So gameplay doesn't matter because the plot is less than stellar? I disagree very much.

And I'm very happy that you get to be a D&D Dungeon Master, but I fail to see how that relates.
ehh, maybe. I know that the first part of the game is certainly my favorite, and after you get that dragon sword thing, the gameplay becomes pretty dragon-sword-thing-focused. But my point is that the gameplay is still very open to player interpretation. Even when there are less paths to choose from, you can still approach things in a ton of different ways.

It seems that Deus Ex is becoming the popular game to hate on now, along with Halflife.

The funny thing was that Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade - the action game, not the adventure one - was not a bad game by any account on the Sega Master System or Sega Mega Drive. The NES version was a joke.

Yes sir!

I haven't yet seen anyone overrating this game. It doesn't really belong here, as it's being bashed to hell and back on daily basis.

I tend to agree, although one could argue that the masses were giving X game an undue amount of credit by buying it. Considerable success in sales is often perceived as approval of that game. Call of Duty being a perfect example.

So while a game may have been received poorly critically, it is good and possible that the masses bought it anyway on the strength of a name. In this case it's still overrated.

Yeah, I've played it on the Amiga and I liked it. A bit. The angry videogame nerd's comments didn't apply. Coherent Indy look, available whips, no boss fight, no water rebound, etc.

By the way, I had been disappointed by the overhyped half-life when I played it. It was still a linear corridor shooter, so I don't get the fuss about the magnificent story and whatnot. It's growing on me in retrospect (it had its charm), but it's far from my favorite fpses. Same with half-life 2. I understand what is cool about it, but, I'm not hooked.

However, I really think that deus ex deserves absolutely all its praise.

(And doom3 ? It was very much hyped when it came out, because doom, because graphics and lighting, but I think that nowadays everyone agrees about how bland, dull, and inept it turned out to be...)

I've hated Deus Ex way before it was popular to do so :)

…but that would be wrong. I don't hate the game (I actually think it's excellent), I just think it does not deserve its reputation at all, and is the uncrowned king of this thread's topic. To me, "overrated game" equals "Deus Ex".

Halflife is perhaps a mite overrated, it's true. It has some areas where it doesn't do so well in. But as with many games, the key to appreciating Halflife is understanding what to be looking for, and what to expect. I think the main reason that people get so put off by the game is that they are expecting it to succeed in the same areas that a normal FPS would succeed in. And this is not the case. Halflife is an adventure game / FPS hybrid, and the focus is put on both the adventure elements and the FPS elements in equal parts. That's why it isn't one of my favorite FPSs either. I find the pacing to be a little too slow, especially when you're playing through the game again. However, I do think that it's a very unique and well put together game. The sandbox nature of the puzzles (most of them have several different solutions) is especially worth noting.

Halflife 2 is basically the same thing, although it strays a little closer to the "easy rollercoaster" style of contemporary FPSs. I think that the gunplay needed some major ball inflation, but the detail and originaliy of the world and the variety (again) of the gameplay are what make the game work. Think of it as a novel in motion, not as a typical game.

Which brings me to the story. Neither Halflife 1 or Halflife 2 had particularly original stories, but the way they were told still ranks as some of the best in videogaming. Why? Well, as I've talked about numerous times before, it's because they understood that videogames are about interaction, and videogame storytelling should use this. Almost everything about the stories has to be discovered and interpreted by the player. Its your initiative to observe the world that allows the story to be told, not cutscenes or lengthy exposition. They're perfect examples of the old rule of "show, don't tell."
Doom 3 is actually the opposite of "overrated." It gets so much hyperbolic hate throw its way that it's actually become underrated, despite being somewhat mediocre to begin with.

Not necessarily. Constantly being hit over the head by advertisements/marketing and every review saying "This is the greatest game ever!" is, to me, just hype. I'm sure some people are like Pavlov's dogs when that happens, but I would guess that doesn't apply to the majority of GOG users.

I tend to do a lot of research before buying a game, especially something newer. What the publishers and professional reviewers say I take with a grain of salt; I'm more interested in the opinions of people who have actually played something.

"Overrated" is a word used for something that gets more praise than it actually deserves. So it doesn't matter whether you let peoples' opinions and hype influence you or not... if a bunch of people are heaping praise on a title that doesn't deserve it, it's overrated by definition.

Really?

Check the Diablo forums, people hate it.

Nothing is "overrated by definition". For something to be defined as overrated, the one and only true rating itself would have to be defined.

When people use the term "overrated" or "underrated", it is a sign that they can't think for themselves, because they obviously can't criticize or praise something without being conscious of other's people opinions.

I think it's a law: the more praised something is, the more likely it will be called "overrated". I think if there was a vote somewhere on The Best Games of All TIme and for The Most Overrated Games of All TIme, the results for both would be identical.

Perhaps I should restate: Overrated is simply a word used in place of saying "such and such game has more praise than I believe it deserves upon playing it." Being influenced by the opinion of others doesn't enter into it in the slightest. Being concious of other people's opinions and commenting on their validity is hardly a bad thing.

I don't think that a discussion of a game's over/under-ratedness should ever cloud your judgement of its quality. And I agree that this is obviously something a lot of people miss. But claiming that "when people use the term "overrated" or "underrated", it is a sign that they can't think for themselves, because they obviously can't criticize or praise something without being conscious of other's people opinions" is not accurate. There's a difference between criticizing a game, and criticizing people's over enthusiastic love of a game. One is a criticism of the thing it self, the other is a criticism of the response surrounding the thing. They are seperate, and should always be seperate.

every game that Valve made ( Dota 2 and CS:GO included )
Skyrim
Minecraft