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[Loxley]

The very first time I went after a bounty target in Red Dead Redemption, I rode up to the gang's hideout, one of them (who was standing next to his horse) spotted me. I shot him in the chest, when he fell back, he fired his gun and managed to shoot his horse in the ass, it flipped the fuck out and then ran away.

I had to pause the game for five minutes because I could not stop laughing.

 

[Dunan]

Final Fantasy XII - I remember going all the way to the northeasternmost point on the map, north of Balfonheim, and just staring out at all the rolling hills extending off to the horizon, and really feeling that there was a whole continent out there to explore. Same thing with the off-limits parts of the cities like Rabanastre and Archades; of course there are no people programmed to be there, and there's no architecture beyond what they're showing you. But somehow I felt like Matsuno and artist Kamikokuryo had populated a whole world and were only just showing you a small part of it.

Loved that game's world. Give us more of it someday, SE.

 

[truly101]

The evil cult town in Oblivion. I think its southwest of the Imperial City. Everyone there kept telling me rudely to leave. Then towards the evening, they started heading to the church so I followed. I sat in a pew, was still told by every passer by to GTFO, so I stayed for bit figuring they were up to something but I hadn't initiated the correct quest. Now bored I get up to leave....only now, all the villagers in the church have weapons in their hands, including the priest, yelling how they'll kill me for some god or something. They didn't and I massacred the entire village. Still never figured out what the point of that place was. They deserved to die anyway.

 

[gatotsu911]

Eery time I sailed into uncharted waters in The Wind Waker. That exhilirating feeling of exploring the unknown, my eyes glued to the horizon for signs of land, and the excitement whenever I found a new island... no game since has recaptured those feelings for me.

 

[MrOogieBoogie]

• Zelda OoT - getting the Master Sword and also seeing Hyrule Field for the first time
• Final Fantasy VII - opening scene
• Metal Gear Solid - opening scene
• Phantasty Star Online - menu screen

Do you know what open-world means?

 

[Kyaw]

At the moment, the WW2 Japanese Island mission in Just Cause 2.

I have yet to finish the game, so more crazy stuff to come.

 

[Roto13]

Somehow managing to run myself over with my own car in The Saboteur.

...

I am the king of video games.

 

[Enco]

The evil cult town in Oblivion. I think its southwest of the Imperial City. Everyone there kept telling me rudely to leave. Then towards the evening, they started heading to the church so I followed. I sat in a pew, was still told by every passer by to GTFO, so I stayed for bit figuring they were up to something but I hadn't initiated the correct quest. Now bored I get up to leave....only now, all the villagers in the church have weapons in their hands, including the priest, yelling how they'll kill me for some god or something. They didn't and I massacred the entire village. Still never figured out what the point of that place was. They deserved to die anyway.

:lol that sounds great.

 

[Lovegooder]

GTA SA: Cruising the countryside and mountains in the Ford Bronco-ish vehicle, listening to country music radio

Zelda OoT: Entering Hyrule Field for the first time

Just Cause 2: From a high hilltop, watching dusk and nighttime descend on a little town, and their lights coming on

 

[GreekWolf]

I'm loving the Everquest (circa 1999) and Morrowind memories. Old school warriors represent.

 

[Blizzard]

GTA San Andreas Multiplayer Mod

It was my first experience of GTA SA-MP, with 2 of my friends, we jumped in a role playing server dressed as 3 clowns. We spawned in a parking lot in the middle of nowhere and had no clue what to do. I spotted some dude advertising his taxi service in the chat (keep in mind all characters in GTA SA-MP are real people) so I replied, requesting a cab for our location. We waited around 10mins, thinking the guy wasn't going to show up. Finally he did. We casually walked up to the car, he asks us where we want to go, then we all pull out baseball bats and start smacking his car to pieces. He goes mental, shouting at us, trying to drive away. I was on the roof at this point, smashing his windscreen in, my friends chase him still whacking his car.

He got away, then a gang turned up and shot us dead.

I cracked up at this.

You should have been all, "Excuse me, you must have mistaken me for the clown who gives a damn."

 

[JaskoX1]

Do you know what open-world means?

it's brian peppers after all.

 

[GreekWolf]

The evil cult town in Oblivion. I think its southwest of the Imperial City. Everyone there kept telling me rudely to leave. Then towards the evening, they started heading to the church so I followed. I sat in a pew, was still told by every passer by to GTFO, so I stayed for bit figuring they were up to something but I hadn't initiated the correct quest. Now bored I get up to leave....only now, all the villagers in the church have weapons in their hands, including the priest, yelling how they'll kill me for some god or something. They didn't and I massacred the entire village. Still never figured out what the point of that place was. They deserved to die anyway.

If I remember correctly, that village is part of a hidden quest in Chorrol. One of the merchants begs you to find that creepy town and rescue his daughter, who was being held captive by the cult members.

I vaguely recall bits and pieces of that quest, including some wicked Easter Eggs found in the church. The townspeople worshiped "the old ones" from H.P. Lovecraft's universe. I also remember a dungeon underneath the town, and crazed fanatics with their eyes all bulging out of their sockets and shouting jibberish as they tried to hack you to pieces. Creepy stuff.

Edit: Ha! Found it - Hackdirt

 

[Zeppelin]

The evil cult town in Oblivion. I think its southwest of the Imperial City. Everyone there kept telling me rudely to leave. Then towards the evening, they started heading to the church so I followed. I sat in a pew, was still told by every passer by to GTFO, so I stayed for bit figuring they were up to something but I hadn't initiated the correct quest. Now bored I get up to leave....only now, all the villagers in the church have weapons in their hands, including the priest, yelling how they'll kill me for some god or something. They didn't and I massacred the entire village. Still never figured out what the point of that place was. They deserved to die anyway.

I found that town for the first time when I went back to beat the main quest a couple of years after putting the game to rest. By then I had already sunken 100 hours+ into that game. Amazing game...

 

[Clydefrog]

The first time I loaded up Ultima Online, starting in Vesper with nothing but 100 coins, a dagger, pair of scissors, and a blank book.

 

[CozMick]

DC Universe Online

My first enjoyable mmorpg and my first attempt at an Alert, it was an amazing experience.

 

[MJLord]

Too many times to tell in GTA IV but one inparticular comes to mind when me and my friend started having a fist fight in the street when an NPC runs past us and knocks me over, almost immediatly after that a copper comes sprinting past. After I got up me and my mate followed the pair into a building site where we climb to the second floor just to see the baddie dive off the roof with the copper looking down at the floor we got to the edge just in time to hear sirens and the NPC get up steal a car and dissapeer into the night. We were going to shoot the criminal but we both decided that he had earned his freedom.

oh and Fallout 3, the first Bethesda game I played. Stepping out into the wasteland for the first time and wandering around because I hadn't noticed Megaton, I felt so alone. (you know until the scary ass scorpions came)

 

[Unity2012]

Jaust Cause 2

Amazing Vistas and weather effects. Still one of my favorite games to kill time.

 

[ruxtpin]

GTA4 - I knocked some guy's hotdog out of his hand by running into him. He proceeded to chase me up and down the street, I took a punch in front of a cop, and when the cop saw him a shootout followed. All over a damn hotdog!

Fallout 3 - I think my first 'quest' was "THOSE!" - Sooo good. Things got better from there, but the art, the music, the design, everything just came together in that game for me. Still remember that little brat running up to me and fighting those massive ants.

BF1942 - I consider it open-world multiplayer, but I have some fond memories of that game after graduating high school. Loading jeeps with TNT and going on suicide runs. I experienced a few bugs during my time spent with the game. I remember a match I played, a bunch of opposing tanks were fighting over a tank repair depot/pad. One of the enemy tanks got tipped over and the player got out, since he/she couldn't do anything. As I was in my own tank and was just approaching the situation, I - naturally - fired a round at the guy just after he appeared outside his tipped over tank. My round landed near the character's feet and - no joke - it launched him straight up like a missile. I tried to look up and watch him, but he got so much air I lost track.

 

[Fine Ham Abounds]

Someone managing to run myself over with my own car in The Saboteur.
...
I am the king of video games.

Haha a kindred spirit.

If a game is physics based, I can always find a way to run myself over, get squished, or fly through geometry.

You can imagine the fun I've had attempting to build just about anything functional in LBP.

Best open world experience for me: either riding into the sunset in RDR, or, well, I can second almost every statement made about Everquest thus far.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pROWml_4sYQ
Not a specific moment but the day night cycles in Red Dead were absolutely amazing.

Awesome, I honestly don't think I'd realized there was that much going on.

