Unpopular/niche RPGs.

[Demon]

Unpopular/niche RPGs can be found on just about any game system, and if they're both unpopular and unheard of, they probably only sell a couple hundred thousands copies as opposed to the millions of a more heard of games.

I think that the majority of these unpopular/niche RPGs are pretty good games. I want to play them, however I generally don't because I'm afraid the game will involve some backstory I don't understand or will just be another faceless game - while such a game is worth a try in my opinion, it's not worth paying the same price as a more popular game over. So I save time by not playing them, but possibly miss out on a few good games due to my cynicism of not easily believing that an unpopular game might be good and worth buying.

 

[Martel]

I find RPGs like this to be the most charming, to be honest. Because they aren't hyped up to ridiculous heights, I have fewer expectations when I play them, and I'm often pleasantly surprised by how good they are.

I make my decision on a case-by-case basis. If I see a name that interests me, or I like the screenshots, then I'll look into it. I'm not as hard to please as I probably come off as - good OST is quite often enough to rope me in, because music isn't very high on the priority list of probably any developers. If a game has a good soundtrack, then it's likely they've put some effort into those more "important" things, like characters, battle system and storyline. This is just my observation, anyway.

Quite often, those RPGs that feature on Siliconera are those I'll look into. I haven't been disappointed yet by any of my purchases - it's always those "mainstream" games that disappoint me, because they're made out to be better than what they actually are.

 

[Rydia]

Okami and Fragile Tears are two uncommon RPGs that I love. I also heard that a game called 9 doors is very good. Some of the most enjoyable games are the ones that are not popular while some of the more hyped up games can disappoint me in the end. Usually I see them at Game stop, look them up on line, and if they have favorable reviews I'll buy the game to check it out.

 

[Super Choop]

The only two games I've played that fit under the category of "unpopular" (that come to mind anyway) would be Nier and Lunar Knights. Nier was basically destroyed by it's poor critical reception (Cavia even had to close up shop). Meanwhile, Lunar Knights was pretty well received, but I haven't really heard any talk of it since it's release.

 

[Pandora]

I was afraid someone would bring up Lunar before I could. Though I haven't played Lunar Knights, I have played three of the main series games, and whenever I ask any schoolmates about it, most of them have never heard of the series. One of my friends did a demo and she said she didn't like it, and I'm like, "Really?". It's an amazing game. I played Eternal Blue with my cousin when I was 8 years old, and I am currently playing through Silver Star Harmony on my PSP.People should give it a second glance, imo .
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[Gingerbread Lesbian]

Like above, Nier got nowhere near as much praise as what it should have done.

I think when it comes down to popularity and niche RPGs, like any game really, it depends on the company who develop and release it. If it's a more well known company like Bioware, EA, Bethesda etc. then it gets well advertised and it spreads through word of mouth quite quickly. Games like Nier get next to no publicity in the slightest, if it wasn't for the fact I regularly stumbled across information on Nier because Square-Enix were publishing it, I wouldn't have had a clue who Cavia were and what Nier was because the lack of publicity.

It really depends how much you're willing to pump into advertising.