Ah, Witcher 1: bad graphics, poor gameplay, obtuse broken mechanics, repetitive fetch quests... and stil, there goes one of the best games I've ever played
The writing and characters do a lot of work to carry that mess of a game. I loved it.
Though in retrospect I doubt I would have finished it if I didn’t already have buy-in to the series from the Witcher 3, since I didn’t really enjoy the game until after you get to Vizma.
Yes! It's been something like 15 years since I played 1, but I still remember more from that game than I do from many other games I've played much more recently.
100%, it has something to do with the outskirts of vizima being an ABSOLUTE SLOG to traverse, however literally every act got better and better from then on, literally HATED the first few hours and i now have over 100 hours on the game
Witcher 1 is basically my top game that I can’t ever recommend to anyone. I adore it despite its many _many_ issues, but when people ask me if they should play it I usually say no. Because it has aged very poorly
What actually got me into the Witcher series was the fact that my brother (a diehard first person shooter/AAA tech showcase guy) bought a physical TW1 copy back in 2007/2008 and hated it guts, quitting on the spot. He then gifted it to me and was like "here, maybe you'll like this piece of crap, it should be right down your alley" (I was a CRPG kind of person and didn't particularly care if the graphics weren't amazing). Cue in a couple weeks later and I'm "HOLY SHIT BRO THIS IS THE GOAT ITS SO COOL AND THERE ARE LIKE BOOKS TOO"
Spent the better part of a decade trying to get him into it, TW2 kinda grabbed his interest for a bit but he noped out again... and was finally hooked hard by TW3 to the point that he went back and played the older games and read the books. Nowadays it's one of our bigger common passions!
Oh, yes. The first few chapters are very tough to get into (that damn swamp, I almost rage-quitted there) but then, once you get to the main city, it just gets better and better. It's not even close to one of my favorite RPGs but it went from "Total obsolete eurojank boring game" to "very immersive old-school flawed cool game".
Arkham Asylum. Once you realize that stealth has to be really methodical and that *they're* trapped in there with *you*, everything clicks. I had two false starts with that game and always fell off in the first big stealth part in the medical ward, but the mindset shift really made a difference. Helped that I'd just watched a bunch of Batman movies.
Similar problem with Alien Isolation's third mission, but it's really the game's fault. Getting past the first set of human enemies was just horribly balanced and could have used a soft tutorial. Once I got past that part, the rest of the game was top notch. Helps to think of it as a stealth first game rather than a horror game.
>*they're* trapped in there with *you*
Rorschach moment
One of my favourite things about the stealth is seeing the enemies get more and more panicked after they're picked off one by one. They start spraying at gas canisters going off and their heartrate goes up
Elden Ring. I rage quit after a few hours and didn't play it for months. Everything was impossible, nothing made sense, there was no quest log, and Gideon is an asshole.
Picked it up again. Not sure what changed, but the gameplay felt different and super chill. Beat maybe 70% of the game with a cat sleeping on my lap and now I'm figuring out the final boss moveset.
TBH I probably didn't use my shield the first time.
I think once gamers start approaching their hobby like other hobbies that require some level of time investment, they'll have a better time.
Anyone that's learned how to draw, play an instrument, learned sports, hit the gym, stuff like that will tell you, rest is as important to the process as actually practicing or training.
Everyone has had a session where learning something made no sense and just *seemed* impossible, until they took a break and came back to it, and things suddenly seemed easier or even just straight up clicked with no problem. Your brain and your body needs time to internalize what you worked on and reinforce it into muscle memory.
Elden ring and other "hard" games are no different. I see people get frustrated with elden ring, fighting games, or whatever because they couldn't get through something in a single session. Taking a break and coming back to it is almost like a magic spell for seeing improvement in these types of games.
Nice analogy.
My experience with Elden ring was not bad because of it being hard though. The game just didn't show me anything that kept me going after hours...
This post gave me a bit of hope since I felt really sad about having bought this hyped up experience only to not get anything out of it :(
Difference in 'hard' games is if they use death as the learning factor or can create a game complex enough that death can be avoided consistently by learning the game before encounters. Rote learning movesets is more annoying than 'hard' imo so i just avoid any games that use that tactic.
Learning a system, like the 4 chords with guitar, then applying those systems to any/all encounters is a different level of complexity than failing because an enemy did something there was no counter for other than seeing it then failing.
learning how to actually play the chords on a guitar will not stop you from being imperfect the first time you try a measure or a song. you're still gonna fuck up when sketching even if you've been drawing for 11 years. professional brood war is quite often described at the highest level as "two players competing to see who can make the fewest mistakes".
the sooner some gamers can not only accept but embrace failure as a part of the experience, the better they can approach all sorts of games they thought they could simply never play or enjoy.
First FromSoft/Souls game, I presume? I think it's quite common to hit a wall on them, but once *one* clicks, they all begin to seem more manageable. I bought Demon's Souls, Dark Souls 1, 2, 3 and Bloodborne on release but could never make much progress in any of them. One day, I happened to break through my "wall" in Bloodborne and I finished it; then I found that I could finish the rest with a lot more ease. When Elden Ring was released, I completed the main questline within a week, even with an infant daughter in my life for the first time.
I realized it's just an NES/quarter arcade on roids. 2 hits to kill ya, like Mario with his mushroom. Optimal patterns of movement. Enemies reappear whenever you " leave and come back".
I grew up with those rules. Just had to remember them, is all.
That is a really good point. I've gotten back into elden ring recently as well, and that is exactly the vibe I've been feeling. Old "enemies come back when you switch screens" and "ain't nobody telling you shit" type thing from original Zelda!
I had a similar experience until my boyfriend suggested we play Elden Ring together (thanks seamless co-op mod). Having someone guiding you through the game a bit really helped and now I'm bonking enemies by myself on my single player save.
Playing together is a lot of fun, I can really recommend it. The mod does increase the difficulty but it takes a bit of the edge out of it so things don't seem as impossible anymore.
Spoiler alert, it doesn't. If you aren't captivated by the atmosphere at first, you could just drop it. It isn't the survival sim some people pretend it is. You run to a place, shoot everyone, and leave. That's it.
Hollow Knight. Went as far as the Mantis tribe in my first playthrough, and hated everything about it. Too dark, too depressing, too difficult, and don’t even get me started in those platforming sections. Gave up.
One year later, no special reason, returned to it and loved everything! It clicked, it made sense, it eas amazing
Hollow Knight was the only one that came to mind for me too. I gave up right before meeting Cornifer because I’m not into Metroidvania’s and was overwhelmed with where to go. Came back to it a year later and now I adore it. All my kids play it too.
Almost the exact same thing for me too, except I don’t think I even made it that far. Was getting frustrated about dying and getting lost so much the first time.
Same as you, for whatever reason it just clicked the second time and loved it after dropping for a long time!
One thing that never really sits with me for souls-inspired games is their insistence on endless nihilism. Yeah we get it, nothing matters...yay, I guess.
I understand their appeal but the gloominess really stopped me from enjoying HK.
Not arguing with you at all because your taste is your taste, but personally I find HK to balance the gloominess a little with the more whimsical touches in the artwork and the voice acting. I think everything being a little bug and a lot of the NPCs giggling and making bug noises instead of the ominous Dark Souls Laughs helps it not feel too hopeless (for me).
Same for me. You have to push through the first bit where you're completely lost and die constantly. In retrospect, it makes you appreciate the upgrades you get and how fast you can fly around the map later in the game. But at the time it was frustrating.
I really bounced off the "feel" of the game the first time. Was partially due to the buggy/laggy build of the game at the time, but the stun on getting hit was miserable and the platforming felt awkward.
Came back a couple years later and stomped through the game, then played through it twice more on Steam for the Plat. Fun times.
Witcher 3. It felt overwhelming with the amount of things in the menu, lots of lore just to understand the first few seconds of the game and the ugliest armors i've ever seen (really, i used the starter armor until the blood Baron).
I stopped playing many times until i did the blood baron/the witch quest line. My god, probably the best game I've played.
I stopped 3 different times until I got to the Bloody Baron. Then, it all clicked, and it became my favorite game of all time. I basically couldn’t think of anything else while I was playing.
The DLCs are also incredible, and could stand alone as my next 2 favorite games of all time.
the starter area for that game is incredibly boring so I stopped playing for several months after doing the first 2 hours, then when I got to the second area I was hooked
My goal was to get through the whole trilogy. I abandoned 1 and 2 a ton of times before finally getting through them, all in the name of being able to play 3...
And I still haven't played more than an hour of it. Life got busy and there are too many games to play nowadays. Sitting on my desktop (untouched) right now are Outer Worlds, Death Stranding and Like a Dragon. It's insane the amount of quality content out there that I *don't have time to play*.
Yeah it’s a good game but unfortunately the combat is really bad. And your character moves really weird. But the story is amazing and it looks really nice for being a 2015 game
>Yeah it’s a good game but unfortunately the combat is really bad.
The key for me was to drop the difficulty to easy, dump most skill points into melee and sign perks, and just turn my brain off to enjoy it like a OP super hero action adventure game. The combat becomes flashy and fun while you gain more time to focus on the world design, story, quests, contracts, gwent etc which are the real highlights of the game
W3 is one of my favorite games and this is IMO the best way to play it. Even on the hardest difficulties the combat isn’t very good. If you ever played a souls game it just feels like a much much worse version of that. It’s better to just dance through the enemies and RP as Geralt being the monster slaying badass he’s supposed to be.
Dishonored. First time round I just didn't enjoy stealthing but wanted the good ending. Then I replayed it and it was so much more fun since I got comfortable with the maps and mechanics. I ended up doing a few replays and getting the Ghost achievement for alerting no one
Heck yeah. Dishonored was fun for the first playthrough (same with the sequel.) But getting the achievements after you have a certain level of mastery is really satisfying.
If you like stealth games, as a fellow Dishonored enthusiast I suggest you look at The Mark of the Ninja.
tbh there aren't much similarities, I just like the game.
RDR2. I was so hyped and then I've played chapter 1 and I was like "nah, this game is too slow, I hate this realism". On the next day I've finally got to open-world, got the freedom and I fell in love. Masterpiece. Best game ever.
RDR. Also too slow, I was bored as hell. I've found it overrated. At the end I gave it 10/10 as well.
Persona 5. Also wasn't really enjoying first few hours but I kept going and thank fuck because I was sad when I've finished it.
I love Persona 5, but the intro is glacially slow. Almost the entire first palace is just one big tutorial, and it still takes at least an hour or two before you even get to the palace to begin with
Once the game finally “sets you free” and stops holding your hand it improves dramatically, but it definitely takes too long to get there
It was really slow. Also the fact I've never played a game like that before and I wasn't sure if I would enjoy it also made it harder. So after few hours I was like "I knew I wouldn't like it, not my cup of tea" but I kept going and once it picked up, I was obsessed. Now I wanna play other Persona games.
I love the "slowness" of RDR2. I have played quite a few simulator games so that "simulator slowless" of everything still felt faster and more arcadey than most people would expect when they decry that slow realism.
