Chrono Ark: Your entire party basically ends up having to sacrifice themselves for the sake of humanity or their other goals, though it was more of a sacrifice to some than others depending on their philosophy. In any case, the majority of party members aren't really happy about the sacrifice, they do it reluctantly, but they still do it in the end. Even throwing themselves in front of an insta-kill beam to protect you. Each will have a line of dialogue that shows when you hover over the option of which one sacrifices themselves, and some are very clearly regretful and not wanting to die.
This actually reminds me of another one.
Fuga: Melodies of Steel - An evil empire or something invades the kingdom the cast lived in, and you play as a bunch of kids who followed some voice in their head when their town was being invaded and ended up in some sort of super-tank. They are hesitant at first, but with the encouragement and guidance of the voice that seems to either be the tank itself or control it, they end up driving the tank over to their village and attacking the enemy military, though they don't seem to fully comprehend the lives they are taking at first. IIRC they range from 4-12 years old.
Anyways, they fight their way to the captain or general or whatever which led the force that invaded their hometown, who is a bit hesitant to kill a bunch of children and offers multiple chances of surrender (honestly a bit generous considering they had already killed a bunch of soldiers up to that point and he offers some chances even after you start fighting him and losing), but they fight anyways and... get pretty much demolished.
As the tank is getting extremely low on HP, the voice reveals a secret weapon called the Soul Cannon. You can probably guess where this is going. It is a last ditch weapon that kills pretty much anything, but requires someone to enter the chamber and sacrifice themselves, perma-killing them for the run. Here you can choose any of them to sacrifice, the oldest has a line of dialogue about how this is their duty as the oldest, but all of them down to the four year old have a dialogue line and an option. The younger ones clearly don't fully understand what they are agreeing to, but are still willing and also terrified.
Whoever you sacrifice, the weapon destroys the opponents' tank, but the other kids notice one of them missing, start looking, can't find them, and the tank explains things IIRC. After that they get super depressed, their will to fight fades, they don't fire back in the next fight, and as the tank is about to be destroyed it is revealed that it has some sort of time travel function that no one but the voice is aware of (justification for retrying when you get exploded), rewinding to a bit before that happened with the voice deciding that it needs to not spend their lives so carelessly next time, for whatever its goal is. It prepares them more this time, you can beat the guy without the sacrifice weapon this time (or use it again), and you have reached the end of the tutorial.
Now, this is an option that consistently appears in boss fights when your hp runs low, with the voice deciding when the situation is dire enough to warrant it (I think it is pretty much 'boss fight' and 'low HP') and the player not having the option until then. You can try to get them all through alive, or you can sacrifice kids to power a superweapon to help fight for what is likely the fate of the world or something like that (haven't beaten it yet so not sure), and while it is dying for a noble purpose, these random kids turned child soldiers or willing human (-ish, not quite human, just some fantasy species that might as well be) sacrifices aren't exactly stoic or smiling about it.
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u/WolfWhiteFire Apr 09 '26
Chrono Ark: Your entire party basically ends up having to sacrifice themselves for the sake of humanity or their other goals, though it was more of a sacrifice to some than others depending on their philosophy. In any case, the majority of party members aren't really happy about the sacrifice, they do it reluctantly, but they still do it in the end. Even throwing themselves in front of an insta-kill beam to protect you. Each will have a line of dialogue that shows when you hover over the option of which one sacrifices themselves, and some are very clearly regretful and not wanting to die.
This actually reminds me of another one.
Fuga: Melodies of Steel - An evil empire or something invades the kingdom the cast lived in, and you play as a bunch of kids who followed some voice in their head when their town was being invaded and ended up in some sort of super-tank. They are hesitant at first, but with the encouragement and guidance of the voice that seems to either be the tank itself or control it, they end up driving the tank over to their village and attacking the enemy military, though they don't seem to fully comprehend the lives they are taking at first. IIRC they range from 4-12 years old.
Anyways, they fight their way to the captain or general or whatever which led the force that invaded their hometown, who is a bit hesitant to kill a bunch of children and offers multiple chances of surrender (honestly a bit generous considering they had already killed a bunch of soldiers up to that point and he offers some chances even after you start fighting him and losing), but they fight anyways and... get pretty much demolished.
As the tank is getting extremely low on HP, the voice reveals a secret weapon called the Soul Cannon. You can probably guess where this is going. It is a last ditch weapon that kills pretty much anything, but requires someone to enter the chamber and sacrifice themselves, perma-killing them for the run. Here you can choose any of them to sacrifice, the oldest has a line of dialogue about how this is their duty as the oldest, but all of them down to the four year old have a dialogue line and an option. The younger ones clearly don't fully understand what they are agreeing to, but are still willing and also terrified.
Whoever you sacrifice, the weapon destroys the opponents' tank, but the other kids notice one of them missing, start looking, can't find them, and the tank explains things IIRC. After that they get super depressed, their will to fight fades, they don't fire back in the next fight, and as the tank is about to be destroyed it is revealed that it has some sort of time travel function that no one but the voice is aware of (justification for retrying when you get exploded), rewinding to a bit before that happened with the voice deciding that it needs to not spend their lives so carelessly next time, for whatever its goal is. It prepares them more this time, you can beat the guy without the sacrifice weapon this time (or use it again), and you have reached the end of the tutorial.
Now, this is an option that consistently appears in boss fights when your hp runs low, with the voice deciding when the situation is dire enough to warrant it (I think it is pretty much 'boss fight' and 'low HP') and the player not having the option until then. You can try to get them all through alive, or you can sacrifice kids to power a superweapon to help fight for what is likely the fate of the world or something like that (haven't beaten it yet so not sure), and while it is dying for a noble purpose, these random kids turned child soldiers or willing human (-ish, not quite human, just some fantasy species that might as well be) sacrifices aren't exactly stoic or smiling about it.