Games you didn't like initially, but that grew on you...

[nomask7]

Some people in this thread should examine the meaning of "grow on you" so they could take part in the thread with something appropriate to the topic.

...and Dark Omen is a masterpiece, a truly wonderful game that is perfect in every way. I can usually think of something that could be better or something that almost spoils an otherwise great game, but in the case of Dark Omen I can only stand in awe.

Games that grew on me:

Two Worlds. The combat seemed so primitive, but learn to dodge - and refocus on loot and exploration rather than combat - and you'll discover the game is rather nice after all. Perhaps a case of something being valuable only because it's rare, but rare it is. Certain types of enemies constantly kicking sand in your face is still a face-palming moment, but few are the games that don't have their ridiculous flaws even if they aren't so in your face about it.

Din's Curse. I didn't like the feel of it when I first tried it. Years after that, I decided to try it again, and started to enjoy it a lot pretty soon. I now think it's probably the best game of its type.

Neverwinter Nights. Seemed all sorts of awful, especially in terms of story presentation, but I started to kind of enjoy plowing through it. Looking back at it, it's not that it got better - the beginning, the zombie slums and whatnot - may actually be its best part; I think I just started getting into the right sort of frame of mind. I'm not trying to sell the game, I don't think anyone should play it these days, because there's so much other stuff that is better that one should play instead. However, "Hordes of the Underdark" is a nice game and should be played, and I probably wouldn't have played it if I hadn't acquired that momentum I somehow got while playing the original campaign.

Dark Souls. Seemed cumbersome, linear as fuck, stupid. I kept a long break, came back to it, tried to like it a little harder, and succeeded beyond my expectations. I'm now a fan.

 

[Humanophage]

Might and Magic 6. I was new to the genre, and thought RPGs were supposed to have interesting characters, or at least some meaningful interaction with the environment. It also seemed incredibly ugly, even in 1999. However, I gave it to a friend, who suddenly became a fan. I gave the game a second chance, this time trying to appreciate its exploration element a bit more, and it did suddenly envelop me, to the point that I also purchased M&M7, 8, and even 9 later on. That said, I have zero desire to replay M&M6, unlike other games from the same period, like Arcanum or JA2.

Neverwinter Nights. Seems like a popular choice in this thread. I enjoyed character generation a lot and re-rolled many times before actually starting, but was then appalled when I saw the actual game. That 3D was vomit-inducing, and sapped the atmosphere. Besides, my pirated version had no high-quality textures, so it was truly hideous, especially after the beauty of late-90s games like Icewind Dale or Revenant. The first part of the game seemed awfully generic, with pointless fetching quests and a distinct lack of exploration. I enjoyed individual elements, such as the fact that you can look at things, which spurred imagination. I was also a fan of Forgotten Realms at the time, so I liked the opportunity to explore the setting. For these reasons, I persisted. I gradually accepted the fact that the OC is a demonstration of the toolkit, and focused on user-made scenarios, which were often good. HotU was pretty nice, too.

Wizardry 8. Combat was impossibly slow, so I dropped it initially, and did not touch it for several years. Fixed it by downloading some speed mod later on, and finished the game. It helps to hold a game in high esteem in advance to return to it or overcome initial prejudice. E.g., I simply dropped Mass Effect after a few hours, and never returned.

Civilization 4. I didn't really dislike it, but it seemed like a step down from SMAC. However, it truly shines in multiplayer, be it a fast-paced gaming meeting or a spergy Realms Beyond game.

 

[a mod]

Planetscape: torment

I played initially as a fighter with low int.

 

[Repulsive]

Wizardry 7

 

[Krivol]

Baldur's Gate - first I enjoyed it, thet got bored, left it for anout 3-4 months. Later I started to like it very much (but still could not understand why people prefer it over fallout, and I am rather fantasy and not sci-fi/post nuclear lover)

STALKER CoP - this game looks bad (original terrain texture is just awful), also couldn't get used to aiming (bullets were dropping - nothing I got used to in Call of Duty and other shit fpp). But I started to really love it. One of the best FPP games I ever played.

