30 Days of Video Games - BONUS: Why Do You Play Games Pg. 142

[-blank-]

Hmm, with so many awesome moments in gaming, it's hard for me to chose just one. Now what could I...

 

 

Oh wait.

 

 

I know exactly which one I want to choose;

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Turnabout Goodbyes - Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney

 

Some people might be asking; 'Blaire, why in the hell are you using an entire Ace Attorney case for this answer?' Well, click the spoiler and I'll tell you;

 

 

So, Ace Attorney. Just short of a couple weeks ago, I didn't give two shits about this series. In fact, the most I knew of it was a visual novel in which you have court battles and the popular 'Objection!' meme that spouted from it. Honestly, that sounded kind of boring to me.

 

A chance discovery of the first two games at Gamestop led me to give the series a chance however and I quickly discovered that AA1 (haven't got a chance to play Justice For All yet) was a very solidly designed game. But as much as I was enjoying it, it still wasn't grabbing me quite as much as I had hoped it would.

 

Then, Turnabout Goodbyes happened.

 

This case is an emotional rollercoaster from beginning to end. Right from the start it grabs you with the fact that Miles Edgeworth, Phoenix's prosecuting rival, is caught up in a murder case in which the prime suspect is him. And from then on things just keep getting more and more suspenseful as you try to prove his innocence. You soon find that the case is connected to the DL-6 case, the unsolved murder of Mile's father, Gregory Edgeworth, that happened fifteen years ago; an event that, being a huge part of his past, Edgeworth now begins feel responsible for.

 

Speaking of Edgeworth, this case really made me like him as a character. Before, I was just 'cool' with him. I didn't hate him or anything and a couple of the running gags associated with him did make me laugh. But with Turnabout Goodbyes, they took a character who until that point seemed like a mere rival to Phoenix and made him so much more rounded - his past with Phoenix, the events of the DL-6 case which led not only to his eventual career path, but constant nightmares and a phobia of both earthquakes and elevators, and even the depressed look he gives you from time to time really serve to make him that much more human. And it was what elevated him as one of my new favorite characters in gaming.

 

Of course, the humor of the previous cases is still there - I can't begin to count all the moments that made me burst out laughing. Whether it was things like Maya inadvertently causing a witnesses' camera to run out of film (and Phoenix having to pay for the roll), a police dog going to town on the hotdogs Larry was supposed to sell, and of course the various courtroom drama, these light-hearted moments really served as a nice contrast to the dark and serious undertones of this case. Also, you get to cross-examine a parrot. That is awesome.

 

And the climax. Oh my god, the freaking climax.

 

Allow me to set the stage;

 

Remember the DL-6 incident I mentioned? Well, this is the final day it needs to be solved, before it is legally erased forever. So, Phoenix takes it upon himself to figure out the true murderer once and for all.

 

Based on evidence and testimony, it slowly begins to look like Manfred von Karma, who just so happens to be the prosecutor of the current case, is responsible for the death of Gregory Edgeworth. Unfortunately, he's pretty damn confident that isn't the case. Plus, he stole most of the evidence relating to the DL-6 incident, so it's not like Phoenix has a whole lot of options to prove anything.

 

But note that I said 'most'. Not 'all'. So, what to you do? You pull out your trump card, the one piece of evidence you managed to salvage;

 

 

 

A single bullet.

 

 

 

 

That's right, the bullet that, with some ballistic testing, will be proven to be the bullet used in the murder. At this point, von Karma goes completely insane and as he is bashing his head into the wall, has no other choice but to confess. Very, very satisfying to watch.

 

And then the ending? Damn, if that wasn't bittersweet, I don't know what is. I've never cried at a video game before, but I'd be lying if I wasn't a bit saddened by the scene of Maya leaving to complete her spirit medium training.

 

Also, you'd get this after the credits roll;

 

 

 

I certainly would call that a victory.

 

 

Turnabout Goodbyes. A fine case and the moment that elevated my opinion of Ace Attorney from just 'good' to what is now one of my favorite games of all time. Not bad for a series I only got properly introduced too a couple weeks ago, wouldn't you say?

 

 

 

 

Hope you all enjoyed that, SSMB.

 

And as an honorable mention.... (or a substitution in case my first answer didn't count. ^^;

 

The opening cinematic of Sonic Unleashed;

 

Oh, where do I start?

Has there ever been another opening in the series that has come close to the sheer scale of greatness that this one reaches? Not to me.

The way Eggman suddenly ceases his exultant laughter when he notices the hedgehog has arrived, complete with a giant blaze behind him and how he orders everything to fire on him before getting into a mech himself really shows how much the doctor considered Sonic a threat. How Sonic so effortlessly avoids all the firepower that comes at him was nothing short of badass. Even when it seems that Eggman has gotten an advantage by grabbing him with his mech, Sonic used the Chaos Emeralds to turn into Super Sonic and break free from the grasp! And the way he pretty much lays waste to Eggman’s fleet was simply awesome.

But Sonic’s own arrogant nature gets in the way as he is deprecating Eggman, allowing the doctor the perfect chance to turn this to his advantage while the hedgehog is distracted. Cue Sonic getting trapped… and then hit with powerful electric rays that freaking suck the emeralds’ power out of him!

Let that run through your head people - Eggman defeated Super Sonic. Not many characters attest to that accomplishment.

And while Eggman continues to electrocute Sonic the world is freaking broken apart. And not only that, we get our first glimpses of Dark Gaia, interchanged with shots of Sonic transforming into the Werehog. - my god, this was such an awesome opening.

The high quality of the CGI and the wonderfully composed music do nothing but add greatly to an already fantastic scene. Unleashed’s opening cinematic positively drips of a sense of splendor that is going to be very hard to top.

