Baldurs Gate 2: Shadows of Amn. The final scenes were just epic. Epic beyond measure. Irenicus was a fan-fucking-tastic villain.
"I...I don't love you anymore. For years I clung to the memory of you, then to the memory of the memory, then NOTHING! The Seldarine took that away from me too! All that is left now is my revenge and I...WILL...HAVE IT!"
Ahem.
I... I do not remember your love, Ellesime. I have tried to. I have tried to recreate it, to spark it anew in my memory. But it is gone... a hollow, dead thing. For years, I clung to the memory of it. Then the memory of the memory. And then nothing. The Seldarine took that from me, too. I look upon you and I feel nothing. I remember nothing but you turning your back on me, along with all the others. Once my thirst for power was everything. And now I hunger only for revenge. And... I... Will... HAVE IT!!
It's been too many years for me to remember the quote exactly, and I couldn't find it online. Still, I got the gist of it. Love that speech.
I will also cast my vote for baldurs Gate 2. No other game even approaches the quality it reached in terms of storytelling, except perhaps planescape torment which is also a fantastically immersive game.
However the best game ever for this was Conflict Freespace 2. Its still probably the best game ever made, in the last level, where the refugees are fleeing like mad and you are after burning towards the portal with the entire enemy battlefleet chasing you and suddenly you realize that if you don't turn around to slow it down then the refugee ships wont make it.
Fantastic
Well, there's also the whole bit about the
80 Sathanas Juggernauts making the Capella star EXPLODE
that kinda gives you a rush. I was stuck in a slow-ass Ares and didn't even come close to making it to the jump node on time .
The old PC game X-wing (the flight simulator that lets you pilot...an X-wing/Y-wing/A-wing).
I dare you not to feel like the whole universe will live or die depending on if you blow the death star up in the last mission!
lol for me it was Tie Fighter, the whole time fighting knowing that Tie Fighters got nothing for shields while trying to shoot down X-Wings, and Imperial Traitors.
The old PC game X-wing (the flight simulator that lets you pilot...an X-wing/Y-wing/A-wing).
I dare you not to feel like the whole universe will live or die depending on if you blow the death star up in the last mission!
lol for me it was Tie Fighter, the whole time fighting knowing that Tie Fighters got nothing for shields while trying to shoot down X-Wings, and Imperial Traitors.
Seriously, Tie Fighter all the way. I actually started to buy the Imperial brainwashing thing after a bit. Watching the movies got difficult for me because I couldn't shake the whole "Get the FUCK away from my wingman, you pirate/rebel prick!"
Anything involving a lot of sneaking usually gets to me, Thief and the MGS series especially. Whenever I have to hide I'll find myself pressed back in my seat, whispering "Ohshitohshitohshit" as a guard. Slowly. Walks. By. One. Slow. Step. After. Another. And with every one of his slow footsteps I'll be weighing the pros and cons of just beating him over the head/putting a tranq dart in his ear/grabbing him by the throat and giving him a 1-way trip to Slumbertown, with a possible stopover in .45-to-the-temple-ville... Until the guy's finally far enough away that I feel confident enough to scramble off to a new hiding place. I didn't know that MGS3 had gotten to me so badly until a friend mentioned that I was unconsciously walking close to walls and pausing briefly before turning corners.
The Thief 2 mission where you had to sneak around the police station was excruciatingly awesome. I was dashing around like a madman, leaping onto the carpeted floors and nailing rope arrows to ceilings, then shimmying up them while a guard turns the corner right below me.
System Shock 2 did it to me as well. While I was trying my damndest to avoid the monsters, I knew that I was in full view of another dark presence, and I was always always on edge.
Bursar on
GNU Terry Pratchett
PSN: Wstfgl | GamerTag: An Evil Plan | Battle.net: FallenIdle#1970
Hit me up on BoardGameArena! User: Loaded D1
Gothic 1. I actually feared to go into forrests and in the game was too scared too sleep the first night for fear of being raped. Only game I have ever played where the first 20 hours or so I didnt treat it like a game but an actual alternate life
I agree with a lot of the others on the list, BGII and SotC particularly, but ICO remains king for me, and probably always will. It's the sound of the wind, the seagulls, the way Yorda will amble about when waiting for you to figure out a puzzle. It's in the made-up language they speak, the way the rumble softly tugs when Ico and Yorda are holding hands and their steps don't quite match up. The way it takes the very, very simple and classic "boy saves princess" story at the heart of the original Good Game for me (Mario, duh) and breaths it more full of atmosphere and life...that game was simply the pinnacle of gaming for me. SotC didn't really fail to do much that ICO did (though Yorda was a far more interesting partner than the horse,) but the fact that ICO came first and I was expecting another such experience from SotC probably lent to my loving ICO a little more.