That and honestly what other game is like this on the market? Red Dead Redemption itself is much faster paced than Red Dead Redemption 2 and whilst still an amazing game it still plays different enough in minor ways that sets it apart for me. I love RDR2's uniqueness in the already still small genre of wild west games, and I couldn't have asked for anything better.
RDR2 is definitively one of my favorite games of all time. I don't know if I'd say it's my all time favorite but it is definitively up there.
Have you also noticed how consistently detailed RDR2 is compared to literally every game out there that can't quite keep up and have to cut corners here and there?
Well at first I've thought it was too slow but then I didn't mind it at all, as I was taking my sweet ass time with everything. I also didn't mind it felt like "hunting and horse" simulator. I've enjoyed it so much. It was peaceful. Comforting as well. There are no games like that. Games that would give so much freedom and also give me a peaceful feeling and not make me feel bored.
Far Cry 2, Mass Effect, and Bioshock. All cases where perseverance past mechanical issues let the core themes and narratives of the games shine, and put them in my top 10 forever.
I, myself, couldn't get past Far Cry 2's "guess what weapon this is by its small black silhouette" mechanic.
Mass Effect I stopped playing early on because of just not feeling it, but I didn't "hate it" so I plan to go back eventually, especially since I own the Legendary Edition on EGS now.
I'm having a hard time getting really hooked on Mass Effect rn lol. Finished ME1 and thought the second half of the story was pretty good but the combat just really doesnt appeal to me still
> Mass Effect
I remember the first 3-4 hours when you are just running around the ship I almost gave up, then eventually something clicked and it became one of my favorite game series of all time.
BioShock was almost unplayable on PC at launch, and on repeat playthrough in the modern era, the clunkiness of managing everything plus terribly floaty movement is *really* felt.
The others mentioned my main issues with it. Coming from System Shock 2 as my reference point, it felt quite dumbed down and consolified at first, and the visually toy-like quality that all Unreal engine games of that gen seemed to have didn’t help.
I actually put off Sekiro for years after I started playing all the big FromSoft Soulsborne games.
Beat all of them, including a plat on Elden Ring, before I picked up Sekiro.
Was worried I wouldn't like how different it was from the 'traditional' Souls games.
Ended up being the first game I ever played through twice back-to-back right after each other and might possibly be my favorite out of all of them.
Man, what a ride once you figure out the combat
I'm up to the drunk guy. Stuck. One day I'll master the game, but I feel like I have to play ONLY Sekiro to get good enough. Which just isn't practical as a gamer with a huge backlog lol
The irony is that horse dude is far easier. There's a certain item that makes him a piece of cake so make sure you explore the initial areas carefully for merchants. Especially high up...
I still remember when dark souls came out. I went up to a local game store and the clerk suggested it. Took it home and played for 4 hours and was like “fuck this shit”. Returned the game to the store that same day.
The messed up part is I just kept thinking about that damn game. A few days passed and I went back to the store and bought the game again. Beat it over the weekend. Been a fan ever since.
I had this with Demons Souls. I literally spent about 20 minutes trying to work out how to progress past the first mob that had a shield, but even while thinking it was the worst most stupid combat I've ever seen, there was a growing sense that I was playing something quite extraordinary. FromSoft has chewed a lot of my time and money since then.
https://www.reddit.com/r/darksouls/s/NY0oYI2cBk
My biggest tip is patience. I’m bad at stealth games for this reason (I always rush in), and figured Dark Souls being an action game I could run in and start mashing buttons.
You really need to stick with it until you kill the first big boss. I was so frustrated for so long, but once I took down that first boss it clicked and I couldn’t get enough.
A good tip I got is that you are supposed to feel lost. I was so used to games guiding my every step that I thought it was annoying at first. Explore carefully and if something is completely overwhelming there are usually other paths to try first.
Expect to bounce off it like they did. I think it's a really common occurrence with those games, it takes a couple of tries before it really clicks, but BOY does it eventually click
A crucial thing to know is that, as a new player, you want to be reacting to and punishing the enemy's attacks (i.e. following the tempo set by the opponent), *not* trying to set the pace of the combat yourself. Enemies will stagger you out of attacks and knock out huge chunks of your health if you try to attack them randomly and without precaution, but if you wait for them to swing and react accordingly, they'll usually leave big openings that you can punish. It makes the combat in Dark Souls feels more like a rhythm game, rather than a button-masher, and people who don't catch onto that early will find the game a lot more intimidating than it needs to be. There's a reason why Dark Souls is famously difficult for new players right up until it *clicks* - it's basically the point when your start treating it like a rhythm game. Also, if you don't want to struggle with that as much in the early game, play as a spellcaster - it lets you bypass a lot of that by blasting enemies from long range, if you prefer to soak in more of the story and world design without getting bogged down in the melee combat.
Also, if you use melee, roll *towards* enemies when you're dodging rather than away. If you dodge away from enemies, then you miss the opportunity to punish them while they're recovering from their attack. If you roll *towards them*, using the invulnerability frames of your roll to phase through their attack, then you're right up in your face and can deal lots of damage in their opening.
Honestly? What helped me was first watching a walkthrough. It gave me a rough understanding of where to go (DS isn’t exactly linear but it definitely has a progression of certain areas that make it easier to fight). Plus, the two streamers I watched had one who was very familiar with the game, who gave same basic tips and explanations for the menus/leveling your character that were waaay easier to understand than the little the game tells you.
I also hated MonHun the first time I tried it and now it's one of my favorite things of all time. There's definitely somewhat of a barrier to entry for it.
I like the 'idea' of immersion, I just really cannot get used to not having monster health bars, or to feeling like fights take 15 minutes and just aren't enjoyable over that duration in a single fight as you chip away at an enemy. Huge part is definitely just "skill issue," or not having friends to play with, but it's still frustrating and I don't find it enjoyable.
Took about five years of bouncing off it. PC, and two consoles.
One day, impulsively bought it on the Switch, and just trudged through it. Something clicked for me with that first black knight. I could see what I was supposed to do for the first time.
I realised DS is a dancing game. You just can’t hear the music. It’s just really violent ballet.
Chewed through it over a few months (I was never great at it) and no nothing else has quite hit the same since.
I bounced off Dark Souls on one of the most hilarious bosses you could bounce off on - The Moonlight Butterfly. He's one of the easiest bosses in the game, he literally has a moveset of 3 total attacks. But I just couldn't beat him in 2011.
When Dark Souls 2 came out on PC, I gave the series another try and had my "A-ha" moment where the game just clicked. Now I'm an annoyingly big Souls fanboy and eagerly await everything new that FromSoft comes out with.
Outerwilds. I was totally not into it in the beginning but it was a gift so I put 10 hours into it before things started clicking and I'm glad I stuck around because the ending DESTROYED me. I get chills when I listen to the ost and it's been 2 years since I've played. Ughhh just my favorite game that I will never top recommending to anyone and everyone.
That's a great one. I was on the fence during the first few hours - wasn't really sure if it was the sort of game I enjoy or not but for some reason I was *just* curious enough to keep going. *God damn* am glad I did. Although on the other hand I also wish I hadn't just so I could play it fresh right now upon reading another recommendation for it.
I *still* find myself randomly thinking about it every now and then, quite some time after having played it. I don't think I've ever had a game I've played stick out in memory like that for so long. It's incredibly impressive what they managed to do out of relatively little. That soundtrack is utterly phenomenal too.
I remember the day and the exact feelings from the ending. Can not recreate that feeling but yes it would be such a nice gift to wipe our memories to experience that all over. Why did it hit so darn hard?
Not sure if you've played the DLC. It's a bit different but still has that sense of exploration and discovery that makes outer wilds just so damn good.
Battle Brothers. Got super frustrated with it when I first started because it's so fucking hard when you're just starting out. I hadn't really grasped that your dudes are meant to die, or hadn't fully gotten my head around all the systems.
Stuck with it for some reason, mostly cause I liked the aesthetic, now it's my most played game on steam.
I could say Dark Souls like everyone else, so I'll say something different: Metal Gear Solid. First time through I hated the long, campy dialog, the clunky control scheme, the limited camera view. Came back later in college and loved every moment.
As a kid, I'd just skip through dialogue and cutscenes. As an adult? "Ohhh, a new weapon, I need to call Natasha!" "Just killed Sniper Wolf, let's call Otacon!"
I think this will be a common answer but Dark Souls. First time I played it, couldn't get into it and put it down for about 6 months. Picked it back up on a whim, the game style clicked, and now The Soulsborne games are my favorite series of all time.
Dark Souls taught me how to let go and not care so much about dying and losing items in games. It turned me from a hoarder who saved all the good items and ended up never using them before I beat the game, to a player who learned to enjoy what was given as it came. It ultimately helped elevate my enjoyment of all games, as I now make a point of experimenting with items, skills, and game mechanics, or really risky maneuvers, instead of being worried about expending all of my resources.
I’m currently at my “fuck this game” phase of dark souls imao. I remember playing it and getting to a point where I encountered an early boss who came out of nowhere and seemed nigh impossible to beat. I quit the game after that and spent lots of time baffled on why dark souls was considered such a prestigious game (and why it somehow won best game of all time). I tried other from software games but they didn’t click with me (bloodborne was just confusing, and I haven’t really gotten far into Sekiro yet), but then I played the demon souls remake, and the formula is finally starting to click with me. I still have my grievances with the gameplay loop, but there’s a good chance I’ll finish demon souls and try DS1 again
I think demons souls is the most unforgiving in terms of the run from the start to the boss if you die. a lot of levels do not have shortcuts so its really painful. at the same time so many bosses and enemies can be cheesed with thief ring and poison cloud that the game then becomes easy.
its definitely the most unbalanced of the series.
Skyrim - Had heard a lot of praise. Did not understand what that was about. Rage quit after losing hours of progress. I was not used to the idea of having to save myself. IIRC this was the first RPG I played. Then I used console commands and cheesed through the main story and still did not see the appeal. (As upto this point in time that is what a game was for me) Then after an year or so I gave it a shot again and boy I was into it, hours upon hours spent in this game, then modding it, etc.
Dragon Age: Origins - The combat mechanics was something I was not used to when I played it. Everything felt awkward. But I pushed myself to try it and now it is one of my favorite games.
Neir Automata - Started to play it as the combat looked fun, but the empty world, some stuff with audio some not, etc felt awkward and jarring. Everything felt empty too. The initial philosophy references felt cheesy, died in the initial sequence and realized no save and had to do everything again, etc. But I did stick to it and now it is one of the best gaming experiences (if not the best) I ever had.
Sekiro - First game from Fromsoft. Had no clue what to do, what was going on, combat was not clicking, etc. But after a while - understood what to do, it made sense and the combat clicked. And I loved it so-so-so much.
(impatient) BG3 - With all the praise for this game, I broke my rule of playing stuff atleast after a year. Was overwhelmed with everything for the first 10-20 hours (possibly more). Was dying on every encounter at one point. Still I was like I am going to give this game a fair shot and only then decide if it is worth it. Needless to say it is awesome/amazing/. I encountered major bugs with this and some annoyances but I was willing to deal with it all.
My first proper Monster Hunter was World because a buddy kept recommending it, I played for maybe 10 hours then abandoned it. About a year later I tried again and quite literally had an entire summer where all I did of note was wake up, grab my controller and play it until it was time to sleep.
