History TearJerker / MassEffect2

* The Paragon ending to Jack's Romance. She comes into Shepard's room and tries to tell him how she feels. When she doesn't seem able to express herself Shepard just strokes her cheek and says "It's All right. No more questions" and she just falls into his arms, crying and totally overcome by the fact that, for the first time in her life, "someone genuinely loves her".

*** It's even worse when you consider both of them are in their early 40's, which for an asari is mid-teenage. Imagine two fourteen year old girls who are sent into what is essentially a nunnery to see their mother again. Is there any other reason the final words Farele tells Samara before hanging up is "Catch her (Morinth). Just catch her"?

* A surprisingly potent one at the end of the game, when [[spoiler: Harbinger releases control of the Collector General, and it looks around before slumping in a dejected manner as the station explodes around it...]]

** Jack's death scene, especially if you romance her. It just...when she says [[spoiler: "I should've known this would happen. I was too happy...too happy with you." It shows how she found true happiness and peace with Shepard, only to die so soon after gaining it. It's like fate, after all she's gone through, was giving her a final slap to the face.]]

** Archer could be seen as a sad character too. He cares about his brother and knows what he did was wrong but at the point Shepard shows up its too late to stop. "What I have done to David is unethical. If he dies it is unforgivable."

* On a similar note, there's an asari when you first get to Illium who is distraught about losing a precious memento from her bondmate. During Miranda's loyalty mission, you can find a locket containing a picture of an asari and a human male. Hearing the asari's "Oh...''Steven''." when you return it is already enough to make it tug at your heart, but when she explains that Steven recently passed away, and that the locket is all her daughter has to remember her father with...
** For some reason, the fact that his name was Steven got me choked up. Then the fridge implications hit me: Steven is a human name. Humans have only been on the galactic scene for somewhere around thirty years at this point... meaning that he probably only met her sometime in the last few years. This wasn't some ageless being like another asari, or a krogan (Wrex is 1,400, after all), this human... with his short, little life, came into her life... and gave her a daughter. A daughter that this asari will raise for years and years to come... and she'll forever be reminded of this one alien who blitzed his way into her heart, gave her nothing but happiness for a brief flash of an instant... and then faded away. And then you realize: This is the fate of almost all who love asari. It's a really poignant reminder that even for a race as powerful, and ageless, and wise... there are still some things that can lay us all low.

*** A case of FridgeHorror when you realize that he was [[spoiler:Trying to upload his programs to the rest of the Geth collective; a vain attempt to survive. He cries out "No Carrier" because there aren't any nearby Geth stations or satellites to pick up the programs, so his programs; the very essence of Legion's soul, simply fade away. Legion dies not with a bang, but with a sigh. And to boot... [[spoiler: since Legion operates much much faster than an organic, their death isn't the fast death others might get. When you can do a billion calculations in a second, even getting killed in a quarter second can be forever.]]

** A case of [[FridgeHorror Fridge Horror]] when you realize that he was [[spoiler:Trying to upload his programs to the rest of the Geth collective; a vain attempt to survive. He cries out "No Carrier" because there aren't any nearby Geth stations or satellites to pick up the programs, so his programs; the very essence of Legion's soul, simply fade away. Legion dies not with a bang, but with a sigh. And to boot... [[spoiler: since Legion operates much much faster than an organic, their death isn't the fast death others might get. When you can do a billion calculations in a second, even getting killed in a quarter second can be forever.]]

** On a similar note, there's an asari when you first get to Illium who is distraught about losing a precious memento from her bondmate. During Miranda's loyalty mission, you can find a locket containing a picture of an asari and a human male. Hearing the asari's "Oh...''Steven''." when you return it is already enough to make it tug at your heart, but when she explains that Steven recently passed away, and that the locket is all her daughter has to remember her father with...
** Another one on Illium. Having the conversation with the asari who lost her wife and daughters as a result of all the violence in the galaxy, getting her to open up and break down in tears about this terrible tragedy and the pain it still causes her, and convincing her to honour their memory by forgiving the aliens she holds responsible... only to overhear two racist asari thoughtlessly bitching about her and her family, because she's pureblood and she married an asari. "She's pureblood. They're all like that."
*** Just to make this one a tiny bit worse: It's implied that Shepard may have met both of her daughters on the Citadel. One was the Presidium receptionist; the other worked for the asari Consort.

* When you first meet Garrus [[spoiler:AKA Archangel]] in ''Mass Effect 2'' seeing how much he's changed and how cynical he's become is a real punch in the gut. This is especially heavy on MoodWhiplash because it goes from joy from realizing who [[spoiler:Archangel]] really is, to sadness when you see how much he's changed, to all out crying when he gets injured. Seeing him on the floor in a pool of his own blood is heartbreaking, and it just ''gets worse'' when you get his Shadow Broker file and realize what else was going on before you found him. What strikes most about the reunion with Garrus is just how ''tired'' he sounds when you finally get him face-to-face. He's so exhausted by everything that's happened to him in the last little while (physically and mentally) he just doesn't have it in him to be happy to see Shepard again.

*** Zaeed gets about as shocked here as you'll ever see him as well. "I've done a lot of bad things in my time, but this???"

* The ending of Arrival. [[spoiler:300,000 lives, gone, in a flash. And Shepard pushed the button. While s/he did it with the best of intentions and bought the galaxy valuable time it still doesn't take away from that fact that 300,000 are dead and s/he's going to take the bullet for those lives. And this probably won't be the last time we'll need to sacrifice the countless nameless to fight the Reapers. Yes, for now, we can [[IDidWhatIHadToDo comfort ourselves in the knowledge that we've delayed the Reaper's invasion, but it doesn't cushion the fact that Shepard's now a [[WhatTheHellHero mass murderer]]]]

* The ending of Arrival.[[spoiler:300,000 lives, gone, in a flash. And Shepard pushed the button.While s/he did it with the best of intentions and bought the galaxy valuable time it still doesn't take away from that fact that 300,000 are dead and s/he's going to take the bullet for those lives.]] And this probably won't be the last time we'll need to sacrifice the countless nameless to fight the Reapers. Yes, for now, we can [[IDidWhatIHadToDo comfort ourselves in the knowledge that we've delayed the Reaper's invasion, but it doesn't cushion the fact that Shepard's now a [[WhatTheHellHero mass murderer]]]]

