What Culture - 10 Severely Underrated RPGs

Aubrielle

Aubrielle

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What Culture has posted another one of those "10 Underrated" lists we see a lot of this time of year...though it's hard to imagine Pillars of Eternity, D:OS - EE, or Gothic 2 as "underrated".

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If the video game RPG genre was a human being, it’d be that kid who was a bit of an outsider in school; probably bullied and laughed at for playing with his imaginary friends, but never complained, kept doing their thing, and went on to be successful and appreciated by people later in life.

Yes, the genre that has its origins in niche tabletop games has become the dominant force of video games. Just look at the top games of 2015, a year in which you can easily argue that the five best games were all RPGs (The Witcher 3, Fallout 4, Undertale, Bloodborne and Pillars of Eternity, by my reckoning). The genre has exploded, and sorcery and dragons are actually cool in today’s culture.

But the dominance of franchises like Elder Scrolls, Fallout and The Witcher means that there are tens of RPGs that missed out on the mainstream spotlight. If you’ve only recently jumped on the speeding RPG bandwagon, then be sure to check out these under-appreciated stalwarts of the genre.
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More information.

More information.
 
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Though it's hard to imagine Pillars of Eternity, D:OS - EE, or Gothic 2 as "underrated".
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Yeah I don't agree with some of those picks on the list, but some of the other games were Underrated. I definitely want to play another RPG like Jade Empire again.

Here are the games I agree that were Underrated by gamer's & journalist's.

  1. Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines
  2. Alpha Protocol
  3. Neo Scavenger
  4. Jade Empire
  5. Risen 1-3
  6. Kingdoms Of Amalur: Reckoning
I know for a fact we might have a new Vampire RPG thanks to Paradox.:celebrate:
 
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Definitely, all of those. Jade Empire was definitely underrated. As was KoA: Reckoning. :)
 
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Aubrielle said:
Definitely, all of those. Jade Empire was definitely underrated. As was KoA: Reckoning. :)
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I remember one of the ex-founders of BioWare teased Jade Empire 2 was in development at one time, but it was described as a completely different game.

Basically it was going to be an MMO so I'm not sorry it was canned eventually.

Also to me KoA: Reckoning was a slight disappoint given the talent behind it's development. Seems I'm one the few on this site that enjoyed playing it.

Moving on to Alpha Protocol I also enjoyed playing that RPG.(Also one of the few again on this site) It brought an innovative dialog system, and best of all it was a modern RPG.
 
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KoA and JE are still underrated ….. but half of those other titles never were
 
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Couchpotato said:
Also to me KoA: Reckoning was a slight disappoint given the talent behind it's development. Seems I'm one the few on this site that enjoyed playing it.
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I enjoyed playing KoA demo back then. But don't feel lonely Couch because, guess what, I bought KoA Collection this last Steam Sales and I'll give it a try.
 
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Never heard of Neo Scavenger, but others? Underrated? Well maybe Jade Empire, I don't often hear even RPG fans bring it up.
 
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Almost the entire list are among my favorite crpgs ever, with the exception of "KoA", that I did not care for at all, "Jade Empire" which I felt had the potential to be so much more and "Neo Scavenger" that I've only spent a few minutes playing.

All in all though, a very nice list.
 
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Couchpotato said:
I remember one of the ex-founders of BioWare teased Jade Empire 2 was in development at one time, but it was described as a completely different game.

Basically it was going to be an MMO so I'm not sorry it was canned eventually.

Also to me KoA: Reckoning was a slight disappoint given the talent behind it's development. Seems I'm one the few on this site that enjoyed playing it.

Moving on to Alpha Protocol I also enjoyed playing that RPG.(Also one of the few again on this site) It brought an innovative dialog system, and best of all it was a modern RPG.
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I really like KoA too, for the record.
 
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KoA was a major letdown for me....considering the talent involved, I expected a much more robust game. This was a game that I played on launch day, something I rarely EVER do, and was really disappointed by most of the game. The rest of the list I heartily agree with.
 
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Ok you guys have convinced me to consider firing KoA up again. Any difficulty mods you can recommend? Vanilla was so mind-numbingly easy it felt like a casual mobile game
 
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I am an old fart, so my underrated list is short, but sweet (to me, that is!):

1. Magic Candle
2. Dark Heart of Uukrul
3. Legacy of the Ancients

Get this, you hipster! ;)
 
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KOA was one of the games I expected to love, but didn't. I can't really say why. Its a vague feeling of non-engagement. Nothing about it made me want to stick with it to see what happens next.
 
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Not a very good article imo. Gothic 2 underrated? Certainly not by the majority who have played it. Under-recognized perhaps. Same goes for V:TM - Bloodlines.

And I have to say.. What Culture is a garbage site. It's one of those tabloid type sites filled with click-bait headlines that lead to "Top 10" this or that, and all the articles are formatted so that you have to constantly click through pages just to see what 10 things they're talking about.

I vote we ignore them in the future. :)
 
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Argghhh, KOA:R! How I love/loath thee. It had so much potential, and has so much going for it. Yet it just drags you down because of the amount of filler and lack of challenge.

I bought it twice in an attempt to play through it, and I had some real fun at times. But it was just so hard to keep playing as for every interesting element I had to avoid 4 or 5 bland ones, and it just became too much.

Would love to see a version released with a lot of the filler cut out, especially the millions of explanations about the same thing from different NPCs.

Honestly, if they trimmed the fat and re-released it I reckon it'd go down a storm.
 
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I had a love/hate relationship with KoA like most. Story started out interesting, but gameplay ruined it pretty fast. Even on the highest difficulty the game was far too easy, so combat quickly became a chore. Respawning enemies didn't help either. Then on top the put a max level you reached about 2/3 through the game, so there wasn't much incentive to play on. I got bored at some point and never made it to the DLC.
 
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I wouldn't call DOS EE underrated.

Gothic 1 and 3 are both better than 2.

#1 most underrated RPG of all time: Two Worlds II

Another underrated RPG worthy of mention is Drakensang. Both of them actually.
 
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Couchpotato said:
Here are the games I agree that were Underrated by gamer's & journalist's.

  1. Alpha Protocol
  2. Kingdoms Of Amalur: Reckoning
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Those two are actual garbage and not underrated.
The first one is checkpoint-o-rama because it's designed for pathetic hardware that can not store a savegame due lack of memory.
The second one is evolution of grinding at it's worst - not only trashmobs respawn endlessly but also chests with loot do too.
 
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