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[64bitmodels]

Sorry for the vague thread title, but this kind of concept isnt something i think i can easily explain in a thread title.

I saw the tales of arise thread, and of the few people who liked that game in that thread, a lot of people mentioned how the game sort of dropped off near the end. not only that, but on discord, one of my close friends DMed me about how they felt that San Andreas dropped off once you leave san andreas, around the time Sweet gets arrested. He absolutely loved the game's pacing and missions before that point, but afterwards he felt the game was extremely boring and time consuming

These 2 discussions honestly gave me an idea to make a poll on whether you like games that start out good, but get worse the more you play.... or games that start off mid, but get better and better as you go on
for me, i'll happily take the latter. I basically go into every JRPG with the mentality of "it's boring now, but it'll get really fun and interesting later" and usually within an hour of playtime, maybe 2 i'm almost always proven right. Meanwhile i can't help but feel blueballed (get it, lol) by something like Sonic 2, where for the first 6 zones the game is peak sonic, but after Mystic Cave it becomes insufferably boring (and is why i think Sonic 3 & Knuckles, Sonic Mania and Sonic CD are better games)

explain your choices below because i LOVE creating discussion on this site.

 

[TintoConCasera]

For me an example for those would be Elden Ring for the awesome first impression, while Dragon's Dogma could be an example of the game getting better as you play it.

I love both games, but I think I'll go with the later since it leaves a better taste afterwards.

 

[SeraphJan]

Is that even an option? Most sane people would obviously choose the second

 

[Daneel Elijah]

I voted for the first option. If I can't have a game that begin great and finish even better I prefer a great beginning because that is what most players will see and probably will have the best chance of a sequel.
But it will depend on how you understand the choices given. For me MGS2 can be seen as option 1 or 2. It begin slow and get amazing so you could consider it a 2 but for me it is a great game on first play that get weak after a certain number of playthrough. So option 1. Same for Minecraft : fun and great potential that get boring after enough time. But if I have to chose between a GOW with a shit start or a shit ending it will be a shit opening of course.

 

[Sidney Prescott]

Hard question to answer because the first few hours can really dictate if I keep playing or not, but you also don't want a game to feel like a chore later on.

I guess the second, and I'd hope I would stick with it to get to a point where it gets good. There has been some games like that, but I really like when it grabs me right away.

 

[Robb]

First option: play and enjoy a couple of hours and drop it when the game is no longer engaging.

Second option: play for about an hour and drop it.

Second option would be the best in theory. In most cases I don’t know beforehand what kind of game it’ll be though, so in reality I’d have to pick the first option since I’d get more enjoyment out of a game like that.

 

[rodrigolfp]

Neither.

 

[brian0057]

So... my options are either Resident Evil 4 or The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess?
I'll go with the second.

 

[Closer]

This is a Street Fighter V thread now.

 

[64bitmodels]

So... my options are either Resident Evil 4 or The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Pricess?
I'll go with the second.

RE4 keeps its mojo throughout the entire experience, especially when you get better weapons and the enemies start ramping up. plus the extra content at the endgame is awesome.
as for twilight princess, i'd have to agree with that beginning being a bit slow, but it doesnt last that long and once youre past that the game gets quite fun

 

[Xeaker]

Both are bad choices, but I rather play a game that's good in the beginning and gets worse over time.
That way I have a good time at the start and don't need to torture myself until I finally reach the good part.

 

[Celcius]

I'll choose the game where people are saying to stick with it because it gets much better

 

[STARSBarry]

The latter... in many ways i feel this is how the earlier Yakuza games where, they took time to get going.

 

[GymWolf]

Awful beginning of course.

 

[brian0057]

RE4 keeps its mojo throughout the entire experience, especially when you get better weapons and the enemies start ramping up. plus the extra content at the endgame is awesome.

Resident Evil 4 has probably the greatest opening act of any game.
It's so amazing that it makes people forget just how god awful the castle is by the halfway mark.
And it only gets worse from there, as the island rears its ugly head and you're just straight up playing a terrible third-person shooter.
Also, the QTEs. All my homies hate QTEs.

 

[ValiantTraveler]

Which do you prefer? To give pain? Or to receive it?

Back to topic, I prefer an awful beginning followed by an improvement. Relief > disappointment.

 

[Guilty_AI]

The order doesn't matter to me as much as the ratio:

Beginning of the game is amazing but its meh for the rest of its lenght -> BAD
Game is great for 4/5s of its lenght but last few segments don't do it -> GOOD

Its a dull game for most of its lenght but last few hours are cool -> BAD
Its boring at first but amazing for dozens of hours afterwards -> GOOD

 

[64bitmodels]

The order doesn't matter to me as much as the ratio:

Beginning of the game is amazing but its meh for the rest of its lenght -> BAD
Game is great for 4/5s of its lenght but last few segments don't do it -> GOOD

Its a dull game for most of its lenght but last few hours are cool -> BAD
Its boring at first but amazing for dozens of hours afterwards -> GOOD

that's a smart way to look at it. a game where the ratio of it being bad to good is 3:1 is certainly not something i'd want to play even for the final few hours.

 

[Beer Baelly]

OP is a perf

 

[nominedomine]

I prefer the second option but odds are I'll probably drop any game that has an awful beginning at this point.

 

[JoeyWestSide]

Depends on how long, but if game can't hold my interest within the first short while, I won't keep playing it. There are too many games that are much better. I would say most games could get a little boring/good the more you play. I'm not sure I've ever actually finished a gta before, and that's always good fun.

