Games you never found another player of (or even heard of)

[srm79]

Dog's life for playstation 2.

I've never met another person that is even aware of its existence, which is a shame. Cause it is the best game ever made!

I played that once! My girlfriend at the time bought it in a misguided attempt to join in my passion for gaming. I guess all the racers, shooters and action games on my games shelf really screamed out that I would just love a game about being a dog. Still, at least she tried I suppose. None of 'em since have made the attempt!

OT: Panzer Front and Panzer Front: Ausf. B for the PS1 and PS2 respectively. Actually, Ausf. B was exactly the same as the original with the graphics beefed up for the PS2. Possibly the very first "HD reboot" before they were cool.

"Ausf." is just a contraction of the German word "Ausführung" which literally means "design" or "execution", and was used in keeping with the Panzer theme as subsequent marks of German armoured vehicles would be referred to as "Ausf. B/C/D" etc...i.e the Tiger II was known to the Germans as the Tiger Ausf. B.

 

[Shilefin]

I've found this half-assed MMO game called Age of Time, which I played for about a year or two because of my worrying fondness of virtual currency. I never mention it to anyone though, because I am kind of ashamed.

 

[LostCrusader]

Dark Messiah: Might and Magic was one of my favorite PC games ever and I never heard anyone else mention it. I think it had some kind of multiplayer but I heard it was broken and never tried it.

 

[ivarsa15]

I never knew anyone who played the game gangland as much as me. I have like 4 copies of that game.

 

[Sewa_Yunga]

I never hear anyone talk about Jill of the Jungle

Curse you, now I have nothing left to say! Did you use the bug which let you throw more daggers early on?

Wait, actually I do. There were some other games on my family's pc back then, one being Xenon 2(which is fairly known afaik) and the other one being a game called Stunt. Or Stunts. I don't really know anymore... It was kinda like Trackmania

 

[Icehearted]

Black Dawn for PSX.
Good times.

Oh my gravy YES! I playe the demo for this thing till I knew exactly where everything was. The full length game? I sunk weeks into it. I don't know why but it did everything right for me (down to the corny CG).

I have fond memories of Felony 1179 and Auto Destruct. I can imagine a lot of people played Felony, but Auto? Seems rare

 

[oliver.begg]

i've never met anyone that not really really hardcore PC enthuasist that has played the X series (like x3 reunion or Terran conflict)

 

[Therumancer]

A game called Baroque.
I found it cheaply for the Wii a few years back, don't know anyone who's heard of it.
And good so, the game sucked and I didn't understand crap about it...
I tried to play it for several hours but never got anywhere
People of the Escapist, keep away from this game!

Actually that's a cult classic, and it's failure has probably cost us a lot of good JRPGs in general. There have been versions for the Wii and PS-2, and people pretty much begged for that to make it to North America. I wouldn't be surprised if the failure to released Xenoblade Chronicles originally was in part due to executives looking at that game specifically.

To some extent I can see where your coming from with Baroque, it went over the head of a lot of people in North America, lacking the same kind of identifiable structure as things like the SMT series. The whole "point" of the game is to figure out what's going on, how much of this is in your head/a virtual construct, how much is read, what the point is, etc... This is done by basically grinding the roguelike dungeon, which gets bigger and bigger, with you having to start out new each time you try and run it, excepting the limited abillity to cast things out of the dungeon for a later incarnation to use. There is little in the way of persistance with your reward being figuring out tiny slices of what's going on as you die or defeat the dungeon.


A surrealistic pseudo-biblical horror action roguelike with heavy science fiction trappings. Too wierd for the US audience except for the limited audience that demanded it. Doubtlessly dooming other wierd things people wanted to try.

As I understand Baroque was so popular that the localization rights cost a pretty penny, and the version for the Wii and PS-2 is actually a remake of the title (due to popularity) from an earlier system. PSX I think.

All this ranting aside, I myself thought it was "meh". I still have my copy. My issue with it was that it seemed a bit too arbitrary in the way the dungeon was set up. It felt more like me throwing myself against the RNG rather than actually learning to survive in a roguelike enviroment, since the type and placement of monsters along with what they were going to give you was so bloody random you could basically wind up fighting dozen ultra fast demon-wheel bot things right inside the entrance and not even have a weapon, running (as it suggests, given your objective to get through) not always being viable since things can be so much faster than you.

That said high octane masochism seems to be the Japanese way when it comes to video games. I get into it when the game makes it fun, for me while it could be fun, it was too arbitrary waiting to find out if it was going to give me a chance.

 

[Freaky Lou]

Dark Messiah: Might and Magic was one of my favorite PC games ever and I never heard anyone else mention it. I think it had some kind of multiplayer but I heard it was broken and never tried it.

It comes up quite often on RPGCodex, or any site dedicated to western cRPGs. I was halfway interested in trying it out since it's like 5 bucks at the NEX atm.