* The ending of Arrival.[[spoiler:300,000 lives, gone, in a flash. And Shepard pushed the button.While s/he did it with the best of intentions and bought the galaxy valuable time it still doesn't take away from that fact that 300,000 are dead and s/he's going to take the bullet for those lives.]] And this probably won't be the last time we'll need to sacrifice the countless nameless to fight the Reapers. Yes, for now, we can [[IDidWhatIHadToDo comfort ourselves in the knowledge]] that we've delayed the Reaper's invasion, but it doesn't cushion the fact that Shepard's now a [[WhatTheHellHero mass murderer]]]]

** [[spoiler:Legion's]] death scene. [[spoiler:He may be a machine and thus it might be somewhat possible to bring him back to life again,]] but it's utterly heart-wrenching to hear him cry [[spoiler:[[BrainUploading "No carrier! No carrier! No carrier!"]]]]** A case of [[FridgeHorror Fridge Horror]] when you realize that he was [[spoiler:Trying to upload his programs to the rest of the Geth collective; a vain attempt to survive. He cries out "No Carrier" because there aren't any nearby Geth stations or satellites to pick up the programs, so his programs; the very essence of Legion's soul, simply fade away. Legion dies not with a bang, but with a sigh. And to boot... [[spoiler: since Legion operates much much faster than an organic, their death isn't the fast death others might get. When you can do a billion calculations in a second, even getting killed in a quarter second can be forever.]]

** If you romance him, Thane's dossier [[spoiler: includes a letter to be delivered to Shepard upon his death. The whole thing will make you wibble, but the final line is the killer: "I will await you across the sea."]]

*** For those who're a bit behind, he's refusing to [[spoiler:sync up for video chat with his sister]] because a gunship ''blew off half his face,'' '''which was patched with prosthetics meant for a species ''with less in common with him than a camel spider!'''''
**** It just makes me so sad, when ''you'' know perfectly well what Garrus has been doing--trying to help the innocent and punish the guilty, usually in hilariously ironic manners. But then you realize just how much he's sacrificed... not only a comfortable, respectable, and likely rewarding (from an emotional point of view, not just money) position as a C-Sec officer, but also his entire family. His [[spoiler:mother is ''dying'' and his entire family thinks he just abandoned them to run off and be some merc for hire]]. And then you find out that he and Mordin secretly [[spoiler:worked out a deal with the STG to fund the clinic where his mother's being treated, so she can get the treatment for free]]... well, that is just a giant CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming for both Garrus and Mordin.
** The Broker's video files, much in the same vein as the dossiers. Some are hilarious, others are heartbreaking.
*** Matriarch Aethyta staring at that photo, drink at hand and clearly drowning sorrows. A PersonalEffectsReveal and Tear Jerker all in one.
** If your Shepard stayed faithful to Liara, the entire ending and epilogue are tearjerking CMOH at its finest. Liara has struggled so much with her quest for revenge and with her mourning for Shepard, and it isn't until the very end, if you've hit all the right conversation points, that Shepard finally manages to get across that he/she is back for real and in it for the long haul.
*** Even if you didn't romance her, it has the potential to be a TearJerker as Shepard lets his/her armor down. This troper chose the dialogue option "I'm frustrated," and Shepard just started venting. KnightInSourArmor indeed.

** Hell, just the thought that Liara spent two years on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge for what the Shadow Broker tried to do to Shepard whether s/he was a love interest or not warrants a place on this page.
** The romance scene between Liara and Shepard at the end of the DLC. You barely see anything but they just seem so happy. It's really a testament to Bioware's writing that they are able to make a love story, let alone an InterspeciesRomance so convincing. [[TearJerker No, I'm not crying]]. [[BlatantLies I've just got something in my eyes]].
** If Shepard is romancing Thane, there's a extra file on his dossier; It's a goodbye letter meant to be delivered to Shepard after his death from his diseace. That alone is depressing but it tips to heartbreaking once you read it further and he declares, that he'll rather face a machine-bound, long and painful death in the hospital bed than [[DeathSeeker get himself killed]] as he originally planned if that means he can be together with Shepard just a few months longer. That, my friends, is unquestionably the definition of true love.

* The way the deaths during the Suicide Mission are all understated. Obviously, they can't stop for a long, protracted death scene, but still, it's jarring when we as the audience are conditioned to have that emotional moment where we can really process the death of a character we've grown attached to.
** Of particular notice is how, on the trip in, if the Normandy hasn't been upgraded, Jack is the first casualty, killed by a Oculus blast. Jack's a fighter, she deserved to be able to go out fighting, not an incidental death like that. After everything learned about her over the course of her loyalty mission, it's sad that she gets such an offhand death.
* the [[spoiler:Normandy SR-1 Crash Site. I had to leave before I drowned the keyboard.]]
* It's bad enough that the game has the potential to [[spoiler:kill off ALL of the Normandy's crew towards the end of the game,]] but this troper had the misfortune of only seeing half of his crew meet their ends at the hands of the collectors. To top it off,[[spoiler:Kenneth, the engineer down in the bowels of the ship survived, but his best friend Gabriella didn't. Hearing Kenneth's dialouge post-game when this happens is absolutely heart-breaking...]]

* Thane's pre-loyalty mission dialogue, when he said the memories of despair of the hardest to get away from. He was right, from the days when he was more concerned about an upcoming hit then playing with his son to the way he talks about his wife's funeral and how Koylat was extremely upset about how he could leave her to die and how he wasn't ever there, it was just completely devastating to watch. The Loyalty mission is even more important since if he fails to stop his son. He will live through such memories when he tries to remember Kolyat, how he will remember hearing about news about his son gunning down someone or worse, dies.

** The fact that some people write Zaeed off as a shallow brute just bugs me. Yes, Zaeed was a ruthless bastard, and yes he's a goddamn murderer. But when you take the Paragon options on his loyalty mission and gain his loyalty, he shows a lot of depth in that he regrets a lot of the thing's he's done over the years being a brutal sunnuvabith. But even then, when he talks about the shit Vido had done with the Blue Suns organization, which Zaeed had originally intended to be rather honorable and fair, the anger in his voice at the stuff Vido did showed a more [[EvenEvilHasStandards decent side]] to the guy.

* To this day, the saddest thing this troper has ever seen in a game is Han Olar's letter. Having read it easily several dozen times, it still brings tear to my eyes. Han Olar, a character from the original Mass Effect who is stricken by guilt over having allowed an Asari to die to save himself, writes a letter to Shepard - and, well, I'll let the end of the letter speak for itself.

