Assassin's Creed/Tear Jerker

" "
 * Assassin's Creed II has several powerful moments, especially at the beginning, where Later on, reading some of the letters to Templars from their family members can be heartrending, especially Carlotta Moro's letter to her mentally-handicapped former husband, Dante Moro.
 * Another incredibly sad bit from ACII is the final The Truth video, where you hear what were probably Subject 16's last words before he committed suicide: My mind is gone. Lucy, I can't wait any longer. I'm ready to go now. She sees me raise the knife... Especially sad due to the contrast to the earlier Truth videos where Sixteen is barely managing to hold himself together due to the trauma of extended stays in the Animus. This time he is completely calm, and at peace.
 * The first Asssassin's Creed game has a Tear Jerker, but it's for one of Altair's victims, all of whom are undoubtedly evil men. Having said that, Sibrand's death is rather sad. In an eavesdropping event and just before you kill him, you see Sibrand as an incredibly paranoid, vicious man who kills an innocent priest under the belief that he's an assassin sent to kill Sibrand. He's ranting and raving as he fires arrows into the air as you approach, but when Altair finally gets him, he quietly begs the assassin not to kill him. It turns out due to the Templars discovering the Piece of Eden in Jerusalem has proven to Sibrand that there is NOTHING after death. No heaven, no hell, nothing, and he's terrified of what's about to come. It puts all his crazy paranoia and ranting into perspective. The knowledge that there is nothing but darkness waiting for him has effectively destroyed Sibrand, long before Altair came along. Despite the fact that he, like all the other Templars, is a monster, every time I hear him say 'Nothing waits', it makes me feel bad for him.
 * The last codex in ACII is Altair's last writing, where he says he's not long for this world and doesn't think there's anything after this. After a whole game, a little scene in the middle of the 2nd game, and 29 codex pages you've come to know this man very well and are now reading the last thing he wrote before he died.
 * And then come Revelations,

"Requiscat in pace... "
 * Brotherhood has series of massively hard-hitting ones in Ezio's repressed memories of Christina.
 * The first is immediately after the execution of Ezio's brothers and father, where he has to carry their bodies to a boat to give them a proper burial. One can tell from the way Ezio is talking and moving that he's felling hate and rage and grief but is holding it tightly in check...and then he has to tell Christina he is leaving.
 * The next two memories go hand-in-hand, with Ezio returning to Florence and discovering Christina in an arranged marriage. She still loves him, and wants to go with him away from the marriage, but Ezio knows his quest for revenge makes it impossible for them to be together, and he gives her a long, passionate kiss as a farewell. Then, the next memory starts years later with Christina in Venice, and Ezio masquerades as her husband to steal a kiss from her. She takes off his mask, discovers Ezio, and the subsequent scene has a heartwrenching What the Hell, Hero? moment as she yells at Ezio for leaving her to her marriage despite the fact that she loved him. The heartbroken look on Ezio's face is the real kicker.
 * The final memory is the worst, as Ezio returns to Florence during the Bonfire of the Vanities to discover  Ezio takes her into a small garden, and   It ends with the single most gutwrenching use of Ezio's Catch Phrase ever.


 * What got this troper was his line as he sprints at Crisina's killers: "CRISTINA! RUN!" Hearing the normally cocky and suave Ezio Auditore de Firenze scream like that sent chills.
 * There's one more immensely subtle element of the Christina memories: the "Christinas" that Ezio interacts with in Rome to trigger the memories look like Christina, but if you examine them closely, they're just young women who happen to resemble her in hairstyle and dress. And you know how, after you lose someone close to you, you keep seeing their faces in a crowd? Ezio seems to keep seeing Christina while walking around Rome. No wonder he is so intent on rescuing Caterina from the Borgia. He still hasn't gotten over Christina's death, poor guy.
 * In the final sequence of Brotherhood,
 * It's especially distressing that the player has to mash a button while the scene plays out, ostensibly to resist what's happening, but no matter how fast you press the button you . By making the player do this, it puts them in Desmond's situation in a very real way--trying with all of your might to resist something, but no matter how hard you try you can't stop it.
 * In Brotherhood, completing all the glyph puzzles reveals the origin of the voice in the Animus:
 * Project Legacy gets pretty damn depressing in places.
 * The implied fate of ends on a very bleak note.


 * Similarly the whole sequence of highlights how much he's taking after his father, and goes straight for bittersweet at the end.

"Once your Creed was as vital to me as air and water… but when the Turks marched into Wallachia, and you Assassins did nothing to stop it, how could I continue to believe? If a man's philosophy does not let him protect his people, his home, and his family… what good can it do for the world?"
 * In Brotherhood, this troper got a bit teary eyed when his recruits died. So far (as of sept.10, 2011) he has lost 7 brave warriors, 4 in combat and 3 oversea. I've been only been able to close the eyes of one. Number 7 is actually more of a Forgotten Fallen Friend as his name I can't remember.
 * In contrast, this troper only lost 3 of his recruits, but felt just as downhearted about them, especially the one who died thanks to his careless use of the Apple of Eden.
 * This troper lost just one recruit, her first and only mistake, because she rather foolishly plunged deep into enemy territory when she decided to take on one of the most difficult Borgia Towers before she was ready. What hurt most, more than the fact the Borgia Captain fled and the recruit effectively died in vain, was the fact I had no choice but to run and leave the body of my fallen recruit down in the tunnel... I never even got to close her eyes.
 * This troper was shocked when he checked the pigeon post only to find two empty slots where recruits should have been. None of them had been sent on difficult missions, the odds were always stacked in their favor, 80% odds of success minimum...and yet two of them didn't come back. It felt like I failed them...
 * The entirety of Embers. Or more specifically
 * Revelations actually has quite a few Tearjerker moments in the final third of the game:
 * The
 * For this troper, the fact that Ezio
 * Revelations was, to this troper, emotionally heavy through and through. From this being Ezio's last game to the deaths of beloved characters, what really makes the Tear Jerker hit critical was the end. As in,
 * While it's not techinically canon, if you fail in the mission to rescue Bartolomeo's wife from the Baron De Valois, you get a nice little scene of a gun being lowered to Pantasilea's head and her brains being blown all over the wall. If nothing else, it's good incentive to be more careful next time.
 * Very early into Brotherhood,
 * The backstories of some of the multiplayer characters fall under this for this troper as well. Personal favorite would be Vali cel Tradat, aka The Sentinel, if only for his death speech:
 * Revelations was, to this troper, emotionally heavy through and through. From this being Ezio's last game to the deaths of beloved characters, what really makes the Tear Jerker hit critical was the end. As in,
 * While it's not techinically canon, if you fail in the mission to rescue Bartolomeo's wife from the Baron De Valois, you get a nice little scene of a gun being lowered to Pantasilea's head and her brains being blown all over the wall. If nothing else, it's good incentive to be more careful next time.
 * Very early into Brotherhood,
 * The backstories of some of the multiplayer characters fall under this for this troper as well. Personal favorite would be Vali cel Tradat, aka The Sentinel, if only for his death speech: