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[Ataxia]

Literally the main menu of Halo 2

When I heard that music I knew

 

[Spiritwalker]

Reactor music in FFVII
Fire cavern music in FFVIII
Besaid Island music in FFX

This, but with Balamb Garden instead.

 

[the_korben]

Deadly Premonition: The cutscenes in Becky's house. Before that I was curious about a weird "so bad it's good" game, afterwards I knew this was going to be a masterpiece (awful gameplay notwithstanding).

 

[krang]

In GTA5, I found myself playing Trevor, wearing a tiny pink dress, driving a stolen moped, listening to "I Want It That Way" by the Backstreet Boys.

Most ridiculous and yet utterly amazing moment in gaming.

 

[vitalogy11]

For me it has to be the first 40 man raid I got to do in World of Warcraft.
My guild was never big enough to do the 40 man raids so we teamed with another guild that was close to having the raid on farm.

I remember the sheer awe that there were 40 people all working together against some pretty complicated boss mechanics. That is one of those stand out moments that make gaming my favorite past time.
I'd been playing the game almost every day for a full year before that point and it was just mind blowing with the scope of how you can just play alone for hours and hours then go to something like a 40 man raid all in the same game.

 

[Plague Doctor]

Bloodborne and fighting this guy

 

[DarkLordMalik]

Resident Evil 4. Running into the first village, entering the home, the chainsaw dude's introduction.

We're not in Raccoon City anymore.

 

[bengraven]

First time I entered Stormwind back in Nov 2004.

For me it was Under City.

I was already in love with the game but my heart swelled to Grinch sized proportions when that music kicked in.

 

[royox]

1st time doing the "change the future" thing on Xenoblade Chronicles. Totally blew my mind.

 

[MrFortyFive]

Mario Galaxy - When they let you loose in Good Egg Galaxy. It just felt so.... right. Between the music and the movement, I knew it was special.

Super Mario 64 - The moment I took control of Mario at a demo kiosk. 9 year old me had never experienced movement and character control like that in a video game. It was magical.

Undertale - Toriel fight. When heartache started to play, I realized that aside from having a killer soundtrack, I actually cared about the outcome of this fight and really didn't want to harm her.

Bioshock - A man chooses, a slave obeys.

Resident Evil 4 - As soon as I heard that chainsaw in the village

Morrowind - I had moments of really enjoying and really disliking parts of the game, but then I completed a side quest and received the "boots of blinding speed", laughed my ass off, then found a way around the blindness.

 

[Miniature Kaiju]

Silent Hill - when it gets dark and the sirens start, right at the beginning. Still my favorite SH, to this day.

 

[espher]

Edit: Oh, didn't catch this was a bump, and I apparently replied with this earlier LOL.

 

[etrain911]

For me, it was after finishing all of the easy puzzles in Picross 3D. That's when the game went from "Oh, this is a cute little puzzler" to fucking challenging. For Picross 3D 2, it was after finishing the first set of puzzles and viewing the credits only to be greeted with more puzzling goodness. I loved that.

 

[Fevaweva]

When Joel gets fucking impaled on that rebar in The Last of Us. I was legit shook and the game went way up in my estimations

 

[brian!]

When link did his front flip at the beginning of majora's mask

 

[CopperPuppy]

 

[JaseMath]

First time in Hateno Village in Breath of the Wild. The atmosphere, music, and sense of wonder hit a crescendo there.

What a game.

 

[sssstententen]

Soul of the mind, key to life's ether.
Soul of the lost, withdrawn from its vessel.
Let strength be granted, so the world might be mended.
So the world might be mended.

 

[Syrus]

When Frog's theme played in chrono trigger. I knew I loved the game already but the godly music blew me away.

 

[DaCocoBrova]

 

[kromeo]

This, but with Balamb Garden instead.

I typed that at first but the glory of the find your way is even greater

 

[CoolNumber9]

The "Winter" chapter in The Last of Us.

I second this!

 

[Savinowned]

When my sister and I got to this level without realizing it:

 

[lord_of_flood]

• Majora's Mask: Anju/Kafei side quest.
• 999: Safe ending.
• Bayonetta 2: The prologue.
• Xenoblade Chronicles: Walking through the Satorl Marsh at night.

Most other games that are my favorites were determined after a full playthrough most of the time, and there are a few times where I instantly knew I was playing an amazing game, but the moments I've listed above were really something else.

