Seven Most Influential Speeches In Video Games

Sovereign- A Conversation With Sovereign (Mass Effect)

“Reaper. A label created by the Protheans to give voice to their destruction. What they chose to call us is irrelevant. We simply- are.”
“There is a realm of existence so far beyond your own, you cannot even imagine it. I am beyond your comprehension. I am Sovereign.”
“Before us, you are nothing, Your destruction is inevitable. We are the end of everything.”
“You exist, because we allow it. And you will end, because we demand it.”
“We have no beginning. We have no end. We are infinite. Millions of years after your civilization has been eradicated and forgotten, we will endure.”
“Your words are as empty as your future. I am the vanguard of your destruction.”

Okay, now this is not as much of a speech as it is a conversation, but just listen to some of the stuff this badass AI says, the most striking of which is “You exist because we allow it, and you will end because we demand it.” Ruthless. Simply ruthless. And seeing as he was only a taste of what was yet to come, just a single reaper, we can say for sure that humans are screwed.

A Man Chooses, A Slave Obeys- Andrew Ryan (BioShock)

The assassin has overcome the final defense, and now he has come to murder me. In the end, what separates a man from a slave? Money? Power? No. A man chooses. A slave obeys. You think you have memories- a farm. A family. An airplane. A crash. And then, this place. But was there really a family? Did that airplane crash? Or was it hi-jacked? Forced down- forced down by something less than a man, something bred, sneak-walked to life, until activated by a simple phrase spoken by their kindly master. Was a man sent to kill? Or a slave? A man chooses. A slave obeys. Come in. Stop- would you kindly? Would you kindly- a powerful phrase. Familiar phrase? “Would you kindly head to Ryan’s office and kill that son of a bitch?” Sit- would you kindly? Stand- would you kindly? Run. Stop. Turn! A man chooses. A slave obeys. Kill! A man chooses! A slave obeys! OBEY!

Wow. I will never, ever in my life forget this part of the game. A gripping encounter with Andrew Ryan, more atmospheric than any other part in the game. The way Ryan is killed, the way he orders us around, the way we run for our lives at the end… it just stuck to my brain once I went through it. And forever will it remain with me.

Hold The Line- Captain Kirrahe (Mass Effect)

You all know the mission, and what is at stake. I have come to trust each of you with my life- but I have also heard murmurs of discontent. I share your concerns. We are trained for espionage; we would be legends, but the records are sealed. Glory in battle is not our way. Think of our heroes; the Silent Step, who defeated a nation with a single shot. Or the Ever Alert, who kept armies at bay with hidden facts. These giants do not seem to give us solace here, but they are not all that we are. Before the network, there was the fleet. Before diplomacy, there were soldiers! Our influence stopped the rachni, but before that we held the line! Our influence stopped the krogan, but before that, we held the line!  Our influence will stop Saren, and in the battle today, we will hold the line!

Perhaps one of the most epic speeches I have ever heard, especially considering the fact that a Salarian, and one of my favourites, at that, is speaking it. The fact that it deepens the Mass Effect universe even more only makes it more awesome. And it also sets the mood for the looming battle up ahead with Saren and the Geth, and an enemy far more powerful than any in the galaxy could have ever imagined.

War, War Never Changes (Fallout 3)

In the year 2077, after millennia of armed conflict, the destructive nature of man could sustain itself no longer. The world was plunged into an abyss of nuclear fire and radiation. But it was not, as some had predicted, the end of the world. Instead, the apocalypse was simply the prologue to another bloody chapter of human history. For man had succeeded in destroying the world – but war, war never changes. In the early days, thousands were spared the horrors of the holocaust by taking refuge in enormous underground shelters, known as vaults. But when they emerged, they had only the hell of the wastes to greet them – all except those in Vault 101. For on the fateful day, when fire rained from the sky, the giant steel door of Vault 101 slid closed… and never reopened. It was here you were born. It is here you will die. Because, in Vault 101: no one ever enters and no one ever leaves.

War never changes- this is almost like a tag line for the Fallout series, with all theFallout games beginning with the same introductory line- War, war never changes. And then an awesome speech follows after that. Quite the opposite of Solid Snake’s War has changed speech, it is just as awesome, not to mention the fact that it sets an epic tone for the game to follow.

That Is All!

That is the end of our list, people. Did you like it? Or did you not? Have some suggestions of your own? Sound off in the comments below!