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[SkyTurnsRed]

I think it's more a failure of communication than insincerity. It's definitely possible to spend a very long period of time with something and become so frustrated and angry at it that it feels like you hate it. The problem is when people say this they don't seem aware that despite the things that bother them, or perhaps because of them, something about the game hooked them and that implies a measure of success, even if they end up sour about the whole thing.

Another example of something like this is a long-running TV show. You start out watching it, you get invested in the characters and stories, it goes to shit, suddenly you don't like it much but you're still watching in a sunk cost fallacy hope that your initial investment in the characters and stories will be rewarded, it isn't, you keep watching, and in the end you have a show you've spent a ton of time on but despise.

The trick is being introspective enough to identify why you invested to begin with. That's helpful anyway, because it leads to a better critique of how the thing went astray.

I've been having the same issue that the OP has, trying to figure out how people can invest so much time into something and still hate it. This made it click for me. Thanks.

 

[...Scatter...]

...

Another example of something like this is a long-running TV show. You start out watching it, you get invested in the characters and stories, it goes to shit, suddenly you don't like it much but you're still watching in a sunk cost fallacy hope that your initial investment in the characters and stories will be rewarded, it isn't, you keep watching, and in the end you have a show you've spent a ton of time on but despise. ...

I think you nailed it here. I did this with Skyrim. Built my character, saved a bunch of folks, got a house and a digital wifey . Questing.

Spoiler

Became a werewolf.

Dragon. Questing. Dragon. All good for a while. Then I kept getting sent across the universe for fetch quests and spent my time trying to find shit and the grind got real. I just stopped playing altogether.

 

[pa22word]

I like to call this the Bethesda fallacy.

"Oh you played FO3 for 10 hours and thought it was garbage? The game is like 100 hrs long, you obviously don't have enough perspective to properly judge it"

+

"Oh you put 80 hours into it and don't like it? I don't believe you, no one puts that much time into a game without liking it somewhat!"

Change the variables inherent and you have a studio that makes games that are totally beyond reproach by anyone. It's why I never bother to ever join in any discussions of Bethesda products.

 

[Feichaw]

Yeah, I was like you, OP. I didn't understand why people do that. It always seemed like a contradiction to me...

...until I played Skyrim and Destiny. I never want to see these games again in my life. I really tried to like them, but I realized that I wasn't going to anywhere playing them. I mean, in the end, they looked like a waste of my time.

 

[Ganondorfo]

If I play a game that long, then its definately good, or else it wouldnt even get further than the 10 hour mark.

 

[RecursiveFault]

I gave a friend Persona 4 (on PS2) and watched them play it, since we had nothing to do, and only after 60 hours nearing the ending did she tell me that she absolutely hated the game. Her playing so much while hating the calendar system and gameplay was enough to sour her on all my videogame recommendations in general.

(I've also shown her some of her favorite games)

 

[TacosNSalsa]

Gran Turismo 5 for me. I put quite a lot of time into it but really think it was just okay ,if even that. Probably because I had a decent wheel set up for it made the game fun once I was driving but everything else , to me at least, was terrible. Little bothers at first (i.e. Car delivery animations) became huge annoyances the more the hours went up. JUS GIVE MEH MI FRACKING CAR YA SHTUPID GAME!!!

 

[Dr. Buni]

Played up to the endboss of Persona 3 before putting the game down for good. Definitely didn't hate it, but kinda wished I had all that time back.

I played and finished both Persona 3 and Persona 4 and only then I realized I heavily dislike what the series stands for (the music is kick ass, though).

 

[Altima]

Destiny hate is real.

Someone want to define this thread as a Destiny thread while 90 % of people talking about other games.

 

[matrix-cat]

I definitely like Skyrim less after 90 hours than I did after 10. When you get to the point where every single quest is just going into a cave and killing Draugrs it really sours you on the game. At some point I transitioned from playing Skyrim because I liked it to playing Skyrim because I hadn't finished it, which was dumb on my part.

 

[E_Darkness]

I played Bravely Default for about 60 hours and didn't even finish it because I decided I hated it too much.