 

[kromeo]

Xenoblade Chronicles: Walking through the Satorl Marsh at night.

The music in that area hits me hard in the feels every time. One of the few parts of any game I don't just skip straight through night when possible

 

[Omegasquash]

This man knows what's up.

 

[plushyp]

Come on guys, atleast write the name of the game along with the picture/gif you've posted.

 

[Shikoba]

Off the top of my head:

Zelda BotW - Just the sense of discovery was awesome in all the little things. Like... finding a boat. "How do I control this thing... I have a giant leaf that shoots wind! this has a sail. Hey it worked! Hah!" like there was never a prompt for it, you just had to find it out on your own through trial and error. And that seems to run throughout the game, which made it a blast to play.

 

[shandy706]

Walking into the open fields in OoT.

The music kicking in while playing the first mission in C&C and Red Alert.

Walking into town in Red Dead Redemption.

World 1-1 in SMB.

I could probably recall a lot of moments over the last 30+ years.

 

[dLMN8R]

Zelda: Breath of the Wild - everything to do with the Divine Beasts

I mean, I played 10-15 hours before even trying to take on any of them, and was consistently blown away by how amazing it was, but the Divine Beats just took it to a completely elevated level.

Spoiler

The pure sense of scale this game demonstrates is unlike anything else I've ever seen. I took on the Zora Divine Beast first, and climbing up that huge hill to get shock arrows, to finding that cliff I could jump off, to jumping off that cliff to soar down to the reservoir, and so on.

Just seeing this huge elephant off in the distance, flying down to it, swimming around it, and then ultimately finding out that I'm going to go into the damned thing?

And the elephant is a dungeon? Are you fucking kidding me, really? Holy shit that was one of the best surprises.

But then the elephant isn't just a dungeon, it's a dungeon that I have control over??

So this thing I'm now inside isn't just that massive structure I saw off in the distance tens of hours ago, it's not just a massive structure I interact with and assault with shock arrows, it's not just that these things ended up being the major dungeons of the game, but I actually go inside those things, and control those things, and those things move and change as I'm in them?


What the fucking shit Nintendo, how did you do this.

And how did you do it four different times, with four different beasts, in four completely different ways that all share similar principles? Every time amazing in its own way?

 

[klabautermann]

Persona 3 FES was not only my first Persona game, but my first Megaten game. I know people criticize the intros for being overly long, but after going back and playing all of the Persona games, I always enjoyed them from start to finish. I knew within the first hour of P3FES that it would turn out to be one of my favorite games of all time. P4G surpassed it, but it was a pretty instant spark with that series from the get go.

Also MGS3 was pretty excellent from the get go and is my 3rd favorite game of all time/

 

[SEGAvangelist]

The results music after completing the first level of NiGHTS into dreams... OMG. That was it.

 

[Weiss]

When I got to the second boss fight of NieR Automata and

Spoiler

it's a bunch of robots having an orgy and then they pile together give birth to a naked android who then sprouts another one out of him.

That was when I knew I was playing a Yoko Taro game.

 

[awesome_pants]

Breath of the Wild - Upon receiving the hang-glider, gliding down off Hyrule Plateau and realizing the entire world is open up to you. No sense of direction, no tutorial, just head off in any direction.

Chrono Trigger - the music build up before heading into the portal at Millennial Fair and then the swirly blue transition screen.

 

[Roni]

The moment I said that to myself is when I was playing the Pitch Dark level in the rain

Same exact moment, I finished that level the first time and my palms were sweaty, my heart was pumping. I was so in the moment, I was so immersed into the game it was oblivion.

I stopped for a second after I finished that level and actually said out loud: "this is it. This is why I play games." I remember thinking that game was perfect. Sad that I may never experience that level of immersion again, but I'll keep looking.

 

[Nestunt]

Bloodborne's Forbidden Woods are as generic as it gets and still made my palms sweat.

 

[Shifty]

Persona 3, "Let's do this."

Bayonetta, the first time Rodin takes a stone mausoleum to the head and doesn't even blink.

Spoiler

The whole intro counts really, but that moment sticks out to me.

 

[wartama]

Kid Icarus Uprising, after I defeated Medusa. It was a long chapter, the stakes were high, the back and forth between her, Pit and Palutena. Defeating her was so worth it. Time to sit back relax as the 'credits' rolled.

