10 Terrible Moments From The Best Video Games
Airport assaults? Meaningless deaths? An arrow to the knee? We're just getting started.
Even the best video games are subject to having terrible moments.
Sometimes they can become a staple of certain franchises or developers, offering a somewhat unique - and often humorous - memory for fans everywhere.
Glitches are one example of this, as long as they are not game-breaking. Who doesn't love to see their character fall down a never-ending spiral of invisible floors until they inevitably hit the ground and die?
It's funny, and providing it doesn't result in the loss of progress, players can forgive the odd poorly developed section of a game.
But in most cases, these events can cripple the experience and utterly ruin moments altogether - especially ones intended to be moving on an emotional level.
In other instances, badly worded and repetitive dialogue can completely detract from the world-building developers have spent countless hours perfecting, only for players to become aware they are playing a game and no longer feel part of the universe.
Whether it be clunky mechanics, poorly scripted deaths or even just limitations of the platform the game was released on, nothing can remedy a truly terrible moment because the damage is already done.
10. "I Took An Arrow To The Knee" - Skyrim
Back when The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim debuted, it was one of most anticipated releases of the year. While today the remastered edition is more than playable, the original left much to be desired.
It was plagued with various bugs and glitches - though at times this added to to the game's charm.
Chief among its issues however was the repetitive dialogue NPCs would spout.
It didn't take long before the phrase "I took an arrow to the knee" appeared in every corner of the internet. While funny, this shouldn't fool you into thinking it was intended to be humorous.
One of the hallmarks of a great RPG is worldbuilding - which includes crafting unique dialogue - but when the player constantly encounters endless waves of soldiers recounting the same story, it feels forced and unnatural.
Once the illusion has been shattered it's difficult to become absorbed by the world around you and suddenly, this fantastic game no longer feels like the one you began your adventure in.
Skyrim is far from the only title to be guilty of heavily reusing dialogue, but considering Bethesda's stature and prestige, you would be forgiven for wanting more from an Elder Scrolls entry.