The heavily photoshopped guy in my avatar comes from Suikoden V, so check that out.
Egbert! and i never even noticed =D also, seconded.
Ace Combat series has it's followers but they were never on my radar. picked them all up a year or two ago and realized i had been missing out on one of the best experiences vidya had to offer.
Bully is not hidden by any means either but it's rarely brought up anymore when talking about rockstar's catalogue. maybe because it was released as the new generation was rolling in but i'd say it's the only other rockstar game on par with san andreas.
Drakengard is easy to underestimate when you don't have Nier to look forward to. game is ugly and below average technically, but held up by a strong directorial hand. it's a wholly unique experience by an auteur who just dgaf.
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex is pretty good for a cheap tie-in game. probably hit or miss for most people but if you like the series this is worth seeking out.
Grandia II is an early jrpg ported from the dc. series never really got much attention but my memory of it is a bland, predictable story with cam clarke and the voice of the little mermaid that's just servicable enough to spice up your time between epic bossfights with one of the very best turn-based battle engines i've seen in a jrpg. suikoden 3 tried something similar but failed at it.
Kengo: Master of Bushido. "emergent" is the word used nowadays for the fun i had with this one. cheap spiritual successor to bushido blade, it's got a lot of good ideas in there executed kinda poorly and not really tied together in any meaningful way. but it's a great way to waste some time if your imagination can fill in the gaps.
Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories. i hated kh2 and one of the biggest reasons was that it seemed to expect me to know everything that happened in the un-numbered GBA spinoff. playing this in the HD remix betwen replays of 1 & 2, this is my favorite kingdom hearts by a long shot. i didn't think i'd even be able to stomach the card-system but it turned out to make for an excellent challenge. spent half a day, maybe 20+ retries to beat the final boss and still enjoyed myself.
Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction. it was a long time ago but i remember having a ton of fun with this one, carrying prisoners around under enemy fire while trying to get to en evac zone. haven't played just cause yet but it looks like a more zany version of this.
Shadow of Memories/Shadow of Destiny is a weird, linear puzzle adventure game trying to be something more. a friend handed it to me at the used games section and we pointed and laughed at the abysmally ugly cover with floating heads. then i picked it up as a joke and also; why not, it's konami. it's hard to get into but i ended up sticking with it for 100% completion and loving the twists and turns the story took. original has a shitty early 2000s dub by nobodies +Charles Martinet, psp version is supposed to be better but i'm getting kinda sick of hearing Yuri Lowenthal in every role ever.
Suikoden V is my favorite Suikoden next to the second one.
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