Favorite games you initially wrote off due to negative impressions

[Deleted member 17402]

My initial impression of Dark Souls 2 was heavily colored by everything I had read for years regarding the game. By the time I played it, I found myself making the same arguments for why the game was bad that I had read countless times . But sometime later it dawned on me that I didn't believe most of the complaints I claimed to have, and that the "problems" others had weren't problems I had at all. Ultimately I came to love the game, so much so that it's my favorite in the series. What sucks is knowing that I avoided the game for as long as I did because I was sure I would feel the same way most of the community does.

Makes me wonder what other games I've forgotten about that I've written off due to negative impressions that I might enjoy or even adore.

 

[Deleted member 17210]

Early Ys games. I played some Ys on SMS and TGCD when they first came out and hated the bump attacks. Later on I revisited the games and loved them. I wouldn't change the attack style. I also didn't like Bionic Commando at first because you couldn't jump but I ended up being a big fan later. I can't think of any modern examples off hand.

 

[HockeyBird]

Mass Effect Andromeda. It starts off really slow and of course it is not the most technically sound. But after sticking with it, the rhythm of exploration and combat just clicked.

 

[TissueBox]

Skyrim. Couldn't get into it for years until I slowed down, read a book, and looked at it for the sprawling, enigmatic, and immersive world it was (and was a part of).

Henceforth began my Elder Scrolls addiction, glitches and all.

 

[Fredrik]

State of Decay 2
Thought it would be crap but I got it for free through Game Pass so I tried it... and ended up absolutely loving it!

No Man's Sky
Review bombed, low user score, jumped in anyway... Over 400 hours played, it's on my top 10 for the best games this generation.

 

[Fredrik]

Mass Effect Andromeda. It starts off really slow and of course it is not the most technically sound. But after sticking with it, the rhythm of exploration and combat just clicked.

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Thanks for reminding me, still haven't tried it but I have it installed. I'll check it out!

 

[stan_marsh]

The OT for Outer Worlds has the last five pages or so saying people are not feeling it, so I was worried but nope, it's already my top 3 GOTY.
I didn't really write it off though, just got worried.

 

[Deleted member 17210]

I agree Mass Effect: Andromeda gets better than the initial impression but it still never headed into great territory for me.

 

[Baphomet]

Kingdom Come: Deliverance.

 

[SturokBGD]

This is an unusual example but in the late 90s I was somehow convinced by the gaming press at the time that shooters (and other arcade style games) were obsolete despite the fact that I'm old enough to remember playing Space Invaders when it was actually in the arcade and grew up playing them. Turns out these dudes were just credit feeding their way to the end of them and writing them off because they were "only 30 minutes long".

I later learned that these people were morons and started using enthusiast forums and whatnot to be better able to buy video games that aligned with my tastes and experience. Catching up was a joy. Love me some shooters. Ironically I've put hundreds of hours into some of these "30 minute long" games.

 

[Deleted member 17210]

Kingdom Come: Deliverance.

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The combat in the first few hours really turned me off from playing. Other aspects seemed well done.

 

[Baphomet]

The combat in the first few hours really turned me off from playing. Other aspects seemed well done.

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The game is definitely an acquitted taste , but its probably one the best pure RPG's ever made.

 

[Deleted member 36578]

Recently I went into Code Vein with the lowest of expectations and ended up really enjoying it..

 

[Monkeynuts]

Destiny, alpha did nothing for me and the negative press turned me off. was dead set against it until my brother talked me into buying it so we had something to play.

now i play Destiny (&2) almost daily, and have since 2015, nothing else comes close in terms of play time

 

[SonicRift]

I was one of those stupid teenagers who couldn't get over how childish Wind Waker looked. Now it's one of my favourite games.

 

[Tedmilk]

Doom 2016. Like many, I wrote it off as a slow Doom 3 style game, with QTE events added. Only the reactions on here managed to change my mind.

 

[Kiro]

A bit of a different take but I avoided the Souls games because they were so well-liked, I am not sure if I was just trying to be a non-conformist but I from the beginning thought they were bad games (having never played them). Then years later, my colleague told me they were his favourite games and I had to give them a chance. So I got the recent Dark Souls Trilogy for PS4 and I played them all back to back, beat every boss solo, including all DLC. I have done all of Sekiro, and am working through Bloodborne now at Micolash.

Phenomenal games.

 

[Deleted member 17402]

A bit of a different take but I avoided the Souls games because they were so well-liked, I am not sure if I was just trying to be a non-conformist but I from the beginning thought they were bad games (having never played them). Then years later, my colleague told me they were his favourite games and I had to give them a chance. So I got the recent Dark Souls Trilogy for PS4 and I played them all back to back, beat every boss solo, including all DLC. I have done all of Sekiro, and am working through Bloodborne now at Micolash.

Phenomenal games.

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That's fantastic. Isn't it so interesting how we irrationally claim to know what something is like without ever experiencing it? We really jump through hoops to convince ourselves. lol

 

[Soj]

RE6

Hated it for the first few hours because I was playing it like RE4 (and because Leon's first two chapters are the worst part of the game). Once I understood the combat mechanics, it became one of my favourite games ever.

