Hello, i´ve got a question.
What makesa game epic for you?
For me it´s the music and a lot of explosions, like in crysis 2. How do you define epicness?

New dramatic situations in the game whould be my definition of epic.
Example: In Modern Warefare 2 where you fight in Washington DC after the nuke was just breathtaking.
But also a game with fatastic story and story-telling is epic for me (Alan Wake).

A game system that rewards the player by becoming an "epic" character himself. For example, if you start really small and then slowly build up on your character, unlocking new moves/actions as you do so, then at the end you'll feel epic. If the character was allowed the moves from the beginning on, then it'll feel normal.

So I guess a good evolving of the hero is part of what I'd call "epic". Let him start small so he really feels heroic at the end.

God Of War series , Uncharted 2, Gears Of War 2 , Moder Warfare ...

Well all games involving fantastic action, or really dramatic action that makes the player feel in an incredible situation !

Epic don't mean like todays , necessity for lot of gore and violence indeed !
God of War 3 with it's fisrt level taking place in a giant was really epic, with it's cinematic phases , just outstanding !

For example Nintendo's games are more traiditionnal, and for Zelda series is lot more marvellous world and things to discorver.
It's not fantastic and epic action or levels !

Well juts my point of view !

The big battlescene in the beginning of DragonAge was quite epic.

I think the epic feeling comes when a game makes an intermediary stop,
and switches to a movie-cinematic with some heavy important battle scene, crashing (evil) structure or conversation
between core world-characters.

In Hollywood Adventure movies, ther is always an evil temple
that was crashing in in the final scenes.

But in the end, most Gamestories try to make the player actions
have an epic, world saving outcome.
It gets repetative.

An epic game is a complementary Gesamtkunstwerk.

The things that make a game epic for me are: good sound effects, fitting music, and camera movement. Explosions and destruction of course add to the epic of any game, as well.

As an example: if you have Doom 3, I would suggest you download the Shambler's Castle mod and give it a run. The background music, lightning, cutscenes, and sound effects are absolutely superb. The music especially really makes me feel like a super hero or something. To me, that mod is extremely epic.

In Battlefield Bad Company 2, first "mission" where you play in Japan in WWII and the atomic weapon is going to be dropped. That was epic!

Epic in general when youre wondering how fast time passes while playing the game!

Some main reasons for that phenomenon in my opinion:
- haunting story
- if you can follow the feelings of characters (RPG's)
- no loose of action - keep a certain tension
- sudden changes in story
- long-time motivation
- good character development
- rewards in general
- emphasizing exploration and discovery
- social interaction (online)
- ...

Final Fantasy X is an epic game!!! (:

storyling (though depends on genre)
your decisions changing the gameplay and ending
cinematics / music

a better question may be "Which was your most memorable game or moment in a game and why?"

Bioshock without giving too much away