Must Own PS2 Games, or how many middling JRPGs can you suggest?
 

So it's nearing the end of its lifespan, but there's still a few of us out there without a next-gen system. What games should we try to pick up from Gamestop during its current buy 2 get 1 free sale that we don't already own?

If possible, give a little bit of a genre categorization for the games you'd like to recommend (and don't worry about recommending games that other people already have, the more votes something gets the more likely I am to go out and give it a shot).

Well I have no idea what games you have or don't have, but I'll throw out some general suggestions:

Final Fantasy X - RPG - The game is perhaps too linear for most, but the above average voice acting, battle system which allow the player to take as much time as needed to plan their attacks in long or short engagements, a graphically vibrant landscape of the game's world, and enjoyable music all give this title a worthy look. Not very replayable, but that hasn't stopped some from replaying to improve their team from the get-go or have self-imposed challenges. The end-game and optional side-quests breathe a few extra hours into the game, and if you're up to the challenge, you can collect each character's ultimate attacks and weapons, which not only help out in battle, but are good for bragging. Some of the tasks to reach these ultimate rewards will require a (perhaps) frustrating amount of investment.

Second Option: If the typical Square-Enix trappings turn you off, try checking out Tales of the Abyss or Tales of Symphonia (Much easier to find on the Gamecube though) as a substitute.

Zone of the Enders: The Second Runner - Action - The first game, as mentioned by someone here, was like an extended Prologue. Zone of the Enders 2 places the player in charge of a giant robot, which has plenty of short range and long range attacks, the player is constantly engaged in battles with other giant Orbital Frames, some unmanned, and others in the hands of sometimes brutally capable pilots (Depending on your difficulty level). A multiplayer mode is also available, but feels under-developed compared to the single-player campaign, but should provide good short bursts of entertainment or bragging rights. The brisk pace of the game and restrictive environments (lack of exploration) may turn off some, as well as the somewhat disjointed story-line which is at times, hard to follow.

Second Option: Technically you could try out the first game if you really wanted to get the full-story, but I wouldn't recommend it. The game's setting and 'characters' are fairly unique and you would have to look in other consoles to find anything similar.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time / The Two Thrones - 3rd Person Adventure - I put these two together because either title stands on its own. The latter is actually the third title in a trilogy of games, but the second in the series should be avoided. The main attraction of either game is the ability to 'undo' mistakes through the used of 'The Sands of Time', which is acquired in the first game, and still used in the third. The game's feel and controls could be compared to a Tomb Raider game, but there's a stronger emphasis on fighting opponents through Sword-play, and light-touched puzzle elements, often-times using the Sands of time for the mechanics of such.

Second Option: The God of War series focuses on Greek Mythology, but has many of the same gameplay elements. GoW has a distinctive and stronger focus on combat, but the puzzle design isn't as inspired.

Devil May Cry - 3rd Person Action - You play as a Demon-hunter named Dante, who hunts for the legendary fighter Sparda in a variety of locations, including an underground sewer, a haunted castle, an evil forest, and so forth. The gameplay is simple, you have a pair of twin guns with infinite ammo and a large sword, but both weapons become expanded upon in its options as the game progresses. The story-line is predictable and nothing remarkable, but doesn't bog you down in hours of cutscenes either. Its there to provide a framework around the action, and it does its job fine in that respect. This is definitely the game to just pick-up, start killing demons, and let loose some frustration. The difficulty however can be unrelenting if you get high enough, but the rewards are for some, worth it. This relatively early PS2 title is still fun even in 2008, and is a great showing by Capcom.

Second Option: A whole mini-genre of action games followed in the game's wake, so there are several options for what you might want to pick up. The second game in the series, much like the PoP Title, is to be avoided at all costs. The third game in the series is chronologically the first title, as it takes place earlier in time, with Dante being younger, cockier, and less experienced, but has a larger cache of fighting styles and other surprises.

I'll stop here for now.

ICO - The best playstation 2 game ever. Period. A near-perfect fairytale of mystery, atmosphere, deep melacholy and enchanting warmth. A 3D platform puzzler of sorts, you follow two cursed children in their struggle to escape a massive, abandoned, haunted castle, unable to understand each other's language, yet drawn together by fate and growing companioship. A beautifully built title to charm and move you, it's certainly not for everyone, but if you are an experience gamer, this is the gem to go through.

Shadow of the Colossus - Another distressingly beautiful and melancholic experience from the same team as ICO, this tells the tragedy of a giant slayer driven to travel a forbidden land in a bid to bring back a loved one to life. Minimalistic in cutscenes or plot twists; like ICO, it tells its story through your actions and travels, rather than dialogue or other usual non-interactive story devices. Breathtaking battles with massive creatures involved, but it's not a title for surface gamers.

Okami - If you're a poorfag and never owned a Nintendo machine or otherwise never played a Zelda game but always wanted to, Okami is the closest thing you can get on a Sony console. Instead of being a cheap clone, Okami borrows the best parts and mixes it up to form a wonderful whole that is very much its own game and experience. Very long and rich, impeccable in presentation and design.

One of THE most beautiful games ever deviced, the aesthetics of the title are so well done even most of its fans don't quite realize how perfect they are. The idea of old japanese drawings come to life to tell an epic tale of ancient gods and adventure is emphasized through every minute detail, from the bold cel shaded brush outlines to the wonderful little paper filter acting as the rough surface of the paper the story is drawn on.

REZ - Tetsuya Mizuguchi's audio masterpiece. A wonderful on-rails shooter in Panzer Dragoon style, combined with excellent electronica soundtrack and Kandinsky inspired trippy visuals, Rez is a beautiful triumph of the interactive entertainment form.

Final Fantasy XII - Controversial for many, FFXII stands as one of the best RPGs of our generation. Rich and beautifully designed, its revised battle system with gambits and lack of random encouters will enchant and infuriate alike. I felt the system was welcoming and thoughtfully designed, providing flexibility and freedom, while just as many probably balked at the deviations from the norm and old standards. Some bemoaned an apparent lack of story while many felt it was simply written different (hint, there is very much a story). Play it and see for yourself, it didn't win EDGE magazine's game of the year award for nothing~

Gradius V - One of the best 2D scrolling shooters ever. Treasure succesfully updates a classic series with a stunning entry, filled with magnificent setpieces, music and tight, tight controls. DESTROY THE CORE.

Kingdom Hearts & Kingdom Hearts 2 - Action RPG- Everyone I know that's a fan of Disney or Square has loved the KH series. They are some of the best games I've ever played. They are epic, fun, and have great music. Although I'm not sure there are many people out there that haven't at least tried them yet.

Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 2, Blood Omen & Defiance - Action Adventure- If you like vampires and cool plot twists then you'll love these games. You don't NEED to play the originals (Blood Omen & Sould Reaver) on the PS1 to enjoy them, although it will help to understand the story a bit more. You must also be okay with the possibility that there might not be anymore sequals, as you may not be satisfied with the way they left everything in Defiance.

Jak Trilogy - Action Platformer - One of the best series the PS2 has to offer. The first game is just freaking beautiful and smooth in the graphics and it's a large open world where you go around and search for things to help you go further. The second and third games have a world that's more GTA based and adds weapons into the gameplay, but the platforming is still there. Definitely a must buy for anyone who's a platforming fan.

Dragon Ball Z Budokai 3 - Action Fighting - Before it broke off into full scale 3D fighting with the Tenkaichi series, Budokai 3 combined the best elements of the first two Budokais and added much more. With over 60 characters to choose from, multiple paths you can take to end certain characters' story modes (and you have to in order to unlock certain characters), and the music is just kick ass. The only downside to this is you're probably only going to buy this game if you're a DBZ fan, but it's the best of the Budokai series.

Kingdom Hearts & Kingdom Hearts 2 - Action RPG - Agreed with Tankalex above, this series is just great. Running around and going back to famous Disney worlds (good or bad, you decide) in search of your friends is actually pretty fun. The battle system is pretty cool too, I've actually taken quite a liking to it. The battles also add more of a serious tone to some of these worlds, plus there's fan service to some of your favorite Final Fantasy characters in these games (7, 8, 10, and I think one guy from 6...I'm not sure if that's where Setzer came from). The story is deep and the music is just beautiful! Honestly, I think this RPG series got better treatment on the PS2 than Final Fantasy itself.

Metal Gear Solid: The Essential Collection and Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence - Action Adventure - If you've never bought any of the Metal Gear Solid games before, this is definitely a must buy. This compilation alone has the first three MGS games and it's only $30 for a new copy! All of the MGS games have interesting plots, incredible gameplay, and great music. Also, the version of MGS 2 that is included in here is the Director's Cut games, meaning MGS2: Substance (contains VR missions, Snake Tales, and a Snake Skateboarding mini game).

I'm actually surprised that they didn't include MGS3: Subsistence in this set, because that 2nd disc had a lot of content including the first two Metal Gear games that started it all from the MSX systems: Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. I'd recommend finding Subsistence separately because those two games alone are just classic.

