Favorite Video Game Quotes

[lenticular]

May love and wine their rights maintain... No complaints sire! ...And their united pleasures reign... -- The military advisor, Civilization II. Sure, the song isn't originally from a video game, but the delivery with the intervening line is, and that's the part that's memorable to me.

Go for the eyes, Boo. Go for the eyes! -- Minsc, Baldur's Gate. Extremely memorable and isntantly recognisable to anyone who has ever played the game. I didn't even like the game that much, but the line has always stuck with me.

Had to be me. Someone else might have gotten it wrong. -- Mordin Solus, Mass Effect 3. Brilliance, arrogance, selflessness, repentance, and humour, this summed up a wonderful character in a pithy and succinct 11 word send off.

Did you know that people with guilty consciences are more easily startled by loud noises? [train horn] I'm sorry, I don't know why that went off. Anyway, just an interesting science fact. -- GLaDOS, Portal 2. GLaDOS mde me laugh more than any other character in any video game, and she has so many memorable one-liners to choose from, but I think this is my favourite.

Ooooh, we've got this notion / That we'd quite like to sail the ocean / So we're buildin' a big boat to leave here for good / We're not keen on sinkin' / So we're all sittin' here a thinkin' / Cos we built it too big and we've run out of wood / Eidle eidle eee / Eidle eidle eee / We simply can't leave til we get some more wood. -- The sailors, Black and White. I don't think I've touched this game since 2001, and yet I still sometimes find myself getting earwormed with this song. This is both extremely good and extremely bad.

Reticulating splines. -- Sim City 2000. And many others since. But I believe that was where it was first used.

My the way of the Hero lead to the triforce. -- The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. One of my favourite games when it was released, one of my favourite games almost 30 years later, and I still feel triumph and determination whenever I see that one line.

You know that we're all superstars / We're the ones who made it this far -- Pauline, Super Mario Odyssey. I could have put the entirety of Jump up Superstar here, but let's go with this. It was so damn gratifying to see Pauline turn from being an archetypal videogame damsel in distress into a kinda badass mayor and performer. As a celebration of the history of games and how far they have come, that part at least really hit home for me.

The last day dawns on the Kingdom of Ascalon. It arrives with no fanfare, no tolling of alarms. Those who will remember, will speak fondly of the warm morning breeze. People carry on with their daily lives, unaware that in a short while... Everything they have ever known will come to an end. -- Guild Wars (Prophecies campaign). I spent way too many hours in this game, and always loved this as an opening cut scene to introduce the tranquility of the tutorial area and portend the more calamitous events shortly to come.

[AnonymousSpeed]

"Apane pasaṁdīdā raṁga kyā hai?"

"Yeah kid, we're cowards! What's wrong with cowards using cowardly tricks?"

Edited August 27, 2020 by AnonymousSpeed

[indigoasis]

"This is what God would use to shoot somebody." -Soldier, Team Fortress 2

[ping]

On 8/17/2020 at 11:13 PM, lenticular said:

Go for the eyes, Boo. Go for the eyes! -- Minsc, Baldur's Gate. Extremely memorable and isntantly recognisable to anyone who has ever played the game. I didn't even like the game that much, but the line has always stuck with me.

"Magic is impressive, but now Minsc leads. SWORDS FOR EVERYONE!"
"Butt-kicking for goodness!"

Yeah, Minsc is great

On 8/17/2020 at 11:13 PM, lenticular said:

May love and wine their rights maintain... No complaints sire! ...And their united pleasures reign... -- The military advisor, Civilization II. Sure, the song isn't originally from a video game, but the delivery with the intervening line is, and that's the part that's memorable to me.

And so was the the council in Civ2. I couldn't understand half of what they were saying when I first played the game (not being English and like 10 years old) but I already found them hilarious back then.

--

That reminds me - tech quotes from Civ4:

• "I have gained this by philosophy: that I do without being commanded what others do only from fear of the law." (Aristoteles)
• "True glory consists in doing what deserves to be written, in writing what deserves to be read." (Plinius the Elder)
• "Art for art's sake is an empty phrase. Art for the sake of truth, art for the sake of the good and the beautiful, that is the faith I am searching or." (George Sand)
• "Words have the power to both destroy and heal. When words are both true and kind, they can change our world." (Buddha)
• "To bring about the rule of righteousness in the land, so that the strong should not harm the weak." (Code of Hammurabi)
• "Corporation, noun. An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility." (Ambrose Bierce)
• "There is no wealth like knowledge, no poverty like ignorance." (Ali ibn Abi-Talib)
• "Beep...beep...beep...beep..." (Sputnik I)

The last line gets into the list by virtue of Mr Spock reading it. Unfortunately, they didn't get Leonard Nimoy for the expansions, so there's a couple techs with a less awesome voice actor.

[AnonymousSpeed]

11 minutes ago, ping said:

The last line gets into the list by virtue of Mr Spock reading it. Unfortunately, they didn't get Leonard Nimoy for the expansions, so there's a couple techs with a less awesome voice actor.

Sid himself. Aesthetics ("art for art's sake") is one of those techs.

