Name and describe obscure games that you want people to play.

[bushwhacker2k]

I think most of what I was going to say was taken, and I saw some other things that I want to elaborate on.

Beneath a Steel Sky - this game was AMAZING! It's a point and click adventure game that I downloaded off the internet for free, it's an amazing game.

Space Station Silicon Valley - a blast from the past for me, I loved this as a kid but I can't find it now :*(. It's an amazing game where you play a robot who gets destroyed and then the main chip from the robot can take control of robot animals and fight other animals to make your way through the game. If you get the opportunity you MUST play it.

Jet Set Radio Future - VERY fun game, I got this for free when I first got my original xbox, but no one seems to know about this! You are a roller-skater with spray paint and lots of crazy stuff happens. I may be mistaken but I think there was an anime about it. Fun game.

Dreamfall: The Longest Journey - This is actually a sequel to a computer game, it's an adventure game and very fun. The story is a bit confusing unless you've played the first game but it's an unforgettable experience for me.

Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura - I've actually only played the demo, but its a VERY good game. It plays very similarly to the original Baldur's Gate.

 

[Baneat]

TWEWY, I don't know anyone who played that game apart from me.

 

[Nanoko]

Hexen II! Early fantasy FPS on the Quake engine, and it's bloody amazing. Probably my favorite fantasy game to this day, apart from a heavily modded Morrowind.

 

[balinus]

Dark Cloud 2

Action RPG where instead of leveling your characters (There's 2 of them), you level their weapons, evolving them up through a branching hierarchy of different models and powers. Even a fishing pole you get can be given points and upgraded.

Part of the game is to go around and collect materials, to go back to "towns" and use the materials to build them from he ground up. Advancing through the plot requires meeting certain building requirements, such as "build 4 trees, 2 houses, and an iron fence" or stuff along those lines.

Lastly, the game has a nifty invention system where you take pictures of different items to get "ideas" then combine those ideas into items.

I was going to say Dark Cloud 2. But oh well. I loved this game to bits. I must've replayed it like, three times throughout my ownership of the PS2. And that kinda says something, because I NEVER really replay games. Especially if they're JRPGs. Even the multiple endings of the Star Ocean series never really motivated me to replay them.

The only other JRPGs I've replayed in my life are FFVI and FFTactics.

 

[Phatman_Dover]

With me, my gaming tastes range from spectrum to spectrum. I have quite a few obscure ones here though.

Starflight: Ah, yes. For the old Genesis. You ran around in a spaceship looking for planets to inhabit and mine minerals off of. Thing is, the universe is enormous. You can play through this game for years and probably not hit everything. There is a main story, but if you don't feel like completing it, then don't!

Illbleed: Dreamcast. I picked this sucker up for five bucks new at a Gamestop. It's a survival horror, but in a different way- you want to AVOID getting into confrontations as much as possible. Your life drops when you set off a trap, and if you set off too many...one of the characters dies for good. Multiple endings, and very, very dark.

Day of the Tentacle: Made by LucasArts, this game never got as much attention as Monkey Island did. It's a sequel to Maniac Mansion- Purple Tentacle drinks some waste pumping out of Dr Fred's Waste-o-Matic and mutates, gaining a brain, and...ARMS! DUN DUN DUNNNN! I like these games because it really was kind of an exploratory thing, instead of being slapped upside the head by losing a life for doing something wrong.

Beyond Good and Evil: This one got a lot of acclaim, but for some reason nobody I know has played it. The game takes place on a planet that is being overrun by aliens called DomZ. You play the role of Jade, an investigative reporter that works from job to job, making ends meet and keeping the orphans at the lighthouse safe. Of course, shit hits the fan at some point, but the whole game is about peeling back conspiracy. It has a little of everything in it- FPS elements, Racing elements, fighting elements, stealth, and so on. It's a great game and it's a pity that it doesn't get the attention it deserves.

I think that's enough.

 

[TheCheesy4]

I'm surprised no-one has mentioned it already, but an obscure little RTS on the PC called ParaWorld. It's set in a alternate universe, and has three sides. Vikings, Aztecs and Ninjas, and they all have loads of different dinosaur units. Seriously. Ninjas and dinosaurs ftw.

 

[Illesdan]

Okay, no one else brought these games up, so I will:

Wizardry: Tale of the Forsaken Land -- The story for this PS2 game from the start is incredible, the characters all have their own personality, as annoying as some of them can be. To this day, I still have not gotten access to all 15 playable characters at the same time. This is one of the few PS2 games I will go back and play over again just to enjoy the story.

Mister Mosquito -- This PS2 game had me at the load-in screen. It has humor and a family of 3 you torment without mercy while on your quest for blood. The 'battles', the flying, the search for items in your human's house is all fun and just the act of draining blood makes your heart race, because if you screw up, you'll get swatted. A shame Mister Mosquito 2 is only available in Japan.

Fatal Frame -- I guess its more common for the XBox, but for PS2, its a difficult game to find, and most people I talk to about games have never heard of it until I bring it to their attention. I recommend this game to anyone who loves survival-horror. The story is immersive, the attention to detail is incredible. Even though you have to, you WANT to explore every nook and cranny. The ghosts are probably the best-rendered enemies I've ever encountered in a game.

