Topic: The best "under-rated" game you've ever played

[Mooning Freddy]

Since some one opened a topic about a game being overrated, in a more optimistic way, how about a topic of games that are underrated, but you still really like them?
By underrated, I do not mean only "most people think those games suck", I also mean games that are overall good in the ratings, but nobody ever heard of.
Oh, and no Castlevania games, please, this isn't CV discussion.

For my choice, I would like to recommend a GBA game called Tactic Ogre: Knight of Lodis.

This game belong to a quite rare game genre, that could be best defined as "Strategy RPG". For those familiar with the Fire Emblem series, this game plays similarly, but in my opinion, is much better. The gameplay is a chess-board-like turn by turn movement on the battle scene, where height and obstacles, and basically the whole battle-scene has an important role in determining the flow of the battle, it's length, and even the outcome. Whether it's in the mountains, where flying characters have an advantage, in towns, where archers could be positioned on roofs to gain an advantage, or in open areas, where the quicker of the characters could strike the hardest. As you advance through the game, you could see that RPG elements are even more important, deciding between victory or defeat. The game has a surprisingly wide variety of classes your characters could gain, from warriors to knights, minor and major wizards, priests, archers, ninjas, and even classes as special as Dragon-slayers and Leeches. There are special classes for male and female characters (ex: Witches, Valkyries for females, Warlocks, beastmasters for males), and if that is not enough for you, there are also many special races along the game: fairies, beasts and dragons, hawkmen (powerful warriors, very useful to have one on your side), mermaids, undead, demons and angels, and many others. And all of them (almost) could join your ranks and help you in battle.
So I give the gameplay 9/10, a really good one in my opinion.
And haven't even said a word about the storyline... The story is... AMAZING. Just amazing. A whole world uncovers before the player, with it's history and secrets, wars and enmities. Every character has its own quest and its own story to tell you, as you discover more and more of the story of the island the game happens on. The story is very nonlinear, allowing you to make decisions, and options to change the path you are taking very often, what would ultimately decide the ending you would receive when you complete the game (and there are plenty of them)
Go throughout the whole game, and you'll get the opportunity to fight a fallen angel, disappointed with god and loathing humanity. There is even a romance story inside the game between you, the main character ("Alfonse"), and a girl who saved your life named Eleanor.
The story gets 10/10.
The graphics in the game are really not bad, even excellent for a GBA game. I give them 8/10. I cannot rate the music, but I can say that it's very nice as well, creating the right atmosphere in the game.

In conclusion, if you are an RPG fan and have yet to play the game, do it. It would be PRICELESS for you.
If you are not, play it nevertheless. In my opinion, best game made for the GBA. I have absolutely no idea why such a piece of gaming art doesn't have a sequel and is so unknown among RPG fans.

[Mr Sven]

If you like that then maybe military madness on the Duo would be your cup of tea also? I think its on the VC now too.

My favourite underrated game?

I havent had an Amiga in years but i remember playing a game called Revenge of the mutant camels , developed by Rob Hubbard at Llamasoft ( he's done space Giraffe on Xbox live arcade ) it was a  side scrolling shooter where you played as a camel and had a Goat sidekick that was used vaguely like R-types Force pods. you'd shootpost boxes and all sorts of crazy enemies though it wasnt realy like parodius.

It's been so long i cant explain it all too well but thats my vote right there. I also vote Parasol stars as a good game people dont remember.

[Kale]

Legacy of Kain Series..... people might know about it but its definitely not known enough.... the gameplay isn't that great but the story still makes you want to go on, and the Voice acting is phenominal.

[Rugal]

I've played through this game 2 times now, working on my third. This is one of the best games I've every played in my life, and is severely underated because it came out at the exact same time as Half-Life 2 did.

[Donvermicelli]

I've played through this game 2 times now, working on my third. This is one of the best games I've every played in my life, and is severely underated because it came out at the exact same time as Half-Life 2 did.

Completly agree on that. Though they had a contract with valve that they couldn't release it before half-life2 since they used the source engine for it. Still it's a masterpiece you can play this game over and over again and you will keep on finding new things you didn't notice before. It's one of the best games of this generation I might add.

[Clara E. Leet]

Indigo Prophecy (Fahrenheit in Japan and Europe) for PC, PS2, and Xbox. AO version is available for PC download. Made by the same guys who made "Omikron" on Dreamcast.