For me:

War Of The Monsters: Fighting game for the PS2 based around Godzilla-style movie monsters beating each other up in crowded cities. Was pretty fun, if shallow, but apparently lies forgotten.

Pathologic is an extremely obscure game, but it's starting to get a little more recognition now in the snooty/underground/indie circles. A Russian game from 2005 that's...sort of horror, sort of adventure, sort of RPG, sort of FPS...? It's like nothing else, for sure. I do own it but it's unbearably difficult and I sincerely doubt that I will ever, ever complete it.

Ultizurk: An extremely obscure series of Ultima-style games made by one guy. They were actually pretty good, but compatibility issues on an already obscure product had buried it until recently. They're all at a link from here: http://ultimacodex.com/2012/05/the-ultizurk-series-2/

 

[Vhite]

Wiggles: the Myth of Fenris (or Diggles as it was called in US)
Fun sidescrolling strategy game with terrible animations but great atmosphere.

I never met anyone who had played Freelancer until a few years ago. A truly fantastic and wondrous game. Nothing I have found since can compare with the experience of hovering stationary in a vast ice field, watching frozen chunks of rock pirouette past, the irregular flashes of light illuminating patches of the dark cloud shrouding your vulnerable craft. Being completely alone save for the occasional silhouette of a hostile dagger fighter, scouring the mist for lost ships like yours.

That and accidentally crashing into planets. That was hilarious.

Strange that you never met anyone because its still often played game. I recommend you to download Discovery mod. It adds more than any expansion would (for example you can now buy capital ships) and there are amazing servers to it so full that you will think you are playing MMO. The main server has also roleplaying rules which enchances the atmoshpere and unless you meet terrorist or opposing faction no one will just shoot you to down, even pirates ask for credits first (of course this only works with players).

 

[JokerCrowe]

Second Sight. Yahtzee mentioned it in an Extra Punctuation but I haven't seen/heard anyone who's actually played it. Which is a shame, because it's really Quite Good.

Also, I'm glad a few people also played Metal Arms: Glitch in the System. I replayed that maybe 5 times, and I thought it was really awesome.

A third game I found in a bargain bin which I probably replayed more than Metal Arms is Rogue Trooper.
I honestly can't tell you why though, when I think back on it, I don't remember it being That good...
Ok, yeah I do, But I think that's mostly because of Nostalgia. And THIS cutscene:

 

[Therumancer]

Hmmm, well there would be a lot from me, but I'm older than a lot of people who post here so that might have something to do with it. Some of my favorites include:

1. Wizards and Warriors: an old RPG in the vein of Wizardry, not the oldest thing on this list, but when I mention it most people think of the NES carts. I had some fun with this, but wound up losing it. Haven't been able to find a copy of it digitally, but it has been a while since I've looked.

2. Noctropolis: I'm not a big adventure game player, but Origin Systems/Richard Garriot did this adventure game about a comic fan running a used book store who gets sucked into a parallel reality where he has to step in to replace his favorite super hero. One of those games that used live people playing the roles when that was a hip new technology. I always kind of hoped for a sequel and to do more with the villains (since I didn't feel like I actually defeated most of them) but it didn't do anywhere well enough for them to consider I guess.

3. Cybermage: Darklight Awakening: The guys who did Wizardry did this one too, it was an attempt to create a FPS with other elements in it. This was one where you had powers, guns, and fairly open levels in places, along with side objectives. I always felt this game and another one by Origin called "Shadowcaster" innovated a lot of the things later FPS games wound up taking credit for.

4. Bloodnet: This was kind of like the wierd cousin of "Challenge Of The Five Realms". It's an adventure game/RPG hybrid where you play a computer hacker in a cyberpunk world who gets turned into a vampire. You need to recruit a bunch of fellow cyberpunks Ultima style and put together a team to take down the head Vampire before you become a full Vampire and lose your humanity. It was differant at the time, especially seeing as Vampire-mania had yet to fully set in. While this was inspired by the old "Grimms Cybertales" supplement for "Cyperpunk 2020" (or so it seemed) I have kind of wondered how many later works it wound up inspiring because every once in a while I can't help but think "you know that sounds almost like an intentional Bloodnet referance".


Of course then again I'm the guy who thinks gaming peaked with "Ultima 7" and "Crusaders Of The Dark Savant" as one year's RPG one-two punch, back when a 386 was a monster machine. Sadly, creativity wise it seems to have been gradually down hill, especially for RPGs. I kind of hope Richard Garriot gets something out soon, despite the layoffs, and somehow manages to start a new gaming renaissance.

