So hopefully I’m doing this right! :) (I’m still new to some of this so haven’t figured out things yet! I did ask this via Mastodon also, but wanted to add more detail to my answer!)
Is there a computer game, a moment in a game, a boss fight, or a specific moment that you would love to experience fresh with no prior memory of it?
Mine would have to be The Seat of Sacrifice fight in Final Fantasy XIV, one of if not my most favourite fights in the game to date.
The mechanics work so well and tie into everything that’s been happening, and then that moment where <redacted> (I refuse to spoil it!) shows up to help and then leaves with I think what made me cheer SO MUCH the first time I did the fight.
The music, the song To The Edge has become one of my most played songs in my entire music library (alongside Endwalker - Footfalls and Shadowbringers) as it is quite frankly perfect for the fight. and when they revealed that Soken had been battling cancer and wrote it whilst in hospital…
I adore the fight all together, and cannot help but say the lines in the cut scene bit in the middle every time I do the fight, and will never ever get bored of it.
So what moments in a game would you love to complete again with no prior experience?
FF7 crisis core for the PSP and it is not even close.
The story, the music, the english voice acting, the cut scenes, the gameplay; it was al just fenomenal.
It is still the best story based game I played and the ending just hits you right in the feels.
My Reddit name that I used was actually based on the Loveless poem, Genesis recited in the game (favorite character with Zack Fair).
I remember getting this and playing the shit out of it when it first came out. I’ve still got my PSP and the many various games, including Crisis Core, on a shelf display. My PSVita never got quite as much use as my PSP until I eventually jailbroke that one too lol
I would kill to be able to experience Nier Automata Ending E for the first time again.
A game moment to do again with no memory? Leaving the sewers for the first time in Oblivion. It was the first open world game I had ever played as a kid, and seeing the glare of the sun and realizing that everything I saw was able to be explored? Pure gaming magic.
A whole game to do again? Disco Elysium. There are plenty of ways to go back through the game on another playthrough and do things differently, but there is nothing quite like the first run of that game.
Leaving the sewers… and almost immediately getting murdered by a khajiit with a giant hammer.
Same for me; I’d never even heard of Morrowind or played anything like it before. It was my first x360 game and it really made me believe the ‘next gen’ hype.
Still holding off on a second play through of Disco Elysium until memory fades some more. But there are some fantastic “oh fuck” story beats in there that just won’t hit the same the second time.
I’m about to do a second playthrough of Disco Elysium, and this time I think I won’t try to redeem the MC… I will try to beat it as an alcoholic brawler with a good heart who can’t stop analyzing people.
But it’s taking all my willpower not to do Inland Empire again 😅
Portal 2. There are no words can can describe how I love that game.
Oh, portal is such a good suggestion. Both of them are great.
Playing through the first one was in my top 3 most satisfying game experiences. Great game, then suddenly there was a huge twist. Then that ending.
The second one is great but has such a different feel. And I wish they’d gone with “GladOS has actually been activated and bored this whole time” to explain why there was so much extra STUFF. And I didn’t want to hate Wheatley. Etc.
Still, all the Cave Johnson stuff was so great. And great puzzles. And the whole potato thing. And finding out GladOS’ backstory…
Portal 1, as Yahtzee famously said, is perfect. The twist, structure, pacing, music, even how efficient they were with assets and the length of the game. All flawless.
Portal 2 is great and also does a good job for its length but Portal 1 would be my pick.
Oh man, the first time I played Portal and a couple years later Portal 2, I beat them in a single playthrough each. Stayed up all night then most of the next day. Could not put the games down! Hilarious and beautifully musical! The story was actually pretty compelling especially all the history in 2 💀
Came to see portal, left to play portal
Chrono Trigger, the battle with Magus. Most boss battles in any game have a really high beats per minute, or awesome high energy track. The music for this boss fills you with a sense of dread and fear. I remember the first time I played it, I had goose bumps.
Definitely this for me as well. Glenn was my favorite character, and this fight is the pinnacle of his story.
Oh yes, Chrono Trigger most certainly. I was so shocked the first time I got to THAT specific Lavos fight in the game. I’d never seen that happen in a game before.
I loved the time-travel level in Titan Fall 2. I don’t play a lot of games so it definitely felt very unique.
In Metal Gear Solid for the original PlayStation, there was a boss fight against Psycho Mantis, who was a psychic who could predict your every move. The fight was literally impossible. It didn’t matter what you did, he always had the perfect counter. Of course, he would taunt you about his ability to predict your every move.
My brother and I were absolutely stuck on the fight for what seemed like forever. At one point, a character mentions that he’s reading your controller and you can block him by switching to the 2nd control port. So you physically unplug your PlayStation controller and plug it into the other port. Then he reacts by not being able to read your moves, and you can actually fight him “fair”.
It blew my mind the first time it happened. I can’t remember a video game ever breaking the forth wall like that before.
I loved the fight so much. The way Mantis read the data for other games off your memory card was just so cool; such a clever way to mess with the player.
I can’t remember that part, but I might not have had any other saves at the time. Do you remember what he said?
Here’s the video to see all the interactions for yourself! https://youtu.be/cX-fX7Y87dk?t=6
The Neifirst fight in Phantasy Star II.
Mass Effect 2’s final mission. Getting to use all the companions collected throughout the story, sending them off on tasks they may not survive and all within a brilliant atmosphere.
This was my first thought, too. That game is so incredible, and the suicide mission is such a wonderful way to bring it all together.
NieR Replicant (2021). One of my favourite games, I really liked the story and the characters
Have you played Automata?
I’d replay the entirety of Automata again without memory, on PC plugged into the TV with a controller.
I loved Replicant’s story, but E was a painful slog to achieve. Even B in NA was a delight because I could catch up on all the amazing side quests I had missed.
Yes, Automata is also one of my favourite games 😃