I think the most immersive game experience I've had was with Ultima Underworld. So dark. So claustraphobic. After the first few levels you really began to feel the claws of madness ripping at your character as he wandered lost in the Abyss.
Played that on my 286 16 MHz on the external single speed hard drive I bought for it. One of the first games I owned with a Soundblaster (played Wing Commander and Eye of the Beholder at a friends place).
Also Phantasy Star III. That game just sucked me in. The music was perfect. Just perfect.
ohhhh I remember during wing commander 3 (I think it was that one) when my kilrathi buddy betrayed me I was SO angry that I replayed the mission a thousand times over trying to get to him and kill him without my home ship jumping away first and ending the mission. I finally was able to kill him and land, but the game wouldn't recognize that I had done it because it was supposed to be too hard =(
For those of us who cut our teeth on WC1 and 2 that moment was a travesty. There is no fucking way Hobbes would have gone back to the Kilrathi. And his betrayal scene was a poor imitation of WC2.
The old PC game X-wing (the flight simulator that lets you pilot...an X-wing/Y-wing/A-wing).
I dare you not to feel like the whole universe will live or die depending on if you blow the death star up in the last mission!
lol for me it was Tie Fighter, the whole time fighting knowing that Tie Fighters got nothing for shields while trying to shoot down X-Wings, and Imperial Traitors.
Seriously, Tie Fighter all the way. I actually started to buy the Imperial brainwashing thing after a bit. Watching the movies got difficult for me because I couldn't shake the whole "Get the FUCK away from my wingman, you pirate/rebel prick!"
I know the feeling. Watching the first movie and getting pissed off when Luke was celebrating about downing a TIE from the falcon's gun port. Comeon, they're trying to bring order to the galaxy you inbred farmboy prick.
Then I felt superior, because I knew that had I been in that fighter, the Falcon would have been dust. (In the long run royally screwing up the Emperor's plans to find the Rebel headquarters and wipe out the leadership in a single blow, but I would have gotten a medal or a "secondary/secret objective" pip)
Anyway, the Thief series is excellent for this. They have some of the most palpable atmosphere I've seen in a game. The first two are hard for me to play these days, though, and not just because of the graphics. The controls feel antiquated with two move forward keys for moving at different speeds and such.
Luckily, Thief 3 is still as great as the others(though plenty in the Thief community would probably want to hang me for suggesting such a thing), and nothing to do with the atmosphere suffered from the changes they brought to the game. The Shalebridge Cradle is brilliant and had me scared out of my mind and there aren't even any enemies in the first half.
Thief 3 is a disgrace and you should show SHAME for your comment.
(Thief community member #923043, I'm obligated to say this, sorry)
Would it help if I said that I think that Thief 3 had the most interesting and best executed story of the series and that I think it was overall the best game in the series?
For me when I was back in middle school it was Harvest Moon 64. I would get caught up in that game and play 12 hours straight and have it feel like 30 minutes. The mood was PERFECT throughout the game. The festivels especially the starry night were great and had the perfect setting in every since. Between livestock, farming,wooing a lady, mining, gathering, and trying to find the secrets I spent my entire summer on that game. Could have something to do that I lived on a farm during the summers when I was very young. Harvest Moon 64 was the only game for me where I really felt in it completely. I have tried to duplicate this by getting succesive Harvest Moons but they are not the same. I still have my N64 with Harvest Moon 64 in it , and I play it at least once a year for a week.
O.C. on
who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends himself in a worth cause; who at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who at the worst if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat. -- Theodore Roosevelt
Anyway, the Thief series is excellent for this. They have some of the most palpable atmosphere I've seen in a game. The first two are hard for me to play these days, though, and not just because of the graphics. The controls feel antiquated with two move forward keys for moving at different speeds and such.
Luckily, Thief 3 is still as great as the others(though plenty in the Thief community would probably want to hang me for suggesting such a thing), and nothing to do with the atmosphere suffered from the changes they brought to the game. The Shalebridge Cradle is brilliant and had me scared out of my mind and there aren't even any enemies in the first half.
Thief 3 is a disgrace and you should show SHAME for your comment.
(Thief community member #923043, I'm obligated to say this, sorry)
Would it help if I said that I think that Thief 3 had the most interesting and best executed story of the series and that I think it was overall the best game in the series?
Because it was.
see dammit, i never really played much Thief, but it seems to come up every time people start talking about good stories in games. What was it actually out on, and best on?
This might sound strange, but there are times while playing NetHack that I become one with the keyboard commands - when I'm cornered by a bunch of killer bees or a dwarf with a pickaxe, I get progressively flustered as I scroll through my inventory, desperately casting, reading or quaffing anything that might save me. It's quite different to my normal fighting style of charging in gung-ho.
