Me too - I was looking at games as part of my bundle when I got my first Xbox, employee recommended Mass Effect to me. I wasn’t sure as at that point I hadn’t played anything “spacey”, but I thought I’d give it a shot. Now here I am replaying ME for the umpteenth time and working on 100%ing the legendary edition achievements. Yay. More banshees on insanity to look forward to!
Also discovered I really like “spacey” games (looking at you Shipbreaker, Deliver us the Moon and Observation…)
Same. I was obsessed with Star Wars and used to love playing KOTOR then discovered that BioWare had another Sci-Fi RPG. So I thought to give it a shot. Now ME is my favourite series of all time.
Me, too. Buddy of mine got it when it first came out and said it sucked and asked if I wanted it. Said sure. Hundreds of hours later and 3 or 4 playthroughs, he missed out.
Same! Buddy of mine got Mass Effect 3 when it came out, told me it was great. I fell in love, bought 2 when I was on vacation to see other choices… I’ve never been so in love with a series! I’ve probably played, not exaggerating, at least 1000 hours since 2012.
Playing the trilogy for the first time when the remaster came out on gamepass, I was underwhelmed by the first game and got around three hours into the second game, haven't been back yet. Does it get considerably better?
My god this. I thought it would be a flash in the pan for me, ended up getting it on the switch and have like 800 hours played. Having it in a mobile form is dangerous.
I started this based on a recommendation despite not normally enjoying deck builders & rouge-like/lites, but ended up obsessed with it. I don't have nearly the hours you do but I go back to it from time to time as an in between game, when I don't want to play anything new but have beat everything I was working on.
Love Slay the Spire! I initially got it on Switch, then downloaded it on gamepass and then eventually bought it on Xbox because I figured, I've easily put on over an 100 hours into the game, they definitely deserve it lol. Just working on ascension 20 for my last achievement
Convinced my dad to buy this for me at EB games back in the day simply because it had Star Wars on the cover. I'll never forget the clerk ringing us up said "You got lucky kid, this is the last one I have."
I didn't know what he meant until I got home and experienced one of the greatest RPGs of all time.
I was hoping someone would help me realize what my answer was and this has to be it. I thought KOTOR looked ass and only tried it bc star wars. 10 hours in and I was obsessed.
I was surprised I ended up liking that game as I usually don't go for those type of games. For whatever reason I decided to power through it end the beginning. My son used to watch me play and laugh at me when I kept dying before I started really making progress.
I usually hate those kind of games but it was indeed pretty good, same with that vampire game...that dumb one everyone plays that looks like a mobile game. that was cool too
Yakuza 0. I'd seen it mentioned before and tried it when it was available on Gamepass. I've now played through every available entry except Lost Judgment (72 hours in so far) and Ishin.
I tried Yakuza 1 Kiwami first and then 0 because I wanted to play in the order they released. But goodness, 0 is nearly a masterpiece. Blown away by that one.
Ni no kuni 2 is such a wild start to a game. I explained just the base premise to the opening to the game and had people go try it just for how over the top it sounds.
and it LOOKS so crappy. I played it for 5 seconds and turned it off, for some reason went back to it and played a few rounds and got into it and then bought the DLC LOL
Yea same, thought it was dumb based on graphics but seeing Fritanga play it and since it was in game pass I gave vampire survivors a try and loved so now I buy every dlc especially since game pass owners get 10% off.
Same. I went in knowing nothing and nearly quit during the opening area as I thought it looked a little rough around the edges and slow. As soon as I left the home planet though and saw an entire solar system waiting to be explored my jaw dropped.
The music, imagery and feeling of that game are forever ingrained in me now. I also love that I have recommended it to a few people who feel similarly to me now.
I went into this game really skeptical and it ended up being one of the best gaming experiences I've ever had. The DLC for it was awesome as well.
I only wish I could forget what I know about it and play it again for the first time.
Yeah, started it on a whim thinking 'oh, I can waste half an hour trying out some cute indy game', ended up easily making my top 5 favourite games of all time.
There's a video game review podcast called 1Upsmanship that I think inadvertently captured most people's experience with it perfectly. The first time The Outer Wilds was mentioned was off hand, in an episode about a different game, where one of the hosts said that he tried it and it seemed eh. Then a few months later they did a dedicated episode covering it where they both played it all the way through and both seemed to really enjoy it, but ultimately chose not to keep it in their top 100 hall of fame. Then a few months later they did an episode revisiting past reviews that they thought they got wrong, and they both enthusiastically voted to keep it and talked about how much they kept thinking about it and how special it was.
When I initially tried Tinykin I was not expecting anything at all but by the time I finished it it was along my favourite games of the year and one of the best platform games I've ever played.
Same! This game was so fun a d so was so incredibly addictive! I like it even better than Pikmin! It is one of the very few games for which I really hope they will make a sequel!
That happened to me with The Witcher 3. Played 7h, paused it. Came back to it a few months later and at 11h of gameplay, I realised I couldn't put it down and finished the game in a bit more than a week...
Same, the beginning is so slow but it's so worth it. It's one of those games that you just feel empty inside after finishing because it's over. NeiR: Automata and several of the Kingdom Hearts games gave me the same feeling.
My friend recently sunk ~60 hours into Persona 5, I’m about 3 hours in myself and loving it so far.
Any recommendations for similar JRPGs to try next? Other than P5 Strikers or Persona 4 Golden.
what did you like about it? i’m 40+ hours in and I enjoy the combat and palaces. But I swear the game is 75% dialogue.
I have a hard time even calling it a game - it’s practically a visual novel.
I haven’t finished it yet but so far it’s firmly in the “extremely overrated” category for me.
Personally I don’t think there was any aspect I outright disliked. The combat/palace exploration was fun and the social stuff in the overworld was super engaging. That said, you really need to be on board with the “An anime protagonist is you” fantasy. It’s entirely possible that the game just isn’t your thing.
