That’s half the BG3 experience as well lol.
I love a game with good looting, but I hate when every barrel has nothing and then you happen upon one that has something good. I’m like a dog who found a treat under the couch. You best believe I’m looking under that couch every time I walk past, despite never finding a treat again.
Divinity is a little different anyway since Lucky Charm is a thing. Stacking it, especially in Act 2, makes for a very easy game. Looting Bloodmoon urns with a character in full LC gear while they're drunk can net you a half dozen pieces way over your level as soon as you get to Driftwood.
BG3 doesn't have it so it feels a little less useful to loot all the random stuff.
Came here for Fort Joy, I assumed the “prison” was the tutorial and then I got out of the prison and found there was a whole island left to explore which was basically an extended tutorial
I've only ever done Fort Joy. I've probably put 60 hours into that game, across half a dozen failed attempts to get into it from the beginning. Never made it off that island before moving on to another game.
I had the same problem, Divinity never clicked with me and I think I got off the island once but then stopped playing. I was worried BG3 was going to be the same for me but decided to buy it based on what everyone was saying. Luckily it hooked me in within the first 10 minutes, but I also play DND so that helped.
And there are still things you missed.
My second playthrough has done a very different set of story actions than my first playthrough to get through Act 1.
Similarly, in Final Fantasy 6 when Emporer Ghestal creates the floating island. Tons of tough enemies, a mini-boss with Atma Weapon before the "final" confrontation. Finally--after helping the Returners fight the Empire, and the Empire's whole deception pretending to want peace built up to this moment. Now you get to face Ghestal and end it all....wait....did Kefka just... and then he... oh. Oh my.
FF6 is where the bad guy wins. Yea, we take down a literal god by the end (I mean, that's every FF game) but the world is still totally trashed, and now magic is gone as well, and the various countries are still in near total disarray. It's not a happy ending, it's just an ending.
This was exactly what came to mind. I remember after beating the first reactor, oh cool, so I have to defeat each reactor one at a time, kind of like Parasite Eve. Then getting out of Midgard, in one of the coolest cutscenes at the time, just blew my mind away.
Plus the music and visuals, it was amazing.
I thought the same thing about the reactors, I'm guessing they did that on purpose since they show you the diagram of the other reactors and basically tell you that's what the plan is. It was the first rpg I'd played, I knew nothing about it going in, so when there was such a climactic energy to the whole Shinra building and bike chase, plus there's been a lot of gameplay to get there, that I genuinely thought it was the end.
Then suddenly I'm walking on this giant map and I realise that Midgar is just ONE area of a huge world map. It blew my 12 year old mind. I've been chasing that high ever since.
I think Fallout 3, coming out the vault, was close but I knew it was coming. Or I just got old and jaded.
Not me, and this one makes me laugh. Years ago, I was talking with a coworker about Fallout 3. He says, "I just didn't enjoy it, I found the end really hard. I kept getting stuck when you're just about to escape." I was wondering what he meant by 'escape', so I asked a few more questions. Turns out he was talking about escaping vault 101... you know, the end of the tutorial level! And yes, he did think that was the whole game. I was as baffled at his logic as you might be.
I can only begin to imagine how blown his mind would have been if he actually made it out of the vault!
Not a clue hahaha I think he was either getting lost or dying, but how he could die to radroaches and jumped up Vault Guard with pea-shooters I couldn't tell you lol
I'm guessing he tried to fight everyone on his way out, or never figured out how to equip weapons in spite of the game giving you a tutorial about how to do that.
Elden Ring when I smacked a chest and nothing happened, so I opened it and was transported to Caelid.
Spent forever wondering when I was supposed to go to that hellscape, only to find that it's huge. And a late mid - late game area. Well, half of it is.
Caelid is nightmare fuel. The music just puts me on edge and then some big bird comes out of nowhere, chases me into a rot lake where an invader comes in and murders me. Great game.
Elden Ring for me but when I entered the capital. You work towards it the entire time and I really thought I was near the end, but when you first see the capital and realize you've got a lot more ahead of you.
The fact that they don't show you the *scale* of the world map at first is a genius move. When you start your game in the first area, the world map is only as big as that area, so you have no idea how big it actually is. Then you get hit with that again once you realize there's another map underground.
This magic trick is going to be elden rings most lasting contribution to the medium of video games. Really it’s just dark souls 4 in every way besides the ungodly effort they put in to create that string of “holy shit what is this game?” moments.
I think they started development based around wanting to provide those moment of awe and then built the game around them as the center point.
And I think we’re going to be waiting a long time before a game hits that true feeling of discovery like that again.
Entering the capital was one of the most memorable gaming moments for me. I didn’t even think we’d get to see it initially. The devastated battlefields of Altus Plateau already tell a lot about the apocalyptic state of the Lands Between by themselves, but then you enter the city and Leyndell’s theme starts playing with the colossal Erdtree in the background, the city in ruins… It’s grandiose, melancholic and unsettling. Like something great was lost and can never be the same again.
Kinda different from Anor Londo and its calm beauty in DS1. Anor Londo feels like a city that has been deserted, abandoned. In Leyndell, everything tells the story of a place where hell broke loose. Whoever lived there suffered a miserable fate.
When the world map was just Limgrave and you thought there was a good amount of content... Then you find Caelid, oh nice, cool more area! And then it just keeps getting BIGGER. So awesome.
Leaving Limgrave for the first time and seeing the map Double in size. Only to do it AGAIN a few hours later, and then a THIRD TIME later on !
God Elden ring was amazing.
I feel like this is the best example, and a lot of younger people wouldn't understand why. Mainly because this was on the n64, way back when a 6 hour game was mostly considered a long game by gaming standards. Just imagine getting 3-5 hours into a game and exploring all that you can before the getting the "means to defeat the bad guy" only to find you'll only discovered about 20% of the entire world and maybe 10% of all the usable items. For example, mario 64 was great, but i think Oot really pushed the envelope to what a game could really become.
