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[Diddy X]

Hollow Knight, I haven't even finished the game but a 2D game being this great?! that's really amazing, some moments are trully memorable like

Spoiler

saving that chubby bug girl, and then entering her room at the city, reading her diary talking about some glorious hero saving her... she is in love with you, that really touched me

 

[Beerman462]

Two thoughts Chrono Trigger rescuing Chrono. There were a lot of cool time moments in that game but that was the best.

Back in 1994 or 1995 I went to a college for competition/expo. They had a sit down VR machine where you could play Wolfenstein in VR they pumped in a song that name escapes me now, but the whole thing felt so epic. Fast forward to having a Vive and a big enough space to use it and I'm not as in awe. Still love it though.

 

[INC]

Firewall zero hour, u can tell it's the start of VR FPS next step. Even with its low rez image quality, the experience is undeniable

 

[Romulus]

1) Astro Bot PSVR
2) Mario 64
3) Ocarina of Time



Edit: It's nice to see all the VR mentions and amazing that we live in a time when technology like VR can surpass the feeling that the first 3D games gave us. If I had to mention 10 games for this thread, 8 of them would be VR games and I've been gaming for 30 years.

 

[alabtrosMyster]

The last of us introduction sequence, my first child was just born when I played it, that punch did hit home.

 

[rəddəM]

It gave me the chills and couldn't believe it was back, so different.
Gave me the GOTY vibes since that day.
Little did I knew.

 

[Sqorin Hammerfarf]

I'd like to amend my previous post to add something which may be a bit out of scope for what is being asked, but it was pretty powerful none the less - when the first game I was a part of was released. I'd been in the game industry as a programmer, but none of the stuff I worked on was ever released (and the experience was a total nightmare that I do not look back on fondly). I ultimately left the game industry and was out of it for years, when I heard that a game designer I respected from my childhood (his game literally made me want to make games for a living) was working on a new game after a LONG absence. I emailed him through his website and basically said, whatever help you need, I'll do it. Let me work on this game with you. To my infinite surprised, he emailed me back.

Long story short, I ended up getting a job writing dialogue for the game. That's usually not a very prestigious job in game development, but it was this time. And I LOVED doing it. I had experience writing things before, and I've always enjoyed it, but this was pure joy, beginning to end. I would've done it for free. I would've done it forever, if they let me. But eventually, I kind of finished it all and the game actually got published.

Doing a game professionally was all I ever wanted, but then it turned into the last thing I wanted, and then it was my favorite thing in the whole world. I wanted to make games since I was kid, and I finally did it. It was surprisingly low key though. I guess I was expecting trumpets to play or something. Since I worked remotely, there wasn't a launch party (and in fact, I didn't even know what the game looked like!). So, really, the first thing I did was download it and play it.

Then I went and read the reviews. The first one was positive, but towards the end, it started praising the dialogue. Like REALLY praising it. They compared it to Douglas Adams, then pulled out quotes from it that they enjoyed. And I'm like, "I wrote that part! That's me! You're talking about me!" Then the next review was also positive, and praised the dialogue. Then the next one. And I was glowing for the better part of the day, completely high on attention and praise. I went to sleep that night, grinning ear to ear.

Then the next day I woke up and the buzz was gone. I was like, I did it. Everything that I ever wanted out of life, since I was in 5th grade, I just accomplished. Now what?

 

[BlackTron]

Lots of people mentioning Mario 64 and I totally agree. I remember the latiku panning around the castle, in those first moments I couldn't believe what I was seeing. And then slowly realizing all the moves you can do, like climb the trees. For sheer, dumbfounded shock value, I don't think anything will ever top this.

But also...getting Phantasy Star Online at the same time as my long-time internet friend whom I'd met on AOL, and actually playing with him online, we were giddy. We did some dungeon crawling man.

Ocarina of Time, realizing that getting the three spiritual stones WASN'T the end of the game, and that it kept going as adult Link. I had no idea or expectation there would even be a different/older Link in the game and was suddenly shaken by how huge and epic this game is. OoT is still my favorite single-player experience in gaming.

The first time playing with my friends in Starcraft on a LAN with teams. Nothing creates such a sense of camaraderie as the mutual distrust of your opponents looming in the fog of war, and covering each others backs at all costs.

 

[royox]

The most powerful experiences I had were in two very diferent games:

Game 1: Mass Effect

The Sovereign moment was amazing and unforgetable, but the whole talking with Virgil blew my mind like no other game ever did. It even gave me a feeling of..."panic"?? Like my head was suddently tying all the strings and hints you get during the whole story and was just too much to bear.

