What game did you buy knowing that you were going to hate it... and yet you still did

[JimDigritz]

The last game I bought which I still can't noodle why I was... Guild Wars 2


As a bit of background I played WoW when it first came out and enjoyed it for a few months but then burnt out completely on the whole grindy quest fest. Since then with young family commitments I haven't had the time or inclination to go back to a full fat MMORPG. Many came and went. I tried a couple of single player RPGs (Skyrim) and also got pretty jaded by the "Go help the farmer kill 8 rabbits" Umm I'm a bad ass death dealing assassin, dual wielding flaming daggers and I'm playing fucking whack-a-mole....


Then GW2 started fizzing on my radar.. the previews talked about how innovative it was, how grouping was easier and how the whole quest system was less grindy. Obviously somewhere between the words in the review and my brain I kept redacting the phrase "of couse it's still just a high fantasy MMORPG that has grindy quest based leveling".


It tickled my purchase impulses and I went looking on Steam. Ooooh not on Steam you say.. what a tease. I definitely won't buy it. Hmmm I'll just look on the official website.. three packages you say.. hmmm maybe I'll just have a look at the cheapest digital download edition.. OUT OF STOCK YOU SAY!!! Outrageous. Ridiculous. You'll never get my money now.


What happens? The drip drip of great reviews keep coming and I obviously kept ignoring the fact that I actually don't enjoy these types of games and eventually it comes back in stock. Bang I lay down a (big) wedge of paypal money and install it.


Bugger.


It's WoW with some clever ideas and better graphics. I hate it. Shit. I re-read the reviews and they all point this out clearly.


There you go, the game I knew deep down that I would hate and I went and bought it anyway..


Disclaimer: I'm not hating on GW2 as a game, I'm convinced it's one of the best MMORPG's to date.. it just leaves me cold and feeling like a plum because I don't actually enjoy these types of games.


Anyone else want to release some guilt?

[Fanbuoy]

I don't like competitive multiplayer games. The thing is, I really hate losing. I hate it. Competitive MP eats happiness. I've never seen the appeal of getting my ass handed to me for 50 hours or more, just to become decent at a game. That wouldn't make me feel good about myself, it would make me want to kill myself.

I still bought BF3. I played the SP campaign to get a feel for the game, then tried out the MP. Played two sessions then retired.
I still bought the most expensive content pack for Tribes: Ascend. Played some tutorials and immediately realised that there was no way I would enjoy the game.
I still bought a couple of other MP FPS games, which I at least had the good sense of not playing.
I still bought a lot of games with significant MP components, just to play the SP campaign.

Damn sales.

[RakeShark]

DNF is probably the one that fits the bill here.

[Kellhus]

Guild Wars 2 is the only recent one. Bought it for the World PvP, but knew in advance that it could never live up to my old love; DaoC.

[Mohorovicic]

Damn sales.

Sure, blame fire after you stick your head in a furnace.

[Fanbuoy]

Sure, blame fire after you stick your head in a furnace.

Yeah well, the furnace is nice and warm and I'm bored.

[LTK]

Well, I once bought a pack of 20 2K games from Steam for €54, knowing very well that the majority of it was strategy games, which are absolutely not my cup of tea. So I played one session of Civ 4, where I felt like a monkey pressing buttons whenever it was told to do so; I played a bit of Freedom Force, which I found very dull, and the satire was completely lost on me; I tried one of the X-COM games (not sure which of the 5) and I couldn't even tell where to begin after starting a game. So I basically paid €54 for the convenience of having Bioshock on Steam and playing Pirates! and Prey, both of which I did enjoy, but I still look back on the purchase as a huge mistake.

[Makariel]

Why should I buy a game I know I'm going to hate? I never did such a thing.

I'm confused.

[Jesus_Phish]

I've never bought a game I knew I wouldn't like or thought very strongly I wouldn't like. Even if I was only buying it for one reasons (such as MP or SP) I'd make damn sure I knew it was something I would enjoy. Examples would be Halo 3 and MW2 because at both times all my friends were playing them. I enjoyed MW2 enough to know it was enough for me and left it at that rather than go for the yearly installations.

An exception is I got Limbo in a bundle of games from the humble bundle. I enjoyed and wanted the other games and saw Limbo as a freebie. I played it to see what all the fuss was about on its release and was resoundingly reassured that I was correct not to buy that game on it's own at the time.

[LTK]

Why should I buy a game I know I'm going to hate? I never did such a thing.

I'm confused.

Could be many reasons. Susceptibility to marketing. Peer pressure. Perception of value, i.e. 'too good to pass up' (in my case). Misplaced trust in a developer, or someone else. And so on.

[Fanbuoy]

Why should I buy a game I know I'm going to hate? I never did such a thing.

I'm confused.

For me it's ususally a combination of good reviews (making me think that maybe this is the one that'll change my mind), the "Ooh, shiny!" factor and price cuts. Also, I'm a bit of a collector. I actually rarely regret purchases, even if I don't like the games.

[ado]

I never in my life hated a game. Even the stuff I criticize all the time, like Skyrim and CoD I don't hate. And even the stuff that I cant bring myself to play or am unable to enjoy (the whole RTS genre) I don't hate.

But I have purchased Skyrim despite being completely ambivalent towards it, and after getting little to no enjoyment out of it I remained ambivalent. And I have purchased MANY RTS games in the hope that I will flip on the genre but I never do. And I'll probably buy Planetary Annihilation and CoH2 once they're out, but that's just me being a fool and never believing in lost causes.

[NathanH]

I never buy bad games, because I am the pinnacle of human evolution.

OK, sometimes I buy bad games for £2.50, but if it's less than the price of a pint it doesn't count.

Edit: Scratch that, I bought Disciples 3 and that's utter shite.

[Kellhus]

Disciples 3 makes me sad, because 2 was a great TBS game with awesome artwork.

[coldvvvave]

Batman Arkham City

I didn't know I'm going to HATE it though, I was just very suspicious and never really considered buying it but one of my "friends" on some social site kept bothering me about how good it is so when I got bored I just bought it, played for maybe couple of hours minutes and quit forever. I have only myself to blame. And that other guy.

[Internet]

I hoped that everyone would be wrong about Winter Voices, and really wanted to play an isometric RPG. It is not good. It is not good at all. I bought Dungeon Siege III because I thought that the fact that it's from Obsidian would outweigh its history of being a bland ARPG. It did not.

[doctor_roxo]

Why should I buy a game I know I'm going to hate? I never did such a thing.

I'm confused.

Yea. what he said...

[karthink]

Mass Effect 3.

I bought it recently, after the whole day 1 DLC hullaboo, the ending snafu and the extended cut, despite warnings that much of the plot was idiotic and that most dialog was automatic.

I liked my shepard, I guess.

[JimDigritz]

To add to my list I impulse bought CS:GO despite being shit at fast twitch MP FPS games (especially the original CS). Guess what... I was shit at it, and only managed to get kills by (what I still regard as legitimate defensive tactics) defending the hostages.. I think I got called Jim the Turret a few times, had my sexuality questioned and read some vaguely medical references to my mother when I ragequit. Just like I knew I would.

To those questioning the premise, I guess I would reframe it as games you have major doubts about but still buy, and then have those doubts rubbed in your face.

[DWZippy]

I bought CS:GO because I was longing for the CS1.6 gameplay I'd really enjoyed when I was younger.

I played it once, and realised I didn't have the time to get good at another shooting game.