I make this post because, frankly, I am out of RPGs to play during my SC downtime. I don't like MMOs because there is no "end" to the story.
Anyways, my personal vote will be Mount & Blade. I think the expansion (kind of like BW in terms) Warblade is out too. It is very cheap, addictive, and has combat that is only rivaled by Demon's Souls, which, I guess, would be my top nominee if I were to have considered it underrated.
What do you guys think~
The List so Far: Edit: sorry, I can't keep track anymore. + Show Spoiler +
5 Legend of Legaia 4 NOX 4 Saga Frontier 1, 2 4 Legend of Dragoon 4 Tales of Symphonia 3 Skies of Arcadia 3 Alundra 3 Tactics Ogre 3 Suikoden 3 Earthbound 3 Planescape: torment 3 Mount & Blade 2 Breath of Fire 3, 4 2 Lunar Silver Star Story 2 Ultima Underworld 1 Odin Sphere 1 Xeno Gears 1 Soulbringer 1 Toushin Toshi 3 1 Land Stalker 1 Phantasy Star II 1 Sword of Vermillion 1 Shining in the Darkness 1 Shadow Gate 1 Quest 64 1 Terranigma 1 The Way 1 Guardian's Crusade 1 Evolution: The World of Sacred Device 1 Breath of Fire 1 Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines 1 Persona 3, 4 1 The Ark of Napishtim 1 War of Genesis 1 Castle of the Winds 1 The World Ends with You 1 Jade Caccoon 2 1 Dragon Quest 8 1 Shiningforce 1 Vandal Heart 1 Vagant Story 1 Ragnarok
Alundra (PS1) Land Stalker (Genesis) Legends of Legaia (PS1) Phantasy Star II (Genesis) Sword of Vermillion (Genesis) Shining in the Darkness (Genesis) Shadow Gate (NES)
On August 20 2010 12:02 Khaymus wrote: Earthbound.
If this counts as underrated then i completely agree. Just replayed and beat it 2 days ago Ness is such a beast. Except I renamed him Flash and his favorite food was Pocari Sweat.
saga frontier 1 and 2, breath of fire 3 and 4 heavily underrated
edit: also odin sphere
I wholeheartedly agree with Saga Frontier 1 being massively underrated (read somewhere that it was made in a month O_o) but 2... :r .
What made the first one great was the long and numerous side-quests, characters, weapons, skills, and secrets. # 2 is too linear and you never really build up your characters before you move on to the next group.
On August 20 2010 12:02 Khaymus wrote: Earthbound.
If this counts as underrated then i completely agree. Just replayed and beat it 2 days ago Ness is such a beast. Except I renamed him Flash and his favorite food was Pocari Sweat.
Damn this thread... need to go back and play so many games. I wholeheartedly agree with Earthbound if that counts as 'underrated'. Also there's an extremely well done Mother 3 English Patch that's been out for a while. While Mother 3 (Earthbound 2) was never 'underrated'... it's an RPG that cannot be passed up.
On August 20 2010 12:02 Khaymus wrote: Earthbound.
If this counts as underrated then i completely agree. Just replayed and beat it 2 days ago Ness is such a beast. Except I renamed him Flash and his favorite food was Pocari Sweat.
Damn this thread... need to go back and play so many games. I wholeheartedly agree with Earthbound if that counts as 'underrated'. Also there's an extremely well done Mother 3 English Patch that's been out for a while. While Mother 3 (Earthbound 2) was never 'underrated'... it's an RPG that cannot be passed up.
You can get the original Mother as well online. It is a pretty good game, and lots of good music
Nox and legend of dragoon are awful, awful games. Tried to lan nox but after a few hours we all agreed nox was trash. I couldn't get far into legend of dragoon, the combat was just too shitty.
Oh wow, I still have legend of dragoon sitting on top of an old monitor next to me, I should return this game to my friend, i've had it for at least 5 years, lol.
Hmmm, trying to think underrated... ultima underworld? Not so much underrated as old and forgotten . This game had a "3d" first person perspective before doom 1 came out, combat, exploration and puzzles are top notch, still an incredible rpg if you can overlook the vintage graphics. The gameplay, atmosphere and open ended nature of uw makes modern rpgs like oblivion look like trash. The sequel isn't too shabby either.
On August 20 2010 12:56 Pellucidity wrote: The entire Ultima / Ultima Online series. Surprised noone mentioned this. This series gets nowhere near as much respect as it should.
Maybe if you ask only from 15 yearolds
But pretty much anyone who played RPGs when they came out respects them no?
On August 20 2010 11:42 Tempest[OEC] wrote: Does Golden Sun count as underrated?
no
saga frontier 1 and 2, breath of fire 3 and 4 heavily underrated
edit: also odin sphere
loved saga frontier (first one for the psx)
Edit: My vote goes out to Vandal Heart 1 for the PSX, and arguebly FFT(I know its widely liked, but no sequel breaks my heart and shows that square didnt care much for it.)
On August 20 2010 13:07 ChaseR wrote: Planescape : Torment ....if you haven't played this game, your missing out big time.
this. most ppl only playd bg1&2 but dont know plancescape torment.
shitty console action rpgs like dragon age dont even come close to the atmosphere and expirience this gem provides.
breath of fire 3 was a good game but got semi destroyed by way too many random encounters. didnt notice it that much when i playd it many years ago but hooked it up on a emulator 2 years ago and god i couldnt get past the first 20% cause i was so annoyed by it.
loved all the snes ones from FF to secret of mana/evermore,lufia, terranigma and bof2. but doubt any of those counts as underrated.
I played Final Fantasy tactics and Ogre battle tactics many times through. I strong think that ogre battle was far better in story, difficulty, and gameplay.
On August 20 2010 12:17 EAGER-beaver wrote: Nox and legend of dragoon are awful, awful games. Tried to lan nox but after a few hours we all agreed nox was trash...
