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[Grenseal]

Have you ever played a popular or acclaimed game that you missed the first time around, that everyone says was overhyped and not worth the heaps of praise it gets, only to discover that……the praise is totally justified? You've got no nostalgia for it, no rose-colored glasses, just a new perspective that completely validates a game's high pedigree?

I do. I played Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne about two decades after it was released and really enjoyed the gameplay and environments. Thought it really did deserve the praise it got. Before Nocturne, I had previously played through Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers, Strange Journey, SMT4, and Apocalypse and still consider Nocturne superior to them all.

Anyone have a similar story?

 

[HRK69]

The Persona games

 

[intbal]

Arkham Asylum.
I was about six years late to that one.

 

[Guilty_AI]

Doom, Heretic, Deus Ex, Turok, etc.

 

[FinalBossWithTheMostPower]

Elden Ring. The Thread.

 

[German Shocks]

Final Fantasy VI.

 

[vodka-bull]

Red Dead Redemption 2. It also made me realize that, sometimes, the common opinion on Gaf is just wrong.

 

[Polaris]

Me, after playing this masterpiece for the first time a couple of years ago:

 

[Hadoukens]

Star Control 2.

The game's name changed to The Ur-Quan Masters.

Oddly enough, that developer Toys for Bob made Crash 4 now.
Totally weird.

 

[Plague Doctor]

Red Dead Redemption 1 .... if only for the Zombie DLC alone

Dishonored

American McGee's Alice and Alice Madness Returns

 

[Here]

No one praises it but Yggdra Union. One of the most unique battle system around.

Grenseal Also share your sentiment regarding Nocturne. I played the original for the first time when the recent rerelease happened and I loved it. Great atmosphere and some really challenging parts (enjoyably so).

But fuck this guy.

 

[GooseMan69]

I didn't play the original RE4 until years after it came out. I discovered that it was the father of over the shoulder action games for good reason, and still hasn't been surpassed (not even by its own remake).

 

[DownLikeBCPowder]

The earliest Assassin's Creed games. Couple years back I ran through the first four games in a row and just absolutely had a blast from beginning to end.

 

[KàIRóS]

Legacy of Kain, never played them back in the day, been enjoying them this year.

 

[March Climber]

Spoiler

The fact that the game's themes and deeper messaging ended up being just as, if not more prophetic than MGS 2, is just the chef's kiss/icing on the cake

 

[DarkLordOtaku]

Baldur's Gate 3, Elden Ring, Expedition 33.

 

[DarkLordOtaku]

Lol, I literally just beat this today. RAIDEN!!!!!!!!!

 

[Guilty_AI]

why are people mentioning games released less than 5 years ago

 

[KyoZz]

RDR II, Mass Effect, Portal 1 & 2, BG3, both Ori games etc...

 

[poodaddy]

I couldn't disagree more on Nocturne OP. I just beat it about a month ago, and while I loved it, I absolutely abhored much of the design decisions throughout and consider IV to be superior in every regard imaginable and V to be superior in most regards. I did still love it because I loved the general vibe and story, and it has a deliciously oppressive atmosphere, but much of the labyrinthine designs are what I would call simply asshole level design, and it wastes your time arbitrarily. Take out all the arbitrary dead ends and traps and you cut the game's length down by about 70-80% guaranteed and it'd be better for it, which they clearly realized as IV and V dump all that junk, but unfortunately V dips into shameful weaboo territory, which this series should be above. IV is the perfect SMT, it's everything the series can and should be....we don't talk about Apocalypse though, less said there the better.

IV deserves a modern port, but I doubt we'll get it unfortunately. I should play through it again at some point here soon....damn I wish there was more time in life.

 

[L*][*N*K]

The PS1 Resident Evil games, almost every Zelda title, and I first played Dark Souls 1 in 2016 and I was blown away so there is that

 

[Danjin44]

Most recently Trails game.

I never got the opportunity to start this series despite how much people praising the games but 1st Chapter I finally could jump in and it was fucking GOOOD!

 

[GateofD]

Super Metroid
Earthbound
Chrono Trigger

play them like 20 year after their fame (Chrono Trigger about 5-6 years) and was like "wow. these are actually really good"

 

[bender]

Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight

why are people mentioning games released less than 5 years ago

 

[Comandr]

Super Metroid
Earthbound
Chrono Trigger

play them like 20 year after their fame (Chrono Trigger about 5-6 years) and was like "wow. these are actually really good"

Came to post these. Also Super Mario RPG. Genuinely fun battles with the timed hits and blocks, great characters, super sharp writing and humor. Actually prefer it to the remake.

 

[Hoddi]

I went through a retro period (and bought a CRT) during the COVID lockdowns in 2020 and played through Chrono Trigger, Rondo of Blood, and Super Metroid for the first time. All three deserve 100% of the praise that people give them.

I had also never played Zelda Minish Cap or any of the MGS games which are all still fantastic. I also liked Kingdom Hearts 1 and Final Fantasy X a lot though I didn't end up playing more of those series.

 

[YCoCg]

Final Fight
Streets of Rage 2
Gunstar Heroes
X-Men Arcade

Infact a lot of 90s arcade stuff is still highly enjoyable even though I've only played more obscure stuff in recent years.

 

[sympathytaste]

I never grew up with N64 and PS2 era so every single classic game of this era that I enjoyed had nothing to do with nostalgia—good games are good games. Time cannot retrospectively make something terrible.

 

[Cert.in.Death]

MGS is up there for me. Didn't play it until many years after the fact, game is masterfully crafted.

As well: Quake and Quake II. Replaying them again now for the first time in years and by God I understand why GabeN dropped everything and was driven to make Half Life.

 

[Gp1]

Dark Souls

Quake 1 (best remaster ever)

 

[simpatico]

A lot less retro, but very highly lauded and possibly modern classics.

Always heard good things and never played them until very recently. Dismissed them even. Got into Hades a couple months ago and I'm hooked on Subnautica right this very second. Certainly new types of games for me to classify so highly, but I'm becoming more open minded to these genres.