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Commenter convo: The most underrated game of 2004 (Patreon)

Published:
2024-07-30 03:32:34
Edited:
2024-07-30 15:46:43
Imported:
2024-08

Content

The Besties Patreon is quiet this week. (Besties Battle Bracket: Sidekick Edition drops next Tuesday!) To pass the time, we had a question for y'all:

What's the most underrated game of 2004? 

The Suffering? The Chronicles of Riddick? Syberia 2?

Or is the most underrated game something popular that didn't get nearly the immediate cultural credit it deserved, like The Sims 2 or Tony Hawk's Underground?

Share your thoughts below!

[Edit: Original headline said, "Commenter convo: The most underrated game of 2024" lol]

Comments

ames

Sims 2 was the best Sims.

Ben Wood

Anyone heard of Animal Well? Russ should really check it out

Derek

I believe I mentioned it here before but SKALD: Against the Black Priory was a lot of fun and tapped into a level of nostalgia that I hadn't really thought about in some time. Also has a sick trailer. EDIT: Whoops the title says 2024 and the body says 2004. Well my answer is for 2024 but I stand by it. For 2004, I think I played KOTOR 2 or Sly 2 the most but I'll throw out Rome: Total War. Played sooo much of that and besides Civilization 3 it was probably my first strategy game that I actually understood what was going on.

Joseph McDonald

I know this game was semi-popular but I want to throw my hat in for Granblue Fantasy: Relink. I know it reviewed very well, but the hype was stunted by coming out at the same time as Tekken 8, Helldivers 2, and Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth. GBFR is an incredible action rpg in the Monster Hunter genre that has great music, story, and action. Sad to see it didn’t have more time in the spotlight. Although, if I’m answering this question purely in the context of the besties podcast, the most underrated game is of course, Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth 😄

Jim England

Big shout out to Sid Meier's Pirates! The sailing mechanics were top notch, and it leaned into the pirate aesthetic and tropes without feeling too cheesy or outlandish Could be worth a replay in 2024....

JD Silva

Still love Ninja Gaiden. Felt like my first step in the “difficult third person action game” genre that I enjoy so much now. Played the re-release last year and it holds up fairly well! Still super stylish, satisfying and hard as hell.

Elliott Rabbit

Katamari Damacy and Fable for me. Both were super formative in my young years and I want to go back to them soon!

Travis

I looked up a list of releases and forgot how stacked the year was. It wasn't underrated at the time, but Burnout 3 is still the best entry in the series. Damn, now I'm gonna enjoy this unexpected dose of nostalgia. Memory lane here I come!

Stephen J. Lunatic

I would say Sly 2. I definitely would have said that at the time. The Sly Cooper games had a reasonable fanbase, but they never set the world on fire. I adored them, though. I was into gaming in the '90s, but Sly is what got me really into it. That said, by today's standards, they're tutorial-heavy and a bit slow, and they don't age super well in terms of gameplay and visuals, but they'll always have a special place for me.

Stephen Taubner

I guess it depends on what circles you were in, but in hindsight N coming out in ‘04 feels huge now. Also shout out Ribbit King, second best golf game on GameCube

Thomas Dempsey
>>145050430

Feel like Katamari is pretty well esteemed; a title in a similar vein that I'd have liked to see do better is Ribbit King.

Joseph Wishin

I had a blast with Unreal Tournament 2004 (that was the one where they added vehicles, right?) but idk if that was technically underrated!

Chris Preville

I have a soft spot in my heart for the bleakness at the heart of Kotor II. Like, at best you are holding things together with duck tape by the ending, which is appropriate given how the game was released.

Tom Sullivan

Katamari Damacy! When looking at the list of games released in 2004, that was the game that leapt out to me as the top one that I would enjoy playing again today. New Katamari when?