Well I guess i'll come out and say it..

Ace Combat - Granted, a lot of people here have played it, but im sure a good chunk haven't. It's definitely one of the interesting series out there. Despite it just being an arcade simulation dogfighting game, it had an engrossing world that started in Ace Combat 2, and became a world with politics, issues regarding nuclear arms, and the questions of how destructive wars can be to even a single person.

I'd second this and recommend Tenkaichi 3 as well. At least for any DBZ fan. Both games are much more fun then the next gen game Burst Limit. While Bukokai was a fighting game, Tenkaichi felt more like the game mechanics were made purely with DBZ in mind.

I'd also like to add Disgaea to the list. While not their first game, it's the game that put Nippon Ichi on the map. A very creative, fun, strategy rpg and while the graphics resemble the tactics games it has a style of it's own in the gameplay department.

Shin Megami Tensei 3 - Hands down, the best RPG on the PS2. If anyone tells you otherwise you can feel free to slap them, their mother, their sister, or their brother. The game is extremely well balanced and constantly rewards the player for their time investment, rather than merely advancing the player toward one bland end game. Extremely customizable, a decent difficulty, and several systems that allow players to customize and control their experience without feeling cumbersome.

Combat utilizes the press turn system, preventing this game from becoming a "press A to advance" affair for the lazy.

Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter - Contesting the number 1 RPG spot of the RPG above (Oh, I guess it's not hands down?), Dragon Quarter is a post apocalyptic adventure, set below the surface of the earth. The game involves reaching the surface with the Dragon Powers of the series making their eventual return... with a twist. As you gain those powers, they begin to kill you. Each step you take and use of those Dragon Powers will accelerate you toward an inevitable death (or a trip to Gamefaqs).

Introducing the Scenario Overlay system (and not sucking at implementing it like a certain Dead Rising zombie game I guess I'm not being subtle), the game allows the player to break it quite easily straight out of the box, at least once they understand what it entails. The game's combat is a turn based, strategy RPG affair, with players utilizing AP to move throughout the playing field and then commit to various attacks depending on what AP is left. Very deep and will also not allow the lazy to commit to a "press the A Button to advance" affair. At least not until they understand and then break the game.

High replay value, worth coming back to time and again.

God Hand - It's a game about punching people and it's very hard. If you need anything more than this, you're a woman and should probably go play Okami.

R-Type Final - While not as tight of a game experience as Gradius V, R-Type Final deserves to be owned for the massive amount of customization available to the player. Over 100 ships, capable of being fitted with various Wave Cannons, Forces, Bits, and Missiles from games throughout Irem's Arcade history. With many ships being tributes to other games Irem has made, each playthrough can be drastically different from your last.

Rotor, do you mean Persona 3? Or Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne?

If you're creative at all, I'd suggest Graffiti Kingdom. It's a platformer/action game with the extra feature of being able to draw your own "monsters" to use to fight, customizing the way they move, their weapons, and pretty much everything about them. The tool is surprisingly robust for creation, so if you're creative at all it's GREAT fun to mess around with creating cool monsters.

^
Shin Megami Tensei 3 is Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne.
Basically a turn based RPG where you can recruit demons and fuse them to make new ones. Basically retards have called this a mature and significantly "darker" version of Pokemon. However, the gameplay is far more entertaining as it requires a bit more strategy regarding the turn based system. When exploiting the enemy's weakness you are able to get an extra attack, visa versa with the enemy attacking you. Overall, it was the best RPG for the ps2 for me.

Persona 3 is otherwise known as Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3. I believe
This was also another entertaining RPG title (though not quite as good as Nocturne). It was most known as the "Game where you shoot yourself in the head." Again, the battle system is turn based and you are also able to exploit the enemy's weakness to get an extra turn. People have claimed that this is a "Dating Sim" and "Dungeon Crawlers" which is somewhat accurate. You live out life day by day as a student by day and building relationships with a number of characters. By night, you go dungeon crawling to level up your "Persona." Likewise, you are able to fuse "Personas" and recruit new ones in the dungeon. Also by developing relationships during the day, you can boost up your Persona's strength. You can't go wrong with this one as it was only $20 for Persona 3 FES (an expanded version of Persona 3 that was released afterwards).

Both are highly notable games.
In fact I would go to recommend anything that the Atlus Shin Megami Tensei team has done.

Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter is fucking $7.99 at GameStop now. Seven dollars and ninety-nine cents. For God's sake, if you haven't picked it up yet, do so. I'm seriously considering buying a backup copy when it's that damn cheap.

I was there yesterday and found a fair few decent games in the PS2 bargain bin, in case people don't really want to fork over more than a couple 10s for some stuff.

Suikoden IV - $9.99
Suikoden Tactics - $9.99
Shinobi - $7.99
Mega Man X: Command Mission - $7.99
Romance of the Three Kingdoms VIII - $9.99

I know, people bitch about the quality of most of these games, but I say they're totally worth it for 10 bucks or less.

Dragon Quarter for 8 bucks is a goddamn steal. Excellent game, relatively simple story but the atmosphere is superb, the journey and ending especially are haunting. And then you play it all over again~

I'm loving the in-depth reviews, but listings like what GB is also fine at the end of a post just to give me an idea of a list of good games. Like, a long time ago EVERYONE was gushing over Star Ocean 3, but then it disappeared and everyone says it sucks now (roughly the same with Rogue Galaxy).

I'm mostly curious as to which games were fantastic when they came out, and when you look back on them now you still think they were solid games the whole way through. So, like, secondary recommendations can just go as a list at the end of your post or something.

Take note that these people are retarded because Shin Megami Tensei predates Pokemon.

((Edit: Not worth your time, Pang?))

Okami - Action Platformer - My favorite game on the PS2 without question. Okami is, not only one of the most stylish games on the PS2, but also one of the best looking. The simplistic yet atmospheric build of every set in this game was the perfect cover for a relatively complex combat system that used a brush-stroke mechanic that would have been very easy for almost any developer to fuck up miserably. Luckily, Clover Studios was up to the challenge and delivered what I consider to be the crowning jewel of the PS2.

God of War - Action Platformer - God of War was heavily hyped prior to its release and showed every sign of being an utter critical failure but when I played a demo of it I was utterly in shock at how good the game was. It was bloody, it was gory, over the top and appallingly violent. As it just so happens it had a phenomenal story about a man at his sanity's end and with nothing left to lose who had the means and the motive to, not only go down in flames, but take A GOD with him. Beautiful, beautiful game and one I've played several times just because it's fun to eviscerate the minions of Ares one bloody chain strike at a time.

Guitar Hero & Guitar Hero II - Music Simulator / ROCK MACHINE - Guitar Hero was basically a grand-slam from a rookie. It came out of nowhere, not everybody knew its developer (Harmonix) even though they'd already made a damn good music/rhythm game (Frequency) before, and it came with a miniature guitar to play notes on. But, man, when you strapped on that guitar and fired up the opening riffs of Joan Jett's "I Love Rock N Roll" and 8 hours later you were having trouble flinging the notest to that ungodly solo in Ozzy Osbourne's "Bark At The Moon", you KNEW you were in for something special. You could now gather a conclave of your closest friends and rock out until the sun came up and actually feel fucking great doing it. The sequel improved the original in almost every way except for the soundtrack; I consider the Guitar Hero song selection to be the single greatest licensed soundtrack of all time. If only they could all be like this.

Resident Evil 4 - Survival Horror - Yes, I understand that there's a "better" version of this game on the Gamecube. Yes I am comfortable with that. Yes, you SHOULD own this game on the PS2 because it's a frightening and madly driven game with gameplay that emphasizes action over evasion and handles it with the urgency of, well, a man on a mission with an army of homocidal lunatic Spaniards nipping at his heels. Probably one of the best games ever to come to the PS2.

Odin Sphere - 2-D Platformer / RPG - No, I don't give a flying fuck if Rotor thinks this game is for ninnies who still haven't had their first period, Odin Sphere is one of the best looking games on the PS2 and it's fun as hell to play. Its presentation is really unlike anything that's been seen in other games before, although its presentation also presents one of the games flaws. Since this game is told through "chapters" in a book each stage really represents a chapter. Since each level must load before you go into every battle you have these intense and epic battles with scads of enemies or a supernaturally large boss that's just so fluid in attack, movement and panache that it almost feels like coming off a high when you sit there for 20-30 seconds for the next "chapter" to load. It's still a great game and I'm pretty sure you can pick it up at GameStop for around $15-$20.

Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War - Flight Simulator - Just go out and buy it. Don't ask questions. Doing so will only be akin to career suicide around here.

