Speak up for the Under-rated games

[Pronon]

So I saw a thread the the other day that talked about the most over-rated games(console/pc).

What I would like to know is what do people consider the most under-rated games?

I'll go first: Mechwarrior 2

[Dogmantra]

Gotcha Force.

It's my second favourite game, and it received generally poor reviews across the board.

[Drascin]

Lost Kingdoms, Gamecube.

Now, how many people have so much as heard of it, much less played it?
In fact, I never could play the sequel because it wasn't deemed profitable enough to even release in my country! But I thought that, while short, it was a great game with really interesting mechanics that I'd really love to see in newer games.

[Bouregard]

Albion.
Huge world for the releasedate a noteworthy graphic and some really cool riddles.


Return to Krondor.
Old but gold!


Desperados
There are not much good wild west games out there. And this is for me even better then most Commandos games.

[Dihan]

Lost Kingdoms, Gamecube.

Now, how many people have so much as heard of it, much less played it?
In fact, I never could play the sequel because it wasn't deemed profitable enough to even release in my country! But I thought that, while short, it was a great game with really interesting mechanics that I'd really love to see in newer games.

Played it. It wasn't too bad.

I have four words to say:

Beyond Good and Evil. That is all.

[Winthur]

Black Moon Chronicles. Nobody knows this game anymore, and it's a shame, because it had an awesome soundtrack and some opportunities for epic battles. Maybe it was a little unbalanced and the AI was stupid, but it was a fine game.

[KBF]

Lost Magic for DS. It had an interesting system where you commanded a really small scale RTS while drawing complex combination of runes to cast spells. It was fun, but I never heard it mentioned of again after it's release. I picked it up about a year later so I missed the online aspect too, because no one played it..

[Cubey]

Black Moon Chronicles. Nobody knows this game anymore, and it's a shame, because it had an awesome soundtrack and some opportunities for epic battles. Maybe it was a little unbalanced and the AI was stupid, but it was a fine game.

I actually remember that. And yes, the soundtrack was really awesome.

[chiasaur11]

I like the Megaman Battle Network game on Gamecube.

EGM said it was cruel even by Megaman standards, though, so...

[Zevox]

Lost Kingdoms, Gamecube.

Now, how many people have so much as heard of it, much less played it?
In fact, I never could play the sequel because it wasn't deemed profitable enough to even release in my country! But I thought that, while short, it was a great game with really interesting mechanics that I'd really love to see in newer games.
I own and have beaten both Lost Kingdoms games. They were okay, but nothing special in my opinion.


I have four words to say:

Beyond Good and Evil. That is all.
Actually, I'd call that one overrated if anything, at least on the sections of the internet I frequent. I see fans of that game extolling it every chance they get, yet when I played it, I found it average at best. Just to name a couple of reasons I was disappointed: the story was remarkably black-and-white for a game entitled "Beyond Good and Evil," and the gameplay mechanics were pretty boring, focused on stealth without giving you many options for stealth and with very little in the way of combat options. It had some nice ideas, and wasn't really a bad game, but it sure wasn't a great one.

Anyway, a couple of my own:
- Psychonauts. Fantastic platformer, one of my two favorite X-Box games, whose only real downfall was its short length; yet it sold so poorly...
- Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem. How did this not become a series? Excellent Lovecraft-style fantasy/horror game. The only game classified as "horror" that I've ever really liked.

Zevox

[Terraoblivion]

The reason for the content not matching the title is that the title was originally meant to be Between Good and Evil, but some idiot executive thought it cool to steal the title of one of Nietzsche's books and call the game that. As for the gameplay mechanics, i'll honestly admit that i can hardly remember, it is just not the important part of the game. The fact that it is the one game to truly employ cinematic techniques to great effect and the general quality of the writing is what is.

[chiasaur11]

Actually, I'd call that one overrated if anything, at least on the sections of the internet I frequent. I see fans of that game extolling it every chance they get, yet when I played it, I found it average at best. Just to name a couple of reasons I was disappointed: the story was remarkably black-and-white for a game entitled "Beyond Good and Evil," and the gameplay mechanics were pretty boring, focused on stealth without giving you many options for stealth and with very little in the way of combat options. It had some nice ideas, and wasn't really a bad game, but it sure wasn't a great one.

Anyway, a couple of my own:
- Psychonauts. Fantastic platformer, one of my two favorite X-Box games, whose only real downfall was its short length; yet it sold so poorly...
- Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem. How did this not become a series? Excellent Lovecraft-style fantasy/horror game. The only game classified as "horror" that I've ever really liked.


Well, the games you mention fall into the same box as Beyond Good and Evil.

Great reviews, rabid fans, and poor sales. So, I can see why all were placed, but I think more poorly reviewed or forgotten games are being searched for here.

[RndmNumGen]

Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles. It got a lot of crap because while it was very clearly ment to be played in multiplayer, it required special equipment to play(you needed GBAs and adapters, couldn't use normal controllers). However, if you actually got a chance to play it in multiplayer it is a lot of fun.

[Inhuman Bot]

Lost Kingdoms, Gamecube.

Now, how many people have so much as heard of it, much less played it?
In fact, I never could play the sequel because it wasn't deemed profitable enough to even release in my country! But I thought that, while short, it was a great game with really interesting mechanics that I'd really love to see in newer games.

/wave

It was... Allright. I wasn't a huge fan, myself.

Anyways..

Metal Arms: Glitch in the System.
Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath
Goblin Commander: Unleash the horde

Those are the three I immediately think of that aren't commonly brought up.


Lost Magic for DS. It had an interesting system where you commanded a really small scale RTS while drawing complex combination of runes to cast spells. It was fun, but I never heard it mentioned of again after it's release. I picked it up about a year later so I missed the online aspect too, because no one played it..

