Brutal Legend has been on many sales and that game is so good if you can look past the mediocre main gameplay. Also, like previously stated: Silent Storm.

@rorie:

"S" ranked KOA on 360. Everytime i try out an MMO im still waiting, and hoping for that type of action to be implemented with controller support. Thats all i could think about trying when playing Wildstar last month.

Full Mojo Rampage is a really neat shooter.

@equitasinvictus: Sold.

Is it actually any good? I'm just kind of always on the lookout for decent VNs about anything.

I can name two easy.

Princess Maker 3.... er.. I mean "Long Live The Queen".

Dive Kick.

Ghost Master!!!

If you don't mind horror, "The Cat Lady" for sure.

I wanted to hit on these two in particular. I was really curious about JA2 a while back and bought it on a sale, and I started watching an LP of it just to get a sense of what the gameplay actually was, and I really liked what I saw (especially with whatever the hell that mod is that adds a bunch of content). However, your point about the difficulty is what scares me about playing it. Is it super easy to completely fuck up your game to the point that you have to start over?

As for Omerta, I wrote a Steam Review of it, but to hit the highlights, I felt like in the management part you spent a really long time sitting around doing nothing. There were a lot of points in the story where it was like "Ok just build up a bunch of money!" and without the ability to speed up time, you just had to sit around and tick it out. As for the combat, I had a lot of problems with it, but I'd say my main problem was that since the combat had to be balanced with melee weapons in mind, the guns felt super weak, and because the guns were weak the AI could just rush you while you were behind cover and shoot you from point blank, and even if it took them two turns to get to you its unlikely you'd be able to drop them before they got into range. I felt like that game was a huge waste of potential.

@president_barackbar: Frequent saving in JA2 helps cut down on the frustration. There were also some cheats enabled through the console that helped in certain situations, which are almost a necessity in the mid-game.

Seconded! It's definitely a good game. I'm not that great at it, but I'm truckin' through the story mode.

The Fall was fucking fantastic and I really hope it becomes financially viable so that studio can make Episode Two. It's rare to see video game stories deal with BIG THEMES with any degree of tact or subtlety.

@shivermetimbers said:

I wouldn't call it horror, but it is a damn good adventure game. By the end of it I felt like I watched a really good tv show.

Also a great keyboard only game if you are ever stuck on a laptop and hate using trackpads.

I second this. It's a weird claymation (short) adventure game.

Also, not enough people talk about To the Moon. It has one of my favorite nonlinear stories of all time. Alex reviewed it.

I concur with people's recommendations of VVVVVV, To the Moon, and Puzzle Agent. Botanicula is great, although I prefer the game that preceded it (made by the same studio) Machinarium. On top of being beautiful and charming, it has one of my favorite game soundtracks ever.

It was well received at the time of released, but I rarely see And Yet It Moves mentioned anymore. Admittedly I haven't played it in a few years, but I have fond memories of it.

DC Universe Online? Obviously you aren't going to have any of the Time Warping super-godmode stuff because it's an MMO. I haven't been able get to into any MMO since DCUO, Wildstar included, because I really like the action combat in it and how well controller support was implemented. I still have it installed and I still go back once or twice a month to run around Metropolis and throw cabs at enemies as they stand around outside the starting spawn area.

So hidden, it's not even on Steam yet!

Seriously, Trails in the Sky gets no recognition despite being one of the best games of the past decade and the best JRPG on the PC.

I was with you until that last part since Shining Force 2 and Final Fantasy 7 are also on steam. Seriously though, the Legend of Heroes series is definitely overlooked with the first few being alright games and Trails being excellent.

Stars and Bars Liberty Lad! To the Freedom Flyer! ... Freedom Force is amazing. Made by Ken Levine & co don't you know.

I love this thread and there are a lot of great suggestions already. I'd like to throw Nexus: The Jupiter Incident into the mix, which is a space RTT with a charming campaign. UFO: Afterlight is also pretty great, though the release of the new XCOM game perhaps removes some of the appeal.

Jets 'n Guns is an awesome shmup with little to no exposure.

@rorie ... you are the man! ... Freedom Force and Freedom Force vs. the Third Reich are among my all time favourite games.

Starpoint Gemini 2, an Early Access game on Steam, looks really promising. It's apparently a SP arcade take on the space sim genre, but with a focus on Cap Ships. So if you're a fan of Nexus: The Jupiter Incident or Dark Space, it looks like something to look out for once they exit Early Access.

@topsteer said:

Shining Force 2 is a super rad game and I'd buy an argument that it's better than Trails in the Sky (even though I don't personally agree), but I tend to keep traditional JRPG's and Strategy RPG's in different camps. But...

I wish I could quote this 14,000 times without being instabanned. Conquistador is fantastic for tactical cRPG nuts (turn-based, because we ain't scrubs), tabletop gamers or anyone who likes to roleplay a little bit + people who care about C&C in their games, and people who go directly to midnight from anything having to do with American (N+S) history.

