History PlayerPunch / TurnBasedStrategy

** ''Blazing Sword'': When Leila was slaughtered on Ephidel's orders, then '''her mutilated corpse was left out for you to find and Ephidel mercilessly teased you over her''', has caused many players to cry. Matthew's heartbreaking moodswings between being drastically, flat-out dead-depressed and acting optimistic and pretending that nothing was wrong, compounded with how he talked to her like she was there... that cued another tearfest.

*** Eliwood's father, Marquess Pherae's death was a huge punch after beginning Eliwood's quest in chapter 11 with the goal of searching for him. Then, enter the BigBad Nergal, who then kills him to open the Dragon's Gate. Cue dramatic music and the following cutscene makes for many tears.

* Similarly, ''VideoGame/LaPucelle'' features a chapter where the party ends up a hundred years in the past and meets the girl Croix keeps seeing when he looks at Prier. The girl, unlike Prier, is sweet and kind, and a devoted follower of the goddess Poitireene... during a time when they're being ''persecuted''. On top of that, she happens to be Croix's ''fiancée''. Then the plot happens. She gets sold out by another villager jealous that she chose Croix over him, and your party has to race to stop an execution you already know is going to happen, since it was shown in a flashback (plus complications that make this a bit of a Scrappy Level). Unfortunately, YouCantFightFate, and to make things worse, the Croix from ''this'' time period also arrives too late. The shock of seeing his (pregnant) fiancée unjustly murdered (for a second time, in one case) triggers both Croix to merge and become the Dark Prince, the archenemy of [[TheMessiah the Maiden of Light]].

* ''Franchise/FireEmblem: Genealogy of the Holy War'' has an example that's particularly haunting. Halfway through the game, Sigurd's former ally Lord Alvis betrays him and orders his mages to slaughter nearly every playable character in Sigurd's army, at least a few of which the player must surely have developed attachment to at this point. Alvis also reveals that he has taken Sigurd's wife (who has been brainwashed) as his own before personally murdering Sigurd with the legendary Fala Flame spell. The rest of the game takes place 17 years later, starring the children of the slain protagonists.
** Cuan and Ethlin beforehand. They arrive with a contingent of Lance Knights to assist your army, and were (slowly) crossing the Yied Desert until a contingent of Thracian Dragon Knights appear at the rear. Armed with lances that are [[ForMassiveDamage super-effective against mounted units]] and unfettered by movement penalties (which sand terrain does on ground units), they proceed to slaughter the entire army, culminating with Cuan and Ethlin. Additionally, if Ethlin dies first, the leader of the Dragon Knights holds her daughter hostage, forcing Cuan to disarm himself so ''[[MoralEventHorizon they can kill him more easily]]''. Oh, this also happens ''in-game'', so you can send your flier down and [[NintendoHard try to rescue them]], but you'll end up [[{{Unwinnable}} breaking the game]].

* ''TacticsOgre'' gives several of these... you learn that many bosses you fought throughout the game are architects, philosophers, twins, mothers-to-be, or were just fighting to get money to pay for their sick daughter's medicine. Matsuno ''really'' hammers in the point that war brings in a lot of people who don't want to be there... and does so even ''more'' effectively than ''FinalFantasyTactics''.

* SuperRobotWarsMX. Reenacting the Vibrato battle in RahXephon. '''You are in control throughout.'''