 

[Frankenstrat]

Attacking an oil rig/chemical plant with the most powerful fighter jet in Just Cause 2. Autocannons+rockets=EXPLOSIONS AND AWESOME EVERYWHERE

also, I had Clutch playing in the background.

 

[Kabouter]

After having traversed the entire world in Two Worlds, having fought every foe, having seen every sight, realizing that though the game has a skill you can train to dismount enemies on horseback with spears and halberds, there is not a single enemy on horseback in the entire game.

 

[D2M15]

On one of the roads out from Novac in Fallout: New Vegas, there's usually an ambush gang of Vipers waiting at the top of a hill behind a billboard. One playthrough I had forgotten to take them out, but discovered a pile of their equipment lying at the base of the hill. I hiked up to the top to discover two Legionaries standing there impassively in a pile of hacked limbs, drinking Cokes.

I backed carefully and quietly down the hill and went on my way.

 

[madara]

My first time playing EverQuest, starting in Kelethin. I seriously had no fucking clue what to do. So awesome.

This this this! Falling to your death was so awesome then, no hand holding, no invisible barriers. Nasty Orc Cents, griffons mixed in the newbie area, a truly believe world of great mob placement, not cookie cutter leveling. Water dungeons, amazing midi music, boat travel, eerie stuff like the chessboard, unrest and mistmoore.

 

[TriniTrin]

Mine was from Fallout 3 as well

The quest for Megaton was awesome and I was an evil bastard on the first playthrough. This game had so much that I liked as far as missions but this was by far my favorite choice that I could make. It was at night as well, which made everything look even more awesome!

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

I've been playing Just Cause 2 the last few weeks. The first night I played I was pretty blown away by the scope. Getting used to the grappling hook I decided to use it to climb a mountain, so I did. Once I got the achievement for standing on the highest spot on the island, I jumped off and parachuted down to a snowy area. Stole a truck, drove off a cliff, and again jumped out and parachuted. Landed in a military base, caused some havoc, and stole a helicopter.

 

[DigiMish]

Yea, that building was freaky as hell in Fallout 3. To make it worse, you can choose to go back there again in a quest in Point Lookout.

 

[Snuggles]

STALKER Shadow of Chernobyl: Infiltrating an enemy compound at night with nothing but grainy night vision to illuminate my pitch black surroundings. I slowly creeped through the camp, with my eyes glued to the screen as I carefully popped unsuspecting enemies in the back of the head with my silenced pistol. All it would take is one little mistake and I'd have several AK-47's unloading into me. Despite the fact that I'm terrible at stealth, I managed to get inside the target building without alerting any enemies. It was easily one of the most tense moments I've had in any game.

I'm thinking of a specific mission, but the STALKER games are loaded with cool moments like that. They're unique among other open world since there is a constant sense of danger that keeps you on your toes.

Also: Riding into a busy town in Red Dead Redemption, hogtying a whore, leaving town and then dropping her off a cliff. So evil, just as I like it.

 

[Steeven]

I remember two things when I was playing STALKER. Both were scary as hell. I was wandering around in the dark (you know how dark it gets in STALKER). I got lost on my way and at one point some sort of abomination encountered me. I was totally freaked out because it looked like a human suffering from enormous radiation transformations.

The other thing was far more scarier though. I was fighting my way down some abandoned power plant. At some point I was almost out of ammo but I thought I could make it to the basement, where surely some big reward would await me. I couldn't have been more wrong. As I got down I stumbled upon this kid. But it wasn't a kid, it was some sort of dwarf that scared the hell out of me and was powerful and started attacking me. Also, I ran out of ammo on him so I had to beat him up with my knife.

 

[Fjordson]

Walking around Liberty City in GTA 4 has brought so many of these. Not running around with a gun in hand, or anything like that, just steadily walking around and observing the world. People have arguments, random car crashes happen, police chase criminals and sometimes successfully arrest them and other times fail (I saw one get hit by a car and the criminal just turned around and started to walk away casually, haha). I don't have a grand story or anything, but there's so many little details in that incredible world it almost feels real sometimes.

Riding along on a horse and seeing the sun set on the huge horizon in Red Dead Redemption.

+1 for both of these. Liberty City is an amazing setting. Same with RDR's.

I think my entry into Mexico in Red Dead Redemption, with the sunset and that song that played, was pretty amazing. Really cemented it as one of my favourite games of this generation.

