I was in my early-mid teens when WC3 came out. I was heavily invested not only in the action gameplay of the series, but in the story lines. Hobbes' betrayal hit me like a ton of bricks. Maybe to some it was obvious, but it's obviousness is why I never suspected it. I mean, I escorted that kitty way back in Secret Missions 2. And of course I bonded with the furball in WC2, since we were both outsiders aboard the Concordia. I was PISSED off during WC3. I thought that, while by today's standards there was a hefty dose of melodrama and cheese, that at the time, the game really effectively roped me in. You lose the Behemoth, you lose your trusty wingman, and you lose one of your oldest friends all at once (at least, Blair isn't aware of Angel's fate until that moment). It left me feeling hollow and angry.
By the time I was ready to drop the Temblor on Kilrah, though, I wasn't so angry that I felt GOOD about destroying an entire planet. I was certainly aware of the fact that this was the last ditch effort to win the war, and that tactically, Confed was sure that the whole "cutting the head off of the chicken" strategy would work on the cats, but up until that last mission, I think I was hoping not to have to blow up a planet. I knew what kind of effect that had on that Wiggin kid, and here I am getting ready to do it, fully aware of what's going on. But I gritted my teeth, fueled up my bird, and cloaked for that final leg of the journey.
And then... the game tosses one of the longest, most boring, infuriating missions at you. If you keep battling the ground forces or air force, you'll never get to the target, but if you just cloak yourself, then you're flying around for like a million hours in some REALLY UGLY GRAPHICS. The trench run isn't exciting, there's no real sense of speed, no impressive graphics, just tedium, until such time as you drop the bomb. I remember feeling pretty ambivalent about it. And then watching Kilrah break apart. I was excited for the cool cutscenes (which were sooooo awesome at the time), but I remember feeling a little mixed up. I kept telling myself it was us or them, but I just didn't like having to destroy a species home planet. Who knows what existed on the planet that the Kilrathi didn't take with them to their colonies? I was certainly responsible for the extinction of millions of species of space-bugs and plants and fish and rodents and whatever. Us or them... but now that we've done this, what makes us worthy of being the victors in the us/them debate.
As I played the game, I really got into it. I allowed myself to be transported to that world, to fill those shoes. And the game was clever with the scripted events that stood in stark contrast with the standard mission-tree progression. As one discovers the mechanics of the game, one realizes, "oh, I failed that mission, lemme go back and try again," but here the game presents events that are beyond your control. Puts you in your place. Keeps you from getting too big an ego, even if you are The Heart of the Tiger. I was in it. And as such, I had very mixed feelings about the end of Kilrah.
In my opinion, a game has really done it's job when it gets its players feeling what the characters would feel, wondering what the characters would wonder, discussing what the characters would discuss. I grew up on Ultima, as well, and those games (at least the games starting with Quest of the Avatar) required you to have a conscience. Or at least they did before you sussed out the game mechanics at work. But as a kid, I simply learned, "wow, killing villagers is not keenly looked upon by this apparition of Lord British, and stealing shit is not helping my stats at all." So, I had developed a sense of morality I took into my games. Sure, part of the thrill of WC is taking out as many Dralthi as you can, not letting that one get back to the base to warn his hrai or whatever. But I still played the game as though I myself was in it. As a side note, I think I always tend to skew towards goody-goody while playing games, because I try to be ME. I mean, if I'm specifically supposed to be somebody else, I'll try to take on that role, but frankly, carjacking and beating up prostitutes just doesn't really strike me as narratively or even mechanically that fun, so I've never been a huge fan of the GTA series. Um... sooo off topic at this point.
The point is: The destruction of Kilrah was pretty poignant for me.