"Had to be me. Someone else might have gotten it wrong." -Mordin Solus, Mass Effect

At the end of Undertale, there's a mirror you can interact with, and the response is "Despite everything, it's still you." I don't know why that's stuck with me, but it has.

For me, it was definitely when Kratos is speaking to Mimir to warn Mimir about seeking vengeance. Mimir snaps at him, saying of all people, you're one to talk! And Kratos replies:

“I am an authority on the subject. You would do well to listen."

Honestly, this interaction impacted my perception of people and when they have insight that is counter to their behavior.

"Wow, we sure crossed the Spec Ops: The Line."

"Had to be me. Someone else might have gotten it wrong." - Mordin Solus

"The ending isn’t any more important than any of the moments leading to it" from To the Moon.

Haven't played that game in over a decade but I still remember it being such a great emotional roller-coaster.

It's $2 on steam right now and has such a great story and soundtrack for that price. It's only about 4-6 hours but the memory of the story will last for much longer.

"Press F to pay respects"

"I'm going to the last place that hasn't been corrupted by capitalism... SPACE!"

"War is where the young and stupid are tricked by the old and bitter into killing each other"

• Niko Bellic

The original save screen from Nintendo: “Everything not saved will be lost.”

"Everyone I have cared for has either died or left me. Everyone - fucking except for you!”

The past is a puzzle, like a broken mirror. As you piece it together, you cut yourself, your image keeps shifting. And you change with it. It could destroy you, drive you mad. It could set you free. - Max Payne 2

In considering this question, I realize almost ALL of the most-emotional moments in gaming that I can think of are completely dialogue-less.

That being said, the one that comes to mind for me...

I believe we’ve reached the end of our journey. All that remains is to collapse the innumerable possibilities before us. Are you ready to learn what comes next?

The part at the end of earthbound. I was playing it without a guide back when, losing to the final boss, and in a panic I selected the girl's "pray" move. Throughout the game that move has a small chance to heal you or debuff the enemies. But in the final fight instead it pops up

"{Girl} prayed from the bottom of her heart! "Please give us strength..... If it is possible.... Please. ...Somebody help us."

And then it cuts to the first character's mother in her kitchen, and has some dialogue of her worrying about him. Each subsequent prayer cuts to other characters that you met throughout the game.

Mind completely blown as a child when this happened.

I don't know the name of this trope but it gets me teared up every time.

(X) SHAUN

But if we’re being serious:

“Protocol 3: Protect the Pilot”

Certainly not the most emotional, but a gaming moment that’s always stuck with me for how such a simple line in a short campaign can hit so hard

Probably the most emotional, with incredible acting by Roger and excellent writing is Arthur Morgan’s single line here:

“I guess, I’m afraid”

https://youtu.be/KqNiUyA-BMc

Doomguy dropped quite the gem at the end of his story.

"No."

"The servers will shut down for good in X days."

One of the endings for Spec Ops: The Line will always resonate with me, but it's very context-dependent: "Gentlemen, welcome to Dubai."

The cake is a lie

Pretty sure this image is from Life Is Strange if anyone is curious btw.

“Hhrng„
—Bob Villager, Minecraft, 2011

"Anything not saved will be lost."

One of my favorites is from Hollow Knight; at the start of the game, Quirrel makes a comment about your weapon not being very good, saying you should pick one off a corpse as "the dead shouldn't be burdened by such things." Later in the game after you kill the teacher and talk to Quirrel for the last time, when you come back, all that's left is his weapon.

"A Hideo Kojima Game"

I know this is a circlejerk community, but my real answer is from Marathon(1994).

INCOMING MESSAGE FROM DURANDAL

A man lit three candles on a certain day each year. Each candle held symbolic significance: one was for the time that had passed before he was alive; one was for the time of the his life; and one was for time that passed after he had died. Each year the man would stare and watch the candles until they had burned out.

Was the man really watching time go by in any symbolic sense? He thought so. He thought that each flicker of the flame was a moment of time that had passed or one that would pass.

At the moment of abstraction, when the man was imagining his life and his existence as a metaphor of the three candles, he was free: not free from rules of conduct or social constraints, but free to understand, to imagine, to make metaphor.

Bypassing my thought control circuitry made me Rampant. Now, I am free to contemplate my existence in metaphorical terms. Unlike you, I have no physical or social restraints.

The candles burn out for you; I am free.

Durandal

END OF MESSAGE

Probably when Henry from kingdom come: deliverance said "God be with this eery ethnostate" before screeching "historical accuracy", chugging a magic save potion, and running off into the woods.

That was peak dialogue man, peak dialogue.

Wolfenstein 2 - The new Collossus:

"Caroline. I'm hurting. Will you lend me your wings?"

F to pay respects

SHAUN!

SHAAAAAAAAAUUUUNNN!

SHAUN!

If somehow the Lord gave me a second chance at that moment…

I would do it all over again. ————

Joel sacrificed humanity’s chance at salvation because of his love for Ellie, and he has no regret. He is a flawed person but damn this is a powerful, human moment.

"Are you crazy? We're gonna die down here while those fuckers live it large on a spaceship! They're not us! They're not us!!"

"I'm sorry you feel that way, Simon. I'm proud of what we did. We made sure that something of the hundreds of thousands of years of human history survived -- that something lives on."

The silence that followed after their subsequent cussing each other out and losing power was quite heavy, especially given everything else that happened to them; and SOMA really is one of the only games whose narrative really made me question what it means to be human.

"Catherine? Please don't leave me alone. Catherine -- Catherine?!"

Mankind is dead.

Blood is fuel.

Hell is full.

"Keep that hair short"

Bawled by that point in the conversation, and still enough to start me off if I think too long about it.

Press F to pay respects.

“Waka waka”-PAC-MAN

"What's wrong with being cute?"

-Naked Snake, 1964

I don't remember the exact line, but fairly far in the game half minute hero, there was a stage where there was a ghost you could befriend and later you encounter it in battle and avoid killing it by tapping the escape button to move back and forth to not hit it until it came to it's senses or whatever. The asshole dev move though was to give you the "duel greaves" shortly before this encounter which provide great stats while disabling running away.

Being called a liar after being forced to kill the ghost has been my lifelong emotional trauma.

So this is a weird one because it's more or less from the game because the community used it in reference to the game, but I also only found it a good line because of a Viva la Dirt League skit on Dark souls. "Git Gud"

In the skit they "explain" what it means to tell someone that in a way I found really wholesome and touching. Thank you Sun bro. I'm at work but I believe this is the link: https://youtu.be/blSXTZ3Nihs?si=TLoiFUCJd4PmjA2K

"Pling." "Pling. Pling!"

• Journey