Games you love that nobody's heard about.

[CrazyCrab]

Hi everyone,

I think that everyone has some games that they absolutely love, yet when they mention them nobody's heard about them and you end up looking like a fool... no? Just me? 

I have a couple of games like that, but I guess that in order to not spam the thread straight away I'll limit myself to one or two.

Ghost Master

Given that it's pretty hard to describe in a sensible fashion, I'll quote Wikipedia on this one: 

''the player assumes the role of a Ghost Master, a bureaucratic spirit tasked to perform certain duties. While the bulk of a Ghost Master's duties consist of hauntings, a Ghost Master may also be "called in" to increase belief in the supernatural, avenge deaths, and conscriptrenegade ghosts. Because a Ghost Master cannot directly interfere in the world of mortals, the Ghost Master is given a team of subordinate ghosts to do so. When not haunting, the Ghost Master is responsible for the training of the ghosts under his/her command.''

Yup, it's as fun as it sounds. You get a bunch of ghosts, you train them, you scare people. It's more of a puzzle / strategy game than anything, as you find out what they fear the most and then apply it for extra effectiveness. You free more ghosts by solving puzzels such as ''the Ghost is stuck in a vaccum cleaner'' -> Link an electronics based ghost to the nearby radio -> Use ''Machine Uprising'' skill to make all the devices go crazy and release the ghost. Then just scare everyone.

Some Screenshots. If you've played the game, you should recognize it immediately.

                               

I just loved that game.Being ''evil'' while not killing everyone while keeping a sense of humor and staying original? Yes please. I've even tried to make a fan game based on it myself, but programming the AI for the people is beyond me. Oh well, If I'll ever get rich you know what I'll do with the money 

Anyway, what are some of you favorite ''non-mainstream'' games?

 

[Diretooth]

Dink Smallwood. IT's basically a game about a pig farmer who becomes a hero. It's one of my favorite games, but it's really old. (An HD remake was released, though it's pretty much the same and you can download it for free, because RTSoft is like that.) The game was never technically finished, but it is enjoyable as a wide-open sandbox with weird and crude humor. You can get it here: http://dinknetwork.com/

(Be careful around the forums, there's two troublemakers called Skurn and ThePunisher whom everyone hates. But otherwise, go to the files area and there's the game and several D-mods. I'd suggest 'As Good As Eternity' when you've finished the original game.)

 

[Nuclear Mosquito]

Sub Culture was the first game I've ever played and also one of the best (My second Being Freelancer)

Sub Culture: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sub_Culture

You basically play as a freelancer submarine pilot. You do missions for two different factions to upgrade your submarine with torpedos, escape pods and even the underwater version of NOS (Called Woosh Drive). The story isn't told that directly, but is rather reflected by the missions themselves. A must play if you can get it to work on your modern windows pc.

I'd also strongly reccomend that you go look at Freelancer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freelancer_(video_game)
 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freelancer_(video_game)

Spoiler

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freelancer_(video_game)

 

[bgillisp]

Operation Darkness. I stumbled across that game when at the store one day, bought it on a whim, and ended up liking it.

The game can be summarized as follows: It is set in WWII, and you are a solider in the British Army, fighting the Germans. However, the Germans have skeletons, vampires, and dragons on their side, and the leader of British intelligence is a Werewolf, and your unit has spellcasters serving in it. If you don't mind some history alongside your fantasy, its a pretty decent game, and you have to admit it is interesting redoing the D-Day invasion with an army of spellcasters on your side!

 

[_Shadow_]

K-240

CLICK ME FOR VIDEO K-240

Monty Python's Flying Circus (game)

I was a kid... I knew no English... this thing tested my sanity.

Still I learned about them when I grew up so I regret nothing.

Totally worth it!

CLICK FOR VIDEO

Hard and intense.

Backlash for Amiga.

VIDEO

LEANDER Music was really amazing.
VIDEO

And a psychedelic and great game:

Fire and Ice

VIDEO

And finally one for the PC

A dungeon crawler.

Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup

(Unfortunately only one person I know knows about Crawl... :/ )

LINK

 

[The Stranger]

I used to play a PC game called "Project Nomads". From what I remember, you piloted your very own island through the sky. You also had to defend said island from sky pirates. You could construct defences and other structures; some of which allowed you to create vehicles. I loved that game.

 

[Araial]

Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean (GameCube) is an awesome game (despite some of the characters having subpar voice actors)!
 
At first, it seems like a typical tale of a young man avenging his family's death at the hands of an evil Empire, but there are more plot twists than you can shake a Magnus at. Plus, everyone has wings! (The protagonist, however, was born with only one wing, so he has a robotic replacement called a "winglet" for the other one)

And finally, I leave you with the epic intro to the game.

 

[ookami_lord]

Hi everyone,

I think that everyone has some games that they absolutely love, yet when they mention them nobody's heard about them and you end up looking like a fool... no? Just me? 

I have a couple of games like that, but I guess that in order to not spam the thread straight away I'll limit myself to one or two.

Ghost Master

Given that it's pretty hard to describe in a sensible fashion, I'll quote Wikipedia on this one: 

''the player assumes the role of a Ghost Master, a bureaucratic spirit tasked to perform certain duties. While the bulk of a Ghost Master's duties consist of hauntings, a Ghost Master may also be "called in" to increase belief in the supernatural, avenge deaths, and conscriptrenegade ghosts. Because a Ghost Master cannot directly interfere in the world of mortals, the Ghost Master is given a team of subordinate ghosts to do so. When not haunting, the Ghost Master is responsible for the training of the ghosts under his/her command.''

Yup, it's as fun as it sounds. You get a bunch of ghosts, you train them, you scare people. It's more of a puzzle / strategy game than anything, as you find out what they fear the most and then apply it for extra effectiveness. You free more ghosts by solving puzzels such as ''the Ghost is stuck in a vaccum cleaner'' -> Link an electronics based ghost to the nearby radio -> Use ''Machine Uprising'' skill to make all the devices go crazy and release the ghost. Then just scare everyone.

Some Screenshots. If you've played the game, you should recognize it immediately.

                               

I just loved that game.Being ''evil'' while not killing everyone while keeping a sense of humor and staying original? Yes please. I've even tried to make a fan game based on it myself, but programming the AI for the people is beyond me. Oh well, If I'll ever get rich you know what I'll do with the money 

Anyway, what are some of you favorite ''non-mainstream'' games?

I've heard of that game!

 

[Kane Hart]

Damn Old school up there with Dink Smallwood was an amazing beyong its future RPG when I was younger I swear it was!

My top favs that most would not have heard.

Neocron

Endless Ages

Anarchy Online (Okay before they butchered it with SL and beyond)

 

[Gui]

For me, that would be Genki's Phantom Crash, for the Xbox: it's basically an arena shooter with mechas which you can customize with all sort of weaponry and equipment as well as limbs, including but not limited to upgradable targeting systems and AI co-pilots who each have their own personnality; cherry on the cake, you can also customize the various elements your mecha is built with to reduce their weight or improve their efficiency. Last but not least, an optical stealth system allows your mech to become invisible for some time, or until you're hit by an opponent: this is quite a good tactical element which greatly improves the games. And the story of the campaign mode is nice too. It got a sequel, S.L.A.I.: Steel Lancer Arena International, developped by Konami for the PS2.

You can check out the intro here, and a game sample there.

 

[Gradian]

I've never played the game, instead I watched a Japanese Let's Play of a very obscure game called Moon a few years ago. You basically play a little boy who was playing a video game with the typical "hero must save world from evil" rpg elements, before he was sucked into the game itself, where the "hero" he used to control is nothing but a threat and nuisance (killing enemies that are actually harmless, causing mischief to castle ground residents, etc) and he has to restore peace himself at the same time learning to grow as a child and learning to love these video game characters and your so-called "enemies", while trying to stop the "hero" (who shares the same name as your little boy character, who gave said name to the "hero" at the beginning).

