Althaz

I reckon the most underrated game ever is NOX. It is massively overshadowed by Diablo. But NOX is Diablo on speed. It is a great game, but ahh well

Runner-up is probably Ultima Online, it's the best MMORPG yet, but it is stuck behind the Everquest (most boring game ever?) giant. People think of it as back there somewhere in the past, was first but yeah, that's it. People don't often realise it was the best.

Zelda 64 would have to be in the running as well. It's a console game, so most RPG-heads don't realise it is a fantastic game.

Hmm, maybe it's Planescape: Torment. Very much an adventure game in RPG clothing, it was nevertheless an absolutely brilliant game.

And the winner is...
Nox.
I don't like it all that much, but compared to Diablo it is a masterpiece. For the genre (ACTION-rpg), it is the best, but nobody plays it. Actually, there was another game, by Microsoft, one of the more brilliant games released in recent memory, but it ws online only, and with less than 30,000 sales, nothing much to do...

Pontipicon

simple. Battlezone.

Vaarok

Ascendancy, Terra Nova, and Iron Storm are in there too.

The Preacher

The original System Shock. It redifined the FPS genre.

Edric O

Emperor: Battle for Dune

Magnificent RTS game. Hardly any marketing.

Dan Van Crone

Vampire: The Masquerade. One of the most compelling storylines ever.

Harmanoff

Crystal Caves!

Althaz

Yeah, maybe Battlezone, but for some reason I never liked it. It just wasn't done the way I would like to see a RTS-Action game blend. That's just me though.
Emperor is a good game, provided you never played Dune 2 (identical) or Dune 2000 (also identical). Still, it IS the best of the lot. Just.
Vampire was a great game, and among the RPers I know it is certainly not underrated, but I guess by the public it is underrated.
I never got into SysShock, I LOVED SysShock 2, LOVED it (Shodan is out to get you!).
SysShock 2 is highly underrated too. Actually, I'm going with that now

Enrique

Outcast. Simply wonderful. Too bad it didn't get any particular marketing, it's a outstanding game.

I've played SS2 Demo, I loved it. Too bad I couldn't reinstall it.
I were next to one of that computer menace's CPU's once, it were red and white, and wondered if i could break it.

Althaz

Outcast!!? That was overhyped IMO. It was most certainly hyped. I own it, at first I didn't like it at all. But I reinstalled it after a bit and found it was actually a very enjoyable game

Edric O

Althaz, Dune 2000 was identical to Dune 2, yes. But Emperor is a completely different ball game.

Other than the setting and the player Houses (which you would expect to be the same, since this is a sequel after all...), everything is different.

Take the subhouse concept, for example. I wish other games used it too, since it's such a great way to add more dynamics to the game...

RBA-Wintrow

I like Outcast. But getting it to work takes ages!

Althaz

I've got all three, and the only way I can tell the difference is the graphics. Emporer is certainly more different from Dune 200 than Dune 2000 was to Dune (because they were literrally identical, only on a new engine was Dune2k), but it is still not much different. I like it, make no mistake, and it is a good game, more fun than Dune 2000 was, but it's still very similar. If I was reviewing, I'd give it about 8/10 (low end of 8/10), because it is sooo unoriginal. But I like it a lot better than I do most 8/10 games I love RA2 as well Provided you turn superweapons off

Edric O

Okay then, please tell me exactly what is so similar between Emperor and Dune 2/2000... Because I sure can't see anything.

And, umm... how can you say it's unoriginal? What other RTS game has sub-races? (subhouses) What other RTS game has a dynamic campaign map?

And what other RTS game is such a well kept secret?

Walker

do you mean underrated as in great games with bad reviews, or great games with great reviews but sold poorly?

Althaz

Underrated. Overshadowed by other games. Games that recieve poor reviews are generally crap (reverse not always true), but games that are wll-liked, but not many play them so it's only a few that know about it. Games that didn't get hyped but are absolutely fantastic, and yet didn't sell all that well. Or games that the people who play love, but is generally forgotten about by the rest of the world.

Emporer didn't offer anything new. Not a single thing. Play a few more RTS games and you'll soon see And they are VERY similar. Extra bits do not make it different, they mean extra bits

Rincewind

What is it with the "Game that/of the..." threads? This question has been answered in most of the other threads. Most people will vote for their "Best game Ever!!!" choice, because popular games are almost never good.

