Hey everyone,

It's been a while since i've regurgitated some of my nonesense in blog form here but i'm gonna speak on a weird phenomenon that some are also probably familiar with. It's happened a few times recently where i've gone back to a game i tried and didn't enjoy or thought it was kinda "meh" previously and be completely infatuated with the experience the subsequent time.

What the hell is up with that? Citing specific examples, I played Metal Gear Solid 4 when i got my ps3 the beginning of last year, played through it within a few days, and the only thing i took away from it was that it had frustrating mechanics and (i mean this lovingly) a rightful very japanese sense of identity to it. This was my opinion up until the past weekend when i started reading about the Metal Gear Solid HD collection (which i loved the first 3 MGS games) and decided to give 4 another go. While i'm still frustrated with the things that seem culturally or thematically strange to me as an american military veteran who has trouble turning off his bullshit alarm with regard to miltary things, I'm actually enjoying the game. I'm playing it differently by more emphasizing stealth and hand to hand and i also care to listen to and watch the extensively long codec conversations and cutscenes the whole way and the game mechanics are pretty much comfortable to me.

Another example is that i bought the Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare DLC back in fall last year, played it roughly once for maybe less than an hour and didn't touch it again until the past few weeks. What an amazing piece of add-on content. It completely overhauls the tone of the game while leaving the majority of the game intact. Not only that, it actually brings a sense of lightheartedness to a game thats core story is pretty serious.

These are not isolated instances of this occuring because i've also done this with games like Mass Effect 2, Oblivion, and Bad Company 2. I'd like to know why i keep doing this to myself. I can't help but wonder how many fantastic games i've missed from not giving them the time of day because i had my idiot goggles on. My hope is that if i can figure out what causes me to formulate these opinions and stop it or realize when i'm doing it so i can recognize it in the future.