Games you get mad that you can't talk about

[JohnnyDelRay]

When I read the thread title quickly I thought it was about games that got you so mad you couldn't talk about them...

Yeah, it's pretty awesome when you meet up with someone who you can talk about obscure/older games. Instead of listing off games that made me mad because no one played them, I'll list the ones where I was actually relieved, or simply went "fuck yes!" because I found a fellow hardcore fan to share the awesomeness with.

1) Sin - probably because it was introduced to me by my best buddy at the time.

2) Streets of Rage - A lot of people played it, but few got into it as much as me and this one friend, who I was mates with back in 7th Grade, and hadn't seen since then (we're both married now, so it was awhile ago). Now we meet up every now and then and bash on CPS2 emulators like D&D, AvP, Warriors of Fate, and some other Neo Geo classics, and SoR Remake of course.

3) Hellgate London - Buggy as it was, it was pretty awesome for it's time and I had a lot of fun with another friend on this one.

4) Rainbow 6 Vegas 2 - Yeah not that old or even obscure, but finding someone to do Realistic-High Density terrorist hunts with only silenced pistols was a bit tough. Save for this one kid, son of a colleague who simply loves it as much as I do.

5) The only game I never found a fellow fan with, outside of my immediate family, was the Quest for Glory (Heroes Quest) series. Damn those were beautifully written.

 

[Sosa Star]

Odin Sphere, I talk about that game nonstop whenever I get the chance, I adore that game.
Mana Khemia, Spin off of the Altilier Iris series and an amazing RPG if you love NIS.
Myst, seriously people, it's MYST! HOW HAVE YOU NEVER PLAYED IT?

And the one I am currently replaying right now: The .Hack series. Love this series so very very much. All 7 games.

 

[Diddy_Mao]

At first I thought this was about games that make me so mad I can't talk about them in public.
Glad I was wrong...saves everyone from another 5 page thesis on why Silent Hill: Homecoming is utter dogshit.

Anyway.

Mark of Kri.

That game is ps2 GOLD and nobody I know played it or even looked at it.
The controls are original but intuitive, it's got a beautiful Disney-esque visual style in stark contrast to the level of decidedly non Disney-esque violence on screen. It's an action game with enjoyable stealth and puzzle segments and the story is a lot of fun.

Yes the levels are all pretty much "move from point A to point B and kill all the dudes in between." but it never really feels overly repetitive and there's little story segments to be discovered in between.

Also, it's amazing to me that for all the hemming and hawing about generic white dude protagonists, that Rau and Tati rarely ever get mentioned.


God damn I love Mark of Kri.

 

[BathorysGraveland2]

Shadowman. The first one, on PC. Not only is it a really solid third person action adventure, but it's got one of the coolest and most atmospheric settings and an absolutely fantastic protagonist. It upsets me that it never received any kind of "classic" status and was forgotten. Unfortunate.

 

[Fappy]

My all-time favorite game, Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars. Very few gamers I have ever met have actually played it and I rarely come across people online who have either. It's such an amazing game and I could probably talk about it for hours on end (not as much as I could with Morrowind, however). Seriously, if anyone wants to talk about Mario RPG I am here, LOL!

 

[Z of the Na'vi]

Nobody seems to mention the original Black and White ever.

That game was...godlike [http://mirrors.rit.edu/instantCSI/].

 

[NeutralDrow]

I haven't really been able to talk about Suguri, or its fighting game-esque sequel Acceleration of Suguri, with anyone. Damn fine side-scrolling shooter, with a really good trance soundtrack.

Or Chantelise. I've heard people talk about its in-universe predecessor Reccetear before, but never the successor game.

Hell, getting into really old-school, Ristar and Dynamite Headdy. Two of my favorite platformers ever, even generations after the Genesis.

Mine would be some Visual Novels, though a few people around here have played them. By "them" I mean Grisaia no Kaijitsu and Katawa Shoujo but really who hasn't at least heard of KS nowadays? Grisaia has an anime started now too so maybe it will get the attention it deserves.

