Tear Jerker / Ar tonelico II: Melody of Metafalica

• When Cloche learns that she and Luca share a birthday, she presents her with a gift and Luca reveals that it is basically the first birthday gift she'd ever received. However, it all falls apart when Luca throws it to the ground and shatters it in rage when accusing Cloche of killing her sister while everyone is in the IPD Lab. Cloche's path reveals that the act was far more devastating to her than anything up to that point in her life as she considered Luca her first friend despite the little annoyances they had with each other.
  • One also has to feel bad for Croix during this. Not only does his entire world shatter after he learns the Awful Truth that the Grand Bell has actually been capturing the IPD not to cure them, but to amass an army of young girls with uncontrollable powers forcibly given to them given by the Grand Bell, who were then taken away from their homes and thrown to a dungeon for their ambitions, there's also the betrayal of Leglius who revealed he knew the entire thing yet still complied with the government. The cherry on top is Luca's confession that she's been essentially using Croix and his feelings to get close to the Grand Bell in order to get into the labs and rescue her sister, and that she didn't really feel anything towards him. That was the final straw before Croix loses his temper at Luca for using him. By the time of the big decision of which girl he'll protect, he's completely questioning himself and his entire purpose, and uncertain if what he's doing is right or not.
• Miyuki Sawashiro doing a downright incredible job in her performance as Cloche during her Gilded Cage moments when she shows her vulnerable side and especially whenever Cloche is confronted with being returned to "the darkness" when she was held in the IPD labs.
• The chosen heroine Taking the Bullet for the other heroine when they fail to sing Metafalica at the end of Phase 1, followed by the same heroine having lost the will to live when the group returns her Heart of Gaea to her body near the end of Phase 2. Thankfully, Croix is able to convince her to live.
• Cocona's willingness to perform a Heroic Sacrifice to allow Croix to break through her Boundary Field and defeat Lakra in order to stop the Ascension Project because she thinks she is going to die either way. She is 11 years old!
• The Infelsphere is full of these moments, considering here both Luca and Cloche have to face the raw emotions of all their conflicts and insecurities, even their darkest side buried hidden deep in their heart.
  • In the 4th Level Infelsphere of Luca's route, it tackles Luca's deep anger towards Cloche especially about the death of her sister. While it's mostly Luca being uninhabited in torturing Cloche for retribution, it also here where Luca's express her grief of losing her sister and lets it out on Cloche saying how, no matter how much she tries to forgive or understand Cloche, she can't help but hold hatred towards her. Even sadder is Cloche's reaction, instead of normally trying to deny it, she feels extreme guilt and accepts responsibility despite not being directly involved because she realizes how much Luca did truly love her sister and, even if she had nothing to do with Leyka's death, there could've been other victims whose deaths she had a role in and having grieving loved ones like Luca.
  • The breakdown with Luca and Cloche in the Level 4 Infelsphere. After holding so much anger and hatred towards each other, the two ultimately have a massive blow up with scathing insults and attacks which ends with one of them attempting to kill the other by shutting down Infelsphere. Not is only painful, but incredibly terrifying knowing where it could lead.
  • The revelation of both girls' dark pasts. The biggest one being where Cloche revealed that why she became incredibly disassociated with others was because the one time a young girl managed to get in the palace and was made to disappear by Alfman. When Cloche tried to revoke the order and release the girl, Alfman had Cloche taken to a dungeon to be thrown in a dark room alone until she's been "disciplined".
• At the start of Phase 4, the party has to intentionally drop part of the Rim beyond the Dreamy Fields in order to prevent an even bigger collapse that would also destroy Mint Block and Mikry Forest. After seeing part of the land fall away, Cloche falls into a Heroic BSoD and laments that their land is disappearing and she feels powerless to stop it. It's even worse in hindsight when the areas they saved at that moment have to be sacrificed later on.
• Reisha's death is a triple-whammy in that it was a Taking the Bullet moment for her, it happened right after she and Luca began to repair their relationship, and just after Cloche finally learned that Reisha is her birth mother. The fact that they have to drop the land where she's buried later on only makes it worse.
• Cynthia's character event where she finally accepts the reality that Croix will never return her romantic feelings and breaks down in wailing sobs as Croix gives her a Cooldown Hug for support.
• Luca's Level 8 wherein her main self has become an empty shell and restoring her involves helping Gengoro to overcome his own guilt at abandoning Luca, helping Luca re-embrace her childhood, and Croix accepting that every one of Luca's personas are good people and work together to make Luca who she is. This comes after the massive breakdown she has in Level 7.
  • Reisha is also deeply sad here, being essentially a parent with dementia who can't even remember her own daughters no matter how much they try to remind her. This reflects how Luca believes her mother has pretty much stop seeing her as her daughter which can only be restored by reminding her of the good times they had by showing her Gengoro, the stuff toy she made for Luca to comfort her after Leyka was kidnapped and her father was killed.
• Jacqli's True Level 8, wherein Croix learns that she is Mir from the first game and meets her as she was prior to her being betrayed followed by centuries of torment because of her actions: a sweet, caring girl who wants to Sing in the name of peace and help create a new world where everyone can be happy.
  Mir: If that happens... I wonder if they'll... forgive me...
• Cloche's Level 8 where she's a blubbering mess and scared to death of being reunited with Alice- mainly due to it happening against her will. After realizing that Alice also carries her early childhood memories of her family as well as shouldering the burden of Cloche's worst memories as the personification of her Trauma-Induced Amnesia that gave her the strength to become the Maiden does she agree to willingly merge with her and get those memories back. Even after the initial agreement, she's still hesitant, but a pep talk from her family and Croix help her complete the task.
• Infel solidifying her status as a Tragic Villain after her and Nenesha's defeat when the latter disappears for good. She gives Cloche one last pep talk to allow both Metafalica to succeed and for herself to be Killed Off for Real in order to be with Nenesha Together in Death.
  • Her final talk also highlights her tragic state. When confronted that she's essentially removing everyone's individuality and prevent everyone from forming precious moments and memories like she and Nenesha had, Infel cries admitting she would rather give them up instead of having to live with the pain they might cause.
  • And it gets worse, just when it seems the party manage to get through to Infel and convince her to give them a chance after defeating Ryuji, Nenesha unfortunately stops them having succumb to the Heart of Gaea and trances Infel as well, by reminding her about their grand mission which was a promise to bring happiness to the people forcing the party to fight them to break the control the Heart of Gaea has on them.
• Jacqli's ending. Despite allowing Croix to see everything inside her heart to the point he knows her true name Mir, Mir is still unable to believe she can be with Croix, due to her fear about potentially reverting to her genocidal tendencies and still feeling animosity with humans. Thankfully Croix was able to get her to agree by singing to her, showing his willingness to learn a whole different language just to share his true feelings for her, which has Mir in tears despite her doubts.