The Other moment has a lot of feelings and "weeb/freak" stuff involved.
Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward.
At the end of the 3.0 Main Scenario you have to fight the primal King Thordan and his knights....didn't we knew at that moment that this boss was LITERALLY a 1:1 version of FFVII's Knights of the Round. Just take a look at this.




In mid battle I remember thinking "something feels....familiar like...I've seen this before". And suddently Thordan starts casting "Ultimate End" and I had to drop the pad in awe.

 

[Daymos]

Zelda breath of the wild. I remember being 12 and receiving Zelda1 for nes at christmas and nothing really hit that mark of awe and joy until I jumped off the plateau in botw and started to explore the world. It's basically what I imagined hyrule to be like when I was reading the zelda1 manual.

 

[BigBooper]

Star Trek Bridge Crew with a Vive. It's very cludgy, and doesn't really hold up to many repeated plays, but the first time I loaded up into that and saw three other people sitting with me, moving their hands around and looking at things like real people would, I was astounded. That didn't last too long after actually playing the game a little, but it was amazing for a while.

 

[Thing on a Spring]

Ending E in Nier Automata is the most recent example of an impact a game has had on me. Can't really say much without spoiling it for someone who hasn't experienced it yet. Maybe I was super high at the time but it made me think.

 

[Orta]

A relatively recent one, Astrobot on PSVR but specifically, the shark boss. The sense of scale after I'd beaten him and done a 360 view of the ocean around me was like nothing I'd ever experienced before. It was both eerie and breath-taking due to the aforementioned scale and almost photorealistic graphics. It sounds cliched but it was as close as you could get to being there without being there, etc.

 

[Vicetrailia]

Ps1 days babeh, I went back and played ff7. It was magic.

 

[petran79]

Experiencing House of the Dead 1, Lost World and Ocean Hunter in the arcades. It even beat VR
Sega paved the way and the rest followed.

 

[ValiantTraveler]

I'm a sucker for every Big -O move

Whoa, I wasn't expecting SRW to pop up here. The Big O is amazing. I never skipped the Dynamic Kills for O Thunder and Sudden Impact in Z2.

Looking back on it, discovering SRW Alpha 3 on YouTube (around 2006), while the only SRW games I played before were R and D, was a mind-blowing experience.

But Shadow of the Colossus takes the cake for me. Once my brother and I started this game, we forgot about all the other PS2 games until we beat it.

 

[Starlight Lotice]

Playing Sonic Chronicles, it was so powerful I actually broke the hinges on the OG DS!!!

Joking aside: Beating Sonic for the first time as a youngster gave me great accomplishment. Also beating Streets of Rage 1 with a family friend on a sleepover....felt like I was up for hours when it was likely just an hour.

Recently playing 7th Dragon 3. I felt so much nostalgia despite never playing the games before, nor SEGA's older RPGs such as Shining Force but it felt like the perfect game that described "SEGA of old" for me. When I beat it I honestly felt sadness that it was that good that I was hoping it would never end.

 

[JimiNutz]

I have two.

The original Metal Gear Solid on PS1.
I had not played a game with that sophisticated a story previously (I was only 12 or so when I played through it). The game also had such memorable bosses and the gameplay was unlike anything I'd ever played (my first stealth game). There are too many memorable memories from this game.

Shenmue was another groundbreaking game for me. I had never experienced a word like that in a game before. It was long before any kind of open world game that I had ever played and I had never felt so immersed in a videogame world before. When I think back on Shenmue it feels like a memory of a holiday that I took in a Japanese town back in 86 lol
No game had done that for me before.

 

[PooBone]

What honestly came to mind first was Shadow Of The Colossus. The space and silence and vastness combined with the epic battles and bombastic music.... after a few of those fights you start getting this growing dread that is ever-present but never takes away from the feelings of awe and majestic beauty in every inch of the landscape. I've owned all three version and have still never climbed up to the secret garden. Part of me is afraid to see everything and be "done" with it.

 

[Kagey K]

The Fatal Frame games had some creepy stuff that stuck with me over the years. Even now if I go “MY Eyes, MYEyes” in a ghostly voice my gf knows exactly what I’m talking about.

A couple other games with great moments were.

Spoiler: Prey

Getting abducted at the beginning with Don’t Fear the Reaper playing in the background

Spoiler: Bioshock

The plane crash at the beginning and the “would you kindly” twist

 

[Lionel Richie]

There are two moments that come to mind immediately. First one is playing Super Mario 64 for the first time as a 6 year old back in 96, that's pretty self explanatory. The other one is Nier Automata, the part where you

Spoiler

Shoot the credits, obviously.

