Games you're glad you gave a second chance

I gave Alpha Protocol a second chance this weekend. I hesitated on buying it for the longest time, and then there were a few threads here on Giant Bomb where people really loved the game. Then it showed up on a Steam sale for a ridiculously low price, and I bought it. And played it. And absolutely hated it.

I didn't get any further than the starting area, because the controls were just too broken for me to continue. Moving was literally off and on. Mike would run or not run. Or silly crouch-walk or not silly crouch-walk. And only in eight directions, thanks to WASD. This was complicated with a camera that was too overly sensitive to make moving natural. I set the mouse sensitivity in the game all the way down. Then I set my mouse's sensitivity in Windows all the way down. And that didn't get me very far. So I uninstalled the game, taking comfort in the fact that I had only paid a few dollars for this game.

Then another thread popped up here that rekindled my interest in the game. So I gave it another shot, this time with a 360 controller plugged in. What a world of difference that made. I can actually play the game, instead of fight it. And I'm really enjoying the game so far, and I'm really glad that I gave it a second chance. Shooting is pretty terrible, but that's negated to some degree by being able to sneak up behind guards and judo chop them in their necks.

So, duders, what games are you glad you gave a second chance?

None that I can think of, but Alpha Protocol is baller-awesome.

i'll probably get some shit for this. but mass effect 1.

when i first got my 360 i got like 6 games with it, mass effect being one of them. i played it for a bit, i think it was the first game i played on my 360 actually. got to the citadel and thought "meh, ill try some other games out". i didnt end up trying it again till like a year later, now its one of my favorite games this generation. i probably would have given it a better first chance if i didnt have a stack of other games i wanted to play sitting next to me.

Alpha Protocol for me too, such a great game if you play it on easy and kinda just play it for the story.  
Bastion and Fez, didn't really like the demo/trial of those games but I bought them anyway and had a great time.  
Portal, I wasn't such a big fan of it when I first played it and stopped playing it when I got stuck. When I picked it up again it instantly became one of my favorite games.  

None, I show no mercy.

Lumines 
 
I played it once then I forgot about it for a long time. Then one night when I couldn't go to sleep I decided to give it another chance, and now I've played over 70 hours of it.

Golden Sun.

started it 3 times, and 3rd time i went all the way.

fuckin loved that game and am SOOO happy i gave it more than one try.

Gran Turismo 5, it was one of the games that got me to buy a PS3, and it was such a huge disappointment when it came out, I went back a year later and after downloading an endless number of huge patches, the game is actually pretty good now.

Final Fantasy X would have to be my answer. I really, really disliked it the first time I played. I couldn't stand the characters. I got stuck on a boss, and just gave up. Last year, I decided I needed to finish it as part of my goal to finish every game in the series. I still don't like the characters, but it's a very well made game. I enjoyed it.

Minecraft and Oblivion spring to mind.

Eternal Darkness. I can't even remember why I didn't like it initially after a mate rented it for us. Whatever the reason, I'm just so glad that I randomly decided to buy it for myself a few months afterwards; one of the best games on the gamecube, and one of the best horror games out there in general.

I gave AP a second chance last week too, and while I enjoy almost everything it does or tries to do, the floaty and stupid looking character movement and 2002-esque environments make playing stealth really damn annoying.

The Legend of Dragoon.

If I hadn't have bothered it wouldn't have become one of my favourite games of all time.

infamous and mass effect 2

I'll be giving dragon age origins a second chance in the near future. hopefully I'll be glad I did that too

Persona 2: Innocent Sin

the gameplay was so boring I stopped an hour in... then I got word that the story was amazing, so I soldiered through. glad I did, it's incredible (gameplay is still ass though)

Fallout New Vegas, I realised I had been playing it wrong the first time, I was playing to win, when I forgot about achievements and finishing the game, I began to immerse myself in it, and now it's one of my favourite games. Cleaning out entire bases with a sniper rifle is so hilarious, nobody notices the giant piles of headless bodies , Not one person begins to question the dude standing in the dark corner with a sniper rifle. Perfect example of Janky game design improving the overall quality of the game.

