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When Did You Realise Your Favourite Game Was Something Special?

Prismo

Neo Member
The first time I cast Time Stop in Baldur's Gate 2 and realized I was master of the universe. Or when I stepped outside vault 101 for the first time and beheld the Wasteland. Or when I read Glory's aura only to find the Devil staring back at me. Or when I got 'all ghillied up' in Call of Duty 4 on veteran and fucking nailed it.
 

YoungHav

Banned
Fallout 3- the boot up opening title screen. It was my 1st fallout game and I had no idea what to expect. I am greeted with a projector screen opening display and the grandest orchestra music I've ever heard for an opening. I was giddy before I even pressed start.
 

Despera

Banned
"The city exists in opposition to itself. It has set itself apart from the planes, yet it seeks to be everywhere at once. Its walls are doors, yet it keeps these doors locked. Such an existence tells of a thing that does not *know* itself. In not *knowing* itself, it is flawed."
For anyone wondering what game this quote is from it's Planescape Torment.
 

spliced

Member
Mario 64 - When I saw it in the store.

Dark Souls - The armored boar. I knew the first area wasn't just a fluke, the whole game was gonna be amazing.
 

Bumhead

Banned
Metal Gear Solid feels like one of these moments after another. But specifically, the Psycho Mantis encounter and then Sniper Wolf and Meryl were two moments that cemented it as an all time classic for me.
 
Earthbound: When you find that guy selling a beach house with a "ocean view". It costs a ridiculous amount, so being a kid, of course I went and grinded fighting lower enemies getting little little money each time. I bought that "beach house" for a ridiculous sum of money, only to find out walking inside it is missing a wall, is run down, and had nothing to offer aside from being a "haha fooled you, lesson learned" thing. Great stuff.
 

espher

Member
For Suikoden II, when the intro kicks off with a false flag op and you get the sweet sepia tone flashback cinematic, w/ the somber Reminiscence piano tune, at its conclusion.

I knew I was going to be in for one hell of a ride if they kicked it off with that theme.

Edit: Here's a copy of the video with 'OK' audio. The only videos I can find this morning are of this part in colour, which you wouldn't stumble upon naturally.
 

bone_and_sinew

breaking down barriers in gratuitous nudity
Demon's Souls: Tower of Latria 1-1 *ring ring*

MGS3: The End fight, which is about halfway through the game

Metroid Prime: Phendrana Drifts
 

Mephala

Member
The feeling I got when I first killed Yian Kut-Ku in Monster Hunter 1. That primal feeling of besting my prey has kept me hooked for 10 years now.

This but I somehow skipped YKK and went straight for the Kezu in the Guild Hall. That was really rough.
 

Skulldead

Member
Snatcher.... The scene when i discover
the police agent decapitated
and the few minute after that. I knew was going to have one hell of a ride ! The narration and VA were so much ahead of his time i was blown away !!
 

Mupod

Member
I put something like 80 hours into Monster Hunter Freedom 2 as a Longsword user with occasional Bow for things I couldn't beat with the LS. I thought the game was alright but the difficulty really frustrated me.

Not long before MHFU came out I decided to give the game another shot and picked up Hammer. I'd tried it before but hated it because I kept accidentally spinning and it felt too slow, but this time I was able to get a good handle on the weapon. Suddenly everything about the game's combat system just fell into place. Before that point I'd been playing the game 'wrong' but I had gained decent familiarity with the monsters, so I was able to slap them around with a hammer no problem. That first time I KO'd a Rathalos with the golfswing I was hooked, no other game feels that good.

From that point forward, combined with the quality of life improvements in Freedom Unite, general monster behaviour/hitbox updates, and of course multiplayer MH gradually became my favorite series. And I didn't even like it much at first.
 
Dark Souls - when you find out that you can avoid the dragon on the bridge by going underneath and shimmying around a narrow ledge, AND you can shoot arrows at his swinging tail to get a dope sword that will carry you through the first half of a first playthrough. Magic.
 
Phantasy Star 4:
The Death of Alys, this was 1994 and until that point sure you play as Chaz but Alys has felt like the main character, she starts of better then you and is clearly the leader of the party but then you fight Zio and while trying to protect Chaz she is hit by the Black Wave and quickly grows deathly ill. As the player you are give hope though because you go off to find another character that can use magic and surely they can save her right? So you find this character only to learn there isn't anything he can do either despite all the power he has and in that moment... Alys dies, its so powerful not becuase its the death of a charcter and what you precieved to be the main character to that point but because unlike many other games where Death is instant and final Alys struggles in pain as you try to save her, I have never felt so helpless in a fictional story then I did in Phantasy Star 4 and I haven't sense.

