5 Games That Give You The Feels

5 Games That Give You The Feels

We all know them, we all hate and hate them sometimes. Every once in a while you play through such a beautifully developed story with characters that you get thoroughly attached to. Maybe in such a way that it genuinely makes you cry at some point or another down the line. These are the stories that stick with us and here is a list of games that have given a few of us a good ole case of the feels.

#1 Final Fantasy 10

Final Fantasy 10 was my first introduction into the Square-Enix family of video games and boy was it a good one. It was a story starring a cast of characters that anyone could easily get attached to and a cast in that all would tug on your heartstrings after getting to know them, and a cast who all had great character development even up through the very end of the game. Besides the very fun gameplay and strategy, it has some of the most unforeseen plot twists that I have ever heard of in a game or story in general and each and every one of them gets you right where it hurts so whether you are just now entering into this franchise or you are one who just missed out on the game entirely it’s a game that is definitely worth the money if you like a good well put together story. -Jerry Maynard

#2 Kingdom Hearts series

Honestly all the games in this series will hit you so hard in the feels you are gonna cheer yourself up by watching Inside Out again ….oh wait…..Disney’s / Square-Enix created a masterpiece of a video game in their almost too good to be true franchise. By creating a story-line that takes your favorite parts of what makes Disney fun and what makes Square games enjoyable, they delivered a fresh and creative tale that will keep you playing through at least the next Kingdom Hearts release which is said to resolve the current story. KH focuses mainly on a battle raging between the forces of light and darkness and you start off as a group of kids on an island who get caught up in the conflict in unexpected ways and the story sort of just takes off and goes from there. I can’t give too much more detail without ruining some of the story line but if you like Disney and Final Fantasy games or just enjoy a good JRPG that delivers in unexpected ways and always keeps you guessing on what’s going to happen next, then this is the game for you. Between getting to play through and with all of your favorite Disney and Final Fantasy characters and watching a tale that isn’t afraid to take a turn for the worst for your characters, there is reason enough to spend the 30 bucks this game costs in both the 1.5 remix and 2.5 remix (which are basically deluxe versions of each of the original games in the series and include one of the prequels and in between games in each ) so essentially its 4 games for 60 that equal out to a quick catch up to get ready for the next installment on the PS4 and Xbox one. – Jerry

#3 Final Fantasy VII

I would argue that this was the more emotional if we are comparing 7 and 10. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, even if I think they are wrong for picked 10 over 7…cough*Jerry*cough. I can never forget nor forgive Sephiroth, the first time I believe that I ever felt disgust and anger for a videogame character. That’s how important the death of Aeris is for so many gamers and how much it resonated through the community. I can recall how many people were peeved and upset when others spoiled that ending for them. I’m super glad a new generation will get to play through it in a brand new way although they should have probably stayed away from this list (on the off chance they have never played it) – Kenneth Shipp

#4  Halo 4

Master Chief and Cortana have had a long ride in our many years fighting of off the Covenant and trying not to get smashed by a pack of hunters, elites and jackals. But the most recent entry certainly does more to bring out the relationship between our Spartan soldier and his A.I. partner in crime. (Or mayhem, whatever you want to call mythic mode) This chapter in the series starts off with Cortana starting to have some problems because she is such an old system in computer years and she starts to basically overthink/process and begins to break down. This almost goes down the exact way you think it would and Chief in addition to battling the new enemy the Didact, sets out to find the woman who made Cortana in order to try to repair her before her rampancy, (the overthinking herself to death,) destroys her. This game definitely hits your emotions harder than the previous entries have, (minus Halo reach,) and gives you more storyline bang for your buck than previous games. Again, without giving too much away, It is definitely a tale that lets you see into the heart of Master Chief and allows him to become maybe even a bit more human to the players than he may previously have been.  – Jerry

Again, this is Jerry’s list and I’m just chiming in. I concur with the notion that was emotional. Losing Cortana hurt pretty bad and for all the times we saw the Chief in near invincible moments, this was the first time he was like a wounded pup with his tail between his legs. And every moment of it hurt, it was a great way to start a new trilogy. I still suspect we haven’t seen the end of our blue hued companion. That fact alone would knock this down a peg for me, I highly doubt she will stay dead and if we don’t see her in the upcoming Halo 5: Guardians, it will most likely be Halo 6- Kenneth

#5 Tales of Xillia

I was stuck between writing over this game or Tales of Symphonia (which is also an excellent game if you have never had the privilege of playing it,) because while they are both great stories and Symphonia I think had a more interesting plot overall, Xillia definitely hits you where it hurts a lot harder. The premise of the game is that an evil king has developed a device which could drain all of the mana out of the world and you begin your tale setting out to stop it. The more you play through the game through the more you begin to understand almost every single character you meet in the game including your enemies whom you must battle at the very end of the game. It does a great job of getting you attached to every single character in the game , throws in plenty of unexpected twists to never let the game get to dull, includes a fantastic fun battle system with more customization of your characters than any other game in the tales of series to date, and presents everyone’s tale in such a way that makes you analyze the way we see the people we would name as our enemies and re think our perspectives on such matters. The game is a bit long but it is only noticeable if you look at the time you have spent playing it, otherwise its fast paced enough to keep you interested and has difficulty settings for differing players which can be changed mid game if you are looking for just playing through the story without it getting overly difficult (which trust me, it can.) While not my favorite game of all time, it is very much in the top 5 for me personally and I recommend it to any gamer who likes JRPGs and wants to have their perspectives on life challenged whilst hearing almost a parable of how we can understand people different than ourselves. -Jerry

Honorable Mention: Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

Jerry originally asked me to jump in on this article and talk about Mass Effect, but honestly, the multi-world sprawling game that made me more emotional first was KOTOR. From discovering that you were really Darth Revan the entire time to losing Bastilla to Darth Malak, and also fighting to get her back on your way to defeat Malak, this one game had more emotional ups and downs for me than I ever experienced in the Mass Effect series. That shouldn’t be a knock on Mass Effect at all, it just a kudos to how amazing the first KOTOR game was. And also, remember this list is that, a list. It’s not an exhaustive collection either so you may of had games you think we missed. Let us know in the comment section -Kenneth

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Kenneth Shipp

Kenneth “Commander” Shipp has had opinions on movies since he was a kid…even if that meant talking to himself. He loves tackling the issues involved with our modern blockbusters while still enjoying the deep dives into the films you may have glossed over. You may still see him comment on his other loves (video games and television) whenever he has time. You can catch all his movie reviews here and listen to him on our weekly podcasts when they start back in August!!

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