My god......

[silver wolf009]

I am simply awesturck Escapist, just awestruck. Minecraft's world is estimated to be 8 times the size of the earths, I thought I had colonized a relativly large chunk of it when I decided to venture off into the distance with nothing on me just to recon the sorrunding area near one of my bases. I climbed over the nearest hill top and simply felt my breath leave me. Facing me, sitting there for what must have been miles, was a desert. Infinite and unyeilding, sitting there staring at me. I quietly slipped back down the hill and retreated into my base for the remainder of the day.

So my question to you Escapist, have you ever been simply awestruck by a game? Recount your tales for us.

 

[AndrewC]

A fairly recent game, Just Cause 2.

Casually parachuting around, I get to the top of a nearby mountain and turn around and get punched in the face by this spectacular world.

 

[Melian]

First time I stepped outside the vault in Fallout 3. I mean, it got diminished over time, but that first glance at the desolate landscape... Wow.

 

[Cheesepower5]

Dragon Quest VIII, the scenery and scope of the world is just unrivalled on PS2.

 

[ABLb0y]

I was playing Far Cry 2, and i spent hours driving around, admiring the scenery, and occasionally shooting guys in the face, and thinking to myself "Holy Shit. this is huge!"

 

[Xpwn3ntial]

...it's full of stars.

I am always surprised by the size of Civilization IV's largest map.

I forgot Fallout's scenery.

 

[Space Spoons]

This has been said many times before, but I'm still pretty blown away by Red Dead Redemption's scenery. I mean, you can be standing in the middle of a town and look off in the distance to see a mountain. If the mood strikes you, you can get on a horse and go climb that very mountain. It's there, it's real. It's not pre-rendered scenery, it's not just for show... Well, okay, it might be for show in the sense that it serves no ACTUAL purpose, but you get what I'm saying. The fact that you can just strike out into the wilderness is so cool to me. It feels like a real, tangible world.

 

[Krantos]

Red Dead Redemption. Watching the sun come up over the mountains, slowly lightening the vast plain in front of me. Wow.

Also, when you first enter Mexico after the mission on the river. Beautiful.

 

[milobob]

First time I stepped outside the vault in Fallout 3. I mean, it got diminished over time, but that first glance at the desolate landscape... Wow.

Stepping out of the vault the fist time was amzaing haha, one of my best moments in a game XD

 

[Armored Prayer]

Seeing the underground Locust homeland in Gears 2 and being amazed by the amount of detail in it. From the root and fungi covering the tunnels to the amazingly detailed architecture everything was simply beautiful.

 

[PurpleLeafRave]

Mine too is Red Dead Redemption. I thought I'd completed the game when you

Spoiler

kill your old gang member

but then the whole thing kicks off with you and your family, an it's really breathtaking the connection you have with them. Then there's the ending.
There are no words.

EDIT: However nothing in game has taken my breath away like this trailer did. Oblivion is my favourite game, and this made me shed a tear.

 

[manythings]

Mass Effect 2

Spoiler

When I saw the Human form Reaper and understood what the Collectors were really doing.

My Captcha is nsidel then a triangle and the symbol beta... the fuck?

 

[cryogeist]

the sunsets or sunrise in oblivion..i just sit there smiling

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

The first time I played Oblivion (my first WRPG), and was allowed to be evil after years of JRPGs. Sinking my blade into an NPC felt so...nice.

 

[Torrasque]

During any of the space platform/space levels on SC2 where I can look into forever, I'll occasionally get lost in the scenery.
Also, when I was playing Bulletstorm yesterday, when I left one of the buildings, the scenery spread out for miles in every direction, and it was beautiful.
Halo Reach has a few moments like this as well, but for the most part, I am too preoccupied with enemies at hand, or just not paying attention.

Edit:

the sunsets or sunrise in oblivion..i just sit there smiling

I completely forgot about the scenery of Oblivion! =(
The Oblivion gates, the way the sun strikes the water, and how beautiful a cloudless full moon night are... makes me anxious for V to come out.

 

[Jonesy911]

Hmmmmmm, quite a few come to mind

Stepping out of the vault in Fallout 3
The first triple hyper combo I did in MVC3 (Amaterasu/Deadpool/Dante if you're wondering)
Using the demon buster on Berial in Dmc4 for the first time
Setting off on my train for the first time in LoZ: Spirit Tracks
Every. Single. Fucking. Colossus. In S.o.t.c. (except the weedy bull/rhino ones)
Clearing an entire room in Splinter Cell: Conviction using "Mark and Execute" for the first time
Every single Fangasm I had in Final Fantasy Dissidia
Third Scarecrow encounter in Batman Arkham Asylum
The removal of my little finger in Heavy Rain
Final Fantasy 6,7,8,9 and 10 all had great opening sequences
Getting a perfect run through a level on Mirror's Edge

But the biggest, most "FFFFFFUUUUUUUUUuuuuuuuuckiiiing HELLLLLLLLL" Moment I had in a game was this.

Spoiler: Persona 4 second to last boss

 

[Je Suis Ubermonkey]

Crysis, when I leapt from the plane at the start and realised that the good-looking by modern standards 'cutscene' I had just watched was actually gameplay, so the graphics would stay that way. Except they didn't, because I then changed the settings from 'normal' to 'very high'. If they ever make a Crysis 3, it will put real life to shame visually.

 

[Easton Dark]

My first use of the M-920 Cain.

10 gone in an instant.

My god......................... THE POWERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

 

[LikeDustInTheWind]

Also, when I was playing Bulletstorm yesterday, when I left one of the buildings, the scenery spread out for miles in every direction, and it was beautiful.

For a game about beating the crap out of people in the goriest ways possible that game world was absolutely beautiful. Seeing the destroyed, overgrown cities stretch into the distance was breathtaking.

 

[Jarcin]

I can't say it was something graphically, but RPing in a game for the first time, notably WoW was....wonderful...to be my character, to have those around me know who I was, and that I could just be me with no concern...and know that my wandering spirit, the want to explore could be quenched...and never have to break character