Cinematech (Post your favorite cutscenes)

Hey all, I want to see some of the video game videos, cutscenes, whatever that you think as your favorites of all time. I don't care if they look shitty now, what matters is how much you liked them when you first saw them. Stuff from all eras of games. Here are a few of mine.

Soul Reaver intro:



Star Control 2 3DO intro:



Even in the days of the SNES, Blizzard were still wizards when it came to intros:

 
Oh man... so many. I'm going to try to keep this short.

Let's start with a classic, the intro to Ninja Gaiden on the NES.

Ninja Gaiden: Intro



This was the first time I ever saw a game do something cinematic with its presentation. It was totally badass.

And I still can't get further than like the 4th level in that game.


Final Fantasy VI: The Opera



The opera scene in Final Fantasy 6, complete with the battle in the rafters during, against a recurring octopus monster that just won't go away, all so the former evil general now turned ally that has infiltrated the opera can sing her song, attract the notorious gambler, and allow you to steal his airship to save the world.

I feel like the previous sentence doesn't make any sense, and I should re-read it to try to make it clear, but fuck it, this train don't stop.

Warcraft 3: Succeeding You




Enough said. But I'll say more, because I like words. As someone who only really got into the warcraft world through Warcraft 3, Arthas was -the- bad guy to me. It's why Frozen Throne was the best expansion in WoW, and why finally defeating the mother fucking Lich King should have been the end of the game. No one cares about Deathwing, or... whatever the hell was going on in Pandaria. Seriously, who was the bad guy in Mists of Pandaria again? Bad feelings?

Bayonetta: Starting a Game Off Like a Bawse



I love Bayonetta. She instantly became one of my favorite video game characters of all time. That's pretty much it, she's awesome, and the intro to her first game was awesome.


Heavy Rain: Scott Shelby is a Chubby Badass



Ok, this isn't technically a cutscene, but all of heavy rain basically is just a cutscene, and one I loved. There's lots of amazing moments in it, most of them spoilers, so I'm just going to share this awesome sequence where Scott Shelby, private investigator, is out for revenge after a mob boss attempted to kill him and his ladyfriend (who probably died in such event, because you're bad at QTEs).

Halo 2: Return to Sender



What a badass way to start a game. Too bad they didn't know how to end one.

Mass Effect 2: Through the Omega 4 Relay



The beginning of the suicide mission. Umph, Mass Effect 2 was so goddamn good. And Mass Effect 3 wasn't. I still have trust issues.


This is probably only part 1
 
Mass Effect 2: Through the Omega 4 Relay



The beginning of the suicide mission. Umph, Mass Effect 2 was so goddamn good. And Mass Effect 3 wasn't. I still have trust issues.


This is probably only part 1
The version of the Omega 4 Relay sequence where you haven't upgraded, and thus lose people, is also quite good. The deaths aren't given a lot of screen time or acknowledgement, because you are at war. People die in wars, and there's no time to mourn them. You just have to keep going.

Assassin's Creed Revelations wasn't the best of games, but I love its ending. Especially how it represents a culmination of Ezio and Altair's storylines.

"No books... no wisdom... just you, fratello mio. Requiescat in pace, Altair."

[DOUBLEPOST=1455514083,1455513491][/DOUBLEPOST]The Battle of Ostagar from DA:O.



This cutscene is preceded by a whole bunch of boring wandering and side quests in the Korcari Wilds, so by the time I got to this scene, I was pretty jaded with the game. And then this scene happened, and I was thoroughly reinvigorated and ready for another few hours of decapitating darkspawn.

Man, I still get a bit choked up when Cailan shouts "For Ferelden!" and the awesome music plays.
 
Bioshock (major spoilers; everyone who's played the game already knows what this is)


I've played through that game probably six times and that scene never loses any of its power. (Technically part of it requires minimal player action, but you have no options there, so I think it still fits if Heavy Rain can.)

Chrono Trigger opening if you let the game sit on the menu (SNES version)




Super Mario RPG



(Had to skip to a point, couldn't find it isolated.) Mario defeats Bowser, saves Peach--the end of a typical Mario adventure, but only the beginning of this one. The first time I played this it was no big deal, but the second time, there was just something ethereal and creepy about the giant sword descending from the sky, especially since I knew at that moment it was the destruction of the Star Road, and no more wishes could come true.
 


Dungeon Keeper. Yeah, the quality sucks, sorry. Anyway, what really made this intro is that in the box, besides the rules, there's a small booklet (some 30 pages? I have it at home) giving the story of Brave Knight Sir....Whatshisname....setting out on his quest. It's basically the story of the intro and a bit of the game, told from the POV of the hero. It doesn't end well.
 
Assassin's Creed Revelations wasn't the best of games, but I love its ending. Especially how it represents a culmination of Ezio and Altair's storylines.

"No books... no wisdom... just you, fratello mio. Requiescat in pace, Altair."

