Unknown, Underappreciated, RPG’s

We all know about Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy, and the like. This thread isn’t about those games.

Discuss RPG’s that came out which nobody hardly heard of.

Or discuss games that you feel was unfairly labeled a bad game.

SECRET OF MANA

Seriously, it gets unfairly over-shadowed by CT and FF. (imo)

noskill i don’t agree since i like that game more than both game series you have mentioned

I never said I didn’t like Secret of Mana, and it’s quite popular.

I realise it’s popular, but when you ask someone to name a great RPG on the SNES they usually answer CT or FFVI before SOM.

Most people are morons you learn to deal with that.

Agreed, Gara.

To be on subject I think Star Ocean 2 would qualify, since like the only person I know that likes it and has really played it is Cassie and I feel it is a game deserving much more praise. The battle system is probably the best part of the game, at least for me, but the story isn’t bad and some of the characters are really memorable and awesome.

Like Ashton.

SNES RPGs are already overly whored by the old school gamer. Hard to think of one released locally lacking in recognition. Fan-translated roms have expanded that list. Although, personally, I see the Lufia series mentioned less than I’d like to.

EDIT: I totally thought I saw "SNES RPGs" mentioned in the title, my bad. Sudeki would probably be my pick for its real-time combat though the story was pretty weak. Admirable effort by Climax.

Dragonball Z: Legend of the Super Saiyan was pretty fun. As far as I know it wasn’t released outide of Japan, though I could be wrong.

The gameplay resembled Earthbound/Mother.

Speaking of Secrets, Secret of Evermore would be my first pick. It was pretty much SOM but with a different storyline.

This may just be a Europe thing but I feel the Wild Arms games do not get the recognition they deserve. The first one was overshadowed by the release of FF-VII and despite being the better game did not contain the fancy FMV of that game, the second game was not released at all and the remainders were released in such small quantities they were almost impossible to get hold of.

To be on subject I think Star Ocean 2 would qualify, since like the only person I know that likes it and has really played it is Cassie and I feel it is a game deserving much more praise. The battle system is probably the best part of the game, at least for me, but the story isn’t bad and some of the characters are really memorable and awesome.

Like Ashton.

For serious, Star Ocean 2 is a really excellent game. Gameplay and story-wise. The story isn’t ultra-deep and it is admittedly cliche and pretty standard for a jRPG, but it has some really unique and interesting twists. Battle is great, item creation is a blast, the characters are, as Gara said, memorable and awesome.

If you can get past the verbose beginning part and at least appreciate the bad voice acting for what it is, its a great game.

Ahhh, good topic All-Seeing Eye! I agree with nosskillbassist and Garamond, Secret Of Mana has one of the BEST soundtracks on the SNES and has unique gameplay! Especially with the CPU ACTUALLY lending you a hand in the game! Its sad that many people over-look it! People need to realize FinalFantasy is NOT the BEST RPG out there! And speaking of FinalFantasy, Final Fantasy Mystic Quest is a BIG unappreciated RPG game, just because of its difficulty. I didn’t care if it was easy, I liked! ALOT of people bash the hell out of this game for no GOOD reason! Kirby DreamLand for GameBoy’s difficulty is easy but, you don’t see anybody talk bad about it! But there is one MAIN thing that can back this game up and thats…THE MUSIC! To me, is the BEST FinalFantasy SoundTrack of all time! It is composed by one of my favorite composers, RYUJI SASAI! Glory Of Herackles(Herakles No Eikou in Japan) is a Japanese released game! There are 2 for the NES and I believe 1 for the SNES and 1 on the MSX! Except that that some of the games haven’t been translated into english yet. Thankfully, NINTENDO is bringing light to this unknown GREAT RPG! Working with another company, they tend to release a DS game in the series!

To be on subject I think Star Ocean 2 would qualify, since like the only person I know that likes it and has really played it is Cassie and I feel it is a game deserving much more praise. The battle system is probably the best part of the game, at least for me, but the story isn’t bad and some of the characters are really memorable and awesome.

Like Ashton.

And Cyan. I’ve really enjoyed this game from pretty much the first minutes of gameplay. I’ve called SO2 the best PSX RPG on multiple occasions. And Ashton FTW.

