Most Powerful Imagery

[Mr. Pedantic]

What do you mean by imagery? Do you mean technically impressive scenes, or metaphorically evocative scenes?

 

[orbster556]

For me, the list would include the following:

1) Leaving the vault in Fallout 3.

2) The Battle of Stalingrad from the original Call of Duty. I was rather young at the time and with the volume turned up remember feeling as if I was actually there dodging incoming artillery strikes.

3) Although BF3's single-player campaign was awful, I'm still blown away by the jet mission (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPjEz60YAK8)

4) The dragon fights from DA:O -- fair but challenging.

5) The fight against Kangaxx from Baldur's Gate 2.

Although there was no single image or set-piece from the original Deus Ex that would be appropriate for this list, I remember the impression the entire game-world left on me as I was playing the game. It felt so fully-developed and real.

 

[Craig234]

A spoiler for a 15 year old game?

Yes. I started Thief but didn't get to that part, and look forward to playing it more.

 

[Fenixgoon]

Fortress of Regrets in Planescape: Torment (end "chapter" basically)

 

[orbster556]

I also meant to include the level(s) from Metro 2033 when you go to the surface and eventually explore the library.

A beautiful, haunting setting.

 

[slpnshot]

Not really sure if you mean impact moments within the game because of the story line or because it was visually stunning at the time.

In the older games, I would say the first time walking out into Hyrule Field on Ocarina of Time. It seemed so large at the time, and the accompanying music made it seem like the entire world was open to you.

More recent would have to be Skyrim when you first walked out of the starting area. Also when you go to

Spoiler

Sovangard

.

 

[akahoovy]

A moment that was stunning in a game to me was in Chrono Trigger, when you escape to the future and see the video playback of the Day of Lavos. Up to that point I had no idea where the game was going.

I haven't played much of it yet, but I like how everything in Dishonored resembles an oil painting, including the textures for characters faces. That's pretty neat.

I remember wondering what exactly was going to happen in FO: New Vegas when

Spoiler

I had the first chance to see Caesar and was walking up to him in his tent.

That was intense.

 

[sash1]

bathtub scene in Eternal Darkness

 

[Zorander]

The final cutscene in Starcraft where Tassadar sacrificed himself by crashing the Gantrithor into the Overmind.

 

[JamesV]

... long post of win...

That pretty much sums it up; great post.

 

[Geosurface]

That pretty much sums it up; great post.

Thank you, there are of course some others I wish I had included... including the reveal of Rapture in Bioshock, but I had to stop myself

 

[Ganeedi]

Thanks everyone for posting. Enjoyed the nostalgia.

 

[darkewaffle]

Adding to the ME mention

Spoiler

Mordin humming the tune to "Scientist Salarian" while curing the Genophage amidst the building collapsing on him. And hearing him sing it for the first time in ME2 lol. Legion and Tali's dialog with Shep after 'allowing' both races to survive. Accompanying Jacob to his father's crashsite. Liara's gift to you in ME3. The final radio transmissions with Ashley/Kaiden in ME1. Seeing your crew lined up in front of the Memorial Wall at the end of ME3 with Shepherd's name on it.

Man that series alone is emotionally draining lol.

Konschtat Highlands in FFXI always stuck with me. A storm rolling in over the rolling hills and old stone windmills was awesome.

 

[clok1966]

Im a PC guy so most are mentioned.. but .. GOW 3 on the PS3.. the opening batteling with the titans, simply blew me away.. and .. Dark Souls and Demons Souls.. that game just "looks cool".. maybe my thinking its about as perfect as a sword and board game has came sways me on its looks.. i know the are not ground breaking.. but they combine well.

 

[hans030390]

Just looking up at the nighttime sky in Morrowind:

I'm pretty sure that's from Oblivion...Shivering Isles?

 

[Atomic Playboy]

Seems silly after all of these years, but I still remember how startling it was to see 3d accelerated graphics for the first time. NFS :HP came with my Voodoo 3 3000 and made my eyes bleed; you could actually see the textures on the road as you flew by.

