The game that came out of nowhere.

[DavidFromTwinleaf]

We've all had that game; The one we'd never heard of before, the one that wasn't even an afterthought when purchasing the console it played on. Maybe the one you tried once, got destroyed, and didn't pick up again for a year. But then one day, you finally sit down and really play it... and it becomes one of your favorite games/franchises of all time. I've recently had that experienced this with Fire Emblem Awakening. The only mention of Fire Emblem I heard before was from SSB, but when making my holiday wish list I decided to add it anyway. When I received the game on Christmas, I was immediately glued to my 3DS the rest of the holiday. I can honestly say that Awakening has become my favorite game on 3DS.

So, what was your out of nowhere game?

 

[Burgundy]

I'm happy to say that I've had that experience with the very same game! I've never played anything from Fire Emblem before, but I had some extra Christmas money, and decided to get it. I did download the demo first, but after just the first cutscene, I knew I just had to get it. I'm currently on my second play through, but only up to chapter six because of the extreme amount of planning and grinding for relationships. XO

 

[KoL]

For me one game stands out above all others for this and it's Metroid Fusion.

The most I'd seen of this game was an advert on TV which didn't really catch my attention since I didn't get my GBA until sometime after the advert had stopped coming up, and I all but forgot about it until my mom called me at home and said she'd buy me a GBA game and gave me a choice between some other game I can't remember and Metroid Fusion. I chose Metroid Fusion and the rest was history. Since then I've played and beaten every single Metroid game ever published by Nintendo, and all from my mom randomly deciding to buy a game for me while she was out.

 

[Demelza]

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess was that game for me. I'd never played a game in the series before, but the art style and the fact it involved a wolf got me very, very interested in it. I bought the game for the Gamecube on the day of release (I remember being quite scared that my mother wouldn't let me have it considering it looked too old for me at the time), but I got it and played it for hours over the course of the next few weeks. Needless to say I became a huge fan of the series and played every single game that has come since (and a few from the past). I'm really glad that I got it now.

Fire Emblem: Awakening was a lot like that for me as well, I'd never seriously played a game in the series before but I picked that one up and utterly adored it for lack of a better word.

 

[Linkachu]

For me it would have to be the original Wild Arms on Playstation. When myself and my sister first came upon it in a movie/game rental store we had no idea what it was beyond the fact that it appeared to be an RPG and had nice Anime-style artwork on the cover. We rented it and were immediately caught by its Anime style opening and music.


We weren't able to play too far into the actual game before returning it but the impression it left was lasting. A short while later I noticed Wild Arms 2 in store to buy and snatched it off the shelf. It very quickly ended up becoming one of my favourite games of all time and from there I became a diehard fan of the Wild Arms franchise in general.

 

[Valin]

One that comes to mind is Tales of Eternia (well, came out as Tales of Destiny II over here, but I call it Tales of Eternia, because that's what it is, especially considering that in Japan, there is a real Tales of Destiny II) for the PS1. I just saw it in a review in a magazine I was subscribed to at the time, thought it looked interesting, and picked it up when I found it. It easily became my favorite game for the PS1, and since then, I'd been a die-hard "Tales of" fan.

A similar case happened a few years later with Ys VI: The Ark of Napishtim for the PS2, which I discovered mostly the same way. Pikced it up, loved it, and had an interest in the Ys series, and the Falcom company in general, ever since.

 

[Jeydis]

The game that surprised me the most so far was Transformers: Fall of Cybertron. I got it off a humble bundle not thinking much of it. Played it after watching some old Beast Wars episodes. I was seriously surprised. It is a very fun game with some pretty fun mechanics and the voice acting was splendid as well as the graphics.

 

[Carmen Lopez]

I have to give it to Fire Emblem Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn. I can't remember exactly who put me onto it, but I watched a play through of both of them on Youtube and fell in love. At that time PoR was impossible to find and Radiant Dawn only less so, so I was never able to play Path of Radiance. I was able to buy a used copy of Radiant Dawn to play and it was so much fun! It made me really appreciate tactical rpgs--I can't wait to buy Awakening.

