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[Fahdis]

This was the moment for me:




The buildup from the first scene riding on Agro, that beautiful OST, going to a distant land that had nothing outside of silence, the mysterious girl, the spooky voice, still confused on why all of this is happening. And then seeing this for the first time on your 32 inch old square TV during the PS2 days. Not only was my mind blown with the sheer size if the Colossus, but this was the moment I took videogames more seriously as a form of art and complex story telling. I have never had a moment like this again.

However, I was fortunate to play Ace Combat 4 and MGS3 right after this masterpiece. Let's just say it was an amazing summer. Literally back to back bliss.

Edit: I have had this moment again:



This opening was literally one of the most beautiful experiences I have ever encountered in a game. And I am not even a huge racing buff.

 

[cormack12]

 

[STARSBarry]

 

[nowhat]

 

[kanjobazooie]

It was probably Okami for me. Hard to put my thoughts into words, but the game really felt like I was sitting with someone who lived through those events and they were telling their story to me.

Which exact moment tho? I can't remember, there were many and I haven't played the game in years.

 

[Bartski]

 

[ZywyPL]

Heavy Rain for me. It was indeed an interactive movie, in the positive way.

 

[Fahdis]

It was probably Okami for me. Hard to put my thoughts into words, but the game really felt like I was sitting with someone who lived through those events and they were telling their story to me.

I love both these games as well. Although they weren't as transformational for me in the aspect of "that's amazing".

 

[alienator]

metal gear solid 1 on psx definately showed me something i had never seen and experienced before, from its graphics to storytelling to ultra attention to detail and psycho mantis reading out my memorycard - i had never experienced something like that before in 1 package.

 

[cireza]

I felt that it became more than it was with the Panzer Dragoon games on Saturn. The move to 3D + Disc format greatly expanded the immersion, and some particularly creative games pushed these features.

 

[Josemayuste]

 

[Con-Z-epT]

After Byrgenwerth nothing was the same anymore.

I was granted eyes.

 

[Altares13th]

Too many examples. All Ueda-san games, in multiple points. I feel I talk too much about those games (I might be emotionally compromised) so today I will try and think of other games:

Spoiler: - Silent Hill 2

The closing in labyrinth when you battle pyramid head.

Spoiler: - Inside

When you are sucked into the thing and you think you are dead but then you realise you are interacting with it.

I think, to put it simply, to me a game transcends all other forms of media when the author makes use of interactivity in order to deliver a message. Almost like another form of communication. One that goes from a plane of existence: The game world, into a higher one: game creator's mind.

 

[SJRB]

Colonel AI was some next level shit for sure.

 

[Porcile]

That moment when Manny goes from a nobody with a broom to the coolest guy in town.

 

[Schmick]

This was the moment for me:




The buildup from the first scene riding on Agro, that beautiful OST, going to a distant land that had nothing outside of silence, the mysterious girl, the spooky voice, still confused on why all of this is happening. And then seeing this for the first time on your 32 inch old square TV during the PS2 days. Not only was my mind blown with the sheer size if the Colossus, but this was the moment I took videogames more seriously as a form of art and complex story telling. I have never had a moment like this again.

However, I was fortunate to play Ace Combat 4 and MGS3 right after this masterpiece. Let's just say it was an amazing summer. Literally back to back bliss.

Edit: I have had this moment again:



This opening was literally one of the most beautiful experiences I have ever encountered in a game. And I am not even a huge racing buff.

One my favourite video game trailers is the FH4 reveal trailer. A very special game.



Mind you, the music used in the trailer I think would work perfectly for a FS2020 trailer.

 

[skit_data]

Playing FF7

Sephiroth, you damn dirty…me?

 

[MattVT]

I’m an old man, so for me, it was the cutscenes in the NES Ninja Gaiden. The way the game transitioned from gameplay to a “talking part” (which is how I described them as a kid because I didn’t know they had an actual name) shaped what kinds of games I enjoy to this day. I love single-player, story-driven games.