 

[Squilookle]

The one that really comes to mind is Interstate 76. It's basically a less ridiculous Twisted Metal with heaps of car customization and a campaign with a storyline. The graphics have aged terribly but I had a great time with it when it was the only PC game I had. There's also Urban Assault which was a great combination of RTS and vehicle combat...I think it may have a bit of a cult following but I've never met anyone who's mentioned playing it.

Ahh yes. The legend. The pinnacle. The undisputed king of car-combat.

I was struggling to think of one, but I suppose Crimson Skies counts. Not the xbox game everyone always goes on about- I'm talking about the much better PC game. It was basically Interstate 76 in the sky. Fan-TAS-tic game.

I'm surprised Pandemic Studios isn't revered the way other tragically shut-down developers are, or even mentioned for that matter. Clover Studios gave us three (excellent, amazing) titles on the PS2 and it's been deified as a developer-saint ever since Capcom shut it down. Pandemic gave us nothing short of amazing games and was shut down by none other than EA... specifically speaking, I'm surprised Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction doesn't get mentioned more often. Amazing, wide open, free roaming sandbox as the PS2 never had (GTA franchise aside). I've seen it mentioned exactly once in here, and only because I brought it up. Same thing with the Destroy All Humans! series. How come they don't come up more often?

Damn straight. Mercenaries is my favourite sandox of all time. OF ALL TIME.

You'd think their stellar work on star wars battlefront 1 and 2 alone would have elevated them into sainthood, but for me Saboteur just totally hit it out of the park. Such a fantastic game to end on.

 

[Matt King]

I clocked in roughly 90 hours with Bladestorm, I loved that game. But I don't know ANYONE who's ever played it and that includes video game forums!

God i love that game, i have about 70 hours myself

Mine would be lost kingdoms 1/2 it is one of my favourite games and i love it and the only person other than me i have ever heard mention it is a small time youtuber who did a lets play

 

[Sordin]

Dungeon explorer: warriors of ancient arts. A fun little action RPG thing for the DS and a neat little time sink to boot. Never found anyone else who has played this although it does have a Wikipedia article so I guess I'm not completely alone.

 

[Dr Jones]

Dog's life for playstation 2.

I've never met another person that is even aware of its existence, which is a shame. Cause it is the best game ever made!

Actually I think that game was quite popular, I knew a lot of people that had played it (and I had myself). I never thought much of it, though.

 

[Bad Jim]

Zanzarah: The Hidden Portal. It had some pleasant, atmospheric music and entertaining combat. I picked up a fake copy of the game in Kowloon years ago.

Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project. It was a side-scrolling 3D shooter in which you blasted aliens and did other things that I will not mention here due to the wishes of the Vatican.

Soldier of Fortune. Much of the same, minus the aliens.

I never met anyone who had played Freelancer until a few years ago. A truly fantastic and wondrous game. Nothing I have found since can compare with the experience of hovering stationary in a vast ice field, watching frozen chunks of rock pirouette past, the irregular flashes of light illuminating patches of the dark cloud shrouding your vulnerable craft. Being completely alone save for the occasional silhouette of a hostile dagger fighter, scouring the mist for lost ships like yours.

That and accidentally crashing into planets. That was hilarious.

I played Freelancer and beat the campaign. You might want to look at a similar game called DarkStar One

http://www.gog.com/gamecard/darkstar_one

Tachyon: The Fringe, a space sim from 2000. So far, I've only ever met one person whose even heard of it, not one who has actually played it. A shame, it was a good game. Now all Novalogic do is make more expansions to Delta Force.

I have that in my Steam library. Unfortunately I also have Freespace 2, Independence War 2, Evocron Mecenary, etc and I haven't really got round to playing it. Maybe I should give it a whirl.

i've never met anyone that not really really hardcore PC enthuasist that has played the X series (like x3 reunion or Terran conflict)

I have X2 The threat and X3 Reunion but never really got into them. They aren't the most noob friendly games. Kind of amusing having a character called Ban Danna though.


Anyway, has anyone here played Hostile Waters? It was deservedly praised by the critics but almost no-one bought it. Anyone going to play it?

http://www.gog.com/gamecard/hostile_waters_antaeus_rising

 

[Garrett]

Poland never was big on gaming so it's really hard to find people that won't be stumped by a mention of non mainstream game. But I'm yet to find a person on the internet forums I'm active, who played UFOs (also known as Gnap). It's short but fun point'n'click adventure game.

EDIT:
Also, text adventure The Hound of Shadow isn't well known. But then again, very few people remember text adventures

 

[TheKaz]

Bomberman 64: The Second Attack springs to mind.

That was one of my favorite games of the N64, and yet nobody mentions it. Ever.

Other games of note include:

- Metals Arms: Glitch in the System (Xbox, PS2, Gamecube)
- Brute Force (Xbox)
- Goemon's Great Adventure (N64)

....This so much of THIS...

I recalled playing the shit-ton out of Mystical Ninja:Starring Goemon.