Underrated entries from Popular franchises.

[Wolf Kanno]

I know we're not all hipster elitists pricks who only play obscure games from obscure game system made in Mexico and Thailand or won't touch any big AAA budget because their gaming diet only consists of a stead diet of the most indie of indie games. So of major franchises and series you've played, which ones do you feel don't get the love and respect they deserve?

[Spuuky]

I know we're not all hipster elitists pricks who only play obscure games from obscure game system made in Mexico and Thailand or won't touch any big AAA budget because their gaming diet only consists of a stead diet of the most indie of indie games.EoFF is pretty mainstream in its game tastes in general.

Anyway, Link's Awakening. Second best Zelda game (after LttP of course).

[Skyblade]

I know we're not all hipster elitists pricks who only play obscure games from obscure game system made in Mexico and Thailand or won't touch any big AAA budget because their gaming diet only consists of a stead diet of the most indie of indie games.EoFF is pretty mainstream in its game tastes in general.

Anyway, Link's Awakening. Second best Zelda game (after LttP of course).

Link Between Worlds. Far better, better than even Link to the Past, but barely even gets mentioned.

[Fynn]

Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter. Really interesting game that all too often gets disowned by fans.

Also, Dragon Quest VI. Everyone forgets it exists, but it's one of the coolest Dragon Quest games to date with a job system and really engrossing story.

[FFNut]

Unknown games I had a blast with:

NES

The Wall Street Kid
Basewars
Skate Or Die

SNES

Bugsy
Romance of the Three Kingdoms III Dragon of Destiny
Uncharted Waters New Horizons

DreamCasts and their games in general! (Still have mine)

[Fynn]

I also want to add the first Witcher. It's a very good game in its own right, but nobody really ever talks about it, especially compared to the third game which seems to be God's gift from heaven or something.

[Formalhaut]

I also want to add the first Witcher. It's a very good game in its own right, but nobody really ever talks about it, especially compared to the third game which seems to be God's gift from heaven or something.

To be fair, the first Witcher is PC only, and I think the series really kicked off from the second game onwards.

[Pike]

Dragon Age 2

First Mass Effect

Final Fantasy II

[Wolf Kanno]

Here's one of the games I was thinking of when I made this thread:

71925
Mega Man X6 - One of my favorite entries in the series behind X1 and X4. X6 is the black sheep of the "respectable MMX titles" which basically consists of only the first six games and the GBC entries. Before Axel graced the series and became the poster child of everything wrong with the series and for some fans, Capcom itself, this was the game that got a lot of flak from fans. A hasty sequel made very shortly after the more successful X4 and X5, like many of Capcom's major PS1 releases at the very end of the systems life cycle, the company cut a lot of corners and gave the fans a very rough title that probably needed another six months in the oven to be fully realized. The level design hits(and sometimes crosses) that very thin line between being challenging and outright shenanigans. The Nightmare system doesn't make it any better, being a great idea that has a serious bad habit of making a rough around the edge design feel more frustrating than it should be.

Hardcore fans hate it partially because the game feels less polish and more sadistic than previous installments, but mostly because the game was never actually meant to be made. X5 was the original ending entry for the X series and was suppose to jump start the MM Zero franchise ending with the death of a major character and a cataclysm striking the world. X6 picks up a few months later and has X trying to rebuild the world but has issues as a rough Reploid scientist hijacks the terraforming efforts with several former Mavericks who were assassinated by the Maverick Hunters after said scientist stepped on too many toes. He builds a robot named High Max, who looks like he could be the Big O's little brother, and got access on the Zero Virus from X5 which he plans on using for his own nefarious schemes. Barring the resurrection of the character who died in the last game, there is actually nothing in X6's plot that outright contradicts the Zero series, it's major glitch is simply sucking the momentum out of Zero's return in the MMZero series.

