underrated games/movies/books etc.

[sagitel]

disclaimer: underrated here means: a game/book/movie/music etc. that I (emphasis on I) really liked and thought was good but i dont think it got the amount of praise/attention it deserved.

OT: i was playing the talos principle today and i really really liked the game. it has its flaws (which game doesnt?) but the philosophy and the puzzles are both really well done and the story is amazing as well. and i thought: hey! this game is very good! so how come i never heard about it except that one ZP episode? and that thought led me to make this thread. where we can all share our beloved works of art that we think are underrated!

especial mention: space marine. the game got boring and repetitive near the end but over all the game was a really enjoyable and well made hack and slash game with shooting in it.

 

[MeatMachine]

Spoiler

The best Playstation 2 game no one has ever had the privilege of playing.

 

[Queen Michael]

The Fifty Year Sword by Mark Z. Danielewski. His book House of Leaves is a huge hit, but this one gets way fewer readers, even though it's just as good in my opinion. Or at least every minute of reading it is just as much fun as every minute of HoL, though I admit that as a whole HoL is better.

It's about a woman who goes to a party, and once she's there she listens to the story-teller who's hired to tell the children a story... I don't want to say anymore. Just read it. It's a cool form experiment, just like HoL, and definitely deserves more fans than it's got.

 

[Queen Michael]

Might wanna add some text there, before the mod wrath hits you like a shopper on Black Friday.

 

[MeatMachine]

Might wanna add some text there, before the mod wrath hits you like a shopper on Black Friday.

Sometimes I forget the rules of this specific forum. Forgive me, mods, for I have sinned.

 

[Kae]

Probably too obvious but Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective never got the attention it deserved and it's fantastic, the game itself is just a puzzle game but the mechanics are done and for the most part it's easy to understand and can be solved by using logical thinking, I believe there was only one time in the whole game that I got stuck because the answer seemed too illogical, besides that the story is great, it's a good mystery all the clues are there you just have to pay attention and you'll be able to solve the mysteries before the game reveals them, great stuff!

The Yawhg, what is The Yawhg? Well it's like a multiplayer choice driven narrative game, the only thing you do is make choices, it's almost visual-novel-esque and very short, it's a cool game, while playing it by yourself can be fun enough to see the story unfold the real fun is having more than one person and having them make their own individual choices as it forces you to adapt to the choices other players make rather than letting everything go according to whatever plan you have, the presentation is also very charming, it's good stuff.

I'll add more if I think of any, which I'm sure I can but those are the ones on my head right now.

 

[Elfgore]

Spoiler

The best Playstation 2 game no one has ever had the privilege of playing.

Guess I'm no one know and that game that has the same name on my PS3 is just lying to me.

Well, you all got my video game one. I guess the only two I have left are for books. Glen Cook is the most underrated fantasy author of the past couple decades. Writing books way better than any popular fantasy author has. The Ex-Heroes series is also something that needs more attention. It combines zombies and superheroes in an awesome way.

 

[FPLOON]

Virtua Quest... A gem so flawed that barely anyone knows about its existence...

But seriously, outside of some questionable control choices[footnote]The C/Right stick to use the game's version of a grapple hook that only goes in the direction the character's facing instead of just using the L/L1/L2 buttons... Then again, the L/L1/L2 buttons only moves the camera to the default "behind the character" camera position instead of just using the C/Right stick to control the camera more freely... So, I only ask this one question: Who the fuck thought that kind of control scheme was a good fucking idea?![/footnote]as well as a basically pointless "level-up"-type system[footnote]Why have it if the game's going to force me to "level-up" anyway?! It's not like it increases my stats or anything like that because only the upgrade tools as well as which fighting type I end up adopting the most can do that... Just because I can't do certain sidequest[footnote]which are only there to, hopefully, get a rare upgrade tool for your stats or "lost data" for you collected Virtua Souls...[/footnote] because I'm not at the right "level" story-wise doesn't mean it counts by any stretch of the meaning in this situation and you know it, game...[/footnote] due to plot reasons (just to name the major flaws), its use of both stats and fighting style customization options gave this game potential to be a good spin-off to the Virtual Fighter series...

