Unexpected pleasant surprises in videogames.

[Mister K]

Holy sh*t! I am playing Dragongfall and-

Hold on, hold on, Mister K, you are getting ahead of yourself.

*ahem*

Many games I've played are of superb quality, be it quality of gameplay, writing, character development, or something else. And a lot of times certain games managed to surprise me in this or that way. What moments or parts of videogames have surprised YOU with something?

My example, the reason I am writing all this:
I am playing Shadowrun: Dragonfall now. I've just send Alice the money. Without spoiling anything, things happen, I have to fight my way out. I leave the subway and then

Spoiler

What the hell is this? Nooo... No f*cking way! Dante, the dog we've been taking care of, a big softy, is glowing red and shooting fire at my enemies! I have The Metal Hellhound in my crew now. So!.. Cool!

Another one is from Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. I thought I'll have to fight Sam in the end, but no, he is just a second to last boss. Great one, but not final one. Then Armstrong appears and fights Raiden in Metal Gear Excelus. "What the hell is this?" I ask. I just defeated the guy who barely had any cyborg parts and was kicking Raiden around and now I have to fight this toy? Meh, Not amused. But THEN, after I messed Excelus up

Spoiler

Armstrong gets out of his toy and powers up. I am fighting Huge, Nanomachined, Right-winged, American Senator, who throws around mad speeches while making Raiden his little *****. I mean, I defeated him in the end, but this was SO unexpected. I LOVE this guy!

Spoiler

 

[Zhukov]

The characterization of BJ Blazkowicz in the newest Wolfenstein game.

Rather than being a swaggering "badass", a brooding tragedy or a laughing lighthearted action hero, he just comes across as utterly exhausted and spent.

It was oddly refreshing. He deserved a better game, really.

 

[Casual Shinji]

The characterization of BJ Blazkowicz in the newest Wolfenstein game.

Rather than being a swaggering "badass", a brooding tragedy or a laughing lighthearted action hero, he just comes across as utterly exhausted and spent.

It was oddly refreshing. He deserved a better game, really.

An even better game?! Dude... hard to imagine. But yeah, Blazkowicz was great. He's the original big dumb killing machine, yet he's the most noble action hero we've had in years.

Nearly everyone in Wolfenstein: TNO was fantastically characterized. My favourite parts of the game were just wandering around the resistance hideout watching and listening to the characters and doing little errands for them.

 

[Privateatkky]

Finding out that the cutscene for Sif in Dark Souls changes if you've saved him in the DLC. Instead of growling and picking up the sword he will jump downs and sniff you and howls before reluctantly picking up the sword to fight you. He was already too cute and awesome to kill and that cutscene makes it 10x harder.

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

The Ninja Turtle mission in Blood Dragon.

Just how awesome downing my first dragon in Dragon's Dogma was.

The twist in Arkham City and the ending, I really wasn't expecting that from the game as Arkham Asylum was really nothing special story-wise.

Stage 4 - Fulci Fun Center - in Lollipop Chainsaw was so awesome with all the game references.

I really ended up loving the story and characters of Binary Domain. The game is at times bland and mediocre, especially the first few chapters, with boss fights being way way way too long (while not being that good to begin with) but the story really picks up the last 2 chapters and a lot of the annoying gameplay pretty much disappears.

He deserved a better game, really.

Yeah, I agree. The gameplay was above par for the current trend in shooters but it wasn't that great or anything. I enjoyed Wolfenstein but felt it was really overrated, especially on this site. I was so pissed when BJ (more importantly me) didn't use the power suit. That would've be a really great twist in gameplay from being standard shooter to then playing probably something like Vanquish. We really rarely get gameplay twists as every game either just focuses on doing one thing great or being a jack-of-all-trades game and doing lots of things average.

 

[The Wykydtron]

I have to mention two Visual Novels here, 1. Devil on the G-String for that absolutely masterful plot twist around a third of the way through Chapter 2. If you've played it, you know exactly what I mean and I will not spoil a thing here.

2. Monster Girl Quest actually having a decent story is one surprising thing considering I assume 99% of the people who started playing it did so on the idea that a story about a guy getting raped by monster girls when he loses is worth a look on the weirdness factor alone (i've always been an overly curious sort.) However for it to legitimately write circles around most video game stories is fuckin' silly and I have no idea how they did it.

I have never cried at a snake lady having a emotional breakdown before I started MGQ and I doubt I ever will again.

 

[Ushiromiya Battler]

Gotta go with the obligatory Katawa Shoujo.
I went into that VN expecting some quirky humour and awkward disabled sex, but instead I was hit with a massive wall of FEELS.

 

[Zhukov]

The characterization of BJ Blazkowicz in the newest Wolfenstein game.

