Misfit moments in games

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Misfit moments in games

Postby Wolf Bird » Tue Jun 3, '14, 11:32 pm

Some games are funny, others are really serious. If a game generally falls into one of these categories, it may still have moments that blatantly fit into the other category. What are some of your favorites?

I'm enjoying BioShock a lot. It's post-apocalyptic and quite serious, and is definitely making a political statement that is not exactly what you'd call "subtle". Despite how dark and serious it is, there is something in the game that makes me crack up every time it happens, and this thing happens a lot.

In BioShock, there are vending machines scattered around the city where you buy things. These things are funny. One of them, the Gene Bank, where you can purchase genetic upgrades, plays circus music. A second, where you buy ammo, features cowboy art and talks to you in mock-Spanish. But the funniest among them is the general vending machine, called "The Circus of Values". Like the Gene Bank, it plays circus music when you walk near it. It features clown art, laughs at you, and screams out "Welcome to the Circus of Values!" in a clown voice when you go near it. I crack up when I encounter these. Every single time, despite the post-apocalyptic otherwise dark (and rather deep) tone and themes of the game. These bits of absurdity shine out quite brightly, but still manage to fit within the larger narrative of the game.
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Re: Misfit moments in games

Postby Hukos » Tue Jun 3, '14, 11:42 pm

At first I thought this was going to be "your * moments in videogames" and then I came in disappointed.

Cause I was totally going to tell the story of how I could go through Castlevania 3 without dying once but then completely get destroyed when I play a Kirby game.

Oh wait, I just did. Damn.
Last edited by Hukos on Tue Jun 3, '14, 11:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Misfit moments in games

Postby Snorb » Wed Jun 4, '14, 5:57 am

@Wolf Bird: Best thing about the Circus of Values vending machines is if you go up to one unable to afford anything and then back out of the screen, it shouts at you "Come back when you've got some money!!" in the same tone of voice. =p

Anyway, actual misfit moment-- I'm gonna spoiler this because the game actually came out this year.
[Reveal] Spoiler: Wolfenstein: The New Order
Early in Wolfenstein: The New Order, BJ Blazkowicz gets knocked into a coma in 1946, wakes up in 1960, and finds out the world's gone to hell because Germany won World War II in 1948 . To rectify this, you're gonna have to kill a lot of bad people.

Anyway, at one point, in Resistance Headquarters, there's a dingy mattress that you can sleep on. The action command to do so has the rather curious description of "Nightmare!" Obviously, this doesn't quite fit in with the rest of the cool things you get to do in your mission to save the world, so naturally you the player are gonna try it. You hold the respective action button down for a couple seconds, you go to sleep on this dirty, disgusting mattress which is pretty much finery for most of German-occupied Poland.

When you come to, you're in a prison cell. A dead guard lies between you and the door, but there's something off about the whole thing: The cell looks more colorful than Poland did, you can hear a familiar marching song somewhere in the background, and everything seems familiar-- swastika banners, Hitler photos, the furniture, the familiar hiding spot for an MP-40 machine gun... it's like you've been here before. Hell, all of the guards look exactly alike-- janky motion when they march towards you, exact same uniform to the detail. When you shoot them, they even collapse and die with the exact same motions. The bodies are always facing away from you, no matter what angle you look at them from...

In case you're wondering, you're having a World War II flashback... and the Second World War is the famous and familiar Episode 1 Mission 1 of Wolfenstein 3D, right down to the smallest 256-color bitmapped detail. (Unfortunately, all the pickups are New Order detailed pickups, and the guards use New Order voice samples because the "Achtung!!" and death screams from 1991 were really poor-quality. But it's a nice nostalgic trip back to when computer games were truly awesome.
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Re: Misfit moments in games

Postby augmentedfourth » Wed Jun 4, '14, 2:22 pm

Mass Effect 3 is a pretty dark and serious game, but the Citadel DLC (which should be played right before starting the final mission for optimal results) is a lot more light-hearted and has some HILARIOUS moments. That DLC is basically a thank you to the fans and a love letter to close out the series, and it is absolutely fantastic. And considering the tone of everything else that happens in the game, it's much needed.
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Re: Misfit moments in games

Postby S4Blade » Fri Jun 6, '14, 3:26 am

Tekken Tag Tournament 2 is a pretty serious fighting game, but it has it's fair share of goofy and funny things that the developers threw in there for gamers to find. My favorite is Miharu's cell phone pose.

Miharu is a Japanese school girl that is fighting in the Tekken tournament, and in one of her throws, she knocks her opponent off balance and forces them to take a selfie with her on her cell phone. It's pretty funny. A youtube user made a compilation of Miharu doing the throw on the entire cast. Some of them are more funny than others, like Ganryu.