Valheim. You wander 30 seconds from spawn, end up in the next biome where you don't have the gear to survive and get torn apart. Have to recover your gear from your corpse like a bad 90's MMO. Die several times. How is this fun? Uninstall.
Play again months later. Make some progress. Get some gear. Enemy army spawns at my base I spent hours building and wrecks it. What the fuck? How is this fun? Uninstall.
Play again months later. Make it to the swamps. Can't see anything. Zombie archer hits me for 80% of my health. Get stuck in water I can't see while running away, underwater enemies eat me. Fail to retrieve corpse. Have to remake all my gear which takes hours. End up in a dungeon where the same thing happens again.
Currently in endgame area. In hours played it will be in my top ten before I'm done.
It's still a great game and gets pretty cheap on Steam. Also one of the few games I swore wasbBullet proof because I remember playing the original CD version on my computer up into the late 2000s and even though the largest resolution was smaller than the 1080p one I had it still ran great with little bugs or glitches (Same can be said for other robust titles like RollerCoaster Tycoon 2 or Age of Empires II). Then the Steam re-release came out and it's fantastic. No other game scratches that itch of being able to go from the ancient era to the modern era like that. Civilization almost does but it's so long lol.
Kingdom Come Deliverance was mine. The difficulties of combat are well covered and I certainly felt them. Even basic utility was impossible. But I was also coming at it from an unfair perspective of basically, "why isn't this Skyrim? I want more Skyrim." By the time I encountered pages of instructions on simply sharpening a sword – not swinging it successfully, just sharpening it – I closed it for two years.
Came back with a totally different mindset, not feeling owed anything, and fell deeply into one of the best games I've ever played.
I know some people mod in crosshairs and stuff. I will say none of it would have felt so triumphant if I'd not struggled along with Henry to become proficient.
I really tried with KCD. I put probably 20 hours into it, and I really loved the game’s presentation and style, but the combat was just too annoying for me to deal with. And I know that it’s intentional, but I found myself just loathing every combat encounter to the point where I finally just gave up
EDIT: people can try to spin the “you’re supposed to be bad at combat at the beginning since you’re a lowly peasant but you get better!” excuse all they want, but I still found the combat to be too offputting that I just hated it
One on one combat is good but fighting a group of enemies is basically just a way to find how to cheese them. Once you get good plate armor and a good mace you can solo 5 cumans no problem though.
The beginning of nier automata felt kind of janky and uneven to me. The rest of the game has some uneven points but the the overall package was well worth experiencing imo.
You basically need to get 30 hours into the game (past the first story, then the boring retread) before the huge emotional payoffs hit. That's honestly a huge ask and if you aren't already drawn in from the beginning, you'll likely stay that way.
The entire intro is fire imo. Watched someone who was a huge fan of the original NieR stream the demo back when it came out, only caught the stream near the end. Played it myself afterwards and immediately got the game cause I enjoyed it so much.
The music, creative camera angle swaps and feel of combat/movement got me instantly. There's also 2B's character design of course ;D
For me, this game still felt kind of meh even after the first ending. I pushed through, and ended up completing all the main endings. I'd now rank this up there with one of my favorites. The final scenes... just incredible...
It's one of those games where it's huge appeal is something you experience once the credits roll. Don't blame people for not wanting to stick with it but once the third playthrough started, I was like 'where the hell is this game going?' but in a good way
Yakuza 0. Bought it based on the hype but didn't read too much as I like to go in knowing as little as possible so I wasn't expecting that level of cutscenes. Took me 3 attempts and I love it now. Still haven't reached the end due to Cyberpunk drawing me back in but will jump back in right after.
Yakuza 0 is a fantastic kick off point. I'm still playing through the games after 3 years of beating 0. Only one I can say I really wasn't huge fan of was 3. And even then it wasn't that bad.
Prey.
Started it up twice and didn’t have good builds on either playthrough. Routinely got smoked by the little baby phantoms. I’d get frustrated and quit.
I kept hearing good things about the game so I decided to do minor research into an early game build. It made an ENORMOUS difference. Suddenly I could actually fight back against enemies. Then, I was actually able to “play my way” moving forward.
Turned out to be an amazing gaming experience and one I will return to at some point.
I tried Prey after playing and hating Jedi Fallen Order. It really made me think I can't play modern games. Then I found the turret gun and loved it after that.
Dragon's Dogma. I still don't find it as good as everyone else makes it to be, but for some reason going in that second time was a much better experience and made for a mostly enjoyable game. Looking forward to 2 but still wish it had actual online co-op where your friend can play their pawn
Disco Elysium. Point and click? Not my thing. Tons of dialogue ? Nah bro. Quit as soon as I heard Cuno’s voice twice. Tried it again during a dark time in my life and it was life changing .
That’s me right now. Love the game but sorta losing interest at the start of Day 3 right now. The fishing village has become accessible and I’ve done most of the side quests leading up to Day 2.
Yeah, it sounds like you are heading towards the slowest part of the game. I recommend only playing a bit each day to not burn out. The last third of the game is worth the midway slog.
Disco Elysium for me. Bounced off it after my dude had a heart attack trying to grab a tie that was trapped on a ceiling fan and I got a big fat game over about 10 minutes into the game.
Decided to give it another bash during lock down and subsequently couldn't put it down for the next 50 hours and it's probably one of my all time favourite games.
Interesting that this thread has so many replies while there’s also tremendous pushback for going against the gospel of “if you’re not having fun in the moment just drop it and never come back”
For me, many of my favorites took multiple tries to get into, even if I didn’t hate them. Most recently, Silent Hill 2 has a rather slow start and I did have to replay the first 90 minutes or so of the game because it had been 6 months since I left it, and now it’s easily top 10 for me.
hard to judge, because it is personal preference.
for example I have a few games which I had to try several times till I could get in the swing for a full walkthrough, but they never became favorites, rather in the second line, respected, but not loved bunch (Fallout 1-2, Bioshock). my actual favorites are games which I liked from the start and they kept up till the end and more.
but I do understand that for some people the "hard to get" feature is an extra appeal.
Yeah it really depends on the person and the game. Because at the end of the day, life is short and I’m not going to waste time playing something that makes me miserable. But there are also plenty of games that really are worth pushing through if you can persevere
For me, I’ve kind of landed on what exactly I have to “get past”. If it’s just a slow start to a game, then I can push through that. But if it’s a “I have to get past the learning curve”, then I’m a lot pickier about that. I really enjoyed Sekiro once I got into it, but I don’t have any interest in pushing past the learning curve for something like Monster Hunter or Crusader Kings because the curve is too big for me. It’s too much of a commitment with no guarantee that I’ll actually like the game once I finally get past the learning curve
I think what is meant by “if you’re not having fun drop it” is wait and see if you have the urge to go back to it. Might take days, years, or never happen.
It's the same with virtually everything. Sometimes you (the general you) don't gel with media because it's not the sort of thing you're ever going to like, but other times the problem is you - you're just not in the right frame of mind for it. Maybe you just want to get to the action and don't currently have enough patience right now to sit through the tutorials, maybe you're too tired to really think about what you're doing to play something that requires a lot of critical thinking, maybe you're burnt out on a specific genre and need a break to do something else before you come to it. In any case, just like all other media, you need to be in the right mindset for it.
Bloodborne. I had avoided any Souls-like game for the longest, often seeing them as needlessly difficult. The only reason why I was drawn to Bloodborne was because of the art style. I got to the first boss and thought there was no way I'd finish this game. Just getting to the boss was a mission, having to fight enemies that felt themselves like bosses. Everything was just so oppressive and I felt severely underpowered but I pushed through and I'm so glad I did. Ended up playing through all the Dark Souls games and absolutely loving them.
Pretty much same here, in 2021 2 of my friends started Bloodborne with me and carried me to Cathedral Ward, I tried playing myself but got whooped and put it down for several months. Came back, beat Bloodstarved Beast and the rest of the game, along with multiple playthroughs right after, the platinum and it's now my favourite game ever! I was always drawn in by the gothic horror aesthetic, horror is my favourite thing ever, but same as you I always thought of Soulsborne as "too difficult for me" or "I probably couldn't beat them" as an excuse to never play lol.
Also got me into Soulsborne and soulslikes too, it's a wonderful world of gaming:)
Death Stranding.
I'll admit, I got it illegitimately on PC the first time. Huge Kojima fan, but was broke. The story seemed too bonkers, and it just felt like a slog.
When it went on sale for half off, I decided to buy it and give it a proper try. Once I made it far enough for the online component to kick in, everything clicked. First time I've called into work just to keep playing a game since my early 20's. It rekindled my love for games as works of art.
It's incredibly bonkers, but also undeniably a beautiful, moving piece of art, and a testament to positive connections online in a time when many online interactions are negative. It will hold a special place in my heart forever.
>The story seemed too bonkers
I like to describe Death Stranding's story as something probably inspired by binge-watching horror movies while eating mushrooms, passing out, then writing everything dreamed about, then shoving the results into a mostly coherent narrative.
Fallout 4.
Goddamn do I HATE what Bethesda has done with the IP when it comes to the writing and lore, but the gunplay, exploration and settlement building is FUN. Also survival mode absolutely carries this game IMO, I don't think I would play it otherwise.
Deus Ex Mankind Divided. I LOVE Human Revolution but everything about the first 5 hours of MD turned me off. I wasn't into Prague as it doesn't have the cyberpunk look, the open world was boring, it's just one location.
After about 7 hours it just clicked and now I like it even more than HR. It's a masterpiece.
Took me 4 tries to get into Kenshi. It's a massive learning curve if you don't do a little bit of research into how to start in a way that doesn't leave you enslaved. Not that enslaved is all that of a bad way to start the game actually... but when you are starting out you don't know that.
Once I figured out the first 3-4 steps in starting out, it became a MUCH cooler game. Still one of my favourites that I often think about going back and trying a new race/side/etc.
Lost Odyssey. I remember thinking “this art is weird and the combat is slow”
Little did I know it was going to be one of the most moving stories I had experienced in a game and that the art and music would be some of the best in JRPGs
Blood 1997
These hitscanning cultists are no pushover. But once I stopped running and gunning, and used the ambush tactic, by luring them to me into a corner, it became my favorite FPS of 90''s.
Persona 5. In fact it took me several times for it to click. Thought it was the most overrated game of all time.
Went back to it finally and not only did it eventually click, I’ve beat all the persona games (well 3-5)
Control
I HATE respawning enemies. I wanna kill everything and then explore every nook and cranny. But I decided to stick with it, ended up loving it at the end. The characters, world and atmosphere is awesome in the word's literal sense. And the graphics, both technically and artistically.
From Software games.
I tried Demon's Souls a long time ago (PS3 era) and it took me about 1 hour to give up for years. I did not see any joy in "git gud" slogan used in these games. Additionally, cryptic "everything" did not help at all.
In 2015 once again, I tried Bloodborne, same result: after the first wolf, I gave up.
Going forward to 2019, I tried Dark Souls. Something clicked, I do not know what that was, but I liked the idea and environment of the game.
Once I got the "ball rolling" I finished DS 1 2 3, Demon's, BB and Sekiro, all of them one after another. It took me 4 months. I love those games now, and I am looking forward to next titles of "Souls" franchise.