This is a lie. Nox was amazing, I don't care if it's your birthday :<
On August 20 2010 12:56 Pellucidity wrote: The entire Ultima / Ultima Online series. Surprised noone mentioned this. This series gets nowhere near as much respect as it should.
Maybe if you ask only from 15 yearolds
But pretty much anyone who played RPGs when they came out respects them no?
What? The first Ultima game was released in 1981, you do realise this, yes? I'm not just talking about Ultima Online (Though I think we can all agree it is the mother of all MMORPGs out today)
Do yourself a favour and google Ultima 1: The First age of Darkness.
Mount and Blade was quite an amazing game and adding multiplayer + the amazing module system + the great community = so many different games its mindboggling...
I'm not sure if these are underrated per se, but I really enjoyed playing all of Bethesda's games (Morrowind, Oblivion, Fallout 3)
Breath of fire 1-4. The second was by far one of the best RPGs ever created. I'd put it far ahead most final fantasy games, especially plot wise. Greatest plot and development ever. BoF went downhill at 5.... not so good.
On August 20 2010 12:17 EAGER-beaver wrote: Nox and legend of dragoon are awful, awful games. Tried to lan nox but after a few hours we all agreed nox was trash. I couldn't get far into legend of dragoon, the combat was just too shitty.
Nox has a bad multiplayer mode, but the single player was really good for a Hack'n'Slay-RPG-type of game!
Legend of Legaia is DEFINITELY one of the best games I have ever played. I have spent hundreds of hours on that game alone. It was one of the first RPG's I ever played, which was a disappointment because almost NOTHING could live up to that game. If you've never heard of it or played it, you MUST do so ASAP via any means possible!
Tactics Ogre: The Knights of Lotus (Lodis?) for GBA was also an excellent game. I was sad when someone stole mine
The Witcher for PC. A pretty damn good RPG from a Polish company CD Projekt, released in 2007. Not that known game but still in my opinion one of the best RPG games last decade. Many overlooked it because of the silly combat (although I liked it).
Mount and Blade: Warband is really good. I recommend that. And also the Gothic-Series, especially part 1 and 2 or the unofficial follower Risen. They are more popular in Europe, especially Germany, but I think in the US they are kinda unknown. Also I would like to see more love for Freelancer, it is hands down the best RPG in Space. If Freelancer would have a sequel it would be one of the best games ever made.
demon soul. hard as fuck game. 1 slight mistake can cause u to die. and if u buy it don't think ur bad if u die alot :D
tales of Symphonia was alright but the story just blew so fucking bad i went afk (afc???) during cutscenes. Anyway im not a huge fan of rpg but demon soul is a great game.
Bahamut Lagoon Tales of Phantasia Tales of Symphonia Tales of the Abyss
Secret of Mana and Seikendensetsu3 were great too but I am hearing much more about those than of the 4 I listed at the top. I didn't get to play the other Tales Series games yet (and the newest ones are supposedly not so good, but there are a few more older ones). Mostly because they are so damn good that I easily spend 300 hours on each one of them. If you pick up Symphonia, get the PS2 version. They were able to put a few more things (epic spells!) into it than into the GCN version.
Ogre Battle 64... the n64 was not an rpg console obviously, but fuck... this game just plain ruled. The storytelling was good, had the epicness and long-winded intricacy of a japanese style console rpg, but without the cheesiness and cliche. It had the gameplay, polish, sophistication of a western style rpg, and plenty of original and unique turn based strategy elements in the gameplay. They haven't made a game in this franchise for too damn long now and really need to make another one.
On August 20 2010 16:46 Divinek wrote: huge vote for legend of dragoon god that game was so good
one of my favourites for sure
Legend of Dragoon had a decent storyline and gameplay but I wouldn't say it was more than "ok". Some of those additions were annoying, and some of the characters were useless.
Not sure if they are mentioned yet, but Gothic 1 & 2 are some of the better RPG's ever made for the PC, but they are largely unknown beyond the hardcore RPG-community (where they are close to legendary). If you haven't played them yet, I strongly suggest trying them out!
Then there is Arcanum, which is amazing, but I wouldn't try it unless you are really into RPG's as it's probably not for casual fans.
Finally, Planescape Torment. It's alot wider known then the other games I mentioned, but that doesn't stop it from being underrated. It is by far the best RPG I ever played and nothing comes close imho. Most RPG's are like 80% fighting and 20% story/dialogue, but with PST you can do 90% story/dialogue and 10% fighting if that's how you prefer to play. Unfortunatly it will likely remain one-of-a-kind as reading has fallen out of fashion
Skies of Arcadia is the best RPG on the Dreamcast, but I found the characters superficial, the plot a little childish, and the battle system not deep enough. The moon stones system was not developed enough either (I had just finished FF7 a 4th time before playing SoA, so obviously moon stones look pathetic compared to materias lol). I loved the ships fights though ! And Valua is such a bad copy of Midgar (evil rich people living on top, and good poor people leaving under) I know that in almost every RPG there is an 'evil corporation' (Shinra in FF7, Valuan Empire in SoA, Kefka's army in FF6, Yevon church in FFX, etc.) But the Valuan empire is the worst ever and is so caricatural It was still a good RPG !
I don't know if this RPG is underrated or not, but at least it was in Europe (we europeans were terribly unlucky regarding RPGs translations, and most of great RPG were never released, Chrono Chross for example T_T) : Bahamut Lagoon ! Great RPG, I had to play it on an snes emulator, but I really liked it.
Grandia II was very good too. Very dynamic battle system, interesting dungeons, and what was nice is that you could avoid the monsters on the map. Great when you're not in the mood to fight mobs every 10 steps your character makes...
