Here are your favorite gaming moments of 2013!

So many good memories

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Last week, we asked you to share your favorite gaming memories of the year with the community, and the response was FANTASTIC! Seriously, the love you people expressed for some of your favorite games of 2013 was downright moving, and I enjoyed reading each and every comment.

Here’s a brief recap of some of your responses. WARNING: Spoilers abound for many new games, so read with caution!

SeymourDuncan17:

Getting all morally grey with The Last Of Us.

The snowy sections are among gaming’s best moments. Ellie has been the best female character this year and of many other years, even far outdoing Elizabeth of Infinite in every aspect (personally).

And those little back and forth’s between Joel and Ellie, with some even happening out of the blue. I would be just checking out an optional house, looking for loot, crafting items, when Ellie just casually walks up to me and starts talking. Then Joel tells her to go back downstairs, and I continue doing my thing. Stuff like that made the game and it’s characters so real and memorable.

DeadnBuried:

The Last of Us. All of it. Every moment was just fantastic.

The story and character interactions were wonderful, and the gameplay was so desperate and intense that every single minute of that game felt important and memorable. Can’t even remember the last time I felt that way about a game. It was perfect, genuinely.

Dustylope:

When Henry shot himself in The Last of Us. I knew what had happened to Sam the second that Clicker jumped on him. I knew he got bit, and that he would turn. The cut scene that follows however, is one of the most powerful ones I’ve ever seen in gaming. Although voice acting and motion capture have been around for a while now, for the first time I felt like what I was watching was believable and real. These were real people reminiscing about a cross country bike tour they once took, or admitting fear of ending up alone. By the time it’s morning in the cut scene, my emotions are already a mess and just to fuck with me the worst thing that can happen, does. Even though it wasn’t much of a surprise that Henry killed himself I gasped and heard “jesus christ, no!” coming out of my mouth. Cut to black. Druckman and Straley pretty much ruined my week and I loved it.

Grethiwha:

The ending of The Wonderful 101. That game had so much pure unrestrained ludicrous spectacle that I didn’t think it was possible that they could end it in a way that still felt climactic in the wake of everything that came before, while still utilizing the same mechanics and everything you’d learned to that point – being climactic on that level as well – but… holy crap. That whole final mission is jaw-dropping; they knocked it out of the park.

AlexTHVK:

The final battle of The Wonderful 101 is one of the must incredible and hilarious endings I’ve seen in a game this year, and in quite a long time. The game was already over the top, and then the ending comes and its one part Bayonetta, two parts Power Rangers season finale with a dash of Michael Bay bombastic.

desert dragon:

The ending of The Wonderful 101. Just… the whole thing. As well as the first boss, which, well, just LOOK AT IT:

Benny Disco:

Dismembering someone in The Wolf Among Us.

Dreamweaver:

It would have the be the Battle Royale game mode in Anarchy Reigns‘ multiplayer. The thrill of trying to survive in a 16-player free-for-all in an open environment where random stuff like airstrikes, earthquakes, or getting attacked by a frickin’ Kraken happens, is just so much fun. I recall spending HOURS on end playing Battle Royale just because it was fresh and new.

flintmech:

Playing Hawken with an Oculus Rift at PAX Prime 2013.

Paradox me:

First setting foot in Columbia in BioShock Infinite. The familiar setup gave way to something that I wasn’t expecting: some of the most powerful 15 minutes I’ve spent in a game, culminating in the scene where the barbershop quartet sings “God Only Knows.”

greyXstar:

The scene in BioShock Infinite at the Grand Floridian-looking place, when Elizabeth is dancing around on the pier. Straight-up Disney princess stuff.

siddartha85:

BioShock Infinite. The Cathedral at the beginning, the barbershop quartet, playing guitar, the cult headquarters, recognizing “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” playing at a bar, Comstock House, Elizabeth. I’m a fan of the series and this was my favorite BioShock. Nothing else came close for me. It was a series of special moments.

Occams Electric Toothbrush:

The first two hours of Bioshock: Infinite. It felt like experiencing a different take on Rapture. I drank in every building, every person and every moment as I wandered through Columbia. Also, every damn moment I encountered a remade version of a modern song was magical and made me so very happy.

Also, every boss fight in Killer is Dead. They felt so much like a spiritual successor to the Killer 7 characters that I couldn’t wait to get to the next fight.

Batthink:

Ni No Kuni‘s best moment appeared when Oliver and company took the trip to the Fairyground. When I was informed that I had to enter the Fairy Godmother to help her ‘littlens’, little did I know what was about to hit me.