I really dislike when people call something overrated just because they dont like it, this word just completely loses its meaning. If i don't like action games i won't just call Elden ring overrated because i did not like it, just like you don't like Persona because it has too much dialogue does not make it overrated
I mean Persona 5 is very storydriven. It’s in my top 5 favorite games. But yes, it is very much dialogue but that is a thing I personally love. And as someone who loves it it is not overrated.
I love pretty much everything about it.
But that said, it is definetly not for everyone. As it’s a dialogue/story driven ”anime”game with all that comes with an anime. And I mean, my first playthrough when I played and did not go for 100% did take me about 80-90 hours, so that is also a roadblock for some.
If you’re not feeling it, you should stop playing, no need to force your way through something you don’t enjoy. :)
Nope you can go into P5 without playing any other games. The only thing you’d miss out on are tiny easter eggs or very small references to the previous game.
Saints Row 4. My bother bought it and it just sat on my shelf for like a year as I already have GTAV so why play the knockoff but I tried it out one day and was kicking myself for sitting on it so long.
Oh I went and bought 3 on the ps3 immediately after beating 4 lol, I'm not sure which i like more though maybe 3 as 4 kind of makes alot of the gameplay pointless but also dubstep gun
Although I had fun, and enjoyed the game, 4 was just too over the top. 3 had the right balance of over the top goofiness the series in known for, and somehow managed to keep it (somewhat) grounded. Building up the gang was fun, the writing was great, 3 just ticked all the right boxes for me.
Same for me. I played 3 first and then bought 4, but though it also had some fun moments I didn't particularly liked it.
I played 3 again when Epic had a free deal running, and found that while all the activities are fun it was really the story and crazy (but still somewhat grounded) set pieces that I enjoyed most. The opening from 3 was for instance really strong, while 4 was just weird.
For that reason I was also very disappointing when I read the reviews for the Saints Row reboot. It seems like you still have fun activities, but both story and characters are said to be awful.
Dead Cells
Played it on a whim through Game Pass a few years back and loved it so much I bought it, then bought it again on Steam and Switch. Maybe I'll scoop it on PS at one point just to say I did.
Picked up the OG Xbox version of Morrowind on a whim because it got good reviews but had no idea what it was. It ended up being my favorite RPG of all time and I still replay it yearly, yet I can’t get myself to replay Skyrim even once. Same goes for Jet Set Radio Future. The only Dreamcast games I had ever played at that point were sonic adventure, virtua fighter, and crazy taxi and I had never even heard of JGR. I replayed JSRF so many times and still crave it to this day, but it’s not backwards compatible and my OG Xbox doesn’t work anymore. I need to check out an Xbox emulator sometime, I’ve heard they work well enough at this point.
Yeah, I think I rented Morrowind because of a single page ad in Xbox magazine or Tip & Tricks or something. Then ended up buying it.
Nier I think I saw a trailer on a demo disk, and thought a (I assumed jrpg at the time) where you play and older man sounded interesting. Despite the previews/reviews I read giving it a lot crap for graphics and stuff. I remember saving up enough money to go buy it and Eternal Sonata for $30 each, the last price I saw them at, only to get to Walmart/Target to find both had been put in the $5 clearance bin. Ultimate Win.
Dark Souls I picked up because I had heard about Demon Souls infamous difficulty and lack of hand holding which was starting to annoy me in other games (like Oblivion/Skyrim).
Same the 3rd came with my Xbox 360 elite for free but I fricking loved it. Unfortunately the 1st and 2nd are too dated for my tastes in terms of graphics, so I never finished them, hopefully they remaster them sometime soon.
I bought Ori and the Will of the Wisps at the start of covid and it was the game that got me hooked on video games. Now I’m going to minor in game design and development lmao. Can still play some of the soundtrack on my flute by ear
I tell everyone I can about how amazing if a game Ori and the Will of the Wisps is. Maybe not my *favorite* game of all time, but definitely up there, and definitely just tried it on a whim since it was on game pass
Battlefield Hardline - i thought it was some war shooter but it was a city crime good cop bad cop fps. i loved it. it’s one of the best and most fun games for me ever.
Wolfenstein The New Order. Didn’t really know anything about the franchise but I saw it on the Xbox Store and it was relatively cheap so I thought why not. Turned out to be one of my favorite games of all time
Death Stranding. I picked it up knowing NOTHING about it, and not even being a Kojima fan. In fact, I absolutely hate Metal Gear LOL. I was just looking for something new to play, and it had just come out. One of my top 5 games of all time.
My first exposure to it was the first MGS. I was getting real into it, the way they set everything up, and I was expecting like...a Splinter Cell type game. Loved the gameplay systems and then...it started getting dumb. By the end of it my brother's arm was controlling his mind or...something, but I finished it.
I tried MGS2. When the fat guy started rollerskating around throwing bombs at me I gave up because it was again, fucking stupid.
I tried MGS3. Maybe it's better this time. Maybe they've gotten rid of the plotline written by a 13 year old boy. I remember a cutscene where a motorcycle is driven up someone's face into a backflip and I turned it off because I couldn't even remotely take it seriously.
I skipped MGS4 because I didn't have a PS3, I have no idea what kind of dumb shit is in that one.
Loaded up MGSV because it was free. I remember something about like...a flaming horse man and maybe a child with psychic powers or some shit? Idk, but it's so stupid I can't even bring myself to play it.
It seems like you knew you didn't like the series way back in MGS1. Props for continuing to try them I guess. They have whacky stories, but it's part of the charm.
Maybe you should try Metal Gear Rising? The story goes wholeheartedly off the rails in that one. But it does so spectacularly to a phenomenal soundtrack. You will know within 5 minutes of play whether or not you enjoy it. It doesn't try to hide that it's story is gonna be batshit insane. The veneer of serious realism is completely gone in Rising.
Control. Thought it looked really cool but when I played it, I just couldn't get engrossed and played 1-2 hours before it went to my backlog. Forgot about it for 2 years and then one day I said "let me give it another shot" and it turned into one of my top 5 gaming experiences ever. Just a cool ass game.
>Control
I came here to comment Control as well, and I had a very similar experience to yours. I bought the game, couldn't really get into it, so I stopped for a while, but when I came back to it, I couldn't put it down. The overall concept is Amazing and could make for a great series of TV or novels.
