Your favourite OMFG moment in Gaming

[Zenoth]

So many...

I'll place some of them in a spoiler tag just in case, even for old games, we never know! If there's no spoiler tag then there's no real spoilers don't worry.

º Mario Brothers 2

Spoiler

It... wait... it was a DREAM?! ZOMG!!!

lol, now that gives me good memories alright.

º Star Fox

Spoiler

At the end, right after finishing the battle against Andross, and having to get the heck out of its base before it completely blows up, with the accelerated stress-injected music and explosions popping out left and right as you barrel roll and strafe obstacles on your way back to the surface à-la Millennium Falcon in Return of the Jedi made that a golden moment in video gaming history for me. And what added to the surprise was the fact that I thought that the credits would start rolling immediately after Andross was defeated, you know, like in pretty much any games out there, but noooooo... Nintendo is more intelligent than that! Let's make the player believe the game is finished, but then let's make him realize that he has to grab his controller again and stop waiting for the credits because he actually has to get out of there himself!

º Half-Life

Spoiler

The one moment in Half-Life that shocked me was its introduction and the following Unforeseen Consequences chapter. I really mean it when I say that the whole game was a complete blast, and I understood why then that it was labeled the best FPS of all time. But if I really have to compress the amazement into a more constrained moment, then I cannot possibly avoid mentioning its introduction. That you, the player, simply arrive at work on a seemingly "normal day" and see the "living environment" around you as your train makes its way to the Sector C Test Labs, to familiarize yourself with the context and location, and then to send you "to work" and finally get to push that "purest sample yet" into that energy beam and causing a Resonance Cascade... it was something I could have imagined only happening in a Hollywood movie, especially considering that it was for a FPS game, a genre which until then perhaps never really benefited from a good and well-told story.

º Half-Life 2: Episode Two

Spoiler

When it comes to gaming, in general, I am very rarely emotionally "taken" by any given events, but although being rare it does happen from time to time, when a moment is very well crafted and executed, if everything the developers tried to do is indeed well done, it can lead to the result they expected us to experience. The Half-Life franchise is well known by now for the quality of its story-telling, by the interaction of the characters rather than via CGI, Hollywood-esque cut-scenes. But to be honest only Episode Two really managed to grab me by the emotions, and on three different occasions at that.

You probably know where I'm going by now. And yes, like many others, I thought that the most poignant scene in Episode Two is something happening very rarely in video gaming. An event that doesn't make the game's ending finish with hugs, roses, smiles and celebrations. Nope, Episode Two is much more reminiscent to Empire Strikes Back than the triumph of good over evil in Return of the King. Indeed, the ending of Episode Two, from the moment Eli realizes the implications and influences of the then "seemingly unknown to everyone but you" G-Man, passing by your frustrating inability to react to Eli's death following by her daughter's reaction, with the ending music... the pacing of the whole thing... everything. All elements were perfectly executed, in my opinion, making it the very best ending to any first-person-shooter game that I can think of to date.

º Red Faction

There's one simple thing that Red Faction did that none other had ever done before, and that none (devs) other had done even years afterwards, and is still very uncommon to see even to this day in general gaming. It was its Geo-Mod technology, allowing explosives and other powerful weapons to literally blow walls and many man-made structures alike through the whole game and even sometimes reveal secret caches and passages. That's the one thing that really blew me away when I first used a C4 charge on a target-marked wall in the beginning, I had salmon-sized wide open eyes, mouth closed and speechless for a good minute, just thinking of the "future games all using this technology", but alas, the "future games" were mostly static for God knows what reasons.

º Shadow Man

Spoiler

What a creepy, eerie and macabre game that is. Specifically, for those of you who played the game and remember the Playrooms, you know what I'm talking about. For those who don't know about Shadow Man, or just don't remember enough of it, or never finished it and didn't get the "chance" to get to that part of the game, then just think about every word that you know of that can be linked to inhumanity, cruelty and evil. It wasn't particularly causing a "disgusting" feeling like a very good horror movie could potentially do, but was simply shocking beyond measure for a video game, at least for me, and within the context of the game it wasn't something I was actually expecting to see, much less to hear (referring to that "music").

