Over/Under Rated Games

I did, but they were still crap actors. I never played Shenmue 1, but saw the digest thing in Shenmue 2 (the subbed PAL DC version). Compared to the original acting in Shenmue 2, it made me want to die. I also couldn't play Grandia 2 for the same reasons.

I just can't stand bad 'merkin voice actors in Japanese games, just like with anime. It's just wrong.

 

Well, I can't defend the quality of the voices, but the game mechanics were built around the Japanese langauge, which is somewhat fragmented when compared to English in the first place.

I do agree... subtitled is always better.

 

well like I said, I still love shenmue, and for the most part voice acting doesnt turn me off to a game. I even stuck through Sonic Adventure even though the corny dialog and horrible acting made it like grinding nails on a chalkboard.

 

Zilog:
Grandia 2 was the one with the _good_ dub, with the MGS cast. John Cygan's great, and Jennifer Hale is, as usual, absolutely lovely.

The horrible one you're talking about was the original Grandia on the PSX. That was HORRIBLE, yet I'm still a serious fan of the series. It was so bad, the main voice actors didn't have their names on the credits. I think I can recognise Spike Spencer (Shinji Ikari in the American DUB of Evangelion) as Justin, but I'm not sure who did that horrible dub.

Grandia X has Mark Hammill and Lisa Loebb, but she sucks as a Voice Actress.

It's one of my favourite videogame series - and I consider it seriously under-rated. Can't decide whether the first or the second is the best, though. They're both very easy and great for beginners in RPGs, though, so if you want to convert your girlfriend to being an RPG addict, these might be the option. The second one, especially.

 

*points to above post*

I prefered teh GRandia 1 dub to the Grandia 2 dub. Hell, I prefered everything about GRandia 1 to GRandia 2..... And just to round of the OT-ness....I dont think Justin was Spike Spencer.....but I havent played the game for a few years so....

 

I still don't understand why the people who did buy Shenmue hail it as a classic. To each his own, I suppose...

The Grand Theft Auto games are most certainly overrated. I played Vice City obsessively for about a week. After that I never really picked it up again. If you've played one 3D GTA game, you've played them all (with obvious exception to the 2D games, which are also identical to one another).

 

That was good? I played it for like 10 minutes and already wanted to kill myself. And it was definately Grandia 2 - it was on the DC! I thought the acting in MGS sounded quite cheesy, but it suited that style of game. Plus most the characters are supposed to be American anyway. Japanese RPGs are just too Japanese for me to appreciate English voice-acting in them.

NOOOOOOO, not Spike Spencer!!! I had to put up with the dubs of Eva and Nadesico back in the days of VHS tapes. Would those girls ever stop shouting and screaming!? I didn't know what they were saying half the time!

Sorry for ruining this thread! Back on topic:

Under-rated:

• Sim Tower (PC Win 3+)- originally a Japanese game ("Tower") - Maxis just translated it AFAIK. That would explain the ramen and soba restaurants in it...
• Battlefield 1942 - OK, it was some sort of PC Game Of The Year 2002, but no one seems to care about it any more. It doesn't seem to have stood the tests of time like Counter Strike and Quake, and BF Vietnam seemed to make it obsolete though it's very much a different game in terms of the styles of maps. Luckily there's still enough online players to have some good games!
• Toca World Touring Cars (PS) - No one seemed to care much about it thanks to GT2 coming out around the same time. But this offered proper challenging races (unlike the stupid lack of restraints in GT that can make any race too easy if you have enough money), a decent career mode, and something that GT still can't offer today - DAMAGE! Had possibly the best physics for a PS racing game, along with Colin McRae 2 (probably used the same engine). I played this game for many a day...
• Bishi Bashi Special (PS) - It got good ratings in magazines, but that didn't mean anyone bought it! I rented it when it came out - best week I ever had!

 

Detail, I'm convinced.

With all these crappy dubs you guys are talking about... I guess I should be glad my systems don't play English games.

Xerdo: How's Grandia Extreme? I heard it's a gigantic turd... nowhere near as good as the first two.

 

Underrated :

X-Com for the PS1, and if you had a mouse......fooooshizl!

 

On the topic of dubs, Sword of the Berzerk for Dreamcast is one of the best I've seen. FFX/X-2 were pretty good as well.

 

Under-rated
Any game made by Working Designs does NOT get the rating it deserves. They work so hard and everything just to be given MAYBE an 8.0.
Onimusha series
Nippon Ichi strategy games
The first final fantasy games

Over-rated
Halo 1, 2
GTA
MGS(still fun, tho!)
FF7, 8, 9, 10, 10-2, 11...any FF after ff7 basically.
Madden

 

Nowhere near as good as the first two, for sure. It's a dungeon crawler. The battle system is pretty much all there is to this game. The graphics are okay, the music is passable (the battle theme is good but nowhere near as good as Grandia II), and the voice acting is mediocre at best.

It's a good game to pick up when you have nothing to do, but then again I'm a serious fan of the series. Something about the first Grandia helped me back to the "real" world after some serious mental episodes back in 2000.

Still. XTreme is not good but not bad either. I'd give it a 6/10 rating.
Am I the only person that likes the dub in Grandia II? It is somewhat cheesy throughout, but it does get better after two or three hours of play, I think.
If you're ever gonna get this game, get the Dreamcast version. I own it on PC, DC and PS2, and while the PC version looks neat on higher end machines, it ... just feels wrong, compared to the Dreamcast one. PS2 version... that is absolute shit.

Also, Johny posted http://assemblergames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4425
that there is going to be Grandia 3. At last, I have something good to look forward to this year.

Yay

 

I love you and I hate you. I agree with you there, but now I have to buy it on Ebay thanks to you.

 

Super Puzzle Fighter II... how I love thee. My favourite block puzzler ever, massively under-rated.

 

X-Com for the PC was fantastic. I've never played it on PSX, and the wallet-raping prices prevent me from doing so.

 

More Underrated:

Project Justice
Cannon Spike

 

Another underrated one: Grabbed By the Ghoulies, Xbox.

 

Wow, FF seemed to be so ubiquitously revered that saying I actually didnt like it too (I tried) feels like coming out of the closet

Underrated:
- post-16 bit Street Fighter games
- Operation Flashpoint
- many old PC games (Wing Commander series, for instance, Journeyman Project)
- Rayman (only the 1st one though)

Overrated:
- Mortal Kombat (in its time)
- Tekken series
- Final Fantasy (all of them)
- nearly all first-party Nintendo stuff

 

Project Justice and Rival Schools were AWESOME. They sure are Under-Rated.
Pretty much everything good on Dreamcast is under-rated. It still has more good games than the Xbox, for example.

 

More from me:

Under rated:
In the states Virtua Fighter 4
Just about any 2D shooter (also in the states)
Shinobi/Kunoichi (great gameplay - hard as nails