2nd chance games

[Addendum_Forthcoming]

I think the hate came less from a pacing issue, and more a...'well that was pointless, wasn't it?' issue. Like they might as well have started Heart of the Swarm with 'Previously, on Starcraft...nothing happened, forget about it, here's some Zerg!'

True enough. I mean Raynor's misadventures in between the various campaigns of the original Starcraft + Brood War weren't blatantly explained. Sometimes he fell of the face of the Koprulu sector... only to emerge months later in the timeline. WoL felt like it tried to explain what Raynor gets up to when he's not blasting grenades at people out of his tricked out hovercycle. So it felt odd.

That being said, I'm in it for the mechanics and competition. SC2 left me feeling... meh. Likr I didn't feel like being disappointed online. Then I tried it with HotS and ... pretty damn good.

 

[Hawki]

Those are positive ones, but you did not say it -had- to be positive.

Egads, you're right! Hmm...

-Diablo II: Played this in/around 2000, and didn't like it. Over a decade later, when I played D1 and D2 in preparation for D3, I still didn't like it. I will say it's a good game, just not one I enjoy playing. As heretical as this sounds, it's my least favorite Diablo game.

-The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past: Not a bad game, but one I don't really get the hype for, currently standing as my second least favorite LoZ game. I played it on GBA when it came out, enjoyed it up to the Dark World, and then lost interest, as the story more or less stopped. Years later, I ploughed through the game, and...sorry, I'm just not feeling it. Granted, I enjoy 3D Zeldas more than 2D Zeldas, but the game has aged even more in my mind thanks to A Link Between Worlds, which does everything A Link to the Past did, but better, and currently stands as my favorite 2D Zelda game.

-Metal Gear: As in, the very first Metal Gear game that was ever released. First time I played it, didn't like it much, and quit playing. Second time, I ploughed through it and...yeah. Really don't like this game. Easily my least favorite Metal Gear game.

-Metroid Prime: Hunters: First time I played it, didn't like it. Second time I played it, I loathed it. Boring world, boring bosses, and a control scheme that gave me hand cramps.

To be honest, I'm not really in the position of giving games second chances these days. If I pick a game these days, no matter how bad it gets, I pretty much always plough through to the end. So, there are some games I may give a second chance one day, but these days, it's everything or nothing.

 

[CaitSeith]

Dark Souls. Do I need to say more (besides in order to avoid a low content warning)?

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

Metroid Prime. bought it when i was very young. played it for about half hour or so then forgot about it for awhile.

picked it up again a year or so later and it ended up becoming one of my favourite games and franchise's of all time.

Prime subset or Metroid in general? Do you think Metroid works better in 3D environments? Just wondering because I pretty much like Super Metroid and the original Prime equally for different reasons. I'll just say to me it works much better than Castlevania in 3D.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

Dark Souls. Do I need to say more (besides in order to avoid a low content warning)?

Has enough really been said about the Souls franchise? Idk lol

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

Those are positive ones, but you did not say it -had- to be positive.

Egads, you're right! Hmm...

-Diablo II: Played this in/around 2000, and didn't like it. Over a decade later, when I played D1 and D2 in preparation for D3, I still didn't like it. I will say it's a good game, just not one I enjoy playing. As heretical as this sounds, it's my least favorite Diablo game.

-The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past: Not a bad game, but one I don't really get the hype for, currently standing as my second least favorite LoZ game. I played it on GBA when it came out, enjoyed it up to the Dark World, and then lost interest, as the story more or less stopped. Years later, I ploughed through the game, and...sorry, I'm just not feeling it. Granted, I enjoy 3D Zeldas more than 2D Zeldas, but the game has aged even more in my mind thanks to A Link Between Worlds, which does everything A Link to the Past did, but better, and currently stands as my favorite 2D Zelda game.

-Metal Gear: As in, the very first Metal Gear game that was ever released. First time I played it, didn't like it much, and quit playing. Second time, I ploughed through it and...yeah. Really don't like this game. Easily my least favorite Metal Gear game.

Of just the pre-Solid ones right? I'm still on the original MG but took a long break. Definitely want to finish playing through it and 2 eventually.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

Another vote for Dark Souls here - although it was less 'second chance' and more 'fourth or fifth chance'.
Originally picked it up in a Steam sale a few years ago, and tried various times to get into it, but the furthest I ever managed to get before giving up in frustration was the boss fight with the Taurus Demon. Decided to give it another chance a couple of weeks ago, and am glad I did - I still die a lot, but I'm actually enjoying it now, and have managed to make it past both the Taurus Demon and the Bell Gargoyles (currently having my ass kicked by the Capra Demon, but I'm sure I'll get him eventually...)

