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Games you hated at first, only to be fully immersed years later
- Thread starter AeonGaidenRaiden
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Pelao
Member
FromSoftware's Souls games.
I tried playing Demon's Souls in 2010 on my PS3 and hated the experience. I dropped it immediately after Tower Knight.
I completely dismissed the franchise and the genre until they gave Bloodborne on PS Plus and I gave it a chance.
It was a transformative experience. I don't know why it clicked with me so much, to the point where I finished it in just two sittings. I realized that they weren't that difficult, I was just approaching them the wrong way. Now I love these games. I went back to beat the PS3 version of Demon's Souls after beating the remake.
I tried playing Demon's Souls in 2010 on my PS3 and hated the experience. I dropped it immediately after Tower Knight.
I completely dismissed the franchise and the genre until they gave Bloodborne on PS Plus and I gave it a chance.
It was a transformative experience. I don't know why it clicked with me so much, to the point where I finished it in just two sittings. I realized that they weren't that difficult, I was just approaching them the wrong way. Now I love these games. I went back to beat the PS3 version of Demon's Souls after beating the remake.
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GametimeUK
Member
Red Dead Redemption 1. I absolutely hated it. Played it a few years later and it gripped me. What an incredible game I can't believe how much my perception shifted.
Trogdor1123
Gold Member
Uncharted 1. I tried the demo and hated it. Loved the game years later
FoxMcChief
Gold Member
Probably the pace and slow methodical movement is what steered me away. Then a year or two later, I approached it like a cowboy/bandit simulator. It’s not meant to be fast paced. It’s not western GTA. It’s much more than that.
Mozzarella
Member
Bioshock 2, when it dropped i didnt like it at all, then i played it a year ago with the Remastered version and i enjoyed it.
hououinkyouma00
Member
BOTW and RDR2
Hated both at first for different reasons, but once I finally got back and they clicked they became amazing experiences (though I still think that RDR2 gameplay wise is too slow/animation driven, and weapon durability in BOTW is trash).
Hated both at first for different reasons, but once I finally got back and they clicked they became amazing experiences (though I still think that RDR2 gameplay wise is too slow/animation driven, and weapon durability in BOTW is trash).
AeonGaidenRaiden
Member
Have you played New Vegas? I heard so many good things about it but never played it (I did enjoy F3).
k_trout
Member
BouncyFrag
Member
Morrowind. Once I worked out the various fast travel systems it finally clicked after years of failed attempts to get into it. We should all bring honor to the Sixth House and tribe unmourned.
GTA4 too.
GTA4 too.
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nkarafo
Member
Guitar Hero/Rock Band series.
At first i dismissed them as dumb, casual party games.
Then i played World Tour on a PC + Keyboard at a friend. This is when i noticed something unexpected: A lot of classic songs i grew up with sounded... MUCH better than i remembered. I'm very sensitive about sound quality btw, especially with remasters.
Then i realized something even more unexpected: Some instruments and the vocals are in separate channels! That means you can mute/change their volume individually. This is UNHEARD of with classic, original songs. You were never supposed to have that kind of access. This is like having the original stems from the studio. And the fact that i could re-listen to known songs and edit them in such way to make them sound better for my own ears felt like too good to be true.
So i bought almost every single game on the 360. Even the Lego game that only contains 2 or 3 songs that i'm interested with. And i downloaded a lot of DLC songs. I also downloaded the best quality rips of the stems so i can edit the songs on my PC, without having to play the games. Btw, a lot of instrumentals/acapella/random instruments versions of many songs on Youtube originate from those sources.
Oh and while enjoying all the new possibilities, i mastered the games enough to be able to play them on Hard mode (not expert though).
I was legit sad when this stopped being a thing. There are a ton more songs i would like to get my hands on their stems. But the bubble burst. And the last couple of similar games don't have stems, it's just a single file per song. It was heaven while it lasted though.
At first i dismissed them as dumb, casual party games.
Then i played World Tour on a PC + Keyboard at a friend. This is when i noticed something unexpected: A lot of classic songs i grew up with sounded... MUCH better than i remembered. I'm very sensitive about sound quality btw, especially with remasters.
Then i realized something even more unexpected: Some instruments and the vocals are in separate channels! That means you can mute/change their volume individually. This is UNHEARD of with classic, original songs. You were never supposed to have that kind of access. This is like having the original stems from the studio. And the fact that i could re-listen to known songs and edit them in such way to make them sound better for my own ears felt like too good to be true.
So i bought almost every single game on the 360. Even the Lego game that only contains 2 or 3 songs that i'm interested with. And i downloaded a lot of DLC songs. I also downloaded the best quality rips of the stems so i can edit the songs on my PC, without having to play the games. Btw, a lot of instrumentals/acapella/random instruments versions of many songs on Youtube originate from those sources.
Oh and while enjoying all the new possibilities, i mastered the games enough to be able to play them on Hard mode (not expert though).
I was legit sad when this stopped being a thing. There are a ton more songs i would like to get my hands on their stems. But the bubble burst. And the last couple of similar games don't have stems, it's just a single file per song. It was heaven while it lasted though.
