Under rated!

[Markus]

Breath of Fire!

The entire Breath of series is very under rated imho! Haven't heard any of you mention it, not even once! The entire series kicks ass and it gets better as you go on. I loved coming back to the town I was building... Was soooo cool.

[Axia]

Oh my god, Markus, I totally agree! In fact, I saw the title of this thread "Underrated", and I decided that I'd come in here and mention breath of fire, especially Breath of Fire IV, Dragon Quarter; which I consider to be one of the best RPG's I've ever played. The story is beautiful, the characters are well conceived, and the system is so much fun, I don't even mind that there are only three playable characters through the entire game. The world it's set in just blows my mind.

Well, you've already made the plug, so I guess this is extraneous. BTW: If anyone's interested, you can usually find a used BoF4 at GameStop for like, $12 >.>

-Axia

[lolAerya]

best bof is first and second though, they totally rock! I was able to find bof 1 at funcoland still for my snes, but number 2 was way too expensive TT
but ya, 4 was great as well ^^
and i have 3 too, the only one I´m missing is 2... sadly TT

[Markus]

Lol w0ot! I am happy Im not the only fan!@!

[Xaero]

i liked 1-4, hated dragon quarter cuz it really kept u from being able to take ur time an enjoy the game. because of the timer i constantly felt rushed.. gots 1 an 2 on rom 3 & 4 for ps1
the split personallity of the main guy in 4 was kinda kewl where u were each half the dragon but born in differnt time periods but i hated the departure from the normal map. overall i think 3 was probably my fav, but with this series its such a tough call since i liked all of them but BoF:Dragon Quarter

[Sosa]

I'll give the series this much - as one of first series to pioneer the story-driven RPG gameplay, Breath of Fire has done a lot to spark innovation in the genre. But that said, let's be fair for a moment.

BoF one was basically a long dungeon hack with a lot of frustrating backtracking (not necessarily because of the plot - but because of the nasty habbit of dropping boss fights in unexpected locations that resulted in a complete wipe-out of your party.) The plot was pretty stock (even for its time) and offered no real twists or payoffs in the end. The gameplay was very similar to other games of its time. I can't count the number of times the phrase, "Sorry Ryu - but the princess is in another castle!" popped into my head while I was playing it.

BoF II improved on the foundations of the first one by adding a polished script and interesting characters.

BoF III added the Triad system (which I am yet to see another RPG rip off successfully) which was a welcome addition to the series - as well as providing good gameplay with a pretty nice story. The characters would probably be more interesting if they didn't constantly recycle the two primary protagonists from every game, but that's a BoF trademark so one can hardly complain here.

I liked BoF IV. I liked it a lot - right until the horribly constrained camera gave me major headaches and I was forced to put it down for a long period of time. I never came back to it. I'd love to give it the play-through it deserves some day, but for now I just can't seem to bother myself with it.

I've owned Dragon Quarter for over two years - and I've never once put it in my PS2. Sadly, there have just been other games that take priority over it. The BoF series is bittersweet for me... it has had its moments, to be sure... but in the end - it's always felt like a middle-of-the road series that never lived up to its own aspirations.

That's my opinion, of course. I may be somewhat jaded in my opinion since I've never really taken to any of Capcom's RPG endevours particularly well, but I'm sure there are a great number of people out there that fondly enjoy the refined, time-tested gameplay the BoF series offers.

And speaking of opinions... my vote for most underrated game (RPG) of all time... is Vagrant Story. That such a critically acclaimed gem could fly by completely under the radar of most gamers is very sad indeed. If you haven't played it - you owe it to yourself to pick it up before it becomes a collector's item. The plot and characters are among the best ever developed for use in role-playing games - the production values were absolutely fantastic for their time... and to top it off - the gameplay (while it could have been a tad bit more refined to prevent the combo system from being exploited so easily,) remains totally original to this day. Check it out.

