What is an Unpopular Game You Will Defend Till the Day You Die

[Yoru Momo]

What is an Unpopular Game You Will Defend Till the Last Breath​

Not because I have some kind of inter-personal relationship with this game but because it has legitimately one of the most complex and unique gameplay dynamic of any japanese RPG.
It went unnoticed because neither reviewers nor the "target audience" were able to beat it, hence the undeserved reputation. A godhand situation if you may.

For anyone who thinks Tactics Ogre or FFT quantifies as a "strategy" game, this is a good reality check.
If Final Fantasy Tactics is 20% strategy/80% RPG, then Natural Doctrine is 80% strategy/20% RPG.

 

[χKai]

View attachment 17042
Not because I have some kind of inter-personal relationship with this game but because it has legitimately one of the most complex and unique gameplay dynamic of any japanese RPG.
It went unnoticed because neither reviewers nor the "target audience" were able to beat it, hence the undeserved reputation. A godhand situation if you may.

For anyone who thinks Tactics Ogre or FFT quantifies as a "strategy" game, this is a good reality check.
If Final Fantasy Tactics is 20%[SIZE=4]strategy[/SIZE]and 80%[SIZE=4]RPG[/SIZE], then Natural Doctrine is 80%[SIZE=4]strategy[/SIZE]and 20%[SIZE=4]RPG[/SIZE].

Try this one!

This is 10% Luck
20% Skill
15% Concentrated power of Will
5% Pleasure
50% Pain
And 100% reason to remember this game

 

[ObscureJigglypuff]

 

[starseeker300]

View attachment 17042
Not because I have some kind of inter-personal relationship with this game but because it has legitimately one of the most complex and unique gameplay dynamic of any japanese RPG.
It went unnoticed because neither reviewers nor the "target audience" were able to beat it, hence the undeserved reputation. A godhand situation if you may.

For anyone who thinks Tactics Ogre or FFT quantifies as a "strategy" game, this is a good reality check.
If Final Fantasy Tactics is 20% strategy/80% RPG, then Natural Doctrine is 80% strategy/20% RPG.

where does fire emblem stack up in this, im legit interested, please sell me on this

 

[Nicolás]

this one is highly underrated..

Shinobido was the best. The alchemy system was fun to mess with

 

[Yoru Momo]

where does fire emblem stack up in this, im legit interested, please sell me on this

Hmmm... I can't say, I don't play nintendo games and never owned nintendo console.
However looking at the gameplay footage I think I can make an analogy to ND.

Imagine playing Valkyrine Chronicals with Fire Emblem-esque gameplay and Dark Souls-level barrier entry, with an atmosphere straight from original Drakengard.

I can go on if you want me to...

 

[Viviana Santos]

Hmmm... I can't say, I don't play nintendo games and never owned nintendo console.
However looking at the gameplay footage I think I can make an analogy to ND.

Imagine playing Valkyrine Chronicals with Fire Emblem-esque gameplay and Dark Souls-level barrier entry, with an atmosphere straight from original Drakengard.

I can go on if you want me to...

Damn, this game sounds sick.

 

[starseeker300]

Hmmm... I can't say, I don't play nintendo games and never owned nintendo console.
However looking at the gameplay footage I think I can make an analogy to ND.

Imagine playing Valkyrine Chronicals with Fire Emblem-esque gameplay and Dark Souls-level barrier entry, with an atmosphere straight from original Drakengard.

I can go on if you want me to...

tell me more please

 

[χKai]

Hey man.
Even if this thread is like 5 others just like it, it seems to have really taken off. And that's really somethin'. ?

 

[Jeanfranc]

Kid Icarus and the first metroid are great games and I genuinely think they are underrated and misunderstood, especially Metroid.

Post automatically merged: Jan 25, 2025

Persona 1 and Persona 2 Duology ik they're not liked for some reason but I like all versions of these games yes even the PSP versions like they're not the best remakes but I'd still say they're passable. Except for Eternal Punishment PSP it's basically the same as the PS1 version just a different UI and the Additional Scenario so I'd say that's the best one lol

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They may be underhyped but I don't think they are underrated; the Persona duology is were the series peaked and it's all downhill from there.

 

[homesforgnomes]

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Kid Icarus and the first metroid are great games and I genuinely think they are underrated and misunderstood, especially Metroid.

Kid Icarus is easy to misjudge, because the first level is way more brutal than the rest of the game imo.

 

[Tinhornjam]

final fantasy 13 for its underrated story and fun and unique combat. also smash bros brawl cuz its the coolest smash.

 

[Mephilesdoesthing]

This is kind of the opposite of the previous thread I made "what games didn't live up to the hype for you all"

What is a game that is seen as middling to bad that everyone here likes or maybe even counts among their favorites, either in general or by fans of the series it is a part of?


for me its Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity , its generally seen as the worst pmd game but I love the story, characters and more unique shapes of the randomly generated dungeons and the unique mechanics like team attacks for it, also building the paradise was great. That game is why Hydreigon is my favorite pokemon

Sonic 06 (pls dont kill me)

 

[χKai]

Sonic 06 (pls dont kill me)

 

[Jeanfranc]

Kid Icarus is easy to misjudge, because the first level is way more brutal than the rest of the game imo.

