Gaming "Moments"

[Kail]

I don't really have any memorable moments from FF7... I didn't have a PS, so I had to wait for the PC version, by which time I had already heard the entire story several times over on a bunch of message boards (and I still don't understand it).  Grr!

Probably the most relevant, recent moment I can think of is from Thief 3...  (spoiler alert, etc.)  It's been a while, so the details are probably off, but this is how I remember it:

There's this secret society of mystics called the "Keepers" who basically work behind the scenes in all the Thief games, pulling all the strings.  They've got these magic glyphs that they use to do this.  Anyway, this evil monster character basically infiltrates their ranks, trying to use them for her own purposes.  At the end of the game, she reveals her "true form" as this badass monster/mystic character, who's lived for hundreds of years and is better at glyph magic than all the keepers combined, and she uses (part of) this magic to make her invulnerable to physical harm, too.  She's standing in the Keeper hall when she does this, and they (naturally) freak out, and attack her.  She basically rips through the Keeper's elite guard like they're not even there, beats the shit out of your contact with the keepers, launches their scribes through the walls, et cetera.  Huge badass time, basically. 

And there's me, playing as Garret, thinking, "Oh, fuuuuuck," 'cause all the guys she's shredding effortlessly have been kicking my ass for the whole second half of the game.  And I'm right next to her, holding the loot she wants.

And then she says something like "Garret!  You can't hide forever!"

And the next thing that crossed my mind was the phrase "Waaaaaaait a minute... she can't fucking see me..."

I was grinning like a maniac for the entire rest of that game.  To me, that moment, that sort of "I can't fight, I can't use magic or macine guns or giant robots, I'm not stronger or braver or higher level, but I STILL WIN" situation, is the essence of the Thief series.  I just loved that.

[Triforcer]

Most of the game of Secret of Evermore.  The alchemy system was just soul-crushingly bad, but the game as a whole was surprisingly fun- and more importantly, funny.

Me: "You know, it's ironic that you are called Tiny because you are actually quite large."

Tiny: "Me know.  Tiny like irony."

[Sky]

Escorting the British agent in Medal of Honor Allied Assault. I was in a house firing at nazis through the front door (they were outside in the yard). As I stood in the doorway picking off the enemies, he opens fire behind me with a machine gun, ripping me to shreds. I die, mission over, play again. The next time I just let him run past me into the yard, where he gets killed before I can pick off all the enemies. Mission over, play again.

The reason I was going through the house in the first place was that he kept running straight for the nazis in the yard when I played the approved scripted path, getting killed, mission over, play again.

I hated that fucking game. Maybe it's because I'm not from a console background where there is an approved way to play through and you try it a hundred times until you figure it out. I like freedom and whatnot. BF1942 Omaha >>> MoH:AA Omaha imo.

[Cheddar]

My last "OMG WTF LOLZ CUM CUM CUM" moment was while playing Wolfenstein 3D (forget the exact name, you know, the latest one that was pretty).  I started playing, and it was so amazing that I spent 3 days playing none stop almost, and barely sleeping.  It was just so well done and perfect!  And beating on the hardest setting was icing on the cake!  I think I got my hands on it a year or two after release.  I am always behind the curve.

Doom 3 scares me because I fear it would not be anywhere near as good as this game (I always equate the two series as similiar).  I figure I will finally attempt it around 2007.

[HaemishM]

Pretty much anytime in Thief 1 when fucking zombies showed up, I shit my pants. Especially that level where you have to find your way through the city to some church, I finally just gave up on the game because I couldn't make it through those areas. But Thief was just full of great gaming moments.

I can't pinpoint the exact moment, but when I finally realized in Deus Ex that I had a few different paths I could take to achieve the same ends. I could sneak or I could fight, but either one was equally good.

The first time I played ESPN NFL 2k3 in First-person mode. /sadf

The haunted house in Vampire: Bloodlines, and of course, all 3 of the Nosferatu endings.

The moment in Half-Life 1 when I figured out the soldiers would help each other, flank me and toss grenades.

The first time I took down a dragon in EQ1 with over 60 people from 15 different guilds. I was 39th level at the time (and most said that taking a level 40 on the run was risky because of the fear DOT) and hoping like hell I could remember the strategy I'd read on it.

The first time I traveled by foot from Qeynos to Freeport in EQ1, somewhere in my teens I think. Realizing that the player community around Freeport was completely different from that in Qeynos, before everyone had a druid port mule and could go anywhere.

The first time I played multiplayer Command & Conquer with my buddy.

Duke Nukem 3d and the strippers. Boob love.

The first LAN games of Duke Nukem 3d I experienced in the office I used to work in.

[voodoolily]

The first time I saw one of the cinematics in FFX and thought, "wow, Tidus is kinda hot", that was a moment.

[Sky]

Hammy has a good list!

Reminded me of an fps moment, playing Quake 2 LAN with a couple friends. I heard them duking it out in another room. I poked my head around the corner and cut loose with the BFG...they both heard it winding up and tried to run in different directions. Tried, but failed. LAN parties rock. And one of my favorite sneaky tactics is to poach two enemies who are concentrating on each other. 