Castlevania Chronicles -- For the PS1. There were only 250,000 copies of this game released to the US. This game is a must for any die-hard Castlevania geek just for the absolute retroness of it all. This is actually not one; but two games. The first is done in the classic Nintendo block fashion (but still looks fantastic per all classic Castlavania games) while the second game is done to show off how they could render a classic look with the PS1. I have to admit, both of these games are HARD, and I've never had the time to sit down and enjoy playing them for any length of time.

Spider -- For the PS1. The set-up story to this game is almost Incredible-Hulk cliched, yet once you get into playing the game, you immediately forgive it by buying it candy and flowers. Fast-paced, innovative and, most of all, FUN. I recommend this to anyone who enjoys a unique way of looking at the world.

 

[The Youth Counselor]

If you can get it running due to the bugs then try Vampire: The Masquerade -Bloodlines a great game that would have been simply GRAND if Activision didn't rush the release then fire the developers when the rush hurt the game sales.

 

[Xerosch]

Vagrant Story for the Playstation. I love that game, and nobody seems to know what it is. I couldn't put it down. Love the graphics, the battle system and the story.

It's in my personal Top 10 games of all time. Never before have I been so absorb with a gaming universe.

'Kane & Lynch' got many bad reviews, but if you search for very fleshed out characters and a personal experience than play it (Yes, I repeat myself...)

'Lost Odyssey' beats the hell out of 'Final Fantasy 12' as it has an actual plot, stunning music and a very good (unusual) story.

The rest is running in open doors: Play 'Planescape: Torment', 'Thief 1+2', 'Vampire: Bloodlines', 'Fallout 1+2', 'American McGee's Alice', 'System Shock 2' and 'Deus Ex' if you want to see why gaming was better until 2004.

 

[Naberius]

I didn't read all of the previous posts, so if these are repeats of anything, oh well.

Gitaroo Man; PS2. You are the last legendary hero of the Planet Gitaroo. You and your dog, Puma, go into space to reach your home world and achieve your destiny. Along the way, you are attacked by a bizarre group of enemies who are bent on taking your Gitaroo from you. The game is surreal, imaginative, fun and challenging. The soundtrack for this game is widely varied and generally kicks ass.

Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura; PC. Another great game by Troika, before Activision killed them. Arcanum is a huge, sandbox RPG, similar to the fallout series. It is extremely open to customization, multiple story arcs, and player choice. The world is immersing, the story is engaging, the characters are likable, and the whole game just has an overwhelming personality. If you like RPGs at all, find this one.

Rampart; Arcade, Ps2, PS3: Okay, this one isn't really obscure, it's just forgotten. My personal favorite action-strategy game to date. Build your castle, add cannons, blow each other to bits, repair castle with tetris pieces. Simple, addictive, fun. I listed it here, because apparently people are too good for classics. It's on the PSN, so download it already.

Siren; PS2: Pant-shittingly tense survival horror. You play as several normal people trapped in a Japanese mountain village during the onslaught of something horrible, I don't remember. This game was so disturbingly tense, do to the innovative and unique system of telepathic survival horror, that I was too busy taking breaks with the lights on to really remember the plot. It was incredibly difficult, and goddamn terrifying, so I don't think I ever even finished it. Rest assured, though, what I did play was engrossing and horrifying.

Magic Pengel; PS2: Unique to an extreme degree. This game is the spiritual predecessor to games like Drawn To Life. You compete in a tournament where people fight each other with monsters they have collected. Here's the twist: you make the monsters yourself. You go through battles to gather paints and new types of brushes to paint your own custom monsters. Stats are given depending on what kinds of shapes and colors you create. Naturally, my first creation was a penis, complete with spinning cumshot and a dangling carpet of well-rendered pubic hair. The game decided that this creation should be a tank, and gave it incredibly high defense and HP. Everything about this game was new and innovative. If you can find it, try it immediately.

I'm sure I'll think of more. If I do, I'll post later.

 

[mkg]

EVO the search for eden (SNES) awesome game, also Jumping Flash! for PS1 was pretty sick

 

[Antiparticle]

Seconded: Uplink, Dark Reign, Dynamite Headdy, Blackthorne and Day of the Tentacle. Forgotten gems!

My recommendation: Pac-Man Championship Edition. Yes, Pac-Man. Yes, I know. "zomg i cant teabag n00bs in pacman" and "lololol are u like a hundret years old?". But I think Pac-Man is fun, and Pac-Man C.E. is even better. Actually I'd consider it the only true sequel to the original game, and it was made by Tôru Iwatani, the creator of Pac-Man!
The basic gameplay is the same but there are no more level breaks, the action keeps going. Every time you eat all the dots in one side of the maze a fruit appears in the other side, and if you eat that new dots and pellets appear in the empty side. Instead of clearing levels the goal is to score as many points as possible in a time limit. Add to that mazes that change as you play, special modes such as a maze with long corridors or one where the level is dark, the ability to overlap power pellets for massive scores, stats and a replay after you complete a game, funky background music, and a pretty yet still retro look, and what you get is one sweet game.