Europa Universalis 3 - unhistorical? no fixed up events? 3d? ugly map? nope! and now... about 300 hours played

And the best one:

Jagged Alliance 2 - I got this game when I was 15 maybe... And it was so bad - stupid quiz-like character creation, extremely hard battles with damage not recovering fast or via some magical stimpack or sth (well, there are regen boosts, but not at the beggining). I just throw this game away, thinking it's some shitty aberration. And now I'm replaying this game once a year, fixing cheapest and best team configurations, modding, comparing guns and attachments. Great stuff.

 

[Cyberarmy]

Stalker
It was a buggy mess when I first played it and my rig was below mediocre so I had hard time. But after a few hours nothing could stop me finishing it!

 

[SionIV]

Temple of Elemental Evil.
Arcanum (now on my top 10 list)
Icewind Dale II
Seven Kingdoms
Final Fantasy Dirge of Cerberus
Koudelka + Shadow Hearts
Silent Hill 4

I'm sure that there are others that I'm forgetting.

 

[Dr Skeleton]

New Vegas.
My first memory of NV is completing the intro sequence with the doctor in Goodsprings and the game crashing to desktop immediately after I left his house. Flashbacks from Fallout 3, crashes, that horrible console pip-boy UI with GIANT TEXT and 100 sub-menus and combat that no amount of mods can really fix. Still, there is a good game there if you look long enough, once the game got patched I adjusted to the engine and got some UI and combat/difficulty mods and had a lot of fun with it.

 

[Hobo Elf]

my computer came with one of those X-amount-of-games-in-1 bundles. I forget everything that was in it (if someone ever saw this same bundle and remembers what it was called, let me know), but I do remember it having MoO2, Jagged Alliance, Mechwarrior 2: Mercenaries and Sim City 2000

I would have killed for a CD like that. The one I got around that time from a friend who got a new computer just for homework was full of awful shovelware. I sure had more luck with magazine CDs even if most of the time I only got demos. Not like the demos for Fallout, Diablo, Dungeon Keeper and Tyrian to name some weren't some of the most addicting stuff I played around that time.

It wasn't one CD, which makes the bundle even better. It was one box that came with around 10~14 games, all in their original CDs that you would've gotten had you bought them in their original packaging.

 

[markec]

my computer came with one of those X-amount-of-games-in-1 bundles. I forget everything that was in it (if someone ever saw this same bundle and remembers what it was called, let me know), but I do remember it having MoO2, Jagged Alliance, Mechwarrior 2: Mercenaries and Sim City 2000

I would have killed for a CD like that. The one I got around that time from a friend who got a new computer just for homework was full of awful shovelware. I sure had more luck with magazine CDs even if most of the time I only got demos. Not like the demos for Fallout, Diablo, Dungeon Keeper and Tyrian to name some weren't some of the most addicting stuff I played around that time.

It wasn't one CD, which makes the bundle even better. It was one box that came with around 10~14 games, all in their original CDs that you would've gotten had you bought them in their original packaging.

I got few of those packs, best money I ever spent.



As for topic at hand.

Only game I rege quit and came back to like it later was Divine Divinity. I left the game after experiencing the first dungeon but decided to go back few months later. After forcing myself to finish the starting dungeon I didnt find great loot but I managed to find a great game.

 

[Hobo Elf]

my computer came with one of those X-amount-of-games-in-1 bundles. I forget everything that was in it (if someone ever saw this same bundle and remembers what it was called, let me know), but I do remember it having MoO2, Jagged Alliance, Mechwarrior 2: Mercenaries and Sim City 2000

I would have killed for a CD like that. The one I got around that time from a friend who got a new computer just for homework was full of awful shovelware. I sure had more luck with magazine CDs even if most of the time I only got demos. Not like the demos for Fallout, Diablo, Dungeon Keeper and Tyrian to name some weren't some of the most addicting stuff I played around that time.

It wasn't one CD, which makes the bundle even better. It was one box that came with around 10~14 games, all in their original CDs that you would've gotten had you bought them in their original packaging.

I got few of those packs, best money I ever spent.



As for topic at hand.