 

[NoviDon]

KOTOR I and II. Still waiting for III...oh yeah and FF X was a mind blowing jump for me.

 

[Clear]

For me, all the little meta-tricks that Kojima pulled in Metal Gear Solid.
Meryl's codec frequency only being stated on the box illustration, all the psycho-mantis stuff with the controller switching and vibrating. MGS is a fucking remarkable piece of work anyway, but these wall-breaks really pushed it over the top because of how it meshed real-world phenomena with this super cinematic narrative.

From a narrative perspective Nier (2010) blew my mind though, because it was the first time that I'd come across a game that was constructed so specifically to deceive and misdirect in order to deliver its message. Each "route" taken as a cumulative singular narrative has a meaning that contrasts and builds upon what precedes it, creating an overarching meta-narrative that ultimately is the point Yoko is making.

Most importantly its a story that could only ever work in videogame form where the player is an active participant in events. Its still staggers me that to this day I find it so hard to accurately describe quite how cleverly put together it all is on a conceptual level without writing paragraph after paragraph about the brilliance of it all.

The craziest part is that in his GDC talk Yoko lays out in clear terms what his goal is (to tell a story through emotion) and the atomic unit of the process used to elicit these reactions (his "backwards scriptwriting" technique). Yet this barely scratches the surface of what the game is actually doing and what the potentials of this approach are. Its radical stuff, and Yoko undersells it in his typically unassuming, self-deprecating manner.

 

[Banjo64]

There’s a moment in God of War where Kratos pleasures multiple women at the same time.

 

[THE DUCK]

Tetris effect. The game just pulled me into another dimension of sound/puzzle that was sort of mesmerizing........

 

[Moomalade74]

This moment right here:

 

[Fahdis]

For me, all the little meta-tricks that Kojima pulled in Metal Gear Solid.
Meryl's codec frequency only being stated on the box illustration, all the psycho-mantis stuff with the controller switching and vibrating. MGS is a fucking remarkable piece of work anyway, but these wall-breaks really pushed it over the top because of how it meshed real-world phenomena with this super cinematic narrative.

From a narrative perspective Nier (2010) blew my mind though, because it was the first time that I'd come across a game that was constructed so specifically to deceive and misdirect in order to deliver its message. Each "route" taken as a cumulative singular narrative has a meaning that contrasts and builds upon what precedes it, creating an overarching meta-narrative that ultimately is the point Yoko is making.

Most importantly its a story that could only ever work in videogame form where the player is an active participant in events. Its still staggers me that to this day I find it so hard to accurately describe quite how cleverly put together it all is on a conceptual level without writing paragraph after paragraph about the brilliance of it all.

Is Nier replicant the same game?

 

[Fluo]

Legacy of Kain dialogues and voice acting are top notch. Any scene between Raziel and Kain is good enough for a theater.

 

[odhiex]

For me, videogame is a superior form of entertainment (also possibly in story-telling) because of it's interactivity and player's engagement.

However, they can also be dumb since everything could break the story and immersion, such as: hilarious bugs, glitches, silly missions and dumb actions by the players hahaha.

 

[LazyParrot]

Video game writing is still pretty shit. Even games like Planescape Torment that are considered to be masterpieces in terms of writing and storytelling are just about on the level of a decent fantasy or sci-fi paperback.

Not all that surprising, considering writing an engaging narrative becomes infinitely harder once you have to account for player choice and spend time writing situations and outcomes you might not even want to see yourself.

 

[MasterDerico]

 

[Protocol7]

Metal Gear Solid (PlayStation), the fight against Psycho Mantis.

 

[Fahdis]

Video game writing is still pretty shit. Even games like Planescape Torment that are considered to be masterpieces in terms of writing and storytelling are just about on the level of a decent fantasy or sci-fi paperback.

Not all that surprising, considering writing an engaging narrative becomes infinitely harder once you have to account for player choice and spend time writing situations and outcomes you might not even want to see yourself.

