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[Mephs]

Hey all,

In pondering how to improve on my designs, I occasionally fall back to the idea of looking at my favourite memorable moments in games.  I figure that if I remember something from a while back as being quite fun, then there is likely something about that moment that is a good means of creating fun.

Some of my memorable events in games are:

Running over all the monks in the original GTA to be greeted with the GOURANGA! text flashing up on screen.

Just missing out on the quad damage in a round of Quake 3, or killing someone with the gauntlet to hear "Denied!" or "Humiliation!" as appropriate.

Spectacular crashes in Burnout.

Running from cover to cover in Gears of War avoiding bullets everywhere.

Trying to avoid giant spiders in the desert when at a low level in Everquest because at the time they seemed really dangerous and scary, but wondering what wonders awaited once I had made it past them (I wish I could experience it all again with the same fresh viewpoint!).

Well, anyway, I could go on and on and I may add some more at some point, but I would be interested in hearing about things that you really enjoyed experiencing in existing games.  Things that surprised or amused you, made you laugh or felt really cool to pull off.  What are your memorable gaming moments and what can we take from them to improve our designs?

Many thanks,

Steve O

[Peevish]

You should probably read this article: link

Personally: the last setpiece in Full Throttle. Or turning myself into a swan in LOOM.

[hexageek]

The moment Gordon Freeman wears his suit in Half Life 2

[Bree]

Finding Milla's secret room in Psychonauts.

[GregWS]

Rez Level 5; Fear is the Mind Killer.

[William Broom]

In Okami when the clockwork owl boss freezes time. You can't move, but he can! It was one of the few times that I felt genuinely scared of an enemy (though I don't play any real 'horror' games). It worked even though the solution was pretty obvious, just because it was such a reversal of what usually happens in games.
A similar event earlier in Okami was when you fight another boss, Ninetails. You try to use your brush attacks on her and she uses her own brush attacks back at you. It's quite a shock because all through the game, you've been able to pause and draw brush patterns whenever you like, for as long as you like, and nothing can harm you until you unpause.
The lesson here is that if you want to shock or scare your player, you should work out what elements of the game they consider most 'safe'. It would be amazing to have a boss who will attack you even after you go to the pause menu. He could even delete your save files if you're not careful :D

Finding Milla's secret room in Psychonauts.

I don't remember this. Is it some kind of optional secret?

[ChevyRay]

Sad and/or emotional parts tend to be the most memorable for me in video games. Either that, or really funny parts (aka. most of Killer 7).

1) Opera ccene and Ghost Train scene from Final Fantasy 6.
2) Rescuing Rinoa from space in Final Fantasy 8.
3) When the Goron leader dances to your Ocarina music in Ocarina of Time.
4) When Alys dies in Phantasy Star IV.
5) When Aeris dies in Final Fantasy 7.
6) The ending of Conker's Bad Fur Day.
7) The ending of Shadow of the Colossus.
Hamlet's sacrifice in Illusion of Gaia

... that's a start

[Mikademus]

* The glassmakers' town in Loom, and especially when the undead priest/death/chaos incarnate takes the scythe.
* The EUREKA! moment of figuring out the "open eyes" command in the first scene in The Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
* The first rhyming insult fight in Monkey Island III - hilarious! (Also the Barber Quartet and Pirate Shanty in the same game).

[Bree]

Finding Milla's secret room in Psychonauts.

I don't remember this. Is it some kind of optional secret?

Sort of; it's not necessary to complete the game, but it will help you understand the character more. If you start from the beginning of the level inside her mind, you'll see a platform and a door waaaaaaay off the beaten path. I personally think Psychonauts had some of the most interesting characters I've ever seen in a videogame.

[Kneecaps]

Rollerblading on a roller coaster in JSRF was pretty memorable to me.  I never cared much for the plot in that game, but exploring the wonderful level design was great.

[Bree]

Marc Ecko's Getting Up had a bunch of memorable moments, most of them related to graffiti. Tagging subway trains, tagging bridges, repelling off an overpass to win a tagging battle against your rival. I also enjoyed the way you could paint over some of your rival's tags to get back at them. On the other hand, most of them were pretty damn crude.

Oh, and Chulip. That whole game is an experience.

[Kegluneq]

Racing a motorcycle down an airstrip INTO a MOVING cargo plane right before it takes off in GTA: San Andreas

[Shade Jackrabbit]

I have a ton of them really. WARNING LOTS OF SPOILERS FOLLOW.

1. The death of Lavitz from Legend of the Dragoon
2. The final boss fight from Legend of the Dragoon

EDIT: ...okay, I thought I pressed "preview" Gah!

