Games You Almost Ignored and Glad You Didn't

Anything from run & guns to modern RPGs, what else do you play?
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XoPachi
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Games You Almost Ignored and Glad You Didn't

Post by XoPachi »

I'm pushing my way through Bayonetta 3 and I'm remembering in 2010 writing off this character. At the time of her debut there were a few of these garbage femme fatale games coming out. X-Blades, Wet, Velvet Assassin, Blood Rayne was getting a new entry for some godforsaken reason. So I thought Bayonetta would be more bargain bin fodder. But shes toe to toe with Samus as one of my favorite super heroes. I like her whole trilogy.
And I've had a few of these cases for sure.

Undertale was one I was SO ready to skip. I didn't like it nearly as much as the Tumblr obsessors. But I saw Jaimers play it and it sold me. I had a great time and thought it was really novel but intuitive with excellent pacing.

Most recently I was about to pass up Yooka Laylee's sequel. Until I saw it was getting really high praise. Then I just jumped on it. It's brilliant and so well realized. One of the best 2D platformers I've played recently. Easily the best world map structure for this genre.

Sometimes its nice being pleasantly surprised and I feel like its too easy to talk about the ones that disappointed.
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Air Master Burst
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Re: Games You Almost Ignored and Glad You Didn't

Post by Air Master Burst »

Killzone Liberation for PSP. Hated the fps games, but I was bored and it was on clearance in the PX in Kuwait and I had a couple days to kill. Was not expecting a truly fantastic top-down shooter, but I ended up playing it for like two weeks straight.

Also, for the record, neither Wet nor BloodRayne were garbage games.
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Sima Tuna
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Re: Games You Almost Ignored and Glad You Didn't

Post by Sima Tuna »

I've written off a ton of games, then come back to them later and had a blast.

Borderlands 2 is the example that sticks the most in my memory. I played to about level 20, got stuck on some side quest and gave up. For years. Then came back, learned how to actually play the game (I used to just zone out and follow waypoints like a true MODERN GAMR back then) and got to OP6 with Maya. Leveled basically every character to max, legit. Most were OP2. But I got a little tired of running the Peak solo over and over.

One game I've deliberately avoided playing is Minecraft. I'm sure I'll get sucked in eventually. I always try to avoid these survival sandbox types of games, because I find them way too addictive. I can feel myself getting sucked into Subnautica right now, and I've had many bouts with Don't Starve, where I'd play hundreds of hours of just that before burning out.

The way I play games, I like to have some super intense, action-heavy games. But also some RPG, survival or strategy games. Sort of a mix of high execution vs high knowledge/low execution games. Those low execution/high knowledge games are the type I tend to write off initially, because I have a habit of believing most popular indie games are secretly shit until proven otherwise. :lol: I avoided The Long Dark for The Longest Time (heh) because it was a "popular" survival sandbox game. Turns out it was awesome and devoured a ton of my time.

I've also had the opposite happen. Sometimes I write off a game, then come back to it, dig as deep as I can, really try to figure out How To Play, and... Conclude it's 100% terrible.
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XoPachi
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Re: Games You Almost Ignored and Glad You Didn't

Post by XoPachi »

Sima Tuna wrote:I've written off a ton of games, then come back to them later and had a blast.

Borderlands 2 is the example that sticks the most in my memory. I played to about level 20, got stuck on some side quest and gave up. For years. Then came back, learned how to actually play the game (I used to just zone out and follow waypoints like a true MODERN GAMR back then) and got to OP6 with Maya. Leveled basically every character to max, legit. Most were OP2. But I got a little tired of running the Peak solo over and over.

One game I've deliberately avoided playing is Minecraft. I'm sure I'll get sucked in eventually. I always try to avoid these survival sandbox types of games, because I find them way too addictive. I can feel myself getting sucked into Subnautica right now, and I've had many bouts with Don't Starve, where I'd play hundreds of hours of just that before burning out.

The way I play games, I like to have some super intense, action-heavy games. But also some RPG, survival or strategy games. Sort of a mix of high execution vs high knowledge/low execution games. Those low execution/high knowledge games are the type I tend to write off initially, because I have a habit of believing most popular indie games are secretly shit until proven otherwise. :lol: I avoided The Long Dark for The Longest Time (heh) because it was a "popular" survival sandbox game. Turns out it was awesome and devoured a ton of my time.

