DrSpooge
Blackwing Lair Raider
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Games that, despite little fanfare -- or perhaps in spite of negative fanfare -- turned out really well, games that you considered overhyped that proved worthy of said hype, etc. I hope this serves as a complement to the disapointment thread.
The very nature of this premise biases against the inclusion of older games, because the concepts of hype and surprise were muted by the absence of an internet capable of hyping or failing to hype.
Demon's Souls: The ambitious, flawed masterpiece that laid the groundwork for probably my favorite series of all time. Doesn't play as well today, but when tasked with evaluating the Souls series based on how much I enjoyed each entry at the time of its release, I might very well put this one at the top.
Tomb Raider (2013): Despised the original (PS1) games on account of ridiculous controls. I think a more appropriate and resonant name would be Lara Croft, both because the game is largely bereft of tombs and because it's an origin story. Uncharted has better writing, but I thought this played a lot better.
Persona 3: One of my favorite games of all time. I love jrpg's, but I'd never heard of this series prior to this entry, and if somebody had told me that I'd be utterly smitten by a dungeon-crawler/highschool-simulator hybrid, I'd call them crazy.
Overwatch: An example of overhyped-but-ultimately-worthy-of-that-hype. Prerelease, this hit all the wrong notes for me. An FPS (ugh). One weapon (ugh). Heroes (redolent of MOBAness, ugh ugh ugh). Infinite ammo (wtf?). No character progression of any sort. And yet it works.
Dragon Quest Builders: Haven't had much time to play this, but holy fuck. This flew COMPLETELY under my radar. Take Minecraft, pretty up the graphics, add inimitable Dragon Quest charm, and throw in a story.
The very nature of this premise biases against the inclusion of older games, because the concepts of hype and surprise were muted by the absence of an internet capable of hyping or failing to hype.
Demon's Souls: The ambitious, flawed masterpiece that laid the groundwork for probably my favorite series of all time. Doesn't play as well today, but when tasked with evaluating the Souls series based on how much I enjoyed each entry at the time of its release, I might very well put this one at the top.
Tomb Raider (2013): Despised the original (PS1) games on account of ridiculous controls. I think a more appropriate and resonant name would be Lara Croft, both because the game is largely bereft of tombs and because it's an origin story. Uncharted has better writing, but I thought this played a lot better.
Persona 3: One of my favorite games of all time. I love jrpg's, but I'd never heard of this series prior to this entry, and if somebody had told me that I'd be utterly smitten by a dungeon-crawler/highschool-simulator hybrid, I'd call them crazy.
Overwatch: An example of overhyped-but-ultimately-worthy-of-that-hype. Prerelease, this hit all the wrong notes for me. An FPS (ugh). One weapon (ugh). Heroes (redolent of MOBAness, ugh ugh ugh). Infinite ammo (wtf?). No character progression of any sort. And yet it works.
Dragon Quest Builders: Haven't had much time to play this, but holy fuck. This flew COMPLETELY under my radar. Take Minecraft, pretty up the graphics, add inimitable Dragon Quest charm, and throw in a story.
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