For serious, Star Ocean 2 is a really excellent game. Gameplay and story-wise. The story isn’t ultra-deep and it is admittedly cliche and pretty standard for a jRPG, but it has some really unique and interesting twists. Battle is great, item creation is a blast, the characters are, as Gara said, memorable and awesome.

If you can get past the verbose beginning part and at least appreciate the bad voice acting for what it is, its a great game.

I roffle at the bad voice acting, much like I laugh at RE1’s voice acting. I totally agree with prety much everything you’ve said. The game’s biggest flaw would be that the difficulty curve is a bit jagged in places, most notably (for me, at least) upon getting to Cross for the first time and then in the four fields.

I feel Brave Fencer Musashi is often forgotten/overlooked as an Action RPG. Which is a shame since it’s such an awesome, enjoyable one.

And I could be totally wrong here, but I feel Golden Sun was quickly forgotten.

And Cyan. I’ve really enjoyed this game from pretty much the first minutes of gameplay. I’ve called SO2 the best PSX RPG on multiple occasions. And Ashton FTW.

I roffle at the bad voice acting, much like I laugh at RE1’s voice acting. I totally agree with prety much everything you’ve said. The game’s biggest flaw would be that the difficulty curve is a bit jagged in places, most notably (for me, at least) upon getting to Cross for the first time and then in the four fields.

I’ve been replaying the game and when you prepare in El its always like you’re so overprepared. Then you get to the Four Fields and even if you’ve been playing around in the other towns and leveling up, its still like D: when you get there.

earthbound

I’ve been replaying the game and when you prepare in El its always like you’re so overprepared. Then you get to the Four Fields and even if you’ve been playing around in the other towns and leveling up, its still like D: when you get there.

That’s exactly my point; if the difficulty curve were smoother, there wouldn’t be that D: D: ZOMGWTFBBQI’MPHUCKED reaction. Or, at least, it wouldn’t be nearly as bad. Oh, I’ve thought of another place where the difficulty gets ratcheted up unevenly.

The cavern where you obtain the LEA Metal is pretty ridiculous, with those ape-looking things that just happen to cast high-level magics with surprising frequency.

earthbound

QFT. Earthbound is totally unappreciated.

Since it’s already been revealed in the name that game thread, I
can now just go ahead and say it. Thousand Arms for PS1.
A pretty decent RPG game that combines classic JRPG elements,
a dating sim, (yes, you have to go on dates with the pretty anime
chicks in the game in order to get money and equipment.), and
laugh out loud humor that’s on par with the Grandia series. (also
considered to be unappreciated in some circles.)

Also, Skies of Arcadia. One of my favorite RPG’s that had some of
my favorite things: Pirates, airships, Galleons, Battleships, Arabian
nights, giant mecha, and GOD do I love the Delphinus! It reminds
of the German battleship Bismarck. (which, ironically, was used by
the Kriegsmarine as a large commerce raider.)

Of Course, the Bismarck didn’t have the ALMIGHTY MOON STONE
CANNON either.

Also I have to give Vyse style points for going with the Harlock
look. In fact, Skies of Arcadia gives a huge nod to the Captain
Harlock series. Even it’s name is a homage to "Arcadia of my
Youth", the movie that explained Harlock’s origins.

Luna: Silver Star Story
Luna 2: Eturnal Blue
both titles I’ve not seen anywhere at the forum. I think both were great Sega CD games and would love to see a port to PSP.

I felt Dragoneer’s Aria was labeled as a bad game, but i still enjoyed it.

Luna: Silver Star Story
Luna 2: Eturnal Blue
both titles I’ve not seen anywhere at the forum. I think both were great Sega CD games and would love to see a port to PSP.

They may not be on this forum, but those game are known well and appreciated enough not to qualify in my book.

