Poor Melia...
All spoilers are unmarked, proceed with caution.
- In the Battle for Colony 9, Fiora tries to pull a Big Damn Heroes to save the party from Metal Face... only to get impaled. Shulk's reaction is perfectly justified.
- To make matters worse, in his later appearances in the game, Metal Face just loves to rub in the fact that yes, he killed Fiora. Yes, he enjoyed doing it. No, there isn't anything you can do to bring her back. Every time that bastard shows up, you just wanna shove the Monado up his ass, but you can't. He's immune to it. You can't even TRY to avenge her because of that!
- Let's face it, Metal Face is a walking Berserk Button for Shulk and co. The worst part? He knows that and loves every second of it.
- The worst part about it was that Shulk KNEW someone was going to die, but didn't know who courtesy of the first onscreen Monado premonition, and then the Monado's ability to let the user see the future makes him watch Fiora's death TWICE. His reaction is justified.
- All the crap Melia has to go through: Having to see her father die, watching as her people are turned into savage monsters thanks to the machinations of a cruel god... The phrase "Poor Melia!" exists for a reason.
- Melia's final Heart to Heart, in which she gives up pursuing Shulk.
- The Wham Episode on Prison Island. The party utterly fails to prevent Emperor Sorean's death at Metal Face's claws, barely makes it in time to receive the Monado upgrade from Zanza before Metal Face kills him, too, and when it finally comes time to pay Metal Face back for all the death and destruction he's caused, he doesn't even take the brunt of the new Monado's wrath. Who does, you ask? None other than Fiora, revealed to be Face Nemesis' pilot when she takes a slash to the chest from Shulk. This sets off a Heroic BSoD from most of the party, as much of Shulk's reason for fighting the Mechon was to avenge Fiora's death at the beginning of the game, only for her to turn up alive and on Mechonis' side. And the soundtrack at the end? The Main Theme, which is an orchestral remix of Shulk and Fiora's leitmotif, just to twist the knife even further.
- A testament to the voice acting in the English version: The sheer heartbreak in Egil's voice when he realizes even his own goddess has turned against him.
- The look of betrayal on Shulk's face as he realizes that Dickson- the man who basically raised him- has just literally shot him in the back.
- Despite all that Egil's done, and despite Zanza egging Shulk on to finish him, Shulk refuses, and lowers his blade. Egil realizes that Shulk truly could be a person to bring peace to the two titans. Then Dickson shoots Shulk, and Zanza emerges. Egil has been alive for thousands of years, long enough to witness firsthand the destruction Zanza brought to his people last time. For all his extreme measures, all that he did, even killing off the people of Bionis because they were "food" to Zanza, was for entirely correct reasons. And now his whole plan has failed, thanks to the actions of good people being manipulated by his arch-nemesis. And to top it all off? Lady Meyneth, the goddess of the Machina and soul of the Mechonis itself, sacrifices herself as well to protect Shulk's party from Zanza. Her final wish? For the peoples of this world to create a new world, with no need for gods. Egil entrusts this wish to Shulk, knowing that, somehow, he can be brought back. His final act, to defend the party's ship from the Zanza-controlled Bionis with the crumbling Mechonis, is one of the greatest acts of Redemption Equals Death ever. "They will judge me not in life, but death!" indeed.
- Melia watching her people, including her brother get mutated into Telethia. That particular plot point gets even worse when you look at your Relationship chart...
- Even worse, several quests after that event have you going back and delivering a Mercy Kill to many of the transformed Telethia. The "Released from Duty" quest is especially heartbreaking.
- The quest "I Will Always Remember You" is equally heartbreaking, especially since it follows a chain quest where you reunited two childhood friends. The quest giver in question ask you to not only kill her friend, but also her friend's mother who despite being turned into Telethia protected her and allowed her to escape.
- The quest "A Memento from Daddy" available after Mechonis Core, is a sneaky punch to the gut. It involves the two mischievous, but now orphaned High Entia children. The sister Cian doesn't understand what happened to her dad and misses him dearly, so her brother Atael asks you to find something their father buried back in Alcamoth to cheer her up. It turns out to be a family photo, and that isn't too hard to obtain if the party can handle the Telethia swarming Alcamoth. However, there's a hidden objective once you pick up the memento: the party encounters "Telethia Vol'Aran", Atael and Cian's father as a Telethia, who they must kill to properly fulfill the quest. A tragic way to think of it is that since the party would know how much Vol'Aren loved his children (the affinity even says as such), they decided to secretly put these children's father to rest for them.
- Good news: Fiora's back in your party as the final member! Bad news after Mechonis Core: Meyneth's death deprives her of the chest component - Meyneth's Monado - that kept her functioning. Now that she's running on small reserve energy, she doesn't have much longer before she's just going to stop working. And she knows it. It's admirable to know that she makes the decision to keep on fighting while knowing this, but that doesn't make her impending fate any less heartbreaking.
- Xord. In the main story, he's nothing but a Smug Brute you take great joy in beating the crap out of. But if you've been taking care to speak to your NPCs, you'll realize that he was Desiree's father.
- Metal Face/Mumkhar's death, on the basis how, despite all the vile and cruel things he's done to the group, all they can do is pity him in his last moments. Shulk even tried in vain to stop his impending doom that Mumkhar inflicts on himself. It's especially hard on Dunban and Melia, since Mumkhar killed Sorean and Fiora (apparently), and they just have a look of sorrow on them through the entire moment.Dunban: You went too far, you Fool.
- In a heart to heart moment with Dunban and Melia, Dunban admits he always known Mumkhar would fail him in his hour of need, but he had only wished he saw the signs sooner, to at least try and save him. Dunban ends it with him, while not confident he would ever forgive him, saying that he will never forget his time with him and that he finds peace.
- Gadolt's Heroic Sacrifice in order to protect his beloved Sharla and the gang from Egil's blast. Just when he regain his memories as well. Sharla had to be basically stopped by Reyn to prevent her from dying alongside him. His last words are for Sharla to keep living and he dies with a smile on his face, grateful that he reached them on time to save them.
- Dickson's death. Yeah, the guy was a Jerkass who literally shot Shulk In the Back, but he was also Dunban's war buddy and one of Shulk's father figures, and there were a few moments where it looked like he might have genuinely had a soft spot for the Colony 9 kids. When Fiora tells Shulk that Dickson's wounds are too severe to survive, the camera stops for a moment on Shulk's face as his lip trembles, as if he's shedding a tear as the party heads onward to confront Zanza. Not to mention on Dunban's side, it also would count that due to both of Dickson and Mumkhar's deaths, he basically lost both of his war buddies."Looks like the student... has finally surpassed the teacher."
- Lunara, the little High Entia Girl that stays at the entrance of Alcamoth every night waiting for her dad to come home. Her fate is unclear after Mechonis Core, but she had large wings, and a Telethia will be standing where she once was...
- Seeing the once tall Mechonis in ruins after Zanza mercilessly destroys it. The sky never looks the same. On top of that, Egil fought to his last breath fighting Zanza and saving the party. He also indirectly gives you the opening needed to defeat Zanza. Despite all Egil did, you can't help shed tears for the guy as he goes down with the ship.
- In Galahad Fortress, Dunban reprimands Fiora (piloting Face Nemesis) for attacking Shulk, demanding she lower her weapon. While it's clear that she's not herself at the time, it's still upsetting to hear Dunban speak to his sister that way.
