Okay, I have been really ill this past week and although I felt like I was dying, apparently it turns out I was in fact not. Still, though, it made me realise that out of all the games out there, I bet there is one truly hidden gem that I have never played and never would have likely played before DEATH finally came for me.
Cheery stuff, eh?
Anyway, what are your Top 1 Hidden Gem Game That MUST Be Played Before You Die? You know, that ONE title you think deserves some recognition but gets very little. Maybe I should have titled it that way but I’m on my deathbed FFS, give me a break, I’m not changing it now.
I would really like to hear your recommendations.
Cheers
Punkster
*Not to be confused with your Top 5 games of all time. Which was a much better list IMO.
Ooh good question. I’ll start then shall I? I highly recommend Fran Bow as it is wonderfully dark and twisted. Just look at the horror of these young ladies, their dress sense is terrible.
I don’t know if it really qualifies as a “hidden gem” but maybe merely by being old it’s something that’s at least not in direct line of sight of most people anymore.
Final Fantasy VI
It is my opinion the best JRPG ever made and the apex of the FF series. I love almost every part of this game, it is exceptionally written, filled with beautiful sprite work and the best graphical effects the SNES could manage.
I believe one of the reasons I think of it so fondly is because, in my opinion, the game has the best villain in video game history. He inspired a lot of feelings in me. This game managed to make me really hate a character, fear for his appearances and loathing for his actions to the point where once it was time for the final showdown it was personal.
The writing has a lot on offer as well, from great comedy to great tragedy and almost every character in this game is memorable.
It’s not a particularly obscure title, being part of one of the most venerable game franchises in the world. But it’s still one I would urge anyone and everyone to play through at least once in their lives.
Edit: OMG you guys! How the hell did I fail to mention the music? It’s one of my top favourite soundtracks too. There’s so many great themes and songs throughout the game with all major themes coalescing into the quite frankly amazing end theme of about 21 minutes, it’s incredible from start to finish.
But don’t listen to it, you don’t get to do so until you’ve beaten the game, that’s the rule!
I can’t recommend the remake on steam though, not because I know it’s bad, I have not played it and can’t say for certain, but it’s not THE SAME!
So that’s obviously blasphemy. I don’t know what sort of smoothing filter they’re using but it muddles the beautiful pixel art the game delivers. Buy it if you want to give Squeenix money then find a ROM and play it through an emulator instead.
…and if anyone actually want to do that at any point in the future and don’t really know how, send me a private message and I’d be happy to help.
Thanks Fraggles ill keep that in mind as ive yet to play a FF title, also i saw your sentiment somewhere else recently as someone mentioned FF7 being the best of course, to which someone replied that it was a graphical showcase of its time with less substance than FF6 and then proclaiming that one to have been the best.
JRPG: Chrono Trigger (yes you can pelt at me for all I care), Person 2 Innocent Sin and Eternal Punishment, Persona 5, Suikoden 1 and 2, Bravely Default and Second (if you can’t tell I’m mostly a JRPG guy)
WRPG: Planescape Torment (I have yet to get pass the first level, always started it but never continued)
Platfomer: Jak and Daxter (a friend of mine said that I loved Crash Bandicoot and Sly Cooper, then I should get this).
RTS: Whatever non-shitty W40K game that comes up after Dawn of War 3.
I’d say Psychonauts, but so many people have thrown it around as the hidden gem that everyone must play… that it’s not even a hidden gem anymore.
So… yeah. Guess I’ll go for Crysis instead. YEAH, EVERYONE KNOWS what Crysis is… no you don’t, shut up and sit down. I’m not talking about the graphics. I’m talking about the fact that it’s the Far Cry 2 we never got, plus it has supersoldiers. It’s janky, it’s fun, and it doesn’t screw around. I recommend playing on Normal difficulty with the Korean enemy voices enabled. Steam, Origin (including Origin Access!) and GOG are your options here. The rest of the series is also great, but not quite as groundbreakingly awesomely JANK in every way as the first one.
What? It has to be SUPER obscure? Fine. You win. We’re tied between Rogue Trooper and Afterlife. I played Rogue Trooper on Gametap over a decade ago and recently rebought it. It’s a third person shooter based on the comic series, and one of the last PS2/Xbox games to release [hence why nobody really noticed it]. Thankfully it’s getting a remaster now; the story is pretty self-explanatory as you go along, so I’ll just link the game and be done with it. Rogue Trooper’s on Steam and GOG.
I was also going to talk about Star Wars: Republic Commando, another great late-6th title, but instead I’ll bring up a much older LucasArts game: Afterlife. It’s like SimCity 2K but not as “old” feeling, and with a twist where you’re stuck trying to govern both heaven and hell at the same time, while the world itself develops as you go on. That also means you need to watch and influence planetary shenanigans to make sure they don’t nuke each other. It’s quite challenging, but nonetheless I’d recommend it. It went missing for a while, but GOG has you covered nowadays.
