Your 'WOW!' moments in gaming

[Dizchu]

Ooooooo...I want. Are the .WAD files for this compatible with the Brutal Doom mod? Please say yes.

Yup! I tried it and it lagged like hell though. Probably because Brutal Doom adds a ton of new stuff and the map is enormous and full of stuff as it is. If you ever played nuts.wad (the map that's basically one huge room and thousands of monsters) you'll know what I mean. I think you can turn a lot of the effects off though and it'll make it run smoother. Give it a go anyway, I hope the wad gets finished eventually, I'd like to see the other three maps completed (the beta only has maps 1, 2 and 5).

Here's the link: http://www.doomworld.com/vb/wads-mods/50158-wip-vela-pax-map05-updates-done-working-on-map04-now/

 

[Johnny Impact]

Booting up Altered Beast for the first time at home. I saved for ten months to buy a Genesis.

I once accidentally left my party asleep so long in Dungeon Master that they died of starvation. Just the fact that that could happen -- like pets, they would die even while essentially doing nothing if I didn't help them -- was a brand new thing for me at the time. Made the game seem alive. Changed my thinking.

First time I saw how incredible games could look on a PS3 with a brand new HDTV.

BioShock mindfuck. Few games in any genre had messed with me like that. For an FPS to do it was unimaginable. But there it was. I was working for the bad guy the whole time.

Seeing 200 zerglings flow like liquid in StarCraft 2. So frustrating that air power was the only thing that mattered in the first game.

Not the first time I played Minecraft, but the first time it hit me that with enough patience I could remake the whole world.

 

[Pete Oddly]

Ooooooo...I want. Are the .WAD files for this compatible with the Brutal Doom mod? Please say yes.

Yup! I tried it and it lagged like hell though. Probably because Brutal Doom adds a ton of new stuff and the map is enormous and full of stuff as it is. If you ever played nuts.wad (the map that's basically one huge room and thousands of monsters) you'll know what I mean. I think you can turn a lot of the effects off though and it'll make it run smoother. Give it a go anyway, I hope the wad gets finished eventually, I'd like to see the other three maps completed (the beta only has maps 1, 2 and 5).

Here's the link: http://www.doomworld.com/vb/wads-mods/50158-wip-vela-pax-map05-updates-done-working-on-map04-now/

Sweeeeet. Thanks friend!

 

[Casual Shinji]

Looks like I'll have to be the filthy graphics whore here; Walking through the Dales in Dragon Age: Inquisition. Just... FUCKING WOW! Those trees just reach right to the goddamn heavens.

Also, reaching Ash Lake in Dark Souls. Starting out from the bogs of Blighttown, going through a spiraling mish mash of descending roots, to eventually end up in an undergound cavern of seemingly unlimited scope and godliness. All of wich is set to a choir of deep manly voices.

Those first couple of times boarding ships in Assassin's Creed 4.

The entirety of Journey.

And ofcourse there's the ending to The Last of Us. Freaking. Perfect!

 

[stroopwafel]

My first ''WOW'' moment was Street Fighter 2 on the Super Nintendo. I used to love this game in the arcades and whine incessantly to my parents for more coins(we called them 'guilders'). Being able to play this game at home just holy shit, it just blew my mind.

Secondly its Final Fantasy 7 on PS1. The general scope of the world just blew me away. With Midgar being only the beginning of the game just..wow.

In the HD era its probably Demons Souls. Not b/c it blew me away visually or anything but just for its amazingly satisfying gameplay, that mixed the best of both the old and the new. I felt with this game there was always something new to discover no matter how much you played it.

Most recently its probably AC Unity just b/c of its gorgeous late 18th century rendition of Paris. Not talking about the game itself here(though I quite enjoyed it personally) but holy shit Paris is pretty looking. From the lighting effects to the meticulously detailed environments there is just an incredible sense of place in this game.

 

[FPLOON]

Playing against 3 Level 9 CPU opponents in a 99-minute slow-motion match in Super Smash Bros. MeleeHoly shit, was that a fun all-nigher...Every final boss in any Kingdom Hearts gameThe music... The sequence of events... Those one-liners... *swoongasms*Dicking around in both Jak 2and The Simpsons Hit and RunThis goes double when I was invincible and shit...The moment [REDACTED] died in Persona 3Granted, this is before the first major twist in the game's overall story, but still...Sonic 06 in generalJust... "Wow"...

Honorable mentions to Game and Watch Gallery 4 for me still being in a head-to-head CPU battle in Mario vs Donkey Kong still to this day[footnote]Althought, now that I think about it, I think I broke the CPU to the point that I have to deliberately lose in order for that particular section of the game to end in the first place...[/footnote]as well as a tie between Rez and Child of Eden on just the musical experience alone...

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

Lets see...I can be easily impressed like some;

1. Conkers bad fur day. As a young teenager, that game did many good little things.

2. Perfect dark N64. The upgrade from goldeneye was astounding. Voices, music, graphics, aliens, shere content, so many interesting weapons with secondary functions...programmable multiplayer bot AI and orders during matches. It was a lot to take in.