Never heard of Comyu before. Doesn't sound like the type I'd usually go for, but it does sound interesting.

My biggest example would be Symphonic Rain. And it's not so much because "no one's heard of/played it," though that's sort of implied, but that it's so incredibly difficult to talk about with someone who hasn't played it. The story's twists and turns are what made the game wonderfully/horribly memorable, and the rhythm game sections aren't really much to talk about on their own.

OP, I actually played Hunter: The Reckoning. Lots of fun with friends.

Impossible to beat solo if you dont use Priest... never wanted to not be Priest so it was never an issue

Pretty sure I beat it with everyone...though the Judge does have an easier time of it. I really need to play the sequel.

2) Streets of Rage - A lot of people played it, but few got into it as much as me and this one friend, who I was mates with back in 7th Grade, and hadn't seen since then (we're both married now, so it was awhile ago). Now we meet up every now and then and bash on CPS2 emulators like D&D, AvP, Warriors of Fate, and some other Neo Geo classics, and SoR Remake of course.

I still maintain that Streets of Rage 2 is the greatest 2D beat'em up ever made. Heard about the remake recently, that any good?

Mana Khemia, Spin off of the Altilier Iris series and an amazing RPG if you love NIS.

Playing through that game right now, and I can concur.

 

[Pyrian]

SunDog: Frozen Legacy, a 1984 space trading game. Kinda overshadowed by Elite in the same year, I guess.

 

[balladbird]

Mana Khemia, Spin off of the Altilier Iris series and an amazing RPG if you love NIS.

The mana khemia duo are my "feel good" games. Everything about them is so relaxing and awesome. Alchemy is intuitive and deep, and the game is completely devoid of the grind-lust that NIS is known for.


Other than that... glad to see all the love for Odin Sphere and Grim Grimoire. The latter is a criminally underrated RTS whose plot actually takes a couple really interesting turns... if you can get past the blatant Harry Potter rip off of the entire setting

 

[Dragonlayer]

Hey, I remember Hunter! I had the sequel, man it was awesome: it had giant demonic mecha constructed from possessed washing machines *and* zombies that used weapons! I really miss that 3rd person style of action RPG meant to be played co-operatively, me and my brother had tons of fun in the Hunter sequel, the PS2 Baldur's Gate and the Champions of Norrath games. Online multiplayer has it's advantages certainly, but it doesn't quite replicate the feeling of sitting down next to someone, with a mess of sweets and junkfood and eagerly discussing every last upgrade point for a lizardman halberdier and his Furry tiger barbarian comrade....

I've only ever seen two other people acknowledge the existence of Ironstorm: World War Zero, which is a damn shame as it's one of my favourite game settings of all time: DISEASLPUNK WW1 IN THE SIXTIES! It also did the whole "PMCs are the root of all evil" long before any modern warfare games.

Oh, and no-one else has apparently ever heard of Viz Ribbon; a bizarre but enjoyable adventure about guiding a transforming stick rabbit-man through a void of time and space that generated obstacles based on the intensity of the background music. The gimmick was that you could load your own music to determine the difficulty level, as calm and soothing songs created gentle sloping hills and easily jumped barriers, while the opposite spawned hell-landscapes of spikey pit-traps and instant-death pressure pads.

 

[vector_zero]

MYST - I remember playing it in High School as part of a technology class.

Mark of Kri. - One of the best Ps2 games ever.

Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars - People haven't played this game. What?!

 

[Dragonlayer]

Nobody I know has ever heard of, let alone played, Odin Sphere, Grim Grimoire, Cold Fear or Kuon (they're all PS2 games). And with the exception of Odin Sphere - MAYBE - I've never seen any of these games brought up in these forums.

There's also Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King. It receives some mention here and there and there's one user sporting a Munchie avatar but that's it. And it's easily one of the best RPGs ever made. So it goes.