I remember my first experience with 3D accelerated graphics too. I had purchased Half-Life and played through it a couple times, then I started to get into TFC and the CS betas. I figured a nice graphics card would help me out, so I bought a Voodoo 5 5500, but didn't actually bother to change from software rendering to OpenGL (no one tells you these things). I figured out about 6 weeks after buying the card that you had to change rendering methods, so I switched to OpenGL and loaded up Well2. I was stunned by the depth and color of everything. And then I fired a rocket down a hallway, watched the light from the rocket cast ambient lighting onto the walls, released a giddy scream like a schoolgirl and promptly fell out of my chair. I was used to N64 and PS1; this was a game changer.

Another moment that stands out to me: playing Battlefield 1942 for the first time. I hopped into a server running Guadalcanal and spawned in the allied camp. It's an airfield under the base of a mountain, so you can't see too much of the map from where you start, but you get the sense that it's huge. I hopped into a plane and was amazed that it would actually let me pilot it. And then I took off, turned south and saw just how big everything actually was. I was used to CS at this point, so the idea that a game could simulate a full-on war over a massive battlefield just shocked me. And you could jump into any vehicle at all and start driving it (even a submarine!); how crazy was that?

 

[Geosurface]

My first dedicated graphics card was the Diamond Monster 3D, which was the first 3D card period, I believe.

I think I got it for Quake 2 mostly but I think it was my card for Half-Life and Unreal too.

I was remiss not mentioning Unreal before. When you step out of the Vortex Rikers prison ship to see the world of Na Pali for the first time it was very impressive. That game had many other impressive areas too like Sky Town and the castle surrounded by lava.

 

[clok1966]

Another moment that stands out to me: playing Battlefield 1942 for the first time. I hopped into a server running Guadalcanal and spawned in the allied camp. It's an airfield under the base of a mountain, so you can't see too much of the map from where you start, but you get the sense that it's huge. I hopped into a plane and was amazed that it would actually let me pilot it. And then I took off, turned south and saw just how big everything actually was. I was used to CS at this point, so the idea that a game could simulate a full-on war over a massive battlefield just shocked me. And you could jump into any vehicle at all and start driving it (even a submarine!); how crazy was that?

that was the GAME for us in the day was it not? all over now, but back then? nothing had done what that game did so well (still to this day miss good old BF42).. back in the early days when a sherman could (i loved doing it) take a plane straffing down.. THE rage was glorious. To bad they patched ot to 3 shots.. all the asshat grieferes blowing up planes on the ground if they couldn't reach um before there teammates..blow it up instead of letting teamate fly it.. the day I knew true TEAM based games would never work as well as they should on the open net and what asshats about 75% of the people playing where.

 

[Elcs]

I forgot about this earlier but...

Freespace 2 had a few moments which are memorable, not sure it's entirely imagery but these have stayed with me...

Spoiler

The nebula part with the Ravana? (thinking of the Destroyer in the Nebula)
The first meeting with the Sathanas
The Sathanas jumping through the destroyed Knossos portal
A Sathanas destroying the Psmaltik
Several parts of the Admiral Bosch side-plot (around his meeting with the Shivans)
The Colossus doing a heroic last stand
The final mission + ending video

 

[Legios]

The 2 or 3 missions that have stuck with me in a game was from BF1942.

Monte Cassino
German side of Dday
Japanese side of Battle for Wake

I had fun realizing how simple it was to mow down the troops as they disembarked from the landing boats.

Then I realized this was based on something very real and it was in all likelyhood that easy in real life. I got sad.:'(

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Homeworld 1: Kharak is burning
Starcraft 1: Tassadar's Sacrifice
Planescape Torment: More or less the whole damn game
ZenoClash: The whole game
Freespace 2 Nebula & SOC missions
Mass Effect 3: More or less the whole game

There are a lot more but they're not coming to mind at the moment

 

[Grey!matter]

Dead space 3

 

[SLU Aequitas]

The intro cutscene to Freespace (Freespace 2 was the better game IMHO, but loved that intro): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJ-xcgBL1mY

(and FS2...or rather FS:O is still very alive...and purty : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXF2uHPiZoo)