Which video game did you bounce off of at first, but then tried again later for it to become one of your favorites of all time?
Which video game did you bounce off of at first, but then tried again later for it to become one of your favorites of all time?
Dark souls
Demons souls through Dark Souls 3 I bought, tried, and quickly ended up on my shelf.
Knew they were amazing games, but I just couldn't figure it out. Always played with a shield, was slow and methodical, and just didn't get anywhere.
Then I read a post about someone who was having trouble so summoned another player. The summon showed up "Naked with a katana and charged in like a Jedi".
So I said screw it, and tried a light no shield build. Didnt care how far I got, I just started grinding the early enemies and leveling up. Then it all just sort of clicked.
Got my girlfriend into the games, and we've played through them all together, just now finishing on bloodborne.
Same. It took me months to give it another shot and after that I couldn't stop
Same. I still suck. I haven't finished a single one of them games. It took me months of playing on and off to get past Vordt in DS3. But once I beat him and reached the undead settlement, that was it. I was hooked. I also just rarely finish RPGs in general lol. The art direction and general ambiance, the combat hitboxes, the music, the learning curve, the variety of builds... Fromsoft just knows something about games that most other companies don't.
Not gonna try that again until I'm retired. I don't need my play to feel like work.
Factorio. I tried it years ago and it just never clicked. I just started playing it again and suffice it to say I have gotten very little sleep over the past couple weeks.
The factory must grow
The factory must expand to meet the ever expanding needs of the factory.
Ohh no. Just started Satisfactory. It's going well, well into my sleep.
I refuse to play that game knowing that I have an addictive personality and an unhealthy obsession with maximizing efficiency. It just doesn't seem like a good idea to give a person with my type of personality the equivalent of heroin.
Cyberpunk 2077
Got it on console first, and it was ... rough. Got it as a gift on PC and finally got to experience the glorious story and wonderful characters.
Outer Wilds. I went to the hollow planet early and got very frustrated with the platforming and falling rocks.
I returned to it almost a year later and gave it a chance based on everyone's praise. Very glad I did.
This is one that I have to come back to.
You should. Make sure you pick it up when you have time to really wrap your head around it. When I finally played through it, it was over a Christmas holiday. I don't think it's the sort of game that would lend itself well to being played in 1-2 hour chunks after work every night for a week when you're feeling burned out. You gotta be able to sink your teeth into it
Baldur's Gate. I've never played DnD so there was a bit of a learning curve. I rage quit after two hours, almost returned it. Three days later I fired it up again and haven't really stopped playing since.
Baldur's Gate was a special game. It's the only game my wife liked to play, and we couch-coopted it. We played the rest in the series together, full play through all of them, a couple of times. Never found that magic combo again, sadly, and to this day she laments that there are so few 3d isometric couch coop games.
And now I’m 158 hours in and can’t bear the thought of finishing it now that combat has become sooooo monotonous.
I've been playing bg1 on Android lately, anything you would go back and tell yourself if you could? I've basically been flying blind and struggling a bit lol
Monster Hunter. When I was a kid with a PSP I bought Freedom Unite since the box art was cool. Had not a fucking clue what was happening or how to even understand the weapons.
Years later I bought a 3DS, 3 Ultimate, and even a circle pad pro for it. Nope, still just didn't even crack an hour of playtime because everything was just so strange. Finally, in probably 2019 or so I decided that there was too much cool word of mouth about the series for me to not try and figure out how it worked.
I got Generations Ultimate, and decided that if I could figure out how to play Monster Hunter that I wouldnt be a complete failure in life. I just played, found that nothing made sense, but just... kept going anyway. I started researching what the different weapons were for, realized that they're basically just different fighting game character-type movesets, and from there I slowly explored the game until id ended up burning 240 hours or so on MHGU.
I discovered Monster Hunter World after that, and it was all over for me. I never get to g rank, but I've put probably a combined over 1k hours into the series, which is much more than I usually would for other games. Just fucking fantastic games in almost every way, except for tutorialization.
Monster Hunter for me as well! Tried 3 Ultimate on the 3ds and it just did not click for me. Tried it again with Rise and World and loved them
That’s because Rise and World are WAY better than the old games. Less clunky inventory, better movement, better everything. Trying to play MH3 or earlier is like pulling teeth now after Rise. It’s so much better in every way
I got the monster hunter on 3ds (MH 3 Ultimate), and I liked playing it, got pretty good at it, but man....the graphics on that system just isn't right for that game. They tried making it look to non pixilated on a system that was too pixilated for it.
I've planned for quite a while to get it as a rom for my PC or steam deck and use some filters to smooth the jaggedness out of it and see how it does, but still haven't gotten around to it yet. Really need to get on that. I played like 30 hours worth and stopped.
This is encouraging, as I have a game session of MH4 Ultimate forgotten in my 3DS for years now.
Control.
The beginning of the game is really slow, hard to understand what's happening, and you literally have only minimal throwing ability. The manual navigation with overlay fullscreen map also doesn't do justice to the game. Combining with the fact that I wasn't used to playing these types of games, this was an easy pass for me after like 1 hour of the game.
But boy it's awesome as you actually get more abilities and understand more of the story. Currently it's one of the games I usually come back to.
I didn't realize it was in the Alan Wake universe. I still need to play Control.
Yeah there's only a couple subtle hints in the regular game and I think more in the dlc. I'm guessing they'll lean into it more with control 2 now that AW2 is out as well.
Interesting, I had a similar experience at the start and couldn't work out why everyone was praising it so much. Maybe I'll give it another go
Please do. Control was such a hidden gem. I picked it up in a humble bundle and it absolutely blew me away.
I bounced off Dwarf Fortress a lot over the years, even with the packs to help. Eventually I got the hang of Adventurer Mode and quite enjoyed it! Now I'm just waiting for that mode on the steam version!
I bought the Steam version of Dwarf Fortress. I did not realise it was actually a time machine.
Every time I started it, I would instantly jump 4 hours into the future.
When the Steam version was announced, I decided to dive in to the game blind. In the months before the release, I ended up seeing some interviews of Tarn and fell in love with their vision and quiet dedication.
