I usually pay attention to story in games, but Lost Planet really turned me into a "skip the bullshit cut scenes" kinda guy.

I would second Halo, but I really don't think the story makes sense whether you play those games or not.

yeah, i beat Half-Life 2 and wondered what the heck I missed because I didn't understand the ending.

If story didn't matter, KotOR 2 would be as widely praised as KotOR 1, since they run on the same engine. Of course, KotOR 1 = whereas KotOR 2 =

Fallout 2 had an extremely difficult beginning dungeon. It was difficult even for Fallout experts. I couldn't even imagine how frustrated a new Fallout player who hadn't played the original game must have been.

To a lesser extent, Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn also was unforgiving to new players. SoA was a direct continuation of the first game and assumes you are using the same character from the first game. For a new player who had never played the first game and/or had never played a D&D game before, it was an unforgiving experience. On sorcerers.net, I remember countless forum topics about newbie players not being able to get past the intro dungeon.

I am in the same boat as you. I usually watch, good or bad, but I couldn't hit that skip button fast enough on Lost Planet.

Far Cry 2

It wasn't necessarily harder than the first one, it was just a lot more work - you had to invest and put a lot into the game to get a lot out of it - probably one of the least "accessible" shooters out there.

The discussion was in regards to story elements -- being lost with a complicated plot you wouldn't understand if you didn't finish the first game. It was my understanding that Far Cry 2 had absolutely NOTHING to do with Far Cry 1.

If you consider computer games as well, the least accessible would have to be the old Scott Adams adventure game Savage Island Part 2 from 1982. In the worst marketing move ever, a password was given at the end of part 1 which was asked for at the very beginning of part 2 even though it was a completely separate game.

Things were made even worse by how difficult Savage Island part 1 was compared to most of the Scott Adams games. After dying to the bear and the hurricane more times than I can remember, even with the hint book, I took a hex editor to the game to the game in search of the password. Unfortunately, since it was a number (123), it never jumped out at me.

The thread title says nothing about story elements, so why not talk about gameplay accessibility, which most would agree are more important - furthermore, who the fuck plays videogames for their stories? I mean, really?

I mentioned gameplay in the OP as well, so Far Cry 2 is valid. It's a game that assumes you've played through the first game and are a seasoned vet.

A lot of people. I find it pretty surprising myself, just because so few games have had stories that have really captivated me, but there are people that really get off on the fiction of various games. I say more power to them.

Aw, crap. You did talk about gameplay in the original post. That's what I get for taking a quick peek at posts between patients. Sorry, slop, for any unfounded criticism there. I don't think gameplay-wise Far Cry 2 had much to do with the first game either. Are the two games related in any other way besides name and the fact that they're both FPS?

Oh, BTW : there are about 4000 FC2 guides in each and every Best Buy and they're still priced at $19.99. I plan on waiting them out and picking one up for a penny, but apparently they're pretty stubborn about that one.

I completely agree here. I just finished playing Gears 1, and as it starts in the jail I said, "Wait, what?" I actually thought that I had missed some opening movie or scene or something. And the whole game continued as if I knew what the fuck was going on. I did hear that Gears 2 was a lot better than the first, but now your post is making me second guess picking it up.

As for least accessible sequels, I was unable to get into Halo 3, and I couldn't get past the first cutscene in MSG4. (Although I did go buy the collection of first 3 games and will try to start at the beginning, see if I can hang.)

Like everybody I know. At least on some level or for some games. I know my friends aren't playing Rock Band or Left 4 Dead because of some storyline, but anybody that played something like Fallout, Mass Effect, or countless other games, probably had to be getting something out of the story.

Wow, I guess that one wins - a literally inaccessible sequel!

How come the loading is so unbearable in the sequel then?

It could be different for them but for me, in games like Mass Effect, Fallout and other similar games, what's driving me is the mission I'm on and the next mission [gameplay and exploration], the story is completely secondary, if not tertiary.

Story is what drives games for me these days, outside of exceptions like you mentioned. Especially RPG's; if the story is something silly it makes me care less about what happens next.