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Games that can't be properly enjoyed until at least the second playthrough.

Jennings

Member
There are certain games that just aren't that great the first time you run through them. Whether it's because they're too easy, or maybe because you spend the whole time learning and you can't utilize the knowledge picked up along the way until the whole shebang is over and done with, some games just beg for another run before players can truly get a feel for what the game has to offer. Whether the second run is in an NG+ mode or simply an unlocked higher difficulty level, which games have you played that didn't seem to pay off until later runs?

For a couple examples:

Diablo 3. Anybody who has played this game, especially at release, knows how braindead easy the campaign is at lower difficulty levels. The problem is that players couldn't raise the difficulty enough to provide any challenge whatsoever until they comlpeted the campaign and unlocked higher difficulties one by one. This was a huge chore for any experienced ARPG player because it meant hours upon hours of sleeping through trouble-free encounters until they could finally provide a real challenge for themselves. And even today, new players have many hours of mindless grinding before "the real game begins."

Sekiro. It's been said that the first playthrough of this game, while it can be fun, isn't nearly as personally rewarding as the second. Unless you're the type of person that enjoys beating their head against the wall over and over until they learn new encounters, this is one of those games where mastering a fight is only the first step to playing the game the way it was "meant to be played," as a master Shinobi cutting a path through the world the only way a master can. And while opinions vary on the draw of a second playthrough in a game without the RPG-style builds available in titles like Dark Souls, many argue that the builds don't matter as much as mastering your technique and doing things better than before.
 

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
Nier and Drakengard series. Game doesn't really start until then.
Drakengard/Nier are essentially mystery game, the first route is always about setting set up and not meant to get in to the full story.
Sekiro. It's been said that the first playthrough of this game, while it can be fun, isn't nearly as personally rewarding as the second. Unless you're the type of person that enjoys beating their head against the wall over and over until they learn new encounters, this is one of those games where mastering a fight is only the first step to playing the game the way it was "meant to be played," as a master Shinobi cutting a path through the world the only way a master can. And while opinions vary on the draw of a second playthrough in a game without the RPG-style builds available in titles like Dark Souls, many argue that the builds don't matter as much as mastering your technique and doing things better than before.
I kind of agree, once you get comfortable with Sekiro's combat the real fun starts, in second playthrough you are not just trying survive but experiment different Prosthetic Tools and combat arts, its same with games like Bayonetta and DMC games. Mastery of combat is the thing that will motivates you to do multiple playthoughs more than RPG states and builds.
 
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R6Rider

Gold Member
Original Demon's Souls. Gave it a shot, didn't get very far and basically shelved it for a few years. Came back and gave it another shot right around the time Dark Souls 2 came out and was hooked.

Finished it and after that went straight to Dark Souls and its sequel.

I realized this wasn't really a second playthrough, but really a second attempt.
 
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GeekyDad

Member
"Properly enjoyed"? Well, I wouldn't say that about Valkyrie Profile Covenant of the Plume, but it seems damn near impossible to get through your first playthrough without sacrificing at least one of your fellow travelers. But, that's also what makes the game great. The story and relationships (and stats and abilities of each character) make it difficult to make those decisions, and can often cut deep thematically. I love the game in great part because of that. You're also kind of forced (unless you're a masochist) to take the easiest of the three routes (after experimentation, of course) on your first run.
 

JimmyRustler

Gold Member
For me all Souls games. Even Bloodborne, which is now my favorite game ever, didn‘t really klick until I restarted it. First playthrough always, while rewarding, always ends up being way to frustrating for me.
 

Dr Bass

Member
I died 50 times beating Returnal my first time.

I died zero times on my second completed run through, in one sitting.

While I loved the game trying to beat it for the first time, it was how I was able to get through it without dying that showed me how dang brilliantly that game is designed. It's a true masterpiece.
 

Hooks

Member
Idk I kinda hate playing a game a second time, I get so bored. Obviously there's exceptions like Dark Souls 3 etc but I just have a tough time replaying stuff usually.
 

Kupfer

Member
RE8 somehow. The first playthrough is atmospheric, you have to manage the inventory and resourses and find out some things.
In the next runs you can go wild and shoot everything to pieces.
Drakengard/Nier are essentially mystery game, the first route is always about setting set up and not meant to get in to the full story.
Heard/read about that while playing Automata, but I didn't have the motivation for a second run.
I took so much time in the first run through and explored every possible corner and now I'm out of the story, characters and movement.
 

UnNamed

Banned
Lot of RPGs are better in a second run since you need more than half of the game to properly understand mechanics.
 
I never play games a second round, by then I'm done and want to move on. Also, I've made sure to explore everything about the game. I've never understood the appeal of NG+, why would I want to play the game again immediately? Sure there may be some changes or extra challenges but that doesn't appeal to me.

Sounds like repetition to me.
 

KungFucius

King Snowflake
Nier and Drakengard series. Game doesn't really start until then.
I disagree with this for Automata. The subsequent "playthroughs" are really different and are part of the game. If someone claimed to beat that game but only did the first one, I'd tell them to fuck off. I can't recall the original too well, I seem to recall that being very samey so you are probably more right there.