For context.

From the same game:

• "If in other sciences we are to arrive at certainty without doubt, and truth without error, it behooves us to place the foundations of knowledge in mathematics."
• "A man does not die for a half pence a day or some petty distinction. You must speak to the soul in order to electrify him."

[ping]

Just now, AnonymousSpeed said:

Sid himself.

Dang, I didn't know that. That's actually really cool. 8.5 on a scale between 1 and Leonard Nimoy reading "Beep...beep...beep...beep..."

[BrightBow]

What value is there in the justice complacent humans seek?

Zero in Mega Man Zero 3. His response to Copy-X using his overwhelming public support to justify Neo Arcadia's genocidal policies. Although I'm sure that line could have been translated better. Oh well.

[Venger_06]

"Right and wrong are not what separate us and our enemies. It's our different standpoints, our perspectives that separate us. Both sides blame one another. There's no good or bad side. Just two sides holding different views." — Squall Leonhart, Final Fantasy VIII

"Listen to my story. This may be our last chance." — Tidus, Final Fantasy X

The people and the friends that we have lost, or the dreams that have faded... Never forget them." — Yuna, Final Fantasy X

"You said you have a dream… That dream… Make it come true! Make your wonderful dream a reality, and it will become your truth! If anyone can, it's you! Well, then… Farewell!" — N, Pokemon Black

[starburst]

Truly, if there is evil in this world, it lies within the heart of mankind.
- From the welcome screen of Tales of Phantasia (SNES.)

[AnonymousSpeed]

17 hours ago, ping said:

Dang, I didn't know that. That's actually really cool. 8.5 on a scale between 1 and Leonard Nimoy reading "Beep...beep...beep...beep..."

Yeah, definitely. I dislike that it's inconsistent (3 techs by Sid and 50 by Nimoy), but it's cool to have him.

Civ4 is a really cool game.

[Setsuna Emblem]

"I'm bored now!" 

from yours truly

[mccullum42]

“Come to the Heart Chamber. I wait for you there, where we last met, countless ages ago.”

(Dagoth Ur)

Source: https://quotessearchengine.com/100-dagoth-ur-quotes-full-monologue/

[AnonymousSpeed]

"You fools are bound down by moldy, old tradition! Allow me to teach you the way of the world!"

-Erik Fire Emblem

[ping]

Rather not aspirational, of course, but Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri's faction leaders have a ton of very memorable quotes.

Quote

The righteous need not cower before the drumbeat of human progress. Though the song of yesterday fades into the challenge of tomorrow, God still watches and judges us. Evil lurks in the datalinks as it lurked in the streets of yesteryear. But it was never the streets that were evil. - Sister Miriam Godwinson, "A Blessed Struggle"

---

As the Americans learned so painfully in Earth's final century, free flow of information is the only safeguard against tyranny. The once-chained people whose leaders at last lose their grip on information flow will soon burst with freedom and vitality, but the free nation gradually constricting its grip on public discourse has begun its rapid slide into despotism. Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he deems himself your master. - Comissioner Pravin Lal, "U.N. Declaration of Rights"

---

Why do you insist that the human genetic code is "sacred" or "taboo"? It is a chemical process and nothing more. For that matter -we- are chemical processes and nothing more. If you deny yourself a useful tool simply because it reminds you uncomfortably of your mortality, you have uselessly and pointlessly crippled yourself. - Chairman Sheng-ji Yang, "Looking God in the Eye"

It is every citizen's final duty to go into the tanks, and become one with all the people. - Chairman Sheng-ji Yang, "Ethics for Tomorrow"

My gift to industry is the genetically engineered worker, or Genejack. Specially designed for labor, the Genejack's muscles and nerves are ideal for his task, and the cerebral cortex has been atrophied so that he can desire nothing except to perform his duties. Tyranny, you say? How can you tyrannize someone who cannot feel pain? - Chairman Sheng-ji Yang, "Essays on Mind and Matter"

---

Resources exist to be consumed. And consumed they will be, if not by this generation then by some future. By what right does this forgotten future seek to deny us our birthright? None I say! Let us take what is ours, chew and eat our fill. - Chairman Nwabudike Morgan, "The Ethics of Greed"

Richard Baxton piloted his Recon Rover into a fungal vortex and held off four waves of mind worms, saving an entire colony. We immediately purchased his identity manifests and repackaged him into the Recon Rover Rick character with a multi-tiered media campaign: televids, touchbooks, holos, psi-tours - the works. People need heroes. They don't need to know how he died clawing his eyes out, screaming for mercy. The real story would just hurt sales, and dampen the spirits of our customers. - Morgan Stellartots Keynote Speech, "Mythology for Profit"

I plan to live forever, of course, but barring that I'd settle for a couple thousand years. Even five hundred would be pretty nice. - CEO Nwabudike Morgan, MorganLink 3D-Vision Interview

Of course we'll bundle our MorganNet software with the new network nodes! Our customers expect no less of us. We have never sought to become a monopoly. Our products are simply so good that no one feels the need to compete with us. - Where do you want your Node today? - CEO Nwabudike Morgan, Morgan Data Systems press release