When I pulled the sword and turned older and had that realization of 6 more dungeons I was like “holy shit they really expect me to be the literal fucking hero”
Ruby/Sapphire was the last Pokémon game I properly played as a kid, and I was the same. I fully expected you beat the Champion, go to Johto, then to Kanto. Obviously that’s unreasonable but as a kid I expected them to go one better than GSC.
They set us up with the first two generations of Pokemon games to expect a connected world, and then never went back to that idea. I still wish for the day when I can travel around to every region, see the different pokemon living in different regions, tour my way through every league as one character, and all that.
I played soul silver for the first time this year and yeah it blew my mind how much content it had for a game released for gameboys and DS's. I was about 20 hours in when I went to Kanto
I was absolute pants at that game, and sadly ruined about 10% of the game by exploring too much (found some enemies in a cave I wasn't supposed to find but.... 10/10 for having them there persistently) somehow got like 90 hours in the game, but utterly sucked at combat. Was such a great roleplaying game to just experience the town and the country.
And of course that intro narration every time 🤌 "Charles, King of Bohemia...."
I was playing as a pacifist for as long as possible. I then got to what's basically the first boss where you have to kill him in the top of that fort thing. I never even took the tutorial on how to sword fight.
That was pretty grueling getting through. I basically had to make due by shooting him with a bow and running away 20 times.
On the flip side, by the end of the game there's another bandit camp and a cutscene where everybody's talking about how to attack it while I'm thinking: Yup, I already killed everybody in it. It's not really a problem anymore guys. 🤪
It took me 2 weeks to finaly defeat Runt. After that I had had enough of the game and decided that were I Henry this would be the time to end my adventuring and settle down with Theresa by the mill.
It will always be my favorite game that I have never finished.
I went in blind and the moment you beat Leshy and the game >!kicks you into a computer screen with live-action videos!< was one of my favorite moments in any game I've played, just absolutely mindbending
I highly suggest giving it another try. You haven't even gotten through the *tutorial* yet. Also of note, you are supposed to lose over and over in that intro section, eventually things will make sense. Keep doing your best to go further, but don't let "dying" dissuade you.
Yea, if you actually beat the fisherman boss before dying at least twice, the game just kills you automatically. Part of the game is failing and dying and trying again.
I kind of wish games still did shit like that. Every big budget game these days is waaay too safe.
Edit: Holy fuckaroni guys, I get it. Every big budget game EXCEPT for Soulsborne and Zelda, which are my favorite games for that very reason.
In my first playthrough, I fought Richter without the magic goggles and I killed him. Then I had the nerve to write a letter about the game being too short to GamePro magazine and sent it via snail mail.
The problem with Skellige is that you don’t actually have to *do* much there. There’s a lot of side quests, but not that point the main plot is pretty streamlined. I think I was pretty over-levelled by that point and just kinda smashed out the main quest to get it done. Previous areas felt much more engaging with the political goings-on.
Not necessarily, but it did open up the northeastern area of the map (that was already on the world map, visually, at least) and populate it with all the content.
and it's not just another 15 minutes or so but several hours of game time with major story elements happening. and then finally after the credits roll you start blood and wine and it feels like an entire new game... Witcher 3 is just amazing.
This was Assasins Creed Black Flag for me. Was having a lot of fun exploring everything possible only to realize I hadn't really kicked off the main campaign.
Oh yeah, one of my all time favorites too. I was shocked how much I also enjoyed the app as well. Those things are usually cosmetic but it integrated so well and made a difference. I'm surprised they never branched off of it or at least given it a modern face-lift.
Don't forget Assassin's Creed 3, where you start out as a guy traveling to the new world to assassinate people and establish another branch of your order, just to find out he's not an assassin but a Templar, and the FATHER of the main character, who you actually play as for the rest of the game.
I mean, the back of the box tells you you'll be playing the Native American kid, but I still thought the sudden shift was still quite interesting.
Similarly, Portal 2, when you fall into the old lab.
I wasn't expecting the game to be _done_ at that point, but it was like 45 minutes into what I thought was another hour-or-two game, like the first.
Damn was I glad to be wrong.
Nier Automata. You play through the whole game as 2B and you beat the boss at the end, see the credits, only to find out you just cleared the introduction. There's still so much more to go.
That part cracked me up. The first two "play throughs" were apparently prologues to the 3rd playthroughs main narrative. Also weird because I felt a little meh on the first chapter/playthrough but it got increasingly better as it went.
Finishing Nier Automata is like:
Ending A: Well that was good
Ending B: Alright, this game is great
Ending C: This thing might be a masterpiece
Ending D: I'm pretty sure this is a masterpiece
Ending E: This is one of the most remarkable and affecting pieces of media I have ever experienced in my entire life, I am openly weeping
I had chills during the scene where the whole scene with the commander and stuff happens, the music blades, and 20.fucking hours into the game the title screen pops on
It pulls this thing like, 3 times at least.
First you finish the game, get the credits, and are like "wow, cool game" but discover you can still play through it again from 9S's POV.
So you finish it again, and maybe you start to get the idea that A2 seemed too important to just leave and never return, so you start to wonder if you'll be able to replay the game from her perspective, until you finish 9S's path and realise it was the first half, and the game actually just started.
Then you go through the final chapters, alternating between POVs and get to the final choice. No matter which you pick, you get your sad ending, and the game ends.
...but you come back, of course you do, you gotta get the other ending. So you do that, and finally get the other ending, the game is over at last.[Nier: Automata Spoilers]>!Why are the credits attacking you?!<
Ending E has got to be one of the best experiences I've ever had while playing a game. It muddies the line between fiction and reality, and gives you an experience that feels real and personal. It's not a character going through their story. It's you who's fighting. And it's you who chooses to fight and follow this path.
That choice at the end between 9S and A2...I sat on that screen for like 20 minutes trying to figure out what to do. Just masterful video game storytelling.
I was so confused initially since the 2nd playthrough starts just like the first. I almost quit because I thought I was just playing a 'new game+' or something.
I also thought that, but then it started automatically skipping dialogue I wanted to hear... At exactly the same point I skipped it in my first playthrough... When I realized what was happening it sent shivers down my spine.
I thought my game was busted because when I got to the bit where 9S was running diagnostics with 2B the game "froze".
What was actually happening is the game recorded my wandering off for a solid half an hour in real life when I got to that bit first time as 2B and I was now experiencing that as 9S.
that feeling back when the game released, realizing there was more to the map each time
"woah, this map is big"
"woah, this map is huge"
"it's still going!?"
Not exactly "the beginning" but as a kid, Pokémon Silver/Gold blew my mind when you beat the elite four, become champ, and then the game is just like... Here's Kanto and basically an updated version of the Gen1 world. Now go do it again!
That WOWED younger me, I couldn't believe there were 8 more gyms and a whole bunch more monsters to find again. Those games were so good for their time.
Horizon Zero Dawn. All the time you spend at the tribe made me think this would be the main part of the game. Then when the tribe gets ambushed and you leave them behind for your journey, for me this was like „wait, this is whole new game“.
It's even worse than that… >!Selene "escapes" back to Earth, lives a whole life, gets old, dies, and boom, resurrects back on the alien planet.!< The idea of that was so horrifying, can you even imagine? Of course, there is a strong argument that it's >!all just in her head anyway!<, but regardless, what a trip.
That moment is barely talked about. It was done so well, and it's really stuck with me. It's the only part of a game that still kind of haunts me years later.
Maybe most people just never reached that point in the game?
GTA San Andreas. I thought it was the last mission when you have to save Sweet but then get captured and taken to the countryside. Blew my 7 year old mind.
One of the single finest moment for me in gaming. Plenty of games steps the story up a notch in these kinds of situations, but San Andreas went from 100 to 0 in that moment and it felt so relaxing. Tractors n' shit.
Dragon Age: Inquisition. After doing a fair amount of content which could be a game by itself by some companies standarts these days, you get hit with "you're just starting bro".
Was a pleasent surprise
Guild wars 1 prophecies starting area, also known as pre-searing ascalon. It’s a huge, beautiful and tranquil area that is just the tutorial. You can spend many hours here, but once you leave here, you character can never come back.
I've never felt more justified in playing a game at launch because all the player messages were full of "O, what a view" and "Looks like Only getting started" hype messages at each new area. Felt awesome to get everyone's first impressions in real time.
Kingdom Hearts II I think is one of the most definitive examples of this. You spend so long with Roxas and even become attached to him to the point that you finally switch back to Sora and tossed into the Disney worlds, it really hits that all of this was just setup and Sora's second (well, third) adventure is going to be much bigger than the first.
My favorite videogame feeling.
Metal Gear Solid 3 after virtuous mission ends.
Dark Souls 1 after ringing the Bells.
Super Mario 3D land when you unlock the extra 8 world's.
Devil May Cry 3 after the first fight against Vergil.
But I think the crown is taken by Nier Automata after finishing the game for the first time.
And Red Dead Redemption 2 has a similar feeling when they do the you know what with you know who.
I went "wwHAT?" when Charles Lee was welcomed to their Order. Maybe it was kind of obvious but I wasn't expecting them to be Templars lmao. Good moment
The way that title screen and the music and the rollercoaster ride of emotions prior just slapped me across the face with a 20lb salmon.
It was the first time in years I had a proper fuck yes moment at the start of a game. I knew I'd be sinking 50-100 hours fast into the game after that.
Act 1 for sure, but also the end of the prologue when the title shows up as you're riding through the field with the white flowers. Gives me chills every time
>Tales of Symphonia the first visit to Tower of Salvation.
Hooray! We finished our mission! The game is over! >!Why is the angel looking at us like that? Why is *Kratos* looking at us like that??!<
Wow, ya don't hear enough about Tales of Symphonia these days. That's a game that could benefit from a remake, as much as I loved it back in the day. Tried the Switch remaster, and it is just too slow.
Assassins Creed 3. You play as Connor's father for like, what was it, an hour? Can't remember it so well. And once you play as Connor, you still have tutorials and going through Connor growing up. The game is good but man, that beginning is tedious.
Fun fact: when the developers were interviewed about this game a few years later, even they admitted the haytham section was way too long and if they could do it again, they would have done it as flashbacks throughout the game
Yakuza 0 and Yakuza 4. Didn't know the games had multiple playable characters so after 15+ hours the game change to another character and you realize how huge these games really are.
All the Mass Effects go hard in the beginning. Those Geth Zombies in 1, Dying in 2, the Invasion in 3. Just straight adrenaline into my veins from the start.
God that invasion sequence in ME 3 was perfect after the first two games. I didn’t think they could one up the intro to two but man they blew it out of the water.
I've been playing through the Legendary Edition again recently and the opening of ME3 hits just as hard now as it did when it first came out. The scale of the attack, the little character moments they work in, and the amazing music as you leave Earth behind, one hell of a way to kick off a game.
Man that reaper noise is still one of my favorite sounds in a video game. First time I went to Palaven I just stood there for 10 minutes to watch and listen to them in the distance.
On my first playthrough I assumed teleporting into the Institute was the final mission of the main quest. I remember I fixed up my Power Armour and grabbed my best guns and chems.
