Games you love that nobody ever talks about

[Ultress]

There is Tales of Vesperia, which is understandably missed by those who don't play JRPGs, but most people seem to ignore it even if they are into anime, JRPGs, or even the Tales series because they are, understandably, too busy talking about Tales of Symphonia, Tales of the Abyss, and/or Tales of Graces. Still, I find ToV to have one of the best and deepest stories in a video game, and it has an incredibly strong cast of characters to keep it going. The gameplay could have used a little more work, but it was still enjoyable and never detracted from the excellent story.

It sort of drops the ball around Act 3 but Vesperia is one of my favorite Tales games. Love it more for the battle system though.

OT: Wild Arms 3:It's a game with great atmosphere,a well developed main cast and full of clever puzzles.Polished everything from the already great Wild Arms 2 and added it's own mechanics to boot. Shame it was followed up by the abysmal fourth installment.

 

[chainguns]

I came to this thread to write "Sid Meier's Pirates!" but seems I got beaten to it. Ranks as my most replayed game ever (counting the original Pirates on Dosbox). One of the rare examples of modern remakes that keep everything great from 1980's gameplay classic (except for the loss of naval town bombardment mini-game), but adds 2004 visuals and fluidity.

Another one is Dungeon Siege 2 - gets a lot of flack for "playing itself" (often said by people who don't like RPGs) and not measuring up to Diablo 2 or Baldur's Gate 2, but its mix of lore, loot, story, and quests make it inexplicably addictive.

 

[WenisPagon]

Probably Call of Cthulhu: Shadow Over Innsmouth/Dark Corners of the Earth.

Flawed to hell and back but a lot of the survival-horror like elements are very unique and have never really been duplicated. It was a big inspiration for the more successful game Amnesia.

 

[Blunderboy]

well i'm doing a series of videos on how to play my favorite game Myth II soulblighter as its fifteen years old and limited players are finding the game, or old school vets coming back. If your interested you should check out my other video's but this video clearly shows how the online multiplayer game is played.

Oh man. I love Myth II. It is hands down one of my favourite games of all time. Even the mission briefings where superb.

OT - Baldur's Gate 1 & 2 for me. It's a bloody amazing game, and to be fair it does get mentioned fairly often in passing.

In terms of one I've never really heard mentioned?
Europa 1400 - The Guild.

Europa 1400: The Guild (also titled Europa 1400 or The Guild) is a simulation game set in Europe from the year 1400 up to 1815. In it, the player tries to guide a family dynasty to power and wealth, starting from one character of limited means. Players can choose from a variety of initial businesses (including iron smith, tavern, church and thieves' guild) and historic cities (including Berlin and London). As the family business and social standing grows, more options become available, even high political rank.

In fact I think I'll start a new game right now.

 

[WenisPagon]

Anyway the game I'd like to propose: Freespace or rather Freespace 2.
People seem far more obsessed with Wing Commander and I honestly don't know why.
It's the one game I'm scared of replaying because I fear that I might remember it much better than it is. Simply because no game could possible be that good. I couldn't even pick a particular moment I remember from the game because there are just so many even though I haven't played the game in ages. It had a great story and really good combat with a big variety of ships and weapons. Controls were a bit iffy but it was a rather complex game so that's to be expected. To this day it's the game I mention when someone asks me for the best game of all time
I once read an explanation why it never got a 3 installment. It was just the best possible Space Combat game that could be made at the time, so after they finished it the producers just thought "That's it. We're done here.". Sadly the real reason is because it didn't sell well.

Freespace 2 holds up ridiculously well, thanks to some highly capable modders.

That early mission in the nebula will never not be incredibly, amazingly, horrifyingly tense.

 

[aozgolo]

EarthBound and Conker's Bad Fur Day.

As for why I love them ... well EarthBound was the first video game I ever played at ... what was I, 5? It's been one of those things that stuck with me, and as I sit at my workspace at 22, I can come up with TOO MANY reasons why I love it, so instead, I'll let this video do the talking for me if you really bother.

