Once-underrated but now overrated games?

[llsaidknockyouout]

My pick goes to Zelda: The Wind Waker for the Gamecube. I always enjoyed the game, and weathered through the difficult strident "cartoon Zelda sucks!!" phase. I always loved Wind Waker's story, timeless atmosphere, expressive characters and art style. It was a really progressive game with it's higher-level mechanics, and it's pretty much the metric every single super-realistic AAA is juxtaposed to by critics.

Over the years, the hype went through the roof and the game's faults were sort of whitewashed. Like I said, I think it's a great really progressive game, but it made too many mistakes to be the best Zelda game.

1) The obnoxious Triforce Quest compounded with slow sailing made the game very annoying. (Thank you HD version)

2) Regressive difficulty. The first dungeon is a giant stealth level that's really punishing and frustrating. After that, the game stays easy, and until the final boss battles, never gets challenging once.

3) Puzzles only consisted of block-pushing and torch-lighting. Deku Leaf aside, the items are unimaginative. And their usage is confined to finding symbols/icons in the room to use the item on. Puzzles need not be super-difficult, but at least make them unique and require thought.

4) Dungeons were dumbed down (and there's less of them) compared to most other Zeldas, and they comprised of the majority of the game's main adventure.
Dragon Roost - straightforward tutorial. Okay.
Forbidden - beautiful graphics. great item. simplistic dungeon design.
Tower of the Gods - very linear. mostly just block puzzles.
Earth Temple - great. unique. love the mirror based puzzles
Wind Temple - finally, a large challenging dungeon for this game.
Ganon's Tower - regurgitated content and filler.

5) Went back to predictable formula after Majora's Mask subverted it. The game consisted of sail, island quest, sail, dungeon (repeat 7 times).

I also feel like the identity of the Zelda series suffered as a result of Zelda fans focusing the conversation on art style rather than improving game mechanics.

 

[B-Cell_v1legacy]

Mirrors Edge. It was terrible game that recieve average reviews yet lot of people consider it Great and underrated.

 

[Casual Shinji]

I also feel like the identity of the Zelda series suffered as a result of Zelda fans focusing the conversation on art style rather than improving game mechanics.

Is that really Wind Waker's fault though? Zelda's 3D game mechanics have always been kinda stiff and awkward. You could even argue that's part of the identity of Zelda, same as it is the identity of Metal Gear Solid (before 5).

 

[Glongpre]

Final Fantasy IX

How dare you.

I think it is still underrated to be honest, compared to other FF's. The overrated ones are 4 and 6.

I can't think of any games that have been underrated, then over time became overrated. That doesn't really make sense either.

 

[llsaidknockyouout]

Mirrors Edge. It was terrible game that recieve average reviews yet lot of people consider it Great and underrated.

Mirror's Edge is a great concept. A first person platformer. Interesting dystopian atmosphere. Excellent beautiful somewhat-minimalist visuals. Pretty average on the "is it fun to play scale".

I think Mirror's Edge is moreso an example people want to invoke in certain instances of discussion rather than an amazing game in its own right.

I also feel like the identity of the Zelda series suffered as a result of Zelda fans focusing the conversation on art style rather than improving game mechanics.

Is that really Wind Waker's fault though? Zelda's 3D game mechanics have always been kinda stiff and awkward. You could even argue that's part of the identity of Zelda, same as it is the identity of Metal Gear Solid (before 5).

I meant that how people (on both sides of the fence) responded to The Wind Waker - not the game itself. Twilight Princess' unique aspects were toned down to appease Ocarina of Time fans. Plus, the love of The Wind Waker spawned two mediocre sequels.

 

[Hawki]

Majora's Mask. When it was released, it was still under Ocarina of Time's shadow. Now, people hold it as the best thing since sliced bread.

For my own part, I like MM, but it takes the #4 spot in my LoZ games list, and while I hold OoT, TP, and WW in very high regard, MM has too many problems for me to hold it in anywhere near the same esteem.

 

[Addendum_Forthcoming]

Basically most Monster Hunter games. To begin with they never really scored stellar with profession reviewers, but they seem to strike a Dark Souls-esque 'Git Gud' chord amidst the community. I love them to bits... but I think people sometimes oversell the difficulty curve... and it takes a ridiculous amount of time to get to those truly 'Git Gud'-monsters.

People seem to forget that reviewers can't spend atleast 40+ hours to get to the decently skilled challenges. A lot of the difficulty comes from whether or not you have decent players in your team.

 

[llsaidknockyouout]

Majora's Mask. When it was released, it was still under Ocarina of Time's shadow. Now, people hold it as the best thing since sliced bread.

Agree. I enjoy MM very much. I enjoy the direction it took, but people praising the story for its depth and complexity are probably doing so because they haven't read any good literature. Anju and Kafei is a good side quest, but I don't think it's better than the 5 extra dungeons that OOT has over MM.

