Greetings travelers, I come from a far away land, for I tell my tales about the most emotional and impressive moments in media history. You are welcome to share yours aswell. Please watch your step, as this discussion allows spoliers!
The one I wanted to share is not all that far ago. I was sitting at my PC very late and hadn't the best time of my life. In the summer sale, I bought "What Remains of Edith Finch", an interactive novel about going to the old resident of the Finch Family and finding out what happened to the rest of the family. I loved the whole experience, as some of these moments were downright so sad and ironic at the same time I couldn't hold my laughter back. There was one moment in which a newborn baby saw the world in such a different way as the parents did, the kid was such full of joy and happiness. He died through an accident in the bathtub, and this was disguised through the eyes of the baby as a happy event that should be celebrated to decades to come, almost like an orchestra final or something. It was a brilliant execution and the best 4 Minutes I had in video games for quite some time.
Anybody remember the Pokemon Red, Blue and Green for the original Gameboy? That was the shit when it was hip. I still remember fighting Gary (Blue) and losing to him many times until I finally beat him. I was so happy to be the champion of Kanto.
Yes, I know, I'm going on about Ace Combat again, shush
Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War includes a special mission in which you fight a selection of the game's Ace Squadrons back-to-back. If you defeat the penultimate squadron quickly enough, the final group is replaced by a special One-Vs-One fight against Mobius 1, the protagonist of Ace Combat 04.
The mission is hard enough on its own, but the most fun I've had with the series was playing it on the hardest difficulty (in which one single missile instantly kills you and each cannon shot takes off 30% of your health) in only a mid-tier fighter. The fights were challenging and fun, but the duel with Mobius 1 is easily one of the game's hardest fights and on Ace difficulty, it was practically a dance - maneuvers countering maneuvers, constantly fighting hard and fast to get and stay on each others' tails as the pair of us twisted and turned through the sky.
It took every ounce of my skill at the game to beat him and taking him down gave me the power fantasy feeling that the series likes to convey through story and dialogue, but through gameplay instead.
Might not be a specific moment in gaming, but breaking G-Rank in the original PS Monster Hunters was the closest thing in the world that someone can call a satisfying nightmare.
You had to fight through Playstation Portable controls, janky PSP hitboxes, robotic animations, and stress inducing music where everything hit like a fucking train. The mission to gain access into the G-Rank Hunter Hall was a nightmare, because the two entrance monsters, Akantor and Hypnocatrice, all had inflated stats that took off half your health or more in a single hit. The amount of AI manipulation and mechanical skill required was nuts, but I still think it's one of the great achievements that should be done as a Monster Hunter player.
Oh right and my hand is permanently stuck in "The Claw" from even trying to work with the PSP controller.