Have you ever had a moment when a game or genre just "clicked?"

[undertakerprime]

So about 2 years ago I had a moment when open-world RPGs just "clicked;" that is, I just suddenly "got" them, and I was curious if anyone else has had the same experience.

My first experience with open-world type games was back in the early 2000s when my cousin in Norway showed me Grand Theft Auto III and kept gushing about how great it was. I tried it and I was not really impressed. Later my sister got me GTA: Vice City for my birthday, and I played it for a few days, but I got so bored I quit and never played it again. So my first impressions of open-world were not great.

A bit later, I kept reading about how great Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind was, so I bought a used copy for XBOX for cheap. The same thing happened; I played it for a few days and thought it was OK, but got bored again. At the time my reaction was, why would anyone want to wander around aimlessly doing all these little things? I felt like I needed more direction, instead of everything being so, well, OPEN.

So I skipped Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion because I figured I'd find it boring too. I did buy Fallout 3, again because I heard good things about it. The beginning part in the vault was kinda boring, but I stuck through until I left the vault and reached the first town (Megaton). Now, after you leave the vault you can't see much of the world, just a small abandoned town down below, and I was not impressed. A path to the right leads to Megaton, but there's a ridge straight ahead that I never went over. I did a couple of quests in Megaton, but I started having the same feelings of boredom. I put it aside and didn't play for probably a year. I tried again and the same thing happened.

So about 2 years ago, I was gathering some games together to sell to Gamestop to get rid of clutter and get a little extra cash. I added Fallout 3 to the pile without a thought, but the day before I brought the pile to Gamestop, I decided to give it one last chance. I played through everything I had done twice before... but this time I finally went over that ridge I mentioned earlier.

My mouth dropped open and I probably muttered something like "holy crap."
Sprawled out before me was a HUGE barren landscape, with the ruined Washington Monument in the background, the sun peeking through the haze. It was beautiful.
I couldn't wait to get down there and explore the area. I stopped at the abandoned grocery store straight ahead and ran into my first enemy mutant. Through my first 2 tries, I just had not gotten the hang of the VATS targeting system. I tried it out on this mutant...
BAM! His head went flying, and I said "HOLY SHIT!"

In a span of probably less than 2 minutes, I not only got hooked on Fallout 3 and finally understood the targeting system, but I understood what open-world RPGs are all about. It's all about the exploration, finding new places, taking a short detour to check out a random building or cave. I ended up with over 100 hours into Fallout 3. Then I got Skyrim and was blown away. I have 120 hours into that game. I'm currently playing through Oblivion, which I finally went back and tried. Last night I battled through a dungeon of really tough undead soldiers to reach the Madstone, and it was thrilling. Funny to think it wasn't that long ago I was about to give up on the open-world genre forever.

Anyway, that's my story. Anyone else have something similar to share?

[doctorlaudanum]

I've definitely had that moment with the original Dark Souls. For the longest time, I just couldn't get into it despite loving the atmosphere and level design. I had to start a new playthrough as a Wanderer to finally get the hang of it. All my friends were telling me to play as a Knight or Warrior since I was new to the game and they could soak up a lot of damage, but I've never liked tank characters, so I wasn't enjoying the gameplay until I had a faster character. Now it's one of my favorites. Still waiting for it to "click" with 60+ hour JRPGs... Tales games don't count.

[kingrat101]

Funny you bring this up, at the moment I'm obsessed with Fallout, I recently played through New Vegas and am now playing Fallout 3 GOTY. I don't know if they have really "clicked" for me personally, I mean I love the games and atmosphere, but over 100 hours in any game is still pretty insane to me. According to steam I have 24 hours in New Vegas... and that's after beating the game, I've gone back to Fallout 4 a couple of times just to mess around but I am really hoping Fallout 3 changes that for me. I'm trying to force myself to take it slow and not worry about when I'll beat the game, but to just enjoy what is there.