If you want to get an idea of what it was, and why the game was banned in certain countries (such as in Germany if my memory serves me well, I might have to Google that one to make sure) due in part to that level and its content, then go on YouTube and search for "Shadow Man", "Playroom" and/or "Music", combine those key words and listen. Then put that in a context of a game in which the graphics were almost unequaled, and imagine a place where horror happened, and still happens as you pass by for your main quest. Now, of course, retrospectively looking at it again (I still own it, for the PC though) it all seems bland and doesn't seem to be that gross in any sense of the word, at least certainly not as much as I seem to want to put it as, but back then, yes, it was shocking, but mostly disturbing.

º Turok: Dinosaur Hunter

The whole thing was "OMG" stuff going on (prior to Goldeneye 007). The graphics, fluid movement, death animations (OMG the animations, seriously). The weapons, and of course the famous T-Rex, which was so freaking impressive at the time, it also reminded me of the first time I saw the T-Rex in the original Tomb Raider (I think it was? or it was in TR2, can't recall right now for sure).

º Turok 2: Seeds of Evil

Again, everything, mostly graphics and animations (along with music). Also, the Cerebral Bore and the Flame Thrower effects were mind-blowing (well, in the CB's case it was rather skull-shattering).

º Turok 3: Shadow of Oblivion

The truly "OMG" impressively well done mouth/lip sync animations on the characters during in-game scripted cut-scenes, at the time it was really something to behold, at least as far as the N64 was concerned.

º S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl

Its atmosphere, I think it's nigh unequaled to this day as far as first-person-shooters are concerned (at least single-player ones, with a campaign I mean). Also, the Agroprom sewers... the X-18 Labs... OMG... I WANT TO GET OUT OF HERE!!! Ah, yes, good memories (well... yeah I guess, still stressed just thinking about it).

º Mass Effect 1

The whole thing?

Alright I'll be more precise then.

Spoiler

What wow'ed me, or "OMG'ed" me are some of the most revealing moments basically. Additionally, I'm referring to my reactions when I learned those things during my very first play-through of the game, at that point knowing nothing beforehand of the whole ME franchise nor its universe.

When I learned that the Geth were actually built by the Quarians, at which point I started thinking that the Quarians (and Tali) might be working with Saren. When I learned about the whole Indoctrination process thanks (apparently, at that point) to that strange and unknown Saren's flagship, at which point I started thinking that Mass Effect was some sort of a "guess who is your friend, and guess who isn't" puzzle game (lol, really I just couldn't seem to trust any characters anymore, so who is next on the Indoctrination list?). Of course, when I learned that Saren's flagship actually IS a motherfreaking REAPER of all things! ZOMG?! And, the epitome of revelations of ME1 (for me), the speech given by Sovereign himself (or rather... "itself") on Virmire, specifically the «You exist because we allow it, and you will end because we demand it» part, which sent some chills up my spine the first time I heard it, and still sounds intimidating to this day.

º Mass Effect 2

Spoiler

Tali's loyalty mission. The addition (completely unexpected) of a friendly Geth to the party. The exclusion of Wrex as a party member (if still alive after ME1 that is), which I thought was immensely disappointing (I like Wrex). The exclusion of Liara as a party member (prior to Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC). The announcement and release of the Shadow Broker DLC. The escape (well, at least well attempted for a moment) of Jack and the resulting pursuit of her, and for her, which I thought was a nice mission concept (go get "Jack", very dangerous guy, cool, whoa he just escaped, but we need him! cool, let's run after him, just follow the holes in the walls and the bodies on the ground, easier that way.. and... "wait, Jack is a GIRL?! OMG!").

Also, the revelation that at some point in time the Collectors were Protheans (I liked that revelation, although not implying much by the time ME2's events occur), it's still the only "interesting" part I can think of about the Collectors, an otherwise boring antagonist in the game. Additionally, the revelation of the Human-Reaper hybrid, which I thought was a very ridiculous concept, and honestly a boring fight, it left me "OMG" out of disbelief that it was THAT thing that concluded ME2. And, perhaps finally, the fact that we get to chose if we want to keep the Collectors base, or destroy it... although I just don't like the actual dialog that presents us with the choices, between Shepard and the Illusive Man, which I thought was of abysmal quality, especially coming from Shepard, regardless of him or her being Paragon or Renegade.

º Bioshock

The whole

Spoiler

"would you kindly" plot twist

, very well done in my opinion, I never expected it, came out of the blue and I thought "finally a neat plot twist, simple but effective, in a FPS game, was about damn time!".

º Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

Well I don't think I really have to go in details but... just in case, for me it was of course learning that

Spoiler

my character is in fact Darth Raven, not only that but perhaps more importantly that it also explains why making my way to either the Dark or Light side of the Force makes sense (by in-game choices), since the character's memory was basically wiped out by the Jedi, which effectively allows the player to pave his or her way during the narrative.

Good plot twist indeed and I never expected it.

º Fallout 3

Spoiler

When at some point in one of my games I realized that the owner of the Tenpenny Tower was about to blow up the town of Megaton, and did it, I was kinda blown away... no pun intended.

º Halo: Combat Evolved

Well, technically the game impressed me a lot. The details, the scope, the music, graphics, etc. But story-wise I kinda went "OMG" when I realized that

Spoiler

the whole Halo itself was created to actually contain the Flood, which could otherwise spread across the whole galaxy, and that in turn the only way to stop them would be to starve them to death by using the actual Halo not as a containment facility but as a weapon.

I thought that it was kinda neat.

º The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

Coming out of the sewers for the first time, seeing the open world before you, then opening the map, seeing your location and then realizing how big the whole thing is, then going OMG?!

º Mortal Kombat (Arcade, original)

When I first saw Sub-Zero's spine rip Finish Him, and also when I first saw the bottom of the pit level and the resulting blood splatter after the character fell in it. I just couldn't believe the amount of violence (and fun!) of the game back then.

º Mario 64

The first time seeing it, I couldn't believe how "really 3D" it looked, felt and played, pure amazement.

º Donkey Kong Country (original, SNES)

The graphics, animations and music, amazing!

º Killer Instinct (original, Arcade)

The graphics, music, animations, sounds, everything! I just wanted to buy the damn arcade.

º Left 4 Dead (lol yeah)

The first time I had a horde running at me, I really went "OMG WTF!" and started shooting frantically. I was also playing late at night with my headset, and I was immersed. I just never expected to see 20+ zombies RUNNING at me... walking slowly? Sure! They're zombies, right? But RUNNING?! I remember thinking "ok this game is gonna be awesome, it has running zombies, and they bash you, they don't want to eat, they want to kick your ass!". Man, I miss that game... basically dead by now (err... no pun intended if anything).

º Far Cry

The graphics, of course, but more specifically the first time I got to that beach in the first level and saw the water... "OMG!".

º Prey

Spoiler

The first 20 minutes or so of the game. It reminded me of Half-Life to some extent at first (going home, normal day/night stuff going), then suddenly something completely unexpected and right out of the big blue screws your day up, along with your girlfriend too (especially later on, without spoiling it too much). I still think to this day that Prey is very much under-rated, although not that much of a great game by itself, there's much better, but really it's still a very solid game, it has good moments and it has some plot twists that I thought were nicely done and well presented.

Well anyway... I could keep coming with other such moments for days, there's just too many so I'll stop right now before this turns into a novel.

 

[thejunglegod]

@Zenoth : Wow dude, thats a lot and i agree in almost all cases except those that ive played of course.

The Oblivion moment is one of the most memorable and beautiful moments I've come across in a game. When i was in the sewers with the King and the guards, i kept wondering to myself "what is the big bloody deal with this game? seems ordinary". Then i stepped out. A butterfly flew past me, the sun hit my eye, a beautiful white ruin out in front, the sparkling water, a mudcrab, lush green terrain and huge fcking mountains. All that with Jeremy Soule's magic kicking in. Moments like these are rare. Very rare.

 

[Sulaco]

@Zenoth and thejunglegod

...I take it you had never played Morrowind?? Oblivion was great, but it was certainly nowhere near unprecedented. Morrowind's vast world was ever bigger, and roughly 5 years earlier. THAT was a much bigger, better "omfg" moment.

 

[thejunglegod]

I did play Morrowind. And i would like to mention that the ending is the best among the Elder Scrolls series. But I'm talking about that moment when a beautiful world hit you smack in the face just as you first stepped out of the sewers.

 

[Zenoth]

@Zenoth and thejunglegod

...I take it you had never played Morrowind?? Oblivion was great, but it was certainly nowhere near unprecedented. Morrowind's vast world was ever bigger, and roughly 5 years earlier. THAT was a much bigger, better "omfg" moment.

