Topic: Old question: What PS2 games might I like?

[JonLeung]

I've long rallied against Sony a lot.  Heck, I still do, especially given the state of the PS3.

However, the PS2 does have a lot of games (duh), and most of the best games aren't by Sony themselves (if I was against them in particular on principle).  So if I could get a PS2 or PS2 Slim used, it would probably be a better decision than our household's only non-Nintendo purchase so far...my brother bought a Dreamcast off of eBay a few years back, and it's been collecting dust for most of that time.  (We do have Ikaruga and Shenmue and a few other games that I haven't realy played that I could, I suppose...and I've been meaning to play RE: Code Veronica, too...hmmm...)

Anyway, what games are there for the PS2 that I might like?

Besides horrible games in general, I personally DO NOT care about any of these games or genres:
1. Games that are also available on the PC.  Chances are, I've already played them.
2. Games that are also available on the GameCube.  Chances are, I've already played them.
3. Generic games.  If the experience isn't much different from anything else on any other console, forget it.  Even though I may like puzzle games, I'm not going to get a PS2 for a puzzle game that doesn't stand out in any way.
4. Online games.  They seem so few and not worth the trouble.
5. Licensed games.  Don't even bother me with Spongebob or Barbie.  I may have enjoyed certain James Bond games, but those are on the PC and/or GameCube anyway.
6. Realistic sports games.  I might be interested in certain much less realistic ones, but I don't care about the NBAs/NFLs/NHLs/Maddens of whatever year, besides, they'd be obsolete and there are likely PC versions if I ever did want to play them.
7. Realistic simulations.  Including most flight sims.  I'll fly an X-Wing, but I'm already bored if I have to fly a real vehicle.
8. Realistic racing games.  I guess that might count as sports and/or simulations.  While I have enjoyed some arcade-style racers, I certainly don't care about the miniutiae (sp?) of tuning up cars and the like.
9. Tactical RPGs.  I didn't have the patience for FF Tactics, so I doubt I'll like Disgaea or La Pucelle Tactics even though they look cute.
10. Certain FPSes. I don't like most Tom Clancy stuff, any squad-based stuff, or any World War II stuff of any genre.  I do like some FPSes, just not those.

Wow, I thought I played a lot of genres but I guess I am kind of picky.  >_<

Games already on my likely-to-play list if I got my hands on a PS2:
-Final Fantasy X / Final Fantasy XII: I've played the first nine, so maybe I just feel obligated to.  XI is on the PC, don't know if I should play X-2...
-Kingdom Hearts / Kingdom Hearts II: probably still the FF fanboy in me speaking.
-Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence: mostly only because I played MG, MGS, and MGS 2: Substance.
-Dragon Quest VIII: I haven't played V-VII either but they say VIII is still "oldschool".
-God Of War / Ico / Okami / Shadow Of The Colossus: they sound interesting.

I would be interested in anyone has suggestions for other good games that are only on the PS2, particularly:
-RPGs (Japanese or Japanese-styled, and not those ismoetric tactical ones - though my brother might like those)
-fighting games
-adventure games
-platformers

Any suggestions?  I know the "no PC/no GameCube/no generic/no licensed/no sports" probably reduce the possible library by quite a bit.  

[KDR_11k]

The Chikyuu Boueigun 2 (Earth Defense Force 2) - Use rocket launcher to hit giant ants in the face for MASSIVE DAMAGE!! If you'd prefer it in English it's coming out in the UK in February as "Global Defense Force".
Melty Blood: Act Cadenza - Technically both available on the PC (in an older version) and a licensed game but chance is that you didn't bother to import a game made by the Japanese indy scene. I think this is heading for a US release so importing may not be necessary.
We Katamari - I think it's better than the first if you are only going to play one of them. And you only need one of them.
Psychonauts - On the PC as well but you might have skipped it there.
Project Zero - The only horror game that's actually scary. The sequels would work, too.
Star Ocean: TillThe End Of Time - Not outstanding but pretty solidgameand available cheaply these days.

[Bill Aurion]

Go for Okami and Shadow of the Colossus! (Shadow's controls are pretty annoying and tough to get used to, but the boss battles are fun and definitely worth the 20 dollar price tag...)

(Stay away from Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest!)

