10 Video Games That Gut Punch You In Act One

Xenoblade Chronicles is a nightmarishly long game, easily one of the longest JRPGs around, and considering that it's also the size of an MMO, it's a wonder players' Wiis didn't burst into flames as soon as it read the disc.

But I digress, the way the game telegraphs to you just how long a journey you have ahead of you is nothing less than soul-crushing. The first act of the game sees main characters Shulk and Reyn on their journey of vengeance, helping out a soldier named Sharla to save her people from the monstrous machines known only as The Mechon. This particular group of Mechon is stationed in a cavernous dungeon known as the Ether Mines, led by a creature known as Xord, whom Shulk and friends have to fight a total of three times before he finally goes down. Shulk emerges from the mines, the player feeling like the biggest badass in the world.

And then the main bad guy appears with a horde of Mechon identical to Xord, as if to simply say "oh you kill ONE of us and you think you're hot stuff? Cute."

This cutscene demonstrates just how much game is left to go before you reach the end, in perhaps the most terrifying way, as the player and Shulk are made to realize the true breadth of his mission.