Extremely Weird And Obscure Games

[Duke_11037]

Not only "Riviera", but the whole "Dept Heaven Series" on PSP (Yggdra Union, Knights in the Nightmare, Gungnir), I played them all and found them beautiful in their different ways.

I didn't say Yggdra because I thinks it's more known that Riviera, but I agree that the entire series is great!

on what platform? :)
PSP or GBA?

I've only play the one on GBA tbh, I prefer the look of that one more. :)

 

[DorfleFlorp]

Hexplore is pretty obscure and it is pretty good if you like old computer arpgs
Wheel of Time is a great fps kind of like hexen but with magic and no 18 part switch puzzles.
Quest For Glory V is probably my favorite rpg/point and click hybrid that I never hear people talk about anymore.

 

[DorfleFlorp]

Gabriel Knight 1 and 2
Beneath a Steel Sky
Dreamweb
Fascination
Geisha
Return To Zork
Shivers
Those are the ones I like the most.

 

[_oBSOLEte_]

Grim Fandango is awesome. Discworld 2 and Curse of Monkey Island are for me two of the bests. And certainly some of the best pixel art there is.

IMO point and clicks are weird games you need to play differently. Before starting I'd get the manual on Internet Archive, it's often full of hints, sometimes even required to start the game.

Also, I'd actively note clues that are often hidden in the dialog. And if at some point you're stuck, stop playing. Take some time to think. Re-read your notes. Search for a hintbook. Some of them had advertisement for their official cluebooks right in the game, and kept some parts of the game deliberately obtuse to tempt you to buy it. There's also a very good site called Universal Hint System, with hints given step by step in a manner that avoid spoiling the game.

 

[TheWanderer]

Doesn't get the attention isn't deserves ,You should try this one

 

[thanonyx thanonyx]

Here's 15!

Take your pick!

 

[abu2411]

An obscure game I know of from looking at art on pinterest is Volfoss.

 

[Grumpy_Old_Man]

Sam and Max hit the road, Really hit you with the wacky cartoony humor(Based on an eighties comic book)

 

[99nereids]

the two Elvira: Mistress of the Dark dungeon crawlers are pretty interesting, never got far into either so i cant speak on the gameplay much but they look cool lol

 

[Kremiso]

I have no mouth, and i must scream worth a mention too

 

[KamakoKamako's icon]

Check out the game the engine was built for: Maniac Mansion! :)

 

[WarpKaiser]

Try all the Lucasfilm Games/LucasArts adventure games in order of release.
1. Maniac Mansion
2. Zak McKracken
3. Indiana Jones 3
4. Loom (Play the EGA version with the Roland MT32 patch. This is the version recommended by the creator. All other versions are inferior.)
5. Monkey Island
6. Monkey Island 2
7. Indiana Jones 4
8. Day of the Tentacle
9. Sam & Max
10. Full Throttle
11. The Dig
12. Monkey Island 3
13. Grim Fandango ⬅ You Already played it
14. Monkey Island 4
After that you can continue with the Sierra On-Line games, or with other companies that tried to imitate LucasArts style.

 

[_oBSOLEte_]

4. Loom (Play the EGA version with the Roland MT32 patch. This is the version recommended by the creator. All other versions are inferior.)

I would say the FM-Town version is worth playing. I recorded a playtrough in Retroarch with a corrected aspect ratio of 10:9 (1600x1440) and a CRT shader. The version keeps all the original dialogs, but with no voice over, and has VGA graphics and CD music. I would have already posted the video but Youtube decided that XIXth century Tchaikovski, which has been in the public domain for decades, was recently copyrighted by another scam license troll...

Also, There's a problem with MT32 emulation and the ScummVM core for Retroarch on the current version (2.10git). For now I'm playing games with MT32 support on the DosBox pure core. Standalone ScummVM is fine tho, but there's no vulkan shaders support yet.

Check out the game the engine was built for: Maniac Mansion! :)

I played it through Day of the Tentacle. It's all the game in the other game, fully playable. A Mansion Inception. A Manception.

 

[WarpKaiser]

I would say the FM-Town version is worth playing. I recorded a playtrough in Retroarch with a corrected aspect ratio of 10:9 (1600x1440) and a CRT shader. The version keeps all the original dialogs, but with no voice over, and has VGA graphics and CD music. I would have already posted the video but Youtube decided that XIXth century Tchaikovski, which has been in the public domain for decades, was recently copyrighted by another scam license troll...

Also, There's a problem with MT32 emulation and the ScummVM core for Retroarch on the current version (2.10git). For now I'm playing games with MT32 support on the DosBox pure core. Standalone ScummVM is fine tho, but there's no vulkan shaders support yet.

I know, I played the EGA, CD and FM-Towns version of the game. I still prefer the EGA one:
1. Retroarch is normie tier bloated trash. Use individual emulators FFS!
2. Just because it has more color, doesn't mean that is better. The VGA graphics where done in an amateurish and sloppy job. (banding, lack of contrast, poor understanding of lighting and shadows, awful shading)
3. The music is pre-recorder but is still synthetic and not orchestral and is somehow worst than the original.
4. Weird and unnecessary censorship (especially when what happens at the end is fully uncensored).
5. Cobb death scene unlocked in every difficulty instead of just being a reward for finishing the game in the highest difficulty.
This video goes in more detail:

Also I want to share the GDC Postmortem (which is unlisted for some reason):

A full playthrough of both versions simultaneously, for better comparation:

 

[_oBSOLEte_]

I know, I played the EGA, CD and FM-Towns version of the game. I still prefer the EGA one:
1. Retroarch is normie tier bloated trash. Use individual emulators FFS!
2. Just because it has more color, doesn't mean that is better. The VGA graphics where done in an amateurish and sloppy job. (banding, lack of contrast, poor understanding of lighting and shadows, awful shading)
3. The music is pre-recorder but is still synthetic and not orchestral and is somehow worst than the original.
4. Weird and unnecessary censorship (especially when what happens at the end is fully uncensored).
5. Cobb death scene unlocked in every difficulty instead of just being a reward for finishing the game in the highest difficulty.
This video goes in more detail:

Also I want to share the GDC Postmortem (which is unlisted for some reason):

A full playthrough of both versions simultaneously, for better comparation:

I use both standalones and Retroarch cores. Retroarch is great for CRT shaders, while ScummVM standalone only support openGL, and even struggle at that as it's impossible to tweak them with it. Standalone also struggle with scaling and aspect ratio, and can squash the graphics. Raw pixels videos don't do justice to LOOM really, both EGA and VGA (check my last post in the shader thread to see how EGA games can benefit from a CRT shader).

A few people on the ScummVM forum recommend FMTown as the "best" version to play. I've played the EGA version myself when it released and the FMTowns one recently, and I'm not a purist so I'd recommend the later as well. Of all the video you showed, I think you missed the most important one for people that might want to get in the game...

 

[WarpKaiser]

Of all the video you showed, I think you missed the most important one for people that might want to get in the game...

I was thinking of posting it too. But I though it was overkill. They also recorded it in German and Japanese, and I think in French too, but I am not sure.
As for getting into the game, not only the audio drama, but also the manual and the book of patterns are essential.

A few people on the ScummVM forum recommend FMTown as the "best" version to play. I've played the EGA version myself when it released and the FMTowns one recently, and I'm not a purist so I'd recommend the later as well.

And I'm not a purist either, I can point out where is not the case with me. For example, if you ask me which version of the GTA 3D trilogy is the best, it would be the og pc ports with the right mods to fix the issues that plague those releases. In contrast a purist will claim the og PS2 releases. In the case of Loom, I just think the EGA version is the best, not because Brian Moriarty says so, but because is a fact. I didn't go to art school or anything, but I see enough art (at least digital art) to notice patterns of what is good and bad. I am not claiming to be an expert on this field, but even I can notice that the art in the VGA version is ugly, CRT monitor or not, pixel perfect of CRT shader. If Mark Ferrari himself redraws all the background in VGA I know that would be a more preferred option.
Check out this and play with the options.

 

[_oBSOLEte_]

I was thinking of posting it too. But I though it was overkill. They also recorded it in German and Japanese, and I think in French too, but I am not sure.
As for getting into the game, not only the audio drama, but also the manual and the book of patterns are essential.

And I'm not a purist either, I can point out where is not the case with me. For example, if you ask me which version of the GTA 3D trilogy is the best, it would be the og pc ports with the right mods to fix the issues that plague those releases. In contrast a purist will claim the og PS2 releases. In the case of Loom, I just think the EGA version is the best, not because Brian Moriarty says so, but because is a fact. I didn't go to art school or anything, but I see enough art (at least digital art) to notice patterns of what is good and bad. I am not claiming to be an expert on this field, but even I can notice that the art in the VGA version is ugly, CRT monitor or not, pixel perfect of CRT shader. If Mark Ferrari himself redraws all the background in VGA I know that would be a more preferred option.
Check out this and play with the options.

I think they did a good job with LOOM's portraits in the VGA version, and the color banding and shading issues and wrong gamma levels you complain about are easily fixed with a CRT shader. That's the strongest appeal of Retroarch for me. I'm also using them on EGA games as there's a lot of moiré to get over the limited color palette.

Getting a composite CRT effect and color correction is a must have for me at this point.

 

[Minterfresh]

Phantom Dust is a weird stage-based arena fighter with deck building, originally for Xbox. It had a remake announced, then canceled, and got put on the Microsoft Store for free. I never hear about it in general, but a handful of people still stream its multiplayer. I love its art style and combat system, recommend trying it.

 

[spectresfrommercury]

thousand arms

 

[Yousef Yousef]

Recommend some games that are obscure but very good.

How obscure are we talking here? It would really depend. Also, are you looking to buy or emulate? Do you play indie games? Fangames? Genres you wouldn’t play? Some specifics would help.

 

[Deleted member 1816]

How obscure are we talking here? It would really depend. Also, are you looking to buy or emulate? Do you play indie games? Fangames? Genres you wouldn’t play? Some specifics would help.

The most obscure games that nobody heard of/talks about.
And I'm gonna emulate them with what little storage in my phone I have left.
The genre doesn't matter, as long as it's good.

 

[Yousef Yousef]

The most obscure games that nobody heard of/talks about.
And I'm gonna emulate them with what little storage in my phone I have left.

Try Exit on psp. It’s a puzzle game, and relatively light. Has a stylish artstyle.

 

[TamagotchiTamaHero24's icon TamagotchiTamaHero24 TamagotchiTamaHero24]

2D or 3D.
What are some of your most underrated platformers that STILL haven’t gotten the attention they deserve, even in this YouTuber ridden era where tons of games are dredged up to be given a wider audience?

For me, it varies depending on what I know. But it would probably be Blinx 2, Astal, Ninpen Manmaru, and Klonoa: Empire of Dreams. That said, I can think of a few that are not necessarily unknown, but have a negative stigma around them THANKS to said YouTubers that they don’t really deserve. The main one being Jumping Flash!, a game I bought this week, and adore with all my heart.

 

[J.F.C]

Plok is unironically a great game, it's one of the better 2D platformers made on the West.

 

[DunkeyKong]

Evergate, it's such a fascinating looking game too