I never really considered EarthBound to be a game people didn't talk about much, that could be just the circles I hang out in but despite being a "hidden gem" game, it seems to have quite a bit of notoriety in that regards.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Nobody talks about Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction. It's one of the best open world sandboxes on the PS2 and elsewhere, but all credit seems to go to either GTA or Saint's Row. And it was an awesome game, dammit.

I played the crap out of this game way back when. Don't know how much age has slowed it down though.

I remember the final mission being hard as balls, but also having short cuts if you were sneaky enough. Like being able to commandeer an attack helicopter if it hovered low enough, and just destroying any opposition in your way. Granted you could avoid all those missiles.

The tricky thing about the final mission was that you couldn't get choppers delivered as usual, so if you wanted to bypass the level you had to steal an NK chopper yourself, which was hard as balls past a certain point. But if you managed you could easily fly over the mountains under NK flag and safely land inside the military base. After that the real challenge was taking Song alive while all hell broke loose around you.

 

[Mike Richards]

You know, I feel like I end up talking about Myst a lot on here and I really, really do try not to bring it up in every other post. But then a thread like this comes along, what am I supposed to do?

Even though it was later surpassed by it's sequels in just about every way, playing the original for the first time was a stunning revelation for me. It was the first game I can remember playing, and the first time I ever felt like I could really get inside another world and be a part of the story.

Looking back, it feels kind of odd that the very first installment of the series and the one that I have the most nostalgia for actually stands as the low point of the series. But I guess that just means it only went up from where it started and that's probably the best way a franchise can play out.

It was inventive, it was unique, it was atmospheric as fuck, it still has one of the best scifi/fantasy universes I've encountered, it was mature in a more sophisticated way then it's contemporaries like the awesome-but-for-totally-and-completely-different-reasons Doom, and it's widely credited with selling the CD as a platform. So yeah, it'd be nice to see it get a bit more modern love.

Anyway the game I'd like to propose: Freespace or rather Freespace 2.
People seem far more obsessed with Wing Commander and I honestly don't know why.
It's the one game I'm scared of replaying because I fear that I might remember it much better than it is. Simply because no game could possible be that good. I couldn't even pick a particular moment I remember from the game because there are just so many even though I haven't played the game in ages. It had a great story and really good combat with a big variety of ships and weapons. Controls were a bit iffy but it was a rather complex game so that's to be expected. To this day it's the game I mention when someone asks me for the best game of all time
I once read an explanation why it never got a 3 installment. It was just the best possible Space Combat game that could be made at the time, so after they finished it the producers just thought "That's it. We're done here.". Sadly the real reason is because it didn't sell well.

I have very fond memories of Freespace. It was a bit complex for me when I was a kid but I tried to fight my way through it anyways. Sort of managed to get it running again the other day but there are a few visual bugs I haven't quite managed to smooth out yet. Still get chills from that intro.

Probably Call of Cthulhu: Shadow Over Innsmouth/Dark Corners of the Earth.

Flawed to hell and back but a lot of the survival-horror like elements are very unique and have never really been duplicated. It was a big inspiration for the more successful game Amnesia.

Haven't ever made it very far in DCE but I really liked the feel of it. I've been thinking about going back to it recently, October seems like as good a time as any.

 

[MysticSlayer]

There is Tales of Vesperia, which is understandably missed by those who don't play JRPGs, but most people seem to ignore it even if they are into anime, JRPGs, or even the Tales series because they are, understandably, too busy talking about Tales of Symphonia, Tales of the Abyss, and/or Tales of Graces. Still, I find ToV to have one of the best and deepest stories in a video game, and it has an incredibly strong cast of characters to keep it going. The gameplay could have used a little more work, but it was still enjoyable and never detracted from the excellent story.

It sort of drops the ball around Act 3 but Vesperia is one of my favorite Tales games. Love it more for the battle system though.