It's such a weird thing to get emotional over but it seems common among everyone who have finished the game. It's just one of those things that can't be explained with words and it's a perfect encapsulation of everything that is (or should be) great with video games. Seriously I respect everyone's opinions on shit, but people who claim Automata isn't the game of the generation are fucking wrong.

 

[Kagey K]

There are two moments that come to mind immediately. First one is playing Super Mario 64 for the first time as a 6 year old back in 96, that's pretty self explanatory. The other one is Nier Automata, the part where you

Spoiler

Shoot the credits, obviously.

It's such a weird thing to get emotional over but it seems common among everyone who have finished the game. It's just one of those things that can't be explained with words and it's a perfect encapsulation of everything that is (or should be) great with video games. Seriously I respect everyone's opinions on shit, but people who claim Automata isn't the game of the generation are fucking wrong.

Ok I said no game had affected me that much, but I have to admit

Spoiler

after everything got erased, even my backup saves that I made to outsmart the system

I felt pretty gutted and it left a hollow spot in me for a day or two.

 

[bumleforce]

I'm 37 so I have so many. Here are a few in no order

Chrono trigger magnus fight was epic

Ff7 when aieres dies. Pardon my spelling.

Last of us the beginning. We all know what happens.

Uncharted 4 the end with nates family

God of war ps4 entire game

Halo 4 seeing cortano go.

Gears 2. Doms wife followed by doms death in 3

Call of duty 2 on 360 first time playing a game like that. Blew me away.

Walking dead end of season 1.

Mass effect 2 entire game.

Halo 1 warthog run

Not a game but related to witcher 3 the good by video cd made for it.

Wow killing arthas.

Pardon my spelling

 

[Catphish]

1. FFVII:

Spoiler

Aerith's death

made me cry.

2. Something in Lunar: The Silver Star for Sega CD made me cry, but I can't remember what.

3. RDR2 moved me immensely by its beauty, and also moved me to tears in the aftermath

Spoiler

of Arthur discovering that he had TB.

Not a game, but game related:
I cried at the end of FF7: Advent Children when

Spoiler

Aerith comes back and talks to Cloud.

I'm a bit of a crybaby.

 

[Shaqazooloo]

I suppose I have two:

Playing my very first Fire Emblem game, Fire Emblem: Awakening, I got really attached to the characters and I loved seeing the story unfold. It was quite a journey, I grinded out supports got to know the characters, paired them all off and then I got to the ending. All the characters having there moment of mourning for a fallen friend coupled with a rundown of what happened to everybody after the end of the war, showing the results of all the relationships with the second half of it playing "You May Call Me Marth" in the background. I've never had a game make me shed tears to a credits sequence before, but i'm glad I found a game that was able elicit such a response from me.

Trying to play Super Smash Bros. Melee seriously: After Smash 4 died with Bayo taking the top spot, I fell to Melee. Over the years I had watched Smash 4 and Melee tournaments together but after some time I slowly made the move to watching more Melee. The movement was intriguing and it was overall more fun to watch. Similarly to Brawl, the more I played Smash 4 the more I grew to dislike the game, I wasn't super into the game to begin with and unlike with Brawl I tried getting better at Smash 4 so it didn't take long for me to be tempted by Melee because it looked like everything I wanted in Smash. Finally I had decided to stop being a lazy bum and hook up my Wii and pop in my copy of Melee in and it felt kind of magical. After watching top players play Melee I picked up on some of the movement, I felt so free and practicing combo's was awesome. Just practicing against the simple vanilla Melee AI was more fun then anything I have ever experienced in Brawl, Smash 4 and now Ultimate. I always thought those Melee players were being ridiculous with there love of Melee, but after experiencing it myself, I understand why they love it so much.

 

[Belmonte]

Impossible to choose one game, too many games to write about and too hard to choose one particularly thing in a game, but since this is no fun I will try my best:

Super Mario Bros. 3 - Flying! And everything about SMB3.

Final Fantasy VII - Cloud jumping from the train made me realize how much atmosphere can be achieved when not constrained by 16 bits. Cool angles, lots of unique assets and made me the RPG fan I am now. Loved the battle system.

Devil May Cry 1 - Realising they nailed brawler mechanics in a 3D space. Almost as responsive and precise as 2D ones but with even deeper mechanics.

Fallout 1 - Realizing the possibilities of the game and how much choices and consequences it has. Felt more like a living universe than a game!

Planescape: Torment - Lots of moments deserving of praise but to say one: the second reading of the Nameless One back.

Metal Gear Solid 2 - The ending, specially the monologue and the name tag.

Spec Ops: The Line - White phosporus.

