Bad first impression for great game?

[You Can't Take the Sky From Me]

Knights of the Old Republic... Taris man, Taris...
Once you get past there, it becomes a rollicking good time, but that opening is the pits.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Hated God Hand from the get-go, took it out, played something else, tried GH a second time and loved it. Still not sure why.

God Hand is one of those games with a steep learning curve, and doesn't tell you everything from the get go. It's basically boils down to trial and error, and learning how to use your customized moves effectively. I understand your situation, because I got my copy of God Hand due to the guy not liking the combat. He gave the game to me for free, and I don't regret owning it. Glad you were able to give the game a 2nd chance.

Basically that, I learned how to play on my second try. It can be a pretty thankless game, even on "normal" difficulty.

 

[BrawlMan]

Hated God Hand from the get-go, took it out, played something else, tried GH a second time and loved it. Still not sure why.

God Hand is one of those games with a steep learning curve, and doesn't tell you everything from the get go. It's basically boils down to trial and error, and learning how to use your customized moves effectively. I understand your situation, because I got my copy of God Hand due to the guy not liking the combat. He gave the game to me for free, and I don't regret owning it. Glad you were able to give the game a 2nd chance.

Basically that, I learned how to play on my second try. It can be a pretty thankless game, even on "normal" difficulty.

That is true. I died 89 times on my first playthrough, 48 times on the my second, and 20 times on my third. By the 5th playthrough I could die about three or four times at most on other playthroughs. I still haven't done hard mode, nor do I want to. "Normal" difficulty is good enough for me.

 

[Arnoxthe1]

Also, Serious Sam: BFE starts out rather slow, with a few uninteresting weapons while facing enemies one or two at a time like any other FPS. It takes a few levels before getting some decent weapons and you start getting zerg rushed by wave after wave of enemies, like a Serious Sam game is supposed to be.

This. BFE was trying to make fun of modern military FPS' of that day but it suffered in the end for it. XP

Also, trymyweaponbalancemodonworkshopforit,it'sawesome. [http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=452464725]

 

[09philj]

Half Life 2. The first time, I thought it was slow and boring. The second time, I thought it was slow and boring. The third time, it clicked and I really enjoyed it.

 

[Maximum Bert]

Seriously, Vanquish? I loved it the moment I took out the case. Then again, I never played the demo, and got it for $40.00 a few months after it had been out. The demo wasn't that good I take it.

The demo was fine but the trouble was it threw you into the games first big battle when you were still unused to the controls which made it feel very clunky and unsatisfying at least to me. When I played the same section in the actual game it felt much much more satisfying in context and was a joy to play because I was accustomed to the control method and how the game expected you to use it. It has a very different pace to Bayonetta which was their other big game out at the time. Then again I did not like Bayonetta until I completed it and tried hard mode then it all fell into place for me.

 

[Evonisia]

"Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare"[footnote]For the record I'm only talking singleplayer here. The multiplayer never really clicked with me because of the poor implementation of the EXO suits (which are great in singleplayer), and the Survival is just OK[/footnote] starts with a really standard, pitifully dreary mission that almost made me stop there and then. Like "Ghosts" level joyless. Then that mission's ending gives up one of the most joyously goofy, cliched things in the series' history, and the rest of the campaign just keeps upping the ante. Playing Frogger... with guns! Going to Antartica for God knows what reason and getting submerged in an icy cavern! Killing a driver of a car so that it goes off and explodes against a motorway post like this is that one "Bayonetta" mission!

That game could have sat right there with "Black Ops III", "Modern Warfare 3" and "Ghosts" for worst campaign in the series, and became one of the best.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

People have told me (or rather, I've read articles) about how Ni No Kuni on the PS3 cures herpes and dispenses golden eggs. I haven't made it to the first fantasy town in the game and only got into one fight before I put it up and even now I'm not convinced I'll ever go back to it (unless I import the DS original). I can't pinpoint what it was about Ni No Kuni that turned me off of it...probably a combination of things. I didn't feel sorry for the main character, I didn't want to see where the story went, I don't like Studio Ghibli and when it comes to JRPGs I strongly prefer Dragon Quest/Pokemon/early Final Fantasy style turn-based combat. I should give the game another chance but I just don't want to, I'd rather replay Burnout 3.