One of the great things about the franchise is in line with what Dirty Hipsters said earlier, in that when something seems too difficult early on, there is still usually another strategy often hiding in plain sight. Hint: for Taurus and Capra Demon's, they both involve the environment.

 

[Hawki]

Of just the pre-Solid ones right? I'm still on the original MG but took a long break. Definitely want to finish playing through it and 2 eventually.

No, I mean out of all the Metal Gear games I've played, period. Which isn't that many actually, but if I had to rank them, they'd go:

5) Metal Gear
4) Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes
3) Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
2) Metal Gear Solid
1) Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

 

[Saelune]

Dark Souls. Do I need to say more (besides in order to avoid a low content warning)?

Low content has not been punishable for a long time.

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

The Witcher 3

I've had a very similar experience with Witcher 3, trying to get into it before dropping out, only to try again later. Repeat 3 or 4 times.

Maybe it's because the entirety of White Orchard is basically an extended tutorial, offering a bite-sized sample of the larger game, but mostly serving to introduce many of the basic mechanics. At bit of combat, some contracts, some treasure hunting, some investigating, and so on. All serviceable, but not great. But what White Orchard IMO lacks most is the longer questlines full of interesting (morally grey) choices and memorable characters with their own arcs. The meaty stuff that'll probably hook you in, which doesn't really come until Velen, perhaps 10 hours or more in (depending on how much of a completionist you are).

 

[Xprimentyl]

Another vote for Dark Souls here - although it was less 'second chance' and more 'fourth or fifth chance'.
Originally picked it up in a Steam sale a few years ago, and tried various times to get into it, but the furthest I ever managed to get before giving up in frustration was the boss fight with the Taurus Demon. Decided to give it another chance a couple of weeks ago, and am glad I did - I still die a lot, but I'm actually enjoying it now, and have managed to make it past both the Taurus Demon and the Bell Gargoyles (currently having my ass kicked by the Capra Demon, but I'm sure I'll get him eventually...)

I never realized the Taurus Demon was ?The Wall? for so many other people; I thought it was just me. I bought Dark Souls in 2013 and spent the first four hours bashing my head against the Taurus Demon?s teeth to no avail. I put the game on the shelf and walked away. Then just October of last year, I decided to give it another go. Not only did I end up enjoying it immensely, I managed to 100% it. I wasn?t alone, though; I started a ?help me? thread here in this forum shortly after I passed the Taurus Demon, and a lot of these fine folks supported me with advice, hints and pointers pretty much throughout the whole game.

 

[wings012]

Another vote for Dark Souls here - although it was less 'second chance' and more 'fourth or fifth chance'.
Originally picked it up in a Steam sale a few years ago, and tried various times to get into it, but the furthest I ever managed to get before giving up in frustration was the boss fight with the Taurus Demon. Decided to give it another chance a couple of weeks ago, and am glad I did - I still die a lot, but I'm actually enjoying it now, and have managed to make it past both the Taurus Demon and the Bell Gargoyles (currently having my ass kicked by the Capra Demon, but I'm sure I'll get him eventually...)

I never realized the Taurus Demon was ?The Wall? for so many other people; I thought it was just me. I bought Dark Souls in 2013 and spent the first four hours bashing my head against the Taurus Demon?s teeth to no avail. I put the game on the shelf and walked away. Then just October of last year, I decided to give it another go. Not only did I end up enjoying it immensely, I managed to 100% it. I wasn?t alone, though; I started a ?help me? thread here in this forum shortly after I passed the Taurus Demon, and a lot of these fine folks supported me with advice, hints and pointers pretty much throughout the whole game.

That sounds weird to me too. Taurus is fairly gimmicky once you figure it out. Run to the end, climb ladder, plunge it to death.

Capra however was a cheesy asshole since he swings at you the moment you get past the fog. And he has a pair of dogs with him. I feel the important thing here is to immediately roll the hell to the side the moment you cross the fog. You can climb the stairs and shit and get rid of the dogs there. Then you're left alone to deal with the Capra.

I lucked out here since I got the Black Knight's Sword to drop. I did a random summon who helped me kill the thing and was lucky enough for the weapon to drop. You have to spec pretty hard to actually be able to wield it, but it completely destroys the Capra. And it's generally useful all around due to hitting like an absolute brick, making the early game fairly trivial if you manage to get it.