It's kinda laid back and focuses more on the story and character interaction side instead of full rpg (you do fight enemies at the very beginning but that's the point of the in-game video game. You don't fight at all for the entire rest of the game). Being a peaceful sentient instead of a button mashing aggressor. One of the parts that hit me hard was the very ending to which, I won't spoil for you (the wiki can do that).

Aside somewhat innovative 4th wall breaking-ish plot (for it's time, it's a PS1 game so it's pretty old), the music can be pretty nice to listen to, as contributed by a lot of indie artists (there's even a music library somewhere in the map where you can check out the artists and their works). The art and character designs can be simple but cute (and funny) to look at. There are limits such as time (you can't stay outside past your limit or you'll die, to which your limit can be increased the more you restore killed "enemies"), but they blend in with the story (to me that is).

Unfortunately it has never been translated(there are probably fan translations out there), let alone ever dreamed of having an international port. But you can still check out videos for the gameplay (ones by english speaking players rather than the purely japanese speaking players I watched).

 

[Araial]

Here's a recent one: Conception II: Children of the Seven Stars. Most people either have never heard of it or dislike it, but I have enjoyed it so far. The protagonist is epic, and Ellie is adorable (as are the Star Children). 

There are a lot of sexual things in the game, but it's a really good game.

 

[Alexander Amnell]

Spectral souls: rise of the ethereal empire. Interesting tactics game that can be played from the perspective of all three warring factions within the game. Kind of difficult to get into though.

Bushido blade: an old ps1 sword fighter but with fairly realistic damage mechanics (I.e. You can get 1hko from most unparried/undo shed successful attacks)

Dark sector: kind of a resident evil clone, but at least they make a good attempt at explaining how the protagonist can withstand infection himself, with a real world condition no less.

Speaking of re, resident evil 0. Probably my favorite re but for some reason few re fans I know have played it or are aware it exists at all.

 

[Gui]

[...]

Dark sector: kind of a resident evil clone, but at least they make a good attempt at explaining how the protagonist can withstand infection himself, with a real world condition no less.

[...]

I like this one too, as I like a lot of things from Digital Extremes: great atmosphere and original gameplay with the blade weapon – I recommend it to every shooters lovers.

 

[BoluBolu]

Sorry if you already know the game.
This game is a short time play, browser flash game, the name is Pheus and Mor, first the game is just like a little puzzle, but at the end of the game I'm crying because the story revealed some sad incident, the meaning of the game is so deep.

 

 

[Diretooth]

Speaking of flash games, there's 'The Company of Myself', which is a very deep and fun puzzler.

 

[Southclaw]

(waaaaay) back in the day, Quadralien on the Amiga 500 and B.A.T. on PC.

I would also say Beyond Good and Evil (Multiplatform), but that appears to have made it to cult status.

BONUS ROUND: 'Antaeus Rising: Hostile Waters'.

FINAL ROUND: I cannot believe that Reccetear: An Item Shop's Tale isn't A LOT more popular. Perhaps people really do hate maths that much!

 

[IcarusBen]

There's an old DOS game called Centurion where you play as a (gasp!) Roman centurion out to conquer Europe and Asia Minor. You control various legions, host parties, seduce Cleopatra, it's all there. I've only ever beaten it once, but good God I loved it. Combat's a little slow, though. I just pressed the speedup button on DOSBOX when it came to that.

 

[bgillisp]

FINAL ROUND: I cannot believe that Reccetear: An Item Shop's Tale isn't A LOT more popular. Perhaps people really do hate maths that much!

I have that game on my backlog. Any good?

 

[steeltamashii]

A game that I've been playing recently that is absolutely amazing is Tengai Makyou: The Apocalypse IV. Never heard of it? Not surprised. It was a Japan-only Sega Saturn exclusive that came out in 1997. It's a JRPG that takes place in an alternate 1890s America (originality points in setting) and battles feature ENTIRELY hand-drawn animation. It is a huge shame this game never saw a U.S. release, but considering the game's religious iconography and references, I'm not entirely surprised.

Other runner-ups include Android Assault for Sega CD, Fantastic Night Dreams Cotton for PC-Engine Duo, and Popful Mail for Sega CD.