I've also had the opposite happen. Sometimes I write off a game, then come back to it, dig as deep as I can, really try to figure out How To Play, and... Conclude it's 100% terrible.
Borderlands 2 was crack for me for 3 years. OP10 LV80 Maya here. It's easy to get sick of the games but for me it was just this right mix of things I didn't know I needed. I actually tend to have FAR more fun alone. Not because "ew other players", but there's a greater challenge and I liked coming up with builds that could let me survive on my own. Granted the stuff I cooked up was already known as optimal but I figured it out for myself before finding them online. Peering into the depth of the game is really intoxicating.
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Stevens
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Re: Games You Almost Ignored and Glad You Didn't

Post by Stevens »

Borderlands was fun, but Borderlands 2? Zero is one of the most fun fps characters I've ever played. His Bloodlust tree was awesome.
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Sima Tuna
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Re: Games You Almost Ignored and Glad You Didn't

Post by Sima Tuna »

Stevens wrote:Borderlands was fun, but Borderlands 2? Zero is one of the most fun fps characters I've ever played. His Bloodlust tree was awesome.
I made a special Torgue Allegiance build for Zero. It was easily my favorite Borderlands build of all time.

I don't like to shill my own shit, but I'll post the link here. I made the post primarily so I'd never forget how I put it together. The endgame spec is an Ogre and Hard Slapper. You can use Torgue shotguns if you want, but they run dry pretty fast thanks to 11/5 Two Fang. :lol:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Borderlands/co ... ero_build/
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To Far Away Times
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Re: Games You Almost Ignored and Glad You Didn't

Post by To Far Away Times »

Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle looks like a soulless Ubisoft game.

It has no business being paced as well as it or having such awesome game mechanics.
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Re: Games You Almost Ignored and Glad You Didn't

Post by DMC »

I spent 2 years in the US and got a little interested in baseball--very casual or hipster-like. I wanted to buy a realistic baseball video game with MLB license to learn more about the game and the league. However, the licensed games on Switch got very poor reviews so instead I bought the cartoonish Super Mega Baseball 2 on discount. The animated style was not initially my cup of tea, and the 9-inch games in single player mode was quite slow and boring. I played a full season and thought I'd seen enough. Then I tried online season mode and loved it. The 5 inch online games were perfect in length and it was incredibly fun to read your opponents psychologically. After they have thrown 50 pitches at you, you've learned their patterns pretty well. The match making procedure and difficulty adjustment was maybe too strong but almost every match got very close and tense.

As an adult I don't think I have been more excited playing video games than this (and chasing some hi scores). I even created my own teams and players like I was 12 again. A team of famous parapsychologists and another team of famous horror filmmakers. My favourite pitcher was a fat Lucio Fulcio with a long white beard and an arrogant style. I haven't played Super Mega Baseball 3 though.
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XoPachi
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Re: Games You Almost Ignored and Glad You Didn't

Post by XoPachi »

As a kid tactics and strategy games were lost on me. Totally didnt get the appeal. And to be honest, I still dont care about any of them.
Except Advance Wars. 8)

I heard about the series for a while but heard it was a tactics game and avoided it. But then I saw the adorable fat tanks and bombers which drew me in. I got ADDICTED to Black Hole Rising. The graphical style was so appealing and so suitable to the GBA.
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Lander
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Re: Games You Almost Ignored and Glad You Didn't

Post by Lander »

Nice to see some Borderlands 2 rep. I've seen a lot of folks discard the series out of hand as trash due to the humor, but even if it doesn't get any laughs out of you there's plenty of fun and compulsive Gun Diablo to be had.

It's been long enough that I've forgotten the specifics of my builds beyond a vague memory of TORGUE BABY YEAH, but I do remember getting a lot of fun out of Ordered Chaos Gaige and Mania Krieg after a long stint as Salvador in the base game.

Krieg in particular was just chef's kiss in terms of implementation. Special voice-in-your-head dialogue lines that only play locally, skills that make you demand friendly fire from your co-op buddies and generally act like a frothing maniac, they really went the extra mile to put the player in the shoes of a total nutter :D
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BurlyHeart
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Re: Games You Almost Ignored and Glad You Didn't

Post by BurlyHeart »

Hollow Knight. I usually stay away once I see the term Metroidvania, but I'm glad I didn't on this one. Although it had those wandering around wondering where to go moments, it was still a lot of fun and a memorable experience.
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Infiltrator
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Re: Games You Almost Ignored and Glad You Didn't

Post by Infiltrator »

Demon's Souls.