*** In [[WorthyOpponent Millich's defence]], he ''was'' BrainwashedAndCrazy at the time and can't really be held justifiably accountable for his actions. That, of course, arguably makes it worse - in most games the person who does something like this ''is'' an unlikable {{Jerkass}} and deserves to die (case in point being [[TheCaligula Luca Blight]]). Sometimes, you can praise the depth and [[MoralityKitchenSink moral complexity of a story]] whilst simultaneously ''cursing'' it for not giving you a free escape clause where the heroes are pure and good and the villains are clean-cut evil.
** The first Suikoden also features the Heroic Mime's older friend Pahn fighting a duel against the protagonist's father. The first time you play the game and if you haven't been using a guide, you probably opted not to use Pahn when he came back through the FaceHeelRevolvingDoor. By that point he's pretty far under-levelled, his weapons need a massive investment of funds to get up to par, and his Boar Rune kinda sucks anyway. Plus, by this point, his awesome teamup attack with Gremio is obviously gone. It's actually a '''three for one''' player beatdown. The first is when Pahn dies to hold off General Teo. The second is when you read a guide and realize that ''you could have saved him.'' The third comes when you realize that ''you needed him alive to bring Gremio back''. Ouch, Konami. Ouch.
** ''VideoGame/SuikodenII'' has several Player Punches. During one of the last missions of the game, your sister Nanami is struck by an arrow from one of the guards of the treacherous leader of Rockaxe (who were trying to kill both the hero and Jowy while they were fighting). What makes this scene more of a Player Punch was Nanami's major role in supporting the hero and after she is struck, she tells the hero how happy she was to be his sister. Whether she [[PlotlineDeath dies for real]] or [[HesJustHiding survives but leaves the war]] is up to whether the player recruited the 108 Stars of Destiny or not.

** Attempted to invoke it in ''VideoGame/SuikodenIII'', but it unfortunately failed. Hugo's best friend Lulu ([[GenderBlenderName he's male, incidentally]]) dies at the end of the first ([[TheRashomon and second]]) chapter. It's supposed to be sad, and indeed Hugo is wracked with grief. However, since Lulu himself is [[TheScrappy whiny, irritating, not that bright, and pretty much useless in a fight]], the player is generally something other than sad to see him go--though, in some cases, since the average player is quite fond of Hugo, his own grief can serve as player punch material on its own. And if not Hugo's grief, then that of Lulu's mother when you tell her she's just lost the last of her children to the war.

** ''VideoGame/SuikodenV'' pulls this and all, repeatedly - including once during the game's prologue when you're led to expect something nasty to happen to the happy status-quo anyway. The hero's family is so carefully set up and portrayed that of course the player will come to like them... and then the assassination attempt comes. And then it looks like they're actually going to pull through - the family evaded the sleeping poison by pre-empting it with an antidote before the meal, and then the Queen and her husband proceed to make mince-meat of the horde trying to kill them by sheer weight of numbers. Except the Sun rune drives the queen beyond sanity again, and when someone says something to her, she snaps, rounds on them and wipes them out as she had been the assassins...only to discover too late that it's her husband in the energy sphere, and is only able to prevent it killing him long enough for him to tell her he loves her before being unceremoniously wiped out. Everything just goes wrong from there.

** ''VideoGame/SuikodenTierkreis'' has its own fair share, such as when the player's forced to watch the brutal results of {{Cosmic Retcon}}s unfold. One of the worst, however, is learning that your friend Cougar suffered this, and not even his own people realized it he'd been {{Ret Gone}}d at first.
** An entire country is [[CosmicRetcon erased from existence]], and you can't bring it back at the end of the game, even. Nobody outside the 108 stars remembers it was ever there. And that son-of-a-bitch Valfred somehow [[LackOfEmpathy can't understand why people are horrified by his crime]], he's ''that'' self-centred. At that point, even the revelation of his motives]] doesn't earn him sympathy - you'll be quite ''glad'' to crush his dream in penance for what he and his allies have done.