Now if you mentioned the Lufia games, I would agree.

magister, i dont think SOA was underapreciated, it did well in dreamcast, and thats why it was ported to ngc with extras (which i own).

personally i think SOA is awesome, but not as awesome as thousand arms.
yes, i like pirates and flying ships, but my achilles heel is GAL GAMES, which constituted an important factor of TA.

one game i do consider unapreciated is DEEP LABYRINTH, a first person 3d RPG with one major flaw: framerate, but hey, its a port of a cell phone game.

the king of underapreciated games for the snes is THE 7TH SAGA, by enix.
the problem with this game, is that in the localization the US version had a lethal injection of difficulty boost. one example:

it takes you 100 points to reach level 2, you gain them, now, it was supposed that you needed 300 for level 3, but instead you need 500 (the amount needed for level 3 in the japanese version).
and, your stat boosts were cut in half.

another example:
for every level you gained, your rivals will have double the amount of levels when you fight them (ie, you are 42, they are 84).

another probably underapreciated game is DESTINY OF AN EMPEROR, for the NES, by capcom.
the only reason i found out this game was heavily look down was of a programming mistake, where you had to find a key under a tree, the error here is that the key MAY not appear, getting you stuck in the game.

my bad… still I kindof look to you guys as athorities on this subject and not seeing these titles troubled me. I call opon everyones experiance to expand my own.

my bad… still I kindof look to you guys as athorities on this subject and not seeing these titles troubled me. I call upon everyones experiance to expand my own.

i will go with um also i liked saga frontier man everybody hates it though except me really

And I could be totally wrong here, but I feel Golden Sun was quickly forgotten.

forgotten because of the broken illusions for a golden sun 2.
however, back in their time, both were the conversation topics for many gamers.

LEGEND OF LEGAIA!!!

Charles Barkley Shut and Jam Gaiden

i will go with um also i liked saga frontier man everybody hates it though except me really

Yeah, I still have both the first and second SaGas for PSX. Despite the lacking graphics, they made some nice moves. Like Red can only change into a superhero if his party is blinded/incapacitated. Favourite character was Blue though, he got pretty much all the magic in the game. How effing cool is that?

i will go with um also i liked saga frontier man everybody hates it though except me really

LEGEND OF LEGAIA!!!

I enjoyed both of those games; if I ever whittle down my colossal list of games to play through, I may try them both out again, as I only finished one character in SF and I only played like, half way through LoL.

I also enjoyed Saga Frontier (to an extent) and really liked Legend of Legaia (my old forum name was Noa~)

I said this in a previous thread, and I will quote it again here:

SaGa Frontier was weird. I got random urges to play through it because it was really unique — the battle system, the worlds/system of travel between them, the magic system, the characters (and their story lines). But while they were unique and interesting, they weren’t particularly… good.

I still pick it up and play it for a decent bit of time now and then until I get bored.

I enjoyed both of those games; if I ever whittle down my colossal list of games to play through, I may try them both out again, as I only finished one character in SF and I only played like, half way through LoL.

Ha, you remind me of my best friend back in Texas. He literally has dozens, if not about a hundred, games he has yet to beat. Every couple of months he’s always asking me, "So where should I start?" Never fucking does, though. :notgood:

I also enjoyed Saga Frontier (to an extent) and really liked Legend of Legaia (my old forum name was Noa~)

I said this in a previous thread, and I will quote it again here:

i found saga frontier to be fun, yet weird, mainly the story.
however i have yet to beat the game, ill do it after beating obscure (which got me hooked)

I must admit that Saga Frontier wasn’t a game I really liked until a friend of mine I went to technical school with gave me his strategy guild after finishing the game himself. The guild helped me enjoy the game a lot more because I knew where to go to continue the storylines and to get the best stuff in the game. Asellus > all.

Do strategy-rpgs count? If so, I would say Vandal Hearts.

Do strategy-rpgs count? If so, I would say Vandal Hearts.
To be honest, when I saw this game at a Pawn shop for $15 I was kind of like, "Is this even worth it?" Thank god I bought it. I love the game really and the second one is also available to me (along with a couple other games like the first Silent Hill that’s brand new). Makes me wonder if the second one is so much better than the first…

I would say Thousand Arms is an underappreciated game which isn’t like Atlus at all. I really need to beat it some time…

Shining: The Holy Ark.

Because if you miss the colon, the title is much funnier. This Sega Saturn RPG was definitely one of my favourites of the time done in the rare first-person perspective, often overlooked just because it appeared on a declining console. It should get more praise than the botched release of its sequel, Shining Force III.

