Games you weren't expecting to be so good!

[Formalhaut]

So someone's recommended you this game you're still not sold on. Or perhaps you got it dirt-cheap second hand because someone else disliked it. Maybe you just buy random stuff. Either way, you've got it, but you're not feeling it. It's going to be clunky, or the story is just atrocious. Even the box art appears to be embarrassed.

But, brave gamer you are, you plug it in regardless... and actually, the game's not bad! Good, even! My thoughts on this game has done a complete U-turn.

There are some games that we know will be good, because we've played other games in the series, or we've read copious reviews or seen videos. These are not those games. These are the games in our library that we were expecting to be a bit crap, but completely slapped us upside the head for assuming such things.

What are those games that you thought would be crap, but turned out to be gems in your gaming collection?

Honestly, I don't have many myself, primarily because I don't own many games, and the games I do own tend to be games from existing series or I've done research on. Probably the closest I think I can muster is probably Persona Q, funnily enough. I got into the Persona series from Fynn and Pumpkin, and after played P3P and P4 Golden, PQ was up next. I asked Fynn about it and I don't remember him giving a glowing review. I don't think he disliked it, but he wasn't raving about it either. This made me a tad cautious about starting it up, but I actually think it is one of the best games in the series.

[Karifean]

Umineko. I don't think anyone ever expects the spanish inquisition a new game to end up being the best and single most influential literary work you've ever had the pleasure of experiencing.

To give a more recent example, Symphonic Rain. I expected a standard galge, I got a psychologically rather fascinating tale. With a good rhythm minigame on top of that!

Oh, also G-senjou no Maou. It was my first real foray into the world of visual novels that wasn't just treading along companies and writers I'd already known of and liked beforehand, so I had no idea what to expect, and well, it single-handedly became one of my all-time favorites.

Edit: Damnit me, read the opening post before you write a reply. I'll edit this a bit later with some more fitting answers.

Editra: On second thought, I don't remember ever having the experience described in the opening post. Guess I'll just leave it as it is after all.

[Fynn]

Probably Digital Devil Saga. I got it one Christmas and was having a very hard time with it. But then I restarted it and fell in love with it. Sam E with SMTIV, but that was mostly because a) people online weren't kind to it and b) I was angry it was overshadowing Strange Journey, but it turned out to be one of my favorite games of all time.

Persona 1 was the complete opposite of this, though

[Vermachtnis]

Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth, Digimon games have a habit of being not that good. World 1, Dusk, and Data Squad are the three good ones and they're kind of mediocre. But Cyber Sleuth is excellent. You tell it was inspired by MegaTen. The character designer is the same one from Devil Survivor. And about halfway through it drops all pretenses and is like, yeah we're a MegaTen game but with Digimon instead of Demons. And at that point you start getting Megas so it's entirely possible to have a MegaTen-esque team like Minerva, Lucifer, and Lilith. And the cast is great. Except for the main character, all she does during cutscenes is make funny faces and nod stoically. And on characters and this topic, there's Rina. Everyone talks about how much they hate her, but of course I ended up loving her. She couldn't get parallel world right and said things like parasol world and caramel world (which sounds awesome). And her introductory chapter has (SPOILER)her kicking Barbamon in the face. One of the Seven Great Demon Lords. The representation of Greed in Digimon Lore and she kicked him in the face.

Persona 1 was the complete opposite of this, though

Same, I went in knowing it wasn't P3/P4 and more like mainstream MegaTen. But I just didn't enjoy it that much.

[Pike]

What are those games that you thought would be crap, but turned out to be gems in your gaming collection?

every single Dragon Age game

[Formalhaut]

What are those games that you thought would be crap, but turned out to be gems in your gaming collection?

every single Dragon Age game

Really, you thought they'd be terrible? I'm surprised at you, Pike.

[Fynn]

Persona 1 was the complete opposite of this, though

Same, I went in knowing it wasn't P3/P4 and more like mainstream MegaTen. But I just didn't enjoy it that much.

Hell, I came in as a MegaTen fan as well. It's amazing how the original Shin Megami Tensei has aged so much better than that piece of crap.

[Del Murder]

This is hard to answer since I only buy and play games I expect to be good! Who would buy a bad game on purpose?

[Pike]

What are those games that you thought would be crap, but turned out to be gems in your gaming collection?

every single Dragon Age game

Really, you thought they'd be terrible? I'm surprised at you, Pike.

It isn't that I thought they would be crap so much as I thought I would be underwhelmed. Bioware style games were never really my "thing" but DA converted me. xD

[Formalhaut]

I played Mass Effect first and enjoyed it. I then played Dragon Age (Origins through to Inquisition) and loved it and kept replaying it. So yeah, I get what you mean!

[Galuf]

FF VI.

thought id give up at the start.

guess i was wrong

[Slothy]

I, like pretty much everyone else, bought the orange box for some Half-Life and TF2. Then holy trout Portal.

[Fox]

Wolfenstein: The New Order.

This was just supposed to be a lazy cash-in on the Wolfenstein name. Where the hell did one of the most enjoyable and affecting FPS games of the last decade come from?

[Peter1986]

"Silver Surfer" for the NES.
Almost everyone seems to hate that game, but I actually found it pretty fun!
Yes, it is extremely ridiculously brutal in a lot of places and the game has a few problems, like the huge sprite of Silver Surfer himself and the ambiguous foregrounds and backgrounds ("can I cross this?", "is that an obstacle?" etc), and of course also the complete lack of extra protection, but in essence it is a lot like any other fast-paced space shooter.
It involves a lot of memorisation and fast reflexes, and it's a great feeling when you actually do legitimately beat the game.

It's nowhere near a "great" space shooter, but at least it's got a lot of action going on;
it's definitely more fun than games like "Dragon's Lair", "Conan" and "Little Red Hood"!

Overall, I would rate it 5/10.

[Spuuky]

Portal
Dragon Age
Atom Zombie Smasher
Divinity: Original Sin
King's Bounty
Saints Row whatever
Valkyria Chronicles