Jackie aka Jax

Yu Yu Hakusho Tournament tactics. Though I haven't played it in years lol But I remember it being a lot of fun! Looking it up, critics do not seem to agree

mitzvahmelting

off by one year, but i found out that Nicktoons Unite still has an active fanbase with artists lovingly rendering fanart and fancomics of the characters (specifically within the universe and context of the video game, not just in the regular tv shows) . so that's a neat thing that exists in the world.

Thomas Dempsey

I played a lot of YuGiOh World Championship Tournament that year. I'm sure it'd feel clunky by today's standards, but the deck-building was pretty robust and played into the fantasy of being a character in the world of the show.

Michael B.

My wife got suuuper into My Time At Sandrock in the last few months and it seems to have a bunch of really cool aspects. Have y’all played this one?

Alexander Moralez

Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines had its problems, but playing the haunted house level at night with good headphones was incredible. Also the voice cast on that thing! Come the fuck on, Hall of Fame game

Peter LaCara

Thief: Deadly Shadows still arguably has one of the scariest levels in any video game.

Phillip Martin

Tribes: Vengeance. One of my favorite games of all time. I wish it had made more of a cultural impact than it did. "Skiing" away from the enemy team's defense with the flag in CTF, hitting a flying transport with a well-placed mortar, taking out the enemy base's generator - so many fun moments.z Didn't really hold a candle to the OG Starsiege: Tribes but I still had a great time with it.

Polish Folk Hero

The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay for me. The setting, brutal action (that neck snap) and the quiet immersive moments made for a memorable adventure. A dang shame you can’t buy it for modern hardware. Runners up Psi-Ops and Thief: Deadly Shadows. Bangers both.

Jim Redding

I somehow have vivid memories of playing Inuyasha: Secret of the Cursed Mask. Reminded me of some earlier PS1 games I really loved like Grandia and Legend of Legaia.

Aaron Amendola

My picks: - Driver 3 - DEF JAM: Fight For NY - 007: Everything Or Nothing

Uncle Dr PhilOsophy

I can't get enough of PokeRogue myself. I mean the legalities are grey, but a pokemon roguelike/lite? It's super addicting.

lmaximus88

Viewtiful Joe 2. Absolutely loved these games as a kid, they are sorely due for a modern remaster!

Christopher Floyd

Cave Story was released at the end of 2004. Underrated at the time, given no one had any idea it would one of the primary catalysts of the indie game movement.

Jim Redding

I had a sneaky great time playing couch co-op Lord of the Rings: The Third Age. Felt a lot like a RIP off of other FF titles, but with a fun storyline where you were just behind The Fellowship, cleaning up their messes or aiding them from just off screen.

Who's Jordaddy
>>145050919

The original KOTOR was a hard game to follow, but overall, this game was still great. I've put hundreds of hours into this over the years.

Patrick Riney

Assuming you guys meant 2004 that would have to go to Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines. Admittedly it has a pretty big cult following these days, but back then was relatively unheard of. So good despite all its unfinished jank.

Rory Hellekson

Red Dead Revolver. Honestly no clue if it’s underrated because I never touched the story, but it had a very fun local multiplayer mode in the vein of goldeneye

Devon Nitz

The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky ! has a wonderful cast of characters and story. Estelle is one of my favorite protagonists to this day, was a rare treat to see a woman be the MC back then. ending left a huge cliffhanger where the 2nd game takes off from which made me so glad I didn't have to wait years for. won't lie gameplay in 2024 is rough but cough mods have made it much more enjoyable for me to experience. shoutout to this game and the sequel, Trails in the Sky SC!

Jeremy Cuzzort

The original Garry's Mod came out in 2004. It had a huge influence on machinima for years and gave a home to hobbiest game modders who would go on to become game developers. The Prop Hunt game mode copied in so many other games was originally created in Gmod. Also, without Gmod we wouldn't have Skibidi Toilet.

Lou Sheridan

I don’t know if Sly Cooper 2 is actually underrated, but it was a real cornerstone of my childhood, so I gotta give it some love

Fernando Dominguez

2024? Wayfinders is my sleeper game of the year. 2004, put me down as another vote for Sid Meier’s Pirates!

