Welcome to the last part of my three part series on the top moments of 2024!
These are the big ones. When I look back on 2024, these are all the moments I will remember most. I’m excited to share them with you!
After getting some feedback, I made all the headlines a bit more vague so they don’t contain outright spoilers. Hopefully, this allows you to scroll through and decide which moments you want to read about without getting spoiled on other games.
The first two parts of the list are also linked below. This finally caps off all of my 2024 year-end coverage. I love ranking things, so this was a blast for me. I’m glad that a lot of you seemed to enjoy it, too. Onward to 2025!
BigNerdGaming’s Top 40 Moments: #40-26
BigNerdGaming’s Top 40 Moments: #25-11
#10: Just Before The Final Battle (Unicorn Overlord)
The main goal in Unicorn Overlord is to liberate Gran Corrine. You can explore the entire open world, but Gran Corrine has such a high enemy level attached, that it is impossible to fight it until you explore pretty much everything else. You will likely see the city constantly as you explore.
It took me 3 months to beat Unicorn Overlord. For 3 months, I looked at Gran Corrine, and yet it was far out of my grasp. So reaching this final scene and having the main character, Alain, stare at his goal as epic music soars behind him just got me excited. I feel like this moment might seem unremarkable if you watched a video of it without playing the game, but damn I got FIRED UP watching this. This was a perfect way to get ready for the final battle.
#9: The Ascent Ending (Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden)
Early on in Banishers, you have to make a decision. When Antea Duarte dies and becomes a ghost, you have to choose whether to kill various people in order to give her life energy and bring her back or to help her peacefully pass on.
For me, it was a relatively easy decision. Even for someone I love with all my heart, I couldn’t justify ending other lives in order to bring them back. But by making that decision, you know where the story is going to go. There’s no mystery or hope of a way out. If you don’t kill a bunch of people, Antea is going to die.
Banishers is a long game, and at times, it was an agonizing march to the conclusion. I grew to really love Antea as a character, and I especially grew attached to the relationship Red and Antea shared. I knew it would be hard to see her go.
Despite how sad this moment is, I thought the developers showed great restraint here. This moment isn’t particularly drawn out. Antea and Red share one last emotional moment as Antea’s ghost slowly fades away. They hug, they kiss, they express their love. It’s intense and quick. Red then slowly carries Antea’s body out of the church they were in as sad music plays. I think if they did much more than that, this could have ended up being melodramatic in some ways, but they landed it perfectly. Considering that the entire game is pretty much built around the ending, that was vital, and I’m so happy they pulled it off as well as they did.
#8: Kasuga and Kiryu Heart To Heart
I thought the whole point of this new Like a Dragon series was for Kiryu to pass the baton off to a new hero, Ichiban Kasuga. Infinite Wealth kind of muddles that, as Kiryu becomes half the story.
But finally, a bit before the end of the game, Kasuga and Kiryu have a true heart to heart, and it freaking rules. It’s emotional and manly. It also finally seems to accomplish what I’ve been waiting for, and that is for Kiryu to essentially tell Kasuga that it is his turn. I also love how the conversation kind of turns to Kasuga’s relationship woes, and Kiryu chides him. In perfect RGG fashion, they don’t let it stay serious for too long.
We will see if RGG really sticks to it this time, but I thought this was a pivotal moment for both the game and the franchise as a whole. I absolutely loved it.
#7: The Battle of Athrabalt (Eiyiuden Chronicles: Hundred Heroes)
If you are going to have big epic battles and a plot full of politics, the battle of Althrabat is exactly what I want from you. This battle trumped the conclusion of the game in terms of being the most intense battle in the game for me.
I just love all the momentum shifts in this battle. You start out looking good before Dux arrives and puts you on the defensive. Then you are holding out, waiting for reinforcements, when you get betrayed. This leads to a desperate retreat, where you also end up with multiple tricky boss fights in the city. This whole thing was something like an hour of high stakes combat, with plot twists and great moments filled throughout. I have a weird love/hate relationship with Eiyuden, but this moment cemented it as a game I still think about, despite my various qualms with it.
#6: Harold Halibut Ending
Man. This ending ROCKED me. I love how easy this is to talk about and debate, too.
Early on in Harold Halibut, you are given a long look into Harold’s very boring life aboard a crashed spaceship. He doesn’t have any seemingly noteworthy skills. So he mostly does little errands for all the smarter people on the ship. Things change for him when he discovers an alien aboard the ship and becomes the first human to both make contact with and visit an alien settlement.
As the game goes on, the humans finally find a way to get their spaceship back into orbit. At this point, Harold is a changed character. He is included more on the ship and seems to have a lot more confidence. But he also has an undeniable bond with his alien counterparts. He also seems to align much more with the values and mindset that the aliens have. Still, it’s a slight shock when Harold decides that he wants to stay with the aliens a bit before the humans take back off into space.
The decision kind of pays off some of the more dull early moments in the game. But it is also incredibly well executed. Obviously, Harold is doing what he feels is best for himself. But the sadness clearly washes over him as he puts his head on his alien friend Weeoo’s shoulder. Perfectly sad music plays. Did Harold make the right choice from our perspective? Does Harold regret his own choice? It’s all excellent water cooler discussion. You know, if we still had water coolers.
#5: The “Leave” Ending (Silent Hill 2 Remake)
The last few hours of Silent Hill 2 are an absolute roller coaster ride. You discover that the main character, James, who is searching for his wife, Mary, the entire game, actually killed his wife. You also find out that she requested death because of an illness she had. Silent Hill 2 is a story of James working through his grief, regret, and denial.
