What was the best opening hour or ending hour to a game you've ever played?

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Topcyclist

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This could be for example great opening tutorial like stuff like MGS 1 as you are on the elevator and finally know via cinematics and stuff for the time...this one will be a hit. Or the ending of WTF moment of bioshock infinite...maybe walking dead 1 final hour...etc.

Spoiler blocks of course.

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mellotronrules

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for opening- i remember the intro sequence of Mass Effect 2 really knocking my socks off...had thoroughly lofty expectations going-in, and then meeting AND surpassing those- yeah, that was a good one.

ending sequence? maybe an unpopular opinion, but the end of TLOU 2 hit me like an anvil (but in a good way).

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Topcyclist

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#3  Edited By Topcyclist

@mellotronrules: Don't let minority loud internet opinion fool you, popular opinion is people liked the LOU2. This million dollar company didn't put out some indie let's try it story...they tested it and a majority which reps the real-life majority...liked it. I assumed people generally would like mass effect 3's opening. That said, it's pretty by the numbers today but back then after years of waiting and then boom it's on...

seems like something the people who hated the ending would like lol. I played all 3 in a week so i had no fatigue or hate going in and understood the ending for what it's worth and thought the games were nice. I also think it's like star wars where something you coveted was just another good or nice story and you turn it into something big in your mind while plenty of other stuff could have been taht for you but you didnt notice. AKA, the millions of YA novels people dont read or merely overlooked games. That said our curation as gamers is better than most other mediums. It takes a bit more of a barrier to entry and then get appeal then say just write a book or make a film.

TLDR: I was surprised about your pick.

Ending: Yeah, say what you will, and please keep this forum positive and away from the circle of I hate I love, popular game ___. But LOU2 and other popular games are popular for a reason, and for it to say F U and just tell a story like a indie would with it's millions of dollar budget takes alot. It reminds me of the star wars 7 vs 8 debate, as someone who only watched the new movies and enjoyed both, I think it was so fun to see 8 for the reasons people who are fans hated it. I had no idea where the story was heading in LOU2 and the ending was so different and nice. Not satisfying to make me happy like hey good job your amazing like all games usually do...but eh this was their story thanks for watching...That said I understand the hate all stories have issues since they cant cover everything...still like it.

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Efesell

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There's recency bias to this and I'd probably come up with something else given enough thought but the open hour (or so, depending) of Xenoblade 3 is really strong.

It is snappy in a way that JRPGs absolutely hate being and it's great.

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Fluidk

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I hate Final Fantasy 7 and yet I can admit that it has the single best opening in all of gaming. It’s transcendent. It becomes a thing of magic. It is absolutely THE gold standard in how you should begin a game.

For me personally, Final Fantasy IV is right behind it. I love FFIV and both it and VII share a lot in terms of why they are the best openings in gaming. It turns out, CRIME is about the single best way to begin a story. And Final Fatnasy IV manages to draw you into caring about it’s masked protagonist through the fact that he’s going to do a dirty deed… and he’s conflicted about it. Jumping right into it with a killer soundtrack, multiple types of conflict, a fast pace and IMMEDIATE ACTION is the best way to start at game.

The best final moments of a game, in my opinion, go to The Wolf Among Us. THe way a plot twist happens, structurally, is that a game gives you information, allows you to make an assumption, and then at a later point gives you new information that forces you to see that your assumption was wrong. Plot twists you usually come in the break between the second and third act. The third act begins with a revelation that drives the final third of the story. The Wolf AMong Us is the rare story that tells a COMPLETE story that exists perfectly on it’s own and is completely satisfying and then gives a plot twist at the very… last… second… that makes you go, “WAIT, WHAT?”. And then cut to black. Those rare stories are absolute gold.

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ThePanzini

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#6  Edited By ThePanzini

@mellotronrules: 60% of players finished The Last of Us Part 2 which is insane for a 30hr game, the completion rate is higher than most AAA games including both Elden Ring & Dark Souls.

The Last of Us Part 2 is also a good shout it has a shocking opening and quite low key melancholy ending, which I pretty much love for being different.

