Underrated games this gen

[Johnny_Rock]

I'm sure I'll think of more but the first one that popped into my head was Folklore for the PS3.

The story itself was kind of convoluted but it was still really interesting due to how it's told. The art design is beautiful, especially the environments and character design. The combat is near perfect and has some of the most memorable bosses of the last 2 gens.

I think I'll go replay it now actually.

[The 1 2 P]

I'll throw in another vote for Quantum of Solace. I was a huge fan of Casino Royale so getting to play flashback missions of that movie in QoS was a nice bonus. But I thought the game overall was pretty solid, as were the various multiplayer modes. My only issue with it was that no where in the instruction book or in-game manual did it tell you there was a melee button. So you pretty much find it out the hard way in online multiplayer.

I also enjoyed Wanted. It definitely wasn't worth $60(I only paid $14) because of it's less than 8 hours single player campaign and no multiplayer but the gameplay complimented the movie very well. And curving bullets never got old to me. Also, since the sequel was put on indefinite hold this game may be as close as we will ever get to a true sequel.

[kupomogli]

Yakuza 3 and 4.

Quite awhile after Yakuza 2 came out, we finally got the announcement of Yakuza 3. For fans of the series it was quite a wait. I personally never thought we'd get it. It also sold slightly well for the most part. Unfortunately, even being a better game, Yakuza 4 sold a lot worse than Yakuza 3. Barely sold actually. Meaning that over half the people who bought Yakuza 3 didn't buy the next, so possibly didn't like it.

Speaking of Yakuza 4, I understand that the game takes place in Kamurocho once again, but there was a lot of changes to the game, especially for western gamers(as in, not as much cut content as there was in Yakuza 3.) The Yakuza games are story heavy, so that right there is the first major change, but then there's now more than just Kazuma this time around, and that's the second biggest change, especially when each character plays very different from one another.

Now maybe people didn't like the stiff gameplay, but it's like the difference of Castlevania and Ninja Gaiden, or a Jet Li/Jackie Chan movie over one from Chuck Norris/Steven Seagal. Doesn't make the games or movies bad, just different.

There's tons of stuff to do if you complete the main storyline or even if you don't want to go through the main storyline. Pachinko, western gambling games such as Black Jack and Texas Hold em, eastern gambling games including Mahjong and Shogi, Batting Cages, Table Tennis, Bowling, Golf, various arena matches, etc. There's even Boxcellios and Boxcellios 2, which are entirely time and score based and extremely fun shooters. For the longest time I was ranked first on both of those, now I'm ranked second and third on both with a ridiculously high score to beat to become first on both.

I've put in 100+ hours in both these games, probably more on Yakuza 3 being that I continuously go back to the final Ultimate Skill being a complete boss rush and is fun to play through repeatedly.

[Aussie2B]

Unfortunately, even being a better game, Yakuza 4 sold a lot worse than Yakuza 3. Barely sold actually. Meaning that over half the people who bought Yakuza 3 didn't buy the next, so possibly didn't like it.

I bought Yakuza 3 at launch, but I still haven't bought Yakuza 4. I bought Yakuza 3 because I wanted to support Sega and offer my thanks for bringing out a title that was almost left behind in Japan, but they basically spit on my thanks by slashing out content left and right. And then gave us insulting, bullshit reasoning as to why ("it wouldn't resonate with the players", which is even more stupid when you consider that much of what was removed was basically the same kind of content as what was already in the US versions of the previous two games). I will buy Yakuza 4 eventually, but I'm in no rush to support Sega when they dick over Yakuza fans time and time again. First with the awful dubbing and even worse marketing for the first title, then for nearly skipping on Yakuza 2 and whining that not many people bought it when they released it late in the PS2 lifespan without so much as a whisper, skipping Kenzan, nearly skipping Yakuza 3, using the low sales of 2 as an excuse, and then dicing it when it did get released. Now I bet they're whining about the sales of 4 and probably still blaming the consumers. The people of Sega of America have their heads up their asses with this series, and they have the arrogance to blame everything on the players. The games deserve more attention and sales, but I have no pity for Sega if they're not happy with how the series is selling.