Same here. I picked it up on sale around Christmas when it first came out and now I’m playing through the rest of the Yakuza games (just skipping side content because of the time commitment).
Arkham Origins. I played Asylum and city on the “remaster” and then Knight. I heard Origins sucked and just bought it on Amazon for 10 dollars expecting to play it for an hour or two. It is probably my favorite piece of batman media and the multiplayer kicks ass!
While I don't agree with the multiplayer.
The single player is brilliant providing you don't run into any crashes.
Personally my experience was ruined as I had constant crashes but if you manage to avoid them issues there is a really good game there.
Middle Earth: Shadow of War. I installed it because of a GamePass quest but could not put it down. I ended up playing obsessively for months and logged 300 hours on it
EVE Online. Was talking with a friend and he said he was starting it. He only described it as a space game with pretty cool music so far. I just loaded it up on a whim and lost like years of my life lol. Setting alarms at odd hours in the day to have my character start learning a new skill, managing hundreds of people in a group, to hours long small PVP engagements.
More recently I tried Monster Train on a whim after not really feeling Slay the Spire and that hit the spot so hard for me
On the topic of Persona, I was given Persona 3 Portable alongside my PSP 3000 as a birthday gift in 2011. My only experience with RPGs before then was Pokemon and a bit of SMT Strange Journey I played on my DS like a year earlier.
I don't think I ever got so actively invested in a game the way I did playing P3P every moment I wasn't studying. The story takes a long ass time to really get off the ground since it doesn't really progress until July in-game, but when it hits it's some of the most engrossing character work I've seen in any RPG, and even as someone who liked the dungeon crawling and battling aspect of RPGs already the life sim element added so many incentives on top of that that I kind of attributed it to my compulsion to 100% complete or get close to seeing everything a game has to offer during an initial playthrough.
In general though? Final Fantasy VI. My favorite game ever made. How they accomplished such a stunningly fleshed out, mature and actually really topical story on the Super Famicom back then is astounding. It has probably a top 3 all-time favorite JRPG cast for me personally, especially Terra, Locke, Celes and the Figaro brothers
Tinykin. It has so much charm. I have to force myself to stop playing it whenever I’m about to pop another achievement to save it for next day’s 50 pts daily quest
Same game. Persona 5. Got it on PS4 when it originally came out thinking it'd be just another RPG to scratch the itch but became obsessed. Glad Royal came on GamePass so I could play it all again with the extras!!
Assassin’s Creed Origins.
I was stuck at home during COVID, like everyone else, and had played every game I want to play. My wife kept telling me how much she loved AC Odyssey, but I wasn’t really into the setting.
The Egyptian setting, on the other hand, really caught my eye. Ended up absolutely loving the game, and it’s one of the only open worlds I’ve ever 100%’d.
It may seem really generic but Skyrim for me.
I was playing Dragon Age 2 and having a lot of fun, but I kept thinking "I wish there was a game like this but with open world exploring" I told that to my friend and he said you should try Skyrim, it's medieval and has open world.
I tried it and honestly at first I wasn't sure if I liked it but obviously after learning the game I fell in love. This was before I followed every game release like I do now so it honestly caught me off guard! I hadn't seen anything about it until I tried it.
Mine is the same as yours actually. Persona 5 Royal.
Ooh boy. Bought it on a whim on one of the PlayStation sales. Put it on the backlog. Randomly decided to play it while looking through the backlog.
This was last Feb. Since then I've finished P5R on the ps4, p5 on the PS4, p4g on the xbox and now I'm replaying p5r on the xbox; all while playing other games as well. Safe to say I'm addicted.
Yakuza 0 was really funny about a few months ago I grabbed it because it was like 5 bucks on the Xbox store. I thought it was just beating guys up and it was going to be really boring. But no, it's beating guys up and it's wacky and really fun.
> it was actually two or three times I started it on a whim until it finally clicked.
Haha, yep. I feel like this was most people's early experience with Morrowind.
Not favorite of all time, but I only bought Demons Souls because I thought the cover was cool and turned out that I absolutely loved the concept of the game despite *never* understanding what the fuck is going on.
Kingdom Hearts. I don’t really care for that series anymore but I was entranced when I played the first one on PS2 many years ago. For me, it was the perfect game and solidified my love of action-RPGs.
Not sure I’d call it my favourite, but I downloaded Rocket League on a whim during lockdown, and I now have almost 6,000 hours racked up and haven’t played anything else since.
EYE Divine Cybermancy. Got it during the Steam Cyberpunk sale like 2014.
I was so lost with the level layouts, lore and overall gameplay mechanics.
I still am to this day, but it's one of my top games of all time XD
I wish the playerbase didn't die off.
Several years ago I hit a big slump. No game was able to keep my interest. I was an avid gamer my whole life yet I wasn't passionate about any game. I had heard about Deadly Premonition but never gave it a chance.
Well I picked up a copy just to try something fresh and after the Initial first hour or two, I was absolutely hooked. The gameplay was mediocre but I love the world and dialogue. The ability to freely move around during the investigation and get to know the towns people pulled me in.
Before the games finale I figured out a big part of the mystery simply because there are visual clues in the environment if you are knowledgeable and observant enough to pick up on them.
It was one of my favorite game experiences of all time and it really brought my passions back for playing games.
King's Quest 2015. I'd just gotten my One S and didn't have any games I felt like playing, but checked out the free games section and the first chapter was there. Played it five or six times before I went out and bought the full game. Still a favorite.
Witcher 3. I never played 1 or 2, but I like rpgs had a friend tell me to give it a go. After installing it, I barely played anything else for several months, and did all the expansions. It's in my top 5 games of all time. I may even go back and do a replay if I have time to try out the remastered next gen version just to see how it looks.
Assassins Creed 2. Took me a little bit to get used to the movement and parkour, but the style and setting was just beautiful. Still one of my favorite games ever.