3. The soldier in the intro to Lost Planet: Extreme Conditions, who does this awesome slide-dash while firing a machine-gun at a giant alien.
4. The cutscene at the end of Lost Planet: Extreme Conditions, when you shoot the main villain.
5. The climb into the well and subsequent escape during the first day of Darkness Within: In Pursuit of Loath Nolder.
6. A ton of moments from the John DeFoe Quadrology, specifically the endings of Trilby's Notes and 6 Days a Sacrifice.
7. When you fight the T-Rex in Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie. (God I hate that title...)
8. Myst. Just, all of Myst. It was like the first adventure game I played and had a huge impact.
9. The beginning of Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars, when the bomb goes off in the café.
10. When Arthur turns into a virus to save your life in The Journeyman Project 2: Buried in Time
11. Fighting Sephiroth in Kingdom Hearts II. That battle is really intense and is just awesome to even watch.
12. Entering Ravenholm in Half-Life 2, as well as Father Grigori's introduction and death, which are just plan epic.
13. 7 Minutes. That whole game was interesting and inspiring.
14. Cactus's Mondo series has always been really neat and I love the ending to Mondo Medicals.
15. Killing any of the Colossi in Shadow of the Colossus.
16. Escaping the exploding ship in Advent Rising, as well as the epilogue fight and cutscene.

There's probably more but those come to mind immediately.

[J.W. Hendricks]

The ending of OKami. ALL WHO HAVEN'T PLAYED THAT DO IT NOW. NOW!

[KennEH!]

The ending of OKami. ALL WHO HAVEN'T PLAYED THAT DO IT NOW. NOW!

I wish but poor kid is poor, really poor.

1. Finding out about rule 34 (gaming related)
2. Playing Sonic 2 just to listen to that god like music.
3. When I got 4+ kills in a life as a Scout in TF2.
4. All of Jet Set Radio
5. Learning of how awesome freeware can be through Cave Story
6. Using the Monocle in Balding's Quest (so freaking awesome)
Can't think of any more right now.

[Shade Jackrabbit]

I have a ton of them really. WARNING LOTS OF SPOILERS FOLLOW.

1. The death of Lavitz from Legend of the Dragoon
2. The final boss fight from Legend of the Dragoon

EDIT: ...okay, I thought I pressed "preview" Gah!

3. The soldier in the intro to Lost Planet: Extreme Conditions, who does this awesome slide-dash while firing a machine-gun at a giant alien.
4. The cutscene at the end of Lost Planet: Extreme Conditions, when you shoot the main villain.
5. The climb into the well and subsequent escape during the first day of Darkness Within: In Pursuit of Loath Nolder.
6. A ton of moments from the John DeFoe Quadrology, specifically the endings of Trilby's Notes and 6 Days a Sacrifice.
7. When you fight the T-Rex in Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie. (God I hate that title...)
8. Myst. Just, all of Myst. It was like the first adventure game I played and had a huge impact.
9. The beginning of Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars, when the bomb goes off in the café.
10. When Arthur turns into a virus to save your life in The Journeyman Project 2: Buried in Time
11. Fighting Sephiroth in Kingdom Hearts II. That battle is really intense and is just awesome to even watch.
12. Entering Ravenholm in Half-Life 2, as well as Father Grigori's introduction and death, which are just plan epic.
13. 7 Minutes. That whole game was interesting and inspiring.
14. Cactus's Mondo series has always been really neat and I love the ending to Mondo Medicals.
15. Killing any of the Colossi in Shadow of the Colossus.
16. Escaping the exploding ship in Advent Rising, as well as the epilogue fight and cutscene.

There's probably more but those come to mind immediately.

Oh I missed the second part, which is what we can learn from each of these. Numbers line up and so forth. Oh yes, and more spoilers follow.

1. Lavitz was established as being an important main character. He was characterized well and his death came as a surprise because it was so unexpected. (Hey I never played FF7 so I didn't know about the Aerith thing until about the release of Advent Children. >_>)
2. This was simply epic because he had 4 freaking stages, took like 40 minutes to beat, and you fought him AS HE DESTROYED AND RECREATED THE WORLD.
3. Again, moment of epicness. It may also have something to do with the soldier then screaming at the top of his lungs in a totally authentic voice "Die you sons of bitcheeessss!!!!" as he shoots at a monster like 10 times his size. I mean that's just unnecessarily badass, and this guy isn't even an important character! Lesson: Make random soldiers badass, so then EVERYONE is cool.
4. The build-up to this was great and it was an excellent climax. The epilogue ruined it though. Lesson: Epilogues can screw up something awesome.
5. Again, build-up was great. It was described as if the well was a source of something dark and evil, and when you finally got down there the tunnel in the side was caved in. But then as you're ready to turn away SOMETHING STARTS DIGGING THROUGH. So you run the hell out of there as the screen is shifting up and down and a blur affect comes in while your character starts breathing heavily. Lesson: Tension, after being brilliantly built up, CAN be brilliantly used to make things scary/creepy. (Though I'm a pansy so that may explain a lot.  )
6. Can't really explain much here. It was just epic and unsettling on some level.
7. The T-Rex is simply unbeatable. The entire fight just sets mood and you're just trying to stave this beast off and distract him as the other two guys open the gate for you all to run through. Lesson: Sometimes an unbeatable boss can be used to increase tension and anxiety.
8. Lesson: Games at an early age can be wonderful and inspiring to later life.
9. The setting was peaceful and quiet, and everything looked so cheery and happy. And then the bomb goes off and you're just thinking "SHIT". Somewhat unnerving. Lesson: Atmosphere is key, and you can make sudden chaos more interesting by establishing order ahead of time.
10. The emotional attachment to Arthur built up through the game due to his wit and commentary. When he leaves, you feel like you're losing the one friend who was with you through the whole thing. And he's essentially sacrificing himself to save you. Lesson: Characterization is key, and sacrificial events can actually have an emotional impact if the proper connection with the player has been established.
11. Yeah I got nothing else to say here.
12. Atmosphere. Lesson: Atmosphere is very helpful.
13. The point of the game was to escape death, and you couldn't. The point of the secret ending is that you shouldn't waste your last minutes of life trying to escape death. Lesson: Deeper meanings can make things more interesting.
14. I'm not gonna explain this one, but it was mainly atmosphere and a "WTF?" moment.
15. These monsters are HUGE, and you have to kill them with your tiny sword, all to save someone's life. It's epic, it's emotional, it's dangerous, it's scary, and it's powerful. What we will do to save someone we love. Lesson: Again, deeper meanings.
16. Just plain epic. Lesson: Epicness is cool.