Bleh.

Althaz

I disagree with that. Popular games are quite frequently good. Take a look at The Sims. I hate it. It is a crap game. And yet...
It is a revolution, but nobody realises it. It's gameplay is strangely fun, and so many love it. But because hardcore gamers don't like it for the most part, it is thought of as "crap". Hmm, perhaps The Sims is the most underrated game ever. The Revolution will not be televised.

Also, what about Starcraft, Quake 3, Homeworld? These games were popular, and while HW is the best of the lot, SC is still the finest example of the C&C clone ever (and every RTS released since C&C has been a C&C clone, with the exception of maybe Earth 2150, Ground Force and Homeworld), Quake 3 has gameplay to tight scientists are studying it to see if they can make a Quake 3 glue. And Homeworld is one of the best games ever.
And have a look at Half-Life, it's a great game, very popular. Counter-Strike? Great mod, things are getting carried away now because there are better mods out there, but at the time, CS was bloody amazing (my current favourite is "The Opera"). Popular games are often good, maybe you don't like them, but that doesn't make them not good.

Walker

define popular. starcraft and hw didnt sell anywhere near the levels of q3 or hl. and neither of those have sold anywhere near the levels of the sims, or championship manager. and neither of those sell anywhere near as well as any average ps2 game.

if youre going to talk about "popular games" then you HAVE to split into genres, because otherwise the scale just isnt comparable.

Althaz

Are you kidding? Starcraft sold millions of copies. It is still quite frequently played online. It has always had a massive following. Homeworld sold well, there's plenty of fans, plenty of people still play it. Nothing has ever sold near the level of The Sims. Not even Myst (second best selling game ever).

No, I disagree, because some genres are popular and some are not. True RPGs I'd never say are the "most underrated" because they aren't something everybody likes (can't think why not though). I reckon you should just compare the gaming scene as a whole. Each game should be considered, not just a specific genre, IMO.
*yawn*
I can't even make sense of what I'm trying to say, so I'm going to bed.
Hooroo.

Edric O

Ok, I give up. No wonder you had those ideas about Emperor...

Paladrache

StarCraft.... <smiles and melts like hot butter>

The5thElephant

Starcraft I must say is one of the best games ever created in existence. Story, gameplay, scenario and map editor and even graphics are all beautiful and fun. Cant wait for SC: Ghost.

Maverick_3058

Total Annihilation. Far more fun and innovative than StarCraft, hands down.
Naval armada says what?
On the plus side, there was a communal mentality significantly more advanced than the 13 year old jackals(in either the literal or mature sense) on battle.net.
It's been what, four-old years? Yet there are still people creating mods and playing on.

Rincewind

Total Annihilation beats StarCraft hands tied, pants down and eyes blindfolded. Nyah nyah nyah!!!

Well, what I meant by "popular games are never good" was a generalisation. Your average idiot gamer will buy all sorts of crap (Like C&C clones and Quake style games...) instead of REAL games. Some popular games are good. Deus Ex comes to mind, as does Hitman 2. These are big exceptions, however.

This thread (and others like it) are utterly futile because of the vast difference in taste that people have, as you can see from my post and posts others in this thread.

Vaarok

Can't believe I forgot Outcast. /shame

SquidDNA

That reminds me. "Outpost."

Another Sierra release, released only a quarter finished, and even though it was irritating as hell BECAUSE it was unfinished, it was still an amazing game, in part because you could see what they were trying to accomplish. Actually, it's a prime target for someone to go back to do right. I wish they would; I'd buy it.

For those unfamiliar, it was a colony building game helped along by NASA consultants. Outfit your colony vessel with everything you need for the voyage and approach, launch a bunch of probes, go to a Mars-like world and build a colony, place a bunch of tile-buildings on the surface, dig tunnels on separate levels below the surface. Do a GREAT DEAL of research: the tech-tree puts Sid Meier to shame, but the pity was most of the advances didn't gain you anything (like I said, 1/4 finsihed.)

IgnusDei

played outpost: doomed the human race. Several times. heh.

Noir

One word:

Uprising.

nutz

battlezone

Retroboy

Battlezone. It had some bugs and some lame AI, but it was (as I've said) the first game that truly immersed me.

I'll throw in LucasArt's "The Dig" as an underrated and quite entertaining little problem-solving game.

-- Retro