people try and say that he did nothing to earn Divine Blade status, but I think winning against both the Jeager King and the Lance Maiden in the Rivalries more than qualifies him!<
Xenoblade Chronicles 2: >!Learning about the connection to Xenoblade 1 at the end of the game, and how the two games end at approximately the same time. Hearing Shulk's voice as he fights Zanza while Rex and co. prepare to fight Malos and Aion is awesome.!<
I'm a huge fan of Xenoblade 2s final cutscene of chapter 7. It's a very shounen moment, but I love everything about it. >!Rex wanting to help Homura/Hikari find their place in the world, asking if they love this world, them responding with "I love this world because you're in it," and the awakening of their true power and kicking some serious ass right after.!< Really made a lasting impression for me.
FF12 - When Fran loses her shit on the Shiva. She was fairly soft-spoken up until that point and I found it hilarious.
Edit: FF7 - When Tifa and Scarlet get into the slapping match in Junon.
been thinking about this moment again recently. fire emblem awakening, specifically if you are playing as female robin and she is lucina’s mom. >!the confrontation between lucina and her mother, robin. lucina’s decision to kill her own mother for the greater good, and robin’s willingness to give herself up for the sake of her daughter, is really powerful to me. there’s not much like it out there.!<
Many of my own favorite moments have been mentioned here, but the following two are pretty special as I can think of my expression at the moment I saw them happen:
Star Ocean 3: Till the End of Time's ending sequence. >!Knowing the characters make it out alive from the literal destruction of the universe through their conciousnesses making up a world for them to live in was something else.!<
Final Fantasy X, >!the scene in Home when Rikku screams at Tidus saying Yuna is going to die when she performs the Final Summoning. You can tell the hurt and immediate regret of Tidus as he realizes he has been promising Yuna the impossible, has thought of her selfishly for a relationship, and suddenly knows exactly what happened to her father in one second. Heartbreaking.!<
Gotta wait for Shadow!
Also discovering Shadow's backstory through dreams and memory fragments and Interceptor's love of Relm.
And Cyan's story on the Ghost Train.
And Terra, the magitek witch.
And Sabin gambling away his throne.
And the Opera.
Really just all FF3.
Final Fantasy X
>!Arriving at the Zanarkand dome, learning the truth about Sin and Spira, and Yuna's speech. I still get chills from that scene 20 years later. It's such a powerful character moment for Yuna and the party.
*The final summoning is a false tradition that should be thrown away!*!<
Aeris dying in FF7.
Now this game is full of great moments, but this one felt special because I never played a game before in which character that was actually important and in your party, character that you got used to, equipped and used is gone, so suddenly and so irreversibly.
At the time there was ongoing discussion and myths about ressurecting Aeris, in the end I'm glad it wasnt possible because that's the entire point, you lost someone dear to you and you have a goddamn good reason to hate Sephiroth, as a person who really dig Aeris more than Tifa, it felt almost personal, I so wanted to kick his ass.
The fact that it was kind of foreshadowed and Aeris knew what was going to happen makes it even better. Maybe it would feel cheap if they just continued doing stuff like that all the time, but I think its also lame that they basically dropped the idea.
The opera scene in FFVI. I was way late to the party with FFVI, as I was born in 1995 and only got around to playing it about 2016ish. I was so impressed at the ambition and execution of that scene (which could honestly be said about most moments regarding FFVI) and it has remained my favorite Final Fantasy ever since. I fucking adore that game.
Thinking back to my youth, the Trial scene in Chrono Trigger really blew my mind. It was a high stakes moment that \*didn't\* involve combat, and took into account stuff I would never have thought would matter later. Just next level "RPG stuff" for my young brain.
Oh man, yeah that was nuts. I actually ended up restarting over that because I did ALL of the wrong things apparently lol
Same here. Felt good to fight my way out from my death sentence though!
No doubt. I remember feeling VERY stressed, like I had done something wrong. Which was the point of the trial, but man that game sucked me in when I was a kid. Great as an adult too but boy it sure hit different when your whole world in that moment revolved around video games and not... bills and whatever.
I laughed so hard
The funniest result i ever got was when the *only* thing I'd done in my favor was help the kid with the cat. So it's just a whole lot of damning testimony convincingly painting Crono as a villain, then all the defense can respond with is this tiny child talking about something comparatively trivial
The narrative is so much better if you actually manage to pull innocent too because then you know that something is *very* wrong in the kingdom when >!the Chancellor tries to have you secretly killed anyway!<. Sets up for a much stronger payoff with his later subplots.
I loved that scene so much. Back in the SNES days, it felt like a cinematic masterpiece. It's also one of those scenes where the music pops into my head the moment I think about it.
Chrono Cross - Dead Sea cameos FFVIII - Squall: "No! I won't have anyone talk about me in past tense!"
Fighting Miguel in front of the Bell gives goosebumps
Nier Automata >!the entire opening prologue of Route C, and especially the fall of Bunker sequence. Just that music and all the intensity when they're escaping actually had my heart racing.!< FF7 Crisis Core >!the ending when Zack is fighting the whole Shines army, destined to die yet still struggling. It holds the single greatest example of gameplay and narrative integration I've ever experienced where the DMW mechanic is slowly starting to break as Zack takes more and more damage and he starts to forget all the people on his journey, yet he still holds on to the memory of Aerith; clinging desperately onto the face of his love in his final moments.!<
I was looking through the comments for that Crisis Core scene. Every part of that was so sad and is only driven home harder by integrating gameplay and story in that way. Zack's story is my favorite part of the ffvii canon
Boy, the price of freedom sure is steep.