Well you're not referring to a "moment"' you're talking about an entire game's vast world. I've played Morrowind, and it was awesome, but arriving at the docks in Morrowind compared to having the vast open world almost devouring you as you step out of the sewers in Oblivion is vastly different as a moment, which is what we're talking about as far as the points I myself was referring to in Oblivion, both superb games anyway in the end.

And... side note, I just have to say it... but why oh why is it that in similar threads when someone simply does not mention a specific game that automatically it should mean that the person in question never played it? Do you want me to actually create a list of every single video games I've played within the past twenty years? Sorry but this irks me.

*Omits to mention Morrowind*

«OMG, look! He didn't mention Morrowind! That means he never played it!» <-- (OMG moment right there)

 

[Sulaco]

Well you're not referring to a "moment"' you're talking about an entire game's vast world. I've played Morrowind, and it was awesome, but arriving at the docks in Morrowind compared to having the vast open world almost devouring you as you step out of the sewers in Oblivion is vastly different as a moment, which is what we're talking about as far as the points I myself was referring to in Oblivion, both superb games anyway in the end.

And... side note, I just have to say it... but why oh why is it that in similar threads when someone simply does not mention a specific game that automatically it should mean that the person in question never played it? Do you want me to actually create a list of every single video games I've played within the past twenty years? Sorry but this irks me.

*Omits to mention Morrowind*

«OMG, look! He didn't mention Morrowind! That means he never played it!» <-- (OMG moment right there)

Chill out.

First off, who said I wasn't talking about a moment? The moment of emerging from the sewers was not nearly as much of a "OMFG" moment as leaving the little house by the docks in Morrowind. It was still very exciting, but it had been done before, which was my point. That shock and awe of stepping into a new world, while always exciting, never quite captures the excitement of the first time you experience it.

For the record, I sunk 300 hours into Oblivion and enjoyed it more overall than Morrowind (shocking around here), but speaking specifically of being "wowed" by seeing the open world of Oblivion for the first time, it was simply lessened slightly by experiencing Morrowind's "OMG" years before.

As a side note, comparing the time you step out of the sewers in Oblivion to stepping off the docks in Morrowind is quite unfair. You don't leave the sewers for 15-20 minutes at least, whereas you're on the dock within a minute or two of starting Morrowind. Not the same. A closer comparison would be leaving the little house/village where you create your character. That was the point I was making.

 

[thejunglegod]

Max Payne : The dream/nightmare level, where Max can hear his baby crying was a serious OMFG level too.

 

[Zenoth]

Chill out.

First off, who said I wasn't talking about a moment? The moment of emerging from the sewers was not nearly as much of a "OMFG" moment as leaving the little house by the docks in Morrowind. It was still very exciting, but it had been done before, which was my point. That shock and awe of stepping into a new world, while always exciting, never quite captures the excitement of the first time you experience it.

For the record, I sunk 300 hours into Oblivion and enjoyed it more overall than Morrowind (shocking around here), but speaking specifically of being "wowed" by seeing the open world of Oblivion for the first time, it was simply lessened slightly by experiencing Morrowind's "OMG" years before.

As a side note, comparing the time you step out of the sewers in Oblivion to stepping off the docks in Morrowind is quite unfair. You don't leave the sewers for 15-20 minutes at least, whereas you're on the dock within a minute or two of starting Morrowind. Not the same. A closer comparison would be leaving the little house/village where you create your character. That was the point I was making.

Well this is better and understandable, why didn't you just explain it this way in the first place rather than just pretending I had never played Morrowind? Anyway, sure I agree it had been done before with Morrowind which surely explains why some people were not as impressed by Oblivion, but in my case, it did, to each their own.

 

[Sidekicknichola]

Standout moments to me over the years:

* First time playing Battlefield 2 online... just so awesome in every sinlge way, first game I can remember to have a full-blown "war" feel to it

*GTA 3 was amazing because I could sit and play a game for hours without actually touching the story .... the other GTA games after have been great too, but 3 was kind of the first of the "new" GTAs.

*HL2 - all of it, just every minute of that game was so great.

*Super Mario 2 - took me forever to actually beat the game, just the joy of finally doing it

*Donkey Kong - and time I play with my fiance' she just owns me, so is sooo damn good at that game.

