Your personal biggest underrated game of all time

[Thoughtful_Salt]

Fire Emblem for the GBA, a classic in every sense of the word. With deep strategic gameplay, characters you actually care about and an involving plot, this is one of the most criminally underrated games of all time, it deserves to stand with Ocarina and Half-Life 2 as one of the all time greatest games ever made.

 

[LordLucan375]

Mine would have to be the Riddick games, (Butcher Bay and Dark Athena), the hand-to-hand combat and stealth are challenging and skillful and the games themselves have an odd adventure game feel to them which I liked.

Also I enjoyed the Nolan North Prince of Persia. The art style, emphasis on the nicely flowing parkour and the one-on-one sword fighting (which made me feel all nostalgic for the original Prince of Persia), was just great overall.

 

[00slash00]

Mass Effect 1. How could you finish this game, and then even consider anything in me2 and especially me3 ANY good?

i disagree completely. i didnt find the story of mass effect 1 that great. certainly not great enough to make up for how boring the gameplay was. i honestly found the story of mass effect 2 and 3 to be much more interesting, and the gameplay was a thousand times better. i thought mass effect was good the first time i played it. then i played the second one and realized how weak the first game was. i mean different strokes for different folks and im certainly not saying your wrong, but for me personally, the first mass effect is just the game i trudged through to get to the better games in the series.

Gonna say Ico. A lot of people have at least heard of Shadow of the Colossus but hardly anyone seems to have played or knows about Ico.

you talk to the wrong people then. i have met very few gamers who didnt love ico, and even fewer who hadnt heard of it. i mean thats almost always one of the first games mentioned whenever someone start an "are video games art" discussion.


i personally think final fantasy 13 gets way more hate than it deserves. i feel like at least 80% of the criticism is because its so different from other final fantasy games. ill admit it doesnt really feel like final fantasy but that doesnt make it bad. i feel like it would have gotten a lot more love if people stopped comparing it to other final fantasy games and instead just looked at it as a jrpg. i found the story interesting and i loved the combat system. so many people say the combat system is just auto-attack and thats not true. its not a combat system were you pick your individual attacks, the challenge comes from setting up your paradigms before the battle and knowing which paradigm to switch to, and when. the result is combat thats much more fast paced and hectic. honestly, if youre just hitting auto-attack and then sitting back and doing nothing, then youre playing the game wrong

 

[00slash00]

Mount&Blade: Warband, one of the best games. Has a good modding community, great mods, good concept and I still heard people say it's not good. I can't believe them...

Everybody loves Warband. When it comes to how things are underrated, With Fire and Sword take the cake, pie and all the pastry.

And I also agree with KoA. I did not expect that something would beat Skyrim so soon in action RPG genre.

i did not love warband. its the only mount and blade game i played and honestly, it wasnt that the game wasnt fun, i just didnt have anything driving me forward. there didnt seem to be any real plot or story. maybe i was just going the wrong way or maybe theres a driving force later in the game, but i just had nothing pushing me forward so i got bored

 

[Arakasi]

Geneforge 1 and 2.
Look at my avatar!

Really though, great old style RPG with more choice than you can shake a stick at.

 

[Frezzato]

Star Control 2 / Ur-Quan Masters. I'd be surprised if many people on here have even heard of it. But the Mass Effect series ripped off so much from this series it's almost criminal. The combat is extremely well balanced, the story is rich and full of humor, the alien races are unique and memorable. Nothing has come close to it to date. Best game I've ever played, hands down, period, /end.

Wow, there was a Star Control 2? I bought the first one for Genesis maybe 2 years ago. I love space combat!

Also, after I played Starflight on Genesis a little while ago, I thought Mass Effect 1 ripped it off.

 

[Vhite]

Mount&Blade: Warband, one of the best games. Has a good modding community, great mods, good concept and I still heard people say it's not good. I can't believe them...

Everybody loves Warband. When it comes to how things are underrated, With Fire and Sword take the cake, pie and all the pastry.

And I also agree with KoA. I did not expect that something would beat Skyrim so soon in action RPG genre.

i did not love warband. its the only mount and blade game i played and honestly, it wasnt that the game wasnt fun, i just didnt have anything driving me forward. there didnt seem to be any real plot or story. maybe i was just going the wrong way or maybe theres a driving force later in the game, but i just had nothing pushing me forward so i got bored

Thats why I love WFaS so much. It has 3 really interesting story lines (False Dmitry, The Deluge and Black Mace), IMO much more interesting world than just generic medival world thats in Warband and original MnB and it has all that Warband does and much more. I really dont get why so few people played it because whenever I see someone mention MnB they always only play Warband and its not like WFaS is some obcsure mod, most of people probably bought it together with rest of MnB games on Steam but never really tried it.

 

[lacktheknack]

I'm gonna go with Uru.

Myst wasn't a really big thing since game three, anyways, but this slipped under the radar of many Myst fans as well as the public. I can kind of understand why, but the gameplay it changed is so awesome that I can't believe it's not more highly acclaimed. Plus, it was so ambitious that it's frankly astounding.

I mean, an MMOAdventureG? Seriously?

It's available for free right now. Go play it if you have even the slightest interest in an innovative adventure game and/or Myst in general.

 

[lacktheknack]

Geneforge 1 and 2.
Look at my avatar!

Really though, great old style RPG with more choice than you can shake a stick at.

Amen, brother. Amen.