Steam version came out and I dumped easily 200+ hours into the game. I'm waiting for adventure mode to dive back in. Can't wait.
The game is definitely not for everyone. But it is very special.
Do you know if there's a noob friendly Lemmy community for Dwarf Fortress. I want to get into the game
I don't know, I'm sorry!
Subnautica. I didn't really get it at first. Swam around the life pod a bit; didn't see the point.
Was travelling some time (months?) Later and stuck at an airport with my laptop and a Power outlet but super patchy wifi. So I fired it up again and really, really got into it. Kept playing on the plane and all through that trip. By the time I got back, I had a Cyclops and a Prawn suit and was about to find the lost river.
I also came to say Subnautica. I got it for free prom PlayStation, messed around a little bit, didn’t have any clue where to go, and stopped playing.
Years later I started a new game and it clicked with me. I bought the sequel before I rolled credits so I’d be able to go right into it.
Love that game. Love, love, love it.
Rimworld. Did the standard start (industrial with 3 pawns) on cass. Died of hunger. Uninstalled the game.
Next week I was bored at my intership and redownloaded it and gave it another shot. Now I have close to 4k hours in Rimworld.
Same thing happened with Crusader Kings, funnily enough.
Edit: oh, that happened with M&B: Warband and Kenshi as well.
RimWorld is incredible. I’m hard pressed to think of another game with as much customization of play style or as vibrant a mod scene.
Dwarf Fortress. There aren't many mods in the steam version afaik (tons for the free ascii version though) but... You don't need mods for it. Want to capture invaders and host gladiator fights? Yep. Water trap to push invaders off a cliff onto some grates so you can collect their items after blocking the water trap again? Easy peasy floodgates Parcheesi. Want to gift lead mugs to the filthy elves? Strike the Earth, brother. (Doesn't poison them though, sadly). Want your dwarves to only drink alcohol? They only have to drink water when they're injured, 24/7 drinking besides that makes for happy dwarves. You're battling a bunch of invading goblins and you have some dwarves die? Better bury them or their ghost will haunt your fortress. Oh, and don't forget your necromancer will probably grab some new friends from the fight.
There's very little you can't do in Dwarf Fortress. It doesn't get very high tech since it's fantasy based, most high tech that you can get is windmill driven mills and water pumps I think, but there is so much depth to the game that honestly that's perfectly okay with me
Edit: there are mods for the steam version too, baked right into the steam workshop
Kinshi is such a deep game. I get how it’s hard to get into but damn once it clicks it’s crazy how far down the rabbit hole that game goes.
I still can't get into Kenshi. It's too much jank. I love the ideas and the stories people share.
Terraria. At first I compared it to Minecraft before I started to like it on it's own. Thanks to pre-Fandom wiki I broke through not getting it's gameplay at all to enjoying it.
This one for me. The controls were hard to get used to and I died a whole lot and lost my stuff the first dozen nights. But once it clicked it got better and better, and holy cow the game has a lot going on inside of it.
Same for me. But then a friend played like an hour together with me, showed me the ropes and I haven't stopped playing since. Not all the time, but like one playthrough a month or so.
Diablo III. First time I played it was at the urging of my friend, who told me unironically, "don't worry about the plot, the plot doesn't matter." Unsurprisingly my experience wasn't particularly engaging and I lost interest, not seeing much reason to play it over any number of other games that didn't have an always-online requirement.
Flash forward several years later. My then-girlfriend (now spouse) asked me if I'd ever played a Diablo game, and I related my experience. After she was done sputtering and emitting various noises of extreme outrage she insisted that I set things up so we could play through Diablo 1, 2, and then 3 together. I went in to D1 expecting to be similarly disappointed and instead found an incredibly dark, atmospheric, and compelling story. Oh and we did get The Butcher so I also shat myself. After that I was way hyped for 2, and by the time we hit 3 I was far more interested in playing. Loved the hell out of it, found myself not only enjoying the game but completing through the last stages of a season journey to score extra stash space and all that. Not out of obligation either, I was legitimately enjoying the grind.
I gotta ask - given all that, what’d you think of 4?
Played the Beta, thought it was... good. Better than 3 in some ways, but not up to that oppressive, almost claustrophobic ambiance in D1 that made it so damn good. That said, I loved rolling around as a Shaman Werewolf tanking everything. Was it the most effective? Nope, but I tanked Butcher twice and the World Boss and survived. Felt great.
Haven't played the game proper on release though. Got drawn into other things actually. Am looking forward to it.
Hollow Knight. Bought it and played a few hours, died and got very annoyed that I couldn't find my shade so lost motivation.
Picked it up again 2 years later and it's arguably my favourite game ever now.
Almost exactly the same story here
Unironically The Witcher 3. It just didn't click at first.
That's one of my all time favorite games now. Same thing, didn't like it at first, but once I started playing more of the game, they had some of the most interesting side quests.
Same. I wasn’t even an hour in. I was fucking around on some rocks and died from a ten foot drop. Early gameplay before getting some skills was kinda meh too. I didn’t come back for almost a year.
I had the same experience! I got as far as the first boss, died, and thought this game just wasn’t for me and fuck all the hype.
Came back a few years later and actually paid attention to the lore and was blown away.
I tried playing this on Xbox one, but I couldn't figure out the combat due to input lag.
Played it again on a different system, and it was excellent!
Rocket League. 3246 hours.
I wouldn't really call it a favorite, but I definitely ended up liking Nier: Automata pretty well after bouncing off it really hard when trying it at a friend's house. That's because we were trying from the start, and it starts with a section that's about half an hour long, with only two checkpoints, vastly harder than anything else in the game, and in which the first half isn't even the same genre as the rest of the game. It's seriously one of the worst intros I can think of in a video game. The rest of the game is, y'know, a pretty good third-person action RPG.
Minecraft / Minetest - I'm used to games with active quests etc. so the openness threw me off but now I host a server for the kiddos and we have all sorts of adventures and random builds
play quest based modpacks
BioShock 1. I found the first level to be frustrating. Left it for a year and came back; it was easier, somehow, or I was more patient.
I'm so glad I gave it a second chance. Easily in my top 5 GOAT.
God yes what a classic. 2 is amazing too
Fallout 3 took me a couple tries to get going, but it was hard to put down once hooked.