DVD-Audio and SACD discs do this, btw, so if you got a kick out of Guitar Hero/Rock Band tracks you might also want to see what's out there in those formats, although they went out of fashion pretty quickly.
ZoukGalaxy
Member
Bloodborne did this to me.
I played until Father Gascoigne and after infinite retry, I finally beat him with so much hate in me to the game for its difficulty, immediately after, exhausted by the battle, I turned off the console and put the game in its box and never replayed the game.
1+ year later (for real), I said myself, OK, let's retry and that was a REVELATION, I finally understood "how to play it" and I was absolutely sucked back to the game from the deep of my soul with the atmosphere which completely hunted me.
I'm now a die hard fan of this game collecting books (artbook, guide, comics...) and figures from the hunter and more.
I played until Father Gascoigne and after infinite retry, I finally beat him with so much hate in me to the game for its difficulty, immediately after, exhausted by the battle, I turned off the console and put the game in its box and never replayed the game.
1+ year later (for real), I said myself, OK, let's retry and that was a REVELATION, I finally understood "how to play it" and I was absolutely sucked back to the game from the deep of my soul with the atmosphere which completely hunted me.
I'm now a die hard fan of this game collecting books (artbook, guide, comics...) and figures from the hunter and more.
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Long Far Gone
Member
Have you tried playing a female Elf and romancing Solas? Easily one of the best routes, and really sets you up for the next game (whenever they decide to release that). Personally, I can't wait.
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Bridges
Member
NieR Automata
Bought this on PS4 for almost full price after all the insane buzz that it got and it just never clicked with me. I thought it looked ugly, was kinda boring and generic, couldn't figure out why it was so lauded and I ended up quitting pretty early around the carnival area I believe.
Fast forward a couple years later when it came out on Xbox Game Pass, for whatever reason I felt compelled to give it another shot and push through. Did a complete 180 on it, got all the (main) endings, recommended it to friends, pre-ordered the Replicant remaster (which is also awesome). It's definitely a slow burn but it's very worth it, one of my favorite recent games now for sure.
Bought this on PS4 for almost full price after all the insane buzz that it got and it just never clicked with me. I thought it looked ugly, was kinda boring and generic, couldn't figure out why it was so lauded and I ended up quitting pretty early around the carnival area I believe.
Fast forward a couple years later when it came out on Xbox Game Pass, for whatever reason I felt compelled to give it another shot and push through. Did a complete 180 on it, got all the (main) endings, recommended it to friends, pre-ordered the Replicant remaster (which is also awesome). It's definitely a slow burn but it's very worth it, one of my favorite recent games now for sure.
German Hops
GAF's Nicest Lunch Thief
I have too huge of a backlog to give any game a second chance.
Years later?
Forget about it.
Years later?
Forget about it.
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TronNerd82
Member
Mega Man. I absolutely hated it at first because of the difficulty of those games, but now that I've gained some experience with the games, I quite love them.
...mind you I still die a lot, it IS Mega Man after all.
...mind you I still die a lot, it IS Mega Man after all.
Drizzlehell
Banned
Dark Souls. I just didn't get it at first. I struggled for like 40 hours grinding low level mobs thinking that buffing up my character will make the game easier, but I never got farther than Undead Parish and Darkroot Garden. I basically saw only a fraction of what the game had to offer and beaten maybe like 3-4 major bosses before I just got fed up with it and gave up, thinking that everyone must be suffering from some form of mass delusion for praising that game so much and being so elitist about it (which pissed me off to no end).
Then, a few years later, I begrudgingly tried Dark Souls 2, and it turned out to have a much lower barrier of entry and smoother difficulty curve, so with that game the combat of the Souls games finally clicked with me. But since level design in Dark Souls 2 was kinda shit and everyone said that the first game was much better in that regard, I went back to play Dark Souls 1 again, and that's when I fell in love with it. I was completely in the zone with that game, beating the whole thing in less than a week. And I loved every minute of it, even some of the more half-assed areas towards the end of the game.
Something similar happened years earlier with The Witcher, the first game. I remember absolutely hating it at first because it was long, obtuse, and the combat sucked. I didn't care about the Witcher lore either so I was bored with the story too. But then I read the books, got hooked on the story and characters, and then went back to play the game again and ended up absolutely loving it, along with The Wticher 2 which was also out by that time. I managed to do all of that just before The Witcher 3 came out so I was already so deep into it that I was just completely enthralled with the third game when it came out, and I remember spending the majority of that year playing nothing but that game and its first expansion.
Then, a few years later, I begrudgingly tried Dark Souls 2, and it turned out to have a much lower barrier of entry and smoother difficulty curve, so with that game the combat of the Souls games finally clicked with me. But since level design in Dark Souls 2 was kinda shit and everyone said that the first game was much better in that regard, I went back to play Dark Souls 1 again, and that's when I fell in love with it. I was completely in the zone with that game, beating the whole thing in less than a week. And I loved every minute of it, even some of the more half-assed areas towards the end of the game.
