Or your favourite game(s).
I don't necessarily mean the best part of your favourite games, but simply the point at which you realised that this was going to be more than just a good game. I'll give you a couple of examples:
1) Half-Life 2 - Getting to Ravenholm. I loved HL2 from the word go, but it wasn't until Ravenholm that I realised it was something special. Until that point it was just like a better version of HL, with an awesome 1984-esque setting. Once I got to Ravenholm and the tone of the game changed to an atmosphere of pseudo-horror, a whole new level of fun opened up. The game then continued to change up right until the end, but it was at Ravenholm that I realised I was in for a real treat.
2) World of Warcraft - Getting the boat from Teldrassil to Darkshore. I literally had no idea how big WoW was when I first started playing it. I remember having a lot of fun playing in Shadowglen, and thinking that it seemed like quite a big gameplay map full of lots of cool stuff, including a giant capital city on the other side of the island. Someone then showed me how to get to the docks where the boat to Darkshore arrives, and I thought that was cool enough on its own. When actually I got to Darkshore, there was a moment when I took a look at the map and suddenly understood that everything I'd played so far was basically a training area, and the full game size was almost unimaginably big in comparison to this. It was around this time that some explained that the other boat docking in Darkshore took people to a whole other continent! I'm pretty sure that was the point where I became hopelessly addicted to the game, not just because it was very clever at using the old 'just a bit more' gameplay system, but because it was one of the most fun and amazing games I'd ever played.
There are probably a couple of other examples from Morrowind and Persona 4 that I can think of but I'm running out of time. So what are your favourite games, and when did you realise they would be special?
Or conversely, have there been games that you've really enjoyed but it's not until repeated playthroughs or simply upon reflection that you've realised it was your favourite game?
I don't necessarily mean the best part of your favourite games, but simply the point at which you realised that this was going to be more than just a good game. I'll give you a couple of examples:
1) Half-Life 2 - Getting to Ravenholm. I loved HL2 from the word go, but it wasn't until Ravenholm that I realised it was something special. Until that point it was just like a better version of HL, with an awesome 1984-esque setting. Once I got to Ravenholm and the tone of the game changed to an atmosphere of pseudo-horror, a whole new level of fun opened up. The game then continued to change up right until the end, but it was at Ravenholm that I realised I was in for a real treat.
2) World of Warcraft - Getting the boat from Teldrassil to Darkshore. I literally had no idea how big WoW was when I first started playing it. I remember having a lot of fun playing in Shadowglen, and thinking that it seemed like quite a big gameplay map full of lots of cool stuff, including a giant capital city on the other side of the island. Someone then showed me how to get to the docks where the boat to Darkshore arrives, and I thought that was cool enough on its own. When actually I got to Darkshore, there was a moment when I took a look at the map and suddenly understood that everything I'd played so far was basically a training area, and the full game size was almost unimaginably big in comparison to this. It was around this time that some explained that the other boat docking in Darkshore took people to a whole other continent! I'm pretty sure that was the point where I became hopelessly addicted to the game, not just because it was very clever at using the old 'just a bit more' gameplay system, but because it was one of the most fun and amazing games I'd ever played.
There are probably a couple of other examples from Morrowind and Persona 4 that I can think of but I'm running out of time. So what are your favourite games, and when did you realise they would be special?
Or conversely, have there been games that you've really enjoyed but it's not until repeated playthroughs or simply upon reflection that you've realised it was your favourite game?