I’d say…
Magical Starsign
Valkyrie Profile
Legend of Mana

To be honest, when I saw this game at a Pawn shop for $15 I was kind of like, "Is this even worth it?" Thank god I bought it. I love the game really and the second one is also available to me (along with a couple other games like the first Silent Hill that’s brand new). Makes me wonder if the second one is so much better than the first…

It was quite a surprise for me too. I never heard of that game until I recieved it as a birthday gift. At the time, I would have easily passed it up at the store. I shouldn’t judge a game by its cover. It turned out to be one my favorite PS1 games. I haven’t got around to getting the sequel though, but I heard it has turned-based system where both the sides move a character at once.

The Lunar series was neat. I never got a chance to play part 1 but I bought the boxed set of Silver Star Story. It came with a Luccia necklace. Ha.

RIGHT ON

I’d say…
Legend of Mana

TOO BAD LOM SUCKED BALLS

TOO BAD LOM SUCKED BALLS

NO IT DIDN’T! ITS TWISTED PLOTS AND ITS BIZARRE CHARACTERS WERE TOTALLY EPIC

Lands of Lore series, mostly part 2 though. An old, yet awesome first person RPG. Good story, great graphics (for it’s time that is), many many ways to play the game and character class. There were 3 games in the series, but 2 was definatly the best.

Nox. This was Westwoods counter to Diablo 2. It had snazy graphics and relaly fun gameplay. Sadly, you were limited to only 3 different player classes, but the game was (is) immemsly fun when playing online against other players, in regular death matches/team deathmatches and capture the flag. Fast paced claustrophobic action. You could also play the game with a party online.

Septerra Core. Probably one the my most loved RPGs. Anime (ish) style graphics, a different, yet very fun, weapon/armor/upgrade system. A twist on turnbased combat, you could wait longer to activate your turn in order to execute more powerful attacks. And a very interesting magic system. Through out the game you can collect various cards. While on their own they can be useful and sometimes a little weak, the fun starts when you combine cards for various dozen effects. The music and the story were simple amazing.

Those are the most unknown/underrated ones in my opinion.

Blaze & Blade
Yeah the story sucks and the graphics are really bad but its fun with a few other players. We played it for over 200 hours and we still loved it.
My main charakter was an elf and I played him until level 302.Was a nice time. ^.^

Secret of Mana definatly,

Earthbound

NO IT DIDN’T! ITS TWISTED PLOTS AND ITS BIZARRE CHARACTERS WERE TOTALLY EPIC

IF YOU MEAN EPIC AS IN SHITTY THEN I AGREE 150%

The 7th Saga has always been one of my favorite games, yet I never, ever see it mentioned in lists like this.

SaGa Frontier and Romancing SaGa?
I didn’t think the SaGa series were that popular outside of Japan.

The 7th Saga has always been one of my favorite games, yet I never, ever see it mentioned in lists like this.

7th was cool, many playable characters (Red Alien dude) and good music, but damnn….. all that walking

7th was cool, many playable characters (Red Alien dude) and good music, but damnn….. all that walking

7th Saga was too hard for me. =|
I always died in the first two or so battles.

But I think an underappreciated RPG is Paradise Cracked.

FF is kinda underappreciated at my school (most people have a next-gen console) a lot of them hate final fantasy yet haven’t even played it. It really frustrates me having people say "FF is shit" when the person saying it has never played it.

Well, compared to a lot of other games, FF is shit. =|

I always hope that they finally make the name come true and make it a final Final Fantasy. The series is just overdone. They should’ve stopped years ago… ;-;

Meh, I disagree. FF is probably my favourite game series. To each their own though.

FF is kinda underappreciated at my school (most people have a next-gen console) a lot of them hate final fantasy yet haven’t even played it. It really frustrates me having people say "FF is shit" when the person saying it has never played it.

That’s the first time I ever heard of FF being underappreciated, but I guess your school is an anomaly when it comes to views concerning FF. I agree that those who dislike a game should actually play it before forming a valid opinion on it. I find it annoying when people form opinions solely on what others tell them rather than experiencing it for themselves.

