History TearJerker / Nier

*** Made WORSE in Automata, where Emil is the last (former) human in existence, and for a while singlehandedly fought against the entire Alien/Machine army. [[spoiler: it's little wonder he hits DespairEventHorizon in ending Y, wanting to destroy the Earth as a MercyKill]].

** Before the quest, you end up befriending a couple who wears similar red bags with the boyfriend being helpful as your ferryman. You spend the game up till then watching them argue and then go back to being SickeninglySweethearts, eventually leading to Nier developing a sort of fondness for them. As a catalyst for the quest, the girlfriend tells you to find him after he left for one week. As you explore the ship, you end up finding him dead, devoured by the Shade inside the ship. To add further pain, you can either tell his girlfriend what happened to him or lie. Regardless of the choice, she doesn't take it well.

* When the King and his warriors stay behind to buy time for Nier's group in the Shadowlord's Castle. After they're gone, it shows the King (who is still a kid for crying out loud!) trembling but still trying to stay calm in front of the others, then asking the advisor how many rules there are about what battle cry to use before dying.
** The King finally bleeding to death, surrounded by the bodies of his warriors, and promising Fyra that they will be [[TogetherInDeath together again soon]].

-->'''Weiss:''' No, they still live on. [[HumanAllAlong You know them as Shades.]] Each Shade is a twisted remnant of what was once a human being.

** Devola's death and her last words towards her sister: ''Now I know why the two of us were born together. For beings without souls... living alone... that would just be too sad...''

* The boss fight with Devola and Popola is one of the game's most tragic moments. They were good friends of Nier and company throughout the whole game, and now they have little choice but to fight them, as their task to protect the Shadowlord is above all else. It's painful for both the Twins and Nier and his party.
** It all starts with the twins revealing the truth to Nier and his friends in the harshest way possible.

** In the original version, after Popola's health runs out, she says ''"Sister... No..."''

** ''Now I know why the two of us were born together. For beings without souls... living alone... that would just be too sad...''

---> '''Grimoire Weiss:''' Those two have watched the world wither for time immemorial. The cruelness of such a fate is difficult to imagine.

-->'''Nier (Brother)'': Please! Don't do this, Popola! You and Devola were like parents to me!
---> '''Grimoire Weiss''': Those two have watched the world wither for time immemorial. The cruelness of such a fate is difficult to imagine.
-->'''Nier (Brother)'': I don't wanna do this! ''I DON'T WANNA FIGHT HER!''
-->'''Kainé'': Stop bitching and start fighting! It's the only way!

* While getting ready to "avenge" Jakob. You slowly find out that the abandoned child Shade Kalil befriends a robot that after learning what "crying" is and finding out that both their parents (creator in P-33's case) died, which gives the robot emotions to the point where it's sole mission now is to protect Kalil. Later you find out that they were teaching each other about what they knew. Interested in the outside, both the Shade and p-33 decided to leave the junk yard to explore the wonders of the world as friends. Once you face them to fight with Nier being oblivious as always, the robot grows wings and flies to the ceiling of the building in an attempt to escape the fight and protect Kalil and itself from death.
--> '''P-33''': Beepy... alone... Beepy... cry?

--> '''King of Façade''': Foul beast! Die! We'll never know peace until all of you are dead.\\

* ''Now I know why the two of us were born together. For beings without souls... living alone... that would just be too sad...''

* After finding Grimoire Weiss and rescuing Yonah, 'Father' Nier breaks down when Weiss explains that there is no known cure for the Black Scrawl. Cursing the gods for this while on his way to meet Devola, Jamieson Price's voice acting makes it clear how enraged Nier is at being powerless to save his daughter. Made worse by the fact that in order to feed and keep Yonah alive, he can barely spend time with her already.
-->'''Nier (Father)''': ''(cutscene)'' Dammit all! Why does it have to be my daughter?! Why not me?! Of all people, why my only daughter?!\\

** It gets more depressing when you look at the situation from Nier's perspective. Leading up to that point, Nier had to watch Emil and the King of Façade (along with his army) sacrifice themselves to help him reach his goal. And then he had to kill Devola and Popola even though he really didn't want to fight them. Being forced to fight Kainé after he finally completed his goal was the final straw. Poor Nier would rather give up his existence and part ways with his beloved daughter than be forced to lose another friend by his hand.

