Before I get into the rest, let me tell you the purpose of this thread. This is not a popularity contest or a fun but pointless discussion. What I'm interested in doing (for the benefit of anybody who is looking for good games) is bringing some great games into the limelight that were either overshadowed by big names, poorly marketed, had cult appeal, or otherwise didn't get the popularity they deserve. A well done old game can often bring a lot more fun for $5 on ebay than the "latest and greatest."
There are only two rules for the games you list. 1)They can't be known among virtually all gamers, and 2)They have to be fun for a first-timer. That great text-based RPG you used to play in the '80s may be fun to go back to, but probably not for a new person.
So, name 2-3 of your favorite games that you think a lot of people may not be familar with and explain what they are and why they're so awesome. Go ahead and write a novel-sized post if you want.
I'll begin with mine:
Myth 2 (PC): One of the greatest RTS's of all time (made by Bungie before Halo turned them into a household name). There's no buildup or resource gathering: just some initial troops that you have to use well. The single player campaign is excellent, putting you against 2-20 times your own force in a variety of situations, and multiplayer is made of quick, bloody battles that rarely take more than 4-5 minutes but have an enormous amount of available tactics. While it had a few flaws, it offered a different take on RTS's and overall, did it quite well.
Wrath Unleashed (Xbox): You start with an army of various monsters on a hex-based map, where you can gain advantages and disadvantages based on your terrain. When you encounter an enemy, it moves you into an arena where you have a duel similar to a fighting game (though not as complex). You needed strategy in placing your troops and seizing board points as well as the fast reflexes of a fighting game to succeed in this game, and it was overall, a very nice change from the hordes of games that fit cleanly into one genre.
I think one of the major things that kept this game from being successful was people who turned it on (not knowing much of what the game was about), went to versus mode (where it is only the arena part) and found a horribly imbalanced fighting game (characters were made differents strengths on purpose).
Try it out, though. It has 4 player and the visual designs are very good (even if it doesn't push as many pixels as the stuff coming out now).
Tactics Ogre(Playstation. NOT the GBA one): Final Fantasy tactics was a much bigger hit, but that partly comes from the fact that a very limited number of game discs were produced, making this a rare game shortly after release.
Of all of the tactical RPG's, I find this game to be by far the best, mostly because it focused more on tactics, sacrificing ease of learning for deeper gameplay. Games like Fire Emblem and Shining force, while fun, always seemed to narrow down to just a few tactics that were repeated every level. In addition, there was a lot more room for customizing your own style of army than in any other games of this type (as long as you were willing to shelve cool NPC's to do it). Overall, I consider it to be the best of its genre.
Well, long post, but there you have it. Let me know what your favorite lesser-known games are, and maybe we'll all find a few gems that we missed out on.
There are only two rules for the games you list. 1)They can't be known among virtually all gamers, and 2)They have to be fun for a first-timer. That great text-based RPG you used to play in the '80s may be fun to go back to, but probably not for a new person.
So, name 2-3 of your favorite games that you think a lot of people may not be familar with and explain what they are and why they're so awesome. Go ahead and write a novel-sized post if you want.
I'll begin with mine:
Myth 2 (PC): One of the greatest RTS's of all time (made by Bungie before Halo turned them into a household name). There's no buildup or resource gathering: just some initial troops that you have to use well. The single player campaign is excellent, putting you against 2-20 times your own force in a variety of situations, and multiplayer is made of quick, bloody battles that rarely take more than 4-5 minutes but have an enormous amount of available tactics. While it had a few flaws, it offered a different take on RTS's and overall, did it quite well.
Wrath Unleashed (Xbox): You start with an army of various monsters on a hex-based map, where you can gain advantages and disadvantages based on your terrain. When you encounter an enemy, it moves you into an arena where you have a duel similar to a fighting game (though not as complex). You needed strategy in placing your troops and seizing board points as well as the fast reflexes of a fighting game to succeed in this game, and it was overall, a very nice change from the hordes of games that fit cleanly into one genre.
I think one of the major things that kept this game from being successful was people who turned it on (not knowing much of what the game was about), went to versus mode (where it is only the arena part) and found a horribly imbalanced fighting game (characters were made differents strengths on purpose).
Try it out, though. It has 4 player and the visual designs are very good (even if it doesn't push as many pixels as the stuff coming out now).
Tactics Ogre(Playstation. NOT the GBA one): Final Fantasy tactics was a much bigger hit, but that partly comes from the fact that a very limited number of game discs were produced, making this a rare game shortly after release.
Of all of the tactical RPG's, I find this game to be by far the best, mostly because it focused more on tactics, sacrificing ease of learning for deeper gameplay. Games like Fire Emblem and Shining force, while fun, always seemed to narrow down to just a few tactics that were repeated every level. In addition, there was a lot more room for customizing your own style of army than in any other games of this type (as long as you were willing to shelve cool NPC's to do it). Overall, I consider it to be the best of its genre.
Well, long post, but there you have it. Let me know what your favorite lesser-known games are, and maybe we'll all find a few gems that we missed out on.