[NGw00d]

Day 15: Favorite Moment

The ending of Sonic Adventure 2

 

The main reason this is one of my favorite moments in gaming is probably because its from my favorite game. I just love how it all plays out with everyone realizing that the world was in danger, so they put their rivalries aside and started working together in order save it. The scene where both Sonic and Shadow go through their super transformations is still one of my favorites in the series. What really makes this my favorite moment is Shadow "sacrificing" his life in order to save earth and fulfill the promise he made to Maria. I felt it was a really fitting end to Shadow's character, an end that didn't last very long mind you, but that's for a different time.

 

The music when Sonic returns to the ARK sets the tone for the scene quite well and really drives home the point that Shadow's gone. The cast remembering Shadow and discussing their future is very somber and Sonic's final line, "Sayonara, Shadow the Hedgehog," is the perfect way to finish it all off.

 

Objecting in the Ace Attorney series

 

Not even one specific moment. Just yelling "Objection!" when you find the contradiction. I said in a previous post that it is one of the most satisfying things in gaming, and it definitely is. It feels even better when you use the the microphone on the DS or 3DS and physically shout it out loud. Seeing the witness begin to crumble is just the icing on the cake that we call justice.

[Lucky]

Day 15: Favourite Moment

 

This is one of those questions where it's impossible to choose an answer, so just decided to go with the first few that popped into mind even though I have quite a lot of others I could have listed for this. The first ones are from separate games, but just going to shove them here together as they're from two quite similar games.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9OfHJcAms8

 

I love the Scarecrow Hallucinations in Arkham Asylum and the one above is a particular favourite as it messed with your mind as well as Batman's.

 

You're wandering through a corridor and nothing in particular is happening at the time, and then the game starts to freak out a little and jumps back to the intro screen. The first time this happened I thought it had glitched and was worried that I might have lost my progress as it's happened to me in other games, and then I realised that something didn't seem quite right about it...

 

It turned out that the scene had been flipped around and you were now put in The Joker's shoes for a brief stint and Batman was the one who had been captured, and you got to watch the intro in a reversed perspective before getting a mock failure screen after Batman is killed and you're thrown into the actual boss battle.

 

It was such a cool little scene and was the perfect end to the Scarecrow encounters in the game.

 

The other two were also contenders as I loved the morgue one (particularly from about 3:40 onwards) for having such an unsettling and chilling atmosphere, and the second one also came out of nowhere when you were least expecting it and I just loved how everything starts to fall apart around Batman before it flashes back to that particular iconic scene with young Bruce Wayne.

 

 

And here's the second part of this answer, which sort of relates to the above.

 

Arkham City also references Bruce Wayne's parents in the form of Crime Alley, and there's even an achievement that can be earned by kneeling there and paying your respects to your parents for a minute. It's a short moment, but it's so emotional and there's some beautiful BGM played while Batman kneels there. It wasn't something that had to be included as it has no bearing on the actual plot, but I love that Rocksteady went to the trouble of including it for the longtime Batman fans as it's just such a brilliant and iconic moment.

 

Honourable Mention #1

 

 

This one I love for a similar reason to one of the Scarecrow hallucinations.

 

Eternal Darkness tried to screw with your mind in a lot of ways, and other than the usual scares it would throw in some fake glitches or kick you back to the start-up screen now and again just to mess with you. Sometimes the screen would go black with the video input sign in the corner as though the picture signal had been lost and you would hear your character being attacked when you couldn't see what was going on. But none of that was as terrifying as the next one it pulled...

 

Instead of the usual save prompt, it would ask if you wanted to delete all your save games and the only options were yes or continue without saving. No matter what you chose, you would get a message saying that all your save games had been deleted and it took me by surprise the first time it happened. I've suffered from a lot of corruptions and lost save data on the Gamecube, and I genuinely did think it had happened again and panicked for a second.

 

Well played, Eternal Darkness. Well played.

 

Honourable Mention #2

 

Hogfather mentioned from Bayonetta, so here's the other one.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDe00vAi3hY

 

"Welcome to MY Fantasy Zone. Get ready!"

 

I loved the little references that were thrown into the game and Space Harrier is one of my all-time favourite titles, so it was so cool when this popped up. It's also has one of my favourite remixes of the main theme and it's just one of those segments I adore playing through.

[Kiah]

Day 15: Favorite Moment:

 

I'm going to have to go with Sonic again for this round, but a different game this time: 

 

 

Yes, Sonic and the Secret Rings. Notably the epic ending of the game being the my favorite moment:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUAF2uO8TEk

 

Sonic at this point has just defeated Alf Layla wa-Layla, but Erazor subsequently boasts that he is immortal and will always return. Sonic then reveals that he possesses Erazor's lamp with a smug look on his face which abruptly ends Erazor's boasting and overconfidence.

 

Then Sonic plops himself down on the throne like a boss! 

 

Sonic then wishes for Erazor to bring Shahra back to life, restore the book to its original state, and be trapped in his lamp for all eternity. Erazor refuses to do so, but is helpless against the power of his lamp. After granting the third wish, Erazor pleads for Shahra to stop Sonic and save him, but she refuses, leaving him to be sucked into his lamp, which Sonic definitely making it known who was boss, topping it off with Sonic exclaiming "I'M A HEDGEHOG!" once Erazor is in the lamp, and blowing the flame off the lamp spout with a quick blowout of it. Shahra then bursts into tears, and Sonic wishes for a mountain of handkerchiefs to help her through her crying which is a nice nod to the introduction of the game.

 

In short, this is my favorite moment due to being full of characterization of Sonic being bold, cocky and confident and ruthless in his dealings with Erazor Djinn to finish him off after he harassed and tortured both Sonic and Shahra in "revenge-like" fashion, only to quickly adjust to tend to a grieving Shahra with kindness, sympathy, and compassion. I just love it!