 

[MedievalSuicune]

For me it was Star Fox Adventures. When I was a little kid I would play the Gamecube demo at Circuit City every time I went, and the game I loved most from the demo was Star Fox. I mean, it had awesome graphics, cool gameplay, and DINOSAURS. I played that every time and I wanted it so bad. I was pretty sure I was going to get a Gamecube for Christmas, and I wanted that Animal Crossing. My parents wouldn't let me get it though, because it was rated T and I was... I want to say eight at the time? Maybe nine. Years later I got it at a store that has since folded and it was perfect.

 

[Alexxander]

For me it has to be Dynasty Warriors, back in 2006, one of my friends was clearing out his old stuff and decided to give me a bunch of his old Playstation 2 games. I decided to play a little bit of them all individually. In that bundle was Dynasty Warriors 4 and the rest has been history. While I personally prefer Samurai Warriors, it's still a franchise I love. (I do love me some Kaiji and Saika)

 

[Magpie]

Very recently I'd have to say it was Child of light. I just logged onto my Xbox One and there was a little picture of the game poster as an advertised link. I liked the look of it and did a quick search on the internet, it sounded right up my street and at was only £11 or so so I figured 'why not?' Such an amazing game, I can't recommend it enough. And it really did just come out of nowhere, even though it's available for multiple gaming platforms xD

 

[StellarWind Elsydeon]

I don't need to go far to find an example - Pokémon itself is a perfect example for me. I was not a fan of Pokémon as a franchise by any means for quite a bit until, on a whim, I tried playing Pokémon Red - and became a fan overnight. There have been quite a few games like that for me - that I sort of randomly ran into or had lying around on a computer or whatever, I tried playing and became instant favorites - but how about a game that does that to an entire family re: an entire genre?

Enter Phantasy Star. The very first one, for the Sega Master System. It was quite early into the 90s, after we've learned that we're fond of point and click adventure games on the PC, but when the only games we had for the Master System were still mostly actiony and arcadey titles. In search of a new game for said console the 'rents and I came across Phantasy Star - the guy in the store mentioned there are some similarities in style to point and click adventures but I don't think any of us knew exactly what to expect.

What followed was two weeks where all three of us were sitting around for hours playing the game to death. We were utterly mesmerized - none of us ever encountered anything quite like that game before - and circumstances at the time allowed more or less uninterrupted play for aforementioned weeks. This was before the era of the internet - when playing through an RPG involved actually sitting around, taking notes of semi-broken-translated NPCs and charting the mind-breaking 3D dungeons of the game which were certainly an innovative idea but were a right pain in the arse in retrospect. We've run through games together before and hence, but never has a game completely consumed us all as a family to that extent and never have we been so damn immersed in what is essentially a giant clusterfuck of 8-bit beeps and boops. That was how we found out we liked RPGs. A lot. And while the 'rents lost their patience for 'classic' jRPGs with their random encounters and battle interfaces over time (and to be honest, even I don't have the energy for them as much as I used to - the genre hasn't aged too well, alas) - Phantasy Star is still very fondly remembered among all of us - and the series (or at least, the original series, the first four games - anything past PSIV does not fucking exist) remains one of my huge damn favorites to this day.

 

[cloveria1215]

Jet Set/Grind Radio
I never heard of this game let alone seen an ad for it. Until one time I was over my grandmother house for Sunday dinner and my older cousin was playing it. Then my brother played jgr for a little bit. One week later he rented from Blockbuster and He got for Christmas that year. I didn't find it interesting at first until one day i decided to play the game out of boredom ( and in part of our Sonic Adventure copy was so scratched up from overused.) Oh my gosh, I loved it. The music, the art style, everything. I was completely blown away. I can't believe i wrote this game off back then. Now Jet Set/Grind Radio is one of my favorite games

 

[Triple fighter]

I'd have to say mine was Golden Sun: Dark dawn
A few years back during December someone I knew had given me a 20$ gift card so I went to the Walmart website and I saw the game and decided to watch the video that went along with it At the time, I had no idea what kind game it was it looked good enough so i was just all like meh, what the heck *Add To Cart*.
After playing and NEARLY beating the game I actually googled its secrets and whatnot and what i found BLEW MY MIND. Basically I haven't even scratched the surface of the surface's surface of the games content wich means either one of two things: I suck at RPGs OR I'm just not gaming maniac material.