Your Favourite Moment in a Game This Year

The '2012 Favourite ___' threads continue and this time I want to know what your favourite moment was in a game that came out this year. By moment, I don't mean a few seconds of gameplay but a single experience. That could be: beating a boss after several attempts, finally unlocking some impossible achievement, setting a high score, producing an amazing comeback in a competitive match or, in my case, reacting to events in a game's narrative. 
 
If you are going to post about a plot point in a game then please make sure you include a spoiler warning.
 

The Walking Dead: Episode 2

Super Hexagon

End of Journey, just beautiful and exhilarating, it was just absolutely amazing the first time and every time I've played since.

Asura's Wrath Chapter 11, just absolutely fucking crazy, amazing, fantastic, epic, AWESOME!

I would have to think more but off of the top of my head I would say that one of them is the first time that I met a shark in Far Cry 3. I had no idea that they were even in the game, because I had stayed away from trailers and coverage. I was running away from some enemies and decided to do a little dive into the ocean to escape. Before I knew what was happening, the huge shark was biting me. I haven't jumped so much from a game in a long time, and after that I stayed as far away from the water as possible.

The best moment in gaming for me this year was also in episode 2 of Walking Dead, but I'm gonna go with....

SPOILER, OBVIOUSLY

...the moment that the salt brick came down. Holy crap.

MassEffect3

Every time you saw a 500 foot Reaper ship destroying everything in it's path. That always gave me goosebumps.

TheWalkingDead

At the end of Episode 5. Yupp. Episode 3 outside the van. Episode 2 when you stab that fuck with the pitchfork and Clem is scared.

Assassin'sCreed3

The ending of Connors story with you and Charles Lee in the bar. It was fantastic.

Asura'sWrath

EVERY FUCKING SCENE

TheDarknessII

The ending was awesome when your girlfriend is the light creature angel thing that hates the darkness and she leaves you ass in hell. I was shocked at how fucked up it was, yet how awesome it was.

SpecOps:TheLine

The burned civ's was just a mess. It made me feel like complete shit. The ending was amazing too.

MaxPayne3

The ending. Walk off into the sunset Max!

I love some endings!

Hotline Miami's score screen at the end of each level. I haven't played many games this year that actually came out this year.

The entirety of Journey.

I you want specific moments then it would be Chapter 3, surfing down the path until the camera turns sideways facing the sunset and the last stretch of climbing that mountain at the end in the snow, being swept left and right by the wind. At that very moment i was so glad to have a companion next to me.

@awesomeusername: Great year for endings and stories, Binary Domain had one of the best endings this year too which was unexpected.

I think that's actually one of the awards for my GOTY blog. Therefore, I'm not spoiling it.

Mass Effect 3: Tuchanka. That is a mission that I will remember for years to come.

Max Payne 3:

Spec Ops:

@BoG: Yeah, specifically Mordin in the Paragon version. Even though the renegade option is amazing in a more gut wrenching way. In each I was actually emotional which does not happen normally...that makes it an incredible moment.

I don't know if it's my "favorite", but the "big moment" in Spec Ops was the most impactful. That and the rest of that whole freakin' game. Godamn.
 
 
*SPOILERS FOR MASS EFFECT 3, THE WALKING DEAD, AND ASURA'S WRATH*
Besides that, the Krogan solution in Mass Effect 3 was pretty amazing. I was super conflicted the whole time, but I decided to go with faking the genophage cure for the greater good, until Mordin changed my mind at the very last second. Holy shit, I was not gunning him down, and he got me. Pretty amazing. 
In The Walking Dead, in episode three, outside the van. Did not see that coming, and I was stumped on what to do. In the end, I left her behind, I felt like complete shit.
Asura's Wrath- the second title screen and the entire DLC got my blood PUMPED.
All of Journey, except for the part with those snake things. That was just annoying. The sliding sections stand out though.

@D_Bones: Oh gosh, I know. Mordin was such a cool character, too. I was also pretty emotional at that moment. One of the greatest moments in a fantastic trilogy.

There was this one part of FTL that absolutely encapsulates my experience with it.

I was in the Kestrel, had full shields and decent crew, and made it to the final sector with a Glaive Beam. I found the final warship, engaged it, and my struggle began. I managed to whittle it down slowly, using shots to take down the shield and blast it with the beam, and took it all the way down to its final form, until... I blew up. Right after I'd gotten it down to its last 5 bits.

That pretty much emblemises the experience of FTL to me. You struggle against monumental odds, but even when you get so far to fail at the last hurdle, it is immensely satisfying (in hindsight anyway.)