Alpha Protocol starts horribly, that first mission ugh.

I played like an hour of the original Witcher demo and didn't care too much for it. Only when Witcher 2 was announced and everyone professed their love for the original that I gave it a second look and then bought/finished the game.

The first inFamous, after my very first half hour with it I really wasn't very impressed. I have now played through it over a dozen times.

I'm glad I gave RAGE a second chance and it's decent for what it is.
I'm also glad I got a refund for it, then bought it later for half off at a price more appropriate to the quality and content provided.

Morrowind. I really didn't like it the first time I played it. Now it is one of my favorite games ever.

Earthbound, since it turns out that it had a ton of enjoyable personality to it.

Mass Effect. Got it for Christmas 2007 and picked the Infiltrator and never got past Eden Prime. Next summer I started over as a Soldier and loved every minute of that game.

Call of Duty 4.

@Kidavenger said:

Gran Turismo 5, it was one of the games that got me to buy a PS3, and it was such a huge disappointment when it came out, I went back a year later and after downloading an endless number of huge patches, the game is actually pretty good now.

this is accurate.

Bastion. Wasn't very impressed by the demo but I bought it anyway. It's now one of my favourite games.

Dead Space, the PC version. At first the controls fealt bad, I couldn't even kill the first monster. I was like: "Man, fuck this video game!". But after talking to my friends, they gave me the advice to turn off V-Sync. Totally worked and I'm glad about that, because that game is fucking awesome.

Alone in the dark (360)

Mine is definitely The Witcher. I also abandoned Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl after about 4 or 5 hours several years ago, so I'm hoping that I'll be able to enjoy it more this time around.

Red Dead Redemption

Burnout Paradise. I did not like the demo at all. Then they added so much through updates. The game dropped to $30 bucks and later that week I found $50 on the sidewalk and figured I might as well grab it since it I had heard it was a pretty easy platinum trophy.

Lord of the Rings: War in the North. I bought it on the day it was released (had it pre ordered for months) and saw some pretty below average reviews on it. I shelved it and never touched it since I had other great games to play till 3 weeks ago. That game is very under rated, for anyone that is a fan of Dark Alliance 2, this is a great game.

Dead Space. Hated it at first, so glad I decided to go back and retry it.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Didn't like it at all the first time I played it, but decided to go back to it a few months later. I ended up really enjoying it, much more than I had anticipated.

For some reason when I first got Oblivion I didn't like it very much, and barely played any of it. Like a year later I picked it back up and loved it, and it's still probably one of my favorite games of this generation.

GTA IV.

When GTA IV came out I really disliked the controls and the direction they took the series (Realism over jet packs) so I ended up just messing with the multiplayer. I finally booted it up again about a few weeks ago, I finished it yesterday at 22 hours, really enjoyed that game.

Even so, I still think its overrated, not to many "wow" mission like there were in past GTA games.

Final Fantasy 9, now my second favorite game

Oblivion

DDO

The Warhammer 40k games

The first KOTOR

God of War. Couldn't stand it the first time, but glad I got through to see the kick ass sequels.

Majora's Mask. Made it to the water temple place the first time through, got stuck and didn't care. The second go round I used a guide find all the side stuff, so's I didn't go crazy, but I loved it.

I'm real close to cutting my first attempt at Saints Row 2 short and adding that to the list of games I need to give a second chance too, as the controls are terrible (ps3 version) driving with square and x buttons? R2 and L2 for shooting? Fuck you, game! Fuck you.

GTA 4, and I'm honestly not sure if it was worth it. I was satisfied with the ending, it sort of made up for the issues that made me stop playing, but more often than not the game was frustrating.

I also stopped Lost and the Damned a few hours in. The story is really interesting, but god damn that game feels like a pig nowadays. I wish I could at least play a smooth version on PC, but that port is awful and chugs on my system.