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PeezMachine

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I really liked the end of Inscryption. It's kind of A Lot, but there's one moment in particular, when Leshy wants to play one more hand, that was extremely heartfelt and was a good reminder that this thing's got well-defined characters with actual arcs. It's the same kind of "sad this is all over, but that's how it's gotta go" feeling I got at the end of The Talos Principle. Both games close out on what feels like the end of a proper journey, and both feature antagonists that I actual felt something for. Develop your villains, folks!

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cikame

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@peezmachine: Talos Principle is a good shout, it's a simple story that's been told before but being an active participant in every part of it made it work really well.

I can't help but give the ending hour to MGS2 though it probably takes place over more than an hour, what a prophetic mind trip, it's obviously less impactful for me now that i've seen it a million times but i'm excited whenever i see someone else react to it for the first time.

Opening hour? I don't know, i can't help but give it to one of my favourites, Half Life for its opening tram ride and routine work day resulting in causing an alien invasion, at a time when shooters usually just gave you a gun and said go. Max Payne for starting at the end then flashing back to the beginning of Max's trauma, leading to the brilliant subway level, "i released my finger from the trigger, and then it was over".

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Broshmosh

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The beginning to Prey 2017 is pretty much up there as my all-time favourite opening. Maybe tied with System Shock 2, but I haven't actually played that one. I actually kinda like how Lost Odyssey (deep cut here!) starts, but the designs are a bit silly, even at the time.

Best ending hour? I really really loved the ending of The Forgotten City, it's such a sweet little book-end on the random lost Romans/Greeks/Egyptians you meet. Even the final gameplay-related conversation you have is superb, every word chosen carefully by the writers. The ending of Final Fantasy 6 had me golf-clapping. And how could I forget, my favourite ending in all of gaming, (although it's more like final 5 hours here) Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition? JRPG storytelling at its absolute peak.

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AV_Gamer

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#10  Edited By AV_Gamer  Online

The opening of Vagrant Story, where the main character infiltrates the occupied area looking for Ashley and his men.

Last of Us: Part II and the final battle between Ellie and Abby, which is very graphic despite it being two young women fighting, and how it ends with Ellie breaking down and finally giving into her grief for losing Joel, which fueled much of her vengeful actions.

There are others, but those are the ones I can think of right now.

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Nuttism

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#11  Edited By Nuttism

The ("good") end hour of Omori is absolutely incredible. It's the best single hour of a game I have ever experienced, starting from going to sleep in Basil's house, to the shocking revelation, the single most emotional cutscene in games (to me), the final boss and then the perfect last few seconds of the game. I dislike the description "perfect" when applied to stories, but I really can't imagine a more perfect end. It reminds me of the end to the Sopranos.

I have more difficulties coming up with the best beginning hour. Though I am not as in love with the story of it as some people, the first half hour or so of the Last of Us is incredible, and fully deserving of its status.

Edit: I've thought about it some more, and though I might be cheating, I think the first hour or two of Outer Wilds might qualify. You have this whole solar system to play with and the possibilities and sense of discovery are endless. Taken down a notch by the first 15-20 minutes not being that interesting.

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redwing42

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The opening of Saints Row the Third might be the one that really blew my mind. That plane sequence doesn't quite fill up a whole hour, but it is still one of the most over the top ridiculous openings I can think of.

Ending hour might be Red Dead Redemption. The inevitability of that ending (not counting the epilogue when you play as Jack) yet the way it was pulled off was really magnificent.

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Mamba219

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The only opening to a video game I really remember being blown away by was Final Fantasy IX. I didn't even like RPGs when I first played it, and only intended to test the game out after receiving it as a gift. I thought it was remarkably clever and set the stage for the four main characters extremely well.

And Xenogears has the best ending I can remember. I won't go into detail here but it's the closest I've come to crying at a video game (or any other piece of media, for that matter).

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monkeyking1969

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Uncharted 2: Among Thieves....Dragon's Dogma before the expansion.

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Junpei

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@av_gamer:100% on Vagrant Story opening. Interspersing cutscenes, credits and gameplay all done in engine on a PS1 was fantastic. Still one of (if not) my favorites of all time. Still want to know what all the cut content was that never made it. Hopefully Matsuno can get a green light to remaster this gem.

