series black sheeps that you liked

It seems like every game series has at least one game that is widely considered the black sheep. A game in the series that didn't live up to the standard of the rest of the games, if you will. But, sometimes you like them anyway. So what are some that you like?

For me, my black sheep games that I liked anyway:
Final Fantasy X-2
Tales of Legendia

I also enjoyed FFX-2 (minus the cheerleader moments and likewise) for the most part.

Megaman Legends. Shunned by most of the franchise fandom for being too different. Yet, it was a Megaman game—but it had a plot, and colorful, well written characters! Even with development, too. Plus, the gameplay was excellent once you adapted to the controls. Not to mention a great music score.

I'm not bitter. That aside, I'll add things as I think of them.

I'd have been fine with X-2 if it weren't for the fact that it was blatantly relying on sex appeal alone to sell copies. the battle system was fine, the story was.... eh, passable, and Yuna and Rikku were never terrible characters... but putting a fifteen year old girl in an outfit that showed off her thong straps is enough to cross over to "too much" for me.

Black sheep... I love Tales of Legendia as well. I can't for the life of me see why so many tales fans hate it, except for the terrible localization that only voiced over half the game... must be because of shirley. No matter how good a game is, having a character like Shirley in it reduces its value by five points.


I love the Mana Khemia/Atelier Iris games, as well. I don't know if they count so much as black sheep as they do "games no one who isn't completely obsessed with JRPGs has ever heard of," though.

I also love the Wild Arms games, and they have a hard time getting love outside their very small fandom, even though they've survived long enough to have 5 sequels.

Yeah, Shirley really is annoying. I think the latter half of the game makes up for it, though. The character quests are awesome.

I'm going to say that I also like FFXIII, which is the new FF black sheep.

Another one is Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker. Most fans hated it on sight for being cel-shaded and probably didn't even try it, but I loved WW.

FF X-2. Probably because of the Sex Appeal. I can't think of ant others that I've played. Maybe Bully could be considered a black sheep for Rockstar, seeing as you're in a school yard, but everyone loved it, so maybe not.

The sexification of Yuna in FFX-2 was soul withering, but the rest of the game was pretty standard fair, all things considered. What made it earn my hatred was it's music. It's certainly not the worst music I've ever heard, even in a game, but it is some of the most grating and annoying, considering just how much you are forced to listen to.

Also, the game just stomped on all the rather daring themes that FFX explores (like the power of religion over the general populous) and instead opted for "Waaah! I miss Tidus so I'm going to be a pop singer/tomb raider! And use guns! Because that's what kids think is cool, right?"

Moving along; I can't really say that I've ever played a single game series long enough to have found a black sheep that I enjoyed, and the one series that I have (Castlevania), I'm in line with the majority of the fan base. So, grasping at straws here...

Silent Hill 2! There has not been another game like it in the rest of the series, and that's probably a blessing, all things considered.

CaptainYoruichi wrote:

I'm going to say that I also like FFXIII, which is the new FF black sheep.

With the exception of FF9, every final fantasy game released after 7 has been a black sheep to the Final Fantasy fanbois. XD 8 got the worst of it, back in the day... mainly for not being final fantasy 7 again. 10 got a lukewarm reception and the fans had NOTHING good to say about 12.

To be a final fantasy fan, you have to hate final fantasy.

Well, I'm not a Final Fantasy fan and I don't have anything really good to say about (the hour) I played of FF12. I endured 7 and 8, found 9's art style impossible to take seriously so I didn't play more than an hour of it, enjoyed 10, and hated X-2 and 13.

Final Fantasy 12 is a really weird game. The battle system is weird, the license board is weird. The game is just packed with a lot of bizarre design choices and assumes too much of the player.

And I take back what I said about Castlevania. There are two titles that I diverge on the fan base from. Lament of Innocence and Harmony of Despair. LoI is hated by virtue of being 3D, but I thoroughly enjoy it. It nailed the style of the series and has the best soundtrack of the bunch, in my opinion.

Harmony of Despair has caught a lot of flack for "dumbing down" Metroidvania games for the sake of multiplayer, but I really like the game. Metroidvania's generally are pretty boring games. I love Symphony of the Night, but if I want to get any enjoyment out of it, I have to impose some arbitrary limitation on myself to make things more interesting. That style of Castlevania is more concerend with it's story than and real challenge.

Harmony of Despair takes a Metroidvania Castle, breaks it into absolutely grueling, unrelenting dungeons, and puts a agonizingly hard boss at the end. It still rewards exploration with loot and traps for the boss, but it also poses a steep challenge. And I like that. It's what Metroidvania should have been all along.

It also ditches the story completely, which is a good thing, considering how increasingly silly the series has become in that department.

Final Fantasy X-2 was so bad I erased from my memory that I ever played it...

Thats aside Silent Hill 4. While it was terribly bad I still somehow enjoyed the concept with your appartment as the only save, calm place which turned into a nightmare more and more.

Also Fable 2 - man what a letdown yet I still enjoyed playing it even though you had no armor (which was my main complain cause the armors in Fable 1 just rocked).

There are probably more but I forgot ~