Games that improved after being bad on release

Sometimes, a game will be great on release - and require only minor improvements or patches to iron out a few imperfections. At the other end of the spectrum, there are games that are awful on release - and quickly get abandoned by their developers, so they never turn into anything good. But there's also a third category - of games that were poorly-received on their initial release, but whose developers persevered with them, and eventually turned them into genuinely good games. So, what titles come to mind for that third group?

One game that a lot of people will cite is Diablo 3. I've never played it myself - but I have seen the dreadful initial reviews, and heard the horror stories about the initial release version of the game. In short, the core problem with the game was the Auction House: a system where players could sell their valuable items for real-world money. But the loot you needed to complete the game was very rare - so you had to either spend hours and hours farming for it, or just buy it in the Auction House. On his website, Sullla has an article, where he explains in great detail what was fundamentally wrong with the initial release version of the game - and how it had been designed deliberately to funnel players into the Auction House. But then, Blizzard saw how unpopular this version of the game was - and completely revamped the whole thing. They closed down the Auction House for good - and instead, they introduced a "Loot 2.0" system, where useful items would drop at higher rates. This breathed new life into the game, and when Sullla tried it out, he found it greatly improved: he still had some issues with it, but his goodwill had been won back.

So, can you think of any other games, that were bad on release, but improved significantly with later patches, DLCs and expansions?

Pokemon Scarlet & Violet still has bugs but it's nowhere near as bad as it was on release.

slooroo wrote:Pokemon Scarlet & Violet still has bugs but it's nowhere near as bad as it was on release.

I'll second this. I did like Violet on release, to be fair -- running around catching Pokémon was still fun -- but it definitely improved with time. I heard there used to be a glitch that would randomly delete your save file, which is even worse somehow than the X/Y Lumiose City save glitch, which was patched right away anyway.

I also want to say Animal Crossing: New Horizons, which launched with little content, and things like holidays and special events, special items, and the ability to swim were added with updates, as well as DLC. It wasn't bad on release, though, just not complete. Kind of makes you wonder what that game will be like when online services for the Switch eventually shut down and people can't download the updates anymore.