I've been thinking about one of my favorite styles of moments in games today, and why I like them so much. The style in question is someone else in a game turning the tables and using what was up to that point a move/power/technique or otherwise that was solely yours. A couple of examples below the cut.
In Transistor, the moment where another character uses Turn[] is just impeccable.
In Dishonored, the point where your Bend Time powers fail to freeze everyone, as you aren't the only one who knows the Outsider.
In Bravely Default, there's a fight where in the middle of setting up your turn, the boss uses an SP point to blast you when you think your safe.
I'm not just thinking about a rival fight where they have similar capabilities like a Vergil or Sam, but going further than that and using a mechanic that has been Exclusively Yours. Thinking about if I'd count Flynn in Tales of Vesperia, not for being a mirror match style of 1 on 1 fight, but because he has a Counter Mystic Art that can interrupt you.
The parts that make these moments so effective when they happen are a combination of Surprise and of Narrative. In a lot of ways these work because they're unexpected, but they also have grounding in the game. You know you aren't the only one joined to a Dragon in Dragon Quarter, but encountering someone else who is still carries a huge weight to it. If it's just a surprise for surprises sake it loses power. There's a specific perversion of your capabilities that comes with the best of these moments and one that has a strong connection to the narrative is going to feel all the stronger for it. It's not necessary, Bowser can use the Cat Suit and Double Cherry and that's super fun, but as with a lot of things, when your narrative and mechanics line up to tell the same story, reinforcing each other, that's a power you can't get elsewhere.
I don't really have an end point for this, maybe there's some other game this idea reminds you of, maybe ita got you thinking about the synergies in mechanics and narrative, or maybe it's just got you remembering how cool the end of Transistor was.