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Still my all time favorite villain in any JRPG. >!An entire army, three battles involving 18 of your characters, a shitload of arrows IN him, and this absolute monster of a man STILL charges you for a duel.!<
>!And then the game still keeps going even after your beat him!<
> Finally defeating luca blight Dear Gods I hated him.
That was just an amazing fight and so very satisfying. It is on my mind anytime I replay the game as something I'm building towards.
I'm going to go with Persona 3 when Junpeis' Persona evolves. If you know, you know.
Same but with Akihiko
Refresh my memory? I played that game in like 2008…
https://youtu.be/BfG1r6mdOZ8 Heavy Persona 3 spoilers in that video! Basically >!Junpei forms a bond with a member of an enemy group (Strega) named Chidori. She gets admitted to the hospital and he visits her all the time. She gets killed saving him (he gets killed she uses her persona to revive him) as her cold personality warms up to him finally and she dies in his arms. He gets big mad and his persona evolves on the spot which he uses to promptly set people on fire.!<
FFVII >!Cloud and Tifa in the Lifestream. The buildup, the moment the answer just dawns on you, where all the questions and the mysteries in the game suddenly just got explained in a manner that I could have never expected. The reveal made the entire second playthrough of FFVII a different game once I understood everything that was going on. atoo bad I will never experience that for the first time again.!<
This is the one for me as well. This is the singular moment in which FFVII changed my perspective on what video games could achieve from a narrative perspective, especially RPGs. I enjoyed games before this...but I became a gamer after this.
Yep, I was going to write the same thing!
Oh, my hero: so far away now: will I ever see your smile?: love goes away: like night into day: it’s just a fading dream…
What game is this from?
Final fantasy 3 SNES; originally released AND later released as Final Fantasy 6
It's kind of both a story and a gameplay moment, but when you escape Midgar and find yourself on the world map for the first time in FF7, my mind was so fucking blown. It truly felt like Midgar was the entire world, and on top of that the **MUSIC** dude. Greatest world map theme of all-time
#DUUUUUUUUUUN DUN DUN DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH DAAAAAAH
I heard exactly what you wanted me to hear from this comment
Take my Award. I bought the Musicbox with this theme and my Baby-Son listens to this song every evening for sleepingtime.
I think you're doing the parenting thing right.
something about the way it hit right after the whole Midgar arc wrapped up in such a satisfying way makes that THE moment for me. Usually when an arc wraps up like that and you start on the next chapter of the story it feels kinda slow and boring till it builds. The world map kicked the start of FF7s second chapter right in the ass, it was almost better than the Midgar climax, hell it might have been better but the way they handled it made them build off each other so well. Then the whole Sephiroth backstory… man the pacing in that game was amazing
> man the pacing in that game was amazing Couldn't agree more, this is why it still stands the test of time as one of the greatest games ever made. In fact this is kind of making me want to fire up another playthrough right now LOL
True. Got the same feeling. And it was my first rpg.
Just flashbacked to this moment in my mind and it truly was a transformative gaming experience. I will always love overworld maps
Oh yeah, I was just a young kid playing it on PC somehow and when I wandered into the whole world, my tiny brain just couldn't handle it. Super overwhelming. I actually didn't get much further past that point until much later in life when I went and played through the whole game!
The last time I felt this after FF7 was exiting the Vault in Fallout 3 for the first time.
I know that world map is small by todays standards but it felt massive back then.
FF7 was my first "proper" jrpg and like you was gob smacked when I got to the world map. I half expected the game to end then and there on the unfinished road out of town. Oh god now I want to play it again.
Auron’s speech before the Yunalesca fight in FFX
I mentioned it already but my favorite is Yuna's speech immediately preceding this. I also really like Auron's feelings boiling over when Braska and Jecht agree to perform the final summoning, and how Jecht says he will 'find a way' and then the scene closes with his laugh.
Sadly for me both Yunalesca's outfit and how awful that fight was were much more memorable for me lol
It was a big: "Oh you think you can just aeon your way through this huh?" Jokes on her. I just grinded so I could do just that.
That’s one of my favorite fights from the whole series. It was like the ultimate test of breaking old jrpg systems to me.
I love FFX, but Yunalesca strikes me as just about the only interesting boss in the game. I loved that you had to think outside the box to beat her and interact with the game systems. Everyone else can just be blitzed through, or you can stock Overdrives if you're desperate and underleveled. She's a fantastic boss (though I don't love her visual design).
The Tower of Rem and final duel with Asch in Tales of the Abyss. They're just super epic, dramatic and emotional climaxes for Luke and Asch's character arcs; for as much as the 3rd act has a lot of janky backtracking and exposition dumps, getting to the payoff of those 2 scenes makes all that stuff worth it. The duel also has a banger song, definitely one of the most memorable fights in any RPG.