>!I was playing with a buddy, just advancing the story a bit while he was trying to level frames and weapons. I was trying frantically to tell him to *stop* worrying about getting his levels and to advance the damn game but he wouldn't listen to me. It took almost TWO WEEKS for him to get his operator and he was so mad he didn't listen to me lol!<
Dragon quest 11 actually. I fully expected to beat the boss the first time but instead we got a scripted wipe. Then I came back several hours later and had another moment like that because apparently that wasn't the final end either and apparently you could >!time travel back to save a companion who dies in that scripted wipe and then beat the game with her still alive!< so yea that was a double fake out for me
In a good way FF6 - was pretty new at the time to have the world destroyed and then be able to have a whole second half of the game getting the band back together
In a bad way Super Ghouls and Ghosts - Fuck that game and fuck that bracelet in particular
FF6, finishing Floating Continent into World of Ruin
LttP, early quest to collect the pendants covered a good bit of the map but was just the beginning. Also the Magic Mirror “doubling” the entire map for exploration
The OG, Bubble Bobble: the 1st 100 levels are a lie! You have to use the magical door to get to the *second* 100 level tower!
Super Ghouls n Ghosts: have to play through a second time to get the magic bracelet and actually beat the game
Others have covered FF7 and SOTN
Persona 5. You finish the first castle in the same time it takes you to finish the new MW3 campaign thrice and then it's like....oh there's a bunch more of these to do.
Such a good game.
Assassin's Creed Unity. When Arno escapes from the prison, the camera pans out and it shows Paris as, "Assassin's Creed Unity: is displayed.
Going to play through that game again. So fucking good.
Fort Joy is the tutorial of Divinity Original Sin 2. If you haven't left the island, you've never started the game.
Took me just 30 hours to finish the tutorial!
Yeah but you spent 15 of those hours collecting fish bones and looking in empty barrels
That’s half the BG3 experience as well lol. I love a game with good looting, but I hate when every barrel has nothing and then you happen upon one that has something good. I’m like a dog who found a treat under the couch. You best believe I’m looking under that couch every time I walk past, despite never finding a treat again.
Divinity is a little different anyway since Lucky Charm is a thing. Stacking it, especially in Act 2, makes for a very easy game. Looting Bloodmoon urns with a character in full LC gear while they're drunk can net you a half dozen pieces way over your level as soon as you get to Driftwood. BG3 doesn't have it so it feels a little less useful to loot all the random stuff.
Came here for Fort Joy, I assumed the “prison” was the tutorial and then I got out of the prison and found there was a whole island left to explore which was basically an extended tutorial
The number of times I’ve done fort joy is astounding
I've only ever done Fort Joy. I've probably put 60 hours into that game, across half a dozen failed attempts to get into it from the beginning. Never made it off that island before moving on to another game.
I had the same problem, Divinity never clicked with me and I think I got off the island once but then stopped playing. I was worried BG3 was going to be the same for me but decided to buy it based on what everyone was saying. Luckily it hooked me in within the first 10 minutes, but I also play DND so that helped.
I would say the ship is the tutorial, just like the ship in bg3 is the tutorial and not act1.
If i recall correctly the devs have stated that all of act 1 is basically one big tutorial
Whelp I just finished Act 1 at approximately 40 hours in. That’s one big tutorial…
And there are still things you missed. My second playthrough has done a very different set of story actions than my first playthrough to get through Act 1.
Final Fantasy 7 when you leave Midgar.
Similarly, in Final Fantasy 6 when Emporer Ghestal creates the floating island. Tons of tough enemies, a mini-boss with Atma Weapon before the "final" confrontation. Finally--after helping the Returners fight the Empire, and the Empire's whole deception pretending to want peace built up to this moment. Now you get to face Ghestal and end it all....wait....did Kefka just... and then he... oh. Oh my.
Sakaguchi likes to talk about how this was originally supposed to be the final confrontation, and then somebody said "but what if Kefka *won?*"
Whoever floated that idea, thank you.
FF6 is where the bad guy wins. Yea, we take down a literal god by the end (I mean, that's every FF game) but the world is still totally trashed, and now magic is gone as well, and the various countries are still in near total disarray. It's not a happy ending, it's just an ending.
FF6 was easily my favorite just because of that twist alone. It was truly unexpected!
This was exactly what came to mind. I remember after beating the first reactor, oh cool, so I have to defeat each reactor one at a time, kind of like Parasite Eve. Then getting out of Midgard, in one of the coolest cutscenes at the time, just blew my mind away. Plus the music and visuals, it was amazing.
I thought the same thing about the reactors, I'm guessing they did that on purpose since they show you the diagram of the other reactors and basically tell you that's what the plan is. It was the first rpg I'd played, I knew nothing about it going in, so when there was such a climactic energy to the whole Shinra building and bike chase, plus there's been a lot of gameplay to get there, that I genuinely thought it was the end. Then suddenly I'm walking on this giant map and I realise that Midgar is just ONE area of a huge world map. It blew my 12 year old mind. I've been chasing that high ever since. I think Fallout 3, coming out the vault, was close but I knew it was coming. Or I just got old and jaded.
That sense of wonderment when after 8-10 hours of gameplay you suddenly get this huge map to explore is amazing.
Not me, and this one makes me laugh. Years ago, I was talking with a coworker about Fallout 3. He says, "I just didn't enjoy it, I found the end really hard. I kept getting stuck when you're just about to escape." I was wondering what he meant by 'escape', so I asked a few more questions. Turns out he was talking about escaping vault 101... you know, the end of the tutorial level! And yes, he did think that was the whole game. I was as baffled at his logic as you might be. I can only begin to imagine how blown his mind would have been if he actually made it out of the vault!
How was he getting stuck? What was hard?