Personally, I couldn't be assed to play through a new game plus just to get more plot details or to play the true game. It's a waste of my limited gaming time. Nier Automata was not a waste.
 
I dont think Nier games count as they are designed at their core that way instead of the classic replay- that op is saying. I'll have to go with Sekiro as well. I hated it initially but after a second playthrough I totally changed my mind about it. Actually any souls game feels that way. I never finished Dark Souls when it came out, and it took me quite a while to play it again but once I did, well, yeah, great.
 

Loope

Member
All these threads mentioning Sekiro as tough as fuck are leaving me with doubts about buying it ahahahah
 
Any good immersive sim. Second run is when you get to see the genius in game design and environmental storytelling since you wil miss probably half the game on your first noob playthrough.
 
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Alexios

Cores, shaders and BIOS oh my!
Those don't exist, you're just naming games with good new game+ or similar, you're obviously still having fun in a different way the first time you play them and if they're replayable and you get more out of them past that then that's good too but if they weren't fun at first you wouldn't finish them...
 
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Deerock71

Member
Two games immediately jump to mind:
resident evil 4 GIF

James Bond N64 GIF
 

Xdrive05

Member
Maybe It Takes Two?

Just finished it with my kid yesterday, and you'd need a 2nd playthrough as the other character to get "the other half" of the gameplay for each chapter.
 

Kabelly

Member
Bayonetta definitely comes to mind.

Unless you read a guide the whole way through you will definitely miss stuff on the first try. Bayonetta is an arcade game at heart. Replaying it to get the best scores (Platinum trophies) is very rewarding.
 

Kabelly

Member
All these threads mentioning Sekiro as tough as fuck are leaving me with doubts about buying it ahahahah
i think most people struggled too much because they had souls habits. You just can't play it like souls.

It's hard don't get me wrong but that games has some of the best boss encounters in gaming and arguably one of the greatest final bosses of all time.
 
Not really sure if I’d count this but I played through Wonderful 101 3 times trying to like it. Someone told me I had to play it again to “get it,” so I did. I understood the game better but still didn’t like it. Then I played it again because I used to be a really big Platinum fan (back when they could actually manage to release games), and I really wanted to like it, but I just don’t and I had to force my self to finish it each time. I rarely bring it up though because a lot of P* fans get really defensive if you say anything bad about it.
 
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JeloSWE

Member
This is not fucking sex. If the game doesn't start to be fun at some point in the first playthrough it's not sensible to replay it. Unless someone enjoys self-torture.

BUT if you mean it's already enjoyable then it gets even better then that's possible but I don't replay games anymore myself.
I mean, I enjoyed FF7R immensly on the first play through, BUT I had to play it one more time as I didn't feel like I had fully grasped the battle system yet, especially Tifa's combos and the tagging between characters. So the best and most enjoyable encounters were in the second play thorough.
 
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AV

We ain't outta here in ten minutes, we won't need no rocket to fly through space
"Properly enjoyed" is a really bad way of putting it and saying that about Sekiro is crazy, the most satisfaction from Sekiro comes from finally beating that boss, not from doing it again knowing exactly how.

That said the closest game that comes to mind is The Binding of Isaac where even if you beat mom on your very first run (very unlikely) you will still only have had access to the base items and one end boss.
 

Loope

Member
i think most people struggled too much because they had souls habits. You just can't play it like souls.

It's hard don't get me wrong but that games has some of the best boss encounters in gaming and arguably one of the greatest final bosses of all time.
Yes, it looks like it. And i love the setting.
 

Zannegan

Member
Cheap answer: 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors (But, oh, how I love that game)

More legit answer: I know it was divisive, but I played each level of Splinter Cell: Blacklist like this, and I really enjoyed my time with it.

It gives you a tiered score, the lowest for basic completion, the next for silent completion (kills allowed), then the highest for ghosting through the level. Thus, I'd go in, guns blazing and get a good look around, start scoping out stealth approaches with a few silenced kills on my aecond attempt, then finish up with that perfect run. I liked the process lot better than my usual painful trial-and-error crawl through stealth games. It gave me a natural way to learn the map, enemies, and routes in a snappy, entertaining progression.

It might not have been a high point for the series (and switching voice actors was a huge mistake) but it certainly had a few good points.
 
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Greirat

Member
Dark Souls 2 still has the best NG+ IMO.
Not only that, but the build diversity in DS2 is huge. Playing it again with a different build reveals a whole new side of the game. Also there's Scholar vs. vanilla versions, which changes the routing and enemies. The game really deserves to be played through multiple times, it's the most replayable of all the Souls games imo.
 

Plantoid

Member
Any good immersive sim. Second run is when you get to see the genius in game design and environmental storytelling since you wil miss probably half the game on your first noob playthrough.
Game isn't hard, the hard part is knowing where to go next, what key opens what doors and so on...
If the game had a map or arrow pointing where to go it would be 10x easier
 
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JeloSWE

Member
In the Cold Steel series, you are simply not given enough bonding points for all the character bonding events in the first play through, the game can't be fully experienced in one go unless you use cheat engine (which I do). I think there are some other stuff as well that's not available until the second one.
 

Sleepwalker

Gold Member
The whole multiple playthrough thing is why i never bothered with nier automata.

You want me to play your game 4 times then make 4 different games.
 
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