I'm with you on not a great game, but a great ending. I love that Ezio speaks directly to Desmond and gives a few words of wisdom about the amazing lives they've led.
 
Poe beat me to posting the opera scene, which will always be one of my favorite things. I will search more.
 
The Boat song from Lunar. Hell, I love everything about this game.



The ending also hit me... And got me killed at least once, because
Surely Luna wouldn't kill Alex.


 


Dungeon Keeper. Yeah, the quality sucks, sorry. Anyway, what really made this intro is that in the box, besides the rules, there's a small booklet (some 30 pages? I have it at home) giving the story of Brave Knight Sir....Whatshisname....setting out on his quest. It's basically the story of the intro and a bit of the game, told from the POV of the hero. It doesn't end well.
LOVE IT!
You beat me to it :)
I love the little details in the intro, like the goblin picking his nose. I even bought the game at GOG a few months ago and played some levels.
 
All of the Diablo 2 & Lord of Destruction cinematics in one video

Really for me it's the destruction of the Worldstone:


But from the current rendition it's gotta be Tyreal's sacrifice (Act I spoiler - if you don't know the story)


Some of these might duplicate stuff I have in the VG music thread.
Like the intro to Black & White, in all its fading 90's glory:


Like @Ravenpoe, there are so many others, but my break's up, so I might post more later.

--Patrick
 

GasBandit

Staff member


I do have to giggle at the inaccuracy that the weapons mounted on the arms are depicted to be machine guns, and the double inaccuracy that they actually do damage :D



Damn, why all these good old cutscenes gotta be potato quality...









Alas what might have been... Though I'm starting to detect a theme, here.



A trailer, because there aren't really cutscenes in MWO, but I think it serves...

Oh shit look out, here come the clans

 

GasBandit

Staff member
Oh, and I gotta post a cutscene from the game that named me.



Coincidentally, it used the mechwarrior 2 engine.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
In the first chapter of Under a Killing Moon, a future cyberpunk noir detective game, when you first try to pick up your gun from your desk, this cut scene happens, which is how the game ensures in a lore-friendly way that you can't shoot your way through the game.

[DOUBLEPOST=1455597727,1455597499][/DOUBLEPOST]The 7th Guest. It was like Myst, but horror.

 

GasBandit

Staff member


Dungeon Keeper. Yeah, the quality sucks, sorry. Anyway, what really made this intro is that in the box, besides the rules, there's a small booklet (some 30 pages? I have it at home) giving the story of Brave Knight Sir....Whatshisname....setting out on his quest. It's basically the story of the intro and a bit of the game, told from the POV of the hero. It doesn't end well.
And here are all the cinematic cutscenes from Dungeon Keeper 2.

 
Some of the cutscenes I love are not exactly "good" in the accepted definition of the word, but they're worth remembering all the same.

Resident Evil



Ah, what a classic.

And of course, Capcom's star voice acting moment from Mega Man X4:

 
Sentences that have been stuck in my brain for decades...

"The Kingdom of Azeroth was a prosperous one."
"Then came the orcish hordes."



"Till men of old for blood and gold had rescued Skara Brae"
Which also made me look up Skara Brae, long before Wikipedia or the internet, and got me interested in archaeology.
 
The Boat song from Lunar. Hell, I love everything about this game.
Yes. This was one of those games I bought on a whim and loved every second of it. I even listened to the OST all the time while doing homework. The final boss still gives me a scare, I think it took nearly an hour for me to finish the fight.

First off, gonna be that guy for a second:


I could probably put just about any post-FFVII opening cinematic here, but I still remember being totally blown away and then immediately enthralled the first time I saw this.

Also, it's sort of the black sheep of the Square JRPGs, but Chrono Cross has a great opening cinematic (and the song is killer):

 
Love this thread so far.

Much nostalgia.

Here's a longin'. I LOVED what the Kilrathi looked like in this game. It was cheesy as fuck, but their animatronics were WAY beyond what they should have been.



Here's another gem I played on 3DO (I am one of the world's only 3DO fanboys), Off-World Interceptor. The devs decided that the live action cutscenes they filmed were so fucking stupid, that they added their own Mystery Science Theater 3000 knockoff overlay to ALL OF THE CUTSCENES. ALL OF THEM! God the 3DO was a mystical gem where anything could happen, and that anything was generally hot trash.

 
Sentences that have been stuck in my brain for decades...

"The Kingdom of Azeroth was a prosperous one."
"Then came the orcish hordes."
Man, thank you. Sometimes I feel like I'm the only person who ever played, or remembers, Warcraft: Orcs and Humans.

And 3DO has plenty of fanboys...all of them are just still playing Heroes of Might and Magic III :p
 
Also, it's sort of the black sheep of the Square JRPGs, but Chrono Cross has a great opening cinematic (and the song is killer):

That opening song is 2nd only to To Far Away Times, which is the CLOSING song for Chrono Trigger. I'd love to hear a great orchestral arrangement (there are good, but haven't heard GREAT yet).
 
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