Too bad it was a ~10-hour repetitive/mediocre game with an ending that will remain a cliffhanger for the rest of its life, basically... and I keep going back to it either on GameCube or PS2 because I have both versions...

Thanks, past me! That's three times so far today, I think...

Other than that, the band Fluid Minds seems to be underrated from my perspective... Then again, some of their songs off their second album <url=http://fluidminds.bandcamp.com/album/the-as-mixtape>The [AS] Mixtape were featured in some of Adult Swim's bumps, so there's that I think...

 

[Hero of Lime]

Usually this is where I would talk about how underrated Pokemon Black and White are, but I always do that. Gotta mix things up a little.

So, since Batman is on lot of people's minds, I think Arkham Origins is very underrated. What bugs me about the intense hate Origins gets, is that the game does nothing inherently wrong. Maybe it's unnecessary, maybe it's a cash grab, but it's still a solid game. I never found it to be poorly made, no major glitches, the visuals were fine. Nothing about the game felt like it was cheap filler.

I found the story more memorable than Arkham City's, for example. City's plot just felt messy and scattered, Origins felt more focused. The boss battles were some of the best in the series, Deathstroke in particular was intense. Lets not forget the cool, virtual crime scene feature that was in the game. I'm sad it was only used once(as far as I know) in Arkham Knight.

Maybe it did nothing new, but it didn't do anything bad either. If you liked the first two games, you have no reason to hate Origins.

 

[sagitel]

The Yawhg, what is The Yawhg? Well it's like a multiplayer choice driven narrative game, the only thing you do is make choices, it's almost visual-novel-esque and very short, it's a cool game, while playing it by yourself can be fun enough to see the story unfold the real fun is having more than one person and having them make their own individual choices as it forces you to adapt to the choices other players make rather than letting everything go according to whatever plan you have, the presentation is also very charming, it's good stuff.

that actually sounds really interesting! i will have to get my friends together to play it. a question though can it be played as local multiplayer?

 

[Kae]

The Yawhg, what is The Yawhg? Well it's like a multiplayer choice driven narrative game, the only thing you do is make choices, it's almost visual-novel-esque and very short, it's a cool game, while playing it by yourself can be fun enough to see the story unfold the real fun is having more than one person and having them make their own individual choices as it forces you to adapt to the choices other players make rather than letting everything go according to whatever plan you have, the presentation is also very charming, it's good stuff.

that actually sounds really interesting! i will have to get my friends together to play it. a question though can it be played as local multiplayer?

Actually it's 4 player local only, but yes, it's also joystick compatible but I don't know if it's available on Xbox or anything, it costs like 10 USD on PC though.

 

[Tryforlive]

Alpha Protocol if you can make it past the terrible gameplay the choices and secrets in the world are awesome, oh and you can do different playthroughs that are nothing like one another very easily.

 

[Mechamorph]

Games
"Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura", a great if quirky RPG with a colourful world and a small dig at the usual RPG cliches.

Movies
"Idiocracy" and "Thank You for Smoking" are some of my beloved movies but not that many have seen the former and only a few more have seen the latter. Although by no means perfect I do find them charming and funny.

Books
"The Stainless Steel Rat" series could never have been published today. It contains terrible things that just do not fly with our modern sensibilities. Underneath it all is a strange fusion of "Flashman" and "James Bond" or "Lupin".

 

[jademunky]

Alpha Protocol if you can make it past the terrible gameplay the choices and secrets in the world are awesome, oh and you can do different playthroughs that are nothing like one another very easily.

Loved that one, bought it for $2 (and about 10 other games) back when Blockbuster Video was having their "Going Under" sale.

I just wish they clarified their dialogue choice system. Yes you always have 3 options: Charming, Businesslike and Aggressive but you don't always know, in context, exactly how any of those options will actually play out.

Example: I was trying to pry some information from an informant at a bar, being professional was getting me nowhere so I tried a more "aggressive" tact. I thought this would just get my character to speak in a slightly more growly voice and maybe offer a few subtle threats (as it did in previous conversations). Instead, I watched as my player character

Spoiler

grabbed a bottle of Vodka and smashed it against the guy's face!

This did not endear me to him.

I ended up reloading.