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, liked and thought it was much better than New Vegas and decided to give NV another shot (I was at 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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Knights of the old republic. Heard a lot of good things, and wanted to try. Tried it 4-5 times, but couldn't get past the combat mechanics. Powered through the 6th time and learned to love it. Started Kotor2 immediately after. Weird ending, though...

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.

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.

Actually yes! Days Gone took me 3 reinstalls to get into it. I think I just pushed through the start. I ended up enjoying it I dont know why it got all the bad press.