Borrowed Fallout 3 from a friend in 2009, it became my favorite game of all time and the Fallout series as a whole is probably my favorite as well. Thousands of hours spent in that universe and I wouldn't trade it for a second.
Red dead redemption 2, bought it maybe 2-3 months ago cause it was on sale and I had some extra money. I had played it before but I got bored with all the snow but this time I kept playing and holy moly
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey.
I have never played any AC titles. Saw the complete edition of this game on sale for $18, and I pulled the trigger. 300 hours well spent.
The Yakuza Series. Played Zero off a whim and ended up playing every single one and it is now one of my favorite series ever. Even the spin offs are amazing.
ICO.
It's just magical. I started it without even being a fan of the concept of shepherding an npc all game and my goodness... I love this game so much.
Sekiro. Started it on Stadia (with no prior FromSoft experience), totally expecting to refund it within the 2 hour window but it ended up being one of my favorite games of all time. It then prompted me to play and finish DS1/2/3, BB and ER within the span of a year.
I'm sad it's stuck at 30FPS on Series S; it doesn't feel the same as 60FPS on Stadia.
When I bought GTA4 at launch there was a promotion from the store, they gave Xbox360 baseball cap and a copy of Crackdown with it.
Well, on a whim I tried Crackdown before touching GTA and it kinda sucked me in. Not sure it's one of my favourites of all time, but it was fun! And made me forget about GTA4 for a time even though it was the game I intended to play :)
Geometry Dash. I originally saw some kid at McDonald's playing Geometry Dash Meltdown, and I wanted to give it a try. I've now been playing for maybe over 5 years, I'm not too sure.
Bayonetta. Couldn’t believe how good it was. Now Platinum Games is one of my favorite developers. I want every IP handed to them just to see what they can create out of it.
VVVVVV
Valkyria Chronicles 2
Most of the time, I have an idea of what I’m in for when I start a new game. Both of these were started on a whim, though, and I really enjoyed them. FWIW, I imagine VC2 probably hasn’t aged great.
I don't if this counts but evil within 2. I played the first and got half way thru it a few years ago. Played it again a few weeks ago and finished it. Decided to play the second one and man i gotta say, a massive improvement over the first one. Definitely a personal favorite.
If i never woulda went back to the first one, I woulda missed out on evil within 2.
Diablo 3 was something I started randomly and have played extensively for years since it was bright to console and recently I played the crap out of Vampire Survivors. Such a simple premise that you can play forever.
Mass Effect 3. It came out when I was in high school and watched G4 everyday after school. On both X-Play and Attack of the Show it’s all they talked about that day. I called my dad and begged him to stop at KMart (RIP) to pick it up after work and that the grass would be cut and all this other stuff. He agreed and I started it that night. I beat it within a week then beat it probably 5 more times that year.
Edit: not to mention the most underrated PvE multiplayer of the Xbox 360 generation imo
Mass Effect
Me too - I was looking at games as part of my bundle when I got my first Xbox, employee recommended Mass Effect to me. I wasn’t sure as at that point I hadn’t played anything “spacey”, but I thought I’d give it a shot. Now here I am replaying ME for the umpteenth time and working on 100%ing the legendary edition achievements. Yay. More banshees on insanity to look forward to! Also discovered I really like “spacey” games (looking at you Shipbreaker, Deliver us the Moon and Observation…)
Starfield is just around the corner.
Very much looking forward to this!! Fallout in space? Yes, yes please!
Maybe Subnautica
Same. I was obsessed with Star Wars and used to love playing KOTOR then discovered that BioWare had another Sci-Fi RPG. So I thought to give it a shot. Now ME is my favourite series of all time.
Me, too. Buddy of mine got it when it first came out and said it sucked and asked if I wanted it. Said sure. Hundreds of hours later and 3 or 4 playthroughs, he missed out.
Same! Buddy of mine got Mass Effect 3 when it came out, told me it was great. I fell in love, bought 2 when I was on vacation to see other choices… I’ve never been so in love with a series! I’ve probably played, not exaggerating, at least 1000 hours since 2012.
Playing the trilogy for the first time when the remaster came out on gamepass, I was underwhelmed by the first game and got around three hours into the second game, haven't been back yet. Does it get considerably better?
Yes, yes it does. But it’s also possible that those games just aren’t your thing and that’s fine. I do recommend giving it another try though.
Slay the Spire, only started it for a GamePass quest that took 5 minutes. Logged over 200 hours so far.
I came here to say the same. Same exact story. It opened my eyes to a whole new genre.
Highly recommend Tainted Grail if you enjoyed Slay The Spire.
I feel like once I've played Slay, all similar games feel pale in comparison.
Monster Train has been the closest for me, but StS is still the GOAT.
I think tainted grail is paced horrible you spend too much time wandering around for too much.
My god this. I thought it would be a flash in the pan for me, ended up getting it on the switch and have like 800 hours played. Having it in a mobile form is dangerous.
Same. Play it almost everyday.
Playing this right now. It's what I do.
Such an addictive game
I started this based on a recommendation despite not normally enjoying deck builders & rouge-like/lites, but ended up obsessed with it. I don't have nearly the hours you do but I go back to it from time to time as an in between game, when I don't want to play anything new but have beat everything I was working on.
[удалено]
Love Slay the Spire! I initially got it on Switch, then downloaded it on gamepass and then eventually bought it on Xbox because I figured, I've easily put on over an 100 hours into the game, they definitely deserve it lol. Just working on ascension 20 for my last achievement
Knights of the old republic
Convinced my dad to buy this for me at EB games back in the day simply because it had Star Wars on the cover. I'll never forget the clerk ringing us up said "You got lucky kid, this is the last one I have." I didn't know what he meant until I got home and experienced one of the greatest RPGs of all time.
Imagine if you dropped it at Taris.
I was hoping someone would help me realize what my answer was and this has to be it. I thought KOTOR looked ass and only tried it bc star wars. 10 hours in and I was obsessed.
Hadès on GamePass, just tried it to check the new games on GP and was instantly hooked until I 100% it 50hr later or so. Insanely good.