Granted, the story is quite bad, overworld map sucks and the game is fairly linear. However the battles are fun, the battle graphics are decent and the dialogues are absolutely hilarious
Planescape Torment. It is too often overshadowed by baldur's gate 1/2 although the story line is better, it has the best lore content i've ever seen in a game, unconventional background. Even the characters are all unique, far from the "hot headed sorceress", "grumpy dwarf warrior" etc etc usually seen in rpg.
As for alundra, it is certainly the best zelda like game but it's not a rpg.
Xenogears (will never be rated high enough), Vagrant story (innovative if repetitive and emo), Final fantasy tactics, Final fantasy 6, (Not under rated, but before all squares chars were emo, still :D) and lastly, Dragon Age (Which is sadly overshadowed by a much more shallow title from the same company, Mass Effect 2 takes 6 hours to beat, and is an adventure game, with the most laughable RPG tack-ons).
Props to Lunar fans too Skies of Arcadia, whats up, you could use some more love. :D
Demons souls, I don't know how this is call this an RPG sometimes, you could read a bathroom wall for a bigger story. But the online features make this a very sweet adventure game, even if all you do is level, farm, and leave people bad advice. Still very fun, even if the entire plot was replaced by grinding. (Think Diablo 1, with more polish, and less story.)
Lost Odyssey ... sigh. At least timing the perfects was cool But if you thoroughly investigate towns you will be sucked into hours and hours and hours of reading, as in, hours of reading in a row. Flashbacks come in floods.
Ancient Domains of Mystery, an awesome roguelike. Daggerfall, the best FP RPG ever made. (It's actually available for free download at the Elder Scrolls webpage). ELF. Although more of a platformer than an RPG, it has a lot of RPG elements, so I'll classify it as such. DnD: Eye of the Beholder. Spent tons of hours with a pal on his AMIGA playing this. Those damn chittering spider creepy-sounds haunt me still, fifteen years later ;_;
On August 20 2010 15:07 Jugan wrote: Legend of Legaia is DEFINITELY one of the best games I have ever played. I have spent hundreds of hours on that game alone. It was one of the first RPG's I ever played, which was a disappointment because almost NOTHING could live up to that game. If you've never heard of it or played it, you MUST do so ASAP via any means possible!
Agreed that it was an awesome game. Still not as good as Earthbound though.
On Planescape... I've tried playing it like 5 times. I always end up quitting an hour or two in. God, someone update the graphics! I really want to finish it, eventually.
On August 20 2010 15:34 SkiZou wrote: The Witcher for PC. A pretty damn good RPG from a Polish company CD Projekt, released in 2007. Not that known game but still in my opinion one of the best RPG games last decade. Many overlooked it because of the silly combat (although I liked it).
I second this. Most people didn't hear about this game and it was buggy as fuck when it came out but it was pretty sweet. Also, I like how people are just throwing out their favorite RPGs in an "underrated RPG" thread. YEAH FF7 AND CHRONO TRIGGER MANG
Skies of Arcadia is just little known, but it was rated high. Even so it is one of the best games ever, and it seems to be underrated by many people. The dragon quest series is underrated in the states as well, I don't know why my fellow Americans can't seem to grasp the beauty of those games.
On August 20 2010 22:16 snotboogie wrote: Yes, Vampire: Bloodlines was fantastic!
On Planescape... I've tried playing it like 5 times. I always end up quitting an hour or two in. God, someone update the graphics! I really want to finish it, eventually.
On August 20 2010 15:34 SkiZou wrote: The Witcher for PC. A pretty damn good RPG from a Polish company CD Projekt, released in 2007. Not that known game but still in my opinion one of the best RPG games last decade. Many overlooked it because of the silly combat (although I liked it).
I second this. Most people didn't hear about this game and it was buggy as fuck when it came out but it was pretty sweet. Also, I like how people are just throwing out their favorite RPGs in an "underrated RPG" thread. YEAH FF7 AND CHRONO TRIGGER MANG
I would like to make a voice for the fire emblem series, even though they are officially recognized as turn-based strategy, its an awesome collection of RPGs (albeit a bit too original).
On August 20 2010 15:34 SkiZou wrote: The Witcher for PC. A pretty damn good RPG from a Polish company CD Projekt, released in 2007. Not that known game but still in my opinion one of the best RPG games last decade. Many overlooked it because of the silly combat (although I liked it).
I second this. Most people didn't hear about this game and it was buggy as fuck when it came out but it was pretty sweet. Also, I like how people are just throwing out their favorite RPGs in an "underrated RPG" thread. YEAH FF7 AND CHRONO TRIGGER MANG
This.
Underrated kind of implies that there's, you know, someone not rating them well.
On August 20 2010 22:45 drlame wrote: I would like to make a voice for the fire emblem series, even though they are officially recognized as turn-based strategy, its an awesome collection of RPGs (albeit a bit too original).
On August 20 2010 22:08 Manit0u wrote: Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader
Jade Empire
These two suffer from the legacies of their predecessors. Lionheart isn't awful, but it's also undisputedly the worst game ever to come out from Black Isle (which isn't saying much, seeing as that's basically just Fallout, Icewind Dale, Baldur's Gate, and Planescape--top-of-the-line in the PC RPG genre). Jade Empire is similarly lackluster compared to other Bioware fare like KotOR, NWN, and Dragon Age.
You'll have to enlighten me, though, on what you see in:
On August 20 2010 22:08 Manit0u wrote: Might and Magic VIII: Day of the Destroyer
Severance: Blade of Darkness - as the article says, it actually has a small international cult following to this day, but it's also still relatively unknown. People who have played it though, often claim it's the best in its genre, and even a decade later remains unmatched.
On August 20 2010 15:34 SkiZou wrote: The Witcher for PC. A pretty damn good RPG from a Polish company CD Projekt, released in 2007. Not that known game but still in my opinion one of the best RPG games last decade. Many overlooked it because of the silly combat (although I liked it).
