Awful First Impressions

[Soviet Heavy]

So recently, Netflix got the streaming rights to a new anime series called Knights of Sidonia. I looked at the summary, and it seemed interesting, so I gave the first episode a shot.

And I still have no fucking clue what happened in the episode. This show is apparently based off a manga, but it does an absolutely terrible job of introducing the audience to the universe, the plot, or the characters. The main character has probably five lines in the whole episode, and the rest is just grunts and gasps.

About fifty characters are thrown at the viewer in as many seconds, half explained and incredibly vague details are pointed out and never expanded upon, and despite having next to no plot, the episode moves at a breakneck pace. The viewer isn't so much introduced to the world as thrown in and told not to drown before they open the floodgates.

Overall, I found the episode terrible. Awfully stilted dialogue, horrible mouth flaps, and an absolute waste of good dub VAs. About the only thing I found nice was the animation, which had this pretty neat cel shaded aesthetic.


This just got me thinking about how important a first impression can be. A lot of people argue that you need to stick with something for a while before you can make a judgement call on it. "Oh, the first few episodes drag, but it gets really good about ten episodes in!" "Oh, the first season sucks, but it gets better!" "Oh, the first level is boring, but the last few are amazing!" and so on.

I've been guilty of this. I recently said that I love Farscape despite the first season being a total drag. I found enough to like in the first season to keep me going, and for me at least, it paid off. But I can easily see how a show that doesn't offer a lot to like and expects the audience to go along with it can quickly put people off, just like Knights of Sidonia just did for me.

Any shows/games/books that you've experienced that have done this? Just given you a truly awful first impression that immediately put you off the work?

 

[Frezzato]

For me, that would be the movies Daywatch and Nightwatch. Gave them about about an hour, which was an hour too much.

 

[Sean Hollyman]

Fallout New Vegas. Though it was probably because rather than take the time to explore and gather materials, I just ran off like a dildo and got killed constantly. I came back later and loved it.

Also Mass Effect 1. Please tell me I'm not the only one who got lost on the Citadel...

 

[SirDerpy]

Well, if we consider that, unless you're starting off with a tutorial and a patience unheard of being observed in humans, Dwarf Fortress is essentially "Bad First Impression: The Game"...yeah.

The difficulty curve is akin to a cliff that you've just fell off of. But once you get the hang of it, it's a really damned good game.

 

[Flutterguy]

Game of Thrones. I knew it was only boring because they where trying to introduce a lot of backstory, but still it took me months to get past the first 6 episodes. I really liked the show after that.

For me, that would be the movies Daywatch and Nightwatch. Gave them about about an hour, which was an hour too much.

:O

I can understand not liking Daywatch, but Nightwatch was a piece of art. They do a bit too much ECU and jumpshots for much of the action scenes sure, but it is a low budget movie from early 2000's. Solid book series too.

 

[The Wykydtron]

Max Payne 3 for having the same boring opening cutscene play twice for no reason so you get to watch Max drink himself stupid while moping around in his apartment twice, then the gameplay kicks in and omgsohypebullettimepewpew. Actually while we're on the subject, Okami was undoubtedly awful about that. It's legit 15-20 minutes of the same prologue story told twice in this excruciatingly slow text crawl and you can't skip it. The gameplay after that is slow as hell too, I understand pacing but fucking hell there's plot building and then there's just fuck all happening. I'm all for slow burning plots, fucking best game evar Persona 4 has a full 2 hours of text with no gameplay and I always love going through all of it but Okami is supposed to be an action game. I think.

Maybe Castlevania Lords of Shadow 2? The actual prologue where you have all of your weapons, unlimited mana and get to fight a massive Christian Templar mecha was really good. Then you get to chapter 1 and now Dracula is just a total pushover and hey look, it's mandatory stealth in a hack and slasher. Best fucking game design amirite.

Also the DMC reboot, it's ridiculously vulgar and there's so much ammo for the anti Dontay people. He's a right **** in the first 2 levels but then he levels out alright from then on. I'm not gonna say he's a *good* character but he's far from awful, the tutorial gameplay was good as well.