I guess that is really subjective in the form of how cerebral of a person you are. A book cannot be a movie which cannot be a game. Interactivity could be the dumbing down of the narrative that the creator wants you to be interactive with. Some games have great side quests or great main stories but sometimes we get the goofy things here and there. I can partially agree to the sentiment, but sometimes even you can be perplexed by decent writing (some people will call the game boring aka MP Online Only folks).

 

[leizzra]

First Metal Gear Solid - it changed the way I looked at games. For me it was the first game that blured the line with cinema. Game of my life from which my love for video games truly began.

 

[Perrott]

 

[Kokoloko85]

Metal Gear Solid

 

[mejin]

When Sony entered the market with PlayStation. Videogames stopped being something kids only.

 

[Clear]

Is Nier replicant the same game?

Yes, but with a few additions and obviously as my original experience was with the Western release (Essentially Nier Gestalt, not Replicant) it was with the father protagonist.

I'd add that Daddy Nier was in my opinion another bit of accidental genius in that it worked as yet another layer of misdirection.

This is because, In a nutshell, the biggest difference between Nier and Replicant is that the original is a very smart game that wants to give the impression that its pretty dumb, whereas the sequel wears its philosophical heart on its sleeve from the get-go.

In Nier (Replicant) you do things basically because that's what you do in a JRPG! You kill bosses to collect parts of a "key", which really only makes sense because its a trope of the genre. Yoko enhances this impression by adding in tons of jokey references to other games because he wants you to feel comfortable and familiar with what you're doing, so as when he pulls the rug-out... you really don't see it coming.

Daddy Nier being a more comical figure, really added to this imho.

 

[Arcadialane]

 

[I Love Rock 'n' Roll]

The secret of Monkey Island.
Night Trap.
Myst.

Also:
Alone in the dark.
Resident Evil 1 and Veronica
Final Fantasy VI
Shenmue
Metal Gear 2

 

[Nigel]

 

[Kamina]

 

[Topher]

 

[Birdo]

 

[NeoIkaruGAF]

Eeeeeyup.

For a less sarcastic response:

This is something that only a video game can do.
No text.
No cutscenes trying to ape cinema.
Everything is real-time and made in the game’s engine.
I wish I could relive the emotion and the surprise I felt at that moment.

 

[IDappa]

Cbf posting a picture but when you transition from the snow to the luscious green grass, with birds chirping and animals frolicking like some sort of Disney fucken movie while making your way down the mountain in red dead 2, it is utterly insane how rocksstar made this game work on ps4 and xbone and I am so keen to see them push forward. I will never stop praising this game and still scratch my head how it lost goty for some people.


I realise the controls need improvement but overall that game is a masterpiece

 

[EruditeHobo]

What do you mean "transcended" into a "higher form" of a "narrative medium"? Seems like you're just saying list some of your favorite games, which you think are the very very best.

Many, many games are by definition a subgenre of the cinematic "narrative medium". It's a unique category or subgenre because they are interactive, whereas the vast, vast majority of other cinematic narratives are not interactive in the same way. But this is a not a quality judgement, it is categorical. Other games are sort of like... digital interactive competitions, for lack of a better term.

But either way... how do these things "transcend their medium"? Whether something is part of a particular medium or not has nothing to do with their quality. "Medium" is a categorical term, and terrible games are every bit as much a part of the interactive cinematic narrative medium as your example above, SotC.

 

[SLB1904]

Metal gear solid

 

[Faust]

|

Spoilers for FF9. Easily the greatest moment in gaming for me.

 

[Mato]

This probably. I still find it tasteful, albeit rough.

 

[KiNeMz]

Nier automata

 

[sncvsrtoip]

Bg2, Mafia 1, Lou

 

[Rodolink]

half Life will always get that price. there were simply no seamless cinematics like that before.
usually was play level, watch movie, play level watch movie and so on.