"Underrated" games that you think are actually overrated.

I gotta give it to the first two Ys games.

Before I played it, I heard older gamers on the internet constantly praise these games. Seeing how I really dig Action-RPGs from that era (Secret of Mana, Zelda: LttP, Beyond Oasis), I tried Ys I & II on a Turbo-CD emulator.

This was three years ago, but I remember really not liking the game. The combat system, or lack thereof, is awful. Simply running into enemies is not fun, and gets tedious real fast.

The dungeon design is really boring. And the puzzle are ridiculous.

The only redeeming qualities of the game is the boss fights, because there at least you get neat bullet-hell style projectiles you can dodge. And maybe the presentation, seeing how I have a soft spot for how late-80s anime looks. That's about it.

hardly any games are considered underrated in the first place

can't really think of any

@kingbonesaw: Yeah, I don't remember hearing about that game at all as a kid. But I think around 2009 or 2010 I started hearing a lot of people praise that game.

@guitargod: I think I mean games with a huge cult following, especially among hardcore gamers on the internet.

Is it overrated if a very small group of people considers something underrated but most people kinda feel they're, in fact, just rated? Also, I often see people consider something underrated just 'cause it's not that popular. Doesn't being underrated have to do with how a game reviewed?

I think it's kinda hard to answer the question 'cause most underrated games have just as much, if not more, detractors as supporters. I don't hate these games, I actually like these games for the most part but maybe games like Alan Wake or Wolfenstein: The New Order kinda fit the bill. I see why some people love them to death and I really really like a big proportion of what those games have to offer but I think the weak parts will keep me from ever revisiting them.

I dont think any games are universally underrated or overrated, but if you're asking whether I think something that has gained cult status is bad then i'd go with Burnout Paradise.

On a recent note id say that while i think Nier automata is a pretty solid game......The way some people talk about seems a bit over hyped to me personally. Not trying to invalidate anyones opinion or anything tho that's just my thoughts.

@liquiddragon: "Doesn't being underrated have to do with how a game reviewed?" It can, but overall no. The term "underrated" does not have a specific definition. It can be a game that reviewed well but sold poorly. It could be a game that was really good and reviewed well but the general gaming community did not like. It can be a game that reviewed well and people generally liked but has been largely forgotten over time compared to other games of the era. It can be a game that was generally considered bad at the time of release but has been redeemed with age. There are probably other ways to define a game as "underrated" as well.

There is a really weird thing to me where because at some point the ff7 fanboys overtook the majority ff6 became this kinda pseudo underrated game though it's really just a generational difference between 16bit era and playstation era gamers.

I will note that I do not like this revisionist history where we pretend that Rabbids are okay. They sucked in the past, and I don't care than Minions stole their thunder. They suck now. If you think Minions are awful then by the transitive property you think Rabbids are awful.

The original Nier. Critically panned but the fans prop it up seemingly like a god send. The truth is that it as a cool story but mediocre to bad gameplay.

Would Planescape Torment count as an overrated underrated game or just an overrated one? I guess most people are open about that game's shortcomings in combat, which are totally fair, but I can't overstate how repellent that game's art style was to me.

@loamlife: Japan only games are awesome, especially the fan-translated ones. I'd say they're underrated because most people in the west haven't had the opportunity to play them.

There is definitely some import titles that are over hyped due to how rare they are though. Can't think any of the top my head, but it happens.

Pick an "underrated" Nintendo 64 game, chances are it's actually overrated. Mischief Makers is seen as this game that's just as good as Gunstar Heroes when that is just absolutely not the case in any conceivable way.

@kingbonesaw said:

Yeah BGE for me too. I don't get what people are remembering that I'm not. I remember good music, three hit combos, sneaking, photo taking and a cliffhanger.

Also for me To the Moon. I think I feel like this game had almost an Undertale level of hype, but that was so much of a personal bordering fanfiction type experience, that I just couldn't get behind it even if I finished it.

Also what's the deal with Enslaved? Everyone was so into it and I couldn't at all understand when I played it. It was one of those moments where I sort of came to realize I couldn't rely on the very insular video game press at the time. It felt like everyone got the same copy.

Judging other people's opinions is really cool.

i think that FF12 is a pretty underrated but overrated game. If you ask a group of people which Final Fantasy you should play, 12 hardly ever gets mentioned. But whenever you ask specifically about FF12, a lot of people will tell you that l it's this extremely deep RPG with the best combat in the series.

I found that the slow roll-out of gambits often limited the stuff you could do, and most of the gambits are so situational that they're mostly pointless. Stuff like Ally < 20% and Foe = 100% are pretty useful, but that means that you often don't really need <10 %, <30% ,<40% etc. It just matters that you get your buffs off early, and that you want to heal up when your partymembers get low. Whether you do that at 30% or 40% hardly matters.

If i look at a system like FF13 used, it's less granular, but it does a similar good job. Sure, you have to press a few more buttons during the fight, but don't have to spend a lot of time in menu's before the fights. Seems like a fair trade off to me. You still make the same decisions on when you want to buff / nerf / heal / stagger / attack / defend. And it's not easy to switch gambits on the go. I remember often having to turn off gambits during meaningless encounters because otherwise i would spend valuable MP on cannonfodder. The summons being tied to MP and mostly being pushovers was a big dissapointment too. I remember hardly ever using summons in that game.