* While Jacob's loyalty mission itself evokes more anger and disgust than tears while I'm in the middle of it, the email you get afterward never fails to tear me up.

* During Miranda's romance, once she acknowledges how much she cares about Shepard, she begs, "So don't die! You promise me, damn it!" The sheer terror in her voice at the thought of losing Shepard shows how much he means to her -- a far cry from her IceQueen beginnings. It makes me choke up every time.
* The ending of Arrival, for this troper...[[spoiler:300,000 lives, gone, in a flash. And Shepard pushed the button. And this probably won't be the last time we'll need to sacrifice the countless nameless to fight the Reapers. Yes, for now, we can [[IDidWhatIHadToDo comfort ourselves in the knowledge]] that we've delayed the Reaper's invasion, but it doesn't cushion the fact that Shepard's now a [[WhatTheHellHero mass murderer]]...[[WhatTheHellPlayer and that I got an achievement for it.]]]]
** To be fair [[spoiler:s/he did it with the best of intentions and bought the galaxy valuable time but it still doesn't take away from that fact that 300,000 are dead and s/he's going to take the bullet for those lives.]]
*** [[spoiler:What got me was how Shepard just stands overlooking the Galaxy map. And then the system turns red. Guilt much?]]
*** [[spoiler:It's even worse because you can try to ''warn'' them - try to save ''somebody'', even if it's not everyone, even if it's only a handful of handfuls, but the message doesn't get out. My Shepard was determined to stand trial, for that...and to prove she's not Saren.]]
**** For the love of all that is holy, [[spoiler:Kenson interrupting the transmission when I tried to warn the colonists. Why couldn't she at least let me have that?! Indoctrinated or not, my sorrow for the batarians turned to rage for the delluded human]]. I stormed out of that room with the rage of Hades.
***** It's worse if Shepard has the colonist background. Humans and Batarians already have a hostile relationship with the other, and for Shepard the hate is personal, everyone they ever knew was taken their parents included to live and die as slaves to the Batarians. [[spoiler:Yet despite all this, a Paragon Shepard will STILL try and warn these people what's coming so they can evacuate. The amount of effort that Shepard must have put into trying to be the better person is nothing less than saintly. And Kenson ruins EVERYTHING, turning what could have been a CMOH into... this]]
****** Fridge Horror sets in here. If the Reapers never rolled in and blasted the batarians first, they'd probably see the destruction as an act of revenge, forego Shepard's attempts to reason with him when the time would inevitably come, and mount his head on a spike or something.
* When you first meet Garrus [[spoiler:AKA Archangel]] in ''Mass Effect 2'' seeing how much he's changed and how cynical he's become is a real punch in the gut. This was especially heavy on MoodWhiplash for me because it went from joy when I realized who [[spoiler:Archangel]] really was as soon as they mentioned he was a Turian, to sadness when I saw how much he'd changed, especially since [[spoiler:at the end of the first game he'd been convinced to rejoin C-Sec]], to all out crying when he get injured. Seeing him on the floor in a pool of his own blood is just heartbreaking, and it just ''gets worse'' when you get his Shadow Broker file and realize what else was going on before you found him.
** What struck me most about the reunion with Garrus is just how ''tired'' he sounds when you finally get him face-to-face. He's so exhausted by everything that's happened to him in the last little while (physically and mentally) he just doesn't have it in him to be happy to see Shepard again.
* Jack. Oh dear God, ''Jack''...
* The infected area on Omega is pretty horrifying, but there's one room that's just aweful. Two Turian plague victims were locked in a room together by the Blue Suns to try and halt the disease spread. What really makes this bad is the audio logs one of the Turians left behind.

* Another, far more subtle Garrus moment. When confronting Sidonus, if you take the what-seems-to-be "Paragon"-option and don't let Garrus take the shot. The increasing desperation in his voice with every missed opportunity, the look on his face, it all combined to make this particular trooper feel like one more person betraying him, even though I was set in my course of action. It was the very last line, though, that got to me. The broken way he tells you to "Just- go. Tell him to just...just ''go''." made me want to just ''hug'' the poor guy. The voice acting ''sold'' that moment. That entire mission overall, in fact, as you see the extent of just how much Garrus has changed and how broken that betrayal really made him.

* The Collector ship attack. The attack itself was too frightening and chaotic to count (and, uh, rather darkly funny at one point) but the ''after'', when Joker is picking himself up and ''everyone is gone''. Dragged away kicking and screaming- literally- or killed trying to defend themselves, the ship, and the crew. Your efforts saved the ship, but was too late to help anyone else. And after, while Joker just watched his girl be attacked a ''second time'', watched people- some of which he knew or even cared about- be taken or murdered horribly, and is clearly not doing well for it, the first thing Miranda does is light into him for it, attacking and blaming him. This ''particular'' trooper would have ''loved'' a 'Shut the hell up, bitch' dialog option. Alas, it was not to be.

**** It's even worse when you consider both of them are in their early 40's, which for an asari is mid-teenage. Imagine two fourteen year old girls who are sent into what is essentially a nunnery to see their mother again. Is there any other reason the final words Farele tells Samara before hanging up is "Catch her (Morinth). Just catch her"?
*** To top it off, among the list of possessions that Samara gave up when she became a Justicar is "Personalized “Happy Birthday Mom” travel mug with photo of Samara and children (handle cracked and repaired, some glue marks visible)"

* The Paragon decision to nudge Miranda into [[spoiler: introducing herself to her sister.]]Even as a Renegade, it's totally worth it, as it's the one time you'll see Miranda genuinely tear up.

---> '''Archer:''' No, leave him! He's too valuable! ''[Pulls out a gun and fires at Shepard]''
---> '''Shepard:''' ''[Dodges and pistol whips Archer]'' You even ''think'' about coming after your brother and this '''bullet''' will be waiting for you! '''Then we'll see who's ''valuable'''''.

* This Troper managed to get through the entire suicide mission without any squad member losses, but I was too late to save Kelly and several other crew members. One of these crew members was Gabby from engineering. Ken survived. Seeing him down there, alone, and hearing him say that it was so weird without Gabby made me tear up, especially knowing all of the history they had.

