Rediscovering the PS2

I set my PS2 up at the weekend for my nephew in the spare room. Been playing a few hours on it the last few days and its reminded me just how good a library of games it has. I've a good set of PS2 games and started playing ICO, Kingdom Hearts and have just started Persona 3 tonight. Not really wanting to stick to one games as of yet due to it being set up in the spare room next to our sons room so after 7PM its off limits anyway

All 3 games are outstanding games and left me wanting more, really need to get back into the PS2 library, so many top games i missed

Anyone here still play their PS2 on a regular basis?

BITD my friends and I logged in a LOT of hours of Timesplitters 2, Battlefront 1 and 2, and Dragonball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2.

The PS2 does have a lot of solid games on it, and the graphics arn't too bad. Great by SD standards, depends on the game on a newer TV. I'm very happy to have a tricked out Rev 9 PS2 with the hard drive and stuff.

...which leads me to an important caveat.

To get a perfectly working PS2 I had to go through the better part of a dozen non working or barely working PS2s. The DVD drives in these things are not what I'd call rugged and resilient. Now I use FreeMcBoot to start up off of a memory card and load HD Loader without using a disc. That way I can play most games straight from the hard drive and not wear out the fragile optical mechanism.

I bought 55 PS2 games this year. They averaged around $2.40 per game thanks to EB's clearance rack.

Semi-recently I was enjoying playing Micro Machines and Frequency on it. I started Drakan but didn't like it as much as the first game on PC.

I never had a PS2 for the longest, I played GC and Xbox mostly for that generation.

I've been playing some PS2 lately. Here would be my personal favorite picks:

Beyond Good & Evil
Final Fantasy X
Final Fantasy XII
ICO
Gitaroo Man
God Hand
Metal Gear Solid 2
Persona 3 fes
Suikoden III
Suikoden IV
Xenosaga Episodes I - III
Zone of the Enders

I have lots of other games that I'm sure would make my list (Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne, Persona 4, Yakuza), but I haven't played them yet.

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Originally Posted by makinagenesis

Rediscovering the PS2

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myself, i never had to Rediscover the PS2; i never stopped playing mine.
too many solid RPGs and all. STAR OCEAN III, XENOSAGA I/III, WILD ARMS; ALTER CODE F, AR TONELICO I/II, TALES OF THE ABYSS, etc.

my console has been humming along strong for nearly ten years now with hardly an issue.
i recently opened it up and lubed the drive mechanics; it now operates BETTER than when new...

I was hoping somebody would start a dedicated PS2 thread. Just now I beat Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. I really dig the PS2. There are so many great games for it, I know it's going to keep me busy for a very long time. I have this whole month off, so I want to try and beat as many PS2 Action-Adventure titles as I can. Lots of Grade A stuff.

I just picked up Psychonauts at Goodwill today for $5 (it was sealed, too. Go figure). Um... can anyone vouch for this game? The impression I get is that it's one of those love or hate it games...

I don't think anyone really played it, but it got great reviews. All the people I know who've played it (admittedly, not that many) rave about it.

Five bucks sounds like a good deal to me!

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Originally Posted by MrMatthews

I just picked up Psychonauts at Goodwill today for $5 (it was sealed, too. Go figure). Um... can anyone vouch for this game? The impression I get is that it's one of those love or hate it games...

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I have it for the PC. It's quirky and there's a few rough spots, but overall I like it. I think my favourite area is the black velvetopia.

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Originally Posted by Jax184

The PS2 does have a lot of solid games on it, and the graphics arn't too bad. Great by SD standards, depends on the game on a newer TV. I'm very happy to have a tricked out Rev 9 PS2 with the hard drive and stuff.

...which leads me to an important caveat.

To get a perfectly working PS2 I had to go through the better part of a dozen non working or barely working PS2s. The DVD drives in these things are not what I'd call rugged and resilient. Now I use FreeMcBoot to start up off of a memory card and load HD Loader without using a disc. That way I can play most games straight from the hard drive and not wear out the fragile optical mechanism.

