Patient Gamers

It kinda happened for me with Fallout New Vegas. I was maybe 11 and never played anything from the series. I spent my time killer hobo-ing my way through but I always felt like I was missing something, then I started reading negative opinions about it online and got influence by that, so I dropped it. After some time I played Fallout 3 after hearing people saying it was much better, I liked and I too thought it was much better than New Vegas but decided to give NV another shot (I was 12 or 13 by then). I loved it to the point where it is probably on the top of my emotional top 10. It got me into 50s/60s music, got me interested in politics and ethics, made me become a fan of science fiction and old school RPGs focused on story and a variety of approaches. Really a fantastic game.

EDIT: wanted to add that nowadays I really can't play FO3 without thinking that I could just play NV instead. That's how much I love that game

The first Dark Souls. At the time I had played Demon's Souls, but didn't really play games for the challenge so I was very much not used to those types of games. Was also a diehard FPS player.

But a good friend, the same one that introduced me to Demon's Souls, gifted me Dark Souls. It was a game a genuinely enjoyed, but couldn't quite find my groove. I'd create a character, get to a certain point, then feel lost or too frustrated to proceed. So I'd stop playing for a few months, then pick it up again and roll a new character.

This trend repeated for a while, and I DID progress farther every time. Eventually, I hit a wall with one of the bosses and raged quit. So fast forward to my inevitable return to the game, instead of starting over I just went right back to that boss and tried again, and again, and again... and actually won?! That was the moment I feel like my gaming potential was awakened.

From Software fanboy, but also truly invested in a good challenge.

Unrelated, but I'm polishing of Nioh 2 now with NG+ and the DLC

Same happened for me with Deus Ex Human revolution. Back in 2012, I just didn't understand the plot and the atmosphere of the game, and wasn't a fan of the decision-making system. Last year, I plugged in my dusty PS3, started the game and I just had all the keys to a better understanding. Adam Jensen is a charismatic character and the scenario makes you want to go through the whole game in a row

I'm going way back here, but I recently grabbed the original Doom, mostly to show my kids for historical value. I did play the shit out of the shareware version of the game, but I never got into the full game particularly... by the time I was old enough to survive the harder levels, there were fancier games out.

Now, I find myself surprisingly addicted to a 30 year old shooter. I had forgotten why this game is such a classic, it's just... it's just friggin' good. In terms of fun and depth of play, it holds up just fine compared to far more advanced modern games.

Stardew Valley. I pirated it because I really didn't think I would like it, but was curious about all the positive buzz that was going on around it. Played for maybe 45 minutes and decided that it wasn't for me. I think it was two weeks later that I picked it back up again because some article wouldn't stop singing it's praises. Start playing, look up, 4 hours had passed.

So I bought the game and proceeded to put over 200 hours into it.

Then I bought it on Switch and put like 160 hours into it.

Then I bought it on Mobile and put like 60 hours into it.

Never thought I'd click so well with some silly farming game.

Two games for me:

Trials Fusion: I expected/wanted a fairly easy going full-speed flow type of ordeal but only the first few tracks are like that. Only when I booted it up years later to have another look did it click as a 'skill-based momentum puzzle game'. Finished the game, loved it, got Trials Rising, Evolution and 2 SE.

Death Stranding: got to somewhere early mid game, got bored running standard deliveries. One of my first open world games like this, I didn't know when to move on with the story. When after a while I returned to the game and got back on track with the story it became one of my favourite games of all time.

Vampire Survivors. I did like it in the beginning, but I started to get bored since I got stuck in the first map. I uninstalled it for a while then I installed it again last week. I've been playing on and off again, since I was basically just trying to get a lot of coins. I managed to reach level 20 and unlock the second map, then yesterday, I reached 27 minutes in the second map and now I'm addicted to it lmao. I got the magic wand without cooldown on that playthrough, and it was so satisfying to see everything just dying.

I've never been able to have Skyrim or Witcher 3 click for me, despite trying a few different times (because so many seem to regard them as gold standards of action RPGs, a genre a do like!)

But, to answer your question, for me its probably Stellaris (and, through that, many of the weighty 'paradox games).

