Tear Jerker / Dragon Quest IV

• Dragon Quest IV has one that doubles as an unexpected Player Punch: the end of Alena's Chapter. Right as you're riding high on the thrill of winning the Tournament, you're summoned back to Zamoksva... and when you arrive, there's no sign of anyone. At all. Instead of the triumphant return home Alena, Kiryl and Borya were expecting, they find their home abandoned, their friends and loved ones having vanished without a trace... and the chapter ends abruptly, without answers.
• When you go to Mamon, you can find the skeleton of a man in a puddle of poison. He's holding a letter from his daughter, Jill, telling him to come home soon. Later, you can find Jill, who tells you how she came to visit her father, but now that he's dead, he doesn't want her brother, Jack, to know, because it would break his heart.
• The fourth chapter is designed to draw tears; after all, Maya and Meena's whole motivation is to take revenge on the man who betrayed and murdered their father. After hooking up with Oojam, who used to be apprenticed under their father and is also seeking vengeance, they track Balzack down, find a way to confront him... and upon defeating him, are promptly attacked by his boss, who trounces the trio in a Hopeless Boss Fight and throws them into the dungeon. While they manage to escape, Oojam pulls a Heroic Sacrifice protecting the sisters from the guards, and the chapter ends with the pair forced into exile, escaping on a ship and left wondering "what do we do now?"
• And Chapter Five opens with one, as your Doomed Hometown is discovered and promptly wiped out by the monsters, and your best friend Elisa transforms into your doppleganger just so the monsters will kill her and not you, mistaking her as The Chosen One.
  • Here's a fan-made song/video about it, just to twist the knife.
• Later on in Chapter Five, you meet Rose, who has a rather heartwrenching Backstory: her tears turn into rubies, so she was hunted by Greedy humans who would do anything to make her cry. Talking to others makes this much worse, as it's implied elves can will their tears to crumble away when touched... good in that it means they didn't actually profit from their actions, but horrifying when you realize this didn't stop them. And she's eventually killed by human thugs when one fatally wounds her just to make her cry.
• Throughout the fifth chapter, you can find references to the story of the angel and the woodcutter. Upon reaching Zenithia, you can finally hear the full tale: An angel fell in love with a woodcutter and descended to earth to be with him. This angered the Zenith Dragon, who struck him dead and forced the angel to abandon their infant child, as the baby was half-human and therefore considered unworthy to enter the heavens. For an extra punch, the angel who relates this story to you is all but stated outright to be your mother, as she chokes back tears talking about how difficult it would be for the angel to face her lost child now.
• And then there's the ending... One by one, the chosen return to their homes, including a cheerful reunion between Torneko and his young son Tipper. Right after that reunion, however, Maya and Meena return to their village just long enough to visit their father's grave, before heading on to Laissez Faire. Solo/Sofia then returns to their Doomed Hometown, which is still a burned-out shell of its former self. Standing in the middle of the village — where the flower field they and Eliza used to play once grew — they finally drop their sword and shield before slumping over in complete exhaustion. Then the sky glows, Eliza comes back to life, and the hero embraces their lost childhood friend...
• The prologue's conclusion in the DS version, and the final boss's transformation (which is the result of another tear jerker).
• Rose's death. While the NES version had the scene and its dialogue too rushed, and it sounded more like Rose is screaming when she dies near Psaro, making it less of a tear-jerker, this scene in the DS version is so much better, and the dialogue is not rushed anymore, making the scene when she dies quietly in Psaro's arms so heartbreaking.

---