 

[Vyrance]

This this this! Falling to your death was so awesome then, no hand holding, no invisible barriers. Nasty Orc Cents, griffons mixed in the newbie area, a truly believe world of great mob placement, not cookie cutter leveling. Water dungeons, amazing midi music, boat travel, eerie stuff like the chessboard, unrest and mistmoore.

Hell yea man, so many memories! Back then you weren't worried about getting max level or grinding. the world was just so damn awesome. Crushbone, Unrest, Mistmoore, SolB, the Hole... I wish there was a game like that again.

 

[The Albatross]

Oh, how could I have forgotten in Red Dead Redemption. The guy in Two Worlds unhorsing people reminded me.

In Red Dead Redemption, there is a lonely stretch of road in dusty ol' Mexico around Punta Orgullo.

You have two rock faces on either side of the road, just after the rail road bridge overpass that connects America and Mexico (if you're travelling east, that is). So there is this lonesome stretch of mostly narrow road, without many places to flee, and even if you did flee, you'd be cut down by ravenous cur that wander this lonesome stretch. Oddly, though, there are a lot of travellers through these parts and not many lawmen.

For the better part of 2 hours, I made it a goal to trample as many pour saps as possible. I'd setup shop on my trusty steed, wait for some unsuspecting traveller to come through on horse back, and plant a mini-ball square in their horses' leg. This would cause the lone rider to tumble off his nag, usually injuring himself and becoming alarmed. From then, I'd ride my horse into a gallop and mow them down. I must have killed some 200 folks doing this, and the thump of trampling someone was always very rewarding. Occasionally, somebody would make haste for the hills, and in those cases, I usually let them go to spread word to other weary travelers to avoid that stretch o' road all together.

 

[Snuggles]

One more I forgot to mention: exploding my first train in Saints Row 2. I managed to jump on top of it while it was stationed, and I set remote C4 on every cart but the one I was standing on. As it started to pick up speed, I set off the C4, causing the train to lift up and go off the tracks, which resulted in my dude tumbling off the train and falling a few dozen feet into the pavement.

awesome

 

[The Praiseworthy]

FFXI..... I remember leaving Bastok for the first time and entering Gustaberg, boy it was so epic..... such a big epic world to discover and adventure through it.

Till this day... FFXI had the most realistic world's feelings...... I miss it so much :-(

Just remembering my days in FFXI breaks my heart........

 

[KiraXD]

FFXI..... I remember leaving Bastok for the first time and entering Gustaberg, boy it was so epic..... such a big epic world to discover and adventure through it.

Till this day... FFXI had the most realistic world's feelings...... I miss it so much :-(

Just remembering my days in FFXI breaks my heart........

omg i was thinking the exact same thing!! i remember running around windurst then finally walking into Sarutabaruta with one of my friends and just got this feeling like i just entered a real new world.


i totally miss FFXI

 

[TheFLYINGManga_Ka]

Coming out of the Vault in Fallout 3 and seeing Red Dead Redemption for the first time! Amazing.

 

[Marleyman]

I wanted to add another that just popped in my head; first climbing the Agency tower in Crackdown. I remember vividly climbing up with a friend(who was afraid of heights like myself) It was nauseating, sweat-inducing and stressful as fuck but when you got to the top, man did it feel good to just look around.

 

[King of the Potato People]

Shadow of the Colossus

What?! I can actually climb up the gigantic Shrine of Worship and find a secret garden in a nice moment. What I love about this game is that many pretty details just exist for the sake of it and don’t need to logically serve a game-play purpose.

Dark Chronicle/ Cloud 2

The hero Max has devoted the last bunch of hours travelling back and forth through time, you're expected to build the origin points for a futuristic fortress occupied by rebels. He then uses the time portal to travel into the future and in a powerful moment he sees his achievement, especially the transformer-style battle ship that is now part of the future.

Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain

There's visiting the secret Lost City; an Aztec-inspired citadel with werewolves. It was an epic moment when I realized I could only enter it on a rare full moon, then plunder the treasure trove of blood magic. That’s a great detail.

Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver

The wraith protagonist can choose to spare the vampire hunters, the residence of the secret citadel will begin to prey at your feet and worship you. This is the last place humans can safely live, escalated from the vampires of the world, for a few seconds I feel like a god.

Okami

The white wolf goddess chooses to rejuvenate the Shinshuu green land. It has to be seen. This is just the beginning of the most beautiful video game ever created.