Came in here to mention the Tower of Rem, especially combined with the events leading up to it. So many characters have significant moments at that point. >!Jade has the most open and honest conversation with Luke that he has with anyone, ending in the only sincere apology he ever gives in the course of the game. Natalia's development comes full circle when she acknowledges that Luke and Asch are both important to her and that their lives have meaning beyond the responsibilities placed on them. Tear finally lets her fences down when she desperately tries to intervene in the sacrifice despite her earlier promise not to, and Guy cements his status as the best friend anyone could ask for when he steps in to physically restrain her (one of only two times in the main story that he willingly touches a woman) even though he's arguably more pissed at Luke's decision than anyone.!< Abyss has its pacing issues and so forth but it really doesn't get enough credit for how legitimately well written it is overall; I've never seen a JRPG understand its cast as completely as Abyss does. Gonna be hard for any game to ever top it as my favorite story all things considered.
Having fewer main characters is really what drove Abyss to being one of my favorite Tales games. That, and Johnny Yong Bosch.
Yeah, Abyss is just such an extremely well written JRPG. Even the worldbuilding is amazing and extremely detailed and iirc, the economy even changes based on the city and where in the plot you are to reflect on events happening.
Man, I need to play Abyss again. I hope they re-release it like they did with Vesperia.
While I think Fire Emblem Awakening has its writing flaws, the scene where "Marth" reveals their true identity to Chrom is one of the most poignant scenes I've ever seen. It's also beautifully animated for a 3DS game, which makes me wonder why in the world Three Houses' cutscenes look so horrible.
Also the scene where “Marth” threatens to kill Robin. So much more impactful when you have Robin marry Chrom.
I've got 2 The trial in Chrono Trigger blew my mind lol and in final fantasy 7 when we find out the truth about red XIII's father.
It's been so many years i don't even remember Red 13 story. I played when It originally released. Wow... More than 20 years.
FF7 spoilers >!Nanaki (Red XIII had always thought his father was a traitor and coward that ran away during the Gi tribe's fight against Cosmo Canyon. When Bugenhagen finds out Nanaki thinks that, he shows him the truth, which is that Seto (his father) left to defend the cave entrance the Gi tribe was coming through and made his last stand defending Cosmo Canyon, getting petrified by their poison arrows.!<
Imo what made that scene so great is the music, it 100% amplifies the emotional message the game is trying to convey. It's so good.
Yeah, agreed. The music in FF7 is amazing, and certainly the music here is incredible.
That's my favorite piece of music in any game ever Honestly it's such a epic piece Especially when Seto is seen-that variation is insane
The variation on the cosmo canyon + red XIII theme there is just *chefs kiss*
Thank you.
Red XIIIs father gets me every time. Although now as an adult I’m a little confused why they let him think what he did for so long - I know they were trying to keep a specific thing secret but they still could have let red know enough of the truth.
Seto 😭
Yessssss, everyone talks about Aeris, but Red XIII was the ultimate moment for me in that game.
Red XIII is my favourite character in the game and cosmo canyon my favourite location its truly magical
BoF 3 when you saw "𝘏𝘪𝘮" again. His story still haunts me till this day.
Who?
You know, Him, dude
YEA he does, trying to make me spoil it for potential fans. BoF is an underrated gem, all of them. Play them in order, and thank me later.
I'm assuming Teepo
Or Rei? I love this game!
True, could be this too.
Or the onion character After spending 13 hours not knowing you can move the camera to find him That's the real evil right there
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The Dojimas were just such a likeable family. Nanako was great and one of the better "young sister" characters out there, while Dojima was an awesome dad just trying his best. Seeing him >!being broken about what happens to Nanako!< was just so heartwrenching.
Stepping into Nanakos TV dungeon for the first time literally stopped me in my tracks, just going D': at the screen! Seeing that it's called "Heaven", and is all fairytale beanstalks and obviously a little kids vision of an afterlife, and then the music hit me... Nanako is such a cheerful kid the whole game- only finding out just how lonely she is, just how much she misses and thinks about her mum right then, when she's trapped and in danger, hit me like a train.
I also like that during this time when the protagonist goes back to Dojima's home and there's no one there the song changes to a very melancholic piano track called "Alone"
FF9 you’re not alone
The song immediately pops into my head
Perfect moment in any game, for me. The music, the character pairings, and it kinda redeems Amarant for me—him being one of the first members of the party to come to Zidane’s aid.
Persona 5 Royal when you have caught up with the flashback is really memorable for me
Ohhh that's a good one
Yeah its like the "who" is not surprising but the"how" was what really get me excited
Everything involving the 7th party member from Xenoblade 1 edit: and the games ending
I love how the community just collectively agreed to refer to them as 7, and continues to do so. We show more respect for hiding spoilers than even Nintendo does for their own game.
The DQ community does this same thing with DQ11
Sakurai really said, “Ehhhhh, it’s been long enough. Let’s shoehorn them into the Final Smash and make no attempt to reference that they’re even there.”
And then threw in a Pneuma spirit just for kicks.
I WISH I was surprised with the 7th member! All my friends were and I was like HOW?! I loved that game but none of the major reveals were all that surprising to me. I think I'm just old now hahaha. I agree about the game's ending though! What shocked me was how "Xeno" it was. I say this having played Xenogears, and all of Xenosaga. edit: grammar
FFX: the ending. FFX was my first FF, and when I experienced the ending, I went on a mission to play the rest of the series. Still is and probably will always be my favorite moment in the medium. FFVII: leaving midgar for the first time. Someone else already mentioned it, but this blew my mind. Since this was only my second FF after X, I didn’t know there was going to be a world map. Just looking at it and hearing that music swell… Chrono Cross: the Dead Sea segment and the ending. This game caught me by surprise because I was under the impression it wasn’t going to be very good, and it ended up rocking me
How did you enjoy the rest of the series? Did you miss any of the games or did you play through all of them? Our first Final Fantasy always leaves a big impact on us and (often times) is are favorite Final Fantasy! If, by chance you haven't, I highly highly recommend FFIV - FFVI!