Something similar happened years earlier with The Witcher, the first game. I remember absolutely hating it at first because it was long, obtuse, and the combat sucked. I didn't care about the Witcher lore either so I was bored with the story too. But then I read the books, got hooked on the story and characters, and then went back to play the game again and ended up absolutely loving it, along with The Wticher 2 which was also out by that time. I managed to do all of that just before The Witcher 3 came out so I was already so deep into it that I was just completely enthralled with the third game when it came out, and I remember spending the majority of that year playing nothing but that game and its first expansion.
justiceiro
Marlboro: Other M
My first few endeavor with Myst were so bad, that i repeatedly gave up on the game. But after learning more English, i started making progress, and loving it.
JohnnyFootball
GerAlt-Right. Ciriously.
Fallout 3. Didnt enjoy it at first. Borderlands is the game that got me to go back and try it. Became my favorite game.
supersale88
Neo Member
Xenoblade Chronicles 2. Now one of my all time favorites.
poodaddy
Member
Dude we're like linked. This is literally me exactly to the t, was coming in the thread specifically to say it.
GnomeChimpsky
Member
Several Arkane games. I was annoyed at Prey at first because I thought they killed the original Prey 2 over it plus I thought the art style was cartoony. Came back to it a year later and was completely enamored by the immersive sim aspect, the setting, the sound design. I love the art style now 
Dishonored 1&2 was similar. I hated the art style but they are both top tier games for me now.
Fallout 4 was the same really, didn't click at all, felt colourless and boring. Came back after they added survival mode or whatever it's called and I absolutely love it now. Super fun adventure RPG.
Dishonored 1&2 was similar. I hated the art style but they are both top tier games for me now. Fallout 4 was the same really, didn't click at all, felt colourless and boring. Came back after they added survival mode or whatever it's called and I absolutely love it now. Super fun adventure RPG.
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Vblad88
Member
Nioh. My second attempt at Masocores. I could have finished Bloodborne if only the setting was compelling enough for me, but NiOh was completely different beast.
Starving for Japanese action games I came across Ninja Gaiden. And seriously, finishing Ninja Gaiden is the ultimate tip you can give for potential NiOh players (and even more for Wo Long). Nice to see one game's DNA being transplanted onto even more improved recipient of different subgendre, not sure if there are more modern examples for that ( from old days I could say that classic Tomb Raider did the same for Rick Dangerous)
Starving for Japanese action games I came across Ninja Gaiden. And seriously, finishing Ninja Gaiden is the ultimate tip you can give for potential NiOh players (and even more for Wo Long). Nice to see one game's DNA being transplanted onto even more improved recipient of different subgendre, not sure if there are more modern examples for that ( from old days I could say that classic Tomb Raider did the same for Rick Dangerous)
Kev Kev
Member
RE2 Remake
I hated the zombies ridiculous lunge distance, and how they would do a second or third lunge. I hated how difficult it was to kill them, for example I remember shooting a downed zombie 7 times in the head and it still got back up. I hated how poorly designed the boss fights were and how you could never quite get a clear shot on G-Birkin’s eyeballs. Stuff like that made me despise it and I didn’t go back for years.
The RE3 Remake came out and I felt like all those issues were alleviated, and I loved it. Went back to RE2R immediately after and loved it too. Yeah, it still had the issues, but RE3R just ignited something in me and I couldn’t put either game down. They are both a couple of my GOATs now.
I hated the zombies ridiculous lunge distance, and how they would do a second or third lunge. I hated how difficult it was to kill them, for example I remember shooting a downed zombie 7 times in the head and it still got back up. I hated how poorly designed the boss fights were and how you could never quite get a clear shot on G-Birkin’s eyeballs. Stuff like that made me despise it and I didn’t go back for years.
The RE3 Remake came out and I felt like all those issues were alleviated, and I loved it. Went back to RE2R immediately after and loved it too. Yeah, it still had the issues, but RE3R just ignited something in me and I couldn’t put either game down. They are both a couple of my GOATs now.
BlackTron
Member
This happened when I was so young and stupid I literally didn't even understand games. Like when I rented Mario RPG because Mario was on the box, had no idea what the game would be, and my 11-year-old mind was completely confounded and blindsided by what it was. I questioned everything -why I am choosing attacks in a menu, and why am I fighting Bowser in his castle right away --IS THIS THE WHOLE GAME??? Anyway, this is how I learned what an RPG is. Once it clicked I lost my mind.
Same thing when I saw my best friend playing Starcraft in 1998. He tried to talk about it, and I just wasn't interested. Took me a few months to catch on. Seriously, what an idiot.
Same thing when I saw my best friend playing Starcraft in 1998. He tried to talk about it, and I just wasn't interested. Took me a few months to catch on. Seriously, what an idiot.
YeulEmeralda
Member
Ninja gaiden black lives on.
elbourreau
Member
The Witcher 2.
Took me one and half year and 3 or 4 attempts to click. Became a HUGE fan of the franchise. Games, books... Everything (except that f***ing netflix trash...)
Took me one and half year and 3 or 4 attempts to click. Became a HUGE fan of the franchise. Games, books... Everything (except that f***ing netflix trash...)