Playing through Mass Effect 3 now (I know, keeping up with the times right) and I just felt the need to start a topic to see if other people had the same reaction I did to this particular mission.

Now, i'm not the emotional type with games; the end of the Walking Dead game is probably the only time i've shed a tear playing a game. But holy shit, the ending to the Grunt mission in ME3 was such an emotional rollercoaster, I ended up just breaking down and sobbing. I really didn't expect any character death in Mass Effect could bring that out in me; i've always loved the character of Grunt, he seemed more like an adopted son of Shepard's than anything, and seeing him (seemingly) get torn to shreds just broke my heart.

Did anyone else have a strong emotional reaction to the end of the Grunt mission that they didn't expect?

That's what you get for not getting him loyal in ME2. I really liked Grunt too, and probably would have been devastated if he had died.

Ohhh. I was about say, "...am I terrible human being that I don't remember him dying..?"

Nono, see that's the thing; I did get Grunt Loyal and he did survive at the end of the mission. It was that triple punch of "Oh no I fucked up and made the wrong decision, now Grunt has to stay behind" "OH NO GRUNT IS DEAD" "OH GOD GRUNT MADE IT" that got to me. Like I said, emotional rollercoaster. I was super happy to see him again, super sad to see him "die", then was just so thankful he came out alive.

@lackingsaint: Actually (and it's been a while but) I'm pretty sure I actually had a fairly similar experience. I don't remember exactly how I reacted physically, but that was one of the two moments that stuck with me the most from that game.

It just really came out of nowhere. Considering how tame the Jack mission was in Mass Effect 3 (Go to her Academy and then have a few conversations with her), having Grunt nearly get massacred was crazy.

@lackingsaint: You're not alone man! It was glorious! :-p

Man, I think I need to play this game again, 'cause a lot of it's fuzzy.

I think it says a lot about that scene in particular though, that I remembered it so vividly

That was a pretty awesome point in the game. Still, it wasn't nearly as effective for me as Mordin's farewell. Everything from his calm serenity in accepting his death to getting blown up while humming Scientist Salarian just rocked all my feels.

He didn't die in my game but god damn, that last scene hit me right in the feels.

Played it 2 days ago and I almost cried.

That part of ME3 made me pause the game and get some tissues. Such a sad and profound moment.

@oldirtybearon: Fuck, man. I really thought I could have found a way that he could have survived.

All this ME3 talk just makes me bummed out with how the game ended.

Man, I really like Mass Effect 3. Got so much shit for the ending that people forgot the how incredible the ride was to get there. But I had a close reaction to what you had. I was fucking depressed thinking he was dead, only to emerge at the end of the mission. Not sure if you've beaten the game or not but there is a lot more happiness and sorrow to come.

I don't remember having a particularly strong response to Grunt, since he did make it through, but that decision involving the Rachni Queen was probably the single toughest decision in the franchise. It's the only time I remember seriously debating the choice and I actually ended up reloading immediately after I made my first decision because I regretted it as soon as I did.

He survived for me, but it looked like he'd die and I was all like "Awww no!!", the all like "Fuck yeah!!"

Always viewed Grunt and Wrex by extension as comic relief characters more than anything else.

I didn't have the same reaction, but I could see why you would. Grunt is one of my favorite characters.

I was actually happy during that scene though. That's what Grunt lives for. "Yeah, get 'em! Fuck 'em!" And then he comes out and I was like "Oh shit, he made it!"

I thought Grunt's "death" was super fitting. I gave in to what I thought the inevitable outcome was going to be and the fact that it happened and then he seemingly beat the odds was one of my many "I fucking love you Mass Effect moments".

That ending overshadows such a great series. Sort of wish I hadn't sold my 360 so I could play some Multiplayer now......hmmm wonder if the PC version will be on sale.

@lackingsaint: I'm with you. I don't think I cried but that was a moment that I felt proud to have him around.

It didn't do much to me as any emotional weight it had was immediately robbed when he showed up 15 seconds later.

Some of the deaths later in that game, however, were pretty powerful such as Anderson and Mordin.