Halo, the first one, the first time, on the pc. very very immersive.
Final fantasy tactics advance ate my life. I can never play that game again unless I am sure i have eaten and have nothing to do, as there is a 25 hour gap in my life where i was leading a clan and dispatching members to sort problems so that I could find my friends and drag us all back to our sucky lives.
Harvest moon. I was up till like 6 am christmas morning playing that thing instead of sleeping and waiting for santa. But it was worth it dammit, cos i married the church chick and had two babies, 10 chickens and a cow.
Anyway, the Thief series is excellent for this. They have some of the most palpable atmosphere I've seen in a game. The first two are hard for me to play these days, though, and not just because of the graphics. The controls feel antiquated with two move forward keys for moving at different speeds and such.
Luckily, Thief 3 is still as great as the others(though plenty in the Thief community would probably want to hang me for suggesting such a thing), and nothing to do with the atmosphere suffered from the changes they brought to the game. The Shalebridge Cradle is brilliant and had me scared out of my mind and there aren't even any enemies in the first half.
Thief 3 is a disgrace and you should show SHAME for your comment.
(Thief community member #923043, I'm obligated to say this, sorry)
Would it help if I said that I think that Thief 3 had the most interesting and best executed story of the series and that I think it was overall the best game in the series?
Because it was.
see dammit, i never really played much Thief, but it seems to come up every time people start talking about good stories in games. What was it actually out on, and best on?
It came out on PC, I know, and XB, I believe. No clue which one's better, but I have it for PC and it never disappoints.
Posts
It's been too many years for me to remember the quote exactly, and I couldn't find it online. Still, I got the gist of it. Love that speech.
White FC: 0819 3350 1787
Well, there's also the whole bit about the
I dare you not to feel like the whole universe will live or die depending on if you blow the death star up in the last mission!
lol for me it was Tie Fighter, the whole time fighting knowing that Tie Fighters got nothing for shields while trying to shoot down X-Wings, and Imperial Traitors.
Seriously, Tie Fighter all the way. I actually started to buy the Imperial brainwashing thing after a bit. Watching the movies got difficult for me because I couldn't shake the whole "Get the FUCK away from my wingman, you pirate/rebel prick!"
The Thief 2 mission where you had to sneak around the police station was excruciatingly awesome. I was dashing around like a madman, leaping onto the carpeted floors and nailing rope arrows to ceilings, then shimmying up them while a guard turns the corner right below me.
System Shock 2 did it to me as well. While I was trying my damndest to avoid the monsters, I knew that I was in full view of another dark presence, and I was always always on edge.
PSN: Wstfgl | GamerTag: An Evil Plan | Battle.net: FallenIdle#1970
Hit me up on BoardGameArena! User: Loaded D1
Played that on my 286 16 MHz on the external single speed hard drive I bought for it. One of the first games I owned with a Soundblaster (played Wing Commander and Eye of the Beholder at a friends place).
Also Phantasy Star III. That game just sucked me in. The music was perfect. Just perfect.
For those of us who cut our teeth on WC1 and 2 that moment was a travesty. There is no fucking way Hobbes would have gone back to the Kilrathi. And his betrayal scene was a poor imitation of WC2.
Then I felt superior, because I knew that had I been in that fighter, the Falcon would have been dust. (In the long run royally screwing up the Emperor's plans to find the Rebel headquarters and wipe out the leadership in a single blow, but I would have gotten a medal or a "secondary/secret objective" pip)
God I miss that game.
Would it help if I said that I think that Thief 3 had the most interesting and best executed story of the series and that I think it was overall the best game in the series?
Because it was.
I forgot I was playing it all day at work today.
3ds friend code: 2981-6032-4118
Prince of Persia (The original and Sands of Time)
Fahrenheit
ico - The first time I saw those shadow creatures I was terrified, it left me scared shitless of leaving her on her own again.
Shadow of the Colossus - Seeing some of the creatures and just saying "ohhh....fuck."
PSN: SirGrinchX
Oculus Rift: Sir_Grinch
see dammit, i never really played much Thief, but it seems to come up every time people start talking about good stories in games. What was it actually out on, and best on?
Final fantasy tactics advance ate my life. I can never play that game again unless I am sure i have eaten and have nothing to do, as there is a 25 hour gap in my life where i was leading a clan and dispatching members to sort problems so that I could find my friends and drag us all back to our sucky lives.
Harvest moon. I was up till like 6 am christmas morning playing that thing instead of sleeping and waiting for santa. But it was worth it dammit, cos i married the church chick and had two babies, 10 chickens and a cow.
called PHIL.
It came out on PC, I know, and XB, I believe. No clue which one's better, but I have it for PC and it never disappoints.