Has this ever happened to you?

We all have our favorite types of games... a certain genre or setting... favorite developers, favorite series... you know what I mean.

And we all have our own opinions... which is great.

I for instance, can't stand Diablo clones... heck... I couldn't even stand Diablo. I even hate the term "Diablo Clone" simply because I think a lot of games get dumped into that category just because they do have some things in common with the big grand-daddy. In my opinion... most so-called Diablo clones are so much better than Diablo that I can't even understand why people associate them with that old piece of crap (sorry... remember... it's just my opinion). But even though they are better than Diablo, they still stink (IMO).

But... on to the point of the post title. Has this ever happened to you? Has there ever been a type of game that you just can't stand - be it RTS, RPG, Shooter... or series like Might and Magic, or Gothic, or The Elder Scrolls? And then something happens...

A game that you weren't even going to buy comes along. A game that falls in that realm of games that you can't stand. And after reading posts by people who have played it, you find it really cheap and decide to go ahead and bite the bullet and buy it.

You just know that it's going to bore you like all the others have, but you buy it anyway.

This happened to me. Like I said... I can't stand Diablo or any of its ilk. But I read a lot of posts on this (and other) sites about Titan Quest praising the game. I read some good reviews for it, and I found it really cheap. So I went ahead and bought it thinking "Well... I will probably play this for about 2 hours and then get bored... but what the heck, it was cheap".

This is the part that I'm wondering if its ever happened to you....

I love this game! I never thought it would happen, but I've finally found a game that is generally classified as a "Diablo Clone" that I actually like!

Now I know that some of you like it and some of you don't... and I can understand that. But I'm just blown away. I'm really enjoying it. I've probably played about 15 hours so far and I'm not bored. In fact, I can't wait to play every night. I really like the story, the interface, the combat, the skills and magic, the graphics, sound, and just about everything else.

So now I've found a game that has made me change my mind about an entire genre... does this mean that I'm going to like other Diablo clones? Probably not... I've played almost every one (some that I bought and some that I downloaded demos), and they've all bored the living snot out of me. But Titan Quest has opened my eyes.

Has this ever happened to you? Is there a genre, type, series of game that you just can't stand that you've suddenly come upon one that fits in that category... and to your surprise it knocks your socks off?

Let me know...

And thanks to all of you here who had good things to say about TQ... I would have missed a great game if it weren't for you.

those are pretty much my same feelings and i too had the same shocking experience when i finally played titan quest a few months ago after getting it for 10 bucks. it was loads of unexpected fun, but by the same note i haven't rushed out to buy the expansion either...

and yes without magerette i wouldn't have even taken the chance for 10 bucks.

i had a recent experience with neverend as well after having a bad time with it in the fall do to an earlier version which turned out to be pirated and hench unpatchable. i picked it up though again in early june and have nothing but love for the game now. its not for hardcore party turn-based rpgers and definately not for action-rpgers but if you like story based rpgs and have occasionaly played adventure games you might love it. most rps can wane a bit in the middle/end but after the first part it gets more and more amazing. the voice acting can be laughable and ghastly at times but the hero has charm. don't go expecting top notch graphics but the music and artistry of the game are superb. the turn-based combat may not be the most advanced but it is the most fun and rewarding of any rpg game i've probably ever played. but like i said its not for the party based, since there are a little more than half a dozen npcs you can have with you through the entire game any many will only join you when you are alone. they also don't level or change equipment. but you do and all your equipment except your earring are shown on character. the charcter development to me is phenomenal. 6 weapon classes which are improved by actual use in combat and each class has 8 or so moves which have sweet animations as well as different uses as in can stun, cause bleeding, or higher critical attack, in addition to different speeds. magic has 3 classes that also have a bunch of spells you can learn and advance in by use. in the fall i didn't really grasp the magic system but this time around i did and its the most unique i've seen since arx fatalis. you have to find or buy runes in addition to a recipe. when you cast the recipe you have only one spell to cast. you then must rest at an inn or use a purchasable tent on the world map to camp which restores health and mana in addition to reloading all your spells. so even though you can get some decent spells fairly early in the game you must find/buy other runes before you can start using magic solely in battle. sorry if i've derailed the thread but i highly recommend neverend for those who like as someone else put it "non dark" rpgs that are light on the grind and heavy on the 'fun'. theres patches out there which have fixes nearly all problems save an every few hour crash that happens when loading a game, but the program closes out quickly and you can reload the game and your save in under 15 seconds so its hardly worth noting.