Many games have characters that die (more so now then before) but PS4's felt so much more retalistic because she does suffer, and its not clean, she is clearly presented to be in a lot of pain and it makes you as the player feel helpless becuase theres nothing you can do, it also dangles hope in front of you, as someone who has had relatives with cancer it hits me even harder because its so true to life, Death is a terrible thing and someone suffering from an illness is even worse because you want nothing more then to see them overcome it but in many cases they can't, and thats why its so important to me because of how realisitic it is because its not an easy thing to get through, in most other games the characters praddle on and they may bring it up again but they don't ever lose there sense of purpose they continue onward... in Phantasy Star 4 Chaz is clearly lost losing the most important thing too him, the other characters encourage him and he is able to continue on but towards the end of the game it comes back at him and he doesn't know what he should be doing, hes confused, and its in this moment that he gets help from the heroes of yore (including Alys) and even though its just a quick flash of her and the others and what they fought for, it about him dealing with her Death, moving on and finding a purpose.

No game before it or after it has dealt with it so realisitically or openly and how even much later on it can still come back to haunt you and the way it presents it to the player is equally as important as its how its presented to the characters.
 

RavenH2

Member
The Secret of Monkey Island - How am I supposed to fight with swor... ohhhhh! I see that's quite clever, and funny.

MGS - The whole intro with Snake arriving on the minisub. The music, the dialogs, it was something else.

Half-Life - When the commandos appeared you just knew things had gone too far. Aliens, the Army, and now ¿Black Ops?

Halo - I can drive that (not once, not twice, but many many times)?? Enemies react?? Only two weapons?? Everyone is figthing and not minding me??

FF XII - Fraan losing control, and the gambits working their magic in the longest of fights.

Batman: Arkham Asylum - I AM THE GODDAM BATMAN!!

Dark Souls - The "Oh god, oh god, oh god" feeling every time you felt underpowered, and uneasy. Hence, most of the game.
 
Arriving in Anor Londo (Dark Souls) was one of the few magic moments in gaming for me. Dark Souls is likely the best single player game I have ever played if I'm honest.
 
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare - For the first part of the camapign I was enjoying it as a refreshing new look into the FPS series. Up until then it had been a ton of WW2 shooters. It really struck me as something special when not only do you fail to disarm the nuclear bomb, you experience the last few seconds of a soldiers life as he is dying in the aftermath. To me that just took it to another level and I've loved it since.
 
Mine comes from a Ps2 rpg, Level-5's Dark Cloud 2/Chronicle.

You go through a dungeon, get damaged a lot, and are left with only one point of health. But you manage to defeat all the monsters on the floor. This music plays.

Right then and there, i knew it would be a special game.
 
Silent Hill 2

I didn't realize it until much later. After I beat the game I was shellshocked and thought "this game is amazing but I'm NEVER playing it again." And then I did. I couldn't stop thinking about it: the atmosphere, the themes, the story, the characters, the gameplay, the setting, the foreshadowing, the scares, everything.

I spent weeks thinking about it until one day somebody asked me what my favorite game was in a personal introduction (first week of college) and I naturally said Silent Hill 2, which surprised me, considering Melee had been my favorite game for years.

I then spent a very long time thinking about whether or not I meant what I said, and then I came to the realization that not only is Silent Hill 2 my favorite game of all time, but it's also my favorite piece of art of all time. It changed my life and I am a much better person for having lived through it.

Here's looking at you, Team Silent.
 
Metal Gear Solid:
When I got my mind blown for the bajillionth time.

Perfect Dark:
When I played it in multiplayer, FS only. Sniper duels were so much fun.
Rocket Launcher duels ended up being incredible with 5 fps or so. Because we knew that SHIT WAS GOING DOWN!

Super Mario Bros.:
When I heard the music. Then again when I jumped over the Goomba. Then again when I finished the first level.
 
Persona 4 for the PS2:
When I felt sad about going back home in the end.