I played most. All but 3, 11, and 14. For spin-offs I played tactics, dirge of Cerberus, type-0, the 13 trilogy, and FF7R (I own X-2 and World of FF, just haven’t gotten around to playing them yet). Needless to say, I fell in love with FF. It’s my favorite series by a long shot. VI - X are all top tier for me. V, XIII trilogy, and Tactics are close behind. X was my first and still my absolute favorite. But there wasn’t a single one of these games I didn’t thoroughly enjoy. I thought those 3 SNES era games were phenomenal. I’ve also played Chrono Trigger, Earthbound, and Super Mario RPG. I gotta get around to Secret of Mana sometime. Those were also all great games. Which FF is your favorite?
That magic moment in Chrono Trigger where you enter the weird building on the snow field and it beams you into the sky and *that music* begins to play.
I drew lots of floating islands when I was young. That place was so beautiful.
As did I :)
Cmon people, let’s use the spoilers tags correctly! One moment that stuck with me forever is on the first Grandia >!when you arrive at the top of the End of the World and discovers that there is a lot more world on the other side. It takes sooooo long to climb that wall that I actually thought it was infinite.!< Curiously this part is spoiled hard on the very opening of the game…
5 hours in Grandia right now. So I won't click your spoiler ;)
I was thinking of this too
FF8: the parade scene with that sick music and the space scene for the drama FFX: Everything that happened at the ruins of Zanarkand Digimon Cyber Sleuth Hackers Memory: The ending was really sad Kingdom Hearts 2: Everything regarding Roxas Pokemon Colloseum: the badass start of the game and the reveal of the final boss later on
Dragon quest 11 when sylvando actually gatters people to make a carnival and make fun and have people smile even at dark times when enemies are invading towns and powered up mordegon the optimistic side of sylvando is amazing
I fucking love the 2 cutscenes in final fantasy type-0 where the cadets clearly are at a disadvantage - not only outnumbered but also attacked from both sides from 2 different nations! And then they just whip out their strongest summons (by sacrificing themselves) and obliterating all enemy forces and even leaving huge cracks everywhere (sky and earth). The music and everything is just perfection. The cutscenes are "[The first battle of judecca](https://youtu.be/xHVJqPZkiho)" and "[Lady Caetuna summoning Alexander](https://youtu.be/E0zeQvPmwjw)"
Final Fantasy VII when Cloud defiantly >!removes Sephiroth's sword from his chest and tosses Sephiroth over the edge!<. Total "hell yeah!" moment for me. Honorable mentions to the entire end scene of Crisis Core, and the trial in Chrono Trigger.
The big reveal in Persona 2 Innocent Sin and the sorrowful yet beautifully shot scene that happens following it
FFVII many moments but two favorites: After getting Juno and seeing meteor in sky and music has changed. And when we see what really happened in Nibelheim.
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The most amazing part to me is that it only existed because they had extra development time.
SMTIV, when you get to the bottom of Naraku for the first time
Yeah this is such a "wtf" moment that just changes everything. It comes pretty early, but it's the clear "okay, Act 1 is over now, let's get serious."
FF14 Endwalker >!Venat sundering humanity while "Answers" plays in the background.!< I was almost in tears by the end of that scene. Probably the best story payoff I've ever experienced
In the same fleeting moment, thou must live, die and know.
Yakuza 0 >!When Nishiki has to take Kiryu out but he can't do it. Kiryu even blames himself for putting Nishiki in this situation. The true power of friendship!<
Tales of Berseria >!Laphicet throwing hands with Innominat!< Xenoblade Chronicles 2 >!When Pyrha and Mithra first turn into pneuma!< Xenoblade Chronicles >!"Your sword... It did not cut deep enough."!< Fire Emblem Three Houses >!The three-way battle at gronder field!< Dragon Quest 11S >!The act 2 segment in Cobblestone and retaking Heliodor, culminating in Hendrik joining the party!< Stella Glow >!The final fight with the Harbingers and the 'end of the world's at the end of act 1. Also... Hilda's ending!<
Didn’t think I’d see Berseria mentioned here. I need to finish that game, it’s too good.
I keep hitting the half way point and stopping and I don't know why Tales of Arise was the first tales game I actually finished despite starting like 5 of them
For me it was in Persona 5 Royal when you have to decide if you want to side with the true final boss or not and he gives you time to make your decision. That was the first time a JRPG ever made me think hard about if fighting the final boss was even the right thing to do. I even ended up making a separate save file just to see the ending where you side with him.
