Most underrated games of all time?

[Sorrior]

Secret of Evermore - was in my opinion better than the snes mana games(played 2 and 3), not sure what it was about it really but just enjoyed the story and humor more than what was in the mana series. But definately underrated as it was the only square snes game that never got rereleased or even ported to ds or virtual console.

And read through the entire thread so far and will be the first to say the entirety of the Xenosaga series. There is no other game in my mind that had a story or even characters as thought out as this series(played gears/blade and while they had thought out characters past the core 2-3 the rest do not get all that much development past their introduction, blade did a better job at it than gears though). There's also the whole space opera part of it that to me is my favorite setting in rpgs if done right. Vastly underrated though due to all 3 games have 9-10 hours of cutscenes and people wanted action(wrong series to want action more) and was cut down to 3 installments when it was looking like it would be a 9 game series in the end.

OH GODS YES. Xenosaga was so much fun and one of the reasons i got my PS2(the others being Star Ocean 3 and Kingdom Hearts)

Also the Breath of Fire series.

Oh and i forgot about Jade Cocoon soooo much fun.

---------- Post added 2013-02-23 at 05:49 AM ----------

I have to make a case for Record of Lodoss War on the dreamcast. Most people have never even heard of the game and its easily one of the best games I've ever played in my 30 years of gaming.

Oh gods i'd kill to have played that Lodoss War is so damn badass no matter the form.

---------- Post added 2013-02-23 at 05:51 AM ----------

I wouldn't say it's underrated, but it's definitely not well known (in NA) - Steel Battalion. It was easily worth it's 200.00 price tag!

That not a game man that's an EXPERIENCE!

---------- Post added 2013-02-23 at 05:54 AM ----------

It wasn't under rated. It's one of the games that set the high expectations of level 5 studios, which lead them to even develope one of the Dragon Quest games for Square/Enix. It's one of the bet rated RPGs of it's generation. Ni No Kuni lives up to the expectations, if you have yet to play it.

As for the topic, Monster Rancher and it's first sequel...

4 was good as well. So was the Card Battle Game.

Just wish they'd kept death in it.

---------- Post added 2013-02-23 at 06:01 AM ----------

Has anyone ever played these games?







Plays a little like Pokemon, but it has a much better story going. And Medabots are just awesome. I played the Rokusho version myself, my favorite Medabot

Man i LOVED Medabots as a kid...Never played the games sadly.

Still wish the rest of the series had a DVD release instead of only the first 26 episodes.

---------- Post added 2013-02-23 at 06:20 AM ----------

dragon warrior franchise 1-3.
also vigilante 8
and aidyn chronicles.

For some reason your post reminded me of Digimon World 1..And yeah it deserves a mention.

[jakeic]

The Legend of Zelda Majora's Mask: I'm always surprised by the amount of people that skipped over this game simply because it wasn't part of the "main story".

i agree, Majora's Mask was amazing yet gets little credit in the zelda franchise.

[Deleted]

I don't think Majora's Mask is or was underrated, every zelda fan must have played it and knows it was a fantastic game. But when it comes to nostalgia people only talk about the titles that made the game popular.

[Sj]

vigilante 8

I can't believe I forgot about those games. I thought they were better than Twisted Metal, personally. So much more personality.

[Slummish]

I really liked the mechanics of A Boy and His Blob (NES) and Bionic Commando (NES / coin-op). Blob was re-done and re-released on the Wii, but I didn't care for it so much. I wish something else had been done with the title/franchise. And, Bionic Commando was re-done with Bionic Commando Rearmed and Rearmed 2. Rearmed was pretty good, but 2 was garbage. It's clear that someone out there is trying to cash in on nostalgic titles, but there's always something missing in the translation. It's hard to point to truly underrated modern games. Players are so much more sophisticated these days and news spreads much faster about good vs. bad games now thanks to modern communication. It's difficult to find a game that's great that very few people know about. If it's good, the world knows it within hours of release.

[Ishimada]

For some reason your post reminded me of Digimon World 1..And yeah it deserves a mention.

This, this, and this. I still have 2 points left from completing the File City.

[User789]

C&C Renegade

You think Battlefield is the greatest thing ever and not heard of C&C Renegade ?
Shame on you!
Everything that Battlefield has (well not payed DLC)
40 player servers

[Faesroll]

Final fantasy tactics on the GBA - I don't know a lot of people who know the GBA version, absolutely loved it, the characters are charming, amazing graphics and really good gameplay.
Star wars Republic commando - really good shooter and one of the few good star wars games, shame the multiplayer was horrid and had no Coop action.
Star wars Knights of the old Republic - Best. RPG. Ever.
Golden sun & Golden sun the lost age - Such good RPG's on the GBA, soundtracks were absolute beast aswell.