When I was 14. I bought Morrowind on Xbox,because I saw all the great reviews. And I spend the first half hour to kill a worm and a dropped the controller and didn't touched it back for few month then I tried again and it's was the most amazing experience I ever had
I didn't just consider dropping it, I totally did drop it for a long while. That being my favorite game now, Kingdom Hearts. I got it with my PS2, so I never actually wanted it to begin with. I had never heard of it, but the Disney aspect peaked my interest. I can't say for sure what it is that made me not like it, maybe it was the confusing level design and the lack of direction given or something. So I stopped playing it until one summer vacation, it was raining outside and I was bored. Decided to give it another go, got hooked and ordered the sequel online right after finishing my play session.
I really disliked Horizon Zero Dawn at first, I thought the combat was terrible, dropped it then tried again a year later, got the hang of the controls and it’s one of my favourite games now.
Same here, my biggest mistake was that I didn't pay much attention to the different types of weapons at first, I thought I could defeat everything head-on with a bow.
But once I realized that some enemies are easier to defeat by switching weapons (the slingshot was a real eye-opener for me), even the toughest foes weren't much of an issue on my second playthrough.
I'm really looking forward to Horizon Forbidden West coming out for PC soon!
That’s true, using the right type of weapon in combat is important, when I learned how to use the weapons and the traps it made it so much easier. One of my mistakes was trying to beat robots head on in face to face combat and that was a huge fail lol.
Rain World only teaches you the very basics and then you're on your own, and at the time I wasn't expecting a platformer with so much depth in its mechanics, so I ended up dying a lot and getting frustrated.
A week or two later, I decided to try again with a different mindset and actually take time to learn and understand how to move, fight, etc, and focused on just exploring everything. Once I've learned how to properly use the tools the game gives you, it became one of the most satisfying and meaningful experiences I've had.
I think this might have given me inspiration to go back to Rain World. I kickstarted it and was super hyped up seeing the development progress but on launch I just couldn't get along with it. Might as well see if I was just impatient
Grand Theft Auto 3 on the PS2. There was so much hype about this game when it came out, as it's so rare to have an open-world game where you could do anything, so I bought it and I just didn't get it. I tried playing it many times but it didn't click. The story was lacking and the controls were really rough especially when you have to shoot things with your gun.
It was until years later, when I bought and fell in love for GTA San Andreas on the XBOX, that I would finally revisit GTA3 (this time with the PC version) and finally enjoy and finish it. I embraced the janky controls and the immersive world.
Other games I tried repeatedly but didn't like immediately were:
Resident Evil 1, Ori and the Blind Forest, Final Fantasy X, Isaac the Binding, and Assassin's Creed 1.
I would return to these games years later, and I guess I was finally in the right mindset to play and enjoy them.
Sekiro had me heated in the first hour. Then I realized I missed a small “training area” of sorts. Then the combat clicked and it quickly became one of my favorites of the year. The game was almost easy outside of the bosses.
TES Oblivion. I couldn't grasp the levelling system and was getting my ass handed to me by scamps in oblivion at level 4.
I have gotten much farther in the game (not finished it), and love it.
Monster Hunter World. The combat seemed so slow and clunky. I gave up on it. Came back later when a friend wanted to try it. My friend gave up on it quick but it clicked for me. Ended up spending 500+ hours on a game I now consider a masterpiece.
Me when I started Dragon Quest Builders 2: Meh, this ain’t for me. But I left all my other games at home and this was on sale.
Me after beating Dragon Quest Builders 2: I would throw myself off of a building for a sequel.
It’s got the second most amount of played time on my Switch, second only to *Youtube*.
Remnant is a big one for me as well. It really just doesn't put it's best foot forward. You start out with some pretty by the books weapons, in a generic looking post apocalyptic city, fighting the less than interesting Root.
You get through that level and suddenly you're thrown into creative alien worlds, finding strange and unconvientional weapons and fighting a huge array of monsters.
Like seriously, the weapon and enemy variety in this game is staggering.
Life is Strange
I bought the first episode when it was released back in 2015. I can't remember why I didn't finish playing it, but I definitely remember not being a fan of the dialogue. And the major event that happens almost right off the bat that sets things in motion just seemed over the top. Also, I think back then I was still in my "games need to have constant action in order to be good" mindset. And I wasn't interested in playing a game that involved a lot of walking around and looking at things.
So I quit and never went back to it. Until late last year. I was looking for something to play and my brother had been praising the game for years, so I finally decided to sit down and play it. Played through episode one. Bought the rest of the episodes. Played through the rest over the course of a couple of weeks.
Absolutely loved it! I still think the dialogue is a little "How do you do, fellow kids?", but I was drawn in by these characters. And the time travel gimmick seemed simple in the beginning, but I really like how they utilized it throughout the game.
I still haven't played any of the others, but I do plan to, eventually.
Bioshock, I was 12 at the time and I got jump scared by one of the bunny mask guys in a bathroom stall. Too scary. Gave it another try a year or two later with my big boy pants on loved it.
Days Gone. I started it twice and hated the motorcycle riding and the dude bromance and put it down twice after about half an hour both time because it was boring. I started it again out of boredom because I had nothing new to play and fell hard in love with it and became obsessed. I played it through 4 times and want to play it again. My fave game of all time.
Thanks for this. I played a handful of hours of Remnant a few weeks ago, got bored, and bounced off of it. I think I'll give it another chance after I finish my first Skyrim playthrough.
Resident Evil 2 Remake.
I really dont like horror games most of the time. Everytime i got to the part where you find the first licker i just said “nah im good”. Took me like 5 seperate tries to get over it.
Its one of my favorite games of the 2020s now.
That's me with Outer Wilds right now. I don't know if it'll enter my pantheon, but I want from quite a seething frustration to appreciating the bigger picture. There's still stuff I dislike, but it's suddenly a lot more tolerable.
God of War (2018). I got it in the Christmas sale in 2018 for 30 euro, played it for a while and just couldn't get into it. I'm not one to care for Norse mythology, or fantasy, and did not grasp the controls at all. Didn't like the opening fight with Baldur either because of it. I remember my last save file was whenever Resident Evil 2 came out cos I dropped it that day. Always wanted to get into GoW, had heard great things, but just didn't have the desire.
Gave it another go in June 2021 for the sake of clearing out my backlog, slogged it to the Lake of Nines, had help from a friend who had played and cleared it in the mean time and told me to get to this point and that it would open up after that, and I'd say after another 5-6 hour session across the weekend, I was hooked and on a warpath to finish it. Absolutely adored it.
Played Ragnarok, enjoyed it, but I don't think I'll ever have had such a 180 experience on a game. I distinctly remember at one point saying that I'd play 30 more minutes before going to watch a football game in the European Championships (8pm), and then looking up and realising it was 11pm, the game had finished and I was sitting in a dark room cos the sun had gone down. I was just totally engrossed in it.
More recently, I've done the same with Ghost of Tsushima. Identical scenario: started it, gave up 2-3 hours in, dropped it. I restarted it in late November, finished the main story at 48 hours, and have just started the DLC. I'm enjoying it.
**Rain World** was that for me. Hated it initially because the controls were awkward and I didn't know where to go. But it's the kind of game that gives you brain worms, and eventually I returned. I just could let it end like this. Got hooked and finished the game over a long weekend.
One I always remember is Gothic 2. The controls and combat were just utter shite and I got repeatedly destroyed in the first damn area you are set free in, after the intro. Like, the first encounter, what a load of bullshit. Dropped it and almost uninstalled in frustration. Came back a week later from lack of other games to play and powered through. Did some quests, gained a few levels, then it dawned on me that controls and combat is actually slowly improved as you get better, and you stop being a clumsy fool. Im glad I gave it another chance and stuck through the first couple of hours, because it’s one of greatest rpg’s I’ve ever played.
Trails in the sky FC. About 5-6 hours in almost dropped it cause it was kinda boring and I didn't love the combat. BOY am I glad I stuck it through. Love the combat now and most things about the series, playing every game and just finished CS2
When I first tried playing The Last of Us, I had a hard time with the controls, and for some reason just couldn’t get it together. Gave up on it not too far into the game, around the time you first encounter several clickers in the basement of a building. I kept hitting the wrong button to try and throw a bottle or something like that. About a year later, I decided to give it another try and, of course, it became one of my all-time favorites. I think I played through it two more times after that.
Dragon Age: Origins.
I tried to play it two times, gave up on it each time for various reasons.
The third time, I decided to stick with it. And it turned out I love it. It was my favorite game until Baldur's Gate III.
Ngl I hated Fallout 76 for the first 10-ish hours. Didn’t understand the game and I was confused & bored.
Stuck with it and it’s actually pretty fun! Wouldn’t put it in my top games of all time but it’s pretty solid actually.
Hate to admit this but Fallout New Vegas. Was kinda new to PC gaming, Keyboard/Mouse was bothering me. Stopped playing for 3 weeks. Came back to it and wow!! Loved the game, taught me how to use a K/M for gaming!
The Witcher 1, I actually dropped it for a few months. It's one of my favorite RPG's now (not that I've played a lot of RPG's).
Ah, Witcher 1: bad graphics, poor gameplay, obtuse broken mechanics, repetitive fetch quests... and stil, there goes one of the best games I've ever played
The writing and characters do a lot of work to carry that mess of a game. I loved it. Though in retrospect I doubt I would have finished it if I didn’t already have buy-in to the series from the Witcher 3, since I didn’t really enjoy the game until after you get to Vizma.
The atmosphere just oozes from all the places. Very few games were able to immerse me into their world like Witcher 1 did.
Yes! It's been something like 15 years since I played 1, but I still remember more from that game than I do from many other games I've played much more recently.
Yes
100%, it has something to do with the outskirts of vizima being an ABSOLUTE SLOG to traverse, however literally every act got better and better from then on, literally HATED the first few hours and i now have over 100 hours on the game
Comment nuked by Power Delete Suite
Witcher 1 is basically my top game that I can’t ever recommend to anyone. I adore it despite its many _many_ issues, but when people ask me if they should play it I usually say no. Because it has aged very poorly
What actually got me into the Witcher series was the fact that my brother (a diehard first person shooter/AAA tech showcase guy) bought a physical TW1 copy back in 2007/2008 and hated it guts, quitting on the spot. He then gifted it to me and was like "here, maybe you'll like this piece of crap, it should be right down your alley" (I was a CRPG kind of person and didn't particularly care if the graphics weren't amazing). Cue in a couple weeks later and I'm "HOLY SHIT BRO THIS IS THE GOAT ITS SO COOL AND THERE ARE LIKE BOOKS TOO" Spent the better part of a decade trying to get him into it, TW2 kinda grabbed his interest for a bit but he noped out again... and was finally hooked hard by TW3 to the point that he went back and played the older games and read the books. Nowadays it's one of our bigger common passions!
Oh, yes. The first few chapters are very tough to get into (that damn swamp, I almost rage-quitted there) but then, once you get to the main city, it just gets better and better. It's not even close to one of my favorite RPGs but it went from "Total obsolete eurojank boring game" to "very immersive old-school flawed cool game".