** Before the quest, you end up befriending a couple who wears similar red bags with the boyfriend being helpful as your ferryman. As a catalyst for the quest, the girlfriend tells you to find him after he left for one week. As you explore the ship, you end up finding him dead, devoured by the Shade inside the ship. To add further pain, you can either tell his girlfriend what happened to him or lie. Regardless of the choice, she doesn't take it well.

[[AC: '''WARNING: Administrivia/SpoilersOff applies to Moments pages.''']]

** Related to this is a quest you can do after the timeskip (The Strange Fate of the Jewel) where a lady asks about a special gem she was looking for called the Mermaids Tear. You find out that it was meant to go to the Lighthouse Lady but never arrived, forcing you to check with the Postman and the storage room. Once you find it, the letter attached reveals it was the last letter her love ever sent, and he died after he sent it. You can then chose to sell it, give it to the woman requesting it, or bury it with the Lighthouse Lady. If you bury it, the requester reveals that the Mermaids Tear belonged to her grandfather, which was why she was requesting it. Regardless of if you gave it back or buried it, Nier feels sadness over it, as he feels bad for robbing the granddaughter of something that reminded her of her grandfather, but also feels bad that the Lighthouse Lady was never able to receive it.

* The ''Mermaid'' extra episode DLC, originally released in ''Grimoire Nier'' a decade ago. As if the base game wasn't depressing enough, this story will leave you dead inside.

** Related to this is a quest you can do after the timeskip (The Strange Fate of the Jewel
) where a lady asks about a special gem she was looking for called the Mermaids Tear. You find out that it was meant to go to the Lighthouse Lady but never arrived, forcing you to check with the Postman and the storage room. Once you find it, the letter attached reveals it was the last letter her love ever sent, and he died after he sent it. You can then chose to sell it, give it to the woman requesting it, or bury it with the Lighthouse Lady. If you bury it, the requester reveals that the Mermaids Tear belonged to her grandfather, which was why she was requesting it. Regardless of if you gave it back or buried it, Nier feels sadness over it, as he feels bad for robbing the granddaughter of something that reminded her of her grandfather, but also feels bad that the Lighthouse Lady was never able to receive it.

** The Ending B post-credits sequence, where Emil's disembodied head survives the explosion, lands in the desert, and cheerily bounces/rolls off to find some legs and then see his friends again, only serves to twist the knife even further since he'll only be able to see either Nier or Kainé, depending on which ending you choose to go with. Worse still, if you choose to sacrifice your save file for Ending D, Emil will never realize Nier existed in the first place when he comes back! [=PS4=]/Xbox One remaster's Ending E does rectify this somewhat, but even then Nier and Kainé, are mortal meaning [[LastOfHisKind Emil will be the only person left]] when everyone else dies either from old age or (in the case of all other replicants) the Black Scrawl. That's...[[MadeMyselfSad not much of an improvement...]]

** The Ending B post-credits sequence, where Emil's disembodied head survives the explosion, lands in the desert, and cheerily bounces/rolls off to find some legs and then see his friends again, only serves to twist the knife even further since he'll only be able to see either Nier or Kainé, depending on which ending you choose to go with. Worse still, if you choose to sacrifice your save file for Ending D, Emil will never realize Nier existed in the first place when he comes back! [=PS4=]/Xbox One remaster's Ending E does rectify this somewhat, but even then Nier and Kainé, are mortal meaning Emil will be the only one left when everyone else dies either from old age or (in the case of all other replicants) the Black Scrawl. That's...[[MadeMyselfSad not much of an improvement...]]