Games you underestimated?

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So if you’ve been gaming for a while, theirs a chance you’ve probably been prejudice towards a game thinking you weren’t going to like it/care much about it without even playing it yet and had very low expectations for it. Or maybe you did play it and didn’t like it at first. However, in the end, despite how you felt before, you realized you were wrong about it and it ended up being a lot better than you thought it would be.

Well, that’s what this thread is about! If you’ve had anything like this happen before, by all means, post them!
 
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Assassins Creed Odyssey. Obviously it came out in 2p18 and having tried Origins and not got on with it, despite being a huge Assassins Creed fan, I had low hopes for Odyssey.

I typically don't like massive open world games, and all I had heard about Odyssey was how big it was, how many RPG elements had been bought in (not a huge RPG fan either) and that killed my interest in the game.

Fast forward to March 2020, I keep seeing people on Reddit taking about Odyssey and how fun it is. Then I saw the gold edition on sales for £16 on the Xbox store so decided I'd give it a go and give in to my curiosity.

OMG. So glad I did, what an absolutely exceptional piece of gaming wonder. Picked Kassandra (had been advised she was the better character, particularly in terms of acting etc), got hooked into the story early on, and away I went. Couldn't put it down and over 100 hours later I completed the main storylines and both expansions. Safe to say this went from being an, i wont buy it, to being possibly the best game I have EVER played.
 
Off the top of my head, League of Legends. Years ago one of my friends played the game and wanted me to try it out. I didn't like the controls of mouse clicking for movement, I was too much of a WASD guy. Not fond of learning new genres either so in the end I wasn't very interested. Some months or so later I got a PC upgrade and was urged to download it to try again. It was a rocky start but eventually I loved the game regardless of knowing the difficulty curve and the stigma around the community. Many years later I still play the game frequently, there's admittedly a lot of things I don't like about it but I still enjoy the core gameplay.
 
Farming Simulator.

I remember buying '17 on a whim during an Xbox sale thinking if I managed to kill a couple hours it would be worth it. Fast forward to today and '19 is one of my most played games on Steam. It's hard to say exactly why it's so enjoyable to play, but I'm guessing it has to do with the fact there really is no stress involved when playing it. There's no clock to beat, no boss battles or complex puzzles and while that may sound boring from a gaming standpoint, it has its merits when everything outside of gaming just seems to pile stress on you.

European/American Truck Simulator surprised me for similar reasons, granted I don't play those super often.
 
European Truck Racing Championship

I was having a look on the PlayStation store for a different kind of racing game then I found European Truck Racing Championship but I didn't know if it was worth it and I thought since when was last time I bought truck racing game.

So I bought European Truck Racing Championship it takes a little bit of time to get used to the steering and when you use the brakes you have to spray water on them to keep them cool. The most surprising thing was the A.I trucks having accidents you didn't see coming it's a great game.
 
Beyond Two Souls.

I was really intrigued by Heavy Rain on PS3, & had been following it's development. I loved the concept, & was very excited to try the demo. However, when I did I absolutely hated it with a passion! I saw BTS later on & thought the graphics looked nice, but was really put off by my impressions of HR. Then, in late 2016 I got a free 7 day trial of PS Plus, & ended up giving it a go. After getting over the initially user unfriendly control system (much improved from HR though), I really got into the game & ended up playing it through 3 times in those 7 days! I bought the PS3 version on disc, & played it through another 3 times. I got the PS4 remaster & played it through another 3 times. Despite it's flaws, it's ended up being my favourite video game of all time.






:drool:
 
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (PS2)
Back in 2007, I think I was 13 at the time and my dad bought a PS2 and some games from someone he knew at work, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for the PS2 was one of several games in the stack. Okay for starters, I was not allowed to watch the show when I was younger and didn’t have any interest in it either. So right off the bat, I was NOT interested in the game at all, in fact, I wasn’t even sure I’d be allowed to play it since I never could watch the show when it was on TV. I was super prejudice towards the game, I can remember telling my cousin I was thinking about selling it before I even played it and I didn’t even want to give the game a single chance.

Never have I been so wrong about a video game in my entire life! When I eventually played it some, it was MUCH better than I expected it to be! The gameplay was quite good even if the controls took a bit of getting used to and it only got better when you had other people to join in. You could have more players join in mid-game to assist you in the story and what’s cool is wasn’t even split-screen! It was kind of like Lego Star Wars in a way and I applaud this style of gameplay.

Overall, despite my extreme prejudice before, the game was a lot of fun, I had good memories playing it with my brother and it’s a game I still look at fondly to this day. In fact, I actually ended up liking TMNT in general because of this game and when Michael Bay made some movies about them much later on, I was actually quite interested in them as a result of playing this game years prior. For me, it is a classic example of what this topic is about and it is easily one of the first things that came to mind when I made this thread.
 