Personally, I didn't like it because of it's poor controls, time limit on 99% of the battles, your disability to employ more then a tiny force, and not particularly interesting plot.

[Zevox]

Well, the games you mention fall into the same box as Beyond Good and Evil.

Great reviews, rabid fans, and poor sales. So, I can see why all were placed, but I think more poorly reviewed or forgotten games are being searched for here.
I would have to disagree - the quality of the gameplay in both Eternal Darkness and Psychonauts far exceeds that of Beyond Good and Evil, as does the story quality (assuming you take into account the largely humorous nature of Psychonauts' story rather than taking it seriously). Perhaps they all similarly have fairly vocal fans from amongst those who did play them, but I don't think that alone can be said to make them equivalent.

Zevox

[MickJay]

Sacrifice, perhaps? Great RTS, quite innovative for its time, dynamic, controlled from TPP.

Master of Magic, if you forget about the bugs the first version had (later patches, including some fan-made ones, I believe, fixed practically everything).

[Mewtarthio]

I would have to disagree - the quality of the gameplay in both Eternal Darkness and Psychonauts far exceeds that of Beyond Good and Evil, as does the story quality (assuming you take into account the largely humorous nature of Psychonauts' story rather than taking it seriously). Perhaps they all similarly have fairly vocal fans from amongst those who did play them, but I don't think that alone can be said to make them equivalent.

The important thing is that all three games have cult followings, so they really don't count as "underrated." As for BGaE being "overrated," you have to bear in mind that people who enjoy a game they feel doesn't get the attention it deserves will naturally tend to be especially rabid in their defense of it. Heck, just look at Earthbound.

[nooblade]

How many people here know what Spellcast or Spellbinder are without having to resort to Google?

If there is an artificial specification for computer games, then Spellcast fits it because there was a Linux version around some years ago and now a new shiny client for multiple operating systems too!

It's only my favorite turn based game of all time.

[-Baldur-]

Sim town. I'm sorry. But I love it.

[The_JJ]

I'd say Halo. :smallwink: (Seriously though, it is both under and over rated. Some much glory, so much hate)


Less trolleely I'd say Freespace. Loved that game.

[Zevox]

The important thing is that all three games have cult followings, so they really don't count as "underrated."
So a cult following is all a good game needs to not qualify as underrated in your mind :smallconfused: ? I'm afraid I have to disagree. Cult followings, it seems to me, tend to be exactly what forms around most underrated games.

Zevox

[Heroic]

I enjoyed Spartan : Total Warrior, it was pure button mash, but I enjoyed it.

[Ominous]

I'm going to agree with Zevox and add my support for Psychonauts being underrated. It is an excellent game and my only complaint is that it's difficulty curve is really weird.

[KBF]

So a cult following is all a good game needs to not qualify as underrated in your mind :smallconfused: ? I'm afraid I have to disagree. Cult followings, it seems to me, tend to be exactly what forms around most underrated games.

Zevox

I think you should reread the name of the thread. Games with particularly large cult followings and with very good ratings like Psychonauts and Beyond Good and Evil are spoken for. Contrast those with Gotcha Force.

[Lord of Rapture]

Yggdra Union needs more love. The reviewers that said that it was too easy and simplistic need to be beaten over the head, for they clearly never played the game.

[Dogmantra]

Metal Arms: Glitch in the System.

That was pretty fun. I really liked the tether thingy that let you control a MIL.

[Sir Dar]

Gothic 2. A game i knew nothing about this game for 3 and a half years after its release.How did i not find out about this great rpg sooner?You can skin,forge weapons,cook,make potions just to list a few.You do not start as the hero who can kill everything in his path.

You start out weak with most of the world being able to kill you in one shot.Make sure to save a lot .Do you hate that npc who won't shut up or is just to much of a pain in the you know what.You can attack and kill the npc.Warning other npcs may come to there aid.edit:Did i forget to talk about guilds? Yes yes i did. You can be a paladin,mage,or join the mercenaries.


Who ever said Sacrifice i have to agree with you.Took me over 8 years to find out about this fun game.its fun summoning units and blowing things up.

[Oregano]

Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles. It got a lot of crap because while it was very clearly ment to be played in multiplayer, it required special equipment to play(you needed GBAs and adapters, couldn't use normal controllers). However, if you actually got a chance to play it in multiplayer it is a lot of fun.

This extends to the whole Crystal Chronicles subseries now. There's a stigma attached to the name and the fact that it's a spinoff, so much so that a lot of people who hate the original(and the DS games) think Crystal Bearers shouldn't have the Crystal Chronicles name.:smallsigh:

Another one I can think of is Infinite Undiscovery, not a great game but a good JRPG, with some cool ideas. It looks nice, plays nice and has good, but fairly run-o-the-mill writing and an average score of <7 when mediocre FPSs can get ranked well into the 8> boundary.

[13_CBS]

Tribes 2, especially the Meltdown Mod. I don't think I've ever played or heard of any game quite like it (except for its sequel and prequel, of course). It, combined with the close community I played with, made it the best multiplayer experience with a game I've ever had.

[warty goblin]

Tribes 2, especially the Meltdown Mod. I don't think I've ever played or heard of any game quite like it (except for its sequel and prequel, of course). It, combined with the close community I played with, made it the best multiplayer experience with a game I've ever had.

The other benefit of Tribes 2 is that once you figure out how to shoot dudes there, every other shooter suddenly looks easy.

