How quickly does it take you to love a game?

[Gabanuka]

So Bastion was for sale on Steam today for £4 so I thought "Might as well give it a try".
Turns out after 2 hours I have a new favourite game. I was wondering how long everyone else plays a game before they love it? Sometimes its fast as seen above, but then Oblivion took me awhile before I got to the true potential. Just curious really.

 

[Swyftstar]

Usually, immediately. A game either feels right as soon as I start playing it or it feels like rubbish. Now, there have been a few games that have betrayed that love by being crappy later but most games I know right away if I love it.

 

[jaykikass]

immediately! When i was nine i played FFIX for the first time and it has been my favourite game ever since.
Though with Skyrim i didn't like it at first (i know blasphemy) but it took 3 hours for me to love it. that and the arrow to the knee..

 

[Clive Howlitzer]

It really varies quite a bit. I've loved a game from the get go. I've also hated games so much so that I stop playing them entirely and then play them again months or even years later, and decide they are amazing.

 

[YOUM@D123]

but it took 3 hours for me to love it. that and the arrow to the knee..

I Used to think that meme was funny Until i took an arrow to the knee.

OT.

honestly i am a cheap bastard if i buy a game over 20$ i force myself to love it.

 

[jaykikass]

It really varies quite a bit. I've loved a game from the get go. I've also hated games so much so that I stop playing them entirely and then play them again months or even years later, and decide they are amazing.

Mirrors edge was like that for me, i just bought it again and i love it..
its sooo pretty!

 

[Tourmeta]

Depends. Uncharted 1 i loved on the first cutscene.

With games like the Elder Scrolls, I first had to realize how free they were before I loved.

 

[DanielBrown]

1-2 hours I guess. Once the intro part is over and you got a general feel of the game. There are a few I've loved from the very beginning though, like Enslaved. I assume it was due to the cheerful coloring.

 

[Fiz_The_Toaster]

Sometime immediately and sometimes after a few hours. A game like Uncharted took me a few hours to really love the game, and a game like Silent Hill hooked me right away.

I guess it all depends on how the game is structured too, and if it does something right away that gets my attention and hits that sweet 'oh hell yeah' spot.

 

[everythingbeeps]

Depends on the game. Some I love immediately, some take me a while. I still don't like Bastion that much, and I'm well into it (though at this point, I feel like I'm probably never gonna bother playing it again.) Saints Row 3 took me a WHILE to get past my disappointment that it wasn't SR2. Even Arkham City took me a bit of time to start to appreciate.

Mass Effect 2, Skyrim, Final Fantasy XII...they all hooked me immediately.

 

[Zhukov]

Depends on the game.

For example, I hated Dreamfall for 90% of its duration, but then the last hour of the game caused me to love it.

For an example on the other end of the scale, Mass Effect hooked me right on the title screen. (Not exaggerating. It was the music.)

 

[Solo-Wing]

immediately! When i was nine i played FFIX for the first time and it has been my favourite game ever since.
Though with Skyrim i didn't like it at first (i know blasphemy) but it took 3 hours for me to love it. that and the arrow to the knee..

Another person who played FFIX at the age of 9 and it became their favorite game? YES!

Also games I loved quickly: Shadow of the Colossus (After felling the first Colossus I loved it), Ace Combat Zero, and Portal.

 

[evenest]

I think I fall in line with what has been said already.

When I was a kid, the second I saw Wizardry, I was hooked.

It was within the first hour of playing Fallout 3, when I walked into the high school and tried to "make friends," that I became enamored of that game.

It took the Prince of Persia reboot about half-way through the game and really only during the parkour portions of the game for me to love it.

It is hard to tell what draws me in. Lately, I find that isolation and exploration in games has a hold on me whereas frenetic styles don't--though that wasn't always the case.

 

[Valanthe]

Really depends on the game, I've popped games in on a whim and gotten hooked so bad I do two playthroughs in one sitting, Mirror's Edge and Portal both did that to me. Other's Took me a bit to get into, but eventually something clicked, (In the case of Dragon Age, I restarted that game four times before I did the City Elf and got hooked).

And in rare cases, I've gotten hooked on a game quickly, but then lost interest for whatever reason. Sadly, Skyrim is my example du jour for that, Got really excited about it, spent hours on the character generator perfecting a look, played it for about ten to twelve hours, killed a dragon, climbed the seven thousand steps, did some odd jobs, and then... just got bored, I dunno

 

[scorptatious]

It kind of depends I guess. Usually I fall in love with a game within the first couple of hours.

Final Fantasy 9 for example, at the beginning I realized it was going to be a very different experience from 7. Which was also a great game, but not as great as 9 IMO. I think it was during the play sequence at the beginning of the game I began to fell in love with it.

Some games I fall in love with before I even played them. I remember around the time Shadow of the Colossus came out, I watched some demo footage of a guy facing the first three colossi. It was so different from any other game I have played or watched. Inside, I knew I had to try it out. Same thing for MGS3 Subsistence when I watched the trailer for it.

 

[kickyourass]

For most games I can tell pretty quick if it's to my taste, but if I'm not sure I'll usually wait about a half an hour after the tutorial ends. Usually by then I can tell if the games gonna be crap.

 

[Scrustle]

Hard to tell. I guess it depends on the type of game. Once I've tried out all the different mechanics etc. and decide they're all enjoyable after an extended period of time.

 

[Pearwood]

Depends on the reason why I love it. If it has a lot of cute charm and camp action then it's love at first sight (e.g. Devil May Cry series) but if it's more serious and tries to tell an epic story then I can't really love it until I've heard that story (e.g. Elder Scrolls series).

I love the Dead Space franchise.

You are not alone. You can tell from the aesthetics it's done by some of the same people who did System Shock and it has a nice B-movie horror charm.

 

[SckizoBoy]

Usually a couple of hours... I need to get close to mid-game to know whether I like a game. Most early game experiences tend to be too slow for me and I haven't fully realised how much shit I can fuck up (levelling, access to particular weapons, techniques etc.).

Once I do realise it, I'm certain I love it because I'll stop playing at some point and realise that the climate's changed.