Patrick Hynes

Sonic Heroes debuted in the US in 2004, and it was a game my brother and I always sat and played on rainy days! I’m not confident we ever beat it since we were 7 and 4, but I downloaded a rom years later and it’s still pretty dang fun and difficult haha

Kyle Van Son

I mean, your post already nailed it. Astro Boy: Omega Factor. Best GBA game of all time.

Ben with one N

Blinx 2: Masters of Time & Space. I played the whole thing through with a friend (it supported co-op), just a couple of Blinx boys having a good ol time.

Soeps

Killzone on PS2. That game was a graphical tour de force. Such a shame that they don't make them anymore. True, we got the Horizon series games as an alternative, but Killzone was not done as a series. It still had so much potential

David Tobin

Probably Second Sight by Free Radical (the Timesplitters team).

demonicevol

Shin Megami Tensei Digital Devil Saga came out in 2004 and it seems to have been completely swept under the rug and forgotten. It was a little weird and clunky at times but the concept was there. It was good enough to get an immediate sequel but then forgotten to the sands of time. So much fun. Had the SMT look without playing around in the worlds they typically occupy.

demonicevol

Also maybe stretching the rules a bit, because it came out in Japan in 2004 but wider release in 2005, but Phantom Dust was one of the most fun and unique games I've ever played in my life. My friends and I loved jumping in to play and watch what kind of nonsense we could create. They announced a remake years ago now and it was quietly cancelled sadly but before that I was certainly only my friends and I remembered it.

Chase Curtin

The first monster hunter game came out in 2004 to mixed reviews but became an incredibly popular franchise

Corpo_Canine
>>145052046

I was just about to post Def Jam: Fight for NY. I loved the customizable character and variety of fighting styles. It's overshadowed now, but I loved it back then.

BeerMage

I remember katamari damacy coming out and going "no way am I going to be into this rolly bally crap".....yeah I own all the iterations now

Haley

Absolutely Sly 2 for me! Still one of my all-time faves. The first one was good, but the way this one evolved with the larger worlds and playable teammates is part of what made it GREAT. I watched my partner play through it recently and it's still just as charming to this day! I loved watching them react to the fun twists and turns!

Andrew Owens

Red Dead Revolver LOTR: The Third Age X-Men: Legends

AWildBrozerker

I'd like to help champion Monster Hunter! Though the first one is by far the best one, it paved the way to a beloved franchise! It's also wild for capcom to release a game in NA to such mixed reviews and very little talk about it, to then continue to push this game for NA releases.

Nokikissa

Looking at things that released in 2004 most of the stuff I played was not really underrated in my opinion (Sly 2, Katamari Damacy...) but found one game that's weirdly special to me but never heard anyone else talking about it lol: "Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex" video game for PS2. It's gotten like middle of the ground average reviews so maybe to others it's not underrated but to me it's a very important cornerstone game in my gaming journey. When I got that game I was neck deep in my weeb phase and almost exclusively played like JRPGs, and ended up buying that game cos hey it's based on anime! But it is not a JRPG, it is a third person shooter. And I liked it. I had way more fun with it than the jrpgs I usually play, it was a breath of fresh air. And it opened my eyes to the fact that honestly I had burned myself out on jrps and had been playing them from some weird weeb stubborness. After playing this I decided to broaden my gaming horizons and got like Metal Gear Solid games and loved those, and kept on exploring more different type of games from that.

StewzyCooze

Not sure if it was actually good, or if 10 year old me thought it was good, but I sunk a ton of time into Kingdom Hearts : Chain of Memories. I remember the deck-building combat being pretty unique, and honestly pretty fun. I think I was also the right age for all the Disney crossover to be really fun and exciting.

Sunny Liu

I finally caved and played Nier Automata after years of listening to the podcast, and now I am a firm believe in #NierAutomataGOTY2024

Brian Leon

I have such fond memories of The Suffering. Not huge into horror games but this one made a lasting impression on me.

J_LED of the DEAD

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles was probably under appreciated, because it required multiple GBAs and cables to play multiplayer. It was my first introduction to games in a fantasy setting however, so it does give me the fuzzies. Love the music, aesthetics, and the weird wrinkle of having to have one person move the chalice that protects you from miasma, but still need to finish it someday. 👍✨

ThrashMTN

Boktai 2: Solar Boy Django, this series doesn’t get enough love. The solar sensor on the cartridge was a super cool feature, you had to use actual UV light to charge your in game weapons. I was working at an EB Games at the time and had a kid come in to return the game because he got super sunburnt. Awesome game

Dan Reeser

2023 game but i put it off due to negative buzz...I am really enjoying Starfield.

Jeff Good

Arctic Eggs

Bob Reed

A tie between the first Drakengard game and .hack Quarantine. Loved Drakengard for the cool weapons and comically dark story and characters. .hack is near and dear to my heart!

Matt Zimmerman

I was pretty deep into Battlefield at that time, probably still playing 1942 and the expansions... I do see Battlefield: Vietnam was 2004, so I would have played that a little, but I don't remember it taking over my life like 1942. So I guess I'm not much help.

Tanner Randall

City of Heroes was big for me. First MMORPG I got into since so many of that genre were fantasy games which wasn't my thing when I was young. This was the first one and only MMORPG I committed to. Honorable mention, Burnout 3 Takedown (but I don't really think that's underrated)

Thomas Walsh

Absolutely no idea if these games were highly rated at the time (I was 12), but I loved “Kirby and the Amazing Mirror” and “Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones”. I miss the GBA era!

Thomas Walsh
>>145078087

Wow what a story. To be a fly on the wall for that conversation between the kid and his parents. “You got sunburnt doing WHAT?!”

ThrashMTN
>>145078087

It was incredible. I was also 17 and had no empathy for anyone at the time so I thought it was hysterical. So many weird and funny game stories from that place.

Casey Francis Alger

One of the most underrated games that I've stumbled upon is Mount and Blade: Warband. At first I realized it was the perfect gameplay loop, then I realized the mechanics on top of mechanics just gets richer the deeper you get into the game when you begin to dive into vassal politics etc. On top of that, the games community is stellar and reinvigorated since it had a sequel that came out recently. So, I'd have to say that -- or Remember Me by Dontnod -- lol.

Julia Leeman

OK so these are huge nerd entries but I'm really into modern revamps of Minesweeper. 14 Minesweeper Variants 1 + 2 are great. Also, if you want to solve every possible minesweeper situation exactly once, try Bombe. Instead of solving the puzzles directly, you create rules that work in any situation. The visuals can be a little rough at first but I've been playing it non-stop, creating hundreds of rules to solve thousands of puzzles. And yes, my partner makes fun of me non-stop.

Julia Leeman
>>145100096

I've also been addicted to Harvest101, a mobile deck-building game that has chill farm vibes but also can be quite challenging.

James

Viewtiful Joe 2 almost never comes up in the conversation compared to its predecessor, despite being a better game in pretty much every way. A foundational building block in the type of character action game that would go on to define Platinum Games. Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures was the best couch co op game of the year and a truly unique and exciting Zelda game in its own right. Virtually no one played it because of the Game Boy Advance connectivity requirements.

Doctor Worm

I have very fond memories of Alien Hominid on PS2 and Dawn Of War on PC

Colton Butcher
>>145074324

LOTR: The Third Age is such a fun game! Didn’t realize it was 2004 but totally agree on it!

Colton Butcher

4 words for you: Scooby Doo: Mystery Mayhem While I think Night of a Hundred Frights is a better game, this one is just as fun. It combines my love of action-adventure games and the nostalgia of games based on existing IP. Something missing from our cultural zeitgeist now.