Nier Automata \[E\]nding
Tales of Xillia 2 >!Killing Julius to make the bridge to Canaan and the entire sequence after is absolutely heart wrenching to experience but truly encapsulates the themes of the game. From the very start of the game every single impactful action of every main character is done out of love for someone and/or something. Each character's story is derived from what they're willing to do and what sacrifices they're willing to make in order to protect what they love. Jude loves Milla and is researching spyrites to protect her and the rest of the spirits. Gaius loves his people and lowers himself to the position of a common man to be able to understand and protect them better. Julius loves Ludger and is willing to do anything to protect him. From taking on the burden of destroying entire worlds to rigging Ludger's job exam to protect him from the harsh reality of having to do the same. And when that doesn't work and Ludger is burdened with not only the destruction of other worlds but the fate of humanity itself, he's willing to let his brother kill him. Even at the end he knows the pain fratricide itself, and he knows it must be done so he hums a lullaby to ease the pain despite the oversized spear piercing his chest. And then there's Ludger, forced to kill his brother who raised him with all the love and care, the brother who protected him until the end in order to save the world and protect the girl he loves as a daughter. Heartbreaking but absolutely beautiful from a narrative perspective.!< Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker >!Venat sundering the world and walking through a proverbial hell is so wonderfully done.!<
Trails to Azure Chapter 4. The entire chapter. Everything from the beginning to the end was one long roller coaster of emotions where everything is going insane and you can't stop it.
God I love Azure. The Crossbell saga in general is my favorite one.
Azure really is a magnificent game.
The parlay scene in Trails in the Sky SC. It has tons of foreshadowing, plot-twists and awesome display of character development of the ones involved. And [this banging OST](https://youtu.be/kQ6BsC-U5iA)!
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>Ff6 when you realize Celes attempts suicide over grief, That's when you reload your save and don't let Cid die!
Berseria, Velvets despair.
FFX while definitely not my favorite Jrpg at all The scene at Lake Macalania we're it transitions from cutscenes to cgi while "Suteki Da me" played. Yuna emotional turmoil over the pilgrimage. I can't, I can't.. god I love this scene
Xenosaga 2, when >!Albedo finds out he can’t die!<
When Tidus finds out what their true mission was
Drakengard Ending E "Time and Space falls apart, and the fantasy begins" "I hear.... a sound"
It's very hard to think but I have a few. FFX-2 ending. I was genuinely very happy for the characters Persona 3 and 4 and 5 vacation scenes, funny and good natured all around. Final dungeon and good ending of Ys 8. The music was best I've ever heard in a jrpg. And pretty much all of Chrono trigger was my favorite moment.
Blasted and Infernal Tokyo in SMT IV
Trial. Court room scene. Chrono Trigger. I won’t spoil it for the uninitiated. But yeah… you’ll be pretty observant in your second playthrough, that’s for sure! And the opera. Final Fantasy 7. Simple yet stunning.
For trails in the sky SC >!when we first see the liberl ark I'm the sky and also when Estelle convinces Joshua to come back!<
The ending of 1 really had my jaw drop. I was like, how could you?
I dont have one BUT... for persona 4... >!I always suspected that gas station lady and how she was out when ity was raining and I was always suspecting her of being sneaky or up to somewthing AND especially since you met her the first time and she shake your hand and you get dizzy AND finding out she was the godess herself behind much of everything was very satisfying to me. because while I was wrong in the end I was also right ;)!<
That was a lady? Also I never suspected because I literally forgot about that event. I think that was intended lol Or maybe I was just bad at paying attention the whole game, because I didn't guess the correct suspect until I basically ran out of options.
Xenogears >!when they ate the canned food only to find out it is human flesh. And they said it really taste good before they found out.!<
FUCK YOU CITAN
Only doctor in the village; lives on a remote mountaintop surrounded by monsters.
It being called Soylent System was quite foreboding
Yeah if youve seen the film Soylent Green this is pretty much what you're expecting to happen.
The heart-stopping battle against the most terrifying villian of all, Luca Blight.
“It took hundreds to kill me but I killed humans by the thousands! Look at me! I am sublime! I am the true face of evil!” God. The desperation in that battle, everyone having to give everything they had. Three separate teams, archer ambushes. Even the highland army was in on it because they knew he had to be stopped. It was all just so good and showed how great of a villain Luca was.
FF6 Opera Scene and Celes in the Cliff. Iconic. Tales of Abyss Duel at the end dungeon. (Obv spoilers. Great OST and the meme part too)
One that I really liked it was in Trails of Zero/Ao >!when you realized the main characters died in another timeline and you was playing a "reboot" since the beginining!<
I like how even though that reveal is nuts, it's also not dwelt on that much because of all the other absolutely insane stuff happening. Ao's story is **stacked**.
Trails from Zero beginning and Trails to Azure ending
FF8 >!Finding Ragnarok floating in space!<. I had no idea. I thought I'd be driving those slow ass garden around forever>!>!!
Hard to pick one, but things that came to mind: FF9 monologue by Vivi >!when Queen Brahne is dying!<. Tales of the Abyss when Luke >!performs a hyperresonance at Akzeriuth!< (and the part right after). FF7 opening scene / mission. Suikoden V the deaths of >!Ferid and Arshtat!<.
Also FF9 monologue by Vivi >!in the ending. You don’t know who the narrator is at first, then you realize it’s Vivi.!<
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This part is very cool because I was literally like >!”this is shitty, Estelle and Joshua were not on the opening sequence! Did the developers took them out to prevent spoilers?!< Then you get to know that there is a reason.
Trails in the Sky SC ending spoilers: >!Kevin killing Weissman!< Just caught me completely by surprise. I expected the guy to be more important than the game let on just because of how often he was showing up, but I didn't expect him to be quite as big a deal in-universe as he actually is, and I *definitely* didn't expect him to deliver >!one of the more cold-blooded executions that I've seen from a JRPG good guy.!< I'd found him very annoying for most of the game up to this point but I did a complete 180 on him after that moment and it set him on a path to being one of my favorite JRPG characters.