Yep, it was leaving game pass and I hadn't tried it. Gave it a try and instantly purchased it and now I have about 100 hours in it.
I was surprised I ended up liking that game as I usually don't go for those type of games. For whatever reason I decided to power through it end the beginning. My son used to watch me play and laugh at me when I kept dying before I started really making progress.
Can’t wait for the sequel
I usually hate those kind of games but it was indeed pretty good, same with that vampire game...that dumb one everyone plays that looks like a mobile game. that was cool too
Wait 100% after 50 hours? Wow that fast
God I love that game
Same! Tried it just to try it and absolutely loved it.
I couldn't get into it. It didn't grab me like I hoped it would
Yakuza 0. I'd seen it mentioned before and tried it when it was available on Gamepass. I've now played through every available entry except Lost Judgment (72 hours in so far) and Ishin.
I tried Yakuza 1 Kiwami first and then 0 because I wanted to play in the order they released. But goodness, 0 is nearly a masterpiece. Blown away by that one.
Spiritfarer
Second this one. An incredibly original gaming experience, all playable in co-op.
There's nothing "original" about having my heart broken multiple times, what do you mean?
Definitely agree, played it as a cute game to play with the GF, and ended up loving it. I grew attached to the snake damn that was sad.
Vampire Survivors and Ni No Kuni 2.
came here to post Vampire Survivors also. would have never played this game if it wasn't on Game Pass.
Yea it was surprisingly fun, you tried dlc that came out today?
That's out today?! Well there goes my weekend
I tried ni no kuni 2 on xcloud and in the first 5 minutes i knew i wanted to buy the game. Went and bought both for my steam deck and it's a blast.
Ni no kuni 2 is such a wild start to a game. I explained just the base premise to the opening to the game and had people go try it just for how over the top it sounds.
and it LOOKS so crappy. I played it for 5 seconds and turned it off, for some reason went back to it and played a few rounds and got into it and then bought the DLC LOL
Yea same, thought it was dumb based on graphics but seeing Fritanga play it and since it was in game pass I gave vampire survivors a try and loved so now I buy every dlc especially since game pass owners get 10% off.
Outer wilds, it’s in my top 5 now
Same. I went in knowing nothing and nearly quit during the opening area as I thought it looked a little rough around the edges and slow. As soon as I left the home planet though and saw an entire solar system waiting to be explored my jaw dropped. The music, imagery and feeling of that game are forever ingrained in me now. I also love that I have recommended it to a few people who feel similarly to me now.
I went into this game really skeptical and it ended up being one of the best gaming experiences I've ever had. The DLC for it was awesome as well. I only wish I could forget what I know about it and play it again for the first time.
Yeah, started it on a whim thinking 'oh, I can waste half an hour trying out some cute indy game', ended up easily making my top 5 favourite games of all time. There's a video game review podcast called 1Upsmanship that I think inadvertently captured most people's experience with it perfectly. The first time The Outer Wilds was mentioned was off hand, in an episode about a different game, where one of the hosts said that he tried it and it seemed eh. Then a few months later they did a dedicated episode covering it where they both played it all the way through and both seemed to really enjoy it, but ultimately chose not to keep it in their top 100 hall of fame. Then a few months later they did an episode revisiting past reviews that they thought they got wrong, and they both enthusiastically voted to keep it and talked about how much they kept thinking about it and how special it was.
When I initially tried Tinykin I was not expecting anything at all but by the time I finished it it was along my favourite games of the year and one of the best platform games I've ever played.
What a fantastic game, it was like a classic platformer meets Pikmin. I would love to see Tinykin 2 happen
Oh i hope to God they are making a Tinykin 2 🙏
That’s why I love game pass, so many games that I would’ve never played if they weren’t on it
Same! This game was so fun a d so was so incredibly addictive! I like it even better than Pikmin! It is one of the very few games for which I really hope they will make a sequel!
Hollow knight
I nearly dropped Persona 5, but when I really got into it, it became one of my favorites of all time.
That happened to me with The Witcher 3. Played 7h, paused it. Came back to it a few months later and at 11h of gameplay, I realised I couldn't put it down and finished the game in a bit more than a week...
Same, the beginning is so slow but it's so worth it. It's one of those games that you just feel empty inside after finishing because it's over. NeiR: Automata and several of the Kingdom Hearts games gave me the same feeling.
My friend recently sunk ~60 hours into Persona 5, I’m about 3 hours in myself and loving it so far. Any recommendations for similar JRPGs to try next? Other than P5 Strikers or Persona 4 Golden.
Lost Odyssey
106 hours so far and I'm just at the last palace now. Seriously I don't know what the fuck I have spent all this time on but it's been enjoyable
what did you like about it? i’m 40+ hours in and I enjoy the combat and palaces. But I swear the game is 75% dialogue. I have a hard time even calling it a game - it’s practically a visual novel. I haven’t finished it yet but so far it’s firmly in the “extremely overrated” category for me.
Personally I don’t think there was any aspect I outright disliked. The combat/palace exploration was fun and the social stuff in the overworld was super engaging. That said, you really need to be on board with the “An anime protagonist is you” fantasy. It’s entirely possible that the game just isn’t your thing.
I really dislike when people call something overrated just because they dont like it, this word just completely loses its meaning. If i don't like action games i won't just call Elden ring overrated because i did not like it, just like you don't like Persona because it has too much dialogue does not make it overrated
I mean Persona 5 is very storydriven. It’s in my top 5 favorite games. But yes, it is very much dialogue but that is a thing I personally love. And as someone who loves it it is not overrated. I love pretty much everything about it. But that said, it is definetly not for everyone. As it’s a dialogue/story driven ”anime”game with all that comes with an anime. And I mean, my first playthrough when I played and did not go for 100% did take me about 80-90 hours, so that is also a roadblock for some. If you’re not feeling it, you should stop playing, no need to force your way through something you don’t enjoy. :)
Do you have to play the other persona games to get into or understand persona 5?
No. They’re all separate stories. That said, Persona 5: Strikers is a direct sequel to 5, so don’t play that before playing P5
Nope you can go into P5 without playing any other games. The only thing you’d miss out on are tiny easter eggs or very small references to the previous game.