Spoiler

And then a certain someone came and crashed the party.

That was when the game became from 'hell yeah this is good' to 'omg I can't believe they're doing that this is the best'. I've never been so high on a game before or after.

 

[Muppet of a Man]

Bloodborne, from the moment the disc was inserted. Seriously, even the title screen and montage were enough to set the trajectory of greatness.

 

[NMFried]

The minute you leave the Shrine of Res in BoTW.

 

[FrontalMonk]

TLOU, the game felt and played great, but the point where I knew it was going to be one of the best to have ever done it was at the end of Winter.

Spoiler

By the time Joel said "oh, baby girl, it's okay, it's okay", I turned into a sobbing fucking mess.

 

[bananafactory]

FF7 - Leaving Midgar

The Last of Us - WINTER

 

[hao chi]

Breath of the Wild - It's hard to pin it on any specific moment since I was hooked from the beginning and was in love with how much freedom the game gives you, but if I had to pick a specific moment, I'd say it was shortly after I left the Great Plateau and was exploring some ruins at night when I suddenly saw

Spoiler

a dragon in the sky, accompanied by a change in the music). I dropped everything I was doing and chased after it like a madman, but I ended up having to settle with sitting on a a mountain peak as I watched it fly across the lake before eventually disappearing into what looked like a vortex/portal in the sky.

Persona 3 - I had a feeling I was in for a treat when the attract screen started, and I was addicted to the game all the way until I beat The Journey and The Answer. But I think what cemented the game as an all time favorite for me is how the ending had such a lasting impact on me months after I had beaten the game.

Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors - Experiencing the last puzzle and getting the

Spoiler

true

ending was just mind-blowing for me.

Bayonetta - Reaching the point where the in-game clock stopped at 99:59:59 (or something like that) but still feeling like I'm nowhere near done getting enjoyment from the game was about the time I realized it's my favorite game.

 

[Domcorleone]

FF7- when Aeris dies
Metal Gear Solid- battling Psycho Mantis
Resident Evil- "It looks like...blood"
RE2- ALL OF IT
MG2- The tanker (Should have been the whole game)
Zelda OoT- Using my shield to reflect back the magic on the twin witches
TLOU- Winter
Mass Effect 2- Picking my squads for the final mission
Witcher 2- Once I hit Flotsam
Demon Souls- After I beat the first boss
BloodBorne- battling Amelia (that music though!)
Horizon- Once I got to Meridian
BoTW- When I made my first successful recipe!
SoTC- Screaming out for Argo while fighting the desert sand Colossi

 

[Zakalwe]

"Put the controller on the floor and I'll move it with my mind!"

Also leaving Midgar and seeing the world map and realizing just how big the game was.

 

[febLey]

Bayonetta 2 right at the beginning of the game (the fight on the jet).

 

[Theodoricos]

Mass Effect - After a few conversations with aliens on the Citadel.

Doom (2016) - After the title drop in the elevator.

Final Fantasy VI - The intro sequence with the Magitek mechs walking towards Narshe.

Planescape: Torment - Within the first hour of exploring Sigil.

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic - The discovery of the first Star Map on Dantooine.

Devil May Cry 3 - The pizza scene at the start.

 

[TwistedFreeze]

Majora's Mask - When I first reunited the couple, Anju and Kafei. That moment broke my heart

Shadow of the Colossus - Seeing the first Colossus just blew me away. Never have I seen a boss of that size or sense of wonder before then

Shovel Knight - Propeller Knight's Stage. The music, the game play gimmicks, the level design, everything just felt right

Breath of the Wild - Leaving the Shrine of Resurrection and seeing the open field I can explore pushed my hype to 11...and, man, did the game just blow me away

Overwatch - Somehow getting Play of the Game with Mercy. Not something I was expecting to get at all but, man, that particular game was intense and just made me love the game more

Super Mario Galaxy - Good Egg Galaxy, just seeing the whole level as Mario flew in and hearing that music came out told me that this game was gonna be special

 

[Cloud7]

As soon as the Delita betrayal moment happened in Final Fantasy Tactics happened, I knew this was one for the ages. There were great moments beforehand, craft-fully woven but THAT moment stands above all.

 

[leesmapman]

Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake: Sneezing and the guards hear you.
SD Snatcher: After playing the game for a while, re-watching the intro, which was so beautiful
Castlevania SotN: First boss fight.