Hidden Gems: The Games that Seemingly Only You Played

[LasermasterA]

There's a few games That I love yet no one else I know has ever played!
First off:

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (PC) is one of my favorite PC games. Despite the horrible voice acting, it's a great adventure game!

I have played all of the Harry Potter Games upto Order of Phoenix and I can say that they were pretty good. I especially liked Chamber of Secrets on Xbox which was pretty different from the PC version.

I guess some of them were underrated gems.

 

[iDarkLink]

I have played all of the Harry Potter Games upto Order of Phoenix and I can say that they were pretty good. I especially liked Chamber of Secrets on Xbox which was pretty different from the PC version.

I guess some of them were underrated gems.

I've gotten to play Chamber of Secrets through Order of the Phoenix on both Ps2 and PC. Chamber and Azkaban were very different from the PC and PS2 versions. However, Goblet and Order were just pure ports. Either way, I guess we're the few to admit we've played these great adventure games xD

 

[finalark]

Oh man, I remember Goblet of Fire. When I was in middle school a friend of mine had that on PS2 and we used to play it all the time with his little brother. Looking back, it was pretty obviously a Gauntlet clone but it was a really fun one for what it was.

 

[Cyn]

I like the LotR games. Especially RotK. Legolas kills it in that game.

 

[iDarkLink]

I like the LotR games. Especially RotK. Legolas kills it in that game.

I used to play that game to death! I tried it out a while back and I couldn't play alot xD went back to Ratchet and Clank

 

[Mastergabe2000]

Radiant Historia is amazing, despite the fact everyone seemed to ignore it, resulting in the game only selling 280K copies. The soundtrack is made by Yoko Shimomura, the same woman who composed the music for all the Mario & Luigi games, Super Mario RPG, and Unfinished Battle from Xenoblade. The gameplay is also some of the most deep and interesting I've ever seen in an RPG, with the enemies being on a grid and being able to move them into other enemies, thus allowing you to rack up more damage on all enemies shoved into the same square as another enemy.

Whoah, that ended out as a mini-review o_o

 

[AirshBornely]

As for more recent games:

This is one of the best RPG stories I've seen, especially on the Wii. Despite it being very well reviewed and everything, I know NO ONE ELSE who has this gem of a game! It was released around the same time as Xenoblade Chronicles, I believe.

Just felt like giving the thread a bit of my own opinion!

I know one other person who has played this, but yeah, I know what you mean.

At least you know someone who doesnow. ^^'

Radiant Historia is amazing, despite the fact everyone seemed to ignore it, resulting in the game only selling 280K copies. The soundtrack is made by Yoko Shimomura, the same woman who composed the music for all the Mario & Luigi games, Super Mario RPG, and Unfinished Battle from Xenoblade. The gameplay is also some of the most deep and interesting I've ever seen in an RPG, with the enemies being on a grid and being able to move them into other enemies, thus allowing you to rack up more damage on all enemies shoved into the same square as another enemy.

Whoah, that ended out as a mini-review o_o

Yo. I discovered this game a while back and heard a bunch of good things about it....so I went and bought it myself! Just need to get around to playing it now....

 

[LunarWingCloud]

I played this one game called Eternal Eyes on PS1. It's not spectacular, but it's a really cute monster-raising SRPG where you evolve and teach monsters stuff using gems. It's a much lighter experience than FFT, Disgaea, or any other alternative if you want a slice of the genre but not the dozens of hours of figuring out the intricacies of the game.

Plus the music is pretty alright.

 

[Tepig2000]

I bet no one knows this game.

 

[Cyn]

I bet no one knows this game.

Of course I do. That's the game with killer garlic and surprised candlesticks that are being terrorized by Count Chocula's sneaker sporting, top hat wearing, cellular phone wielding, cape spinning younger brother. It is very twisted.

 

[Tepig2000]

Of course I do. That's the game with killer garlic and surprised candlesticks that are being terrorized by Count Chocula's sneaker sporting, top hat wearing, cellular phone wielding, cape spinning younger brother. It is very twisted.

I'm curious to know if you actually knew about this game before or if you just took this from the box. lol

 

[Cyn]

I'm curious to know if you actually knew about this game before or if you just took this from the box. lol

I think the answer is rather obvious.

 

[ELITEWarri0r115]

Just a curiiosity, but does anyone think

Is still a very good game? I love the game a lot still.

 

[radio silent]

Medal of Honor was hardly hidden. It was mostly kinda lame, but I remember Frontline being one of the better ones. I'd be surprised if it held up at all, though.

