So, out of boredom and sheer curiosity, I have decided to start a thread here on the topic of emotion within a video games story. By this, I mean video games whereby the character/story actually causes you to feel genuine emotions - be them sadness, joy or even anger (and I don't mean just "raging" over a frustrating part of a game or being killed in Call of Duty multiplayer). So, has anyone here ever experienced this?

I, for one, certainly have. I've been playing KOTOR 2 recently with the http://www.moddb.com/mods/the-sith-lords-restored-content-mod-tslrcm (I decided to not play through the game in its stock state as the ending and various points of the game are apparently very bad due to Obsidian having to cut unfinished content, which this mod has restored, due to a rushed release schedule), as I purchased it after finally arriving on Steam, and I just arrived on Onderon.

Red Dead Redemption's ending, dear god.

Oh I have definitely felt deep sadness when a follower I had in Skyrim died...and after that particular battle there was no way I was going to reload.
So I took her armor and weapons and put them on the mannequin in the house in Markarth as a memorial.

I've felt it in tons of games, really.

Kingdom Hearts - Felt a connection with the characters, and really liked the whole Sora x Kairi thing.
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (and FFVII itself, of course) RDR - One of the best endings in a game. Made me feel sorrow, plus hate for Edgar Ross.
Mass Effect 3 - A lot like RDR, though I liked RDRs ending more.
GTA IV -
This is just off the top of my head, really.

I never played that game, so I can't say for myself. KOTOR 2's ending is, once fully patched with the restored content, apparently potentially rather sad. I hate game developers who are determined to make me upset....

Funny, because Skyrim has the worst characters possible for emotional attachment in my opinion. They are all bland and feel samey to me, which is why I have no qualms being evil in that game but can't bring myself to do it in others (I'm too much of a nice guy, I know).

Plenty of games been emotional to me, but the Suikoden series stand above the rest for me.

Thank you for using spoiler tags.

Again, never played that...

Without spoiling anything, the Walking Dead episodes can be pretty sad if you take certain options...

Yeah, there's plenty of games that really sparked my emotions. The Gears of War triliogy had several sad moments. Red Dead Redemption was pretty brutal. I think Alan Wake almost made me cry! The Elder Scrolls series has also provided countless emotional moments like these. And honestly the ending of Modern Warfare 3 made pretty sad.

I can't even begin the list of games that gave me a serious feeling of joy and happiness.

As said before, RDR was a crazy good ending.

Batman Arkham City.

Both the Mafia games.
Really good stories, great games.
SR2

I yes, forgot about Gears of War and MW3.

In Gears 2 the part where

If you didn't shed a tear when Aeris died you don't have a soul.

For some reason, Malaks dying words in KOTOR struck a cord with me... "And now, as the darkness takes me.... I am nothing."

Anyone else get that?

Ah, yeah. That's one of the exact parts of the series I was thinking about while typing that! The third game had a moment that really hit hard. I would tell but I don't know how to use spoiler tags.

Yeah, I liked Kotor made me feel both joy and sadness and stuff.

Got to the last mission on Mafia 2. But, I just cannot for the life of me beat it.

Spoiler tags!

Get KOTOR 2 then, since it is now on Steam. Just use the mod I posted in the OP so that you can have the restored content cut from original game, else ending apparently svcks.

Plenty of games hit my emotions hard but here are a few that did an amazing job of it;

Mass Effect 3
Journey
Ico
Shadow of the Colossus
Red Dead Redemption
Gears of War 3 ( when a certian squad member bites the dust)
KOTOR

I am speechless. It has been ages since I played Mafia 2, so my knowledge of the plot is a little fuzzy, but that is so sad! Thank you for making me cry...

KOTOR, might I ask what part?