 

[The_Rev]

Ooo, how about Grim Fandango?

 

[wakerofgods]

Netstorm. I've been signed up for this forum for about 10 minutes and this is my third post about this very game. It's 'abandonware' free to DL from (www.netstormhq.com). Activision made it (I think they released it in 97) but then stoped hosting their server for it (it was an online 'only'* game) so some people picked it up, made a private server and patched the game a fair bit on their own.

It's a very odd game, it's an RTS but I've never seen anything like it. Describing it would be difficult... You are on a small islan and must capture the enemies priest, you can build free bridges in the sky and off these bridges build 'mini islands' that contain unmoving turrets. Basically you move around you're priest building 'outposts' to gain controll of more and more mini islands and place more and more bridges while building a (fairly large) variety of turrets or towers/barriers to combat you're enemy who is doing the same thing. Eventually one player will either steal away their opponents priest or take out the opponents main island (with no main island you have no temple to build bridges and are largely helpless) and win. Online games are very fast paced with placing bridges (using the qwaszx keys and the mouse) fast (they build instantly) being a basic and difficult skill in itself.

The learning curve is stupidly difficult. While the learning curve is in itself quite hard, the main reason I stress its difficulty so much is since it's such an old game (and hosted on an 'obscure' private server) it is mainly just the very good players who still play.

To be honest considering the current state of the game and its private server, I dont really recommend playing it. But back in its 'heyday', with a fair few players and a large aray of skill levels, it was awsome!


*there is a SMALL single player campaign, but I don't think anyone who has played this campaign (or even seen the box of the game spouting on about online play) and not think this campaign is just an 'after thought'.

 

[Bob_Marley42]

Jagged Alliance 2. The best game of its genre. Don't play 1.13 until you've played it though "pure" at least once. Don't buy the steam version, its broken.

Warzone 2100 - a fun RTS in full 3D from 1999. Features a storyline decent enough to give some framework, viechle design and exploration. Also has a well put together artillery system with counter battery fire. Is now available free as "Warzone 2100 Resurrection" which is undergoing continous development.

Wargasm - A combined RTS/arcady sim type game challenging you to command your forces to battle across the World Wide War Web against all manner of foes. You can directly order and/or take full control of Tanks, APCs, Attack Helicopters and Infantry, as well as calling in ariel recon, chinook supply drops and air strikes. Brilliant game, strongly reccomended.

Shogo: Mobile Armour Division - An FPS where you either run about on foot with a fairly traditional arsenal such as pistols, an SMG, rocket launcher, etc or take control of an MCA (Mobile Combat Armour. Essentially a Mecha) with a rather more... interesting array of armaments such as the bullgut multiple rocket launcher, spider stickey mine launcher, the Juggernaught artillery piece and so on. Japanese styling but with a very western feel (which for me is great because as a rule I detest most things Japanese). A great game that is well deserving of a sequel. It is also historically notable for being the fist game to use the Lithtech engine.

 

[zelfan]

Phantom Dust (Original Xbox).

I had so much fun with that game, an nobody has ever heard of it/played it. The time between combat is a tad annoyingly slow, but the combat is awesome. Sweet game.

Phantom Dust was awesome man, soo many hours wasted just vs. my buddies.

Uhm my top two would be

Stubbs the Zombie: Rebel Without a Pulse. You play as Stubbs, an unlikely zombie hero. It's a hilarious zombie game, played from the third person perspective. Oh and it's co-op so grab a friend and start feasting on some brains.

Another great game, if your into fps games (mainly Valve/Steam guys) check out Dystopia. Its sorta Steam-punk-esque. You have different classes on each side. You completely customize your own load-out and control what skills you have. Each team is either defending or attacking. Each team should have a couple "hackers" who go into computer terminals and basically fight the other hackers in a tron-like world.

 

[AdmiralWolverineLightningbolt]

Disaster day of crisis! someone!
if you live in europe and have a wii, get this game! it's amazing

it mixes time crisis esque shooting (without the time limit) with intense first person driving and awesome 3rd person exploration!
it is actually one the best games released last year and easily the most underrated!

trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4y-w0ajHD8&feature=related
literally amazing in every sense

sold criminally bad due to lack of advertising or even release in america
EDIT
gameplay trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1w2fzaxK1V4&feature=related

 

[VonBrewskie]

Thank god! someone else knows Vagrant Story. Great game. Think Parasite eve targeting system with Summoner (PS2) chaining system...really fun. Could fuse weapon elements together in a shop to make unique combos. Excellent story line too with cool animations. I still play sometimes...

 

[soulasylum85]

Colosseum: Road to Freedom for PS2

 

[entwinex]

Eternal Silence - It's a source mod, you can download it free from steam store, it's kinda like BF2142 in space.

Alien vs Predator 2 - Okay not so unknown, but it barely ever gets mentioned considering how awesome it was.