Games that gave a bad first impression

LobsterMobster wrote:

This might be heresy but I think that Borderlands might give some people a bad first impression. For the first few levels you don't have any skills and you're finding nothing but crappy pistols. Not the most satisfying game experience.

I agree. It takes a long while before you even get a car in that game. I eventually got rid of it, and played it again a year later. I started a new character, played for many hours, then stopped. Finally I finished it this past summer. I enjoyed my time, but the pacing was way off.

Warriorpoet897 wrote:

Confession: I've tried playing BG2 three times and I've never made it out of the first dungeon....

That's pretty much my experience with Planescape: Torment (furthest I got was some bar where I recruited(?) a guy) and Fallout 1 (never get past the first town).

Scratched wrote:

Can I make a suggestion based upon this thread? A quick guide on how to get over that bad first impression for given games. That's assuming a given game isn't "just not for me" or something.

So you're playing Alpha Protocol and you want to play a stealth character working your way through a level doing non lethal take downs.  Half way through infiltrating an enemy compound a guard spots you and your awareness skill turns his icon to red.  Should you just reload your last check point and try again?

This is not a thief game this is a James bond game.  The most intense, exciting and fun moments in any Bond movie start at the point when the alarm trips and all hell breaks loose.   It's at this point that the points you put into martial arts come into play and time slows as you execute a perfect series of judo moves that end with a goon flying over your shoulder.  But wait you didn't put any points there!  Then that's when you lob a flash bang or grenade at his feat, your Tech skills allowing you to over clock the device for greater effect.  Or maybe that's when the suave exterior you've been using to manipulate people during conversations finally breaks and the inner psycho is revealed as you take out your anger at being spotted by whipping out your modded shotgun loaded with phosphorous shells and murder every guard in the compound racking up a high score for your "orphans created" stat, (no really).  Maybe you’re actually a coward and your response is to engage your iron will skill to soak up damage while you run around like a headless chicken looking for the exit. Then again maybe you're not so chicken.  It was all a ruse and you were leading those poor saps into the path of the turret you remote hacked earlier.

Alpha Protocol is a game about how you react to bad situations. It's about being a spy with multiple tools at your disposal and the fun is often found in which plan B you choose.

Apart from death and one short mission in Rome you cannot fail a level in AP.  Don't be too quick to reload if you are unhappy with a conversation outcome.  On my first play through I considered doing this when one of my conversation choices caused an undesired result.  In a later mission I finally discovered that my choice had reaped a positive result I was really pleased with.

Its not cheating to fail to stick to one conversational attitude with everyone you meet.  This is not Mass Effect and there is no paragon / renegade meter.  Your  boss out and out tells you at the beginning that one of your options is to manipulate people.  There are ways of getting clues as to how important people will respond to different attitudes before you meet them. Of course there are also benefits to be gained if you stick to your verbal guns and always choose the professional, suave or angry option.

Most of the decisions you make in AP will have both story and game consequences.  For example if you do an extra little favour for your weapons trainer right at the beginning not only do you gain her respect and slightly alter some cut scenes but

Spoiler:

if you look in your inventory you will find she has gifted you a silencer for your pistol. An item you wont have a chance to buy for a while.

After you complete training and your first main mission the game opens up.

So much of AP should be approached like a puzzle. Is a difficult boss fight making you tear your hair out? How did you approach which order of missions to complete before you got to this point? Remember you are a spy not an army. There is a wealth of info at your disposal and the name of the game is making covert contacts around the world. Lets look at the stealth approach again. Was it really sensible to head straight into a bosses lair with low gun skills without first preparing by gathering intel and making friends first? Maybe one of your new contacts has a way of weakening that difficult boss before you meet him.

Basically when the marketing for this game stated that choice is your weapon they weren’t kidding around.

Aristophan wrote:
LobsterMobster wrote:

This might be heresy but I think that Borderlands might give some people a bad first impression. For the first few levels you don't have any skills and you're finding nothing but crappy pistols. Not the most satisfying game experience.

I agree. It takes a long while before you even get a car in that game. I eventually got rid of it, and played it again a year later. I started a new character, played for many hours, then stopped. Finally I finished it this past summer. I enjoyed my time, but the pacing was way off.

It takes about two and a half hours of play to get the car in BL1.

misplacedbravado wrote:

This happens a lot with the big sandbox games that I'm ultimately a sucker for. My first experience of Mount & Blade was getting beaten up by bandits. My first experience with X3 was being completely overwhelmed by everything.

Oh wow, I'd forgotten about Mount & Blade!! I had a terrible first impression of Mount & Blade, I had no idea what was going on, kept getting pummeled by bandits, and got really frustrated with it. I almost gave up on it, and then something shifted, not sure what. And now it's the Steam game I've played most, with over 270 hours of gaming time logged. Crazy.

Good thread.