** ''Blazing Sword'': When Leila was slaughtered on Ephidel's orders, then '''her mutilated corpse was left out for you to find and Ephidel mercilessly teased you over her''', has caused many players to cry. Matthew's heartbreaking moodswings between being drastically, flat-out dead-depressed and acting optimistic and pretending that nothing was wrong, compounded with how he talked to her like she was there...that cued another tearfest.
*** Ninian's death. Especially if you maxed out her support level with Eliwood. That one is such a punch that it needs some expansion. To start: One of your party members is the MysteriousWaif dancer Ninian, a ProperLady who dances for the group, whom the young Lord Eliwood seems to grow very fond of.. Later on, however she is taken away by the BigBad Nergal, having offered herself as a hostage to protect her brother Nils, forcing Eliwood and the others to find a weapon to defeat Nergal, namely the titular weapon, Durandal. But just after claiming the weapon, a dragon appears. Eliwood easily takes it down, but then he learns from Nergal himself... that the dragon he fatally wounded... was really Ninian. This is pretty painful on its own, but if you've gotten their A-Support conversation, that makes it even ''worse''... Imagine killing the person you love and not knowing it until it's too late, and not only does she not blame you, but she's glad that she didn't harm you while in her dragon state. [[spoiler:Fortunately, she is revived by one of the legendary heroes, although if paired she will still die young]].

** What about Myrhh in ''The Sacred Stones''? You can force her to kill her own freakin' father, Morva! And none of the main characters (except for Ephraim - and only if you're playing his route) will ever know until after the battle! [[YouBastard Nice job.]]

** In your first playthrough of ''FireEmblem: Radiant Dawn'', you have no choice but to [[spoiler: kill the king you spent almost all of part one searching for and then trying to get up onto the throne, because according to his research it's the only way to break the Blood Pact he was tricked into signing. But guess what? ''It doesn't work''. So basically, you were forced to kill the poor man for nothing.]] Thankfully, your second playthrough onward lets you TakeAThirdOption.

** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'' may just have the crowner of them all. When you first start the game, you get to create your own customisable [[AudienceSurrogate Avatar]], who joins [[TheHero Chrom]] on his adventures. What's the first thing you see your Avatar do in the story right after creating them? [[spoiler: Getting [[GrandTheftMe posessed]] by the BiggerBad and ''[[TheHeroDies killing Chrom!]]'']] The game then [[HowWeGotHere flashes back to when Chrom and the Avatar first meet]], with you, the player, already knowing how it all ends. And worse, if your Avatar is female [[spoiler: they can ''marry'' Chrom and have his children, making the inevitable moment even ''more'' painful!]]
*** Later, you meet [[spoiler: Lucina, Chrom's KidFromTheFuture who went back in time to prevent his death in the first place. At one point she condisers going as far as ''killing'' the Avatar to prevent them becoming the BiggerBad.]] Except it's possible for the Avatar to become [[spoiler: her husband or mother and yes, [[TheDevTeamThinksOfEverything The Dev Team Thought Of Everything]], this changes the scene and makes it ''even more painful!'']]

* ''VideoGame/JeanneDArc'', being ''about'' Joan of Arc, naturally deals with the whole "burning at the stake" bit. Only, in this case, it's Jeanne's childhood friend and almost-sister Lianne who is captured and sold to the English, due to her [[BodyDouble having been made to impersonate the real Jeanne]] while the latter was [[NoOneCouldSurviveThat presumed dead]]. Made even worse in that you're set on a course to rescue this character, the enemy deliberately blocks your way (not to defeat you, but merely to slow you down) and you make it just instants after Lianne has been burned at the stake. A ''third'' PlayerPunch comes when Roger, who has been trying to save Lianne on his own (and almost succeeding, too) takes this personal against ''you'', and promptly pulls such a hard FaceHeelTurn he actually turns [[TheLegionsOfHell demonic]].