Most of the other stuff I want to put here isn’t really obscure (anymore), so I’ll leave it at that. One pick… lolnope
Not that this was very hidden back in the day but Kirby’s Adventure in Dreamlad for the NES was a game that I just kept going back to. Its not a very hard game (which is perfect for when you are sick) but it was challenging in spots and for me it was like a more casual Super Mario Bros. with 20 more different powerups. You could go play the slightly more recent SNES Kirby Superstar (I think that was what it was called) but Dreamland is the one that keeps drawing me in.
Lovely Planet. This game is great. I usually hate high difficulty and extreme precision in games. I also don’t find trying to get the fastest time on a level to be enticing. This game made all these things work for me. It’s definitely not for everyone, but it’s fantastic.
Transformers: War for Cybertron and Transformers: Fall of Cybertron. These 2 games that everyone ignores. They see Transformers, and they instantly ignore. These are some of the best 3rd person shooters I’ve ever played. It’s a shame that the multiplayer is dead (mostly for the reason mentioned).
Even so, the games are still worth it for the campaigns and you can still enjoy the multiplayer if you get good few friends with you, especially Fall of Cybertron.
I’ll give you three, because I’m always playing games no one’s ever heard of.
GRiMgRiMoiRe: Yeah, that is how it’s spelled.This game is a really tactical RTS/tower defense game with great graphics, really deep gameplay, and a fun anime plot for PS2. I like it.
Elite Beat Agents: You like rhythm games? You like goofy voice acting? You like hilarious plot? Then play this, goofus.
The Munchables. What if Katamari Damacy had a definable genre, like say action-platformer? This game is adorable and has great music and is really lame pretty infrequently.It’s for the Wii, and it reminds me of the old days.
If you have access to a Nintendo DS or can play it in some other manner, you will want to play Radiant Historia before your lifetime is over. It is, maybe, the best RPG I ever played… and I’ve been playing those for what, over 20 years now. The plot is so rewarding that every single random NPC has a small backstory, a little tidbit that changes over the course of the game. Characters are complex, the world is rich with lore, battles are engaging and strategic, the time flow mechanics are the epitome of the time-traveling genre… just play it. Not a lot of people did, unfortunately. They perfected this gem so much that by the time it came out, the 3DS was already full steam ahead.
I like how Punkster responded to his own topic as if someone else made it.
Anyway, I’d suggest the Golden Sun games. Unlike many RPGs, these games have you solve little puzzles outside of battle, similar to the Legend of Zelda games. The battles themselves can also be challenging, so it never gets boring. If there are other RPGs that include puzzle solving outside of battle, I’d like to hear them (and I mean consistently, not like the occasional dialogue choice or “hit this obvious switch to progress” dungeons).
EDIT: My only issue with these games is that the first one has such a cliffhanger ending that it might as well say “please insert cartridge 2.” If you decide to play these games, make sure you have the second one on hand when you play the first.
Another person here unsure whether or not their recommendation is actually classified as a hidden gem because of the coverage it had once gotten, but I’ll throw it out there because I still have friends that haven’t heard of it before: Bastion.
Game is actually so remarkable in every aspect that it sets out to achieve that it’s at the point of not mentioning anything else about it because that itself will take away the experience of it, the selling point is “All you need to know, is that it’s great”.
Bastion is my, “Wait, you ACTUALLY haven’t played it yet!? start that game up and DON’T stop until you’ve finished it!”.
Completely agree with you mate, bastion is a well crafted game all around, and although its an easy game without an option to change difficulty in the settings the player can ramp up the difficulty in-game via a shrine if i remember correctly.
I’m not the sort of person to replay games much but i’ve replayed bastion once and will prolly do it again soon, heck, my steam profile is decked out with a bastion background & badge.
It’s made by a indie developer by the name of Supergiant Games and they have another title called Transistor released, unlike bastion besides real-time combat you can also use turn-based combat plus they’re developing another game called Pyre.
Altough i’m not sure Bastion is my top 1 hidden gem game i love what the devs behind it did and keep doing so i just had to write this
Couldn’t agree more with Bastion and Transistor is good as well, the only reason I didn’t say it is because I didn’t think it was that hidden, but that game is soooo good.
Bastion was fantastic. I loved the narration in that game, especially when he started humming a tune etc. Crackin’ stuff. Sadly, I couldn’t get into Transistor in the same way.
Did you really like that? I suspect sarcasm, as I don’t see any hearts with your name on it!? Nah, just kidding, mate. Seriously though, LIKE MY POSTS! I want a new badge FFS.
That was the other me, not the me, me. Split personality disorder can be difficult to explain sometimes.
