Gaming

Ornstein and Smough on the 1.0 version of Dark Souls in 2011 when I was very bad at Dark Souls and video games in general. In the DLC Hawkeye Gough has some line about how hunting the dragons teased out his dearest emotions and that's truly how I felt about my O&S experience. They kicked the ever loving shit out of me so many times. I remember finally scoring the kill in spite of the controller nearly falling out of my hands due to sweat at like 4 AM. Reacted a bit too loud, woke up my girlfriend (now wife haha). Just one of those moments that I will always remember.

Besides that, mostly all the Destiny raids haha. The Day 1 raiding experience in Destiny is just such a unique and awesome thing. Nothing quite like problem solving with a group of friends. Deep Stone Crypt is probably the most memorable of such experienced to me, first time the group I play with tried a Day 1 raid and completing it just gave me such a crazy high.

I have a couple gaming moments I would love to experience again for the first time:

Destiny 1 - The Taken King raid through and through. The atmosphere, the music, the sense of "what we're doing here really matters." Raids in Destiny have always been the best part of the game for me, but that one really holds a special place in my heart.

Bioshock - There's a moment in the campaign that I won't spoil, but if you know, you know.

Fallout 3 - This game was my first open world game, so it had a lot of lasting impressions on me. All the little side stories, side quests, lore, terminal entries, etc. I spent so many hours just reading terminal logs and learning about all these people that used to exist in this world. Up until that game, most games I played were an "on-rails" experience. This was a whole new thing for me: the idea of story being what I make of it, rather than what I'm told it is.

The Last of Us - In sort of the opposite to my reasoning for Fallout 3, this one is the best linear story of all time for me. It was just such a perfectly tailored experience, there's nothing like playing it for the first time.

Titanfall 2 - "Protocol 3" (if you know, you know)

Apex Legends - Launch day specifically, because they dropped it with no prior marketing or anything. Everyone was just running around trying to learn this brand new thing. It was my first BR I had any interest at all in playing. Unfortunately, it overstayed it's welcome for me, but launch day was something else.

Subnautica, Outer Wilds, Chrono Trigger, Wind Waker. In order: the first time I encountered a Leviathan, the Sun Station, the Ocean Palace, and returning to Hyrule.

So many....

Top I would have to say Witcher 3 OG game (though both DLC were amazing)

For a single boss....not for the 'wow' moments but more for the 'omg I finally did it!': one of the following from the Dark Souls series:

Black Dragon Kalameet (DS1)
Fume Knight (DS2)
Slave Knight Gael (DS3)

So many but my favorite moment was my first playthrough of Skyrim. I had no idea what I was doing, my gear was just a hodgepodge of stuff I found and I just kept running away from dragons because I couldn't quite beat them. Then at one point I learned how to shield bash and realized I could interrupt the fire breath. I was still weak af, i had to run around and spam my weak heal spell...BUT...I was starting to win. I was going to take this one down damnit. The fight lasted so long that the music rolled into the main theme, and i was winning! I felt like a god damn hero. I wish I could forget it and do it all again.

The original Deus Ex is always top of my list. I play through probably once a year and the dick around on multiplayer for a month or so after that.

For me it's Outer Wilds. It's a kind of space exploration/deduction game where you fly around in your ship at your own pace and explore what you want to explore. After a while you discover that there are small mysteries that all point to a central giant mystery and you start uncovering that by experimenting with the mechanics and discovering new places.

It's seriously amazing but you can only ever truly experience its mystery once.

TUNIC. The correct answer is Tunic. I do not know hiow to express how strongly I feel about this.

The entirety of FFXIV: Shadowbringers, but especially the series of cutscenes leading up to the final dungeon and trial.

The Neifirst fight in Phantasy Star II.

The entirety of Outer Wilds was absolutely incredible.

The End from MGS 3 and Glock Saint Isshin from Sekiro

Oh and maybe half life 2

Oh man, so many games. All Metroid (except other M), the first Diablo (especially the Butcher fight), FF6, especially after the last boss battle, will always feel bad about shadow 😔

Mine has to be Xenoblade Chronicles. So many powerful moments in the story that just don't quite hit the same on subsequent play throughs. Exploring every nook and cranny and accidentally running across monsters six times your level. Then the retribution you get after leveling up and coming back to stomp that damn thing a new mud hole. It's a 10/10 masterpiece for me that I wish I could play again the first time.

Destiny 1 before all the DLC and taking away to stuff that made sense to get into goofy shit. Though I'd take being able to play it all again, too. As is I can't make myself play destiny at all any more.

But some of those early strikes solo for the first time were crazy immersive.

It's a recent one, but the first time I entered Giant's Deep in Outer Wilds. I have a pretty big fear/anxiety of the ocean and meteorological objects in large sizes (strange one but I feel sick and get vertigo looking up at large clouds). I also find gas giants to be eerie in general.

The first time entering the atmosphere I was sweating so hard, I had to take a shower. No horror game where the main intention is to scare me has ever given me that feeling before. I've only felt that kind of stress when I played RE Nemesis on the PS1 as a young child. The Jeff chapter in Half Life Alyx also came pretty close to that feeling.

I might be a masochist, because I want to experience that again.

If I could go in full blind no prior knowledge? Final Fantasy 6. I get that it's cheating but it was a sprawling emotional epic and it's been twenty years. I remember getting to the end at like... 3AM after basically a full complete and maxed out run and that ending was.... I want to say a half hour. It had a hell of a lot of emotional callbacks, resolutions, and a few genuinely funny moments. All in a refutation of Kefka's strawman nihilism.

In Mafia there was a scene in a multifloor parking lot that there was supposed to be a deal made. Ofcourse the deal goes sideways when police crash the part and a shootout occurs. I don't know why I have a very vivid memory of this scene since I was a little boy, it must be like 20 years ago or something but I still remember every detail about this fight. Here you can see it

i think about this a lot. would love to play through lost odyssey again fresh. it's my favorite game of all time and nothing has made me feel what i felt for that game. i invested every moment of free time i had into it, and it was the first game to make me buy a soundtrack lol. such a stunning gem in so many ways.

Nier Automata for sure.

The entirety of the NES game Crystalis. It is without a doubt the best action RPG on the NES. Blows everything else out of the water. The story is wicked cool. The graphics are great for an NES game. The controls are smooth, even with only an A and B button. The systems are varied and unique, even by today's standards. The weapon powers are very cool, too.

mother 3

The bosses of Splatoon 2's Hero mode and Octo Expansion immediately came to mind.

Oh, and Breath of The Wild!