[Skullkid]

Splatterhouse and Heavenly Sword are 2 really good action games that were mostly panned by critics.

[kupomogli]

but they basically spit on my thanks by slashing out content left and right. And then gave us insulting, bullshit reasoning as to why ("it wouldn't resonate with the players",

I believe they should have gave us a more accurate reason, yes. It would have cost more to localize and it's a game that they didn't think would sell in the first place.

However, they announced what content was going to be cut long before the release of the game. The hostess clubs, although editing it to still be able to do the missions for them. One fairly long substory, a couple of other substories, Mahjong, Shogi, and Answer x Answer. It's not a lot of content that was cut, but it was all very text heavy.

If it helps, Yakuza 4 has no cut content other than Answer x Answer. Supposedly the same with Yakuza Dead Souls as well.

First with the awful dubbing and even worse marketing for the first title

I partially agree with the dubbing. It was good, but what I didn't like was all the San, Chan, Aniki bs. It's like listening to one of those people who speak English but throw Japanese context along with it which is annoying.

then for nearly skipping on Yakuza 2 and whining that not many people bought it when they released it late in the PS2 lifespan without so much as a whisper

Even in Japan the PS3 was already released before Yakuza 2. Yakuza 2 came out a year and a half later in the US. Like every other title released after 2006, unless it was a big name title, it was brushed to the side by brick and mortar stores because of the next big thing. That being the Wii, PS3, and 360.

Sega went all out with the first Yakuza because they wanted it to do well in the US, as I've heard they were planning it as a series from the very start. For all the advertising they did, you could say they didn't make anything off of it, and then when the bad sales of Yakuza 2, I can see why they skipped Kenzan and only brought Yakuza 3 after much requesting from the fanbase, something that you never see happening except with smaller publishers..

Now I bet they're whining about the sales of 4 and probably still blaming the consumers.

While they're more than likely upset about the poor sales of Yakuza 4, they haven't said anything and they're actually localizing Yakuza Of the End for a March release. They've made mention that cut content will be comparable to Yakuza 4, so I'd expect Answer x Answer to be cut out and everything else to remain intact.

The people of Sega of America have their heads up their asses with this series, and they have the arrogance to blame everything on the players.

They didn't blame anything on the fanbase themselves, just that Yakuza 2 didn't sell good, which is pretty much fact.

It's not like Sega is Namco, even when a Tales games sells 200,000 or more we still miss the next 50 released titles in the series because 200,000 in a single region in the west just isn't a good enough reason to localize the next title, despite the Japanese version selling less(Vesperia 360) or almost the same(every other Tales of game that's had a release this gen.)

[Aussie2B]

No, I wouldn't say we agree on the dubbing. Apparently we're taking opposite issues with it. Leaving in the honorifics was the right choice, especially given the nature of the game. There's no exact equivalent in English, and it's not remotely like weeaboos that randomly pepper their speech with "kawaii" and the like. But that's not the big issue here. My main concern is that the acting is atrocious, and even with leaving in honorifics, they still Americanized the game too much. Like some cursing is appropriate (even though in Japanese they don't so much have curse words like we do but rather they have really harsh ways of talking), but they dropped so many f-bombs that it's comical. They should've subtitled the game as they did with the following games, or at least included dual languages (which, really, they should be doing for all of the games in order to please the whiners that need everything they watch/play to be dubbed in their native language). Instead, Westerners are left with a disjointed, jarring experience, with one game dub-only and others sub-only.

They didn't go all out on the first Yakuza. Their marketing was absolutely terrible. No one even understood what the game was like. Sega was making it out like it was GTA or something, so the GTA fans that got suckered in hated it and the people that would've liked it never gave it a shot because they didn't think it would suit their tastes. Sega also wasted WAY too much money getting big-name actors for the dubbing, yet they still did a shitty job at their acting. The low return on the first Yakuza was 100% Sega's fault, as it has been with every other game in the series, but they have consistently blamed it on the consumers. They blamed the consumers for the sales of the first when the marketing sucked, they blamed the consumers for the sales of the second when the marketing was nonexistent and many fans of the first didn't even know it was out, they blamed the fans for why they "had" to cut the content out of Yakuza 3, suggesting that we're idiots that can't handle anything remotely Japanese (even though the entire experience is steeped in Japanese culture and atmosphere), and I'm sure they'll whine about the sales of Yakuza 4 eventually too.

