Games that barely anyone plays, but everyone should play

Xiahou Dun

Xiahou Dun

The essence of my parents cannot be thrown away!
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I had a nice chat where we were talking about expanding game horizons. I've played only a few games and I'm interested in expanding my own palette of games. I think, however, that everyone would benefit if they do this too, right? So yeah, this would be the thread for these kinds of games.

I don't have a large library of stuff I can talk about, but I've heard good things about Shin Megami Tensei, which is a niche JRPG series with a small, but devoted following, and I've seen gameplay of Persona III. It might be popular in Japan, but it's hardly known in the U.S. hence the small following. Hell, if it were more popular, it would probably a target for its hellish themes and all (like how Pokemon is).

Anyway, feel free to discuss the more obscure games, or at least, the games the more general gaming population doesn't really talk about. That doesn't involve me because I hardly know any games outside of Nintendo games. :P
 
Darkspore. Ah yes, I loved that game, even though it had freaking online DRM. I remember playing it, it was tons of fun; hell for a short time I even changed my avatar to one of the characters in that game.

TotalBiscuit did a playthrough of it


and his opinion on it

"You know, its really nice to be pleasantly surprised, because you go into a game with low expectations and it turns out the beta is a really, really tight hack and slash, with NO visible problems... urg! it's good! it's good folks! Can you see how good this is? I certainly hope so. This is really promising, really damn promising! I hope EA just doesn't let this rot and die! I've seen some advertising for it, but it's not like it's going to be a AAA title, they're not gonna put a lot of marketing power onto it. Now to me, this seems like a perfect pc game..."
Click to expand...

it's dead now, though :(
 
Super Nintendo

Bahamut Lagoon
Treasure of the Rudra
Seiken Denenetsu 3
Front mission: gun hazard
Eternal Filena
Gunman's Proof
Lufia 2

Playstation

Tales of Eternia(tales of destiny 2 outside of japan)
Tales of phantasia
Persona 2: innocent sin
Front mission 2
Vandal Hearts 1 & 2
Legend of Dragoon
lunar silver star story
lunar 2 eternal blue
tomba
tomba 2

Playstation 2

Ateiler Iris 1 & 2
Mana khemia 2
Shin Megami tensei nocturne
Chaos Legion
Shinobi
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner Raidou Kuzunoha 1 & 2



playstation portable


star ocean the first departure
star ocean the second evolution
legend of heroes trails in the sky
legend of heroes: the prophecy of the moonlight witch
legend of heroes: song of the ocean

PC

Magicians & looters
bunny must die
dungeon defenders
dungeon defenders 2
noitu love 2
dust: An elysian tale
agarest: generations of war
Torchlight 2


DS

Soma Bringer
7th dragon
Tales of innocence
Shin Megami Tensai devil survivor 1 & 2
Fire emblem 12


that's all i got for now

also most of these games are japan only but have fan translations
 
The highest ratio of (how great the game is/how many people play it) would definitely have to go to Allegiance, the space-flight/RTS MMO that's currently only played by a dedicated fanbase of less than 200 people. FANTASTIC GAME I don't even know where to begin. The game was released ~2000, was a critical success but a commercial failure, and Microsoft eventually turned the license over to the loyal fans who maintain the servers to this day. Back when I first started playing it around 2010 or so there was maybe 300 active players and you could find games every night, but right now you can only play on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays (usually). Great game though, it's in my top five.

There are also a few RTS games that have been kinda forgotten recently. Star Wars: Empire at War was pretty great although it was also fairly popular so I'm not sure if it qualifies. One that surprised me was Battle for Middle-earth, a LotR RTS made by EA that actually ended up being really good considering how simplistic it was (for an RTS).

Also obligatory mention of Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast, Star Wars: Republic Commando, and TIE Fighter, although those were all fairly popular back in the day. LucasArts was a great gaming company WHY DID YOU SHUT THEM DOWN DISNEY
 
From what I've heard, Grim Fandango was a great game, but it sold horribly, probably because it came out around the same time as other gems like Half-Life, Metal Gear Solid, and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

Among games I've played, Dynamite Headdy.
 
Zero Escape
Ace Attorney
The World Ends With You
Mount Your Friends
100% Orange Juice


Dunn
 
I think the only games I own that fit this bill would be the Tales series and the Etrian Odyssey series.

deBlob was decent fun but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.
 
Gravity Rush
Freedom Wars
Killzone 2, 3, M, SF
Shadow of the Colossus
Magical Quest 1, 2, 3 either on GBA or SNES but you need to have a english patch for 3 on SNES but GBA is fine
Knuckles Chaotix
Wonder Boy the Dragon Trap
Battletoads
Gunstar Heroes
Burning Rangers
Tearaway on Vita or PS4
de Blob 1 and 2
Lone Survivor
 



words cannot express how much of an underrated and overlooked gem this game is.
 
Magikrazy said:
Pretty sure quite a few play Ace Attorney
Click to expand...
Maybe they do *here*

Also deBlob is great, rip Bluetongue / Melbourne AAA gamedev industry.