[Speederino]

Day 15: Favorite Moment

 

One of the more powerful moments that I can remember is actually from Ace Attorney: Justice For All. I kinda see some irony in this because the game is widely considered to be the weakest in the series (and I agree), but the final case, Farewell, My Turnabout is one hell of a ride during your first time through it. It's the sort of thing you don't want to spoil for people who haven't played it, so I guess I'll play it safe.

 

Maya is kidnapped and her ransom is a Not Guilty verdict for a celebrity accused of murder. So you play along with it and for a while things proceed as any other standard Ace Attorney case, but then it turns out your client actually IS guilty

. From then onwards, the case has a highly different feel to it as the characters battle with the philosophy of letting a murderer walk free in order to save an innocent life. And it all builds up until, confused by all the courtroom shenanigans, the Judge straight-up asks you if your client still pleads Guilty or Not Guilty. The game pauses, and the options appear on the bottom screen for YOU to select.

 

Damn did I have a hard time with this. My DS must have sat there for half an hour as I paced around my room battling the choice out in my head, which says a lot for how engaged and immersed I was in the story.

 

Now it turns out that this choice is basically meaningless, as the same thing happens regardless of what you choose. But I didn't know that at the time. For all I knew, choosing either could lead to a very dark and depressing ending. Do I proclaim my client guilty and never see Maya again? Or do I let the scumbag walk free and hate myself for it? It's a very twisted situation that leaves a lasting impact in your mind, and engages the player in a way few other games can. That is why I am naming this "moment of choice" as my favorite gaming moment.

[Chaos Incarnate]

No doubt in my mind, The Suicide Mission from Mass Effect 2 doesn't just take the cake, it absolutely fucking DEMOLISHES IT!

 

 

 

The whole entirety of it is just pitch perfect in every way; it rewards or punishes you depending on how you've been playing the game for the past several hours. Everyone in your crew's life hangs in the balance, so whether or not you've been making the right choices, you're either going to feel massively satisfied at your success or be left with a feeling of gut punch once your favorite squad member is either shot in the face with a missile, carried to their death by seeker swarms, or mortally wounded by a shot to the stomach/fallen debris. 

 

Here's my suggestion to first time players: don't even use a walkthrough when playing The Suicide Mission. Try and experience the feeling of possibly screwing up and suffering casualties for a more "real experience". It's totally worth the feeling it hits you with, trust me.

[Komodin]

Day 15 - Favorite Moment

 

My favorite moment, huh…

 

 

Alright, SSMBers, picture this if you will: After what seemed like an eternity since you arrived in Termina, after an untold number of time-reversals, you finally freed all four Giants and purged the four lands of the continent of any and every evil spirits that made themselves home there and ruined everything for everyone. You head straight to the Clock Tower, with the goal of putting an end to the Skull Kid’s wicked antics once and for all. Playing the Oath to Order for the first and only time, the Four Giants are summoned and, together, they all stop the Moon from impacting Termina. Although it took a considerable effort on all of their parts, they actually succeed in this.

 

At this point, you’re almost certainly feeling jubilant. The moon is stopped, your fairy companion--Tatl--has reunited with her brother and Termina is officially saved! Tatl, ever the brash little pixie, harshly chastises the unconscious Skull Kid for everything he did. Tael, the younger, shrinking violet of the fairy siblings, tries to defend the Skull Kid, saying that it was the mask that made him do what he did. His sister, certainly having had her fill of this sort of BS, flat out rejects that possibility, stating that her ex-friend is just a power tripping, weak-willed fool. Not that one would blame her for thinking that--as mfar as she knew, the Skull Kid’s mask was just that: a mask. However, what happens next just casts everything that has in the game up to this point in a significantly newer light:

 

“Certainly, he had far too many weaknesses to use my power.”

 

 

"A puppet that can no longer be used is mere garbage. This puppet's role has just ended..."

 

It’s this moment right here that throws everything that you knew about this game for a loop. You see, it wasn’t entirely the Skull Kid that was committing all those ghastly curses and ruinations throughout Termina--it was Majora’s Mask itself that was the demon behind the imp. Yes, everything that has transpired throughout, from the robbery of LInk’s stuff that led him to Termina to Kafei being forcibly transformed to a child to the Four Giants themselves being sealed away in those evil spirit masks to the Moon being sent on its collision course with Termina, is more or less the entire fault of Majora’s Mask, the thing that you thought was just an item. 

 

 

Majora’s Mask, the newly revealed Big Bad, separates herself from the Skull Kid, flies into the Moon through a vacuum tube of light from the Moon itself, and assumes direct control of it herself in a move similar to Sonic Adventure 2’s Biolizard, completely determined to go through her plan to destroy Termina…

 

"I...I shall consume. Consume...Consume everything."

 

Such is her power that even the Giants are struggling to hold themselves off against the Majora’s Moon. Tatl and Tael are understandably freaked the heck out, with the former practically begging that Link use the Song of Time to get out of there. Link, on the other hand? He completely ignores them, his eyes focused on the Moon. Even with everything that’s going on, he’s STILL determined to put an end to Majora’s evil for good. Tatl initially flat out rejects the implied offer to go with Link to the Moon, opting to stay with her brother in what she presumes is the final moments of her life. However, to their surprise:

 

“I’ll go!!!”

 

Tael actually makes the offer of going with Link to the Moon, stating that he’s tired of running away and lamenting that if he was stronger, he could stopped Majora before things went the way they did. Tatl, clearly moved by her little brother’s sudden bout of bravery, changes her mind and goes in his stead, noting that her brother has changed from the last time she has seen him.