[segagamer12]

Thats a hard question. I too was stuck in the not enough games on GC rut and decided to pick up a PS2 to geta  few games I missed and have some variety. It didnt take long to realise that all the games I didnt like to play (pretty much the exact same list as yours) was all it had to offer besides the rpgs.



I do however likea handfull of games for the systems and would recomned giving these games a try.


I have experience with Onimusha and can say that it was pretty cool for a while.

Shinobi- this is a hard game to like if you have never played one of the previous games before, if your a fan get it its pretty cool, but if not a fan try prince of persia but I think th GC versions are just the same.


Mortal Kombat Shaolin Monks was good, if your into MK II at all thats a pretty neat game to get into. It doesnt take much to beat and it plays so much like MK that its still fun but has plenty of new elements to keep it fresh.

Virtua Fighter- This is *THE* only reason why I even wanted a PS2 in the first place and *the* only reason id ever geta  PS3 unless it ocmes to 360 or Wii. If your a fan of the series track down the VF games on Ps2, if you like 3d fighitng  games at all pick it up.

Sega Classics Collection- most of these games are popping up on VC anyways so you might wait if you want them on Wii or you can get them all in one shot plus extras if you get it for PS

Capcom Classics Collection- Theres plenty of games here to justify the purchase, Forgotten Worlds all onits very own is more than enough justification.

Kingdom Hearts series- this is the main Ps2 franchise that I have been wanting to get forever, I have seen people play it and it looks great so if you find it get it you should like it.

Gran Turrismo- dont knwo how you feel about car games but its one of the better racing games out there IMO, you mght like it at least it gets a prettyg ood soundtrack every update.

Ratchet and Clank- hate to say t but these games were pretty fun.

Now getting back to DC...


Dude if ou have a DC forget PS2 and just start building upa library for that its got all the same kinds of games and has some gems you wont find anywhere else. Shenmue is great but theres better games out there. Try House of the Dead, Virtua FIghter 3, Soul Calibur, Resident Evil Code Veronica X, out dated or not get the NFL Blit, Nightmare Creatures 2, Quake, Mk Gold, Street FIghter Alpha 3, Capcom Vs Marvel 2, Street FIghter vs x-men, Sega GT, there so many others I cant think of them all off the top of my head.

Skies of Arcadia, Evolution, SOnic Adventure, Sonic Shuffle (hey its fun for a while), Crazy Taxi if your into that, hmm what else is there... oh Phantasy Star Online, SF3 3d strike, oh yea BOMBERMAN ONLINE, cant forget that one. if you find it try it, theres off line multiplayer in its crazy fun too. Theres alsoa  few good Japan only games like Fightin Vipors 2 and Shenmue 2 but you canget that on xbox also.

[KDR_11k]

I don't have Shinobi but I do have Nightshade (Kunoichi), the sequel. It's pretty nice except some bosses almost require cheesing to kill them (in reasonable time) which makes you feel like you cheated.

BTW, I got bored of FFT(A) quickly too but Disgaea held my interest for longer.

It's interesting how many PS2 games I have while I'd recommend only so few.

[Galford]

If you like survival horror play...

All the Silent Hill games.
Siren, but this game is VERY hard and borderline broken at times.
Fatal Frame(aka Project Zero), these games are kinda hard.  All but FF3 are available on Xbox.

If you like RPGs play...

Dragon Quarter-This game has it's own internal logic, once you learn how to play it's fun and short.
FF12 if you even remotely like WoW or FF play this game.

Star Ocean- Rent before you buy.  It starts out good but it drops you into a 30 hour side quest that pretends to be the main story.
Coupled with a massive illogical twist in the middle and a story that doesn't make much sense when it ends.  You also have a final boss who's special attack that can kill you in one hit.  Be prepared to level grind a lot in this game.  You will either love this game by the time it ends or hate it.

Tale of ...-  You might like the Tales games, but once you've played one of them, you've kinda played them all.

For shmups...

Gradius V
R-Type Final
Capcom Collections 1 and 2 has some nice shmups...

I hope this list helps.

[Ceric]

Monster Rancher 2-4
DDR all of them
God of War

[TrueNerd]

Devil May Cry 1 and 3. Note the difference there between "1 and 3" and "1 through 3."  

[matt oz]

Yeah, DMC 2 sucks.

