I've played a number of games where I started out expecting it to be terrible but actually loved it in the end. Have you had the same? Lemme know!

I'll start with one in this post but will certainly add more later...

TWO WORLD 2

After 10 mins I hated both the art style and the ranged combat and put the game away... up on a shelf never to be played again! I rued the day I spent $5 on that trash! But then one day... when I couldn't find anything to scratch that medieval fantasy itch (I guess the lesson is "never say never")... I pulled down the game and loaded it up. Sure, I still had the same issues, but with some time played I got invested in the magic system. It was incredibly inventive, deep, and rewarding. Then, when I found a boat and sailed all over the oceans, I was hooked 100%. Sure, the game had issues, bugs, and aspects I just didn't like (ie that final battle!), but I ended up enjoying the game immensely... to the point of wanting to play it again with all of the dlc! That's more than I can say regarding Skyrim.

The Pirates of the Flying Fortress expansion is very good, and has an amazing soundtrack. You can continue playing your character from the base game too, or start a new one.


Like Randalator, I don't buy games I expect to be terrible too, but...

when Witcher 3 was announced it was the second game ever I pre-ordered (the first was Turrican 3 on Amiga which was a mild disappointment - way too easy). I loved the first and second game, but those were rather linear. When CDPR announced they would go open world I was very sceptical if they could do it. I didn't expect a bad game, but I was very aware of the problems with open world and story which even experienced BethSoft regularly screwed up, and I still remember how Piranha Bytes bit off more than they could chew with Gothic 3... So I was ready to turn a blind eye to all the weaknesses and just enjoy what there was...
And then the game blew me away, it was such an incredible experience I'd hadn't had in years.

A different experience was Rise of the Triad - Dark War. Back in the day you needed to have this game, especially in Germany with all the censorship, because it was so sick and brutal. Well, I got it of course, and being a big fan of first person shooter games ever since I had laid my hands on Doom, I also played this. On hard. To the end. And then I realised that the game actually sucks. It's really not good in terms of level design, has horrible difficulty spikes, boring enemies and doesn't even look any good. Even today I can't really grasp why I put myself to play through this instead of wasting my precious time on a third-class Doom mod...

Well, I often buy games based on recommendations -- not particularly on my taste. I'm consistently trying to expand not only my library but my "tastes"... and that means sometimes I succeed and sometimes I fail.

I didn't expect to like PonieHup much, but it turned out to be quite fun.

Amrilato looked good when I first saw it, but I did not expect to like it so much that I bought 20 copies.

Uprising X (PS2 version of Uprising series) when I bought it it claimed to be FPS in a tank with real time strategy. I thought it's going to be a slow game but turn out it's a fast paced game that only slow down a little bit just to place instantly made buildings where you can teleport in troops, tanks and planes during battle. Ended up enjoying it far more than what I expected. Bought the PC version here in GOG.

Another game that upon starting I expected to hate but ended up liking enough to play through twice!

Arcania: Gothic 4

-- now --

Arcania

Yes, it's nowhere near the quality of PB's Gothic games and was "janky" as heck, but it had a pretty good combat system and some fun scenarios and locations.

Thanks! Yeah, I was playing on PS3 and searched everywhere for the Velvet Edition that included the Flying Fortress expansion. I plan on picking up the whole game on PC soon.