I was about to write it off often as overrated while playing, and I wasn't in the mood for a hack and-slash atm. But this wasn't quite one of those, little did I realize. What kept me going was hearing how many loved it. So keep at it just to make sure... well, took a while, about the 36-hour mark, then it finally clicked, and understood why it was such a great videogame.

Came back to Demon's Souls, Dark Souls 1-3, and Bloodborne many times over the years. Epic stuff. Glad I stuck it through.


A strange example was Shining Force 1, coming off many Shining Force 3 Scenario 1-3 playthroughs, SF1 wasn't doing it for me. That entire playthrough I sorta forced myself. Well, after playing the others too, SF2 and CD, at one point decided to come back to make if I was too hard on it. And for some reason, I just loved that entire playthrough.

First X-Men for Sega Genesis. I rented, didn't make much progress, and wasn't sure what to think of it, but eventually rented it again. Didn't beat it, far from it. Eventually bought it, maybe it was the cover art and poster? Took a while to beat this one and too eventually figure out that reset computer thing. But this ended up being a gem of a gem for me, a true hidden gem. Anyone who puts in the time to beat it fair and square should love it.


Lesson? Folks saying they don't like a game may mean nothing. And games having great word-of-mouth fame could mean there is a cause for it. Sometimes a game may not click until the 36-hour mark or the second playthrough, etc.
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Despatche
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Re: Games You Almost Ignored and Glad You Didn't

Post by Despatche »

This whole idea of "writing off" games needs to be actively resisted, and ideally, completely destroyed. Games are overwhelmingly more good than bad. There are, in fact, entirely too many good games.

Writing off entire genres like this is especially bad. Like, if you're coming across a game in a genre that you supposedly hate, then end up really liking that game... something's not right there.
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BurlyHeart
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Re: Games You Almost Ignored and Glad You Didn't

Post by BurlyHeart »

Despatche wrote:This whole idea of "writing off" games needs to be actively resisted, and ideally, completely destroyed. Games are overwhelmingly more good than bad. There are, in fact, entirely too many good games.

Writing off entire genres like this is especially bad. Like, if you're coming across a game in a genre that you supposedly hate, then end up really liking that game... something's not right there.
It's not that I write entire genre's off - I did end up playing Hollow Knight after all.

It's more of a guide line. I have limited free time and choose what I play accordingly. Playing Hollow Knight was quite the time sink, and iirc, I played it during my vacation when I had extra time available. And as mentioned, I was still quite annoyed at the 'running around finding out where to go' bits.

I don't think it's an unreasonable take in the slightest.
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BulletMagnet
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Re: Games You Almost Ignored and Glad You Didn't

Post by BulletMagnet »

Despatche wrote:Games are overwhelmingly more good than bad. There are, in fact, entirely too many good games.
I agree with the latter sentence (which, in and of itself, underscores the inevitable need for most of us to be at least somewhat selective about what we choose to delve into) though not so much the former (as I've attested before, a brief scan of the "all new releases" list on Steam will quickly throw ice-cold water on that particular sentiment). Though that's a bit removed from your larger point.

In any event, as time goes on most of us (well, assuming most folks' experience is more or less akin to my own) both 1) Develop a clearer innate sense of what we tend to enjoy and what we don't, and 2) Tend to have less time and/or inclination for gaming to spare. While I don't think anyone, myself very much included, would argue that anybody should without exception immediately rule out a game or genre solely because of one or more of the standardized labels attached to it, sometimes you can judge a book by its cover, and when you only have so much time and energy (...and funds) to devote to sniffing out something new to play - let alone actually playing it once you've found it - you pretty much have to.

Sure, it'd be nice if all of us could realistically aspire to build our own "ideal" game libraries brick by brick, featuring a finely-tuned, painstakingly-curated balance between our all-time favorites and unexpected personal "hidden gems", but most of us have to draw a line somewhere, and in the process come to terms with the fact that we might well miss something worthwhile along the way. Which, I suppose, is part of why we gather in communities like this one, in the hope that others can point us towards something off the beaten path that we would have otherwise overlooked, and vice-versa.
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Lander
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Re: Games You Almost Ignored and Glad You Didn't

Post by Lander »

Writing off a game or genre isn't necessarily permanent anyway, unless you're truly closed-minded.