Something about Final Fantasy Origins on the PSX (specifically, FF1) has a real cheap look and feel to it. Almost like it's a rom-hack or fan hack. It's something with the text and text boxes I think...I ended up playing through that game on the GBA with Dawn of Souls and FF2 on the PSP.

There was a time when I said, "this game is too long" in reference to Half-Life 2.

Knights of the Old Republic... Taris man, Taris...
Once you get past there, it becomes a rollicking good time, but that opening is the pits.

For me it was Dantooine. It was an awkward middle section of the game where I wasn't under-powered but I was at a point where the enemies were really good at dodging my attack rolls and even if I hit, I had a high probability of doing small amounts of damage. It was frustrating but the plot in that section kept me going.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

The game that comes to mind first for me is Dark Souls. When it first came out, everyone was talking about it. My friend said it was amazing, the internet loved it, and X-Play gave it 5 out of 5--a rare thing at the time. So I gave it a shot.

And got my face kicked in. Which is supposed to happen, but I'm the type of gamer who keeps trying the same thing, thinking I'm doing something wrong--as in, I kept trying to get past the damn skeletons at the beginning. Finally did and got blown up by those skulls. I was screaming, and it wasn't until I threatened to stop playing the game that my friend finally said, "There's another path to the left."
You know how, in Dark Souls, you're supposed to slowly get better? Slowly pick things up, so that encounters are now looked at as challenges instead of "Oh dear God, I'm going to die..."? That never happened to me. My character wasn't doing enough damage it seemed like, I couldn't figure out how to level weapons, and I couldn't figure out how to use magic. I beat Quelaag, barely, and could go no further.
So I asked for help--from my friend, and from the internet. And NO ONE would help me. I was mocked relentlessly, told "It's part of the experience," and called names. I got so frustrated and angry that I threw the game case under my chest of drawers so I couldn't get at it easily when the, "Okay, maybe THIS time..." thoughts kept coming.
I eventually sold it to the dismay of many, which I kind of felt bad about because the game was beautiful. It wasn't until Dark Souls II came out, explaining how things work better and the Dark Souls community had mellowed, that I finally went back. And now I'm a pro about bought games, and appreciate Dark Souls for its glory.
However, I make it a point that whenever someone asks anything about the games, I give them all the info I can, because I don't want others to get turned off from the game the same way I was.

 

[Ravenbom]

Okami, great game beautiful art, wonderful story, and great characters, all represented in the intro that just wont stop, seriously I think the intro to that game is like 25 minutes long, its ridiculous.

Oh god. That intro never ends!


For me, I'm not gonna lie:
Dark Souls.

I had to unlearn everything about RPGs, action RPGs, action adventure games, online games... basically I had to unlearn everything about games.
Even the standard controls where attack and block are trigger buttons not face buttons was something I had to learn.

Dark Souls was so successful in making me believe that I had never played a game before. It made me feel like I did when I was 6 and didn't realize there were BAD games. I remember thinking when a game was too hard that I just wasn't good enough not that the game was actually bad.
Dark Souls isn't bad, it's great. But man, there is a steep learning curve when you take on a Souls game for the first time.

 

[Dalisclock]

"Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare"[footnote]For the record I'm only talking singleplayer here. The multiplayer never really clicked with me because of the poor implementation of the EXO suits (which are great in singleplayer), and the Survival is just OK[/footnote] starts with a really standard, pitifully dreary mission that almost made me stop there and then. Like "Ghosts" level joyless. Then that mission's ending gives up one of the most joyously goofy, cliched things in the series' history, and the rest of the campaign just keeps upping the ante. Playing Frogger... with guns! Going to Antartica for God knows what reason and getting submerged in an icy cavern! Killing a driver of a car so that it goes off and explodes against a motorway post like this is that one "Bayonetta" mission!

