[jjacob]

Heh yeah I too find myself amazed like every 3 months. The whole thing (gaming) is just moving so fast. Of the things not already mentioned though:

*Deus Ex1 & 2 - These games made me realise that gaming would some day end up being beautifully non-linear. I can't pick out one single moment in the (first) game that stands out, because it all does! It's like everywhere you go and every choice you make really influences the story, and around every corner lurks a new conspiracy or sub-plot. I'd never played anything "rpg"-based before, but I though it felt more like an inventory system, with biomods as an added bonus. Also the stories were nicely incoorporated in the gameplay. Overall a very enjoyable experience, and it left me wanting more.

[Intrepid Homoludens]

* Deus Ex - the vanishing into a deeply vast world of choices, consequences, responsibilities, and philosophical and ethical weights and measures. This game is, brilliantly, NOT for horny 14-year-olds. Far from it. Alongside Thief, the Silent Hill series, and the Hitman series, Deus Ex is the only computer game to meet me on my level of intellectual and emotional maturations as an adult. My jaw dropped with Deus Ex - and it dropped profoundly.

[simpson_yellow]

Ones already mentioned by others:
Grim Fandango
The whole thing but especially, as Remixor mentioned, the transition where you find out what Manny has done to Rubacava. Made my hairs stand on end. Speaking of hair standing on end...
System Shock 2
The first zombie. The first ghost. The twist, even though you were expecting it (if you'd played the first game). I was bug-eyed for days after finishing this game.
Alice
Being absolutely stunned by the inspired banquet of eye candy served up by almost every level. The sheer brilliance of the graphic/level design accounts for nearly all of the 3.5 stars in my sig rating.
Half Life
The Black Mesa intro. 'nuff said on that one already.

A few that I don't think are on the list yet:
Myst 3: Exile
The final reward when you complete the Amateria age. I reloaded time after time after time just to watch it again. My jaw truly dropped - it's never been the same since.
Homeworld
Panning around the mothership in full 3D for the first time. And the nebula effects. Mmmm...
Bioforge
The intro. So atmospheric. So good looking. Absolutely blew me away at the time.

[Bird]

I did some more 'research' about 'another world' because I was really happy to know the title again
I found lots of screenshots at mobygames, discovered an amiga emulator (win)uae and the game itself. I have to say I'm really into emulators, I still play donkey kong country (another gem!!) on a snes emulator from time to time.
Anyway, this amiga emulator even offers the possibility to record movies, and so I did: I captured the intro (XViD, because it's open source) and put it (after cropping the black borders with virtual dub) online. It's at http://users.pandora.be/mdg/test.avi (size +/-8.3MB). No additional filters are used
I still like it a lot...

(feel free to delete this link if it's not legal; I'm not quite sure myself, but the game is from '91, Amiga is dead, and what is the difference between posting screenshots and videos (=sequences of still images)?)

[Huz]

Originally Posted by Bird

I captured the intro (XViD, because it's open source) and put it (after cropping the black borders with virtual dub) online. It's at http://users.pandora.be/mdg/test.avi (size +/-8.3MB). No additional filters are used
I still like it a lot...

Good work! I haven't seen that intro for ages, and it's been even longer since I've seen the action synchronised with the music - it relied on the speed of the Amiga 500 and anything better made the action run too fast - so it was good to get the chance to see it again. A very impressive intro for the time, and the style means it's aged pretty well. Not sure about the English translation though!

Originally Posted by Bird

(feel free to delete this link if it's not legal; I'm not quite sure myself, but the game is from '91, Amiga is dead, and what is the difference between posting screenshots and videos (=sequences of still images)?)

Seeing as there's been no objection to lengthy video captures of Full Throttle in action - and sites like Gamespot have video clips of modern games, something which would be nice to see on more sites (cough hint? Maybe!) - I think it's fine!

[remixor]

Geez, I get the feeling I really need to play System Shock 2...

[James]

scariest gaming moment ever - System Shock II.

[LeisureSuitedLooney]

Originally Posted by James

scariest gaming moment ever - System Shock II.

Anything....specific?

[Huz]

Originally Posted by remixor

Geez, I get the feeling I really need to play System Shock 2...

It's on my "list" too - actually, I did start playing it once, but I got frustrated and gave up. It was certainly creepy, but there was nothing - up until that point anyway - that made me leap out of my seat. That probably had something to do with the fact that I was constantly wary, as computer games seem to be able to scare me in a way that movies don't - "Hired Guns" on the Amiga made me jump all the time!

I originally got SS2 from a certain hound-related web site but I see they've replaced the download with a link to an online store, so it looks like it's been re-released!

For my abandonware sins I also got one of those fun "dialler" popups and all hell broke loose. Mohh!

[Intrepid Homoludens]

I've only played the SS2 demo, but that was one scary moment. I hadn't felt that nervous since Silent Hill and the Cathedral levels in Thief: The Dark Project. Eventually I'll play the full game.

