I can't remember any of this shit except for one particularly. I remember when playing Windwaker and you set off in the boat the first time. That felt like a big deal. The way music is with the horns and the vastness of the ocean, the silhouettes of other islands on the distance horizon, it certainly made an impression.

This is one of the things I like about the space trading genre but I have no specific memories.

some more:

myst, when you discover what the boys had been doing, that sad mournful music playing as you understand the atrocities


system shock 2, those damn monkey screams


project zomboid, the soundscape was intense, the 1st time you hear your barricade being torn down by a horde late at nite when you thought it was safe to sleep, the image of your avatar being surrounded and torn apart while she screams, then later, that mournful music when you find your avatar, now undead, walking aimlessly with your scattered belongings nearby.


Kona, driving in that beat up truck listening to the tinny music from the radio, i learned to drive in a crappy truck just like that, the door slamming sound...the gear shifter noise, wipers... all perfect

gabriel knight, being chased by werewolves and the noise of their attacks

The first Fallout. I guess with the third game I was already expecting that to be exploited so it didn't feel that great, but it was still nice, nevertheless :)
Many tough games that have missions - upon completing a very thrilling, harsh and somewhat worrying mission - when you get the "mission successful" - screen or similar, that usually makes me feel like Hoo-aah yeah! :) The Phantom Doctrine being the latest example - even with normal, has happened several times. And the tension in the music certainly helps.

Well for silly feel-goody moments, Saints Row IV's What is Love sequence comes to mind :)

Yes, this! One of the greatest moments in the saga. Those fields... And... ah, but no spoilers...
Also seeing the play of light in the green foliage in Witcher 2.

The very ending of Monkey Island 2.

In Thief Gold, when you find out the truth about your "employers".

In Starcraft, when the cocoon, which Zerg (and you) have been protecting so eagerly, hatches.

- Bioshock (Stepping out of the bathysphere into Rapture for the first time)
- Dragon Age Origins (Leliana's Song at the camp site)
- Oblivion (Stepping out of the sewers and seeing all that green)

Fallout 3 vault at the begining was awful, all these terrible NPC animations, dialogs, mimics... it still haunts me to this day.
Yeah, going outside was cool but then it was a mess of a game for 40h...

For that feel? Dunno, last level of underground world of Arx Fatalis? Unreal1 was full of them tingly triggers - even after 24? years it's still give me massive goosebump and music is a massive factor for this. Pity most modern OSTs are plain fillers.
And then - Area51 in Deus Ex, was massive X-Files fan back then and getting to that place was something incredible.

And not being able to quite decide whether you liked or hated that Quebecois folk jam, as the beat snaked its way inside your head....

My biggest one, though, was playing LOTRO (as a dwarf main) and, after weeks of play, finally making it to Moria,
and coming up on
this bridge shortly after you get in. (Note: Your character is minuscule in this space.) It was a very weird experience, an overwhelming feeling of loss, nostalgia, smallness, homecoming, and fierce pride all at once.

Kingdom Come Deliverance- so many comfy moments and enjoying the historical setting. I'm so glad we got to have the game on gog DRM free.

Spider and Web does this with text only. Everyone go play it online, it's free and short.
The scene the first half of Primordia was leading to.
The final room of Loom.
The final level of Trine (although a not-insignificant number of people hated the difficulty).
That one optional major setpiece scene in King's Quest 6.
The charisma ending in Planescape Torment.
The final secret level of Immortal Defense. Disclaimer: I could never unlock it fair and square, and I don't know if it's possible to cheat in the current version.

@babark

The paternally emotive and authoritative VR commercial voice - it's engineered to provoke your confirmation biases.

I'd tingle at the story telling of Vault 11 of FO:New Vegas to allow you to look at it from a more analytical angle.

@OP

I should be more admirable, but it just frustrates me when a skillfully cast voice in a commercial persuades people to embrace what they want to believe, against evidence.


Evidence from studies - i.e not from a Sony VR commercial - indicates that having an advanced degreee, being employed, with vivacious social cirle and healty lifestyle correlates with lesser incidence of neural degenaritve desease (such as Alzhimers).

At the same time, having access to Sony VR has surely a strong negative co-variance with social status mentioned above.


Whithin a priviledged framework, VR is not unharmful at all. Whithin the dispossessed class, VR might be great - only would SONY go and remain under the bridge as it helps?

@TStael
I'm sorry, you've lost me there.
What has this to do with the tingly "sensation" you get when playing a game, especially during a specific emotive or psychologically stimulating moment in said game?

deleted

Has to be Mass Effect 1 for me. I mean the whole game gave me that feeling: the setting, music, atmosphere. If I had to pick one moment though probably docking with the Citadel and going down that long elevator to C-Sec. That was cool.

But my question was specifically about games that did this skillfully. Should I admire them less because they were intentionally engineered to evoke a specific reaction in me with a mind to gain popularity and generate more sales?

I'm not sure what VR has to do with anything I was saying, though.