Rather than being a swaggering "badass", a brooding tragedy or a laughing lighthearted action hero, he just comes across as utterly exhausted and spent.

It was oddly refreshing. He deserved a better game, really.

An even better game?! Dude... hard to imagine. But yeah, Blazkowicz was great. He's the original big dumb killing machine, yet he's the most noble action hero we've had in years.

It wasn't that TNO was bad exactly (although the mid/late-game bullet sponge enemies can fuck right off), it just felt very tonally discordant.

On the one hand, we're playing as a world-weary shell of a man, an exhausted engine of violence clutching to whatever warmth he can find in a cold and bleak world.

On the other hand, we're duel wielding robot Nazis to death on the Moon.

It would be like if The Last of Us had Crash Bandicoot for a protagonist instead of Joel.

 

[EbonBehelit]

Terraria.

Spoiler

Just when you think you're fighting the final boss and have seen everything the game has to offer, the game flips a switch and activates a second half that you never even saw coming. The first time it happened was nearly a jaw-drop moment for me.

Symphony of the Night does the same thing as well.

 

[Mister K]

It would be like if The Last of Us had Crash Bandicoot for a protagonist instead of Joel.

Post-apocalyptic story with antropomorphic animals as main characters? Huh, I'd play that.

 

[Evonisia]

It would be like if The Last of Us had Crash Bandicoot for a protagonist instead of Joel.

That game desperately needed some levity in it anyway.

OT: Figuring out that Dark Souls has really shitty render distance, so as I moved up the mountain I realised that I was actually going to enter that castle that not too long ago was just a blurry texture. I find the game far too tedious to really enjoy, so I'll take whatever joy I can get from it.

 

[Zhukov]

It would be like if The Last of Us had Crash Bandicoot for a protagonist instead of Joel.

That game desperately needed some levity in it anyway.

I thought it had levity when and where it needed it, what with Ellie's porn-thieving antics and the improbably placid giraffes.

 

[Casual Shinji]

It wasn't that TNO was bad exactly (although the mid/late-game bullet sponge enemies can fuck right off), it just felt very tonally discordant.

On the one hand, we're playing as a world-weary shell of a man, an exhausted engine of violence clutching to whatever warmth he can find in a cold and bleak world.

On the other hand, we're duel wielding robot Nazis to death on the Moon.

It would be like if The Last of Us had Crash Bandicoot for a protagonist instead of Joel.

I know, but for me the characters just made it work. It's one of the stupidest concepts you can imagine; Cyborg nazis on the Moon. Yet the way it was characterized made it feel very viable. To me it was like if Resident Evil 4 played it straight and succeeded. And it was all because the characters were so genuine and likeable.

 

[Mutant1988]

It wasn't that TNO was bad exactly (although the mid/late-game bullet sponge enemies can fuck right off), it just felt very tonally discordant.

On the one hand, we're playing as a world-weary shell of a man, an exhausted engine of violence clutching to whatever warmth he can find in a cold and bleak world.

On the other hand, we're duel wielding robot Nazis to death on the Moon.

It would be like if The Last of Us had Crash Bandicoot for a protagonist instead of Joel.

I think the juxtaposition is what made the plot good.

I just wish they could have gotten more gameplay into it. The pacing was a bit lacking at times

Spoiler

(The numerous unarmed stealth sections, the submersible piloting sequence)

and many of the most impressive set pieces were over far too soon (The whole moon scenario).

And don't you have that analogy backwards? Wouldn't it be Joel, the serious protagonist, in the non-serious game?

I also find it deliciously ironic that the thing that enabled the Nazis to win WW2 was

Spoiler

Jewish super science

For me it was one of the most memorable games of the decade. Sadly, due to it's pacing and stronger storytelling than gameplay, it falls in the same category of games like Bioshock (And probably The Darkness). Incredibly fantastic games that I cannot ever see myself replaying.

But back on topic, a fairly recent pleasant surprise for me was Hotline Miami. I never expected beforehand that it would be so good and have such an amazing soundtrack and I'm impatiently waiting for the release of the sequel.

The gameplay, in combination with the music, creates a superb flow of gameplay that is rarely found. Last game I can recall that had such a sense of flow was Just Cause 2. You just get immersed into the gameplay and things just happen and it feels awesome.

 

[Evonisia]

Snip

The singalongs in Saints Row 2 are related to which voice you pick. If I remember right, the British voice sings along to Take On Me on The Mix.

 

[Tanis]

A Story About My Uncle:
Pre-Play Reaction - O, look, ANOTHER 'quirky' Mist clone.

Playing Recattion - HOLY CRAP I'M SPIDER-MAN IN A MYST/ODDWORLD GAME!

Seriously, though?
Beyond fantastic.