There's just no excusing anything that Sega of America has done with the Yakuza franchise. It's just sad that such high quality games are caught up in all this muck. They truly deserve better.

[Chadt74]

I have to throw a vote in for Nier as well. The graphics get knocked, but to me they seem to fit the story and I liked the combat in the game. The music is great, I cared about what happened to the characters (unusual for me), and the ending was pretty crazy, but then if you look the ending was out in the open all along. Also the dialog was pretty good and comical at times. Also had some really good ideas in the game like the restart at the 1/2 way point and the final final ending. Just my 2c.

[dystopian]

I'm going to have to go with Lost Odyssey. This is the game that people should have bought instead of Final Fantasy XIII. It's literally a much more faithful and intelligent Final Fantasy game than anything since at least X, and for me, VIII.

[Cornelius]

I'm with Johnny Rock on Heavenly Sword. It is pretty well forgotten now, but wasn't it was a PS3 launch title? And pretty much considered one of the must-buy games along with Resistance and CoD? I didn't actually have a PS3 until much later, but that's how I remember it, so I was pretty happy when the used PS3 I bought came with that and a couple other great games. I loved the sections of the game with Kai and her crossbow once I figured out you could turn the sixaxis controls off. I redid those missions until I got them perfect.

Folklore was on my list at the time, too, but still haven't picked it up.

[TheGam3r]

Afro Samurai for the XBOX 360. An extremley underrated hack n' slash game that's based off the anime of the same name. The cel-shaded graphics are a beauty and the controls are smooth.

[Ryudo]

All the Ys games on PSP
Trails in The Sky
Okamiden
Hotel Dusk
SolatoRobo
Earth Seeker
Zangeki no Reginleiv
Xenoblade
Captain Rainbow
Little Kings Story
Sin & Punishment 2
Pandoras Tower
Klonoa (2009 remake)
valkyria chronicles 1-2
Sonic Colors
Sonic & Sega All Stars Racing
A Boy & His Blob
Zak & Wiki
Fragile Dreams
Tokyo Beat Down
Kenka Banchi Badass Rumble
El Shaddia

Everyone of those is just fantastic and should be selling like hotcakes.

[kupomogli]

All the Ys games on PSP
Trails in The Sky
SolatoRobo
valkyria chronicles 1-2

Haven't played Solatorobo, still haven't purchased it yet, but I'm going to. Everything else I agree with.

One thing though is that how Valkyria Chronicles was originally an underrated game on the PS3 until people started finding out about how good it was, me included. Then some people didn't want to get VC2 because of the PSP version, or, the more than likely real reason it didn't sell well is because everyone pirated the hell out of it like every other PSP game. Except those that are actually honest. Ys and Trails in the Sky also sold terrible more than likely for the same reason.

[LiquidPolicenaut]

I gotta agree with Hotel Dusk, Yakuza 3 and Yakuza 4. I love those games and, for all the backlash Sega gets for being kinda crappy in recent years, at least they DID bring them over. There just aren't enough of these types of games out there. Now, it doesn't excuse them for all they cut from part 3 but even with the low sales they brought over part 4 which had very little cut in comparison. I DO agree that they should really try to market it much better than what they have done in the past. I am also very happy they decided to bring over Of The End (now Dead Souls). Bringing over the Yakuza series is the one nice spotlight on Sega for me now...

[heybtbm]

I'm sure I'll think of more but the first one that popped into my head was Folklore for the PS3.

The story itself was kind of convoluted but it was still really interesting due to how it's told. The art design is beautiful, especially the environments and character design. The combat is near perfect and has some of the most memorable bosses of the last 2 gens.

I think I'll go replay it now actually.

Don't forget the fantastic soundtrack.

Anyway, my vote goes to Just Cause 2. IIRC it was generally well received by critics and the public but no one seemed to talk about it after it released. To me it's the best open-world/sandbox game of all time...and I've played just about every one to completion. An absolutely fantastic, AAA title that no one seems to have played. At least no one that I know.