 

[Jack Random]

i was on vacation 12 hours away from home earlier this year receiving messages from a friend back in the states who was telling me that he did not like Transistor. when i woke up the next morning, he had mentioned that he still did not like it after finishing it, the next day again, i woke to finding that he had not completed it two times and still was not feeling it.

i do not think that word means what he thinks it means

 

[gblues]

Going into dungeons and killing draugr wouldn't have been so bad if Skyrim's combat hadn't been such shit. I didn't get the Dark Souls evangelists at the time, but now that I've played both games, Skyrim's combat is just boring.

They made fighting dragons boring. Let that sink in for a minute.

The problem is that it takes a long time to do anything, and a long time for all the shiny stuff to wear off. You keep playing because in Morrowind and Oblivion, higher levels meant new monsters would spawn. But in Skyrim, all you get are ... more Draugr that become damage sponges and more likely to literally blow your weapon across the room than at lower levels.

Yawn.

But someone who's only played for 10 hours isn't going to know that. They're still in the honeymoon phase where everything's awesome, and they don't realize how close they are to the peak of the "fun" curve.

Someone who played a game for 80 hours and came out the other end hating it, probably didn't hate it at the start. What they're saying is, "Hey, I know it looks cool from the front, but I've been down the whole road and my advice is that it's not worth spending your time on."

 

[toddhunter]

Besides the obvious Skyrim example, most modern games are set up this way.

Take Tomb Raider 2013.

A few hours in, THIS IS AMAZING! I'm going to post on NeoGAF that this game is the best game ever, it shits all over Uncharted 2!!!111!!!

Another 4 hours... yeah I suppose this is an ok game...kind of getting old and what about all those collectibles and upgrades, there is a point to that right? Oh ok, I suppose I have to kill a few more waves of guys here...

By the end... yeah fuck this game and fuck modern gaming.

Basically it happens by games showing you their absolute best in the first few hours for reviews and "OMG" first impressions from internet users. Then the developers just repeat that exact same content in more mediocre ways for another N hours until the game finally ends.

I played Bravely Default for about 60 hours and didn't even finish it because I decided I hated it too much.

Bingo.

 

[sappyday]

I played Skyrim for around 100 hours. The more I played it the worse it got.

 

[PhantomHound]

I played Skyrim for around 100 hours. The more I played it the worse it got.

Skyrim only gets better the more you play it.

 

[Mohasus]

After 3000 hours dota 2 gets a little boring.

 

[PKrockin]

Does OP not understand that video games can be psychologically addicting?

 

[AKingNamedPaul]

bought a new pc (i know the game isn't high specs but w.e) payed $200+ and spent over one hundred hours playing marvel heroes and my most fond memories of the game is of the closed beta to be honest. I did quit before they "made it good" but my favorite part was always the idea of a balanced pvp which I'm pretty sure never came to fruition.

 

[pablito]

I've actually played a game twice despite hating it - FFX. First time was because my hype levels were legendary for it. I was young and had no job, and got it as a gift. No way I wasn't playing this despite how good or bad. But I hated it. Then a while later I heard people declaring it best FF, and even best game ever. I had to play it again to see why. And I have changed my mind on things before, so I gave it another shot. Nope. But this time I only gave it 20-30 hours before I gave up on it.

Some games I play and enjoy at the start. But the more hours I log into it, the worse it gets. Like Skyrim. It's definitely not a bad game. But the more hours I put into it, the more bland and samey it became. I used to think you owed it to yourself to play those games unmodded first. Not anymore.

I'm less likely to play something like that nowadays, though.

 

[qko]

I hear this about Monster Hunter all the time.

"ehhh, I pretty much played 100+ hours and slayed a Raviente, I was bored the whole time."

Puhhhleeeeze, if you put that much time into it either you got too much time on your hands or you are trying to be some sort of Vidya Game hipster.

 

[cris7198]

 

[NYCmetsfan]

Skyrim only gets better the more you play it.

Not on PS3

 

[Dice]

I played Bravely Default for about 60 hours and didn't even finish it because I decided I hated it too much.

Yes, this game is the perfect example. It is so good at giving false hope. By time you have become fully disillusioned and are filled with hatred for it, it has already been too late for a long time.

 

[Dice//]

^ Hey you, I thought we had to keep away a few yard--- I mean posts away from each other. Scoot!

Spoiler

just fucking around obv; and happy and high if I sound like a weirdo....it might b true

I gave a friend Persona 4 (on PS2) and watched them play it, since we had nothing to do, and only after 60 hours nearing the ending did she tell me that she absolutely hated the game. Her playing so much while hating the calendar system and gameplay was enough to sour her on all my videogame recommendations in general.