So why do I like this game? Well for one thing, I was happy that X finally returned to focus in his own series. I am well aware of the fact Zero was the originally intended main character and X was the result of executive meddling, but I feel the team at Capcom did a good job making X an interesting and conflicted character. While I do like the ramifications of Zero's past and story for the series, it was still a bit annoying to watch him hijack the plot of the last two (technically three) entries to the series. I don't even know why Capcom bothered putting X in X4, he does absolutely nothing and his story is largely irrelevant. X5 was only slightly better, so it was nice to see a game where X came back into the limelight though he does still have to share it with Alia who has a closer connection to the main villain than anyone. The plot overall is surprisingly good, going back to a plot thread brought up in X4 and dropped in X5 concerning the Maverick Hunters themselves being corrupt and the human led government branding innocent reploids as Mavericks for extermination when they became "inconvenient". Sadly, the story doesn't have a definitive conclusion but I was happy to see the plot thread picked up after X5 decided to be about Zero's past. This was also cool because X was always the more conflicted character, whereas Zero was always more duty over reason which led to the tragedy of X4. Gate himself is also a really good sympathetic villain and had a great boss fight. Granted, Sigma does show up at the very end due to contract obligations, but it's done in a way where his role is kind of pointless but still gives him a new twist to his character that the later games sadly dropped. The story just seemed to wrap up some of the character arcs from the earlier series instead of dropping them all to promote one character and his later game series. Granted, I agree it could have been handled better and I probably would have dropped Zero altogether from the game so as not to hurt the MMZ story.

Another strong point was the fact that after three entries of mostly hit and miss Mavericks, X6 probably has my favorite collection of bosses in the series since X1. Not to mention the weapon abilities were finally good for both characters as opposed to the mixed results of the previous two entries. Also, X6 finally nailed the new armor mechanics for X. With both of his unique armors adding some cool replay value and different playstyles that the level design actually was designed around as opposed to X5 where the Gaia armor was useless and X had to get the Falcon armor ASAP because most of the game's level design was built around having the double jump ability (Zero exclusive ability) to navigate the levels frustration free. Course there is one exception to this with the Ninja Armor being almost useless in one of the final area dungeons, but as I've mentioned, the game certainly needed a few more months of QA work.

Overall, I feel it is an entry that's worth checking out if your a fan of the Mega Man formula.

[Madame Adequate]

I wouldn't try to say it's the best in the series or anything, but I still have a real soft spot for the original FIFA International Soccer, aka FIFA '94.

[Vyk]

Shining Force as a whole never got all the love it deserved outside is niche audience. But most people who like the games prefer the second or third entries. While I much prefer the first of the three. I feel like a lot of charm and style was lost for more streamlined combat, flashier graphics, and thicker narrative. It shouldn't have been a trade. It should have been a build

[LunarWeaver]

Arkham Origins wasn't as bad as everybody told me it was.

[maybee]

Final Fantasy 8

[Skyblade]

Shining Force as a whole never got all the love it deserved outside is niche audience. But most people who like the games prefer the second or third entries. While I much prefer the first of the three. I feel like a lot of charm and style was lost for more streamlined combat, flashier graphics, and thicker narrative. It shouldn't have been a trade. It should have been a build

I feel the main thing lost from the first game is tone. Legacy of the Great Intention is just overall a much darker game than its sequels. I feel that in almost every other way, Shining Force II was a massive step up, but I definitely do sometimes miss the darker moments that the first game had.

It's a bit like going from Persona 3 to Persona 4.

[sharkythesharkdogg]

Someone already beat me to Link's Awakening, but good on 'em for bringing it up. So!

Tekken 4. Not as bad as people think. It's actually a fun fighter. It just doesn't stand out like lots of the others in the series.

Tenchu: Fatal Shadows. Okay, so maybe Tenchu isn't super popular. Still, this game was largely forgotten in the series, and I think it did a lot of neat, fresh things in it's story telling. Plus the game plays well.

Star Fox Adventures. Yes, I liked this one. Yes, it was cutesy and light hearted. I really had fun with it. It still had Rare polish with Nintendo backing. I was excited for a Star Fox themed Zelda adventure and I was largely pleased with the results. At least it tried something new. Almost every other entry in the series is basically the same game re-hashed. Same story, same basic plot, and Nintendo is scared and/or doesn't know what to do with the story/series. This one tried to be different. Fuckin' sue me, haters.

Final Fantasy 10-2. This one seems to have become more acceptably popular over the years, but I played the bejeezus out of it from the beginning. Loved the gameplay, enjoyed the light hearted atmosphere, laughed at the fun characters, rolled my eyes at the stupid story. Final Fantasy 8 is a close second.

[Slothy]

Star Fox Adventures. Yes, I liked this one. Yes, it was cutesy and light hearted. I really had fun with it. It still had Rare polish with Nintendo backing. I was excited for a Star Fox themed Zelda adventure and I was largely pleased with the results. At least it tried something new. Almost every other entry in the series is basically the same game re-hashed. Same story, same basic plot, and Nintendo is scared and/or doesn't know what to do with the story/series. This one tried to be different. Fuckin' sue me, haters.

You'll be hearing from my lawyer.