 

[stroopwafel]

Final Fantasy 15. I was kind of put off by the bromance and the cast itself. I wondered if I really wanted to spend a few dozen hours with these fruits and despite an honest attempt to try it quit the game more than a few times because the characters just never really grew on me. Ignis is probably the most likeable of the bunch but I could never take him seriously b/c of his hair. I mean, just look at it. No one has hair like that. It looks like a parrot. We are supposed to feel for the star of the show, Noctis, for crying over his betrothed despite having maybe three lines of dialogue in the game. Then there is beefcake Gladiolus OK maybe the most 'normal' of the bunch but there is this moment that comes totally out of nowhere where he starts praising Cup Noodles and how delicious they are and made of the best ingredients and repeating the word Cup Noodles every sentence so that we don't forget it's about Cup Noodles. Like, a literal commercial while he is in-character. The worst is probably Prompto. That annoyingly gullibe face really gets on my tits. His random dialogue also makes me cringe. Like when the bros set up camp and Prompto goes like ''wooooohoooooo bath time''. I mean, really? Also in the menu when you want to change equipment Prompto starts to dance and move like a girl and in camera shots he often puts both hands behind his head while he flaunts the camera. Again, really?

Then there is the game itself. The world looks pretty but empty. The car rides are a drag. The loading times are atrocious. Combat in close quarters is a fucking mess with the camera blocking everything. But despite all these flaws when it works the combat is fun and quite the spectacle of impressive animations. Every dungeon is unique with pretty much no re-use of assets. The weather and lighting effects are probably the best of any open-world game ever. And this game is most likely the first that realistically rendered that atmospheric dampness that occurs when it's warm and starts to rain. The music is also quite good.

I'm glad I gave the game a third chance b/c there are quite a few things I enjoyed about it but it's just a shame that so much about the character designs, story and gameplay structure(espescially the tedious car rides) sucks so much.

Now for some Cup Noodles.

 

[maninahat]

Far Cry 2. Got about twelve hours in, and then a glitch destroyed my saves. I left it for about a year, because the only memories I had of it were of constant frustration and tedious checkpoint fights, but finally tried it once more...and really enjoyed seeing it to the end! The checkpoints didn't become any less tedious though.

 

[Kerg3927]

Dragon Age II - First time playing, I was annoyed that Anders, who was clearly heterosexual in Awakenings, was suddenly hitting on my dude Hawke for gay sex for no apparent reason. I wasn't trying for a gay romance. So I tried to make Hawke's mage sister the healer of my group, but apparently I made some wrong choices in the storyline because...

Spoiler

... she permanently died on me. Which left me with only Anders as my healer option.

I got annoyed and quit.

This was before I figured out Bioware's romance formula by playing the Mass Effect trilogy. I had the same problem with Kaidan in Mass Effect 3. Suddenly he's hitting on me for seemingly no reason. The solution is to NEVER be nice to other male characters. Always be business-like and never sympathetic to their problems. They start crying to you about their sick mother? Tell them to suck it up, soldier, we don't have time for that. Basically, just always be rude to them, otherwise they may get the wrong idea and proposition you for butt sex.

Anyway, before Inquisition came out, I went back and played through Origins again, and then gave DA2 another go. I ended up liking it enough to play it through a 2nd time. I subsequently ended up hating Inquisition, but that's another topic.

 

[Xprimentyl]

Dragon Age II - First time playing, I was annoyed that Anders, who was clearly heterosexual in Awakenings, was suddenly hitting on my dude Hawke for gay sex for no apparent reason. I wasn't trying for a gay romance. So I tried to make Hawke's mage sister the healer of my group, but apparently I made some wrong choices in the storyline because...

Spoiler

... she permanently died on me. Which left me with only Anders as my healer option.

I got annoyed and quit.

This was before I figured out Bioware's romance formula by playing the Mass Effect trilogy. I had the same problem with Kaidan in Mass Effect 3. Suddenly he's hitting on me for seemingly no reason. The solution is to NEVER be nice to other male characters. Always be business-like and never sympathetic to their problems. They start crying to you about their sick mother? Tell them to suck it up, soldier, we don't have time for that. Basically, just always be rude to them, otherwise they may get the wrong idea and proposition you for butt sex.

Anyway, before Inquisition came out, I went back and played through Origins again, and then gave DA2 another go. I ended up liking it enough to play it through a 2nd time. I subsequently ended up hating Inquisition, but that's another topic.

This made me laugh more than it should have. XD