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Most Overrated "Underrated" Developers?

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TaroYamada said:
I used to think this and I still feel the gameplay is typically the weakest part of their games vs. their world/character crafting, but lately I've been playing quite a bit of Double Fine content and truth be told I think they do a fairly solid job in the gameplay department. I don't think their overrated because what you see folks praise most times is the wonderful art, clever writing and cool characters. Those are really cool things that separate their games from the rest of the pack. I do think Psychonauts had some very cool gameplay stuff, I really enjoyed the level where you helped fix a play; cool change of pace. The end level stunk though, left a terrible taste in my mouth.

I used the word cool too many times in this post but I'm gonna live with it.
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Way past cool!

I couldn't resist.
 
I suspect this thread will boil down to "underrated developers who specialise in excellent games that don't personally appeal to me". For instance, imagine that I'm not a huge fan of character action games, so I might list Platinum - but they're still a great developer, just not in a context that the (hypothetical!) me can comprehend.
 
My vote goes to Platinum and Treasure like many other people here. They just make honest to goodness video games that feel like they are arcady/video gamey. Not many developers nowadays can say that about themselves nor do they probably want to say about themselves. We're all concerned with story and art at this point. I'm a writer who loves literature but when I sit down to play a video game, as generic as this sounds, the gameplay matters the most.

Honorable mention goes to:
Grasshopper Manufacture
Dimps (the guys who had a huge influence on making SFIV, they also made the fantastic 2D fighter "The Rumble Fish" for the Atomiswave and PS2)
 
Gotta agree with Double Fine; can't dig the basic gameplay in most of their games. I'd say Grasshopper, but I don't think many people actually think highly of them anymore.
 
jeremy1456 said:
Around here niche games are obviously more popular than with the masses. I was just wondering what niche developers people consider to be overrated?

I would personally go with Atlus. I've only ever enjoyed Catherine and Persona 4 from them. The rest of their games I have a hard time connecting to.

I also think Falcom is terribly overrated. The best Ys games have been slightly above average at best for me.

What is everyone else's pick?
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Atlus and Falcom?

What's wrong with you!?!?!?! Those are the last ones I'd even think of mentioning. Those are UNDERRATED developers.

Atlus makes the Etrian Odyssey series and the SMT games to, which are amazing, if you only enjoy Catherine and Persona it just means you're not into those type of games.
 
I´ll say Double Fine. It's the quintessential style over substance company. And for all its 'niche' status and sometimes quirky or off the wall game subjects in terms of dumbing down mechanics they have nothing to envy most AAA studios.

Honorable mention for TellTale.

If this were a general overrated thread though, I'd just go with Naughty Dog. Let Broritos be, dammit :P
 
'Overrated' is such a terrible term. It's basically discounting the opinions of lots of other people as being worth less than your own, more perceptive view, as if only you are able to see the truth. It's just arrogant.

Why not zero in on specific games that have a cult following and argue why they are poor instead? Otherwise there isn't really any substance to the discussion, it's just about laying into smaller devs without any specific criticism.
 
I don't understand the people saying platinum. I agree that they are a BIT overrated, but the MOST overrated is, I think, pretty insane. They make very good games.
 
Grasshopper.

Produce bomb after bomb after bomb with painfully average games, but get a free pass because they are so "wacky"
 
So much bitterness against Platinum, wow.

Truly an underrated developer (IMO they're up there with the best studios in the business as far as game design, and way ahead of most "big" AAA studios), and yet some would call them overrated. They one of the studios that modern gaming really needs, but modern gamers don't really deserve.
 
Mauricio_Magus said:
Atlus and Falcom?

What's wrong with you!?!?!?! Those are the last ones I'd even think of mentioning. Those are UNDERRATED developers.

Atlus makes the Etrian Odyssey series and the SMT games to, which are amazing, if you only enjoy Catherine and Persona it just means you're not into those type of games.
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That's exactly the point of the OP, Atlus and Falcom are considered underrated, but their underrated-ness is blown out of proportion and thus overrated. It's a paradox. As I stated earlier, Falcom has never gone out of their way to localize their games (which I can understand, their script is huge), and when they do, it's only the Ys series that gets the attention. How about new IP and start bringing them westward?

As for Atlus, you may be right. Atlus is an awesome developer...for the handheld. I'm not making things up. They haven't develop a console RPG since 2008, and Persona 5 is only coming in 2015.
 
Platinum and Obsidian. I haven't played many Platinum games but all Obsidian games I've played were extremely buggy and unpolished, some to the point of unplayable.
 
george_us said:
Doublefine. They're very good at creating charming characters/universes but every single one of their games feature mediocre gameplay.
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Gxgear said:
Told myself I wasn't going to participate in throwing the hate around but this is so true. Telltale earns a spot right beside them in my books. Simple things like movement and navigating menus shouldn't be such a chore.
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linko9 said:
Gotta agree with Double Fine; can't dig the basic gameplay in most of their games. I'd say Grasshopper, but I don't think many people actually think highly of them anymore.
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As a big Double Fine fan, I don't think critics or people overrate their gameplay. All of their games are varied and in different genres, so I find it hard to paint a brush over all the gameplay in their catalogue to being "mediocre".

Psychonauts - 3D platformer.
Brutal Legend - hack and slash RTS.
Costume Quest - turn based RPG.
Trenched - mech third person shooter.
Stacking - 3D adventure game.
The Cave - 3D adventure game (most disappointing for me).
Spacebase DF-9 - space strategy game.
Broken Age - 2D point and click adventure game.