Personally I'd nominate Domination: Massive Assault. It's a very good turn based strategy/tactics with just a delicious hint of grand strategy and deception. The actual combat is chesslike in its simplicity, but manages to capture an aweful lot of tactical crunch despite not modeling a lot of things other games worry about. Also it looks damn good, even now, with shadows, reflections, and absolutely beautiful explosions. I've blown up a lot of stuff in games, but nothing compares to the sheer beauty of walking a Heavy Bot up to a Predator rocket artillery unit, and slagging the bastard with a wonking big laser.

[Vizzerdrix]

Lost Kingdoms. Both 1 and 2 are amazing. If you still have a game cube track them down and play them.

[Smight]

Less trolleely I'd say Freespace. Loved that game.

in the end you never get to find out anything about the Shivans and why are they attacking:smallfrown:

[Avilan the Grey]

Kingdom O Magic,
funniest adventure game ever made; didn't sell well for some reason.

[factotum]

in the end you never get to find out anything about the Shivans and why are they attacking:smallfrown:

That's because Freespace 3 never got made due to the relatively poor sales of the first two games. I believe the plan all along was to make it a trilogy.

[banjo1985]

Azure Dreams - A lovely little RPG that made an early attempt at randomised dungeons with a storyline behind it. It was a flawed but fun gem that suffered because it came out just before Final Fantasy VIII.

Grandia - The best JRPG ever, bar none. It's a travesty that it gets nowhere near the acclaim it deserves. The character development and storyline were unrivalled, and the combat mechanic was quite nifty too.

Enchanted Arms - Supposedly abysmal. I found it to be a good story driven RPG with slightly underwhelming combat. Also had some epically hard boss fights.

[Comet]

Risen seems to be getting merely average reviews.

I think it does the whole fantasy sandbox thing better than Oblivion ever could. And Oblivion seems to equal God to some reviewers. Confusing, that.

[Myshlaevsky]

Azure Dreams - A lovely little RPG that made an early attempt at randomised dungeons with a storyline behind it. It was a flawed but fun gem that suffered because it came out just before Final Fantasy VIII.

Grandia - The best JRPG ever, bar none. It's a travesty that it gets nowhere near the acclaim it deserves. The character development and storyline were unrivalled, and the combat mechanic was quite nifty too.

Enchanted Arms - Supposedly abysmal. I found it to be a good story driven RPG with slightly underwhelming combat. Also had some epically hard boss fights.

I dispute your claim it's the best JRPG ever, but the original Grandia is quite widely known and praised. It was the release of subpar sequels that tainted that pot.

[SlyGuyMcFly]

I dispute your claim it's the best JRPG ever, but the original Grandia is quite widely known and praised. It was the release of subpar sequels that tainted that pot.

I liked Grandia II a lot when I played it. Haven't played the first one so I wouldn't know if it's a sub-par sequel or not.

As for underrated games: Planetside. Awesome game.

[13_CBS]

The other benefit of Tribes 2 is that once you figure out how to shoot dudes there, every other shooter suddenly looks easy.


That, and master snipers in Tribes 2 look like gods given mortal form. Watching someone use a PBW (Metldown Mod sniping weapon, basically a laser rifle with the firepower of a mortar shot) to headshot a Magnetic Ion (Meltdown Mod armor class that can run and fly circles around Scouts) flying at max speed from 500 meters away was probably one of the greatest game experiences I've ever had. :smalleek:

[Inhuman Bot]

Grandia - The best JRPG ever, bar none. It's a travesty that it gets nowhere near the acclaim it deserves. The character development and storyline were unrivalled, and the combat mechanic was quite nifty too.


Let me introduce you to Mother 3. (http://mother3.fobby.net/) :smalltongue:

I'd also add Killer7 to the list.
And the Mother series, but it's got a large fanbase now.

[Cespenar]

Silver, Gangsters, NetStorm, Gruntz, Sanity, Claw, Get Medieval, Gorky 17, Blood & Magic, etc.

All old games, though, and probably haven't aged well. They aren't classics either, but were much more enjoyable then what seems to be selling nowadays.

[shadow_archmagi]

/wave

It was... Allright. I wasn't a huge fan, myself.

Anyways..

Metal Arms: Glitch in the System.
Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath
Goblin Commander: Unleash the horde

Those are the three I immediately think of that aren't commonly brought up.



Fascinating that you mention two games that I have played!

Glitch in the System was one a friend of mine owned and we used to play multiplayer. Of course, not owning the game, I didn't do particularly well, but it certainly looked fun and cool!

Goblin Commander I actually felt was pretty meh.

[Assassin89]

Magic Pengel the Quest for Color is an interesting RPG for the PS2. You draw your monsters and have them fight in a rock-paper-scissors style battle. It has an unofficial sequel known as Graffiti Kingdom, but I do not care about that game.

Not much for multiplayer, but then again several non-online PS2 games do not support more than two players, and the load times tend to take forever.

[Inhuman Bot]

Fascinating that you mention two games that I have played!

Glitch in the System was one a friend of mine owned and we used to play multiplayer. Of course, not owning the game, I didn't do particularly well, but it certainly looked fun and cool!

Goblin Commander I actually felt was pretty meh.

I still own Goblin Commander, but yeah, it could be nostalgia tinting my memories of it.

[Aotrs Commander]

There is a lot to be dais for Nexus the Jupiter Incident, which is an skirmish-level space RTS; getting nearly towards a flight-sim. It had a great plot and was very nicely put together; but it never had much of commercial sucess, i believe. Possibly because it was just a story-mode campaign with no skirmish or multiplayer mode. Excellent game, though.

[Lord Seth]

Escape Velocity: Override.

[Zen Monkey]

It may not count here, maybe it gets more attention than I've seen, but Katamari Damacy is still just as good as ever.