@MariachiMacabre said:

Mass Effect. Got it for Christmas 2007 and picked the Infiltrator and never got past Eden Prime. Next summer I started over as a Soldier and loved every minute of that game.

This is pretty much a point-for-point description of my experience with the first ME.

Not just a game but a series- Assassin's Creed.

For some reason, the first time I played AC2 it just did not click for me. There was something about the way Ezio controlled that put me off. Often, he'd leap up a wall when all I wanted to do was chase down the guy in front of me. I burned out after several hours. However, I recently gave the series another shot with Brotherhood and I'm glad I did. Finished the game, went back and finished 2, and now I'm moving onto Revelations just in time for AC3. I love the world of these games more than the moment-to-moment gameplay. Traversal can be frustrating some times but I've gotten the hang of it now.

SSX.....Fallout 3 to a lesser extent.

Mass Effect 1, as I found the combat awful the first time and simply turned it to easy to enjoy it the second time.

Also, Bayonetta, because now that I've finally finished I can stop recommending that game to people.

STALKER, bought it for 2 bucks on the first steam xmas sale, played it for 18 mins then, never came back. However, i recently installed the complete mod and have played about 2 hrs. The combat can be brutal and i've died a lot but im digging the atmosphere.

I played a bit of the first Mass Effect and gave, I just was not feeling it. I gave it another another shot shortly before Mass Effect 2 came around and enjoyed it.

Another example is with Vanquish, which for whatever reason I never liked my first time through. Turns out that game is excellent.

Fallout 3. My first playthrough totally failed and I thought the game was a piece of trash. Started a new file and it became one of my favorite games ever. (New Vegas is better, though.)

Also Deus Ex HR. The first half of the game felt meh to me, and I set it aside for awhile. When I finally forced myself to finish it, I found I was enjoying a lot more than I thought.

Originally I hated the first Mass Effect because the gameplay and inventory management were awful. I put it down for a couple months. Luckily I came back and fell in love with the world and story. Gladly the sequels addressed my issues with the first game.

@Clonedzero said:

i'll probably get some shit for this. but mass effect 1.

when i first got my 360 i got like 6 games with it, mass effect being one of them. i played it for a bit, i think it was the first game i played on my 360 actually. got to the citadel and thought "meh, ill try some other games out". i didnt end up trying it again till like a year later, now its one of my favorite games this generation. i probably would have given it a better first chance if i didnt have a stack of other games i wanted to play sitting next to me.

Yeah, same here, almost to the letter. Played up to the citadel, did a bunch of side quests and stuff by the forward momentum was pretty much dead. then with the hype around ME2, I realized I needed to beat ME1 to have something to import, so I went back to it. It had been so long that I had no idea what was going on in the game or how to work the controls, plus I hated my custom dude, so I just started over from scratch with a vanilla Shepard and had an amazing time with it. Phenomenal game that went on to become one of my favorite games this generation.

Bully was another game I did that with. I finished Chapter 3 on it in April 2008, and then picked it up again more than a year later in October of 2009, finishing it in two days, and then going back and mopping up tasks in order to get one of my few S-ranks. It's up there on the list of my favorite games of all time.

Demon's Souls. Most games, if they don't grab me in the first hour or two I don't play them. I play to be entertained, not just because, so if it doesn't pull me all the way in, I'm out. Demon's Souls didn't pull me in. But for some reason I powered through to the Tower Knight and an hour or so after that I was hooked. I almost didn't play it, and now it and Dark Souls have consumed more playtime than any other single game ever...I put embarrassing amounts of time into FFX, Oblivion, TDU and all of the GTA's...but Dark Souls probably stole more of my life then all of those combined.

I have never played a game a second time and enjoyed it more.

I usually get fed up with it at the same time I did the first try. I'll do this often, because I want to finish the games I have. But if im not liking it I've never had that change on a second attempt.