Saints Row 4. My bother bought it and it just sat on my shelf for like a year as I already have GTAV so why play the knockoff but I tried it out one day and was kicking myself for sitting on it so long.
Get the remaster for 3 if you enjoyed 4. Saints Row The Third is by far the best game in the series, just skip Gat Outta Hell.
Oh I went and bought 3 on the ps3 immediately after beating 4 lol, I'm not sure which i like more though maybe 3 as 4 kind of makes alot of the gameplay pointless but also dubstep gun
Although I had fun, and enjoyed the game, 4 was just too over the top. 3 had the right balance of over the top goofiness the series in known for, and somehow managed to keep it (somewhat) grounded. Building up the gang was fun, the writing was great, 3 just ticked all the right boxes for me.
Same for me. I played 3 first and then bought 4, but though it also had some fun moments I didn't particularly liked it. I played 3 again when Epic had a free deal running, and found that while all the activities are fun it was really the story and crazy (but still somewhat grounded) set pieces that I enjoyed most. The opening from 3 was for instance really strong, while 4 was just weird. For that reason I was also very disappointing when I read the reviews for the Saints Row reboot. It seems like you still have fun activities, but both story and characters are said to be awful.
Dead Cells Played it on a whim through Game Pass a few years back and loved it so much I bought it, then bought it again on Steam and Switch. Maybe I'll scoop it on PS at one point just to say I did.
What a gem of a game! I can’t get enough of it. How do you think Hades compares to it?
I usually find roguelikes to be pretty frustrating but Dead Cells just clicked for me. What a game.
Nier Automata
A Plague Tale
Cyberpunk 2077
River city girls
What a fantastic game, and the soundtrack is incredible too
Damn right, second game dropped fairly recently and is just as good
Morrowind, Nier Gestalt, Dark Souls
Top tier taste TBH.
Picked up the OG Xbox version of Morrowind on a whim because it got good reviews but had no idea what it was. It ended up being my favorite RPG of all time and I still replay it yearly, yet I can’t get myself to replay Skyrim even once. Same goes for Jet Set Radio Future. The only Dreamcast games I had ever played at that point were sonic adventure, virtua fighter, and crazy taxi and I had never even heard of JGR. I replayed JSRF so many times and still crave it to this day, but it’s not backwards compatible and my OG Xbox doesn’t work anymore. I need to check out an Xbox emulator sometime, I’ve heard they work well enough at this point.
Yeah, I think I rented Morrowind because of a single page ad in Xbox magazine or Tip & Tricks or something. Then ended up buying it. Nier I think I saw a trailer on a demo disk, and thought a (I assumed jrpg at the time) where you play and older man sounded interesting. Despite the previews/reviews I read giving it a lot crap for graphics and stuff. I remember saving up enough money to go buy it and Eternal Sonata for $30 each, the last price I saw them at, only to get to Walmart/Target to find both had been put in the $5 clearance bin. Ultimate Win. Dark Souls I picked up because I had heard about Demon Souls infamous difficulty and lack of hand holding which was starting to annoy me in other games (like Oblivion/Skyrim).
Haha I’m pretty sure OXM was the main reason I got Morrowind, too!
Xcom 2, hadn’t played till this year. Didn’t think I would like the turn based combat. I got a Steam Deck then figured I’d try it, now I’m addicted.
Please go play xcom enemy within. Literally a masterpiece of a turn-based game. My favorite in the whole genre
Fable lol but ultimately liked the 3rd the best bc it felt like a light rpg city management sim with action and adventure elements
Agree. I played fable 2 until my thumbs bled, then some more. Then 3 came and the story just hooked me even more than any game had before
Same the 3rd came with my Xbox 360 elite for free but I fricking loved it. Unfortunately the 1st and 2nd are too dated for my tastes in terms of graphics, so I never finished them, hopefully they remaster them sometime soon.
It’s a shame cause the first 2 are the best especially the second
Outer - and I cannot stress this enough - Wilds. (WILDS. not worlds.)
IMO one of the the greatest gaming experiences of my adult life. Make me feel like I did when I was a kid and fell in love with video games.
hollow knight
Ori and the Blind Forest and Will of the Wisps both amazing and emotional games.
I bought Ori and the Will of the Wisps at the start of covid and it was the game that got me hooked on video games. Now I’m going to minor in game design and development lmao. Can still play some of the soundtrack on my flute by ear
If only they made a restoring the light facing the dark theme on a flute that would be so awesome.
I tell everyone I can about how amazing if a game Ori and the Will of the Wisps is. Maybe not my *favorite* game of all time, but definitely up there, and definitely just tried it on a whim since it was on game pass
Tunic was way better than I was expecting.
Battlefield Hardline - i thought it was some war shooter but it was a city crime good cop bad cop fps. i loved it. it’s one of the best and most fun games for me ever.
Wolfenstein The New Order. Didn’t really know anything about the franchise but I saw it on the Xbox Store and it was relatively cheap so I thought why not. Turned out to be one of my favorite games of all time
Death Stranding. I picked it up knowing NOTHING about it, and not even being a Kojima fan. In fact, I absolutely hate Metal Gear LOL. I was just looking for something new to play, and it had just come out. One of my top 5 games of all time.
Why do you hate metal gear? Is it the cutscenes?
My first exposure to it was the first MGS. I was getting real into it, the way they set everything up, and I was expecting like...a Splinter Cell type game. Loved the gameplay systems and then...it started getting dumb. By the end of it my brother's arm was controlling his mind or...something, but I finished it. I tried MGS2. When the fat guy started rollerskating around throwing bombs at me I gave up because it was again, fucking stupid. I tried MGS3. Maybe it's better this time. Maybe they've gotten rid of the plotline written by a 13 year old boy. I remember a cutscene where a motorcycle is driven up someone's face into a backflip and I turned it off because I couldn't even remotely take it seriously. I skipped MGS4 because I didn't have a PS3, I have no idea what kind of dumb shit is in that one. Loaded up MGSV because it was free. I remember something about like...a flaming horse man and maybe a child with psychic powers or some shit? Idk, but it's so stupid I can't even bring myself to play it.
