Renault on 14/1/2016 at 21:03
Man, who has time to play through an entire game twice? Not with my backlog.
EvaUnit02 on 15/1/2016 at 07:43
Can we count remakes as 2nd time playthroughs? If so then I found MGS: The Twin Snakes to be a shit load better than the original PSX game.
* The expanded and improved gameplay of MGS2 ported backwards.
* Kick ass cutscenes from cult B-action film director Ryuhei Kitamura that better fit the batshit over the top Metal Gear lore than what was in the original.
The only negative was the loss of Naomi's British accent (Mei-Ling was an improvement though since she's supposed to be American born Chinese).
I first played Bioshock: Infinite on 1999 mode difficulty and it was an absolutely miserable experience. Bullet sponge, high damage dealing enemies out of the ass. Replaying on Hard made for much more enjoyable time.
Replaying Knights of the Old Republic where I finally had a firm grasp of D&D3's d20 ruleset made for a much more enjoyable experience.
Volitions Advocate on 15/1/2016 at 17:14
Open world games like Stalker, Elder Scrolls, Fallout 3+... Whenever I pick it up a second time I always find so many more interesting places than my first playthrough.
One flaw I think I have in playing these games is to try to do everything the first time. The storylines become contradictory. (Institute vs. Railroad, Dark Brotherhood vs. .. well anybody)
It would be much better to keep a character without all the contradictions, then come back and play it later with a completely different character and take a different path. I need to work on this.
Al_B on 15/1/2016 at 20:00
Psychonauts and Anachronox were definitely more satisfying the second time around for me. I had some frustrations with the gameplay and levels with both initially but on a second replay I'd got used to the peculiarities and could relax more - particularly with the earlier areas. I also spent more time trying to collect the optional items (or photos) which I find too frustrating when playing a game for the first time.
Phatose on 15/1/2016 at 20:53
Vampire: Bloodlines - especially if you played a non-Malk the first time, and a Malkavian the second time around. Their ravings become more interesting once you know what's going on - like the voices in their head seem to.
Briareos H on 15/1/2016 at 21:27
Besides games where the skill acquired from a previous playthrough allows you to play more comfortably with a story that doesn't get in the way (twitch shooters, strategy games, simulations, military games -- from House of the Dead to Arma, from Total Annihilation to Dungeon Keeper), there have been a few games where replaying them totally took me by surprise as I didn't expect some details or entire parts of the story and gameplay to change so significantly.
Those are fantastic memories, with Blade Runner being the prime example. I had not read a thing about its non-linearity in the gaming press, thoroughly enjoyed my first playthrough and, expecting the same experience, was dumbfounded by such major differences in the scenario generated by the game on my second, then third, then fourth playthroughs. So much that I remember vividly that sense of vertigo from the idea that there was much more of it below the surface, that the game was playing with me. At the time, I don't even think all the endings had been catalogued. To a lesser degree, the same happened with Deus Ex and, indeed, Vampire: Bloodlines.
Terra Nova, System Shock, Thief and some of the Metroid games are other great and obvious examples for which one feels free to be much more daring to explore or try new approahces for a second playthrough.
demagogue on 16/1/2016 at 03:49
The catch with Bladerunner, in my playthrus anyway, is that it can be a bit buggy and cross its wires and have you on what seems like different tracks at the same time. I forgive it because it looked so damn good and it was clear is was being much more ambitious than most adventure games, so deserved some latitude to let it do its thing.
Of course Vampire Bloodlines can play quite differently when you're Malkavian or Nesferstau, more than the usual RPG tweaks like Skyrim does.
hooded_paladin on 18/1/2016 at 23:25
Quote Posted by demagogue
But what I thought this topic was going to be about is adventure games that you see in an entirely different way after your first play because you know where it's going. This is like movies like Usual Suspects or Mulholland Drive where you're not sure what's going on the first time around, and at the end, you learn things that change everything. Then it's even better the second time because you see scenes knowing their real meaning.
The catch is, I don't know many, if any, games that do this. Bioshock I guess, but the reveal doesn't really change the game 2nd time through. Neither does System Shock 2's. Silent Hill 2? MGS2? Heavy Rain? Star Wars Kotor? Hmm, these games are in the running, but I don't know if a games has ever really fundamentally altered everything so much it's like a different game 2nd time through. But I'd love to see that.
To answer your open question, there were a lot of plot points in Silent Hill: Shattered Memories that I didn't understand the relevance of until the second playthough. That's the only example I can think of. And that game was kind of an interactive movie anyway.
Jason Moyer on 19/1/2016 at 04:23
I know I mentioned Fallout 4 before, but since I'm replaying it now it's the game that's most relevant for me. The first time I played it, the plot made no fucking sense whatsoever to me. Replaying it I'm realizing that there are things early in the game that actually fill in what I thought were massive plot holes, such as the conversation you have with K relatively early in the MQ. Until this playthrough, I didn't understand what his motivations were for trying to kill you given the uh, other things going on in the background. Now that I've had that talk with him again, it's obvious that the person trying to get in touch with you wanted him to get knocked off, and completely set up that confrontation. It's kind of crazy how different that entire scene is knowing what happens later in the game.
Pyrian on 19/1/2016 at 05:18
So how do you feel about it now? Do you think they could've handled it better the first time around?
I get these sorts of issues all the time with my own writing - events that don't make sense to readers because they missed things I didn't make it clear enough.
