My god......

[Tdc2182]

I am simply awesturck Escapist, just awestruck. Minecraft's world is estimated to be 8 times the size of the earths, I thought I had colonized a relativly large chunk of it when I decided to venture off into the distance with nothing on me just to recon the sorrunding area near one of my bases. I climbed over the nearest hill top and simply felt my breath leave me. Facing me, sitting there for what must have been miles, was a desert. Infinite and unyeilding, sitting there staring at me. I quietly slipped back down the hill and retreated into my base for the remainder of the day.

So my question to you Escapist, have you ever been simply awestruck by a game? Recount your tales for us.

You know that "Our brains only use ten percent of it's total capacity" myth?

That is what the Minecraft "8 times the size of the earth" thing is similar too. Minecraft has the ability to make a world that is huge provided you have lots of time and a good enough computer, but the world it generates is not 8 times the size of the earth. The original world it generates is about the size of a city Block. The farther you go the larger the land it generates.

Not trying to argue or crush your dreams, just wanted to quash that myth.

 

[SonicKoala]

Two nods to the Silent Hill series coming - for one, in Silent Hill 2, when you watch the videotape in the hotel; without a doubt, the best twist I have ever encountered in a video game.

Second, in Silent Hill 3, in the hospital when you enter....well, that fucking room with the big mirror - I still get chills thinking about it.

 

[superbatranger]

A fairly recent game, Just Cause 2.

Casually parachuting around, I get to the top of a nearby mountain and turn around and get punched in the face by this spectacular world.

Just Cause 2 definitely has one of the greatest looking game worlds created in a very long time.

I remember flying over a mountain and just as I crested, I could see for miles into the ocean as the sun was setting. The orange mixed with the blue, and the amazing lens flares... the cities down below on the land... it was just incredible.

I once set off walking across the game world.

I gave up after an hour.

I always get distracted by things I could potentially blow up and destroy.

 

[Still Life]

First time I stepped outside the vault in Fallout 3. I mean, it got diminished over time, but that first glance at the desolate landscape... Wow.

I remember that moment with particular fondness.

 

[SckizoBoy]

The first few times I synched at viewpoints in Damascus in AssCreed 1. Oh the view was awesome (fuck off eagle, you're cramping my style). Sure it got a bit stale once you'd done it 30 times, a bit of me always wanted to go through it all again. Couldn't, and probably better for it, 'twas a shite game after the first few hours.

AssCreed II, however...

For battles: RTR, with unit settings at the max. 4000 hoplites, archers, peltasts and cavalry vs. 4500 (mid-Republic) legionaries, mercenaries and equites... fucking awesome sight. Lasted a reasonable amount of time, too. Ten paces... charge... smash... epic. Then enter reinforcements.

 

[Blitzwarp]

First time I saw Rapture in Bioshock. It was my second ever Xbox game after Alan Wake, and I was gobsmacked. Ditto for the first time I wandered around the Citadel in Mass Effect.

 

[Mrrrgggrlllrrrg]

DnD sessions with my friends of course
EVE Online
Skyrims trailers and probably Skyrim itself
Dead Islands Trailer, I loved it.
Fable
Halo
yadda yadda yadda

Many have their moments to appreciate.

 

[Mechsoap]

When I 4 years ago, went out the servers of the imperial prison... I was breathless...

 

[ExileNZ]

Climbing up to the top of the highest tower in the original Gothic. The world's not huge by today's standards, but at the time it was practically unheard of. Also, you can see a huge chunk of it from that tower.
Sure Morrowind's world was bigger, but Gothic had no loading zones, except for 2 caves. The overland map was all just one, enormous level.

Later I played Gothic 2 and regained some of that sense of awe as I stepped out of Xardas' tower. I got even more of one when I climbed up to the top of the lighthouse.

 

[mattttherman3]

Seeing the amount of detail in the cities of Assassins Creed.

 

[ChippedShoulder]

First time I realised that my brand new copy of Halo 3, in my first X-box 360, hadn't frozen; that actually was what the game looked like. Awww yeeeah.

 

[theonlyblaze2]

Minecraft.

Falling through a randomly occuring hole in the ground, to fall into the most ore filled cavern I have ever seen.

 

[Kadoodle]

Red Dead Redemption. Watching the sun come up over the mountains, slowly lightening the vast plain in front of me. Wow.

Also, when you first enter Mexico after the mission on the river. Beautiful.

This.


Oh yeah, BIOSHOCK. I had a "my god" moment at the very beginning of the game when you plunged under in the bathysphere...

I swear, every time I see a big daddy with a little sister, shivers run down my spine.

 

[funguy2121]

I am simply awesturck Escapist, just awestruck. Minecraft's world is estimated to be 8 times the size of the earths, I thought I had colonized a relativly large chunk of it when I decided to venture off into the distance with nothing on me just to recon the sorrunding area near one of my bases. I climbed over the nearest hill top and simply felt my breath leave me. Facing me, sitting there for what must have been miles, was a desert. Infinite and unyeilding, sitting there staring at me. I quietly slipped back down the hill and retreated into my base for the remainder of the day.

So my question to you Escapist, have you ever been simply awestruck by a game? Recount your tales for us.

Well, first of all OP, I simply must ask: how many earths are we talking here? Just the two - the one we inhabit and its mirror image that orbits our son's twin some trillion light years away - or are we including the many Earths of the many alternate universes?

Ocarina of Time blew me away like no prior game ever had. The scope, the thoroughness, the attention to detail...

I wish I'd had some mushrooms handy when I first picked up Super Mario Galaxy. There were what my roommate and I came to refer to as "Oh my god" moments around every corner.

Resident Evil 4 particularly struck me as the realization that the entire genre had been building up to for about a decade.

 

[Drake_Dercon]

This may sound a little weak but I once climbed to the top of a mountain outside the imperial city in Oblivion and I just went quiet for a while. It's odd that pixels have created a beauty I seldom see in reality (especially at TESIV's graphical quality), but it really just took my breath away.

 

[dudehead]

Scenery based awestruckness happens to me ALL the time in Shadow of the Colossus. I can just ride around and constantly get chills and never get sick of exploring.

I never play that game anymore, but every few months I end up popping it back in and inadvertantly playing it for like 10 hours. Such an amazing game.

 

[Toaster Hunter]

Playing Fallout 3, just standing on a hill and looking out to the devastated world as far as the eye can see. It was impressive to say the least.

I snapped out when a super mutant started shooting at me.

 

[noxymoron19]

In portal when you get the full gun and I realised I could see myself. Kept me and my small attention span in awe for atleast 10 minutes of crouching and jumping around.

 

[Solo-Wing]

Shadow of the Colossus. EVERYTHING ABOUT IT. The beautiful maps, the fantastic design of the Colossi, and everything in the game.