[Morty]

Black Moon Chronicles. Nobody knows this game anymore, and it's a shame, because it had an awesome soundtrack and some opportunities for epic battles. Maybe it was a little unbalanced and the AI was stupid, but it was a fine game.

Hm. I played it for a very short time, and I can't quite remember what turned me off. Maybe I only had it borrowed and I had to return it?

[Jimp]

I loved Dark Cloud (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Cloud)back in the day.

[GolemsVoice]

Oh! NetStorm, fun game. Played it when I was young, and the game probably was new back then. Is it old enough to be available for (legal!) download as abandonware already?

[Gralamin]

Lost Magic for DS. It had an interesting system where you commanded a really small scale RTS while drawing complex combination of runes to cast spells. It was fun, but I never heard it mentioned of again after it's release. I picked it up about a year later so I missed the online aspect too, because no one played it..

I loved Lost Magic. Until it broke my DS. And my Friends DS. Basically, that game, while fun, DESTROYS the console it runs on :smallbiggrin:

[SandroTheMaster]

I actually remember that. And yes, the soundtrack was really awesome.

Black Moon, or Lune Noire, is the French Warhammer. It isn't exactly famous this side of the Atlantic, but it is the rage in France (or was for a good while at least).

True, that French soundtrack was unbelievably epic. So good, in fact, that it is almost impossible to find the game itself, but the soundtrack can be found quite effortlessly.

Still, the game had some quite interesting concepts ahead of its time. It is the first RTS I've played with a good morale mechanic (probably the first to have one too) based around taking down standard-bearers and surrounding the enemy troops. It was also probably the first of the kind to have units arranged into platoons of several ones (actually, one of the upgrades available in the campaign was based around increasing the size of the platoons). Finally, it was the first truly violent RTS I've ever played. It wasn't only blood stains in the ground and undiscernible blood-splotches, but actual decapitations, incinerations, mutilations and the such. Truly, even though the AI was borderline pathetic and it was actually infested with bugs (balistas didn't even work), it was largely underappreciated for all the things it introduced.

As for me, particularly, I'd say the Discworld adventurers. Sure, they are easily the most asinine in puzzles short of the Sierra Adventurers, but damn, those were good adventurers. Quality animation, uncanny puzzles, great humor and, lastly but not least, one of the best adaptations I've ever seem. It is truly rare the adaptation that is true to its source material and actually "get it", and the Discworld adventurers were of this rare breed. Still, that doesn't change the fact that those games are almost impossible to play without getting suicidal urges without some strategy guide of sorts.

[Cespenar]

Oh! NetStorm, fun game. Played it when I was young, and the game probably was new back then. Is it old enough to be available for (legal!) download as abandonware already?

Eh, the wikipedia entry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netstorm) is somewhat ambiguous, it says that it's considered abandonware by some, which probably means it's actually not, or, whatever.

[Kaytara]

Return to Krondor.
Old but gold!


Desperados
There are not much good wild west games out there. And this is for me even better then most Commandos games.

Betrayal at Krondor, you mean. :P That one's a freaking classic. RtK is your standard run-of-the-mill buggy RPG. BaK is legendary. :)

Agree with the Desperados. Even have it in German, which I think is the original... Like most games I like, it's the characterisation and intra-party bickering that appeals to me, though the gameplay was really fun as well.

[Vitruviansquid]

I have never seen anyone extol the virtues of Fantasy Wars (or its sequel, Elven Legacy), but that's a game that does Turn Based Strategy and, by god, it does it RIGHT.

About Halo: A lot of people call it overrated for being generic and console based. Ahem. IT'S "GENERIC" BECAUSE IT WAS SO GOOD THAT EVERYBODY STARTED COPYING IT! Do you know why they call it the "Halo shield?" That mechanic that the vast majority of popular shooters employ? BECAUSE IT WAS INVENTED (or at least popularized :P) IN HALO! :smallfurious:

[Callos_DeTerran]

I have never seen anyone extol the virtues of Fantasy Wars (or its sequel, Elven Legacy), but that's a game that does Turn Based Strategy and, by god, it does it RIGHT.

About Halo: A lot of people call it overrated for being generic and console based. Ahem. IT'S "GENERIC" BECAUSE IT WAS SO GOOD THAT EVERYBODY STARTED COPYING IT! Do you know why they call it the "Halo shield?" That mechanic that the vast majority of popular shooters employ? BECAUSE IT WAS INVENTED (or at least popularized :P) IN HALO! :smallfurious:

On Halo:
Actually, I'd call Halo over-rated because it is generic (and I'm not talking about the 'Halo shield' either), the story is boring, and it does nothing to distinguish itself in the first person shooting genre. I barely made it past the first level on the first game before I wanted to take it back to the store and demand my money back.

As for actual under-rated games..hmm...I'm not sure how particularly under-rated it is, but I would say that Overlord is under-rated (at least in my social circles).

[MrPig]

That's because Freespace 3 never got made due to the relatively poor sales of the first two games. I believe the plan all along was to make it a trilogy.

Which is a shame, Freespace 2 is one of my all time favourites and I still sometimes bust it out.


Freelancer. I'd sell half a testicle for Freelancer 2, or at least an updated remake.

[Lord of Rapture]

I have never seen anyone extol the virtues of Fantasy Wars (or its sequel, Elven Legacy), but that's a game that does Turn Based Strategy and, by god, it does it RIGHT.

About Halo: A lot of people call it overrated for being generic and console based. Ahem. IT'S "GENERIC" BECAUSE IT WAS SO GOOD THAT EVERYBODY STARTED COPYING IT! Do you know why they call it the "Halo shield?" That mechanic that the vast majority of popular shooters employ? BECAUSE IT WAS INVENTED (or at least popularized :P) IN HALO! :smallfurious:

....