*** I actually ''didn't realize'' that there was a time limit on rescuing the crew, because I'm so used to being able to [[TakeYourTime take my time]] unless there's an on-screen timer counting down. I lost half my crew. It was definitely even more of a TearJerker when I found out that I ''could have saved them all'', but I failed them... and then it was a good TearJerker when I realized that I ''could'' save them all. Cue restarting the game to do it right.
*** I wanted to see Legion at Tali's trial, so I made it to the derelict ship with half the loyalty missions undone and missing three members. When the crew kidnapping hit it was a total surprise, as was the slow realization that horrible things were about to happen to them unless I sprung into action immediately and I ''couldn't do that''. For many missions afterward Shepard came home to a hauntingly empty Normandy, wondering about his people's fate.
* The nameless, faceless tank-bred krogan on Korlus made me start bawling when he said he would not move from his position, because "has a purpose." Not to mention the way he kept repeating that "I am not perfect." He just sounds so...''lost''. It gets even worse when we ultimately learn that Okeer essentially created an army of rejects and discarded the poor guy, and he's likely going to stay where he is until he starves to death or a Blue Sun finally kills him. The entirety of his seven-day life has been spent fighting, and he's going to die for a lunatic krogan warlord who dies a half-hour later, and there was ''absolutely no reason for any of it.''
** This troper just wanted to take that krogan home and cuddle it and give it a home and such. Heck, Anderson would make a great foster father; he speaks headbutt.
** It's worse because that krogan will stay there until he's killed by the Blue Suns.
* Thane reuniting with [[spoiler: his son]] at the end of his loyalty mission is sad enough, but the achievement for it is called Cat's in the Cradle. It's the name of a song. Youtube it, and make sure to look for the Harry Chapin version. I guarantee you will cry buckets, or your money back.

--->[[TearJerker That thought haunts me more than any other.]]
* Speaking of Thane, his breakup scene if you choose to end a romance with him. Good god, if there's ever a High Octane Tear Jerker page, that should be the first entry. There's a reason that most of the comments on the Youtube video of the breakup dialogue are variations of 'YOU MONSTER!'.

* This troper had a moment during [[spoiler: Legion's loyalty mission, when Legion realizes the heretics have been spying on the true Geth and gives one of the saddest lines I have heard in the game (from a supposedly emotionless synthetic, no less)]]:

* Shadow Broker DLC: Where do we start?
** Reading the Shadow Broker's [[http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Shadow_Broker_Dossiers files on everyone]].
*** There's a ''massive'' MoodDissonance when you go through Miranda's dossiers. Most of them are records of her conversations with possible partners on a extranet dating site which are mostly CrowningMomentOfFunny. Then you get to the last one, and it's like a punch to the gut. [[spoiler:Miranda is completely barren, and the clinic that she went to can neither confirm nor deny if it was due to her genetic engineering.]]
**** Worse yet, the reason why she [[spoiler:went to the clinic in the first place: a "benign neoplasm of the reproductive system." A neoplasm is the anatomic term for a tumor. One hopes that whatever she had was truly benign instead of something pre-malignant that they caught early. Of course, the idea of Miss Genetic Perfection crippled by uterine fibroids [[TooMuchInformation isn't any more]] [[{{Squick}} pleasant to think about.]]]]
***** Miranda's also may earn a FridgeHorror moment when you realize [[spoiler: her father made her to be flawless. We know he's greedy, controlling, and manipulative so it is possible that he created Miranda to be unable to have children as another way to control her. Which means her father actually thought ahead that he didn't want his daughter to be able to become pregnant and possibly pass on her "flawless" genes.]]
****** Even MORE fridge horror (after a long line of funny instant message logs) when you realise that she was probably only using the dating sites to solicit sex (hence her abrupt disconnection after giving her address), and possibly only to the end [[LawOfInverseFertility of impregnating herself]]. Coupled with the obvious way she looks after her sister like a daughter, it's clear, (regardless of your feelings on how well she'd do) that Miranda very badly wants to be a mother...especially since a child is the only person she could love without reserve, without worrying if she'd be betrayed or was being manipulated. This, likely along with the desire to never do to her child what her father did to her. ...Tearjerker indeed.
*** Samara's if anything is even worse, just how the stupid quirk of genetics has ruined her life and her daughter's lives. They're going to be prisoners for a thousand years and Samara herself has given up everything to hunt down her rogue daughter. Also there's just something sad about learning Morinth's real name, like she was trying to escape the fate forced on her at birth.
**** It makes their confrontation even sadder. [[spoiler: Morinth never uses her real name. ''Samara'' calls her Morinth. Whoever Mirala was, she's long gone to the both of them.]]

*** If you romance him, Thane's dossier [[spoiler: includes a letter to be delivered to Shepard upon his death. The whole thing will make you wibble, but the final line is the killer: "I will await you across the sea."]]
**** The quote above reminded this troper of one thing and one thing only. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIXQkSA0YO4 "Across the sea,]][[TheLordOFTheRings a pale moon rises.]] [[ManlyTears The ships have come]] [[TearJerker to carry you home..."]]
*** Most don't feel sorry for Jack. Put this in perspective. [[spoiler: When she was a baby, her mom went to the local medical facility because a doctor said that baby Jack needed a checkup. Apparently, all that doctor wanted was a reason take Jack away from parental custody since he is a Cerberus operative and Jack was exceptional. So the bastard lied to the mother, made up some sob story about how his kid had seizures due to biotics, told the mom that the government did this, and tricked her into releasing custody of Jack. Right after that, Jack was sent to Pragia.]]
**** That's a JBM all of its own. How can you NOT feel sorry for her? Psychotic as she is, she arguably had the most tragic of the backgrounds--a friendless one of constant rape, betrayal, death, and senseless loss. She was kidnapped practically right out of her mother's womb, for chrissakes.