As for endings, maybe it is fresh in my brain since Michael Higham mentioned it on the most recent Bombcast, but Digital Devil Saga 1. Similar twists of "it was all a simulation" has certainly been done before. Hell, look at Star Ocean: Til the End of Time for a less successful example from the same time frame.

Sera's arrival in the intro leading the factions to become infected with demonic forms and a hunger to kill and eat was a weird dichotomy. What does she have to do with this curse and why can she soothe the demonic hunger in the protags by singing? The revelation that the ascension to Nirvana they were all fighting for led to them discovering that the entire world was a simulation and they are all recreations of real people from Sera's past. Nirvana literally resulting in them escaping the simulation thematically plays so well. The continuation in the 2nd game of them learning the state of the real world and who their true selves are/were is just icing on the cake.

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@cikame: @peezmachine: Yeah another shout out for The Talos Principle here. By the end I was shaking from pure adrenaline, which I didn't expect from what initially appeared to be a pretty sedate puzzle game.

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Axl159

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I think the Yakuza series has some fantastic openings and endings. Personally I think 0 has the best opening. When I played that I had zero idea who anyone was and I was hooked almost immediately.

As for endings though I thought the end of Judgement was awesome. I really liked the whodunnit story and how the last hour (or two?) when everything fell into place was great. The reveal of they had to take out the eyes of their victims because they turned blue due to human experimentation was particularly effective for me.

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wollywoo

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#18  Edited By wollywoo

FFVI both for the beginning and the end. The cinematic, serious feeling it gave you as the three figures marched through the snow to an uncertain fate - just not something at all common in that era of video games, and I imagine it's still effective for newcomers now.

Half-Life 1 and 2 both have quite memorable intros. The tram ride in HL1 in particular was quite amazing at the time for giving you the feeling of plunging deep into a world that was so mundane and yet overwhelmingly ominous. It would not be remarkable now, but at a time when FPS's rarely had stories and were barely out of the "Doom clone" phase, it was very impressive. Portal 2's opening gives you a similar feeling of awe.

God of War (2018)'s opening leaves a lasting impression - both in the drama of characters dealing with grief and with one of the most impressive action set pieces I've seen in any game.

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geirr

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The first Silent Hill. I played the opening part on a demo disk when I was just a pup, and became utterly
obsessed. Thanks to the demo, I looked up videogames on the internet (release dates especially) for the first time —
and clearly everything has been great since.

The most soul-wrenching last hour of a videogame - Silent Hill 2's "In Water" ending ..
perfectly punctuated by Yamaoka's Angel's Thanatos as you ponder what just happened.
It was a once in a lifetime experience.


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lapsariangiraff

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For openings, Doom 2016, Resident Evil 4, Prey,The Last of Us,are the ones I can most readily think of.

For endings, I thin nothing will top Outer Wilds and Silent Hill 2, for me, but I also have a soft spot for the endings of the first Mass Effect and The Witcher 3. In Witcher's case, not the actual ending ending, but the ending to both DLCs. The main game's ending is great, but dampened by some odd decisions on how to track the "good" and "bad" endings. Hot take, the original Mass Effect is the only ME game with a satisfying ending. The suicide mission is great in Mass Effect 2, but the ||terminator baby and the fact the ending reveals just how little progress has been made in the main plot, how much wheelspinning has happened in the main plot because the universe ends in the exact same state as Mass Effect 1|| really saps all that goodwill. And I don't even need to talk about why 3 was disappointing.

Other honorable mentions now that I think of them -- Citizen Sleeper has a great beginning and ending that really resonated with me, A Short Hike was surprisingly touching at the end.

This was tougher than I thought it would be, games historically mostly have strong middles, not a lot of good beginnings and endings. I think this lines up with most games' strengths (the gameplay) and weaknesses (an actual fucking narrative).

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lapsariangiraff

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@broshmosh: I loved the bookend on Forgotten City. So sweet and tender for characters you've grown so attached to in such a short time. I'm honestly just shocked that game pulled off its premise that well, time loops are almost impossible to end in a satisfying way.

