Wark-A-Bye baby
Doe-eyed Chocobos milk the cry-juice at the best of times, but the retelling of The Ugly Duckling as The Ugly Chocoling in Chocobo Tales has us licking the salty emotion from our moistened cheeks. Permanently aflame, the titular chocoling is scorned by his choc-pals, ignorant that he is in fact a glorious phoenix. The power of the moment is undermined by the minigames - like asking a father to button bash during the birth of his first born child.
Dusk 'til mourn
Estranged families and murdered friends - one night at Hotel Dusk will put you through the emotional wringer all right. The bawling jewel in the crown? The discovery that charming Melissa's mother didn't cold-heartedly walk out on her - she scrawled a goodbye message on the back of a jigsaw puzzle? Most poorly-conceived farewell message ever? Sure. Cry-maker? Yes.
Metaphor: ReFantazio had to dial back an early battle system inspired by a notoriously brutal 2003 JRPG, because 20 years later, players found it "irrational" and "just not fun"
At a ridiculously detailed showcase of the open-world engine behind the RPG Crimson Desert, I asked a ridiculously detailed question about water and all hell broke loose