 

[Soapbox Killer]

The way folks were talking about Quantum Break I almost cancelled my pre order for the bundle. Good thing the mob is fickle.

 

[PlanetSmasher]

I wrote off the Witcher 3 at first because I tried both TW1 and TW2 and honestly just did not enjoy the gameplay mechanics in either game. Witcher 1 was janky as hell as we all know, and Witcher 2 was just really frustratingly difficult for me. Never finished either one.

I don't remember why I bought 3 but I'm glad I did.

 

[WeAreStarStuff]

Mass Effect Andromeda, but only because so many people were down on it. I played it months after it came out, and absolutely loved it (as I did the previous games.) One of my favorite games of the generation; I really hope we get another one. I honestly don't understand the complaints that it receives.

 

[Deleted member 46948]

Kingdom Come: Deliverance.

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Yup, this.
I really wanted to hate the game (because of what a massive shit stain Dan Vávra is), but I ended up loving it. Vávra still sucks, though, and I still bought it used.

 

[jotun?]

I first thought Subnautica just looked like another dumb youtuber-bait survival game. I don't know what compelled me to actually buy and play it, but it's one of my favorite recent games.

 

[BeaconofTruth]

Not my favorite but I have come around on the idea that Resident Evil 6 is a dumpster fire. It's still a bad campaign, but mercenaries is fun as hell and it has great mechanics.its a shit load better than the "more complete" meme games that get gassed up as far as tps games are concerned.

As far as pre playing impressions. Bayonetta looked like dmc but with Sarah Palin to me, at the time I didn't know Kamiya, or bothered to know Platinums pedigree. I just knew Madworld sucked.

played the demo, loved it, bought it, loved it. Were it not for Devil May Cry 5 releasing in 2019 and being ace as fuck, Bayonetta was my favorite game of the decade.

cant think of a game where I hated playing it at first and loved it later. Maybe Deus Ex human revolution? The tutorials were obnoxious and made me not touch the game again for years. Still only thought the game was good tho, not great. Like a 7/10, but Bayonetta is the best example of a game where my initial reaction to its existence was "this looks wack" vs how I felt when I finally played it.

 

[Kiro]

That's fantastic. Isn't it so interesting how we irrationally claim to know what something is like without ever experiencing it? We really jump through hoops to convince ourselves. lol

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Definitely. We build an opinion and stick to the opinion without evidence, or create evidence in our heads around the opinion. It's a difficult thing to notice within ourselves and attempt to reform an opinion that is already established. I'm glad I saw the light when it comes to the Souls series!

 

[Chopchop]

Deus Ex 1 took a few restarts for me over a few years before I really got it.

It's a great game. But the first bit can feel dull.

 

[decoyplatypus]

The first time I played Suikoden, I dropped out around the Kobold Village. The story wasn't doing enough to propel me forward, and I didn't love the character art or graphics.

I started over 6 months later and fell head over heels for the game. I've probably beaten Suikoden 1 and 2 nine or ten times now.

 

[jonjonaug]

Dark Souls 1

The first time I picked it up I played up until the Taurus Demon and just hit a total brick wall. After about 10-15 attempts he knocked me off the bridge with just a sliver of health left and I got real frustrated. The pace of the combat felt really weird and the control scheme confused me (right shoulder button to attack, wtf) so I ragequit the game for a few months.

Then I came back to it, got past that boss, and went through the whole rest of the game in a few days. Then I replayed it like eight more times in the span of two weeks and in the years since have probably cleared it around 30-40 more times.

 

[Ryouji Gunblade]

Halo 2. I didn't appreciate the quality of the campaign or enemy design. Nor did I realize how good the soundtrack was or the maps until later.

Why? Because I was playing lots of Combat Evolved instead of checking those out. The grass isn't exactly greener in Halo 2, but it shifts things around with different priorities and I like the combination more there overall.

 

[Firmament1]

Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge. I first finished it on Normal, and fucking despised it, since the movelist was kind of a clusterfuck in that game, and I ended up not learning any of the strings.

Went back to it on Hard Mode, with more knowledge of the strings on each weapon, and now, I think it's one of the best action games ever made.

 

[Doof]

Guilty Gear. I initially thought it was an overstuffed mess, coming from Third Strike. Couldn't wrap my head around stuff like Roman Cancels and jump cancelling. Boy was I wrong.

 

[Foot]

Suikoden 3. The transition to 3D seemed so clunky, and SLOW! And...it was, but the story and characters are some of the best seen in an RPG. The clunkyness stopped mattering.

 

[Cosmic Voyager]

Evil Within, Assassin's Creed Unity, Batman Arkham Origins.

 

[Doggg]

Shining Force and Shadow Run for the Genesis. I had never played games like them before and only rented them at Blockbuster because their covers looked cool. Once I accepted that they're not action games or platformers, I started learning how to appreciate turn based games and rpgs.

 

[Astronut325]

Destiny 1.

I stopped listening to reviews since.

