Gaming franchises you used to dislike...

NeoGeoNinja

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...but have since "done a 180" on, and now rather like instead!

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There have been a few of these for me over the years, most of which were actually high-profile games that, initially, I just didn't 'get' or, just couldn't get into at all. Often, games most ppl poured over, however, when I came to experience them first-hand... well, the magic just didn't happen.

Then, sometime later... years later, something just "clicked" and I became appreciative and engrossed.

My main examples would be:

1. Resident Evil

Everyone went nuts about this when it hit PS1. An overnight sensation, pretty much. As formulaic stories go: friends bought RE1. Played it. Didn't get it. Then they bought RE2. Rinse and repeat.

So what changed?

Resident Evil on GameCube, simply put.

When I first saw this running on an import cube in a local indie game store, my jaw dropped. I felt it was high time I gave my RE failings another crack of the whip. And... I'm glad I did.

Coming back to RE all those years later, seemingly, worked better for me as the gamer I had become 7 years later vs the original PS1 debut. Ironically, I would arguably cite the cube remake of RE1 as one of T H E best games I have ever played. Quite easily.

2. Metal Gear Solid

Yeah. You can no doubt see a pattern forming here. But honestly, just copy and paste in MGS on PS1 where it stated RE1 on PS1 and you get the idea.

Never cared for the PS1 version when it came out. Thought it looked and sounded cool, but never really enjoyed how it played. So much so, I never really understood (at the time) what everyone saw in it.

Wanted to second chance MGS, so picked up the GC version and really enjoyed playing through it - and subsequently the PS2 sequels too.

Still haven't done MGS4 though yet, because I haven't got 25GB (or whatever the requirement) spare right now.

It will happen though, once I upgrade my shitty OG PS3 complete with VTOL grade turbine for 2nd gen slim with 320gb.

3. The Legend of Zelda

Another biggie. And, the pattern continues...

Never looked twice at Zelda in all my years in gaming. I played aLttP back in the SNES era, as a few of my friends had it, but the adventure, puzzle type gameplay just didn't work for me back then. I just wanted Contra, Street Fighter and Turtles in Time etc. I didn't want to 'waste' time wandering landscapes, exploring.

The same applied to the N64 releases too.

However, when screen shots of Twilight Princess started to surface, the look, aesthetics and concept of this sequel really drew me in for some reason. It was a Zelda game AND I really wanted to play it.

Needless to say, I got it when it released and I was completely besotted by it. It bore new interest for Zelda within me, and I have since played a great deal many of the other titles in the series since. I'm even at the point where a new Zelda would probably get me to buy a WiiU outright.

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A real turnaround for me on 3 franchises I, originally, never looked twice at.

What about you lot?
 

NeoSneth

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I would like to do a 180 on Metal Gear and Resident Evil. I have not....

Super Mario 2 - NES I appreciate the uniqueness of it now.
 

dgame

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I used to dislike RPGs because of all the grinding needed to level up. Tried Pokémon Yellow and was like WTF how many of these things do I have to kill?

Then I watched a friend of play through Skies of Arcadia on the Dreamcast. This game has a very high random battle rate and my friend actually enjoyed all the grinding. I really liked the story and noticed that once you get to a certain power level and gear up the frequent battles become almost trivial. This revelation changed my attitude towards level grinding. Skies of Arcadia was the first RPG that I completed.

Then I went back to complete Pokémon Yellow and enjoyed the grinding for the same reasons. Level up, gear up, and annihilate all that stand in the way of victory.

This may seem like ‘duh’ to RPG fans but I was used to arcades, beat ‘em ups, platformers and shooters. The concept of not just racing to the next stage was lost on me at the time.
 

Phyeir

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The only franchise I can say I truly disliked is Halo and that's mostly due to the fanbase it had thinking it was the greatest shit ever. Look what its spawned in its wake in the industry, there's still reason to hate.

I have played the original though and its pretty good, but Im not jizzing every 10 minutes of playthrough the way some people were selling that game back in the day.

