[:plant:] Happy Surprises - Or Games You Enjoyed Even Though Gamespot Rated It 3.5

I absolutely loved all the .Hack games. While IGN's reviews were apparently pretty kind for the original series, the general word about them wasn't. Boring button-mashing combat, only 4-5 types of dungeons, too short and expensive since it was split up into 4 volumes at $50 each, etc. While all of that was true to an extent, I could easily overlook it for the story and characters.

The .Hack//GU series got completely shafted by reviewers. IGN didn't even post reviews for them until the third and final game had been released, nearly a year after the first one, and gave them all 5-5.5 basically for having too many cutscenes and too much reading. Even though they still had very few dungeon types, a screwy level balance, and some pretty cheesy dialogue, the cutscenes and reading (which isn't even necessary) are stupid complaints. I still loved the GU series, and they're some of the very few games I went through the trouble of getting 100% on.

Originally Posted by Denicalis

Secret of Evermore. This game gets slagged on by everybody. "OH, IT'S THE REASON WE DIDN'T GET SECRET OF MANA 2, DENI! IT'S SO AWFUL!" No, you know what was pretty awful? Seiken Densetsu III.

Evermore has a hugely underrated soundtrack filled with wonderfully moody music, a storyline that is entertaining and camp all across the board, a nice world design, and quite frankly was purely enjoyable. I will never understand the frothing-at-the-mouth hatred so many people display for it.

I didn't like Evermore much at all when I first got it, and only made it up to near the end of the Prehistoric area. It was a big disappointment after being hyped up thinking it was a sequel to Secret of Mana, and it got shelved until last year. As soon as I stopped trying to compare it to SoM, bam, suddenly it was a pretty fun game.

To be fair though, having the beginning area be the hardest and most irritating section wasn't a great move either.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Ah hah. I see what you're doing here LeHah. You're just trying to prove some point that review scores don't mean shit after my dismay at Too Human's low score, amirite? Well even though I still won't buy Too Human anytime soon, I'll admit that there are quite a few great games that were unfairly bashed by the critics/media.

For me, my greatest find among low-score reviews has to be Blue Dragon, a quirky little RPG that was scored something like a 6.0 at Gamespot (although it did get a 7.9 from IGN). Granted that score isn't THAT low, but the game deserves a lot more respect. It may have a cookie-cutter plot about saving the world from a maniacal villain, but it mixes that up with some different plot elements that keep it original enough to stand on its own.

The only problem I have with the game is Akira Toriyama's character design, as they all feel too similar for my tastes. I seriously want to call the game Blue Dragonballs since the hero looks like Goku. Plus it makes it sound like the dragon has blue balls, and that's never not funny.

In all seriousness though, the game is fantastic and well worth a playthrough if you're an RPG fan. It doesn't weigh itself down with pointless sidequests or meaningless dungeons. And then there's the awesome battle system, which has become one of my favorites. The boss battle music is kind of hilarious too: Some Japanese rocker screaming "Staring down eternity!" never gets old.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by Matt

Some Japanese rocker screaming "Staring down eternity!" never gets old.

....that's actually Ian Gillan from Deep Purple.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Wow no kidding, I never knew. But he sounds kind of Japanese from the way he sings the song IMO.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Well, a lot of people panned this game or thought it wasn't good enough, but I very much loved the game Dark Sector for my PS3. I thought the game was easy to get into, gave a good challenge [especially since I just beat it and now im on 'Brutal' mode], plus the Glaive is just an amazing weapon. Also, the graphics were stunning. I loved the little details they gave the game, for instance rain dripping and falling down a cliff of rocks. It looked quite realistic.


I honestly think people never gave it a chance because critics like gamespot, IGN...they thought it was mediocre or too repetitive [which is ironic I think because most FPS/TPS can get that way anyway]. I admit the story could have used some touching up, but other than that, its a great game.





Well since FFVIII was mentioned, i'll mention it as well. Since it was my first FF, I have a bond with that game, but other than that I think it was overall a fun experience. I must admit, as I get older...I notice the story is a little obnoxious at times, but for me I had more fun lvl'ing and drawing magic to pump my stats up and lvling my GFs so I can get abilities and shit from them. Plus I adore its soundtrack, that goes without saying.

Most amazing jew boots

Originally Posted by Matt

Ah hah. I see what you're doing here LeHah. You're just trying to prove some point that review scores don't mean shit after my dismay at Too Human's low score, amirite?

Earlier this year, Gamespot fired one of its "biggest" writers for not bothering to play the games he was reviewing. Before that even, they'd end up giving some of the worst reviews I've ever seen in my life - Halo 3 starts off with one of the dumbest fucking paragraphs I've ever seen ("Halo 3 is the greatest things you've ever played, even if you disagree with us")

FELIPE NO