[ggreen737]

After a 2 day marathon session of Anachronox this last weekend, I got to thinking about other games no one else played when they came out.



Anachronox was the big project from the now long defunct ION Storm out of Texas. It was an homage to JRPGS, from the minds of creators who wanted to do something completely unique on the back of the Success of Final Fantasy 7 in the States. A noir/sci-fi/spoof/comedy/epic that delivers on so many levels. I didn't experience the adventures of Sly Boots until 2002, years after its release. I went in with moderate expectations, and had them promptly put on the back-burner while I had a one of a kind gaming experience that you only get maybe 2 times in a genre of game. Anachronox remains to this day in my top 10 games of all time. Like a caring dad, I love its faults and its' weaknesses...

ADV Gamers don't be scared by the combat content, it is fairly simple and takes up approx. 5% of the entire game.

What are some other games that maybe no one has really played, that you loved? I have a secret evil second motive in asking this question, because I'm really out of games to play at the moment.

[nomadsoul]

Well that game was totally awesome when it comes to environments, what i felt bad that actual game had many locations being cut, that first trailer and actual game time release was way big, and only i remember days of waiting, remembering locations of trailer and music untill release, in the end got watered down version. Maybe tomhall got to pay for quake2 engine and JRPG influence.

The reason i loved ME because i had vibe of this game, th egame si use to love, since they dont remotely make games where environments paly role, ME too fell short in diversity since majority planets were barren.

Evn to this day the trailer rules....in hurry i got the bad quality version i am sure you an get good quality one, feel these environments and mood in them they still make ME feel meh. Even if they take this engine with these locales i will play the game, the only thing not timeless were character models.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLotNiLNT1o

[nomadsoul]

The best game this gen no one will play is Folklore, most overlooked,though not badly rated since IGN gave it 9.

I seriously fail to understand why this game got so much ignorance where crappy games like LAir and heavenlysword on that same timeframe got all hype on PS3. It has probably best story of this gen, the metaphysics based story actually puts Dreamfall to shame, the presentation of story, in comic style realtime cutscenes, normal games cutscenes, FMVS, adventure game elements , and realtime interaction within game.....this game covered evry element of storytelling in style.

The concept was unique, art was highly creative...music was by very popular kenji kawai of GITS fame, no words there.


The only fault in the game is loading, even with installing also it lags when you assign new folks on buttons within game. OTher than that purely classic game, that i beleive people are doing big mistake by overlooking it, specially if they love adventure and RPG games.

Actually i have listen complaints that RPG players of PS3 didnt like adventure based detective/interrogating elements of village, where main story is centered, you roam around like GK3(with similar guitar pieces), ofcourse being AG fan i liked it, it was good refresher from combat parts which take place in other realms.

Very thought provoking and intelligent, makes you think about ending and whole game again and again since ending is really really twisting and awesome at same time.

[Hammerite]

I remember wanting to play that, but I never had and I'd forgotten completely about it until now!

[geggis]

My favourite game is Planescape: Torment and I don't know anybody personally who's played it. I'd argue it has one of, if not the best storyline in a game along with the best characters and writing. It's simply stunning and sets the bar for anything pertaining to have any of the aforementioned qualities. Check it out if you can get hold of it.

Another is Thief: The Dark Project which is a deliciously dark and slow burning stealth game. It has an amazing visual aesthetic that's complimented perfectly by Eric Brosius' techno-metal/ominous sound design. It's one of my favourite first person games and deserved far more attention!

[nomadsoul]

Thief 2 is my 5th 3D best game ever. Cannot express how much i love it, MGS same year got all credit for stealth but real meaning of stealth is in Thief. But the game is not that overlooked afterall we got sequel and now one more part in pipeline which will be streamlined version i guess.

Torment story is one of best gaming literature, infact best.....if only it had some VAs to add personality.