* ''[[VideoGame/OgreBattle Tactics Ogre, The Knight of Lodis]]'' has one hidden in the canon DownerEnding. Turns out that having your best friend and love interest killed/sacrifice themselves does nothing for your [[WideEyedIdealist Wide Eyed Idealism]]. The character you've been playing, turns out to, as a result of ''your'' choices, become one of the main antagonists of the sequel. There's a reason why the 2nd best ending is generally preferred (Hero lives, love interest lives, both walk off into the sunset and out of the history books).
** When the original ''Tactics Ogre'' gets revealed, a new character, Ravness Loxaerion, a LadyOfWar, is introduced. However, when you had to make the decision to burn or spare Baramus... If you choose NOT to burn Baramus, then as a 'bonus' of Vice's FaceHeelTurn, he kills Ravness on spot, made more painful if you have finished the game with the Law route first where she lived.
* What happens to Karen in the first ''VideoGame/FrontMission'' will made you want to kill Driscoll, revive him, then kill him again. Thankfully, the game actually lets you do that.

* ''VideoGame/ArcTheLad 2'' has quite a few player punches: First, when Elc has to kill Mariel, his first love interest, ''right below the playground where they played together as children''. Then there is the fact that Arc finally found his father, after literally YEARS spent looking for him, going into exile while being framed as a terrorist, and he dies 4 minutes after that. Finding his father was the reason he started his quest. Then you can add the utterly screwed up backstories of most playable characters, and finally the events before the last boss: the characters have destroyed bit by bit the Romalian War Machine, freed most if not all of their puppet states, and have conquered its capital. Cue the king of Romalia breaking the seal of the BigBad: it turns that the key of the final key BigBad seal was that a human being had to ''willingly'' chose to free him. Cue the king snapping because his kingdom is collapsing under his feet and pushing the red button. The BigBad then proceeds to kill the King of Romalia (no big deal), kills Arc's girlfriend and unleashes the apocalypse over the world. Then you see a sadistic scene of the cities explored by the heroes being flooded, burned down, while most of the world population dies: not only were all the good deeds of Arc, Elc & co for nothing, but you are at the end of the game. No opportunity to fix anything, and if this was not enough, Arc commits an heroic sacrifice after the last battle. Really, do not be fooled by the anime and 16 bits era graphics: this game's story is a cross over between Rwanda and WWII.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'' - [[TheScrappy Algus]] was already an unlikable, classist jerk, but he seals the deal when he shoots Teta at the end of the first Chapter for no reason other than "her life has no meaning to me".

**** *Sigh* Again, there's no confirmation that all your allies died or not - just because they weren't ''with'' Ramza and Alma doesn't mean they didn't just part ways after the final battle. It's still quite sad, though, that you have no idea... in the end, the one bright light is the revelation that Olan's descendant Arazlam Durai will reveal the truth and vindicate them as heroes, 400 years into the future.
** When put in conjunction with other Ivalice games, this game has a very different kind of player punch. ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTacticsAdvance'' gives us a different kind of Ivalice, where strange races abound and everything is magical, it's a false world, but one that bases itself on something magnificent. In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'', we are properly introduced to the world of Ivalice past, a heartbreakingly beautiful place of airships and magic woods, with several interesting races and it's own unique society. We can't help but fall in love with the Moogle Mechanics, Magical Viera and Brutish Bangaa who populate every corner of this magical world. ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTacticsA2'' takes this further by dropping dramatics with a much lighter tale than ''[=FFXII=]'', about a boy going into a book and having an adventure. We even get to play our old favorite races and some more! Then you go back to the first FF Tactics, which chronologically, [[ForegoneConclusion takes place after all of this...]] All of the other races, all of the airships, everything is gone. By VagrantStory, Humes can't even remember magic anymore. Talk about a CrapsackWorld.

* ''TacticsOgre'' gives several of these...you learn that many bosses you fought throughout the game are architects, philosophers, twins, mothers-to-be, or were just fighting to get money to pay for their sick daughter's medicine. Matsuno ''really'' hammers in the point that war brings in a lot of people who don't want to be there...and does so even ''more'' effectively than ''FinalFantasyTactics''.