Katamari Damacy - STICKYBIGBALLSIMULATOR - I'm sure you've heard of this game and, if you haven't played it, there's a good chance that you are either a curmudgeon robot who has no soul or you fuck dogs for kicks. Katamari Damacy's simplistic presentation and gameplay was deceptively clever since under the surface it was one of the most intensely fun yet quirky and bizarre gaming experiences ever to come to the PS2. If anyone told me 5 years ago that I would be verbally fellating a game about an adhesive rolling ball that grew in size as things stuck to it, I would have called you squirrel rapist and had you sent to an insane asylum. Now it seems that the only thing crazy about this game is the fact that more people don't know about the greatness of it.

Except for Guitar Hero (which you would have to buy with a guitar controller to get the most fun out of it) and Okami (which still sells for like $50 in most places anyway) you can probably find most of these for under $20 a pop and they're all fucking solid titles.

EDIT:
Also every game Q-chan posted minus FFXII; that license system was fucking gay.

Dark Cloud 2 - A "little" and usually forgotten dungeon crawler full of charm... maybe too "kiddie" for some. The game combines a bunch of great systems (battle / invention / town creation) with passable characters/voice acting and a forgettable story into a really nice experience. You don't need to play the original to fully enjoy this game, and the sequel improves everything from the first one.

I would like to talk about Klonoa 2, but I'll let someone with better narrative to do a proper introduction of this jewel.

And one more thing: everything that Qwarky said. (Completely forgot we have the same taste in games dude!)

If you're a Megaman fan, then Megaman Anniversary Collection and Megaman X Collection are essential. Anniversary has all 8 original Megaman games, plus the two fighting games and updated soundtracks. Personally, and I'm sure I'm not alone here, I think the original 8-Bit soundtracks are infinitely superior. But if remixes are your thing, they can be turned on and off on a whim. X Collection has the first 6 games in the X series, even though 1-4 are the only real reasons to buy this game.

If you like fighting games, you can't go wrong with DOA2 and Capcom vs SNK 2. I've spent several sleepless nights playing both of these with my cousins and friends. Good luck finding either one though. And CvS2 is pretty expensive when you can find it. Not sure about DOA though.

I can't agree enough with Ence about Katamari Damacy. Haven't played the others, but the first one is ridiculously fun. You start up rolling up push pins and coins, but by the end of the game you're grabbing people, buildings and Godzilla creatures and snatching clouds out of the sky. Definitely one of the top games for PS2.

X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse - A "Gauntlet" styled hack-n-slash game that doesn't require deep levels of concentration to enjoy. The game pays excellent fanservice between playables and cameos, while presenting a plotline that isn't too far-fetched, even for a comic book. There are RPG elements, mostly involving skill point allocations and selecting how each character's powers will develop as the game progresses. The imbalance problems from the first game are mostly solved, and the difficulty level has been increased. There's also a lot of sidequests for the purpose of collecting items to unlock alternate costumes, scenes, characters, etc. It won't take you forever to beat and the replay value is high because there's often a nagging curiosity as to how the game would've been had one better focused upon so-and-so instead. Also, Patrick Stewart and John DiMaggio lend their voice talents as Charles Xavier and Juggernaut, respectively. That alone is worth hearing at least once.

Rogue Galaxy - Screw the haters, I loved this game. It was gorgeous to behold, especially on the water planet and on the information planet. The characters had personality and weren't superimposed upon the storyline in ways that other games have been known to do (Amarant? Precis? 75% of you Suikoden guys? COUGH COUGH.) Critics said that the story's progression was too slow but that's only because there was so much to do if you felt up to the challenge. Rogue Galaxy is a sidequester's dream and fulfilling them can take days, even weeks. The voice acting was far better than average and the subtle artistic nuances made big differences (when you switched weapons, it was visibly and clearly reflected in battle) If you plow through, you can finish the game in a few days. Otherwise, you can smell the roses all you like and not get punished. The characters even remind you of your current objective while idling, just in case you forgot. I think it was one of the best RPGs I played in years.

Gitaroo Man - Think Parappa, but with guitars*. Ok, that description may be a bit crude, but as far as music games are concerned, Gitaroo Man absolutely cannot be missed. The gameplay is slightly different than usual, in that you have Charge, Attack, Defend, and Harmony phases that split up the song. It's kind of rare, so your success finding it may be low, but the game is a blast from beginning to end.

Metal Slug Anthology - Not sure if you're familiar with the MS series, but this collection covers everything up through 6. A run and gun arcade sidescroller from SNK that's got some of the best sprite animations I've seen to date. The titular Metal Slugs (tanks) are awesome as well. It's much more fun if you've got someone to co-op the games with though.

Nthing the Ace Combat noms, and God of War.

*In before Um Jammer Lammy.

[b]Road Troip Advnrutre:[/] Thius is a vide game you can plauy on PS2 it's like an REPG excet its not shitty becauise it hs CARS and fuck they talk about THINGs. you can drive underwater, not even daytona usa doot doot lets you do tjhat

[b]Ribiut King: its like $2 so you cna buy eight cipies if you want prertty fun.
IT:S GOLF WIT RABBITS
Disastr report: fuuuuccccccccccccck milhouese

taiot legends 2 It's got ELVEATOR ACTION RETURNS and thats the best PS2 game or all

Okami: Really what can I say that others haven't? It's a work of art. And an amazing game too. If you have a PS2 there is no reason not to have this game. It was stunning when I first got it and it's still amazing even now. One of my friends who never had a PS2 got the Wii version just because of how much fun he had with it when visiting friends who did have it.

God of War: I personally don't usually enjoy this genre of games. But I had a lot of fun with God of War nonetheless. It really says something for a game when it's not a type that you'd normally play and you play all the way through it nonetheless because you were having fun.

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 FES: A fun RPG with memorable characters. Don't bother getting Persona 3 since Persona 3: FES comes with Persona 3 plus a bunch of extra stuff. I liked all the Shin Megami Tensei games for the PS2 but Persona 3 was my favorite of them.

Shadow Hearts, Shadow Hearts: Covenant(aka Shadow Hearts 2), Shadow Hearts: From the New World(aka Shadow Hearts 3): I had a ball with this trilogy. And it seemed each one got weirder. The first Shadow Hearts isn't quite up to the standards of the following two but it's a fairly short RPG and Shadow Hearts 2 takes off from where Shadow Hearts ended. You should still have quite a bit of fun with 2 and 3 even if you don't play 1 though and Shadow Hearts isn't a bad RPG by any means, it just does't quite have the charm the later ones did.

Disgaea: A turn based strategy game where you're a demon out to take over the Netherworld after your dad died by choking on a pretzal. Aided by your not so loyal vassal Etna, a ditzy angel, THE DEFENDER OF EARTH!!(and his sidekick Jennifer, and super robot Thursday), and demonic exploding penguins among other things, this game has a wonderfully twisted sense of humor.

Honorable mentions: All the Shin Megami Tensei games, Radiata Stories, Suikoden V, Tales of the Abyss, Odin Sphere, Ratchet and Clank: Going Commando, Ratchet and Clank: Up Your Arsenal, and Gradius V.

For compilation disks(listing these seperately as they aren't so much PS2 games as a bunch of games from older systems on the same disk) I'd highly recommend Capcom Classics Collection v1 and v2, Sega Genesis Collection, and Megaman Anniversary Collection.

Sure, only the EXACT OPPOSITE. This series gets worse as it goes along. It loses the dark feel and just gets stupid. Play the first two, absolutely, but you can leave the third.

Man, what's it feel like to be completely backwards like that? I mean... what's is like?

Most of the stuff I'd recommend has already had a mention, but since I was talking about it with someone else the other day, I feel compelled to add a recommendation for TimeSplitters 2. A great little shooter with some neat ideas, a whole bunch of wacky characters to play as, and included a pretty awesome map editor for the multiplayer (if memory serves).

Also, for racing fun, the Burnout games were always good, and Burnout Revenge in particular was pretty damn awesome.

Hahaha, what? The voice acting in FFX is some of the worst I've ever heard in a game. The only I can think of as bad as FFX is Suikoden Tactics.

I think everyone with a PS2 should play Suikoden V. After the very sketchy IV and Tactics, SV is a real return to form for the series. The story is great, the characters well realised and it's basically awesome.

I also reckon FFXII is a great game. The plot's a bit more grown up than previous Final Fantasy's and the gambit thingy for combat means you can grind without having to constantly tap the X button.

God of War is a top game, Rez is essential and The Warriors is a great little game too.

If by "above average" he means HOLY FUCK THEY'RE ALL SO FUCKING ANNOYING/<insert derogatory adjective of choice here> then . . . yes, above average indeed.

Howcome nobody mentioned FFX-2? Sure, it's not the best FF out there, but if you're a fan of FFX, I guess you'll like it for the "continuation" story and the shitload of stuff you can do in the game. Basically it's like Final Fantasy combined with Dress-Up Barbie and a lot of mini-games. It has it's good points, and it can be fun if you ignore everyone saying how bad it is.