It allows you to control bipedal dragons in game two and on, that should be reason enough to play it, guys. If nothing else, at least <link=http://www.spiderwebsoftware.com/geneforge/index.html>play the massive demo.

 

[AlbertoDeSanta]

Okami, but it's bound to have been said about a million times already. Regardless, everything about Okami makes it the joy to behold that it is. The story is great, the soundtrack is great and the visuals are Amazing. It's that game that you need to play at least once.

 

[GamemasterAnthony]

Since I play on multiple platforms...I will list multiple games.

NES: Legend of the Ghost Lion - A rather interesting take on the RPG as you actually have to FIND levels to level up rather than grinding for levels. It encourages exploration and grinding is only needed for money. Granted it's a simplistic RPG, but I still had fun with it.

SNES: Final Fantasy Mystic Quest - Nthing this. While the gameplay was simple, it was still a fun game and a great way to kill a few minutes for those who like RPGs. Also...the Dark King's theme is still one of the most awesome themes in existance.

N64: Quest 64 - While it's a pain to try and build up your character, I love the very simple interface and the combat system is very good. Not a badly put together RPG, IMHO.

Gamecube: Megaman Network Transmission - It might not get much love due to...well, MMBN series not getting much love nowadays. Still, the way they merged elements of the MMBN series with the classic platforming of the original games was a delight to play.

Wii: Arc Rise Fantasia - Despite some repetative dialouge in the battles, this was a well put together game and I love the fact that the characters' weapons and abilities are very customizable.

Genesis: Phantasy Star III - It tends to get forgotten due to IV geting a lot of love, but I still love how well the game plays and the fact the characters you play as change depending on who you plan to marry.

PS1: Rhapsody - Okay...the kiddie theme and music was a little odd. Still...I love the battle system of this. It combines the best of both standard fast paced turn based battles and the placement mechanics of strategy based RPGs.

PS2: Rogue Galaxy - Nthing this as well. A great RPG...but what I thought was a great idea was using random drops from enemies to unlock abilities. That's a very unique way of using the "useless" drops from enemies.

Gameboy: Revelations the Demon Slayer - Kind of a weird little RPG. You can actually recruit monsters you meet, fuse them to make new ones, and even though the monsters don't gain levels there's still a lot of variety for customization.

GBA: Riviera the Promised Land - Hmmm...kinda weird trying to work with an item based mechanic, but the fact you have limited actions both in battles and on the map, it does make you think. A great game for more cerebral players.

DS: Nostalgia - Hmmm...rather like the idea of an RPG during the age of exploration. Choosing which abilities to focus on offers plenty of customization.

XBOX360: Lost Oddessy - I think this fell under the radar due to other titles, but I love how the feel of the main character works for this game.

Anyways...my 2 GP on this topic. BTW...you get no bonus points for figuring out what my favorite genre of game is.

 

[Grivahri]

Most of you seem to not talk about an actual underrated game but an underplayed game

 

[Blue Musician]

I get the feeling many people are mixing underrated with overlooked.

Overlooked games: The Void and Pathologic

Underrated games: Mirrors Edge, The Witcher, Silent Hill 4.

 

[Nicole Maronn]

For me, Enslaved: Odyssey to the West (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enslaved:_Odyssey_to_the_West) is my fav underrated game. The mechanics are your average action/adventure game, but for those who have played it, it's the story that's the main reason why I love this game. You get to know and feel for the main characters and their plight.

 

[Eddie the head]

Mass Effect 1. How could you finish this game, and then even consider anything in me2 and especially me3 ANY good?

i disagree completely. i didnt find the story of mass effect 1 that great. certainly not great enough to make up for how boring the gameplay was. i honestly found the story of mass effect 2 and 3 to be much more interesting, and the gameplay was a thousand times better. i thought mass effect was good the first time i played it. then i played the second one and realized how weak the first game was. i mean different strokes for different folks and im certainly not saying your wrong, but for me personally, the first mass effect is just the game i trudged through to get to the better games in the series.

I am with this guy on Mass Effect the first one was well boring compared to the second and third. And when I say boring I don't just mean game play. The story was dull and the characters where duller.

Anyway on topic. Umm the the Resistance games a whole. Although the first one got grate reviews and was liked by most people that played it, no one seamed to play it. The second one was ehh, ok way to much like Halo if you ask me but the guns where still fun. And the third was awesome.

 

[Biodeamon]

Eat Lead: The return of Matt Hazard. Just no words can describe the humour.

 

[Mr.Cynic88]

I've played too many games to have a true "of all time," but to answer this question I started flipping through old favorites, and came across the Xbox game Freedom Fighters. It wasn't perfect by any stretch, but it had a really cool concept and let the player feel like an ever-more-significant revolutionary.

I loved how the gameplay evolved as your character grew. You began alone, but through guerrilla actions could acquire an ever-growing field of followers that you could use for support, flanking, or aggression. Your hideouts between missions would evolve as you acquired more resources, and as a result, each mission felt significant.

It makes me sad that there was not a Freedom Fighters-influenced game during this console generation, which I suspect is because the current gaming industry is too afraid to risk controversy portraying a Freedom Fighter (i.e. terrorist). It's a shame because current hardware and open world capabilities could make a truly amazing game. I imagine that some combination of GTA/Uncharted/Splinter Cell graphics and gameplay would make a fun playground to lead a revolution, and would breath fresh life in the stagnant market.