** Attempted to invoke it in ''VideoGame/SuikodenIII'', but it unfortunately failed. Hugo's best friend Lulu ([[CrossDressingName he's male, incidentally]]) dies at the end of the first ([[TheRashomon and second]]) chapter. It's supposed to be sad, and indeed Hugo is wracked with grief. However, since Lulu himself is [[TheScrappy whiny, irritating, not that bright, and pretty much useless in a fight]], the player is generally something other than sad to see him go--though, in some cases, since the average player is quite fond of Hugo, his own grief can serve as player punch material on its own. And if not Hugo's grief, then that of Lulu's mother when you tell her she's just lost the last of her children to the war.

*** What? No tears for the Magedom of Janam???
**** Tears. Definitely tears. An entire country is [[CosmicRetcon erased from existence]], and you can't bring it back at the end of the game, even. Nobody outside the 108 stars remembers it was ever there. And that son-of-a-bitch Valfred somehow [[LackOfEmpathy can't understand why people are horrified by his crime]], he's ''that'' self-centred. At that point, even the revelation of [[DeadLittleSister his motives]] doesn't earn him sympathy - you'll be quite ''glad'' to crush his dream in penance for what he and his allies have done.

*** Ninian's death. Especially if you maxed out her support level with Eliwood. That one is such a punch that it needs some expansion. To start: One of your party members is the MysteriousWaif dancer Ninian, a ProperLady who dances for the group, whom the young Lord Eliwood seems to grow very fond of.. Later on, however she is taken away by the BigBad Nergal, having offered herself as a hostage to protect her brother Nils, forcing Eliwood and the others to find a weapon to defeat Nergal, namely the titular weapon, Durandal. But just after claiming the weapon, a dragon appears. Eliwood easily takes it down, but then he learns from Nergal himself... that the dragon he fatally wounded... was really Ninian. This is pretty painful on its own, but if you've gotten their A-Support conversation, that makes it even ''worse''... Imagine killing the person you love and not knowing it until it's too late, and not only does she not blame you, but she's glad that she didn't harm you while in her dragon state.
*** Except that doesn't kill Ninian. She can live to the end of the game and marry Eliwood; she just lives a short life after that due to not being in the Dragon homeland.

*** Ninian's death. Especially if you maxed out her support level with Eliwood. That one is such a punch that it needs some expansion. To start: One of your party members is the MysteriousWaif dancer Ninian, a ProperLady who dances for the group, whom the young Lord Eliwood seems to grow very fond of.. Later on, however she is taken away by the BigBad Nergal, having offered herself as a hostage to protect her brother Nils, forcing Eliwood and the others to find a weapon to defeat Nergal, namely the titular weapon, Durandal. But just after claiming the weapon, a dragon appears. Eliwood easily takes it down, but then he learns from Nergal himself... that the dragon he fatally wounded... was really Ninian. This is pretty painful on its own, but if you've gotten their A-Support conversation, or, at the least you are an Eliwood/Ninian shiper like me, that makes it even ''worse''... Imagine killing the person you love and not knowing it until it's too late, and not only she doesn't blame you, but she's glad that she didn't harm you while in Dragon state, and then begs you to keep on fighting and save your land too...
*** Except that doesn't kill Ninian she can live to the end of the game and marry Eliwood she just lives a short life after that due to not being in the Dragon homeland.

* ''VideoGame/FireEmblem: Genealogy of the Holy War'' has an example that's particularly haunting. Halfway through the game, Sigurd's former ally Lord Alvis betrays him and orders his mages to slaughter nearly every playable character in Sigurd's army, at least a few of which the player must surely have developed attachment to at this point. Alvis also reveals that he has taken Sigurd's wife (who has been brainwashed) as his own before personally murdering Sigurd with the legendary Fala Flame spell. The rest of the game takes place 17 years later, starring the children of the slain protagonists.