(I've also shown her some of her favorite games)

Doesn't help that a game lets you "power up" through "social links" while your real social life slowly gets wasted throughout P3 nd 4... :/

 

[shinobi602]

Thankfully this is never a problem for me lol. If I'm playing a game and not enjoying myself several hours in, I drop it immediately.

 

[call_kotaku]

Games are very adept at pacing progression and tapping into certain compulsions that make them addictive even if it's conceptually something the player dislikes. Saying you can't actually hate a game you've played 80 hours of is like telling a smoker that they must not hate smoking (and want to quit) because they've been smoking a pack a day for 15 years.

I generally don't play games that have extensive progression bars and depend on excessive amounts of unlocks because I know it's something I'll end up compulsively doing even if I dislike the game, and it ends up being a massive waste of time because subconsciously I think the game will get better once I unlock X weapon or reach X level, but it never does. I've stopped playing Battlefield and COD (and their ilk) for that reason, because I've unlocked everything in every one of those games I've owned, and I always feel a massive surge of disappointment and regret once that happens because they usually end up being very mediocre games that I had to play an excessive amount of to confirm their mediocrity.

 

[Gandara]

I played and finished both Persona 3 and Persona 4 and only then I realized I heavily dislike what the series stands for (the music is kick ass, though).

I felt the same way. I loved Nocturne. Liked Digital Devil Saga. I even like Persona 2 (but it had it's flaws). But didn't care Persona 3 and 4.

 

[Neuro]

Destiny, close to 210 hours in game time, its still a 7/10. but I was going through a slew of personal issues and needed some form of social interaction. It helped me quite a bit.

 

[vwnut13]

I played 80 hours of Max Payne 3 and absolutely hated it.





(78 of those hours were unskippable cut/loading screens)

 

[SatoAilDarko]

One of the few games (less than 5 out of over a 100) I've actively disliked was Tales of Symphonia. Took 70 hours to beat.

Spoiler

I enjoyed the sequel much more. Come at me.

 

[yami4ct]

I can see this happening when a game has a really bad transition period to its end game or the end game is really bad. I kind of had this recently with Pokemon TCG Online. When I started out, and everyone I played had terrible decks, I liked it. When I got more into the deeper strategy and got enough cards to get to the mid-level game, I really got addicted to it. When I started seeing what top level play was really like and what I would need to do to get there, after playing for something ~ 15 hours probably, I started seeing all the flaws. From there, I find it difficult to enjoy the game as a whole now as so many mechanics I now see as just plainly broken.

 

[Ranger X]

Well, am sorry to crush souls and dreams but if you play some game for hours long IT IS because you like it.

 

[HeelPower]

Played Mass Effect 2 for 20 hours...was pretty close to the end..Then I just couldn't do it anymore.


I forced my self to see what was so great about it ,but the combat is awful and the story pacing is utterly boring and pointless(you spend the entire gathering fairly boring crew members)

But great VA for femshep which is probably why I kept playing..The dialogue is simply fun.

 

[Mogwai]

Well, am sorry to crush souls and dreams but if you play some game for hours long IT IS because you like it.

A lot of people try to like things just because they want to. They've missed the fact that not all games are meant for them.

I got ~55 hours of Dota 2. I think I gave the game a fair chance. Probably 15 hours were spent spectating. I just don't feel like it's a good investment of my gaming time unless I find a group a dedicated players to advance with. Which I won't. My point is that some games actually do require you playing for quite a lot of hours before you can make a decent assessment of whether it's good or not, or you like it or not.

Destiny had me playing for 4 hours. That was enough for me to realize that it was a complete waste of my time.

 

[Enco]

Isn't this what happens to every DOTA 2 player?

lol pretty much.

Got around 800 hours in that game. Haven't played in months. I don't hate it thought. Just got bored.

Generally it takes 20 minutes for me to drop a shit game.

 

[HGStormy]

I can't even put 80 hours into a game I really like.

 

[Hey_Blinkin]

I had nearly 800 days of playtime in FFXI and I consider the game mediocre. It was more the community that made me stick around. Also have about 350 hours in Diablo 3 while still feeling disappointed of how the game has turned out.