I hate Diablo clones too, surprise, surprise!! My epiphany came with System Shock (the original). It's little more than a shooter, but the atmosphere and story are incredible!!

In short, yes. I don't like RTS games, yet I loved Medieval :Total War. I also don't like console RPGs, but I liked Tales of Symphonia. I had gotten to the point that I couldn't stand racing games, thanks to all the crappy NFS/TD ones floating around. I love Gran Turismo 4.

At the same time, I've had the opposite happen as well. I've loved the original Doom and Doom II for years, to the point that every computer I've owned has had them installed. I hated Doom 3. I loved Age of Wonders, yet I hated the sequels. I loved the early Might and Magics, but didn't like the newer ones. I loved the old Bard's Tale games, and didn't care much for the new one.

It goes back and forth, with me. About the only genre I don't like totally is sports, and that's because every year you've got to upgrade or be left behind. I'd like to try and make the Memphis Grizzlies actually win for a change, but I don't want to buy a game that has no replay past the season it's based on. With other games, you just get bored once you've done everything twenty times.

narpet, I'm glad to hear you're enjoying TQ. I'm still playing it six months later, tho not quite as fervently. I think it does a lot of things better than Diablo, which is only to be expected in such a much more recent game.
I hated Diablo the first time or two I played, then I played LAN with my son, learned that it's all about collecting cool stuff and really has nothing to do with rpg at all, and played for months trying to beat the Hell difficulty (because that's where the really good stuff is)

I also have shared azraelck's experience of not finding the same magic in scions of a much loved original, or in things I should like/really want to like because I like the genre...I think oftentimes games are more than their label, and stand outside it, as just the experience you happen to be looking for at the time.

@c.undead: I'd thought about checking out Neverend, but it got some pretty iffy reviews IIRCC as well as a rep for bugs--but it sounds like they may have fixed it up a bit. I'll keep it on my radar.

Something similar (though not quite the same) happened to me: while in the very beginning of graphical video games my favorite genre was sports, I can't stand sports games anymore. No sir, no sports games/olympics/football/basketball/hockey/chambers of shaolin for me anymore (I don't mean fighting games or racing games, which I always enjoyed and still enjoy).

Like azraelck I also have my trouble with some later games in series. While some sequels do fit into the general gaming universe IMO, some are just plain... wrong. While Unreal 2 was a stinker for sure, it fit the general universe and thus I shrugged it off. Quake 3 was a horrible letdown because it continued the tradition of senseless level design of the first Quake, but had nothing in common with Q2 (apart some of the avatars) which I liked because it had sucked me right in. Q4 was a seamless continuation of Q2, so there. It was fine with me.

Especially reboots of a franchise tend to do horrible things to the original series - while I like both the old and the new Galactica (speaking of TV series here, of course), I really, really abhor Doom 3! Perhaps you weren't such a horrible game after all, D3, but trying to kill years of neon green slime, radiation blue carpets and colored torches is a serious crime in my book. Whatever D3 is - it's not Doom for me.

Someone told me that Evil Islands was a "crappy D. clone" (I won't write the name out, it's a "tick" of mine ) - so the label stuck.
I once got it on a magazine's bonus CD, and since the cover of the CD was increadibly ... "colourful" (in a bad sense), I never touched it.

Since I tried it out (after asking for counsel here), I was quite surprised how complex it os, imho.
I don't love it, but I begin to like it, although it's quite hard at the beginning, and I don't like the concept of the "gaming zones" at all.

That can happen if you erroneously stick a label on the wrong game which doesn't deserve it.

Nowadays, I don't like FPS and RTS anymore ... I'm yet looking out for a game that tells me that these games can be some kind of "different" (yes, I've the The Thief (Dark Project), but I never went further than the tutorial).
I'm planning, however, to buy Spellforce one day, and especially Paraworld, which seems to be an truly extraordinary game to me (too sad that SEK closed shortly after its release, because Paraworld didn't sell. Such a shame !)