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SethMode

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@efesell said:

There's recency bias to this and I'd probably come up with something else given enough thought but the open hour (or so, depending) of Xenoblade 3 is really strong.

It is snappy in a way that JRPGs absolutely hate being and it's great.

This game hadn't really been on my radar at all and that last sentence makes me want to try it.

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Shindig

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The first hour of Fahrenheit (Europe got the better name) is genuinely ground-breaking. David Cage doing new and exciting things with the medium and really setting my imagination off the chain with where this cat and mouse game could take me.

And then Lukas gets back to the office and it completely shits all of the beds in the ward.

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cubidog

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Bastion's last hour is one of the best I can remember. Absolutely the best ending theme I've ever heard in a game.

The Walking Dead Season 1's end was also pretty incredible. It was the only game that made me cry until...

God of War Ragnarok made me cry in the first 20 dang minutes. I lost my dog that I had for 15 years a couple months ago. So, watching Atreus have to say goodbye to Fenrir really fucking hit me in the feels in a way I was not expecting. Killing a dog or any pet really is the easiest way to make me cry but I've never seen a game do that.

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AV_Gamer

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#25 AV_Gamer  Online

@cubidog: The opening to Ragnanrok hit hard for me as well because I lost my family dog to old age during the summer this year.

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Karmosin

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@nuttism: Speaking of Outer Wilds: The last hour of that game is absolutely phenomenal. Grabbing the energy core is both thrilling and scary, then the whole journey to the ship and finally everything that happens at the eye of the universe. So good.

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DrRandle

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I need to compile an official list of best opening hours, because it's a fascinating thing. The three big ones I always come back to are:
Indigo Prophecy/Fahrenheit had something incredibly different. It's more fun to repeat it and see all the moving pieces and how they work. Shame about the rest of... David Cage's career.
Resident Evil 4 had that incredible village sequence.
Prey, the Arkane Studios one, blew my brain wide open with that first major reveal. Nothing else in that game particularly hit like that, but it's hard to top that in any case.

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Shindig

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#28  Edited By Shindig

Oh, how could I forget?:

Rez. Area 1. Area 5.

Although neither of them break an hour. Area 5 clocks in at 25 minutes-ish.

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csl316

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Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater is the game that got me to stick with video games, after thinking I'd no longer have time in college. And that whole ending sequence was a big reason why.

The last 3 hours of the first Mass Effect blew me away, from Ilos to the end.

And the Revengeance intro was truly incredible. The game peaked there for me, but that opening is flawless.

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Edens_Heel

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Oh god, let's see how many I can recall.

MGS 1 and 2 for opening sequences. Both do such a perfect job setting the stage for something epic. Conversely, MGS3 has, I think, the best final hour of almost any action game.

The Last of Us—less so its final hour and more its final moment. Like, its literal last exchange. It's maybe the best example I've seen of a game knowing -exactly- where to cut to black.

Final Fantasy 6, both opening and ending. The music and slow march of that opening is an all-time nostalgia moment. If you grew up during the '90s playing JRPGs, there was nothing like it. Absolutely iconic. FFVII, on the other hand, is a flawed mess of a game that I don't love as much as many, but I cannot deny the power of that opening—like someone above said, it's maybe one of the best openings to a game ever, and such a statement for the time it came out.

The Outer Wilds. This is maybe my favourite ending to any game ever. The final race, arriving at the eye, the lightning-streaked landscape that actually fucking terrified me... and then realizing, in the end, that you and your companions are birthing new existence from music and friendship... I was a fucking mess in the best possible way.

The final hours of both Shadow of the Colossus and The Last Guardian—the former for its unexpectedness and grandeur, the latter for the emotional bond formed.

The final castle assaults in both Link to the Past and Breath of the Wild—I won't lie, when Zelda says in BotW "Courage need not be remembered, for it is never fogotten," it got me.

The opening to Uncharted 2. The leap from 1 to 2 was so profound in its presentation.

And this last one is a dark horse, but the ending of Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 2. I remember so many game critics shitting on the ending, but I just adore its audacity—you can't lose those fights, you can't even really get hurt, because you didn't; because you did this, this is your own past, and as we all know, history abhors a paradox. It's totally ridiculous and I fucking love it.