I second this. Most people didn't hear about this game and it was buggy as fuck when it came out but it was pretty sweet. Also, I like how people are just throwing out their favorite RPGs in an "underrated RPG" thread. YEAH FF7 AND CHRONO TRIGGER MANG
This.
Underrated kind of implies that there's, you know, someone not rating them well.
On August 20 2010 22:45 drlame wrote: I would like to make a voice for the fire emblem series, even though they are officially recognized as turn-based strategy, its an awesome collection of RPGs (albeit a bit too original).
They're also not underrated by a long shot.
I would beg to differ, most of the fire emblem games aren't even translated to English, so have can they not be underrated?
fuck fire emblem. play final fantasy tactics or DISGAEA. omg disgaea is awesome. its like the format defining game. i need to get a ps3 just so i can play disgaea 3. fuck me.
On August 20 2010 23:33 Orpheos wrote: fuck fire emblem. play final fantasy tactics or DISGAEA. omg disgaea is awesome. its like the format defining game. i need to get a ps3 just so i can play disgaea 3. fuck me.
I've played through both disgaea and final fantasy tactics, I have to agree with you that both of them are great titles. However they lack the difficulty that Fire emblem does. Enough with fire emblem now, am I the only that thinks Digimin world 2 was a great game?
On August 20 2010 23:46 Yme wrote: Tales of the Abyss(PS2) is really good like Symphonia(Gamecube). Valkyria Chronicles(PS3)
Again, Symphonia also was released for PS2, and in the PS2 version every char has at least 1 Hi-Ougi (Indignation Judgement ftw!), as opposed to the only 2 (I think) in the GCN version. It's still a great game on GCN, but if you can, get it on PS2 for the bit of extra awesomeness.
On August 20 2010 23:19 RedSword wrote: Temple of Elementary Evil (ToEE).
1 or 2 demos existed (and still exist) but the game was never released; too many bugs with saved-games.
It was a pure dungeon-dragon style, with turn-by-turn Baldur's Gate play. Was awesome. So gay it was abandoned.
The graphics were really nice too.
Wait, what? ToEE was released, if you mean the Troika game. It was the first game out with the 3.5 rules. I was never incredibly impressed, but it definitely came out.
Anyway, I'll add another vote for a different Troika game, Vampire: the Masquerade - Bloodlines, and one for Alpha Protocol, which I had a lot of fun with. I don't really think Planescape is underrated by any reasonable standards, or I'd vote for it, too. (Edit: Same thing with Mask of the Betrayer. Great game, maybe not a ton of people have played it, but I don't think it's underrated.)
On August 20 2010 23:33 Orpheos wrote: fuck fire emblem. play final fantasy tactics or DISGAEA. omg disgaea is awesome. its like the format defining game. i need to get a ps3 just so i can play disgaea 3. fuck me.
I've played through both disgaea and final fantasy tactics, I have to agree with you that both of them are great titles. However they lack the difficulty that Fire emblem does. Enough with fire emblem now, am I the only that thinks Digimin world 2 was a great game?
look up a game called legend of cao cao. idk i just never liked any of the fire emblems ive played.
On August 20 2010 23:33 Orpheos wrote: fuck fire emblem. play final fantasy tactics or DISGAEA. omg disgaea is awesome. its like the format defining game. i need to get a ps3 just so i can play disgaea 3. fuck me.
I've played through both disgaea and final fantasy tactics, I have to agree with you that both of them are great titles. However they lack the difficulty that Fire emblem does. Enough with fire emblem now, am I the only that thinks Digimin world 2 was a great game?
look up a game called legend of cao cao. idk i just never liked any of the fire emblems ive played.
It does look pretty good, and I love the romance of the three kingdoms, will surely check it out. How did you get your hands on Legend of cao cao?
On August 20 2010 15:34 SkiZou wrote: The Witcher for PC. A pretty damn good RPG from a Polish company CD Projekt, released in 2007. Not that known game but still in my opinion one of the best RPG games last decade. Many overlooked it because of the silly combat (although I liked it).
I second this. Most people didn't hear about this game and it was buggy as fuck when it came out but it was pretty sweet. Also, I like how people are just throwing out their favorite RPGs in an "underrated RPG" thread. YEAH FF7 AND CHRONO TRIGGER MANG
This.
Underrated kind of implies that there's, you know, someone not rating them well.
On August 20 2010 22:45 drlame wrote: I would like to make a voice for the fire emblem series, even though they are officially recognized as turn-based strategy, its an awesome collection of RPGs (albeit a bit too original).
They're also not underrated by a long shot.
I would beg to differ, most of the fire emblem games aren't even translated to English, so have can they not be underrated?
Because all media about them gives them universal praise, both for the ones that have been translated and in everything I've read about imports/unofficial translations of the other games?
On August 20 2010 23:42 chaoser wrote: um, I totally no one mentioned this yet but Super Mario RPG!!!
Seeing as Super Mario RPG regularly pops up on peoples' "Best Games of All Time" lists, it again is probably not underrated.
On August 20 2010 23:46 Yme wrote: Tales of the Abyss(PS2) is really good like Symphonia(Gamecube). Valkyria Chronicles(PS3)
How can a game that has won Game of the Year awards from multiple mainstream gaming sources even be remotely considered "underrated"?
On August 20 2010 23:33 Orpheos wrote: fuck fire emblem. play final fantasy tactics or DISGAEA. omg disgaea is awesome. its like the format defining game. i need to get a ps3 just so i can play disgaea 3. fuck me.
I've played through both disgaea and final fantasy tactics, I have to agree with you that both of them are great titles. However they lack the difficulty that Fire emblem does. Enough with fire emblem now, am I the only that thinks Digimin world 2 was a great game?
look up a game called legend of cao cao. idk i just never liked any of the fire emblems ive played.