MTV Music Generator 2.

Strictly speaking, this isn't a game, it's a simple yet incredibly effective music making program. In fact, its predecessor Music 2000 was the very first app on the original Playstation. MTV Music Generator 2, however, ran on the PS2. When I first saw it, I thought to myself, 'how good could this really be?', after all it's running on a games console! I really wasn't expecting much...how wrong was I. Turns out that this 48 track sampler/sequencer had some amazing features & was more than up to the task of writing some kickass tunes. I ended up using it for a good 3 years, wrote over 70 pieces of original music on it, & was inspired to attend college for a music tech course.



PS: not my track.
 
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2005 (PS2)
This ironically is coming from the same stack that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles came in that I mentioned above from 2007 and like that game, it also tells a similar story. Upon getting it, I didn’t think much of it simply because it was a golfing game and back then I viewed golf as a “boring sport” and thought this game would be boring as a result. I can remember my brother mentioning how it said on the back of the box you could create your own golfer in the game and I was like “So?” and was not amused by it at all.

Of course, like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, I ended up being very wrong about this one too. Upon seeing the ways you could customize and create your own golfer, I was instantly amused by it and had some good laughs along the way. :lol: The customizations were quite stellar and it was something that was very new to me at the time and was a welcome change for me. Then we get to the gameplay itself and it was actually not nearly as boring as I thought it would be. It was actually pretty decent, the golf courses were quite pretty to look at and it had some game modes me and my brother poured hours into together. The fact you could even make your own golf courses, give them some absurd colors and even change the clouds in the sky just added to the fun.

Needless to say, it turned out to be yet another good game despite my initial thoughts and it had a lot of amusing features that were new to me at the time and was a nice change from everything else I had ever played before. Although it’s been MANY years since I played it again, I still look at it fondly to this day, and in fact, typing this makes me want to go back to it again after so long.
 
My pick is Valkyria Chronicles. I got it along with games like Company of Heroes and Dawn of War in Sega strategy game bundle, but I let it gather digital dust on my steam library because I just wasn't interested in a game like that. All I knew about it was that it's some sort of anime XCOM, and I'm not a big fan of either.

Five years later, I finally decided to play the game. My plan was to just get a little taste of it and play something else, but I got strung along and ended up playing it right through to its ending. There was a time when anime-ness of it all got a little too much, but it played nicely and characters really grew on me. I wish I had played it sooner.


Edit: I thought of another: Metro 2033. I got it for free when my brother pre-ordered Homefront for a TF2 hat. I went in not having any idea what that game is, and ended up playing it four times back-to-back. I still play it from time to time.
 
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I've had many experiences of games I underestimated but the standout is the first Mass Effect. When I first played it I didn't get into it and I returned it (I believe I rented it first...) and didn't give it much thought after that. Then a friend of mine bought it for me for my birthday and I "forced" myself to play it over. Ended up loving it and it became one of my favorite game series' of all time.

Another is Metro 2033, the idea came from the post above. Bought it on sale and initially thought it was sluggish and slow, so I put it down. Tried again a year or so later and looked at it differently. Now the slow pace and atmosphere became a big positive for the game and I enjoy all the Metro games.

Latest example is The Last of Us II. All the controversy and negative attention led me to believe the game would be bad. I avoided all spoilers, played the game with an open mind and thought it was one of the best games ever.
 
Good choice of thread @Sonygamer455 👍

Tell Tale Batman - I had downloaded it months earlier when it was free on PS Plus and stuck it in a folder with all the other PS+ games that I never bothered with.

Then, when my subscription had about 10 days until it expired, I was looking for a quick game in that folder that I could finish before then. I went for the Tell Tale game as I knew it would be short and had heard it was an easy Platinum trophy too... :D

Ended up addicted and played through it all in 2 sessions, so then I had to find something else from my PS Plus folder to play for the last week... :lol:

They really nailed the vibe and feel of Batman, imo and the story was well crafted 👍

PS - If I ever subscribe to PS Plus again, I still have that folder of games left to play :lol:
 
Alienation on PS4. I downloaded it as I was bored one night thinking I would get a couple of hours out of it. I ended up spending a couple of hundred hours on it trying to get that super powerful gun with the best power cores attached to it. It has great atmosphere and the baddies are very satisfying to kill.
 
When it first came out Crusader Kings II. I bought it on a whim because it seemed like something that would be enjoyable. I hated it at first because I didn't know what I was doing. After reading up about it and going through some guides, I now have over 300 hours on it, all the expansions, and still play it to this day with a smattering of mods. I can't wait for CKIII to come out.
 
When it first came out Crusader Kings II. I bought it on a whim because it seemed like something that would be enjoyable. I hated it at first because I didn't know what I was doing. After reading up about it and going through some guides, I now have over 300 hours on it, all the expansions, and still play it to this day with a smattering of mods. I can't wait for CKIII to come out.