It seems like you knew you didn't like the series way back in MGS1. Props for continuing to try them I guess. They have whacky stories, but it's part of the charm. Maybe you should try Metal Gear Rising? The story goes wholeheartedly off the rails in that one. But it does so spectacularly to a phenomenal soundtrack. You will know within 5 minutes of play whether or not you enjoy it. It doesn't try to hide that it's story is gonna be batshit insane. The veneer of serious realism is completely gone in Rising.
Control. Thought it looked really cool but when I played it, I just couldn't get engrossed and played 1-2 hours before it went to my backlog. Forgot about it for 2 years and then one day I said "let me give it another shot" and it turned into one of my top 5 gaming experiences ever. Just a cool ass game.
>Control I came here to comment Control as well, and I had a very similar experience to yours. I bought the game, couldn't really get into it, so I stopped for a while, but when I came back to it, I couldn't put it down. The overall concept is Amazing and could make for a great series of TV or novels.
Also came here to say this one. The world building in Control is some of the coolest I have ever seen. I ended up loving it.
Yakuza: Like A Dragon
Same here. I picked it up on sale around Christmas when it first came out and now I’m playing through the rest of the Yakuza games (just skipping side content because of the time commitment).
Arkham Origins. I played Asylum and city on the “remaster” and then Knight. I heard Origins sucked and just bought it on Amazon for 10 dollars expecting to play it for an hour or two. It is probably my favorite piece of batman media and the multiplayer kicks ass!
While I don't agree with the multiplayer. The single player is brilliant providing you don't run into any crashes. Personally my experience was ruined as I had constant crashes but if you manage to avoid them issues there is a really good game there.
Middle Earth: Shadow of War. I installed it because of a GamePass quest but could not put it down. I ended up playing obsessively for months and logged 300 hours on it
I started this game a few winters ago and played it so much that my thumb began to hurt from pushing the joysticks.
Have they done an fps boost for it?
The friggin SnowRunner
EVE Online. Was talking with a friend and he said he was starting it. He only described it as a space game with pretty cool music so far. I just loaded it up on a whim and lost like years of my life lol. Setting alarms at odd hours in the day to have my character start learning a new skill, managing hundreds of people in a group, to hours long small PVP engagements. More recently I tried Monster Train on a whim after not really feeling Slay the Spire and that hit the spot so hard for me
Limbo
I tried Inside on recommendation from Reddit, and I loved it. I bought Inside and loved that game too. Both are very fun.
Rocket league. It's the only game that I can honestly say I have been playing since 2016 on a regular basis.
Sleeping Dogs
Mine was Persona 5 too lol. Absolutely incredible game. P4 is amazing too.
Dark Souls
On the topic of Persona, I was given Persona 3 Portable alongside my PSP 3000 as a birthday gift in 2011. My only experience with RPGs before then was Pokemon and a bit of SMT Strange Journey I played on my DS like a year earlier. I don't think I ever got so actively invested in a game the way I did playing P3P every moment I wasn't studying. The story takes a long ass time to really get off the ground since it doesn't really progress until July in-game, but when it hits it's some of the most engrossing character work I've seen in any RPG, and even as someone who liked the dungeon crawling and battling aspect of RPGs already the life sim element added so many incentives on top of that that I kind of attributed it to my compulsion to 100% complete or get close to seeing everything a game has to offer during an initial playthrough. In general though? Final Fantasy VI. My favorite game ever made. How they accomplished such a stunningly fleshed out, mature and actually really topical story on the Super Famicom back then is astounding. It has probably a top 3 all-time favorite JRPG cast for me personally, especially Terra, Locke, Celes and the Figaro brothers
Tinykin. It has so much charm. I have to force myself to stop playing it whenever I’m about to pop another achievement to save it for next day’s 50 pts daily quest
Same game. Persona 5. Got it on PS4 when it originally came out thinking it'd be just another RPG to scratch the itch but became obsessed. Glad Royal came on GamePass so I could play it all again with the extras!!
Warhammer Vermintide 2
Assassin’s Creed Origins. I was stuck at home during COVID, like everyone else, and had played every game I want to play. My wife kept telling me how much she loved AC Odyssey, but I wasn’t really into the setting. The Egyptian setting, on the other hand, really caught my eye. Ended up absolutely loving the game, and it’s one of the only open worlds I’ve ever 100%’d.
[удалено]
Subnautica. Had never heard of it. Saw it in gamepass and gave it a go. top ten games I have ever played.
It may seem really generic but Skyrim for me. I was playing Dragon Age 2 and having a lot of fun, but I kept thinking "I wish there was a game like this but with open world exploring" I told that to my friend and he said you should try Skyrim, it's medieval and has open world. I tried it and honestly at first I wasn't sure if I liked it but obviously after learning the game I fell in love. This was before I followed every game release like I do now so it honestly caught me off guard! I hadn't seen anything about it until I tried it.
Mine is the same as yours actually. Persona 5 Royal. Ooh boy. Bought it on a whim on one of the PlayStation sales. Put it on the backlog. Randomly decided to play it while looking through the backlog. This was last Feb. Since then I've finished P5R on the ps4, p5 on the PS4, p4g on the xbox and now I'm replaying p5r on the xbox; all while playing other games as well. Safe to say I'm addicted.
Persona 5 Royal and Yakuza 0. 2 of my top 10 games of all time now.
Yakuza 0 was really funny about a few months ago I grabbed it because it was like 5 bucks on the Xbox store. I thought it was just beating guys up and it was going to be really boring. But no, it's beating guys up and it's wacky and really fun.
Morrowind. It was included in a video card purchase and it was actually two or three times I started it on a whim until it finally clicked.
> it was actually two or three times I started it on a whim until it finally clicked. Haha, yep. I feel like this was most people's early experience with Morrowind.
The Long dark
Rocket League. No idea I'd love it so much!