While I admit that Act 3 felt like a bit of a stretch at points, most of what occurred in it was foreshadowed throughout the rest of the game and there were enough questions going into Act 3 that it was easy to tell that there was still much more left to go in the game. Also, I understand that the "sudden" (it really wasn't that sudden) change to discussing environmental issues might be a little jarring for most people, but being a former environmental studies major, I found it incredibly interesting.

 

[Angelblaze]

Wakfu.

I just...I just love this. In-game government and environment system, crap tons of classes and stuff to do...

Really the only thing is that the arenas, one of my faovrite parts of the game, is stuck behind a 3 to 5 dollar per week pay wall but even then if you farm enough to Dofus 2.0 you can get it for free...

 

[teqrevisited]

Future Cop: LAPD.

I spent hours playing the Co-op campaign with friends and the precinct assault mode both against them and the cpu. Sky Captain wasn't too competent but it was fun to piss him off. The soundtrack was pretty decent too.

 

[scorptatious]

I kinda wish there were more people talking about the Disgaea games on here. Especially considering D2 just came out. And so far, gameplay wise, this is probably the best one yet. A lot of elements have been streamlined (NO not the bad kind) for ease of use. (For example, they actually tell you what units and what level they need to be in order to unlock a specific class, you don't have to pull pull off a manuver with the directional buttons in order to use the diagonal throw, ect.) There's a large variety of classes and monsters to choose from, and you can even set what kind of personality they have. There's just a boatload of customization options that allow you to create your own kind of team.

Of course, it is a series that appeals to a niche audience. So it's understandable why most people probably haven't played it.

Oh, and Final Fantasy IX. You can never have enough discussion about that game.

 

[FourCartridge]

I'll pick up with Blur. It's a racing game from Bizarre Studios that was their follow up to PGR. It was basically a mixture of WipEout, Project Gotham and Mario Kart(I personally hold it to be better than the latter). You picked from a selection of real life cars(abit with arcade handling) and raced in RL locations as stuff just flew everywhere. 20 racer grids, a balanced and awesome looking weapon system, and even a decent online mode. Here's some gameplay:

http://youtu.be/G2sv2SqTyJ4

Arcade racers as a whole are criminally underrated here. =P

 

[krazykidd]

No one remembers legend of legaia .
No one remembers parasite eve .
No one remembers wild arms 3.

 

[aozgolo]

No one remembers legend of legaia .
No one remembers parasite eve .
No one remembers wild arms 3.

Pretty sure they are all remembered, just rarely discussed. I played Legend of Legaia a lot, I haven't played the other two but have heard of them. Legaia was really fun but outside of the clever fighting-game inspired battle system, there wasn't anything especially unique about it that made it stand out. I still enjoy it but the story while good isn't quite on par with other JRPGs of it's era.

 

[Bocaj2000]

Oh where do I begin...
-The Witcher
-Rainbow Six Vegas 2
-Lost Odyssey
-Hotline Miami (in relation to its significance as a postmodernist piece)
-Star Conflict
-Titan Quest
-Brink (the positives of the game)
-MOBAs that aren't LOL or DOTA

-Planescape Torment
-Alpha Centauri

 

[aozgolo]

Oh where do I begin...
-The Witcher
-Rainbow Six Vegas 2
-Lost Odyssey
-Hotline Miami (in relation to its significance as a postmodernist piece)
-Star Conflict
-Titan Quest
-Brink (the positives of the game)
-MOBAs that aren't LOL or DOTA

-Planescape Torment
-Alpha Centauri

I hear The Witcher and Planescape Torment mentioned all the time, usually as off the cusp examples of great lesser known RPGs. The rest though not so much, I admit even though I own Titan Quest I've never played it, but it does make me think of another seldom mentioned great Hack n' Slash type game:

Nox: Not Aquanox, just Nox, a game made in 2000 by Westwood Studios, quickly overshadowed by Diablo II, it's still an amazing game. The campaign if I recall is somewhat short but a lot of fun to play, sadly this is another case of a great game devoured by the EA Monster.