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Times your mind was actually blown by a video game

The few that come to mind are;

Entirety of Metal Gear solid; Well every game in the main series blew me away at one point.

ending of Assassins Creed 2

Just being at the bell tower in Dark Souls felt amazing

The Giraffes in The Last of Us

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Adding nothing new but reinforcing how crazy it was seeing Mario pop out of that pipe for the first time in Mario 64. Absolutely mindblowing.
 
I still think Perfect Dark is the standard for FPS. That's a game I wish could be re-released in HD, but nothing changed except the graphics and allowing online multiplayer. So much fun trying to play you and one friend against an Army of Expert Slappers.

You...you do know that exact thing has happened, right?
 
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The tram ride intro in Half Life 1 was THE SHIT at the time. The PA system, the onscreen credits, hell -- simply not having a gun for the first hour or so -- the entire package was cinematic as fuck.
 
Playing Left 4 Dead for the first time. I know Valve isn't known for their visuals, but it was the first game I played on my 360, and had never seen anything like that gas station blowing up or plane crash landing. Later on, I played it on my first HD tv, and couldn't believe you could SEE THE STITCHES ON THE FIRST AID KIT. My girlfriend was like, "yeah, um, wow."

Super Mario World where you climb on fences in the first castle, and there are multiple backgrounds moving behind you.

Super Mario Bros. (the first game I ever played), where you can get up above the level. My whole family was speechless.

The first non-Nintendo system I ever owned was a PS2, and GTA: Vice City was my first game. I was just messing around with my brother watching me play. I shot at a cop's head with the assault rifle, and it blew clean off while blood shot out of the wound. I think we both said, "Holy shit!" out loud.
 
I would also add the following:

Deus Ex: My favorite game of all time. The stuff you can get away with in this game has only been matched by, as far as I know, Fallout 3/New Vegas. There's tons of optional dialogue that you don't have to listen to (but fleshes out the world so well), you can do all manner of violence to enemies and NPC's (potentially playing it as a sadist if you want to), the game gives you alternate lines/conversations if you do things the game doesn't expect you to (like kill a major character without any prompting from the game itself), tons of different ways to solve missions, non-lethal options, great character development...the first time I played it, I was blown away by the fact that I could redo a mission, try something different and be rewarded with different dialogue/rewards for my ingenuity.

Pokemon Gold/Silver: To add to the above, finding out that you could revisit the Kanto region, see how it changed and win all of the original badges again (from stronger trainers) was and still is amazing. It was like a whole other world opening up to the player when they beat the game, albeit a revamped version of the original.

Final Fantasy VI: I could probably just rattle them off. Shadow and everything about him (waiting for him, the dreams, Relm's affiliation with him), the opera scene, Gogo, suplexing a train, etc. Yet, the moment where you get the second airship back and come up through the ocean as "Searching for Friends", and having full rein to go around the world map and see the devastation, is just one of those magic moments that is impossible to replicate after the first time.
 
I didn't see any of Bioshock Infinite's twists coming. I had a lot of theories about how the plot would turn out, and each one was completely wrong.
 
Honestly, in New Vegas. During a certain quest, you are supposed to find out a double agent.

a player's natural instinct is to talk to any and EVERY NPC to trigger quest points in any game and advance the story/quest. New Vegas took advantage of this player tendency.

when i found out the game had pretty much gone to the point of no return (i blabbed to the wrong guy and willingly gave away information to the double agent before i knew who it was cause i was just asking anyone and everyone and trying to advance the conversation) and i my last save point was HOURS and levels and missions away. I said a big "oh shit" when i realized my mistake and had to live with the consequences.

But that wasn't what impressed me. what impressed me was that NEW VEGAS developers had left hints ALL OVER the game to be careful specifically:

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AND THAT'S WHEN I KNEW NEW VEGAS was going to overtake Fallout 3 as the better game in my mind.
 
Have to add my voice to the chorus of Mario 64 fans......

The very beginning of the game where you run around the castle grounds was the first truly 3D gaming experience I'd had....I mean, I'd played FPS's like Doom etc but this was totally different.

My mind was blown. I think I wasted 2 hours jumping on trees and swimming in ponds before I actually entered the castle!!
 
A lot of mine have been said, like Midgar and Mario 64. One of my others, though, is the end of HL2 when you get the uber grav gun. I think it seems quite quaint now, but I think it's be sure the Grav Gun and its physics manipulation was pretty mind blowing itself - to then see it elevated to another level was amazing to me.
 
Playing Metal Gear Solid 3 for the first time. A game with so much detail and polish behind it that is not from Nintendo blew my mind.

That a second playthough can change so much in NieR. It completely twists everything. And the final dungeon.
 
Morrowind

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The freedom and the size/detail of the map completely blew me away. It's the first game I played where I felt like I was actually exploring and discovering things instead of having a set experience that everyone playing would have.
 
Post deleted as this thread made me want to edit and say "oh yeah, that too and that and that". So I'll stick with my initial mind blowjob: Tekken 2's cg intro and attract mode cpu fights with bassy effects and "realistic" backgrounds and colorful 3d characters sold me on Playstation.
 
First two online games. PSO Dreamcast and real mmo Star Wars Galaxies. I had been blown away by DKC but nothing like the first two. City of Heroes blew me away as a comic book fan also.

Forgot Radios choice of Morrowind also.
 
I'd say the biggest mind blowing moment for me in gaming was the Infinity Blade series. Yes, I know, a lot of the story came in two books, 3 of the 5 parts are video games, so I figure it counts).