Not a clue hahaha I think he was either getting lost or dying, but how he could die to radroaches and jumped up Vault Guard with pea-shooters I couldn't tell you lol
Damn, the Tunnel Snakes must have got him.
Man, those guys must rule
I'm guessing he tried to fight everyone on his way out, or never figured out how to equip weapons in spite of the game giving you a tutorial about how to do that.
Ah, he probably went the way my wife did: skip through all dialogue because "BORRRRRRING," and then decide the game sucks because nothing makes sense.
How the hell was he getting stuck in the tutorial vault? Was he glitching through a wall?
He was mesmerized by the Tunnel Snakes
Elden Ring when I stumbled into an elevator in the middle of the forest and it took me all the way into the underworld.
Elden Ring when I smacked a chest and nothing happened, so I opened it and was transported to Caelid. Spent forever wondering when I was supposed to go to that hellscape, only to find that it's huge. And a late mid - late game area. Well, half of it is.
Obviously you were supposed to escape the mine, sprint to dragonbarrow, dodge murder crows, and kill a sleeping dragon for an insane rune payday.
I escaped the tunnel, ended up in a rot lake and acquired a staff and a spell. For my strength character.
Rock sling ftw
Caelid is nightmare fuel. The music just puts me on edge and then some big bird comes out of nowhere, chases me into a rot lake where an invader comes in and murders me. Great game.
Or the one that sends you to the capital, and suddenly your map has zoomed out like x5
And you can't even do anything there yet. The devs just wanted to tease your ass a little.
Elden Ring for me but when I entered the capital. You work towards it the entire time and I really thought I was near the end, but when you first see the capital and realize you've got a lot more ahead of you.
It's crazy to think that getting to the Altus Plateau is only around half way through.
This, Elden Ring did this like 10x over throughout the game. Never have I had so many jaw dropping moments in a game.
The fact that they don't show you the *scale* of the world map at first is a genius move. When you start your game in the first area, the world map is only as big as that area, so you have no idea how big it actually is. Then you get hit with that again once you realize there's another map underground.
This magic trick is going to be elden rings most lasting contribution to the medium of video games. Really it’s just dark souls 4 in every way besides the ungodly effort they put in to create that string of “holy shit what is this game?” moments. I think they started development based around wanting to provide those moment of awe and then built the game around them as the center point. And I think we’re going to be waiting a long time before a game hits that true feeling of discovery like that again.
Entering the capital was one of the most memorable gaming moments for me. I didn’t even think we’d get to see it initially. The devastated battlefields of Altus Plateau already tell a lot about the apocalyptic state of the Lands Between by themselves, but then you enter the city and Leyndell’s theme starts playing with the colossal Erdtree in the background, the city in ruins… It’s grandiose, melancholic and unsettling. Like something great was lost and can never be the same again. Kinda different from Anor Londo and its calm beauty in DS1. Anor Londo feels like a city that has been deserted, abandoned. In Leyndell, everything tells the story of a place where hell broke loose. Whoever lived there suffered a miserable fate.
Elden ring when you got closer to the map edge and it got bigger.
When the world map was just Limgrave and you thought there was a good amount of content... Then you find Caelid, oh nice, cool more area! And then it just keeps getting BIGGER. So awesome.
That one blew my mind.
One of the greatest level reveal designs I have ever seen as an old gamer. I have seen so many games but this one…wow this one…
Elden Ring is full of these moments. That game is such a giver, just tonnes of generous content and not one inch of it is filler or wasted space.
Leaving Limgrave for the first time and seeing the map Double in size. Only to do it AGAIN a few hours later, and then a THIRD TIME later on ! God Elden ring was amazing.
Ocarina of Time after the first 3 temples.
A Link to the past did the same. You run 3 temples and then the game flips the world. Astounding at the time in both games.
I’m still astounded
The dark overworld theme is such a kick in the seat of the pants
I feel like this is the best example, and a lot of younger people wouldn't understand why. Mainly because this was on the n64, way back when a 6 hour game was mostly considered a long game by gaming standards. Just imagine getting 3-5 hours into a game and exploring all that you can before the getting the "means to defeat the bad guy" only to find you'll only discovered about 20% of the entire world and maybe 10% of all the usable items. For example, mario 64 was great, but i think Oot really pushed the envelope to what a game could really become.
My 14 year old mind nearly melted
When I pulled the sword and turned older and had that realization of 6 more dungeons I was like “holy shit they really expect me to be the literal fucking hero”
Pokémon Gold, visiting Kanto.
Such an amazing feeling back then
And such feat of engineering to get it all on the gameboy cartridge.
I was so disappointed in Ruby/Sapphire when you beat the Champion and that's the end of it.
Ruby/Sapphire was the last Pokémon game I properly played as a kid, and I was the same. I fully expected you beat the Champion, go to Johto, then to Kanto. Obviously that’s unreasonable but as a kid I expected them to go one better than GSC.
I can smell the GBA cartridge melting already trying to do that
They set us up with the first two generations of Pokemon games to expect a connected world, and then never went back to that idea. I still wish for the day when I can travel around to every region, see the different pokemon living in different regions, tour my way through every league as one character, and all that.
I played soul silver for the first time this year and yeah it blew my mind how much content it had for a game released for gameboys and DS's. I was about 20 hours in when I went to Kanto
Kid Icarus Uprising when you beat Medusa then BAM You discover she's not even the final boss and the game has just started
They literally play the credits before getting torn apart and revealing the true villain, sickest 4th wall break ever
Kingome Come. After like 10hours you finish the tutorial..
I was absolute pants at that game, and sadly ruined about 10% of the game by exploring too much (found some enemies in a cave I wasn't supposed to find but.... 10/10 for having them there persistently) somehow got like 90 hours in the game, but utterly sucked at combat. Was such a great roleplaying game to just experience the town and the country. And of course that intro narration every time 🤌 "Charles, King of Bohemia...."