3. Half life. Me and a friend played it first time late at night in the dark when young, the way the game throws you into a scientific crisis tearing everything apart as you try to just survive and get your shit scared ass out. Much fear.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

4. Half life 2. The PHYSICS...DAMN! I remember the early tech demo and my wide eyes were so excited. I especially remember the mattress physics wowing. And the giant walkers.

5. Halo 2. The first video demo showcased so many cool new things like the brutes being able to carjack you and the prettiness.

6. The walking dead. No other form of entertainment has continuosly brought so much emotion and care. Not only did it awake some strange surrogate father instincts within, i couldnt start the 2nd season for ages through the emotional fallout from season 1. Am fairly sensitive at the best of times.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

7. Bioshock infinite. As someone mentioned earlier, The ending just knocks you off balance. My jaw certainly lowered. The whole journey was full of wonder, excitement and moments of heart sinking and stomach knotting emotions.

8. Portal. Well i think nothing needs to be said there.

9. Super mario galaxy. At the time, i thought platforming had no way of evolving. Nintendo sure changed that opinion pretty fcking efficiantly.

... Almost forgot 10. Ocarina of time, Taking out the master sword for the first time, thinking "ahh, the end is near!"
Spoiler alert: It wasnt.

CAPTCHA: Dust bunny. A drug mule euphamism?

 

[The]

1) First time playing Titanfall. It got old soon, but the first few matches were amazingly fast and intense.

2) Finale of the Walking Dead game. The scenes where you trudge to the Marsh Hotel with hordes of zombies on all sides brought a chill down my spine (probably Lee's facial expressions. Also, when the stranger sits you down and retells you all your horrible decisions. Speaking of which, the entire second episode of season 2, lots of awe from Nick's behavior and reuniting with a certain someone. I was hyperventilating from excitement.

3) The sound design in Battlefield 3. One time I was alone on a server with an ace chopper pilot who would hunt me down as I tried to run away on foot. I could hear the whizzing of the rotors in each ear as I hid behind a building. I had some more intense moments, but that was the one that stuck out.

4) Played Far Cry 3 with a friend. Great scenery, refreshingly hostile atmosphere, dubstep music that actually works. Nothing quite like getting freaked out by wild animals (he had a big fear of boars). We also visited that mountain opening with a giant pool at the bottom. I think I drove a car over it absentmindedly (or just ran in) and we did a loud "WAAHH" until I hit the water.

5) The entirety of Mass Effect... need I say more? Everyone else explains their experiences better.

6) Losing my entire expert squad in XCOM: EU. I was blown away with how much I bonded with them (started thinking about their personalities), and then, bam, gone forever. There was "Truck", "Garote", "Aziz", this one medic guy. I still remember them fondly.

7) First World Bank in the original Payday. The best part is definitely the escape: running across the lobby, blowing up a wall, successfully fighting off the Tazers in the next room, and that momentum you get bolting down the stairwell. And then in last stretch, when the escape van is in your reach, a side door slams open and out comes a Bulldozer. With the combined power of your teammates. you finish him off and run to the exit. Great moment. Felt just like a bank robber.

8) Burnout Paradise. Never liked racing games before this one, but this game just wowed me. There's nothing quite like the state of flow it put me in. Paradise City could be considered a main character with its amount of personality.

 

[Silvanus]

-- The opening of Arkham City. There could be no more perfect introduction to the setting, the atmosphere, the brutality of the baddies... and then you put on the Batsuit, and feel that righteous justice is coming. I get shivers. Best game opening evar.

-- The ending of Okami, or rather, when Ammy is wounded and you see the people you've met throughout the game looking up, and seeing that the sun is going out... and then starting to pray. I cried manly tears.

-- The prison section of Silent Hill 2. My heart was racing. Still the scariest horror experience I've ever had, including film and literature.

-- Battling the fifth colossus (the flying one) in Shadow of the Colossus. I can't remember his name, but hanging on as he flew through the air was a "wow" moment, and that game was full of "wow" moments. Seeing the final colossus, from a distance, in the rain, was a bit of a "wow" moment too... but fighting the last one wasn't so intense as fighting the fifth.

 

[klaynexas3]

The ending of "To the Moon." Perhaps not the wow factor that most people think of, but it touched me more than any game I can think of, so I'll go ahead and say that it was truly a "Wow" experience.

The first few months playing World of Warcraft. I just loved exploring this world and finding new areas, killing new creatures, just enjoying myself and doing my own thing. The world felt real and alive.

When I first beat Shadow of the Colossus. Do I even need to say why?

Beating Kingdom Hearts. I never beat it as a kid, and only did so a few years back, so it was definitely an experience.

First playing Runescape. It was my first time in an MMO, I felt like I could do anything I wanted, like I could be my own man in this game. I wasn't defined by classes(something I still like about it to this day), I just played, and it was great.

The ending of Persona 3. I cried, I'll admit it.

The first time I played Spyro or Crash Bandicoot. Those were some of my first video games, so it was definitely something that has stuck with me for my whole life, even affecting my job choice.

 

[Mister K]

All of Final Fantasy X and Persona 4.

Also, performing actual combos in fighting games (what? I love them but I suck at them).