 

[Pocatello]

The original Half-Life, the headcrabs scared me , and then marines start chasing the main character. Half-Life 2, a lot of wow moments for me. Good times.

 

[ImpulsE69]

Finally beating Super Ghouls n Ghosts only to be told I had to do it all over again because I didn't find the hidden chalice. Yea...that was definitely an OMFG in a bad way.

The ending of HL:Ep2. Completely unexpected

The moment the Whale was exposed in FF2(FF4).

Playing a demo of Stonekeep. You're running around the dungeon when the Dark Knight appears and talks to you (fully animated and voice). I think it was the first time I'd seen anything like that on a PC and that was pretty OMFG at the time.

Yea most of mine are old games. Most games don't make me go OMFG these days unless they just piss me off

 

[pugh]

Not knowing a world existed out side of the Warrens in Paineel. Lvled up to 20 there and never knew that the world was larger than that In Everquest lol. I met a bard and a Shadowknight who ran me across the world. Was so much fun.

Another was seeing the Avatar of War in Kael. Man was I excited back then..

 

[Red Storm]

Finding the NWVault website for the first time. That blew my mind and extended the life of Neverwinter Nights by a good 5-6 years.

 

[Udgnim]

link?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AKVJEOSGRM

 

[shortylickens]

Oh, and the obvious Fallout/Elder Scrolls the very first time you step out into world and see how awesome it is.

 

[slightlyhuman]

first cap i made in quake 2 ctf. man those were the days. 500 ping to boot.

still play weekly 8v8s on ctf/quake2

 

[skipsneeky2]

"Would you kindly."

When the flashbacks of fontaine saying "would you kindly" to command him happened and he revealed his real identity,that gave me goosebumps cause it just threw you off.

Incredibly i never finished that game nor picked up the sequel as i still wanna finish the first,but BC2 and BF3 basically steal all my free gaming time making it impossible to do LOL.

 

[SMOGZINN]

The first time I beat Rogue. I never cheated and copied my save games (don't think it ever even occured to me) and it took me nearly 3 years of play.

 

[thespyder]

Finding the NWVault website for the first time. That blew my mind and extended the life of Neverwinter Nights by a good 5-6 years.

This. Also the PW community is still going strong and there are some really impressive worlds to play on.

 

[amish]

for all the people talking about morrowind and oblivion; and how big and scary one was over the other. both don't hold a candle to Daggerfall. that buggy unplayable bastard (which was scary enough) was also huge. it had every province of tamriel. there wasn't a race to run accross the map in 10 minutes. it was just too big.

and it also had the ghost of the emperor screaming "VENNNNNNNGENNNNNNCEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!" within the city at night. scared the crap out of me so much that i'd turn my sound off whenever i was in the city at night. it made sneaking around picking locks to stores a little nerve wracking.

 

[zinfamous]

1992: Playing Final Fantasy II on SNES. Tellah casts Meteo.

9999.

Rydia returns.

:awe:

That was probably the only game that ever gave me such moments.

 

[NoSoup4You]

1992: Playing Final Fantasy II on SNES. Tellah casts Meteo.

9999.

Polom and Porom getting turned to stone, and wondering if you'd somehow be able to save them (answer = nope! )

And in Final Fantasy III on SNES (or FF6 in Japan), when Kefka actually manages to destroy the world... that was pretty nuts.

 

[birthdaymonkey]

Rydia returns.

:awe:

That was probably the only game that ever gave me such moments.

Me too! Even though FF3/6 was a more polished game, Square lost something after 2/4. I think it had something to do with the character design. Everyone in FF2 was unique in their strengths, weaknesses, and abilities. In subsequent installments every character became customizable. Then FF7... the beginning of the end. Or maybe I just grew up.

 

[thejunglegod]

Sigh...i missed out on so many "classics" just cos i didn't own a PC or a console when i was young. Yeah, i did have the old nintendo though, with Super Mario Bros., Contra and all that.
I feel sheepish, but i'll admit it. "Duck Hunt" was a pretty OMFG moment for me, cos to use a gun which could shoot ducks in my TV is awesome. Technology like that was unheard of at that time.

 

[Via]

Finally understanding the design shop and it's limitless possibilties in Alpha Centauri was an OMFG moment for me.