My fiance's first enqounter with Unreal...

I miss those days. /me cries!~
You're bringing back old memories, touching part of my brain that hasn't seen light for awhile. I miss those days.

But I hope she likes it!

It'll all come back when we get our hands on Unreal 2 though.

The first Skaarj in Unreal was easily one of my all time great gaming moments though.

Seeing NyLeve was a huge event to me.

That game had a hell of an impact on me when I first played it, after a stodgy diet of Quake.

I'll never quite forget how the Sunspire made me feel.

Every level had its special, unforgetable impact on me. When I first played the game, in Vortex, i was astounded. I had never played in an environment like that before. It was wonderful. Then the mystical nali I met in NyLeve, as well as in Rijigar, I love the game!

Originally posted by DRT-Maverick
Seeing NyLeve was a huge event to me.

Click to expand...

True, but then there were so many amazing moments in Unreal, including the opening flyby of the Nali Castle. That was jaw dropping.

One that sticks out in particular was the darkening, though unfortunately I found the battle with the Queen to be something of an anti climax.

I wish I could have those feelings again, hehe. No game before or since has come close to giving me that sense of wonder and excitement Unreal gave me the first time I played it. It remains one of my most precious gaming memories that sums up what we all do this for. It bothers me that I just don't get that excited about new games anymore, I can't even bring myself to feel excited about Unreal II

I am still extremely fond of both Doom and Quake 1 partly due to the memories of the atmosphere and awe I felt playing them respectively for the first time. Half Life came close, so did System Shock 2, and to a degree Severance ('Blade of Darkness' in the US - a fantastic and underrated game) but I don't hold anything else quite as dear as I do Unreal.

Some of the best moments that stick in my mind are of course NyLeve, Harobed Village (the village, the church, then that jaw-dropping approach to Terraniux), the Sunspire (Hellscrag I know what you mean), Bluff Eversmoking...I could go on

Actually it may surprise some but Chizra and the Ceremonial Chambers are two of my favourite levels and most memorable moments from my first time - particularly the start of Ceremony; the haunting music ('Seti'), the sound of the water lapping, the frogs croaking, the colours and textures...I vividly remember my first time walking into that level. It actually feels humid, you could almost touch the rocks and feel the damp moss and condensation on them.

I think I could start getting excited about Unreal II if only they'd release screenshots of some of the environments other than the sci-fi stuff! Don't get me wrong I do like that stuff, but I want to see the ancient alien temples etc, maybe that would whet my appetite.

Perhaps I've become jaded over the years by so many crap games, but I just don't expect U2 it to be anywhere near as awe-inspiring, emotional and breathtaking as Unreal - I wish they'd release some snippets of music, some more varied screeshots, a gamepay movie perhaps...just to prove to us they're making a sequel that's loyal to the inimitable style and atmosphere of the first, because at the moment it really doesn't look like it to me.

Unreal 2 will rock, but it won't work its way into your emotions in the same way.

And I too love the Chizra maps. With the slow, quiet Chizra1 music, frogs croaking and distant birds calling, exploring that old temple was magic. So much atmosphere...

unreal

Stop it you guys, your gonna make me cry
Those fond memories....

*sobs*

"Here we will make a stand with the Stingers"

No other game gets into your emotions like that.

Well actually System Shock does, and to an even greater extent System Shock 2, mainly through the logs of the dead crew members you find (perhaps Epic\DE took a cue from the original SS in this respect? though it's not really an original idea in the first place), but I digress....

I think these are more intense. Especially with the sombre Spire.umx music:

"The minions of our Gods are cast to the ground to do battle. We are put to the test. Our world is weakening, it spews forth terrible creatures. We will pray again tonight. Oh, hear our plea! Send our messiah!"

"Our Haven, the great Sunspire, given to us by the Gods of the Good Lore, has been corrupted by the Sky Demons. Our once hope is now the foulest of terrors. The Sky Demons are stronger than ever. I had a vision of death, of immense beasts roaming the land."

coolest moment

I think the first coolest moment is when you first arrive on Nyleve
and look up at the sky

Well, Unreal...

It has that odd religious feeling. I played SS and SS2, and Unreal seemed so much better to me. Especially the visuals and music, as well as the Nali.

My friend ran away when he heard the 2 guys get slaughtered behind the door by a skaarj in the Vortex Rikers, remember? ;D He was like oh ****! and he ran away, but the door was blocked so he almost turned the computer off.

LOL Big Gib

Yeah Wildfire I know what you mean, Unreal is a completely different thing, but I do love SS2. Actually the 'ghosts' on board the Von Braun played a huge part in developing the atmosphere and generating emotion in the player (and scaring me ****less!).

No one who's played System Shock 2 could ever forget the moment when you step into a short, dark corridor and suddenly a ghostly apparition of a crew member appears at the end of the hall in front of you, replaying his last moments like a recording (these are referred to as 'residual psychic emanations' in the game literature). The metallic click-click of him loading his pistol echoes around you hauntingly as he looks around nervously, scared out of his mind. "I'm not gonna let them get me..no way.". He cocks his gun, makes his peace with his wife and children, lifts the gun to his head and....the shot rings around the walls as his apparition fades away leaving just the dark hallway again.

That's one of the most moving game moments ever, it makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up just remembering it, and there are plenty more like that in SS2.

Excuse me for raving about another game, I'll shutup now

I actually think in Unreal the plight of the Nali inspires a bit more empathy than the plight of the humans, and those bits Hellscrag quoted illustrate that perfectly, but the predicament of the poor souls on board the ISV Kran did move me quite a bit too.

I'm certainly not saying anything beats the atmosphere of Unreal, it's unrivalled and completely unique.

SS2 does sound cool... I've never played the SS series... but yeah, I felt a great deal of empathy with the Nali.