It does look pretty good, and I love the romance of the three kingdoms, will surely check it out. How did you get your hands on Legend of cao cao?
find a translated comupter download free somewhere. i forget where i got mine. its a really long game, and there are two paths to take along with lots of choices so it has alot of replay value.
Grandia II for Dreamcast as someone mentioned already. That is seriously such a great game, and can even at some points bring tears to your eyes.
Blue Dragon for Xbox 360. This story and gameplay was actually pretty damn cool and definitely under-rated considering its "kiddie" appearance.
I wasn't too big of a fan of Lost Odyssey. I thought it was a little bit too much of reading into stories while being in another story yourself. Not to mention the fact that any sort of random encounter would be a struggling 5 minute battle.
Ultima Underworld surely ! Anyone that has played it - loved it, but yet it somehow didn't quite catch on. Maybe it was the 1st person perspective or maybe it was the "silly" attack moves that you had to make, but it's still one of the best ever RPGs on my book.
Suikoden II/V Seiken Densetsu 3 (no official localization :/) Vandal Hearts Lufia 1/2 (old school) Final Fantasy V (the forgotten FF) Secret of Evermore Paper Mario (many people probably never have played/never will) Chrono Cross (I know many people hated it) Makai Kingdom Ogre Battle 64 (rpg/strategy on n64 lolwut?) Tactics Ogre Quest 64 Tales of the Abyss Bahamut's Lagoon
I always saw FFIX as underrated personally, and possibly FFXIII.
Most Overrated: Final Fantasy VII Legend of the Dragoon Final Fantasy X Disgaea 3 Kingdom Hearts 1/2 Any Dragon Quest game Pokemon series
On August 20 2010 15:34 SkiZou wrote: The Witcher for PC. A pretty damn good RPG from a Polish company CD Projekt, released in 2007. Not that known game but still in my opinion one of the best RPG games last decade. Many overlooked it because of the silly combat (although I liked it).
I second this. Most people didn't hear about this game and it was buggy as fuck when it came out but it was pretty sweet. Also, I like how people are just throwing out their favorite RPGs in an "underrated RPG" thread. YEAH FF7 AND CHRONO TRIGGER MANG
This.
Underrated kind of implies that there's, you know, someone not rating them well.
On August 20 2010 22:45 drlame wrote: I would like to make a voice for the fire emblem series, even though they are officially recognized as turn-based strategy, its an awesome collection of RPGs (albeit a bit too original).
They're also not underrated by a long shot.
I would beg to differ, most of the fire emblem games aren't even translated to English, so have can they not be underrated?
Because all media about them gives them universal praise, both for the ones that have been translated and in everything I've read about imports/unofficial translations of the other games?
On August 20 2010 23:46 Yme wrote: Tales of the Abyss(PS2) is really good like Symphonia(Gamecube). Valkyria Chronicles(PS3)
How can a game that has won Game of the Year awards from multiple mainstream gaming sources even be remotely considered "underrated"?
There will always be someone who rates a game high, this thread is more about "unpopular" than underrated games. now instead of qouting everyone saying that the game they mentioned is not underrated, start to contribute to the thread.
On August 21 2010 01:13 drlame wrote: There will always be someone who rates a game high, this thread is more about "unpopular" than underrated games. now instead of qouting everyone saying that the game they mentioned is not underrated, start to contribute to the thread.
Except those games *aren't* unpopular. And there's a difference between "there will always be someone who rates a game high" and "every mainstream gaming media source gives this game 8+/10". All 3 of those games fall into the latter category.
Both the Geneforge and Avernum series are generally derided for their poor graphics, but beyond that offer a deeper RPG experience than many modern CRPGs.
I'll agree with Spiderweb games, although it's been forever since I played one. I'll have to remember to go buy one of their games the next time I'm out of games to play (but sc2 and gw and then gw2 should keep me from that circumstance for quite a while).
Nox was one of my favorite RPG's growing up. It never caught on though really, even though the multiplayer was also fantastic. Too bad EA bought out westwood and made them shut down the nox servers and pump out shitty C&C games T_T
On August 20 2010 11:55 zerglingsfolife wrote: In my opinion
Lost Odyssey and Terranigma
Terranigma... best RPG ever
Terranigma is great during the first half, but then it starts to suck badly imo. Especially when you go to Japan with modern buildings etc. while the rest of the world still lives in wooden houses and doesn't even know about electricity. Something is off here.
On August 21 2010 01:13 drlame wrote: There will always be someone who rates a game high, this thread is more about "unpopular" than underrated games. now instead of qouting everyone saying that the game they mentioned is not underrated, start to contribute to the thread.
Except those games *aren't* unpopular. And there's a difference between "there will always be someone who rates a game high" and "every mainstream gaming media source gives this game 8+/10". All 3 of those games fall into the latter category.
Both the Geneforge and Avernum series are generally derided for their poor graphics, but beyond that offer a deeper RPG experience than many modern CRPGs.
I agree... And also Nethergate by them is really cool. But their newer games felt a bit worse imo, it was so damn linear at least when I tried the demos of some recent game of both series. You were running much more in a tube than I was used to in a game of those series.
And saw a article/blog by their main developer too on that, he wanted the games to be less frustrating now when you know more clearly what to do and don't run into enemies way out of your league by accident. But for me that's the whole point in such games, exploring the world when you gotta use your brain a bit to figure out the situation.
But at least Nethergate, Avernum 1-3, and Geneforge 1-2 are more open world for the most part, I don't think I've played all of them but I know I should :D
I would go with Suikoden but I dont think its underrated. I think everyone who knows about it thinks its awesome (as do I, of course). Therefore, my vote goes to Legend of Legaia. Its a great game and has fighting game elements.
Tales of Symphonia IMO, but I can't really have too much of a say as I haven't played most of them. Tales series is pretty good with a few exceptions, though not all of them do well in sales.
