PixlBit

Well, I already responded to your game stagnation blog with my appreciation for Lightning Returns, so I'll just repost it here. I also blamed fans for ruining good things, not just the developers for taking chances. To reiterate, I know that people hate this game but I enjoy the game anyway, mainly because I like the challenge of the time limit and customization of gear, weapons, magic. 

" Sometimes fans are also the problem. I’ve been playing Lightning Returns again recently and it is honestly one of my favorite games. It’s probably one of the strangest takes and less reminiscent of a traditional FF game (whatever that means), but I still think it stands pretty well on it’s own.  Looking back through all the final fantasy games, there is a lot of grinding involved before making progress. This was a trend in the 90s that hasn’t really changed with JRPGs, except with Lightning Returns.  

In LR you don’t really need to grind endlessly to level up to progress, you just need to equip costumes and magic which you find exploring the 4 main regions of the game which you can also visit very early on in the game.  You can break up the order of main story quests instead of following a straight story line campaign tube. Your combat actions are customizable and you can get very creative with swapping out combinations of weapons, magic, attacks, etc. The biggest grievance against the game is the ‘time limit’ mechanic. People mostly hate it. I for one enjoy the challenge some games offer that have a time limit. Games like Majora’s Mask, Dead Rising, and Monster Hunter.  I think because of the backlash to the game, we’ll never see anything introduced in it in other games again, which is a shame. LR was a really fresh take on JRPGs that audiences mostly rejected, and thus the genre is still stuck on endless grinding. "

I haven't played a JRPG that required regrinding since the 16 bit days, except for first person dungeon crawlers. Certainly not any of the Final Fantasies if you just want to play the main story.

I think that I have already tried to write about all the big games that I consider under-appreciated, so I will have to sit down and think of something else.
also, I have been wanting to write about something over the past week, but haven't played enough of anything to feel confident talking about...  so thank you for some potential inspiration.

I think there is a little bit of a difference between underrated games and games that you like but everyone else hates.  For instance, I think Klonoa is a highly underrated game, but I can't find hardly anyone who HATES it.

But a good example of a game that I like that eveyrone else seems to hate is Pokemon Channel.  I loved this game, and many people put it on their 'worst Pokemon game' lists, even though I can think of far worse ones, like Hey You, Pikachu! and Pokemon Dash.  I I just love the creativity of the game where all you do is watch TV with Pikachu!  

It has elements of Animal Crossing in that you can decorate your room.  It's like a classic game compiliation because you can get versions of Game & Watch style mini-games that were actually released in stores called Pokemon Mini.  The exclusive cartoon you could unlock was cute, and I just like how they made a whole game out of an early GameCube tech demo (Meowth's Party).  The whole experience just made me smile. It was like a children's activity book come to life.  That makes it also great for little kids.

I wouldn't say I adore it, but Call of Duty Ghosts is probably top 3 in the series for me. Most the hated games I like still have a huge fanbase like Mass Effect 3, but everyone seems to shit on Ghosts. Thing is, it and MW1 are the only games in the series where I remember every level and the encounters actually felt pretty well designed. The story was stupid, but I got the feeling the game was aware of this fact which helped.

I'll have to think of one that is actually hated. Usually I like something I think is hated, but later find out it really isn't, just not appreciated. Urban Chaos: Riot Responce is what always leaps to mind first. I'll have to see what people actually thought of it. It think it wasn't hated, just not noticed for anything special. Maybe I'll have to think of a better one.