What a coincidence, I just played that mission yesterday (on my 3rd playthrough). It doesn't have the same emotional impact the 3rd time of course, but I remember that being a pretty sad moment, although they probably could of let it hang just a little longer to make it more effective. Also, if there was one character who should go down fighting, it should be Grunt. There were a few times in ME3 that I came close to, or actually did, start crying, which is something I'm not used to and was not expecting at all when starting that game. The most impactful one was the one people have already mentioned here. I even had that moment spoiled for me but that still didn't help me get through it.

I didn't care much about Grunt. I did feel pretty empty when Legion bit it. Also, in my renegade playthrough, where Miranda, Mordin, and Wrex all got killed - twice by me directly, one indirectly... yeah, that was brutal.

Mordin was the only one that got any emotion out of me, and even then it wasn't much. I was hating the game itself far too much to let myself just get involved in the story at that kind of level. As much as I wanted to I just couldn't look past the gameplay as it took me right out of the game.

Huh, I didn't even know Grunt could die. I don't think I would have reacted too emotionally, though, despite liking the character well enough. I can mostly remember getting annoyed that he couldn't join your crew. Anywhoo as for emotional responses, I'm all about dat Mordin arc, son.

EDIT: Oh, OK. You're referring to the moment when the game makes you think he dies, but then he still manages to pull through in the end. Alritey then. Yeah, pretty cool moment, but I wasn't bawling or anything.

I think Grunt's mission was the first one where I met up with someone from Mass Effect 2. I was pretty overjoyed, and when he "died," I felt this sense of dread come over me, like I finally realized that these are mortal characters, and they can die. I felt pretty bad, and then overcome with joy when he walked out of the cave.

As for Mordin, well. Had to be him. Someone else would've gotten it wrong.

I'm pretty sure my exact reaction to that scene was "Nah, he ain't dead." So I guess it didn't quite work for me.

Best scene in Mass Effect 3 was when I had to shoot Mordin so that he couldn't cure the genophage. Sorry, bro.

I honestly don't remember much about Mass Effect 3. Compared to 2 (I never played the original), that whole game felt very much like a summer blockbuster movie and I wasn't ever very attached to what was going on. The gameplay was a major improvement from 2 (which I also really enjoyed) but most of the missions and dialogue were pretty average or worse to me. Unlike most people who played the game, I was disappointed by pretty much all of it, not just the ending. I remember starting worry about five or seven hours into the game that this might not be the resolution to the Mass Effect 2 story I was hoping for, and it kept going downhill from there.

Reading along as people attempted to piece together the Indoctrination Theory was probably more fun for me than most of the game itself.

The Mass Effect 2 characters may not be party members anymore, but some of the best character moments in ME3 come from the missions where they are involved.

My grunt kicked ass and lived, he came out covered in Rachni Blood. Also, since you are playing the game late, make sure you have all of the DLC for ME3 except for omega. It really makes that game a lot better. The best way to play Mass Effect 3 is years after its release with all of the DLC and patches, which is kind of shitty, but it didn't detract from how much I enjoyed ME3 after I played the entire series last summer.

@senrat: I did that too. I called it 'The Shoemaker Plan'.

Yep, started with Mass Effect 1 a few weeks ago on the lead up to playing ME3 with all the DLC. Played Omega yesterday and was surprised it took me the entire afternoon to complete, and just got Javik. He seems neat!

Despite all it's flaws ME3 has (imho) some incredebly strong moments. People tend to forget that for some reason ... for me it was Tali/Legion that felt like a kick in my emotional nuts. And Mordin of course.

Yeah, I've been playing it on PC recently (after playing 1 and 2, with all 2+3 DLCs) and damn I love the game. I got up to the second to last mission on the 360 before taking a break, and then forgot about it as I played something else, and ended up getting it on some Origin sale a while back, but with all the DLC.

All the moments, call backs to the previous games (having done pretty much the best you can, e.g. saving everyone possible, side missions, etc) are great. Grunt going out in a blaze of glory and then coming right the fuck back covered in blood was awesome.

Hell, all the character interactions were great. Looking forward to doing all the DLC.

I remember thinking as he fell over the arachni...

Man, I never really cared for him.