You. Go play FPSs that were made before Halo. Until you understand.

This article (http://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=777) will go a long way towards true enlightenment.

[Crow]

I really enjoyed Too Human, which is considered lame by many.

[Vitruviansquid]

....

You. Go play FPSs that were made before Halo. Until you understand.

This article (http://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=777) will go a long way towards true enlightenment.

The article articulates why Halo is a bad game, but not why it's generic. The accusation of it being "generic" implies that it copies from its predecessors and fails to innovate in its genre, which I assert is simply untrue.

[Volug]

Goblin Commander: Unleash the horde.

Strange, I bought this yesterday. Having fun so far, though a major complaint is that the NORMAL MODE can't be played by a single player, you need to have a friend.

Surprises me how this RTS works so dang well on the console.

[Lord of Rapture]

The article articulates why Halo is a bad game, but not why it's generic. The accusation of it being "generic" implies that it copies from its predecessors and fails to innovate in its genre, which I assert is simply untrue.

AHAHAHAHAHA

Surely you must be joking?

Shield aside, Halo brought absolutely nothing new to the table of FPSs. Everything from the environments to enemies to weapons were all done by previous FPSs and done better.

[Fri]

The first grandia is still my favourite game of all time. Yes, even compared to that. It's the game that made me like RPG and I'm not kidding, it changed my life.

[Demented]

Star Wars: Dark Forces.

I thought the level design ingenious.
Inevitably there'd be something stashed somewhere in the obscure back corner of a precariously thin ledge, and the environments felt functional. They even were functional, oftentimes. Not like the sterile, immobile facades that most games feature these days.

[Gamerlord]

Beyond good and evil.
The ultimate cult classic.
Lego star wars is in second place as a rather nice under-rated kiddie game.

[Kris Strife]

Does Tribes 2 still have a main server? Cause I managed to get Starsiege Tribes on my computer, and I've got no one to play with. :smallfrown:

[13_CBS]

Does Tribes 2 still have a main server? Cause I managed to get Starsiege Tribes on my computer, and I've got no one to play with. :smallfrown:

I can't say for sure, but I highly doubt it. It was already dwindling when I played it...7? 6? years ago.

[Grey Paladin]

King Arthur: The Roleplaying Wargame. Its a recent release (with one of the most uninspired names ever) by the newly formed Neocore. Its basic mechanics are very similar to the Total War series but it expounds and improves upon them in every single way all the while adding a lot of deep RPG elements that give much-needed strategic depth.

Granted, early on archers are incredibly broken but as you start facing less human foes and more monsters it balances out.

[factotum]

Shield aside, Halo brought absolutely nothing new to the table of FPSs.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Halo the first FPS that limited the number of guns you could carry?

[MrPig]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Halo the first FPS that limited the number of guns you could carry?

No, Rainbow Six was the first, as far as I know.

[Yora]

Albion.
Huge world for the releasedate a noteworthy graphic and some really cool riddles.


Return to Krondor.
Old but gold!
Albion, Krondor, ...
Somehow I immediately knew you're german. :smallbiggrin: These kinds of games seem to be great classics around here.

Which is a shame, Freespace 2 is one of my all time favourites and I still sometimes bust it out.
The amazing thing with this game is, that it still looks amazing, even though it's more than 10 years old.
When you play Half-Life or Baldur's Gate, they just look their age. But I think you could give Freespace 2 to a kid and it would not cringe at the graphics. That is, if you find a way to explain the kid what Space Simulations are. :smallbiggrin:

[Dragor]

There is a lot to be dais for Nexus the Jupiter Incident, which is an skirmish-level space RTS; getting nearly towards a flight-sim. It had a great plot and was very nicely put together; but it never had much of commercial sucess, i believe. Possibly because it was just a story-mode campaign with no skirmish or multiplayer mode. Excellent game, though.

I never finished N:TJI because of the asteroids level. Seriously, I could never get past that mission. :smallmad:

[Rockphed]

I'm going to throw the incredibly masochistic Outpost 2 into the grinder here. Sure, the building and research systems were done with text, rather than icons, and the most important resource was also impossible to directly control, but it included lightning tanks and an evil scourge that was spreading across the world, insatiable, unstoppable, and ignorant of the doom it brought.

Of course, I'm not actually sure that it IS under-rated. It is something like 15 years old at this point, so it might just be that everyone has forgotten about it.

[toasty]

I'm going to throw the incredibly masochistic Outpost 2 into the grinder here. Sure, the building and research systems were done with text, rather than icons, and the most important resource was also impossible to directly control, but it included lightning tanks and an evil scourge that was spreading across the world, insatiable, unstoppable, and ignorant of the doom it brought.

Of course, I'm not actually sure that it IS under-rated. It is something like 15 years old at this point, so it might just be that everyone has forgotten about it.

My mom will never forget that game. When she found out it didn't work on XP she found a website that patched it to do so! :smallbiggrin:

She. Loved. That. Game. And yes, the Lighting Tanks Rawked!

[Rockphed]

My mom will never forget that game. When she found out it didn't work on XP she found a website that patched it to do so! :smallbiggrin:

She. Loved. That. Game. And yes, the Lighting Tanks Rawked!

I haven't had any problems running it on XP. Well, there is the whole "Quitting the game from the main menu freezes the computer," but otherwise it seems to work fine. On the other hand, do you know of this website she got her patch from?

[toasty]

I haven't had any problems running it on XP. Well, there is the whole "Quitting the game from the main menu freezes the computer," but otherwise it seems to work fine. On the other hand, do you know of this website she got her patch from?