Only game I rege quit and came back to like it later was Divine Divinity. I left the game after experiencing the first dungeon but decided to go back few months later. After forcing myself to finish the starting dungeon I didnt find great loot but I managed to find a great game.

Yes! This is the one! Seems I remembered wrong about it being Mechwarrior 2 Mercenaries, but close enough. I also vaguely remembered that Screamer might've been in it, but I wasn't absolutely sure.

 

[markec]

Yes! This is the one! Seems I remembered wrong about it being Mechwarrior 2 Mercenaries, but close enough. I also vaguely remembered that Screamer might've been in it, but I wasn't absolutely sure.

After checking out the rest of them http://www.mobygames.com/game-group/megamedias-megapak-series I "only" had one more, this one.

I bought my first PC in 1997 and bunch of games with it, this two packs, Command & Conquer and Simon the Sorcerer. So many great games to play so little time.

 

[Valky]

Thief. I recognized beforehand and during my initial attempt that it was an objectively well designed game, and I hit the second level and got turned off majorly by undead, getting spotted constantly, and boredom. Then I came back a month or so later and finally understood that it's supposed to be taken methodically, I understood how to play, and now it's among my top 5 games thanks to being great in general but very much more thanks to how much play-ability you get out of it thanks to fan missions. I still need to play Thief 2, I just haven't had time to get to it.

 

[Lady_Error]

Lords of Xulima - the beginning was kind of meh and pretty limited, but then it gets much better.

 

[Soulcucker]

KOTOR 2, Peragus and that ghost ship zzzzzzz.

 

[Severian Silk]

I just remembered Morrowind. The first time I tried playing it I did not like it hardly at all. The second time I thought it was OK and was able to complete it. (Still not a great game though.)

 

[PulsatingBrain]

Burnout Paradise. I think open worlds in racing games are a bad feature in general, but I got it out of desperation for a casual racer that wasn't NFS: Underground 2 or NFS Hot Pursuit (played them to death). As I'd predicted, I fucking hated it at first, but gritted my teeth and grew to really love it. Burnout Paradise's destruction and driving-feel, combined with the more structured street/track layouts from NFS UG 2 would probably be my ideal arcade style racing game.

Spoiler

I wish they'd make Need for Speed good again

 

[DraQ]

Divinity 2.

The very start of the BV is... not very stellar.
There is some funny dialogue, but mostly you just wander around relatively constrained area fighting boars and goblins and boring goblins using somewhat clunky (especially with ranged weapons) MMO-ish mechanics with cooldowns.
I actually dropped it for the first time then.

But when I restarted it and pushed forward up to the Talana encounter, and opening up of the BV proper - the game really started to pick up momentum and shine.

 

[DramaticPopcorn]

Witcher 3. Hated the gameplay, stayed for the story and exploration.

 

[Volourn]

Divine Divinity. I absolutely loathed it first times I tried it. The spamming of undead/.orcs just bored the crap out of me. The who thing seemed like a waste of time. But, tried it a lot later... and ended up enjoying it so much got the sequel, played D:OS, and even KSed D:OS2. Good turnaround.

 

[Santander02]

Fallout 1.











(Not actually trolling, it was the first turn based rpg I gave an honest try, Don't lynch me plox)

 

[Repulsive]

Fallout 1.











(Not actually trolling, it was the first turn based rpg I gave an honest try, Don't lynch me plox)

piece of shit

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

Borderlands pre sequel. Its actually pretty fun, provided you're playing in True Vault Hunter Mode, and ignore the writing and the shitty characters. The characters in borderlands were always terrible, irrational people, and TPS takes it up a notch. Then again it was written by Burch, so no surprise there.
Comedy is slightly better than in 2. As in, may have made me smile once or twice, but then feel really bad about it.

 

[Jack]

Raven's Cry, the game had a rocky launch and I was not enthusiastic about the pirate theme after games like Risen 2 had already done it but after patching I found it a very charming B-game.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Raven's Cry, the game had a rocky launch and I was not enthusiastic about the pirate theme after games like Risen 2 had already done it but after patching I found it a very charming B-game.

How playable is it? And how buggy now?