That game could have sat right there with "Black Ops III", "Modern Warfare 3" and "Ghosts" for worst campaign in the series, and became one of the best.

For me, part of it was the cool setpieces and having Kevin Spacey basically play a bond villain for half the game. The only downside is that the game keeps trying to pretend he's a good guy for the first act and anyone who knows who Kevin Spacey is knows why that doesn't work.

 

[meiam]

People have told me (or rather, I've read articles) about how Ni No Kuni on the PS3 cures herpes and dispenses golden eggs. I haven't made it to the first fantasy town in the game and only got into one fight before I put it up and even now I'm not convinced I'll ever go back to it (unless I import the DS original). I can't pinpoint what it was about Ni No Kuni that turned me off of it...probably a combination of things. I didn't feel sorry for the main character, I didn't want to see where the story went, I don't like Studio Ghibli and when it comes to JRPGs I strongly prefer Dragon Quest/Pokemon/early Final Fantasy style turn-based combat. I should give the game another chance but I just don't want to, I'd rather replay Burnout 3.

NNK is really not that great imo, it's greatest achievement is being a console JRPG when those are practically a extinct species (except its actually a DS port, so it doesn't even really have that). The combat system is brought down by terrible AI and a complete lack of balance. The story is as vanilla as it gets, with most character being one dimensional (0 dimensional in the case of the main character). The environment are also extremely cliche (in the entire game there's one interesting area, everything else is straight out of generic JRPG category). The familiar (the game pokemon) are uninteresting since they don't change when they evolve and there's no interesting choice in the skill they acquire, they're also a pain to capture since its entirely luck based. And worst of all the game treat you like a complete moron, the entire way, even at the very end, it'll always tell you exactly what your supposed to do at every puzzle, even coloring the important word, for the entire game! I've finished the game so it's not a case of bad first impression, the game is just very average at best (i.e. everything is below average but the art style is nice).

 

[MysticSlayer]

I guess BioShock Infinite.

Granted, my "first impression" was the entire first playthrough. I didn't like combat, and the story and characters seemed nonsensical. Much of that had to do with not being able to accept that the game was headed in a different direction than the politics of Colombia seemed to indicate, which was a major contrast from the previous BioShock games.

During all other playthroughs, I came to love the game. I switched from Xbox to PC, and since I'm better with a mouse and keyboard, I was able to take advantage of the skyline easier, which made the combat a lot of fun. And once I knew a little more about the story, I found quite a bit in the first half that hinted at what was coming (to the point I felt stupid for missing it all the first time), and I came to love the story, characters, and commentary as much as the first BioShock. Since BioShock was my favorite shooter from last generation, that's saying a lot.

 

[IamLEAM1983]

Skyrim didn't have a great intro. Of all the locations they could have picked, they picked the bleakest, most boring one.

I thought the province was an alright choice as far as potential settings go but yeah, that cart ride is painful as heck to sit through on repeat playthroughs. Bethesda has a hard time handling its early-game exposition, honestly: even Fallout 4's masterfully-crafted opening cinematic starts to feel long and unnecessary, once you're starting your third run.

 

[Jute88]

Crusader Kings 2. On one hand, I was first impressed with the feature that you could play as any medieval ruler in Europe. On the other, the game didn't bother having a decent tutorial and I resorted to watching a Youtube Let's Play for some directions. Not to mention that I was used to playing M2: Total War, so not being able to declare war whenever I felt like was, at first, a turn off.

I would suggest playing it first by testing what does what. Don't worry about running your kingdom properly, just try to figure out the cause and effect of different actions.

