I've just finished playing "Ceville". Which I really enjoyed. Despite the timed sequences. Despite one or two or three other things.

If I had known all the things I might not like I wouldn't have bought the game. But actually playing it was a pleasant meeting with the characters in the game.

I had a lot of fun with Carte Blanche, a noirish game from a couple of years back. Not many other folk liked it, as I recall, but its black humour made me laugh a lot, and it was both silly and interesting enough to be entertaining and worth playing.

Hi, I'm not sure if this is what you're getting at with this topic, but I'd have to say Forever Worlds. For a couple of years I kept looking at the game but didn't buy it based on reviews. It wasn't so much that most of the reviewers didn't seem to like the game (I like to read reviews but don't buy or not buy based on other peoples likes or dislikes), but a lot of people seemed to have technical issues with the game (that's what worried me). Also, the fact that they actually packed a walkthrough with the game, meaning to me it was probably very hard and confusing.
Finally I saw it for $9.99 at Amazon and bought it.
The graphics were really beautiful but then there were these silly voices and characters that just didn't go with those graphics and what I thought the game was going to be. However, after I adjusted to what the game was, I really enjoyed it. I didn't have any tech problems and I didn't need the walkthrough at all. At one point I had my sister look at it for me but it turned out I had just missed an item I needed to pick up.

Atlantis: The Lost Tales was full of timed sequences, some of which are infamous. However the soundtrack, the graphics, and the mysterious atmosphere of the game made it one of the more memorable games I've played.

I wasn't expecting to like Ghost in the Sheet, but it turned out to be one of my favorite recent games. I enjoyed the voices and the way you interact with things.

I wasn't expecting to enjoy Dracula Origin because I am not a Dracula fan. I mean he bites people, sucks their blood, and you have to go chasing after him. Been there, done that. But Dracula Origin turned out to be a game with a lot of enjoyable puzzles, and I liked playing as Van Helsing -- an older character -- for a change.

I wasn't expecting to like Grim Fandango because the pictures of the characters on the box turned me off. But when I actually played it, the great voice acting made the characters "came alive," so to speak.

I wasn't expecting to like Amerzone and only bought it when I found it really cheap. But when I finally played it, the haunting music in the lighthouse at the beginning of the game caught my imagination from the start. The sound of the old computer booting up (in the game) is one of the most intriguing sound effects I've ever heard in a game.

Sanitarium is another game I didn't expect to like. I thought the box was ugly and only bought the game when I found a good used copy. Needless to say, it turned out to be one of the best games I've played.

Indigo Prophecy was a game my sister encouraged me to play. After the first few minutes I was so frustrated with learning the controls i was ready to give up. I stuck it out and really had actually mastered the controls and enjoyed the game play.
I even played it a second time which was so much easier after mastering the controls.

AmerZone: Lonely first person game with mechanical puzzles and confusing navigation. I ended up liking it because the atmosphere is incredible.

Crime Stories: Mediocre game that could have been better. I liked it because of a certain plot twist near the end that was fun to play.

I buy just about anything based on it's description regardless of reviews (which I do read!) Games that spring to mind that I liked (despite my better judgement) were:

Aurora, The Secrets Within - I had to download independantly a missing file to get the game to run!, english translations were iffy & there were so many other faults but underneath this totally unpolished game there were decent graphics & a reasonable plot which I enjoyed!

I have to agree with oldbroad on Forever Worlds - for me the voices were awful & I couldn't work out the plot too much! But it struck me that there was a story which somehow seemed to be well thought out & I found the game interesting.

Oldbroad: glad you enjoyed "Forever Worlds", that is the kind of thing I was trying to get at!

Jenny100: the Lost Tales (game of the lost cursor!) is one game I'm planning to try again, you've raised it in priority! Note your comments on other games. Temujin I found addictive to play in spite of the gameplay.

Thanks for the other comments. Does a good or bad ending colour how we feel about the game as a whole?

Yes! if a game doesn't conclude well I feel let down however much I've enjoyed playing up to that point. There are exceptions but the appeal of most games is the story & the gradual unravelling of the plot so I like it to be tied up nicely. A disappointing ending can spoil a game overall that may have been very interesting up until then.

I was almost hesitant to continue with Dreamfall: The Longest Journey once I realized it involved some combat and sneaking, but those aspects turned out to be easy. The story and environment and voice acting were great, and I was sorry the game had to end. Too bad it was a bit on the easy side.

I did this with The Longest Journey, Post Mortem, Amerzone, I was even leery about Syberia 1. Boy, am I glad I went ahead and played them. They are all very good games.

Alice is basically a shooter game--a genre I normally don't care for. However, the storyline is so creepy, and the graphics are so good, that it's one of my favorite games ever!

It can. Different people have different ideas of what constitutes a bad ending though. But this is a topic for a separate thread.

Last year i had to write a review on Penumbra: Black Plague. I didn´t play the first game before, and i wasn´t exactly looking forward to Black Plague, as i had some very false ideas about the game in my head.
So, pretty much right from the intro i got lost in Penumbras world, and i nearly couldn´t stop playing until this "trip to hell"(literally) had come to an end. A great surprise to me. the way psychology works in this game is top-notch and it´s an impressing demonstration of how much you can do- even without a big budget- if someone with great creativity is responsible.