Games you thought you'd like and hated and games you thought you'd hate and liked

[noretoc]

I thought I would love robotech. Destroids, Veritechs, fighting the invid. Then the rules came. "Roll over a 4 to hit. he gets five attacks and I can only dodge 4? The invid are how far away, I stop at 4 miles and shoot them with missiles.

I thought Ninjas and superspies was gonna be good! then it took an hour just to write down the moves from my matial arts syle, and then I realized I had two more to pick...

Palldium had the worst rules set EVER.

A game I thought I would hate was Cybergeneration. "I'm only 8 years old??" But it turned out to be a hoot!

 

[GoodKingJayIII]

Arcana Evolved. Coming from Arcana Unearthed, I expected to love the additions to the game: the new race, classes, general updates, the expanded level limts. But I was decidely underwhelmed.

 

[Clavis]

I know the flames are gonna start for this one, but the game I really wanted to like but wound up hating was 3rd Edition D&D.

I gave it it more than a college try, but it the game actually wound up souring me on any future WOTC rpg purchases. I completely agreed that the game needed a single, unified mechanic. After the munchkin-y crap TSR was putting out for 2nd Edition (Skills & Powers, anyone?), I had high hopes that finally somebody was going to fix the game. Rather than a streamlined system, what I got was agonizingly slow character creation, clunky combat that couldn't be resolved without miniatures, power creep (that was more like a series of runs and jumps), monster stat blocks that even the game designers couldn't get right, etc.

 

[Dragonbait]

Hate is such a strong word.. I'll go with something more sugar 'n spice:

Thought I would love, but disliked:
Star Wars d6. Don't waste your time playing a non-Force user. This was the first RPG I ever learned and yet when I went back to it.. *sad panda*
Warhammer Fantasy RP. Most rounds of combat were misses. When you finally hit, you do minimal damage. LOVE LOVE LOVE the fluff.
Cadwallon. Okay, I knew this was going to be problamatic, especially with the Franglish permeating the book, but I gave it a try. It was very, horribly awkward.

Thought I would hate, but loved:
Eberron

 

[Delta]

I just have to say: this is a great thread. Seems to be dredging up some extremely keen insights about different games.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Hmm...

I don't know if I've tried any games that I hated, but I've tried some that I thought I'd like, but didn't care to keep playing.

Castles & Crusades: I picked this up looking for something simpler to 3E, but with a better play experience than 1E and 2E. I got the former, but not the latter. Not a bad game, but very much not for me.

OWoD Mage: I just never could get into the whole "reality paradigm" stuff. I felt, and still feel, that it would have been a better game if it hadn't been part of the WoD. But as it was, it didn't feel like it belonged in a horror setting.

Rifts: Just... Ugh. I still think the concept has potential, but it needs dramatic reworking from the ground up.

OWoD Werewolf: The environment is a big issue for me, but I have no interest in playing an RPG about it. (I like what I've read of the NWoD Werewolf, though--and the NWoD Mage, come to think of it.)

And as far as things I expected to hate, but instead loved, I'll throw another vote on the Eberron pile. After the initial promo materials, I expected to despise it. As it turned out, it's one of my favorite published settings ever.

 

[Will]

Thought I'd like, but didn't at all-

Iron Heroes: For much of the reasons others have mentioned. Part of the problem was it completely went in a different direction than I expected, and this wasn't a good thing. I was hoping for a low-magic focus but still streamlined. I didn't like the complexity and 'fiddly bits' at all.

True20: I love the damage system, and am a fan of M&M. But the stripped down class structure and COMPLETELY new power system shoehorned in left me utterly disinterested.

D20Modern: I like class systems. I like point systems. Each have their place. The way D20M reworked classes to be vague 'tropes' struck me as taking everything wrong with classes and focusing on them.

M&M: I was loving this system for a while, but it's slowly dawned on me that while I love the 'build anything' idea, and the flexibility, the game just bores the hell out of me. I keep trying to love it, but... enh.


Games I thought I'd dislike but enjoy-

D&D 3rd edition: I frankly found all previous editions to be stinking piles. Didn't like them at ALL, except as an entry into the hobby at large so I could go play REAL RPGs. Friends were playing D&D 3rd edition and I grudgingly joined. Loved it, went on to write for it, and so forth.

Torg: When I first played this, the complexity of the dice rolling (logs? WTF?) and other elements was overwhelming. Now? It's one of my favorite games, ever.

 

[Gundark]

One not mentioned so far is Iron Kingdoms. I loved the setting, the art, the minis, etc but found too many of the mechanics frustrating, too many cool ideas that did not translate well into game play. And dont get me started on the Witchfire Trilogy.

Oh very true. Great fluff, horrid mechanics. The five fingers book was better (not to mention the BEST city book ever) for rules.

 

[Dragonblade]

Interesting thread.

Game I want to love but needs work is M&M. I hate the Toughness Save mechanic. When 4e comes out, I'm going to write my own M&M 2.5 that uses a lot of 4e tropes. Saves as defenses, bring back HP. Change the PL progression to go 1-30 instead of 1-20, etc.

Game that I thought I'd hate but had a blast was V:tM. Although I was kicked out of the group for not playing the game "right". I wanted to play less Interview with a Vampire, and more Underworld/Blade. I made a vampire assassin that single-handedly annihilated an entire SWAT team in order to protect the Masquerade! Gotta love celerity and endless blood points by draining all the SWAT guys dry!

The rest of the group wanted to role-play up all their angst and spent several HOURS of real time role-playing using their vampire powers to dominate chicks in a bar. It was pathetic. And these people made fun of me for being a D&D player. :\

I never played again. The GM, who thought my playstyle added a lot of excitement to the game was thoroughly disgusted by his players attitudes. So much so that he quit running V:tM shortly after.

 

[Gundark]

Warhammer Fantasy RP. Most rounds of combat were misses. When you finally hit, you do minimal damage. LOVE LOVE LOVE the fluff.

Well WFRPG was on my thought I'd hate, really ended up liking list. Anyhow the reason you mentioned was why I'd thought I'd hate the game. For us the rounds were fast, so it came around to my turn again quickly, a miss sucked, but sucked less than it would in D&D cause my turn would come around again quick.

It was less of an issue at "higher level". However I do get what you're saying. I think a 3rd edition (or a 2.5?) would have to adddress that issue.