Hyped games you played years later that still lived up to the hype

[AllfatherStarr]

After trying to think of a non-obvious choice ( I pretty much played all SNES/PSX classics after 2005) it would be Panzer Dragoon Saga. Saturn used to be a nightmare to emulate ( not sure how easy or difficult it is now) but the game delivers on every front. For a 30-40 hr JRPG to have a combat system that stays exciting till the end is a huge deal. The story and world building is great too. Sadly, due to the source code being destroyed , the chances of the game ever getting remastered is very slim.