Earthbound Begginings - Magicant, how you save the game, the forgotten man, the garbage moment, the ending. And so many other things, small and big.

Legend of Zelda: Windwaker - put water in the bottle, use in a bomb flower to give it more life and use it to destroy the big stone blocking the fire temple. I didn't played any other 3D Zelda at the time so it blew my mind how my idea worked as intended.

Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake - Using the radio to distract the guards, the two eggs, the 3 last bosses.

Street Fighter series: When I understood the depth and mechanical genius of Street Fighter and the fighting genre in general.


I could go on and on. There are a lot of great moments in lots of games since I love videogames.

 

[xellos2099alpha]

Nier: Automata, when Song of the Ancient Attonement play and the constant swaping boss figth toward the end

 

[LostDonkey]

Probably Meryl-Sniper Wolf in MGS.

That shit was harsh at the time. I think I was 12 or something even my mother cried and she was watching.

Also Life Is Strange 1. Very emotional ride and touches on some deeply troubling themes.

 

[Bogey]

Plenty of course, but the first that came to mind was dark age of Camelot - in particular, my first journey to Camelot itself.

Picturing what it'd look like. Saving up money for the journey. An amazing, long ride through the world, not sure if I'd even arrive at the right place. Then arriving, and seeing this giant, giant castle they even exceeded the expectations I had built up...

I think that shroud if mystery and scale of the world really knocked me out of my socks back then. Being in my early teens probably also helped being more impressed by those kind of things

 

[Rodolink]

I'd like to amend my previous post to add something which may be a bit out of scope for what is being asked, but it was pretty powerful none the less - when the first game I was a part of was released. I'd been in the game industry as a programmer, but none of the stuff I worked on was ever released (and the experience was a total nightmare that I do not look back on fondly). I ultimately left the game industry and was out of it for years, when I heard that a game designer I respected from my childhood (his game literally made me want to make games for a living) was working on a new game after a LONG absence. I emailed him through his website and basically said, whatever help you need, I'll do it. Let me work on this game with you. To my infinite surprised, he emailed me back.

Long story short, I ended up getting a job writing dialogue for the game. That's usually not a very prestigious job in game development, but it was this time. And I LOVED doing it. I had experience writing things before, and I've always enjoyed it, but this was pure joy, beginning to end. I would've done it for free. I would've done it forever, if they let me. But eventually, I kind of finished it all and the game actually got published.

Doing a game professionally was all I ever wanted, but then it turned into the last thing I wanted, and then it was my favorite thing in the whole world. I wanted to make games since I was kid, and I finally did it. It was surprisingly low key though. I guess I was expecting trumpets to play or something. Since I worked remotely, there wasn't a launch party (and in fact, I didn't even know what the game looked like!). So, really, the first thing I did was download it and play it.

Then I went and read the reviews. The first one was positive, but towards the end, it started praising the dialogue. Like REALLY praising it. They compared it to Douglas Adams, then pulled out quotes from it that they enjoyed. And I'm like, "I wrote that part! That's me! You're talking about me!" Then the next review was also positive, and praised the dialogue. Then the next one. And I was glowing for the better part of the day, completely high on attention and praise. I went to sleep that night, grinning ear to ear.

Then the next day I woke up and the buzz was gone. I was like, I did it. Everything that I ever wanted out of life, since I was in 5th grade, I just accomplished. Now what?

Amazing story, thanks for sharing. I feel related in a way, best job in my life was working as game designer and also looking at people actually enjoying the game you made is an incredible feeling. I really hope I can be part of a team in that way.

I have two.

The original Metal Gear Solid on PS1.
I had not played a game with that sophisticated a story previously (I was only 12 or so when I played through it). The game also had such memorable bosses and the gameplay was unlike anything I'd ever played (my first stealth game). There are too many memorable memories from this game.

Shenmue was another groundbreaking game for me. I had never experienced a word like that in a game before. It was long before any kind of open world game that I had ever played and I had never felt so immersed in a videogame world before. When I think back on Shenmue it feels like a memory of a holiday that I took in a Japanese town back in 86 lol
No game had done that for me before.

Aaaah Shenmue, I also couldn't believe the immersion they managed to create.

As for me:
Ocarina of Time will always be my top one in this regard. Riding on Epona exploring a land that actually felt alive. Weird mots of dust flying in the forest, scarabs running away from you when picking up a rock, fishes, dogs, cuckoos, cows. Amazing.

Half Life: was a real game changer, I realized there the narrative potential in digital games. The moment the accident occurs in in front of you, while you were still playing instead of a cinematic was unbelievable feeling.