[Xaero]

yah i used to own vagrent story, but really disliked the weapon system an how u basiclaly had to carry a bunch of differnt shit jus to be effective, an skill up the weapons u were using aswell.. an i sucked with those kinda combo systems which made the game more difficult than it shoulda been..

hehe ps u forget the original BoF was made by Square they only sold the license to capcom after the first title.

an as for imo i kinda liked havin the main always be Ryu(default) course mine was always Xaero

[whisper]

1.) Total Annihilation.

It got Totally Overshadowed by its more glamourous contemporary StarCraft.

150+ units (plus another 100+ from the expansion pack).

Full 3D engine - units, terrain, the works. This doesn't sound too impressive today, but remember we're talking about 1997. This was back in the days everyone and their kid brother was releasing a new RTS title every other month.

No other company released a game with true full 3D environment until many years later.

For those of you who missed it the first time through, the creators of TA are currently working on a new RTS called Supreme Commander, which should carry on the original game's spirit.

2.) Eve Online

This was the game I used to play prior to coming to FFXI during the fall of 2003. I've started playing this game again on a free trial account lately. Still one of the best MMORPGs with some really epic player-driven content that can seem like something straight out of real-life news headlines.

Besides, what other MMORPG is there that is built from the ground up for full-scale *financial* PvP?

Eve is a really small game though, only 1 server, and probably under 100k total players.

3.) Front Mission series

One of Square's lesser known franchises. I'm a real mecha junky so I love it just for the fact that it has mechs, but they're awesome games nonetheless, with a level of customization not seen in most tactics RPGs.

I actually preferred Front Mission 4 to the oft-praised Disgaea (*dodges Molotov cocktails*), but Front Mission 3 was the best in the series IMHO.

Front Mission Online started recently in Japan IIRC, and Front Mission 5 is soon to be released as well.

[Markus]

Lol damnit! Dont tempt me with other games! No time ; ; So many games look really good though!

[Xaero]

TA was great, too bad they had gotten rid of the boneyard that was an awsome setup for a game

[Kaifu1]

Vagrant Story. I totally agree with you Sosa... I'm still looking for the book on which the story was based. Its in the credits somewhere. I felf for Syndy too, and I like his tatoo also.. but, not my entire back... maybe on my arm or something...

[Xaero]

always wanted to try thre front mission games, but never really had the cash available to get em

[Axia]

yah i used to own vagrent story, but really disliked the weapon system an how u basiclaly had to carry a bunch of differnt shit jus to be effective, an skill up the weapons u were using aswell..

This statement strikes me as 100% silly, given that it's on an FFXI message board >.>

[Sosa]

/nominate Total Annilhilation ...Point taken and acknowledged. I loved the brilliantly balanced forces and universe that Starcraft Presented... I'm sad indeed to see that Blizzard dropped the ball on Starcraft: Ghost and never provided us with a true sequel. But... Total Annilhilation was something else entirely.

Also a big fan of the Front Mission series... it's a crying shame that the first installment we ever got was Front Mission 3 (I believe the fourth game, if I'm not mistaken.) Fantastic, highly strategic and addicting gameplay... as long as you played Emma's campaign. I was a huge fan of FM4... and was really disappointed to see that a STRATEGY game clocked in under 25 hours. It was way shorter than it should have been.

And while we're talking about artistic masterpieces (read: Vagrant Story,) let's not forget the sleeper hits I.C.O., or its slightly more recognized cousin Shadow of the Collosus. Those are probably the two most beautifully crafted projects of passion available on the PS2, both in terms of setting new benchmarks for their time and greatly expanding the genre through creating deep and emotional connections to the main heroes.

[Xaero]

axia said:

yah i used to own vagrent story, but really disliked the weapon system an how u basiclaly had to carry a bunch of differnt shit jus to be effective, an skill up the weapons u were using aswell..

This statement strikes me as 100% silly, given that it's on an FFXI message board >.>

yep ,maybe but i hate jobs where u gotta carry around alot of weapons an shit too. im a sam an carry 1 weapon besides bow

i dont like playin war cuz then suddenly i would be carry around 2 swords, 2 axes, great sword, bow, xbow, g.axe, maybe a few staves... lol silly ass shit.

i dont remmeber the whole jist of the weapon system i jus remember i disliked it alot in that game