Underrated entries from Popular franchises.

[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. smurfin' 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.