I certainly enjoyed my time with 12 , but most of the depth of the gambit system always felt kind of pointless to me. I used the same 15-ish commands to get through the game.

@an_ancient: Eh, I distinctly remember Enslaved not reviewing super great and a lot of people knocked it as an easy-mode version of Uncharted with iffy combat. The design of the art and levels is great, as well as the mocap and performances, but the gameplay was either lacking in some spots or dragged a little too much in others. That's basically the Ninja Theory way at this point, but damned if I didn't enjoy the heck outta Enslaved. The reason it gets defended so much is because not that many people played it and it gets a pass because of the lukewarm reception it got originally, even though there's a very charming game underneath. I absolutely think it's a game worth putting a handful of hours into, if even just to see if it grabs you.

I don't think Blast Corps for the N64 is that good. You just smash shit within a time limit using different vehicles. Not that interesting to me. That's like the quintessential N64 hidden gem.

Far Cry 2 seems to have had a weird renaissance of "cult" popularity for some reason which I just can not understand. That game was tedious, hollow and soulless. A solid technical foundation for the way better games that came after it is the only redeeming quality I can see in that game.

I blame Austin Walker

wait... the internet isn't just for making fun of people?

Not a great definition for underrated I think, OP. And yeah, like alistercat said, I'm not sure I really care to hear another hot take about why a game isn't good in someone's eyes. This is all becoming very dime a dozen, and none of these "takes" are very deep.

Not to argue or anything but just interesting how much focus is thrown on the gambit system. I am playing the game now in the HD remaster after having played it at launch. In both cases, I never interacted with the gambit system. Just played the game manually with "Wait" mode on. May not play it entirely this way again but yeah, just interesting how much an optional gameplay element has overtaken discussion / legacy of this game. If you never tried it manually, give it a shot. Grindy in places, but very satisfying to manage a 4-person group like that. To me, this was the "best combat in the series". Nothing to do with gambits.

@the_nubster: thanks, that's very informative. Yeah I still see it in my Steam Library now and again.

Honestly I can't see this topic going anywhere positive. Nobody is going to like every game.

@geraltitude: Thanks for the solidarity but in our culture overrated and underrated are accepted by almost everybody. People aren't content to just give their own opinion, they have to judge everyone else's enjoyment of a thing as well.

@alistercat said:

Doesn't mean they have to be accepted by us! :D Keep on at AC. Big rivers form from small streams?

I hate to say it but Alan Wake I love atmosphere and story, characters ect.. but the combat gets old so fast there's not enough variety to it it kills the replay value of the game. I really hope there's a Alan Wake 2 but they need to fix the combat.

Yeah I feel the same way about Beyond good and Evil. I can't understand why it has such a following. It was received well at the time but even back then it didn't really set the world on fire. I played it much later and thought it was a quirky game that hadn't really aged well.

Chrono Cross, Legend of Dragoon.

Not exactly sure how to slice this one, but Morrowind

You know I kind of get the thrust of where the OP is coming from. But like people are saying, it's opinion driven. You might take one game, and with enough detail it may fit the criteria of underrated/overrated. But a whole class? People will argue...

I'm more interested in underrated games that were actually overrated, but in actuality the were under-overrated. (In other words, this is a really silly topic.}

I had to do some "research" to figure out what people considered underrated games were so I searched for videos on youtube. I couldn't really find any games that I actually thought were underrated and then overrated. But I will say I saw 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand on there. I'll have to leave that one up to the better judgement of Jeff Gerstmann.

"Yo 50, jump over that big ass ramp!" is still a phrase I use today in any game with a ramps.

The Wind Waker. I'll just put down what I wrote after replaying it a few years ago. No need to write it again.

It was a good game until the Master Sword was fully restored. After that, the lengthy sailing and wind manipulation as well as the clumsy naval combat grew tedious with the gathering of the Triforce shards. Everybody always criticizes that part, but it wouldn't have been so bad if the game had competent naval combat and allowed you to conduct the wind without going into the pause screen, assigning the baton, exiting, selecting the baton, playing the melody, watching the character repeat the melody, choosing the direction of the wind (assuming you haven't already forgotten where you wanted to go) and waiting for a cutscene. There were many moments in which I sailed with barely any wind or rowed the boat because I didn't want to repeat that slow process. Removing the sail to attempt to aim the cannon as everybody shot at you and you kept flying out of the boat was annoying. The game has easy puzzles and easier combat. Link's sword has a lot of reach, so the combat demands little precision. The enemies hardly do any damage. Collecting heart pieces on the side is completely pointless (and tedious, since you usually find sea charts instead of hearts, leading to more monotonous sailing). The throwback to the Link to the Past and Ocarina of Time endings with Ganon's Castle (with the same music) was disappointing, too.

It's still at least a 4/5 game, just because it's Zelda. But it's hardly the masterpiece people now proclaim it as.

During the early days of the 360 and PS3, PC games got either super complicated or really fucking janky. Stalker came out and every PC fanboy swore they were the best games ever for a while. Those games were fucking trash.

Is this topic secret code for "Niche games that you don't like" because underrated and overrated sure are ambiguous, near-meaningless terms.