[Gallahadd]

Loved this game. Battle system was outstanding and a great soundtrack. But when I mention it as one of the best RPG's ever no one takes me seriously

well they're wrong Panzar dragoon saga was OUTSTANDING and probably the best game on the Sega Saturn (probably joint first with Mystaria, Riven comes a VERY close second). That game had SOO much going for it, amazing story, amazing combat, the dragon leveling/customization was SOOO much fun (even though the best route was actually just to leave it balanced the whole time ) and I loved all the secrets and hidden extras (even if after the "final" dragon for, the "Ultimate" one looked a little disappointing...)

I was so disappointed when they released Panzar Dragoon Orta and it was back to the old scrolling action game again wtb PDS2

[Sorrior]

This, this, and this. I still have 2 points left from completing the File City.

TBH i wish we could get REigitalize here.

It's a remake of 1 with mega level digimon added. Simplified in some ways such as no area restrictions by attribute(such as angemon and myotismons places) but yeah.

[Baharroth]

Vanquish

great game

[melodramocracy]

Asheron's Call. This game did an awful lot of stuff very right back in the day (I have no idea what it's like now, but I assume it's quite different), had one of the most interesting death penalties of any MMO, had some of the best social interaction borne out of necessity, best character micromanagement and skill freedom, was one of the first seamless open world MMO's.. some of the 100% player driven events that went down when this game was at its peak will simply never be replicated again, as most modern games don't allow players the levels of freedom to do so.

For all its flaws and extremely dated look by current standards, nothing in the MMO genre I've played since has held a candle to it.

[grandpab]

Asheron's Call.

I've really been considering opening up a sub and leveling a new character for the hell of it. I usually do it every so often and play for a month or so, but it's probably been a couple years now.

They're still adding stuff the game and they've added a lot of stuff, like you can play as a shadow, empyrean, gearknight, olthoi, tumerok, or lugian now.

If you haven't played in the last 3-4 years they've added a new hub for new characters to help them get up to lvl 50 or so. It's a huge nostalgia trip. All the lower level quests are all gathered in 1 spot with portals, so the only running around is inside the dungeons. After you get the reward from the quest you can hand it to the npc and he gives you a bunch of exp and the item back.

[Winter]

Warhammer: Dark Omen
Star Wars Rebellion
Parasite Eve 2
Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines
Team Buddies
(special mention for Warhammer: Shadow of the Horned Rat, and Star Wars: Jedi Power Battles)


Warhammer: Dark Omen - Graphics weren't great, soundtrack was terrible, but gameplay and storyline made this a game i long for again. Mark of Chaos/Battle March came close, but just couldnt get as enthralled as i did with Dark Omen.

Star Wars Rebellion - Seen this mentioned on Page 3 (Kudos, thought i was the only one that played it). Resource management and strategizing that was actually very addictive considering the lack of true action.

Parasite Eve 2 - Eerie game with some pants-shitting moments. Was a unique experience for me that i havent seen in a game before or since.

Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines - Loved this game. Didnt even get to finish it yet i still rank it up there. The environments are fantastic and enthralling. Plus i have never seen a haunted hotel done so well...i literally had to stop playing the damn game till morning.

Team Buddies - No one i knew played it. Everyone i showed loved it. Gameplay is hard to explain, but it was fun and addictive. You could literally play for hours and not notice. Also, their occasional (and very vulgar) swearing made me laugh every time.

[Mechazod]

Amazing (if short) game. Its typical Metroidvania style fare (and a little bit of MegaMan X) with an upgradable pet you have that lets you pull off special attacks and perform extra actions on the main screen. The pet monster you have is sort of like a cross between a Tamagotchi/Digimon/Pokemon with you acquiring certain foods with different stat benefits for it as well as other items to make it happy. Your ability to take care of your monster and feed it certain food allows it to transform into different evolutionary forms that changes its attacks and abilities. A really fun hidden gem on the DS that I am sure didn't sell very well at all.



This game is simple in what it sets out to do. Its a decently challenging homage/parody/clone of the first couple Castlevania games with a little bit of Ghosts N Goblins and other classic 80s ball breaking scroller titles. Like I said the game is simple. You have a pig with a whip and some guns and he goes through side scrolling stages killing monsters with somewhat unforgiving NES era game play. Add in some classic video game quotes and references and that's all your going to find in this title (along with some surprisingly decent music), yet that alone for me made the purchase well worth it. If you can get this game for cheap its definitely worth playing.



Even though its a spin-off of the series this game is NOT The Legend of Zelda. The game play is only in very small pieces similar, Tingle is no Link and sucks at fighting, when you encounter non-boss enemies the battles are little more then a cartoon brawl with very little control over the battle. The entire concept of the game is around money/rupee management. Rupee's are needed for almost everything in the world. In order to get information from characters you need to bribe them, but you need to figure out what just the right amount of cash you should give them should be, you don't want to give them to many of your valuable rupees, but you also don't want to piss them off. Rupee's are also important to the progression of the game because you need to hire body guards to accompany Tingle into dungeons in order to do the real fighting in the game and in order to progress through puzzles. If Tingle is the one who gets into combat then he looses rupees over the course of the battle, however if you fight more then one enemy at the same time you have a higher chance for more spoils to drop if you win. There is also a crafting system in the game that lets you make all types of different items from gathered materials such as potions and fireworks which can be used in dungeons, but more importantly can be sold to characters in towns. The game is definitely not for anyone who expects a typical Zelda game with Tingle as the main character, if you go into it thinking that then you're gonna have a bad time, but its still a really enjoyable game if you can get past that fact.