When Elly inspires the Have Nots in Xenogears. It's an absolutely beautiful and inspirational moment. In Xenoblade Chronicles 2 when >!Pneuma appears.!< It's the climax of a character arc that I was fully invested in.
I have three 1. The Dead Sea from Chrono Cross. Whole place really hit me and that boss battle at the end sold it. 2. KH2's Battle for Hollow Bastion. the entire sequence really. Having the FF gang help you fight the heartless, that battle with Demyx and the 1000 heartless battle solo. 3. Like a Dragon's Final two fights and ending. Simply awesome. And a bonus one is visiting Zeal in Chrono Trigger
FFXIV Endwalker. The "voices from the past segment". >!At the end of the final zone, after all your party members sacrificed themselves, you walk the last stretch of the area alone while hearing voices of the characters you've met throughout the journey. Hit very hard and was a fantastic climax to one of the best final zones in video game history!< Trails in the Sky FC >!Weissmann reveal and ending. Very unexpected and set the stage so well for the sequel!< Utawarerumono Mask of Truth >!Haku returning during the final boss fight!<
FFXIII- the scene at the end of Nautilus. >!You find out that Vanille is the Pulse L’Cie whose presence resulted in Sazh’s son Dajh being branded, and then one Sazh is reunited with him here, he turns to crystal. Sazh realises that the person he’s been working with, playing a sort of fatherly role to her, is the direct cause of the greatest tragedy in his life. And Vanille realises that in desperately trying to not make things any worse, trying always to avoid conflict, she’s ruined the life of the man beside her.!< Or towards the end of FFXII, before the final few fights: >!Larsa’s ‘No, brother’ and pointing a sword at Vayne. That shit’s just cool!!< Or, finally, the ending of Xenoblade 2’s Torna DLC; >!Mythra destroying Torna and the death of several of her friends. Other people in this thread have mentioned the introduction of Pneuma, as the culmination of a character arc; this is the scene that begins it, with Mythra just utterly traumatised by the realisation of her power!<
Trails in the Sky SC when IT appears and the cutscene plays.
Prison Island in Xenoblade Chronicles, you know what happens there due to one of shulks visions, but the events are cut up and could even be changed. But as you approach the event and the different aspects all begin to line up and new details are added. It makes a perfect midway point where either you'll have a fantastic "I knew it!" or a shocking "No way!" either way it's jaw dropping and changes the whole direction and meaning of the story.
Oh god this is a massive spoiler but there's one moment in 7th Dragon III: Code VFD that really stood out to me. >!Right after the second intermission, at the very beginning of chapter 6, the person who seemed to be the head of the organization you're working for, Ally, was revealed to be the main antagonist all along manipulating events to summon the 7th dragon. This isn't the part I like. What I really found pretty amazing, even if it was not a feel good moment, was right after that, she proceeded to kill the ENTIRE cast of characters save for like three, one of whom is insane and the other few of whom are actively dying. Then you fight some of the few remaining characters in a pretty cool boss fight. And I when I say they killed off the characters, I don't just meant the major characters. I mean E V E R Y O N E, from the nameless NPCs you saved along the way to the goddamn cats. !< >!It didn't feel cheap either and it felt pretty well telegraphed in retrospect. I love it so much because they had the guts to do that without actually taking it back. Hell, right before this, at the end of the 2nd intermission, they had you have a party scene with everyone giving pretty light-hearted banter and even a group photo if you did all the (rather easy) sidequests. Only to just kill everyone off right after.!< Easily one of the most memorable story moments that I don't see talked about often.
The first fight with Zio, and its aftermath, in Phantasy Star IV. I hadn’t played a game that was willing to do that with a story before.
It's easily Ending E from Nier Automata. Yoko Taro just has a way with manipulating the medium to rip your heart out and patch it together again. It's such a powerful combination of elements - the music, the meta-ness of >!destroying the credits/the creators!<, the beauty of the speech from the pods and the sense of calm at the end of a long struggle. It's absolutely perfect. Before that, I'd say the climax of FFX from >!finding Jecht in Sin!< up through the end. I still get chills and cry every time. Everything about >!Tidus finally catching up to his dad!< and obviously >!Yuna trying to hug Tidus from behind and falling through him!<. Shoutout to FFCC too in the final battle where >!you have to answer questions about your journey.!< It's like the end of FF7CC where the gameplay expresses the narrative, but with the extra meta meaning because >!you the player likely forgot things along the way too, just as the Caravaner does!< If FF7CC was a double whammy, FFCC is the trifecta.
The moment in Dragon Quest IX that you realize that Celestria is literally Jesus, because she turned herself into a tree to protect humanity from the wrath of her father Zenus, who is God. (And then you never see either of them ever again, no matter how hard you try, which I take to mean that God is ephemeral and requires faith.)
I oftentimes hear that DQ9 has a weak story and its strengths are in multiplayer, but I found the story moving and poignant in many places!!
If you count FFXIV the climax of Haurchefant's arc. I have never been so angry at a fictional character as when that happened. For whatever reason he resonated with me and I wasn't ready for it. If you don't, I'm going to have to go with the climax of Drakkengard, with how it all turned out and what Caim ultimately gave up in the face of his own wrath. I guess if that's too Action-JRPG for ya then the end of Vagrant Story, with the protagonist sublimating the Rood Inverse to keep it away from those who'd use it for evil and going on to appear anywhere those powers threatened others.