[stray]

The first time I saw one of the cinematics in FFX and thought, "wow, Tidus is kinda hot", that was a moment.

Huh?

My inner fag couldn't even find him hot.

[Jobu]

Remember in Grim Fandango. The last half of the game, where the characters were trudging through the blizzard up in the mountains. Completely exhausted. And you get there, and Glottis gets sick. Then you speed back to town, and have to fight the bad guy. And the last bit on the train, where Manny's a little apprehensive about moving onto the next world, and doesn't know what to expect.

That whole last half really touched me. And not in a creepy bad way. I always remember the pang of sadness I felt, physically in my stomach, when I saw them trudging through the snow, and how worried I was that Glottis wouldn't make it.


And the first Silent Hill. I had to turn all the lights on in the house for a few hours after playing that. And I kept having to take "I'm scared shitless" breaks and watch cartoons or something every hour or two.

[voodoolily]

The first time I saw one of the cinematics in FFX and thought, "wow, Tidus is kinda hot", that was a moment.

Huh?

My inner fag couldn't even find him hot.

He's hot until he opens his mouth.

[HaemishM]

I forgot Resident Evil 4. That moment when you fight the gigantic catfish, I realized then that this wouldn't just be a shooting game, it would throw new kinds of mini-game style gameplay at me every once in a while to break up the shooting. The knife fight with Whesker (?) later in the game was the same kind of thing.

[Surlyboi]

Playing Karateka, getting all the way through it and then, approaching the princess still in a fighting stance and having her kick my ass.

Floyd sacrificing his life for you in Planetfall. He had gone from this annoying, bouncy pain in the ass, to your best friend. And now he was dying so you could live and get off of Resida.

Finishing Portal and figuring out where the rest of humanity had gone.

Like Haemish mentioned, my first EQ1 trip from Qeynos to Freeport as a level 12 half-elf ranger. I died three times, but when I finally got my ass across the continent, I felt accomplished. And yeah, the community was completely different.

Getting my first long term crew down in EQ1, which consisted of me, a chanter, a shammy and a warrior. Later we'd pick up a cleric and bring him up to speed and then take stuff on that groups 10 levels higher than us feared and do it with ease.

Playing the Half-Life beta and going, "damn nice AI", then playing the release and realizing that they'd dumbed it down a bit.

Building and igniting my first lightsaber in SWG. The game has gone by the wayside recently, largely due to jedi and the people that hate them, but for that one, brief, shining moment, I had walked the path and found myself happy to be among what was then only a handful of jedi.

Helping my girlfriend with her betrayal quest in EQ2. This had a bit to do with the mechanics of the quest, but also a lot to do with the way she roleplayed the whole thing.

Last and probably the greatest of all of these was the very first time I played Marathon. On the very first level, turning the corner and hearing the Pfhor warriors clicking their recognition that you were on ship and they were going to do whatever they could to destroy you. What ensued over the next weekend was just the best storytelling I'd ever seen in a game that wasn't by Infocom backed with groundbreaking FPS action and characters that made you want to keep going whether it be out of loyalty or spite.

[Furiously]

Planescape - the 2nd half of the game. Pretty much once you find out who you are and what you have done.
The town making the transition from neutrality to evil was very cool. The people running around yelling and screaming in a panic.
The endings were all decent as well. Watching him grab the club and head down the stairs.

Starcontrol 2. Pretty much everything.

I got goosebumps from the hotel in Vampire Bloodlines. (Did I mention the Widescreen fix? + anamorphic mode = love)

Harclaves trial in EQ2. The storyteller telling the story of harclave falling into a cavern, and heroically fighting his way back. Only to have something nearly the same happen to you moments later.

[Sky]

I got goosebumps from the hotel in Vampire Bloodlines. (Did I mention the Widescreen fix? + anamorphic mode = love)

Linky? Or on widescreengamingforum.com? I've been meaning to get back into that game since my hd crash wiped my saves (:().

[Yegolev]

Hard.  Many memories.

End credits of Super Mario World.  Great every time.

Eternal Darkness tub scene.  Werd.  I was totally paranoid for the rest of the game.  Also, the first hallucination.  And the second.

When SHODAN first appeared in System Shock 2.  I hate that bitch more than any other villain I can think of.

Getting my hands on the walking tank in Escape from Butcher Bay, and rampaging up to Howlin' Mad Murdock's office.  That game impressed the hell out of me in general.

Unloading a shotgun into a marine's face in AvP2 and seeing his jawbone on the floor.

The first zombie in Thief.  Also, the zombie that just laid there... I crept closer, waiting for him to jump up... but he didn't move and I was standing right next to him.  Obviously this one was just a corpse.  I creep forward a bit to look at the ceiling or something and DAMN IF THE FUCKER DIDN'T STAND UP AND LOOK ME RIGHT IN THE EYES!  Also the one that waited until he was directly behind me to moan.  Shit my pants.  Again.

A lot of people remember Aerith dying in FFVII.  I remember Cecil and Kain unwittingly torching the summoner village in FFIV (US II).  That really set the tone of the game and Cecil's growth as a person.  My favorite is IV, followed by VI.