I'd always liked games like Civ (Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri being the first 4x that grabbed me, back in the 90s). But, 'Paradox games' were something I tried a few times, and bounced off of every time. They're just a different beast, in terms of 'weight'.

But, after having tried Stellaris and bounced off of it, I got talked into playing it multiplayer with some of my friends who play it more regularly, and having a knowledgeable person there to explain some of the weirdness and strategy to me made it all click.

And once I got that down, Crusader Kings and Victoria now were like, understandable to me. Though, I do think Stellaris is my favorite out of the bunch.

I was the same with The Witcher 3. Tried it a couple of times, but only a year after the purchase did it click. Love that game now.

I got Detroit: Become Human as agiftx, but have only played about 20 minutes of it. Gonna give it another try when the summer is over.

Red dead redemption 2. Picked it up at launch, and wasn't in the right mindset. Once I got a steamdeck, I tried it again, one of the best games ever made.

Deus Ex. The first one. I would always get kinda lost on the second to third level and lose interest, but once I got into it, I was INTO IT! It was all I played for a long long time, although eventually I stopped at Hong Kong because it was too dark to see and I couldn't figure out how to fix it before I lost my momentum

Morrowind - played it when it first came out and had no idea what to do, then played it again a year or two later and loved it.

The Witcher 3 - I didn't like The Witcher 2 so put it off for ages, but after the first boss fight I really liked it.

Breath Of The Wild - at first I didn't like it so much, but after beating the first boss I got the hang of it more. TOTK is miles better though.

The first time I played Jedi Fallen Order, I got through the tutorial mission, went 'Eh' and put the game down. Went back a year later and had an amazing time. Can't tell you what it was that changed.

Morrowind, I played it near release and had no idea what to do or what I was doing. Then I played it a year or two later and played it for weeks straight.

CK2 also took a bit of learning to get used to.

I had a similar experience with The Witcher, but the first one. Bounced off the game twice. Third time was the charm. I fell in love with it and then ended up playing the other games in the series as they came out. I'm not sure what made me keep trying, but I'm glad I did.

Long before that, when Morrowind was released, I couldn't quite understand it. I had grown up on JRPGs, and the openness of Western RPGs was confusing. I kept trying and eventually fell in love with it too. This opened up a whole new genre for me.

XCOM: Enemy Unknown had a similar effect for turn-based strategy games and Elden Ring for Soulsborne games. I'm still looking for the games that will open my eyes to several genres. I occasionally try games in genres I don't typically like in hopes this will be the one. It's really cool to have that new door opened for you.

Mass Effect the very first time. Got bored on the Citadel, quit for two weeks. Went back, started over, and now it's my favorite game of all time and I've beaten it 23 times.

I think this will be Disco Elysium for me. I keep bouncing off it, but I want to play it and so many swear it's amazing. I've just been a bit too depressed and not focused enough I think to deal with the depth of it. I always end up playing something 'cozier'.

It was the case for me with Elden ring, I couldn’t for the life of me play the game until last month.

P.N.03 on Gamecube, initially I was like wtf is this game about and the dancing girl makes no sense at all. And then later it clicked it's a semi rhythm games + action. I liked it so much I wrote the reviews and walk through for my local magazine. (yes, I also unlocked every suit and finish play through with the one hit kill suit cause at the end I pretty much remember how to play through every room and the suit is really powerful to play with .)

Oh, it also works really nicely with the gamecube controller. :)

Valheim, i stopped playing after 5 minutes 2/3 times and then i just gave it another shot and played it for 30+ hours

Personal 5 for me. I never had a way to play it and when it finally came to the Switch I played a few hours and then moved on to another game. Probably was burnt out from SMTV

Hollow Knight didn't initially grab me at all. The first few hours just are not very exciting. The game just drops you in without much to go by. No depth yet due to lack of any moves, skills, attacks, upgrades.

But when I gave it a second and then eventually a third try and got a bit further it sucked me in like few games have.