 

[Fredrik]

I don’t like games getting worse the more I play…

BUT
… sadly I have to admit that I don’t give games with a bad first impression the time to show that it gets better later on.
I’d say if nothing hooks me within 30 minutes I’ll stop playing and never touch the game again.

 

[ZoukGalaxy]

None of your choices.

 

[jaysius]

games with an AMAZING first impression that slowly become worse and worse the more you play them​

This describes almost every indie game in the past 10 years, and that's fine to get great reviews, because all that reviewers play is the first few hours anyway.

I prefer a slow burn game, but not so slow as the Xenoblade you need to play 30 hours until it gets good.

 

[mortal]

Why would anyone prefer a game that becomes worse over time?

 

[Laptop1991]

Absolutely option B, it means i'd play the game longer and then replay it at some point.

 

[Sosokrates]

Neither.

I prefer games which start off great and continue to be great or get even better.

 

[AJUMP23]

I like good games. That are good the whole time.

 

[64bitmodels]

I like good games. That are good the whole time.

that's not a choice

choose between the 2. NOW.

 

[Mozzarella]

I think most of the games i tend to enjoy recently will earn my attention because of their strong openings.
Also most acclaimed games have strong early.
Bloodborne, Dark Souls 1, The Last of Us, RDR2, Breath of the Wild, Resident Evil 4, Resident Evil in general
Are all examples of games with strong opening that gradually soothes down later.
On the contrary, games with boring early game and better late game tend to get worse reputation more often, things like Death Stranding, Dark Souls 3, NieR Replicant, Dragon's Dogma.

But take this with a grain of salt.

I think a good game will be recognized regardless, but i find myself easily engaged with a game with strong opening rather than weaker opening but strong late.
The first hours of a game are generally more impactful imo, you are new to the game world and the sense of awe is still fresh, after you played for many hours things start to ware off and it takes a HUGE amount of effort to come up with a mindblowing later game that impacts you after you have been accustomed to the game mechanics.

 

[Grildon Tundy]

OP is a perf

 

[Eddie-Griffin]

So the first option would be Sonic Unleashed, FFXIII, and The Order 1886.

The second would be Street Fighter V, Anthem, and Gran Turismo Sport.

 

[64bitmodels]

So the first option would be Sonic Unleashed, FFXIII, and The Order 1886.

The second would be Street Fighter V, Anthem, and Gran Turismo Sport.

.... wait. you think ANTHEM gets good with time?????

 

[Eddie-Griffin]

.... wait. you think ANTHEM gets good with time?????

Meant Apex but got the two mixed up for some reason lol.

 

[pleaseinsertdisctwo]

So the first option would be Sonic Unleashed, FFXIII, and The Order 1886.

The second would be Street Fighter V, Anthem, and Gran Turismo Sport.

What? I love FFXIII, and outside of the visuals and the intensity of the situation you’re thrown in, the opening hours are terrible. The real battle system doesn’t even start until Chapter 3 which is a decision from the devs that I will never understand (I know it’s tied to the story, but it was still a boneheaded design decision, alongside making Auto Battle the default setting). The Lightning and Sazh duo moments are good, the other sections during these opening chapters suck.

Chapter 3 is a great chapter, Chapters 4-6 are IMO good but a bit of a lull, and then once Chapter 7 begins, the game gets better and better.

 

[Eddie-Griffin]

What? I love FFXIII, and outside of the visuals and the intensity of the situation you’re thrown in, the opening hours are terrible. The real battle system doesn’t even start until Chapter 3 which is a decision from the devs that I will never understand (I know it’s tied to the story, but it was still a boneheaded design decision, alongside making Auto Battle the default setting). The Lightning and Sazh duo moments are good, the other sections during these opening chapters suck.

Chapter 3 is a great chapter, Chapters 4-6 are IMO good but a bit of a lull, and then once Chapter 7 begins, the game gets better and better.

I've played FFXIII twice.

It does not get better 2 years in as people claim. it gets slower, more annoying, and grindy. Say what you want about the hallways but at least the game progressed at a suitable pace and i didn't spend 10 hours on grand pulse trying to make my characters good enough so I don't have to use the team the game tries to force you to use.

 

[pleaseinsertdisctwo]

I've played FFXIII twice.

It does not get better 2 years in as people claim. it gets slower, more annoying, and grindy. Say what you want about the hallways but at least the game progressed at a suitable pace and i didn't spend 10 hours on grand pulse trying to make my characters good enough so I don't have to use the team the game tries to force you to use.

Again, I love FFXIII. This includes both the linear parts (mostly) and the open part.

I will say that once you get to Gran Pulse, it is practically mandatory to grind for 2 hours. There is indeed a huge difficulty spike after Chapter 10. For me this isn’t much of a problem, though, because I love the battle system SO much. Chapter 11 is definitely a big halt in story pacing, but it’s followed by Chapter 12 which IMO is the best chapter in the game alongside 7.

So yeah I guess I understand your perspective now lol

 

[LectureMaster]

The second for sure. Days gone is the epitome of the description, really enjoyed the game.

 

[Magic Carpet]

Mass Effect 3 and its ending exisits so this question is Moot.

 

[Captain Toad]

This is a Street Fighter V thread now.

Street Fighter V got better the longer it was out, because they added content. Not the same thing.

 

[NinjaBoiX]

The obvious answer is the second option, but I actually picked the first.

Honestly, I’d put a game straight down if I wasn’t having fun within the first hour, even if I’ve been told it gets better later.

I’d much rather be having fun out the gate, life’s too short and there’s far too many games to play as it is!