The Onimusha games are rather fun too. If you're looking for some slashing action without the stylish polish of Devil May Cry (which is mentioned above), this should suit you. And in Onimusha 2, you get to play as Jean Reno! Cool, huh?

Need for Speed: Most Wanted, probably the only racing game I liked on the PS2. It's not as realistic as Gran Turismo, but it's a lot of fun. It has spinnaz too.

Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria, a must for Valkyrie Profile fans. If the beautiful 3d rendered sidescrolling action won't get you, at least the beautiful music would. Or the pretty computer rendered females.

I guess that's it for now.

Ghost in The Shell: Stand Alone Complex
I still think this is one of the most underrated games on the PS2 ever. It's basically a third person action game, with either Motoko or Batou as the protagonist (depending on the level). Apart from shooting enemies, you jump around to dodge bullets, unleash kicks and various combos and do some nice platformer jumping and climbing. You can also Ghost Hack into enemies, giving you total control over them. It's a very well made game with solid controls.

The Red Star
This game takes place in some kind of alternate history russia. It's a side scrolling beat em up and shoot em up, with bosses dishing out bullet patterns which require you to do some nice dodging, Ikaruga style. Some enemies only take damage from ranged weapons and some only from melee, which gives some variety. Sometimes, the camera shifts to top-down action where you have to dodge crazy bullet patterns again. It's intense, and sometimes extremely fun. It does multiplayer too if I remember correctly. It's supposedly based on some novel, but I haven't read that.

Games other mentioned that I'd like to agree on:
Gradius V - Visual and audial orgasm. Shoot em up goodness.
Shinobi - Freaking hard. Has its flaws bot overall cool, should be dirt cheap.

I am aware that some of the character's performances were not as good as they should have been, but over-all, I think the cast did well enough for itself, and its above-average. I never said it was the best thing since sliced cake, which is how you seem to be reacting. Anyway, If you feel otherwise, that's your prerogative :)

Oh shi~ In some form or another this thread has appeared numerous times in the past. Still it's nice to get everyone's opinions (not that they can't be found everywhere else on the internet).

Gonna throw in some already-mentioned recommendations:

Okami - Adventure - It just got re-released as a PS2 Greatest Hits title. Go buy it, now. By this post you've heard it all, awesome artwork, an incredible story, excellent combat system, etc. etc. Also, pervert humor <3. Unless you're a Madden faggot, this game should be on your shelf at home, sitting proudly.

Zone of the Enders - Mech Action - To truly, truly appreciate the second game (aptly named the "Second Runner"), you must experience the first. The second game is incredibly awesome, the first game was a great experience in its own right when it first came out. The combat was still quite refined and fully embraced 3D; Second Runner was a mix of 3D environments and character models wrapped in cel-shaded clothing. The original was all 3D and held up really well. Go check it out.

Dark Cloud - Dungeon-crawling/adventure/action-RPG/construction - The better majority of GFF vets know how I feel about Dark Cloud 2. Every opportunity I get I promote the Dark Cloud games, and for good reason; they're good. Dark Cloud had some minor issues, but ended up being a well-balanced game blending numerous gameplay elements (dungeon romping, RPG, create-a-city, etc.) into one decent package.

The second game really took off, using cel-shading as a nice visual element amongst dungeon landscapes and a broad range of characters. It's really a big positive change from the first game and absolutely deserved two or three playthroughs.

Rogue Galaxy - Action-RPG/Adventure - Absolutely fuck the haters. Rogue Galaxy is another awesome experience. Vibrant landscapes, characters filled with personality and a great combat system that is leaps and bounds better than FF12's Gambit system. It's a long game too, easily over 100 hours to see and do everything, much like Dark Cloud 2.

Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria - RPG - I really liked the first Valkyrie Profile and if you did too, then there's no reason for anyone to explain why you should pick this up. It's awesome and it's gorgeous.

Jak & Daxter - Platformer - With the exception of Jak X, the first three Jak games are all awesome. In the first he's a mute protagonist, but in the second and third games he gets this badass "I'ma fuck you up" attitude, but he's not too over-the-top with it and it works, especially mixed with his mascot Daxter who's constantly lightening the mood around Jak. Solid gameplay elements combined with a surprising great cast of characters and a brilliantly twisting story should make at least the first three games a must-have set.

So now for some new ones.

Ratchet & Clank - Platformer - What? No one's said anything about these? Ratchet and Clank define "platformer" to its core, mixing platforming with gunplay and a little puzzle-solving for some really incredible gameplay. Unlike Jak and Daxter, Ratchet and Clank have five PS2 iterations (the fifth being a PSP port). The first three were very similar with standard "edition upgrades" like new weapons, characters, and a level-up system for both. The fourth game still contained those elements, but placed them in a gladiatorial combat setting. The fifth game went back to its roots though, but the port to the PS2 wasn't so hot. Even still, all five Ratchet games should be picked up and played.

Sly Cooper - Stealth platformer- The Sly Cooper games have sadly seen only three releases while Sucker Punch works on Infamous, but hopefully they'll have a new Sly game coming out. These three games were a ton of fun though. GTA-style map and checkpoint system combined with stealthy movements of a thieving raccoon, a turtle and a pink hippo. Fun, solid gameplay, humorous dialogue and a really great set of characters between all three games provide more than enough reason to play these games.

Soul Calibur II - Fighting - Most people agree that SC2 was better than 3, though 3 did have customizable characters the gameplay in SC3 was pretty broken. Soul Calibur 2 is a well-balanced weapons-based fighter that was simply good. As far as the bonus fighters go, personally I thought Heihachi wasn't the best choice, but he wasn't a horrible one either; he certainly was broken like Link.

Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution - Fighter - There's no real reason to pick up the first edition of VF4 since Evolution adds two more characters and more content. You can customize the existing characters, participate in arcade-style matches or play through a story mode. VF4 though is also well-balanced, so much so that you can never really blame the AI for being cheap. If you lose, you suck.

Wild Arms 3 - RPG - In my opinion, this was the last Wild Arms to really capture the Wild West feel without being silly and overtly childish. Wild Arms 4 and 5, both developed by XSEED, changed the gameplay so much that they should've just called it something else entirely. But Wild Arms 3 remained true to the gameplay of the first two and that's a damn good thing to say. The combat was refined to a greater degree and was excellent to participate in, the characters all remained interesting throughout (although I never liked Gallows that much) and WA3 had a cool labyrinth dungeon called the Abyss that was available during the first playthrough. Good stuff.

ICO and Shadow of the Colossus - Made from the same team and probably the most unique adventure games in the ps2. Can't describe it as good as Quarky so read his post.

Zone of the enders 1 and 2 - I know a lot say they got zone of the enders at first for the sweet mgs2 demo but I got it because it was a kojima game and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Soundtrack was full of trance themes and jpop for those who want to feel japaneezy and it was the best and only mecha game I've played. And of course part 2 improves on all aspects from the first part, even turns up the difficulty in the ending fights.

Street Fighter Anniversary Collection - If you have to get a 2d fighting game then this one would be it. Have to make sure you have a buddy in your house in order to fully enjoy the competitive side since it doesn't have online play. Comes with street fighter 2 and thrid strike, plus it has the street fighter 2 movie but that isn't the main reason to buy it since it can't be seen in normal any DVD players.

Metal gear Solid Series - I know there are a few people who actually don't like these stealth games but these can be quite fun when you know how to use stealth actions to their fullest. Awesome soundtrack, voice acting, and a fucked up storyline. It's a Hideo alright.

Final Fantasy X - I actually ignore that there was ever a FFX-2 because I enjoyed the way the first one ended. I spent tons of hours on this game, probably the last rpg which I actually enjoyed to its fullest. Voice acting really wasn't the best by any means but hey, still beats the legend of dragoon voices.

Devil may cry - More specifically part 3. I say this because I felt like playing part 3 won't leave you felt out from playing part one. The cutscenes alone are reason enough to play through the game if your a fan of non logical fight scenes accompanied with hard metal.

Radiatta stories - I haven't fully played this game but it was so colorful and entertaining that I would recommend it to people that have time to play another rpg with countless(around 80) characters to draft into your party.

OKAMI - Another colorful game with a wolf that brings life to everything she touches. I honestly thought this was going to be a 20 hr game but it just kept going and going, not only with the main quest but lots of side quests. Seriously this game is a drug of colors.

Robot alchemic drive aka R.A.D. - I played the demo and it became a guilty pleasure. The game is probably awful but controlling a mech has never felt like this. (Oh I guess I did play another mech game other than ZOE =D)

EDIT: Other games for a quick mention that are definite plays,

kingdom hearts - Like disney, rpgs, too manly for your own good? Then play this.
god of war - You play this after kingdom hearts in order to get your manhood pumping again
Wild Arms 3 - its the only Wild arms game that I ever played and I really enjoyed it. The heroic western music was my favorite part.
Silent Hill 2 - If you want to see some freaky horror shit.
Burnout 2 - Fast and the furious with fancy crashes and none of that cheap "knock those fucking cars out of my way" bullshit you see in part three. In here, you drive good and fast or GTFO!
Guitar hero series - You play this after everything else as a victory of rocking out in a game

This is a continuation from my first post, so I'll try and cover some games not already mentioned by others.