So, apparently, you like it now?

 

[Ironman126]

Fallout New Vegas

The launch for FNV was an abomination with terrible bugs and glitches EVERYWHERE. I'm certain you've seen the doctor failing to animate his body and his head spinning around, but that wasn't the worst of it by far.

At launch the game's optimization was TRASH and it ran like dogshit on even really high end computers
Oftentimes the ground would not render at all, or it would flicker in a headache inducing way
After loading a save after dying your guns would stop working
One of the pre-order pistols could be missing its model entirely and be replaced by a giant red box that covered up your screen entirely
Quest bugs too numerous to count or list

You know, I keep hearing about these bugs in Fallout NV and Skyrim. Really game-breaking shit that should have been dealt with weeks before launch. Yet, despite the reports, I've never seen any of that, and I pre-ordered both games and played them day 1. As far as Fallout NV goes, I think the worst bug I ever saw was some clipping issues with radscorpions. I don't doubt that the bugs exist, but I find it odd that I never encountered them. Maybe I'm blessed by the Omnissiah. Who knows?

OP: Gotta go with Alpha Protocol, in keeping with the theme of Obsidian games. Pretty good game, but the intro was pretty shit. You wake up in a medical lab, someone calls you on your cell phone, which is inexplicably in the lab with you, and you act like a twat no matter what dialogue option you pick. Then the tutorials... oh the horrid tutorials.

Once you get passed that, though, the game is actually pretty good. Not the best 3rd person RPG/Shooter I've ever played, but it's up there.

Also, Dragon Age: Origins. Sort of. It depends entirely on the class and origin you select. The Human Noble intro is short, sweet, and to the point. The Dalish Elf intro is longer, but interesting. The City Elf and both Dwarven intros are long and rather boring. And the Mage intro is absolutely insufferable. Which is a shame, because the mage is the only class worth playing.

 

[Vykrel]

Mass Effect. the gunplay is really off-putting at first, and takes some getting used to, plus you need to upgrade your stuff. the first time i played it, i didnt realize you could upgrade everything and thought i was stuck with having to deal with my scope drifting around like the weapon is being wielded by a drunk.

thankfully, they improved it with the sequel, which happens to have one of the best openings of any game.

 

[Danbo Jambo]

The Witcher 2.

Why they gave the player the option to play through the prologue in a different order from the choices in the jail cell I don't know, as this just confused the hell out of me when I started with the 3rd choice. It set the game up really awkwardly.

And then when they chuck a load of lore-specific terms at you......arggghhhhh! Who's doing what with what? Is that a person? A town? A thing?

I hated the game and quit after chapter 1. Returned to it after watching a few youtube vids and reading up on the world (largely thanks to encouragement from online communities of how good it was - BSN of all places too lol) and it blew me away.

It got better with every playthrough, and became one of my fave games ever.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

Mount and Blade. Played and looked like rickety, bargain basement crap. Couldn't figure anything out, the UI was a horror, the graphic and sound assets were abysmal. It's actually incredible that I gave it a second chance.

Dark Souls. Not because the game play itself is particularly hard to figure out, although it's obnoxiously opaque in sections, but rather because the PC port was a cascade of bad decisions and broken features. I spent most of the first two days fighting controls and technical issues instead of monsters.

Mass Effect 3. Technically not a "great game" because of you know what, but one could argue that after DLC there was a tasty, chewy center between two pieces of shit bread. Lost in the furor over the ending was the woeful beginning, which was riddled with visual glitches, off-pace lip syncing, terrible wooden dialogue, and corny plot acceleration. I had similar shudders of concern 5 minutes into ME3 as I had 5 minutes into Phantom Menace. That creeping feeling that something has gone terribly awry.

 

[LordBaztion]

My first impresion of Ocarina was bad, I just didn't like that I couldn't jump and got stucked at the Deku Tree dungeon. I played it months after and by now is my favorite game ever.