The saddest game I've ever come across is part of a trilogy; in fact it's the end of it in which spoilers could exist. This is the Legend of Spyro, yet another series that's received some hard beatings for lacking "appeal" to the general audience. But that's not at all the case for me. The final telling of that story, Dawn of the Dragon, takes the protagonists Spyro and Cynder through their land, which is being destroyed by the forces of their malevolent archnemesis, Malefor. Seeing so much havoc being wrought affects them both greatly, but they venture on nonetheless. Most of the ravaging was done by a horrible beast known as the Destroyer, but after Spyro and Cynder destroy it they meet back up with Ignitus, their instructor. The flames left behind by the Destroyer are in the way of their destination, and reach too high for them to fly over and are too high to walk through. So Ignitus casts a barrier about himself and:
[video=youtube;Dzm_3f2iIZo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dzm_3f2iIZo[/video]
Seeing him sacrifice himself like that made my heartbeat slow so that I almost felt lifeless. While short, his final words touched me in one of the most emotional ways I can imagine. It felt like losing a loved one, because I was connected to Spyro's pain...and the rage he resorted to thereafter. Fans following the series know about his darker entity, and the usage of it near the end was impeccable.
But that's not even the most poignant scene. As they finally enter Malefor's Lair, the Dark Dragon immediately begins to coax Cynder into a conversational corner, and Spyro into an indecisive state of distrust toward her. You'll have to check out the video below for further reference, but I can tell you it covers the inner darkness that friends experience when they've been/feel betrayed. And that's where the single line comes up that drained me of all sentiments, save sorrow (sorry that Malefor's a little hard to understand; but thank goodness for subtitles):
[video=youtube;IGDS7Z46WPk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGDS7Z46WPk[/video]
And there you have it. Emotional, but equally intense due to the beautifully wicked dialogue of Malefor. The perfect pre-final fight scene to the perfect game. This is an incredible series still open for loads of expanding, and I'm ecstatic that they're bringing it back. This time I hope a movie to follow along with it.