Burnout 3: Takedown - Arcade Racing - While most Racing games nowdays have a focus on either Street Racing & modification or 'Real World' Simulation and Circuit Track performances, Burnout 3 is in a niche class of its own. The game rewards and promotes crashes, bumps, bruises, and high-flying calamity. The bigger the crash into your opponent, the more boost you get, the faster you can speed, and the quicker you can take-down the opposition. The game is not without its share of flaws however: The announcer is (Unlike my opinon of Final Fantasy X) aggravating and annoying to the point where you might as well hit the "mute" button whenever you're in a menu. The loading times are inconsistent in places, the tracks are more restrictive in path choice then most games (Even if the game hides it well), and the music ranges from generic rock to popish eurodance. However, the core gameplay is solid, so if you want a pure "Crash and Dash" experience, Burnout 3 definitely delivers.

Second Option: Burnout is solidly in its own class for crashing and destruction, but a few other racing games like Midnight Club or Need for Speed share that same aptitude for 'light on realism', so you could check those out to see what suits you best.

Soul Calibur 2 - Fighting - The first title debuted on the Dreamcast and received nearly unanimous praise. The second game, the first on the PS2, does a very good job in the follow-up. The fighting game places an emphasis on Weapons, but does not dominate. The 'historical' setting of the game allows the character design to broaden farther then in some other contemporary fighters, and the score of Weapons are not only interesting to look at, but they affect the fighter's performance to varying degrees. High Risk weapons with unusual penalties can be brutal in the right hands for the High Reward payoffs. The game's play modes are decently moderate, from the standard Practice and Arcade modes, to a Team Battle, all the way to a psuedo-RPG Dungeon Crawler (Not as bad as it sounds) which unlocks more characters, weapons, artwork, stages, and other surprises. If you enjoy fighting games at all, this game will be of the right 'calibur'.

Second Option: The sequel added more characters, but felt underpolished by comparison, while other fighting games featuring weapons are few and far between. Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance surprisingly follows in that same tradition, however featuring a different focus on multiple fighting styles per character.

Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal - "Character-based action/platformer" - What do you get when you combine the 'Run and Gun' mechanics of Max Payne with the graphical likeness & platforming of Jak & Daxter & Crash Bandicoot? A Very Fun time. The Ratchet & Clank series seemingly came out of nowhere, but by the third outing, it had matured and had the full-package of options. The basic premise is Platforming with REALLY big Guns, and it works out very well. The Guns are varied in design and can be upgraded to hit harder, faster, and even weirder, and Up Your Arsenal in particular adds a missing feature of the previous games: Online Multiplayer Deathmatches (if you're so inclined). So, If you're looking for a light-hearted action game with some serious teeth, look no further. Plus, R&C is packaged in the value-priced Greatest Hits line, and well worth the 20 buck asking price.

Second Option: The two previous games in the series are also worth looking at, (Going Commando is also available for $20), and if you want more of the platforming, then the JaK & Daxter Series is a worthwhile alternative.

As before, I'll stop here.

A comic book series, actually. Props for mentioning it, a very overlooked little gem.

Am I the only person in the universe who thinks that the 3rd game is just as dark as the second? I mean, CHRIST there's some fucked up shit in there. Plus the tweaked battle system improves (IMHO) over some of the things that made the Covenant occasionally overly frustrating.

Oh, and I second the one mention of FF X-2. Holy god, the fights can be so fast, and the ability to change jobs on the fly (lol dressup) makes it very enjoyable. Completely different from the fabulous FFX turn-based system? Yeah. Worse? Not at all.

I also really enjoyed Indigo Prophecy (Fahrenheit for the EU folks). It's like playing a movie, sorta, and, while certain aspects of the story are stupid, I felt the game was very enjoyable.

Nobody's mentioned Xenosaga Series yet. Yes. I know. But I really enjoyed the interplay of the characters throughout all 3 games, even if it's intentionally obtuse at times. Sad for KOS-MOS.

Maybe the first J&D game, but the second and third games are nowhere near as platform heavy as the R&C games. They added guns and vehicles, basically making them GTA clones. They still have some platforming, and overall they're very good games, but I wouldn't recommend them as an alternative to R&C as far as platforming goes (again, except for the first one).

As for my own recommendations:

Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance - I never played the PC series this game is based on, but it really doesn't matter since the gameplay isn't really similar to it. This is a fun action-RPG that becomes even more enthralling if you have a friend to play it with. This is definitely one of the best co-op experiences I've had on the PS2.

Mercenaries - Yes, it's a GTA-style sandbox game, but as far as gameplay goes I think it's far better than any GTA game on the PS2. Like GTA you can steal any vehicle you see and take missions from different groups, but unlike GTA you can play these groups against each other and fully destroy the environment. And blowing shit up is fun in this game. The sequel (on the current gen systems anyway, haven't played the PS2 version) is a little disappointing in comparison, but you definitely can't go wrong with this one.

XIII - At first glance a cel-shaded FPS might seem kinda weird, but this game is one of the best FPS games on the PS2. The game is based on a comic series, which is why it not only has such a unique graphical style for an FPS, but it's also why it has an excellent story that keeps you compelled the whole time as well. Definitely worth a play for any FPS fan.

My fault for not mentioning this, but I was gearing towards the second and third J&D game in complimenting R&C's Gunplay, and the first (As you said) for the Platforming. I guess I should have elaborated. *Shrug*

I gotta play that and Final Fantasy X one of these days. PS2 RPGs were bad timing for me. I was super addicted to MMOs and didn't get around to playing anything else. I beat Disgaea and I got about halfway through Valkyrie Profile 2 before deciding I hate the combat system. That was about it for PS2 rpgs for me. I got FFX, FFX-2, Odin Sphere, Kingdom Hearts, and the Wild Arms remake over there looking at me shouting "Play Me!" but I just have piled up so many games I have to finish.

Even if a lot of people have already said it..
Shadow of Colossus - I bought this game a looooong time ago but, I am still playing it! Proabably just on my 6th round though. It is a great stress reliever, specially when you get the hang of the colossus.

.hack\\G.U. - better than the first series!! The battles in the first series seemed so... still. It was like you were waiting to be hit by the enemy lols. At least in this game there is a freekin BLOCK!!

SMT: Nocturne - this game and the Digital Devil games are the only games I know where you can be very strong (without the ultimate magatama!), yet still die of a some random encounter. ^^'

(I'd you end up liking the SMT series.. you should also go check out the Digital Devil Saga.. but the first game is soooo slow)

About the Shadow Hearts Series, I liked the first one better ^^'. The graphics are baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad but, I really liked the grit of the first game. The 2nd and the 3rd was more slapstick-ish to me. Judgement ring rocks!! lol. I was sooo used to the turn based games that there were times I forgot about the ring.

The second game is fantastic. The first game is a fucking train wreck.

I think the best way to describe FFX-2 is a really good battle system wasted on an absolute shitheap of a story. If you're willing to ignore the fact that the main characters are fanservice, the story takes FFX's continuity and throws it out the back door for something even more confusing, and the music is incredibly bouncy then there's a good game to be found in there.

(Personally I didn't mind the music, but some people seem to throw fits nowadays if an FF soundtrack doesn't have 50 violins per minute.)

There are quite a few games that I believe are games that are a necessity to have with your PS2 but since a lot of the ones I'm thinking about are already spoken for by various members, I'll take time to mention one I believe is a must own game for the PS2 that hasn't been mentioned yet.

That game is:

Dragon Quest VIII: Journey Of The Cursed King

I haven't necessarily played a lot of various rpgs since I spend way too much time trying to fully complete them. I would like to think that I can summarize this game in just one word: EPIC. I haven't played an rpg where I actually enjoy travelling on the world map as much as this rpg. It basically takes the fundamental basics of an rpg and it literally puts a beautiful coat of polish all over it. The environments are just beautiful, there is good amount of difficulty in the game since you can only save at churches. There are plenty of mini-games and side quests to do and I find with a game such as this you can lose time fairly easily.

This might be debated but in my eyes it has one of my favourite voice casts I've ever heard in an rpg. I find a lot of the voices fit many of the characters. I think it is a fairly balanced rpg even though I'm sure there are plenty of things you can possibly abuse.

"Like playing a movie, sorta" is a good way to describe this game, it's fantastic. It's an adventure game with a bit of action, it used quick-time events BEFORE they were a gaming cliche, and it actually tells a mature story (at least, until the last hour or so). If you can find this one, GREAT game. Kinda on the short side, though.