 

[ELITEWarri0r115]

Medal of Honor was hardly hidden. It was mostly kinda lame, but I remember Frontline being one of the better ones. I'd be surprised if it held up at all, though.

I mean, From when I got it at a local gamestop back in 2006, This wasn't very popular around... So I bet it was hidden. I know Medal of Honor is a big game series, but still, wasn't popular around my area when I got it.

 

[Iceweasel]

I mean, From when I got it at a local gamestop back in 2006, This wasn't very popular around... So I bet it was hidden. I know Medal of Honor is a big game series, but still, wasn't popular around my area when I got it.

Medal of Honor was once almost CoD-level popular. I wouldn't call it hidden.

 

[finalark]

Yeah, Medal of Honor was pretty big back in its day. Hell, I'd go as far as to argue that it was the original yearly shooter. It was actually the series that CoD initially imitated back when the first one came out.

I don't think I'd call Frontline in particular to be obscure. I couldn't find sales figures on the series, but Frontline was one of the best received games in the entire franchise. I can even vouch for it as the only Medal of Honor game I have ever personally played.

 

[Spak]

I've always loved Strider (possibly by necessity because it was one of the 25 or so arcade games I played in an actual cabinet before going to Disney Quest, but I digress) and was super excited for a new game to come out because the series isn't all that popular. The game got great reviews, was amazing to play, the different plasma types made you think of ways to achieve certain goals or defeat difficult enemies, your movement never felt restricted with the Plasma Catapult and your hooks to climb walls, you always had full control of your character, the difficulty curve was really good, there were three modes (with the hardest being REALLY hard), it has a lot of unlockables, costumes, concept art, enemy/character intel, great boss fights, good graphics, a cool soundtrack, and exciting magical weapons to use.

Pretty much everything was good except for the optimization (if you want to fully enjoy this game, play it with a console controller, a processor with a really good clock speed, and a good GPU). This game had everything going for it except for the popularity. Nobody I ever talk to has heard about this game and it's a shame because it's so great. The campaign was only 7 hours for me, but I loved every minute of it and only got 40.3% of the stuff that you could get. This game feels amazing, looks amazing, sounds amazing, and just flat-out is amazing.

Back then, we had no idea that's what they were, we just knew of them as areas where you'd get knocked back hundreds of feet for seemingly no reason.

Those are the best invisible walls I've ever come across in any video game.

 

[Moffe]

For the most hardcore of the hardcore!
This is mmorpg/survival/fps/medieval Low fantasy fighting game with full loot on death.

It is not known due to its small team which has no money for advertisement, which basically makes it a hidden gem!

I used to play it a lot and I will play it again sooner or later because of how good it is (imo)

But you just have to take a break sometimes due to how hardcore it is. The community is strong and You have players there who have played this game for like 5 years nonstop

 

[StaffofSmashing]

Lol.

 

[Muskrat Catcher]

Most games I played were pretty popular. I played a few games that got bad reviews and stuff, and had limited popularity, but there is one game where I have almost never heard of outside of my own library - Puzzlequest: Challenge of the Warlords

Basically this game is a cross between your typical turn-based RPG, and your typical puzzle game, and it is somehow surprisingly unique and fun to play! This game is a bit old, and the only reason I have it is because when I was a child, my parents wanted me to play a "learning game" instead of something like pokémon, racing, or Mario games, since I played a lot of those, and they saw "puzzle" on the title, and bought it for me. It was overall a very enjoyable game, but my only problem with it is that even the easiest, pushover enemies still took a while to battle, and they often appeared in roads between cities, so when you had to travel a long way, it took a LONG time! I remember it would take me over an hour just to get from point A to point B. Also the final boss is unfair. Call me a wimp or unskilled or whatever, but that's a HUGE difficulty leap! I had to cheat to beat it, but otherwise, I felt that it was a really fun game! It was a truly original idea and gameplay, which is somewhat rare these days, and it was a great strategy/puzzle game with all the satisfaction of progression that an RPG would give you. I would recommend it to others, but I have no idea where to even find one!

 

[SomewhatMystia]

It may not be that similar, but there's a game (a few, actually) on Steam called PuzzleQuest that has a lot of those same elements. I'd recommend it, the first one is pretty neat.

 

[Muskrat Catcher]

It may not be that similar, but there's a game (a few, actually) on Steam called PuzzleQuest that has a lot of those same elements. I'd recommend it, the first one is pretty neat.