Guitar Hero, I've always tried to play the guitar but I just simply lack the skill, and doing it would require lots of time i dont have. But this game made me feel I was really playing.

GTA III: nothing can be compared to the feeling of a breathing city. A virtual playground that felt so real. Where you're allowed to break the rules with no remorse.

And so many others, I love so much gaming

 

[DetectiveBananas]

Super Mario Bros 3 on the NES (Gameplay), The Last of Us on PS3 (Story & Voice Acting), Bioshock on Xbox 360 (Incredible Environment and Art Direction).

 

[Hoya Destroyer]

The Bloody Baron mission in the Witcher 3. It was surprisingly touching for a video game.

 

[Zenaku]

Xenoblade 2 is the most recent for me. Countless cutscenes that get my heart racing, and the ending makes me cry everytime. I often boot up the game to rewatch my favourite scenes, something no game besides Xenoblade 1 (loved the fight scene in the snowy mountains) has ever made me do.

Having mentioned it, I'll be booting it up again now to have a cry.

 

[bootaski]

Planescape Torment - being so immersed in the story that you feel like you have real relationships with your companions. The quality of the writing, the way you could develop relationships through dialog choices and the atmospheric music all contributed to this.

 

[zenspider]

I feel like I could chart these moments over 30 some odd years - it's why I'm so passionate about the hobby.

One of the most formative moments was playing Chrono Trigger, fighting Lavos with Lucca in the party. From her dialogue, you come to see Lavos not as a particularly evil entity, but as an organism following it's biological imperative. It was those who saw Lavos as an opportunity for power that was evil.
I wasn't exposed to much morally gray areas in narratives, and certainly not in video games. It was a profound moment that changed my outlook (and tastes) for good.

More recently, I'd say the Astrobot level in Playroom VR and the New Donk City mission in Super Mario Odyssey (you know the one). Both managed to close the loop on 30 years of gaming - the nostalgia looking back, the wonder of looking forward, and those moments when the future arrives in your hands and feels like a miracle, all at once - a simultaneous asynchronous moment of pure joy - truly the only "out of body, out of time" experiences I've had without chemical assistance.

 

[Mista]

Back in the days when we played Halo LAN. It was intense and mind blowing. In game experience? Nothing will beat MGS 3’s The Boss fight. The fight, atmosphere, OST and literally everything in that segment was PERFECT!

 

[wolgoen]

Spoiler: FFVII

When Sephiroth kills Aeris

 

[-MD-]

 

[kraspkibble]

It's between either Pokemon Red/Yellow, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2, or Dark Souls 1. Those games changed my life.

Pokemon - got me into gaming. I had played games before they came out but they got me hooked. I would play them every moment I got.

Tony Hawk's - introduced me to all kinds of new music and got me into skateboarding. I met so many people by going to skateparks and concerts. my life would not be what it is today if it weren't for this game.

Dark Souls 1 - it changed my outlook on life while struggling with depression. at first you feel like the game is impossible. you must go out into the world and faces these monsters/demons. you can rest at a bonfire for a while but if you just sit about there doing nothing all the time then you're not really playing the game. it's kinda like life....it might feel overwhelming and impossible but you gotta keep going out there. it's OK to come home and rest some times but what fun would life be if you just sat at home hiding from your enemies all the time? go out there and become stronger!

 

[llien]

Diablo II: LOD (so well made, fantastic atmosphere, each zone with its unique feel) and the
Orignial XCOM's, (creators they were so ahead of time, god's of simulation)

 

[Smasher89]

Playing through Xenoblade Chronicles after the release, with prob goldensun as the most recent and biggest rpg I had played. Jaw dropped first for size in like gaur plain, also first battle enciunter against unique, and it just grew bigger and bigher and had the prrfect conclusion too.

 

[Moochi]

Chrono Trigger. The fair is the perfect idyllic beginning, juxtoposed with seeing the world in peril, the feeling of wonder when travelling to the far reaches of time and gradually learning what happened/will happen. The melancholy music for most settings just gets deep inside you.

 

[Humdinger]

Two things:

- Playing Morrowind
- Playing Journey

 

[AeonGaidenRaiden]

Half-Life 1

The "we got hostiles" level when you meet the marines for the first time. You walk into this huge room with boxes, hear radio chatter and the most bad ass song starts playing and the marines are flanking you and reacting vocally to your actions. I threw a grenade and the marine went "Oh shit!"...BOOM! The song stops and all you have left is a bunch of dead red corpses all over the room.

 

[Cactuarman]

Both Rez and Lumines were incredible experiences. Though I admit I never had the trance vibrator much less... put it in my ass?