Best way I can describe this game is "Interactive Drama" or "Paranormal Thriller". BEST storyline I've ever seen in a game, incredible characters, and while the graphics aren't the absolute best the PS2's seen, they're still impressive, and in-game facial expressions alone are amazing.

Lot of controversy surrounding this game, too. Its original name "Fahrenheit" was changed to "Indigo Prophecy" in America because it came out around the time Fahrenheit 9/11 came out. Also, the little adult content it had (two sex scenes, one of which was interactive) had to be edited out because of the Hot Coffee scandal, happening around the time of the game's release. The two scenes were later added in in Fahrenheit "Indigo Prophecy" Director's Cut, available for PC download, rated AO.

Game starts off very serious, CSI-Drama like, but quickly turns into some Sci-fi Fantasy, but the transition is great.  Action scenes are played out with the analog sticks in a "Simon Says/DDR" fashion in which players are essentially acting out entire cutscenes which may run as long as six to ten minutes. There's four main characters and you play as every one of them as their stories interlock with one another.

[Dark Nemesis]

Agent Armstrong for PSX.With a rating of 49% but i have realy enjoy that game.Also i like Ogre Battle for SNES.

[Kale]

In Reply To #5

I've been wanting to play that, but I never got a chance to. And I hear the story is..... quite unique.

[crisis]

Einhdaner, Wild 9. Twisted Metal Black, Brave Fencer Musashi, just to name a few.

[ProtoBelmont]

Mainly NES games, but meh...





The two I could think of, off the top of my head.

[Aridale]

FTW! =D Amazingly awesome NES game. Weird as fuck but absolutely awesome. The sequel on Genesis blows tho.

For me one Monster World IV. It was only released in japan on the Genesis but you can find translated roms and its a VERY fun platform kinda rpg. I wanna play it on my DS but the only genesis emulators I can find for DS suck ass.

A game Ive said CV could take a few hints from ever since it came out is Nosferatu The Wrath of Malachi. Came out a few years ago out of no where basically. Its set in the in the Dracula kinda timeframe and you play a guy whos gotta rescue his family from vampires and other things in this bigass castle/mansion thats completely randomly generated every new game. Not only does it have a random house every time you start a new game so its always different but it also puts your family members in different areas every time and when the game starts a timer starts to count down per family member and if you dont save em in time theyre killed. Its very time sensitive as in if you dont save certain members you miss out on good items and help and stuff. Like if you save your dog before hes killed hell help you fight.

Very good game and its scared me more times than ANY game Ive ever played. CV could take some very good notes of how to do full 3d games from this. I try to play it every year around Halloween I recommend anyone to play it everytime a thread like this comes up but good luck findin it. Sadly it entirely bombed and I never even saw it in a retail store.

Im sure I can think of more Im just drawin a blank atm.

[Mooning Freddy]

Einhdaner

You probably mean "Einhander" for PSX? (one-handed in German)

Best Shoot-them-up game I've ever played. Best graphics I've ever seen in a game of this genre (the backgrounds are 3D, even though the movement is limited to 2D). The bosses you have to face are simply HUGE, while the gameplay is as simple as in any classic SHMUP.
The game is half in English, half in Japanese, but that's not the best part. The best part is that all the in-game enemy voices and background text are entirely in German. You feel as if you're playing the game in a futuristic Germany. Crazy! But really cool.

BLASTER MASTER?! Is that the game where you play as this weird-ass automobile, and if you get out you're this tiny little man, and have to perform various missions? DAMN that game was interesting when I was a kid.  :

As for Wrath of Malachi, didn't like this game. Was too hard for me. Zombies and undead are attacking you out of no-where, and there are not enough health-kits. And you don't even have a firing-weapon at the beginning... I deleted this game after like, one hour of play.

[Think Tank]

Number Munchers = hours of fun

[ProtoBelmont]

BLASTER MASTER?![/b] Is that the game where you play as this weird-ass automobile, and if you get out you're this tiny little man, and have to perform various missions? DAMN that game was interesting when I was a kid.

[PFG9000]

Wow, I haven't seen number munchers since prolly 2nd grade!  I got in trouble once back in the day for typing my name as "You Suck" when I got the top score in the class.  Good times.