Which is the best game with the worst first imression in your opinion?

You know, the kind of games you suggest people not give up on even if it doesn't look like it will be much at first?

I'm saying Avalon Code. The first couple of dungeons might give the impression that the whole lot is probably just going to be one narrow path. And some players may believe the code system might limit other aspects of the game.

In my opinion, it has a really bad first impression. But before even being half way through it has already become the best DS game I played yet. Even more so than the popular The World Ends With You.

Deus Ex actually. I had a bit of trouble getting into it first, but once I did, it really was one of the best games I ever played.

Fallout 2. The Temple of Trials is the worst part of the game, but it's all uphill from there.

Gothic. Incredibly clunky, the visuals are ugly and the voice acting sucks. Then I got the hang of it and BAM AWESOMESAUCE.

Kingdom Hearts 2 for its boring 3 hour tutorial even though the tidbits of story were good. Europa Universlis 3 I was expecting something like Total War probably should've payed more attention, but got something great anyways after i got used to it

edited 15th Jan '11 3:32:41 AM by Vanitas

Seconding Fallout 2. God help you if you sacrificed strength with the intent of using Power Armour to bump it up.

Star Wars the Knights Of the Old Republic 2 the beginning was boring too.

I actually enjoyed KOTOR 2's beginning, both the tutorial and the Peragus Facility. It gets boring when you're replaying the game though. Also, it's damn buggy, but that's just on par with the rest of the game.

Border Lands.

Yeah, let's drop you in the middle of the goddamn wilderness with a shitton of bandits, shitty weapons, almost no ammo and absolutely none of the game mechanics that you ABSOLUTELY RELY ON in order to even up the odds.

While I appreciate that game mechanics need to be introduced gradually, Borderlands is a textbook example of how a Forced Tutorial should not be done. The worst thing is that it's not representative. At no point will you ever fight with no shields and no powers beyond the tutorial for any reason other than a Self-Imposed Challenge. There's a difference between introducing game mechanics gradually and forcing you to fight in a way that makes no sense in the rest of the game because key mechanics are simply not present for no good reason. Borderlands does the latter and it's really quite annoying.

The result is a Difficulty Cliff that reminds me of Eve Online. The first few hours in which you play it will involve the game repeatedly humiliating you for what turns out to be no good reason. The result is either that you give up in frustration or by the time you scale the "Difficulty Cliff" and the game finally lets you play with the cool toys, it presents little additional challenge. This is the Sink or Swim Mentor approach to game tutorials and is really not a way to make good first impressions.

TSL's opening plays out like a horror film, and horror films are always worse when you know whodunit straight off the bat.

KOTOR 2's beginning might've seem more boring to me because they did the beginning so much funner in the first one and it was still fresh in my mind when i played. The first one was a better game, but the second one improved a lot for me after. I was playing the Xbox version which one were you playing

On the note of KOTOR, I found Taris from the first game incredibly tedious.

I don't have Kot OR that fresh in my mind, but I remember too much backtracking in Taris.

Oh God yes. Taris was a dreadful bore. Add in the Shoot the Shaggy Dog factor and it becomes interminable on repeat playthroughs.

I usually get myself good games, so the whole first impression thing kind of falls flat when you know for a fact that the game is good.

I'm unsure on what kind of logic you're using..

It is impossible to know for a fact whether a game is good or not before you've played it.

@That Other Griffin

What do you mean by good games?

edited 15th Jan '11 4:27:44 AM by PsychoFreaX

No, we are NOT having a fucking semantics derail!

Persona 3 and Persona 4 Started off as a barely interactive movie but get past the first hour or so and that shit takes off to the point they are some of my favorite games of all time.

edited 15th Jan '11 4:39:17 AM by Raso

Perhaps not the best example, but the most recent I can think of: Streets Of Rage/Bare Knuckle III.

The first few levels made me think "SOR 2 but with drab backgrounds, noisy music and annoyingly gimmicky levels." But once you get to Yamato, the quality of the action really picks up.

Also, pretty much any Lionhead game. Black & White 1 and 2 and Fable (haven't played Fable 2 or 3) all have exceedingly long tutorial sequences. It's the worst in Black & White, which is unskippable and treats you like a complete idiot. (You think I need instructions on how to move the damn mouse cursor? Really, game?)

Taris, hands down. Backtracking galore and Shoot the Shaggy Dog!

The Darkness. Oh dear crap The Darkness. Loading those shells in for 10 fucking minutes, then not being able to hit a damn thing with it.

"It is impossible to know for a fact whether a game is good or not before you've played it."

...

Crap, I got it all wrong again.