If you like Castlevania, Lament of Innocence is a very faithful transition to 3D.  Beautiful game, pretty challenging, but kind of short.
The Katamari series, of course.
Amplitude, which is a reflex music game, made by the same developer as the Guitar Hero series.  It's very addictive and has some great music in it, plus a remix mode if you're into that kind of thing.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

Avoid Castlevania.  In fact, stab yourself with a coke can.

[SixthAngel]

I recommend

Guitar Hero - the second one is out but I have yet to try it and the first one is great.
Katamari Damacy- Having a blast with it but unfortunately my ps2 scratched it and it is hard to find a new one.
Dragon Quest-  You say you want old school so this is perfect.
Shadow of the Colossus- Get it, I loved it.
ICO-  By the maker of the SotC.  I just got it and despite being short it is definitely worth the 20 bucks.

I don't have many ps2 games now but I can recommend some ps1 rpgs that will play on the ps2 if you didn't have the original playstation.

[Sessha]

Hmm if you like horror games try Fatal Frame I or II.  

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

The Bouncer was pretty scary.

[Magik]

Guitar F'n Hero 1 and 2.  Its just awesome especially with a buddy.

You can't go wrong with Marvel vs Capcom 2.

[Sir_Stabbalot]

Armored Core is pretty good.

[ShyGuy]

Lesse.. I like coop games so here are some recommendations:

Twisted Metal Black
Baldur's Gate II (I is on cube)
Champions of Norrath 1 and 2
Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks

keep in mind, these games go down in points if you are playing them single player.

[Nick DiMola]

I'd say check out the thread that was put together not so long ago with a list of great PS2 games.

[S-U-P-E-R]

I like playing these games a lot lately:
Beatmania IIDX
MGS3
CVS2
Resident Evil Outbreak

Seriously, check out the u.s. version of Beatmania. The U.S. version isn't quite as hot as like the last five Japanese ones, but the controller is of higher quality and comes with it at a really good price.

[matt oz]

Quote
Originally posted by: Professional 666
Avoid Castlevania.  In fact, stab yourself with a coke can.

What did you find to be so bad in the game that you had to make a comment like that?

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

Irritating "why did they bother?" gameplay results.  (on the side, they also destroyed the CV timeline)

People say CV64 was bad, but it was well-defined straightforward linear 3rd person action experience.

As for Lament, it's like "ambition tripped on its way to the entrance".  I rate it an "eugh" out of 5, since it wasn't interesting enough to garner extra play time or a second play thru.

Jumping mechanics and camera angles were irritating (just like DMC). (a tragedy for a game with the CV name)

Many of the weapons and item combos weren't useful or effective other than looking nice.

The castle was relatively small, and the relatively small number of bosses was a let down compared to the likes of the previous CASTLETROID games.

Worst of all, the remarkably and horribly FLAT, divided castle design.  It dictated how various rooms interconnected (not much), it dictated the expansiveness of individual rooms (a big floor and a maybe a few ledges, or NONE), it dictated the function of jumping and acrobatics (some traversal puzzles, otherwise not necessary, even in combat).  Traversal was typically slow and not interesting, unlike dashing through stages as a powered-up Belmont in Circle of the Moon.  Even playing Metroid Prime prior to Lament made me somewhat biased, since we're able to traverse stages, packed with interesting architecture, with considerable speed and finesse.

Then there's that awful story background which convinced me the series creator shouldn't be involved anymore.

EDIT: oh and i intended to say it would be more enjoyable for Jon to stab himself with the coke can instead of playing Lament.  The can wasn't directed to Matt.

[segagamer12]

all castlevania games are boring. there I said it. may not be true but it needed to be said.

[mantidor]

I started to get interested in a ps2 because the wii is just out of my reach, but I would only get one if theres any third party controller with the analog left stick in the proper place, because I can barely stand playing in a ps for more than 10 minutes before I want to throw the controller to the TV screen in frustration and anger.

[segagamer12]

I have an adaptor that plugs a Ps2 controller into a GC, is there anyways to reverse that so Mantidor can play PS with a GC controller? If so Id just give it to you for free if it was reversable.  

[KDR_11k]

Is Curse Of Darkness better or worse than Lament of Innocence?

And apropos Cv64, isn't Legacy of Darkness better?

[Galford]

Lament is better then Curse of Darkness by a long shot.  Lament has better level design with a DMC-like battle system.
Curse of Darkness is 3D SotN with boring level design and mindless button mashing.

Of course my views differ from many,  I believe the N64 Castlevanias are superior to both PS2 games.