Games you hated at first, and then loved

[George35]

Anyone play a game you didn't like or had a hard time getting into at first, but you heard good things about it and stayed with it and fell in love with it? Two games for me would be Adventures of Batman and Robin (Genesis version), and the Shining Force series. They both are very well made games with that ooze quality.

 

Batman and Robin turned me off at first with its tough difficulty and odd music choice. But after playing it often, it turned out to not be so tough, I even once managed to beat it in one life. And I found out that to truly enjoy the music, I had to play it through my stereo with subwoofer. Now, in my opinion, it is the best Genesis music I have heard. I especially love the music on the Mad Hatters stage.

 

I started playing Shining Force right after I finished Phantasy Star IV, still hungry for more rpg goodness. But, I had a hard time getting used to the battle system, eventually gave up and played Shining in the Darkness, another great game. So, I decided to give Force another try, and I am glad I did. I ended up playing a little every day until finished, and I am now working on SFII.

 

Now the next game on my list is Gunstar Heroes. I have played it quite a bit, but still don't find it to be the gaming masterpiece that some consider it to be. The art style kinda turns me off from it, but I will definitely give it another chance considering the enjoyment I got out of two other games I didn't like at first.

[Drixxel]

Great topic! As much as I enjoy the awesome Zyrinx console-pushin' visuals and the squelchy Jesper Kyd sound, The Adventures of Batman & Robin is a game I have yet to gain a taste for. That first stage is paced so very, very badly, IMO -- it just goes on and on, spamming enemies thoughtlessly. The boredom is palpable.

 

For me, the Genesis game that best fits the bill of "first hated, then loved" is Thunder Force II for that obvious and predictable reason. I didn't see anything appealing about the overhead stages, initially finding them twitchy and frustratingly vague, but after however many attempts to get a handle on the first level (and having figured out how to open freakin' gates, is it just me who had no idea?), my opinion flipped and now, I actually prefer the overhead stages and their seek-and-destroy stylings to the horizontal ones which feel bland and unpolished compared to the later Thunder Force games. My only wish for the overhead stages was some additional level of flight control, something as simple as being able to decelerate temporarily would fix the twitchiness for me.

[+Gemintronic]

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City was just another face shooter to me. A coworker's friend had expressed (behind my back) that he thought I was a bit too uptight to play that game. Even though said person and I weren't close it bothered me that I somehow gave the impression that I was closed to new ideas. I bought it the next day and have played it ever since. I still detest the action face shooting aspect but enjoy the open world (and especially 1337 stuntz!)

 

Fallout 3 was another game that seemed too first person shootery for me. I stopped playing while still in the vault. Picked it up again half a year later and devoured it! It still baffles me how much I hated - then LOVED this game. The FPS mode is usually bearable especially with VATS mode as a crutch. Though sometimes the game doesn't let you pull up the menu fast enough and the Deathclaws get that extra shot in..

[Gabriel]

There's not really anything that fits in that category for me on the Genesis/32X/SegaCD.

 

The only ones that come close are Gaiares and Robo Aleste. I bought both for cheap back in the day and disliked both because they were too difficult for me to enjoy. I got rid of them. Later, I ended up missing them and appreciating them more for what they were. Both now seem pretty cool to me even if I can't play either worth a damn.

 

I guess indirectly Gunstar Heroes counts. I had never played it on the Genesis, but had seen endless praise for it online. When it came to the Xbox 360, I tried the demo and... loathed it. I thought it was horrible. I put it out of my mind for several years. Then when I was loading up my Mega Everdrive, I decided to give it another shot. I guess real hardware and a Genesis controller makes all the difference, because suddenly the game seemed awesome.

[Keatah]

Not on Sega. Not on anything. I tend to either like a game or not. I can tell straight away if it's keeper.

[guy767]

Super Hydlide - The more you play the more it grows on you;. must be the killer music.

 

Fatal Labyrinth - Mediocre and downright boring rogue-like game that is strangely addictive.

 

Air Diver - Unremarkable flight game that seems to get more enjoyable the longer you play

[Zap!]