@Nightriff: Yupp; and those are just a couple of the 2012 games I've played. I still have a bunch to play like Journey, Sleepy Dawgz, Darksiders 2, Transformers: Fall of Cybertron, Binary Domain, Borderlands 2, Far Cry 3, Black Ops 2 and Sound Shapes. I'm pumped for all of them. But I've mostly played older games this year. Like Portal 2. Sweet ole Portal 2.

@awesomeusername: Same for me, played both Portal games this year for the first time and was blown away, I have to keep reminding myself that they are older games and can't include them on my end of year list.

Mass Effect 3

That "Blasto 6: Partners in Crime" movie poster that you could listen to. Cracks me up every time.

This choice took alot of thought.

The Bugatti Veyron Super Sport in Need for Speed Most Wanted. This year, nothing in gaming has been more awesome, than being that beast's master. I love to ride her.

To die for.

If you had asked me yesterday I would have said The Walking Dead's ending. No other game has made me feel that sad since Persona 3 (which, for the record, has my favorite ending of all time).

However, today I was playing Far Cry 3 and I saw a chicken knock over a barrel. That tops everything else I've seen this year.

@Nightriff: I saw the walkthrough of Portal like a year before it came out. Played part 2 this year and it's honestly in my all time favorites list. What an amazing, fantastic, brilliant game. Also played Arkham City, Dead Space 2, Deus Ex: HR, Enslaved, Ballad of Gay Tony, inFAMOUS 2, Uncharted 3 and Resistance 3 this year and they're a billion times better then most of the 2012 games that I've played. They're all fantastic games.

That moment in Mass Effect 3 when the reporter asks you annoying questions, gives you the prompt to hit her, this time she ducked my punch and clocked me back, really made me laugh.

Final Fantasy 13-2's ending probably.

SO GOOD.

unf.

Also the Binary Domain 'twist' is super well done too!

@Bourbon_Warrior: That happens? Really? Alright ME3, you are redeemed a little in my book.

@BoG said:

Mass Effect 3: Tuchanka. That is a mission that I will remember for years to come.

As much as I dislike Mass Effect 3, this.

Also The Walking Dead Episode 3. Outside the van.

And those final moments of Journey.

The Dear Esther Caves spring to mind:

@Nightriff said:

@Bourbon_Warrior: That happens? Really? Alright ME3, you are redeemed a little in my book.

Also this made me laugh, so much dialogue added to such a silly thing.

The end of The Walking Dead. I cried. A lot.

And for the sake of saying something unique, I thought Sleeping Dogs had some good stuff, such as the wedding and the final boss. Not the fight, just the part at the end where you kill him in the most horrifying gruesome unimaginable disgusting mortifying way possible.

That moment in Fez when I felt like I was an archaeological linguist. I wrote freaking EVERYTHING down.

Asura's Wrath ,SPOILERS, uppercutting this thing that turned out to be God and watching him,later, fail at his own QTEs.

Journey had a couple of really cool moments but, it was no where near the amount of pure joy i felt during the beginning and ending of Botanicula.

During the early days of Guild Wars 2 there was a pretty awesome quest chain that led you into a mini-dungeon. Our ragtag group of strangers easily solved the puzzles, faced the boss, and got tons of loot. Also even though I didn't get to finish it, the 5 hour Karka battle was amazing for the sheer amount of enemies and players cooperating.

Dragons Dogma had a quest chain where you chased down this Griffon. It was super dramatic and was held in the middle of this old castle next a to a cliff. I was at a disadvantage without any ranged or fire on my character. It was going to take forever to fight this thing and I was afraid I'd have to start all over. And almost as a dues ex machina, a quest giver that i helped earlier comes out of nowhere with his fire magic. He was ridiculously powerful and burned that Griffon to a crisp. It was perhaps the only moment I can think of where I felt legitimately saved by an NPC.

Not a game released this year but my friends and I started an AI War game (coop space strategy game). Its the one game that actually feels like you're playing against an unstoppable AI opponent. We lost 100,000s of ships over the course of 20 hours of game time. Over half of that time we spent planning and we still ended up in a stalemate against the AI. There were so many great moments as we retook planets and defended against 1000s of ships. It truly felt like an epic war campaign.

I've got a million, but the moment I lost my "friend" in the snow while playing Journey really sticks out. We had been together since very near the beginning. Beeping and whistling at each other. I just remember the gust of wind, the sound of his whistle flying away and then my frantic attempts to scramble down after him. I never found him and it wasn't until I got back up the mountain that I realized I felt sad for having lost him. It was an incredible moment and unlike anything I'd ever experienced, especially with an anonymous person over the Internet.