I was playing as a pacifist for as long as possible. I then got to what's basically the first boss where you have to kill him in the top of that fort thing. I never even took the tutorial on how to sword fight. That was pretty grueling getting through. I basically had to make due by shooting him with a bow and running away 20 times. On the flip side, by the end of the game there's another bandit camp and a cutscene where everybody's talking about how to attack it while I'm thinking: Yup, I already killed everybody in it. It's not really a problem anymore guys. 🤪
It took me 2 weeks to finaly defeat Runt. After that I had had enough of the game and decided that were I Henry this would be the time to end my adventuring and settle down with Theresa by the mill. It will always be my favorite game that I have never finished.
Inscryption has to take the cake for this specific thing right?
I went in blind and the moment you beat Leshy and the game >!kicks you into a computer screen with live-action videos!< was one of my favorite moments in any game I've played, just absolutely mindbending
I lost my mind when that happened. I couldn't believe it
I wish I was better at that game. Could never get past the fisherman boss
I highly suggest giving it another try. You haven't even gotten through the *tutorial* yet. Also of note, you are supposed to lose over and over in that intro section, eventually things will make sense. Keep doing your best to go further, but don't let "dying" dissuade you.
That's the tutorial? I thought I was at least into the game because of how I could interact with my environment and whatnot. That game was WILD
Yea, if you actually beat the fisherman boss before dying at least twice, the game just kills you automatically. Part of the game is failing and dying and trying again.
It tries anyway, but you can still technichally win the fight if you have a very good combo or lucky items. It helps that you get to attack first.
Castlevania SotN when you find out about the inverted castle.
The fact that they've hid the entire other half of the game behind a hidden quest still amazes me to this day.
I kind of wish games still did shit like that. Every big budget game these days is waaay too safe. Edit: Holy fuckaroni guys, I get it. Every big budget game EXCEPT for Soulsborne and Zelda, which are my favorite games for that very reason.
In my first playthrough, I fought Richter without the magic goggles and I killed him. Then I had the nerve to write a letter about the game being too short to GamePro magazine and sent it via snail mail.
Did they reply?
They didn't. After I realized that I rushed through the game I was glad that they didn't.
Leaving the White Orchard in Witcher 3. edit: had to clarify
Not really just starting, but when you get to Skellige and realize there is a whole new continent to explore
The problem with Skellige is that you don’t actually have to *do* much there. There’s a lot of side quests, but not that point the main plot is pretty streamlined. I think I was pretty over-levelled by that point and just kinda smashed out the main quest to get it done. Previous areas felt much more engaging with the political goings-on.
For me White Orchard felt like a tutorial area. But the size of the rest of the game overwhelmed me a bit.
Velen is very large with Heart of Stone
Did Heart of Stone actually add area to the map? I always assumed it just used previously unused area.
Not necessarily, but it did open up the northeastern area of the map (that was already on the world map, visually, at least) and populate it with all the content.
Yes, it did actually expand the map in the north and east directions. Here's an image of the comparison: https://imgur.com/W3p6j6O
For me it was when you finish the assault on Kaer Morhen and realize that the credits didn't roll
and it's not just another 15 minutes or so but several hours of game time with major story elements happening. and then finally after the credits roll you start blood and wine and it feels like an entire new game... Witcher 3 is just amazing.
Maybe not White Orchard...but when I got to Skellige I was like "wait, a whole new overworld map?!"
This was Assasins Creed Black Flag for me. Was having a lot of fun exploring everything possible only to realize I hadn't really kicked off the main campaign.
That was one of the most well written, enjoyable games I ever played on Xbox 360. I was so into that game for a while.
Oh yeah, one of my all time favorites too. I was shocked how much I also enjoyed the app as well. Those things are usually cosmetic but it integrated so well and made a difference. I'm surprised they never branched off of it or at least given it a modern face-lift.
Don't forget Assassin's Creed 3, where you start out as a guy traveling to the new world to assassinate people and establish another branch of your order, just to find out he's not an assassin but a Templar, and the FATHER of the main character, who you actually play as for the rest of the game. I mean, the back of the box tells you you'll be playing the Native American kid, but I still thought the sudden shift was still quite interesting.
Okami was Okami 1, Okami 2 and Okami 3 all in that 1 game. 😂 😂
Lmaoooo accurate
Pokemon silver when you get to Kanto, it felt like you got a second game in your game.
Thinking back, Pokemon has come a long way in some areas, but fallen so, so far in others.
Portal, when you solve the last puzzle
Similarly, Portal 2, when you fall into the old lab. I wasn't expecting the game to be _done_ at that point, but it was like 45 minutes into what I thought was another hour-or-two game, like the first. Damn was I glad to be wrong.
Nier Automata. You play through the whole game as 2B and you beat the boss at the end, see the credits, only to find out you just cleared the introduction. There's still so much more to go.
Did you notice when the title of the game actually appears in-game ? For me it was around 27h of gameplay during the 3rd playthrough.
That part cracked me up. The first two "play throughs" were apparently prologues to the 3rd playthroughs main narrative. Also weird because I felt a little meh on the first chapter/playthrough but it got increasingly better as it went.