Please Don't Hurt Me...
- Starcraft
- HL2

as for neverend... i like it, it feels like a fairy tale, and somehow i've really liked that. but i didn't like development system, it seemed to me that only a few stats are worth upgrading... and, since i like to explore the games i play thoroughly, i was as strong as a god near the end... i've killed final boss in 2 strikes.
but overall, i pretty much liked it... i would rate it 7/10.

I dont generally like space shooters ("Gradius" for NES excluded) but I tried Freelancer a few months ago and I really liked it, thou it was a bit short.

and for all that like TQ maybe you should give Dungeon seige 1 or 2 a try? its fairly similar. But then, I like "Diablo-clones".

I really believe that if a game is well designed it doesn't matter the genre.

There are exceptions, some players just really can't get into certain genres - but overall, if you consider yourself a half-way all around gamer and not one who ONLY plays one genre this CAN happen to you.

I don't play 1st person shooters. I've tried several and they're just not my bag of tea. Yet I played the demo for Call Of Duty and I just had to go out and buy it. That game was just so intense, it had great presentation, the constant scripting made it come alive and FEEL authentic. Am I a convert? Most likely no. I'll continue to give demos a try, they cost nothing and are over fairly quickly and if I come across another that tickles my fancy, well great I'll pick it up.

Same thing happened to me with Le Man's for the Dreamcast. Racers are fun and I'll buy the occasional one, play it once in a while perhaps with others but that's it. But for some time I was obsessed about playing Le Man's, hehe. The graphics were fantastic and it took finesse and skill to play.

Oh and I'm not a golfer, nor do I like golf video games, naturally. But my wife got me Mario Golf for Father's Day a few years ago and OMG! That game is ADDICTIVE! So much fun, I played it constantly until I made 1st place and won the top cup, hehe.

No. I only like rpgs, and I don't even like rpgs that much. I try playing other genres and I like them even less, or even a lot less. Or even hate them and anyone involved in the creation or buying of such mindless retarded drivel.

Why do I play games if I don't like them? Because once in a while a game will come along and suck you in and hook you and make you crave for more, like crack. For me it started with Quest for Glory 1. I got a job just to buy my own computer at 11/12 years old (386, my father had a c128 but that didn't help me with QfG). Then Buck Rogers and GoldBox games, then EoB, then U4 5 and 6, and Wiz 6 and 7, then BoK and Darksun and Darklands and Realms of Arkania and Albion. Then I joined the Army and stopped playing games for a long time. I got an Article 15 a couple times (or a bunch of times) and the only dock half your pay after drafts, so I went out and bought a 3 grand computer on a 1 year payback, a bunch of bond set ups (I got 1 500 bond a month, costs $250, for 2 years). I barley even noticed when I was on 45/45 (45 days restriction, extra duty, and half pay). And we were infantry so I lived in the woods the whole times and barely noticed when I was on 45/45 since it didn't count on field problems besides I had to "volunteer" for every detail.

But, back to the point. I already bought FO2 (never seen or heard of FO 1 until then) when it was released, when the box cover caught my eye walking by a display in Circuit City at Bragg (or Fayettville really). I played it on a platoon members computer because I didn't have one. I also bought Daggerfall and played it that way before i got my own computer.

Adter I got my computer and while in the army I bought BG and PST (I disliked them both, but appreciate PST now even with the horrible, god awful combat). I did not have the internet until after I was out, a good ways. I got it for EQ and AC and UO, which I didn't like besides AC, which I really didn't like eaither. I remember the first game I ever patched was POR2.

Well, now I'm just rambling. But a few other key games got me in this time, like ToEE, which makes all the waiting and crappy games and money spent on crappy games, worthwhile. Like WoW. I should hate this game, but I'll go through a phase every couple years where I play the shit out of it. And love it, and that regenerates my longing for that feeling of the next fix and the next game, and the feeling is good enough to waste your life on.