Assassin's Creed 1 - The combat was too fiddly right from the start. The missions were too repetitive.

Batman: Arkham Asylum - The controls/systems all felt like 'Win' buttons (specifically the combo system and 'detective mode'). I didn't feel that I had any strategic input into the game in the early encounters, and I couldn't see that changing.

Deux Ex: HR - The world felt drab, flat and empty... and like a laboratory experiment. Choose play-style A and get result 1, choose play-style B and get result 2...

Mercenaries - Advertised - in the UK at least - as a GTA-alike, but wasn't. Another drab, flat and empty game-world.

Skyrim - I was kitten-weak in the first few hours which meant that encounters with almost anything tougher than a wolf resulted in my death. Add to this the bewildering range of choices to make when levelling and I was ready to stick this next to 'Oblivion' on my shelf. However, as I'd just finished 'Dark Souls', I used a few DS approaches to combat and levelling and found myself loving it. I'm still playing now and expect to continue to be doing so until Xmas.

Minecraft.
Without Wiki. Without an Online Support Community. Without hints that there was awesome to be had I doubt I would have made it past the first night. Punching Trees? Seriously.

Rezzy wrote:

Minecraft.
Without Wiki. Without an Online Support Community. Without hints that there was awesome to be had I doubt I would have made it past the first night. Punching Trees? Seriously.

This is the number one reason why I don't play. Having to flick back and forth between the game and a wiki page makes it feel like I'm working not relaxing. My 8 year old son however just starred using his sixth mod and is training dinosaurs.

strangederby wrote:
Rezzy wrote:

Minecraft.
Without Wiki. Without an Online Support Community. Without hints that there was awesome to be had I doubt I would have made it past the first night. Punching Trees? Seriously.

This is the number one reason why I don't play. Having to flick back and forth between the game and a wiki page makes it feel like I'm working not relaxing. My 8 year old son however just starred using his sixth mod and is training dinosaurs.

This is a good one. There are probably others I'm missing too but it's too early.

Mine is Demon's Souls/Dark Souls. After hearing about Demon's Souls back when it came out, I rented it for PS3. After spending like 2 hours trying to get past the first boss and still not understanding most of the controls, I went "Why do people think this is so good?!" and returned it. I watched people play Dark Souls but never touched it until I decided to force myself to play it for 24 hours for Extra Life this past weekend. Not going to lie, the game is still very inaccessible and creates a lot of its challenge by just being cheap but I totally get why those who love it love it a lot. I've now gotten far enough in it (albeit with a lot of guiding a co-op partners from the Twitch chat) that I will probably attempt to finish it, though it will be done in short sessions over time.

Parallax Abstraction wrote:
strangederby wrote:
Rezzy wrote:

Minecraft.
Without Wiki. Without an Online Support Community. Without hints that there was awesome to be had I doubt I would have made it past the first night. Punching Trees? Seriously.

This is the number one reason why I don't play. Having to flick back and forth between the game and a wiki page makes it feel like I'm working not relaxing. My 8 year old son however just starred using his sixth mod and is training dinosaurs.

This is a good one. There are probably others I'm missing too but it's too early.

Mine is Demon's Souls/Dark Souls. After hearing about Demon's Souls back when it came out, I rented it for PS3. After spending like 2 hours trying to get past the first boss and still not understanding most of the controls, I went "Why do people think this is so good?!" and returned it. I watched people play Dark Souls but never touched it until I decided to force myself to play it for 24 hours for Extra Life this past weekend. Not going to lie, the game is still very inaccessible and creates a lot of its challenge by just being cheap but I totally get why those who love it love it a lot. I've now gotten far enough in it (albeit with a lot of guiding a co-op partners from the Twitch chat) that I will probably attempt to finish it, though it will be done in short sessions over time.

+1

Demon's Souls made me very, very angry for several hours. My brother had to cajole and soothe me through it it with a lot of patience. I really, really enjoyed it though. I'm going to get Dark Souls after Christmas I think.

Terraria - Took a while to get used to the sedate pace. Tons of obscure items on the onset made for an overwhelming start. After finding the wiki and more importantly, the terraria forum here made the game much more enjoyable.

AUs_TBirD wrote:

That's pretty much my experience with Planescape: Torment (furthest I got was some bar where I recruited(?) a guy) and Fallout 1 (never get past the first town).

It took me years to finish Torment, and the only reason I ever did is that I gave in and followed a walkthrough for the last half or third of the game. There's so much going on that it's just overwhelming without guidance.

I hated fallout, but picked it up earlier this year when it was free at GOG. I have yet to DL/Install it. Any suggestions, considering I played it back in the day / probably still have the manuals, but really don't feel like I care for the empty vessel type character and would like to feel like I'm doing something 'right'?

With some games the start suffers because of the way they were made. Either they leave the start until the end of production, when there is no time, or, more likely, they start with the opening and haven't really worked out the best way to do the graphics, etc then they always mean to get back to those early areas and refine them but the chance never comes.

I do quite a bit of painting and I know that, in a still life say where there is a number of flowers, the first flower I painted will stand out to me as being a bit naff compared to the rest where I'd sussed out what worked in terms of brush marks, colour etc.

mrtomaytohead wrote:

I hated fallout, but picked it up earlier this year when it was free at GOG. I have yet to DL/Install it. Any suggestions, considering I played it back in the day / probably still have the manuals, but really don't feel like I care for the empty vessel type character and would like to feel like I'm doing something 'right'?

I recently finished Fallout 1 about 5 months ago. I would recommend looking up a few faq's and the Fallout Wikia site for game quirks and questions about some of the quests. To get the game running well (mods & patches, etc), check out the No Mutants Allowed forum.

The biggest difference (for me) from many RPG games is that your initial stats don't change. What you pick during character creation is what you are stuck with for the whole game.

Overall, I really liked it. I'm working my way through Fallout 2 right now, so send me any questions as they are both fresh in my mind.

Higgledy wrote:

I do quite a bit of painting and I know that, in a still life say where there is a number of flowers, the first flower I painted will stand out to me as being a bit naff compared to the rest where I'd sussed out what worked in terms of brush marks, colour etc.

I'm picturing the Credible hulk saying this

Burnout Paradise really turned me off when I played the demo. The DJ was annoying, being unable to restart events seemed silly, and it just didn't feel like Burnout Revenge, which I guess is what I wanted. I ignored it for a few months, but eventually seeing incessant praise for it all over the internet convinced me to give it another shot. I picked up a used copy and eventually fell in love with it. Something about learning the city, finding jumps and gates to smash, and especially the multiplayer challenges all combined to make it one of my favorite games of all time. I even got to the point where I was kind of disappointed that they patched in the ability to restart events. I bought all the DLC as penance for buying a used copy. Probably the only game I'm proud of getting all the achievements on.

Needless to say, I'm absurdly excited for Need for Speed Most Wanted next week.

Chromehounds on the xbox 360, the single player was just a very linear tutorial. Very bland and boring. If you didn't make it past the signle player you would rightly think it was a pos. Yet the online experience was a 3sided battleground over territories. Each side had a distinctive feel and different style of tech. Tech was collectible and you had a lot of freedom over mech creation. Plus a robust logo system too. It was amazing and I am still sad they didn't patch in offline multiplayer when they turned out the lights. Cause now it is worthless.

Actually considered buying enough game copies and xboxes to host a lan party. So maybe they did me a favor.

cheesycrouton wrote:
mrtomaytohead wrote:

I hated fallout, but picked it up earlier this year when it was free at GOG. I have yet to DL/Install it. Any suggestions, considering I played it back in the day / probably still have the manuals, but really don't feel like I care for the empty vessel type character and would like to feel like I'm doing something 'right'?

I recently finished Fallout 1 about 5 months ago. I would recommend looking up a few faq's and the Fallout Wikia site for game quirks and questions about some of the quests. To get the game running well (mods & patches, etc), check out the No Mutants Allowed forum.

The biggest difference (for me) from many RPG games is that your initial stats don't change. What you pick during character creation is what you are stuck with for the whole game.

Overall, I really liked it. I'm working my way through Fallout 2 right now, so send me any questions as they are both fresh in my mind.

I bought fallout 1 and 2 as a pack a long time ago, after thinking it would be similar to Balder's gate. It's not really and naturally I was quite disappointed and quick playing either (tried both one after another). Still have to play that one day. Balder's gate actually wrecked my impression of two other games. I despised neverwinter nights for not being enough like it. Icewind dale had all the mechanics of the series but none of the soul. All three series just collecting dust. Which is sad cause I know they are supposed to be quite good. Oh and while I'm spewing heresy about games I don't like, Rome: Total War is my least favorite in the total war series (The first medieval is still the best in my opinion).

Now alpha protocol gives a bad first impression but I went into the game knowing that and now it's one of my favorites.

That's interesting Master0. I went into Fallout 1 completly blind and it cemented itself in my mind as an all time favourite. In fact I often now have the problem of playing modern RPG's and really missing the top down isometric pause and give commands style of play. I also miss the tons of dialog options we used to get compared to the three or four voiced dialog wheel choices we get now.

Lets talk about Far Cry. When we bought our second hand xbox it came with Far Cry. I knew nothing about Far Cry except that it had been lauded by critics. So I started playing. I'm on an island and I shoot some people. Then I move a bit and shoot some more people. Then I get on a boat and shoot some people. Then I get off the boat and shoot some more people. Is it just me or is Far Cry the dullest game ever made? Am I missing something?

strangederby wrote:

Lets talk about Far Cry. When we bought our second hand xbox it came with Far Cry. I knew nothing about Far Cry except that it had been lauded by critics. So I started playing. I'm on an island and I shoot some people. Then I move a bit and shoot some more people. Then I get on a boat and shoot some people. Then I get off the boat and shoot some more people. Is it just me or is Far Cry the dullest game ever made? Am I missing something?

Absolutely. You haven't even got to the part where you go into a cave and shoot some people

cheesycrouton wrote:
Higgledy wrote:

I do quite a bit of painting and I know that, in a still life say where there is a number of flowers, the first flower I painted will stand out to me as being a bit naff compared to the rest where I'd sussed out what worked in terms of brush marks, colour etc.

I'm picturing the Credible hulk saying this :)

HULK CRITIQUE!!

strangederby wrote:

Lets talk about Far Cry. When we bought our second hand xbox it came with Far Cry. I knew nothing about Far Cry except that it had been lauded by critics. So I started playing. I'm on an island and I shoot some people. Then I move a bit and shoot some more people. Then I get on a boat and shoot some people. Then I get off the boat and shoot some more people. Is it just me or is Far Cry the dullest game ever made? Am I missing something?

Do you like shooters?

When it came it out, Far Cry broke the mold for typical "hallway" style shooters that funnel you down a single path. The levels were gorgeous and far more open than anything that came before it and gave you a lot more choice in how to engage the enemies. The ai would always react differently depending on how you attacked them and battles were different every time you replayed them. In fact, you didn't even have to engage every group of enemies and could sneak past them if you wanted.

That is what was unique about it at the time. Also, this was the pc version though. I'm not sure if the Xbox version was the same as I seem to recall it wasn't.

PaladinTom wrote:

That is what was unique about it at the time. Also, this was the pc version though. I'm not sure if the Xbox version was the same as I seem to recall it wasn't.

I rented the Xbox version but never played the PC version, and really liked what I saw. It was linear-ish, in that you have to go from one area to another, but you can approach, observe, and tackle each area (e.g. a guard-infested fishing village—I seem to remember a lot of guard-infested fishing villages) as you see fit (actually, isn't that how Crysis 2 was described? Plus ca change). I really enjoyed it. You could throw rocks to distract guards, or lure them to your makeshift whipping-tree-branch trap. Good stealthing through the underbrush, crawling under raised fishing huts and shooting dudes through the wooden floors. Lots of well-placed exploding barrels, ragdoll physics, great underwater effect. Looked beautiful on the Xbox too, I had just come back from a vacation in Hawaii and I kept thinking the game really evoked the proper look.

Then you get animal powers, but I had to return it.

I have no idea how I couldn't think of this before. Counter Strike. Specifically, the Source version. I tried it when I first got it and hated it. MY buddy insisted I play with him and then I got into it. Never good enough to be considered better than average, but I enjoyed my time with it.

mrtomaytohead wrote:

I have no idea how I couldn't think of this before. Counter Strike. Specifically, the Source version. I tried it when I first got it and hated it. MY buddy insisted I play with him and then I got into it. Never good enough to be considered better than average, but I enjoyed my time with it.

Ditto. Never understood the Counterstrike (any version) fanaticism. At the time I was super-deep in Quake 3wave CTF, but also dabbled in Unreal Tournament and a mod similar to Counterstrike, called Strike Force, but for some reason Counterstrike just never clicked with me.

Something I can't really explain, is that I loved, loved, LOVED Europa Universalis I and II and enjoyed the original Crusader Kings a lot as well (we're talking pre-CK2 here). I also can't stop playing KOEI strategy games such as Romance of the Three Kingdoms. In spite of this, I could neither get into Hearts of Iron nor Victoria. They were simply far too obtuse to me.

...just like the only hex-based wargame I ever bought, Korsun Pocket.

I gotta say I bought XCOM a couple days ago and it is not clicking with me so far.

Playing on easy. I have no situational awareness as the aliens always seem to flank me without me even seeing them move. And I'm not finding the controls all that intuitive or easy to control. Why does mouse wheel not zoom in/out?! Instead of sliding around gracefully, it seems to get stuck on geometry when sliding around. When I try to throw a grenade it's nigh impossible to not have the map slide every which way so I can't aim accurately.

I'm gonna check out some how to's and play around with mapping and mouse sensitivity, but it is pretty rough for me so far which is a bummer because everyone seems to love it so much.

Play with a controller. It was designed for one.

That cheap AI tactic continues, unfortunately. I find it best to grind and bear the missions when that happens.

Not so much a bad impression, but I just couldn´t understand the hype behind Mass Effect when I played it. It felt pretty bland to me. Story, Characters, mechanics, the whole thing. It was fun, sure, but I didn´t understand why it was considered the coming of Christ when it was released.

Then, I played ME2, and joined the choir...

FTL is soooooooo hard! But addictive.