The mop joke was spot on though, I can imagine some DMC fanboy turning off the game and shattering the disc against a wall in rage at that very moment.

"Not in a million years"

Spoiler: OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

God Hand. Played it a bit, sucked, hated the stupid characters, left it off, picked it up later, thought it was an awesome game.

 

[Redflash]

Game of Thrones. I knew it was only boring because they where trying to introduce a lot of backstory, but still it took me months to get past the first 6 episodes. I really liked the show after that.

For me, that would be the movies Daywatch and Nightwatch. Gave them about about an hour, which was an hour too much.

:O

I can understand not liking Daywatch, but Nightwatch was a piece of art. They do a bit too much ECU and jumpshots for much of the action scenes sure, but it is a low budget movie from early 2000's. Solid book series too.

I can see why one might feel shut out in the respective first parts of those films, but for me they're both well worth watching all the way through - I actually found the ending of the sequel terribly moving, which is quite impressive coming from a sci-fi/action film.

As for terrible first impressions I've got a number lurking in the back of my mind but I guess I must have suppressed them all because I can't really think of specifics. I guess Parks and Rec, which I am now quite into since I have a handle on the characters but initially found painful to watch - I don't do outright incompetence well so I found watching Leslie Knope screw up literally everything she attempted pretty off-putting at first!

 

[BathorysGraveland2]

Spartacus series. The first episode was just godawful 300-wannabe shit that was messy and all over the place. Fortunately, the second episode was better and by the third I was hooked. It seemed to get better as it went along, less 300 shit and more of its own thing.

 

[NoeL]

Minecraft. Although that game was so baffling it made me want to learn more, so wasn't really a "bad" first impression.

I watched the first episode of True Detective and didn't care for it at all, though I've heard people rave.

Avatar: The Last Airbender. The first episode is pretty awful right up until they find the fire nation wreck, and then it ends. The first season in general also has its share of filler, but as a whole I can easily say it's the best animated series I've ever seen, and probably in my top five tv shows too.

 

[tm96]

Gundam 00. The pilots for the Gundams I hated because their end goal of uniting the world through armed intervention seemed stupid to me and their enemies the various blocks of the world I liked better hoping they would capture them. As it went on the pilots grew on me since someone worse came in for me to hate.

 

[blink]

alternative music or more specifically music which isn't particularly catchy.
The first time I hear really good songs they sound average, after playing them again and again they always seem to grow on me until I love hearing them.
It's pretty much the opposite with songs on the radio/pop songs. the more you listen to them the less you like them.


Try it out for yourself, play a song by someone say... Rihanna a couple times then play a good song... I dunno the beatles or whatever you're into a couple times and see which one you like more

 

[Timmaaaah]

Arkham Asylum. It's got widespread critical acclaim but I wasn't used to the combat and I was so into the Nolan Batman films that I couldn't adjust and get into an unfamiliar Batman. It's still sitting on the shelf waiting to be played... Gotta get into it again and just wait for that click moment where I can start to really enjoy it

 

[Parasondox]

The new TV show Silicon Valley (well new to the UK). Saw the pilot and the show just felt so out of place. Characters didn't relate nor jell, it was mean't to be a "comedy" but nothing was funny and tried to portray geek culture as very alien, isolated thing. Maybe that's how they act like within the tech village but it seemed over the top.

 

[Colour Scientist]

Assassin's Creed II

First one I ever played, bought it, turned it on, played for an hour, never went back to the series.

I don't even remember what it was that put me off so much but I remember thinking at the time that it seemed really tedious. That was quite a few years ago now though, maybe I'll go back to it someday.

 

[Vault101]

Also Mass Effect 1. Please tell me I'm not the only one who got lost on the Citadel...

I was pretty meh about Mass Effect 1 at the time...I thought it was a poor man's Dragon age origins....

then I turned into a mass effect nut later

 

[Sean Hollyman]

Also Mass Effect 1. Please tell me I'm not the only one who got lost on the Citadel...