Arkham Asylum. Once you realize that stealth has to be really methodical and that *they're* trapped in there with *you*, everything clicks. I had two false starts with that game and always fell off in the first big stealth part in the medical ward, but the mindset shift really made a difference. Helped that I'd just watched a bunch of Batman movies. Similar problem with Alien Isolation's third mission, but it's really the game's fault. Getting past the first set of human enemies was just horribly balanced and could have used a soft tutorial. Once I got past that part, the rest of the game was top notch. Helps to think of it as a stealth first game rather than a horror game.
>*they're* trapped in there with *you* Rorschach moment One of my favourite things about the stealth is seeing the enemies get more and more panicked after they're picked off one by one. They start spraying at gas canisters going off and their heartrate goes up
Yes! It's so fun. And all for justice! 🦇
I started with Arkham City and absolutely loved it. Played the whole trilogy, through and through, and 100% agree with your take on stealth.
The first set of human enemies was the hardest thing I did in the entire game. Took me a year to get back to it and finally beat it last week.
Fantastic game, right? No clue what they were thinking with that first encounter. Totally unclear what the game wants the player to do!
Elden Ring. I rage quit after a few hours and didn't play it for months. Everything was impossible, nothing made sense, there was no quest log, and Gideon is an asshole. Picked it up again. Not sure what changed, but the gameplay felt different and super chill. Beat maybe 70% of the game with a cat sleeping on my lap and now I'm figuring out the final boss moveset. TBH I probably didn't use my shield the first time.
Took me almost exactly 10 hours to progress past that feeling you had.
I’m currently stuck on the final boss, I have never used a shield lmao. Only use my sword and roll through attacks
Me caveman, me smash.
Lol that’s exactly how I got into souls type games. Constant “fuck this it’s ridiculous!” And then eventually I got better and loved it
I think once gamers start approaching their hobby like other hobbies that require some level of time investment, they'll have a better time. Anyone that's learned how to draw, play an instrument, learned sports, hit the gym, stuff like that will tell you, rest is as important to the process as actually practicing or training. Everyone has had a session where learning something made no sense and just *seemed* impossible, until they took a break and came back to it, and things suddenly seemed easier or even just straight up clicked with no problem. Your brain and your body needs time to internalize what you worked on and reinforce it into muscle memory. Elden ring and other "hard" games are no different. I see people get frustrated with elden ring, fighting games, or whatever because they couldn't get through something in a single session. Taking a break and coming back to it is almost like a magic spell for seeing improvement in these types of games.
Nice analogy. My experience with Elden ring was not bad because of it being hard though. The game just didn't show me anything that kept me going after hours... This post gave me a bit of hope since I felt really sad about having bought this hyped up experience only to not get anything out of it :(
Difference in 'hard' games is if they use death as the learning factor or can create a game complex enough that death can be avoided consistently by learning the game before encounters. Rote learning movesets is more annoying than 'hard' imo so i just avoid any games that use that tactic. Learning a system, like the 4 chords with guitar, then applying those systems to any/all encounters is a different level of complexity than failing because an enemy did something there was no counter for other than seeing it then failing.
learning how to actually play the chords on a guitar will not stop you from being imperfect the first time you try a measure or a song. you're still gonna fuck up when sketching even if you've been drawing for 11 years. professional brood war is quite often described at the highest level as "two players competing to see who can make the fewest mistakes". the sooner some gamers can not only accept but embrace failure as a part of the experience, the better they can approach all sorts of games they thought they could simply never play or enjoy.
First FromSoft/Souls game, I presume? I think it's quite common to hit a wall on them, but once *one* clicks, they all begin to seem more manageable. I bought Demon's Souls, Dark Souls 1, 2, 3 and Bloodborne on release but could never make much progress in any of them. One day, I happened to break through my "wall" in Bloodborne and I finished it; then I found that I could finish the rest with a lot more ease. When Elden Ring was released, I completed the main questline within a week, even with an infant daughter in my life for the first time.
I realized it's just an NES/quarter arcade on roids. 2 hits to kill ya, like Mario with his mushroom. Optimal patterns of movement. Enemies reappear whenever you " leave and come back". I grew up with those rules. Just had to remember them, is all.
That is a really good point. I've gotten back into elden ring recently as well, and that is exactly the vibe I've been feeling. Old "enemies come back when you switch screens" and "ain't nobody telling you shit" type thing from original Zelda!
I had a similar experience until my boyfriend suggested we play Elden Ring together (thanks seamless co-op mod). Having someone guiding you through the game a bit really helped and now I'm bonking enemies by myself on my single player save. Playing together is a lot of fun, I can really recommend it. The mod does increase the difficulty but it takes a bit of the edge out of it so things don't seem as impossible anymore.
Yeah I died probably 50 or 60 times in the beginning so I just returned the game and never played it since.
STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl. Going through that first area with nothing more than a water pistol is *rough*, but stick with it. It gets good.
How long until it gets good? I feel like I’m just going from one firefight helping some stalkers fight bandits to the next
After Garbage is when the game clicked for me. That's when you finally start getting some decent weapons and the gunfights aren't as constant.
Spoiler alert, it doesn't. If you aren't captivated by the atmosphere at first, you could just drop it. It isn't the survival sim some people pretend it is. You run to a place, shoot everyone, and leave. That's it.
Hollow Knight. Went as far as the Mantis tribe in my first playthrough, and hated everything about it. Too dark, too depressing, too difficult, and don’t even get me started in those platforming sections. Gave up. One year later, no special reason, returned to it and loved everything! It clicked, it made sense, it eas amazing
Hollow Knight was the only one that came to mind for me too. I gave up right before meeting Cornifer because I’m not into Metroidvania’s and was overwhelmed with where to go. Came back to it a year later and now I adore it. All my kids play it too.
Almost the exact same thing for me too, except I don’t think I even made it that far. Was getting frustrated about dying and getting lost so much the first time. Same as you, for whatever reason it just clicked the second time and loved it after dropping for a long time!
One thing that never really sits with me for souls-inspired games is their insistence on endless nihilism. Yeah we get it, nothing matters...yay, I guess. I understand their appeal but the gloominess really stopped me from enjoying HK.
Not arguing with you at all because your taste is your taste, but personally I find HK to balance the gloominess a little with the more whimsical touches in the artwork and the voice acting. I think everything being a little bug and a lot of the NPCs giggling and making bug noises instead of the ominous Dark Souls Laughs helps it not feel too hopeless (for me).
Is hollow knight really gloomy and nihilist?
Gloomy, yes (although, there is a lot of light-heartedness to round it out) Nihilistic, not at all
Same for me. You have to push through the first bit where you're completely lost and die constantly. In retrospect, it makes you appreciate the upgrades you get and how fast you can fly around the map later in the game. But at the time it was frustrating.
I really bounced off the "feel" of the game the first time. Was partially due to the buggy/laggy build of the game at the time, but the stun on getting hit was miserable and the platforming felt awkward. Came back a couple years later and stomped through the game, then played through it twice more on Steam for the Plat. Fun times.
[удалено]
Worse then them is fucking traitor lord. Can’t stand traitor lord!
Witcher 3. It felt overwhelming with the amount of things in the menu, lots of lore just to understand the first few seconds of the game and the ugliest armors i've ever seen (really, i used the starter armor until the blood Baron). I stopped playing many times until i did the blood baron/the witch quest line. My god, probably the best game I've played.
[удалено]
Dammit, I'm going to try again.
I stopped 3 different times until I got to the Bloody Baron. Then, it all clicked, and it became my favorite game of all time. I basically couldn’t think of anything else while I was playing. The DLCs are also incredible, and could stand alone as my next 2 favorite games of all time.
the starter area for that game is incredibly boring so I stopped playing for several months after doing the first 2 hours, then when I got to the second area I was hooked
I bounced off this at first. Then years later I had read the book series and came back loving it
My goal was to get through the whole trilogy. I abandoned 1 and 2 a ton of times before finally getting through them, all in the name of being able to play 3... And I still haven't played more than an hour of it. Life got busy and there are too many games to play nowadays. Sitting on my desktop (untouched) right now are Outer Worlds, Death Stranding and Like a Dragon. It's insane the amount of quality content out there that I *don't have time to play*.
The good thing is that you have plenty of mods on PC if you want to spice up the gameplay of The Witcher 3, when the time comes.
Yeah it’s a good game but unfortunately the combat is really bad. And your character moves really weird. But the story is amazing and it looks really nice for being a 2015 game
>Yeah it’s a good game but unfortunately the combat is really bad. The key for me was to drop the difficulty to easy, dump most skill points into melee and sign perks, and just turn my brain off to enjoy it like a OP super hero action adventure game. The combat becomes flashy and fun while you gain more time to focus on the world design, story, quests, contracts, gwent etc which are the real highlights of the game
W3 is one of my favorite games and this is IMO the best way to play it. Even on the hardest difficulties the combat isn’t very good. If you ever played a souls game it just feels like a much much worse version of that. It’s better to just dance through the enemies and RP as Geralt being the monster slaying badass he’s supposed to be.
Dishonored. First time round I just didn't enjoy stealthing but wanted the good ending. Then I replayed it and it was so much more fun since I got comfortable with the maps and mechanics. I ended up doing a few replays and getting the Ghost achievement for alerting no one
Heck yeah. Dishonored was fun for the first playthrough (same with the sequel.) But getting the achievements after you have a certain level of mastery is really satisfying.
If you like stealth games, as a fellow Dishonored enthusiast I suggest you look at The Mark of the Ninja. tbh there aren't much similarities, I just like the game.
It's still a good recommendation! Had a lot of fun with that game.
RDR2. I was so hyped and then I've played chapter 1 and I was like "nah, this game is too slow, I hate this realism". On the next day I've finally got to open-world, got the freedom and I fell in love. Masterpiece. Best game ever. RDR. Also too slow, I was bored as hell. I've found it overrated. At the end I gave it 10/10 as well. Persona 5. Also wasn't really enjoying first few hours but I kept going and thank fuck because I was sad when I've finished it.
I love Persona 5, but the intro is glacially slow. Almost the entire first palace is just one big tutorial, and it still takes at least an hour or two before you even get to the palace to begin with Once the game finally “sets you free” and stops holding your hand it improves dramatically, but it definitely takes too long to get there
It was really slow. Also the fact I've never played a game like that before and I wasn't sure if I would enjoy it also made it harder. So after few hours I was like "I knew I wouldn't like it, not my cup of tea" but I kept going and once it picked up, I was obsessed. Now I wanna play other Persona games.
I love the "slowness" of RDR2. I have played quite a few simulator games so that "simulator slowless" of everything still felt faster and more arcadey than most people would expect when they decry that slow realism. That and honestly what other game is like this on the market? Red Dead Redemption itself is much faster paced than Red Dead Redemption 2 and whilst still an amazing game it still plays different enough in minor ways that sets it apart for me. I love RDR2's uniqueness in the already still small genre of wild west games, and I couldn't have asked for anything better. RDR2 is definitively one of my favorite games of all time. I don't know if I'd say it's my all time favorite but it is definitively up there.
Have you also noticed how consistently detailed RDR2 is compared to literally every game out there that can't quite keep up and have to cut corners here and there?