I haven't played a ton of this year's games but when you are going through the airport in Max Payne 3 and all of a sudden this starts to play.

It was amazing and rivals the Far Away and Compass moments from Red Dead Redemption.

Definitely the snowboarding sequence in Journey.

@BeachThunder said:

The Dear Esther Caves spring to mind:

Shit, I forgot Dear Esther came out this year. Those caves were stunning.

That time in Cherry Tree High Comedy Club when

Xenoblade Chronicles

Fez

That moment when everyone on the internet realized it wasn't just a cute simple platformer. It was released on a Friday, and that weekend we all went down the rabbit hole.

VS.

i really dont remember that many. its not that they were not there and there still was a bunch of awesome games but i pretty much forget them a bit after they have happend

but atleast there are a few

spoiler free

most of the walking dead

properly something from jorney

legend of grimrock: especially the ending considering the everything you have been told in the story

asura's wrath

farcry 3: Vaas the main reason to play the game

spec ops the line:

hotline Miami: ending and ofc the music

Asura's Wrath

One of the most intense moments I experienced this year was the one chapter in Asura's Wrath where you play as Yasha while this song plays, just running as fast as he can and fighting while dashing forward as the time counts down to the world's demise. There were other striking moments in that game, of course, but that was one that stands out for me.

Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward

The twist(s). Perhaps not as impactful to me as the one in 999, but they were still great and it was nice to see how many subtle hints there were throughout the game leading towards these twists.

Persona 4 Golden

The epilogue. The addition wasn't a necessary one to Persona 4's original story, but it actually felt fulfilling and felt like a great way to end things, overall.

SPOILER WARNING: Click here to reveal hidden content.

Seeing how all of the characters grew over the course of a year after the main character leaves Inaba and how they're getting along feels like a welcome wrap up to the Persona 4 saga.

The Walking Dead: Episode 3

Journey

A lot of scenes in that game are striking, both visually and emotionally. However, the one part that actually made it all come together for me was at the end, during the credits, when there was only one name listed as my partner throughout this journey. I had just spent 2-3 hours playing through this game, cooperating and going through this adventure with a single person: a complete stranger. Left me thinking for a while.

*Special mention to Gravity Rush, where the first time you shift gravity feels awesome.

Persona 4 Golden

Mass Effect 3

Skrillex/framethrower/marijuana fields in FarCry 3 was pretty special.

gonna go with max payne 3, airport shoot out with that HEALTH song playing.

that game is pretty damn rough, but somehow when that song kicked in, i played amazingly. it just all felt perfect, it all clicked. i dodged everything, i landed every headshot with perfect accuracy. it was SUCH a rush.

for a single pure gameplay moment, i'd have to go with that. it was just so well done and it was pure gameplay. well i guess alot of it had to do with the perfect setting / atmosphere and music, but still. it was a moment where everything just clicked perfectly.

1. Katawa Shoujo

2.Mass Effect 3

The last scene with Thane really got me.

3. Max Payne 3

The prologue. When the monologue started, accompanied by the cello music, I got goosebumps.

4. Diablo 3

Same thing here. First time walking into New Tristram and hearing that music instantly transported me to D2.

- - - - -

Overall, 2012 had rather slim pickings. Especially when compared to 2011 that had Skryim, DX:HR, Portal 2, Witcher 2, Bastion, SR3...shit, that was a good year.

target practice with garrus in the citadel.

@Shaunage said:

Skrillex/framethrower/marijuana fields in FarCry 3 was pretty special.

That's my vote. Never seen a more ridiculous, fun situation in a game like that.

Mass Effect 3. The shooting contest with Garrus. "I'm Garrus Vakarian and this is now my favorite spot on the Citadel." Garrus had been my brother in arms for almost 5 years at that point, and finally having a moment to just chill with him was spectacular.

Asura's Wrath. When what's his face drives his sword through you and the planet. In a game full of crazy moments, this was my favorite.

The Walking Dead ep 2 - When Lee tells the gang that they're eating human meat. Just plain haunting. I mean, I speculated that this was what was going on, but still.

Mass Effect 3. I chose the Geth.

The krogan and quarian missions in ME3 were amazing. Pretty much all my time with the third Penny Arcade game was great too.

Sleeping Dogs, I called a valet to bring a car after I got stranded on the side of a highway. He brought the car, opened the door and as soon as he stepped out, a van struck him and he flew for around 100 feet, remaining ragdoll lifeless.

My number one moment of the year was when everything in Fez finally clicked for me. The feeling of deducing that for yourself without the help of a FAQ can't be matched.

Number two is in Episode #2 of The Walking Dead:

SPOILER WARNING: Click here to reveal hidden content.