Is there an opposite thread like this one? Because I don't know how I played Last Battle so much in 1989.

[Torr]

Believe it or not... Baldurs Gate II: Shadows of Amn.

 

When I first picked this up, it was new... fall of 2000, my second year in college.

I had never played the first one; but this was AD&D so I had to play it.

 

When I first played it, I could ONLY find flaws.

 

1) The idea of only making ONE character and then having to make due with the other 3 they gave me and HOPEFULLY find better as I played meaning any EXP this dolts earn will be for naught when I kick them out???

And what were they thinking when making these characters???

a) A Ranger with 6 Wisdom??? They gave him 2 Handed Sword proficiency when by default he's good at wielding two 1 Handed Weapons???

b) A Druid with 14 (the bare minimum) Wisdom???

c) A Human Mage/Thief dual classed rather than Gnomish Illusionist/Thief multiclassed???

d) Now a new character, and he's ANOTHER Thief??? Counting myself (I ALWAYS play a Rogue) that's 3 Thieves in my team of 5...

 

2. Real Time??? AD&D it supposed to be turn based... not like playing Command & Conquer or Warcraft!!!

Oh, so I can pause at any time... but now everybody is taking their turns at weird times... my Druid is halfway through her turn casting a spell and I can just start my Mages turn to cast another spell??? What???

 

And then it got shelved for about 3 months or more; I'm pretty sure it wasn't until after Christmas I decided to give it another whirl... this time I decided to pretend it's just ANY old RPG that happens to have character stats RESEMBLING D&D... and then my appreciation increased... and increased... and... well as anyone who has played the game will surely say, it turned out to be among the best games I've EVER played.

[Zap!]

Believe it or not... Baldurs Gate II: Shadows of Amn.

 

When I first picked this up, it was new... fall of 2000, my second year in college.

I had never played the first one; but this was AD&D so I had to play it.

 

When I first played it, I could ONLY find flaws.

 

1) The idea of only making ONE character and then having to make due with the other 3 they gave me and HOPEFULLY find better as I played meaning any EXP this dolts earn will be for naught when I kick them out???

And what were they thinking when making these characters???

a) A Ranger with 6 Wisdom??? They gave him 2 Handed Sword proficiency when by default he's good at wielding two 1 Handed Weapons???

b) A Druid with 14 (the bare minimum) Wisdom???

c) A Human Mage/Thief dual classed rather than Gnomish Illusionist/Thief multiclassed???

d) Now a new character, and he's ANOTHER Thief??? Counting myself (I ALWAYS play a Rogue) that's 3 Thieves in my team of 5...

 

2. Real Time??? AD&D it supposed to be turn based... not like playing Command & Conquer or Warcraft!!!

Oh, so I can pause at any time... but now everybody is taking their turns at weird times... my Druid is halfway through her turn casting a spell and I can just start my Mages turn to cast another spell??? What???

 

And then it got shelved for about 3 months or more; I'm pretty sure it wasn't until after Christmas I decided to give it another whirl... this time I decided to pretend it's just ANY old RPG that happens to have character stats RESEMBLING D&D... and then my appreciation increased... and increased... and... well as anyone who has played the game will surely say, it turned out to be among the best games I've EVER played.

Don't flame me for pointing this out, but this this thread is about Genesis games only. It's in the Genesis section too.

[+save2600]

Not sure this qualifies as 'hate' and 'love' are pretty extreme, but couldn't stand Sonic BITD, especially compared to the Mario games. Just seemed like a "how quick can you make it through a level" kind of game to me. These days though, I'm finding it a little more enjoyable for whatever reason. Game has a lot more personality than I ever gave it credit for back then.

[Torr]

Don't flame me for pointing this out, but this this thread is about Genesis games only. It's in the Genesis section too.

 

Holy crap your right! I honestly didn't notice that when I was replying!!!

I usually just open a series of threads in separate tabs that look interesting and then read them all/reply.

