Weekend Question: Which games start bad but get good later?

[PCG Jody]

I ask the PCG staff a regular Weekend Question and post the answers on the site. If you'd like to throw in an answer here, I'll squeeze the best into the finished article!

This week's question is: Which games start bad but get good later?

Inspired by the number of people saying that Outriders gets better after the first 10-15 hours, what's a game you didn't like at first, then ended up enjoying? Are you a die-hard believer that Final Fantasy 13 is worth sticking with past those first 20 hours, did you almost give up on Metal Gear Solid 5, have you made it to an MMO's endgame and actually thought it was worthwhile? Or is it never worth sticking with a game you don't enjoy right away?

 

[bh3bh3]

Farcry 3, At first I got a little dizzy on playing this. As I play into the game further, I started to like it with its amazing gameplay and stories.

 

[Brian Boru]

did you almost give up on Metal Gear Solid 5

Not 'almost', I did give up on it. So it gets better, does it?

 

[Pifanjr]

As much as I love the game, Black & White's tutorial is soooooo slow. Just learning the mouse controls takes forever, then when you finally get your pet creature, you have to go through about a dozen or more mini tutorials, but for some reason the game makes you wait 5-10 minutes in between each tutorial until the next part becomes available.

When you finally move on to the next island, you get even more tutorials!

At least once you've done all the tutorials you can just chill out with your creature in skirmish mode.

 

[mainer]

The game that had a slow start for me was the first Witcher game. In the introduction when you're in Kaer Morhen, and learning the game mechanics and the combat tactics, it was just difficult for me to really get into the game. Most of that was because it was an entirely new world with combat & alchemy that I'd never experienced (plus at that point I hadn't read Andrzej Sapkowski's books).

But I stuck with it, and the lore, the characters, the world, and the combat just blossomed into such a great RPG experience. It really pays to stick with a game even if it seems slow or confusing at first.

 

[Frindis]

World of Warcraft vanilla. While some of the starter zones were beautiful and the dungeons you did were ok, man, it sure was a struggle at times to get to that lvl 40 mount. Walking kind of sucked, to be honest. After lvl 40, the game opened up both in the sense that you could actually move around quicker, and of course, you got closer to the real juice; the higher lvl dungeons and them sweet, sweet raid drops.

 

[Sarafan]

Driver from the late 90s. It has an awful and very painful tutorial which can't be skipped. It's a model example of how the game shouldn't start.

 

[Johnway]

A bit late to the party but the first thing that comes to mind is probably Path of Exile. if i'm being brutally honest the first act is pretty dull. Your character's stats are low, the gear you get is awful in stats and to look at and your skills are basic. Its not helped (unsurprisingly) that it was GGG first efforts and it shows. Once you hit the 3rd act does things pick up with the better gems, gear and your stats are starting to resemble something good does it really get compelling. But would you have persisted long enough to reach that point or would first impressions ruin your experience? To tell you the truth i joined when only the first 3 acts were around and was unimpressed by it. Fast forward several years later and its my gaming crack of choice. I would stop playing any game i was on and play POE exclusively for the duration of the league ((or when i have the reward i want).

Speaking of Looters, The Division 2 recently didn't grab me as much. its only after completing a few more of the main missions does things open up and increased activities start popping up. So its getting better but i feel that the underlying issues that i have still persist. But we'll see.

 

[KingPSPC]

Red Dead Redemption 2
After 2 hours of useless boring dialogue of characters i dont know and dont care about, Red Dead Redmeption 2 turns from a graphics showcase to an amazing game.
(I'm not done with it pls dont spoil)