God dammit this is why I should not rely on double post automerging

If anyone's thinking of Dragon Quest VIII, be warned. When Angel of Light says it takes traditional JRPGs and puts a polish on it, he's not kidding. This isn't your Final "Here's Fifty Potions In A Chest" Fantasy. Dragon Quest VIII is VICIOUS if you go into a new area without preparing (read: Grinding) first. This makes the game quite long, but also slows the pace of progression down. Do not play this game if you don't like having an hour or so between significant story events at minimum.

If you hate Star Ocean-style gameplay, avoid this game, since that's what this is. Also, I have to say that its humor is refreshing, but falls flat a bit too often for my taste. Still, the fact that it at least tries for it is more than a lot of RPGs can say.

I'd also like to put in my two cents about FFXII. This game has received a LOT of criticism for... well, pretty much everything, but I think a lot of it is unwarranted. Sure, the gameplay lets "the game play itself." If you're fighting enemies 15 levels lower than you. Anyone who's actually played the game knows that once you're about 5 to 10 hours in, relying entirely on gambits is suicide. That's not to say that feature isn't useful. It's nice to be able to have someone set up to heal without you repeatedly mashing on the heal spell. It's just not the "autoplay button" everyone says it is.

The story is well-written, mostly well-acted, and surprisingly, does not feature a main cast of characters that are the fucking Messiah and save the world single-handedly. The story is epic in scope without ever forgetting (for the most part) that 7 people running around together typically don't win every fight they're in and aren't always greeted with "Sure you can take <sacred item>! Go ahead!" I will admit it kind of loses itself in depth at times, but at least it doesn't lose itself in transparency like FFX's plot did.

Correction. Burnout 3 was pretty damn good. Burnout Revenge was just a rehash of the exact same formula, only if you bought it on either Xbox console it offered online play via Xbox Live and that made it pretty awesome.

Haha holy shit, golf with rabbits?. I think I'll expand upon this post, but with actual words this time.

Activision Anthology
I always thought this would be the Mario 64 of retro collections. Others would try and match its awesomeness etc. But they didn't. As a result, this is still one of the greatest compilations ever. You get every Activision game from the Atari 2600 (minus the licensed stuff like Ghostbusters and Double Dragon) along with an amazingly perfect soundtrack to play to (SAFETY DANCE!) The presentation is what really sets this apart from anything else though, with a typical 1980's NERD ROOM with the glorious wood panel TV, tape deck and cans of cola. You can view the box art and instruction manual for all 50 or so games, along with TV adverts and other mystery stuff. Best.

Flipnic: Ultimate Pinball
Another one of those first party Sony Japanapapanapan developed titles that Sony America and Europe were too ashamed of because it lacked tits and guns (one day I hope they make a game about a big boob that fires nipple bullets). It's a pretty weird take on pinball, with trippy environments and omg how zany objectives. Each screen is essentially a new table, but the levels have about eighty billion screens. There's also a level that looks like something from the NES, pushes the Emotion Engine to its limits.

Gungrave
Mindless shit. It's very arcade-ish in that you just shoot/bash everything until it either dies or blows up. Or blows up and dies at once because explosions are not good for the skin. The game's pretty dated now, but it's still fun. You can destroy the levels and cause lots of hilarious frame rate chaos. The sequel's good too!

SEGA Classics Collection
There's so much hate for this. So much. :( I can understand why, I mean, the Golden Axe remake it contains is HORRIFIC, but the rest of it is pretty solid. It's basically a whole bunch of ultra budget 3D SEGA game remakes. OutRun (though this one is pretty much a whole new game), Space Harrier, Alien Syndrome, Fantasy Zone etc. FANTASY ZONE. ETC.

Fatal Frame / Project Zero
It's a relaxing game like Kirby. The third game's kinda pants though.

Shadow of Destiny / Memories
Reaaaally old PS2 game, I believe it was developed in 1962, back when Munch's Odyssey was PS2-bound. It's sort of an adventure game thing that deals with time travel and whoooooa how'd that happen. How yo gooonnnaaa fix daaat problem. Very good story. All these years later they went on to make Time Hollow for DS. It lacks shadows.

King of Fighters XI
It's King of Fighters, but this time it's per-King of Fighters 11.

Yakuza
Run around Tokyo hitting people with park benches and bikes. This is the main objective, the story starts off with the main character (his name is main character) trapped in a shed with park benches and bikes, this is where he finds love. Now they team up to be heroes and take the pollution down to zee-rooh.

Sky Odyssey
Hurf ba durf, it's the PS2 launch game nobody bought. =( This games looks DREADFUL in this magical world of 2008 (it looked really bad back in 2000, too) but it has gameplay crammed up its arse. All the way. If Sky Odyssey wanted to sit down it'd have a very difficult and potentially deadly time.

I could shit on about a billion PAL games, but I don't think you'd be able to pick up a mod chip at Gamestop's buy 2 for get 1 free sale. :cmbirthday:

To echo a few choices mentioned already:

Ico/Shadow of the Colossus
Jak & Daxter series
Katamari Damacy
God of War
Dragon Quest VIII
FFX
Also, the anthology collections :)


And to add a few which haven't been mentioned:

Gran Turismo 3 & 4 - Racing - Finds that ever-so-nice blend between balls-to-the-wall arcade style racing (i.e.: use the AI cars for cornering) and in-depth, customizable simulation. The graphics are gorgeous, the controls are extremely fine-tuned, the amount of things to do and cars to win (hundreds) are almost daunting, and the music is great. Even if you aren't into cars the in-game documentation is pretty rounded out and it's hard not to get caught up in the selection when purchasing new stock for your garage.

Guilty Gear X2 - Fighting - The same game as GGX2:#Reload for Xbox but without the Live service. I feel the PS2 controller's easier to work with and this one looks and sounds just as good. Character animation is fantastic as is the warped character design (and so-called "story" to go with them).

Marvel vs Capcom 2 - Fighting - As crazy as it ever was. Perhaps the pre-eminant fighter mashup for that generation of consoles, time has seen it lose nothing of its ridiculous energy and frenetic multiplayer action. Take your trilogy of licenced characters and throw 'em against each other over and over ... the resulting fireworks never get old. Great fun for tacticians and button-mashers alike.

SSX - Racing - One of the better launch titles for a system -- it holds up remarkably well. The style and use of color are still worth a look and the outrageous stunts pretty much opened the floodgates of "big action" games for half a decade (and maybe it's still going on?). Hard to believe this one's eight years old...

Midnight Club - Racing - A rather expansive racer which I say you can largely ignore save for the multiplayer mode of Capture the Flag.

A game that is shit except for one multiplayer mode must have a really fucking amazing multiplayer mode for it to qualify as "must own".

Almost forgot to mention:
Maximo: Ghosts to Glory - Action/Platform Difficult game is difficult, and sometimes frustrating (The sequel improves a lot in this matter). Basically a perfect implementation in 3D of Ghouls and Ghosts (and alike).

Beyond Good & Evil - Action/Adventure. Also on PC, XBOX and Gamecube. Without doubt, one of the best games of the last generation.

ALSO THIS. OH GOD, THIS.

Please forgive the inherent hypocrisy of the fact that I own it on Xbox. :(

I have it on PS2, and I find it pretty much unplayable with the frame rate being so incredibly shitty.

Oh I totally agree with the Fatal Frame series. I think it's a lot scarier than Silent Hill. Though Silent Hill has it's scary moments, it's a bit more on the creepy atmosphere side. Best played at night with lights out.

I have it on GC, like Spartan and Sands of Time. But they're all games worth owning on PS2 if you don't have anything else. So long as you have ze game.

I do have a Cube though. I might have to find this game for the GC instead.

I'll go ahead and second this. I had played the game by myself when I first bought it a few years back and had found it pretty decent and entertaining. Yesterday, however, one of my friends came over and we started playing it to pass the time and found ourselves quite involved in the game very quickly, even making plans to continue playing as soon as we both had some free time. You really don't get the full experience by going solo on this on.

XSEED is only a publishing company. All Wild Arms games have been developed by Media Vision (with Contrail contributing to Wild Arms 2), so the gameplay changes were part of their usual "mixing up the formula in every installment" dealie.

Another useful tidbit about this game is that it's $4.99. Got this and Odama today with the coupon, though I'm not going to recommend Odama here since it's a Gamecube game.

Correction. Burnout 3 was just as online capable on Xbox as Revenge was. Well, the servers were a bit slow and if you had a PAL console you had to have it set to PAL60 display mode to play with Septics but the online was there none-the-less. I was rather good at it as it happens.

Revenge had a better crash mode, once you got the hang of it and the tracks were better designed too. The only downside was being to drive through traffic from behind which meant if you kept on the correct side of the road it was very hard to crash, compared to Takedown. Both great games though, I was so upset when they fucked it all up with Paradise.