I've got Cold Fear on Steam, after much pestering of a kindly friend to gift it to me; it's no Resident Evil 4 but it's getting there. Stormy wave-based shooting mechanics are a ***** to master with a mouse, and it's not helped by my laggy laptop.

 

[JohnnyDelRay]

2) Streets of Rage - A lot of people played it, but few got into it as much as me and this one friend, who I was mates with back in 7th Grade, and hadn't seen since then (we're both married now, so it was awhile ago). Now we meet up every now and then and bash on CPS2 emulators like D&D, AvP, Warriors of Fate, and some other Neo Geo classics, and SoR Remake of course.

I still maintain that Streets of Rage 2 is the greatest 2D beat'em up ever made. Heard about the remake recently, that any good?

It's even better than mowing down a zombie horde from a mounted chain gun in a helicopter! Well, maybe not, but it's pretty damn good, especially if you enjoyed all the developments in the series, characters and gameplay wise. The 8 years that went into it REALLY shows, the music, the extra fan stuff, the way it plays is so true to it's predecessors, and it's got something from all 3 games in it.

If you are really into it, there are so many options to tweak to get the exact experience you want - combo style, jump style, and even characters can be chosen from any of the games, plus some new ones to boot. And of course unlocking extra modes/cheats/custom stuff by playing and collecting money. Really outstanding, plus it's free! You won't regret it.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

5) The only game I never found a fellow fan with, outside of my immediate family, was the Quest for Glory (Heroes Quest) series. Damn those were beautifully written.

Well now you can feel less alone in the world. I absolutely love the QFG series, on my all time best list it ranks about 2nd or 3rd. I'd love to see a faithful remake in a modern open-world RPG format.


OT: I don't have many games I can't talk about with people, I always seem to find at least one person in a crowd of gamers who knows whats up with the obscure titles I've played. Except maybe some old school DOS collections, some of those games I can't even remember names of or anything other than vague details. And by old school I mean like mid-80's... there was a hell of a lot of shovelware back then.

 

[JohnnyDelRay]

5) The only game I never found a fellow fan with, outside of my immediate family, was the Quest for Glory (Heroes Quest) series. Damn those were beautifully written.

Well now you can feel less alone in the world. I absolutely love the QFG series, on my all time best list it ranks about 2nd or 3rd. I'd love to see a faithful remake in a modern open-world RPG format.


OT: I don't have many games I can't talk about with people, I always seem to find at least one person in a crowd of gamers who knows whats up with the obscure titles I've played. Except maybe some old school DOS collections, some of those games I can't even remember names of or anything other than vague details. And by old school I mean like mid-80's... there was a hell of a lot of shovelware back then.

Another glory-seeking Hero! Yeah the series was just fantastic, up until QFG5, I didn't like that one so much. Had a great time with the first 4 again sometime ago after I found it on GOG. The first remake was excellent, the second one really needs a remake tho. I would love to see them make a comeback, seeing as it was one of the first Action-RPG type Adventure games, really beyond it's time and I don't think there's much else that comes close to it. By that I mean melding all those elements so seamlessly.

 

[The Wykydtron]

I haven't really been able to talk about Suguri, or its fighting game-esque sequel Acceleration of Suguri, with anyone. Damn fine side-scrolling shooter, with a really good trance soundtrack.

Or Chantelise. I've heard people talk about its in-universe predecessor Reccetear before, but never the successor game.

Hell, getting into really old-school, Ristar and Dynamite Headdy. Two of my favorite platformers ever, even generations after the Genesis.

Mine would be some Visual Novels, though a few people around here have played them. By "them" I mean Grisaia no Kaijitsu and Katawa Shoujo but really who hasn't at least heard of KS nowadays? Grisaia has an anime started now too so maybe it will get the attention it deserves.

Never heard of Comyu before. Doesn't sound like the type I'd usually go for, but it does sound interesting.

My biggest example would be Symphonic Rain. And it's not so much because "no one's heard of/played it," though that's sort of implied, but that it's so incredibly difficult to talk about with someone who hasn't played it. The story's twists and turns are what made the game wonderfully/horribly memorable, and the rhythm game sections aren't really much to talk about on their own.

