Tear Jerker / L.A. Noire

As this is a Tear Jerker page, spoilers will be left unmarked. You Have Been Warned!

For never was there a story of more woe than that of Cole Phelps, detective and war hero.

L.A. Noire is a downbeat Film Noir videogame set in Los Angeles in the late 1940s. As is usual for the genre, there's a lot of sadness and despair to be had.

• The families killed in house fires set by a real estate developer trying to make a quick buck on land to be purchased for a freeway is a real downer, especially the second family which, due to tightening of the muscles and tendons, end up in a prayer pose.
  • When the father collapses, his head rolling on the floor, Biggs flees, reminded of his dead Marine comrades.
• Who didn't tear up at Ira's "You said the house would be empty! I heard them screaming!"
• Cole Phelps' death and the subsequent coverup.
  • When it comes to Roy Earle, he is first faking his feelings for Cole, but becomes really sad as he says in the end, "and may I say, a good friend".
• The scene with Mrs. Phelps after Cole's affair is made public, and Cole's reaction to the situation. He didn't try to deny it or beg forgiveness, he tried to justify himself and asked to see his daughters. It's awful to see the "Golden Boy" Phelps make such an awful mistake and hurt his family like that.
• It's hard not to feel for James Tiernan when he starts tearing up during his interrogation. Especially considering how young he is. Makes you hate McCaffrey even more for putting him through such awful guilt by convincing him he killed Evelyn.
• Kelso having to kill Ira in the sewers.
• One side quest has you chasing a crazy guy up onto a rooftop. The "correct" solution is to watch him jump. The look on Cole's face in the closing cutscene is heart-wrenching, and damn near accusatory. (There's a happier alternate solution, but it boils down to a Moon Logic Puzzle.)
• Ever wondered why there's an abandoned shack filled with hundreds of small paper origami? Well, according to a Japanese legend, if you made a thousand of these, you will be granted a single wish. Now, this cabin belongs to Ira Hogeboom, who, during the battle of Okinawa in the Pacific Theater, accidentally lit up a cave full of Japanese civilians, causing a long chain of mental breakdown where he goes mad from grief and remorse. If you add up all the evidence, this is a horribly shell-shocked veteran who is hoping beyond hope that there's a chance that this old Japanese legend is, in fact, true and will not cease making the origami.
• Among the final lines in the game:
  Biggs: You were never his friend, Jack.
  Kelso: I guess you're right. Herschel?
  Biggs: Yeah, Jack?
  Kelso: I was never his enemy.
  Biggs: I think he knew that, Jack.
• The ending flashback, in which Jack begs his Marine buddies to not deal drugs, because it'll shame their military service. It doesn't work, leading to the events of the game.
• Poor, poor Jacob Henry. He married Celine on a furlough from the army and she ended up turning into a depressive, violent, alcoholic cheat who would attack him physically. Despite all of this, he still worked hard to provide for her and loved her with all his heart, only ever striking her because she was literally coming at him with a frying pan . This being The '40s, the Double Standard is in full effect here, and he's given absolutely no sympathy for the abuse he suffered at his wife's hands. Even the normally progressively-minded Cole Phelps seems to think of him as more pitiful than anything, calling him a "weak fucking sister" during his interrogation.
  • It's even more tragic considering the whole frying pan incident was the last time Jacob saw Celine alive. On top of that, during her bender at the Bamba Club later that night, the owner rang Jacob to pick her up and drive her home per usual. However, he refused for the first time and didn't relent when the owner rang back again. The one night he defends himself and decided to say no to giving her a ride, she turns up brutally murdered the following morning. His combination of guilt and grief towards the whole situation is definitely palpable.
• The Homicide desk in general is a series of these when they're not Nightmare Fuel. Cole inevitably has to tell the friends and families of the victims that they have been murdered, and almost every time you have to endure a variety of people reacting in shock or grief. You suspect a lot of them as the killer at the time, but after The Reveal it's not hard to feel bad for all the husbands who were actually innocent and probably have to live with the guilt of hurting their wives right before they were killed. Even those who were on the outs with their wives are likely regretting wishing they'd just disappear.
  • The ones with children can be hard to watch, with Deidre Moller's daughter in particular breaking down in tears and having to deal with her father getting arrested as a suspect on top of learning her mother has been killed, which had been directly preceded by a particularly bad argument according to her. The worst part is that you don't even solve that case - you pick one of two suspects to charge with it, but it's entirely up in the air as to whether either of them actually did it. Making this more painful is that one of those suspects is Deidre's husband, meaning her daughter can potentially lose both parents.
  • Hell, the end of the Homicide Desk also counts. Cole and Rusty travel across the city to find clues as to who the real killer is, while also in an effort to prevent innocent men from being executed. While it is a cathartic moment to have been able to avenge the women by personally killing him, you then learn that it won't matter. To keep it consistent with real life history, nobody aside from Cole, Rusty and Captain Donnelly will know about the killer's true identity, all because he happens to be related to a high ranking politician. After a desk that was chock full of Horror, it ends at a somber note:
  "The case of the Black Dahlia remains open, the truth lost to all but a handful of men."
• Early in "The Consul's Car", Cole acquires Valdez's notebook, listing the men he's slept with, their phone numbers, and how much he's paid them. Cole calls one of them using the gamewell nearby... only for the man's mother to answer. Valdez's partners are high-school boys. The look on Cole's face is crushing. Understandably, he doesn't try contacting any others after this.