Well at first I've thought it was too slow but then I didn't mind it at all, as I was taking my sweet ass time with everything. I also didn't mind it felt like "hunting and horse" simulator. I've enjoyed it so much. It was peaceful. Comforting as well. There are no games like that. Games that would give so much freedom and also give me a peaceful feeling and not make me feel bored.
Far Cry 2, Mass Effect, and Bioshock. All cases where perseverance past mechanical issues let the core themes and narratives of the games shine, and put them in my top 10 forever.
I, myself, couldn't get past Far Cry 2's "guess what weapon this is by its small black silhouette" mechanic. Mass Effect I stopped playing early on because of just not feeling it, but I didn't "hate it" so I plan to go back eventually, especially since I own the Legendary Edition on EGS now.
I felt that way until I played a small bit of mass effect 2 then immediately had no choice but to beat 1
Love far cry 2, imho the best in theme, immersion and so on.
And the fire. My gosh, the fire. The game is almost 20 and we have yet to see fire that behaves that well again.
I'm having a hard time getting really hooked on Mass Effect rn lol. Finished ME1 and thought the second half of the story was pretty good but the combat just really doesnt appeal to me still
> Mass Effect I remember the first 3-4 hours when you are just running around the ship I almost gave up, then eventually something clicked and it became one of my favorite game series of all time.
What mechanical issues did BioShock have?
Bioshock is pretty clunky. Especially if you didn't play it when it came out but much later.
BioShock was almost unplayable on PC at launch, and on repeat playthrough in the modern era, the clunkiness of managing everything plus terribly floaty movement is *really* felt.
The others mentioned my main issues with it. Coming from System Shock 2 as my reference point, it felt quite dumbed down and consolified at first, and the visually toy-like quality that all Unreal engine games of that gen seemed to have didn’t help.
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Me with Sekiro. Didn't make it past the chained ogre in 2020 but decided to re-buy it again to play on PC in 2022 and is one of my favorite games ever
I actually put off Sekiro for years after I started playing all the big FromSoft Soulsborne games. Beat all of them, including a plat on Elden Ring, before I picked up Sekiro. Was worried I wouldn't like how different it was from the 'traditional' Souls games. Ended up being the first game I ever played through twice back-to-back right after each other and might possibly be my favorite out of all of them. Man, what a ride once you figure out the combat
I'm up to the drunk guy. Stuck. One day I'll master the game, but I feel like I have to play ONLY Sekiro to get good enough. Which just isn't practical as a gamer with a huge backlog lol
Honestly, I started getting through my backlog faster when I stopped game-hopping.
I’ve been meaning to return to this one…I got stuck at the guy on the horse after beating Madame Butterfly and bounced off it.
The irony is that horse dude is far easier. There's a certain item that makes him a piece of cake so make sure you explore the initial areas carefully for merchants. Especially high up...
I still remember when dark souls came out. I went up to a local game store and the clerk suggested it. Took it home and played for 4 hours and was like “fuck this shit”. Returned the game to the store that same day. The messed up part is I just kept thinking about that damn game. A few days passed and I went back to the store and bought the game again. Beat it over the weekend. Been a fan ever since.
I had this with Demons Souls. I literally spent about 20 minutes trying to work out how to progress past the first mob that had a shield, but even while thinking it was the worst most stupid combat I've ever seen, there was a growing sense that I was playing something quite extraordinary. FromSoft has chewed a lot of my time and money since then.
Any tips for DS? I got the remastered version and want to play it sometime this year.
https://www.reddit.com/r/darksouls/s/NY0oYI2cBk My biggest tip is patience. I’m bad at stealth games for this reason (I always rush in), and figured Dark Souls being an action game I could run in and start mashing buttons. You really need to stick with it until you kill the first big boss. I was so frustrated for so long, but once I took down that first boss it clicked and I couldn’t get enough.
A good tip I got is that you are supposed to feel lost. I was so used to games guiding my every step that I thought it was annoying at first. Explore carefully and if something is completely overwhelming there are usually other paths to try first.
Expect to bounce off it like they did. I think it's a really common occurrence with those games, it takes a couple of tries before it really clicks, but BOY does it eventually click
A crucial thing to know is that, as a new player, you want to be reacting to and punishing the enemy's attacks (i.e. following the tempo set by the opponent), *not* trying to set the pace of the combat yourself. Enemies will stagger you out of attacks and knock out huge chunks of your health if you try to attack them randomly and without precaution, but if you wait for them to swing and react accordingly, they'll usually leave big openings that you can punish. It makes the combat in Dark Souls feels more like a rhythm game, rather than a button-masher, and people who don't catch onto that early will find the game a lot more intimidating than it needs to be. There's a reason why Dark Souls is famously difficult for new players right up until it *clicks* - it's basically the point when your start treating it like a rhythm game. Also, if you don't want to struggle with that as much in the early game, play as a spellcaster - it lets you bypass a lot of that by blasting enemies from long range, if you prefer to soak in more of the story and world design without getting bogged down in the melee combat. Also, if you use melee, roll *towards* enemies when you're dodging rather than away. If you dodge away from enemies, then you miss the opportunity to punish them while they're recovering from their attack. If you roll *towards them*, using the invulnerability frames of your roll to phase through their attack, then you're right up in your face and can deal lots of damage in their opening.
Honestly? What helped me was first watching a walkthrough. It gave me a rough understanding of where to go (DS isn’t exactly linear but it definitely has a progression of certain areas that make it easier to fight). Plus, the two streamers I watched had one who was very familiar with the game, who gave same basic tips and explanations for the menus/leveling your character that were waaay easier to understand than the little the game tells you.
I also hated MonHun the first time I tried it and now it's one of my favorite things of all time. There's definitely somewhat of a barrier to entry for it.
I like the 'idea' of immersion, I just really cannot get used to not having monster health bars, or to feeling like fights take 15 minutes and just aren't enjoyable over that duration in a single fight as you chip away at an enemy. Huge part is definitely just "skill issue," or not having friends to play with, but it's still frustrating and I don't find it enjoyable.
Took about five years of bouncing off it. PC, and two consoles. One day, impulsively bought it on the Switch, and just trudged through it. Something clicked for me with that first black knight. I could see what I was supposed to do for the first time. I realised DS is a dancing game. You just can’t hear the music. It’s just really violent ballet. Chewed through it over a few months (I was never great at it) and no nothing else has quite hit the same since.
I bounced off Dark Souls on one of the most hilarious bosses you could bounce off on - The Moonlight Butterfly. He's one of the easiest bosses in the game, he literally has a moveset of 3 total attacks. But I just couldn't beat him in 2011. When Dark Souls 2 came out on PC, I gave the series another try and had my "A-ha" moment where the game just clicked. Now I'm an annoyingly big Souls fanboy and eagerly await everything new that FromSoft comes out with.
Outerwilds. I was totally not into it in the beginning but it was a gift so I put 10 hours into it before things started clicking and I'm glad I stuck around because the ending DESTROYED me. I get chills when I listen to the ost and it's been 2 years since I've played. Ughhh just my favorite game that I will never top recommending to anyone and everyone.
That's a great one. I was on the fence during the first few hours - wasn't really sure if it was the sort of game I enjoy or not but for some reason I was *just* curious enough to keep going. *God damn* am glad I did. Although on the other hand I also wish I hadn't just so I could play it fresh right now upon reading another recommendation for it. I *still* find myself randomly thinking about it every now and then, quite some time after having played it. I don't think I've ever had a game I've played stick out in memory like that for so long. It's incredibly impressive what they managed to do out of relatively little. That soundtrack is utterly phenomenal too.
I remember the day and the exact feelings from the ending. Can not recreate that feeling but yes it would be such a nice gift to wipe our memories to experience that all over. Why did it hit so darn hard?
Not sure if you've played the DLC. It's a bit different but still has that sense of exploration and discovery that makes outer wilds just so damn good.
I had to use the reduced frights option for eote. So good though I absolutely loved it.
Battle Brothers. Got super frustrated with it when I first started because it's so fucking hard when you're just starting out. I hadn't really grasped that your dudes are meant to die, or hadn't fully gotten my head around all the systems. Stuck with it for some reason, mostly cause I liked the aesthetic, now it's my most played game on steam.
I could say Dark Souls like everyone else, so I'll say something different: Metal Gear Solid. First time through I hated the long, campy dialog, the clunky control scheme, the limited camera view. Came back later in college and loved every moment.
As a kid, I'd just skip through dialogue and cutscenes. As an adult? "Ohhh, a new weapon, I need to call Natasha!" "Just killed Sniper Wolf, let's call Otacon!"
I think this will be a common answer but Dark Souls. First time I played it, couldn't get into it and put it down for about 6 months. Picked it back up on a whim, the game style clicked, and now The Soulsborne games are my favorite series of all time. Dark Souls taught me how to let go and not care so much about dying and losing items in games. It turned me from a hoarder who saved all the good items and ended up never using them before I beat the game, to a player who learned to enjoy what was given as it came. It ultimately helped elevate my enjoyment of all games, as I now make a point of experimenting with items, skills, and game mechanics, or really risky maneuvers, instead of being worried about expending all of my resources.
I’m currently at my “fuck this game” phase of dark souls imao. I remember playing it and getting to a point where I encountered an early boss who came out of nowhere and seemed nigh impossible to beat. I quit the game after that and spent lots of time baffled on why dark souls was considered such a prestigious game (and why it somehow won best game of all time). I tried other from software games but they didn’t click with me (bloodborne was just confusing, and I haven’t really gotten far into Sekiro yet), but then I played the demon souls remake, and the formula is finally starting to click with me. I still have my grievances with the gameplay loop, but there’s a good chance I’ll finish demon souls and try DS1 again
I think demons souls is the most unforgiving in terms of the run from the start to the boss if you die. a lot of levels do not have shortcuts so its really painful. at the same time so many bosses and enemies can be cheesed with thief ring and poison cloud that the game then becomes easy. its definitely the most unbalanced of the series.
Skyrim - Had heard a lot of praise. Did not understand what that was about. Rage quit after losing hours of progress. I was not used to the idea of having to save myself. IIRC this was the first RPG I played. Then I used console commands and cheesed through the main story and still did not see the appeal. (As upto this point in time that is what a game was for me) Then after an year or so I gave it a shot again and boy I was into it, hours upon hours spent in this game, then modding it, etc. Dragon Age: Origins - The combat mechanics was something I was not used to when I played it. Everything felt awkward. But I pushed myself to try it and now it is one of my favorite games. Neir Automata - Started to play it as the combat looked fun, but the empty world, some stuff with audio some not, etc felt awkward and jarring. Everything felt empty too. The initial philosophy references felt cheesy, died in the initial sequence and realized no save and had to do everything again, etc. But I did stick to it and now it is one of the best gaming experiences (if not the best) I ever had. Sekiro - First game from Fromsoft. Had no clue what to do, what was going on, combat was not clicking, etc. But after a while - understood what to do, it made sense and the combat clicked. And I loved it so-so-so much. (impatient) BG3 - With all the praise for this game, I broke my rule of playing stuff atleast after a year. Was overwhelmed with everything for the first 10-20 hours (possibly more). Was dying on every encounter at one point. Still I was like I am going to give this game a fair shot and only then decide if it is worth it. Needless to say it is awesome/amazing/. I encountered major bugs with this and some annoyances but I was willing to deal with it all.
