Underrated Games

[Sabby]

A great game you love gone by unnoticed? Poor timing, bad marketing, or just plain horrid luck makes sure it doesn't get the praise it deserves? Heres your chance to maybe bring it some of love you feel it should have gotten.

I'd start with Jet Force Gemini. Good quality third person shooter from Rare. Its only problem was being released during the N64's end days :( I'd also throw in The Warriors.

[Inkidu]

Can you dig it!

Beyond Good & Evil. The greatest game nobody ever played.

[Sabby]

And the most worrying possible sequel ever.

[Inkidu]

I feel kind of bad for Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath. It just came out at the wrong time. Not many people had Xboxs yet and it was under-marketed.

[Malefique]

I am not much acquainted with shooters or console games in general (I leave those to the spawn), but having watched them on Oddworld, I'd agree on that.  Personally I enjoy point and click horror games, because I never really feel I've enjoyed myself if I get repetitive strain injury.  So I would plump for the Darkfall series of Brit horror games - The Journal, Lights Out and Lost Souls.  I have loved every one of those, and the second has one of the simplest but downright creepiest things I ever came across in a game - and it's a blink and you'll miss it thing.  Enjoyably spooky goings on, and if you ever watched Sapphire and Steel you should love them.

[Hemingway]

Well, as posted in the "What are you playing" thread: Dark Messiah of Might and Magic. In my opinion a far better game than reviews might lead you to believe, and with an interesting story on top of that.

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines would also go on my list. In this case, the game was terribly bugged, and has since been fixed with unofficial patches. It may lack polish, but the intense atmosphere and story make it easily one of my favorite games, period.

Those are just two games I think are fantastic but underrated. If I included games that are in some way flawed, but still entertaining and underrated, the list would get a lot longer.

[Anjasa]

I really liked PN03. A lot of people gave it poor reviews because they said the controls were too complicated, but once you got used to it, it was amazingly smooth and really well done. It had really nice music and animations, too. It was really fun.

[Sabby]

Can I play Darkfall 3 by itself, or do I need to play the first 2?

[Wolfy]

Rez. :P

[Inkidu]

I really liked PN03. A lot of people gave it poor reviews because they said the controls were too complicated, but once you got used to it, it was amazingly smooth and really well done. It had really nice music and animations, too. It was really fun.

I liked that one too, and my problem wasn't that the controls were complex, it was because the gameplay was repetitious to no end. Shoot stuff, make score. I don't think it held over well from that era in gaming. I agree though, it was underrated.

James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing. In my opinion it's the only good Bond game out there and that includes Golden Eye. Motorbike chases across Lake Pontchartrain Bridge, driving a tank in what used to be Red Square, and a stellar cast including Pierce B. John Cleese, Willem Defoe.

It was a truly great game despite the Bond title. Oh, and it had extra objectives for playing it on harder difficulties.   

[Craz]

Jagged Alliance 2. I will orally pleasure this game from now til the end of eternity. A decent game on its own, but once the modders got their hands on it, it became a great game. I love it, though it's good luck getting other people to play it.

[Shjade]

Jagged Alliance 2.

Hm. Looks like it could be interesting. Might have to keep an eye on it for upcoming Steam sales. Pity it doesn't have a demo.

[DudelRok]

I have me a list:

Psyconaughts (Multiplatform)
Phantom Crash (Xbox)
Radiata Stories (PS2)
Zone of the Enders (PS2)

[Kazyth]

Azure Dreams (PSX)

I really liked this game.  It had an interesting premise, random maps, and the ability to influence your town and who lived there by the structures that you financed.

Now that I talk about it, I want to play it again.  Hrm.  I need a good PSX emulator...

[CmdrRenegade]

The whole Onimusha series.

[Inkidu]

Metro 2033. It's a totally underrated game and a real cerebral experience of a shooter.

Fortunately, it does seem to have gotten enough support for a sequel. Don't look at me like that Beyond Good & Evil's getting one too.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/7.288162-Metro-Last-Light-Officially-Unveiled#11400626

[consortium11]

Well, as posted in the "What are you playing" thread: Dark Messiah of Might and Magic. In my opinion a far better game than reviews might lead you to believe, and with an interesting story on top of that.

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines would also go on my list. In this case, the game was terribly bugged, and has since been fixed with unofficial patches. It may lack polish, but the intense atmosphere and story make it easily one of my favorite games, period.

Those are just two games I think are fantastic but underrated. If I included games that are in some way flawed, but still entertaining and underrated, the list would get a lot longer.

+1. Great game... clever, challenging, each playthorugh can be a completely different experience and the haunted house section is still one of my favourite levels ever made.

Jagged Alliance 2. I will orally pleasure this game from now til the end of eternity. A decent game on its own, but once the modders got their hands on it, it became a great game. I love it, though it's good luck getting other people to play it.

Another +1. Incredibly challenging but never frustrating. I have a horrible feeling that "Back in Action" is going to be an absolute waste of the series.

I have me a list:

Psyconaughts (Multiplatform)
Phantom Crash (Xbox)
Radiata Stories (PS2)
Zone of the Enders (PS2)

+1. One of my favourite platformers. Gameplay isn't always the greatest but the plot and world make up for it.

Metro 2033. It's a totally underrated game and a real cerebral experience of a shooter.

Fortunately, it does seem to have gotten enough support for a sequel. Don't look at me like that Beyond Good & Evil's getting one too.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/7.288162-Metro-Last-Light-Officially-Unveiled#11400626

+1. A little linear for my tastes but a really good game.

My own suggestions:

Dark Reign: One of the better second gen of Command and Conquer clones that came out that had the bad timing to be released just before Total Annihilation.

Arcanum: Made by the same people who made Bloodlines but in a more traditional isometric perspective. Fairly original steampunk/fantasy world, pretty poor combat but brilliant plot, character creation, choices and consequences and multiple builds and play styles.

Unreal: A pretty decent FPS that came out around Halflife... and not surprisingly got blown away by it.

Stalker (the entire series): Truly brilliant FPS survival shooter/horror with RPG elements. 3 games came out in fairly short succession which can confuse the issue, some of them are quite bugged but still perfectly playable and, as if often the way, once the modders sorted them out they're incredible.

Alpha Protocol: Yes it's bugged. Yes, the shooting mechanics need some serious tweaking. Yes it shows all that's wrong with Obsidian. It also shows all that's right with them. Brilliant dialogue system, huge amounts of choices and consequences, some great characters, an original setting and plot, massive amounts of choices and consequences. I didn't find most of the bugs gamebreaking and I think it often gets written off far too much. Suffers due to lack of support for modders... along with Bloodlines probably defines the term "flawed genius" for action RPGs.

