Games which change part-way thru, usually for the worse

[Brian Boru]

I was actually enjoying this game until the point

Mainer said this about Divinity 2 - The Dragon Knight Saga, and got a sympathetic nod from me.

I can say it about every Civ game. It's not the usual, that devs change the gameplay significantly—it's that it's a long game which progresses thru phases—eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, eXterminate—where the early phases are wonderful, but the later ones, not so much. ~90% of the time, I roll a new game when I get to ½ or ⅔ thru.

Where devs changed gameplay significantly for me were in the original Far Cry and the same devs Crysis and Crysis Warhead. FC had Trigen mutants introduced halfway thru, which the Crysis games set aliens loose, both of which changed the gameplay significantly.

How about you?

 

[mainer]

Yeah, Divinity 2 was the only game I've played that radically changed in gameplay at a certain point, and changed in a way that I absolutely couldn't tolerate. They altered my RPG into some kind of platforming combat game. I personally hated it, though that's just my opinion as I know others either loved it or at least tolerated it. Divinity 2 remains the only Larian game (in the Divinity universe) that I couldn't finish.

Of all the other games I've played, I can't think of any other game that radically changed part-way through, in terms of gameplay, outside of some games having difficulty spikes later in the game, but that's not uncommon.

 

[Frag Maniac]

I was really hoping I would thoroughly enjoy Red Dead Redemption 2, especially after the LONG wait to get it on PC, and all the raves.

While I WAS indeed really enjoying it for the most part, I really hated how they yanked the camp cook away without warning, which left many of my planned camp upgrades impossible. I'd really spent a LOT of time hunting prior to that to upgrade the camp too, so I didn't take it too well.

I also thought the game in general took a turn for the worst at that point with most camp members hating on you. Morgan falling ill also made for a bad ending and VERY unrealistic gameplay, as he somehow miraculously still managed tough shootouts.

 

[Pifanjr]

I really disliked the Oblivion gates in Oblivion, so I just avoided the main quest in every playthrough except the one I completed the main quest in.

 

[Zloth]

Yeah, Divinity 2 was the only game I've played that radically changed in gameplay at a certain point, and changed in a way that I absolutely couldn't tolerate. They altered my RPG into some kind of platforming combat game.

They only switch to it for a while from time to time. It's more of a required mini-game.

NieR: Automata does that a whole lot. You get quite a few types of gameplay in there. Enough that I wouldn't call them mini-games.

 

[Colif]

I really disliked the Oblivion gates in Oblivion, so I just avoided the main quest in every playthrough except the one I completed the main quest in.

sounds like me and Dragons in their other game

I like games where you can ignore the story as long as possible. I played Test Drive Unlimited 2 for 2 years and basically ignored story for most of that time.

 

[mjs warlord]

i spent a lot of time on the original guildwars , i was 1 of about 30k who logged in 1 day and got my pc trashed because the servers were under a dos attack , when i read chat i realised something was wrong because loads of players were saying weird stuff was happening , i reached for the mouse to log out but was too late , my pc died and i had to do a full factory reset to a never used state.

Anyways ..... like most of pc gamer magazine readers i looked forward to guildwars 2 , it was 5 years in the making and they said its not being released till were satisfied , on the day of release i got it , what a let down. To say i was disappointed is an understatement , the buildings were cartoony and the character figures made the game look like it was aimed at very young children.

I was 57 at the time of release and did not want anyone to see me playing a game with those kind of graphics , it would have been embarrassing.