I was pretty meh about Mass Effect 1 at the time...I thought it was a poor man's Dragon age origins....

then I turned into a mass effect nut later

That was me, minus the DAO. I came back a few days later and played the shit out of it, then started ME2.... my god it was amazing

 

[Something Amyss]

Lots of games with a tutorial. Or intro stage. I'd forgive people for not wanting to finish Remember Me just based on the intro scene where you spend a ton of time slowly walking.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo--I'm in the middle of listening to this one in audiobook format. I'm not normally a big audiobook fan, but the first part is so dry I wouldn't have made it through otherwise. I should know, I tried. The book gets better, but it takes more than 100 pages. Not good for something people refer to as a thriller.

Try it out for yourself, play a song by someone say... Rihanna a couple times then play a good song... I dunno the beatles or whatever you're into a couple times and see which one you like more

I don't know why you'd use two pop acts as examples. Contrast Rihanna to one of the biggest pop acts ever.

Assassin's Creed II

First one I ever played, bought it, turned it on, played for an hour, never went back to the series.

I don't even remember what it was that put me off so much but I remember thinking at the time that it seemed really tedious. That was quite a few years ago now though, maybe I'll go back to it someday.

The AC series is a series full of really bad impressions. I still haven't finished the original. I think AC 2 starts heavily focused on Desmond, too, which is the opposite of interesting.

It's funny that they have such a rich and interesting premise and chose to frame it with one of the dullest people on the planet. Ben Stein would fall asleep in Desmond's presence. Not that the games were flawless, just....Based on the framing device, it's sometimes hard to imagine people getting too far in.

 

[DaWaffledude]

Lots of games with a tutorial. Or intro stage. I'd forgive people for not wanting to finish Remember Me just based on the intro scene where you spend a ton of time slowly walking.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo--I'm in the middle of listening to this one in audiobook format. I'm not normally a big audiobook fan, but the first part is so dry I wouldn't have made it through otherwise. I should know, I tried. The book gets better, but it takes more than 100 pages. Not good for something people refer to as a thriller.

Try it out for yourself, play a song by someone say... Rihanna a couple times then play a good song... I dunno the beatles or whatever you're into a couple times and see which one you like more

I don't know why you'd use two pop acts as examples. Contrast Rihanna to one of the biggest pop acts ever.

Assassin's Creed II

First one I ever played, bought it, turned it on, played for an hour, never went back to the series.

I don't even remember what it was that put me off so much but I remember thinking at the time that it seemed really tedious. That was quite a few years ago now though, maybe I'll go back to it someday.

The AC series is a series full of really bad impressions. I still haven't finished the original. I think AC 2 starts heavily focused on Desmond, too, which is the opposite of interesting.

It's funny that they have such a rich and interesting premise and chose to frame it with one of the dullest people on the planet. Ben Stein would fall asleep in Desmond's presence. Not that the games were flawless, just....Based on the framing device, it's sometimes hard to imagine people getting too far in.

Honestly, I found the present-day section way more interesting than the part following Ezio. It started out strong, but once it got past sequence 3 it just felt like it was treading water until the climax. At least in the present-day the plot was always moving.

Granted, I think the first AC game is the best in the series, so what do I know?

 

[WhiteFangofWhoa]

A mystery novel called Dead Money. The first chapter does the Max Payne 3 thing where the main character is literally doing nothing but sitting in a room drinking to excess, smoking, feeling sick, musing on how much he hates his boss' verbal tics and justifying cheating on his wife. Our hero, folks. Yes he gets better, but never enough to make me root for him.

*Prepares Triple-Strength Flame Shield*

Dark Souls. The controls really turned me off it as I read them going through the Asylum, wondering how I'm supposed to perform quick dodges or jumps with that mess when your character is so fragile and has such a long flinch time. Still I confess I wasn't aware of the usefulness of shields at that point, but I still can't bring myself to take it back off the shelf when I have other things worth playing ATM. When a game beats you senseless you're not in a huge hurry to come back for more.