*** And then there's Tali's dossier, which includes a keystroke log of Tali attempting to write a letter to the family of one of the quarian soldiers who died protecting her, constantly erasing each line she writes because she can't find anything that will justify it.
*** And then there was Ronald Taylor's final letter to Jacob, telling his son how proud he was of him. He explains that the reason he took up his job was so that he could finally settle down comfortably with Jacob and his mother. The Final punch was that he wished for Jacob to find comrades he could rely on in the Alliance just like he found Hugo Gernsback. [[spoiler: Considering all the horrors that happens during Jacob's loyalty mission, it makes it that much more Tragic.]]
*** Oddly enough, I found Legion's dossier to be very sad, particularly the conversation he has with EDI. She's the only other AI on the Normandy, and he's... I don't know, reaching out to her, I guess? Anyways, he's trying to communicate with her, and she politely informs Legion that even if she were capable of exchanging data with another AI, she would not do so with him. There's an uncomfortable pause in the conversation that lasts all of a second, but to an AI of Legion's level of sophistication, well... he must have been truly taken aback by her comment.
*** And then there's the records of the extranet games he plays. Although the purpose of it was probably observation, there are just weird little hints of a personality, like the infraction report that states that Legion was reprimanded for unsportsmanlike behaviour. Think about it: Legion got an infraction for TAUNTING other players, an inherently human reaction. And then there's the note that, despite the fact he's logged several days into the game, he got an absolute crap score at a dating sim.
**** A ''Quarian'' dating sim, no less.
***** It's like it was trying to see what would make the Quarians love them again, but no amount of consensus and research could find out what is required for the peace between both races. And you must remember they are program, this isn't for fun, this is literally "research" and "training" the runtimes in the geth unit. 1138 Runtimes training and looking for an answer, and the answer never appears even if you [[spoiler: broker peace and didn't choose synthesis, they eventually divide once again]]
**** It got reprimanded for various things that hinted at its synthetic nature, like being able to manage a suspicious number of things at once, and it challenged and had each of those overturned. The taunting, though, it accepted the three-day suspension for.
**** The fact that Legion purchased a game entitled, Geth Attack: Eden Prime Fundraising Edition, and has a 'donation level' of Ultra Platinum, and yet has logged zero hours into the game. Of course a geth wouldn't want to take part in a simulation of killing their own, but the fact that they/it want to help the damages on Eden Prime so much that they'd do that is touching, to say the least.
**** There's actually a lot of little touches in the gamer profile. Its achievement in [[FunWithAcronyms ''Grim Terminus Alliance'']] ("Award: Cure for What Ails You (Kill 100+ quarians)") shows that there's still some resentment, yet its score in ''Fleet and Flotilla'' (miserable as it is) suggests it's trying to learn how to get along with them. Also notable in its ''GTA'' profile: "Award: Abolitionist (Complete full playthrough without any slave kills, free all slaves encountered)". It's just sweet until you remember that the geth were basically slaves to the quarians.
**** The dossier gets worse if you actually traded Legion over to Cerberus. They literally took him apart, and the implication is that he's trying to put himself back together ....
**** Poor, poor Anderson. Even if you don't pass him over in favor of Udina, leaving him a {{Buttmonkey}}, the files on him reveal that the stress of being councilor has led him to drinking. Guy was like one bad day off growing a BeardOfSorrow.
***** Even worse. It's not the stress of being the councilor. It's the stress of seeing the guy who murdered hundreds to screw him out of a respectable position and tried to sell the galaxy out to an EldritchAbomination being painted as a misunderstood hero, or how said EldritchAbomination was merely a myth despite blowing away most of the Citadel fleet two years ago.
***** And then there was Mordin's mission dialogue about the mission in Tuchanka which was expanded in the folder, how he was delivering the modified genophage and how he had to kill female Krogan and how Maelon was complaining about the ethics of the mission and he simply dimisses it. In fact when he talked about killing many, his major highlight in his life was the genophage deliveries, most of his acts of violence were part of the whole Genophage mission.
*** Oh God, the one on Garrus... [[spoiler: The entire chatlog with his sister Solana is painful to read, but the lines about his activities on Omega really felt like a kick in the teeth:]]

**** For those who're a bit behind, he's refusing to [[spoiler:sync up for video chat with his sister]] because a gunship ''blew off half his face,'' '''which was patched with prosthetics meant for a species ''with less in common with him than a camel spider!'''''

[[spoiler:---> '''Archer:''' No, leave him! He's too valuable! ''[Pulls out a gun and fires at Shepard]''
---> '''Shepard:''' ''[Dodges and pistol whips Archer]'' You even ''think'' about coming after your brother and this '''bullet''' will be waiting for you! '''Then we'll see who's ''valuable'''''.]]

* You may be morbidly curious as to how Shepard is able to die, considering how much Bioware played up the AnyoneCanDie angle. Well, [[spoiler:it only happens if you screw up the suicide mission so badly that ''every single one of your squadmates die'']]. Once that's happened, Shepard will [[spoiler:make the final leap to the Normandy, but Joker can't pull him/her up. Shepard tells Joker to warn everyone else, and despite Joker shouting "''You'' tell them! You're not doing this to me again!", Shepard will lose his/her grip and fall to his/her doom.]] The anguish in Joker's voice and his face is palpable in the following ending scenes; [[spoiler:he sounds almost broken when he speaks to the Illusive Man in Shepard's place]]. Seeing him looking at all those coffins is absolutely soul shattering, especially when he places his hand on the coffin with the "N7" symbol on it.
The part that makes it is when [[spoiler: Joker stands alone in the Normandy's hold, looking into space with a mixture of sadness, uncertainty, and determination as the music reaches its crescendo and the Reaper fleet mobilizes in deep space.]]

* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xlm_BaFwA24 Grunt's death scene]] was bittersweet at best. On the one hand, Grunt's death is just as sad as the others. But on the other hand, he dies the way all Krogan should die; he died fighting.

** It's absolutely '''heartbreaking'' if you stop Legion [[spoiler: from uploading the Reaper data into the rest of the Geth collective. Tali stabs him, and if you don't take the Renegade interrupt, Legion asks before dying, "Does this unit have...." Tali tearfully replies, "Yes, you do."]]
* Jack's romance as well. This troper teared up with manly tears.

* Jacob even gets a tear jerker moment after his loyalty misson, even when playing as a Male Shepard. [[spoiler: After it is revealed that Miranda told him the location of the planet his father was on, he and Shepard have a conversation about Miranda. His final words made this troper bawl. "She...deserves a better man than I."]] The only solace I received was that fact that, somewhere, a beautiful action girl femshep was romancing Jacob.

* The Paragon decision to nudge Miranda into [[spoiler: introducing herself to her sister.]]
** Even as a Renegade, it's totally worth it, as it's the one time you'll see Miranda genuinely tear up.

** This troper has to choose the tongue-in-cheek toast to Joker, because the other ones make her bottom lip go all wibbly.