On August 21 2010 02:38 GodIsNotHere wrote: Oh I got a Classic "Earth Bound" for the Nes, Great game for the time but sadly didn't get enough attention in my opinion.
The Tales series on the whole, I loved Tales of Phantasia, I loved Tales of Destiny and Tales of Eternia...the newer ones I don't like as much but Tales games don't seem to get as much love as the FF series does.
On August 21 2010 00:45 kidd wrote: Blue Dragon for Xbox 360. This story and gameplay was actually pretty damn cool and definitely under-rated considering its "kiddie" appearance.
On August 20 2010 23:21 Pixel. wrote: Dransik But its more a mmo rpg Nox Nox was so mutch fun to bad the multyplayer was crap
Crap? you guys have strange tastes. The single player in Nox was just an introduction to the MP. It was essentially a multiplayer game and I personally think it was the most quick-paced and interesting multiplayer game I've ever played, and even moreso, it was innovative for its time. Even better than Starcraft. Also, nobody mentioned Anachronox, it was extremely underrated.
On August 20 2010 11:33 ocoini wrote: NOX was pretty damn good I'd say.
I like Mount and Blade as well, it's got A LOT of growing potential too, i hope they keep improving it
Omg yes i remember playing NOX in elementary school. It was so effing awesome but too bad Westwood got bought out so multiplayer died
On August 21 2010 04:40 Shauni wrote:
Crap? you guys have strange tastes. The single player in Nox was just an introduction to the MP. It was essentially a multiplayer game and I personally think it was the most quick-paced and interesting multiplayer game I've ever played, and even moreso, it was innovative for its time. Even better than Starcraft.
I love you shauni ^^ MP was def the best part about the game! I played countless hours of it when I was a wee young chap :D
Nox is an excellent PvP game that any PvP fan should try out (at least if it was a bit more popular)
That said, it's a decent action-adventure game for single player - but you're not missing out on anything by not playing the single player in my opinion.
I would not call this game an RPG. Even though it has elements of action/adventure games that some people call RPG (Diablo), everything's watered. There's virtually no real leveling going on, no stat points or skill points, the only thing you get are items. On the box of the game it says "action/adventure" I believe. That said, many other games don't really fit into RPG category also, but Nox definitely more so than any other.
On August 21 2010 04:46 R0YAL wrote: Omg yes i remember playing NOX in elementary school. It was so effing awesome but too bad Westwood got bought out so multiplayer died
People still play multiplayer just not much. Nothing happened to the servers when westwood got bought out until much later than then. Now, only users can host their own games, which generally works fine when you have good internet, which is common now, unlike in the past. I remember playing Nox PvP on dial-up (it was obviously laggy).
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Silver is a game I remember fondly, because I played the demo. I thought it had great music, and good voiceovers, but I didn't play the full version. I got the 'jist of the experience through the demo though, and also watched youtube videos, and I really don't think the game is all that great, just rather decent sorta like Nox.
Nox is an excellent PvP game that any PvP fan should try out (at least if it was a bit more popular)
That said, it's a decent action-adventure game for single player - but you're not missing out on anything by not playing the single player in my opinion.
I would not call this game an RPG. Even though it has elements of action/adventure games that some people call RPG (Diablo), everything's watered. There's virtually no real leveling going on, no stat points or skill points, the only thing you get are items. On the box of the game it says "action/adventure" I believe. That said, many other games don't really fit into RPG category also, but Nox definitely more so than any other.
On August 21 2010 04:46 R0YAL wrote: Omg yes i remember playing NOX in elementary school. It was so effing awesome but too bad Westwood got bought out so multiplayer died
People still play multiplayer just not much. Nothing happened to the servers when westwood got bought out until much later than then. Now, only users can host their own games, which generally works fine when you have good internet, which is common now, unlike in the past. I remember playing Nox PvP on dial-up (it was obviously laggy).
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Silver is a game I remember fondly, because I played the demo. I thought it had great music, and good voiceovers, but I didn't play the full version. I got the 'jist of the experience through the demo though, and also watched youtube videos, and I really don't think the game is all that great, just rather decent sorta like Nox.
Oh really? I remember trying to play multiplayer after it got bought out and couldnt but maybe im thinking of another game
If you can consider Earthbound "underrated" then I vote for that, but honestly it is one of the most famous SNES titles around. Same idea goes for Legend of Legaia and Legend of Dragoon.
I would also say Secret of Evermore for SNES, and possibly Valkyrie Chronicles (since LoL and LoD are "underrated")
Another vote for Nox... I spent far too much of my "study" time on that game. The classes were very unique relative to each other, and each had their own path through the single player world. Thinking about the multiplayer makes me wonder why it hasn't been copied for the modern era. With all of the success of competitive games currently, a Nox style multiplayer game would likely do very well right now.
Super Ninja Boy on SNES was awesome, an RPG mixed with beat em up features I'd say. Also earthbound was great, but as someone mentionned, I don't think it is underrated really.
On August 21 2010 05:44 Chronald wrote: Lufia 1 & 2
If you can consider Earthbound "underrated" then I vote for that, but honestly it is one of the most famous SNES titles around. Same idea goes for Legend of Legaia and Legend of Dragoon.
I would also say Secret of Evermore for SNES, and possibly Valkyrie Chronicles (since LoL and LoD are "underrated")
Hmmm, looking at the list I have to agree with sword of vermillion and shining force 2 (1 is a pile of shit compared to 2) at least.
Then I gotta say Might and Magic 6: Mandate of Heaven gets faaaaar too little credit. Amazing game. 7: For Blood and honor is also pretty good, but preferred 6.
Other than that... shining force 3 for the saturn. Think probably very few people have played it and the graphics is horrible but what a fantastic game.
I think quite a few of the games on the list shouldn't be there. Who underrates shadowgate? That actually played it back in the day i mean (which everyone did). If you didn't play it back in the day it's gonna suck now anyways cause pretty much all that is left is that awesome nostalgia factor.