I dipped out of non-action RPGs for years on account of not considering them my thing, before reconsidering the stance and having a grand time with FF8 and Disco Elysium.
As a result, I now have a greater wealth of games to choose from, and more subgenres to explore such as SRPG and more traditional CRPG - nothing was lost in the grand scheme of things, and time has better equipped me to appreciate the finer aspects of those titles.
XoPachi wrote:At the time of her debut there were a few of these garbage femme fatale games coming out. X-Blades, Wet, Velvet Assassin, Blood Rayne was getting a new entry for some godforsaken reason. So I thought Bayonetta would be more bargain bin fodder.
Don't forget Bullet Witch, a.k.a. Western Inverse Bayonetta!
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Re: Games You Almost Ignored and Glad You Didn't

Post by Leandro »

BulletMagnet wrote: but most of us have to draw a line somewhere, and in the process come to terms with the fact that we might well miss something worthwhile along the way. Which, I suppose, is part of why we gather in communities like this one, in the hope that others can point us towards something off the beaten path that we would have otherwise overlooked, and vice-versa.
That's perfectly said!!

By the way, if you liked Hollow Knight, check Blasphemous. I enjoyed that one too.
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Immryr
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Re: Games You Almost Ignored and Glad You Didn't

Post by Immryr »

Lander wrote:
XoPachi wrote:At the time of her debut there were a few of these garbage femme fatale games coming out. X-Blades, Wet, Velvet Assassin, Blood Rayne was getting a new entry for some godforsaken reason. So I thought Bayonetta would be more bargain bin fodder.
Don't forget Bullet Witch, a.k.a. Western Inverse Bayonetta!
bullet witch...... western?
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Lander
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Re: Games You Almost Ignored and Glad You Didn't

Post by Lander »

Immryr wrote:bullet witch...... western?
Huh, consider me corrected - and with Cavia of all studios too, that's about as unwestern as it gets if you discount the stylistic leanings of Nier and Drakengard.

In which case, let's go with 'western styled' - point being that it's a grey, green and brown shooter with a femme fatale protag and horror flavor that's grounded enough to slot comfortably into the western late-2000s Xbox 360 catalog next to The Darkness and Condemned 2. Well enough to fool me, at any rate :roll:
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Vanguard
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Re: Games You Almost Ignored and Glad You Didn't

Post by Vanguard »

Despatche wrote:Games are overwhelmingly more good than bad.
This is just crazy talk.
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XoPachi
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Re: Games You Almost Ignored and Glad You Didn't

Post by XoPachi »

Nah, I don't give a shit about certain genres.
I'm good.
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Re: Games You Almost Ignored and Glad You Didn't

Post by ZellSF »

Definitely was close to ignoring Prey. Marketing for that game was a nightmare, and the first trailer I saw made it look like a mediocre horror game, not the true spiritual successor to System Shock that BioShock wasn't.

I can't remember what convinced me though. I think I tried it way after it was released, so I ignored it for quite a while.
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Air Master Burst
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Re: Games You Almost Ignored and Glad You Didn't

Post by Air Master Burst »

Lander wrote:grey, green and brown shooter with a femme fatale protag and horror flavor that's grounded enough
Lander wrote:The Darkness and Condemned 2.
Neither of those games actually fits that description; The Darkness is about as grounded as a Spawn comic and Condemned 2 is like 90% melee combat. Neither have a female protag. You're not wrong about them being pretty brown/gray, although Darkness 2 actually used a shocking amount of color.

Also, the Condemned games fucking rule. Monolith used to be masters of the FPS, it's a shame they just make shitty licensed games now.
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Re: Games You Almost Ignored and Glad You Didn't

Post by ZellSF »

The first Condemned is fantastic. Haven't played the second, more of a low priority than something I've outright ignored though.
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Sima Tuna
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Re: Games You Almost Ignored and Glad You Didn't

Post by Sima Tuna »

ZellSF wrote:Definitely was close to ignoring Prey. Marketing for that game was a nightmare, and the first trailer I saw made it look like a mediocre horror game, not the true spiritual successor to System Shock that BioShock wasn't.