Your post made me think about kind of a reverse experience. One of the first games that deeply engrossed me and resonated with me was Alan Wake. I played it in my teens on a big old CRT (I believe it was like 40 inches, but a 4:3 aspect). I literally couldn't stop, it was during summer holidays and I didn't even open the blinds to be more immersed in the darkness. I binged through the game in about a week straight. I still consider it one of my all-time favourite games. But recently I started the remaster and just couldn't get into it for some reason. Just didn't click.

I am still waiting eagerly for the second game, and definitely will try again to get into the remaster. Maybe the understanding that I can't recapture nostalgia will help me take it for what it is, not what I remember it being. Because I believe that even separate from that magical experience it's still a good game that I will probably dig.

I thought it was amazing the first time. I did all of it. And both dlcs. Started it up a few months ago and it just felt like a drag. Glad you liked it op

Dark Souls for me, played it in high school and couldn't figure out why it was so loved. Anyways here I am 10+yrs later, 7 dark souls 3 characters deep. Dont get me started on ER :p

The Witcher 3 wasn't fun at all until I reached level 10 or so, took me over a month to get to that level because I played in very short intervals. Some others I can think of are Dishonored, Assassin's Creed Syndicate and The Outer Worlds. Got Dishonored at release, played an hour and put it away, finished it five years later. For Assassin's Creed Syndicate it was a year and The Outer Worlds around half a year. Ended up having a lot of fun with all those games.

Breath of the Wild - I tried a few times, but never made it past the opening area. Once I finally did, I ended up hating the weapon durability mechanic. Once I discovered mods (Linkle and removal of weapon durability), I started to get into the game.

Starlancer - This is an old PC game (~2000?). I'd messed around with it a lot, but one day it sort of clicked with me. I rapidly beat it from there (of course there was the one ship that could 1 shot everything else, which was why I beat it so easily).

Far Cry 2. I bought it shortly after it was launched and didn't like it at all. It seemed so boring and clunky to me. Years later I gave it another try and this time I really enjoyed it! I even bought another copy because the original disc started having cracks and I didn't want the disc to explode in my console. It's now one of my favorite games in the franchise.

Total War Three Kingdoms. I bought it on release, put a few hours in, but it didn't click with me.

I am a huge 3K fan including the Dynasty Warriors and ROTK games. Also put hundreds of hours into Rome classic. But the newer TW games didn't gel with me due to the gameplay differences from the older games. Never cared for the Warhammer franchise.

For whatever reason I put a hundred hours into Rome 2, which helped immensely when I finally came back to TW3K. It's a shame it isn't still supported because it is the best single player TW experience by far. The diplomacy possibilities especially make things a lot more interesting.

Probably a classic answer, but Dark Souls. Played it a bunch of times and really hated how clunky it was, it felt unfair and poorly made, and the graphics felt a little outdated.

Then I took a couple months break, looked up some guides on how to get good and it became my absolute favourite game of all time.

The sequels are all good too! Bloodborne also rules! Elden Ring is the bomb too!

On the flip side, I really liked the idea of Sekiro until I played through it for a while. Then I got very mad that I wasn’t getting better and gave up. I’ve heard this is a common gripe for people like me that like to dodge in the game a lot.

Aurelia. Nsfw but a fabulous game made with care. Tried to play for years and kept noping out. Recently gave it a crack. Loved it. Seriously well made game.

When I first played Dwarf Fortress, I thought it was the dumbest shit ever because it was taking so long during world gen, I thought that was the game and it was like an ASCII Progress Quest.

Then it took some time to get used to the terrible interface it had pre-Steam version.

Now I acknowledge it as one of the greatest games ever made.

I'm in the same boat as others I see. Never could get into The Witcher 3 and Stellaris - even though I love RPGs and 4Xs. Also Valheim actually.

But a couple of games that I "got over the hump" so to speak is Caves of Qud and Noita. Both roguelikes, but very different. I guess I was thrown off by having to actually explore most stuff by myself - as opposed to having the game explaining everything for you.

Monster Hunter. I first tried it on the wii u when I was honestly too young to really comprehend what was going on and bounced off. Years later I picked up MHGU and MH World and got basically addicted. Now I own almost all the games physically, as well as picking up a 3ds and Vita so I could play the psp and 3ds games on the go.