---

You are orphans, earthdeirdre, your homeworld already buried so young among the aeons. Yet now you fill the skies where we watched a million sunsets with flames and contrails, paying no heed to the hard lessons the universe has tried to teach you. Are you a breath of life to invigorate a complacent world, you earthhumans, or an insidious cancer which must be excised? - Lady Deirdre Skye, "Conversations With Planet", Epilogue

I shall not confront Planet as an enemy, but shall accept its mysteries as gifts to be cherished. Nor shall I crudely seek to peel the layers away like the skin from an onion. Instead I shall gather them together as the tree gathers the breeze. The wind shall blow and I shall bend. The sky shall open and I shall drink my fill. - Gaian Acolyte's Prayer

As the writhing, teeming mass of mindworms swarmed over the outer perimeter, we saw the defenders recoil in horror. "Stay calm! Use your flame guns!" shouted the commander, but to no avail. It is well known that the Mind Worm Boil uses psychic terror to paralyze its prey, and then carefully implants ravenous larvae into the brains of its still-conscious victims. Even with the best weapons, only the most disciplined troops can resist this horrific attack. - Lady Deirdre Skye, "Our Secret War"

---

Mary had a little lamb
Little lamb little lamb
Mary had a little lamb
Whose fleece was white as snow. - Assassins' Redoubt, final transmission

Spoiler

Please don't go. The Drones need you. They look up to you.

[Samz707]

"If the world choses to become my enemy, I will fight like I always have!" -Shadow Sonic 06

“I believe I’m going to have to disagree with you. You see, the man they’re attacking happens to be a friend of mine.” - Hector FE7

“It's all strength and power with you. If you're that desperate for a show of force, I'll be happy to oblige.” -Kliff Echoes

"Come on! We fighting or what?!" -Akhmet Marauder Man of Prey

[ping]

Since I've been reading up on Baldur's Gate stuff over the last couple weeks or months, here's a selection of BG2 quotes that most likely won't come up in my LP even if I carry on to the sequel...
 

Quote

Cernd: Why does the king protest? His forests are pilfered, leaving just hills and scrub, but what loss is it? How can it be of value when it was never put to use?
Edwin: (There is an insult in there somewhere, I am certain. Would that I could stop time and kill them ALL first.)

Edwin: This Thayvian male is as red-blooded as his cloak, Viconia. And has left many a concubine gasping under his erotic onslaught.

Jan: Nalia, dearie, you remind me so much of Cletus Bifflelips, my second cousin, thrice removed.
Nalia: I don't think that I could be very much like a person named Cletus.
Jan: You wouldn't think so, yet here we are. You see, Cletus had a propensity for bouts of violent projectile vomiting. We'd call him, Cletus the Room Clearer Bifflelips.

Jan: Anomen, my friend, I realize that I've been less than polite with you in the past, and I wish to apologize.
Anomen: Verily, you have played me most false.
Jan: Indeed! All know that you're an unrepentant ass. 'Tis not my place to bring it up.

Jan: Eh, perhaps illustrating the horror of unappreciated storytelling? Well... I had an Uncle Richard that tried to bring nude theater to a festival in Waterdeep...
Exposure is usually good for an actor's career, but even so, a cold reception for the play caused the cast to shrink steadily. Blackballed, my uncle tried to recruit from the thieves' guild, but they wouldn't let their nick-ers go.
"Just bare with me," he would say, but they were afraid of being stripped of their dignity. He gave up the lead to attract new members, and eventually the production's genius was uncovered, even with his part left out.

Viconia: You do love the sound of your own voice, don't you, gnome?
Jan: My own voice? Heartless wench! Do you not know? I am deaf. I have never heard the sound of my own voice. I read lips... *sob*... only lips...
Viconia: Deaf? Truly? In the Underdark, the deaf are killed or used in pain threshold experiments.
Jan: I heard that! In fact, it reminds me of the time I was eaten by an avatar of Lolth. I was stuck inside her stomach with a miserable drow called Biffle Chump for days. Of course, I was forced to eat him. A matter of survival, you understand. Nothing personal. He tasted a bit like chicken.

[It probably won't surprise you that (a) most of those are just short snippets of much, much longer dialogues, and (b) Jan is a fairly love-him-or-hate-him character]

[KKAfterbrun]

"You drink water?"

Farnham from Diablo 1's Posion water supply quest

[netsquire]

"Enjoy every moment with all you got. The world ends with you. If you want to enjoy life, expand your world, you gotta push your horizons out as far as they'll go."

-Mr. Hanekoma, The World Ends With You

 

"For the starts sparkled twice as bright in the dark depths of space!"

-Kirby, Kirby Mass Attack

 

"Despair is a luxury we don't have"

-Silver the hedgehog, Sonic Forces

[joevar]

"no this isnt happening, there's no reason for me to go on, what, WHAT AM I FIGHTING FOOORRRRR??!!!!!"

- Zero in Megaman X4

maybe the only sad scenes where instead of crying you actually laugh due to voice acting