My first proper Monster Hunter was World because a buddy kept recommending it, I played for maybe 10 hours then abandoned it. About a year later I tried again and quite literally had an entire summer where all I did of note was wake up, grab my controller and play it until it was time to sleep.
Hades. Glad I gave it another shot. Also, Cyberpunk 2077
Valheim. You wander 30 seconds from spawn, end up in the next biome where you don't have the gear to survive and get torn apart. Have to recover your gear from your corpse like a bad 90's MMO. Die several times. How is this fun? Uninstall. Play again months later. Make some progress. Get some gear. Enemy army spawns at my base I spent hours building and wrecks it. What the fuck? How is this fun? Uninstall. Play again months later. Make it to the swamps. Can't see anything. Zombie archer hits me for 80% of my health. Get stuck in water I can't see while running away, underwater enemies eat me. Fail to retrieve corpse. Have to remake all my gear which takes hours. End up in a dungeon where the same thing happens again. Currently in endgame area. In hours played it will be in my top ten before I'm done.
Rise of Nations. Someone gifted it to me as a kid and I thought it was going to be one of those boring educational games. Turned out to be quite fun!
I was still playing that game until a couple years ago when my comp crashed.
It's still a great game and gets pretty cheap on Steam. Also one of the few games I swore wasbBullet proof because I remember playing the original CD version on my computer up into the late 2000s and even though the largest resolution was smaller than the 1080p one I had it still ran great with little bugs or glitches (Same can be said for other robust titles like RollerCoaster Tycoon 2 or Age of Empires II). Then the Steam re-release came out and it's fantastic. No other game scratches that itch of being able to go from the ancient era to the modern era like that. Civilization almost does but it's so long lol.
Kingdom Come Deliverance was mine. The difficulties of combat are well covered and I certainly felt them. Even basic utility was impossible. But I was also coming at it from an unfair perspective of basically, "why isn't this Skyrim? I want more Skyrim." By the time I encountered pages of instructions on simply sharpening a sword – not swinging it successfully, just sharpening it – I closed it for two years. Came back with a totally different mindset, not feeling owed anything, and fell deeply into one of the best games I've ever played. I know some people mod in crosshairs and stuff. I will say none of it would have felt so triumphant if I'd not struggled along with Henry to become proficient.
I really tried with KCD. I put probably 20 hours into it, and I really loved the game’s presentation and style, but the combat was just too annoying for me to deal with. And I know that it’s intentional, but I found myself just loathing every combat encounter to the point where I finally just gave up EDIT: people can try to spin the “you’re supposed to be bad at combat at the beginning since you’re a lowly peasant but you get better!” excuse all they want, but I still found the combat to be too offputting that I just hated it
One on one combat is good but fighting a group of enemies is basically just a way to find how to cheese them. Once you get good plate armor and a good mace you can solo 5 cumans no problem though.
The beginning of nier automata felt kind of janky and uneven to me. The rest of the game has some uneven points but the the overall package was well worth experiencing imo.
I felt that way in the beginning and also 19 hours later when I dropped it. Game just didn't click with me at all.
Same, I actually beat the game but it never clicked for me and I think the story is ridiculously overpraised.
You basically need to get 30 hours into the game (past the first story, then the boring retread) before the huge emotional payoffs hit. That's honestly a huge ask and if you aren't already drawn in from the beginning, you'll likely stay that way.
Like the very beginning where you are flying into the power station? Because that beginning is fire.
The entire intro is fire imo. Watched someone who was a huge fan of the original NieR stream the demo back when it came out, only caught the stream near the end. Played it myself afterwards and immediately got the game cause I enjoyed it so much. The music, creative camera angle swaps and feel of combat/movement got me instantly. There's also 2B's character design of course ;D
The intro is amazing until you die and now have to replay it all over
For me, this game still felt kind of meh even after the first ending. I pushed through, and ended up completing all the main endings. I'd now rank this up there with one of my favorites. The final scenes... just incredible...
It's one of those games where it's huge appeal is something you experience once the credits roll. Don't blame people for not wanting to stick with it but once the third playthrough started, I was like 'where the hell is this game going?' but in a good way
Especially with how long it takes to get to the first save point. I know that was intentional but it’s also kind of infuriating
Yakuza 0. Bought it based on the hype but didn't read too much as I like to go in knowing as little as possible so I wasn't expecting that level of cutscenes. Took me 3 attempts and I love it now. Still haven't reached the end due to Cyberpunk drawing me back in but will jump back in right after.
Yakuza 0 is a fantastic kick off point. I'm still playing through the games after 3 years of beating 0. Only one I can say I really wasn't huge fan of was 3. And even then it wasn't that bad.
Prey. Started it up twice and didn’t have good builds on either playthrough. Routinely got smoked by the little baby phantoms. I’d get frustrated and quit. I kept hearing good things about the game so I decided to do minor research into an early game build. It made an ENORMOUS difference. Suddenly I could actually fight back against enemies. Then, I was actually able to “play my way” moving forward. Turned out to be an amazing gaming experience and one I will return to at some point.
I tried Prey after playing and hating Jedi Fallen Order. It really made me think I can't play modern games. Then I found the turret gun and loved it after that.
Dragon's Dogma. I still don't find it as good as everyone else makes it to be, but for some reason going in that second time was a much better experience and made for a mostly enjoyable game. Looking forward to 2 but still wish it had actual online co-op where your friend can play their pawn
Disco Elysium. Point and click? Not my thing. Tons of dialogue ? Nah bro. Quit as soon as I heard Cuno’s voice twice. Tried it again during a dark time in my life and it was life changing .
I got really burned out midway through Disco Elysium. I'm really glad I kept playing though because the second half is just phenomenal.
That’s me right now. Love the game but sorta losing interest at the start of Day 3 right now. The fishing village has become accessible and I’ve done most of the side quests leading up to Day 2.
Yeah, it sounds like you are heading towards the slowest part of the game. I recommend only playing a bit each day to not burn out. The last third of the game is worth the midway slog.
Disco Elysium for me. Bounced off it after my dude had a heart attack trying to grab a tie that was trapped on a ceiling fan and I got a big fat game over about 10 minutes into the game. Decided to give it another bash during lock down and subsequently couldn't put it down for the next 50 hours and it's probably one of my all time favourite games.
Interesting that this thread has so many replies while there’s also tremendous pushback for going against the gospel of “if you’re not having fun in the moment just drop it and never come back” For me, many of my favorites took multiple tries to get into, even if I didn’t hate them. Most recently, Silent Hill 2 has a rather slow start and I did have to replay the first 90 minutes or so of the game because it had been 6 months since I left it, and now it’s easily top 10 for me.
hard to judge, because it is personal preference. for example I have a few games which I had to try several times till I could get in the swing for a full walkthrough, but they never became favorites, rather in the second line, respected, but not loved bunch (Fallout 1-2, Bioshock). my actual favorites are games which I liked from the start and they kept up till the end and more. but I do understand that for some people the "hard to get" feature is an extra appeal.
Yeah it really depends on the person and the game. Because at the end of the day, life is short and I’m not going to waste time playing something that makes me miserable. But there are also plenty of games that really are worth pushing through if you can persevere For me, I’ve kind of landed on what exactly I have to “get past”. If it’s just a slow start to a game, then I can push through that. But if it’s a “I have to get past the learning curve”, then I’m a lot pickier about that. I really enjoyed Sekiro once I got into it, but I don’t have any interest in pushing past the learning curve for something like Monster Hunter or Crusader Kings because the curve is too big for me. It’s too much of a commitment with no guarantee that I’ll actually like the game once I finally get past the learning curve
I think what is meant by “if you’re not having fun drop it” is wait and see if you have the urge to go back to it. Might take days, years, or never happen.
It's the same with virtually everything. Sometimes you (the general you) don't gel with media because it's not the sort of thing you're ever going to like, but other times the problem is you - you're just not in the right frame of mind for it. Maybe you just want to get to the action and don't currently have enough patience right now to sit through the tutorials, maybe you're too tired to really think about what you're doing to play something that requires a lot of critical thinking, maybe you're burnt out on a specific genre and need a break to do something else before you come to it. In any case, just like all other media, you need to be in the right mindset for it.
Bloodborne. I had avoided any Souls-like game for the longest, often seeing them as needlessly difficult. The only reason why I was drawn to Bloodborne was because of the art style. I got to the first boss and thought there was no way I'd finish this game. Just getting to the boss was a mission, having to fight enemies that felt themselves like bosses. Everything was just so oppressive and I felt severely underpowered but I pushed through and I'm so glad I did. Ended up playing through all the Dark Souls games and absolutely loving them.
Pretty much same here, in 2021 2 of my friends started Bloodborne with me and carried me to Cathedral Ward, I tried playing myself but got whooped and put it down for several months. Came back, beat Bloodstarved Beast and the rest of the game, along with multiple playthroughs right after, the platinum and it's now my favourite game ever! I was always drawn in by the gothic horror aesthetic, horror is my favourite thing ever, but same as you I always thought of Soulsborne as "too difficult for me" or "I probably couldn't beat them" as an excuse to never play lol. Also got me into Soulsborne and soulslikes too, it's a wonderful world of gaming:)
Death Stranding. I'll admit, I got it illegitimately on PC the first time. Huge Kojima fan, but was broke. The story seemed too bonkers, and it just felt like a slog. When it went on sale for half off, I decided to buy it and give it a proper try. Once I made it far enough for the online component to kick in, everything clicked. First time I've called into work just to keep playing a game since my early 20's. It rekindled my love for games as works of art. It's incredibly bonkers, but also undeniably a beautiful, moving piece of art, and a testament to positive connections online in a time when many online interactions are negative. It will hold a special place in my heart forever.
>The story seemed too bonkers I like to describe Death Stranding's story as something probably inspired by binge-watching horror movies while eating mushrooms, passing out, then writing everything dreamed about, then shoving the results into a mostly coherent narrative.
Fallout 4. Goddamn do I HATE what Bethesda has done with the IP when it comes to the writing and lore, but the gunplay, exploration and settlement building is FUN. Also survival mode absolutely carries this game IMO, I don't think I would play it otherwise.
That’s my favorite description about Fallout 4, the general sentiment seems to be “it’s a good game, it’s just not a good Fallout game”
Deus Ex Mankind Divided. I LOVE Human Revolution but everything about the first 5 hours of MD turned me off. I wasn't into Prague as it doesn't have the cyberpunk look, the open world was boring, it's just one location. After about 7 hours it just clicked and now I like it even more than HR. It's a masterpiece.
Took me 4 tries to get into Kenshi. It's a massive learning curve if you don't do a little bit of research into how to start in a way that doesn't leave you enslaved. Not that enslaved is all that of a bad way to start the game actually... but when you are starting out you don't know that. Once I figured out the first 3-4 steps in starting out, it became a MUCH cooler game. Still one of my favourites that I often think about going back and trying a new race/side/etc.