 

“After all this time, Tael, you've gotten really stubborn… Just like someone else I know… You know, you guys are really stupid…”

 

I think what particularly sticks out about this moment were the displays of characters for all the parties involved here. The cold, detached and wicked machinations of Majora’s Mask; the silent but felt courage and determination of Link, the Hero of Time; the surprising flash of bravery from Tael from his earlier bullied self; and even the development of Tatl from a brat who’s ditch Link at the drop of a hat to someone who’d actually take some responsibility for once. All of it is excellent in my book. In a game that’s full of awesome moments, this one is my favorite due to the actions of everyone involved, even Majora’s Mask herself. If you want to see this cutscene yourself, here you go:

 

 

So, yes, this is my favorite moment in video games. It's pretty awesome.

[Jimbo]

Day 15: Favorite Moment

 

Finding the final ship piece in Toejam and Earl.

 

 

This has to be one of the most satisfying moments in any video game. After twenty-five levels of avoiding mad scientists, lawnmower dudes and groups of nerds, reaching that last ship piece is oh so sweet.  Even better is finishing the game in random worlds. Some of the randomly generated levels are brutal and take some time to figure out. Reached Level 24? No worries, an army of phantom ice cream trucks(!) are on the way to halt your progress. I can count plenty of times where I came so close to the end, just to lose my last life when the goal is within reach. But finding that last piece and taking off towards Funkotron is as satisfying as it gets in any game.

[Celestia]

Day 15: Favourite Moment
 
You know all those moments in many games, movies, and so on and so forth, where the hero(es) are saved at the last moment by an ally? "Big damn heroes" moments are pretty awesome, and my favourite gaming moment is a particularly incredible example.

Major spoilers for the final battle in Earthbound!
 

So after days of adventuring, taking on all kinds of monsters and human jerks, you're finally taking on Giygas, but unfortunately he's ridiculously strong. Porky is with him, but goes down fairly easily, but Giygas himself is powerful and can take a lot of damage. At one point, he stops taking any damage from your attacks, period. Porky taunts you at this point, and is very effective at making you feel hopeless. After all, what are you supposed to do? This thing can't be stopped! 

 
Then, Porky accidentally gives you an idea. An idea involving a mechanic you probably didn't pay much attention to, since it isn't very useful most of the time.
 

 
"Telepathy or something"? Well...
 

 
So Paula prays. Not to any deities, but rather, people. Characters you've met throughout the game, from the party's family members to various friends you've made along the way. They hear Paula's call, and their own well wishes...somehow mess with Giygas' defenses. Keep using Paula's Pray command, and Giygas starts losing more and more HP! Maybe you'll win after all?!
 
...
 
Then Paula runs out of people to call.
 

 
But that prayer is absorbed by the darkness.
 
Now what? Without any other options, you try the Pray command again. Paula makes one more plea...
 
 
 
Well who else could there be?
 

 
...Wait, who?
 

 
Hold on, that one worked, Giygas takes damage! But who--
 

 

 
And in that moment, I realized I really was. I wanted, from the bottom of my heart, for these kids to not only survive, but to win. And as all the other prayer "attacks" dealt a decent amount of damage, mine? Well, this time, the damage goes to ridiculous levels with each blow, until...
 

 
Bam. The final blow. The standard attacking sound effect never sounded so satisfying. Giygas starts like, falling apart or something, and Porky runs away because he's an asshole.
 
And...
 
it's over. They won. WE won. It wasn't the kids, as amazing as they are, to deal the final blow. Hell, it wasn't even Ness, the hero, the one you'd think would be the one to ultimately save the day. It was me--anyone who played the game--to be the hero  We couldn't have done it without them, but they couldn't have done it without us, either...and that goes even more for this particular game than any other. If it weren't for people playing the games, no video game hero would be able to do anything, but this is the only game I've played so far that went this far with it, straight into No Fourth Wall town.
 
See, the game asked for your name a few times throughout the adventure, but at most you'd think "oh, they'll thank me in the credits". Which they do as well! But this? I think this may have actually been spoiled to me before playing the game, but I went so many years between hearing about it and playing the game that it was easy to forget, which is a good thing.
 
Yeah, that's my favourite video game moment.
 

THE PLAYER Defeating Giygas

Earthbound

 

[SIXTH-RATE SOMA]

Day 15: Favorite... Uh....

 

I'm going to interpret the question as Favorite Signature Scene in Gaming, as not to overload my brain. Something iconic that people recall for years afterwards, a mere title dredging up memories; "The Torture Scene" from Metal Gear, "the Giygas Scene" from Earthbound, "the Opera Scene" from Final Fantasy VI, "the Itchy Tasty Scene" from Resident Evil, and so on. Going forward with that definition, I can safely say my favorite signature scene is...

 

 

"The Slave Obeys Scene," BioShock

 

"'Would you kindly,' powerful phrase... familiar phrase?"

This one very nearly goes without saying (but contains spoilers, so be warned you three people who don't know anything about BioShock). The entire game, all of your dealings in Rapture, culminate in your showdown with the man who built the city from the ground up. You've seen him begin life under the sea as a arrogant but well-meaning man, and slowly descend into an amoral, power-hungry monster. The city's collapsing around you, victim of Ryan's self-destruct system, so it's clear your only way out alive is going to be finding him and retrieving his key. You track him down to his headquarters in Hephaestus and take down everything standing between you and this final battle, making one last check to arm yourself, march into his office and...

 

...he gives you a speech. Sure, he toys with you a bit. He's managed to figure out what you haven't: you are his biological son, engineered and conditioned as his assassin. What's more, he's discovered your trigger phrase, and makes you dance around on your strings a bit before he gets serious. 