[Jackal]

Creepy and atmospheric would be better descriptions of SS2 than scary (at least for me). Relentless tension. Edge of the seat, but not jumping out of it. It's very much a Survival Horror/RPG, despite its obvious surface similarities to standard FPS games. Ammo, health, and other resources are scarce, and caution is an absolute must.

The few outright scares were usually the result of one of the game's flaws - respawning creatures. I know WHY they did it, and fortunately it wasn't overdone, but it was still a mistake.

Still, the game is definitely worth playing if only for one of gaming's most outstanding adversaries - SHODAN. Simply brilliant. Every time she called me "insect" was a memorable moment.

[Bastich]

System Shock 2 is awesome. It is probably starting to look a bit dated now, but I know there is a group of people doing or have done a mod to improve the graphics. Mostly to create higher polygon models and better textures if I recall correctly. I think I will go see if I can find it. It would be worth playing again if they finished the graphics upgrade.

EDIT: The links were easy enough to find. The first is for the models and the 2nd for the textures

http://perso.wanadoo.fr/etienne.aube...ck_rebirth.htm

http://texturemod.wz.cz/

[Kolzig]

That higher polygon models project hasn't progressed in a long time, the guy who is behind that project is working on Arx Fatalis 2 at the moment so he has no time to update it further.

But even at this moment the beta looks great.

[CrimsonBlue]

When I booted up Monkey Island 2 on my Amiga 500 with no harddrive, and saw the marvellous intro and heard the lovely music.

When I saw the startup screen of Playstation 2. It was a moment worth remembering. The same day, when I got to play the SSX demo and a certain racing game called Wild Wild Racing. I was impressed, truly impressed. Although today, Wild Wild Racing isn't exactly a spectacular game.

When I got the Gran Turismo 3 demo from a Playstation 2 magazine.
When I got Gran Turismo 3.
When I saw Grand Theft Auto 3 on the shelves at my local gamestore.
When I got home, started the game, and played it for the very first time.
When I got Final Fantasy X, played the game from a fresh point of view. Today my mind is spoiled by the thousands of negative thoughts about the game after playing the game for way too long.

The day when a remake of the classic Pirates! was announced.

The Final Fantasy XII movies.

Playing Final Fantasy VII was one insanely long jaw-dropping experience. My favourite game of all time. Before I played FFVII, Monkey Island 2 was my favourite game of all time, now it's "just" a close second.

[Yufster]

Monkey Island!! How could I forget?

Monkey Island 1 was the most spine shiverly awesome intro of all time! So cool! And MI2... whoops, dribbled a little there.

If anybody remembers the Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes... man, that was awesome too. The beginning, where the girl gets murdered and she screams and... and...

[Renegade]

Don't know if this will work


When I first saw this scene my jaw did indeed drop.

Syberia intro

Final Fantasy VII - end of Disc 1

Silent Hill - first entering the Alternate School; Lisa's death, both sad and disturbing at the same time

Final Fantasy VIII - Esthar City, and the fantastic ending FMV

Final Fantasy IX - Terra and Crystal World

Grim Fandango - The 'one year later' in Rubacava

Silent Hill 4 trailer

Resident Evil 4 (Biohazard 4) trailer

Hearing Monkey Island's music for the first time

[Squinky]

The music outside the Cafe Calavera in Grim Fandango. I'd have Manny wander around aimlessly just so I could listen to it.

The ending of The Neverhood. "Half a cheer for Klaymen! Hip-hip-hoo!"

The part in Chrono Trigger when a certain main character dies, and is later brought back to life... *sniff*

[Jayel]

The level designs in Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight is jaw-droppingly good, even by today's standards.

[ConcreteRancor]

Serious Sam: Seeing the final boss for the first time, watching him smash his way in a matter of seconds through the entire level I just played through.

Half-Life: The opening scene, with the attempt at creating a resonance cascade. Then everything went to hell, and I thought: "Well now, here we go." And I didn't even have a weapon yet.
Another Half-Life moment was getting to the level "Surface Tension," and finally getting outside for the first time. Then I thought: "Oh wait... helicopters."
And of course, the level "Blast Pit," with the tentacles that couldn't see you, but could HEAR you.

Grim Fandango: The first ride of the Bonewagon.

Deus Ex: The first level, realizing all the different approaches I could take. I actually defeated the purpose of the game design by trying to do ALL the approaches, thus seeing everything and getting all of the skill points that I could.

Far Cry: Pushing barrels down a hill at enemies and watching the physics engine in action.

[RainbowLight]

Having grown up on platform games like Mario, I never knew about RPG-style games that had a movie- or book-like plot. My (now-ex) boyfriend bought me Final Fantasy IX when I got my Playstation (used from a friend, lol) and I was just amazed. I cried at the end. I never knew a video game could make ya cry.