Also, has anyone mentioned Frequency yet? It was kind of a precursor to all the Guitar Hero type games where you used the shoulder buttons of the controller to play along to a tune and had to juggle all the different instruments at once, moving between the different tracks at will. Had some great music on and is a top game for chilling out.

Thinking about it, I think all my favourite PS2 games are ones that Qwarky has either recommended or sent to me. The man's a legend frankly.

Question: Is the Buy 2 get 1 free thing @ Gamestop good on Monday / Today as well or was it just a weekend thing?

Looks like the sale is good through the 24th

I'm itching to get a few cheap PS2 games now after going through this thread :tpg:

Alright, so, I went through and checked to see what my local EB is supposed to have in stock. Here are the games I'm thinking about getting (obviously wouldn't get all of them, but want suggestions as to what people would recommend the most out of this list). Numbers next to the title is EB's price. Obviously I'd want to get three games that are about the same price in order to get the most value for the B2G1 deal.

5 Onimusha 2
5 Zone of Enders 1
8 X-Men Legends II
8 Shinobi
10 Onimusha 3
10 Prince of Persia: Sands of Time
13 Prince of Persia 3: 2 Thrones
13 Resident Evil 4
13 Tales of Legendia
13 Psychonauts
15 Radiata Stories
15 Final Fantasy XII
18 God of War 2
18 Okami
18 Prince of Persia 2: Warrior Within
18 Wild Arms 5
20 Zone of Enders 2
20 Grandia 3
25 Persona 3 Special Edition

I guess the games I'd prefer to get are ones that would become more difficult to find in the future and the ones that have mostly bottomed out in price drops. I don't have a whole ton of time to play video games now, so RPGs that require a large time investment or are very story-intensive probably aren't the best for me. I mostly want games I can sit down at for an hour or so every now and then and really enjoy myself.

These three are must haves given your desire for an hour sit down. Psychonauts especially. I'd also suggest Mark of Kri.

You forgot Beyond Good & Evil.

No he didn't. He said available at EB.

Well, then EB is fail.

More like that game is so awesome no one in their right mind would ever trade it in, nyucka.

Already have Beyond Good & Evil (bought it from Circuit City for $5 four years ago. Also have Mark of Kri but I never really got into it since I couldn't quite get the hang of combat. I've been planning on giving it another shot sometime, though.

Then DEFINITELY Psychonauts. Non-negotiable. Fun, funny and great story. DO IT.

Okami is art.

Zone of the Enders 2 is pew pew pew. Get it.

I'll just strike out games that I feel don't meet your qualifications, RR.
Now, for almost all of these games, I've struck them out for the "time available" component. Games like XII and Persona 3 are really involved. Some RPGs, like Wild Arms 5, I've left off because they aren't as expansive and don't require as much time.

The others, like Onimusha 3 or Zone of the Enders, I've struck because I happen to think they're very meh. I mean, they're probably worth it for that cheap, but I say skip them when you have some better choices in that price range.

I think I'll add Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel to the list. Sure, it's a so-so Baldur's Gate clone, but it's four bucks. One of those games that's more than acceptable when it's cheaper than fast food.

That is the worst joke ever. Zone of the Enders 1 for a few bucks is too meh, yet you recommend Brotherhood of Steel? :gonk:

FFXII is admittedly very time consuming, but no more time consuming than any other large jRPG on the system. I'd argue you can easily play it in bunches of a few hours, sometimes spending that time on story bits and sometimes planning new gambit systems and grinding for treasure. Certainly would be getting a lot of value for money.

((Protip: Zone of the Enders sucks and the only way Zone of the Enders is worth a shit is if it's followed by the number "2"))

If you can't get 2, don't even fucking bother with 1.

Katamari Damacy - made all my gamecube owning friends cry. Nintendo might have innovation up their ass, but not complete insanity.

Silent Hill 2 - I don't think anyone else has mentioned this. Get your horror on with this game. Arguably the best in the series. And the music is superb.

I thought it was a short but sweet title. Fairly simple, but what it did it did with great flair. The controls worked well, the visuals still look nice and the story, while short and simple still managed to be gripping. Plus it came with the MGS2 demo with jap audio. It was the trailer that was better than the actual movie! And!

It's 2008, not 2001.

Your point?

Nah, it's only like $5 these days. :guitarist:

I quite liked the first Zone of the Enders. Yeah, it's not the longest game in the world but the combat is reasonably fast paced and fun enough, the controls work well, I don't remember getting pissed off with it at any point when I played it and for $5 you can't exactly complain can you?

Also, RR, get God of War 2, it's perfect for sitting down and playing an hour at a time.

You apparently missed it, yes.

I dropped Zone of the Enders because I find it to be relatively unplayable. Brotherhood of Steel, on the other hand, is just relatively uninspired.

I think it's well worth the four dollars, while Enders is just giving you frustration for five bucks.

His point is that you're a dumbdumbhead, and he'd be right.

What I'm most astonished by all this is the assumption that he's gonna find any of this stuff in the used sections of his local store. Persona? ZoE 2? Really?

Let us know what you do find, RR. Because I'm curious if you're gonna luck out or if it'll end up being typical bullshit there and you'll find absolutely zero things of interest.

I second Deni's Psychonauts recommendation, with the caveat that it's a little better on the XBOX while still being a fantastic game.

Please go ahead and defend a mediocre game like Zone of the Enders 1. Seriously.

CS, the EB website actually lists all of those games being in stock at my local EB (one game I was interested wasn't there, so I scratched it off of the list myself), so hopefully I'll find them. The past few times they've had huge stacks of PS2 games, but no B2G1 sale, so I didn't bite. Maybe I'll try to hit the store tonight and pick a few games up.

Also, is ZoE1:ZoE2 :: Dark Cloud 1: Dark Cloud 2?

Pretty much RR. That comparison is pretty apt.

Alright, so here's what I wound up getting.

1 PS2 8MB Memory Card (for all the games)
Vexx
Pryzm
Onimusha 2
Onimusha 3
Shinobi
Resident Evil 4
Zone of Enders 2
Grandia III
God of War II
Final Fantasy XII: Collector's Edition
Radiata Stories

They had a case for Okami out, and it was listed as being in stock in their system, but they were hunting through the drawers and couldn't find a copy of it. I substituted it with Grandia 3 (mostly because I'm the only person on earth that liked Xtreme, so I figure I might be the only one that likes 3). I got Vexx and Pryzm because I'm a sucker for mediocre platformers and I've heard they're alright (and they cost $4 each, though one was free). They had 3 copies of Persona 3, but I didn't want to drop $25 on it.

Got the whole thing, plus an Edge subscription incase I ever have to buy another used game this year for $110 including tax. That comes out to about $10 a game, or $9.10 if you consider the memory card a game.

So pretty much the only games left I might want to eventually get are the Prince of Persia series, Psychonauts, Wild Arms 4, Suikoden 5, Persona 3, and Okami.

I didn't like Xtreme at all, RR, but Grandia 3 is a good amount of fun. Come to think of it, I liked it more than I probably would've given that it didn't play like Grandia Xtreme, but more like Grandia 2.

You didn't buy Psychonauts. You're a disgrace. :(

If God of War II cost $25 or more then you are a terrible human being for buying it instead of Persona 3. Don't get me wrong, it's a fun game, but it's also amazingly short. I would've been pissed that I bought it back when it first came out, except it was so short I could still sell it on Ebay for a full refund.

I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume they just didn't have any copies of Psychonauts.

There was no Psychonauts. :( Someone must have grabbed the copy between yesterday when I checked what was in stock and when I hit up the store this afternoon.

GoWII was $18 (well, it was my freebie with buying Grandia 3 and ZoE2) which I think is still a little steep, but my girlfriend really likes the first God of War, so I figure she'll get a kick out of watching me play this one and maybe that'll give her enough motivation to finish struggling through the first. Also, Persona 3 was $27 which was considerably more expensive than any of my other games, so it would have blown my savings scheme. :(

SouthJag, that's what I'm actually a little worried about with Grandia 3. Pretty much the main reason I love the Grandia series is the battle system. I could pretty much care less about stories in 90% of RPGs nowadays, and that game served up exactly what I wanted. Xtreme was really more of a dungeon crawler with RPG battles than a typical jRPG.

Edit: Can anyone tell me if Rachet: Deadlocked is worth a purchase? I really liked all of the other R&C games (they did a better job with all the sequels than the Jak or Sly teams), but I'm a little wary with how they changed the formula in this one.

Alright, you're excused on GoW II then. Plus it would've been crazy to buy a used copy of the original P3 for even $25 since you can get FES (a bunch of extras/weapon customization added to the main game plus the epilogue that's basically a shorter sequel) for $30 new. I still see copies of that in Sears, so it's not that hard to find.

I haven't really heard anything good about Ratchet: Deadlocked, but I don't think it's supposed to be horrible either. Just kind of meh. It'll always hold a special place in my heart thanks to the Dead Zone episode that revolved entirely around it as the hot must-have Christmas item.