[Hammerite]

Agreed with the 'Thief' - and I add 'Realms of the Haunting', which came out way too early and went unnoticed despite its combination of shooter and adventure (the use of live action footage doesn't annoy, either).

[outcast]

I have played sooo many games and allways gets the new systems and so on. But no other game have ever come close to experience i had with the game Outcast.



The story is wonderfull. Basicly you are a ex marine Cutter Slade that is depressed and drinking heavely. You are recruited by some scientists to be the "bodyguard" in a mission to another dimension. The scientists had discovered this new dimension/universe and sent a probe there through a portal. The probe was shoot at by a creature in that universe and the effect was a black hole that appeared on earth and is starting to grow.

The mission was to sent 4 people into the other universe to repear the probe and by doing that also save earth from the black hole. The 4 people is Cutter Slade (soldier,"bodyguard) a girl (biologist) and two more scientists.

But a problem occurs and they misscalculate the timing and therefore they arrive in the other universe at different times! the girl got there 2 days before Cutter Slade. One of the scientists got there 25 years before the others! And has lived there and became a ruler of the people there and a dictator. The last scientis got there about 50 years before the others or something! He is a smart guy and knew that Cutter would appear when he did and also did not like the other scientist ruling and dictating that world. He therefore made a "prophecy" among the people that a savior and "god" would come at the exact time Cutter arrives on the world and that he would liberate them from the evil dictator. Of course Cutter appears in the universe at the time the scientist calculated and is regarded as the messiah and being helped by the people to defeat the dictator.

It got really good reviews all over the place, but for some reason did not sell very well. I cant even begin explainging why this game is so good. Its just kills every other game i have ever played on every level. It still has a lot of features i have not seen in other games, for example you could ask someone where another caracter was, and that person would actually point at the direction he saw him last.

Also the game was totally free so you could go about doing things in the order you liked and also you could actually weaken the enemies over time by doing things like convincing the riseworkers to stop working (less food for soldiers). Convince the people in the city to stop paying tax (less moral for soldiers) and so on. If you want you could also be evil and kill everybody to get the same resaults, but of course with conqicuenses later on.

The music is also the best i have ever heard in a game, here are some tracks from the game:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIjwkdk1VNs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LeNbn9VmcY&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-m8Z6M7Lwk&feature=related

I sadly think i will never ever play a game as good as this again. It breaks my heart really And the fact that it did not sell well and therefore got the developers in a financial crisis have made me hate this industry

[nomadsoul]

Outcast blew me away with its voxel graphics, though it didn't hold my interest for long so i quit it in between, probably one of few games i quit in the middle.
Sequel looked good, but was cancelled eventually.98 to 2000 was golden era for PC gaming.

[outcast]

Originally Posted by nomadsoul

Outcast blew me away with its voxel graphics, though it didn't hold my interest for long so i quit it in between, probably one of few games i quit in the middle.
Sequel looked good, but was cancelled eventually.98 to 2000 was golden era for PC gaming.

Cant really understand how one could lose the interest beacause this game is great from beginning to end. Yes its a shame the sequel got cancelled just because the first one did not sell enough. I will try out Folklore it sound interesting.

By the way, is your name from Omikron: the nomad soul? If so thats another really great underrated game that more poeple should have played. (from the creators of farhenheit (indigo prophecy) and the soon to come Heavy Rain)

[youfightlikeadairyfarmer]

Totally agree about Anachronox being great, but I feel like the JRPG battle system was poorly implemented, and without it the game definitely feels like a pure adventure.

[Fantasysci5]

"Disciples Gold 2". I absolutely love this turn-based RPG, and the story and characters are so rich, it's amazing. But no one has seemed to have played it...

[nomadsoul]

Originally Posted by outcast

Cant really understand how one could lose the interest beacause this game is great from beginning to end. Yes its a shame the sequel got cancelled just because the first one did not sell enough. I will try out Folklore it sound interesting.