Now, popular franchises I've ignored but never come back to, that's a laundry list of games. Got the same #2 and 3 as the OP. MGS I own the main series games but always hearing how long the cutscenes are keeps me from actually playing then.

And Zelda, Ive just finally started playing the console games seriously. The portable titles I never had an issue with because they were always structured to play through faster. The cobsole titles always had some point where there was a long fetch quest that would bore me and would lose interest. Going to stay focused on Wind Waker though.

Only other series Ive done a late turnaround on was Blazblue. When I played the first title, there was no character I could play as. The closest character to my rush based style was Taokaka, but she feels a bit to aerial based for me. Would just end up spamming like 3 moves with her. Even bought the limited edition based on Gulity Gear related excitement and was sorely disappointed. Once they added Makoto Nanaya that changed everything though. Im not at an even semipro skill level so I could care less that shes low tier. Shes fun to play as and her design is great too boot.

Apologies for any phone typos above.
 

AppleiDog

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Grand theft auto, I never gave it a chance I think but now I probably class the series as the best ever.

And these are just two games that I will never ever get into Castlevania and Megaman worst series ever.
 

Niko

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I used to hate Gradius, and space shooters in general when I was a kid. Now I cant get enough of them.
 

Magician

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The Elder Scrolls

When I first tried Morrowind on the original Xbox I thought the game was garbage. The combat system was awful, the graphics weren't the best I'd seen at that time, and its rpg systems were foreign to me. I had little experience with action/rpgs outside of PSO, Diablo, and Record of Lodoss War at that time. I walked away after an hour unimpressed.

A few months later I was watching my friend play Morrowind. Of course he was much further than I was. He took the time to breakdown the rpg system for me, showing me what skills and stats mattered for which way I was playing the game. In the end I spent over a thousand hours, across a half dozen different character build, on Morrowind. The following games Oblivion and Skyrim vastly improved the issues I had with the combat system, and the series quickly became one of my absolute favorites in the hobby.
 

famicommander

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(Dynasty/Samurai) Warriors.

I used to think they were all basically the same game, and that they were simply mindless button mashers. But they really aren't. There's actually a lot going on in the games and I feel like its brand of hack and slash gameplay is the natural evolution of the old school beat em ups like Double Dragon, Streets of Rage, or Golden Axe.

I also gained a similar respect for Koei's Romance of the Three Kingdoms RPGs and Nobunaga's Ambition SRPGs.
 

Syn

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I did a 180 with Resident Evil also. I loved the series until I played 4. I no longer care about the series.

As far as what you really mean ;) I can't say a particular game but I can say a gaming genre, rpg's. When the NES/Master System were released I was in full-on arcade mode and didn't play home consoles. With the release of the Genesis/MD I started playing friend's consoles and ended up buying one. A friend loaned me Shining in the Darkness and I enjoyed it. I was surprised since I didn't enjoy playing Dungeons & Dragons.

Now RPGs & shooters are the genres I play most!
 

El Maricon Loco

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And these are just two games that I will never ever get into Castlevania and Megaman worst series ever.

Oh jeesus christ, here we go.

Dood, f'real Castlevania was the shit before androgyny took over gaming. 'Vania 4 is nothing but pure tits.

Oh on topic, when I was a kid, SamSho was the only Neo fighter that I thought was an original, I always looked at shit like FF and AoF like a cheap knockoff or bandwagon money grab on SFII. As I grew up I realized they were different in a lot of ways.
 
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Kid Panda

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Oh jeesus christ, here we go.

Dood, f'real Castlevania was the shit before androgyny took over gaming. 'Vania 4 is nothing but pure tits.

I get the CV hate. It's a pretty brutal series until 4. 4 was a total pushover back in the day.
 

famicommander

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The only Castlevanias anyone should hate are Simon's Quest, the N64 games, Judgment, and the Lords of shit...er, Shadow games (all three).