Joshua Lowther

Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow. The campaign was not as good as the later Chaos Theory, but the asymmetric Spies versus Mercs online multiplayer it introduced was so much fun! My friends and I played this feverishly. I wish there was a way to play it now. SO underrated.

Jake

They weren't underrated at the time but two that nobody really talk about anymore are Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy and Dragon Ball Advanced Adventure. Psi-ops was a 3rd person psychic action shooter. You could psychically pick stuff up and throw it like the gravity gun from half life, something you see in a lot of games now, but back then it was really fresh and fun. That Dragon Ball game was a 2D side scrolling beat em up that covered the Pre-Z parts of DB (which was rare) and just had some lovely graphics and was really fun.

melanee
>>145077534

I tried playing the port to Switch and it was not good but my sister and I loved that game on Gamecube—the music is so memorable, it really contributed to the atmosphere. It can be a very meditative game at times because it wasn’t terribly noisy (one of the main reasons the port was so bad, they added voiceovers and a lot of extra menu sounds, just awful)

Dan Brown

I can't really speak to the reception it got at the time, I was 11, but Burnout 3's crash mini game is the most fun I've ever had in a game and I'm sad we don't really see that kind of thing anymore. Unless you play something like BeamNG which not everyone has access to, I recommend just watching Car Boys with Nick and Griffin on YouTube!!! PS If you don't already plan on talking about it in the show I have really loved playing Bō: Path of the Teal Lotus

c00l-guy

Feel The Magic XY/XX for the DS I haven't heard anyone mention this title since 2004, but I remember playing it for the brand new DS handheld & thinking this was going to be a more mature era for Nintendo (nevermind what a completely silly game Feel the Magic was...)

Rory Hellekson
>>145103592

One of the first games I played with that wasn’t ip churn. I have SUCH vivid memories of the art style and voice acting. Great pick

Grant Cameron

Another off topic thing.. but I, like Plante cannot stop going on about 1000X Resist. The other besties are so dismissive of it, when it's probably one of the best narrative led stories in the medium. It's truly impressive and wish people would not sleep on it. Anyway 2004, drakengard and front mission 4. Not the best front mission, but still excellent and no one really talks about the series much.

Raneff Winters
>>145077534

I had a dedicated group of people in high school who would get together after school and play FF:CC. We did it for months, it is still the best co-op experience I think I've ever had.

Raneff Winters
>>145077534

Shadow Hearts: Covenant! The wheel in combat, the insane dipping into world mythologies, I loved it.

Harrison Stanley

I mean it's gotta go to my boy Viewtiful Joe. What a wild game that showed off the hardware with Flare and style, Love a game that doubles down on a Sick art style

Scott D. Forsyth

Sly 2: Band of Thieves. Sure, it got follow-up sequels and a canceled movie, but Sly 2 cemented the best of what the franchise could do: balancing comedy and drama while constantly keeping things interesting for the player. It’s the peak of the franchise

TyRyanArt

In 2004, I played the handheld version of the Urbz: Sims in the City, and haven't been able to find a game like it since. It has plenty of issues. Being a sims game, you are constantly interrupted because your Sim needs to sleep, eat, sit, etc. But what it achieves is a non-combat adventure game with some wonderfully wacky writing, memorable characters, and a stellar soundtrack by Ian Stocker. You of course have plenty of life sim games like Animal Crossing and Stardew Valley. The Urbz leans more towards "adventure" than ironically "Sim". You get into a fiddle duel in a swamp, heal vampires, and work to usurp a billionaire.

Patrick Hightower

Def Jam: Fight for NY. My friends and I spent so many hours with this fighter in college. Was it a great game? Maybe not, but it was so much fun and totally insane.

Patrick Hightower
>>145052046

So many great fights with my friends in college in Def Jam. Busta Rhymes vs. Redman? Don't mind if I do.

Ryan Giglio

I played Baulder’s Gate: Dark Alliance 2 more than just about anything else that year for sure. With Baulder’s Gate 3 having been such a hit maybe one day I’ll get a DA2 remake!

