Most Overshadowed RPG Series

I’m compiling a list of the aforementioned and need some help in coming up with more.

Wild Arms
Fire Emblem (Strategic RPG)
Ogre Battle (same)
Deus Ex
Shining Force (same)
Grandia
Suikoden (okay, that’s a bit of a stretch for under-ratedness)

any others? Also, indie games are welcome.

How is Fire Emblem underrated.

Neopets: The Darkest Faerie. =P

Dept. Heaven games (Riviera The Promised Land, Yggdra Union: We’ll Never Fight Alone)

fire emblem/suikoden isnt underrated, shining force is definitely not underrated. the other ones yeah ill agree with.

wild arms of the ones you listed is the best underrated series. i certainly never heard much talk about that wild arms. i have played all 5 games and it is a great series. not a dud among them, all 5 are great.

the shin megami tensei series are underrated imo. i never see these games on anyones top x lists.

ar tonelico and atelier iris are also very good series that arent very well known.

I listed Fire Emblem since the only real attention the series got stems from character inclusion in super smash bros. I rarely hear people talk about the series despite being one of the best turn-based strategy games out there (although, I will say that the later GC and Wii versions severely disappointed me). Maybe the game is more popular in Japan, I’m not sure.

Yeah, I was off on Shining Force and Suikoden.

How about some others? I’m trying to think of some okay games…

How about Soul Blazer, Secret of Evermore, and Shadowrun?

EDIT: I feel like I am listing games that probably did get due credit but if you asked a majority gamers about them now, they would just look at you with a puzzled expression.

Gothic.

Originally posted by Sar1n:

Gothic.

Same guys that made Risen, right?

It’s a pretty ephemeral concept; games like Ogre Battle are pretty widely loved by those that know them, but they’re relatively unknown compared to Final Fantasy. Really hard to claim “underrated” on something regarded very highly among those who have played it.

Riviera and Yggdra Union definitely.
I’d say Shadowrun, too. Great game, but got overshadowed. Assuming you’re talking about the SNES one.
Probably Valkyrie Profile, any of the three (wasn’t as big a fan of Silmeria personally, but Lenneth and Covenant are great).
I’ve always had a soft spot for Arcana. It’s…old school, but it’s playable, I think it’s fun, and it’s got good music.

I actually think Suikoden 3 is worth considering. 1 and 2 get all the credit, but 3 was actually really, really good. A lot of people seem to dump on it because it’s kind of clunky, but the story is great.

Originally posted by Fireseal:

It’s a pretty ephemeral concept; games like Ogre Battle are pretty widely loved by those that know them, but they’re relatively unknown compared to Final Fantasy. Really hard to claim “underrated” on something regarded very highly among those who have played it.

Riviera and Yggdra Union definitely.
I’d say Shadowrun, too. Great game, but got overshadowed. Assuming you’re talking about the SNES one.
Probably Valkyrie Profile, any of the three (wasn’t as big a fan of Silmeria personally, but Lenneth and Covenant are great).
I’ve always had a soft spot for Arcana. It’s…old school, but it’s playable, I think it’s fun, and it’s got good music.

I actually think Suikoden 3 is worth considering. 1 and 2 get all the credit, but 3 was actually really, really good. A lot of people seem to dump on it because it’s kind of clunky, but the story is great.

Yeah, perhaps a better term would be “over-shadowed”. I’ve played Arcana btw, it seemed slow to me but I could see the appeal. I only put about 5 hours into it though.

Yggdra Union: We’ll Never Fight Alone

arcana is like shining in the darkness, only worse.

i am not a fan of that game, but i did like shining in the darkness.

Shining Soul 1/2 :D One of my top series; I love it.

Heard of all of them but Grandia.

Fire Emblem sucks and Deus Ex is not overshadowed.

Originally posted by Noddles:

Fire Emblem sucks and Deus Ex is not overshadowed.

Lol, Deus Ex not overshadowed? Lol…okay, boss.

Originally posted by Order_Venom117:

Originally posted by Noddles:

Fire Emblem sucks and Deus Ex is not overshadowed.

Lol, Deus Ex not overshadowed? Lol…okay, boss.

Deus Ex is a game title that basically everyone knows, even if they haven’t played it.

Originally posted by Order_Venom117:

Originally posted by Noddles:

Fire Emblem sucks and Deus Ex is not overshadowed.

Lol, Deus Ex not overshadowed? Lol…okay, boss.

easily a top 10 pc game

Live a Live

Grandia 1 is very good. 2 is all right. I didn’t like 3 that much. I got stuck in Wild Arms 1. I spent about 3 hours trying to figure out where I was supposed to go. After that I quit the game completely. Suikoden 1 and 2 are awesome. 3 had that crappy Trinity Light System. I didn’t get a sense of adventure because of it. It was a story without a main character. I couldn’t get into Ar Tonelico. I didn’t find the setting of that game to be believable. Secret Of Evermore is a good adventure rpg game.

Seiken Densetsu 3 is a good adventure rpg. It’s similar to Secret Of Mana and Secret Of Evermore. It’s only available in English as a fan translation. Bahamut Lagoon is another good rpg that is only available in English as a fan translation. Skies of Arcadia for the Dreamcast is very good.

Seiken Densetsu 3 is a good adventure rpg. It’s similar to Secret Of Mana and Secret Of Evermore. It’s only available in English as a fan translation. Bahamut Lagoon is another good rpg that is only available in English as a fan translation. Skies of Arcadia for the Dreamcast is very good.

Seiken Densetsu 3 is similar to Secret of Mana because it’s the sequel. Secret of Evermore was inspired by Secret of Mana. I agree that Bahamut Lagoon is underrated.

Suikoden 1 and 2 are awesome. 3 had that crappy Trinity Light System. I didn’t get a sense of adventure because of it. It was a story without a main character.

I actually feel kind of sorry for you right now. What did you do, give up after a chapter or two?

Suikoden 3 has a main character as much as Seiken Densetsu 3, why aren’t you complaining about that?

Live a Live and SD3 are great games, but it seems kind of silly to compare games that were available to western audiences to games that never left Japan.

In Seiken Densetsu 3 you select a character and play through the game. In Suikoden 3 You are forced to select a new character before the story is complete. It breaks immersion.

Okay, so your problem isn’t that it doesn’t have a main character (it does), it’s that the story jumps around for the first half. Which I disagree with, but it’s still a valid complaint, I suppose. Novels with multiple viewpoints do this all the time, so I’m baffled at you saying it “breaks immersion,” but whatever sinks your boat, I guess.

The lack of a main character (well, a true main character) is what makes Final Fantasy 6 so amazing in my opinion. There are definitely more important characters (Celes, Terre, Locke, etc) and less important ones (Gau, etc), but no one main character. That said, this is a bit off-topic, as FF6 is anything but overshadowed.

FrozenFlame mentioned Skies of Arcadia, which is one of my favorites. Some of the dungeons got pretty lame, but the location design in the game is among the best in the industry.

Paper Mario. I consider it overshadowed because it deserves world-wide renown.