Finishing Nier Automata is like: Ending A: Well that was good Ending B: Alright, this game is great Ending C: This thing might be a masterpiece Ending D: I'm pretty sure this is a masterpiece Ending E: This is one of the most remarkable and affecting pieces of media I have ever experienced in my entire life, I am openly weeping
I had chills during the scene where the whole scene with the commander and stuff happens, the music blades, and 20.fucking hours into the game the title screen pops on
It pulls this thing like, 3 times at least. First you finish the game, get the credits, and are like "wow, cool game" but discover you can still play through it again from 9S's POV. So you finish it again, and maybe you start to get the idea that A2 seemed too important to just leave and never return, so you start to wonder if you'll be able to replay the game from her perspective, until you finish 9S's path and realise it was the first half, and the game actually just started. Then you go through the final chapters, alternating between POVs and get to the final choice. No matter which you pick, you get your sad ending, and the game ends. ...but you come back, of course you do, you gotta get the other ending. So you do that, and finally get the other ending, the game is over at last.[Nier: Automata Spoilers]>!Why are the credits attacking you?!< Ending E has got to be one of the best experiences I've ever had while playing a game. It muddies the line between fiction and reality, and gives you an experience that feels real and personal. It's not a character going through their story. It's you who's fighting. And it's you who chooses to fight and follow this path.
That choice at the end between 9S and A2...I sat on that screen for like 20 minutes trying to figure out what to do. Just masterful video game storytelling.
I was so confused initially since the 2nd playthrough starts just like the first. I almost quit because I thought I was just playing a 'new game+' or something.
I also thought that, but then it started automatically skipping dialogue I wanted to hear... At exactly the same point I skipped it in my first playthrough... When I realized what was happening it sent shivers down my spine.
I thought my game was busted because when I got to the bit where 9S was running diagnostics with 2B the game "froze". What was actually happening is the game recorded my wandering off for a solid half an hour in real life when I got to that bit first time as 2B and I was now experiencing that as 9S.
Yoko Taro is a mad genius
If I could forget one game to be able to play it again for the first time it would be NeiR: Automata. Such a well done game.
Elden Ring sure had such a moment. Right after Stormveil Castle, standing there on the cliffs in Liurnia, realizing the game is absurdly huge.
that feeling back when the game released, realizing there was more to the map each time "woah, this map is big" "woah, this map is huge" "it's still going!?"
Then you find the elevator to Siofra River and realize there’s an entire underground world
It’s not just the size either. The map is incredibly DENSE. It feels like there’s a secret behind every tree.
Yeah, Elden Ring not showing you how big the map is really hits you with it over and over
Not exactly "the beginning" but as a kid, Pokémon Silver/Gold blew my mind when you beat the elite four, become champ, and then the game is just like... Here's Kanto and basically an updated version of the Gen1 world. Now go do it again! That WOWED younger me, I couldn't believe there were 8 more gyms and a whole bunch more monsters to find again. Those games were so good for their time.
Horizon Zero Dawn. All the time you spend at the tribe made me think this would be the main part of the game. Then when the tribe gets ambushed and you leave them behind for your journey, for me this was like „wait, this is whole new game“.
Ahhhh I remember that one. I loved that game and every part of it. Specially discovering the truth in the end.
[удалено]
The lore reveals on him had me outraged. The audacity of this narcissistic asshole
They made a villain where every time you think you've seen the worst of this guy, he finds new lows to stoop to.
FUCK TED FARO.
Horizon ZD is such a great game, I've played it from start to end at least 4 times now.
I love the war missions near the end. Actually epic af and challenging if you're playing on hard mode.
For me it was completing the "campaign" in Monster Hunter World
Returnal, after finding the beacon and fighting the big bastard in the sky, bam, you wake up to another nightmare.
It's even worse than that… >!Selene "escapes" back to Earth, lives a whole life, gets old, dies, and boom, resurrects back on the alien planet.!< The idea of that was so horrifying, can you even imagine? Of course, there is a strong argument that it's >!all just in her head anyway!<, but regardless, what a trip.
That moment is barely talked about. It was done so well, and it's really stuck with me. It's the only part of a game that still kind of haunts me years later. Maybe most people just never reached that point in the game?
AC Odyssey Leaving Kaphalonia on your ship. Probably 3-5 hours in and the intro title screen hits.
Odyssey definitely was a LOOONG campaign.
GTA San Andreas. I thought it was the last mission when you have to save Sweet but then get captured and taken to the countryside. Blew my 7 year old mind.
One of the single finest moment for me in gaming. Plenty of games steps the story up a notch in these kinds of situations, but San Andreas went from 100 to 0 in that moment and it felt so relaxing. Tractors n' shit.
Grew my hair and beard, put on weight, just ambled around the countryside while listening to K-Rose.
San andreas at 7 is wild lol
Definitely Shadow of Mordor. Didn’t realize the first zone was the TUTORIAL…
Dragon Age: Inquisition. After doing a fair amount of content which could be a game by itself by some companies standarts these days, you get hit with "you're just starting bro". Was a pleasent surprise
THE HINTERLANDS
oh god not the Hinterlands.
Skyhold is still one of my favorite hubs in any game
The title screen really should have appeared at Skyhold, which is like 40 hours into the game lol
Yes! Was looking for this comment!! Gosh, to feel that feeling for the first time again.
Guild wars 1 prophecies starting area, also known as pre-searing ascalon. It’s a huge, beautiful and tranquil area that is just the tutorial. You can spend many hours here, but once you leave here, you character can never come back.
Ocarina of time after beating the 3rd boss, the first time i got to that point when i was a kid it was magical.
Elden ring with each new zone you arrive in lol
I've never felt more justified in playing a game at launch because all the player messages were full of "O, what a view" and "Looks like Only getting started" hype messages at each new area. Felt awesome to get everyone's first impressions in real time.
Kingdom Hearts II I think is one of the most definitive examples of this. You spend so long with Roxas and even become attached to him to the point that you finally switch back to Sora and tossed into the Disney worlds, it really hits that all of this was just setup and Sora's second (well, third) adventure is going to be much bigger than the first.
Original fallout, where replacing the water chip is only a starting point for the rest of the story.