1) The obnoxious Triforce Quest compounded with slow sailing made the game very annoying. (Thank you HD version)

It wouldn't have been so bad if the game ... allowed you to conduct the wind without ...

Link's sword has a lot of reach and the enemies hardly do any damage.

The HD version completely fixes the wind issue thankfully.

Combat has always been easy in Zelda games due to the fact that enemies will only attack you if you are really close to them. And, compared to 2D Zelda, where 3 enemies per area is a lot to handle, 3 enemies in a 3D space is easy to handle. TWW was especially easy.

 

[llsaidknockyouout]

I played Zombies Ate My Neighbors. I think it's a fun action game but nothing I'd return to. In fact, I'd say that about most acclaimed SNES games. I think most retro games in general have rudimentary gameplay and haven't aged too well. Beat enemies, dodge pits, collect points, repeat. That kind of gameplay just feels very menial to me.

I'll also say Earthbound (for SNES) is one of those titles that was initially slept on but now is overhyped. I like the atmosphere and it's overall bizarreness. The gameplay just has poor pacing and overall isn't very fun.

 

[Casual Shinji]

And yeah, the game has easy puzzles and easier combat. Link's sword has a lot of reach and the enemies hardly do any damage. Collecting heard pieces on the side is completely pointless (and tedious, since you usually find sea charts instead of hearts, leading to more monotonous sailing).

Is there a Zelda game where the optional, non-Boss related heart containers aren't pointless though? I remember it being just as superfluous in Twilight Princess. And honestly, I remember the combat there to be even easier, especially the final Ganondorf fight.

 

[Saelune]

Majora's Mask. When it was released, it was still under Ocarina of Time's shadow. Now, people hold it as the best thing since sliced bread.

Agree. I enjoy MM very much. I enjoy the direction it took, but people praising the story for its depth and complexity are probably doing so because they haven't read any good literature. Anju and Kafei is a good side quest, but I don't think it's better than the 5 extra dungeons that OOT has over MM.

Maybe that's why I liked MM more than OoT. My favorite parts of OoT weren't the dungeons, but doing all the side stuff, and MM is more side stuff than dungeons.

 

[Fox12]

FF6. Oh my God. I played it on the game boy, and thought it was a fun little retro game. The midway plot twist was a stroke of genius. I thought it was a great game that had been overshadowed by the later final fantasies, after the series exploded.

But, guys, let's get real. That game was flawed. The gameplay was bearable, but not great, and the sprites are painful to look at. Compare it to Chrono Trigger, which has aged really well, and it's clear that time has not been a friend to FF6. Furthermore it's just plain silly at times. The opening features an exploding castle, and Kefka is a cartoon villain with no motivation whatsoever, other then the fact that he's a crazy "nihilist." Except that crazy is a lazy motivation, and I don't consider him a good example of the nihilistic philosophy. As time has passed, I've found myself liking that game less and less. I would say it's the most overrated game in the series. It's like a weird inverse of FF7. FF7 went from being slightly overrated to severely underrated. FF6, meanwhile went from being unknown to a lot of people to being one of the most overhyped games in the series.

 

[Silence]

Beyond Good & Evil.

Noone bought it, and it has aged extremely poorly.

 

[llsaidknockyouout]

I also think Spec Ops: The Line is one of those games that if it were to sell ten times as much as it did, the same people who are lavishly praising it would criticize it a lot.

 

[Poetic Nova]

Another vote for Spec Ops: The Line.

If the gameplay wasn't so cookie cutter I would've perhaps liked the game more than just 2 scenes.
Finished the game because it was a gift, but it ended up being a 7-ish hours torture session, and thats not in the way the game intended it to be.

Mirrors Edge gets second place honestly.

Played it, first 5 chapters or so were decent, if for some reason a buggy mess because the game didn't always register Faith wanted to hang from a ledge (and that leading to many, many frustrating deaths). In the 6th chapter there's a gamebreaking bug if the game is fully patched, which only fixes if you dont instal said patch. And from 7 onwards you're forced into combat with a system that wasn't designed for it.

Frustrating bollocks.

 

[Lufia Erim]

Final Fantasy IX

How dare you.

I think it is still underrated to be honest, compared to other FF's. The overrated ones are 4 and 6.

I can't think of any games that have been underrated, then over time became overrated. That doesn't really make sense either.

You got that wrong. Those were the only good ones .

OT: metro 2023. The game came out, nobody cares. 5 years later it is considered a cult classic. Gamers are weird.

 

[lacktheknack]

Mirrors Edge. It was terrible game that recieve average reviews yet lot of people consider it Great and underrated.

I'm one of them, it's still my favorite game ever made.

OT: Can we all admit that Psychonauts is a solid 8/10 and not the 11/10 people act like it is?

 

[Skatalite]

Mirrors Edge. It was terrible game that recieve average reviews yet lot of people consider it Great and underrated.

Higher reviews than Shadow Warrior though.