*sees CK2*

Oh do go on with your messed up stories...
 
In order of when I first played them-
Speed Devils (Sega Dreamcast):
I think this was my first memory of playing video games and all I could remember was driving on a track with a tornado and one of the vehicles looked like a Jeep. Though I went back and played it again recently and it is quite a good arcade racer. The tracks are varied and have a lot going on in them. The cars are flashy and feel different enough from each other. Also, the graphics are unique enough where the game doesn't look too dated.
Midnight Club 2 (PS2):
As a kid I just thought of Midnight Club as a ripoff off NFS and barely played it, but I remember seeing something on the upcoming release of MC3 and got excited so I decided to play 2 more. The countless massive jumps, racing with cars and bikes, and having various real world locations made the game plenty unique and quite fun. Also jumping off the Louve and making my mom mad never got old.
Need For Speed Shift (PS3):
I bought this for nothing more than a distraction until GT5 given that NFS and realism didn't sound like the greatest combo. I immediately liked the crashing though, with the screen going gray for a bit with hard impacts and there being an impressive damage model, it was worth playing for awhile for that alone. I soon discovered my skills learned from PS2 NASCAR games could carry over to here in that cars ahead can be used as brakes. This tactic allowed me to complete the game in full. Along the way I drove the Nurburgring and various other tracks for the first time in HD, did figure 8 races in hypercars, and launched a Dodge Challenger at Willow Springs.
Motorstorm Arctic Edge (PSP):
I wasn't expecting much for a portable version of a game that relied on over the top crashes, detailed landscapes, and cool nitro explosions while crossing the finish, but it had all of this done as well as I've ever seen it on the PSP as well as an in depth photo mode to capture it all mid race. The tracks were new to the series and well thought out, there were various customization options for every type of vehicle, and the online leaderboards stayed updated for a long time.
Driveclub (PS4):
We all knew what happened before and during this game's launch. I was turned off by this like many others, though luckily I found the game used for $5 in mid 2015 at a local gaming store that was going out of business. I saw where apparently some of the flaws at launch were patched, so I tried to go in with an open mind. Immediately I noticed how detailed the tracks were and the impressiveness of weather cycles so I drove every track in every setting quite a few times mainly to look at them. In turn, this made me gradually better at the game and I began to enjoy the physics as well as the scenery. Over time the game was patched to be better and better and this coincided with Team Mopar and my YouTube channel getting bigger and bigger. These factors farther influenced me to improve in the game and soon I as well as the rest of my club were fighting for track records and helping others with video tutorials. The rest is (hopefully well documented) history, making Driveclub one of my favorite games of all time.
 
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Another game comes to mind: Alien Isolation. Even though I am a huge fan of the movies I ignored this game at launch because I thought it was purely a stealth game and that isn't my favorite type of game. Ended up playing it on sale years later and to this day it's among my favorite game experiences.
 
Right now, I'm playing a fair amount of Conan Exiles (PS4).

Look through my post history and you will find a SCATHING review of Ark Survival Evolved, in some worst game experiences thread. With that in mind I was hesitant to try this game, but the boys were all playing it, and the miracle of gameshare meant I could try it for free.

The game is similar to Ark in many ways - you're smashing rocks to build your base, raising pets, making sure you have food and water etc, all standard parts of the genre. Conan has the more unique feature of human thralls, basically slaves that you go out and club into unconsciousness, rope them up and drag them home.

Obviously, it's set in the Conan universe (and based more on the original books and comics than the 80s Arnie movies) which lends a depth of lore which surprised me.

But what the game has, which Ark doesn't at all, is polish. It's nice looking and it runs very stable, even when rendering huge player built bases. Ark looks and runs hopelessly in comparison.

Now, Conan Exiles IS a bit janky. You can get stuck inside a rhino's head pretty easily (just jump out) and the odd bug will rear its head, but I feel it's well balanced in the sense that it's far less grindy than other survival games I've attempted to play, and it pulls off its caveman-kings aesthetic really well. The community also seem very nice. I've been glued to it for a few weeks now.
 
Gran Turismo 3

I really, really hated the lack of cars at the time. I was young, foolish and naive.

Turns out that the game is absolutely brilliant and a terrific example of less quantity is more quality.
 
Not so much underestimated but had the wrong idea.

Snatcher for the mega cd.

So I saw some magazines articles on it ( it was how it was done back in the good days ) and I thought it was some first person adventure game with cool anime graphics and the magazine gave it a 9 so when I saved my money I went out and bought it.

So I get home put the disc in expecting to play some cool looking adventure/ fps game and was like, what is this?

Answering questions all day and talking to the receptionist and so on but luckily I stuck with it and it turned out to be one of the best games I played and turned me into a point and click fan.
 