Morrowind: Well regarded at the time but now most people look back on it as simply an inferior Oblivion. It more than stands up to its bigger brother and in my opinion surpasses it, especially as Bethesda were fairly friendly to the mod community at the time before the realised the money spinner that DLC could be (see Horse Armour).

Rome: Total War: Again, well regarded at the time but the vanilla version stands up to to every single vanilla release of a Total War game since. Basically redefined the series, didn't have the AI and balancing bugs/issues that crippled later releases (I'm looking at you specifically Empire) and the fact that the series was brought back closer to this by Shogun 2 suggests the developers understood this as well.

Heroes of Might and Magic 2 (with expansions): Still my favourite of the series. Tactical yet simple, deep but fun, clever yet easy to pick up. Probably the height of the series and something they have never quite managed to capture since. Honorary mention for the original Kings Bounty, which did many of the same things with a deeper RPG/wandering mercenary feel as opposed to being an all seeing God-king.

[Oniya]

I actually liked Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter.  The game got a lot of flak because it was radically different from the previous BoF titles, combining tactics and a dark, high-tech, post-apocalyptic setting instead of the simple turn-based combat in a mostly 'well-adjusted' post-technology world from the other BoFs.  Also, you were penalized for using your super-dragon-powers by having a limited amount of 'points' in the entire game that you could use.

[Craz]

Hm. Looks like it could be interesting. Might have to keep an eye on it for upcoming Steam sales. Pity it doesn't have a demo.

I know Steam has it as "gold" for twenty bucks. If you want a cheaper alternatives, it's on GOG for ten. It's where I picked it up. As Consortium said, it's challenging, but never frustrating.

[Shjade]

I was more hoping for a demo just to see how it runs. I'm always leery of PC games that I can't test-drive pre-purchase to make sure they don't blow up or play choppy or otherwise have issues beyond gameplay.

[Craz]

Ah, right, that's understandable. I'm the dolt who will buy games without even finding out if it will run on my system. XD

[consortium11]

A quick google search came up with this : http://download.cnet.com/Jagged-Alliance-2-demo/3000-2119_4-10022398.html

Should allow you to test run it.

It's no X-COM hard (although at times it feels like it) but it's the type of game where making one tactical mistake can really ruin your days. What lowers the frustration value is that it was your mistake that caused it... it never feels cheap or like the computer is cheating.

[Shjade]

It's no X-COM hard (although at times it feels like it) but it's the type of game where making one tactical mistake can really ruin your days. What lowers the frustration value is that it was your mistake that caused it... it never feels cheap or like the computer is cheating.

That's good to hear. The #1 most frustrating bs in tactical/strategy games is when a plan that SHOULD work doesn't because arbitrary-lost-roll-here, especially when it's the kind of failure that should be extremely unlikely but happens frequently anyway (ex: missing 3 "92% accurate" shots in a row).

I've made that mistake enough times to be gun shy about it now, Craz. Sometimes older/less demanding games just don't run at all on multi-core processors (Beyond Good & Evil, Thief, Thief 2, I'm looking at you guys. >:| ), for instance.

[consortium11]

Oh, there's still the odd "What!" moment... simple probability means in enough playthroughs it will happen but far more common are your mistakes... and they're punished fairly ruthlessly. Not properly clearing a building only to have a "snapperhead" rear up and put a shot into the guts of your favourite mercenary... and you then find that your others are out of position to heal him (especially as they're pinned down by gunfire) and you have to agonisingly watch him bleed out turn after turn until he's gone, never to come back...

That said I have seen someone complete it in about 10 minutes... but that was someone who knew exactly what they were doing.

[Shjade]

I just seem to have the worst luck with artificial chance. The Front Mission series in particular - my snipers can never hit the broadside of a barn but the enemy wanzers hit me at max range with freaking SMGs for massive damage. >.<

[Sabby]

One thing with this subject that pisses me off is when said unloved game has a crappy imitator which makes it big and everyone still loves it :/ example. Final Fantasy. Go play Grandia 2. Its superior in every possible way, but no, all other JRPG's wanna copy FF's shitty shin kicker battle system.

[consortium11]

I'm not sure if I'm misunderstanding you but FF pre-empts Grandia by about a decade. Even FF7 (the one that arguably made the FF series huge across the world) came out at essentially the exact time time as Grandia and 3 years before Grandia 2.

[Sabby]

I'm aware of this :P I'm mostly peeved about the gameplay though. I've never liked Final Fantasy's battle system, and I found Grandia's to be great, but guess which one got adopted by everyone else? Just irks me...

[Denivar]

Grandia 2 was great fun -- it had a combat system that could be fun without being a tile map based full-fledged tactical affair. It wasn't without its flaws (magic was way too powerful) but with some improvements and balancing could have been perfect. It's so sad it hadn't been built on much. :(

Another great, underrated game: Gladius. A fun tactical battle game which just didn't sell well.

[Shjade]

One thing with this subject that pisses me off is when said unloved game has a crappy imitator which makes it big and everyone still loves it :/ example. Final Fantasy. Go play Grandia 2. Its superior in every possible way, but no, all other JRPG's wanna copy FF's shitty shin kicker battle system.

FF's battle system might be pretty dry and dull, but Grandia 2's battle system is so abusable it makes the game basically have no challenge. You just infinitely stunlock/pushback enemy attacks and turns, interrupt if they ever start casting a spell, and voila, you get through most fights taking no damage. I can't think of another RPG I've played that makes boss battles such pushovers throughout the game.

I mean, if you like easy games, sure it's superior, but other than that? I dunno.

[Inkidu]

Generally I think JRPGs are floundering all over. They can't seem to get or create anything that works. I think it's happening because the new trend is to try and enforce story through gameplay, and to quote Yahtzee, "The story and gameplay of JRPGs are separated by a wrought-iron gate... made of tigers." Now not every game does this, but Mass Effect, Assasin's Creed kind of does it, Fallout 3 and New Vegas do it, hell even Alpha Protocol does it. That's just my opinion though.

Oh, why people like that enforcement. It makes them feel smart. JRPGs tend to spoon feed a lot of things and assume the players no nothing. The World Ends With You 104 math problem thing comes to mind. (I think  that's the number)

[Malefique]

Can I play Darkfall 3 by itself, or do I need to play the first 2?

Sorry it took so long to reply, sabby - spawn attack!  (Damn this sudden epidemic of holidays).  Darkfall 3 can be played stand-alone, but there are some nice in-game references you'll miss if you don't try the first two.  I managed to run The Journal on a Windows 7 machine, though, the compatability wiazrd took care of any issues, and I got it on eBay for a couple of quid along with a couple of Jules Verne games.

[Hemingway]

I would like to add Ground Control 2 to this list.

I've only briefly played the original, but GC2 was a solid tactical RTS. A very interesting game, that seems to have been forgotten.

[Heaven Sent Blossom]

The Ground Control games don't get anywhere near enough love, they are fantastic attempts at deviating away from the atrocious base-building formula that taints the RTS genre as a whole.
Ground Control 2 was marginally worse than the first but I still found it to be a delightful experience.

[Bayushi]

Sabby may hate it, as it's a JRPG....

But there was a great PSX title from Sony called Legend of Dragoon.

Unfortunately, this game received VERY LITTLE advertisement, so it didn't sell very well in the US (at first. Ended up running 980,000 sold in the US). Several online critics like IGN rated the game pretty badly, while gamers did not seem to agree.

Another PSX title I adore is Valkyrie Profile. Unlike Legend of Dragoon, this game was highly rated by online critics, but it experienced a number of huge setbacks. A warehouse fire with a majority of the North American copies of the game caused a dramatic shortage, as did an issue with low-quality plastic media for the CD ROM discs (they tend to crack from the center of the disc). A used copy of Valkyrie Profile will set you back a fair bit of cash (and I wouldn't trust buying a used copy of a game online. I have made the mistake several times), and at minimum $300 US.

A possible alternative to shelling out hundreds on VP is to get the PSP port, Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth. Sadly, I do not own a PSP or I would have done this (as I used to own a copy of Valkyrie Profile, until the first disc cracked).

While it's a JRPG, it's very dissimilar to Final Fantasy and other JRPGs, using a more frantic and entertaining style of combat. The story and the characters are beautiful, the environments beautiful, and the side-scrolling action a nice change of pace from the traditional isometric RPG view.

The game has a LOT of replayability, with several endings based on your actions in the game. I don't recall if one is able to import old saves for a new game or not (I haven't played since 2001).

[Sabby]

Wait, is this, like, Panzer Dragoon? o.o Because I loved Panzer Dragoon Orta xD

[Oniya]

No, LoD is a fantasy quest involving seven warriors who are chosen by ancient dragon spirits to combat a great evil destined to destroy the world.  There have been people who call it an FF7 rip-off, but now that I've actually played part of FF7, I have to say that Legend of Dragoon is worlds better, especially graphics-wise, despite being released around the same time.  It used an interesting method of 'special attacks' called the 'Addition system', where you had to hit the attack button in a certain rhythm (up to seven or eight 'taps' for the higher level attacks) in order to pull off more damage.  Personally, I loved it!

[Tsenta]

Mmmm legend of dragoon...me loves!

[CmdrRenegade]

I'll second Legend of Dragoon and MAJORLY second Valkyrie Profile.  That game was unique property and spiritual successor to Actraiser at the same time. 

[Geeklet]

Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura

[Hemingway]

Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura

I definitely second this.

[Shjade]

I'll second Legend of Dragoon and MAJORLY second Valkyrie Profile.  That game was unique property and spiritual successor to Actraiser at the same time.

Hell, why not add Actraiser itself to the list while we're at it? I still play emulated versions of that game now and then for nostalgia (though the endboss gauntlet where they all move 2x as fast and you have one time limit to finish all the bosses in a row is a pain in the ass).

[Inkidu]

I don't think Legend of Dragoon was so obscure as it was broken (at least for me) it took us until the PS2 to actually be able to play the game. Seriously, two PS1s and two copies of the game, and we kept getting an error messages. I don't know what the deal was to this day, and even on a PS2 there was still a pretty good chance it would bug out at some point in disc four (if I remember correctly) and you'd have to start all over again in hopes it wouldn't this time around. That's why I never played it.

I think Final Fantasy VIII gets a bad rap, and is highly underrated (at least for a Final Fantasy game). It took a lot of work, which you could knock out in the early game and the rest of it would flow really nicely, but no one wants to put the work in on it.

[Oniya]

I discovered that swapping disks (putting in the wrong one and having it prompt me for the right one) got around the error messages.

[Inkidu]

I discovered that swapping disks (putting in the wrong one and having it prompt me for the right one) got around the error messages.

I think we may have tried that, but heck if I know, I don't even think we have it anymore. I chalked it up to developers just not giving a care years ago.

[DarklingAlice]

I'll second Legend of Dragoon and MAJORLY second Valkyrie Profile.  That game was unique property and spiritual successor to Actraiser at the same time.

Y'know, I never noticed that until you said it, but you are completely right. Strange that, loving both Actraiser and Vallkyrie Profile (which I haven't been able to finish because my second disc is the one that broke >_<) I never really thought of the similarities.



To add my own entry: I am always of the opinion that the Shin Megami Tensei family of games are vastly under appreciated. They were my favorite from a young age, and now they are about the only modern JRPGs I can bear to play. The fact that they are still being overshadowed by things like Final Fantasy tells me that there is a severe disconnect between myself and today's console RPG gamer.

[Idej]

I never really had much problems with Legend of Dragoon and so I wouldn't know about the issues that were discussed about Legend of Dragoon when it comes to the bugs and such with the game.  But I can at least give my empathy about those problems.

I really did like LoD very much and wish there was something to continue the story or do something about the Dragon Campaign.  It was still somewhat sad the Rose, Zeig, and Lloyd had to die in the end.

[Shjade]

It took a lot of work, which you could knock out in the early game and the rest of it would flow really nicely, but no one wants to put the work in on it.

It's a game. Why would I want to do work to enjoy it? ;p

[Violence]

My favorite JRPG franchise, Suikoden, always seems to be overlooked in JRPG discussions... but I think it had enough of a following that it can't really be called "underrated", I guess.  But a hidden gem that I remember from the PSX era, and I still have this game, was a game called Trap Gunner.

I honestly don't even know what kind of game Trap Gunner was, really.  You picked your character from a list of what were essentially anime archtypes.  You then proceeded to run around leaving mines and your character's special traps to try and kill the computer character that was hunting you.  The multiplayer didn't work at the time, because it was splitscreen so you always knew where your friend was dropping traps... but it's kind of a shame they never made anything like it for Xbox Live or PSN or anything.

[Kunoichi]

There's this one sandbox game for the PS2 called Steambot Chronicles that I remember really enjoying. ^^ You had a lot of freedom in the way you could go about things in the game, and you could easily just ditch the main line of quests and fool around doing other stuff if you wanted.  It was really cool, really...

Oh, and of course, giant steam-powered robots always make for a nice aesthetic addition to any game, in my experience. :P

[consortium11]

Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura

Thirded.

Looking back it actually could be my favourite RP of all time...

[Rosier]

Not so much in the way of videogame RPG's, but there's two games that come to my mind for being underrated:

- The Disgaea franchise, I enjoy the games quite a lot and some of the humor the series has. Started on the PS2, has a game for the DS, PS3 and I think one or two for the PSP. Personally, I prefer the DS version (it's a game that fits the handheld quite well), but I haven't found myself enjoying it any less on the PS2 or PS3.

- Homefront, and this is a first person shooter. When it was released, the publishing company and the development team (at this time, KAOS) failed to realize how many servers they would need and their servers ended up being overloaded. This caused a lot of network, connection and lag issues with the game early on that turned a lot of people off. (I don't think many of the PS3 community still play this game). As time went on, some glitches in the game (invisibility glitch, for one) cropped up and people left due to this, and due to the small gun selection and so on. I've played it on the 360 with minimal trouble, and I find this game incredibly balanced and just insanely fun. It's such a joy to buy an Apache helicopter and tear up the other team, and it's a joy to go around blowing up campers who are sitting all the way at the back of the map. Plus, the 32 player lobby (for objective gametypes) makes it a lot more chaotic and fun, hard to miss out on the action.

Plus, I don't know who wouldn't love shooting a helicopter out of the sky with an Abrams tank.


Those are the two most obscure, underrated games I've personally played and enjoyed.

[Shjade]

Jagged Alliance 2. I will orally pleasure this game from now til the end of eternity. A decent game on its own, but once the modders got their hands on it, it became a great game. I love it, though it's good luck getting other people to play it.

Just bringing this one up again because it's currently on sale for $5 on Steam.

[CmdrRenegade]

Bioshock 2.  Honestly, I don't understand all the hate it gets.  I thought the plot was good, although it should have a bit more development and the gameplay was still fun.  I didn't even mind guarding the Little Sisters as they harvested.

[Shjade]

I didn't even mind guarding the Little Sisters as they harvested.

Probably why you don't relate to the hate it gets. Aside from whatever issues the story may or may not have (I haven't successfully run Bioshock 2 on my machine to get the bulk of it firsthand, though the Yahtzee version was not optimistic - as if that's a surprise), most gamers I know, myself included, hold escort and protect NPC missions at the very top of the list of things games do to irritate the crap out of players. Not true for everyone, but more often than not.

[Sabby]

The hate is exagerated... the protect missions are short and not mandatory, and really, when else do you have a chance to set up some traps, knowing someone will actually run headlong into them?

Plus the new Hypnotize Plasmid made the game for me. Being able to bring a posse of Splicers where I go was a total game changer.

As for the plot...

Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide

Sofia Lamb was a perfectly Anti-Ryan, in my opinion. Andrew was all about helping yourself, while Sofia thought that grooming a society was the better option, not the individual. You can't build Utopia, as Ryan tried to do. Rapture is just a place, and the people inside of it are what ultimate destroyed it. So until a society was ready to embrace Utopia, it could not exist.

Her daughter, Eleanor, was taken and turned into a Little Sister, in the experimental 'Alpha' program, or the early stages of Big Daddy research. As far as I know, Eleanor and Delta were the only successful pair, bonded telepathically to each other. Alpha's were more intelligent and able to use Plasmids, and were also faster, which Yahtzee called out, but he seems to have missed the all important detail that Alpha's were dropped because they were prone to insanity. Losing the bonded Little Sister and having all those Plasmids made them a bad Monday waiting to happen... The Big Daddy's you see now are streamlined, a much simpler and easier design who would protect any Little Sister, unlike Delta, who loves Eleanor unconditionally. 

Eleanor was later rescued and partially reformed. Elements of her Little Sister heritage remain, the ability to comunicate with and control Little Sisters, process Adam and reform her tissue (this one I don't understand, as her Adam slug was surely removed). Sofia saw this as 'a blessing in disguise'. Eleanor was always meant to be a an example of a Utopian, and now she had the ability to siphon knowledge and memories from blood... and was surrounded by the dead or Spliced up remains of the greatest minds on Earth.

Sofia's plan was to have Eleanor absorb all of this knowledge with her unique Little Sister traits and use it for 'the common good', a selfless and logical being. A Utopian, first of a new race. The new age Jesus, basically.

Depending on your choices, Eleanor either kills or saves her mother, and you all escape to the surface, where she finally drains all of Delta, taking him from his body and into her mind, as her 'conscience'. She says 'the world is not ready for her, yet here she is'. I may be wrong, but I understood those words as things not always going perfectly to plan, as Sofia would have wanted, but its not as bad as we think it is.

[CmdrRenegade]

Probably why you don't relate to the hate it gets. Aside from whatever issues the story may or may not have (I haven't successfully run Bioshock 2 on my machine to get the bulk of it firsthand, though the Yahtzee version was not optimistic - as if that's a surprise), most gamers I know, myself included, hold escort and protect NPC missions at the very top of the list of things games do to irritate the crap out of players. Not true for everyone, but more often than not.

In most cases, I would agree with you.  I played on Normal and I didn't find the Little Sisters too difficult to protect.  Trap Rivets and a couple of Mini Turrets took care of most things.  It also helped that I had the Tonic equipped that gets them to harvest faster. 

[NotoriusBEN]

OH! Valkyria Profile: Lenneth is the PSP version?! Didnt know that. dammit. it was at the store for 20$.

as for under-rated games...

Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective -- just came out for DS. its got a good story, a bit wordy (its a JRPG) but its modern, not fantasy.
Persona 3 and 4 -- again modern JRPGs. these games just rock, and 4 was such a huge refreshment from fight the evil empire of so many RPGs. You gotta solve a murder mystery.

Alpha Protocol - good story and amazing dialogue system. Now take this dialogue system and story and boot strap Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory's gameplay and it. will. be. epic.  one of my gripes with AP is that I got hung up on a 2foot tall sandbag wall. >.> easy enough to step over but your agent is apparently not as dynamic a thinker as you are.

Kill.Switch -- this game is to cover mechanics what Metal Gear: Solid is to Stealth Mechanics. There were no games before these of their genre. Kill switch was a little... weird... in that you basically kept moving forward through cover, using blindfire and grenades. You could even spoof the enemy and flank them if you kept their heads down. actually turning 90degrees right or left was a chore, and the camera was a bitch to move. but it wasnt a big deal with enemies that were always in front of you. the final level actually had some alternate paths so it was a bit hectic then.

XCOM: UFO Defense -- I've seen games try to do this service, but nothing is as awesome as this for turn-based, Men in Black awesome.
It was turn-based yes, but you *could* perform swat tactics with it. the only caveat was those damn crystalids. They had 40 eggs which they could implant with a melee prick, instantly turn your operatives (that you trained and mentored for hours of gameplay) into zombies that were lost to you. when you killed your former teammates TWO MORE crystalids would spawn from the husk. Did I mention they are resilient to most small arms, lasers and plasma? which is about 95% of your arsenal?

literally, one crystalid could wipe out your entire 12man team in 2 turns. just restart the mission, cuz the organization would take too much of a setback to train green recruits with new gear .

[Sabby]

Hellboy: The Science of Evil.

...this ones strange to explain, because really, its not that impressive. At all. Graphics, gameplay, story, all of it is very average, and it doesn't really try and do anything different. Its just a mostly fixed camera third person game where you run around punching various monsters or lifting them over your head to hurl them like javelins into whatever looks fragile.

Having said all that, its a decent beat 'em up, which is like an extremely endangered species in this age, with God of War and Ninja Gaiden the two abstinent panda bears we're lavishing so much attention on.

[Sabby]

Uhg, I take that all bad. Looked it up on Youtube. Looks like I was extremely bored when I played it, because I remembered it WAY too fondly.

[Bayushi]

A PC game I grabbed off of Steam for cheap, that I was always seeing a friend playing.

Torchlight, it's basically Diablo done right. Except it doesn't have multiplayer/LAN play, nor online multiplayer.

Torchlight 2 is supposed to be out very soon, which I'm looking forward to, as I would LOVE to play this game with my friend online, as the Torchlight 2 is supposed to have LAN/Online coop play.

Otherwise, it's just like diablo... health bubble, mana bubble; with Potions for each. Hack'n'slash dungeon crawling with spells and the like. Monsters drop gear/scrolls/gems(like Diablo 2's runes).

Strange story, that I couldn't even provide spoilers on (as I haven't completed the game yet). I think Torchlight was an experiment to gauge the interest in the game, with Torchlight 2 acting as the "full" version.

It's strange that I just don't hear about this game outside of random references on different gaming forums.

[DarklingAlice]

I second Torchlight. Although it can wear on you as time goes by. I tend to play it in spurts. And I play it on max difficulty with hardcore mode on and thus still haven't beat it <_<

Which reminds me. ROGUELIKES. An entire genre of games that gets completely ignored by mainstream gaming. Seriously. Head over to RogueBasin and check them out.

[Oniya]

Oh god - the computers at my college had the original Rogue on them. 

[Inkidu]

The hate is exagerated... the protect missions are short and not mandatory, and really, when else do you have a chance to set up some traps, knowing someone will actually run headlong into them?

Plus the new Hypnotize Plasmid made the game for me. Being able to bring a posse of Splicers where I go was a total game changer.

As for the plot...

Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide

Sofia Lamb was a perfectly Anti-Ryan, in my opinion. Andrew was all about helping yourself, while Sofia thought that grooming a society was the better option, not the individual. You can't build Utopia, as Ryan tried to do. Rapture is just a place, and the people inside of it are what ultimate destroyed it. So until a society was ready to embrace Utopia, it could not exist.

Her daughter, Eleanor, was taken and turned into a Little Sister, in the experimental 'Alpha' program, or the early stages of Big Daddy research. As far as I know, Eleanor and Delta were the only successful pair, bonded telepathically to each other. Alpha's were more intelligent and able to use Plasmids, and were also faster, which Yahtzee called out, but he seems to have missed the all important detail that Alpha's were dropped because they were prone to insanity. Losing the bonded Little Sister and having all those Plasmids made them a bad Monday waiting to happen... The Big Daddy's you see now are streamlined, a much simpler and easier design who would protect any Little Sister, unlike Delta, who loves Eleanor unconditionally. 

Eleanor was later rescued and partially reformed. Elements of her Little Sister heritage remain, the ability to comunicate with and control Little Sisters, process Adam and reform her tissue (this one I don't understand, as her Adam slug was surely removed). Sofia saw this as 'a blessing in disguise'. Eleanor was always meant to be a an example of a Utopian, and now she had the ability to siphon knowledge and memories from blood... and was surrounded by the dead or Spliced up remains of the greatest minds on Earth.

Sofia's plan was to have Eleanor absorb all of this knowledge with her unique Little Sister traits and use it for 'the common good', a selfless and logical being. A Utopian, first of a new race. The new age Jesus, basically.

Depending on your choices, Eleanor either kills or saves her mother, and you all escape to the surface, where she finally drains all of Delta, taking him from his body and into her mind, as her 'conscience'. She says 'the world is not ready for her, yet here she is'. I may be wrong, but I understood those words as things not always going perfectly to plan, as Sofia would have wanted, but its not as bad as we think it is.

I think Bioshock 2 isn't so much underrated (though it is) as it is probably the greatest missed opportunity in the past ten or so years in the industry.

Jack at the end of Bioshock is more Big-Daddy than Alpha ever was. Such a waste. The idea of being a Big Daddy is that shit ain't supposed to be steppin' all up in your diving mask. Irrational new this, and they acknowledged it in several interviews (among which was Game Informer and several other respected video game sources). However, I think it has to do with not having gamers for play testers or something.

Instead of being a half juggernaut at the start of the game and being able to handle basic splicers like they're candy your suit is made of what has to be wet paper and you die way too easily. I mean you should at least be on par with other BDs but you're not. You're just Jack all over again. The problem is people were there and got the T-shirt.

Big Sister who was supposed to be a single recurring boss from what I understood got downgraded to Big Daddy with boobs
Just a host of missed gameplay chances.

On topic: I think Deus Ex: Invisible War was underrated. It was tried way too early to do what it was attempting. The game still had multiple paths, endings, and customization. I saw what they were trying to do though, they were trying to get you out of arbitrary stats and more into the choices of implants you wanted to make, what you wanted to focus on and all that. It didn't turn out so well, but only the most hardcore fans are the one's spewing venom I find. More augment slots would have helped a lot too.

[DarklingAlice]

Oh god - the computers at my college had the original Rogue on them.

The computers at my elementary school had the old D&D ASCII dungeon crawler which predates even Rogue. I lost so much of my childhood to that game. I really wish I could find it again.

[Shjade]

Strange story, that I couldn't even provide spoilers on (as I haven't completed the game yet). I think Torchlight was an experiment to gauge the interest in the game, with Torchlight 2 acting as the "full" version.

Could be true if not for the existence of FATE. Torchlight is basically FATE 2.

[Geeklet]

Well, the people who made torchlight, also had their hands on both Fate and the original Diablo, so is it really any coincidence?

[Shjade]

Of course not. Torchlight pretty much combines baseline Diablo with 90% of FATE's mechanics (pets, fishing, generational hero promotions on retiring, childlike graphics, etc.). It'd have to either be a blatant knock-off or continuation of work by some of the same folks.

[coolhands]

Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura

Defiantly agree with this one.  This was an amazing game, a little broken at times but it was so worth every second i put into it.
i would also like to add the PC game Deus Ex another one of my favorite underrated games.

[Callie Del Noire]

Defiantly agree with this one.  This was an amazing game, a little broken at times but it was so worth every second i put into it.
i would also like to add the PC game Deus Ex another one of my favorite underrated games.

I LOVED Arcanum (even brokern) and I'm looking forward to Deus Ex: Human Revolution. :D

[Shjade]

Deus Ex may have an underrated RPG side to its FPS gameplay, but I dunno about the game on the whole being underrated. All it takes is a quick browse through some Youtube clips of the voice acting in that game to remind me why I've never had the urge to go back and play it again. x.x;

[Callie Del Noire]

Deus Ex may have an underrated RPG side to its FPS gameplay, but I dunno about the game on the whole being underrated. All it takes is a quick browse through some Youtube clips of the voice acting in that game to remind me why I've never had the urge to go back and play it again. x.x;

True.. but they got GOOD voices this time around.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution extended trailer [HD]

[coolhands]

i am so excited for Human Revolution as well.  There are so many amazing trailers out for it now.

[Callie Del Noire]

i am so excited for Human Revolution as well.  There are so many amazing trailers out for it now.

Just found all this sort of things.

I am looking forward to next week.

[coolhands]

Another great underrated game was sphinx and the cursed mummy.

[Shjade]

Anyone else watch that Deus Ex trailer and find themselves thinking it looked a lot more like a trailer for a Ghost in the Shell story? Dude was trying his best Batou (circa Innocence) impression there.

And now I want someone to make a good GitS game for PC. :|

[Suiko]

Galerions, both the first one and Ash. Hardly anyone seems to own these games and yet they are just amazing. Wonderful characters that you adore (even the bad guys all have something you can't help but love), a villain so twisted you can't wait to kick the crap out of, and a simple gameplay mechanic that works.

anything where you have to force a needle with drugs into your neck to gain various psychic powers gets my thumbs up.

... Go out and buy it now! Galerians!

Also anything by the company Shin Megami Tensei, these include Digital Devil Saga (underground, darker, grittier final fantasy type affair) Nocturne/Lucifer's Call depending on where you are in the world and the more recent Persona series... All are gems in their own right.

I could go on, but... I will shut up now <<'

[Inkidu]

Just found all this sort of things.

I am looking forward to next week.

It's going to be my birthday present to myself. I reserved a copy at Gamestop with my card too and I'm entered for a chance to win a 20K home make over and a cool bionic arm replica.

As long as I get to pull someone through a wall. That's my mantra.

[Sel Nar]

Just a short list of games (or series) that I think are underrated, or didn't get the love they deserved from the public.

Bloodrayne. <- Mindless schlocky fun that had you killing Nazis/Vampire cults as a Redheaded Dhampir Sexpot. Third game is coming out later this month, and it's a departure from the first two's full-3d style.

Primal. <- The only time Hudson Leick and Andreas Katsulas worked together, and I cannot heap enough praise upon the game for being a darker, thoughtful, and impressive game that really makes the PS2 work for its keep. Also has awesome Music from 16 volt.

Heroes of Might and Magic. (currently working on VI) <- Cult classic, but nobody gives it love because it's a turn-based fantasy Strategy when everyone wants Fast-pased FPS where you spend more time looking at a respawn counter than actually playing.

Sword of the Stars. <- Another TBS, this time in space, with the heretofore unheard-of act of randomizing parts of the Tech Tree. Voice Acting is hit-or-miss, the AI for some of the 6 races is schizophrenic to us, but actually makes sense based on the lore, and each race has its own way of traveling between planetary systems. Sequel is coming out later this year.

Metro 2033. <- A quote from one of the characters (who returns in the Upcoming Sequel; 'Last Light') "It appears that the devastation we brought upon ourselves was complete. Heaven, hell, and purgatory were atomised as well. So when a soul leaves the body, it has nowhere to go, and must remain here, in the metro. A harsh, but... Not undeserved atonement for our sins, wouldn't you agree?" Fallout Done RIGHT. The world is decaying; weapons are scavenged or built from spare parts, Military-grade rifle ammunition is used as your currency, all you have to protect yourself from the radioactive fallout seeping in from above is your geiger counter, a gasmask to prevent particles from getting into your lungs, and a handful of nearly worn-out filters, and, beyond the lights and squalor of the crowded stations, mutants and beasts lurk, waiting to attack from the shadows and devour you. Nobody I know has played it.

Titan Quest. <- Like diablo, only you're going after the Titans of greek mythology, and there's ragdoll physics so if you smack a weak enemy with a heavy weapon, they go flying hard and fast as their gear falls off of their corpse for you to scavenge. Never got much love because everyone thought it to be a ripoff.

[Hemingway]

Heroes of Might and Magic. (currently working on VI) <- Cult classic, but nobody gives it love because it's a turn-based fantasy Strategy when everyone wants Fast-pased FPS where you spend more time looking at a respawn counter than actually playing.

I think the only underrated HoMM game is Heroes V. Which is probably because Heroes IV was a pretty terrible game, compared to the legendary Heroes 3. I don't think you could get further from "underrated" than Heroes 3. :P

[Sel Nar]

I think the only underrated HoMM game is Heroes V. Which is probably because Heroes IV was a pretty terrible game, compared to the legendary Heroes 3. I don't think you could get further from "underrated" than Heroes 3. :P

True, but if you ask any of your friend if they've even heard of Heroes of Might and Magic, and they're under 25 years of age, there's a 90% chance of you getting a blank look and a 'wut?'

[Inkidu]

Just a short list of games (or series) that I think are underrated, or didn't get the love they deserved from the public.

Bloodrayne. <- Mindless schlocky fun that had you killing Nazis/Vampire cults as a Redheaded Dhampir Sexpot. Third game is coming out later this month, and it's a departure from the first two's full-3d style.

Primal. <- The only time Hudson Leick and Andreas Katsulas worked together, and I cannot heap enough praise upon the game for being a darker, thoughtful, and impressive game that really makes the PS2 work for its keep. Also has awesome Music from 16 volt.

Heroes of Might and Magic. (currently working on VI) <- Cult classic, but nobody gives it love because it's a turn-based fantasy Strategy when everyone wants Fast-pased FPS where you spend more time looking at a respawn counter than actually playing.

Sword of the Stars. <- Another TBS, this time in space, with the heretofore unheard-of act of randomizing parts of the Tech Tree. Voice Acting is hit-or-miss, the AI for some of the 6 races is schizophrenic to us, but actually makes sense based on the lore, and each race has its own way of traveling between planetary systems. Sequel is coming out later this year.

Metro 2033. <- A quote from one of the characters (who returns in the Upcoming Sequel; 'Last Light') "It appears that the devastation we brought upon ourselves was complete. Heaven, hell, and purgatory were atomised as well. So when a soul leaves the body, it has nowhere to go, and must remain here, in the metro. A harsh, but... Not undeserved atonement for our sins, wouldn't you agree?" Fallout Done RIGHT. The world is decaying; weapons are scavenged or built from spare parts, Military-grade rifle ammunition is used as your currency, all you have to protect yourself from the radioactive fallout seeping in from above is your geiger counter, a gasmask to prevent particles from getting into your lungs, and a handful of nearly worn-out filters, and, beyond the lights and squalor of the crowded stations, mutants and beasts lurk, waiting to attack from the shadows and devour you. Nobody I know has played it.

Titan Quest. <- Like diablo, only you're going after the Titans of greek mythology, and there's ragdoll physics so if you smack a weak enemy with a heavy weapon, they go flying hard and fast as their gear falls off of their corpse for you to scavenge. Never got much love because everyone thought it to be a ripoff.

Actually, Metro does something better than Fallout. It has better characters. Yeah, there were really only a handful of VO actors but Miller, Kahn, Bourbon, Ulman, and even Artyon are all very memorable individuals. Hell they even stick out better because a lot of the NPCs are right bastards if you listen to the ambient dialogue.

Sure, Fallout has good characters, but they're more to the cool side of things. You don't get a lot of exposition from Fallout games. I played it, I played until I got all the achievements. Someday I buy it again on the cheap but right now I can't see it ever leaving me. I'm the only person I know of who has ever taken out a Librarian with the combat knife.

I've also heard of and played a few Might and Magic games. They're really hit and miss.

[itsbeenfun2000]

I am going to throw out two old board games. start fleet battles and federation and empire

[Oniya]

I actually have the original Might and Magic - and a multi-foot by multi-foot taped-together roll of graph paper that I mapped from it.

[Anyalyss]

I looooove HoMM 3, I started with the second one though and spent a lot of time creating my little maps *giggles* I just love everything that has to do with mythology so how could I not like this games? :-) I didn't like the 4th and I hated what they did to the creatures on the 5th *sighs* they were all the same! As for the 6th, I just hope that they put back all the typical resources because in the beta, so far, they're missing gems, sulfur, and mercury.

Anyway, there is also a nice tiny little game called "Anomaly Warzone Earth", a friend told me that it actually had a little story so, I got curious as usual and played it... and it was lots of fun. It's your typical "tower defense" game except that instead of defeding, you're the one attacking *giggles*

[Hemingway]

True, but if you ask any of your friend if they've even heard of Heroes of Might and Magic, and they're under 25 years of age, there's a 90% chance of you getting a blank look and a 'wut?'

I'm ... I'm 21!  :'(

[Oniya]

So, you're in the top 10%! ;D

[Anyalyss]

I'm under 25 too!! now where is my free lemonade for being in this super exclusive 10%?  :P gimme!

edit!:  I forgot! there is a game called "Afterlife" it's likely one of my all time favourites along with "Toonstruck"

[Syauglan]

Despite having sold many more copies than the developers expected, Amnesia - The Dark Descent could still be considered underrated, at least to my mind. When I played it I was so impressed at how scary it could be my jaw dropped as far as one of those...things, that first starts to hunt you early on in the game.

Beyond Good & Evil. The greatest game nobody ever played.

Indeed! Given the amount of work that went into it, the masterful result and the lack of sales Beyond Good & Evil has to be the greatest game nobody played.

[Oniya]

Despite having sold many more copies than the developers expected, Amnesia - The Dark Descent could still be considered underrated, at least to my mind. When I played it I was so impressed at how scary it could be my jaw dropped as far as one of those...things, that first starts to hunt you early on in the game.

Man - that looks like something out of Sabby's nightmare thread.  O_O

[meikle]

You don't get a lot of exposition from Fallout games. I played it, I played until I got all the achievements

You know, Fallout didn't start at 3. :p

[Inkidu]

You know, Fallout didn't start at 3. :p

I'm very well aware of it and no character has ever given me deep expositions on the nature of man. They go for more of the pulpy feel of the old sci-fi short stories from the fifties and sixties. In a lot of ways it comes off more endearingly cheesy.

[DarklingAlice]

I'm very well aware of it and no character has ever given me deep expositions on the nature of man.

Nah, for that you have to hit up Planescape: Torment

[Suiko]

Planescape: Torment <3

Isn't that the one where you're brought back to life at the beginning? Awesome game.

[Inkidu]

I don't know I've said this (and I'm too lazy to go back and check) but I think Legend of Zelda: Marjora's Mask is greatly underrated (as a Zelda title).

[Sabby]

On topic: I think Deus Ex: Invisible War was underrated

It was, but no one can defend it's endings. That was just unforgivable.

Man - that looks like something out of Sabby's nightmare thread.  O_O

Pfft. My nightmares would chew that thing up and spit the slaggy remains into a slowly shrinking coffin.

[Inkidu]

Meh, they were okay... I would hardly say it ruined the whole game.

I usually go in with the mind-set that all endings are inherently bad. It's their nature to kind of be so. It makes the ones that are really good stand out.

[Suiko]

I don't know I've said this (and I'm too lazy to go back and check) but I think Legend of Zelda: Marjora's Mask is greatly underrated (as a Zelda title).

Is that the one where you go back in time throughbthe same day? If so, yes, very underrated.

[Sabby]

Meh, they were okay... I would hardly say it ruined the whole game.

I usually go in with the mind-set that all endings are inherently bad. It's their nature to kind of be so. It makes the ones that are really good stand out.

It wasn't what was in the endings, it was how they were handled. And by that, I mean with all the tension and closure of a hurtling train suddenly disappearing and leaving behind a plate of cold shit.

You press a button, and get a 10 second cutscene, and the 'race' to the button was not special. Just a couple of dudes who needed bullets.

[Inkidu]

Is that the one where you go back in time through the same day? If so, yes, very underrated.

Yep, you relived the same three days over and over again.

Sabby: I don't know what you were talking about, I was a ninja. I had naught but my blade and smoke-bombs. Like I said, ending's are inherently bad. Something good ending usually is. 

[Hemingway]

I'd like to add Mirror's Edge to this list.

Not that it wasn't a flawed game. The pacing of the gameplay could've been better ( when the point of the game is to run fast and leap from building to building, building up momentum as you go and elegantly chaining moves together, having to stop and figure out where you're going sort of sucks ). I think the main problem, at least for me, was that it tried to be something it wasn't. By giving you the ability to take weapons from your enemies, they slowed the game down further. Just taking away that would've made the game better, and definitely would've made the gun-toting enemies more threatening.

That said, the concept was fantastic. Most of the time it works, and when it works it's great. The story isn't all that, but the setting is great. They did such a good job of creating a beautiful anti-utopia. I mean, this is how I hope the future will look, all clean and bright with lots of glass. I guess I'd prefer if the world wasn't controlled by evil corporations, but ... it seems we're headed that way anyway, so whatever.

[Inkidu]

I'd like to add Mirror's Edge to this list.

Not that it wasn't a flawed game. The pacing of the gameplay could've been better ( when the point of the game is to run fast and leap from building to building, building up momentum as you go and elegantly chaining moves together, having to stop and figure out where you're going sort of sucks ). I think the main problem, at least for me, was that it tried to be something it wasn't. By giving you the ability to take weapons from your enemies, they slowed the game down further. Just taking away that would've made the game better, and definitely would've made the gun-toting enemies more threatening.

That said, the concept was fantastic. Most of the time it works, and when it works it's great. The story isn't all that, but the setting is great. They did such a good job of creating a beautiful anti-utopia. I mean, this is how I hope the future will look, all clean and bright with lots of glass. I guess I'd prefer if the world wasn't controlled by evil corporations, but ... it seems we're headed that way anyway, so whatever.

I don't think the disarms should have been removed, but they certainly were not implemented the way that they should be. You see it in those little loading screen animations. If you're going a certain speed and you hit someone you should be able to knock them flat and keep going, or at least strip their weapon and toss it, especially from behind.

Other than that I agree completely about Mirror's Edge.

[kamil88]

Most games created by Tim Schafer { Grim Fandango, Psychonauts) i really feel sorry for guy, he create awesome, very playable games, yet they sell so badly.

[Hemingway]

Full Throttle and Brütal Legend are also amazing Tim Schafer games. I don't know if I'd call them underrated, but ... I hear you!

[Sabby]

I just gave the Starship Troopers game a try.

...it's actually really good o.o think Left 4 Dead with giant clamp mouthed ants. You just move and fire into the writhing, surging mass of screeching limbs and hold back the neverending tide of Arachnids.

[Callie Del Noire]

Starship Troopers is a game?

[Sabby]

Yes. First person shooter, went totally under the radar because of some poor reviews. It looks good for an old game and it has an insane amount of shit happening on screen. Some of the footage on Youtube is from an older version that doesn't look too impressive though. Like, remember the iconic siege part of the movie, with Arachnids storming the walls? Most videos of that level will show it with a big cloud of dust covering the level so the numbers of bugs are only implied. But the actual game shows everything. An entire horizon buried by bugs.

It's glorious.

[Boxy]

It may have a cult following now, but if it has, I haven't noticed it.  Killer7 is one of my favorite games, and though it's easy to see why some don't like it, I don't think it's too terrible, just that it's a very unique experience and thus takes some time to really get into.  That and the story is left a bit ambiguous, which I don't mind at all myself, but I guess others do.  It's my favorite of Suda51's games, which has me excited for the supposed 'Killer is Dead' project as apparently it is going back to those kinds of roots.

[DarklingAlice]

Starship Troopers also has a kick ass tabletop wargame from the 70s/80s. Probably hard to find now, but old school Avalon Hill is awesome.

[ElusiveM00se]

Not sure if it's been mentioned already -

Legend of Dragoon (PS1) - Stunning JRPG from the 90s with a wonderful soundtrack, voice acting, and story. One of the best combat systems I've seen, even if it was a little unforgiving.

Dungeon Siege III (PS3, 360, PC) - A guilty pleasure for me. Great music, a decent story, and really fun combat. This game makes me think of a Final Fantasy/Diablo hybrid.

[Oniya]

Not sure if it's been mentioned already -

Legend of Dragoon (PS1) - Stunning JRPG from the 90s with a wonderful soundtrack, voice acting, and story. One of the best combat systems I've seen, even if it was a little unforgiving.

I liked the Additions system.  Seven years of piano lessons gave me a bit of an edge with the rhythms.  ;D

[ElusiveM00se]

I liked the Additions system.  Seven years of piano lessons gave me a bit of an edge with the rhythms.  ;D

...I only had 4 years of piano, but then 7 years of flute... so... yeah. >.>

[SinXAzgard21]

Legend of Dragoon (PS1) - Stunning JRPG from the 90s with a wonderful soundtrack, voice acting, and story. One of the best combat systems I've seen, even if it was a little unforgiving.

Good game but damn the graphics for that game sucked.

[Sabby]

Eh, bad graphics I can handle, so long as the gameplay is smooth.

Sadly, those two don't overlap as much as they could.

[SinXAzgard21]

Eh, bad graphics I can handle, so long as the gameplay is smooth.

Sadly, those two don't overlap as much as they could.

I had no issues with the game play.  I had issues with it being a late game on a console that proved it can produce better graphics and yet it looked like Legos.

[BlightRaptor]

Primal Rage. I always remain hopeful someone will buy the rights and reboot it. Dinosaur-gods duking it out and nomming on their worshipers. What's not to love? Also crazy juggling combo possibilities you didn't see in the more well known fighters at the time.

[Sel Nar]

I had no issues with the game play.  I had issues with it being a late game on a console that proved it can produce better graphics and yet it looked like Legos.

Don't forget that the translation team basically crawled into a large bottle of moonshine from around 3/4ths of the way through the first disc and stayed there for the rest of the game. It's still fun in a doofy way, though.

Another one added to my 'underrated' game list; Red Faction: Guerilla. Open-world 'Blow up ~Everything~' game; got lots of love because you could literally drop a singularity bomb in an enemy building and watch the walls implode, but was often unfairly compared to GTA because you're running/driving around in an open world.

Was popular enough to earn a fan-song called 'Space Asshole' because that's what you were.

[Oniya]

Don't forget that the translation team basically crawled into a large bottle of moonshine from around 3/4ths of the way through the first disc and stayed there for the rest of the game. It's still fun in a doofy way, though.

And in a 'No, we're not trying to be FFVII, really!' sort of way.  (Spiky-haired hero with big-ass sword takes on platinum-haired pretty-boy villain with bigger-big-ass sword in fantasy world secretly endangered by bigger sci-fi villain.)