Games you learned to love.

gunsmoke on 20/9/2008 at 11:19

Anyone have a game that they didn't like or even hated at one point that they grew to enjoy or even treasure?

I, myself, bought Morrowind when the GotY version was finally released. My friend urged me to get it, as he figured it was right up my alley. I just couldn't get into it. I tried character after character, and even had my friend roll me up one he thought would be the best. Nothing worked.

It felt slow and clunky, and I missed full voice acting. I found myself liking the music and graphics, and the world was interesting enough, but there was something "wrong" w/it I couldn't put my finger on.

Over the years, I would occasionally (maybe once a year or so) re-install it and try again. Always to the same result. Meh.

I got an XBOX around 3 years ago when my old video card died. I bought several games for it at the same time (mostly XBOX exclusives and PC ports that I couldn't play anymore since I had no PC. Stuff like Painkiller, Fable, Breakdown, Arx Fatalis, Doom 3, Thief-DS, DX-IW). Vanilla Morrowind was like $5 so I threw it into the stack.

Shortly after I started playing it again. Before I knew it, I was a level 56 badass readying myself for Dagoth Ur. I ordered the XBOX GotY edition (has bugfixes and both expansions...AND is compatible w/the saves from Vanilla!!!). Now, it is one of the games that stays constantly installed on my notebook's hard drive.

Jason Moyer on 20/9/2008 at 12:07

Deus Ex. Despite loving Thief/SS2 and knowing of its lineage, I had no real interest in it when it came out, and only purchased it because someone recommended it based on my interest in crazy conspiracy stuff (as humor, of course). I think it took me about 6 months to really do anything in the first mission, as I didn't find it particularly engaging. Once it finally reached "only game I haven't played yet" status I gave it another go and started to really like it beginning pretty much from the conversation at the top of the statue until the end.

Tonamel on 20/9/2008 at 12:15

Planescape: Torment and SS2. Beloved as they are around here, they were so completely different from the games I was used to playing that it took me several tries to accept what they were offering.

Obviously effort well spent, though! :thumb:

addink on 20/9/2008 at 12:37

Terra Nova.

At the time of release I already was a big Looking Glass fan (ever since UW1). Somehow the demo didn't click, no real idea why, maybe too thin a story.

Later picked it up on the cheap. And just out of boredom installed it and started playing.. Good surprise.

Thirith on 20/9/2008 at 13:07

Thief. It took a couple of attempts for me to click with the demo.

N'Al on 20/9/2008 at 13:15

(http://www.mobygames.com/game/windows/sin) SiN.
I originally played this at the time of its release - which just so happened to be around the same time as the release of Half-Life. Half-Life, to me, just represented such a step forward for characterisation, story presentation and AI in FPSs at the time. SiN, by contrast, seemed to be about everything I had grown to hate about FPSs; juvenile, wise-cracking protagonists with more brawn than brain, a female character that was just walking T&A, and dumb-as-shit AI. In disgust, I stopped playing once I had reached the water treatment facility level.
Then, recently, I picked up the SiN Episode as a weekend deal on Steam, and the original SiN came with it. I can now appreciate it much more for what it is, simply a very tongue-in-cheek shooter.

Planescape: Torment
This was down to the fact that PS:T was the first Infinity Engine game I played, and also the first D&D game. As such, I was quite bewildered by the mechanisms and rules of the game; the strange setting didn't help much either. I mean, ffs, I didn't even realise that the tattoos acted as a substitute for armour for the Nameless One; I was constantly walking around trying to find a shop that sold me some nice old Plate Mail.
I persevered though (unlike dethtoll, lol ;) ), and have completed the game twice now. It also helped that I've now played both Baldur's Gates and Icewind Dales, so I am much more familiar with the way these games work.

catbarf on 20/9/2008 at 13:25

Thief and Deus Ex. Both of them were so different from what I had played before.

Oh, and then there's SS2, which as a young child left me with the most horrid of nightmares.

twisty on 20/9/2008 at 13:30

+1 for Deus Ex. I hated the demo. Having played through Thief and SS2 beforehand, Deus Ex felt like a clumsy, contrived clone by comparison and I was determined never to buy it. I did end up buying it of course in one of those moments where nothing else piqued my interest at the time, but I needed a new game. Boy am I glad I ended up picking that one up.

suliman on 20/9/2008 at 13:37

Yeah, I'll second thief. I still kinda hate Bafford's and cragscleft.

Gryzemuis on 20/9/2008 at 14:02

System Shock 2.
I heard a lot of good things about it on these forums, after playing Thief. I bought it and tried it. Didn't like the game play (I kept dieing as psionic character). Then 2 years later I tried again. Higher resolution, full AA and AF, and the game looked rather smooth. I tried a normal melee character with some hacking skills. Went much smoother. The game dragged me in, and I played start to finish in one run that lasted about 2 weeks. Very nice. I haven't had an experience like that since.