RPG's you felt deserved better

[GawainBS]

I was thinking that there is a whole slew of RPGs out there that got overly praised without deserving it. We all know the examples.
But what about the other way around? I know of a few RPGs that were a lot better than you were let to believe, or than you would think if you read about them. Some simply didn't get any attention at all.
Ofcourse, this is fairly personal. You might have enjoyed a game more or less than someone else did.

Note: In my list, I used RPG very loosely, so let's not fret about "That's an Action-RPG, not an RPG!", etc.

Wizardry VIII: Most reviews and players complain about this game, but I found it has a tremendously deep system and a fairly original class-progression system.

Revenant: It combined very interactive combat mechanics with an original spell-casting system and a fairly good story-line. Also, the music was sweet. But since it was Jeremy Soule's music, that's no wonder.

Kult: I mentioned this in another thread already. It only appeared as a budget title in Belgium and I never heard of it before. It was some bugs, but it is strangely addicting. For a second-class game, the story is very good.

Titan Quest: While well-known, I get the feeling this game doesn't get the love it deserves. It has a plethora of class options, a detailed world, a nice feeling of traveling through the world with the little quests, and villages and people you find on your way. I liked its music as well. The whole game breathes atmosphere.

Planescape Torment: I felt I should mentions this, since it represents the pinnacle of gaming for me. It's well-known and loved by most avid RPG players, but little known outside of this niche.

This is not to say that all of these five games are the best games ever created, but that they didn't get the credit they deserved. Just wanted to stress that aspect. Over to you.

P.S.: I'm sure I forgot some.

[C-K'R[PhoEniX]]

Planescape Torment: I felt I should mentions this, since it represents the pinnacle of gaming for me. It's well-known and loved by most avid RPG players, but little known outside of this niche.

Make that double. To continue...

Gothic I & II/NoTR: Overlooked in it's time for the clunky controls and the not very aggressive marketing, this RPG made by Piranha Bytes had much to offer in terms of brilliant atmosphere built on loads of recorded speech and realistic voice casting, rather good replayability (even though it's nothing more than a choice tree branching into three roles) and skillfully crafted world with it's many secrets that feels very alive.

[Tricky]

System Shock 2. It just had the misfortune of being released around the time Halflife and a few other major titles hit the shelves. Looking at the success of the later Deus Ex, Looking Glass Studios might have still been around today. And then VtM: Bloodlines, naturally. Very sour how Activision made the game available through their download service áfter Troika went out of business.

[Lemmus]

As C-K'R said, the first two Gothic games, while a bit hard to interact with, were excellent. I especially like the fact that the game felt more medieval and less high fantasy. Wooden buildings, food animals, chopping wood, wild animals & monsters that would rather hunt each other than you, learning to pick locks from a carpenter and only being approached by the thieves' guild after you've proved your loyalty - these are the little details that bring a world to life.

DarkStone. Back in the days when every Action RPG was called a Diablo clone by default, Darkstone was the clone that showed what the game style could do. 3D graphics with over the shoulder camera, two switch-able player characters with one run by AI, slightly cartoony graphics showing off the fact that the trite storyline was intentionally campy, lots of monsters, lots of loot, lots of fun.

Arx Fatalis. In many ways it falls into the same trap as Gothic. It has a poor interface, limited inventory, and depressing environment, but the things it does right it really does right. A magic system that requires you to draw runes with the mouse is tricky, but inventive. A world that is beautifully detailed, if a bit dark, as the entire game takes place underground. Overall, hard to get used to, but enjoyable once you do.

There are also a number of budget titles, hybrids, independents, and what-not that I have found enjoyable, though I wouldn't necessarily recommend them to everyone, but are basically unknown. Dungeon crawlers like Demise - Rise of the Ku'tan, Castle of the Winds, Ragnarok, and of course Nethack. Hybrid games like Sacred, Space Rangers, and Spells of Gold. MMOGs like Horizons, which had the most amazing crafting system, NeoCron, and EVE. Games that are not really considered RPGs at all, but have enough multi-threading or character customisation that I can treat them as though they are, such as Deus Ex, the Thief series, especially Deadly Shadows, the X series of space simulator (ie. Privateer style) games, System Shock 2, and even Sierra Quest for Glory series.

[Domi_Ash]

Jade Empire.

It shines in all the aspects that I find important, ie story, dialogue and characters, but often gets overlooked because of its mechaniques. It's a shame, since imo it's a much better game in its essence than THE BioWARE Game.

Arcanum

I felt that I would have enjoyed this game, if Troika did not cheap out on the graphics side making a great game suck so badly in this department. Hells, was it so difficult to spend money on the decent character avatars?!

As for PS:T, I have to say that the constant hype that surrounds the game just irritates me. Because I feel that it does not deserve the acclaim it gets.

[C-K'R[PhoEniX]]

Nox: A brilliant mixture of humoresque characters and environment, colorful landscapes, a witty story good enough to keep you going and above all, nearly perfect gameplay. This RPG may not have the complex skill tree as Diablo; in fact, all character abilities are completely shadowed by the items and spells you acquire throughout your adventure. But that is by no means a bad thing - combat is smooth, intuitive and very addicting. Furthermore, each of the three paths to take (mage, conjurer, warrior) is a different experience than the other (there are some cross-point quests between these roles, but even they vary in flavor).

[GawainBS]

Oh, yes, Nox... That was awesome in its simplicity.
Darkstone is also a game I enjoyed. But I lost my character when getting a new PC, and I haven't got around to recreating it.

[galraen]

I agree with Wiz 8 being a good game, I ccertainly got a lot of enjoyment out of it.

The same goes for Wizards and Warriors which got slagged off for some reason, but I liked the game a lot.