I know it has a cult following already but MARIO RPG for the SNES. I think it's as good as chronotrigger tbh. Best purchase I ever made at the game pawn shop.
I don't want to be a downer but there are so many painfully average games near the top of the list right now. If I had to choose from what's there then my recommendation would be either Tactics Ogre or Skies of Arcadia, neither of which is underrated. They both received a lot of praise.
I sincerely hope that you never find yourself playing Xenogears.
Lufia 1 & 2 for SNES, totally whips the ass of FFVI when it comes to graph/minigames/replayability. I like the spell / item ability system as well. Story is not on FFVI level but is a solid B(+). I think I've been down the 100 floor dungeon like 5 times.
Tales of Symphonia is only underrated because people actually think Abyss/Vesperia are better. Abyss is definitely not, and I've not played Vesperia but from what I've heard it has the same problems as Abyss (mainly that Free Run is absurdly broken (the same thing crops up in Star Ocean 3 tbh, but that game is just such a clusterfuck of bad enemy design in general that it's not as noticeable)).
I doubt it should be mentioned as most underrated though, it's pretty universally praised as far as I know, except when compared to its successors.
Otherwise I dunno, RPGs are not really a genre I play much.
(also, re: If you pick up Symphonia, get the PS2 version. They were able to put a few more things (epic spells!) into it than into the GCN version. From what I've heard, those actually make the game worse as well by making it more broken, but that's going off hearsay and not from a source I'd personally trust as much as the one with the opinion on Vesperia above)
It gets shit for being a spinoff and being a jerkable RPG since it starts 3 bikini based chicks. But if you were a fan of 10, then the story line of X-2 fits perfectly.
Definitely not the best FF game, but not many rpgs are.
I would say Persona 4, although it has quite a cult following. I never really got into MegaTen until last year, and that game completely sucked me in. I liked how that game made you live life as a relatively normal teenager, forcing you to attend classes, make friendships, go on summer holidays, school excursions, etc. Stellar game, definitely looking forward to new Atlus releases.
Only 2 posters in this thread mentioned the gothic series. Seriously one of the best underrated RPG's for pc ever made. Gothic 2 especially, once you get into it the atmosphere and the feeling of the game becomes... nothing but magical.
On August 22 2010 02:30 pechkin wrote: are u kidding me? gothic was god damn popular on it's time, but time pass it didn't get underrated, but just old
Hmm maybe, still it ticked me off not to see it mentioned in the op.
A lot of these suggestions are a bit surprising to me because they weren't really underrated... I've seen things like Planescape Torment, Earthbound & the Breath of Fires on lots of top 10 lists. Heck, Planescape is often in the top 5 more often than not.
As for Gothic, I enjoyed 1 more than 2 & 3. I think it's just a personality quirk of mine where I want to do absolutely everything, so when the whole world finally opens up, I kind of stall and never progress anymore into the story.
Earthbound's one of my all-time favourites. If you like it and haven't tried the sequel Mother 3, you can get the fan translation at http://mother3.fobby.net/
The Mother series has been hit or miss for some people. It has a quirky style of humor that's quite different from most games. The fan translations carries over that style humor which is pretty sick. If you liked Earthbound I'd definitely say give Mother 3 a shot.
On August 21 2010 16:36 hp.Shell wrote: Also Xenogears and Tales of Symphonia get my votes.
I absolutely loved ToS - not sure if it is considered underrated cause it got some next sequel that I have yet to play cause I can't be arsed to buy a Wii, but I digress. :D But in a way it is, cause people put it down because of the cutesy graphics and effects. Ah good times... so many hours eaten up.
I can't think of another RPG though... after so many have been listed.
I am going to have to recommend the PC game Nethack as the absolute best RPG that barely anybody has played. Get over the initial learning curve bump and you are in for one of the deepest and most challenging RPG experiences available. Unique experiences every game and the more you play, the more you appreciate all of the details that make the game so engaging and challenging.
Mother 2 (aka Earthbound) is probably known by some ppl but this game is sooo good. Not enough game heal your caracther with hamburger and you fight with a Yo-Yo.
Also, ppl tha tlike RPG need to get a hold on Mother 3 + english translation on GBA, it's really good.
No one has heard of this. One of my favourite games. But I haven't played too much.
I did...and the game is ok. It's better if you played the prequels too.
Other RPGs: Persona 1 & Persona 2: Innocent Sin(3 and 4 suck, they were made for kids, fu -.-), Mount & Blade and Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete(the sequel is pretty much the same, but less good). Vagrant Story is interesting, but I stopped playing because the weapons which were supposed to be strong vs certain enemies did almost no damage, for whatever reason.
Magi Nation for Gameboy Color, perhaps my favorite rpg evah! Sorta pokemon-esque gameplay but more mature storyline, hilarious at times but serious when it needs to be, memorable characters...I could rant for a while but whatevs.
I'll give PLanescape Torment another vote although the mechanics of the game (being immortal) annoyed me very much.
It takes place in a great atmospheric adn very different universe (planescape), adn the story is quite good. Your OP seems to indicate the story is important toyou, so you should give it a go.
Lol, just kidding. I'd have to say Suikoden 1 and 2. They're still my favorite RPGs of all time. With an amazing story line, over 100 characters each with their own unique background, a giant world map, dozens of side-quests, etc., it really seems to me like the model RPG.
On August 26 2010 01:39 skipdog172 wrote: I am going to have to recommend the PC game Nethack as the absolute best RPG that barely anybody has played. Get over the initial learning curve bump and you are in for one of the deepest and most challenging RPG experiences available. Unique experiences every game and the more you play, the more you appreciate all of the details that make the game so engaging and challenging.