When Dogmeat died.

[schild]

Yea, torching the summoner village (I think it was Mist) was a great moment. I also enjoyed Palom and Porom sacrificing themselves before you fought Cagnazzo.

[Surlyboi]

When Dogmeat died.

Werd.

I could do a whole page on just Fallout/Wasteland.

[jpark]

When Dogmeat died.

Werd.

I could do a whole page on just Fallout/Wasteland.

I love Fallout memories.  Not going to list - but even with its now dated graphics - the opening scene in Fallout 1 where the overseer describes the desperate situation for water and the need to emerge into the unknown world just swallowed my mind whole.  Total immersion.

[Margalis]

Pretty much all of Final Fantasy 2. (Most of the major events, most of Edges' dialog)

Pretty much all of Silent Hill 2, especially the last 20 minutes then the ending itself. That game is seriously creepy. The sound combined with the character animation and graphics is amazing and the end is a pretty big mind-fuck.

Silent Hill 3 in the haunted house museum thing towards the end, in the room where the dead body is sitting. (I won't spoil it)

Resident Evil 3 running out of a room being chased by Nemesis only to have him open the door and follow you. (In previous games going into the next room through a door was always safe)

The first RE when the dogs jump through the windows in the long hallway.

The first time you see a major sanity effect in Eternal Darkeness. The scene where you first fight the really big monster in the bottom of some building. (Again I won't spoil it)

[Paelos]

The opening movie for Warcraft II, with the kickass music in the background. It was my first RTS, and started my hideous addiction to the genre. Even if I suck at it.

[WindupAtheist]

Square's SNES efforts were the high-water mark for that sort of linear console RPG.  FF4, FF6, and Chrono Trigger were all classics.  Even Secret of Mana, despite all the excessive cuteness, was a great piece of work.  The downbeat ending redeemed the cuteness to a large extent, when you sat back and took the entire game as a whole.

The modern stuff?  Meh.  I played through FF7 once, shrugged, and never bothered to play another Square game again.  (Edit:  Except Bushido Blade.  I still play that now.  Bushido Blade pwns j00.)

[Triforcer]

I forgot 3:

1.  General Leo dying in FF3 and visiting his grave in Thamasa later.

2.  The ending of Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals.  Its the only ending that ever brought a tear to my eye.

3.  The moment in Crono Trigger when Crono and Nadia/Lucca view the computer screen of destruction after their first trip to the future and decide to fight Lavos- the heroic music starts playing.

Damn, I need to fire up my SNESemulator...

[Ironwood]

Dungeon Master on the ST.

That was it right there.  That's not where it started for me, but that's where it got....obsessive.

[Signe]

I can't remember which Ultima it was, but when I finished it, they had a parade for me.  No one has ever had a parade for me before or since.  That was kind of cool.  My first real day spent in UO was cool, too.  It was all awe and wonder.  I played a lute for hours and watched my dex go up.

Actually, I only started playing games to hang with the cool guys.  Then I found out the cool guys were getting stoned and rollerblading.  By the time I figured that out it was too late.  My back was shot from sitting on my ass all day playing games.

[voodoolily]

In Silent HIll 4 when you peek through the crack in the wall and the pink bunny (won't spoil it)

[Ironwood]

Nostalgia seems to fill in the gap between software house releasing anything decent....

[jpark]

Last and probably the greatest of all of these was the very first time I played Marathon. On the very first level, turning the corner and hearing the Pfhor warriors clicking their recognition that you were on ship and they were going to do whatever they could to destroy you. What ensued over the next weekend was just the best storytelling I'd ever seen in a game that wasn't by Infocom backed with groundbreaking FPS action and characters that made you want to keep going whether it be out of loyalty or spite.

Wow.  I have never heard someone mention that game.  I enjoyed it as well - for me - there seem to be an AI tactic where periodically they would take hostages during shootouts in the hallway.  It surprised and intrigued me.

[stray]

Wow.  I have never heard someone mention that game.

Talk to a Mac gamer sometime (yes, we exist!)  .

[Pococurante]

(yes, we exist!)  .

;)

[stray]

Need I mention that we had Fallout, Myst, and Myth before anyone else as well?

[Surlyboi]

Need I mention that we had Fallout, Myst, and Myth before anyone else as well?

Myth was crossplatform from go.

And we didn't get Fallout 2: Electric Boogaloo...

(well, we did, but like five years later. =P)

[Hoax]

Myth was a fucking fantastic game, more rtS where you dont have unit building and resource gathering please.

[HaemishM]

Myth was a fucking fantastic game, more rtS where you dont have unit building and resource gathering please.

And exploding dwarves.

[Surlyboi]

The player variants that came out of that were nuts.

Rock 'em Sock 'em Dorf Riot is still my favorite. Four teams, four dwarves per team, one pit. Average game duration: 30 seconds.

[Bunk]

I have to add a brand new favorite moment.

Firing off my newly made Gnomish Deathray for about the 4th time, only this time it blasts out a lightning bolt about three feet thick at the ogre accross the room. "Bunktavious crits Dustbelcher Shaman with Gnomish Deathray for 3702 damage."