 

In his final moments Andrew Ryan, founder of the utopia Rapture, makes a demonstration: a man chooses, a slave obeys. Whether out of weary spite, some lingering good intention, or some final claim to power, Ryan dies by his own orders, using your trigger phrase to end his own life.

 

It's a powerful moment of video game storytelling, and one that turns the entire game on its head. I'm not sure a cutscene has meant so much to the narrative of a game before. It's not only one of the finest examples of mechanics as metaphor, but just a well-written and moving scene in general. It's what elevates BioShock to the classic status it deserves, and it's why I've chosen it as my favorite here.

 

Runners Up:

• "The Konrad Scene" and "The White Phosphorus Scene," from Spec Ops: The Line
• "The Gigyas Scene," from Earthbound
• "The Ending Scenes," from The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker and Yoshi's Island
• "The End of the World Scene," from The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask

[Goldenlink64]

Day 15: Favorite Moment

 

Touhou 7: Perfect Cherry Blossom

 

I would have to give my favorite moment to surviving this beast of a Final Spell Card. Once you "beat" the Final Boss, there's one last stand she makes trying to take you down and there's no health or even a boss you can kill at this point, you can only wait and hopelessly dodge until the time runs out. Because why is this moment so special to me?

 

Because after years of practice I finally beat it with zero lives left. I finally beat the game without using any continues and EARNED that damn Good Ending! I can still remember how intense that final battle felt and when I finally beat it... holy crap.

 

To explain, Touhou 7 is a difficult game, but it's also always fair too in that if you die, it's completely your fault, not because these bullets come out of nowhere or are too fast to dodge or something like that. With that said, I spent my entire High School career coming home every day and booting this game from start as soon as I packed my books down. Once I lost all my lives and had to "continue" I would immediately quit the game and go straight to homework.

 

I can't really put my finger on why, I just really loved this game a lot back then and I was extremely dedicated towards beating it without continues so I could get that Good Ending and finally earning that moment was simply amazing. To this day this is one of the proudest things I've done in gaming and easily my favorite too.

 

Runner Up: Playing and beating Ocarina of Time for the first time ever... because you know, first game I ever played... DEM SENTIMENTALS!

 

Previously on Day 14:

Next time on Day 16:

[Phantomime]

I don't have anything to say in this first sentence here, but it'd be super-lame If I just left it blank. Don't you think?

 

Most Frustrating Moment: Two for the Price of One

 

Object of Hate 1: The Blue Shell.

 

Something I hate about Mario Kart is that it's a series that loves to punish skill. This is the most egregious and famous example. It always shows up on the last lap, right at the end. I can't do shit about it. All I can do is watch with gritted teeth as my star rank slips away like it was nothing. I still love the Mario Kart games, but I hope that 8's Horn is as useful for breaking those fucking things as Nintendo says it is. 

 

Object of Hate 2: Escort Missions.

 

They're either weak, or don't fight at all. They die easily. They are SO. FUCKING. SLOW. Can you guess what I'm talking about? Of course you can, I told you, like, two lines up. It's not fun. There's no reason for them to exist, except for Devs to pad out their games. Unfortunately, I can't see the escort mission dying anytime soon. 

 

 

Favorite Moment: Wonderful 101: Tables Turn

 

 

No, I'm not saying the song is my favorite moment (though it is great). My favorite moments happen when the song starts playing. I've already said that The Wonderful 101 has fantastic boss fights. Tables Turn is the song that plays when a boss is on it's last legs. It gives a great emotion of "YEAH ALL RIGHT LET'S DO THIS".

 

...Yeah, I'm pretty sure "yeah all right let's do this" is an emotion. 

 

So yeah, this combined with the action onscreen mixes together to create maximum hype. It's awesome.

[Gregzilla]

Day 15 - Favorite Moment

 

Tired and it's late so I gotta keep this short.

 

The Ending of The Wonderful 101 is my favorite moment.  I already talked about it in the Favorite Boss question, so I'll just reiterate.  The buildup leads to an amazing payoff, something so many endings have difficulties with.  I don't know how Platinum did it, but they ONCE AGAIN managed to make me think the game was over when really there was a whole other battle to be had.  When the true final boss revealed itself, my mouth literally fell agape and I muttered "NO" in disbelief.  That's how badass it was.

 

There's also The Ending of Portal 2, which is probably the most conclusive ending to a series I've ever seen (despite being only 2 entries long).  It wraps everything up absolutely perfectly, with the right amount of intensity, closure, and comedy.  Until W101 came along, this was my favorite ending ever.  And despite W101 being more up my alley due to the friggin' insane...ness....of the action, I'd probably argue that Portal 2 has a more well-constructed ending, just because the writing is a lot more clever.  But I have a soft spot for crazy action, so W101 wins.

[Soniman]

  The Assault on Yuna's Wedding 

 

At this point in the game, you've been seperated from your summoner, Yuna. She's the main reason the plot is moving right now so when she disappears you spend a good chunk of the game searching for her and trying to get her back, you went to a base in the desert where she was kept and after that proved fruitless we finally found her being forced into a wedding with Seymour, who is quite possible the least likable villian in FF history so your drive to get her back is fueled by hate for the blue hairied twat. On you're way to crash the wedding you run into a giant fucking dragon named Everae. The fight is tough but once you get past this fucker this track starts playing.

 

 

Once you hear that you know shits going down, and once the track stars playing our heroes come in on a big ass Airship, crashing in the wedding the most badass way ever. They're grinding on rails, dodging gunfire oh man it's just the greatest to me, a perfect example of the "big damn heroes" trope.

 

You're literally riding high off of just defeating their pet dragon Everae in a air assault and you proceed to storm the wedding, chopping down any guards and robots in your path. Yuna has been separated from the party for quite some time and you're finally within spitting distance, it's just such an awesome moment for me.