 

Well, to be on topic/sub-forum related (which is odd for me, I'll admit I have a habit of going off on tangents);

 

Beavis & Butt-head

I liked the idea of the LucasArts-esque adventure format, but found the action aspects WAY too hard to make it worth wandering around trying to solves puzzles, how many times did I get killed just wandering into/out of the Mall or around the the School.

Then, in correlation with the difficulty, having to write down a lengthy password every time I accomplished the most minor aspect in fear I'd die in a moment and lose progress. But the more I played the better I got and it became a very fun game. Much better than the Beavis & Butt-head game for SNES.

One major gripe... I was SURE the chainsaw was for cutting down the tree, but I tried SO many times to no avail that I just gave up trying and figured the chainsaw must be for something else, especially since it was in the weapon slot and not the inventory slot... then one day my buddy and me were playing and he tried to cut down the tree and, first try, down she came.... my jaw dropped... it's pretty picky about where you have to stand when you use it. But that also brings about another major plus for the game, 2 players! Adventure games were always best with a friend, two heads are better than one, only now we could actually PLAY together, and when you both have a ranged weapon you can really make some advancement regarding action aspects, have one guy shoot repeatedly, while the other moves forward, then have the forward guy shoot while the other guy moves up, lather rinse repeat... my buddy always called it 'Advancing on the 43rd parallel'... whatever THAT meant.

Edited January 21, 2015 by Torr

[R.O.T.S]

Ranger - X

Played this originaly not long after its release and It looked good but It all seemed a little clumsy to me, I have revisited it recently and for some odd reason I got straight into it. So i would not quite say I love it but it is growing on me real quick.

[Crazy Climber]

Is there an opposite thread like this one? Because I don't know how I played Last Battle so much in 1989.

Ditto

I can think of plenty I used to like and hate now (last battle is one of them, lol)

Drawing a blank the other way around though. I guess the phantasy star series took me a few tries to really get into, but I still "liked" them...

[R.Bear]

I thought Techno Clash was bad the first time I played it. I got to the second level (the junkyard) where you have to search for the key cards to close all of the gates and found that level quite boring and annoying. Once I got to the level after that though I really ended up enjoying the game and ended up completing it.

 

Same with The Immortal. It seemed to be overly difficult and I didn't like it much, but I eventually became determined to finish it and ended up playing it for hours on end, lol.

[Austin]

Just seemed like a "how quick can you make it through a level" kind of game to me. These days though, I'm finding it a little more enjoyable for whatever reason. Game has a lot more personality than I ever gave it credit for back then.

 

That's actually the great thing about Sonic: it can be played multiple ways and doesn't really force your hand into a specific direction. It's a great game for speedrunners, but it's also great for those that like to take their time. The levels are pretty expansive in design and allow you to simply take it slow and explore in-depth if you wish to play it that way (this is exemplified by giving you 10 full minutes to complete a single act). There are tons of secrets to be found in the game (some I'm still finding for the first time today!) and it's a totally different game if you take it slow and easy.

 

Glad to see you are enjoying it now! I think the original trilogy has aged rather nicely.

 

 

Is there an opposite thread like this one? Because I don't know how I played Last Battle so much in 1989.

 

 

Post of the year right here guys.

Edited February 12, 2015 by Austin

[Nathan Dunsmore]

I grew up really disliking Warlock on the Snes but I tried the Genesis version a few years ago and loved every minute of it. The game has a great atmosphere.

[Austin]

I grew up really disliking Warlock on the Snes but I tried the Genesis version a few years ago and loved every minute of it. The game has a great atmosphere.

 

I really enjoyed the Genesis one too. The SNES is more sluggish, doesn't run as smoothly and doesn't quite get the atmosphere right like the Genesis one does. It's one of the more eerie games of the era if you ask me.

[schuwalker]

*Hides head in shame*

 

But it did take me a while to get into Herzog Zwei. Really fun once you get an opponent comparable in skill level.

[Austin]

*Hides head in shame*

 

But it did take me a while to get into Herzog Zwei. Really fun once you get an opponent comparable in skill level.

Same here man. Fear not, you are not alone.