Games you didn't like, but got better a second playthrough or purchas

[Ironbat92]

I remeber when I first played it, I didn't like Mass Effect. I tried to like it, and after 2 or 3 times of playing and even repurchasing(Gamestop FTW), I finally liked it. Maybe it was my taste back then, but some how I manage to really enjoy the game and it was my favorite RPG (until the sequel, and soon Mass Effect 3). Has this ever happened to you, where you didn't like a game the first time you played or purchased it, but it got better after a scond playthrough or purchas?

 

[Vault101]

same with me..the first mass effect

I never disliked it..I was just "meh" about it at times, and I was having technical issues with windows 7 so it was really distracting (textures being out of whack) shepard never looked right to me and thr whole thing came off at rather Narm at times

but after a a few more I could realy see how cool the game was, and even now It has a better story than ME2

 

[Gorilla Gunk]

A lot for me.

Borderlands
Crysis 2
Farcry 2 (Although I still ended up selling it again without finishing it second time around)
Bad Company 2
Black Ops
MW2

 

[skywolfblue]

I don't think there's been any game I outright hated, but then liked on a second playthrough.

But:

The second playthrough is often the best for me.

In stuff like Assassin's Creed or Mass Effect 2 it was an opportunity to see a lot of the stuff I had missed the first time around.

Dead Space 2's second playthrough was an thrilling experience for me because I dominated, whereas the first playthrough I had just barely survived by the skin of my teeth.

Halo 3 / Reach, the first playthrough was "yeah yeah, meh story, dull guns", the subsequent playthroughs get a lot better because the AI is so adaptive and will behave in ways you didn't expect.

 

[WoahDan]

DA2: on the first playthrough i was very dissapointed, didnt like the new art direction and wasnt crazy about the combat(didnt play long enough to notice much of the other problems with it. Then i had a second playthrough after completing DA:O again, maybe it was not looking at DA:O through rose-tinted glasses or not having so high expectations but i found it much better the second time and still maintain its nowhere near as bad as some claim.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

Dragon Age: Origins went from shit to my favorite Bioware game once I grasped the combat.

Ratchet & Clank: A Crack In Time grew on me once I accept that the series would NEVER be able to pose a challenge like it used to now that I can actually play shooters and just enjoyed it for the fun weaponry and dialogue.

 

[TephlonPrice]

Alpha Protocol.

The first playthrough, I hated this shit. Stealth never seemed to work, I got in way too many shootouts, and some gameplay elements just seemed designed to kill me.

The second playthrough, things got better surprisingly.

 

[pilkman]

Hearts of Iron III (and most other Paradox Interactive games), those games are damn good once you get your head around them.

 

[CrashBang]

I bought both Mass Effect and Red Read Redemption a second time because I didn't like either the first time. I loved them both after the second purchase.
I've bought The Orange Box three times, trying to see the appeal of Half-Life 2 and I still don't get it.

 

[Boggelz]

Fallout 3. Rented it and didnt really understand how to play it and got stuck on a quest so i didnt buy it. Then all my friends hailed it as this amazing game. So i bought the GOTY edition and persevered through the quest i was stuck on now its one of my favorite games.

 

[Phlakes]

Deus Ex. Bought it in a Steam sale a long time ago, tried it, and failed miserably in the beginning of the first mission. Never even made it inside the statue.

A month or two later I decided to give it one more shot, this time making sure I could sit down and play it as long as possible, and a couple weeks later it was one of my favorite games ever.

Exact same thing happened with Stalker SoC.

 

[BreakfastMan]

Eh, the only time I can remember something like that happening was with Psychonauts. I played it through to the meat circus, got frustrated, and quit. I had thought it was good, but not as good as everyone said. I then replayed it a couple years later for some reason, and I enjoyed it much more than the first time (I even beat the meat circus!). I don't know why, but I did.

 

[Ziame]

team fortress 2. didnt get most of it and got raped a lot. now i have a clan xD

fallen haven - i got whooped by ai first time. then i took time to learn the basics and i won

hearts of iron 3 - same as above

 

[Cheesus333]

Oblivion. I just did not get it the first time, but then I came back to it about two years later and it rocked.

 

[kyogen]

Shadow of the Colossus

It got my respect right away, but I had a hard time with the controls, so I put it down for a few months to play other things and had a fantastic time when I came back to it and my fingers decided to do what they're supposed to do.

 

[Llil]

These are both older ones. Fallout 2 and X-Com.

Fallout 2 just seemed boring, ugly and confusing, so I gave up pretty much right after the temple, but a few years later I decided to give it another go. After all, so many people were saying good things about it, it couldn't be that bad. This time I had the patience to figure things out and it turned out to be a great game.

Pretty much the same story with X-Com, except for the ugly part. I was totally lost and didn't know what I was supposed to be doing, but again, with a little bit of patience I ended up liking the game a lot.

I might have been too young when I first tried to play them.

 

[Combined]

Dragon Age Origins. I hated it when I first rented it, mainly because I didn't really know what I was doing. I gave it a second chance a few months later, and I now own the full version, including all of the DLC.

Exactly this. This is the first example that comes to mind, really.

As for something new, probably Crusader Kings. At first it was quite difficult and annoying to figure out how it should work and how to lead a country properly. First few times I played it were short and devastated the nations that I tried to lead to glory. However, after about the... 4th or so time I played it, I finally began to grasp all the proper concepts and ways to do something. Now, I am of a very high opinion of that game. It really is excellent.