Also, since q was bashing on me for getting Pryzm and Vexx I just want to say that I like platformers since they generally don't have any wasted time due to story and they were both $4 (one of which was free because of Onimusha 2). It was either one of them or the Bouncer. Not really fantastic choices either way.

You should never consider getting Bouncer. Unless maybe if the store is paying you to take it off their hands. Even then it's arguable if it's a good decision.

The Bouncer... wasn't that the interactive movie Square made to test out their motion capture engine?

Agreed. If anything The Bouncer is like that smoking hot blonde you went to high school with but couldn't add for shit or conjugate a sentence if her implants depended on it. Sure she was pretty to look at, sure she had the curves to match the look and it felt OK to handle her but she swore up and down that 2+2=JELLO and you were ultimately left to make sure she went the way of the buffalo for fear she would drop your IQ by association.

Just as a matter of interest, what's your definition of a short game? I only ask as I never finished GoW2 but I can't remember how many hours I spent playing it before I got distracted.

I liked it, but then I like all the R&C games. The only thing different about it is instead of going between planets, you're going between arenas. The game focuses much more on combat instead of combat mixed with platforming/puzzle elements, but I don't think it detracted from the gameplay, and there's still a story to be had.

I think that PS2 players should try the following games :

- Resident Evil 4: the best horror game ever, in my opinion.
- Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater: a good action game.
- Tekken 5: one of the best fighting game ever !
- Tomb Raider: Anniversary: this remake of the first TR game is just excellent.

I just wanted to fill you in on something real quick: There's a decisions before a huge branching off point in the game that'll effect what events you'll experience (and what characters you can recruit) from then until the end. There's also no way of going back and picking the other option. Just a heads up.

Also, Deadlocked is fine. The episodic way the various arena planets are setup is somewhat limiting but the weapon customization system, AI bots, combat and humor definitely make up for it. The New Game+ mode and tons of skill point-based unlockable features will definitely keep you playing this far longer than you would expect.

Wouldn't Subsistence be the better choice, what with that extra content and the new camera? Ultra props for the name, man. I loved that guy AND that game.

http://i36.tinypic.com/2n1xem1.gif

After going back to look at the journal entry I made after beating it, I'd say it was probably 7-8 hours at best. It only took me around 2 weeks to finish it, and I'm pretty slow. I know a lot of people would say that's fine for a platformer like God of War, but most of my problem stemmed from how it could easily have been much longer. It ended just when the story was really picking up, and the Making Of disc showed an Atlantis world they'd planned that could've doubled the length of the game plus an area they dropped that was essentially complete with enemy AI already programmed.

GoW2 was fun while it lasted, but in the end it just left me thinking "that's it?"

I think that was more God of War 2's fault (the bullshit cliffhanger was one more nail) rather than the general lenght of 7-8 hours.

Gears of War, Max Payne, ZOE(2), Portal, Call of Duty 4, etc are all relatively short games, but it's all quality time instead of 20 extra hours of filler. To complain about surface length is completely silly, especially at so low prices.

Yeah, that was my real problem. The more I think about it, the game would've been just fine if it hadn't had the completely unnecessary cliffhanger. It all depends on the game whether length ends up mattering. I mean, I beat Klonoa 2 in less than a week and still loved it.

I think I must play games incredibly slowly compared to a lot of people. I can't remember how long I was playing GoW2 before I stopped but it was a good nine hours at least I'm sure and I didn't even get to the end. It seems to have taken me twice as long to finish my first run at story mode in Too Human than most people too.

Obviously I'm methodical, not just slow...

Okay guys, so I got a couple games from Gamestop as I said I would:

Front Mission 4, Final Fantasy X, and Max Payne 2 (Also Star Ocean but that's a new game and on the PSP :s ) However, since apparently Max Payne 2 is utter shit on the PS2 (Or so says Qwarky), what's another title worth getting in the $9.99 and under Bin?

Looking at their website, you can pick up either Manhunt, Sands of Time or R-Type Final for $9.99

I see Castlevania: Lament of Innocence and Freedom Fighters as well.

Do not

Manhunt and Freedom Fighters were "Meh" for me. R-Type Final might be interesting, or Sands of Time (Since I have the Two Thrones I know what to expect).

LOL, No.

I'll probably head over there tomorrow and see what they have to offer.

Yeah, seriously. I bought it for Xbox and it's an awful game. It was free when I bought it so I didn't want to waste the gas to take it back and exchange it but, really, don't fucking bother.

Lament of Innocence is for PS2 only.

You're thinking Curse of Darkness.

You're right, I totally missed that. Curse of Darkness is the one that's awful. What's wrong with Lament of Innocence then?

Everything. Both of them are pretty shit. Curse is worse, but Lament fails miserably in practically every regard that truly matters anyway.

That said, R-Type Final is a fantastic title if you, well, like R-Type. Shit tonnes of ships and weapons that make playing the thing a bit different every time, if you're one of the types who loves to do that sorta thing.

Culdcept

Board game that uses monster cards to get territory, if someone else lands on it they use their own cards to fight and take over or pay a toll. It's incredibly addictive and has beautiful music. Might be a little difficult to find, though.

Plus you can get the newest incarnation on 360 for not too expensive.








Still you should get it.

RPGs : Persona 4/Ar Tonelico 2/Eternal Poison are coming out, but for one's already released there are too many to count. Suikoden, Shadow Hearts, Valkyrie Profile 2, and Disgaea/La Pucelle/etc to name a few.

Fighting : King of Fighters XI, Street Fighter/Alpha Anniversary, SNK vs Capcom 2, MVC2

Shooter : R-Type Final, Gradius 5, Raiden 3

Action : Devil May Cry, God of War, and perhaps MGS Essential Collection could fit here.

There are many gems on the PS2, good luck finding some.

For a good action game (with a touch of horror), I'd seriously recommend Ghost Hunter. Graphics are sharp and the gameplay is fun.

Also Timesplitters 2 because out of the three TS games, this one takes the cake.

I meant to add another game to this list, but was sidetracked by surgery. I'll toss the recommendation up in case anyone still reads this thread.

SSX Tricky - Seriously, this game kicks stupendous ass and I'm honestly shocked nobody mentioned it. It's got crazy action, excellent celebrity cameo voiceovers, super-tight controls, beautious graphics and is an absolute blast in multiplayer. The characters are vibrant and their different personalities shine through due to EA's lengthy recording sessions. The levels are vast and full of tiny little side-trails that can clip seconds off your time if you find them. The stunts are ludicrously over-the-top but also an absolute treat to behold if you can build your meter high enough. Even the soundtrack is smooth and funky. I've had the game since it came out and have never once considered trading it in. If you like snowboarding action, SSX Tricky will not let you down. Psymon is the man, btw.

For what it's worth, SSX 3 was a quality successor to Tricky, but a tiny bit of the original charm was lost somewhere. The characters were still pretty rad, and the open level exploration was a nice change, but it seemed like they were trying to pack in just a bit too much. Still, if you cannot find Tricky, SSX3 will do in a pinch, as it delivers the same core action and expansive sceneries.

Hell yes, Crash. :3:

One of the best SSX games ever. I should totally pick this one up again. Misplaced it somewhere and I can't find it anymore in my house.

I give you props for the SSX Tricky toss up. I wish I could give you more since Psymon is my favorite character as well.

I didn't like SSX 3 as much though. :(

Being an RPG nut myself, here is what I would suggest.

SMT: Nocturne. It was slow to most when it came out, but as soon as people realized it was getting great reviews and all, it became a must have. I hate that LOL. I bought it on day one and still listen to the soundtrack, and enjoy the final battle, the real final battle :) :cool:

SMT Devil Summoner

Digital Devil Saga 1/2 GREAT game. Amazing story, and just all out fun gameplay.

Persona 3, and FES of course. P4 comes out this month!

Other great RPGS I would recommend are...

Disgaea of course :) La Pucelle Tactics, Ar Tonelico, Steambot Chronicles, Metal Saga, Growlanser HOW, Odin Sphere, Magna Carta,

I am an Atlus Nippon Ichi nut ;)

I liked Lament of Innocence.

You can all go to hell


Looking back over the mentions, I won't bother seconding things like Shadow of the Colossus, but I'd suggest Twisted Metal Black and/or Twisted Metal: Head On if you ever liked Mario Kart versus, Soul Reaver 2 and Kain's Defiance for the adventure crowd, and The Suffering (number 1, not so much number 2) basically for anyone who wants a very good atmospheric action game.

Oh, and Dirge of Cerberus. Don't let haters fool you, the action and the gun customization was aces. The story had problems with pacing going up and down, and general Final Fantasy confustification, but it had a nice mix of shooter and exploration that really appealed to me.

Ugh, just no. I don't think I've ever played a game that took as long to get going as this and was still so boring when it got there. This is one of the worst SRPGS I ever played.