I played Celeste, thought it was kinda easy and the hotel level kinda lame which is where I dropped it. A few years later I broke my leg, being a pc gamer before the steamdeck my switch was the only portable console I had and celeste the only unfinished game i had for it. I played the entire game in a week of 12 hour sessions while high as a mother fucking kite. It was amazingly good fun.
Morrowind. I'd played it when it came out but didn't get very far. Tried it again after watching an 8 hour video about it. Focused on speed in my build so I didn't feel like running at a snail's pace. Finding the dead people that failed to become Nerevar, giving some guy a book of poetry without a quest telling me to, getting used to the layout of Vivec, actually enjoying the fast travel system, and lots more all added up to such a great experience.
Morrowind was the most immersive game I ever played. Something about it made it so I could just get really into it and focus on nothing else for hours. Not even the other elder scroll games were that way for me. I'd give anything to be able to re-live those days. I don't think it's even possible anymore with how much other shit I have going on in my life as an adult.
Favorite game of all time.
PatricianTV is one of the best long form video game essay writers out there. Really understands the topic they are talking about. Would recommend watching all his content if you like the format.
Oh yeah, I definitely have experience his other videos. Used to fall asleep to the oblivion one but then kept getting woken up by the 🎵 horse cock🎶 part.
Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.
I bounced off the first Deus Ex a few times… the first mission is just kind of dull.
The game is so funny if you know all of the Y2K era stuff that it's a satire of.
Yeah for sure! It’s not surprising that it’s a cult classic at all. But ugh, after figuring out key bindings and going through the tutorial I would always lose interest by the time I started liberty island. Deus Ex just feels clunky at first.
Overwatch.
Oroginally I dismissed it as just being a TF2 clone, and being a very loyal TF2 player at the time I didn't want to play it as I consodered it a blatant ripoff. However, I started going to a LAN party group at work in 2017 and Overwatch was the only FPS they played so I got it. It still does feel similar to TF2 but the variety of characters got me hooked and it became my most played game for many years until OW2 came out and ruined everything. Getting back into it now though and they've toned down some of the bad decisions of OW2 since launch. Now I'm dating a girl who plays Overwatch as well and we've been playing constantly so I'm back into it completely now.
The original Rogue Legacy. I just couldn't get the hang of it. Came back a year later and it all clicked.
Help me understand it? The first hour or so was awful. The castle level seems boring AF, the powerups feel grindy, and the random character abilities seem more likely a handicap than a bonus. What changes? Or what could I possibly be doing wrong?
I can't remember rogue legacy, but I loved it enough to buy Rogue Legacy 2. So my comment is based on that.
My solution was to turn on handicaps. I honestly don't know how people play it when you die in 3-4 hits.
I also play it like a Metroidvania game, trying to get to the next power up or story quest. I also really really really love Castlevania Symphony of the Night, where i'd spend 10-20 minutes running the same rooms for loot drops.
It's supposed to be a bit grindy. Like a lot of rouge lites you get more powerful each iteration as you get more gold and can level up. So it becomes a game of trying to progress farther and farther as you level up through upgrading the castle.
The second one does a bit better job of adding replayability and more interesting mechanics.
more likely a handicap than a bonus
Yep, that's intentional. It's how you get a variety of challenges from run to run.
The game is really all about rhythm and timing. Each enemy has an attack pattern and telegraphed moves, and how you progress is to learn those and how yo text to them, then how to do that with multiple enemies, then how to do that with different abilities and handicaps.
Dark souls
Same. Spent 3 hours on Gundyr in ds3 just to watch my non gamer wife beat him second try. Hated the game then came back to it with a friend who had finished it and voila, my new never ending addiction.
Same here, played a bit of DS2, but never really got into it. Started on DS3, but got tired of that pretty quick as well. But when Elden Ring came out, I got really hooked on the games. I finished Elden Ring, then I played through DS 1, 2 and 3. And then a few more playthroughs of Elden Ring with different builds. I've started a bit on Sekiro, but jumped over to Lies of P when it came out. The plan is to play the new Lords of the Fallen, when I'm finished with Lies of P. It's really satisfying to beat a boss after a few hours of learning the patterns.
Death Stranding. As a Metal Gear fanatic, the disappointment I felt on my first attempt at playing it was immense. Only got a few hours in before writing off as just not for me. Tried again in a different frame of mind, different time in my life, and it clicked. One of my fav games of all time.
I just played it through for the first time. What an experience it was! I've never played a game like it before. It's a story that will stick with me for years.
Had to try really hard to get into it but when it clicked, it clicked. Really enjoyed it but can't seem myself ever playing again
Yeah I know what you mean. I think I feel the same way about replaying it. I want to keep the memory of my journey intact.
Minecraft. I tried it as a teenager and didn't really "get it". Much later in life I found some friends and none of us really played the game that much so we decided to try it together and got hooked.
Whenever I play minecraft now. Either it's fully modded Minecraft with automation and stuff.
Or it's vanilla with a ton of client side mods and automating stuff through vanilla farms.
I can't help being a factorio dude.
Dark Souls and Syardew Valley.
Also Dark Souls. I was confused at first as I mostly ignored the story part since it's not given to you on a plate and just stopped. Then years later I did a proper run and I'll never forget it.
Ill always remember going to firelink shrine for the first time.
Arrive at firelink, go to cemetary, get calcium stolen by skeletons multiple times. Think maybe i picked a bad character. Re roll
Character 2. Attempt to murder guy sitting at firelink for his armor. Die. He wont unaggro after respawning. Re roll character again.
Pick knight, finally find undead parish, things start to click.
Oddly enough, Witcher 3. It took a mate of mine to convince me to give it another go, now I love it.
I did the same thing. Bought it many years ago, it didn't click with me. Tried again in 2020 and I've so far done all achievements and played through it about 5 times. Absolutely love it!
I still can't get that game to click with me. I love an RPG but I just can't get into it. I even love the characters etc and Netflix show (the first season anyway). Don't know why, and at this point I can't bear the thought of starting over again.
It didn't click with me with either, I tried it for a few hours then put it down and forgot about it. A couple of Christmases ago I went back into it with a mindset of "just focus on the story missions rather than exploring every nook and cranny" and I got far enough that it really started to click and I was hooked.
