Games you found surprisingly enjoyable or lived up to the hype

I saw the thread games that disappointed you thread and figured it would be fitting to make a counter-thread. What games have you purchased with little to no thought and ended up having the time of your life? You could also answer what games do you feel lived up to the hype you felt when you got to play them?

Personally one game I bought and didn’t think of much was Dungeons of Dredmor. I saw my cousin playing it on steam and figured I’d check it out. I bought it for I think 10 bucks and it was the time of my life. It was harsh but fair, one of the most rewarding gameplay experiences. I went in thinking its a mindless hack and slash to find one of the toughest turn-based strategies I have encountered.

One game which I think lived up to the hype on launch was FTL. I was really excited about the concept and I think the execution was spot on. Good music, challenging gameplay, and a price tag you can’t beat.

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Oh oh heres one! After playing endless hours of the old X-Com(The Good Ones!) I felt like I was craving the modern touch then I saw Xenonauts and puked my love out. At the time I knew nothing about the game but just that it met my needs so I cashed in my emergency fund and started to play the amazingly turn based gameplay and the unforgiving progress without the wired “you must do this first” progress that the old X-com had. Then I spent months squashing alien invaders! >:)
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Well, I don’t have a game like that I have to say, Season 5 of Archer is pretty damn awesome

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very pleased with several small indie titles… Rimworld, Delver and Rogue Legacy stand out…

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Bastion for iPad. That was hand down the best mobile games I have ever played. The graphics were great, the storyline was pretty good, with a bit of mystery. And the dynamic voice narration made it a phenomenal game.

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Well, Stonehearth is definitely very enjoyable, even though it hasn’t lived up to the hype, yet. I’m probably sure it will live up to it with the minds at Team Radiant.

And a few other ones are Starbound and Rimworld. Both are very enjoyable with good replayability.

I played a bit of Bastion as it seemed quite exciting to me. Unfortunately, it ended up crashing for me and I couldn’t get very far because of it. Maybe I should try again and see if anything’s changed, because it did seem good as far as I had gotten.

I also agree about Rogue Legacy and FTL. Fantastic games both.

I have been meaning to try both Dungeons of Dredmor and X-Com games. I’ll push them up the list based on this feedback.

Other than that, a big one was Mount & Blade Warband. For a simulation lover like myself, that game is all sorts of awesome. Can’t wait for the new one.

Torchlight II was hyped a bit I think. As far as I’m concerned, it lived up to it, even though I do wish they had more variation in the terrain (true procedural generation rather than a patchwork of ready-made sections).

I didn’t think much of Long Live the Queen when I bought it, but I really enjoyed that one. It’s a lot of reading, so you must be able to stand that, but you know that when you buy it, anyway; it’s a visual novel, after all. It’s lots of fun, really. I will say that it would have been nicer to have it be a little bit longer, and to have there be more variability to the events that occur (so you can’t just learn an optimal sequence with which to learn your skills from playing it several times).

When League of Legends was in beta phase, two friends of mine were constantly harassing me to play, I was like… “dude, this is so freaking confusing, and I find it boring” (I had just been watching them play, never played). And one day, just that one day… oh guys, I wish I didn’t give it a try, I wish I just had a little bit more of will power and continued refusing their bad influence. I’ve been playing League for over 4 years now. Back then, there wasn’t so much hype about League, but when you tried it, you would very likely get addicted to it.

Minecraft got me as well. I only heard positive reviews and comments, and thought people were exaggerating, “it’s only a building game with poor graphics” I used to say. One of my friends (one of the guys who introduced me to League) gave it to me for my birthday. At first I only played just not to snub him, but I ended up enjoyng it a lot.

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I’d have to say the Baten Kaitos series on the Gamecube. I bought the second game, Origins, on a whim for $20 or so from a toy store, and it and its precursor ended up being some of my favorite turn-based RPGs. It combined 3D models set in a 2D drawn environment, which I had never seen before.

And the music? Here is one of the main themes of Baten Kaitos: Origins.

Motoi Sakuraba was the composer for the games, who has also been on the Tales and Star Ocean series, as well as working with other titles such as the recent Bravely Default on 3DS. He is one of my absolute favorites when it comes to video game music.

The only serious drawback was the horrendous voice-acting in the first game–truly one of the most painful examples of bad English voice acting. But somehow, even that started to grow on me.

Now, if Namco and Monolith Soft could just start working on a third title in the series for the Wii U. But I’m also seriously looking forward to Monolith Soft’s Xenoblade Chronicles X, so I’m in no hurry. (Take your time, please.)

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Wow, @Atralane, that theme was gorgeous! Really love it.

A friend of mine would probably like the game, as well. In fact, I wonder if he already has it…

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