 

[Javetts Eall Raksha]

legend of dragoon: when the world tree explode-grew into being and caught the fucking moon as it was falling. then virages swarmed the skies from the moon. epic, larger than life, last big thing that blew my mind and load.

 

[PacDwell]

- Playing River Raid on the Atari 2600.
- Playing Elite for the first time on the C64 and listening to The Blue Danube during auto-docking.
- It was a big Wow moment playing Times of Lore on the C64.
- Playing Sid Meier's Pirates! on the C64 and sacking Puerto Principe to the tune of 350,000 gold (never got anywhere near that since, even from Panama).
- Uniting Head with Heels in the Market on Head Over Heels (C64).
- Witnessing the jaw-dropping graphics and music of The Last Ninja (C64).
- Watching Quake Done Quick. Also watching XC-Peter on DM4.
- Watching a demo of the dance scene on Final Fantasy 8 (the hair!)
- Picking up the box of Baldur's Gate and buying it straight away. The game lived up to the box's claims.
- Stepping out of the tutorial dungeon on Oblivion (similar feelings to some people's Fallout 3 Vault 101 experience).
- Watching the intro of The Witcher 2 - the game is a near faultless RPG, but this was awesome in itself.

Probably many more I've forgotten.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

I think Star Wars Battlefronts 1&2. I've always wanted a huge open battle type game, with thousands of ways to fight and win, where you are just a nameless dude. I guess I got tired of always playing the only soldier with a name, and wanted to see what battle was like for the grunts. And they truly are amazing games! And they really shine when your side is down to less than 10 units left, the enemy is as 80+ and you still win through skill and no small amount of blind luck!

 

[Platypus540]

I think Star Wars Battlefronts 1&2. I've always wanted a huge open battle type game, with thousands of ways to fight and win, where you are just a nameless dude. I guess I got tired of always playing the only soldier with a name, and wanted to see what battle was like for the grunts. And they truly are amazing games! And they really shine when your side is down to less than 10 units left, the enemy is as 80+ and you still win through skill and no small amount of blind luck!

Seconding the Battlefront games, those were my and several of my friends' favorites in elementary school, and they're still brilliant today. Reeaalllly hoping DICE can pull off the new one next year, I've waited too long.

The first level from Ace Combat 4- it was the first "serious" game I ever played, way back in like 2nd grade, and I was absolutely floored by everything about it. The graphics, the music, the presentation, the cheesy dialogue, the unbeatable radness of flying a fighter jet... that game made one hell of an impression on me (for example, my avatar). Although, to be fair, Ace Combat 5 is my favorite of the series (and probably favorite game in general), AC4 just had that "wow" factor to 7-year-old me.

Shadow of the Colossus in general. Basically every colossus and vista was absolutely stunning.

Halo 3's menu music was really impressive (not to mention the game itself). I used to just leave the menu open to let the music play and my mind wander.

Civilization IV, both the truly epic main theme and when I first started playing and realized what I could do.

Katawa Shoujo, both when I realized how much I cared about the characters and just in the opening credits. Why? I had been suspicious that it would just be some stupid, overhyped fetish game, but no fetish game would put that much effort into animating a ticking clock in a hospital.

XCom EU, the first time a soldier I'd had with me for a long time died (rest in peace Lt "Alpha" Ryan, chrysalids are some serious shit) and I noticed that not only was I pissed that I'd lost a valuable unit, but I was actually sad because I had grown attached to him. Still not sure why that game does this to me with just a name, a flag, and a skill tree but I always wind up giving each of my soldiers a personality, often without even realizing it.

Edit:

6) Losing my entire expert squad in XCOM: EU. I was blown away with how much I bonded with them (started thinking about their personalities), and then, bam, gone forever. There was "Truck", "Garote", "Aziz", this one medic guy. I still remember them fondly.

Oh good, it's not just me.

 

[bartholen_v1legacy]

Most recent ones were in Dark Souls

- when I went to Ash Lake for the first time. The sheer size and scope of the place was enough to put me in awe. I truly felt like I was staring at something incomprehensibly more vast than I could ever understand, and that didn't give a crap if I was there or not. The ominous music nailed the tone, and it's one of the most incredible places I've ever seen in a video game.

- when I beat Ornstein and Smough for the first time, and opened Gwynevere's chamber doors. The music really sold it, and I felt I was but a flea in the presence of a true god. Also, boobs.

 

[Belaam]

A friend and mine still laugh about the first time we played Balder's Gate: Dark Alliance. "Holy crap! When you jump in the water and walk around, it makes splashes and waves!" We'd both been gaming for over a decade, but that was the first time either of us remember seeing dynamic water.

 

[CaitSeith]

- First time I saw Super Mario Bros for the NES (it was 1986)

- Majora's Mask: Pamela's father

- Final Fantasy VI: Celes' suicide attempt

- Chrono Trigger: Mainly Lavos & Magus (and the bad ending: BUT... THE FUTURE REFUSED TO CHANGE.)

- Metroid Prime 2: Freaking zombie space marines

- Bioshock: Oh, that poor puppy! :'(

- Portal: THE CAKE IS A LIE!

- Pokemon X & Y: Dat Graphics!