Hmm, I did once see a thing about puzzlequest in a Gameinformer magazine (literally the ONLY time I've ever heard of it elsewhere) in a list of the top 10 lootfests. This really confused me, because the one I played was by no means a lootfest, since it took a while just to beat one battle, and loot wasn't exactly prevalent, and also the picture in the magazine looked different than the game I played, but it was still called Puzzlequest, so I assume there are more games in the series that I have never heard of. maybe those games on Steam are the rest of the series? I will look into that

 

[Wojo]

Cel Damage: Mario kart's battle mode on cocaine and in beautiful cel-shaded graphics. Irreverent, chaotic, and a bunch of fun.

Oh yeah, and Katawa Shoujo. Wonderfully written and incredibly engaging, never met anyone else who has actually played it.

Now you have met someone who has played it. It was my introduction into the VN genre of games, and got me to respect that style of game. Also got my to think heavily about it's subject material, which I was gladly surprised about.

 

[Luggy]

Does anybody remember this crap ?

I played the crap out of it when I was a kid. It was fun, but I don't think I would like it now. Still, that's some good memories.

 

[Twewy]

So apparently it sold like 1 million copies, but I never heard of it till seeing it in a store for $30 a few days ago. I never even see people talk about the damn thing.

I wanted something me and a friend could go through blind and learn about together, and oh man, it's a ride (at least for as far as we got before we did some other stuff).

 

[SomewhatMystia]

That was actually my friend's favorite RPG. I could never get into it back then and haven't had the chance to give it a go since getting it for my PS3. Looking forward to it, though.

 

[Spak]

So apparently it sold like 1 million copies, but I never heard of it till seeing it in a store for $30 a few days ago. I never even see people talk about the damn thing.

I wanted something me and a friend could go through blind and learn about together, and oh man, it's a ride (at least for as far as we got before we did some other stuff).

Legend of Dragoon:

Spoiler

This is a severely unappreciated JRPG for the PS1. It had a brilliant battle system (with the number of hits determined by the number how good you were at timing your button presses), an encounter meter to increase the chance of an encounter as you continued to roam the area, a great plot, a stunning twist at the end of disc 1, and is 4 discs of a solid JRPG. Also, the Dragoon form makes the battles a whole lot more interesting and adds a new dynamic to the strategy.

Freelancer:

Spoiler

Freelancer is a Space Trading and Combat Simulation Game (Long Genre title) in which you are a merchant who travels across multiple systems dealing goods, fighting against enemy vessels, go through the twisty life of Edison Trent's life after his cargo ship gets destroyed on a space port that is attacked (with him barely escaping). There are some surprises along the way and although it has laughable voice acting, it has extremely solid gameplay and a strong modding community. It also had servers and LAN support, but there are only private servers since Microsoft shut down Digital Anvil.

Neverwinter Nights:

Spoiler

This game is a masterpiece that was fairly popular whenever it came out, but I feel was relatively forgotten whenever NWN2 was released. It was a game where you could make your own character and send him through the Forgotten Realms, searching for the cure to the Wailing Death. It had an extremely strong plot, wonderful characters, directly followed the D&D 3rd ruleset, and a great soundtrack. I remember the graphics being impressive for its time, but looking back, they look a bit primitive. Also, there is a vast class system that widely effects how you can/will play the game, ensuring that you will have a different experience every time you are willing to try something new. Also, it has LAN and had online servers, meaning that you could share this experience of a game with all of your friends.

I will have more games up later, but I need to get to bed.

Already talked about it, but I agree that it's a great game.

 

[finalark]

So apparently it sold like 1 million copies, but I never heard of it till seeing it in a store for $30 a few days ago. I never even see people talk about the damn thing.

I wanted something me and a friend could go through blind and learn about together, and oh man, it's a ride (at least for as far as we got before we did some other stuff).

I swear to god I'm cursed to never properly play this game. I first heard about this game from another kid around 2005. Unfortunately, the kid in question had only ever rented it and given the year PS1 games were near impossible to rent. So then I started looking for used copies from GameStop (remember back when GameStop carried PS1 games?) and other local stores.

No joke, every single used copy of this game I've ever bought either froze up less than an hour in or didn't work at all.

I know it's available digitally now, but knowing my luck the file will corrupt upon download or something equally as ridiculous.

 

[Twewy]

Already talked about it, but I agree that it's a great game.

Oh yeah. Sorry, I forgot about your post, like a lot of things. I couldn't tell you what I had for breakfast today.