No Mans Sky.

I picked it up a year ago while it was on sale. I wasn’t expecting it to be that good but it really proved me wrong.
 
Good choice of thread @Sonygamer455 👍
Glad you think so! 👍 I actually had the idea long before now, but didn't post it until much later on for some reason. I had a feeling it would be a hit and so far, I feel like it has been!
Not so much underestimated but had the wrong idea.
Close enough. :) You misjudged the game and ended up liking it in the end and that's more or less what the thread is about.

To be honest, I felt this thread could have a better title than what I chose for it, but I really wasn't sure what else to call it.
 
Rocket league (PS4), I cant understand why is it so addictive, but it is. Its a simple idea, perfectly executed, team game. With an actual friend its even better.
 
Need for Speed Prostreet
I am sure some can relate to this. While I was extremely prejudice towards the other two games I mentioned before I even gave them a chance, this one tells a very different story. I don’t really remember what my thoughts were prior to getting the game, but I don’t recall being extremely prejudice towards Prostreet. Chances are, I probably was expecting it to be as good as what I had already played before in the NFS series and didn’t think too much of it.

Of course, I got the game for the PS2 on Christmas of 2007 and played it some and within that very day, it didn’t take me long before I became displeased with it. I didn’t like the look and feel of the game as well as it’s atmosphere, the fact it was on closed courses, no free roam, you had to pay for the damage done to your car and it was very confusing for me at first. Coming from the Underground series, Most Wanted and Carbon, and then playing this, it was not at all what I had come to expect from NFS at the time. Needless to say, I was disappointed with it and eventually got frustrated and put the game aside, then went back to playing Carbon like I had been doing prior to getting the game.

However, I went back to the game months later and gave it another chance. Eventually, I realized while the racing might not be what I was used to at the time for NFS, it was pretty good for what it was once I got passed the fact it wasn’t street racing. The thing that really saved the game for me was the car list and the customizations. It really did have plenty to offer for both and I ended up spending a lot of time customizing as a result. At some point, I got over most of my initial frustrations for the game and started to understand the game a lot better. Eventually, I got to where I liked the game a lot more than I did before and I ended up enjoying it when I didn’t think I would.

The story doesn’t stop there though. Fast forward to late 2011, after watching a lot of Youtube videos for the game and learning the PS3 version had even more cars than the PS2 version I had played before. I actually ended up getting the game again, this time for the PS3. Unsurprisingly, it was everything I knew and liked about the PS2 version and more and I ended up liking Prostreet even more than I did before.

Nowadays, while Prostreet is certainly not the best NFS ever made and I still have some issues with it, it is a game that despite my initial reaction, I have to come to remember fondly over the years. In fact, it’s in my top 5 favorite NFS games list. It is the very reason I put this in my original post:
Or maybe you did play it and didn’t like it at first.
And I feel this game for me is a solid example of this.
 
Cities: Skylines

It was free on xbox so I downloaded it, had no idea what it was. Figured it was something even worse than the latest sim city games. It took me over a month to get around to playing it, but next thing I know I’m addicted and playing for like 6+ hours at a time. No joke, this is one of the best games I ever played.

I still play it to this day on PS4.
 
Call of Duty Black Ops.
So back in 2010, this was one of several games we got with our PS3 for Christmas. I didn't really have any thoughts good or bad about Call of Duty Black Ops prior to playing it, I simply didn't think much of it. I guess because I was most excited for the others since they came from series I was already familiar with, meanwhile, I didn't know anything about Call of Duty yet since I had never played it at the time.

Eventually, when I played Black Ops, I gave the campaign a shot and lost interest along the way, the same could be said for team deathmatch and whatever other multiplayer modes they had. I was not really getting into the game much at that point, that is until I started playing zombies. Once I got started with it and got to know it some, I really started to enjoy it and it became an addictive experience for me that I played for quite a while. Although I didn't really lose interest in it, I did eventually stop playing it for personal reasons. Only to pick it back up nearly 2 years later once I learned save game hacks were a thing for it and like that I ended up enjoying it even more than I did before. So much so, I ended up buying the DLC for it and it brought a whole new meaning to the game that to this day, I still think was money well spent.

Now, I think Call of Duty Black Ops is my 2nd most played PS3 game behind GT5. Meanwhile, the other ones I was initially more excited for on Christmas ended up gathering dust instead. Because of how much fun I had with zombies in Black Ops, I ended up buying Black Ops II and III for the same reason and unsurprisingly had a lot of fun with them too. Eventually, I am going to get Black Ops IV as well. I really didn't think I'd get into Black Ops like I did, but it happened! Although I still don't care for anything outside of zombies in that game, I still look at the game fondly nearly 10 years later despite not being interested in it at first.
 
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