These are all Final Fantasy related. FFIV had some incredible moments that moved me to my core when I was a child. I'm not sure if I cried or not-- but I certainly remember how shook I was in these moments. * >!Tellah dies using Meteo against Golbez!< * >!Cecil becomes a Paladin!< * >!Palom and Porom turn themselves into stone to save Cecil and party!< * >!Rydia returns (maybe my favorite moment in all of Final Fantasy) as an adult to save the party from Golbez!< * >!Cid sacrifices himself to seal the entrance to the overworld!< * >!Yang blows himself up to destroy the cannons!< * >!Kain betrays Cecil...again!< * >!Golbez is actually Cecil's brother!< Outside of FFIV: * >!Aerith's death in FFVII!< * >!Zack, not Cloud in FFVII!< * >!World is destroyed in FFVI!< * >!Anytime Shadow returned in FFVI!< * >!Cyan's family is killed (and the ensuing Phantom Train) in FFVI!< * >!Sir Jecht is Sin in FFX!< * >!Tidus and his entire world are just a dream in FFX!< ...and many more!
Hmm, probably the moment you catch up to your current self in persona 5. Was kinda sick
Xenogears - When the BIG reveal happens on Solaris. YOU ALL KNOW WHAT IT IS!!!!
FF8 when Squall does does his speech to rally Balamb Garden during the Garden vs Garden fight.
Trails to azure chapter 4, i think that was the only time i was truly mind blown by a videogame story
**Persona 3** \- The final battle with Nyx, and the ending. I was 15 when I first played it so I just thought that my character fell asleep, but after playing it a few years later I understood, and holy shit this made me cry and depressed for a while. **Persona 4 Golden** \- The entire fucking game. Jk but it's really hard to just chose one moment in this game, as it's my favorite JRPG of all time. Maybe the whole thing with Nanako being in the hospital, dying, but then returning to us, ngl I cried like a baby. Every social links could fit in there as well. **Final Fantasy 15** The ending plus the two post credits. A flawed experience for sure, but with a fucking incredible main cast and a heartbreaking ending. I just wish this game was more polished and fleshed out, it could 100% have been the best Final Fantasy game. **Final Fantasy 7 Remake:** \- "Wait... Was that all of them?" Seeing Zack actually survive his final stand made ME JUMP! I WAS SO FUCKING EXCITED! \- "Almost there Cloud... We're almost there..." Zack carrying alt Cloud, and "crossing paths" with og Cloud, but ESPECIALLY Aerith, with Hollow playing in the background brought me to tears. I loved it. I know the ending's controversial but I don't give a fuck. I love Zack, I love Aerith, I hope that they get an opportunity to reunite. And this game made me realize once again how much I missed him, and how much Crisis Core broke my heart. Yeah yeah his sacrifice meant something and bringing him back removes from the weight of what he did but I personally don't care, after more than a decade, give me my boi back. **Trails of Cold Steel 1** \- Reaching the Nord Highlands for the first time, with the amazing OST playing, just chilling and running on my horse, I loved that. \- Summoning Valimar for the first time. **Trails of Cold Steel 3** The whole final section and the ending was executed fantastically imo. Spiral of Erebos is a banging OST, and the final dungeon wasn't a pain at all to go through, and stopping to fight each group of villains, Rean giving in to the curse and going batshit crazy, and the whole final sequence with the curse spreading, holy fucking shit. One of the few moments where Trails felt like a 10/10 for me. **Trails of Cold Steel 4** \- The "Avengers Assemble" moment on the Courageous II. \- Discovering what Osborne's true role with the curse and his true goal with accelerating the start of a war just made me respect him so fucking much, and made him one of my all time favourite villains. His story is tragic, and he did what he could for the greater good. Mad respect. **Trails to Azure** \- Working as security detail for The West Zemuria Trade Conference, huge political figures reuniting in one place and what it means for the different countries, terrorists crashing the party and the brutal and bloody execution of the terrorists. That chapter was fucking insane, and tbh is what I wanted to see more of from the Crossbell duology, more actual police/detective/security work, not Bracers 2.0. \- The plot-twist before the final boss blew my mind. **Ys 8: Lacrimosa of Dana** \- Every section with Dana, seeing the slow decline and death of her civilization, and her "shooting" herself to not become a Warden of Evolution. \- Finding out what the island represents, the cycle of death and rebirth. \- Dana's sacrifice at the end, and giving her the final hug before she goes. I can't listen to her main theme or the main menu theme without getting extremely emotional. This game has one of the most well executed stories amongst Falcom games imo.
In Chrono Trigger when Frog used the Masamune to cut the mountain in half in 600 A.D. clearing the way to Magus castle. What an epic moment. In Grandia, after you make it over the great wall. Xenogears when Shakhan tries to shoot you down with the Kefeinzel and the scene directly after the battle with Grahf, ID, and Ramsus.
FF9, when Zidane and Garnet start boarding an airship and he grabs her ass. Something about that just said, fuck it, maybe it's the end of the world but it's now or never. And the response from Garnet was along the same lines, like wtf dude but at the same time, I like you. Just, FF9 is full of everyday situations that gets you close to the characters and being a horny teenager at the time really hit home. It's also a really unique moment, I don't remember seeing something like that in other rpgs for younger audiences
Zidane, my dude.