Maybe it was Vista then (her desktop is XP, laptop Vista) but as to the website URL, no clue. She found it via google though.

[Eldariel]

Just a few off the top of my head; ones that don't show up NEARLY enough on Top X lists:
Jagged Alliance II (also, the original Jagged Alliance and Silent Storm in the same vein)

Masters of Magic

Seiken Densetsu 3

Freespace 2

I-War

Aliens vs. Predator (#1 was friggin' PERFECT; except Predator was OP in multislayer. Made for nice 1v5s tho)

Combat Mission 2

Close Combat 2

[RobertoBlasini]

Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles. It got a lot of crap because while it was very clearly ment to be played in multiplayer, it required special equipment to play(you needed GBAs and adapters, couldn't use normal controllers). However, if you actually got a chance to play it in multiplayer it is a lot of fun.

I'm going to have to totally agree. I put it in the other day and realized it really IS a decent FF game, just kinda got thrown under the bus though, mainly cause it was released on gamecube, I would say.

[Jahkaivah]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Halo the first FPS that limited the number of guns you could carry?

Nope, plenty of other FPS had done that:

-FPSRPGs like Deus Ex and System Shock had a space-based effective inventory system which meant you had to balance guns with utility stuff.

-Tactical FPS like Counter-Strike and Rainbox Six required you to have just a Primary weapon and a Secondary Pistol.

-Class based games like Team Fortess and Battlefield determined your weapon selection based on your class.

[Setra]

The first grandia is still my favourite game of all time. Yes, even compared to that. It's the game that made me like RPG and I'm not kidding, it changed my life.
Grandia is definitely good, though I prefer Grandia 2 I would definitely vouch for the both of them.

My favorite RPG of all time is Shadow Hearts, so I'll be speaking up for the series as a whole (Though I haven't beaten Koudelka, as the a disc broke and I have yet to find another copy).

[Sneak]

Seiken Densetsu 3

Grrr, Seiken Densetsu 3. The most interesting part of that game was the beginning, with the individual backstories of each of the characters. Which were pretty much abandoned for the rest of the game except for some minor plot differences between characters.

Anyway, Giants of the Citizen Kabuto persuasion is my favorite underrated game. I know, I know, I extoll the virtues of this game at every possible opportunity, but...I just love it. In fact, it's a bit of a tragic love story because the copy I own no longer works and I can't get a torrent to work either. Alas, my love!

[Aricandor]

Two personal (well, maybe not so in the latter case) gems would be Demise: Rise of the Ku'tan or something such, and the Warlords Battlecry trio, the third in particular.

The former I will readily admit to not being a particularly good game from many standpoints, as it's ugly, repetitive and not particularly innovative in any way, shape or form, but the thrill of exploration and constant danger has been enough to draw me back over and over.

The latter however is gold of the kind I will defend to the death! :smallbiggrin:

[DemonicAngel]

Freelancer. I'd sell half a testicle for Freelancer 2, or at least an updated remake.

QFT. this, on so many levels!

[Inhuman Bot]

Anyway, Giants of the Citizen Kabuto persuasion is my favorite underrated game. I know, I know, I extoll the virtues of this game at every possible opportunity, but...I just love it. In fact, it's a bit of a tragic love story because the copy I own no longer works and I can't get a torrent to work either. Alas, my love!

Have no fear, GoG (http://www.gog.com/en/frontpage/) is here!

That's how I bought my copy of Giants, at least.

[Jibar]

I loved Dark Cloud (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Cloud)back in the day.

The Repair system was the only bad part of that game. When I broke my incredibly sweet Owl Sword, I stopped playing.
I hear Dark Cloud 2 fixed that, so I should really play it at some point.

Also, Kane and Lynch: Dead Men.
How a shooter story should be done.

[Oslecamo]

Masters of Magic


+1 for MoM. Got it recently, and I got me totally addicted to it, despite the stone age graphics. Currently playing an epic game(impossible difficulty) with Dark Elves invading the material plane. My corrupted high men paladins fight alongside my troll slaves, conquering the nomad empire cities one at a time, while my dwarven hero stacked with super loot defeats whole armies by himself. So much options...

[averagejoe]

Halo was cool because it was one of the more satisfying co-op games at the time that didn't require the internets to use. Maybe there was other stuff before that/at the same time (I'm pretty sure Perfect Dark had a co-op mode, but Goldeneye had always been an irritating game.) but we never had the funds/knowledge to just get any game we wanted whenever we wanted. For the most part, up to the PS1/N64 generation, co-op had been, for the most part, fumbly and not really existing outside of the Double Dragon/Turtles in Time type fighting games. Plus those games never really let you and your friend insert yourselves into the role of the guys you're playing without squinting quite a bit, making games like ninja turtles almost unplayable for these purposes. My only disappointment is that I was as old as I was when Halo came out, because as a kid that game would have been the most completely awesome thing, and pretty much had everything I always wanted but could never have in a game when I was that age.

It's hard for me to say which games are underrated since I never really know how popular games are. For example, I have no idea whether Conker's Bad Fur Day was a hit or just a cult title. Great game, and probably underrated, either way, though.

Again, don't know if it was underrated, but the Bushido Blade games were really neat fighting games. Probably underrated; I've hardly heard of them.

[Voldecanter]

Lost Magic for DS. It had an interesting system where you commanded a really small scale RTS while drawing complex combination of runes to cast spells. It was fun, but I never heard it mentioned of again after it's release. I picked it up about a year later so I missed the online aspect too, because no one played it..

I just bought this game at EB Games .

[Daze]

Xenosaga I-III...

Weird, fun RPG series loosely based in the xenogears universe. Maybe others have played it, but I havent met them!

And I'll second Master of Magic! A fun game even today!