I'll agree they don't have the most complex of gameplay compared to their peers in the respective genres (Costume Quest) but I think they're refined well. Although Brutal Legend and Stacking are quite different to play compared to most games in their genres. Spacebase DF-9 can be quite demanding when you're low on resources and people are panicking or dying around you.

jimboton said:
I´ll say Double Fine. It's the quintessential style over substance company. And for all its 'niche' status and sometimes quirky or off the wall game subjects in terms of dumbing down mechanics they have nothing to envy most AAA studios.

Honorable mention for TellTale.
Click to expand...

Should flip that around if we're talking about "dumbing down mechanics". The Walking Dead or The Wolf Among Us don't even have much puzzles and have more in common with cinematic adventure games like Quantic Dream games.
 
Dark_castle said:
As I stated earlier, Falcom has never gone out of their way to localize their games (which I can understand, their script is huge), and when they do, it's only the Ys series that gets the attention. How about new IP and start bringing them westward?
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Falcom's games are published/localised by 3rd-party publishers outside of Japan, so it's really not on them that games don't get localised. You can at best, blame them for not expanding their business globally and establishing an in-house localisation them. I would love for them to expand though, a 50-man company is ridiculously small considering the size of their games and the consistency of their output.

As for new IP? And delay the completion of the Trails franchise by another 10 years?

They're about the only RPG devs in existence right now that are basically creating a 'Games of Thrones/Wheel of Time' scale of RPG, where each and every one of their Kiseki games are a multitude of individual stories set in different parts of a large continent, all interwoven and linked through a grand underlying storyline that's nowhere close to being completed even after 6 mothership titles in the past 10 years.

I would also love to see Falcom build on more new stuff, but unless they're going to basically create 3 franchises where their story will never end till 30 years later, I'd rather they focus on closing up what they've opened.
 
Ninja theory.

Even if you are talking about their strengths (Performance capture, storytelling, art design), there are any number of developers that are on a equal if not better level.

As for their gameplay chops......yeah....

Edit: To all that said platinum, I have one question.

Name one developer that makes the games they make that is better and most importantly, as consistant.

Just because you don't like their style of game doesn't mean they are overrated.

The teason platinum is rated so highly is there is no one out there that can do what they do.
 
Platinum have one good game and the person who directed it isn't even there. Platinum should be delivering much more considering the studio they used to be.
 
Messofanego said:
Should flip that around if we're talking about "dumbing down mechanics". The Walking Dead or The Wolf Among Us don't even have much puzzles and have more in common with cinematic adventure games like Quantic Dream games.
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I take it you still haven't played Broken Age then? ;)

And I agree Psychonauts was almost great, but that was ten years ago!
 
Overrated as far as game developers:
Valve

Why? Well no HL3, they recreated the same game CStrike how many times?
DOTA2 was also a recreation of DotA which was around for a long time so they haven't brought out much. L4D also had generic gameplay.

Portal is the only original thing they've brought to the table in regards to actual games in recent years, but even that game basically consists of a gimic.



Underrated, a lot of the new small indie dev teams like RageQuit, and the ones you only know by the name of the game.
 
I would say double fine, they seem to only exist on a platform help up by nostalgia for 20 year old games. I don't get how Schafer still has such a high profile, it's been 10 years since he released a game that was good, and even that was a commercial disaster.
 
I'm going to say Platinum. Not because I don't like their games but because I don't think they're god's gift to gaming. All their games I've played have had their problems: Bayonetta has some great art design and sometimes is downright awful. Also it isn't the best technically and let's not forget the PS3 version which they couldn't be even bothered to do themselves. Serves them right it was the best selling version. Metal Gear Rising and Vanquish both have some terrible level design, especially Vanquish, which could have used it's sci-fi utopia setting to much better effect.
 
AntiFacebook said:
Well,he just created 3 of the best games of all time...
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I'm no expert on the matter, but those games were released roughly 20 years ago whilst he was working at a different studio. By that logic Rare are still a AAA studio..........

Edit: Having now read the thread I realise you may speaking sarcastically
 
my pick would be Obsidian. It's always someone else's fault when it comes to the buggy mess that makes the most of their library
 
People saying Cave should be ashamed, they keep the schmup alive! (its dead I realize)

Ill say:Thatgamecompany is overrated as a "game developer". What they create are interactive pieces of beautiful art, however I feel like they do not make coherent games.

I realize I am in the .0000001% that feels this way, but it needed to be said. I own everything they have done-but not because they are fun to play-because I enjoy art (does that make sense?)
 
Nightengale said:
Falcom's games are published/localised by 3rd-party publishers outside of Japan, so it's really not on them that games don't get localised. You can at best, blame them for not expanding their business globally and establishing an in-house localisation them. I would love for them to expand though, a 50-man company is ridiculously small considering the size of their games and the consistency of their output.

As for new IP? And delay the completion of the Trails franchise by another 10 years?

They're about the only RPG devs in existence right now that are basically creating a 'Games of Thrones/Wheel of Time' scale of RPG, where each and every one of their Kiseki games are a multitude of individual stories set in different parts of a large continent, all interwoven and linked through a grand underlying storyline that's nowhere close to being completed even after 6 mothership titles in the past 10 years.

I would also love to see Falcom build on more new stuff, but unless they're going to basically create 3 franchises where their story will never end till 30 years later, I'd rather they focus on closing up what they've opened.
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You have your points, but let's face it, English speaker like us will only get to play FC and SC. I may be selfish to say this, but if all they're going to make are Japanese exclusive games (besides Ys), they might as well not exist to me.
 
Currygan said:
my pick would be Obsidian. It's always someone else's fault when it comes to the buggy mess that makes the most of their library
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New Vegas and Kotor 2 are 2 of my favourite RPG's of all time but I would agree that they should be held more accountable for their quality control. Its generally accepted that an obsidian game will have bugs and that's somehow normal now. There are massive bugs in every single game they release, I'm praying South Park will break the cycle.
 
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