I agree that those who dislike a game should actually play it before forming a valid opinion on it. I find it annoying when people form opinions solely on what others tell them rather than experiencing it for themselves.

Well, I’ve played all from Final Fantasy to Final Fantasy X. Everything beyond it, starting with X-2, I haven’t… I though think I can allow myself a judgement whether I like it or not. ;-;

But I agree with you. I dislike those peeps, too.

Septerra Core and Fallout 2
are my choice of rpg’s.
I’m kinda sick of Fallout but it had unique gameplay.
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/fallout2/index.html
Septerra has awesome story. You are a fool if you miss it(use cheats, game is imba long).
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/septerracorelegacyoftc/index.html

Evolution 1 and 2 by Sting. I don’t think they were that popular or is it just me?

This thread is in dire, dire need of some games which involve beating the ever loving heck out of God. Not goddess. Not devil disguised as God. Not some crystal dragon Jesus.

100%, pure Christian, GOD.

So I present to you, my fellow RPGers:-

Megami Tensei
Megami Tensei II
Shin Megami Tensei
Shin Megami Tensei II
Shin Megami Tensei: Lucifer’s Call

The only games whereby you can gather a party of Cerberus, Satan, Lucifer, Beelzebub, Shiva and Anubis, before proceeding to destroy just about every name for the God of Christianity and Judaism you can come up with, before polishing off the big guy himself, YHVH.

UNFORTUNATELY SMT only lets you get as far as Michael, and Lucifer’s Call you defeat a manifestation of his power, before potentially teaming up with Lucifer, abandoning your humanity and leading his unholy army of chaos against ‘the Great Will’.

‘The Great Will’ being code for ‘We REALLY want this to get this to America and Europe for a change.’

But yeah, the MegaTen series. Amazing games. Even the spin offs, Persona, Persona 2: Eternal Punishment, suffering from the fact it’s prequel, Persona 2: Innocent Sin didn’t get released in America due to Hitler and homosexuality, and Digital Devil Saga 1 + 2, are all jaw droppingly epic(despite horrible translations).

Though with Persona 3’s release the games have been becoming more mainstream and getting more appreciation from the general public. Probably helped by the new artist for the characters.

Of course, in the UK just about any RPG not called Pokemon, Final Fantasy or Elder Scrolls is underappreciated.

7th was cool, many playable characters (Red Alien dude) and good music, but damnn….. all that walking

Nice signature.

One of my favorite series (only second to Final Fantasy) is Shadow Hearts. The series are only 4 games: Koudelka (PS1), Shadow Hearts (PS2), Shadow Hearts Covenant (PS2) and Shadow Hearts From the New World (PS2). Too bad the company, Aruze, closed it’s doors.

Once people asked me to compare Final Fantasy and Shadow Hearts, so I’m going to quote my answer:

Final Fantasy usually relies on ‘fantasy’ worlds, with a setting on a world of it’s own, fantastic creatures and go on. It’s about people with staffs and swords, fighting a bishonen villain who wants to conquer the world, destroy it or maybe both.
Shadow Hearts is placed on our own world, and the mystic, arcana and magik setting is the strongest, with monsters created from the malice which dwells on the own human heart. It’s about people fighting unholy gods.

I really liked Magic Knight Rayearth. I haven’t come across many people who have even heard of it, so I guess it qualifies as unknown (as far as I am concerned). In fact, I didn’t even know about it until I went looking for the anime. It was really short and incredibly easy, but fun regardless.

I’ve known about the Rayearth RPG myself. I knew there was a Saturn and a SNES version. What I didn’t know at the time, was that the game was based on a Anime Series, because I didn’t know much about Anime back then, go figure.

This thread is in dire, dire need of some games which involve beating the ever loving heck out of God. Not goddess. Not devil disguised as God. Not some crystal dragon Jesus.

100%, pure Christian, GOD.

So I present to you, my fellow RPGers:-

Megami Tensei
Megami Tensei II
Shin Megami Tensei
Shin Megami Tensei II
Shin Megami Tensei: Lucifer’s Call

The only games whereby you can gather a party of Cerberus, Satan, Lucifer, Beelzebub, Shiva and Anubis, before proceeding to destroy just about every name for the God of Christianity and Judaism you can come up with, before polishing off the big guy himself, YHVH.