[bikingjahuty]

First time I played Ocarina of Time I was bored to tears and ended up quiting shortly after the Deku Tree dungeon. After picking it up again about 6-months later I finally understood why everyone was so in love with the game. It now stands as my 2nd favorite game of all time.

[realpoketendonl]

I definitely had that with Bayonetta, and hack-and-slash in general.

When I first saw the trailer for Bayonetta 2, I didn't know how to react. It looked absolutely amazing. However, I didn't own a Wii U, so it didn't take long before that game fell a little off my radar. However, Bayonetta as a character just stuck with me. Without having even seen that much gameplay of the original or the sequel, I did things like add her to Tomodachi Life, and I even casted a vote for her in the Smash Ballot. And as we all know, Bayonetta was announced for Smash last december. That immediately got me interested in the series again, because I love her design, personality, and badass fighting style. Then my cousin conveniently gifted us his old PS3 a few weeks later, so I immediately went online, saw the original Bayonetta was available for €10, and I instantly bought it.

My god, what an experience was that. It immediately jumped up as one of my favourite games of all time. The combat was amazing, the characters were great, the story was interesting, everything was borderline perfect in my experience. I'm currently looking into ways to save up some money to get a Wii U, just because I want to play Bayonetta 2 so bad (and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, but still). But not only was the game amazing, it also got me into hack-and-slash games as a whole.

I had played very few beat-'em-up games in the past, and while I thought they were fun, they didn't really stick with me. However, Bayonetta was a game-changer. The combat was so satisfying and fun, I just had to have more. And then I discovered that Metal Gear Rising Revengeance exists, which conveniently was 75% off on Steam at the time, so I got it, and I really like it too. While I'll admit that I haven't played it in a while, it's still almost just as satisfying and fun as Bayonetta. So I guess that Bayonetta and the hack-'n-slash genre in general just really clicked with me.

[pizzasafari]

I had that with Shin Megami Tensei: Lucifer's Call. I tried playing it loads of times but could never ever get into it. Then last time I tried I was suddenly sucked in from the very beginning and was able to happily keep on playing.
Until it crashed and I lost 2 hours' worth of progress... then I just gave up.
I think that was probably because I switched to sitting on the floor with a CRT for my older consoles though. It's a very different experience to laying in bed playing on an LCD.

[necrosexual]

i think fallout 3 was the first open-world rpg i played and didn't hate wholly, as well. on 360 tho. i fucking hated oblivion with a passion, and skyrim is not great, but fallout 3, man. really glad an old friend convinced me to give it a try.

then i played kingdom of amalur reckoning and had a good ol' time.

interestingly, i picked up resonance of fate as one of those ps3 jrpgs people were toting around about on game forums back in 2011. back then, i think, the ps3 landscape for jrpgs was pretty dull. i think it picked up when it became cheaper to dev for ps3 in general, but for a while, it was kinda barren, but resonance of fate kept being brought up. anyway, my ex was a smart guy, but he never really 'got' RoF. i did, really, really fast. convoluted battle system, but i quite enjoyed it. first game in a long time that i can think of that 'clicked' with me, in that i played it and just had no troubles playing at all.

I definitely had that with Bayonetta, and hack-and-slash in general.

When I first saw the trailer for Bayonetta 2, I didn't know how to react. It looked absolutely amazing. However, I didn't own a Wii U, so it didn't take long before that game fell a little off my radar. However, Bayonetta as a character just stuck with me. Without having even seen that much gameplay of the original or the sequel, I did things like add her to Tomodachi Life, and I even casted a vote for her in the Smash Ballot. And as we all know, Bayonetta was announced for Smash last december. That immediately got me interested in the series again, because I love her design, personality, and badass fighting style. Then my cousin conveniently gifted us his old PS3 a few weeks later, so I immediately went online, saw the original Bayonetta was available for €10, and I instantly bought it.

My god, what an experience was that. It immediately jumped up as one of my favourite games of all time. The combat was amazing, the characters were great, the story was interesting, everything was borderline perfect in my experience. I'm currently looking into ways to save up some money to get a Wii U, just because I want to play Bayonetta 2 so bad (and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, but still). But not only was the game amazing, it also got me into hack-and-slash games as a whole.