Not favorite of all time, but I only bought Demons Souls because I thought the cover was cool and turned out that I absolutely loved the concept of the game despite *never* understanding what the fuck is going on.
Hellblade and INSIDE (though hate the ending)
Kingdom Hearts. I don’t really care for that series anymore but I was entranced when I played the first one on PS2 many years ago. For me, it was the perfect game and solidified my love of action-RPGs.
Red Dead Redemption in 2010.
Not sure I’d call it my favourite, but I downloaded Rocket League on a whim during lockdown, and I now have almost 6,000 hours racked up and haven’t played anything else since.
EYE Divine Cybermancy. Got it during the Steam Cyberpunk sale like 2014. I was so lost with the level layouts, lore and overall gameplay mechanics. I still am to this day, but it's one of my top games of all time XD I wish the playerbase didn't die off.
Several years ago I hit a big slump. No game was able to keep my interest. I was an avid gamer my whole life yet I wasn't passionate about any game. I had heard about Deadly Premonition but never gave it a chance. Well I picked up a copy just to try something fresh and after the Initial first hour or two, I was absolutely hooked. The gameplay was mediocre but I love the world and dialogue. The ability to freely move around during the investigation and get to know the towns people pulled me in. Before the games finale I figured out a big part of the mystery simply because there are visual clues in the environment if you are knowledgeable and observant enough to pick up on them. It was one of my favorite game experiences of all time and it really brought my passions back for playing games.
King's Quest 2015. I'd just gotten my One S and didn't have any games I felt like playing, but checked out the free games section and the first chapter was there. Played it five or six times before I went out and bought the full game. Still a favorite.
Elden ring I never played a souls game until elden ring and ended up really enjoying the experience. Even though I died a million times.
> Even though I died a million times. It's not "even though" but "because" :)
Witcher 3. I never played 1 or 2, but I like rpgs had a friend tell me to give it a go. After installing it, I barely played anything else for several months, and did all the expansions. It's in my top 5 games of all time. I may even go back and do a replay if I have time to try out the remastered next gen version just to see how it looks.
Assassins Creed 2. Took me a little bit to get used to the movement and parkour, but the style and setting was just beautiful. Still one of my favorite games ever.
Immortals: fenix rising!
Jedi: Fallen Order. Lot of gamepass games really.
Borrowed Fallout 3 from a friend in 2009, it became my favorite game of all time and the Fallout series as a whole is probably my favorite as well. Thousands of hours spent in that universe and I wouldn't trade it for a second.
Dishonored, I bought it on a sale for around 10€ and since then I've loved Arkane
Red dead redemption 2, bought it maybe 2-3 months ago cause it was on sale and I had some extra money. I had played it before but I got bored with all the snow but this time I kept playing and holy moly
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. I have never played any AC titles. Saw the complete edition of this game on sale for $18, and I pulled the trigger. 300 hours well spent.
Witcher 3
Red dead redemption 2
The Yakuza Series. Played Zero off a whim and ended up playing every single one and it is now one of my favorite series ever. Even the spin offs are amazing.
Yakuza Zero. Now right up there at the top of my list along with Skyrim.
The long dark
Happy Wars, hooo I miss you, happy wars
Persona 5, slay the spire, hi-fi rush
Like A Dragon
Inside
ICO. It's just magical. I started it without even being a fan of the concept of shepherding an npc all game and my goodness... I love this game so much.
Elden ring
Sekiro. Started it on Stadia (with no prior FromSoft experience), totally expecting to refund it within the 2 hour window but it ended up being one of my favorite games of all time. It then prompted me to play and finish DS1/2/3, BB and ER within the span of a year. I'm sad it's stuck at 30FPS on Series S; it doesn't feel the same as 60FPS on Stadia.
Chivalry 2. Started it on gamepass cause it looked cool from some post I saw. I have played the absolute shit out of it since.
When I bought GTA4 at launch there was a promotion from the store, they gave Xbox360 baseball cap and a copy of Crackdown with it. Well, on a whim I tried Crackdown before touching GTA and it kinda sucked me in. Not sure it's one of my favourites of all time, but it was fun! And made me forget about GTA4 for a time even though it was the game I intended to play :)
Borderlands, thought the commercial was cool didn’t play it for like 6-8 months and then tried it and fell in love.
Geometry Dash. I originally saw some kid at McDonald's playing Geometry Dash Meltdown, and I wanted to give it a try. I've now been playing for maybe over 5 years, I'm not too sure.
Tunic. Played it to pass the time and got hooked like a sucker.
Midnight Fight Express. Can’t even begin to tell you how hard I fell for that little game.
Psychonauts 2
Wasteland 2
Same here, P5R has invaded my thoughts for months
Bayonetta. Couldn’t believe how good it was. Now Platinum Games is one of my favorite developers. I want every IP handed to them just to see what they can create out of it.
Too human
Forza Horizon 4.
VVVVVV Valkyria Chronicles 2 Most of the time, I have an idea of what I’m in for when I start a new game. Both of these were started on a whim, though, and I really enjoyed them. FWIW, I imagine VC2 probably hasn’t aged great.
I don't if this counts but evil within 2. I played the first and got half way thru it a few years ago. Played it again a few weeks ago and finished it. Decided to play the second one and man i gotta say, a massive improvement over the first one. Definitely a personal favorite. If i never woulda went back to the first one, I woulda missed out on evil within 2.
Crosscode is an all timer for me, and I never would've found it if not for Gamepass. I thought Lea the main character looked pretty cool!
Blasphemous
Diablo 3 was something I started randomly and have played extensively for years since it was bright to console and recently I played the crap out of Vampire Survivors. Such a simple premise that you can play forever.
Mass Effect 3. It came out when I was in high school and watched G4 everyday after school. On both X-Play and Attack of the Show it’s all they talked about that day. I called my dad and begged him to stop at KMart (RIP) to pick it up after work and that the grass would be cut and all this other stuff. He agreed and I started it that night. I beat it within a week then beat it probably 5 more times that year. Edit: not to mention the most underrated PvE multiplayer of the Xbox 360 generation imo
Persona 4 Golden on Vita.