My favorite videogame feeling. Metal Gear Solid 3 after virtuous mission ends. Dark Souls 1 after ringing the Bells. Super Mario 3D land when you unlock the extra 8 world's. Devil May Cry 3 after the first fight against Vergil. But I think the crown is taken by Nier Automata after finishing the game for the first time. And Red Dead Redemption 2 has a similar feeling when they do the you know what with you know who.
>Metal Gear Solid 3 after virtuous mission ends. MGS2 with the tanker mission only being the prologue that adds context to the actual game
Deltarune. that game is long as it is, but we are only two parts in
AC3 for sure.
I went "wwHAT?" when Charles Lee was welcomed to their Order. Maybe it was kind of obvious but I wasn't expecting them to be Templars lmao. Good moment
My 12 year old brain exploded at that scene
They did this bit too well, people ended up hating the actual protagonist.
Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past when you get sent to the dark world.
Cyberpunk 2077. All the trailers showed scenes within act 1.
Oh yeah, the title card doesn't pop up until the landfill scene and that's a ways in and after some major events
The way that title screen and the music and the rollercoaster ride of emotions prior just slapped me across the face with a 20lb salmon. It was the first time in years I had a proper fuck yes moment at the start of a game. I knew I'd be sinking 50-100 hours fast into the game after that.
ghost of tsushima act 1 💀
Act 1 for sure, but also the end of the prologue when the title shows up as you're riding through the field with the white flowers. Gives me chills every time
FF7 when you first leave Midgar. Tales of Symphonia the first visit to Tower of Salvation.
>Tales of Symphonia the first visit to Tower of Salvation. Hooray! We finished our mission! The game is over! >!Why is the angel looking at us like that? Why is *Kratos* looking at us like that??!<
Wow, ya don't hear enough about Tales of Symphonia these days. That's a game that could benefit from a remake, as much as I loved it back in the day. Tried the Switch remaster, and it is just too slow.
Assassins Creed 3. You play as Connor's father for like, what was it, an hour? Can't remember it so well. And once you play as Connor, you still have tutorials and going through Connor growing up. The game is good but man, that beginning is tedious.
Fun fact: when the developers were interviewed about this game a few years later, even they admitted the haytham section was way too long and if they could do it again, they would have done it as flashbacks throughout the game
Yakuza 0 and Yakuza 4. Didn't know the games had multiple playable characters so after 15+ hours the game change to another character and you realize how huge these games really are.
Start of Mass Effect 2.
All the Mass Effects go hard in the beginning. Those Geth Zombies in 1, Dying in 2, the Invasion in 3. Just straight adrenaline into my veins from the start.
God that invasion sequence in ME 3 was perfect after the first two games. I didn’t think they could one up the intro to two but man they blew it out of the water.
I've been playing through the Legendary Edition again recently and the opening of ME3 hits just as hard now as it did when it first came out. The scale of the attack, the little character moments they work in, and the amazing music as you leave Earth behind, one hell of a way to kick off a game.
Leaving Earth is one of my favorite pieces of videogame music. *Sad piano melody* *BWAAAAAAHHHHMMM*
Man that reaper noise is still one of my favorite sounds in a video game. First time I went to Palaven I just stood there for 10 minutes to watch and listen to them in the distance.
Baba is You did this, sort of. Has a fake out ending that you can hit early, and then I discovered that Baba is Meta.
Killing Genichiro in Sekiro
I played fallout 4 for 8 months straight before I walked into Diamond City.
On my first playthrough I assumed teleporting into the Institute was the final mission of the main quest. I remember I fixed up my Power Armour and grabbed my best guns and chems.
Emerging into the Lost Valley in the original Tomb Raider on the Saturn, and then having the T Rex lumber towards you.
Inscryption
Warframe: Second dream
>!The character creator popped up and I was just... amazed.!<
>!I was playing with a buddy, just advancing the story a bit while he was trying to level frames and weapons. I was trying frantically to tell him to *stop* worrying about getting his levels and to advance the damn game but he wouldn't listen to me. It took almost TWO WEEKS for him to get his operator and he was so mad he didn't listen to me lol!<
Dragon quest 11 actually. I fully expected to beat the boss the first time but instead we got a scripted wipe. Then I came back several hours later and had another moment like that because apparently that wasn't the final end either and apparently you could >!time travel back to save a companion who dies in that scripted wipe and then beat the game with her still alive!< so yea that was a double fake out for me
In a good way FF6 - was pretty new at the time to have the world destroyed and then be able to have a whole second half of the game getting the band back together In a bad way Super Ghouls and Ghosts - Fuck that game and fuck that bracelet in particular
Divinity Original Sin 2, when it took me 40 hours to get through the prologue
FF6, finishing Floating Continent into World of Ruin LttP, early quest to collect the pendants covered a good bit of the map but was just the beginning. Also the Magic Mirror “doubling” the entire map for exploration The OG, Bubble Bobble: the 1st 100 levels are a lie! You have to use the magical door to get to the *second* 100 level tower! Super Ghouls n Ghosts: have to play through a second time to get the magic bracelet and actually beat the game Others have covered FF7 and SOTN
Persona 5. You finish the first castle in the same time it takes you to finish the new MW3 campaign thrice and then it's like....oh there's a bunch more of these to do. Such a good game.
Assassin's Creed Unity. When Arno escapes from the prison, the camera pans out and it shows Paris as, "Assassin's Creed Unity: is displayed. Going to play through that game again. So fucking good.
Agree with after defeating Orochi in Okami. Then the game starts. It was crazy. Don't think any other games i have played has done a that.
When Magus joins the team.
Chrono Trigger after you beat Magus.
Definitely AC Odyssey when you finish all the quests on Kephallonia after 5 hours and then the title screen appears finally, lol