I wish I had finished the game, but school got in the way and I never actually completed it. Which means I should start a new game, like, today.

@devoureroftime said:

@topsteer said:

I was with you until that last part since Shining Force 2 and Final Fantasy 7 are also on steam.

Shining Force 2 is a super rad game and I'd buy an argument that it's better than Trails in the Sky (even though I don't personally agree), but I tend to keep traditional JRPG's and Strategy RPG's in different camps. But...

@topsteer said:

Final Fantasy 7

I may not be a fan of FFVII and may be easy of overlook all it meant back in the day but it's not like he said something ridiculous. Anyway, Phantasy Star II & IV are also on steam (the rest too) so I guess that settles it. FFIII has also been released on steam and it's pretty fun game too if someone hasn't played it on DS before. The only reason I didn't buy is because I heard about some bugs. Last Remnant is another pretty overlooked game on Steam and much better they people say it is. I recommend it. It's "different" though.

Shattered Horizon Weird game, really weird. It's kinda like if space engineers was a shooter.. It gets super eerie when you power down your suit and drift around in space undetected (the other players can see you when your suit is on, mechwarrior style) trying to sneak up on someone. Also, you can not rotate or move in any way when you're shut down, you just keep going in the direction you were headed with the same rotation and everything. Also, 6dof shooters are fucking crazy.

Probably pointless to download if you don't have friends to play with.

Threadspace Hyperbol This is truly an amazing game. Practically NO ONE bought this game, and it's a fucking shame because it is SO GOOD. Also a multiplayer game, this game was kind of like a vehicular MOBA (I get the impression the devs had played a round or two of DotA and figured they'd outdo that by making EVERYTHING skill based.) Everything in this game is skill shot based. You can knock stuff around with other shots and so on. As an example, defensive structures like laser fences are shot out one post at a time and then deployed with space. once to shoot, again to deploy.. this way everything can be a weapon. Pop out 3 fence posts, block a mofo in, lay down a friggen barrage of hell now that he's locked down. Effectively a root spell in any other moba, skill based as fuck in this game. It is the game that has made me BY FAR the most angry. BY FAR. LoL and other mobas ain't got shit on this as far as rage goes. Also, it's a little bit like pong, as you can bank shots on edges and shit.. That game, it is so good.. I am angry now, angry from just thinking about it.

Bleed This game is sweet. A pretty short platformer with really fun mechanics. Once you master the bullet time slow down thingies, this game is a blast to play, and it looks hella cool. Regularly on sale but easily worth the full price. (5 euro at the moment)

Lots more as well. What I really want, though, is something akin to The Dungeoning (A game I'm currently playing) that's like a dark souls meets spelunky-likes. Also, I really want spells.. Unepic seemed like it might fit the bill.. Not sure.. But, I will add The Dungeoning, as it is actually quite fun. Slower spelunky-style thing.

@topsteer said:

Isn't Legend of Heroes overlooked because it's barely available in the West, aside from as a super late PSP game that only a really niche crowd was aware of? I'd barely even consider it a PC game yet, though yes, hopefully the Steam release will raise people's awareness of it.

Also, I still don't see what the big deal with Shining Force 2 is. Or like, I guess I get why people liked it at the time, since the West didn't have Fire Emblem or FF Tactics yet. Someone recommended Shining Force to me, so I played through all of Shining Force 1 on the Wii Virtual Console, and I played about 4-5 hours into Shining Force 2, then I stopped because it's kind of just more of the same but with marginally better story. Again, probably good for a Genesis game at the time, but I wouldn't dream of recommending that anybody pick it up now on Steam or Virtual Console, unless they already have nostalgia for it. I don't think it holds up that well at all.

Another vote for Expeditions: Conquistador.

Also, Mini Ninjas.

@bisonhero: There were three Legend of Heroes games before Trails in the Sky that came out in the west. They were fairly good but as with nearly every game on the PSP they were largely ignored, even great RPGs such as Ys 7 were as well.

I'm pretty sure we've had this conversation about Shining Force before. I'd argue that they hold up better than almost any other game from that era since they are so simple. Of course any game is hard to go back to if you didn't play it in the era it came out in, I've never played many of the popular cRPGs and if I tried to play something like Planescape now there's probably no way I'd like it as much as people that call it their favorite game. One of the things I like more about the first two Shining Forces against other sRPGs is that they have actual exploration like an overworld and wandering around towns and not just battle after battle. I'd easily recommend Shining Force 2 over any Fire Emblem or Final Fantasy Tactics, I love those games but I think Shining Force is better. The biggest reason I think Shining Force 2 holds up is the same reason I love the Fire Emblem series, both have great and varied characters and fun to play battles.

EDIT: Speaking of Ys 7, Ys The oath in Felghana is on steam as well and is great.

@topsteer: Yeah, entirely possible we've had this discussion before. Now that you mention it, I vaguely recall your phoenix-character-from-Shining-Force-2 profile picture. Let us continue to agree to disagree.

Momodora 3.