 

Runner Up:

 

Final boss of Wind Waker, the setting is what makes this fight so spectacular, going toe to toe with Ganondorf while Hyrule floods all around you is just a fantastic scenario.

 

Wonderful 101's myraid of moments, choose any one.

[Zaysho]

Day 15: Favorite Moment

 

This scene. This scene from Xenoblade Chronicles right here.

 

 

The death of Metal Face was incredibly satisfying to see when it finally came through. All the pain he caused and the all the times he nary escaped that finishing blow, to see him go out as he did made me breathe a sigh of a relief. At least he was gone, even though even more powerful and dangerous foes awaited me, knowing that the one guy who did everything he did for the sake of just fucking with the heroes was gone for good was satisfying and cathartic. It's rather touching seeing Shulk and even Dunban (albeit reluctantly) show him mercy, though not surprising that he takes this gesture and throws away out of petty anger. Bastard got what he deserved. Even Dunban and Melia's heart-to-heart over his remains is rather touching; even if Dunban hated him for what he did, he was still his friend.

[turbojet]

Favorite Moment

 

Spoilers. Do not open unless you have played Spec Ops: The Line, have no interest in playing it, or do not mind being spoiled.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-b7TaLjdXMc

Before this moment, this game was nothing but a typical shooter. This is the moment where you sober the fuck up real quick and start wanting to put the fucking controller. Now White Phosphorus is not banned from warfare or is not listed as illegal weapons to use, but it damn near should be. You remember those UAV missions in Call of Duty where you are in an airplane in the say just shooting down your enemies and dropping missiles? Well the developer found that disgusting so he decided to make the player be on ground and see what you gleefully and mindlessly did when you fired white phosphorous on those enemies. It is somberness that creeps you out and just fucked up. When you see your enemies as nothing but little white lights, you actively dehumanize them as nothing but targets. You never think that you might be hitting civilians, but what do you care? In most military-esque shooters, they aren't "your" civilians. 

 

And how he crafted it is amazing. Lugo, the Farsi-Hispanic guy was the one who was against the firing of the white phosphorous. What makes it clever is that Lugo was the one who suggested to sacrifice citizens in order to save a CIA agent while Adams, the black guy who wanted to use white phosphorous, demanded that he save the civilians being tortured. This made Lugo seem to care only for the mission(which went off the rails the moment the crew decided to not report back their findings of survivors at the very beginning of the game, but whatever) and seem callous and the player who might not know anything about white phosphorous, but have some sort of moral conscious might be less inclined to listen to him compared to Adams. So the game refuses to allow you to remain complacent about what to do or give a crunch like "paragon" or "renegade." 

 

This is the moment where people literally stopped playing.

[The Deleter]

Day 15: Favorite moment

 

... Well duh.

 

Wonderful 101's final battle

 

I think I've gone on long enough about why this thing is awesome, but one of the things I haven't mentioned is how well the game handles QTEs. When it's a time based event, it's an easy-to-draw outline, and it gives you ten seconds to react, with the sooner you do it, the more points you get. Not much room for error. And when it's a button-based event... man, does it fit well in the fight when it's used. Hammering a snake's teeth onto a villain to beat him up, stomping on a once-giant-beheamoth-now-turned-bug into oblivion with your heels, and, in the final bosses' case,

stopping a cannon blast the size of the earth itself with the power of "Mash the button to save the world" and HUGE DOUBLE-U FLYING SHIP PISTOL LASER BLASTS!

The button mashing in these fights never feel like pointless "press A to jump higher!" promts like in Sonic Colors, but give you a sense of AW YEAH and AND STAY DOWN, adding to the adrenalin of the fight. And that's how it should be.

 

Oh yeah, and another favorite moment in this fight is the scene where all of their abilities are shown off while chaining together one single attack. And that music, oooh that music.

 

 

Another moment I loved would be the entire final chapter in Professor Layton and the Unwound Future. 

Basically, after travelling around the entire city for 2/3rds of the game getting to know the residents, the big bad finally comes out of hiding

and starts destroying the entire city, with all of the residents inside of it still! You have to give chase and avoid being detected while trying to rescue a young girl who you swore to protect in the first game, but eventually you're spotted, and trapped in a death pit. The bad guy then takes it up to a personal level when he travels to Layton's city, London, and starts crushing it under his fortresses' feet, too! People are dying left and right, and there's nothing you can do about it while trapped. It really adds to the sense of urgency to the chapter.

 

Then there's the plot twist. Oh goodness, that plot twist. Basically, the whole game revolves around a death of a scientist and the explosion that killed her, sort of like Maria from SA2. A politician became heartless, a scientist became obsessed with reversing the damage, a young boy became hellbent on revenge, and a young Layton lost the love of his life.

 

The entire game is based on this event, and the effects it had on people, but there's one detail left out until the end: The time machine that killed Layton's love, actually worked. And yet it didn't. You see, while she is indeed in the present, her molecules are pulling her back to her original time: the time of the explosion. Thus, Layton gets to meet her one last time, but at the cost of opening up old wounds, and tearing them open even further. She gives him a farewell kiss, fades into thin air, and Layton, with all he had found lost again, takes off his hat, sobs his heart out, and lets the newborn snowflakes fall upon his bare head, melting away in sorrow.

 

Combine the gut-wrenching scene, the reveal of the villain's motives and backstory, and Layton's farewell to Luke, and this ending will leave you absolutely heartbroken.