Everyone should love Dracula's Revenge, Super IV, Symphony of the Night, Rondo of Blood, Bloodlines, Aria of Shadows, Dawn of Sorrow, Circle of the Moon, etc.
 

El Maricon Loco

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The only Castlevanias anyone should hate are Simon's Quest, the N64 games, Judgment, and the Lords of shit...er, Shadow games (all three).

Everyone should love Dracula's Revenge, Super IV, Symphony of the Night, Rondo of Blood, Bloodlines, Aria of Shadows, Dawn of Sorrow, Circle of the Moon, etc.

:cool: Indubitably.

I get the CV hate. It's a pretty brutal series until 4. 4 was a total pushover back in the day.

I agree, though I'm sure kiddies today would still find it challenging. The game was sensual pleasure from beginning to end, and the controls are butter. If you die in that game, you can't blame it on controls. XD
 
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Kid Panda

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For the record, I love Simon's Quest. I wish someone would remake it as I had a blast with it.
 

Taiso

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Goddamn, this is a good thread.

For me, it's hard to cite a specific series. For me, it's more the genres. I used to be lukewarm or flat out dislike ARPGs, but in the past five years I've really come to like them. I still don't like the mouse point and click attack scheme and much but the genre itself, the exploration, the stuff questing...I dig all that stuff.

Diablo is a series that comes to mind as something I didn't like very much but have gradually warmed to it. It's not my favorite end all be all series, but I certainly didn't care for it ten years ago.

Hard to come up with others. Maybe I'll get into Mortal Kombat IX and that will turn me around on that franchise as well.
 

lantus360

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Fallout - the first 2 isometric games were lost on me. Fallout 3 and New Vegas really got me hooked in the series.
 

andsuchisdeath

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I pretty much hate all genres outside of four (2D fighting, shooting, beat 'em up, action/platform).
This could change someday, but I certainly haven't taken any steps toward the process.


Edit: I don't think there are any franchises I like now that I previously hated.

Then again, I can't name many franchises where I enjoy the majority of titles released within it either.
I mean, I hate Zelda, but Link to the Past might be my favorite game of all time.
 
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Phyeir

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I did a 180 with Resident Evil also. I loved the series until I played 4. I no longer care about the series

I loved 4, it was different but still felt like Resident Evil. Now 5 for me was when it became complete pandering tripe. Though Revelations was redeeming.

If there was a thread of game series I used to love and now don't, I could bitch a medical books worth of content.
 

StevenK

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I ignored the tony hawks games completely for many years, blaming them for being too throwaway and a stinking shit pile of 'new gaming'. However I eventually got to a stage in life where games I could have a quick stab at whilst taking a shit were all I had time for, and I slowly got into them. Not sure I'm over the moon about it though.
 

Niko

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I ignored the tony hawks games completely for many years, blaming them for being too throwaway and a stinking shit pile of 'new gaming'. However I eventually got to a stage in life where games I could have a quick stab at whilst taking a shit were all I had time for, and I slowly got into them. Not sure I'm over the moon about it though.

1 - 3 where awesome! If you had the xbox version of one of the games you could listen to your own soundtracks. I spent hours just fucking around doing combos.
 

SNKorSWM

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I get the CV hate. It's a pretty brutal series until 4. 4 was a total pushover back in the day.

I've always thought CVIII was pretty easy, too. You could fly over all the hard jumps or cut through bosses with that lightning ball.
 

Tron

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For the record, I love Simon's Quest. I wish someone would remake it as I had a blast with it.
Well there is a hack of CVII simon's quest which has a map added speed up text and a remade translation.
 

Wachenroder

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I used to hate Gradius, and space shooters in general when I was a kid. Now I cant get enough of them.

GASP*

My childhood was very much the opposite. Grew up on shmups in general but Life Force on NES was a huge game for my friends and I.

As for franchises I turned around on? Metroid. Played the first and second games as a kid and kinda liked it meh. Took me more then a decade later to play Metroid Fusion on the GBA and damn was I hooked. Now I love the franchise.
 
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