*** Actually, when I used the sniper rifle as binoculars when EDI mentioned that, I saw several of the bodies within... twitching...
** Well, I can't fix the rest of these, but I can fix this one. [[spoiler: If you go straight to the base after your crew gets abducted, the first person you see get...pulped is the only word I can think of, is one of the colonists. Either thay weren't on that ship, or not all of them were. So, you can save some.]]
*** [[spoiler: You dont save any. I think Chakwas makes mention that the rest of the colonist were already processed. The only people you managed to save is your crew. And if you got there late... Only some of your crew...]]
*** If memory serves, [[spoiler: one squadmate can make a comment that has EDI suggest most of the pods are actually empty.]]
*** That's because they have enough pods to hold the entire human race.
* Two krogan talking on Tuchanka. One of them thinks that one of the children kept away with the female tribes for protection is his son. A surprisingly touching moment from the race best-known for mindless violence and a sterility plague.
** FridgeLogic makes it even more moving when he asks if he should apply for right of parentage and his friends says "you know you've sired a son - leave it at that." He's worried that his friend might be wrong about siring a son, and doesn't want him to be disappointed.
* Another one on Tuchanka, a krogan is talking to his companion about a vid about the Citadel, wishing he could see it in person, while the second krogan berates him for looking at it because he's never ever going to get off his radioactive, warring DeathWorld of a planet..,
** Same krogan also expresses interest in science and documentaries - science of the intellectual sort instead of the BOOM sort. Hearing the other (bigger) krogan crush the smaller ones dreams was hard to listen to. One hopes that the little guy gets a chance to tell Wrex that he's interested in being smart not just strong.
* The salarian workers that you meet during Thane's recruitment mission, especially the first one. The shell-shocked way he says "we're just night workers..." just tugs at the heartstrings, and he follows it with the horrible story of what Nassana did, including how some people were jumping off of ledges to escape the dogs. As several characters have noted, you never get used to seeing dead civilians.
** And note that 'dogs' in this case are FENRIS mechs. At least with organic dogs, you could hurt them and maybe get them to back off. With mechs armed with tasers?
** Sometimes while you play, you're in danger of forgetting that not everyone in the Mass Effect universe is a gun-toting badass. Most are just normal people doing their jobs and not hurting anyone. Those workers bring you out of it fast.
* It seems half the Loyalty Quests are this. The other half are either [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming Crowning Moments of Heartwarming]] or [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome Crowning Moments of Awesome]].
** [[RuleOfThree Or all three]].

** This mission is even worse if you have a younger, autistic brother. Shepard's reaction to the horror David is going through is nothing compared to someone who knows what having a responsibility like that is like.
** [[MagnusRyujin This troper]] IS autistic. And pretty good at math. I'm also the younger of two siblings. The end of Overlord hit me pretty hard.
** Ditto. On the plus side we have Shepard's paragon ending, but listening to the barely\not at all hidden disgust in his\her voice [[CrownimgMomentOfHeartwarming made me fall so hard for Shepard.]]
** I'm the type of player who takes the evil path in games, for the [[FortheEvulz sheer pleasure of acting like a complete bastard.]] But, at the end of the Overlord mission, I was filled with an [[UnstoppableRage unbridled fury]] and sadness, plain and simple. I actually said [[spoiler: "Give me the option to shoot that bastard...NOW!"]]
*** Settle for PistolWhipping? Because it can't be said enough that this is the good ending. ''The paragon solution.'' Shepard is a pillar of morality by beating him half to death.

----> '''David:''' [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tWhNMqCYhQ Square root of 912.04 is 30.2. It all seemed harmless...Square root of 912.04 is 30.2. It all seemed harmless...Square root of 912.04 is 30.2...it all seemed harmless...]]

** Bioware programmed a moving sequence sure, but Chris Lennertz's score makes it utterly devastating.
** I may be the only one to think this but I found Archer to be more upsetting. He cares about his brother and knows what he did was wrong but at the point Shepard shows up its too late to stop. "What I have done to David is unethical. If he dies it is unforgivable."
** Good lord, the '''entire''' Overlord scenario. From learning everyone but one scientist have been mercilessly gunned down by the rogue VI to learning the truth about the entire project had feelings of horror and sorrow tunnelling through my soul. Being a full Paragade let me unleash just how pissed I was through Shepard towards Gavin Archer and still take David away. Truly, the way Shepard delivered both his and my thoughts after a solid pistol whip helped me keep my tears at bay.

** Gavin Archer says David would infect the galaxy if he escaped. We don't see this, [[FridgeSadness but what if instead he was trying to cry for help?
* And to think that there are some people who argue for using "unproductive members of society" like David in similar experiments in REAL LIFE. They should all play Overlord (though David was a mathematical savant, so he's not exactly useless)...
** Historically, Adolf Hitler did this to GERMANS (whether they were Jewish or not) before the events leading to "The Final Solution" of the Wansea Conference. Hitler had all the alcoholics, mentally and physically handicapped, repeat offenders for various crimes, and "social undesirables" (which is a huge spectrum) sent to concentration camps... It's ironic how a massive operation CALLED "Overlord" put an end to him and his plans!

**** It's even worse when you consider both of them are in their early 40's, which for an asari is mid-teenage. Imagine two fourteen year old girls who are sent into what is essentially two ''separate'' nunneries and ''never'' to see their mother or each ''other'' again. Is there any other reason the final words Farele tells Samara before hanging up is "Catch her (Morinth). Just catch her"?

* You may be morbidly curious as to how Shepard is able to die, considering how much Bioware played up the AnyoneCanDie angle. Well, [[spoiler:it only happens if you screw up the suicide mission so badly that ''every single one of your squadmates die'']]. Once that's happened, Shepard will [[spoiler:make the final leap to the Normandy, but Joker can't pull him/her up. Shepard tells Joker to warn everyone else, and despite Joker shouting "''You'' tell them! You're not doing this to me again!", Shepard will lose his/her grip and fall to his/her doom.]] The anguish in Joker's voice and his face is palpable in the following ending scenes; [[spoiler:he sounds almost broken when he speaks to the Illusive Man in Shepard's place]]. And for that matter, if you're not shedding a tear at losing your own hand-crafted Commander Shepard, and filled with the urge to go back and do things ''right''...
** The part that always gets this troper is when [[spoiler: Joker stands alone in the Normandy's hold, looking into space with a mixture of sadness, uncertainty, and determination as the music reaches its crescendo and the Reaper fleet mobilizes in deep space.]]
** Not to make it worse but... [[spoiler: the cutscene actually seems more like Shepard willingly lets go in order to save Joker. At that point, Shepard knows that Joker isn't going to willingly leave him/her behind but that Joker can't possibly pull him/her up between Joker's condition and the Collector's firing at the ship. Shepard knows that. So s/he lets go to give Joker a chance to escape. To -make- him escape so that the message gets out. Redemption (for getting everyone else killed) equals death for a Shepard that doesn't think anyone else is important and that he/she can do it all him/herself ie doesn't do Loyalty or get Upgrades.]]
* If any of your squadmates die, during the final scene in the cargo bay you'll be treated to a panning shot showing their coffins, laid out in a row. The shot shows not only the losses you've suffered and the good lives have been lost, but also the implication that ''you could have saved them''.
** That scene's extremely sad, especially when you realize there's no way some of their bodies were recovered. ''Those coffins are empty.'' Devastating.
** This troper nearly cried when he got to the second parts end and [[spoiler: Garrus dies by a shot to the stomach, saying "Sorry, Shepard, won't be with you at the end. Snipe one for me, will you?" I restarted after that and made sure to beat every damn Collector to death with the melee just for that offense.]]
** This troper found most poignant of all at Jack's death scene, especially if you romance her. It just...when she says [[spoiler: "I should've known this would happen. I was too happy...too happy with you." It shows how she found true happiness and peace with Shepard, only to die so soon after gaining it. It's like fate, after all she's gone through, was giving her a final slap to the face.]]
** ''All'' of the [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkRxe_R6SqI death scenes during]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVifl3BBZ0I the suicide mission]]. ''All of them.''