Well, this was overly long and pointless, sorry.

edit: just to add in that I do like other genre's like the TBS, x-com, ja 1 and 2. Occasionally I play and like another genre like privateer and that empire non-squad TBS/RT combat empire game. Shogun Total War was okay, but not good enough to buy the other Total wars, I loved the nubununga ambition/romance games for the c128 and nes. Also archon, that mining game where you had to dig a pattern and the diamonds would drop down, shadowrun on the snes, and some others I quess. But mainly, I dislike most games that come out, and the ons I do like i get bored of easily, besides a few key gems.

Genres i can't stand...

1. sports games. ice-hockey, baseball. basketball..you name and i don't like it. Whats the point really? I can do sports in real life. why would i want to do it on pc screen? However as much as i hate the genre, there is an expection that defines the rule. A football game is pure fun against your pal. During the 2002 wc cup me and couple of friends had a long tournee in fifa 02..it was freaking awesome

2. Driving games are even more stupidier than sport games. Don't get me wrong I love driving around in the gameworld in mafia or in interstate 76 for example, but if driving is the sole purpose then it certainly isn't my cup of tea. It just isn't much fun to compete against eachother driving around the race track all over again.. boring... Actually i can't even stand any real life driving competitions.

3. Rts games are just much of hassle for me..clicking and clicking those tiny objects all the time and trying to keep them together, building dozens of new units one after another..*snore* Like someone else here I also loved total war series. Maybe its because you don't have to take care of micro management and other boring stuff like building units. total war is a game where strategy matters.

4.Flying/combat simulators. I just don't enjoy them. They demand too much learning and I'm not really intrested in of flying airplanes.

Yup. This stuff has happened to me. You know, I really, really, really don't like card games all that much but then one day while I was bored and surfing Gamer's Hell, I discovered that awesome Video Strip Poker Supreme demo and I'll be damned but I been hooked ever since .

I've never ever bought sports games ... with one exception. I've never played it, though.

I'd like to see more fun racing games, not just with cars, but with other vehicles.

My very first game that drove me nearly insane because it PERMANENTLY evoked bursts of laughter was Micromachines, the demo of the very first game.
I was young and I found it sooooo funny !

I could aquire the full game only a few years ago - and I found out that it has one of the most ... bleh copy-protections : signs in black colour on a matt black card. So it's basically black on black, with the only difference that the background is matt and the signs were not.

Speaking of racing games, which I don't like either, I wonder why no-one (to my knowledge), has ever made a horse racing game, where you're the jockey!!

No, not really. I will explain why.

I pretty much love all games systems, which is my problem.

I dont have enough money to buy all the gaming stuff (pen-and-paper D&D, single-player games, or MMORPGs) so I have to choose which category to focus on and exclude the others.

I have repeatedly cycled through each of those three categories for about two years. I have chosen MMORPGs because they are the most promising in the future, they have the biggest worlds, and they are funded the most. They also have player versus player, which I love to do.

D&D is the most iffy of those, because I bought tons of d20 books but they are going to be worthless and total waste of money if 4th Edition D&D evolves too much. Also D&D takes up too much time when you play it online. And I have nobody to play it with in real life. I love D&D but circumstances ruined it.

I love single-players games as well, but unfortunately, after having played MMOs for a long time, I eventually get a very lonely feeling in single-player. Granted, I dont have a wife or anyone so that is part of the problem. Single-player games feel empty to me now. And crappy artificial intelligence and scripted storylines are not very good company when you are used to all the interactions in MMOs. Also I love to listen to music so MMOs are the way to go.

MMOs, though, have everything I need. So although sometimes I get sick of them, I will always come back, because they have everything I want in a game.

Corwin said:

Speaking of racing games, which I don't like either, I wonder why no-one (to my knowledge), has ever made a horse racing game, where you're the jockey!!

Click to expand...

There actually was a horse racing title for the Playstation a few years back, can't remember the name.

Think it was published by Majesco. Probably sold 10 or 15 copies, heh.

Gothic 1 taught me that games in third person perspective aren't necessarily evil console spawn. I laughed at the idea of a third person RPG at the time (Gothic's contemporaries were games like Arcanum and Baldur’s Gate II), but I saw it on sale for five euros and figured I had nothing to lose at that price...

The Total War series taught me how to love RTS again...