This, tho I only played the Golden version so the epilogue works to give you some closure.
But seriously. This game was bad for my health. My heart was broken so much in 85 hours of gameplay that I was exausted by the end of it. The good kind of exausted tho.
 

Ceadeus

Gold Member
The feeling I got when I first killed Yian Kut-Ku in Monster Hunter 1. That primal feeling of besting my prey has kept me hooked for 10 years now.

You are not the only one!

MHF on psp was my first one. What a weird game when you first get into it. You know there is a lot of things to do and gather everything telling youself it might get handy. Took me a while to figure it all.

The rathalos was my wall, then when ive beating him I was so happy and completly addicted that I needed its full armor set and GS.
 

Koriandrr

Member
When I realised that all of my best friends are people I've met in mmos.

Also when I cry at good stories. I relate to characters in games so much I just get into it, I am part of it, I experience it. Laugh, cry, heart racing, adrenaline rush. All the things you'd feel in real life I also feel while playing games, so I don't see that much of a difference, really.

Also I'll join the Persona comments. 3 was a life-changing game for me.






Inb4 'get a life' comments.
 

DJIzana

Member
Oh man... Too many reasons. Probably what stood out the most was when Earthbound made me go from hating an entire genre to almost exclusively playing just those type of games.

Basically hated the fantasy genre (let alone role playing games) as a kid. Too young to understand what made the special but when Earthbound released that all changed. Throw in some wacky and completely different, an amazing soundtrack and having Chrono Trigger release shortly after finishing Earthbound? You have yourself a perfect moment.
 
Honestly from the main menu screen of Catherine. It was clear the game had style.

2371854-catherine_title.jpg
 
GTA Online - once a friend picked up a copy and finished the story in late 2013, I finally started hopping into the online portion with him. Los Santos became a place of relaxation, of freedom, almost like a second life. I remember a particular bad bout of panic attacks I had in February 2014 where it seemed like anytime I hopped on GTA Online, hopped in a car, and just drove around the outskirts made everything feel better. So many hours spent, so much fun with friends, possibilities were endless with imagination. To this day me and one other friend still find new things to do despite clocking nearly 3 weeks total in online. So it's a very significant game for me personally.

EDIT: Also want to add Catherine. Really gave me perspective on what kind of person I am in terms of relationships.
 

daveo42

Banned
The events that lead up to Fei leaving Lahan Village for the first time at the beginning of Xenogears.

Leaving Midgar and seeing how truly large the world was in FFVII.

The first and last 30 minutes of TLoU.
 

Sotha_Sil

Member
Morrowind - stepping out the ship.

Shadow of the Colossus - the 3rd Colossus.

Freespace 2 - first capitol ship fight (and again with the Colossus' first entrance).

New Vegas - the complexity around the first quest involving Goodsprings with the different choices and speech checks.

The Witcher 3 - White Orchard being such a great and deep "tutorial" section.
 
Mass Effect: When you speak to Vigil. After that long conversation which revealed so much about the Protheans just solidified my love for the world.
 
Right after I finished the Bloody Baron quest line in The Witcher 3, I realized it was going to be a hell of a ride. And it was. It is now my top game of all time.
 
1. When I left Midgar in FFVII and realized I had barely scratched the surface of that game. GOAT.

2. Half-Life - when the marines showed up... forget the name of that level? So bad ass.

3. Diablo 2 - when I got to the 2nd Act and realized I was going to be playing that game a loong time

4. Everquest - from the moment I booted that game up I knew I was in for some real shit. Still playing it 16 years later.
 

Tunavi

Banned
I really really loved pokemon red, but when Pokemon silver came out. GOD DAMN

REAL TIME Night/day cycle that affected gameplay, two games in one, game got a damn good color scheme/makeover, and an EVEN BETTER soundtrack.

god damn. And even though it was best on the GBC, it all played on a 10 year old handheld.
 
Persona 3: The anime cutscene when Thanatos rips out of Orpheus combined with everything that happens before that. The train scene and Yukari with her evoker, meeting Mitsuru at the dorm. It was perfect.

Dragon Quest 8: Getting Jessica on the team. Everything up to that point was fantastic and after completing Alexandria and the temple with everything that happened there the game got truly amazing.
 

Gears

Member
Francis york Morgan power slides the air on his way into town in deadly premonition.

Metal gear rising "its time for Jack.... To LET EEEER RIP!"
 
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