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About 5 years ago HD Loader was all i used, had around 400 games saved on 2 HD'S, both of which failed on me in the space of 2 months and i lost the lot! Now i prefer to burn each game in individually to disk and store them in a big shiny DJ CD box . I'm not getting into the whole ' piracy' debate, I more than pay my way for games

The thing is, i loved HD loader. The time it saved in loading games up was incredible, now i use swap magic 3.6. I've got a memory card with FMCB on it ( a guy on assembler games did it for me, sent the card to him) but have yet to try it. This is mainly due to the fact that up till now swap magic has worked for ever game i've tried. My collection of PS2 iso's now totals around 500 and the lasers are easily fixed in these machines so if a laser goes it can be fixed very quickly

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Originally Posted by Tasuke

myself, i never had to Rediscover the PS2; i never stopped playing mine.
too many solid RPGs and all. STAR OCEAN III, XENOSAGA I/III, WILD ARMS; ALTER CODE F, AR TONELICO I/II, TALES OF THE ABYSS, etc.

my console has been humming along strong for nearly ten years now with hardly an issue.
i recently opened it up and lubed the drive mechanics; it now operates BETTER than when new...

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Id have to say that it has the strongest RPG library of any console ever, including the psx which has an incredible amount of good rpg's but overall the ps2 wins. It depends on personal taste of course. Every one of these consoles can benefit from a little lubing up, i find wd40 or ky to suffice..:D

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Originally Posted by QuickSciFi

I was hoping somebody would start a dedicated PS2 thread. Just now I beat Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. I really dig the PS2. There are so many great games for it, I know it's going to keep me busy for a very long time. I have this whole month off, so I want to try and beat as many PS2 Action-Adventure titles as I can. Lots of Grade A stuff.

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POP:SOT is a fantastic game, God of war 1 and 2 will be right up your street also if you want action/adventure. If you have yet to try ICO and Shadow of the Colossus then i could not recommend these 2 more highly. ICO is only a CDR game but the graphics, sound , gameplay and total feeling of solitude that the game managed to pull of is what would put it in my own personal top 10 games that i've ever played. Fuck it, im not working today, PS2 HERE WE GO!

I use it for PS1 games because I dont have a PS1 anymore.

I used to, and have the swap magic equivalent to play ps1 games on my ps2. Mainly now though i use my psp for ps1 games

My ps2 is a dedicated import shmup and fighting game console.

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Originally Posted by makinagenesis

POP:SOT is a fantastic game, God of war 1 and 2 will be right up your street also if you want action/adventure. If you have yet to try ICO and Shadow of the Colossus then i could not recommend these 2 more highly. ICO is only a CDR game but the graphics, sound , gameplay and total feeling of solitude that the game managed to pull of is what would put it in my own personal top 10 games that i've ever played. Fuck it, im not working today, PS2 HERE WE GO!

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I already beat God of War 1 and 2. Thanks. But I haven't yet played many of the Grade A titles (partly due to the vastness of the PS2 library, and partly due to my own vast library spanning different systems). ICO and Shadow of the Colossus are at the top of my PS2 "TO BUY" list. I can't wait to play them myself.

I'm an Xbox guy but the PS2 sure has a lot of sweet games. The graphics are not Xbox level but they're not that far off. God of War, Metal Gear Solid 3 and Shadow of the Colossus are all amazing.
They gave me the most jealousy hehehe.

I never had a PS2 till this year.

So far the only games I have are Tales of Legendia, Tales of the Abyss, Okami, and Megaman X8.

There are a lot more games I want to try out. I agree that it's library is superb.

I forgot Okami and Zone of Enders 2. Also great sources of jealousy.

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Originally Posted by MrMatthews

I just picked up Psychonauts at Goodwill today for $5 (it was sealed, too. Go figure). Um... can anyone vouch for this game? The impression I get is that it's one of those love or hate it games...

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Like many multi-format games, the PS2 version isn't quite as nice graphically (PC's ideal for this one) but it's fine if that's what you have access to.

I love it. It takes the humour (and some light puzzles) of old-school LucasArts adventure games and mixes it with solid 3d platforming. It shines most in the variety and creativity of the levels. The people that are disappointed by it are those that hate the look of it or expect it to be excellent on platforming alone (which it isn't).

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Originally Posted by MrMatthews

I just picked up Psychonauts at Goodwill today for $5 (it was sealed, too. Go figure). Um... can anyone vouch for this game? The impression I get is that it's one of those love or hate it games...

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It's OK. The controls and camera can be frustrating at times. I think the frame rate is better on the XBOX. Other than that it's like "Beyond Good and Evil" to me. A good game that's hampered by the fact the designers seemed to care more about the animations and character designs than the playability. (and people wonder why it didn't take off) Also there's too much running around talking vs. doing stuff.

That's why I like games like Jak 3. You'll see maybe a minute of character dialogue to setup the next scene then you'll spend thirty minutes exploring a volcano or racing something.