 

Day 15: Complete

[Shane]

My favourite moment was the first time I played Pokémon. I had previously played Dragon Quest on NES for years. Pokémon was my second RPG, but it was the first time I felt truly immersed in an RPG game. It was so cool being able to be a Pokémon trainer and walk around Pallet. My starter was Pikachu. I had never experienced anything like the game before. I yearn for the return of this feeling to this day.

[Strickerx5]

Day 15: Favorite (damn, look at how late it is) Moment

 

 

 

Oh Corneria, you always were one of my favorite stages in Melee. It's mid ranged size made it easy for someone to quietly duck out of a grudge match for a second or jump right in. There are a lot of sequences in games that I could bring up today (train level in Uncharted 2, fighting Cronos in God of War 3, seeing Sonic run in at the end of Subspace, a multitude of moments in Halo, ect.) but I think this moment just hits a little more closer to home for me.

 

So one of my best friends and I were playing melee during a sleep over. I forget what had happened before hand but we were pretty pissed at each other at that moment. At this time of my life I had a bunk bed so he was on the bottom and I was on the top as we sat in dead silence playing a match on Corneria. We had the match set on 90 life stock with 300% damage (this was are favorite game mode at the time) and were slowly working away at that life count. After a while we both get down to one life and are at a stand still, each of us positioned on the opposite side of the stage waiting for the other to make a move. We basically stay this way for a good two minutes before something... magical happens.

 

All of a sudden I see one of those blue portals open right above him. Out of it came a crate that landed directly on him and sent him rocketing off stage. That utter moment of disbelief was glorious as we both started laughing hysterically. He actually got up and started pacing just to understand what had happened while I was on top just laughing my ass off. It was an amazing moment that we still bring up to this day.

[DemonShad716]

Day 15: Favorite Moment

 

Now, I have quite a lot of favorite moments, many of which are just random funny shenanigans with friends. But since it is late, I'll just pick randomly out of the box to make it quick.

 

My favorite moment is this cut scene right after you finish the Perfect Dark Gaia battle in Sonic Unleashed.

 

 

 

 

After all the pain and suffering that Dark Gaia put you through in this game, there's nothing more satisfying than seeing Sonic pierce right through his eye (which is pretty brutal for a Sonic game lol). Just seeing all the awesome effects of Dark Gaia falling and all his guts spilling out really gives it a movie-type feel. This and the opening cut scenes are ones that I never skip when playing this game, especially the one where Sonic in his Werehog form faceplants towards Earth. Sonic has a history with faceplanting throughout his life, its amusing.

 

Perfect Dark Gaia's final transformation is always awesome to see because it looks so well done and detailed, it's like something out of AvP from his crazy design with all the eyeballs and ridiculously wide mouth.

 

It gets very feelsy towards the very end where Chip and Sonic say goodbye  But knowing that the world is saved once again by Sonic, it's all good.

[Tornado]

Playing as Edgeworth in Trials and Tribulations was one of the best moments in a game absolutely full of them. The dialogue became suitably snarky, with Edgeworth repeatedly wondering whether there is a kick me sign on his back; and when you stop to think about it you realize just how good friends the two are that Edgeworth would drop everything just to help Phoenix out when he got hurt. It also subtly explains some of the antagonist character motivations if you really pay attention, but mainly it is just really fun.

[Dejimon11]

Favorite moment

Beating king huff n puff from paper mario. This boss gave me and my brother so much trouble back in 2001.

this was on of those dick bosses. he could solit himself into tiny formas upon getting hit. he can heal himself and that stupid blowing move GAH!

We could never beat him and at that point we lost the game(ok I lost it) so when I bought paper mario off the Wii virtual console I got up to him and finally beat him after all these years. So satisfying then I got up to the final boss and lost and unfortunately I couldn't beat the game cause my Wii broke

[Jeffhog]

FIFTEEN PAST HOLY-SHIT O'CLOCK

~ Is This... Actually Happening? ~

Kid Icarus: Uprising spoilers ahead!

 

Day 15/30: Favourite Moment

Moment Selected: All of Chapter 18 -- Three Years Later
Appearance:
-Kid Icarus: Uprising (Nintendo 3DS, 2012)

"Yesterday?! Try THREE YEARS, buddy!"

~Magnus

What was simply starting a chapter as per usual suddenly took a nasty turn for the absolute worst. Things were serious before, but here... it's heartbreaking.

After dealing with the Aurum, Pit inexplicably finds himself in the form of a ring. Something about a "Chaos Kin" keeps ringing in his head as he returns to consciousness. He's out in a field, completely alone. I didn't quite know what to think of immediately, but "odd" was definitely a recurring thought.

Moments in, a little girl picks up the ring, and I found myself in control of her. All I could do is walk as the strings in the backing track played out something melancholic... No powers, no weapons, nothing. Just a defenceless human girl. No Flight section. We start right on the ground with literally nothing but the shirt on our back.

Then she trips, and a dog picks up the ring. Perk: I'm a dog and can run around faster. Downside: Sudden urge to eat garbage, but that's not important. The music starts to pick up as you break into a faster pace.

There's a town up ahead, but it's burning. Underworld monsters are roaming around, so, despite the disadvantage, you can't help but look, right?

You start seeing Palutena's centurion forces going around after having seen them in the last chapter, then you look up.

That's... me!?

Pit (well his body) is flying around and shooting arrows. But I'm supposed to be Pit, right? So I start to explore around, only to run into Magnus for the first time in a while, and he's fighting off... wait, centurions!? Why were they fighting Magnus?

So the ring goes from the dog to Magnus, who you now share consciousness with. Aw hell YES, I can play as Magnus! The strongest human and greatest bounty hunter! WOO!

Pit even notes how them fighting together felt like it was yesterday.

Then the above quote was spoken. Three years have gone by. During that time, Palutena's Army disappeared, the Underworld forces go all out against the humans, and when Palutena's forces come back...

