First 'Holy Moly' Next Gen Graphics Moment?

[imagremlin]

The first time was probably Kings Quest V. The first game that used the VGA cars properly. Hand painted backgrounds as opposed to the pixel art every other game had

The last time was Soul Calibur on the Dreamcast. I could not believe this little box was running in circles around the arcade machine.

 

[dimensional]

The first time I played Final Fantasy VII in 96 I think it was. I had never seen a more ferocious Bahamut! Growing up with the original Dragon Warrior and Final Fantasy in the mid 80's, I was just used to garbage for graphics(which were awesome at the time btw) and when I did my first summon in FFVII I just didn't know what to think. I was almost an adult by then btw lol.

Yup same here im pretty sure it was 97 though when it came out almost certain actually.

Only other games I can say that have truly wowed me with Graphics were Soul Calibur on the Dreamcast Metroid Prime on the game cube on Oblivion on the 360.

 

[recruit00]

Definitely have to go with Agni's Philosophy. So amazing looking. I don't care if that is for just cutscenes; it is beautiful.

 

[ScrabbitRabbit]

For me it was Final Fantasy X and Shenmue. The jump from fifth to sixth generation was so ridiculously massive, I thought I was watching a pre-rendered cutscene at the start of Shenmue! I was always unimpressed with the graphics in the 5th generation, I actually preferred the way most SNES and Megadrive games looked compared to most PS1/N64/Saturn games. Though there was a noticeable improvement on the 2D front that I appreciated.

Later on, Half-Life 2 and Escape From Butcher Bay gave my eyes orgasms, the animations (especially facial animations) and texture quality in Half-Life 2 were completely unmatched at the time and every single light seemed to throw shadows around in Butcher Bay; I remember creeping up on someone in Butcher Bay from a ledge above them, a light behind me, my shadow looming over them ominously. Shit was awesome.

As for this generation, it was Crysis. When you finally leave the forest near the start and the sun is rising I couldn't believe what I was seeing; real-time crepuscular rays. Beams of light were actually streaming through the leaves in real time. I couldn't believe my eyes.

 

[anthony87]

I'm sure there's been other but the most recent game that caused that sensation for me was Journey.
(Skip ahead to the 4 minute mark. Sorry, dunno how to embed a video at a specific time)

When I first got to that part I sat right up, my jaw dropped and all I could say was "Holy....Wow that looks......Fuck sake that's amazing" or something along those lines.

Huh....I suddenly have a desire to play Journey again.

 

[afroebob]

Graphics are good, they serve the aesthetics. But graphics don't make a game good.

 

[MetallicaRulez0]

I remember spending 10 minutes staring at the grass in Halo: Combat Evolved. It looks primitive these days, but man was it special in 2001.

 

[blipblop]

I jumped a gen and went from nes to n64 and remeber when I started to play shadows of the empire I was blown away, it was like I where in the actual batle of hoth and every level after that realy gave me that sweet star wars nerd feeling. well it hasn´t age well as pretty much the rest of the n64 libary.

 

[LordofSquirrels]

Always have loved the Elder Scrolls series... though I'm a PS3 owner, so this DLC bullshit is driving me up the wall. -_- I don't want to have to spend hundreds of dollars for a 360 to spend fifty dollars on another Skyrim copy to spend twenty dollars on frigging expansions! >_<

 

[magter3001]

After playing Morrowind and Dungeon Siege in the early 2000's, when Prince of Persia, Sands of Time came... I was in awe of the game, it's graphics and story.

The next time took a very long time for me to finally see how far graphics have gone because of a crappy computer but Skyrim just blew every game at that time out of the water, including me.

 

[LordofSquirrels]

After playing Morrowind and Dungeon Siege in the early 2000's, when Prince of Persia, Sands of Time came... I was in awe of the game, it's graphics and story.

The next time took a very long time for me to finally see how far graphics have gone because of a crappy computer but Skyrim just blew every game at that time out of the water, including me.

Aye, what got to me about Skyrim was the same thing that got me in Fallout 3; wanderlust. Seeing these distance mountains or structures and knowing that you can go to them, wanting nothing more than to climb up and down every single elevated spot to see if anything neat was there. Like the Notched Pickaxe at the very top of the Throat of the World, the shrine to Azura, and of course the plentiful Dragon Word monuments dotted along the mountaintops. Just pure, absolute adventure, and I loved every minute of it; that's what an open, 'sandbox' setting should be.