I don't know how much of a spoiler the first 20 minutes of The Last of Us is, but I'm going to put up a spoiler warning, just in case.
Spoiler:I don't think I've ever had a scene hit me as hard or as fast as the first 20 minutes of The Last of Us did. Something about it just felt so... real? It's hard to describe. It's a near-perfect piece of storytelling at the very least. I think a very key aspect of why it is so sad is that the majority of the scene is played in the perspective of Sarah. While it would have been easy to just play as Joel the whole time, and feel for him losing his daughter, I think the way they pulled it off makes the player feel more for the character. It's not a typical "oh yeah this guy tragic loss etc.". Since you, the player, are playing as Sarah, and she is shot and killed by what could have been your only hope, you, the player, feel loss for this character. You're more empathetic to the heartbreak of Joel, and it hits that much harder. I've never in my life had a game catch my attention as well as The Last of Us did.
TLOU would be on my list as well, but not any specific scene. Everything from the story to the character development built this game that made such a lasting impression.
Though I will never forget how sad Crisis Core was. I've personally never played Final Fantasy VII, but since it's a well-known game amongst the gaming community, spoilers and information that I stumbled upon was inevitable. Already knowing what the fate of the main character would be, it was painful to play through the entire game with that thought nagging in the back of my head. Nevertheless though, CC was one of the very first games I finished. Even more memorable was crying in the back of the car.
Are you referring to the part where Zack and Cloud are on the run from like the government in Crisis Core?
Hm, that would be the part leading up to the ending so I guess in part that would be considered as the emotional ride towards the end ;-; It's just knowing what his fate before I even played the game made it that much more depressing...
See, I was on the opposite end of the spectrum where I had no idea what was going to happen. I had to punch a wall to make myself feel like a man again by all the feels I experienced.
Haha, you didn't know anything about Final Fantasy VII before playing Crisis Core? Such an iconic game and you knew nothing?