[Vitruviansquid]

Devil's advocate: Masters of Magic is not, in fact, an underrated game. I have not met anyone who's played it that would claim it isn't good.

[Daze]

Devil's advocate: Masters of Magic is not, in fact, an underrated game. I have not met anyone who's played it that would claim it isn't good.

Fair enough...

I've not met anyone who hasn't enjoyed it either (assuming they like fantasy or strategy in the first place).

BUT

Exactly how many people HAVE played it is the question? Given that Microprose is out of business (or bought out?) I'd imagine not that many. It certainly wasn't a commercial success. So I guess you could count that as underrated then?.

[MrPig]

Devil's advocate: Masters of Magic is not, in fact, an underrated game. I have not met anyone who's played it that would claim it isn't good.

No one said under rated games are bad, or given poor reviews. They're under rated because they weren't a commercial success.

[Rutskarn]

MDK2. Smart, clever little shooter/puzzler/platformer dealie that had a host of entertaining game mechanics and a quite amusing storyline.

Who's my puppy-wuppy-dingy-doggie?

[Jahkaivah]

No one said under rated games are bad, or given poor reviews. They're under rated because they weren't a commercial success.

Underrated means what it says on the tin, people rate it under it's actual worth.

[Sneak]

Underrated means what it says on the tin, people rate it under it's actual worth.

That's the dictionary definition, but colloquially it is often used to describe things of perceived high quality that are largely unheard of or unknown.

[Jahkaivah]

That's the dictionary definition, but colloquially it is often used to describe things of perceived high quality that are largely unheard of or unknown.

Surely that should be what the term Underappreciated is for? :smalltongue:

[MrPig]

Underrated means what it says on the tin, people rate it under it's actual worth.

Yeah, but when it comes to gaming, I associate that word with poor sales/poor exposure as opposed to being crappy, or poorly recieved by critics.

[Temotei]

I'm not sure if this has been mentioned yet.

Legend of Dragoon.

[Warpfire]

Reviewers and cult followings are both minorities of the gaming community. So, a game with good reviews and a cult following can still be underrated because the vast majority of gamers have decided it isn't worth buying when, according to its supporters, it actually is.

[Knaight]

I think this might actually have a bit of a cult following, but reviews hit it hard, and it wasn't successful.
Baiten Kaitos: Lost Wings and The Eternal Ocean
Not only did the plot have some big surprises that I never saw coming, the music is often great, and the battle system is absolutely brilliant. It has its blemishes, quite a few, but ultimately the story was engaging, and it boasted really fun game play.

[Zovc]

Time Stalkers. So obscure I forgot it was one of my favorite games.

It's a crappy grindfest JRPG with a terrible plot on the Dreamcast. For some reason I eat that game up. The game had the perfect size dungeons for when I was in Junior High and High School to keep me hooked on grinding to boost up my team (a main character and up to two captured "monsters") as much as possible while not even interested in advancing the (rather bad) plot.

If I ever become a decent programmer, I will attempt to lead a tribute to the game.

Good luck finding a worthwhile amount of information on the game...

DAMNIT! I left my disassembled dreamcast at my cousin's with the game in the CD drive! FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF! This is your*fault for reminding me.

*Not necessarily directed at the OP.

Oh, Phantom Dust is another obscure game that I love. It's a real-time card battler on the (original) Xbox [It is backwards compatible, but the game can lock up frequently] with a plot that I thought was incredible in High School, but I now find not that great. It's one of the first RPGs I kept motivated long enough to beat, and I remember the epic battles my friend and I had. I still love the game's heavily anime influenced character models and animations, and think this game absolutely deserves a sequel.

[Starfols]

Star Control 2/The Ur-Quan Masters is not only one of my favorite games, it's also free. (http://sc2.sourceforge.net/downloads.php) There is simply no excuse.

I'd also like to mention Iji (http://www.remar.se/daniel/iji.php) and 1213 (http://www.fullyramblomatic.com/1213/); also good, also free.


....

You. Go play FPSs that were made before Halo. Until you understand.

This article (http://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=777) will go a long way towards true enlightenment.

But Halo invented FPS.

All kidding aside, that article has contains most of the complaints about System Shock 2 & Portal, both being critically 'good' games.

[Setra]

I'm not sure if this has been mentioned yet.

Legend of Dragoon.
Ah man I loved that game!!

Also, Legend of Legaia.

[Demented]

All kidding aside, that article has contains most of the complaints about System Shock 2 & Portal, both being critically 'good' games.

I don't think "When it came out it was a game filled with magical new technology." counts as a complaint. :p

[Mystic Muse]

Lost Kingdoms, Gamecube.

Now, how many people have so much as heard of it, much less played it?
In fact, I never could play the sequel because it wasn't deemed profitable enough to even release in my country! But I thought that, while short, it was a great game with really interesting mechanics that I'd really love to see in newer games.

you mean the game with the monster summoning princess who summoned monsters from cards to fight in battles?

played it, The data kept getting corrupted and I kept dying at the final boss.:smallfrown: It was a fun game though.

[Rowsen]

I genuinely enjoyed Unreal 2. It had the only cool looking Flamethrower I've seen in an FPS. None of this slow firey gas BS, it's a big firey burst like an actual flamethrower. Strangely, I can't get into Unreal 1. I'm weird...

[Zovc]

Legend of Dragoon.

I was disappointed when the guy at Play 'N Trade told me he could only give me $7 for the game. Sure, that's a good amount for a PSone game, but it means a lot more to me.

[dsmiles]

Legend of Dragoon.

Nice add.