I am not sure how underrated this game actually is anymore since I believe they are making a remake for the PlayStation Vita, but none the less I very rarely see this game listed among the top games for the Wii. This game is freaking amazing. First off I personally loved all of Vanillaware's older titles like Princess Crown and Odin Sphere so I immediately fell in love with this game and in essence its a continuation of those two titles except with much of the RPG mechanics removed and the game play given a boost of speed. The best comparison I can give this game when fighting, especially bosses, is like a 2D version of Bayonetta or Devil May Cry. The fighting is fast and filled with combo attacks to lay the hurt on baddies. The graphics are beautiful with a hand-drawn style, as was expected from Vanillaware. The setting and theme of the game is set around Japanese mythology and you have two separate character stories to go through. One of the best additions to this already great game is the fact that you can use a GameCube controller to play it.



Sort of a combination of elements from Banjo-Kazzoie and Psychonauts however not as good as either of them yet still decent on its own. The game is a 3D platformer with levels that vary between linear stages and somewhat open-world stages where you have multiple tasks to complete. You control three main characters, a boy, girl and dog who all operate a robotic suite, whoever is in control of the suit enables it to do different things and you need to switch between the three characters to complete stages. The three main characters themselves on fairly bland, but the rest of the cast of characters and the stages they inhabit are all fairly bizarre, funny and semi-memorable. Its in no way the next Mario Galaxy, but the game play is still fun and the strange cast of characters reminded me a lot of Psychonauts which is always a good thing in my book.



At first you may think this game is some Wii shovelware title (which is what I thought until I looked at the back of the case). The game is actually pretty much the Wii's own version of Castle Crashers except with pirates instead of knights. Its a co-op beat-em-up with fun levels, lots of weapons and a good soundtrack.



Back in the arcades there was a game called Blood Bros. which was sort of a wild-west copy of the game Cabal. While I dont think Wild Guns is a sequel to Blood Bros. there are definitely similarities: the game takes place in the old west and it copies the same style of game play from Blood Bros. When I first played this I even thought it was suppose to be an actual sequel to the arcade game, but instead of just being normal wild west this is a sci-fi west filled with robots, mecha suits and tanks. The game is fast arcade action built from the ground up on the SNES with 2-player co-op, one of the best soundtracks on the system and challenging yet fun game play. One of the best games on the Super Nintendo right up there with Nintendo's stuff and the amazing RPGs.



I am listing all three of these games together because they are all sort of similar in a lot of ways. All three are games in the Metal Slug series designed specifically for hand held systems (NeoGeoPocket/GBA) and all three games feature elements unique from the standard arcade series in that in some of the levels you can back-track and enter into buildings which creates a more exploration type experience then the normal games and also the games feature a health meter instead of the 1-hit you're dead system. 1st Mission and 2nd Mission also offer alternate stages you can go to depending on what happens in an earlier stage, for example I remember in 1st Mission there was a stage in a plane and if it takes to much damage and it explodes you parachute out and go to a jungle stage on the ground below. This is sort of like the branching paths that Metal Slug 3 introduced except these are completely different stages you can go to rather then just different ways to complete the same levels. Metal Slug Advance is the sort-of sequel to the two NeoGeo Pocket games, it retains the HP meter and features the backtracking element of those games though its not used as much. The new addition to the game is also the ability to collect hidden cards in all the stages which are both there for the sake of revisiting levels and also can unlock more features in the game such as (from what I remember) new vehicles and abilities.

[Achaman]

The killzone series? I loved KZ2 pvp.

i finished killzone 1 the day i got it and so traded it in for some other game i cant remember

[Chillidoggin]

King's Quest: Quest for the Crown

[Deleted]

The Phantasy Star series (1 to 4) on the Sega hold fond memories for me but no one else seems to know it, so I guess it qualifies.

Can't say if it has aged well, but it was certainly a great experience back then!

[Deleted]

Currently a game that I believe is very underrated is Natural Selection 2. Best Shooter I've played in years.

http://www.gamerzines.com/wp-content...election_2.jpg

Please do not embed large images. --Sj

[gnilf]

Seiken Densetsu 3 or Secret of Mana 2 if you will

This game for SNES was never released in the US and only available via emulator, but it is worth the effort to get yourself a copy. Incredible, relatively unknown ARPG. Has mixed classes and builds for characters in a time where that was practically unheard of. I've played it through at least 4 times now.