Current Events > What was the first thing in gaming to truly wow you?

(+) Yeah! (+)

VR

The Elden Ring story trailer

Metroid Dread

Demon's Souls (ps5) raised the bar hard on what we should expect from a remake. By staying true to the original game and having the budget to back it up, nu DeS places all the bells & all the whistles in the right places

Xethuminra posted...

VR

The Elden Ring story trailer

Metroid Dread

Demon's Souls (ps5) raised the bar hard on what we should expect from a remake. By staying true to the original game and having the budget to back it up, nu DeS places all the bells & all the whistles in the right places

Wow you are hard to please

or very young I guess

Skyrim

The opening cinematic for Final Fantasy 7. Everything else just felt like a linear path of progression. Not even Ocarina of Time or Mario 64 felt like a landmark event.

MICHALECOLE posted...

Wow you are hard to please

or very young I guess

I mean, VR is factually the most impressive thing happening in gaming. The other stuff mostly just licks my pallette. Different strokes for different folks. On another beat, did you have a remake you wanted put up against DeSr?

Are you saying I'm a snob who's also a pushover? You would be correct lol

Transitioning from NES to SuperNes
I remember seeing a poster ad or maybe magazine pics of the Snes games and the graphics and colors were amazing.

Xethuminra posted...

I mean, VR is factually the most impressive thing happening in gaming. The other stuff mostly just licks my pallette. Different strokes for different folks. On another beat, did you have a remake you wanted put up against DeSr?

Are you saying I'm a snob who's also a pushover? You would be correct lol

No I wasnt saying that, Im just saying that I was wowed as a child by things that probably werent that impressive but still captured my imagination

Donkey Kong Country
Super Mario 64
Wave Race 64
Final Fantasy VII
Metal Gear Solid 2
Grand Theft Auto III

Just a few off the top of my head

MICHALECOLE posted...

No I wasnt saying that, Im just saying that I was wowed as a child by things that probably werent that impressive but still captured my imagination

Impressive by what standard?

Material that is derivative or with shoddy production can still be definitive. The fun behind a lot of stuff out there is how it flows into other material. The MCU is a great example of that. Very very little of it stands on its own two legs. The merit comes from knowing that, like an epic fantasy mythology, this story never really ends. My mind goes to the Spawn HBO series. On its own? Great but not the BEST. It's how it stands up against other animated series at the time and the rest of the Spawn multimedia that truly makes it shine. Same with the Heavy Metal movie. People didn't quite understand what they were seeing..... and that was part of the fun, because a lot of us did, and it fostered discovery, and a sense of discussion, and opened the window into another world of fiction, art, culture, and entertainment for many people. That movie was literally someone's dream come true. Imagine essentially throwing a screenplay in the trash and then someone makes a movie from it and gives you credit. That sort of stuff. Bad production values and cliches can be an acceptable vehicle for something truly impressive and inspiring. See: The Evil Dead. Man, a lot of that didn't work out, but we saw what he was going for, and it left an impression, and that's all that really matters. The dream was related. The imagination of the audience was stoked. They didn't want The Evil Dead, per se, but they wanted MORE. Hence the amazing amazing amazing Evil Dead II, Army of Darkness, and related or subsequent material gaining traction. They still make art and games and comics and people name-drop Ash and quote Ash all the time and they want their other horror/horror comedy to hit some of those notes. You can argue it led directly to The Blair Witch Project, for example, which in turn spawned an entirely new genre.

/rant

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/9/6/5/AASrKBAAC3V1.jpg

When Xenophobe released in the arcades. It blew most of our minds. Gauntlet was another.

Mario 64, but honorable mention to VR, which is fucking awesome when done right (and in real, traditional style games)

wipeout vr, resident evil 7, and doom VFR were mindblowing

Super Mario Bros on NES. It had a story!! The characters looked like people. So much color in the world. The controls were great.

Donkey Kong Country was the first time I had a real reaction to seeing a game, but it wasn't until Mario 64 that my mind was just blown.

FFVIII's intro.

Probably being able to save my game in Pokemon Red back in the day. Up till that point, I had only played games that used passwords or needed to be played from the start each time.

8 year old me's mind was blown by that.

pupeye posted...

Transitioning from NES to SuperNes
I remember seeing a poster ad or maybe magazine pics of the Snes games and the graphics and colors were amazing.

This for me as well. I couldnt believe super Mario world.

when I was maybe 12, the previews for MGS really impressed me.

I was like, "wow, guards can see your footprints in the snow and follow them! that's some next level stuff."

Mario 64 or Zelda Ocarina of Time overworld.

I can't think of any major examples outside the opening of BioShock.

I sat there for a good ten seconds before I realized I could move.

My uncle just suddenly decided his Super Nintendo was now mine. I was so excited, but then konfused. 'What's he gonna play?'. But then he smiled and beckoned me into his room. I shut the door, turned off the lights, and in the darkness was split by a weird green N. And then it happened. The StarFox 64 intro played and it blew my freaking mind. And then the smug bastard looks at me and says "Mine." lol.

#spew

Going from Mario series to Donkey Kong Country

then

Going from SNES to Crash / Playstation

Tomb Raider on the PS1. I didn't even own the console yet, but I bought the game to play at my buddy's house. That level of 3D depth just blew my mind at the time, I was dreaming about that game every night.

In this order, too:

Super Mario 64
Baldur's Gate
Perfect Dark 64
Halo 1
Morrowind
Oblivion
Fallout 3
Assassin's Creed: Black Flag
GTA V

Nothing else has "wowed" me since

The opening credits to FF7.

King's Quest 4 - first game where I could do (most) anything and had to really think of ways to solve problems in a virtual world

Years later Ultima 6 showed me a superbly crafted twisting narrative that made you replay parts to see your understanding grow

Metal Gear on NES was another one. A game where you didn't kill everything?! You actually hid from enemies?! Unheard of.

How fast Sonic 1 was

minecraft

I remember going to a friend's house in the 90's watching him playing zelda OOT fighting Ganon towards the end and the graphics blew me away I was I awe of that for years.

witnessing Donkey Kong Country

Seeing 1080P for the first time - Call of Duty 4 on the PS3

FF7.

I skipped the SNES/Genesis generation due to other interests at the time, but the PS1 era got me back into videogames due to FF7, Tomb Raider, Twisted Metal, Tenchu, etc.

The first time I was able to freeroam the world in GTA3. Blew my mind.

It's got to be Halo: CE. I'm pretty sure it was the first M rated game I remember playing, but regardless it was vastly different than anything else I'd played at the time. I had mostly been playing Nintendo games up until then. I think the music and presentation of the game played a major part as well.

Shenmue really blew me away too.

Playing WoW's stress test was incredible for 11 year old me.

The Undertaker rolling down the entrance ramp in a hamster wheel to Limp Bizkit - Rollin' on my brother's original Xbox.

Wicked.

Sonic, never expected something to move that fast on 16 bit

Twilight Princess on the GameCube at the time seemed to be next level graphics. I just thought it was the coolest thing first time I played through it.

I totally agree with everyone saying the first time they played N64. I was definitely a time that absolutely floored me, and possibly more so than any other in gaming. It just wasnt the first standout moment for me.

GTA III first comes to mind

Mario 64 for sure