When Oliver arrived inside, it was a damn playschool. With a teacher’s rest room. It helped that Joe Hisaishi’s score changed from broad orchestral to a lead recorder with gentle orchestral backing once there. I laughed out loud with this discovery, and I had to just go ‘DAWWWW’ when I saw the little baby fairies (in the shape of eggs).

RenaudB90:

Completing Shin Megami Tensei IV on the Neutral path on my first (and only) playthrough. The satisfaction was immense. Nothing quite like reclaiming the post-apocalyptic world from the hands of both the Angels and LUCIFER HIMSELF and giving mankind their freedom back!

SolidSamus926:

There’s a moment in Shin Megami Tensei IV where you reach the second major location in the game, and you and your companions just stand there looking over it, stunned, and the overworld theme starts playing. I felt anxious to explore the world, scared of what I might find, and the music just made it that much better. I thought that was marvelous.

Voodoome:

Playing through Persona 4 Golden. The game became one of my favorite games of all time. As far as a moment from the game that was my favorite … I would have to say watching the intro scene. Upon watching that, I just knew that it would be a special game that’s unlike anything else currently available. That art style… Wow.

crackedbat:

Playing through The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds. Because it’s full of heart… stars and horse-shoes.

sonc429:

I would have to say these are my top 3:

Realizing I could get console-quality experiences on the 3DS. Kid Icarus Uprising, Animal Crossing, Lugi’s Mansion, Mario Kart 7, Resident Evil, and Mario 3D Land all blew me away as some of the best experiences I’ve ever had on a handheld.

Seeing gaming return from the brink of the brown military shooter and move into more original territory. Street Fighter x Tekken, Wonderful 101, Sonic All Stars Racing, and the return of Jet Set Radio. Plus those wonderful indie games!

The Wii U tablet in general. IMHO the best thing to happen to gaming in the last year. I know a lot of you aren’t sold on it yet. But I have a raging hard on for it. Next gen has been great thus far.

Jesse Johnson:

One of my more favorite moments this year was not playing a game. It was playing console games on the Wii U gamepad. It’s great to be able to continue my game when my wife kicks me off the TV. It’s extremely under stated HOW GREAT the second screen on the Wii U is.

HanTheMan:

Playing wrecking ball in Grand Theft Auto V. Nothing better than picking up cars with a cargobob and swinging them into pixelpeople.

falsoman:

Plants vs. Zombies 2. A pure joy to play for me, and for free. No play limit, looks great, plays awesome and introduces a lot of new things.

Jamvaan:

Little brought such a stupid smile to my face as battling it out on the open seas and boarding ships, crashing through their crew, and taking it for my own in Assassin’s Creed IV. It’s a special kind of game that has you doing something over and over again and it being fun every goddamn time.

Honorable mention goes out to the one on ones with Senator Armstrong and Jetstream Sam in Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. Even those fights have great moments in them, like Bladewolf throwing Raiden “The Sword” (you know the one) or the “Let’s Dance” before the two best tracks in the game hit. My god, it was all so good.

Sephzilla:

The beginning of Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. An opening moment of an awesome game, and when it happened it shot my hype levels through the roof.

Gh0stbusttyler:

Honestly, it might sound a bit absurd, but just the entirety of Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance.

I had completely written off the game when it came out because I thought it was stupid and unnecessary. I had also heard that it was incredibly short at $60 made me even more sour towards it. A couple months after it came out, I found a copy on Amazon for half off so I decided to take a risk and bought it.

It was honestly the most refreshing thing I’ve played in a long time. The story is so dumb and over the top that I actually looked forward to cutscenes. It felt like a parody of all the “serious” typical Modern Warfare games.

The combat just felt incredibly fluid and was really fun, with a difficulty curve that doesn’t break your arm off. I had played a few Platinum titles before, but the combat in this one felt the best, not to mention that slicing a boss up into a million pieces in slow-motion after you’ve killed them never felt old.

The crazy action in-between the over the top story and insane combat made me say holy shit more times then I ever have when playing a game. Even when replying the game multiple times, I never not get excited when running across missiles to attack a Metal Gear, or when fighting any of the other members of Desperado.

But most of all, this was my first Metal Gear game, and it got me to go into the series. I only had Nintendo consoles growing up so I never had the chance to get into it before. I’m thankful that I took the risk on buying Revengeance, and I owe it as well as the rest of the Metal Gear Solid series for giving me one of the best summers in gaming that I’ve ever had.

thwiplash:

Best moment? The entire fucking ending of Tearaway.

Goddammit, I held myself together through the end of The Walking Dead Season 1, but the reveal at the end of Tearaway caused me to shed a solitary tear.