[$0.02]
Personally, I like Gladiator: Sword of Vengeance for an underrated game. Button-mashing at its finest.
Also, Fable. Not the one for XBox. The old one for PC.
EDIT: Also, the Shining Force series.
[/$0.02]

[Zovc]

[$0.02]
Personally, I like Gladiator: Sword of Vengeance for an underrated game. Button-mashing at its finest.
Also, Fable. Not the one for XBox. The old one for PC.
[/$0.02]

HOLY COW!

There was that one game, Gladius, that was on the Xbox and the Gamecube (and I think the PS2). I think there was another game, Gladius: "Subtitle", that was completely unrelated (aside from being gladiator-themed). It was like FFT meets Paper Mario in an extremely gory, mythological, epic RPG.

HOLY COW!!!

WRATH UNLEASHED! It was like a hex-based chess game that turned into a fighting game when you tried to take an opponent's piece.

O SHI-!

Magic: the Gathering: Battlegrounds. It was like Magic meets a sort of... fighting game... most people hated its guts, but my friend and I had countless epic duels.

[Drascin]

I think this might actually have a bit of a cult following, but reviews hit it hard, and it wasn't successful.
Baiten Kaitos: Lost Wings and The Eternal Ocean
Not only did the plot have some big surprises that I never saw coming, the music is often great, and the battle system is absolutely brilliant. It has its blemishes, quite a few, but ultimately the story was engaging, and it boasted really fun game play.

Played it, found it pretty good, got trapped in an unwinnable situation without the will to restart :smallsigh:. You remember the airship where you fight the three people from the empire, right? I saved before that fight, critically underleveled... and then, since I had already saved up in the ship, I couldn't level up, making the fight almost if not completely impossible, and I really didn't have the patience to keep trying or restart the whole game.

[Dark Faun]

Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura (more commonly known as Arcanum), certainly. I've never seen such a successful mix of magic and technology, and it's only one of the many pluses of this game; I love being a master of persuasion with 20 Charisma in order to get all the voiced companions for example, it makes the game even better. Even if one very long quest had a most frustrating end, haha. (People who played this game will know what quest I mean.)

[Dragor]

Played it, found it pretty good, got trapped in an unwinnable situation without the will to restart :smallsigh:. You remember the airship where you fight the three people from the empire, right? I saved before that fight, critically underleveled... and then, since I had already saved up in the ship, I couldn't level up, making the fight almost if not completely impossible, and I really didn't have the patience to keep trying or restart the whole game.

Yep, me and my brother fell into exactly the same trap. I was loving it up until that point. :smallmad:

[SolkaTruesilver]

Space Buck. A great trade-game, easy to grasp for my 8-year old self..

I am so sad I am not able to make it run on XP... :smallfrown:

[Setra]

While in Japan they're FAR from underrated.. I'm going to speak up for the Dragon quest games as a whole.

Except for 8, I'm pretty sure everyone likes that one, so no need to speak up for it.

I can't wait to get ahold of Dragon Quest 9, no matter what anyone else says about it.

[Eldariel]

Space Buck. A great trade-game, easy to grasp for my 8-year old self..

I am so sad I am not able to make it run on XP... :smallfrown:

Virtual PC. Old OS. Solution to all your Operating System-problems.

[dsmiles]

Space Buck. A great trade-game, easy to grasp for my 8-year old self..

I am so sad I am not able to make it run on XP... :smallfrown:

Also, have you tried DOSBox?

[SolkaTruesilver]

Also, have you tried DOSBox?

Nah, it's on Windows.

I'll try virtual PC

Any of you played that game?

[MrPig]

You could also quickly google for a fan-made XP compatibility patch, since I'm assuming you've tried compatibility mode.

[SolkaTruesilver]

You could also quickly google for a fan-made XP compatibility patch, since I'm assuming you've tried compatibility mode.

Actually, I think the problem is I can't even install the freaking game :smallfurious:

[Dixieboy]

Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura (more commonly known as Arcanum), certainly. I've never seen such a successful mix of magic and technology, and it's only one of the many pluses of this game; I love being a master of persuasion with 20 Charisma in order to get all the voiced companions for example, it makes the game even better. Even if one very long quest had a most frustrating end, haha. (People who played this game will know what quest I mean.)

It has a pretty big following actually.
Almost like a cult, it's pretty scary.

[NeoVid]

Guilty Gear 2: Overture.

It's an online multiplayer RTS/fighter that barely has enough of an online community to stay playable... and I can't help, since I don't even have broadband at home.

[Dixieboy]

RTS/Fighter?

Elaborate.

[NeoVid]

RTS/Fighter?

Elaborate.

Well, the makers of the Guilty Gear series never just wanted to make fighting games, so a couple of years ago, they took the chance to experiment. They made an RTS where you directly control the single most versatile unit on the board... which is generally one of the characters from the fighting games, complete with an array of special moves and combos. While using your own character in the most critical spots, you also have to pay attention to the rest of the map, summoning and directing an army, with a ton of decisions to make on how you do that, also. It's probably best to just see one of the better American players in action. (http://www.youtube.com/user/swillo#p/c/C2252F012F5CF293/30/xoiY05KQhe0) All the best Japanese players post their vids on NicoVideo, which is registered users only, sadly.

I'm told the only game to play anything like it is Brutal Legend, which doesn't have remotely the depth to the RTS elements, even though it came out years later.

Overture was a critical flop over here, since the reviewers only played campaign, which is the shortest and least important mode... though the story's pretty impressive if you know enough about the setting.

If you like the sound of the game, the online community is always glad to see more people, though it takes a while to get good enough at the game that you won't hate multiplayer. Last I saw, it was $25 new. The best place to find (English-speaking) fans is probably here. (http://www.dustloop.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3785&page=156)