Gaming! So many games, not enough posts!
Great games you waited to play & a welcome to all of our new friends!
Hello, Imzy Gamers!
I am very happy to welcome hundreds of new gamers to the site, as we've had a veritible flood of new friends join us over the weekend!
Not every great game gets played right away. Some of us wait on great games for various reasons. We might not have the system it's on. We might not have the money to buy it right away. We might not even be aware that it existed when it released. Hell, we might not have been alive when it released!
Here's my discussion prompt for you:
What is a great game you played for the first time in 2015 or 2016, despite it being released for quite some time?
You can definite quite some time as many months, a few years, or even a few decades.
Some follow up questions to drive this discussion:
- Why did you wait on the game?
- What drew you to it after all this time?
- Did it live up to the hype?




Last year, I played The Last of Us for the first time. In the last console generation, I had an Xbox 360 and, this generation, I went with Xbox One first, then got a PS4 as well later on. The PS4 that I purchased, a Valentine's Day/Tax Refund gift to myself, came with a free digital download for The Last of Us Remastered, but I didn't get around to playing it for about a year after buying the console.
I had held off on playing it because I'm not a big fan of games involving undead, zombies, and jumpscares (the Fallout franchise excluded), but my friend Christian finally convinced me to give the game a shot. I had not known that the first good chunk of the actual story was set in Boston, and that fact is what Christian used to get me to play the game, since we're both New Englanders and I was born in Boston.
The game absolutely lived up to the hype and then some. I cried at least three times during the story and I was completely blown away by how well the developers captured Boston, even with all of the destruction and overgrowth.
I cannot wait for Part II.
GAH! Okay, if I don't get this game for Christmas, I may have to buy it for myself with any cash I get. I got a PS4 last year but so far only have the Uncharted game series that came with it. You've sold me on 'Last of Us'!
It's absolutely incredible. It feels more story-focused than the Uncharted series, which is already very story-focused for an adventure game.
The Ratchet & Clank series in general. I never had access to a PlayStation until I did a career move on my own to another city. I found I had more time for gaming, than I had previously. A couple people had suggested it based on the auto aim and it being an action adventure game.
I picked up a PS3 that came bundled with a version of the game, and blasted through it without second thought. Then, proceeded to pick up every title in the series that was out for the PS3. This would have been late 2012.
In fact, I didn't pick up a PS4 until the latest game came out, and it's the only game I've played on it.
Ratchet and Clank were my favorite platformers on the PS...really excellent art, level design, and overall polish. Rather silly as well.
Big fan of CreatureBox, the guys behind the character designs! http://creaturebox.com/
my gf absolutely loves the entire ratch and clank series. personally never got into them but she plays till her eyes bleeds haha
Ratchet and Clank seems to be timeless, it's crazy! I've been a fan since the beginning and every time I come back it brings me back in again. So many other platformer games from the early-mid thousands feel very dated now-a-days but somehow R&C remains fun and easy to control, and the mechanics haven't gotten tired over the years.
Deus Ex and Deus Ex Human Revolution.
I only got in to gaming in a more serious way (i.e. having a gaming PC and actually finishing games I play!) in the last 5 years, so I've been working through a few classics recommended by my partner so this year was the turn of the Deus Ex series as Mankind Divided's release approached.
I really enjoyed the series and I was very glad to finally get on the Deus Ex train!
I played Journey on my PS3 a couple months ago. I had held off thinking it was a multiplayer title and those aren't really for me. I kept seeing it show up on lists of best games on the PS3 and decided to look into it. Turns out I was wrong - it's definitely single-player but you can optionally have another anonymous player help you through it.
And I loved it!
I played Journey when it first came out and when I first encountered a stranger in-world it was a magical moment, and I wasn't sure quite what was going on (is that an AI?). And when I reached the credits for the first time and understood what had actually happened, wow.
I love how simple the multiplayer concept is, and it's nice to hear that there's still people doing it.
Bioshock anyone? I just started from the first. Not a big fan of fps, but kind of attracted by its steampunk aura and many many many cosplays seen everywhere. Hope I'm not wrong.
It really has one heck of a story going for it.
I actually played and finished the Uncharted series up to the 3rd one. I didn't play it because I simply didn't own a PS3 until 2016. It definitely lived up to the hype though!
Rainbow Six: Siege
This game has been super interesting to me, but it took Overwatch coming out for me to really understand it. It's a character-driven, team-based, tactical shooter. Doesn't really sound like Overwatch, right? And it's not- but the character based shooter thing didn't click for me until I played that game.
Anyway, the conceit of the game is quite simple- you alternate between attack and defense with no respawning. Every character has a specialty gadget that helps in some way. First team to three wins.
Oh, and the levels are very destructible. You can create pinholes to shoot out of, or larger holes to quickly traverse between rooms. It's a very unique experience and definitely worth playing.