UNFORTUNATELY SMT only lets you get as far as Michael, and Lucifer’s Call you defeat a manifestation of his power, before potentially teaming up with Lucifer, abandoning your humanity and leading his unholy army of chaos against ‘the Great Will’.

‘The Great Will’ being code for ‘We REALLY want this to get this to America and Europe for a change.’

But yeah, the MegaTen series. Amazing games. Even the spin offs, Persona, Persona 2: Eternal Punishment, suffering from the fact it’s prequel, Persona 2: Innocent Sin didn’t get released in America due to Hitler and homosexuality, and Digital Devil Saga 1 + 2, are all jaw droppingly epic(despite horrible translations).

Though with Persona 3’s release the games have been becoming more mainstream and getting more appreciation from the general public. Probably helped by the new artist for the characters.

Of course, in the UK just about any RPG not called Pokemon, Final Fantasy or Elder Scrolls is underappreciated.

been awhile since i posted on here but anyway SMT is very unappreciated in the UK and as a series I think, dont know about the God bashing though, most of people I talk to about rpgs have never heard of SMT! since I bought DDS in 2005 I cant get enough of the series looking forward to the next Devil Summoner, other rpgs that dont get enough glory:
alundra, legaia 2, ys ark of napistim, vagrant story, golden sun, tales of… loads more need more recognition.

SECRET OF MANA

Seriously, it gets unfairly over-shadowed by CT and FF. (imo)

SOM is a little overlooked, it has a pretty dedicated fan base though.

FF is kinda underappreciated at my school (most people have a next-gen console) a lot of them hate final fantasy yet haven’t even played it. It really frustrates me having people say "FF is shit" when the person saying it has never played it.
qft

I’m probably the only person in my entire school who plays ps1 rpgs.
Aside from one or two who like ff7/8/9, I’m fairly alone in that aspect.

So, based on the people I know, pretty much every ps1 rpg.

Other than that, BoF: Dragon’s Quater. It wasn’t as great as the other BoF games, but I think it’s a lot better than people make it out to be.

SECRET OF EVERMORE

Fix’d

Not really, because SoE sucks.

Ys Series. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BxDSpcaGls&feature=related)

Play Ys Book 1 and 2 on the virtual console if you got a Wii. That is all.

Yes really, because SoE rocks.

:>

If we are doing SRPGs then Dragon Force on Sega Saturn…most people haven’t even heard of it before. 🙂

I’d agree with everyone on Wild ARMs, but I’d also add Panzer Dragoon Saga (extremely rare RPG), Skies of Arcadia, and SHENMUE (still hoping for part 3 to be released sometime in this lifetime…)!

Current gen RPGs I’d definitely say Blue Dragon is underappreciated mainly thanks to the horrible demo they posted for it. Although Too Human is currently suffering the same fate as well.

:>

MISQUOTING ME DOES NOT MAKE YOU RIGHT!

Well this is an easy one… you should deffinitely check these 5 games out:

I’ll cover up playstation 2 for now:

Ys 6: ark of napishtim (great old school action rpg, just like it’s past games)
SMT: Devil Summoner – raidou vs the souless army (awesome in a lot of ways)
Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana (the best out of the 3 ones for ps2, in my opinion)
Growlanser III: Dual darkness "Grow. generations in usa" (one of the best)
Grandia III (the less known of the series, also the best one)

Baten Kaitos/Origins
Arc the Lad series
Mother 3
Lufia II
Tactics Ogre: Let us Cling Together
Shadow Hearts: Covenant
Shenmue
Terranigma
Illusion of Gaia
Tear Ring Saga

Baten Kaitos/Origins
Arc the Lad series
Mother 3
Lufia II
Tactics Ogre: Let us Cling Together
Shadow Hearts: Covenant
Shenmue
Terranigma
Illusion of Gaia
Tear Ring Saga

Terranigma beats all Zelda’s. ALL OF THEM!

Valkyrie Profile 1+2
Dark Cloud
Shinning Force 1+2