The story is incredible, pretty much the whole way through. The progression and combat is delightful. The world is beautiful so you end up exploring it whilst naturally following your quest markers. To top it all the expansions are amazing and have really incredible moments.
Fallout 3. I never made it out of the vault on my first play. It's long and slow. I played at a friend's house who was past that point and realized I needed to try again. I'll never regret giving it another try!
New Vegas made Fallout 3 click for me. NV is better in every way, but I was able to go back and actually enjoy it afterwords.
It took me forever to want to play Skyrim because the beginning is so dull. Not really a fan of the Oblivion / Fallout 3 / Skyrim openings. I can’t remember Fallout 4… I feel like it was a little faster.
Skyrim: running from Satan's dragon.
Fallout 4: husband/wife trying to get a door-to-door salesman to go away.
Civilization VI
With my limited English back then, I struggled to understand how to play Civilization VI. I was expecting something similar to Age of Empires, which made me frustrated until I gave it another try a couple years later. Today, it stands as my most played game ever, with over 900 hours of gameplay.
STALKER Shadow of Chernobyl.
It didn't click at first, I was used to (less janky) games that treated you nicely. Came back years later, installed a bunch of mods to improve graphics and immersion.. And wow, I remember that first play through so well.
I haven't played many games that do immersion quite so well. Morrowind actually, is the closest.
It's because of the 'expedition' aspect. You don't just leave town and fumble your way through the world- you can't.. You need to prepare, know where you are going, have ammo and food and health supplies. And working guns.
Every expedition is an adventure. Death is seconds away at every moment, and it's your skill and knowledge that keeps you alive, not game mechanics or leveled enemies. It feels real.
I remember one time, I had a nice mp5 and I was going through Lab X16. A snork jumped out at me and in fright I emptied the whole mag. It was dead in 3 bullets, most of the mag went in to the ceiling. Ammo conservation is a real thing, and it's not about being accurate or efficient. It's about keeping your wits and trying not to panic-fire.
I've never had that experience in any other game ever.
Super accurate and relatable. Playing misery mod and building up a decent kit and venturing further into the zone than I’d ever been is one of the most memorable gaming moments of my life.
Have you played Anomaly? Anomaly looked better than Misery. I haven't checked the state of either for a while though.
Stardew Valley. I don't know why I didn't get it the first time. Maybe it was the art style? Now it becomes my daily routine…
That game was the total opposite for me. Played it at launch and sunk in like 40h in a week. Absolutely loved it. Put it aside for a while and I have never been able to spend more than 30m on it since...
Bloodborne
Didn't even got to the first boss my first "try" (actually a lot of tries) and shelved it as "I'm not gud enough"
After a colleague nagged me about it again I gave it another try (with a guide this time) and it clicked! 10/10 game of the decade
Agreed I hated that first mob around the fire and could not get past it. Gave up and came back after Elden ring and loved it. Also dark souls, I said fuck it during zens fortress but eventually came back started again from scratch and really enjoyed it.
Fallout 4. I died easily early on and quit after 20 minutes. A year or so later I picked it back up. 700 hours of gameplay later, I think I've changed my mind.
Rocket league.
I thought it was just some soccer car game and could not see the complexity and skill required to master the game.
Went back to the game years later and pretty much never dropped it then.
Bloodborne. The learning curve is rediculous and the controls are fucking trash.... until you git good.
Bloodborne is when the Souls games finally clicked for me. Damn is it brutal though.
Played this after dark souls, I felt like a superhero.. Cutting through swarms of hairy freaks like hot knife in butter
The hard one for me was sekiro, definitely the hardest game I've beaten.
Portal 2. I just couldn't get into it at first but for some reason after not touching it for a year or so I went bad and played the ever living shit out of it. I know we won't ever get a third especially not for console but I'd love to see it happen
Slay the Spire.
Gave up because I couldn't beat jaw worm or act 1 boss. Then I had an absolutely OP deadbranch +corruption deck. Been hooked ever since.
You fool, Jaw Worm is the act 1 boss!
Hollow Knight for me fits this scenario to a t. I got it as part of a humble bundle, but couldn't get into it for at least a year as the initial part felt really depressing, and didn't at all grab me.
But once I managed to tough it through to greenpath, and started to get some power ups, it finally sunk it's claws into me. I proceeded to nearly 100% the game.
When I first arrived at Path of Pain on my first run without looking up any guide, "This is bullshit . . ".
Mass Effect
The first time I played it I completely missed that I could pick a class. I just kept getting Soldier and not having any fun.
I tried the caster based classes first and hated how awkward they were, and soldier is what made the game so much better.
Witcher 3, is was so bored for the first 30 mins I turned it off. Came back a year later, now got around 300 hours in the game.
Oh no this is probably going to be me. I never made it out of the "tutorial" area and literally just learned about it a few days ago in a different thread. I thought it was boring because the map seemed small and uninstalled it. Turns out I never really started the game.
My Summer Car
Prey (2017), Monster Hunter, Stalker, Dark Souls. All great games that only show their true self after some time investment. Not too ridiculous time investment apart from Monster Hunter which gets really fun literally only after a few tens of hours, maybe even a hundred. I wish I was kidding.
Skyrim, thought it was boring at first but started again after a friend got it 1 month after me, im currently on what feels like my hundreth playthrough and it still is my all time favorit
Oblivion for me. I had no idea what to do once I left the sewer, I was overwhelmed. But I brought it to a friend's house and he helped give me some direction. I'll always be thankful for that because elder scrolls is now my absolute favorite IP for video games
Cyberpunk. Hated all the stuff with Johnny in the beginning. Came back later and actually played through the entire game.
Played through it multiple times now and still not a fan of the Silverhand story. Would've much rather kept Jackie throughout.
Like if V and Jackie kept rising and either rolled together or became adversaries in the end
That would of been great. I just hated being torn out of V's story and having to do the Johnny stuff. I'm usually pretty busy and have started disliking games with long unskipable cut scenes because I just want to zone out and play something for a minute. That's all the silver hand parts felt like to me was a cutscene.