ShadeOfLight:

My favorite moment was most definitely beating the final “boss” of Super Mario 3D World with a friend.

We had been playing that game for about eight hours straight, and after beating Bowser the second time, we were shocked to find that there was still yet another world to do. I could tell he was getting tired of the game (he’s not nearly as big on platformers as I am), but I convinced him that we’d just rush through the final few levels to get to the final boss and beat the game.

When we finally got to the boss… it was the most glorious thing ever. We were shouting all the way through about Bowser doing… that! And then the red flash followed by the other thing! (It’s so hard for me not to spoil anything here; trust me though, you’ll want to see it in-game first, and you’ll know it when you see it.)

In the end, I ended up getting us through the chase sequence as Toad, and my friend managed to score the final hit as Luigi. It was the most awesome thing in the world; best boss ever.

Come to think of it, this is going down as one of my favorite gaming moments of my life.

GoofierBrute:

Getting married in Fire Emblem: Awakening. When the game came out, I went into it mostly blind to the new features; I knew about the reclassing system and the pairing system, but that was about it. So as I’m playing the game for the first time, my character, who I have creatively called Steve (I thought it would be funny) decides to start being buddies with Lissa, the first healer that you get in the game. She’s pretty cool, she makes sure I don’t die, but most importantly, when we pair up, my character is like Kentaro from Fist of the North Star. We have some support conversations, my character pranks Lissa, she pranks him, things seem pretty cool. Until one day, I find that I’ve unlocked an “S” rank conversation. I select it, and the next thing I know, my character proposes to Lissa, she says yes, and it ends with a close up of her talking about how awesome it is that we’re getting married.

When I first saw that, I was honestly stunned. My character was the first one to get married (even before Chrom, who by default has to get married as part of the plot), and before long I was putting characters together to get married, to see what would come from it. Of course, this was before I discovered that A) your characters have kids, B) they have different stats based on who their parents are and C) your Avatar can be married to anybody so long as they are the opposite gender. Though in my case, I always end up marrying Lucina in every subsequent playthrough. I know that for a lot of people, there are more powerful moments, but for me, that first time my character got married really came out of nowhere, and it showed me that sometimes it’s best to go into a game blind.

RampagingSoul:

Fire Emblem: Awakening and its support conversations: This was probably my favorite thing in this game besides the music. The localization of this game was top notch! The conversations just urged me to play more and more of the game and I’m continuing to play the game to this day. All of the marriage scenes and the goofy interactions with the characters like Lissa pulling pranks on my character to the naked Chrom poster that Frederick puts up to have people join the army. Ah, some much charm from that game. Plus, when Emmeryn falls of a cliff and the music in the next chapter picks up, just the feels!

OperationDickDrop:

The first death scene in Tomb Raider. It affected me not only because of how violent it was, but also how much I didn’t expect it considering how tame the other games in the series are.

VincentX:

Chapter 1 of Corpse Party: Book of Shadows really stands out for me. For me this game had the best story and characters of the year and this chapter is one of the reasons. The way it goes from showing the happy times Seiko and Naomi had and then diving into the horrifying and depressing events in Heavenly Host was just incredible. This chapter made me laugh, made me scream and most importantly, made me cry.

Also, the “true end” of Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory. I honestly can’t remember the last time before this game that I immediately played through a game a second time just to get the best ending. But I did this time and it was worth it! I loved this game as it constantly made me smile and this ending was the perfect way to cap it off and when the credits rolled for that second time, I got a little misty eyes because I knew it was over. Thank you Compile Heart and NISA, thank you for this game and every wonderful moment it brought.

Handy:

Being Trevor. GTA always let you run wild but often at the expense of the cohesiveness of the story. But with Trevor you finally had free reign to lose it, it no longer broke the atmosphere, you we’re finally free to ride quad-bikes in your underpants and set giant penis shaped gasoline trails on fire without undermining the narrative.

solidturtleman:

Oh man! The mission “Girls’ Night Out” in Saints Row IV really touched me. After taking space drug to gain infinite super powers, I was pumped. But then the music started and the Shaundis started playing tag. In a game full of impurity that felt like such a pure moment. It was about power, fun, and being more than you could on your own. Games have a magic that cannot be replicated.

JackSlack:

Papers, Please. Day 11. Jorji Costava shows up again. And try as I might, try as I desperately need to, try as I hopelessly, cannot manage…

I find nothing wrong with his paperwork.

Seriously, stamping him “approved” was the most horrifying thing I’ve ever done. I waited for the pink slip, knowing I’d be punished for this. And it never came.

Holy cow, Jorji got the right paperwork.

Psycho Punch: