Games You Started To Appreciate After You Had Finished 'Em

Hey.

So, are there games you really started to dig after you had finished them? It could be you looking up something about it or listening to the soundtrack. Maybe you replayed it after a long time, and thought to yourself "yeah, this shit is really good".

BE SURE TO READ THE ABOVE PART. IT'S IMPORTANTE.

For me, it's Shadow of the Colossus. I liked it when I played it, but it's when I talked a bit about it with Blabadon, and him linking me to some stuff, that I started to really see the game for what it is. Not to mention the soundtrack is absolutely brilliant. Piss buckets, I'm listening to it right now.

You go! As in, say something, you system wars sluts.

huh...what was the question?

I haven't really had that experience.

I wish I could relate. My opinions of games hardly ever change on a replay. Same for movies.

It's an interesting premise. I know some people do that. They see a movie or play a game and don't like them...then for whatever reason later they watch the same movie or game and like them.

I don't have that experience, but I've met people with those kinds of stories.

I never figured out why that happens to some people. Maybe they were playing the games or movies the first time and were distracted? I am curious why it happens. Maybe someone in this thread can articulate the experience.

When I play a game I go in with a clear and singular purpose..... if it doesn't deliver then playing it again doesn't change anything.

Never? Not something small like replaying it or anything?

What if they added free DLC that gets rid off stats?

@freedomfreak:

Don't tease me like that, Freedom. :(

And added coop. Not just any coop. Local coop.

@freedomfreak:

I hate you :o

BTW Ada's Campaign in President Evil 6 was originally single player but then they patched in Co-Op........ I DIDN'T LIKE IT...... I know right.... Shocking !

Planescape Torment can come across as boring at times, much of it is set up mainly through reading.

However once at the end of the game, it is very much like drinking fruit-juice from a fridge: energizing.

Honestly, if it has happened, I can't recall it ever happening. I wish I could because I would like to know what it feels like or at least understand why it happens to some people. I am fascinated by the experiences when people tell me at a pub or whatever.

I haven't had the experience and I wish I could relate. I've heard of people having complete 180 experiences with movies before and a few with games, but it's just so bizarre to me.

I have played a game and noticed it hasn't aged as well as I remembered it, but that's not the same. My only guess is they went through the game or movie the first time and weren't paying as much attention? Maybe they were distracted by stress or a breakup? Maybe they were too young to play the game/watch the movie and didn't realize all the craftsmanship in the product the first time? Maybe they are just different people now?

I am curious for sure.

Didn't they have Hunk handling the co-op doors? I played through it alone. Had a good time.

I can appreciate a good comparison, and I like that one. Not only that, I feel like drinking some fruit-juice from a well cooled fridge.

Damn. That's as pure as it gets. I'll be sure to come knocking at your door when I need first impressions, because it sure as shit isn't gonna change anytime soon. I like that.

Sincerely! :P It's an intriguing topic, I hope people pipe in with some answers because I've wondered about this before.

One thing I do is if I have things on my mind, stress or whatever, I don't play a game or watch a new movie...I'm too distracted to enjoy it. Sometimes I am watching an old TV show and I can't even concentrate on what they characters are saying. I just turn it off and go solve my problem so I can get back to the gaming grind, lol.

Another idea is maybe they went through some traumatic event and replaying the game or movie is more poignant the second time around? I'm just like totally guessing here, haha.

It didn't happen with a second play through but once I finished Persona 4 Golden and looked back on the journey that I just had with these characters, it firmly seated itself in my Top 10.

I can't think of any other instances right now but I know there are some.

Edit: Gah, at work and messed up a bit on my phone. Curses!

@freedomfreak:

I keep hearing that name in every President Evil discussion but I honestly have no clue who that is.....

And Ada handles all the Doors, Levers, Switches, Pressure Pads, Computer Terminals, Grapple Points..... etc.

The 2nd player, who controls some random unamed character simply titled: Agent, just stands around and Teleports wherever Ada goes. This my dear friend.... is shoehorned Co-Op..... although the co-op in President Evil 6 is a major step back in everyway From President Evil 5.

Shadow of the Colossus.

I came into this thread with that answer in mind, good OP good sir. Plenty of other fantastic stuff out there as well.

Dragon Warrior 4. I first played it when it came out in the early 90s. I was way too young to fully appreciate it. There were some pretty heavy things going on in that game that I didn't fully grasp when I was playing it the first time. Like children being abducted, and elves being tortured so that they cry. (the tears turned into jewels) Even the last boss became what he did because of not evil reasons.

It was years later that I finally found another copy in a game shop that I could beat it again. It had many mature themes that I didn't realize the game had. It made me like the game even more than I did when I first beat it. Enix was one hell of a company before Square got their hooks into them and killed them.

binary domain and bioshock

They mature. They appreciate things they took for granted the first time around. They notice details they missed. What with you being so old and well traveled I can see how you would find it hard to related to those still experiencing their from youth to adulthood. I imagine @blue_hazy_basic shares your inability to empathize with the younger members of the forum in his equally advanced age.

I didn't enjoy ZombiU all too much when playing it. Was way too tense for me and dragged a bit, but after completing the game, I realized it wasn't bad at all and actually pretty good. Shame it got a 4 here.

I can appreciate that and it covers a lot of ground. I was hoping to see some theories on the phenomena. Thanks for your input.

Oddly though, I have games from my childhood too, but I still can't relate to this experience as I matured, but I was not a typical kid either so I can't take my experiences as the norm. Speaking with some friends, they too can't relate, but others can.

Persona 3. When I played it, I just... played it. Like, I wasn't too keen on it or anything. It was a good game, that I played because people wouldn't shut up about it, and also because I was feeling left out of the PS3 party, and it was a major PS2 release.

After I completed it and looked back on it, I realized its beauty- mechanical, narrative, musical- and I fell in love with it. I became obsessed with it. It became one of my favorite games that I could think of.

A year later, I played Persona 4, and I hated it, and it killed any hype or appreciation I had for the series.

Persona 4 Golden re-ignited all of that in 2013.

@PikminWorld:

Notice the Similarities with Dark Souls ? :)

@Lulu_Lulu: I hated Dark Souls 2 at first, I didn't understand any of the mechanics especially on the PC, but after doing some research and finding the glorious NPC phantoms, I actually really started to enjoy the game. It's fun to overcome intense bosses and help others overcome them as well.

@PikminWorld:

personally I just don't get it...... I want me some Ninja Gaiden...... :D

Streets of Rage 3. When I first got it, I didn't like it as much as the other two, because it was much harder, the music went in a different direction, and it took out Max. Now though, I love it about as much as 2, which is my favorite game of all time. From a gameplay and technical standpoint, SoR 3 is right at the top of the beat 'em up genre.

Haven't really had it happen myself, but when I notice it happening to people, it's usually because of what their expectations were going into it.

Example: My friend watched Cabin in the Woods the first time expecting a traditional horror movie. He didn't get that, because that's not really what Cabin in the Woods is, and he hated it. I mean HATED it.

Watched it again with me and one of our friends, and he loved it the second time, mostly because he didn't have that expectation hanging over him.

My two cents, for what they're worth.

Yeah! I also had a family relative that hated that movie. I enjoyed it as did my brother (we enjoy comedies), but the family relative in question thought it was awful (he loves Horror)! Then later, he liked it on a second viewing. I only even saw Cabin in the theatres because Joss. It's funny because I expected it to be a horror with Joss undertones and what I got was something I adored, much like Army of Darkness or other Splatsticks.

Expectations...yeah good call.

I have mentioned this many times before, but I always try to go into movies, books, music, and games with a "blank slate". I even go so far as to avoid trailers and do media blackouts for movies I am going to see to wrestle with my personal HYPE levels. You know, I can see some people not tempering their expectations which will lead to disappointment. Playing a game 3 years later after everyone said it was a great game? You may find it disappointing, especially if other games in the interim aped ideas from that 3 year old game. The game won't measure up.

They play a game/watch a movie/read a book because too many people said it was great and then end up critiquing it based on HYPE instead of the product. Definitely. It's also one of the many reasons why I NEVER tell friends to go see a movie because it's great. The classic undersell.

Great observation.

Kingdoms of Amalur. I first thought the lore was boring, but it got a lot better as I cracked its hard surface slowly.

Killzone 2 & 3, didn't much care for either when they released but the more I played them the more I started to like them more and more.

Generally speaking there's lots of games I probably come to appreciate more and more the more I play them.

One worth mentioning is Metroid Other M, it got shat on critically when it released, most notably by X-Play and I know everyone was paying attention to that review is I heard (and still hear) that same regurgitated criticisms from many others. Hell, I wasn't too keen on playing it but I felt compelled to as I loved the series. And, all the chatter must have had some effect on my enjoyment of the game, because I wasn't enjoying it initially, but midway through my playthrough I just decided to get really, REALLY herbally self-medicated, and when I went to play the game, hey I found myself having a great time playing it. Even after sobering up I was still having a good deal of fun. It's like it hit a reset switch on my brain.

Gamespot refused to post my message yesterday, so I screencapped my response.

Take that, GS.

Games that I keep going back to over the years. Shorter games that at a point in time I may have disliked length wise, i now prefer. Classics like Wave Race 64 and Starfox 64. I've always thought they were great, but to continually go back to them 20 years later is saying something about their design.

I've enjoyed a game MORE the longer I play it. I rarely change my mind later on. For example, I found TLOU to be tedious and inconsistent. I still feel that way no matter how many times I hear the amazing score.

I would say the opposite happened to me after I played Journey.

I was like, the **** did I just waste a tenner on?

I have showed people (non gamers) it since to do the 'art' test, and they think it's stupid too. Nevermind.

Honestly the opposite happens for me, games fall apart post finishing, because then I can think about the experience, and all their bullshit comes out. And I'm like I got jedi mindtricked, but never had a moment where I like was mostly aight with the game, and then thought the game was more special after it had finished or something.

Hmm. I suppose there are games that I appreciate even more years later. Mostly when I revisit an old classic and realize how it does things so much better than a lot of modern titles. Going back and playing games like Super Metroid, Link the the Past, Yoshis Island, Mega Man X, etc. really shows you just how brilliant these designers were. Pure gameplay, no nonsense gaming.

A funny one for me was FFXII. I HATED the game when I first got it. Instead of appreciating the things it was doing right, I was too busy nit picking away at how different it was from previous titles. I had already spent the money though, and it was Final Fantasy which still meant something at the time, so I had to trudge through it. Around the half way point it hit me. I had pulled a complete 180, I was hooked! By the end of the game I realized it was one of my favorite titles in the series. I even hoped that it would serve as the new direction for the series. The new template for future FFs to follow.

Can't think of another game in which my opinion changed so drastically over the course of one play through.

Lost Odyssey for sure.

Amnesia: The Dark Decent. When I played that game, at one point I gave up. Even though I'm fan of horror genre and love to stay alone at midnights, in the dark, that game really scared me. I was like "OK, it's not like I am scared or anything, this game is just not for me... right?". Then my friend told me that he has finished the game and I decided to come back to it after few days and do the same. I enjoyed it more this time around despite being scared as hell in some scenes. Fortunately, the ending was extremely rewarding and after finishing the game and experiencing the ending, I was glad that I played that game. Excellent game really.

Oh very good, I had thought a few times about the question this thread asks and hadn't thought of a game but yeah man, I'll second this, L.O. for me started off pretty iffy and had me worried but by the end, total satisfaction. We need a LO2 E3 surprise. :D

Tho like a new Conker, not gonna happen. :(

I'd rather have LO2 than a new Conker!!!

@Zassimick said:

Unfortunately they followed up with Marathon Simulator 2010 (a jg4xchamp trademark)

I enjoyed Prince of Persia: Sands of Time quite a bit while I was playing it, but the ending was so good that it made me look back on the whole experience more fondly than I would have otherwise.

I tend to appreciate most games more after the credits role. I'm never very partial to the campaign/story mode in a game. What I love to do is tackle all the challenges that are available afterwards. Things like finding all the collectables and getting high scores in any harder levels or challenges that become available at the end. It's the content that puts the game's mechanics to the test to a degree that shows how well designed the game really is.

I actually enjoyed FFXIII quite a bit, @jg4xchamp be damned. :P

Wow... Um, ya know I can't say this has happened too many times through my long history of gaming, but it has happened a few times. Most recently...

Bioshock.

The game was good in my maiden voyage, but I also found I was preoccupied with the mechanics to be totally immersed. It was a solid "B" when it launched.

Two years later, I sit down to play it again, because I never quite felt I let myself enjoy it to its fullest and poof.... Game was magic. I was more comfortable, used my powers more advantageously and understood the flow better and it was like I was playing AAA juggernaut everyone else had.

I chose the Belgian Waffle

Turns out it was an illusion of choice. Fucking bullshit.