Yes, the game's difficulty is inverted, it becomes easier the further you are. Also I believe that most people who form an opinion on that game never got past the first stage and don't know there are horizontal scrolling levels or even esploration-based dungeons

Post automatically merged: Jan 25, 2025

final fantasy 13 for its underrated story and fun and unique combat.

For better or worse, if 13 came out today everyone would love it

(Final Hallway XIII)

 

[Ikagura]

Kid Icarus is easy to misjudge, because the first level is way more brutal than the rest of the game imo.

Kid Icarus and the first metroid are great games and I genuinely think they are underrated and misunderstood, especially Metroid.

I think the biggest issue is that starting with a vertical level where a pit (not your character) means death and how you're never told to farm hearts for items (but that's a common issue of that era where the manual was required). A reverse difficulty curve means that you'll also leave many players out of the game because they'd get bored from not managing to get enough hearts for the powerups. Thankfully the game has no timer so you can even camp an area to farm more hearts.

I'm wondering why they chose these for currency in the game. Please insert Doofenshmirtz' quote about getting two nickels from something happening twice since Castlevania also did the same for Simon's Quest here.

And while Zelda and Metroid were much more open in their level design (Zelda had you having access to at least 6 dungeons from the start and Metroid, despite some things locked behind a power-up requirement, let you choose the path in most of the areas) KI forced you to do the same levels and then if you were under-stuffed in a dungeon you were pretty much finished.

I think that the GameBoy port/sequel (it's confusing I know) was much more lenient (being a handheld entry) but ultimately Rising was a great "rebootquel" (since it acknowledged the events of the NES game in its first stage).

Metroid NES shows its age (despite how I love the superior "empty" ambience than any of the sequels, Super, Fusion and ZM included) but is still a great case study of how Metroidvania were created (with Wonderboy III). I still think that Return of Samus having her crouching and shooting downward was a massive improvement for her controls next to the minimap in Super and the ledge grab in Fusion.

 

[Jeanfranc]

I think the biggest issue is that starting with a vertical level where a pit (not your character) means death and how you're never told to farm hearts for items (but that's a common issue of that era where the manual was required).

That's why you always read the manual before playing any game. Another strange mechanic from Kid Icarus is how the game counts your missed shots, meaning "shots you fired but did not hit an enemy with", and uses it as one the many factors that go into that game's scoring

 

[Ikagura]

That's why you always read the manual before playing any game.

Absolutely but in the digital age where you're not given any manual scans it's getting hard.

I think the 3D Classics version had a manual but gamers never read them lol.

Another strange mechanic from Kid Icarus is how the game counts your missed shots, meaning "shots you fired but did not hit an enemy with", and uses it as one the many factors that go into that game's scoring.

Well, I've learnt something new.

 

[Jeanfranc]

Absolutely but in the digital age where you're not given any manual scans it's getting hard.

Just like we download roms off the internet we should also download the manuals. As unusable for games as it is now, Vimm's Lair is actually great for this, the manuals are all still there.

 

[Ikagura]

Just like we download roms off the internet we should also download the manuals. As unusable for games as it is now, Vimm's Lair is actually great for this, the manuals are all still there.

I believe we should've had an official video game box cover and manual archiving site like an online museum.

But we're digressing a bit too far from the thread sorry.

 

[konamiesque]

Persona 1 and Persona 2 Duology ik they're not liked for some reason but I like all versions of these games yes even the PSP versions like they're not the best remakes but I'd still say they're passable. Except for Eternal Punishment PSP it's basically the same as the PS1 version just a different UI and the Additional Scenario so I'd say that's the best one lol

Early Persona is GREAT. It took me forever to get into Persona because I'm really not into the slice of life mechanics of the modern games, but P2:IS finally sold me on the series. It's seriously got some of the most engaging character writing I've seen in a video game before.

As for my favorite unpopular game, it's gotta be Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. The Soulless Army, always and forever. While I can't fully rebuke the bad gameplay accusations, I will at least stand by the fact that combat in DSRK1 isn't nearly as bad as people make it out to be. Mostly the problem is just that it's a bit too simple and Raidou can be difficult to control sometimes.

The real draw of DSRK to me, though, is the story, characters, and atmosphere. DSRK1 really nails the world of Taishō 20, to the point that I was really disappointed by the sequel, even if it's objectively the "better" game. What can I say? I just love it when a game is a bit janky sometimes.

 

[starseeker300]

final fantasy 13 for its underrated story and fun and unique combat. also smash bros brawl cuz its the coolest smash.

brawl is so cool, especially subspace emissary,

ff13 has great characters, music, and art. I also for one am a fan of the story, 13-2 really improved its gameplay a lot too

 

[cjl8336]

NARC on PS2 - I was too poor to afford GTA when it came out
At the time I thought it was cool because the player character could use various street drugs

 

[Doomstruck]

I think Ehrgeiz has way more going on for it than people are willing to give it credit for, that's a cool game and I still love going back to it now and then

 

[χKai]

I think Ehrgeiz has way more going on for it than people are willing to give it credit for, that's a cool game and I still love going back to it now and then

Finally, some love for Ehrgeiz!
Game had so much going on for a 3D, 1 on 1 fighting game. Final Fantasy VII characters saved this game from being unknown.