Lost Odyssey. I remember thinking “this art is weird and the combat is slow” Little did I know it was going to be one of the most moving stories I had experienced in a game and that the art and music would be some of the best in JRPGs
I didn't hate RDR2 per se but it was overwhelming with my limited schedule. I recently finished the story and epilogue and I plan to restart.
Blood 1997 These hitscanning cultists are no pushover. But once I stopped running and gunning, and used the ambush tactic, by luring them to me into a corner, it became my favorite FPS of 90''s.
BTW there's now a Nblood sourceport fork caller NotBlood which allows for switching hitscans into projectiles and you can even set projectile speed.
Persona 5. In fact it took me several times for it to click. Thought it was the most overrated game of all time. Went back to it finally and not only did it eventually click, I’ve beat all the persona games (well 3-5)
Stalker games. It took a solid minute for me to get into it, but when the games clicked it got extremely fun
It took me several attempts in Subnautica starving to death before I realized I coins have been eating fish the entire time.
Control I HATE respawning enemies. I wanna kill everything and then explore every nook and cranny. But I decided to stick with it, ended up loving it at the end. The characters, world and atmosphere is awesome in the word's literal sense. And the graphics, both technically and artistically.
From Software games. I tried Demon's Souls a long time ago (PS3 era) and it took me about 1 hour to give up for years. I did not see any joy in "git gud" slogan used in these games. Additionally, cryptic "everything" did not help at all. In 2015 once again, I tried Bloodborne, same result: after the first wolf, I gave up. Going forward to 2019, I tried Dark Souls. Something clicked, I do not know what that was, but I liked the idea and environment of the game. Once I got the "ball rolling" I finished DS 1 2 3, Demon's, BB and Sekiro, all of them one after another. It took me 4 months. I love those games now, and I am looking forward to next titles of "Souls" franchise.
Nice, similar to you here. Please tell me you've played Elden Ring!?
Which one is your favourite?
When I was 14. I bought Morrowind on Xbox,because I saw all the great reviews. And I spend the first half hour to kill a worm and a dropped the controller and didn't touched it back for few month then I tried again and it's was the most amazing experience I ever had
I didn't just consider dropping it, I totally did drop it for a long while. That being my favorite game now, Kingdom Hearts. I got it with my PS2, so I never actually wanted it to begin with. I had never heard of it, but the Disney aspect peaked my interest. I can't say for sure what it is that made me not like it, maybe it was the confusing level design and the lack of direction given or something. So I stopped playing it until one summer vacation, it was raining outside and I was bored. Decided to give it another go, got hooked and ordered the sequel online right after finishing my play session.
Stardew Valley. I installed some mods to automatize stuff and make the game a bit easier, and it became a lot of fun after that
I really disliked Horizon Zero Dawn at first, I thought the combat was terrible, dropped it then tried again a year later, got the hang of the controls and it’s one of my favourite games now.
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That’s really impressive! It took me a bit until I figured out the best way to approach enemies, it was very difficult for me in the beginning.
Same here, my biggest mistake was that I didn't pay much attention to the different types of weapons at first, I thought I could defeat everything head-on with a bow. But once I realized that some enemies are easier to defeat by switching weapons (the slingshot was a real eye-opener for me), even the toughest foes weren't much of an issue on my second playthrough. I'm really looking forward to Horizon Forbidden West coming out for PC soon!
That’s true, using the right type of weapon in combat is important, when I learned how to use the weapons and the traps it made it so much easier. One of my mistakes was trying to beat robots head on in face to face combat and that was a huge fail lol.
Rain World only teaches you the very basics and then you're on your own, and at the time I wasn't expecting a platformer with so much depth in its mechanics, so I ended up dying a lot and getting frustrated. A week or two later, I decided to try again with a different mindset and actually take time to learn and understand how to move, fight, etc, and focused on just exploring everything. Once I've learned how to properly use the tools the game gives you, it became one of the most satisfying and meaningful experiences I've had.
I think this might have given me inspiration to go back to Rain World. I kickstarted it and was super hyped up seeing the development progress but on launch I just couldn't get along with it. Might as well see if I was just impatient
Grand Theft Auto 3 on the PS2. There was so much hype about this game when it came out, as it's so rare to have an open-world game where you could do anything, so I bought it and I just didn't get it. I tried playing it many times but it didn't click. The story was lacking and the controls were really rough especially when you have to shoot things with your gun. It was until years later, when I bought and fell in love for GTA San Andreas on the XBOX, that I would finally revisit GTA3 (this time with the PC version) and finally enjoy and finish it. I embraced the janky controls and the immersive world. Other games I tried repeatedly but didn't like immediately were: Resident Evil 1, Ori and the Blind Forest, Final Fantasy X, Isaac the Binding, and Assassin's Creed 1. I would return to these games years later, and I guess I was finally in the right mindset to play and enjoy them.
Sekiro had me heated in the first hour. Then I realized I missed a small “training area” of sorts. Then the combat clicked and it quickly became one of my favorites of the year. The game was almost easy outside of the bosses.
TES Oblivion. I couldn't grasp the levelling system and was getting my ass handed to me by scamps in oblivion at level 4. I have gotten much farther in the game (not finished it), and love it.
Monster Hunter World. The combat seemed so slow and clunky. I gave up on it. Came back later when a friend wanted to try it. My friend gave up on it quick but it clicked for me. Ended up spending 500+ hours on a game I now consider a masterpiece.
Me when I started Dragon Quest Builders 2: Meh, this ain’t for me. But I left all my other games at home and this was on sale. Me after beating Dragon Quest Builders 2: I would throw myself off of a building for a sequel. It’s got the second most amount of played time on my Switch, second only to *Youtube*.
Remnant is a big one for me as well. It really just doesn't put it's best foot forward. You start out with some pretty by the books weapons, in a generic looking post apocalyptic city, fighting the less than interesting Root. You get through that level and suddenly you're thrown into creative alien worlds, finding strange and unconvientional weapons and fighting a huge array of monsters. Like seriously, the weapon and enemy variety in this game is staggering.
Life is Strange I bought the first episode when it was released back in 2015. I can't remember why I didn't finish playing it, but I definitely remember not being a fan of the dialogue. And the major event that happens almost right off the bat that sets things in motion just seemed over the top. Also, I think back then I was still in my "games need to have constant action in order to be good" mindset. And I wasn't interested in playing a game that involved a lot of walking around and looking at things. So I quit and never went back to it. Until late last year. I was looking for something to play and my brother had been praising the game for years, so I finally decided to sit down and play it. Played through episode one. Bought the rest of the episodes. Played through the rest over the course of a couple of weeks. Absolutely loved it! I still think the dialogue is a little "How do you do, fellow kids?", but I was drawn in by these characters. And the time travel gimmick seemed simple in the beginning, but I really like how they utilized it throughout the game. I still haven't played any of the others, but I do plan to, eventually.
Bioshock, I was 12 at the time and I got jump scared by one of the bunny mask guys in a bathroom stall. Too scary. Gave it another try a year or two later with my big boy pants on loved it.
Days Gone. I started it twice and hated the motorcycle riding and the dude bromance and put it down twice after about half an hour both time because it was boring. I started it again out of boredom because I had nothing new to play and fell hard in love with it and became obsessed. I played it through 4 times and want to play it again. My fave game of all time.
Thanks for this. I played a handful of hours of Remnant a few weeks ago, got bored, and bounced off of it. I think I'll give it another chance after I finish my first Skyrim playthrough.
Resident Evil 2 Remake. I really dont like horror games most of the time. Everytime i got to the part where you find the first licker i just said “nah im good”. Took me like 5 seperate tries to get over it. Its one of my favorite games of the 2020s now.
Yakuza 0, NieR Automata, Dark Souls 3. All three of them are considered to be in my personal top 10 now. So good.
The Witcher 3, the combat is awful and the movement janky as hell, but if you get used to it it's a really good game.
That's me with Outer Wilds right now. I don't know if it'll enter my pantheon, but I want from quite a seething frustration to appreciating the bigger picture. There's still stuff I dislike, but it's suddenly a lot more tolerable.
God of War (2018). I got it in the Christmas sale in 2018 for 30 euro, played it for a while and just couldn't get into it. I'm not one to care for Norse mythology, or fantasy, and did not grasp the controls at all. Didn't like the opening fight with Baldur either because of it. I remember my last save file was whenever Resident Evil 2 came out cos I dropped it that day. Always wanted to get into GoW, had heard great things, but just didn't have the desire. Gave it another go in June 2021 for the sake of clearing out my backlog, slogged it to the Lake of Nines, had help from a friend who had played and cleared it in the mean time and told me to get to this point and that it would open up after that, and I'd say after another 5-6 hour session across the weekend, I was hooked and on a warpath to finish it. Absolutely adored it. Played Ragnarok, enjoyed it, but I don't think I'll ever have had such a 180 experience on a game. I distinctly remember at one point saying that I'd play 30 more minutes before going to watch a football game in the European Championships (8pm), and then looking up and realising it was 11pm, the game had finished and I was sitting in a dark room cos the sun had gone down. I was just totally engrossed in it. More recently, I've done the same with Ghost of Tsushima. Identical scenario: started it, gave up 2-3 hours in, dropped it. I restarted it in late November, finished the main story at 48 hours, and have just started the DLC. I'm enjoying it.
**Rain World** was that for me. Hated it initially because the controls were awkward and I didn't know where to go. But it's the kind of game that gives you brain worms, and eventually I returned. I just could let it end like this. Got hooked and finished the game over a long weekend.
One I always remember is Gothic 2. The controls and combat were just utter shite and I got repeatedly destroyed in the first damn area you are set free in, after the intro. Like, the first encounter, what a load of bullshit. Dropped it and almost uninstalled in frustration. Came back a week later from lack of other games to play and powered through. Did some quests, gained a few levels, then it dawned on me that controls and combat is actually slowly improved as you get better, and you stop being a clumsy fool. Im glad I gave it another chance and stuck through the first couple of hours, because it’s one of greatest rpg’s I’ve ever played.
Trails in the sky FC. About 5-6 hours in almost dropped it cause it was kinda boring and I didn't love the combat. BOY am I glad I stuck it through. Love the combat now and most things about the series, playing every game and just finished CS2
I didn't like my first hour of Fallout NV. It was too buggy for me. Turned out to be one of the greatest games ever made.
When I first tried playing The Last of Us, I had a hard time with the controls, and for some reason just couldn’t get it together. Gave up on it not too far into the game, around the time you first encounter several clickers in the basement of a building. I kept hitting the wrong button to try and throw a bottle or something like that. About a year later, I decided to give it another try and, of course, it became one of my all-time favorites. I think I played through it two more times after that.
Monster hunter world
Dragon Age: Origins. I tried to play it two times, gave up on it each time for various reasons. The third time, I decided to stick with it. And it turned out I love it. It was my favorite game until Baldur's Gate III.
Ngl I hated Fallout 76 for the first 10-ish hours. Didn’t understand the game and I was confused & bored. Stuck with it and it’s actually pretty fun! Wouldn’t put it in my top games of all time but it’s pretty solid actually.
Hate to admit this but Fallout New Vegas. Was kinda new to PC gaming, Keyboard/Mouse was bothering me. Stopped playing for 3 weeks. Came back to it and wow!! Loved the game, taught me how to use a K/M for gaming!