 

[finalark]

This game is really, really underrated IMO. Whenever people talk about the best Genesis games they usual mention Sonic, Golden Axe or Comix Zone. But for whatever reason Beyond Oasis flew under the radar for most people. Which is a shame, because it's actually a really solid game. Yeah, at first glance it's a Zelda clone but the thing that really sets it apart is it's ridiculously fun and surprisingly complex combat plus the game's focus on upgrading your magical gauntlet rather than finding new items.

Unfortunately, due to its obscurity and how poorly it sold the game tends to fetch high prices these days. Thankfully, the game is available digitally now and if you have an itch for a good action-adventure game I highly recommend Beyond Oasis.

 

[Dem Bones]

Fun fact: This game was published by the same company that published GTA and Bioshock.

 

[Spak]

Fun fact: This game was made by the same people that published Unreal Tournament and Gears of War.

 

[TimeChain]

When I was a young, innocent little boy, I got a DS for Christmas and with it came...Pokemon Pinball: Ruby and Sapphire? I asked for Mystery Dungeon, but I shrugged it off because hey, it's Pokemon. Turns out, it was actually a really solid pinball game with all sorts of neat gimmicks and catchy music. Give it a shot if you have the money. It's pretty fun.

 

[Spak]

A bit odd that your parents would give you a GBA game with a DS, but I agree that it's a great game. I was so proud of myself when I actually managed to catch Rayquaza. Then I realized how much of my time I wasted trying to catch that Rayquaza and what I could have been doing to make me better as a person or broaden my horizons. I haven't touched it since, but that's where I realized if playing games all day long was my life, I wouldn't be improving upon myself and would just be wasting my life away.

But yeah, it's a good and addicting game. It actually made me naturally better at pinball than the rest of my friends.

 

[TimeChain]

A bit odd that your parents would give you a GBA game with a DS, but I agree that it's a great game. I was so proud of myself when I actually managed to catch Rayquaza. Then I realized how much of my time I wasted trying to catch that Rayquaza and what I could have been doing to make me better as a person or broaden my horizons. I haven't touched it since, but that's where I realized if playing games all day long was my life, I wouldn't be improving upon myself and would just be wasting my life away.

But yeah, it's a good and addicting game. It actually made me naturally better at pinball than the rest of my friends.

Yeah, I couldn't tell you how confused I was when I was trying to stick my GBA cartridge in a DS. The instructions said I had to put it in the slot on the back of the DS, but it doesn't fit! C'mon Santa, I asked for Pokemon Mystery Dungeon! XD

 

[AirshBornely]

I adore this game's artstyle, story, gameplay, everything.

 

[Spak]

War Thunder is an online MMO where you can play as a plane or a tank and fight it out with other planes and tanks. There are research trees for planes, you have to buy your planes or tanks and pay to train crews how to use them, different types of planes/tanks (heavy/medium/light tanks, fighters(naval, heavy, medium, light)/bomber(heavy/light) planes), and different types of weaponry and ammo these planes or tanks use. There are very few times I experience lag or any bugs, but the tanks can spawn on top of each other. There are also five different nations (US, Japan, UK, Russia, Germany) that you can choose your vehicles from, each of which have their own characteristics. Every plane feels different enough for you to tell you are flying a heavy vs. light fighter just based on speed and maneuverability, the planes are built accurately to their real-life counterparts, and the game feels well-balanced.

There are also three modes (Arcade, Realistic, and Simulator), all of which differ in what you can get away with. Simulator goes to the point where you can only fly cockpit mode, your wings will break if you go too fast or aren't using the right flaps, one shot does what would actually happen to the plane if it were to hit that spot in real life, and it is REALLY hard. In all modes, there are the effects of hitting different areas (you can shoot someone's engine out, if you hit the pilot they're dead, if you shoot the fuel tank it leaks, etc.) but the consequences for those go up as the difficulty does. You can also make crews with your friends if they play the game and in addition, this game is FTP. This is the most fun I've had in a vehicle-based fighting game since Twisted Metal and suggest that everyone should give it a try (if you like dogfights or shooting at people with tanks, that is).

 

[Minato]

I adore this game's artstyle, story, gameplay, everything.

Hotel Dusk was fun. It wasn't anything that was supposed to blow your mind, and it's easier to appreciate when people realize that. The US never got the sequel, but it was released in Europe I think. I think this summer I should get around to playing that.

 

[AirshBornely]

Hotel Dusk was fun. It wasn't anything that was supposed to blow your mind, and it's easier to appreciate when people realize that. The US never got the sequel, but it was released in Europe I think. I think this summer I should get around to playing that.

Okay, but the art style still very eye pleasing.

Wow really? I didn't even realize there was a sequel.... Guess I'll import it some time.