Games you disliked the first time, and liked the second time?

[StaceyPowers]

Are there any games you did not enjoy the first time you played, but on giving them a second chance, you found you did?

[Justin11]

I never loved GTA series earlier before, but with time I started paying attention to how the gameplay works, I began loving it, until today I'm still loving the game. 

[killamch89]

The first time I play Just Cause, I didn't like it that much but after playing a second time, I started really loving it.

[Withywarlock]

Fallout: New Vegas because it wasn't as black-and-white as Bethesda developed titles, and I didn't like the reputation system (which I would come to learn is not a new addition, and has been with the series since its dawn) and the themes and the factions. I came to like it later on when I simply got my head down and took a moment to dig a bit deeper into its myriad messages.

Spyro 2: Season of Flame because it was a Game Boy Advance title that didn't just do what Spyro: Orange - The Cortex Conspiracy did and make it a side-scroller. Not only was the isometric view painful to look at due to the limited field of view, it also meant one of Spyro's two signature moves would land you in deadly water, of which there is no coming back from save for respawning or reloading a save state on an emulator. I have since come to enjoy the game because it wasn't all that bad, and at its heart was a game that deserved to be part of the series.

The ultimate honour goes to Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition, which I've spoken at length about in the past but would be happy to do so again all the same. The first obstacle being it's a fairly old game, and the remaster doesn't do much to make it look much better than the original. It also uses an older - but still functional, contrary to popular belief - rule system for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition. Despite being autistic and sucking at math, I still managed OK with ThAC0 (To Hit Armour Class Zero), so yah boo sucks to you, grognards. ThAC0, because I want to further rub 1d4 in the wound, is the equation you work out for your character's ability to hit an opponent. The calculation works out as follows: Attacker's ThAC0 - Defender's AC = [minimum number on the dice required to hit]. If I managed to pick that up despite being used to a much later and simpler edition, then I don't get what the problem was. Unless people just didn't see it the same way I did, which is fair, D&D books as they went on were woefully written. The game still should've done a better job of explaining this though. At least ThAC0's nothing like Fallout's damage calculations. If you can make sense of that, what are you doing on this forum instead of building spaceships?

Carrying on, the game doesn't really tell you anything on how to play the game. It assumes you A: have access to AD&D 2E books (which would be replaced with D&D 3E come BG2's release), or B: you know where to find this information in the Steam instruction manual, which nobody has ever needed to know before playing this. Alternatively you can look at wikis and forums that are compiled by people who were just as confused as you, and then took the initiative to compile it on a website on Fandom or wherever.

But I eventually got into it because it's one of the most fun games to learn that I've ever played. I enjoyed making sense of it all, especially the Iron Crisis plot. You earn your grandiose plot, and despite being the chosen one you have to discover that later in the story and work for it through many trials and tribulations. It made magic fun for me. It made being a rogue fun for me. It was one of the nails in the coffin of the basic basher class for me. It's because of this it's up there as my all-time favourite RPG.

Edited October 7, 2021 by Withywarlock

[PGen98]

Fallout New Vegas was a definite bust for me the first time I played it, but I enjoyed it the second and even third time around.  I don't even remember why I disliked it so much the first time around, it just hit me wrong, I suppose. 

[Joshua Farrell]

There have been games that I didn't like the first time playing. Generally takes me more than a few times playing them, before I like them enough to want to play them again in the future.

 

My biggest thing, is games that I like in general, because of their genre, but hate trying to play enough to get a system down to make playing easier.

[Empire]

Crusader Kings 2. The learning curve can be pretty steep, but once you figure it out it's an amazing game. I think I played for a good 50 hours before I finally thought, "Yeah, I'm kind of good at this game now."

The depth of the RPG elements along with the sheer breadth of the timeframe covered is really impressive. Then once you've mastered the basic game you can take advantage of the many mods available. It's definitely worth the time to figure it out if you're into grand strategy/historical strategy games.

[Justin11]

11 hours ago, killamch89 said:

The first time I play Just Cause, I didn't like it that much but after playing a second time, I started really loving it.

It happens to most gamers, we can play a game today and never love it, but our mindset can change for them within some moment, and we begin loving it. At times my friends influence makes me love a game I never liked before especially when they start talking vividly about the game, and making me feel isolated, lol. I have no option than to join their groove. 

[killamch89]

On 10/7/2021 at 1:37 AM, PGen98 said:

Fallout New Vegas was a definite bust for me the first time I played it, but I enjoyed it the second and even third time around.  I don't even remember why I disliked it so much the first time around, it just hit me wrong, I suppose. 

I think it was because it was a buggy mess that turned off most people. I only started to really enjoy it when I got mods to fix most of the bugs.

[Head_Hunter]

Thwir is nothing bringing weird feelings when the game you cherished is simply buggy after you opened it to have your time up and running with it. 

[Reality vs Adventure]

I think at times my mindset just isn't ready to play some games. Some of it has to do with gaming experience, where a game I tried before was overwhelming, but when I come back to it I find the gameplay easier than when I originally started because I've learned a little 'gaming experience.' GTA 5 is a great example where I first played it, I just couldn't get into it because I felt overwhelmed, lack of direction, and satire I just didn't realize. But now the gameplay doesn't seem difficult, the story flows, and I just pick up on things a lot faster than before. And this is fast becoming one of my favorites. 

[killamch89]

7 hours ago, Reality vs Adventure said:

I think at times my mindset just isn't ready to play some games. Some of it has to do with gaming experience, where a game I tried before was overwhelming, but when I come back to it I find the gameplay easier than when I originally started because I've learned a little 'gaming experience.' GTA 5 is a great example where I first played it, I just couldn't get into it because I felt overwhelmed, lack of direction, and satire I just didn't realize. But now the gameplay doesn't seem difficult, the story flows, and I just pick up on things a lot faster than before. And this is fast becoming one of my favorites. 

It takes time for some people to really get into GTA because all they ever heard about it was the carjacking, shootouts with police and beating up npcs when in the game is about way more than that. It's the little interactions in-game especially with npcs that make it so enjoyable.

[Justin11]

Lol, that's GTA for you, its simply heralding others cars especially on pedestrian, attacking police and causing havoc in the street, at the end it simply bursted for the main character, lol.