Tear Jerker / Valkyria Chronicles 4

• Everything about the Cygnus Fleet's true power source. Powered by a Forsaken Child has never been so literal. The ships' engines have a Valkyria inside them, physically plugged into the machinery to act as a living battery. They're all children no older than 12, tricked into signing binding contracts with the army and "modified" (i.e having plug sockets implanted into their bodies). They're treated as military assets, not people, and always referred to as "it". The worst part is that if a ship is disabled, the Valkyria is ordered to use their Final Flame. In other words, not only do they use these children as living batteries, but also suicide bombers. When this happens during the story, Crymaria says she could hear the Valkyria crying out about how much it hurts and terrified and sad she is. And you get to know one of these "batteries" personally by fluke, but she eventually decides to return to the engine willingly because it's the only way to save the ship and everyone on board.
• Raz's sacrifice. He volunteers for what both he and Claude know is a suicide mission to destroy an Imperial generator. While he does take out the generator and the guards watching it, he gets mortally wounded. He has one last chat with Claude, Riley and Kai before getting gunned down by reinforcements and his friends can only listen over the radio.
  • What makes this even worse is that Raz can't do it alone. You have to select a second squad member to deploy with him and share his fate. What's worse is that everyone has unique voice clips for being selected for this duty,, as well as unique final conversations with Raz, some of them are especially sombre.
  Odin: I... I am Odin, the god of battle.
  Millennia: Darling... I can feel you here.
  Vancey: This calls for a drink, yeah?
  Lilly: There's a dark wind blowing...
  Keigel: [Sigh], I've been ready for a long time.
  Jimmy: [Wistfully] We had some good times, right?
  Rebecca: I'm ready... I have to be ready...
  Eileen: Curtis, I'll do everything I can.
  Connor: The climax of my own arc...
  • Their last words just before their death are as heartwrenching as well.
  Odin: Oh god, I don't want to die— No. No, this time, I'm not running away. I... I am a warrior!
  Vancey: ...Thank God I get to be drunk for this. Still, everything feels so clear. Guess I've been ready for a long time.
  Ferrier: For once, I'm glad I have this mask. They'll never know I wept at the end....
  Neige: Now, I can finally say it. Thanks everyone... I'm so glad I met you.
  Millennia: I love you, honey... Wherever you are, I'll see you soon.
  Jimmy: Honey... I sorry I'll never get to meet our child. But I'll give you both a future worth living in.
  Brittany: Sorry, Becky... Mommy's coming home late. Be strong for me, honey... I love you.
  • Some of the backstories can make the death of these characters hit even harder. And the game doesn't at all try to dissuade you from sending them to die. Keigel is an Old Soldier who lost his son to war and Vancey is a Sole Survivor of her Special Forces squad and both of them sounds like they are welcoming their long awaited demise. Meanwhile, Jimmy has a wife and kid back home, Brittany is a single mother who raised her daughter alone, Millennia lost her husband in the war and God knows what the Blackwell siblings would be going through as one of them leaves to die right in front of the other, needless to say, said loved ones are who they think about in their final moments. And these quotes aren't the end of it. You can also select Emmy, who is fighting to send money to her mother, Azusa who may have finally just begun a life unbound from her clan's control, or Aoife, who is engaged.
  • The way these final lines are performed also deserves attention. Kaiji Tang's delivery for Odin's line is chill-inducing in how it conveys both his fears and his necessary facade, Zaiga is happy to die alongside Raz, and even Scott's normal "Sir, yes sir!" feels as if it's being forced out of him.
• After a soldier dies, you receive a last keepsake left to you, their commander. Not only can this be a huge Player Punch for losing a character, but the items themselves can be devastating in their own right.
  • Emmy's death leaves you to receive a letter from her sick mom, asking how she is.
• Near the end of the "Good Old Days" Squad Story, Curtis asks a dying enemy soldier why he didn't take a shot at Eileen when he had the chance. It turns out she reminded him too much of his own sister.
• Many of the quotes when a character is selected at low health. Nico's in particular is just a series of ragged breaths, implying she's too hurt to talk.
• In the penultimate chapter, Claude stays behind to set off the A2 bomb, something that's certain to kill him. Riley decides to stay with him even though the rest of the Squad has already fled.
• Rebecca's backstory: she lost her old unit because she got too worried over minor injuries and squandered all of their Ragnaid at the start of a long battle. For as prickly as she seems, she cares quite deeply about her squadmates, and knowing that they died because she was too eager to help is simply awful. It's no wonder she has nightmares.
• After the war ends and Norid leaves, Scott starts spending a lot of time just staring at the sky.
• The "Two Valkyria" DLC where Selvaria has a heart to heart with Crymaria, trying to assure her fellow Valkyrur that she will find someone who loves her and can bring her a purpose. The gut punch comes when realizing while Crymaria did get her happy ending with someone she loved, the same did not come to pass for Selvaria who was callously manipulated by Maximillian into her death.