I had played very few beat-'em-up games in the past, and while I thought they were fun, they didn't really stick with me. However, Bayonetta was a game-changer. The combat was so satisfying and fun, I just had to have more. And then I discovered that Metal Gear Rising Revengeance exists, which conveniently was 75% off on Steam at the time, so I got it, and I really like it too. While I'll admit that I haven't played it in a while, it's still almost just as satisfying and fun as Bayonetta. So I guess that Bayonetta and the hack-'n-slash genre in general just really clicked with me.

holy shit, you DIDN'T hate the ps3 bayonetta??? are you fuckin...
go search your local gamestops for the dual pack bayonetta for wii u and snatch it up if you ever see it (it's VERY rare) and replay that shit when it's not got frame rate drops out the ass and horrible looking graphics. do yourself a goddamn favour, man, jfc.

[realpoketendonl]

Holy shit, you DIDN'T hate the ps3 bayonetta??? are you fuckin...
go search your local gamestops for the dual pack bayonetta for wii u and snatch it up if you ever see it (it's VERY rare) and replay that shit when it's not got frame rate drops out the ass and horrible looking graphics. do yourself a goddamn favour, man, jfc.

Well, no, I didn't hate it at all. I get it, the other versions are better, but that doens't mean the PS3 version is bad. It still plays very well, and still looks pretty good. And honestly, with the exception of a few stages, the framerate really wasn't that bad.

Also, is the dual pack really that rare? I've found it for pretty normal prices online here in the Netherlands. Maybe if I have a little more money I'll pick it up. I'm personally just hoping the NX will be backwards compatible. I think the chances are slim, but if the patents of a tablet controller with detachable controllers'll be applied to the NX, then maybe it's possible. On the other hand, with the cartridge rumours, who knows.

[kamikazekeeg]

Different moment from these, but when Guitar Hero was originally a thing coming out on the PS2, kicking off the rhythm game craze, I think most people probably started out a certain way in that, sticking with just three fingers, pointer, middle, ring.  I started out on hard right away and kinda nailed it all, so I jumped to expert pretty quickly.  I struggled there somewhat around the middle difficulty songs, till I realized I needed to bring my pinky in.  Weird to say and I did have some basic guitar skills then, but I was always more of a rhythm player and not a real great one, but to hit the kind of stuff you needed to do, you bring that in and everything clicked.  I was really nailing solos and it was real necessary later on with more complicated chords and such.

[maximo310]

For run n guns, I was playing Metal Slug 1 at an ice rink near my house, and in the beginning I couldn't get very far on one credit, considering that I credit feed through most games that had the option. I think something clicked halfway through the year, when I finally got past stage 3 w/o losing all of my lives, and a few months after that, I cleared Metal Slug on one credit, and picked up that series along with Contra.
For shmups and other genres, I think most of my achievements were pretty much done with practice and some memorization of stage layouts.

Also, is the dual pack really that rare? I've found it for pretty normal prices online here in the Netherlands. Maybe if I have a little more money I'll pick it up. I'm personally just hoping the NX will be backwards compatible. I think the chances are slim, but if the patents of a tablet controller with detachable controllers'll be applied to the NX, then maybe it's possible. On the other hand, with the cartridge rumours, who knows.

In the U.S., the dual pack was hitting the 70-80 dollar range mostly due to Smash Bros hype since Bayonetta got added as a character, and there was a huge increase in demand.
Nowadays, the hype's died done so its mostly in the $40-45 range, which is still double the price of the bayo 2 reprint( with no extra discs).   I would reccomend picking up the first print dual pack since it has the defenitive version of bayo 1, has bayo 2, and could jump up in demand due to the Wii U's niche status ( kinda like how Gamecube prices are starting to rise alot compared to PS2/Xbox).

[necrosexual]

Holy shit, you DIDN'T hate the ps3 bayonetta??? are you fuckin...
go search your local gamestops for the dual pack bayonetta for wii u and snatch it up if you ever see it (it's VERY rare) and replay that shit when it's not got frame rate drops out the ass and horrible looking graphics. do yourself a goddamn favour, man, jfc.