Basically, it's revealed that the worker was a big time CEO in a modern company who developed technology for "magic" and immortality, then had himself and some coworkers in a bunker and orbital struck the earth, destroying modern civilization, and killing most people. THE INFINITY BLADE SERIES IS ACTUALLY IN THE FUTURE!
 
My mind was blown when I played batman arkym asylum.

My jaw literally dropped when I first saw batman catch a kick from behind. I did not expect a game to react and animate so well.

I'd been playing WOW for a few years and hadn't really been paying too much attention to other games, and I gotten used to wows graphics.

It really was a "wow games have levelled up" moment for me.
 
The hidden message in a blank paper in Hotel Dusk. I was like, holy shit you can actually do that?!

But nothing beats Psycho Mantis reading your memory card
 
Metal Gear Solid 3.

From the fight with The End, to how the food and stamina system extends to the enemies and allows you to weaken them by cutting off their food supply...

Game is so nuanced, presenting a wealth of "outside-the-box thinking", and has so many mind-blowing easter eggs.

Still my favorite game of all-time, to this day.
 
MSG1 and MSG2 Demo
I think i played the MGS2 demo as it were a full game for MONTHS. The tanker section is prolly my fav part in like any game, ever.
 
Contra 3 The Alien Wars, i was very young but remember just loving everything about it

StarFox: Again everything about it (that FX chip)

GTA Vice City, I missed the prior games and was floored by this, the atmosphere, the voice acting, the sandbox.

Gears of War, first game I played on 360 and was just like "holy shit" not just at the visuals but the cover system.

Uncharted Drakes Fortune: The sun beginning to set around a old, rotting submarine. Mind blown at the atmosphere/visuals
 
I saw Peach and Bowsr fighting in a game for his cube console. I inmediatly recognized that it was a new Smash Bros game. I was mind blown because I wanted those two in the first game and my wish came true and in those more sophisticated graphics that almost look real.
 
Demon's Souls

Just after you beat the phalanx and you start walking forward thinking you are the shit. Then you reach the bridge and the dragon comes out of nowhere and burninates your ass. Biggest what the fuck holy shit moment ever. That moment is the moment the game lets you know you are it's bitch. You don't fuck with Demon's Souls, Demon's Souls fucks with you. Consequently one of the single greatest game play moments of last generation.
 
The first Red Faction on PC. Mind-blown over the terrain destruction. Hardly ever implemented in games since then, and that was years ago. We still LAN the MP of that game. So intense.
 
I think the beginning of Mass Effect 2 is also way up there. The ship blowing and Shepherd falling to his death and then being rebuilt by Cerberus. Story wise and visually it has to be one of the most compelling moments of game play from last generation as well. I dont think ive ever been that emotionally invested in a characters death prior (yes even Aerith.) Shephard was MY character, I made him. Then I watched him burn up and rip apart in the first 10 minutes of the second game.
 
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The tram ride intro in Half Life 1 was THE SHIT at the time. The PA system, the onscreen credits, hell -- simply not having a gun for the first hour or so -- the entire package was cinematic as fuck.

So much this. Nothing came close to toping it until maybe the original cod FIVE years later.

For me the original far cry came out of nowhere and impressed the hell out of me and took all the steam out of the juggernaut doom 3 when it finally got released. Far cry's tech was far ahead of doom 3 at the time, complex AI and large render distance with great physics.
 
This thread is so incredibly positive for me. Reminds me of all the amazing moments I've experienced throughout the years of playing video games. It really makes me thankful and appreciative of what so many people have created and contributed to my life.
 
I just finished Bioshock Infinite. Holy shit.

For the last 5-10 minutes or so I was expecting some kind of grandfather paradox.. but holy fuck. Elizabeth isn't the damsel in distress, she's the goddamned hero of the game. Wibbly wobbly timey wimey indeed.
 
Chrono Trigger, for being very literally near-perfect.
Super Mario 64, for playing in a 3D world for the first time.
Super Mario Galaxy, for redefining 3D platformers after Nintendo already defined them with SM 64.
Chrono Cross, at the Dead Sea and Chronopolis.
Mega Man X, for the first time I saw and played it. I mean, holy shit.
Final Fantasy VI, for initially opening my eyes to how incredible video game music is.
Final Fantasy IX, for its ending.
Final Fantasy X and X-2, for both their endings (well, X-2's perfect ending).
Final Fantasy XIII, for those graphics.
Kid Icarus: Uprising, for being so insanely polished and for being such an absolute celebration of the joy of video games.
Liberation Maiden, for coming out of left field and being so ridiculously epic with that music.
Super Smash Bros. Brawl, for so many things: the Sonic reveal, the soundtrack, content, etc.
Super Smash Bros. Wii U/3DS, for the Mega Man reveal.

All the mind-blowing gaming moments I've had that I can think of right now.
 
I can think of many moments but nothing can top this moment in ff7
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I was mind blown the fck away cuz i never play JRPG before and so i swear i thought the game ended after Shinra fell. I was young and didn't completely understand much of the story so it felt like the game was finish. Even thought the game case has 3 disc, but i completely forgot about it since it took me a long time to finish disc 1. Man it was sooo awesome just walking around the map being overwhelm by it. And then i literally jump out of my seat after meeting this guy
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Scare the sh*t out of me. God, the game was just so good from that moment on. Then Became a JRPG gamer after that and went back and play all SNES FF game.
 
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