100% this. Jackie and Misty were the only characters I really liked in the game and you loose them very early on
Witcher 3 Crusader Kings II
Horizon Zero Dawn
Same here. I first played it in 2019 and was immediately terrified of the enemy machines. Since I'm the kind of person who doesn't enjoy being stressed out for fun in any context, I pretty quickly bounced off of it. I also eventually realized that I saw death/game over in video games as irredeemable failure, and I'm working on being more accepting of trial and error (in video games and elsewhere in my life). I returned to it in early 2022, tried different strategies when I died, and realized that I loved the game. Zero Dawn, Forbidden West, and their DLCs are now among the very few games I have 100 percented.
I got Rhythm Heaven Fever for the Wii when it first came out and just couldn't get it. I mean, I understood what I was supposed to be doing, but I could barely pass any of the songs. I figured I just didn't have any rhythm and put it on the shelf.
Fast-forward to 2020 when I was rearranging some stuff and came across Rhythm Heaven Fever again. I hooked my Wii back up for shits and giggles and started playing and was doing great. Either I had magically gained a sense of rhythm or (most likely) the TV I had been playing on when I first got the game had some sort of latency issue.
Now I've gone through all the Rhythm Heaven games, but Fever is still my hands-down favorite. I put a copy on my Steam Deck and sometimes I just load it up and play through some songs when I have a few minutes to kill.
The fact that Fever is your favorite tells me you are a person with good taste. That was the one that really had the best balance of difficulty and novelty. Plus, Remix 9 in that game is probably the best song across the series
That's how I feel about Guitar Hero. It was cool when I was in early middle school, but I was bad at it. A while ago I've discovered Clone Hero (it's free!) and started playing it. I now play only expert and I've gotten pretty good by my standards. I use a Wii guitar via Bluetooth and it's very good.
Dragon Age
I started with Dragon Age inquisition and I dropped it within the first half an hour. Years later, I started with DAO and now it’s my favourite serie; I replay dao way too much btw
Happened twice, both to my #1 games. Tried Chrono Trigger as a kid and didn't like it, then came back and played it as a young adult and was like... damn... this is an actual treasure.
In 2015 I tried FFXI due to the XIV crossover event, and I could not get past the eccentric and clunky UI and the pacing of the combat. I tried again a couple of years later and committed to finishing all the stories. It became my new #1 and I think genuinely one of the best games ever made, in terms of revealing and pushing the artistic potential of online games, and games in general. Actual masterpiece and a massive innovation, and unlike Chrono Trigger I think the lessons are going to be a lot harder to learn and replicate.
Binding of Isaac, I couldn't handle all the poop and mild horror, but eventually something clicked and now I have 1500 hours combined in both games.
fallout 3. first time i ever played a game like it. stopped playing because the subways scared me and i was out of ammo
Eve online.
Hows the active player count and meta looking these days?
Afair ccp has been killing the game for some time now.
As far as I notice they aren't "killing the game" but I've been much happier since I gave up the idea of doing big null sec corpo blob wars and I assume those are the people that might have valid complaints.
I love the small gang cheap ship roams. Nothing like a fleet of mining frigates loaded for bear jumping haulers and randos in null sec. You get to be your own bait. I have been a little sad about the stealth nerfs, I miss just roaming in a stealth ship solo.
I've never found another game that can make my heart pound and adrenaline race like eve online.
The return to expansions and giving out 7 days of omega for each has been a massive boost to numbers. the current expansion adds a few Pirate factions to the Faction warfare system. So happy we can finally join the good guys.
We will be watching your career with great interest.
It's my first week; so far is awesome
Red dead redemption 2
Same. I gave up the first time due to tedious details and weird control. I played it again with some control tweak (can't remember what I changed) and tried to embrace the slow details, and completely loved the story.
Same for me, found it slow at first and didn't really get into it. Tried again a year later and loved it.
Doom Eternal
I played on easy mode, over the course of months slogged my way through over half the game getting wrecked and HATING it. And then one day...
Everything clicked. I got into the Fun Zone or Flow State or whatever it's called. And I have been obsessed ever since. I play at least a few minutes almost every night for years now. I can now comfortably beat it in the hardest difficulty, including the DLC. And it never stops being so much fun and satisfying!
It's called the "blissful murder zone"
Are the DLC any good? I wanted to do more ripping and tearing but the ratings on Steam are pretty bad.
Yes! I've played through all of the DLC many times. Here's some details:
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There's "only" six new stages... but these stages are MASSIVE. It did not feel short to me.
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When it was first released, the difficulty was insane. But the developers realized this and shortly released a patch to remove or tone down many of the ridiculous parts. For reference, I don't consider myself a particularly good player (for example, I can't do the quick swap move between two weapons) but I can beat the DLC on the hardest difficulty, Nightmare Mode.
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The arenas / fights are the reason I play Doom Eternal, and the DLC gave me exactly what I wanted, more fights! Some of the fights feel like "throw more enemies at the player", which is what I wanted. Some of the fights feel veeeery gimmicky, but even those grew on me. For example, a room where like 20 Pinky Demons spawn in. It's surprisingly fun, challenging, and a nice change of pace.
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There's two new boss fights. The first one is VERY HARD, but I enjoy the concept. It's very video gamey, and provides some clever new challenges. The second, final boss fight... I was dreading it on Nightmare, but not only was it not too challenging for me, I actually kind of enjoyed it! Many people whine about the final boss fight. To me, it seems obvious the developers were going for a "Super Marauder" type of fight. Like, the regular Marauder battles but MORE. I thought it was clever!
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There's new suit upgrades. I don't really use them, but they're fun to collect.
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The one new weapon, the Hammer, is SO MUCH FUN.
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The new enemies... I love to hate them. Once again, they're pretty gimmicky, but I enjoy the new challenge. My biggest complaint is any enemies that make you wait to attack them. Like, I've got these amazing weapons but the game won't let me use them on this enemy. 😒😒😒
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I love the new music! I love the music in the main game too, but I find myself humming the music from the DLC more.
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THE ENVIRONMENTS. So, I got the DLC on sale for $10 each, and I was worried about wasting my money. UNTIL I STARTED STAGE ONE, took one look (I hadn't even moved yet) and immediately thought, this was worth it. Love the new stage themes / environments.