Well, no, I didn't hate it at all. I get it, the other versions are better, but that doens't mean the PS3 version is bad. It still plays very well, and still looks pretty good. And honestly, with the exception of a few stages, the framerate really wasn't that bad.

Also, is the dual pack really that rare? I've found it for pretty normal prices online here in the Netherlands. Maybe if I have a little more money I'll pick it up. I'm personally just hoping the NX will be backwards compatible. I think the chances are slim, but if the patents of a tablet controller with detachable controllers'll be applied to the NX, then maybe it's possible. On the other hand, with the cartridge rumours, who knows.

like maximo said, but on top of the people hyping due to smash, those people have kinda hoarded the dual pack
i have seen one in my area... across  7 different gamestops...
went to all of those gamestops looking for a complete used smash 4 (was cashing out on a buy 2 get 1 coupon)... finally found one today, after about 5 days. anyway, i have seen one copy of the dual set in my hunt. i think it was $40, and it was complete afaik (didn't look at the inside or anything, i already own the game, i preordered it, it was my second wii u game lmao).
that would make it pretty rare imo. and nintendo rare games shoot up in price inevitably... doesn't mean i won't see more in the wild over time, if i bothered to look, just, it's quite rare from what i noticed.

there is also a devil's third around me, but i didn't bother picking it up (no interest), but just one copy in my area, same as the bayo dual pack. if you want the rarer games, now is the time to keep your eyes peeled before gamestop phases them out. learnt that the hard way with gamecube... where i passed on baiten kaitos 1 and 2 dozens of times when they were $5 a piece, and now they're much pricier. sigh.

[retrogemcollector]

Yep souls series. Ever after Demon's Souls I've been dedicated/addicted to the madness. I keep dying it enrages me but I just can't get enough.

[kashell]

I'm another one who had an a-ha! moment with Dark Souls. The first time I tried it, I think I played as a Knight. I didn't care for it and I had no idea where I should explore. Years later, I went with the Pyromancer and it was like everything about Lodran and Anor Londo clicked. Unlike Demon's Souls (love that game but it was much easier to understand) there was no Nexus to serve as a hub. So, it was important to remember where paths would lead and how to efficiently go from one area to the next. Obviously, having played Demon's Souls, I knew the game would have challenging enemies. That's half the fun of Dark Souls. The other half was discovering how the worlds were so connected and seeing what treasures were hidden around the corner. Plus, burning stuff as a Pyromancer was never boring.

Another game that clicked was Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and The Lost Ocean. Due to the battle system's random nature, I thought that the AI was always out to get me. After a few hours, I realized that there was always a way to end a battle without much difficulty. This even includes most boss battles. The card-based battle system, plus all of the cool side-quests and fantastic story make it one of the most inspiring RPGs I've played.

[undertakerprime]

Fun to see everyone's responses.

Funny you bring this up, at the moment I'm obsessed with Fallout, I recently played through New Vegas and am now playing Fallout 3 GOTY. I don't know if they have really "clicked" for me personally, I mean I love the games and atmosphere, but over 100 hours in any game is still pretty insane to me. According to steam I have 24 hours in New Vegas... and that's after beating the game, I've gone back to Fallout 4 a couple of times just to mess around but I am really hoping Fallout 3 changes that for me. I'm trying to force myself to take it slow and not worry about when I'll beat the game, but to just enjoy what is there.

Yeah, with only 24 hrs it seems like you just played through the main quest and didn't do much exploring. Which is fine, the beauty of games like Fallout is you can play any way you want. But for me, it's about the thrill of exploration, and the main quest is secondary. Most of those 100 hrs were before I completed the main quest, there's just so much to do in the game.

I've never been someone to play that long either; I average 40 hrs in most JRPGs, and that's with some sidequests. I just prefer to do everything I can before completing the game, and WRPGs like Fallout have a lot to do.