By the way, is your name from Omikron: the nomad soul? If so thats another really great underrated game that more poeple should have played. (from the creators of farhenheit (indigo prophecy) and the soon to come Heavy Rain)

Ofcourse nomadsoul name comes from Omikron, my beloved game, not that underrated though i believe got enough attention being flagship Eidos game. As i said that timeperiod which i label as goldenage had many many good titles, i started taking PC gaming seriously after Kingpin life of crime which was first profane proper game which made 3D card compulsary, later i followed with HL, GK3, Gorky17(great RPG), torment, sanitarium, deusex, systemshock2, thief series, outcast, omikron, revenant, anachronox, wheel of time, Giants, soldierofofortune, hitman....and plenty more.


I loved Omikron because of worlds, ambitious game design, concept and story.

Outcast story was too dispersed for my taste not much interesting characters maybe, but mounting animals was nice as long as it lasted.


Oh yeah just remembring old games made me recall one of greatest gem...action/adventure title called Darkearth.....another overlooked gem.

One game i wish to play again sometime. Highly recommend it , very original atmospheric world and story.

Darkearth was supposed to have sequel made by Squaresoft (ironically), which was cancelled.


After that time PC gaming became again concentrated towards FPS and shooters, RTS, action adventure games became fewer then came ps2 and everything changed in 2001.

[radiohodet]

Originally Posted by Fantasysci5

"Disciples Gold 2". I absolutely love this turn-based RPG, and the story and characters are so rich, it's amazing. But no one has seemed to have played it...

Disciples 2 is one of the best strategy games ever made in my opinion. Can't wait for the third. Hopefully it will come out soon...

Best game I've played that "nobody" played is Wizardry 8

[geggis]

This is a great thread for finding hidden treasure!

nomadsoul what do you mean VAs?

Hammerite and Fantasysci5: Not heard of either of them so I'll check them out!

A game along the same line as Commandos that I really enjoyed was Soldiers: Heroes of WWII - very hard but very rewarding, especially co-op over a LAN.

[nomadsoul]

VAs = Voiceactors, overhead RPGs that came around that time like Planescape, baldurgate, Nox etc. many had very low number of actual voice overs, some had none.

It becomes more involving and alive if there are VAs playing part for most of the lines, not all since Planescape had huge amount of text.

[Hammerite]

A word of warning, 'RotH' is virtually impossible to find now (it's nearly 15 years old and the company went defunct a while ago).

[RLacey]

There are quite a few copies of Realms of the Haunting on eBay at the moment (I actually got a sealed, boxed copy on there a couple of years ago). Well worth playing.

[Roper Klacks]

No One Lives Forever

I dont know if it fits in this category, although among old-time PC gamers is reasonably well known, to the new generation is an almost unknown game.

I still think both games, specially the first one, are one of the best FPS ever made. It had brilliant level design, a charismatic main character, a great setting that was a parody and homage to the 60's and to the Bond films, excelent gameplay... i mean its almost perfect. It's a pitty Monolith is doing those crap FEAR games and keeps forgetting about this masterpiece

[DustyShinigami]

The Adventures of Alundra



One of my favourite games. Played it years ago on the original PlayStation and my first thought was... what the hell is this? This is basically an action/adventure/RPG/platformer. It isn't very well known and, in my opinion, an underrated gem. I'd love for this game to make a comeback either on the PSP or XBLA with HD graphics. Sadly, the company who made it - Working Designs - went bust ages ago.

It sort of looks like the Game Boy Pokemon games and plays like the early Zelda games. The graphics still look appealing, colourful, vibrant and detailed, the characters become more interesting as you learn more about them, the story's great and gets darker as you progress, the gameplay is addictive and fun, you have a big world to explore where you'll need to obtain certain items/weapons in order to uncover secrets/new areas, the music is catchy as hell, the puzzles are hard/challenging, the boss battles are fantastic, and the intro's sweet as it shows you snippets of in-game and anime footage whilst playing a memorable rock piece.