 

[jnWake]

I read this so much when Diablo 3 launched: "I reached level 60 with 5 different characters and the game is terrible!".

To be fair though, I can get people doing something for many hours and then, after some time passes, look back and realize they didn't really enjoy it that much.

 

[pablito]

Well, am sorry to crush souls and dreams but if you play some game for hours long IT IS because you like it.

Depends on the game. If it's multiplayer games or MMOs or whatever else you could put endless hours on, then I can see why you'd say that. But single player games with a clear start and finish? Nah you can definitely play through those and still not like them. Plenty of reasons to do so.

 

[FlowersisBritish]

Not on PS3

Amen. I've been trying to replay Skyrim on 360 and I... just can't. Between the clunky combat and the feel of the early game, I just can't get back into it

 

[vwnut13]

I had nearly 800 days of playtime in FFXI and I consider the game mediocre. It was more the community that made me stick around. Also have about 350 hours in Diablo 3 while still feeling disappointed of how the game has turned out.

In the 12 years since FFXI came out, you spent more than two of those years doing nothing but playing it?

 

[hersheyfan]

Personally i cant wrap my head around the idea of playing a game for that long (80 hours plus) and hating it. There's just too many games to play (and too few gaming hours to go around), and you move on to the next one in the pile.

For instance, i bought a sack of games earlier this month to enjoy on a gaming weekend (DAI, GTAV, Project Diva F 2nd, Persona Q and Far Cry 4). Tried a couple hours of 4 of the 5 (GTAV is still in the shrink wrap) and ended up playing DAI for 25 hours (and counting). Now, if I end up deciding after another 25 hours that DAI isn't as good as I thought it was, I'll still have played it for 50 hours, which is a pretty fucking good deal for 60 bucks nowadays! If i move on to Persona Q without finishing DAI, i still got my moneys worth and can't complain.

I may have a better understanding of its faults than i did when i started it up, but Ill always remember how it had me stuck to my PS4 like a crackhead for 10+ hours straight.

 

[Seraph_Nicholas]

Only time this has happened to me was Star Ocean 3, and that's only because it went so, so wrong quite suddenly at the end.

I suppose I've put this much time into some strategy games I dislike... Nothing I actively hate, though. Most of that time is spent making absolutely sure the game is stupid, and not me.

I may have put 80 hours into King of Fighters, actually. I genuinely hate that game/series, but I thought it was important to my abilities in fighting games to get some familiarity, and it was. I totally understand why plenty of people love it, and why SNK were artisans. I just loathe trying to control that game.

 

[Nestunt]

That's not being jaded. That's pathological

 

[Nokterian]

Thankfully this is never a problem for me lol. If I'm playing a game and not enjoying myself several hours in, I drop it immediately.

Exactly how i feel about it..when i drop it i am not going back..example Destiny. Played a few hours and just stopped i wasn't enjoying my self.

 

[Cave Johnson]

Well, am sorry to crush souls and dreams but if you play some game for hours long IT IS because you like it.

If I send you on a wild treasure hunt that took you weeks only to find out it was a dud. Would say your entire experience was enjoyable?

 

[M3z_]

It's easy to understand for me. I think the games people play for a long time that they end up hating are often games they have some kind of investment in or expectations for.

I'm playing DA:Inquisition right now as a big fan of DA:Origins and from the very start of the game I was finding things about the game I did not like. It did not hate it at the start, I do not hate it right now 60ish hours in, but I do find it to be full of small things I do hate or dislike. The more I play it the more I find things I dislike and the more my internal monologue refines my criticisms of the game in general.

You can start playing a game feeling disappointed and finish the game hating it. As you invest more time into it the faults become clearer and clearer. You begin to expand upon your initial misgivings with mounting evidence and time spent thinking about how you wish things were different.

I would venture to guess that is the arc of the majority of people's experiences playing games they hate for a long periods of time. The hatred does not start at the very beginning. It is honed overtime until it is a finely sharpened blade ready to cut the game to pieces.

 

[Bl@de]

It's how I feel about GTA IV on the PS3. Hype clouded my judgement. But looking back it's the worst GTA, even if I spend over 50h with it. Not garbage but no 90+ metacritic. Something like 7/10 for me.

 

[Mr. Enigma]

I know a guy who has put about 60 hours into Destiny and hates it. He stopped playing it about a month ago.