Lesser known but awesome games

[Dr. wonderful]

Wow this is sad.

Four pages and not one word of Godhand?

Spoiler

"Going to dragonkick your ass to the milkyway..."

 

[Starke]

Call of duty: Modern Warfare 2

It's a really great game... bright, colourful graphics, great art style, balanced multiplayer, and at least a 20 hour campaign, with a fantastic story behind it.
I rarely hear people talking about it though =/

That's only because everyone was too busy playing Operation: Flashpoint.

On a more serious note, I didn't hear people talking about fable 1 much before fable 2 was announced.

It was definitely around, and got attention when it was released. But, you're probably right that awareness dropped off sharply after it was released.

On that topic Gothic/Gothic II don't get nearly the attention they deserve.

Show of hands, how many of you have actually ever heard of Chex Quest. For a game made entirely as a commercial for cereal, it's amazingly good.

*Raises hand* IIRC, it was the first commercial release that licensed the Doom engine.

 

[Starke]

Well, this game series is huge in Germany, so I dunno if this qualifies, but the Gothic Series has been one of my favorite RPG's of all time.


Gothic one was brilliant, introduced you to a new world, and had an epic story

Gothic two continued with equal brilliantness, having an even larger world and bigger story

Gothic three... meh. Lousy. Community patches made it better, but I never finished it.

Gothic four looks like it'll be a mess. A pile of human excrement on top of bull excrement. Of course, this is based on a demo that seems to have come out of the beta for the game, not the actual build...

Risen was a much better successor to the franchise than 3.

 

[Janus Vesta]

Phantom Crash an awesome Xbox exclusive mech game. Unlike most mech games this one focused on speed and stealth. Having a heavy, slow but extremely powerful mech was an option, but it was usually better to have a quick mech and use guerrila attacks. It got a PS2 exlusive sequel call S.L.A.I. (whatever kind of sense that makes. Why make a sequel on an opposing system?)

 

[Starke]

Planescape Torment

I'd agree with you, except it pops up in the literature so frequently.

On topic again, who remembers No One Lives Forever?

Escape Velocity: Okay, this is a bit of a cheat, it was an overhead exploration space trading sim in the vein of Privateer. Thing was it was a digital only release back around '96 or '97.

Arcanum, an RPG back around 2001 from Tim Cain, the diseased mind that brought us Fallout. The game was set in a standard fantasy world with elves, dwarves, gnomes, mages and steam engines... oh, right, that was the other thing, it was a standard Tolkienesque fantasy setting set in 1885, where technology was competing with magic.

Titan Quest, I've gotten into arguments with people over this one. Flat out this is the best Diablo clone I've ever played. That said, the first round of pirates that cracked the game's security checks released a buggy mess, and the game picked up a reputation of instability because of pirates.

STALKER Call of Pripyat. Yes, it's Russian (well Ukranian), yes it's bleak as fuck, and yes, this is exactly how fucked up the world would be after the events described. It took three releases to get a mostly sandbox shooter out that does basically what the first game was supposed to do.

 

[sb666]

dark cloud and okami

 

[Krion_Vark]

Most people have heard of Halo and Final Fantasy. However, I've noticed that some of the best games are ones that often have very small fan bases. Take, for example, Golden Sun, a pair of RPGs for the GBA that I am hard pressed to find anyone who knows anything about. The same thing could be said for Fire Emblem or Lock's Quest.

In that, this thread will be strictly for lesser known games that are better in nearly every way to their well known mainstream counter parts. It's all opinion, so please, no arguments on whether or not a game is good, aye?

Uhm...my avatar is rather sad not many people have heard of Golden Sun, it's one of the best RPGs I've played to date, certainly better than Final Fantasy.

*EDIT* Okay I just failed really hard I just put my response INSIDE the quote.

I think if you had the water and earth in there with the fire it would be a whole lot cooler.