I think the key difference between Siege and Overwatch is that any team composition in Siege can be successful, whereas that's definitely not the case in Overwatch. In part, that's why I've enjoyed Siege much more than Overwatch recently (though I still greatly love Overwatch). In Overwatch if I'm playing quickplay and am not in a full party, it can be very frustrating when people don't understand their characters role, don't have the skill to execute their characters role, or refuse to play characters that would better fit the team or counter the other team. This can make for frustrating situations where the dps players aren't getting kills, but I feel uncomfortable changing from a healer as no one else will play one or something like that. And this is not the other players fault mind you. There's so much information a player needs to know that's not readily apparent or taught to the players that I can't blame people for not knowing the optimal way to play certain characters, hell, for the life of me I can't figure out Zarya!
Meanwhile in Siege, while there's still a lot of information to take in, a lot of it is applicable to most of the other characters. Sure it takes time to figure out some character specific things, like where Valkarie should put cameras or how to use shield characters effectively, but most game knowledge is applicable to all characters. Also, it's much easier for a single player to carry in Siege so skilled play can feel more rewarding. Two nights ago my friend won a 1v4 match on defense just using map knowledge and creating strategic pinholes through wall and our entire team went crazy. It was so much fun!
Many games on PS4 I am playing late as I never had anything other than Nintendo. So Last of Us, Tomb Raider reboot, Journey, etc. are all my new to me. Finished Journey, but still playing Tomb Raider and Last of Us.
Also, Bioshock Infinite on 360 as I got it on sale digitally, and only play it when visiting my parents house.
I'm forever behind on most games though, as I tend to buy more than I finish.
Bioshock Infinite is a game in which I loved the story, I loved the environment, and I loved the characters, but I hated the gameplay.
I don't mind the gameplay. It's decently fun
Still waiting to play Titanfall 2
I was pleasantly surprised by it. I played the first few weekend and that's all I needed, bought when it dropped to $30 for black Friday? Cyber February? When it was on sale.
Dishonored, I got it on a Steam sale, but gave up on it when I reimaged my PC to Linux a few years ago. I inherited an XBox One earlier this year, and picked it up again.
Similarly, Dragon Age: Inquisition that came out just as I made the switch, and Elite: Dangerous which is scratching my space-exploration itch.
I waited a very long to play dishonored. Even bought it with all dlc and xpacs. I should not have waited. It is one of my favorite games now. 100% achievements on everything because I found the gameplay to be so much fun.
I restarted Skyrim at least three times, would play basically through the intro, run a few quests, and then stop. Last month, instead of restarting I just picked up from last save point. Been spending some quality time shouting at dragons.
But have you arranged your books attractively in every bookshelf in every possible home yet?
Dragons, what dragons?
I just throw all the books in a chest, in the bedroom.
You monster.
I just played Cave Story for the first time, and also the second and the third time (gotta get the best ending!). It was recommended to by friends me because I enjoyed Undertale. I hadn't heard of it, but figured I might as well try it since its free. It absolutely lived up to the hype. I really enjoyed playing it absolutely spoiler free. I saw no reason to look up reviews before trying it (no money wasted if it sucks), and I definitely recommend learning about the plot from the gameplay rather than from reading eternal info
I have that on my Pile of Shame from some sale or other and have never actually installed it. You've convinced me to give it a shot.
Rimworld! I decided to give it a whirl on a whim last week, and it's been absolutely engrossing -- the first game I've played that (despite various differences between the two) actually manages to capture that "kind of like Dwarf Fortress" vibe and charm. Though it's still in early access alpha, there is already more of a fun game there than in many full releases. Also, the modding community helps with ironing out some of those rough alpha spots. You can get it on Steam, or DRM-free directly from its dev, which also lets you activate it on Steam if that's what you prefer.
And since I already mentioned Dwarf Fortress: that's absolutely a game worth trying as well! I'd recommend version 43.03 over the latest release, since some essentially must-have tools (Therapist, dfhack) haven't been updated yet due to big code changes. There's a "starter pack" here which comes with those tools as well as a choice of several "tile sets" for people who don't want to deal with ASCII graphics. I think DF's famously steep learning curve is a bit exaggerated -- it does take a while to get the hang of it, but there's a very good wiki to help on the way. Also, the ambushes from earlier versions are (sadly) disabled at the moment, so you usually have more time in the beginning to build up before the first proper enemy attacks happen.
What can I say, I just love sandbox-like games that let you set your own goals and enjoy the stories that emerge from the gameplay itself.
I am scared Dwarf Fortress would eat my life.
That is not an unreasonable fear, yes. :p
Witcher 3. I had not played any of the prior Witcher titles, and was initially turned off by some of the apparent high fantasy tropes at the front and center of the series. I took a gamble and really enjoyed it - "handsome hero gets the girl" and all. What I liked most was the challenge of the "Blood and Broken Bones" difficulty setting, as well as the depth of the many characters fleshed out along the way. Plus it is a benchmark for what a gorgeous game can look like. I'd rate it up there with Dragon Age.
