Overrated:
LoZ: Skyward Sword - Aggressively mediocre in both gameplay and story, with only a massive amount of polish to redeem it. I understand why people like it, but it's far from great, and very much overrated.
Final Fantasy VIII/8 - Terribly designed, wretchedly paced, and an overall dumb story. The characters are hollow and dumb, and worst of all, it's boring. It's not all bad, but it's not worth the praise it gets.
Kingdom Hearts 1/2 - These games surprised me with their depth, but the story is such an wretched, impenetrable quagmire it's virtually put me off replaying them entirely.
Final Fantasy XIII - Some of the worst writing I've ever seen, period, and mechanics that are hard to grasp, and easy to master. Add to that an almost complete lack of player input, and a needlessly complex weapon-upgrade system, and you have a game that is almost all polish, no substance.
Underrated:
Halo 3: ODST - A very satisfying diversion from the main series, with a surprisingly well-constructed story. Also, Firefight.
Final Fantasy IX/9 - If not underrated, certainly under-appreciated. The story was one of the best in the series, but is often overlooked.
Knights of the Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords - Yes, it's buggy, and unfinished, and surprisingly short. And it's still an improvement over the original in almost every way. I recently re-played it with the Rebuild Mod, and it was even better.
Psychonauts - Seriously, this game is great. It kinda tapers off at the end, but it had some truly novel puzzles and some really clever writing.
Gun - It's small, and not all that deep, but it's very well-constructed, and most of all, fun.
I believe in honesty, civility, generosity, practicality, and impartiality.