** ''FireEmblemAwakening'' may just have the crowner of them all. When you first start the game, you get to create your own customisable [[AudienceSurrogate Avatar]], who joins [[TheHero Chrom]] on his adventures. What's the first thing you see your Avatar do in the story right after creating them? [[spoiler: Getting [[GrandTheftMe posessed]] by the BiggerBad and ''[[TheHeroDies killing Chrom!]]'']] The game then [[HowWeGotHere flashes back to when Chrom and the Avatar first meet]], with you, the player, already knowing how it all ends. And worse, if your Avatar is female [[spoiler: they can ''marry'' Chrom and have his children, making the inevitable moment even ''more'' painful!]]

** It's revealed she survived being Stuffed into a Fridge, and was working at a hospital...just in time for Driscoll to kidnap her, and turn her into a CPU CHIP! She is re-kidnapped in around the fifth mission, but not revealed as dead until MUCH later. You use this chip to kill Driscoll. He turns HIMSELF into a Giant Killer Cyborg. You kill him AGAIN.

** ''Blazing Sword'': When Leila was slaughtered on Ephidel's orders, then '''her mutilated corpse was left out for you to find and Ephidel mercilessly teased you over her''', has caused many players to cry Matthew's heartbreaking moodswings between being drastically, flat-out dead-depressed and acting optimistic and pretending that nothing was wrong, compounded with how he talked to her like she was there...that cued another tearfest.

* ''[[VideoGame/OgreBattle Tactics Ogre, The Knight of Lodis]]'' has one hidden in the canon DownerEnding. Turns out that having your best friend and love interest killed/sacrifice themselves does nothing for your [[WideEyedIdealist Wide Eyed Idealism]]. The character you've been playing, turns out to, as a result of YOUR choices, become one of the main antagonists of the sequel. There's a reason why the 2nd best ending is generally preferred (Hero lives, love interest lives, both walk off into the sunset and out of the history books).

* SuperRobotWarsMX. Reenacting the Vibrato battle in RahXephon. '''You are in control throughout.'''

* VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsMX. Reenacting the Vibrato battle in RahXephon. '''You are in control throughout.'''

* The ''{{Suikoden}}'' series raises this to an art form; the back of the boxes promise death, war, and betrayal, after all. In the [[SuikodenI first game in the series]], Gremio, the Heroic Mime's [[BattleButler axe-wielding nanny]] sacrifices himself to save the party. The player gets to listen to Gremio's last words as he's devoured by flesh-eating fungus. This scene led to more than a few tears from the series' fans. It's happened many times since, and longtime fans are wary of liking a character ''too'' much, since they tend to up and die or switch sides at a dramatic moment.

** ''SuikodenII'' has several Player Punches. During one of the last missions of the game, your sister Nanami is struck by an arrow from one of the guards of the treacherous leader of Rockaxe (who were trying to kill both the hero and Jowy while they were fighting). What makes this scene more of a Player Punch was Nanami's major role in supporting the hero and after she is struck, she tells the hero how happy she was to be his sister. Whether she [[PlotlineDeath dies for real]] or [[HesJustHiding survives but leaves the war]] is up to whether the player recruited the 108 Stars of Destiny or not.

** Attempted to invoke it in ''SuikodenIII'', but it unfortunately failed. Hugo's best friend Lulu ([[CrossDressingName he's male, incidentally]]) dies at the end of the first ([[TheRashomon and second]]) chapter. It's supposed to be sad, and indeed Hugo is wracked with grief. However, since Lulu himself is [[TheScrappy whiny, irritating, not that bright, and pretty much useless in a fight]], the player is generally something other than sad to see him go--though, in some cases, since the average player is quite fond of Hugo, his own grief can serve as player punch material on its own.
** ''SuikodenIV'' can be quite brutal at some points where there's a ButThouMust if the player gives the wrong answer. Not getting the 108 Stars of Destiny also can cause a bit of a DownerEnding.
** ''SuikodenV'' pulls this and all, repeatedly - including once during the game's prologue when you're led to expect something nasty to happen to the happy status-quo anyway. The hero's family is so carefully set up and portrayed that of course the player will come to like them... and then the assassination attempt comes. And then it looks like they're actually going to pull through - the family evaded the sleeping poison by pre-empting it with an antidote before the meal, and then the Queen and her husband proceed to make mince-meat of the horde trying to kill them by sheer weight of numbers. Except the Sun rune drives the queen beyond sanity again, and when someone says something to her, she snaps, rounds on them and wipes them out as she had been the assassins...only to discover too late that it's her husband in the energy sphere, and is only able to prevent it killing him long enough for him to tell her he loves her before being unceremoniously wiped out. Everything just goes wrong from there.

