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.
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.