 

[Greywaren]

Mass Effect Andromeda. It starts off really slow and of course it is not the most technically sound. But after sticking with it, the rhythm of exploration and combat just clicked.

Click to shrink...

Came here to say this. I enjoyed it a lot. Not as much as the others, but it was fun all the way through and didn't deserve all the hate after they fixed the major bugs.

 

[Sanctuary]

I wrote off Dragon's Dogma for the first six months (after greatly anticipating it) due to my own reaction to the god-awful demo. Later on I ended up seeing a bunch of random gifs that were displaying various spells and other abilities that we did not have access to in the demo, and I decided to give it another look. So glad that I did too, because it became my game of that year, and is easily in my top ten for last gen. The expansion made it even better too.

edit: Thought this was negative impressions in general, not just personal.

Yup, this.
I really wanted to hate the game (because of what a massive shit stain Dan Vávra is), but I ended up loving it. Vávra still sucks, though, and I still bought it used.

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I did a complete 180 with that game. Enjoyed the hell out of the demo, and then started getting really bored with the full game around halfway through. It was badly balanced (even on Hard), especially after you could start crafting your own gear.

 

[TuMekeNZ]

Days Gone. After seeing it get slammed in reviews I cancelled my pre-order. Ended up picking it up a few months later after see all the positive feedback from gamers and it is probably my favourite game this gen.
Definitely not without its flaws but overall it deserved a lot better than what it got... in my opinion

 

[Dylan]

Super Monday Night Combat was pretty much globally panned as crap, but I still think it's the best MOBA ever made.

 

[Deleted member 17402]

Days Gone. After seeing it get slammed in reviews I cancelled my pre-order. Ended up picking it up a few months later after see all the positive feedback from gamers and it is probably my favourite game this gen.
Definitely not without its flaws but overall it deserved a lot better than what it got... in my opinion

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What flaws stick out most to you?

 

[Deleted member 46948]

I did a complete 180 with that game. Enjoyed the hell out of the demo, and then started getting really bored with the full game around halfway through. It was badly balanced (even on Hard), especially after you could start crafting your own gear.

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It was badly balanced, no doubt, if you were after a gritty realistic experience. Stealing was completely broken, halfway through the game I had 30k grosches + several sets of the best equipment in the game. But if you were after that open world, old school Elder Scrolls shenanigans, it was probably the best game for that since Morrowind (which is a little ironic, considering how often Vávra shat on TES in interviews).

 

[TuMekeNZ]

What flaws stick out most to you?

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Was pretty buggy even after numerous patches.
Some transitions from gameplay to cut scene were not well done.
Was also possibly a little long and I can see if you had a deadline it might have been a slog. But since I'm not a reviewer I was able to play at my own pace and enjoyed it.

 

[cecilpaladin32]

Mario Galaxy 1 - I was never a huge fan of 3D Mario, but I loved this game - easily my favorite title on the Wii, and I still regret never getting to experience the sequel. Even Super Mario Odyssey, which I think is a good game, vastly pales in comparison for me.

 

[antitrop]

All the complaining about Route B and repeated content in NieR: Automata put me off finishing the game until a few months ago. I'm kicking myself so hard for listening, because it doesn't take long at all to get to the new things in B when you already know where to go from A. After finishing Ending E, it is for sure in my top 5 games of all time.

 

[Deleted member 17402]

Was pretty buggy even after numerous patches.
Some transitions from gameplay to cut scene were not well done.
Was also possibly a little long and I can see if you had a deadline it might have been a slog. But since I'm not a reviewer I was able to play at my own pace and enjoyed it.

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I ask because I'm also on the fence, despite this very thread. My opinion has been colored by what I've read and I've read a lot of, "this game isn't good until the last 1/3, and for the most part is boring before then."

 

[TuMekeNZ]

I ask because I'm also on the fence, despite this very thread. My opinion has been colored by what I've read and I've read a lot of, "this game isn't good until the last 1/3, and for the most part is boring before then."

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Not sure I've heard the "not good until the last 1/3" one before but I 100% disagree with that.
All I can say is if you like open worlds and post apocalyptic settings then you are likely to enjoy DG. Maybe just wait for a sale if unsure.
It was one of the few games I've got the platinum for.
Also the DLC is great fun.

 

[Leandras]

Has to be FF13. It's not close to the best in the series but I really enjoyed my play through the first time knowing full well it's just corridors. I really enjoyed the Vanille and Sahz bits of the story with them being way more upbeat than the other two's section while also having the more powerful wrap up before rejoining the team. Music was also beautiful and I still listen to Dust to Dust from time to time.

But I have to say once you've beaten it it's all but impossible to replay and Im able to play the other FF games multiple times.

 

[Deleted member 17402]

I

Not sure I've heard the "not good until the last 1/3" one before but I 100% disagree with that.
All I can say is if you like open worlds and post apocalyptic settings then you are likely to enjoy DG. Maybe just wait for a sale if unsure.
It was one of the few games I've got the platinum for.
Also the DLC is great fun.

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I think it's going to be $15 this Black Friday.

 

[LocoRoco]

- legend of legaia
- uncharted 1
- Killzone 2