...I think that's everything. Let me know if you have any more questions! Yes, the DLC was well worth it to me, and I still enjoy replaying it.
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Sekiro. Tried getting into it twice, but couldn't - I always got mentally stuck at Lady Butterfly.
Third time, someone told me that I shouldn't fight her until later, and HOT DAMN is this a good game. I'm still working on the final fight of the normal route, but can't wait to go back and do the other endings!
Hollow Knight.
The first few hours on felt dull. Lots of reviews were praising it and I just didn't get why. Dirtmouth and the Forgotten Crossroads weren't really exhilarating, so I stopped after ~5h.
A couple months later I created a new game slot. My POV shifted by following Cornifer's passion for exploring for exploring's sake, instead of grinding the Geo economy. The soundtrack really enhances the experience and environment of each section. I'm now ~120h in and still unsure if I'm halfway there!
That was pretty much my experience with it. It rocked me so hard that I finally went back to the OG aka Super Metroid, and give that an honest shake. And man, I had an amazing time.
DDR, use to talk mad shit about that game. Can’t remember what happened but I think my uncle bought it for me and then it just clicked. Ended up hanging at the arcade for hours all sweaty getting food court food.
Mass effect
Tried it twice and thought it was soooo boring. Then one day I figured I'd give it a final go and omg I fell in love with the whole franchise.
So many games in here, that I started and apparently need to go back and try again.
Not that I didn't like them, but with limited time, I just couldn't get into them properly.
Hades. I'm not really sure why it didn't grab me the first time...
If I were to guess, it's because the randomness of the upgrades is just a little too random at first. Once you get used to it, and get some upgrades, the game is no longer as frustrating.
After I beat the game, I installed some mods that made it so you were more likely to get certain gods (and you could choose which ones), and it became quite a bit more fun. Getting the combo powers, and ones that you were interested in, wasn't some super rare occurrence anymore.
Monster Hunter (I tink it was 4U).
The first time I just didn't Get It(TM) and kept dying to uuuuh I think some scaly raptor doggos. But the damn good music and the monster designs lured me again and I gave it a try and among other things, I learned that the first time I tried I had been wandering into the Hard Mode section of the game, into which you can head at T=0 without warning. I guess that's why I kept dying. Oh well.
That defo taught me to READ THE TEXT of the NPC dialogues and the item and quest descriptions and such. And the game is much better with that.
Monster hunter would benefit so much from a decent tutorial in most their games. I think that really helped world, to at least explain some things.
Need for Speed: Most Wanted (2005) I thought it was just a gimmick when I first saw a friend play it and the tried it myself later at home and the graphics, the story, the cars, and the gameplay, everything blew me away. I still consider it the best Need for Speed game ever.
Damn I miss that game.
Yea I play it every once in a while with the widescreenfix, the only game I actually enjoy the motion blur.
Watch Dogs 2
WD1 was alright (I really liked the dark atmosphere and Aiden himself, but a generic revenge story in a world where Blume could have been the big bad (and hacking was, for me, underwhelming) felt like a missed opportunity), WD2 was the best (a focus on hacking, and on the true enemy, Blume, in exchange for a tonal shift, which worked well, but I still wanted WD2 with the darker feel of WD1), and Legion feels a bit empty (from a character perspective). I could go into a deep analysis of why I don't like the character system or I could just point you to Whitelight's video on Legion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRaMnCHleDs
Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
https://www.piped.video/watch?v=jRaMnCHleDs
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.
One of the first video games I owned was FFXII, gifted to me for Christmas after I had finally saved up and bought my own PS2.
I did not understand how to play the game well. Basically kitted out every character as archers, and if I ever struggled (which was frequently) my go-to was to chain mist attacks and use up all my mana at once. I would often sure a lot of time just waiting for mana to regenerate after any had fight. It was slow but worked, until the bomb king boss in the forest. I would finally kill it, and then the thing would revive, and I would have nothing left. Tried and tried until I managed to kill it a second time and it revived again.
I gave up out of frustration. Came back to it a couple years later, a little bit wiser, and found the game much easier when the different characters had different roles and I didn't blow all my mana at the first sign of trouble. The bomb boss was actually a breeze, and I noticed this time that each revival was with fewer hp than before, so it only revived 3 times before it was done for good.
Bloodborne. I gave up on 3 separate times, even after loving previous Dark Souls games. Gave it a 4th and final try, then didn’t stop until I got the platinum trophy. I don’t know that it’s my favorite souls game, but it left me the most satisfied when I finally finished it. Love that game and wish it would get the same remaster treatment that Demon Souls got.
Ark
Left4Dead
First time I turned it on I just heard the music and saw the zombies puking and thought it was some kind of horror suspense game and never played it.
I had my GF play it with me since I didn’t want to play horror alone, and we both loved it.
Drugs here!
Against the Storm. Been on steam for 15 years and it’s my third most played game now. Rimworld and CK3 are the only ones above.
Residentes Evil. The camera fixed angles were confusing and sometimes I got caught between two different angles in a small space to maneuver.
Path of Exile for me. I went in blind towards the end of Synthesis league (Q2 2019) and played completely SSF with a homebrew zoo witch. Managed to eventually fight and kill shaper but it was so draining I didn't even want to look at the game again... Til the end of the year when I hopped into the end of Blight league and I've sunk almost 2k hours since
Aye, that first experience when a friend convinced me that part of the game was trading for better items blew my mind. My only previous experience with that sort of game was diablo, where you could definitely get through the whole game with just found items.
I miss the old way they had though, where it was worth having a single target attack and an aoe attack on swapped weapons, and dominus, try 3, was a hard fight.
Nothing's stopping you from weapon swapping! I did exactly that on a homebrew bow build beginning of this league. Was kind of a bitch to craft essentially 2 of the same bow, but it worked well enough to take down uber bosses
I never got to experience Dominus being the big bad, but I've heard they were good time indeed
League of legends.
Absolutely despised it, thought it was just pointless since progress doesn't really carry over from match to match, so what's the point?
Eventually gave it a go back in 2011 and never got rid of it. Took me a while to get into it too, I'd only play because of my brother and with friends on teamspeak but eventually got reeeeally into it.