[Wolf Kanno]

Another game that comes to mind for me is Assassin's Creed: Revelations. It's mostly a well needed refinement for the AC2 mechanics, and while it's few additions were either forgettable (bombs) o just plain bad (tower defense ) mini-game, I appreciate the fact the game didn't feel like an overpriced and bloated DLC Expansion pack like Brotherhood did, nor did it decide to arbitrarily change everything around because we're several games in on a title with annual release and the formula was getting stale despite always being a bit buggy, which is where ACIII kind of faltered.

Mainly, I appreciate the game's story and setting. After two games of "Assassins are Good, Templars are Bad" it was nice to have Ezio deal with more of the ideological quagmire between the two factions with the Assassins themselves sometimes causing too much damage because they simply believe in that rather black and white dynamic despite both groups being a bit similar than either would admit. It had a great supporting cast and the writing overall was pretty good in all areas between Ezio's romance, Altair's finale, the Ottoman politics, and finally giving Desmond some backstory because we're only four games in and no one bothered with it outside of a blurb here and there. Not to mention I really enjoyed the trippy Sci-Fi first person platforming mechanics of Desmond sections, it was a nice break from the rest of the game.

I still find Revelations to be one of the least buggy entries and I feel its my favorite of the Ezio trilogy.

[Vyk]

Shining Force as a whole never got all the love it deserved outside is niche audience. But most people who like the games prefer the second or third entries. While I much prefer the first of the three. I feel like a lot of charm and style was lost for more streamlined combat, flashier graphics, and thicker narrative. It shouldn't have been a trade. It should have been a build

I feel the main thing lost from the first game is tone. Legacy of the Great Intention is just overall a much darker game than its sequels. I feel that in almost every other way, Shining Force II was a massive step up, but I definitely do sometimes miss the darker moments that the first game had.

It's a bit like going from Persona 3 to Persona 4.
Now that you mention it, I can see it. That's definitely a good comparison. There was a darker tone. But for its era that seems to have made it that little bit more dramatic. But maybe it was the art style or direction, but I still feel that it had more charm. It seems like more characters were invested in the plot, rather than just picked up randomly throughout the story. Not a lot of characters in the second one were as directly invested in the story. Or wasn't conveyed quite as well. You just run across someone and they're like "They killed my husband, I'm joining you". Where in the first one you'd protect a town from an invasion and then they'd join you now that they understand what's going on in the outside world. Or you'd watch a knight fail at his job right in front of you and then join up to redeem himself. I dunno. I guess I didn't feel as engaged with the scripted events in the sequels. But its still just personal preference. I'll take the clunkiness and enjoy what it had to offer. Too bad it's remake was pretty lackluster

[Pumpkin]

I'm that awful person who likes Suikoden 4, Xenosaga 2, Star Ocean 4, and Final Fantasy 13. Are they as good as the rest of the series? Not necessarily. But I still think they're good games and I like them.

FFVIII gets too much hate too. Love that game

[Scotty_ffgamer]

I like Xenosaga II as well.

[Lyndis Highwind]

F Zero GX. One of my favorite racing games ever.

[Forsaken Lover]

Dragon Age II
Tekken 4
Final Fantasy III remake

[Darth Ganon]

While Link's Awakening is definitely underrated, I also don't really ever see it get bashed. Phantom Hourglass, however, gets a ton of hate I don't think it deserves. The touch controls were solid and responsive (aside from rolling), the story wasn't worse than anything else in the series, and Linebeck was just amazing in general. That archery game can bite me, though.

Then Spirit Tracks (a fine game, too) gets praise over PH when I found it much more frustrating in comparison.

[Wolf Kanno]

While Link's Awakening is definitely underrated, I also don't really ever see it get bashed. Phantom Hourglass, however, gets a ton of hate I don't think it deserves. The touch controls were solid and responsive (aside from rolling), the story wasn't worse than anything else in the series, and Linebeck was just amazing in general. That archery game can bite me, though.

Then Spirit Tracks (a fine game, too) gets praise over PH when I found it much more frustrating in comparison.

I like the train mechanics and the fact Zelda is a bit more than a plot device for Spirit Tracks. While PH isn't terrible, I never really saw the appeal of Linebeck, who comes across as an atypical selfish coward with a hidden heart of gold. The villain is also just kind of there, whereas the one in ST is a bit more involved. I feel the biggest problem with both games is that they are way too easy for Zelda titles, and I kind of blame this on the Stylus controls making more involved fights and puzzles difficult. I still rank both towards the bottom for me personally.

With all that said, I do feel Link's Awakening is an underrated entry in the series that is absolutely superb, but just never gets any recognition since most fans love the bigger more popular entries.