...they started killing humans too. Palutena had gone off the deep end, and now she, her army, and Pit are the new enemies of mankind.

I was floored. Yes, your body, now in something else's control, had been murdering innocent people for the past three years.

What the fuck happened!? What was I supposed to do!? We were the good guys, and now THIS!? Three years just zipped by in-game without any explanation! What's going on!?

OOOOh, but no, it gets so much worse for Pit from here.

You make your way out of town in order to find the possessed husk of what was once your body in order to get that ring onto him. After one of the most interesting battles in the game so far (You, as Magnus, vs. Pit, who you played as so far instead now he's a boss), the faker is knocked unconscious, Magnus slips the ring onto his finger, and Pit is back in the game! The Power of Flight activates after the angel reborn calls out and pleads to the heavens, and now, it's time to get to the bottom of this.

Here's the thing: the one controlling your flight? Viridi, Goddess of Nature. No Palutena. Things definitely weren't right. Weren't Viridi and I at each other's throats not too long ago?

She helps take you up to Skyworld, only for you to see the above. That once pristine home of the angels, vibrant and full of life (especially after getting an idea of its appearance through Brawl), is in ruins. It's a complete wreck. Slabs of rocks and broken down temples littered the thunderous sky...

Recap: three years as a ring. Your friends and yourself now the enemy of man. Your home is in shambles. You're now working with who was once your enemy. Your life has turned up on its head...

...and here comes the worst of it.

Palutena has rejected Pit. His guardian, friend, and guide who he spent all his life with has abandoned him and turned her back on humanity.

I was in shock as to how depressing the atmosphere had gone in a normally cheery game, making this turn of events an absolutely memorable experience. The time for jokes has long since been crushed, but nowhere near as bad as the poor angel's heart. How this must've affected the usually cheery Pit... I can't even begin to imagine his devastation.

The worst part is that this was but the start of a downward spiral...

EDIT: wait tODAY'S THEME IS WHAT

[Sami]

Day 16 - Most Tragic/Saddest Moment

THE ENTIRE LAST THIRD OF NIER JESUS CHRIST

Oh boy, I've been itching to talk about this game. NieR's story had absolutely hooked, and a big part of that was a result of just how morbid it is. It's a game that's subtle in its world-building and lore, but has an enormous, fantastically presented scope with its world.

There's a lot of drama in the final act. Big heroic sacrifices, deaths from all sides, and tragedies abound. But that's not what makes NieR as devastating as it is for me. Rather, its the broader implications that your actions entail that make NieR as interesting and tragic as it is. Finding out the true nature of the monsters you've been endlessly slaughtering from the beginning of the game, learning the identity of the Shadowlord and finding out why he has your daughter, and thinking about what the vague endings are telling you.

Death is inevitable, and not a single ending of NieR is a "happy" one as a result. You are not the hero. Nobody is. What I love the most about the ending is that the results of your actions are never openly presented to you. Rather, it requires the player to think about what they just learned, and maybe even read some of the optional written collectables.

Massive spoilers:

The Shadowlord was the only thing keeping all the Shades, or Gestalts, from breaking down and going insane. When a Gestalt goes insane, their Replicant (the "humans" you see in-game) gets the Black Scrawl and dies. With the Shadowlord dead, NieR will get the Black Scrawl and die. Yonah will die. The Gestalts will all break down, and every single one of the Replicants will die. Humanity and all else that resembles it will be gone without a trace.

Good job, hero.

[Willsy]

Day 16: The Saddest/Tragic Moment...

The moment I booted up Sonic 06.....nah, just kidding.

For tragic...well....you know how I said yesterday that one if my favourite moments was to fuck someone up with the a blue shell? Well, my most tragic moment is actually getting hit by one. It's especially bad in Mario Kart Wii where the AI just spams items, the likelyhood of blue shells spawning is even greater in that game too. You literally cannot be in first place without one of those little bastards flying after you in Wii, and in the 100cc in 7, expect to see at least one per races usually on the last lap. I'm driving along, just about losing everyone else, I'm only a corner away from finishing the race first....but then an alarm goes off and that blue bitch drops right on to me. Then you watch as three other racers pass by while your kart slowly regains speed. You finish in 4th. Tragic.

Saddest moment?

Death of the Lumas, start of a new galaxy (Super Mario Galaxy)

I'm pretty sure all of us get upset by cute things dying. Especially if they make cute little squeaking noises. In the second to final cutscene of Super Mario Galaxy, a black hole opens and threatens the galaxy. However, the Lumas fly into the black hole to reset the galaxy, however killing them in the process. I almost cried when Mario's Luma waved goodbye to him and flew into the black hole, it was really sad. I never knew a Mario game could have such a moment. However, the happy part is that new stars are born, and the galaxy resets. Right at the end when Rosalina flies the new space observatory (I think it's meant to be that anyway) away, there are some remains of the planetoid that the observatory was based on. The camera zooms into the remains, and you see Mario's Luma peeping out from behind a rock, and waves at the screen. So it turned out that Mario's Luma didn't die after all.

Skip to 8:21

http://youtu.be/ZjgiCbgsr6c

Chip sealed within the Earth (Sonic Unleashed)

I've mentioned this scene a couple of times, but I do find it really sad. If one of my best friends were sealed inside the planet's core, I'd be distraught. But Chip didn't die, he's still alive as a spirit, as is Dark Gaia. He assures Sonic that he will always be with him, as part of ground that he treads. Even though they are apart from one another in the flesh, they are always together in spirit. Also, Dear My Friend (the song that plays in the credits) also speaks of Sonic and Chips's friendship, and further speaks of the message of the cutscene that I've mentioned.

http://youtu.be/KEGKcWHqhZQ