Is it just me, or are all the best games the ones no one knows about?

[JC175]

Let me just preface this by saying that yeah, there are definitely mainstream games I've played that I've enjoyed the hell out of - the Half Life series being a notable entry.

But in saying that, there've been a lot of hugely successful games I've played that I flat out haven't been able to get into, despite multiple attempts - the main culprit here being Halo. I've started the game over about three times in an effort to find out what's so amazing about the game, but every time the level design and average gameplay just turns me off until the point where I have no desire to play it anymore.

But back to the point of this article, my favourite games by far would have to be Psychonauts, Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines, and System Shock 2 (granted, there's a pretty big cult following of SS2 but for argument's sake I'd say that's mainly due to people jumping on the Bioshock bandwagon). So why don't you people buy them? *Shakes fist*

Just wondering if anyone shares my thoughts.

 

[Ronwue]

Well... it's mainly because people with these sort of games aren't bought with EA or any other some such sort. They still have principles and go around saying "Hey... what hasn't been done yet?"

 

[Cobelo]

Sad, but true. It was some of the not-so-mainstream games that got good modding setups going, like Battlezone II. It doesn't look pretty by today's standards, but it has so many mods that you could almost never get bored.

 

[sabotstarr]

Idk there are some great non current generation titles out there N64 SSB, that should be played over the normal stuff out there, but it will never be because of inferior graphics and people not remaking them.
EDIT: and the reason i don't own any unknown games is because i did not get a lot of money to spend on games, so i couldn't buy the games that were borderline amazing/horrible.

 

[Inverse Skies]

My favorite game is Secret of Mana, mainly because it is the game I've gotten the most time and enjoyment out of throughout my entire life (I would have first played it when I was five or six and I'll still happily play through it even now when I'm in uni). It's a less well known Sqaure RPG but still more popular.

I still think most people's answers to this question would be a well-known game, simply because they're more popular so a larger demographic has played them, and well, more popular is more likely to mean better (not always but in many cases) so it's a fair enough assumption to make.

 

[the_tom777]

Beyond Good and Evil was epicly awesome. Yet nobody bought it. It ended up being one of those freebies with a console. But it was amazing.

 

[SimuLord]

It's hard for me to argue against your point when I consider some of my favorite games have been ones that have flown way below the radar (at least in the US; games like Patrician/Port Royale and the Europa Universalis series have always been popular in Europe.)

Still, your thesis starts to fall apart when I take a look at my own personal list of the best games of all time and see mainstream games like Rome: Total War, Civilization IV, Alpha Centauri, Morrowind, and Oblivion in the top ten.

 

[Lift]

Totally agree! Who here played Zone of the Enders. NO ONE, because you all just bought it for the MGS2 demo, and didn't give a tot about the game it came with, and the second one was even better.

Here's one that really irks me, Decent 3. I cant figure out why on one liked it. It was very pretty, it was jolly good fun, and had a missile that formed a black hole, how could it not be good. I loved adding a mission system to single player mode, and what awesome music.

 

[McClaud]

I think some people confuse "games you never see" as being non-mainstream.

Chances are, they were popular and mainstream at the time they came out, but when the appeal didn't catch on with a majority of the gamers, they dwindled out of sight.

I mean, Psychonauts was a big deal when it came out. It was like advertised in comics, magazines and other publications, and there were articles written on it.* Just that no one remembers that, so they assume Psychonauts was disregarded or invisible to the public.

* I just realized that by saying that I remember the entire build up to Psychonauts before it came out, that I dated myself.

 

[ChickDangerous]

It's hard for me to argue against your point when I consider some of my favorite games have been ones that have flown way below the radar (at least in the US; games like Patrician/Port Royale and the Europa Universalis series have always been popular in Europe.)

I honestly thought I was one of the only people in the world to have ever played Port Royale.

Most of my favourite games were mainstream once upon a time... about 10-15 years ago. I'm hugely old school, can't get into a lot of games today.

 

[JC175]

It's hard for me to argue against your point when I consider some of my favorite games have been ones that have flown way below the radar (at least in the US; games like Patrician/Port Royale and the Europa Universalis series have always been popular in Europe.)

Still, your thesis starts to fall apart when I take a look at my own personal list of the best games of all time and see mainstream games like Rome: Total War, Civilization IV, Alpha Centauri, Morrowind, and Oblivion in the top ten.

True, Morrowind is another game I really got into. Can't say the same about R:TW though, but that's probably because I'm not a RTS fan. Good for the multiplayer though.

I think some people confuse "games you never see" as being non-mainstream.

Chances are, they were popular and mainstream at the time they came out, but when the appeal didn't catch on with a majority of the gamers, they dwindled out of sight.

I mean, Psychonauts was a big deal when it came out. It was like advertised in comics, magazines and other publications, and there were articles written on it.* Just that no one remembers that, so they assume Psychonauts was disregarded or invisible to the public.

* I just realized that by saying that I remember the entire build up to Psychonauts before it came out, that I dated myself.

What I mean by "non-mainstream" is a game that doesn't really have a legacy or sales figures to back it up. Sure, Psychonauts definitely had the critical praise and advertising for a while, but once nobody bought it it disappeared.

 

[peachy_keen]

Everyone on the internet knows about Psychonauts.

 

[JC175]

Everyone on the internet knows about Psychonauts.

And we all thank Yahtzee for that.

But has everyone on the internet bought it?

 

[Yegargeburble]

I don't know if Terranigma was mainstream, but it is one of my favorites. When I played it, I had more fun than playing things like Halo (not a big FPS fan, though...), but I have to say that most of my favorite games are well known / mainstream.

 

[Sewblon]

Most mainstream games go through design by committee which infuses them with things that we escapist members despise like health regeneration.

 

[peachy_keen]

Everyone on the internet knows about Psychonauts.

And we all thank Yahtzee for that.

But has everyone on the internet bought it?

touché~

 

[Inconsistently Inconsistent]

That is how I was when GTA3 came out. I remember hyping that game all semester leading up to October 2001. I LOVED the first 2 GTA games. I was in NY after 9/11 in October and bought Devil May Cry. I got home where my PS2 was (obviously) and it was the same day GTA3 came out. That night and following 2 weeks was classic to me in my gaming history.

It felt great knowing about a game that became HUGELY successful so GTA3 holds high but doesn't count because it sold the same amount of units for like 13 months straight.

Knowing about Professor Layton and getting it first day felt like it was better game than it probably was (Yea, Right. Layton is amazing, and where is my sequel NOA?!). So sometimes knowing about a niche title that doesn't sell millions makes it better, I admit.

It is like having something that no one else has but you do. It increases how much more important it is to you.

 

[The Wooster]

Everyone on the internet knows about Psychonauts.

And we all thank Yahtzee for that.

But has everyone on the internet bought it?

Everyone on the internet doesn't have to. You can get for free off gametap.