** ''SuikodenTierkreis'' has its own fair share, such as when the player's forced to watch the brutal results of {{Cosmic Retcon}}s unfold. One of the worst, however, is learning that your friend Cougar suffered this, and not even his own people realized it he'd been {{Ret Gone}}d at first.

**** Tear. Definitely tears. An entire country is [[CosmicRetcon erased from existence]], and you can't bring it back at the end of the game, even. Nobody outside the 108 stars remembers it was ever there. And that son-of-a-bitch Valfred somehow [[LackOfEmpathy can't understand why people are horrified by his crime]], he's ''that'' self-centred. At that point, even the revelation of [[DeadLittleSister his motives]] doesn't earn him sympathy - you'll be quite ''glad'' to crush his dream in penance for what he and his allies have done.
* The scene before the final battle in ''DisgaeaHourOfDarkness'' features Seraph Lamington "killing" the adorable LoveFreak Flonne by turning her into a flower. [[MultipleEndings She either]] [[DownerEnding stays dead]], [[BittersweetEnding is resurrected by Laharl's]] HeroicSacrifice (a PlayerPunch in and of itself), or is revived as a FallenAngel (which, despite how ominous it may sound, is a MegaHappyEnding. This is [[WidgetSeries Disgaea]], remember?)
* ''FireEmblem: Genealogy of the Holy War'' has an example that's particularly haunting. Halfway through the game, Sigurd's former ally Lord Alvis betrays him and orders his mages to slaughter nearly every playable character in Sigurd's army, at least a few of which the player must surely have developed attachment to at this point. Alvis also reveals that he has taken Sigurd's wife (who has been brainwashed) as his own before personally murdering Sigurd with the legendary Fala Flame spell. The rest of the game takes place 17 years later, starring the children of the slain protagonists.

* ''JeanneDArc'', being ''about'' Joan of Arc, naturally deals with the whole "burning at the stake" bit. Only, in this case, it's Jeanne's childhood friend and almost-sister Lianne who is captured and sold to the English, due to her [[BodyDouble having been made to impersonate the real Jeanne]] while the latter was [[NoOneCouldSurviveThat presumed dead]]. Made even worse in that you're set on a course to rescue this character, the enemy deliberately blocks your way (not to defeat you, but merely to slow you down) and you make it just instants after Lianne has been burned at the stake. A ''third'' PlayerPunch comes when Roger, who has been trying to save Lianne on his own (and almost succeeding, too) takes this personal against ''you'', and promptly pulls such a hard FaceHeelTurn he actually turns [[TheLegionsOfHell demonic]].
* Similarly, ''LaPucelle'' features a chapter where the party ends up a hundred years in the past and meets the girl Croix keeps seeing when he looks at Prier. The girl, unlike Prier, is sweet and kind, and a devoted follower of the goddess Poitireene... during a time when they're being ''persecuted''. On top of that, she happens to be Croix's ''fiancée''. Then the plot happens. She gets sold out by another villager jealous that she chose Croix over him, and your party has to race to stop an execution you already know is going to happen, since it was shown in a flashback (plus complications that make this a bit of a Scrappy Level). Unfortunately, YouCantFightFate, and to make things worse, the Croix from ''this'' time period also arrives too late. The shock of seeing his (pregnant) fiancée unjustly murdered (for a second time, in one case) triggers both Croix to merge and become the Dark Prince, the archenemy of [[TheMessiah the Maiden of Light]].
* ''[[OgreBattle Tactics Ogre, The Knight of Lodis]]'' has one hidden in the canon DownerEnding. Turns out that having your best friend and love interest killed/sacrifice themselves does nothing for your [[WideEyedIdealist Wide Eyed Idealism]]. The character you've been playing, turns out to, as a result of YOUR choices, become one of the main antagonists of the sequel. There's a reason why the 2nd best ending is generally preferred (Hero lives, love interest lives, both walk off into the sunset and out of the history books).

