Great Games You Think People Forgot About

@tlchwi02: I actually read the novel based on The Dig when I was a kid. It was in a box of free books at the library and looked interesting. Never ended up playing the game though.

I feel like Legacy of Cain series deserves a remake at this point!

I miss having a PC to play old strategy games.

Seven Kingdom is a real-time strategy with unconventional CIV-lite mechanics. One had to convert neutral villages and hire them to work or recruit from the villages to have a militia and slowly train them to become good fighters. Villagers are happier when the village has access to multiple artisan products. I think at level 60, soldiers gain their nations' special attack. Generals were so important because they helped train soldiers faster. The espionage component was super neat too, infiltrating the enemies militia or factory and turning cloak when necessary (or even after a promotion!). I've sunk a lot of hours into this game, but barely touched the sequel later (got more complex too).

Kohan is another late 90s/early 00s real-time strategy with a hybrid economy. The best part of the game is the combat system. We build companies of units (like in Ogre Battle) selecting front-liners, 2 backlines, and 1 captain. They move as a unit and retreat as a unit. The companies exert a zone of control and when it touches an enemy zone of control, the two companies engage. The only option left is to retreat or rout. Backline units tend to be pretty strong and so are the unique captains. It's pretty fun to have a full line of companies duking it out, while trying to have free/mobile companies go for a flank and try to take out the strong backline. The player also has to tell some companies to retreat in order to heal and replace with fresher troops. The economy is based on rates of resources per second and accumulated gold. Buildings, units all have upkeeps in resources and a one-time gold cost. I loved the animated sprites in a 3/4 view. I didn't care much for the sequel's 3D models.

Master of Orion is a turn-based 4X game from the late 90s that I still play once in a while today (thanks to GOG). I think this game is the pinnacle of 4X games as it has a satisfying level of abstraction and the mechanics are simple enough and elegant. The tech tree is a marvel (for sure some tech choices really suck and others are way too good, but I guess that's part of the charm). Designing ships is fun. The artwork is great. There are multiple ways to win. This is really a game I wish Rorie would do a feature with Grubb or Dan.

Sid Meier's SimGolf was another game I sunk so much time into. If you haven't watched Ryan and Jeff play it, you should! I don't really care much about golf, but to design the courses in an abstracted way to reward the different kinds of players is very satisfying. Players are rated on distance, precision, and creativity. They also want variety throughout the course, so even just being to stand in front of a magnificent tree before the tee off is rewarded. I really want a new version of this game, because it's really hard to find a copy to play it anymore. Apparently, the IP is in limbo somewhere (maybe at EA).

This is where I always jump in and say Ring of Red. Such a unique game with super interesting combat and an engaging story. Valkyria Chronicles did a similar thing thematically, but the mechanics were different. Sad that it didn't get a sequel.

I got to thinking about Lunar and Breath of Fire today, and while I don't think those are exactly forgotten in RPG circles populated with old farts like me, they also aren't talked about in general. Not sure how I'd actually feel about Lunar if I played it today, though.

Also, did I mention Joanne D'Arc? That game definitely belongs in here somewhere.

Phantasy Star IV.

It's included with almost all the Genesis "general" collections, but I always hear people talking up 2 and 3, despite those having some REAL hurdles to wringing any enjoyment out of them in a modern context. IV has manga "cutscenes" (detailed panels with dialog over them) as well as some impressive battle animations and a more intuitive design to a lot of the menus and flow of the game (have a guide for the spells, though, as they are completely nonsensical from an outsider's gaze). But where it really shines is the story, which felt incredibly ahead of its time and still feels very modern today.

But it was $120 at retail (and that's at the time, not adjusted for inflation) and was a very late-stage Genesis game, so it got overlooked for New Shiny 3D Graphics.

Bought Bushido Blade 2 the other day and played it with my kids. It's still pretty good and hey, the kids like it.

From the text of your post it looks like you're talking about the first one, but I see from the link that you mean the second one. Which is indeed a stone cold classic.

My offering for the forum's consideration is Romance of the Three Kingdoms X. Koei's hack-and-slash Warriors games are more famous, but they put out a lot of these strategy games as well, and they're pretty great. I played VII, VIII, and X on PS2 back in the day. X had to be the best one. The unfortunate thing is that the game's on Steam but doesn't support English language. So if you don't speak Japanese or Chinese, you'd need to track down a PS2 disc or ROM in order to play it. Really wonderful game, though.