Check out the video:

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Re: Misfit moments in games

Postby Wolf Bird » Fri Jun 6, '14, 12:50 pm

Snorb wrote:@Wolf Bird: Best thing about the Circus of Values vending machines is if you go up to one unable to afford anything and then back out of the screen, it shouts at you "Come back when you've got some money!!" in the same tone of voice. =p


It actually also says "buddy" at the end, so it does a little rhyme with it. First time I heard that, I also burst out laughing. It's just such a bizarre contrast but it also manages to fit. Especially when you find the diary about how the guy who made those vending machines is overpricing his stuff. :lol:
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Re: Misfit moments in games

Postby tilinelson2 » Fri Jun 6, '14, 3:30 pm

Disgaea (PS2/PSP/DS), normal ending. For a game whose plot is absurd and comic all the time, it is a kick in the guts.
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Re: Misfit moments in games

Postby Snorb » Fri Jun 6, '14, 11:42 pm

Another moment I love, minor that it is, and most people might not get it.

Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame is the first game in the series to have actual background music throughout the whole game (not just on the title screen and in cutscenes.) The opening song is a nice song and it fits with the narrator reading the on-screen story recapping the first Prince of Persia game. Hell, I'll quote it from memory because I'm awesome like that.

In ancient Persia, there was a Sultan who had an only daughter whose beauty was like moonrise in a clear heaven. Now it happened that the Sultan left his kingdom to fight in a foreign land. In his absence, his daughter fell in love with a young traveler who climbed the palace walls to see her. This did not please the Sultan's Grand Vizier, Jaffar, who planned to marry the princess himself. Seizing power, Jaffar had his rival thrown into the dungeons... but the young man escaped, and struck down the evil magician.

When he learned of his vizier's treachery, the grateful Sultan offered many riches, but the stranger requested just one reward.

And so, the young lovers were wed, and they lived happily...

...Well, for eleven days.


The nice thematic moment I love is the score builds up ominously at "This did not please Jaffar," and leads in nicely to the original Prince of Persia theme when the narrator reads "But the young man escaped."

The original Prince of Persia was one of my first video games and still one of my favorites (and I wish Ubisoft did more with Prince of Persia 2008's story) and that moment in PoP2's intro is just as wonderful. Shame that those damn floating wraith heads in the second game are so hard to fight, otherwise I'd love the sequel more.
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Re: Misfit moments in games

Postby Rylen » Sun Jun 8, '14, 2:21 am

Skyrim is a grim and gritty game. But their is a lot of humor. Some of the quests really make you yell out "What the Heck!?". Such as the time you get overly drunk and get engaged to some kind of creature. Some of the stuff the guards say can be funny. But "I use to be an adventure, till I took an arrow to the knee" gets old fast. To the point you want to "shout" at the guards...
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Re: Misfit moments in games

Postby Snorb » Sun Jun 8, '14, 3:05 am

The Worst Black Mesa Guard Ever

In Valve's classic FPS Half-Life, you are a scientist having the worst possible day at work ever, what with the extradimensional alien invasion force you unwittingly summoned and the black-ops military team sent to the lab killing everything not a black-ops hit squad member. There is no explanation whatsoever as to how your theoretical physicist can expertly handle a hunting crossbow, military shotgun, frag grenades, and experimental energy rifles straight outta Ghostbusters.

Don't worry, you have friends you can bring with you-- fellow scientists who can heal you because "I am, technically, a doctor!" and Black Mesa's own internal security squad (who all, unfortunately, brought flak jackets, helmets, and Glock 17s to a power armor and Egon Gun fight.)

Besides the usual FPS worthless 9mm parabellum fodder, there are unique beings that require special tactics to fight. One such one is The Tentacle. It is a giant three story tall tentacle ending with a piercing blade the size of a Buick. It is, not surprisingly, immune to all the weapons you brought with you. Getting hit with that piercing blade is immediately fatal.

One of Black Mesa's security guys meets you right before The Tentacle's chamber. This was fun for me:

Guard: (whispering) Gordon! Gordon! There's a HUGE monster in the missile silo behind us. It can't see us, but it's got real good hearing. Better not make any noise until we can think of a way to kill it.

Because I'm running a bit low on all my ammo at this point and I kinda need all the extra help, I recruit the guard and enter the Tentacle's missile silo. I immediately hear, in about this order:

(Glock fires twice)
"Yeah! YEAH!" (Glock fires) "Take that, you alien bast-"
(sound of the security guy getting chunked by the Tentacle. A bloodied skull and some indistinguishable internal organs, possibly the guard's, fly past my field of vision)
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Nakama: A Card Game of Magical Girls - A completely un-playtested card game about being a magical girl.

Well, excuse me while I defy all laws of logic and common sense and do it anyway.
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