I can't remember what convinced me though. I think I tried it way after it was released, so I ignored it for quite a while.
I ignored Prey 2017 for quite a while, convinced that the praise was overblown hype. Like you, I had no idea (at the time) that Prey 2017 would have been better named Psycho Shock, as successor to the System Shock legacy. I think it's maybe not as replayable as System Shock 2, due to the way enemy encounters are designed. But that's a long-ass post in and of itself. For a first play, I had a blast. And for a 2017 "modern game," it's damn near a miracle a game of such quality got past the AAA marketing execs who usually ruin mainstream titles.

But then, Arkane do have a history of making awesome games. Dishonored (the original) is a game I regularly replay. I have Ghost ranks on most of the levels. I think I might be missing a Ghost rank here or there... Gonna have to fix that, one of these days.
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Lander
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Re: Games You Almost Ignored and Glad You Didn't

Post by Lander »

Air Master Burst wrote:Neither of those games actually fits that description; The Darkness is about as grounded as a Spawn comic and Condemned 2 is like 90% melee combat. Neither have a female protag. You're not wrong about them being pretty brown/gray, although Darkness 2 actually used a shocking amount of color.

Also, the Condemned games fucking rule. Monolith used to be masters of the FPS, it's a shame they just make shitty licensed games now.
Nitpick, nitpick - I'm not implying a hard three-way equivalence, rather that Bullet Witch exhibits various western stylistic sensibilities that can be observed individually in Darkness and Condemned. Female protag is the Bayo / bargin bin connection tying in to XoPachi's original point, and - however comic-booky - the supernatural aspects and general presentation of all three still look grounded next to to the highly extra go-to-space-and-punch-god approach favoured by Platinum and other japanese creators.

And yeah, Condemned is great. Monolith managed to capture a very specific kind of urban psychological horror with those games - that combo of sneaky crazed bums, unhinged protagonist, and spooky ghost stuff that leaves it unclear exactly what is fucking with you at any given moment.
2 may go a bit off the rails toward the end, but the good parts of that game are so good. Shame it's stuck on 360, I really liked the idea of distinct gear unlocks tied to mastering each stage, but didn't get the chance to 100% it back in the day.
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Air Master Burst
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Re: Games You Almost Ignored and Glad You Didn't

Post by Air Master Burst »

I'll buy anything Arkane makes, been a fan since Arx Fatalis (basically Ultima Underworld 3) back in the day. Prey was a much more enjoyable experience than System Shock 2 for me, but then combat is rarely the draw for me in these types of games.

The only problem with Dishonored 1 is that it doesn't give you the option to refuse powers like Dishonored 2 does, but it's still overall a bit better of a game. The masquerade party is still one of my favorite levels in any game ever, and 2 doesn't have anything that quite rivals that.
Lander wrote:2 may go a bit off the rails toward the end, but the good parts of that game are so good. Shame it's stuck on 360, I really liked the idea of distinct gear unlocks tied to mastering each stage, but didn't get the chance to 100% it back in the day.
It was also on PS3, and apparently runs pretty well emulated. I think the first one had an actual PC release, too.
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Auddy
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Re: Games You Almost Ignored and Glad You Didn't

Post by Auddy »

My Friend Pedro. A friend tried to explain it to me years ago and it just sounded like the most confusing thing. I recently played it and loved it.
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XoPachi
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Re: Games You Almost Ignored and Glad You Didn't

Post by XoPachi »

ZellSF wrote:Definitely was close to ignoring Prey. Marketing for that game was a nightmare, and the first trailer I saw made it look like a mediocre horror game, not the true spiritual successor to System Shock that BioShock wasn't.

I can't remember what convinced me though. I think I tried it way after it was released, so I ignored it for quite a while.
Prey was STUPIDLY good. Makes you forget all about the 2006 game.
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Air Master Burst
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Re: Games You Almost Ignored and Glad You Didn't

Post by Air Master Burst »

2006 Prey was actually really memorable, for the Art Bell playing himself cameos if nothing else. The design of the aliens and their ship was fantastic. The only thing that I really disliked was the goofy spirit shooting gallery minigame every time you respawned. Cute idea but it got old quick.

Arkane's Prey is a far superior game, of course.
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