It's an adventure game, not a platformer. Saying you don't like running around talking to people in adventure games is like complaining that horror films feature too much suspenseful moments and not enough outright explosions. Kinda misses the point.

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Originally Posted by Kamahl

I'm an Xbox guy but the PS2 sure has a lot of sweet games. The graphics are not Xbox level but they're not that far off. God of War, Metal Gear Solid 3 and Shadow of the Colossus are all amazing.
They gave me the most jealousy hehehe.

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I was also an Xbox guy at the beginning of the 6th gen. Lots of nostalgia there for me too. But the vastness of the PS2 library and the number of Grade A exclussives just won me over.

Anyone here a fan of Way of the Samurai? It's one of the few Japanese-developed games that does open-ended action-adventuring really well, and is one of the PS2's most overlooked games. I didn't like the sequels as much.

I loved Way of the Samurai. I've beaten it three times already. I personally don't see the need for sequels (storywise ;))

I love Robot Alchemic Drive more than anyone reasonably should.

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Originally Posted by Jax184

It's an adventure game, not a platformer. Saying you don't like running around talking to people in adventure games is like complaining that horror films feature too much suspenseful moments and not enough outright explosions. Kinda misses the point.

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You have played Psychonauts haven't you? There's as much platforming in it as the Jak or GoW games if not more.

Well... I suppose it's more of an action-adventure game.

My PS2 is dead :(. Hoping to rectify that shortly with a new one.

I love the console to bits - it's so easy to buy games for, and there's interesting titles pretty much everywhere. I'm not sure if anyone's ever really managed to compile all the cool titles on the system yet - there's so many of them lurking around.

I managed to get a lot more play time into ICO last night by bringing the console into the front room, its a truly outstanding game. Im going to play each game i pick until i complete them from now on with this system. Wish they did a HD remake for XBOX 360 ( PS3 already has i know)

Is Thunderforce V any good?

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Originally Posted by Solkia

Is Thunderforce V any good?

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Thunderforce V (The Saturn game) is.
I've never played VI (The PS2 game).

I thought V was on the PS2 too o.o

Huh, nevermind.

^^ It was released on the PS1


OT: Personally I'm more interested in some of the better obscure releases like "Pirates: Legend of the Black Buccaneer". I really like this game. There are also games like "The Red Star", "Heavenly Guardian", and "Castle of Shikigami 2" that are obscure or late releases that didn't get any attention. Anybody got any others that really stand out?

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Originally Posted by old man

^^ It was released on the PS1


OT: Personally I'm more interested in some of the better obscure releases like "Pirates: Legend of the Black Buccaneer". I really like this game. There are also games like "The Red Star", "Heavenly Guardian", and "Castle of Shikigami 2" that are obscure or late releases that didn't get any attention. Anybody got any others that really stand out?

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Arcana Heart is one that i'd say to try if you like fighters, didn't get the attention it deserved

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Originally Posted by old man

OT: Personally I'm more interested in some of the better obscure releases like "Pirates: Legend of the Black Buccaneer". I really like this game. There are also games like "The Red Star", "Heavenly Guardian", and "Castle of Shikigami 2" that are obscure or late releases that didn't get any attention. Anybody got any others that really stand out?

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Red Star's pretty good; Heavenly Guardian I almost mentioned in an earlier rec thread--it got critically slammed by reviewers who expected/wanted it to be a carbon copy of the Pocky & Rocky games it's a sequel to; Shikigami II I didn't think obscure, or at least it's famous on DC.

I'll throw in Tokobot Plus, Everblue 1 and 2, Metal Saga, Gantz, Shinsengumi, and Zwei!!

Of well known games Rogue Galaxy is good; moreso FFX-2 which always gets bashed just because it's Squaresoft/PS2/nod-along, but it's actually an old school play-foremost RPG. Add Project Eden.

On the interesting but not quite there end: Lifeline, a voice controlled game, and Under the Skin.

Anyone here play the PS2 Shinobi game? Is it any good? I hear it's REALLY hard.

I always thought Arcana Heart was an RPG. I need to grab another copy of Ghost in The Shell: Stand Alone Complex. that was a pretty cool game.

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Originally Posted by old man

I always thought Arcana Heart was an RPG. I need to grab another copy of Ghost in The Shell: Stand Alone Complex. that was a pretty cool game.

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kinda like an old school 2d fighter, very good game IMO though

^^^I'll try to check it out if I can get it on the cheap. I googled it and it looks pretty cool.

@ StarMist: I mainly picked out Shikigami II because it got a budget American release late in the PS2s life cycle.