* What happens to Karen in the first ''FrontMission'' will made you want to kill Driscoll, revive him, then kill him again. Thankfully, the game actually lets you do that.

* SuperRobotWarsMX. Reenacting the Vibrato battle in RahXephon. '''You are in control throughout.'''

** Lyon is a [[NiceGuy very kind man]] who legitimately cares about his people. Granted, he envies his friend Ephraim, but just how much he was driven by that envy is debatable. He tries to bring his father back from the dead, and ends up possessed by [[BigBad the Demon King]], who then uses his new vessel to start the war that drives the plot. You have to kill him, regardless of which route you play. If you play Eirika's route, it becomes clear that he loves Eirika, and [[DyingDeclarationOfLove he finally gets up the courage to tell her just as he's about to die]].

** Lyon is a [[NiceGuy very kind man]] who legitimately cares about his people. Granted, he envies his friend Ephraim, but just how much he was driven by that envy is debatable. He tries to bring his father back from the dead, and ends up possessed by [[BigBad the Demon King]], who then uses his new vessel to start the war that drives the plot. You have to kill him, regardless of which route you play. If you play Eirika's route, it becomes clear that he loves Eirika, and he finally gets up the courage to tell her just as he's about to die.

** Lyon is a [[NiceGuy very kind man]] who legitimately cares about his people. Granted, [[Envy he envies his friend Ephraim]], but just how much he was driven by that envy is debatable. He tries to bring his father back from the dead, and ends up possessed by [[BigBad the Demon King]], who then uses his new vessel to start the war that drives the plot. You have to kill him, regardless of which route you play. If you play Eirika's route, it becomes clear that he loves Eirika, and he finally gets up the courage to tell her just as he's about to die.

*** In [[WorthyOpponent Millich's defence]], he ''was'' BrainwashedAndCrazy at the time and can't really be held justifiably accountable for his actions. That, of course, arguably makes it worse - in most games the person who does something like this ''is'' an unlikable {{Jerkass}} and deserves to die (case in point being [[CompleteMonster Luca]] [[TheCaligula Blight]]). Sometimes, you can praise the depth and [[MoralityKitchenSink moral complexity of a story]] whilst simultaneously ''cursing'' it for not giving you a free escape clause where the heroes are pure and good and the villains are clean-cut evil.

**** Tear. Definitely tears. An entire country is [[CosmicRetcon erased from existence]], and you can't bring it back at the end of the game, even. Nobody outside the 108 stars remembers it was ever there. And that son-of-a-bitch [[CompleteMonster Valfred]] somehow [[LackOfEmpathy can't understand why people are horrified by his crime]], he's ''that'' self-centred. At that point, even the revelation of [[DeadLittleSister his motives]] doesn't earn him sympathy - you'll be quite ''glad'' to crush his dream in penance for what he and his allies have done.

*** In [[WorthyOpponent Millich's defence]], he ''was'' BrainwashedAndCrazy at the time and can't really be held justifiably accountable for his actions. That, of course, arguably makes it worse - in most games the person who does something like this ''is'' an unlikable {{Jerkass}} and deserves to die (case in point being [[CompleteMonster Luca]] [[TheCaligula Blight]]). Sometimes, you can praise the depth and [[GreyAndGray moral complexity of a story]] whilst simultaneously ''cursing'' it for not giving you a free escape clause where the heroes are pure and good and the villains are clean-cut evil.