 

[SkoopMaster]

There is this PSX game called Fear Effect.
There are about 5 endings, lesbians, guns and dual wielding, Blade runner type settings and a towel.

What more could you want?
There was also a second one that is a prequel but I have never picked it up.

And the third was canceled ;_;

 

[Sir Thomas Sean Connery]

No one has ever heard of Darkwatch for the original Xbox, but it was awesome. Kind of a Steampunk/Western/Horror, like crossing Wild Wild West with Underworld. It had a cool story, awesome premise, great soundtrack, excellent atmosphere/immersion and solid shooter game play.

If you are still not convinced to buy it, here is the opening.

Spoiler: Opening

And an awesome trailer


GO AND BUY IT!

 

[mParadox]

Blood. Very old game but damn it was a horror game to the core.

Oh and a gem in gaming which is Half Life. :-X

 

[ThePurpleStuff]

Wow this is sad.

Four pages and not one word of Godhand?

Oh!! I'm sorry, I own that game and didn't think about it! It's a huge pain in the ass, but it's worth the abuse and bruises.

 

[Baron von Blitztank]

Blood.
It's essentially Duke Nukem 3D only replace the Action quips with Horror quips. (And the Main Character is certifiably Insane)

Just listen to these awesome quotes from the game.

Also: MediEvil, American McGees Alice, Duke Nukem: Time to Kill/Land of the Babes, Croc, Sheep.

 

[Dr.Susse]

Great greed!
An old Jrpg by the guys who made pokemon, it's a standard type Gameboy rpg just will great monsters and silly charter names.

 

[vato_loco]

Xenosaga and Odin Sphere. It's really hard to find people that know about this.

And, believe it or not, around here not many people know about Fatal Frame...

While I'll give you Odin Sphere (I really can't find many who like, let alone know, the game), Xenosaga is definitely far from being unknown. If anything, it has almost as annoying a fanbase as Kingdom Hearts.

OT: Shadow Hearts: Covenant, The Darkness, Siren Blood Curse, Obscure (hurhur, fitting title), Haunting Ground, Resonance of Fate, Klonoa, Enslaved: Odyssey to the West (granted, it only just came out, but no one I've talked to has even heard of it till I mentioned it)

I live in Argentina, so even if it is familiar in other places, over here it's unbelievably unknown. And most people that DO know it haven't even played it. Go figure. But if it's so familiar and has such a big fanbase, HOW COME THEY HAVEN'T RELEASED EPISODE IV?!?!?! AAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!! *murders people*

Anyways, ironically, almost all of the games you mention are known around here. The exceptions being Klonoa and The Darkness. It's amazing how in different parts of the world you can see different gaming trends...

 

[vato_loco]

Great greed!
An old Jrpg by the guys who made pokemon, it's a standard type Gameboy rpg just will great monsters and silly charter names.

You got me there. I've never ever heard of that game...

 

[black_omega2]

Already mentioned but, plenty of Star Wars games like Dark Forces, Jedi Knight, Republic Commando, Empire at War, and both battlefronts (still no third for some reason, how stupid are those guys?)
A few other favorites:
Dungeon Keeper 2
Global Agenda
GunZ the duel (despite the insane amount of hackers)
Sins of a Solar Empire
Age of Empires 2
Alliance of Valiant Arms

That's all I can remember for now, there's probably some more I know.

 

[IkeGreil29]

Well, this game series is huge in Germany, so I dunno if this qualifies, but the Gothic Series has been one of my favorite RPG's of all time.


Gothic one was brilliant, introduced you to a new world, and had an epic story

Gothic two continued with equal brilliantness, having an even larger world and bigger story

Gothic three... meh. Lousy. Community patches made it better, but I never finished it.

Gothic four looks like it'll be a mess. A pile of human excrement on top of bull excrement. Of course, this is based on a demo that seems to have come out of the beta for the game, not the actual build...

Risen was a much better successor to the franchise than 3.

Very true.