Top 5 Underrated RPGs

[Del Murder]

Enough of these 'this game sucks' 'that game's overrated' threads. What are some RPGs that may go unnoticed by the average gamer?

Off the top of my head (and in no particular order):

1. Illusion of Gaia
2. Golden Sun
3. Final Fantasy XI
4. Vagrant Story
5. Secret of Evermore

[Bolivar]

Sword of Vermillion
Shining Force II
Skies of Arcadia
Phantasy Star... something
Valkyria Chronicles 2

Any Sega RPG! :p

[Pike]

Anything Laddy is going to show up and say. Basically just listen to him if you're looking for RPG recommendations.

[Vermachtnis]

Brave Story
LaPucelle Tactics
Fate/Extra
Wild ARMs XF
MegaMan X Command Mission

3/5 of those are PSP games. And I'm serious about Command Mission, I thought it was fun game. But since it's a Mega Man X RPG and it came out after X7, not a lot of people paid it any mind. And Wild ARMs XF is a great Tactics game. It gives FFTactics a run for it's money in class balance.

[NeoCracker]

I really enjoyed Command Mission. Not amazing, and had some rather over the top cheesy moments, but ti was good fun.

[Roogle]

Oh, you played Illusion of Gaia? Most people that I know haven't played that game before. It really presents a unique experience.

Here are some games that I thought of:

1. Lunar: Eternal Blue
2. Lunar: Silver Star Story
3. Kartia: Word of Fate
4. SaGa Frontier 2
5. Grandia

[Laddy]

1. Realms of Arkania: Shadows over Riva
2. Anachronox
3. Gorky 17
4. Return to Krondor
5. KOTOR II (Better than first KOTOR but is overlooked)

[I Took the Red Pill]

Okage: Shadow King
Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits
Brave Fencer Musashi
Star Ocean 2

I can't think of a fifth right now...Advance Wars if you want to count it as an RPG (iffy). It's not underrated in terms of reviews but I never hear anyone talking about it any more.

[maybee]

Eternal Sonata. It's so beautiful, not the best JRPG game ever but it's very soft and touching.

Resonance of Fate. A Gun based RPG. Very unique can be hard to get used to though.
Terranigma. I wish that I could play this game so bad, but I've only watched a Lets Play
Shadow Hearts. (PS2 ) Really touching game.
Wild Arms (PS1) I loved the anime opening, and it was really fun and enjoyable.

[Loony BoB]

FFV should be far more famous/popular than it is.
FFXIV was fairly derided at launch, but is unfairly assumed to still be bad at patch 1.23 and still carries ratings all across the internet based on the launch.
Alundra is a relatively unknown RPG worth mentioning.
Excelsior is a very unknown RPG from old-school days that I always enjoy playing even in modern times.

[Skyblade]

Megaman Battle Network 3
Septerra Core: Legacy of the Creator
Soul Blazer
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles

[Pike]

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance

This and Also Final Fantasy II.

Deus Ex usually ends up on "Best of" lists but on the other hand very few people these days seem to have ACTUALLY PLAYED it so... maybe not underrated so much as underplayed.

[Loony BoB]

Final Fantasy II
Urgh, no. I really was delighted to have finished that game. It was a chore.

[Skyblade]

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance

This and Also Final Fantasy II.

Deus Ex usually ends up on "Best of" lists but on the other hand very few people these days seem to have ACTUALLY PLAYED it so... maybe not underrated so much as underplayed.

FFII gets a bad rap because it has horrible gameplay. It isn't a really fun game to play, so much so that most people (myself included) have a hard time getting through or even remembering the storyline. And that's a big negative on a game, and one it deserves.

If one part of a game is so bad that it makes it almost unplayable in your mind, is it really underrating it to call the game bad? I don't know.

But I do acknowledge that it has some good aspects. It just doesn't make up for the atrocious gameplay.

[Bolivar]

I don't know what's wrong with the gameplay, it's the same as all the other first six FF's. The customization is different, I think it's brilliant tbh how much freedom you're given in creating characters.

I disagree it's underrated. The people who like it like it, those who didn't don't, but I don't think enough have played it to establish a public perception deeming it good or bad.

[Iceglow]

1) Vagrant Story
2) Front Mission 3
3) Resonance Of Fate
4) Last Remnant
5) Lost Oddessy

[Laddy]

You guys aren't very good at this. :colbert:

[Pike]

It isn't a really fun game to play

It was totally one of the most fun FF games I've played. xD

[Jowy]

Illusion of Gaia might have had some of the most obnoxious dungeons in any SNES action RPG. Mt. Kress and Mu, looking in your general direction. Anywho:

1) Robotrek. Fun little JRPG on SNES made by Quintet/Enix. Your character wears these wicked awesome goggles and labcoat and builds ROBOTS to fight for him. You can use a weapon in each hand along with a backpack that shoots missiles. I've never seen this in any other SNES game either, but you're able to save up to eight attack combinations for quick selection, kinda like a macro in WoW/FFXI.

2) Final Fantasy Adventure/Seiken Densetsu. Quality game even though the localization is a little off. Prequel to Secret of Mana, so all of you should give it a spin. Handful of different weapons, great 8-bit tunes to jam to in the desert (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QD3JI9vojQ) and an all around exciting fifteen hour little romp to save the Mana Tree.

3) Wild ARMs - Rented this when we got the Playstation; never got to finish it. All three characters brought something different to the table, plus the wild-west theme was pretty cool. Naming your spells gives you more chances for creativity too!

4) Dark Souls - "Never heard of it...is it like Skyrim?" NO IT ISN'T. There's a thirty-two page thread about it in this exact forum and somehow everyone doesn't own a copy by now. Crazy fun, keeps you on your toes, and rewards you for overcoming challenges.

5) Dragon Quest Monsters. It's Pokemon with the monsters from Dragon Quest instead. And it plays like Dragon Quest. Self-explanatory!

[Madame Adequate]

Funnily I might disagree hugely about overrated RPGs but I agree with a lot of this thread about which are overlooked :p

In no particular order!

1) Legend of Kartia
2) Legend of Legaia
3) Alundra
4) Front Mission 3
5) Jade Cocoon

[Ouch!]

5. KOTOR II (Better than first KOTOR but is overlooked)
I hadn't touched this in ages until recently. I got the game for PC near release, but it crashed near the end for some reason or another, and I lost all my saved game data. I learned early this year that it had been released on Steam and, around the same time, the modding community had released a more comprehensive version of an old mod that fixed numerous bugs and restored loads of cut content. Got around to finally playing through the whole thing with this and yes, absolutely yes. This game is the tits.