** The worst part of all of this is that, even if by logic things should work out, people might STILL die. This troper first went with [[spoiler:Legion as the tech specialist, Samara leading the distraction team both times, Mordin escorting the crew, and Miranda as the biotic. Tali and Garrus, for nostalgia's sake, were the ground team.]] [[spoiler:Legion's]] death elicited a 'damn, I liked him', and later on [[spoiler:Samara's]] a 'shame, but I never used her'. The worst, though, was [[spoiler:Garrus dying due to Miranda's failure]], because it should have worked. There was no logical flaw delegating that dutty to [[spoiler:Miranda]]. As revenge, [[spoiler:the Human-Reaper]] ate a Cain blast. [[spoiler:Miranda]] suffered a HoldTheLine death after the battle. Post-credits I reloaded to save [[spoiler:Garrus]]. [[spoiler:Miranda and Samara]] were just bonuses; I saved too late to save [[spoiler:Legion]].
*** Considering the choice of selecting Miranda as your biotic specialist, when you see how she fails to protect your team despite claiming '''in theory''' any biotic would've been a fine choice suddenly reminds you of a previous conversation on the Normandy when she claims that when she does make mistakes, the consequences are severe. It's only when you experience it, you truly realize she wasn't exagerrating, and you break down for not taking her seriously.
*** Jack and Samara/Morinth? All of them pull some impressive biotic maneuvers prior to the suicide mission, Jack breaking out and then we have the battle between Samara and Morinth. Miranda? No, she just talks about it. Yes, as Miranda says, in theory every biotic should be able to do it, it would still be a flawed deduction if it doesn't actually lead to assigning someone Shepard ''knew from experience'' was able to get the job done. So Miranda being a "wrong" choice there is actually not that surprising in the end.
*** Oh, Miranda and her mistakes! During the pre-mission briefing, Miranda said the leader of distraction fire team is someone who can lead with experience! I picked Samara because I figured being nearly 1000 year old warrior space nun would be plenty of experience and Miranda said it was a good choice! That got Tech Specialist Legion killed and I realized that Samara spent most of her time alone! So I reloaded and picked Garrus and Miranda was dismissive, probably secretly accusing me of picking him just because he's my romantic interest! Well, screw you, Miranda! By disregarding your opinion, I got everyone out alive!
*** Well, any biotic was a fine choice, considering all they accounted for was a simple bubble shield. Miranda did not account for the fact that there would be Collectors right behind them, and she would have to make a burst and use her shield as a weapon. She also probably did not take into account how much energy would be needed for a bubble shield that lasted that long.

* Dammit to hell; the worst ending of the sequel is THE example of this since [[spoiler:''everyone'' with the sole exception of Joker dies. Seeing him looking at all those coffins is absolutely soul shattering. Realizing that the torch has been passed on and it's now up to Joker to warn the rest of the galaxy about the incoming Reaper invasion makes it worse.]]
** [[spoiler:Doubly so once you realize that maybe Joker could've pulled up Shepard if he wasn't suffering from a disease that turns his bones into glass...]]
** How about when he places his hand on that coffin, and the "N7" symbol is on it?
** Even worse: [[spoiler:this is the second time he's seen Shepard die, and once again it happens as a result of something Joker did/couldn't do. Even though the worst ending is absolutely Shepard's fault, that kind of bookend can't have [[GenreSavvy gotten passed Joker's notice]].]]
* Three words: [[spoiler:Legion's death scene. This assumes, of course, that he dies in the suicide mission.]] [[spoiler:He may be a machine and thus it might be somewhat possible to bring him back to life again,]] but it's utterly heart-wrenching to hear him cry [[spoiler:[[BrainUploading "No carrier! No carrier! No carrier!"]]]]
** A case of [[FridgeHorror Fridge Horror]] when you realize that Legion was [[spoiler:Trying to upload his programs to the rest of the Geth collective; a vain attempt to survive. He cries out "No Carrier" because there aren't any nearby Geth stations or satellites to pick up the programs, so his programs; the very essence of Legion's soul, simply fade away. Legion dies not with a bang, but with a sigh.]]
*** [[spoiler:Note that, to an extent, each of the programs is itself an individual working in tandem and consensus to control the platform. Imagine a group of a thousand, trapped, trying to escape, radioing the only person they know for some confirmation/some rescue attempt. No carrier, after all, could also be Legion pleading to Shepard to find a way to save some of his programs.]]
*** And to boot... [[spoiler: since Legion operates much much faster than an organic, their death isn't the fast death others might get. When you can do a billion calculations in a second, even getting killed in a quarter second can be forever.]]
* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xlm_BaFwA24 Grunt's death scene]] was bittersweet at best. [[spoiler:On the one hand, Grunt's death is just as sad as the others. But on the other hand, he dies the way all Krogan should die; he died fighting. This troper cried [[ManlyTears manly tears]] when he first watched that clip on Youtube.]]
---> '''Grunt:''' Good fight Shepard..........Good Fight.........

** Both of those conversations were TearJerkers for me as well, but there was another one on Illium for me. Having the conversation with the asari who lost her wife and daughters as a result of all the violence in the galaxy, getting her to open up and break down in tears about this terrible tragedy and the pain it still causes her, and convincing her to honour their memory by forgiving the aliens she holds responsible... only to overhear two racist asari thoughtlessly bitching about her and her family, because she's pureblood and she married an asari. "She's pureblood. They're all like that." Honest to God, angry and sad tears from my eyes.

