Metacognition: First Words

We’re back with our “thinking about thinking” series! If you’re interested in our previous deep thoughts, check out the Metacognition series.  Join us for some deep thoughts (and maybe the occasional not-so-deep thought) about gaming. If you find one you’d like to answer, you can either comment below or write a post and share the link so we can all read your fantastic thoughts.

Pick seven games at random from your collection and state the first line of spoken dialogue.

So this one will require me to make sure I only pick from games that have spoken dialogue… Got it. Let’s make this fun and see how many you can guess what games they are from.

1. “The nuclear weapons disposal facility on Shadow Moses Island, in Alaska’s Fox archepelago, was attacked and captured by next-generation special forces.”
2. “Activation plus six minutes; pulse is 45, respiration: 10.”
3. “Tell me why we shouldn’t kill you now.”
4. “After our boat sank, I was the only refugee to reach the shore.”
5. “The thirteen days after we awoke were the beginning of the end.”
6. “In the land of Mordor, where the shadows lie…”
7. “Shepard did everything right.”

And there you go. Seven opening lines from seven games picked randomly from my shelf.

The interesting thing about opening lines of anything is that the line is supposed to grab the audience’s attention and make them curious to know more… I think some games (and books) to this better than others. I am reminded of the opening line from George Orwell’s 1984, which reads:

“It was a bright, cold day in April, and the clock was striking thirteen.”

And from that line, you know that the setting is somewhat militaristic (the clock striking 13:00 instead of the more colloquial 1:00pm), and an untouchable power is hinted at, as the sun beats down onto a yet-still cold day. Besides all that, it’s just such an intriguing sentence when taken together, isn’t it?

But I digress. So I ask:

Do you think the above lines are interesting enough to leave an audience wanting to know more? Do you recognize any of them? What is your favorite line from a game? What’s your favorite opening line? Let me know in the comments!

Thanks for stopping by, and I’ll see you soon!
~Athena

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