OP, I actually played Hunter: The Reckoning. Lots of fun with friends.

Impossible to beat solo if you dont use Priest... never wanted to not be Priest so it was never an issue

Pretty sure I beat it with everyone...though the Judge does have an easier time of it. I really need to play the sequel.

2) Streets of Rage - A lot of people played it, but few got into it as much as me and this one friend, who I was mates with back in 7th Grade, and hadn't seen since then (we're both married now, so it was awhile ago). Now we meet up every now and then and bash on CPS2 emulators like D&D, AvP, Warriors of Fate, and some other Neo Geo classics, and SoR Remake of course.

I still maintain that Streets of Rage 2 is the greatest 2D beat'em up ever made. Heard about the remake recently, that any good?

Mana Khemia, Spin off of the Altilier Iris series and an amazing RPG if you love NIS.

Playing through that game right now, and I can concur.

Yeah Comyu is still up there for me, i'm replaying it now because my new laptop has no saves on it (oh no, what a disaster >.>) That first scene really early into the game between Akihito and Gasai's first meeting is perfect in so many ways (Akihito being a petty little ***** with the vending machine coffee was a great touch.) Oh and the soundtrack is good too.

Spoiler

An obvious homage to Final Fantasy or other such JRPG music but it stands on its own as good battle music regardless. Or maybe because of it being a homage?

Symphonic Rain... Is that the one where it's always raining in town and there's a bunch of piano playing minigames and you're looking for a concert partner? If my late night "fuck it, why not download everything*" Fuwanovel 3am browsing memory is right.


A game that I would have kept going with if it allowed the use of a Guitar Hero controller... I suck at keyboard rhythm games, i've not played PC games for that long compared to consoles and if it suddenly tells me to hit Z,V,G then back to Q,E i'm fuckin' done. Too many damn keys.

Not because it was frustrating me either. I just know i'm going to be punished by a super sad ending if I don't do at least average.

[sub][sub]*Because fucking Yandere exists...[/sub][/sub]

 

[ninja666]

Surprisingly, Dark Souls. Literally none of my friends heard of it, until I started playing it and I couldn't get any one of them to play it - they preferred Skyrim.

 

[IndigoJuly]

I've played Odin Sphere/Hunter/QfG5... as for me, I guess my favorite game that no one else I know has tried was.. PS1 Lunar 1&2. Then there's Trapt on the PS2. Various games on the PC like Tzar, might&magic, bg/icewind dale, etc but you can find a lot of pc games online now. I don't have anything beyond a ps2 but there were some titles I was interested in for the ps3/360...but I've forgotten them by now.

 

[happyninja42]

At first I thought this was about games that make me so mad I can't talk about them in public.
Glad I was wrong...saves everyone from another 5 page thesis on why Silent Hill: Homecoming is utter dogshit.

Anyway.

Mark of Kri.

That game is ps2 GOLD and nobody I know played it or even looked at it.
The controls are original but intuitive, it's got a beautiful Disney-esque visual style in stark contrast to the level of decidedly non Disney-esque violence on screen. It's an action game with enjoyable stealth and puzzle segments and the story is a lot of fun.

Yes the levels are all pretty much "move from point A to point B and kill all the dudes in between." but it never really feels overly repetitive and there's little story segments to be discovered in between.

Also, it's amazing to me that for all the hemming and hawing about generic white dude protagonists, that Rau and Tati rarely ever get mentioned.


God damn I love Mark of Kri.

Yep, Mark of Kri was going to be my example too. Nobody I know ever played it, and I loved that damn game. From the opening narration, with that voice actor's gravely voice cackling as he described Rau's first mission. "My master had heard the bandits were many in number, and skilled as swordsman....*mad cackle, followed by gravely voice of delight*....GOOOD!....*low menacing voice*...gooooood...my master did not want this to be too easy." Game had me sold right then and there. xD