Nathanial Swayze

Unreal tournament 2004. Played that for years and years adding mods and skins. I loved that game.

Chris W

Tak 2: the Staff of Dreams obviously. Actually I haven’t played it since it released, so who knows how trustworthy 2004 me is

Jake

The Nightmare Before Christmas Oogie's Revenge. It's A Nightmare Before Christmas Devil May Cry game. The bosses have musical numbers, Jack has different costumes with different abilities... It's good! (maybe lol, haven't played it in a really long time and also technically it didn't come out in the US until 2005 but somebody else said Trails in the Sky so I'm cheating a little too)

Raneff Winters
>>145051844

Have you hit up the new Tribes yet? I've been playing with some of my old team and it's pretty special.

Majima Cookie
>>145228954

they re-released them on pc recently, though for THIRTY BUCKS each which is kinda steep

Zach Brink

Tales of Symphonia's 4-player couch co-op on the Gamecube (NA GCN release in 2004) was a revelation at the time. Had a hoot sinking weekends into that bonkers game with my buds.

Jerrod Schwarz

Custom Robo! Massively underrated game with a battling system that hasn’t really been replicated (that I know of). I can absolutely see Chris becoming feral about this game; it’s armored core for people who like Beyblades.

Brandon Wood

Dude, that was 20 years ago. The only thing which comes to mind is playing Devil May Cry while listening to speed metal. That game was like sugar

BucklingSwashes

Second Sight released on consoles in 2004. This was Free Radical's first attempt at a new IP after Timesplitters, and I guess the best description I can give it is: 3rd person stealth action with mind powers.

ThanaThots

An entire series that I think is criminally underrated is Megaman Battle Network. The 5th game came out in 2004, but the whole series has such fun and unique gameplay. The story is a pretty generic kids rpg, along the lines of Pokémon games, but the gameplay almost makes the series its own genre. It’s a deckbuilder, where you choose your abilities each round from your deck, and then fight a real time battle where you and the enemy each move around freely on a 3x3 grid until the round ends. It’s such a fun system that few games have ever tried to replicate. Definitely my favorite games to play from the GBA era.

Tyler N Capeta
>>145318434

I had no idea tales of symphonia had 4 player co op! I’ll have to check that out.

Jacob Vosper

The Suffering was a 2000’s-level-cool horror action game. It was gritty, creepy, and very fun.

Rollin With It

Lord of the Rings : The Third Age is basically FFX with characters who basically follow just behind the movie’s plot the whole time and takes part in a lot of the same events with movie clips throughout that rules as a Tolkien rpg despite characters that are clearly based off of the main party.

TheBunk

Sekiro is the most underrated game every year.

16-Xray

Scooby doo: Mystery Mayhem. Was it fun? Sorta. Was it underrated? No. Was it rented from Hollywood Video and never returned? Yes.

16-Xray
>>145606688

It was the first time my boomer Tolkein nerd dad sat down to watch me play a video game with genuine interest

kid_inkarus

My brothers and I still talk about Skull Monkeys for PSX to this day. Claymation looked amazing, music was great and game play and as super fun. Might be underrated or might be nostalgia but still love that game.

SlimLeaper

Zero Mission is highly praised but I think it deserves more credit. I've played every 2D Metroid and this might be my favorite.

SlimLeaper

James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing was the best Bond since GoldenEye and the best 3rd person Bond game ever made...and it just freaking rules

Jake's Wife's Boyfriend

This is specifically for Chris Plante: As an avid lover of the genre and this one specific sports video game, would you consider CFB25 to be a JRPG?

Dan Brown

Def Jam Fight for NY. It may not even be close to the best fighting game but it is absolutely wild. The huge cast of real life characters voiced by the artists, you just won't see something like that again.

Dan Brown

I still hoping beyond hope I see the return of TimeSplitters in my lifetime (and that it doesn't suck). Would have so much fun in split screen death match and getting to build your own maps.