* What about the first frigging scene? Seeing your beloved Normandy go down? Damn that game had downers from the start. Even knowing it gets replaced by the SR-2 doesn't do much to take the edge off when it happens.

* Ashley's/Kaidan's rejection of you on Horizon. Seeing your former girlfriend/boyfriend/best friend completely disown you... Even this troper, who can make it through almost every other part of any game or movie without crying, almost completely lost it. Then reading Ashley's email for afters... Christ, that's sad.

** This troper didn't fare much better reuniting with Liara. For Shepard, it was only weeks, maybe days ago that they were together...and then you start to realise how much Liara's changed because of interim events. Like with Ashley and Kaidan, it's the whole concept of waking up one day to find that two years have gone by, and the person you loved has moved on without you. That was when it really hit me how much shit Shepard must be going through, even though, being in command, it couldn't be shown.
*** He tries, but if you pay attention near the end you'll notice even the usually stoic male Shepard can't help but get a little choked up.
**** The payoff is that if you remain loyal to your ''Mass Effect 1'' romance, before the Suicide Mission, Shepard picks up the photograph of your loved one and looks at it with a small smile, implying that there will be a bigger payoff in ''Mass Effect 3''.

*** Luckily the Lair Of The Shadow Broker DLC finally shows Shepard letting everything out. When Liara visits she asks Shep to tell her how s/he truly feels. The options are either cautiously hopeful, frustrated, or truly scared. The way Meer and Hale deliver these lines is heartbreaking because it truly shows that even Shepard, under that cool commanding persona, can be just as frightened as the everyone else about the threat or frustrated that everything s/he is doing to stop the Reapers is in vain. Even more striking is that this is not a Paragade choice but strictly based on how Shepard truly feels.
** Getting back together with Liara in Lair of the Shadow Broker is a CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming, but the conversation Shepard and Liara have on the Normandy afterwards has a moment that really cracked me up:

** For me, that just really drove home how distraught, worried, and confused Liara has been over the last two years. EarnYourHappyEnding indeed.
* If you didn't tear up during Tali's mission [[spoiler: when she finds her father's body]], you aren't human. Almost made me cry, and I even had a brief Roaring Rampage of Revenge.
** RoaringRampageOfRevenge? [[{{Tropers.Griffinhart}} This Troper]]'s Infiltrator Shepard punched the ''Geth Prime'' at the end of the mission to death. On ''Insanity''.

** That's not tears... Just got...[[SandInMyEyes sand in my eyes...]] * sniff*

*** Don't hug Tali during her loyalty mission. Can't do it (I don't blame you)? Don't worry, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yk8_iHLSwMA this guy did it for you]]. The scene is painful enough ''with'' the hug; not taking the interrupt takes the tear jerking UpToEleven.

** If you get the evidence and tell Tali that since her father is dead, he won't need her to protect him, her response - particularly the way her voice cracks, is heartbreaking.

** And if you reveal it was all of his fault...well [[MoralEventHorizon you are an asshole]].

* In the DLC where you explore the wreckage of the Normandy the player finds deceased Navigator Pressly's journal. In the first game, Pressly is distrustful of your alien crew members when you first meet him. However his journal reveals that by spending time with the crew, he came to trust the aliens just as much as any human. The final entry states that Pressly would gladly give his life for any crew member, regardless of species.
** Hell, this entire mission... collecting [[spoiler:the dogtags]], all the little flashbacks... And it's a clear example of SnowMeansDeath.
*** Not to mention being able to find them all over the wreckage because they were ''glowing''. It was like you were collecting [[spoiler: their souls]] and they were just waiting to be found and brought home. ''No one'' gets left behind under Shepard's command.
*** It was a strangely appropriate ending to the poor old thing, half-frozen in a block of ice - [[ScrappyMechanic stuck in the level geometry one last time.]]

** In that same scene, if you've already played through ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', one quote he says is utterly HeartbreakingInHindsight: [[spoiler:"Had to be me. Others might have gotten it wrong."]]
** In the same mission, the speaker of Clan Weyrloc makes an impassioned, enraged speech about the piles of stillborn Krogan children caused by the Genophage. Even though the guy's a total JerkAss and tries to kill you immediately afterwards, it's hard not to be moved by the situation that all Krogan have been left in, by events that happened centuries past.
*** Still, you can hear his voice giving out when he mentions the stillborns. It's pretty clear from his speech that he feels like he's got ''nothing left''. He's lashing out at the galaxy the only way he knows how.
*** What about the end of the quest, where you learn that [[spoiler: his student didn't get kidnapped, but allied himself to the Krogan from his free will so he could try to find cure to the genophage? That doesn't sound too bad, but when your party fails to convince him that the Krogan might start a rampage from ensuing power trip, Mordin pulls out his gun and shoots him]] if the player doesn't use a Paragon quick-time event and prevent him. Just listen his voice after that...he's so disappointed and crushed.

*** Poignantly, this is probably the only instance in the game where Mordin uses a personal pronoun (or a pronoun at all) while serious. He doesn't say "Made mistake." or some such, he says ''my'' mistake. It's something he can't quite distance himself from.
*** FridgeBrilliance: If you let Mordin [[spoiler: kill Maelon]], then the above quote is absolutely heartshattering. After spending the entire mission trying to convince himself more than Shepard that he did not kill needlessly, Mordin [[spoiler: ''murders Maelon in cold blood'' because once again, he had no other choice.]]

* What About the first frigging scene? Seeing the Beloved Normandy go down? Damn that game had downers from the start

* The Collector ship attack. The attack itself was too frightening and chaotic to count (and, uh, rather darkly funny at one point) but the ''after'', when Joker is picking himself up and ''everyone is gone''. Dragged away kicking and screaming- literally- or killed trying to defend themselves, the ship, and the crew. Your efforts saved the ship, but was too late to help anyone else. And after, while Joker just watched his girl be attacked a ''second time'', watched people- some of which he knew or even cared about- be taken or murdered horribly, and is clearly not doing well for it, the first thing Miranda does is light into him for it, attacking and blaming him. This ''particular'' trooper would have ''loved'' a 'Shut the hell up, bitch' dialog option. Alas, it was not to be.

[[redirect:TearJerker/MassEffect]]