It would have to be Dragon Age: Origins for me.

Originally I thought the game was a B-tier, garbage looking game visually which turned me off.
The story started off slow.

But after a few hours? Easily one of my favorite games of all time. Swooping is bad.

Maybe it should give it a try again.

I also got Monster Hunter Tri (special edition with a figurine no less!), but it never grew on me, and I left the game disappointed after a couple tries.

Monster Hunter is very much an acquired taste; it demands a lot of the player, but that's what makes it feel so good when you emerge triumphant; every victory feels amazing because you have to work your arse off for it, learning monster behaviours, mastering systems such as pre-hunt prep, item use, weapon maintenance, map awareness, etc.

At first it feels overwhelming, but once you get it hang of it, its a rush like no other.

If you're still bouncing off of Tri, I would say that World and Rise are more beginner friendly and accessible.

I really want to have some example here. But mostly I will not return to a game that I initially dislike. There are a couple of games that I repeatedly give chances but still will not enjoy, but not much to say regarding games I revisit and later like.

I know of one example. When I first played Smash Bros Melee, I thought it was to small and fast and difficult to play. Played Smash N64 for like two years or so until i started to play Melee again and then it sort of landed for me. Both the speed, size and general chaos instead made it mor fun now. Felt like shifting gears but still needed to drive Smash 64 for a while first.

I forgot about the Jack & Daxter series. I loved the precursor legacy at the time than bounced hard off Jak 2. Quit a couple hours in, didn't look back.

I bought the remastered trilogy on PS3 mainly for the first game, then went on to try the 2nd game again and ended up liking it a lot. Then played and enjoyed Jak 3 as well, start to finish.

Ratchet & Clank is probably my only possible answer here, and even that might have more to do with my tastes changing rather than the games growing on me. I didn't really care about the games as a kid, because I wasn't a fan of the shooting part, and it felt kinda clumsy as well. However, as an adult, I didn't really have any trouble pushing through the first game despite its clumsiness (in fact, I think I had a good time), and it's only got better from there.

I'm tempted to try Halo again some time because it's often so cheap, but I've already given the original either two or three good tries, and it hasn't been fun even for a moment. It's a series I'm actually interested in getting familiar with, but I don't think it's just ever going to click with me.

Nah, if I don't like it now I never will. I also have a near perfect pre-sense of whether I'm going to like something or not. And in the age of Youtube it's easy to look up some gameplay if I'm not sure.