SotC was okay, but i felt a lot less for the characters, because there was no relationship between any of them, unless you count Agro.
I think Agro falling is one moments with such great affect because of the circumstances of the game itself (heck, it's a moment that sometimes trumps the emotionality of the dramatic ending itself). You're stuck in a land, all alone, and your one companion is an extremely friendly, brave, and intelligent horse who's riding down the river styx with you. I don't know about you, but I truly feel lonely the second he's not there with you. He's your best friend, as far as I'm concerned.
FFX's was a great ending even in spite of the daddy melodrama. Jecht was a dick no matter how you look at it. And shit like that is a "Montel-style" baby-daddy issue where Mrs. Jecht wanted to keep the kid when poppa didn't.
Suiko endings are always bitter-sweet unless you hit for the easily-missed 108. D:
Terranigma gets an A+ in almost it's entirety of story, but truly wraps up beautifully with it's ending. I almost wanted to cry, and really straddles the life and death themes stunningly.
A huge tip of the hat goes to
Ghost Trick and
Hotel Dusk/Last Window for being a genuine mystery-genre'd titles that wrap up every mystery beautifully. Ghost Trick in a fantasy-way (time travel n such), but definitely complicated and precise to it's very core. And HD/LW gets a nod for taking on the stereotypes and tropes of the following: the ex-cop, dead partner, stolen artifact, unsolved mystery, femme fatale, money-grubbin, secret secrets, hidden rooms and passages, trapped in the toxic room, the one-degree of seperation (where everyone is involved in something, somehow), etc, etc, etc.
Breath of Fire V was, to me, one made by the circumstances of what it was achieved by. Ryu has a fucking hell of a time that entire game, getting stabbed in the neck and knee at one point, while his final obstacle is a demented and destroyed friend, trying to saving a dying girl, and all while
his own time is running out. While the details of the resolution
don't make all too much sense, the fact there was a happy resolution at all
felt much deserved (an ending style I like).
Chrono Cross had an ending that, surprisingly, to me was made by it's
music and art direction.
Freeing a critical character from a horrifying and withstanding villain in quite a pretty and complicated way. I especially love the final theme as the game plays through scenes with only the sky coloured.
Limbo gets a gold star being simple, thought provoking, and brilliantly ushered in during what feel like a mid-game sequence that roars into a silencing halt. I remember playing it with my brother; it is one of the most stressful parts of the game, but as soon as we did the final, timed jump, we went silent till the title appeared again.
Braid gets major points too if you do the outside-the-box "catch the princess" routine and understand the "hidden story" behind the surface of the game. The art of Braid's story telling was how everything you see and do is a lie, and exposes how everything is a matter of perspective. You
helping the princess gets twisted into this immediately haunting
pursuit of her, and where "achieving" your goal is ultimately set upon the idea of bringing tragedy.