If you play the game a certain way, you then work your way to the “leave” ending. James reveals to Mary that even though she asked to die, he wanted to do it. He hated her and wanted his life back in that moment. Mary then gives James a letter that she wrote. James leaves town as you hear Mary read the letter that she gave him. Mary talks about the pain she is going through. She takes a lot of the blame for what James went through, and even for any hate James may have had for her at the end. She also forgives him. You can feel that forgiveness, that regret, that sadness, and the readiness to let go. The music that plays is serene but also eerie. It just captures every emotion that I was feeling at that moment. There are many other endings in Silent Hill 2, but I’m so damn glad I got this one. This hit every note perfectly. It crushed me, but it also made me happy. What a freaking ending.
#4: Barrett and Dyne (Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth)
With a lot of moments on this list, I’ve watched them several times over the course of the year. The moment will come to my mind, and I will inevitably want to relive that hype all over again.
This is the moment on the list that I’ve actively avoided rewatching until now. Because it is just so sad and fucked up beyond belief.
This kicks off with a banger image of Barrett and his former friend now enemy, Dyne, facing off. After the battle, you can tell Barrett is almost wishing for death to atone for his sins. Barrett advocated for SHINRA to enter the town they lived in for extra money, and it ended up leading to disaster. Almost everyone in the town ends up dying.
From there, Dyne realizes how far gone he is as a human being. He understands that he let the grief turn him into a monster. Then, most devastating of all, you have Dyne learning that his daughter is still alive and seeing a new image of her for the first time. Barrett tries to offer Dyne a path at redemption and a path to seeing his daughter again. But Dyne realizes that it’s actually better for his daughter at this point if she never sees him again. He then goes down fighting off SHINRA soldiers. He falls on Barrett as he dies, seemingly on purpose. One last act of revenge for a broken and angry man. I’m not sure how anyone wouldn’t be crushed by this scene. As a father, it hit me even harder, knowing the decision that Dyne was making. And of course, that music is so fucking good. This was incredible.
#3: Nanaki and Seto (Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth)
I like to say that Rebirth is for the dads. For whatever reason, this section of FF7 just has a lot of moments that seem designed to tug at those dad feelings.
Nanaki spends all of his time in Cosmo Canyon dismissing his father. He has been told that he ran from trouble when it came. He learns here that this isn’t true. His father, Seto, actually turned into stone defending the vale, and the truth was hid from him so he wouldn’t endanger himself.
Nanaki’s mentor Bugenhagen then delivers one of the best hype speeches that you can imagine to get Nanaki to set back out with the crew to save the world instead of staying home(with banger music going of course). “The eyes that I thought saw the world clearly had become blind to new possibilities” is one hell of a line. So is “I bid you leave Nanaki, before, like me, you become inured to your own ignorance!”
Then, the climax. Nanaki tells his dad that he is going to be like him and lets out a howl. Tears stream down Seto’s stone face, cementing this as the ultimate dad moment. The one dad in the group, Barrett, wiping away tears, was an awesome touch as well. I absolutely loved this shit.
#2: The Awakening (Metaphor: ReFantazio)
The Persona games have a lot of fantastic moments. But Metaphor surpassed them all with this one for me.
After playing the whole game as the “prince’s friend,” you discover that you are actually another form of the prince. The idealized version of himself. You are the prince. This alone is a great revelation and twist. But the build up with the music, the cutscene, the voice acting, all fucking rule.
It’s a weird moment because there’s a tinge of sadness. The character you played as the entire game is about to die. And yet, he is not. Suddenly, you see this alter ego of the prince and the prince fuse into one form, and your character now has physical features from both characters. This felt like some Dragonball Z levels of powering up, but obviously even more meaningful from a story perspective. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve watched this cutscene. I damn near stood up off my couch after it happened. I almost couldn’t believe how good this was. This moment sets off the beginning of the end for Metaphor, and I don’t think they could have pulled it off any better.
#1: Loveless (Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth)
When I originally ranked my favorite Rebirth moments, I had Loveless at 3. At the time, I wondered if I was making a mistake. I even said in my write-up that I felt like Loveless encapsulated what Final Fantasy is better than any other moment in the game.
After reflection and a lot of time, I realized that I did indeed make a mistake. I have thought about no other moment in 2024 as much as I have thought about Loveless, and it is my clear and rightful #1.
This is a 3 part experience, and I loved every bit of it. The first part involves a theatrical performance featuring Jesse, who died in the first game. These performances use some sort of VR glasses, which makes this possible. I expected my eyes to glaze over during this, but I was actually quite riveted. The music and choreography are both stunning. And seeing Jesse in action again meant something, as her loss stung. I absolutely loved how after the performance, Barrett is in tears, and so is Tifa as she says that this was the most beautiful Jesse had ever looked. This was a surprisingly touching performance.
From there, we get to the audience participation section, where the cast takes on different roles in a play. It’s so fun seeing the whole cast delivering Shakespearian lines in a cheesy way. I could do without the QTEs, but the animations are also awesome in this segment, and it is both fun and intense.
Finally, we get to Aerith performing “No Promises to Keep.” This is probably my favorite video game song of the year, with stunning vocals and visuals. The direction is also excellent. I probably watched this 15 times in the weeks to follow and listened to the song on its own even more. It’s a great song, of course, but I think everything around it made it even better.
I truly think that this 30 minutes sums up what this game is about more than anything else. It’s beautifully visually. The music is excellent. There are touching moments, but it also still works some goofy moments in to keep things somewhat light-hearted. I thought this was an absolute achievement, and there was no moment in 2024 that I thought about more.
Coming later this week, my top 15 games of 2015!
Also, I was recently on a friend’s Youtube channel. Check it out so that he doesn’t regret having me on! I talk a bit about some of those games I’m most hyped for in 2025.
Big Nerd Gaming 
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