These days I don't have time, or at least don't want to invest it, for rankeds or even SR (5x5) so I mostly play ARAMs and some of the riot forge games (LOTRK, song of nunu). Looking forward for the mmo, really love the universe and I loved the TV show too.
Yeah, the Runeterra universe is awesome! I played LoR for two years, basically for the lore and the art card. I burnt out on the game, but I still miss those aspects.
The release of Arcane was awesome as well, with all kinds of different media experiences. Looking forward to season two (November 2024 D: ).
Yeah I was really looking forward for LoR being a big hearthstone fan. However the way the turns work just never clicked with me. My brother on the other hand completely abandoned HS and only plays LoR now. The cards and the effects are amazing though, it's one of those games I feel sad I don't like it hahaha
Also very hyped for arcane season 2. A bit frustrating that it will take so long but, if it means it's as high quality as the first one them I'm all for it.
World of Warcraft.
I bought it because a classmate told me about it and we planned to play together, but he had a level 60 character and didn't want to start a new one to level with me. So I played alone for the first 25 levels or so, and quit out of boredom. Then I told my brother about the game and we started again together. That lasted until about halfway through Legion (at least 10 years, with a few breaks ofc), when we both stopped playing. I've been trying to get back into it a few times since then, but it never really clicked again.
I wish I could get into WoW again but I don't have the time required and the game is not really built to play solo. Now I watch videos and read everything I can just to be a part of that universe.
Hollow Knight and Darkest Dungeon both fit this for me. When I initially played them there would be some pain point where I got frustrated with some wall in the exploration or a tough setback (like some classic darkest dungeon bullshit like 3 spiders getting critical hits in a row killing a hero at full health). But the atmosphere of both games kept pulling me back again and again, and each time I’d get a little bit further.
Now I can say I’ve beaten Darkest Dungeon probably a half dozen times, nearly 100% Darkest Dungeon 2, and beaten every pantheon in Hollow Knight (with bindings on all but P5).
Not sure if my obvious masochism was the biggest factor in these games pulling through for me, but I can still say they are fantastic experiences for anyone willing to dig in and face the challenges they have to offer.
The Division 2
The main campaign story is boring, but end game is tons of fun and customization of gear builds.
Vagrant Story and Parasite Eve
Played them as demos back when that was a thing and I didn't get why there's spheres popping up making battle stop (semi-turned based combat) and why there's a dude named Ashley.
Tried again a couple years later after playing FF7, connecting that they were all by squaresoft, and it all made sense. Absolutely became a couple of my favorites.
and why there’s a dude named Ashley
🤣
Dota 2. First time I played it it was not for me, I only played it to hang out with my friends. Many years later I had an itch for it, so I started playing again. And I haven't stopped. It is an excellent game.
Knights Field series. I never could get into them back in the day, but I've been on a retro kick with my Anbernic and got sucked into them. Ended up putting 20 hours so far into the English translation of the first Japanese KF.
Also, Vagrant Story. Pretty much same scenario where I rented it back in the day and bounced off the combat for not making any sense to me. Tried it recently and really dig it. The combat system is really quite clever once you understand it.
I had always avoided the Kings Field series because it looked like the gameplay didn't age well, but honestly after playing through Lunacid I think I have to seriously give them a try.
I'm also watching a retrospective on the development of Vagrant Story right now and as a jrpg fan it's wild to me that I never knew it existed back in the day. What they were able to accomplish in a PSX game is crazy. It makes me want to give it a try also
Witcher 3
Was overwhelmed with most of the game mechanics.
I have two very different kinds of games I did this with.
The first was Undertale, didn't really get into it at first and stopped playing it around half way through. However after I watched someone else beat the game I got a lot more into it and finally beat all the main endings. Really liked the story and it quickly became one of my favorites after that.
The other is the Crusader Kings games. I got one of them when I was pretty young through a humble bundle and did not understand how it worked at all. Then near the end of highschool I finally tried them again along with playing Stellaris and thats when I was finally able to figure out how to play them and got super into a lot of Paradox's games.
Mount & Blade
There's a cheat that puts the game into slowmo, and it was the first game that pretty much let you dive into an army of soldiers and take them all down with melee combat. It was glorious.
Plus there was a cheat that would let you teleport, so sometimes your enemies would go rally an army against you, and you could literally teleport behind them and take them on the hills.
Glorious game.
Cyberpunk and RDR2 both
Yes. Cyberpunk and I were oil and water when it was first released. The 2.0 patch made it a different game, and for some magical reason, I jive with it now. It's one of the best realized worlds. I just finished my first playthrough and I'll buy the DLC and play again soon!
Dragon Age: Origins. Not sure why. I was a big fan of Mass Effect already, and of story heavy RPGs in general, but I stopped this one pretty early on and sat on it for several years. Needless to say, it stuck the second time and now I've played it and the other Dragon Age games multiple times.
Hotline Miami
I wouldn't say it didn't click for me the first time, but definitely its gameplay wasn't what I was expecting, I thought it would be purely fast paced just as if it was a Metal Slug with a different view, it turned out to be a fantastic game where you need to think before shooting lol.
Dota2
Trails in the Sky, the first one. I bounced off the game not once, but twice. I liked the combat, but it felt like all I was doing was quests from the guild's notice board, so I quit. But then I kept seeing TitS (heh) on various "Best of" lists, so I was like "FINE. I'll try to push through one last time". And then it clicked and I pretty much marathoned the entire trilogy.
The first game is good, buuuut I still feel like it's the weakest in the Trilogy. Story-wise, you get to the good stuff way, way later in the game. Everything that comes before is world building. And it's good, too. You get to see how the world works, how different regions of Liberl (the country you're in) operate and you also get a small glimpse of Zemurian politics (Zemuria being the name of the continent Liberl is on). This also gets vastly expanded upon in the second game.
I'm glad I tried it, because the writing is great, the music is incredible and I really dig the combat. If anyone wants to try it, definitely do. Just know that the first game is a slow burn. Worry not, though. Once the plot starts picking up steam, it doesn't stop.
Crusader Kings II
@ada I must have another go at that. I bought it and then just sat there in confusion and gave up.
Dark Souls, took a partner to get me to give it another shot, I've played all souls games since lmao
Mass Effect. Played the first one and couldn't get off Eden Prime cause of the shitty starting rifle and the OG game's idea of weapon stability.
Played Mass Effect 2 years later and beat it in a week, just absolutely loved the whole thing. Went back and played the first one after that to get the whole story. Then waited for ME3 to come out.
I still hate the way weapons work in the original ME1 but I pushed through, not surprised it turned people off of the game though.
Since the Trails series is continuous, it's what I think of with this sort of thing. I bounced off of and had to nibble at Trails in the Sky over a good while until the third game hooked me. I never would have gotten rolling with that series without pandemic lockdowns.
Now, Trails to Azure is firmly in my top 5 games.
Tetrisphere
Auralux 2
I'm currently playing through Shadowrun : Hong Kong and really enjoying it. I'm not sure why I bounced off the first time, I played and enjoyed Shadowrun: Dragonfall and Shadowrun Returns but Hong Kong just did not click with me the first two times I tried
The Witcher 2. I died so many goddamn times in the intro scene, rage quit, came back years later and thoroughly enjoyed it.
I started and quickly lost interest. I think I forgot the role mechanic while going through the first real dungeon. Bosses are hard without rolling
Horizon Zero Dawn. The first time I played it I could not get into the tutorial, just felt so bland. Then years later I tried it again, pushed through the tutorial, and it's now my all time favorite video game series.
Shattered Pixel Dungeon
Thief: The Dark Project
My brother had acquired a pirated copy for me. But the videos and dialogues had been stripped out to save space. He was gushing about how your footsteps would make different sounds on different floor types, but I already knew that from Jedi Knight. So I really didn't get what the fuzz was about.
Don't know how much time later I got a full copy and completely fell in love. It's one of my all time favourite games. The atmosphere is the best. And the different footstep sounds actually serve a gameplay purpose.
Nice. Definitely check out the Hitman series and the Dishonored series if you love stealth
That would be OMORI, first and foremost.
Dwarf fortress I was always into it conceptually and think that all the under the hood simulation stuff is rad as hell and its fascinating how emergent narrative arises from such complexity.
Also love kruggsmash's videos, the bastards a legend. He's what got me into it.
But pre steam release I just could not get into actually playing it. Even with tile sets and such. I tried, I really did. But the horrid UI and high amounts of game ending bugs were just too much.
The steam release was the only game I've truly been hyped for in my adult life. I was giddy like a kid and got it the SECOND it released, and finally fell in love with PLAYING the game and not just hearing about it. Its so fun building up a fortress and getting invested in your little dwarves well being, hidden surprises they put in to spice things up. Every month there's an update, even if is just a small peacemeal to let us know things are happening and adventure mode is coming along.
After playing for a while and learning enough to know how much you dont know, you can feel the limitless passion and raw intelligence that is the foundation for the insanely rich systems you work with. It feels like a living world in your computer. The closet thing to true technological magic I've ever had the pleasure of interacting with.
The binding of Isaac. I played about 10 hours of the flash version. 10 years later my friend gifted me afterbirth and repentance and I've played almost 1000 hours
Pokémon Unite
I tried it early on but I felt it lacked the maturity and depth of playing a more serious and in-depth MOBA like League of Legends. I played a lot of Pokémon games throughout the years but it just paled compared to how fulfilling the long-form games and lore of Leagues went.
Turns out I’m a dad now and these shorter, punchier games are both perfect for me and somehow more fulfilling. On top of that they added complexity with Boost Medallions without breaking the game with them. It makes the setup more cerebral because you lose stats as well as gain.
Don't Starve/Don't Starve Together
I was initially put off by the cartoonish art style, but it turns out I love the gameplay and the art grew on me. And they've been updating them regularly for years. Love Klei.
Binding of Isaac
Etrian Odyssey
I tried the demo for the fourth one and just didn't really like or get it. A couple years later Atlus announced Persona Q (which has mostly the same gameplay as Etrian Odyssey) so, I decided to give the demo another try and it just clicked this time. I have no idea why I didn't like it the first time around.
PS4 God of War
I’ve been Xbox, Nintendo, PC my whole life, and eventually borrowed a PlayStation during the pandemic to play through some exclusives. I barely got through the tutorial before putting it down for two years. Got a ps5 eventually and gave it another try… and loved it.
Soma
Me too. I had to just keep playing past the first few scenes till it finally clicked for me. Then I hated stopping.
Donkey Kong County Returns. Played it back when I was younger and it didn't click with me. The platforming was too challenging and honestly I think I got too swept up in the hype around the game at the time.
Coming back to it later, I really appreciate it now. The music, animations and platforming is all sublime. It's sequel, Tropical Freeze is my favorite 2d platfomer hands down. It's an absolute joy to play
Andor's Trail
Like just about everyone, I started the game by forgetting to equip the armour and weapon. Instadeath and rage at the weakest mobs.
Came back to it later and read some of the hint text, which helped to pass the first map. Then several months to grind away and complete every quest. Top game with an eclectic sense of humour. Very recommended.
https://f-droid.org/packages/com.gpl.rpg.AndorsTrail/
GPLv2 RPG fun.
@[email protected] @[email protected] DAYS GONE. I gave it a go a couple of times, found the setup to be a bit corny and quit. But when I pushed further, the quality and the effort the devs and the actors put into it came through. Sure the story is safe and gameplay (excl hordes) is conventional, but enjoyable all the same.
Cheating a bit in that it wouldn't be one of my faves but I am gobsmacked Gamespot gave it 5/10 and IGN 6/5. Strong 8 at min. Sad there wont be a sequel to continue the story.
DayZ. 100%
Fallout 3
Elder scrolls online.
What finally hooked you and why'd you bounce the first time?
The first time was on PC and I started in Vvardenfell and I think I just didn't like the setting or feel like using PC controls.
The 2nd time was years later, I was literally wanting a new mmorpg, so there was more desire, I did it on console, began in Khenarthi's and found a fun guild. Worlds of difference for so many reasons.
Hated the original Dota mod in warcraft, now Dota 2 is my jam.
Half Life 3.