[Craig Stern]

1) Opera ccene and Ghost Train scene from Final Fantasy 6.

Totally. I also agree with Myst, particularly the moment when you first discover the books with brothers inside of them.

A few contributions:

--when the second colossus appears in Shadow of the Colossus. It's the first one that the game hasn't been holding your hand to get to, and you're not sure if you're in the right place, and then all of a sudden this enormous bull-looking thing appears. That was definitely kind of an "oh shit" moment for me.
--The series of cut scenes that occur in the Transcendant One's castle in Planescape: Torment. (I felt especially bad for Nordom, for some reason).
--Also from Planescape Torment: when you first meet Annah and Morte starts exchanging insults with her. That game had such great writing.

[Lucaz]

In Killer7, the russian rouletter scene, the fight between Dan and Curtis Blackburn, and the last part of Smile.

In Ico, when the bridge separates.

Lots of moments in CoD 4 and 5, too many to mention.

Exiting the vault in Fallout 3.

The 12th colossus un Shadow of the Colossus.

The dialogue in the intro of Castlevania: Simphony of the Night.

[Bree]

Returning to the hotel at the end of Killer7. That blew my mind, once I got what was going on

The bridge scene in Shadow of the Colossus, right before the last boss

Playing Synthesized in Amplitude- even on Mellow I feel like I'm gonna get a seizure

Prince Master Fleaswallow's stage in Parappa the Rapper

The epic DBZ guitar duel at the end of Gitaroo Man- feckin' metal.

[Traveller]

Little Big Adventure, entering the desert, when the music swells.

Iji, when you haven't killed many people and kill someone, and she sobs "I'm sorry!".  Really makes you think whether you want to kill anyone else.

Iji, having a damn good reason to kill Asha, and then splattering him in an uncharacteristically violent way (for a mostly bloodless game).

Kid Chameleon, running into a dead-end on an auto scrolling level and dying, and realizing that the billboard in the background reads "OOPS".  Wow, the villains really are designing the levels specifically to kill you.

X-Com, the first time you take out a hoverdisc...insanely powerful and you just had five guys plinking at it before your last guy manages to kill it with his last shot of the turn.  WhaBOOM.

Cave Story, teaming up with Curly for the first time in the labyrinth, incredibly happy music as you UNLEASH HELL ON EVERYTHING.

Return to Zork.  "Want some rye?  'Course ya do!"  The sheer comical absurdity of pouring out your drink repeatedly into a houseplant because you're too much of a lightweight to keep up with Boos.

Kana: Little Sister, just for the constant heartbreaking reminders that your little sister only has like a year to live.  (It's a H game, though.)

Double Dragon 2 was surprisingly epic.  "I can lure those guys so they fall OUT OF A FLYING HELICOPTER!"  Also, boss fight really really made you want to kill the guy, a lot.

Secret of Mana, running into people from a totally alien tech level (starships and robots) after you got used to the idea that you were in a pure-fantasy setting.

Puzzle Pirates, giving orders in pirate-speak to your pickup crew, and having them respond in kind, even though you've never met before.  That doesn't quite count...

RetroMUD, being cornered and deeply, desperately lost in a confusing underwater area, with underpowered characters from slightly weak classes, and managing to survive and retroactively map our way back to the surface around hostile opponents.  It's hard to script something like that, considering it was a MUD and most of the trouble came from "we are in way over our heads and we didn't map on the way in", but that was a ton of fun.  In fact MOST of the times I have fun on MUDs, it's places that I'm vastly underpowered and just barely surviving through unorthodox tactics.  But if they're always like that, then it doesn't count as "underpowered" or "unorthodox" anymore.