Hm, that's a bit of a tough one (haven't done nearly as much gaming as I ought to), but I would have to say trying Sutte Hakkun for the first time counts for me. If you've never heard of it, Sutte Hakkun is a fairly obscure puzzle-platformer developed by Nintendo and released for the Super Famicom in 1998. You play as what appears to be a hummingbird made out of bubbles who has the power to suck in objects to move them around the map. There are also paints you can absorb and inject into platforms and stuff, and depending on the color they'll act differently.
I first heard about the game a few years ago. Someone on a gaming forum I used to frequent once made an offhand mention that there was a translation romhack being developed for the game (the original is entirely in Japanese, but it's simple enough to where the language barrier isn't much of an issue) and posted a screenshot. It looked interesting and the name quasi-stuck in my head. I say "quasi", because I sort of forgot it after a while. I did some searching a few months ago, found it, and decided to give it a whirl. Turns out it's a really solid game! Some of the levels are really challenging too.
League of Legends
There were many reasons I never played LoL: I'm not a fan of the genre, I generally don't play multi-player games, I had heard the community was toxic (it isn't anymore but reputations die hard), I'm not into esports, etc. So League simply didn't appeal to me.
Late in 2015 (November, to be exact) I decided to give it a try. I was motivated for reasons I'm not going to discuss here. Turns out that the game is tremendous fun. I'm not very good at it and I never play Ranked, but I always have a blast. I've grown to love the IP and I have a ton of respect to Riot Games and what they have accomplished.
LoL isn't for everyone so I'm not going to say you should rush to check it out just because I enjoy it. But the lesson for me is to be open-minded about games outside of what you normally play. Every now and then you may be surprised.
LoL is a game that I return to every year or two. One of my friends will convince me to return, promising to play a lot of games with me. I will end up playing one or two games with them before our gaming schedules get out of sync. I will then play with some randoms and be driven off by toxic players before a fortnight has passed.
I am currently feeling the MOBA itch again, but this time, I won't play LoL to satisfy it. I'll be playing Dota 2 instead, as I really enjoyed watching The Boston Major with the /dota2 community over the past week :)
Warframe: I dismissed it as one more free to play game and didn't even gave it a chance, years later I actually tried it and I regret not playing it from the start. The game has a great team and updates are constant with additions to Frames, weapons and story.
Metal Gear Solid V:Phantom Pain! It's been out for over a year now and for whatever reason it just wasn't on my radar. Last week I downloaded the digital version on PS4 and I'm hooked! Really good game with a great pace and nice graphics! I think its one of those "must have titles" for the PS4
battlefield 1 is quiet impressive, but still lacking in many areas like the interface between the load screen of a match where your unable to modify your weapons till in game... visually the game is incredible and gameplay is rather rewarding and satisfying... if your enjoy the game and looking for a squad look me up on ps4 thundrgunjohnson.....quick sidebar is p.s. and xbox ever going to combine platforms?jw
Yeah, I concur - especially with first pack so far out (March) feels like they got half a game and will add the rest with DLC but that's EA for ya...
tell me about it, they did the same for battlefield star wars..i was so pumped to get that game and i was completely disappointed when i got it. i had it for like a month then more or else gave it away
Also remembered that Hardcore mode is in "beta". Bright side is they are actively imploring players for recommendations on it.
I was gifted Walking Dead when it first came out but didn't play it till this month on my YouTube channel. I was pleasantly surprised with how good the game was, so I bought the second season, and beat it too on my stream. Now I just have to wait one week for Season 3 to play the next game and I'm very hype for it.
I recently (about a month ago now) started playing Dragon Age: Inquisition. I'm in awe at just how big the game worlds are. I tend to go hard when it comes to playing any game that really catches my interest and I mostly just play one game at a time, devoting all my game playing hours to one title until I finish the game. With the enormity of the many different lands to explore in this game, I doubt I'll be done with it for quite a while.
hey
Hi!
As my pile has grown there are many I I just don't get to. They may be critically acclaimed or giant AAA titles that got eeked out by other games released about the same time but every now and again I'll sort by meta score in steam and purposefully pick out 5 or 10 to play.
A few come to mind: State of Decay, Shelter, Roundabout, Gas Guzzlers
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona (PSP, originally PSX)
I've actually had it forever, but never really tried it once I realised it lacked the social links gameplay of the later Persona games. This year, all swept up in the Persona 5 anticipation and having played P4: Dancing All Night into the ground, I picked up my long neglected PSP and gave it a go...
It's great. I love the demon negotiation system, love the plot. Wasn't expecting all the zombies, based on P3 and P4, but what the hell. I really want to try the other SMT games now. I think I have a new addiction.