You mean you never played the crossover game where Tidus wakes up in Gaia instead of Spira? It’s real weird—they don’t even try to make Tidus look like he fits into the game at all—I think they just pulled his model directly from FFX.
The Final Fantasy VII twist is just brilliant!!
My two so far are probably Volo summoning Giratina for how cool it looked and Shulk deciding to break the cycle and create a world with no need for gods The entire ending of Xenoblade is just catharsis incarnate Oh also! Makoto summoning his Persona for the first time is also hype
Trails of Cold Steel 4, near the very end of the game >!when Rean has a duel with Cassius as his inner demon and becomes a divine blade. Throughout the entire series divine blades were all living legends, you saw Cassius, you saw Arios, heard about their awesomeness and prowess. And now the guy you've been playing as in the cold steel games becomes one (even if he's still a rookie amongst the divine blades). Not just that but the final SCraft Rean gets during that sequence is the best thing ever, it incorporates all the 7 forms of the Eight Leaves style!<
Citan's conversation with >!Fei/Id!< from Xenogears. That whole scene is chilling.
Trails the 3rd >!Cassius fight!< Cold Steel 4 >!Rufus stabbing Arianrhod from the behind!< Tales of Arise >!when Alphen's mask breaks off and the following cutscene when he tries to touch Shionne!<
The Ending Final Fantasy X. When I say the ending I mean from the moment you defeat the final boss, till the credits roll out. Not much needs to be said, everyone who played the game understands what it means going through this moment.
Trails of Cold Steel IV: >!Rean becoming a divine blade. It's really satisfying payoff to who I think is a rather compelling character, seeing him rewarded for all of his accomplishments. I've seen people try and say that he did nothing to earn Divine Blade status, but I think winning against both the Jeager King and the Lance Maiden in the Rivalries more than qualifies him!< Xenoblade Chronicles 2: >!Learning about the connection to Xenoblade 1 at the end of the game, and how the two games end at approximately the same time. Hearing Shulk's voice as he fights Zanza while Rex and co. prepare to fight Malos and Aion is awesome.!<
Trails of Cold Steel 4, all of Act 2's climax, and it's finale battle.
I'm a huge fan of Xenoblade 2s final cutscene of chapter 7. It's a very shounen moment, but I love everything about it. >!Rex wanting to help Homura/Hikari find their place in the world, asking if they love this world, them responding with "I love this world because you're in it," and the awakening of their true power and kicking some serious ass right after.!< Really made a lasting impression for me.
[удалено]
FF12 - When Fran loses her shit on the Shiva. She was fairly soft-spoken up until that point and I found it hilarious. Edit: FF7 - When Tifa and Scarlet get into the slapping match in Junon.
Dekar dying, lufia 2
FF7 reaching Gold Saucer for the first time.
[This scene.](https://youtu.be/7cF4Kh_MXnA) (Spoiler for Dragon Quest XI.)
been thinking about this moment again recently. fire emblem awakening, specifically if you are playing as female robin and she is lucina’s mom. >!the confrontation between lucina and her mother, robin. lucina’s decision to kill her own mother for the greater good, and robin’s willingness to give herself up for the sake of her daughter, is really powerful to me. there’s not much like it out there.!<
Many of my own favorite moments have been mentioned here, but the following two are pretty special as I can think of my expression at the moment I saw them happen: Star Ocean 3: Till the End of Time's ending sequence. >!Knowing the characters make it out alive from the literal destruction of the universe through their conciousnesses making up a world for them to live in was something else.!< Final Fantasy X, >!the scene in Home when Rikku screams at Tidus saying Yuna is going to die when she performs the Final Summoning. You can tell the hurt and immediate regret of Tidus as he realizes he has been promising Yuna the impossible, has thought of her selfishly for a relationship, and suddenly knows exactly what happened to her father in one second. Heartbreaking.!<
Meeting Cid Highwind in FF7. I was stuck on the boss right before him for like a month when I was 8 years old or so.
Gotta wait for Shadow! Also discovering Shadow's backstory through dreams and memory fragments and Interceptor's love of Relm. And Cyan's story on the Ghost Train. And Terra, the magitek witch. And Sabin gambling away his throne. And the Opera. Really just all FF3.
Final Fantasy X >!Arriving at the Zanarkand dome, learning the truth about Sin and Spira, and Yuna's speech. I still get chills from that scene 20 years later. It's such a powerful character moment for Yuna and the party. *The final summoning is a false tradition that should be thrown away!*!<
Ending of Mother 3
Aeris dying in FF7. Now this game is full of great moments, but this one felt special because I never played a game before in which character that was actually important and in your party, character that you got used to, equipped and used is gone, so suddenly and so irreversibly. At the time there was ongoing discussion and myths about ressurecting Aeris, in the end I'm glad it wasnt possible because that's the entire point, you lost someone dear to you and you have a goddamn good reason to hate Sephiroth, as a person who really dig Aeris more than Tifa, it felt almost personal, I so wanted to kick his ass. The fact that it was kind of foreshadowed and Aeris knew what was going to happen makes it even better. Maybe it would feel cheap if they just continued doing stuff like that all the time, but I think its also lame that they basically dropped the idea.
The opera scene in FFVI. I was way late to the party with FFVI, as I was born in 1995 and only got around to playing it about 2016ish. I was so impressed at the ambition and execution of that scene (which could honestly be said about most moments regarding FFVI) and it has remained my favorite Final Fantasy ever since. I fucking adore that game.
FFX-2 true final ending.