Nethack is broken. Poison instadeaths either will happen to you randomly sometimes (traps) or you have to play in a completely un-fun manner to avoid them. Once you get to the Castle and grab the wand, the game is over (you are essentially invulnerable once you get your wishes) unless you die to an instadeath (which are all very preventable if you know about them). Elbereth is the most broken thing ever because it means that 90% of monsters won't bother to melee you and very few monsters are even dangerous outside of melee range. And the game is pretty much unwinnable unless you spoil yourself.
It's fun despite being really broken, but personally I find Crawl pretty much just a better version of Nethack. I won't pretend that Crawl doesn't have problems--you can certainly get "instadeath" situations to happen randomly early on just as poison happens in Nethack; and escaping with the Orb is disappointingly anticlimactic, especially compared to Nethack's excellent endgame--but I've not found anything that's even remotely comparable to how broken Elbereth or wishes are. Crawl is vastly more difficult; I leave it up to you to decide if that's good or bad.
Or if you like Nethack I'd recommend Sporkhack instead since it fixes some of the most broken stuff--or at least did when I last played, which was probably at least two years ago--and makes Gehennom both less tedious and actually potentially dangerous. On the whole Spork is about the same difficulty as Nethack until the very end, where it's fiendishly more difficult (but that's fine because I have only once died after the Castle in Nethack and that was me being stupid and suiciding to a c corpse with an amulet of life saving in my inventory because I'd taken my gloves off).
Shining force 3 cos no-one i know played it. Epic strategy game. The internet has almost completed the translation for the 3 scenarios which also makes it even betters.
On August 26 2010 08:27 DownMaxX wrote: Shining Force 1/2/3. None of the new ones. ;;
Also, Lufia 1/2.
Lufia 2 is one of my absolute favorite rpg of all time. Epic story line, great character development, soundtrack, and some of the hardest puzzles (at least when I was 8) found in rpgs.
The most underrated part of the game has to be the control setup. The L button was the same as the "accept"/confirm button and when you held it down, it auto attacks everything for you. I could essentially playing the game 1 handed (dpad for moving, L for auto attack/selecting abilities) when I was grinding for level and was free to do other stuff during the grind.
Sadly I hardly ever see any other rpg with that feature. They're actually doing a remake of lufia 2 for the DS but it's going to have a action battle system as opposed to turn based. I hope they don't butcher it too much.
Not sure if it's underrated, but I know the vast majority of people have not played it. There is immense depth to the NPCs you can meet and have in your party as well as the world itself. Lots of hidden stuff to explore and a very good character development system.
On August 26 2010 23:23 KingAnusIII wrote: SHINING FORCE 2 ALL THE WAY!!! Maybe the third is underated never played it
Honestly, give it a shot. You'll thank me. It's amazing. Or watch an LP on it. TotalBiscuit (the I suck at SC guy) has an AWESOME one. Although it's incomplete still i think.
On August 26 2010 23:23 KingAnusIII wrote: SHINING FORCE 2 ALL THE WAY!!! Maybe the third is underated never played it
I have tried many times to get into Shining Force 2 but I lose interest like 30 minutes in. It feels too kiddy and innocent. The first one had a much better story and charachters.
I don't really know how games like Earthbound and Xenogears can be considered "underrated," the former being a massive cult hit in America, and the latter actually being a PSX greatest hits title. But I'll throw in my two cents for those.
Actually I don't see Lufia II on your list, I guess its too far off from being considered underrated, dunno. Excellent rpg, great part of my childhood.
Not sure if it's underrated, but I know the vast majority of people have not played it. There is immense depth to the NPCs you can meet and have in your party as well as the world itself. Lots of hidden stuff to explore and a very good character development system.
Good call!
It's been a loooong time since i've played Arcanum and the cd box just happen to be 2m away from here.
A pity this game is ugly as fuck, it really has a depth that most rpg miss.
Btw did anyone mention Vagrant story? back in the day it was overshadowed by the FFs although it was a good rpg too.
Duuude Quest 64 was so badass, i remember i could never find or buy one of the memory cards for my n64 in my crappy towns walmart and i could never save, instead i would just replay the entire beginning over and over again =] wish i coulda beat it =(
I fucking loved Quest 64. I've replayed it like 5 times whole-way through, and it's awesome everytime. I dunno why people think it's the worst rpg ever made, it's amazing. Simple, but amazing.
Another definitely underrated rpg is Aidyn Chronicles: The First Mage (n64). That game was fucking awesome. It had its glitches (save often, the game can and will freeze/crash at the worst possible time), but if you saved often you wouldn't have problems. The world was absolutely gigantic, you could never find everything there is to find even if you played three times through. You could choose different people for your party every game and choose to use/emphasize different skills/tactics for everyone every game: it definitely had replay value.
Angband (angband.oook.cz) is probably the best rpg that ever existed. It is however, incredibly long and incredibly difficult. When you die (and trust me, you will die, probably in the town too first time you play it), you have start over 100% from scratch with everything re-randomized. So if you get lucky and find an awesome artifact weapon that makes the game easy-mode, and an Ancient Multi-Hued Dragon breathes poison (offscreen) and you die instantly, odds are you won't find that artifact ever again, or if you do, you'll only find it after it's useless. You can replay this game forever. It's a different, unique game to some extent every single time you play it, even if you beat it (and well, you probably won't).
I don't know if Breath of Fire II was underrated or not, but I do know that it was awesome. Really surreal story. Kind of long/hard, but that's not a bad thing.
I liked Tales of Symphonia, it had a great musical score, the story was long and interesting, but it was somewhat aggravating. I never actually finished the game. I dunno if it was underrated or not, also.
Legend of Legaia was cool, but I personally never played it very much. My friend played whole game, and he loved it.
EPT
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Ness is such a beast. Except I renamed him Flash and his favorite food was Pocari Sweat.![[image loading]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f0/Ys_AON.jpg)
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Panzer Dragoon Saga!! 
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