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I now own a PS2. Never had one before.
Streck
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I picked up a PlayStation 2 from Goodwill, plus one 8 MB memory card and one controller, for $20.
I never had a PS2 back in the day. My experience with it consists of two Katamari Damacy games, Frequency, and Amplitude, all played on someone else's system, and briefly using it as a DVD player with some college buds.
To say I'm playing catch-up is putting it mildly. Wikipedia says there are almost 4,000 games for the PS2 and I have been collecting suggestions from friends and coworkers. RPGs, sports games, and racing games aren't really my thing (though RPGs have exceptions, mostly when they're combined with action-adventure), but I love platformers, survival horror, puzzle games, and basically anything else. Rhythm games would be okay too I guess but I don't have a lot of people over.
With a library so vast, there have to be a lot of games worth my time in addition to the suggestions I've gotten so far. All I own right now is Ratchet & Clank and Manhunt.
Shadow of the Colossus
Max Payne
Ratchet & Clank (bought this with the system for $4, just started)
God of War 1 and 2
Resident Evil 2 and 3 (played these on GameCube but want to try the PS2 version)
ICO
Metal Gear Solid
Super Bust-A-Move
Various Devil May Cry games
Various Crash Bandicoot games
Various Spyro games
Legacy of Kain
Silent Hill 2-4 (played 2 and 4 on Xbox but want to try the PS2 version)
Various GTA
Alien Hominid
Black
Various Jak & Dexter
REZ
Manhunt (a coworker gave me this on Friday and told me to play it in the dark)
Dead to Rights
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
Okami
Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2
Syphon Filter: The Omega Strain
True Crime: Streets of L.A.
The Warriors
X-Men Legends
Metal Saga
Technic Beat
God Hand
Space Channel 5
AntiGrav
I've gotten a small number of PS1 suggestions as well. I played Twisted Metal 2 and 4 on that back in college, and I watched someone play FF7. I intend to explore that system's library as thoroughly as the PS2's.
Resident Evil 1
Silent Hill 1
Parasite Eve
Spyro
Crash Bandicoot
Care to help a fellow relive a youth he never had?
I never had a PS2 back in the day. My experience with it consists of two Katamari Damacy games, Frequency, and Amplitude, all played on someone else's system, and briefly using it as a DVD player with some college buds.
To say I'm playing catch-up is putting it mildly. Wikipedia says there are almost 4,000 games for the PS2 and I have been collecting suggestions from friends and coworkers. RPGs, sports games, and racing games aren't really my thing (though RPGs have exceptions, mostly when they're combined with action-adventure), but I love platformers, survival horror, puzzle games, and basically anything else. Rhythm games would be okay too I guess but I don't have a lot of people over.
With a library so vast, there have to be a lot of games worth my time in addition to the suggestions I've gotten so far. All I own right now is Ratchet & Clank and Manhunt.
Shadow of the Colossus
Max Payne
Ratchet & Clank (bought this with the system for $4, just started)
God of War 1 and 2
Resident Evil 2 and 3 (played these on GameCube but want to try the PS2 version)
ICO
Metal Gear Solid
Super Bust-A-Move
Various Devil May Cry games
Various Crash Bandicoot games
Various Spyro games
Legacy of Kain
Silent Hill 2-4 (played 2 and 4 on Xbox but want to try the PS2 version)
Various GTA
Alien Hominid
Black
Various Jak & Dexter
REZ
Manhunt (a coworker gave me this on Friday and told me to play it in the dark)
Dead to Rights
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
Okami
Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2
Syphon Filter: The Omega Strain
True Crime: Streets of L.A.
The Warriors
X-Men Legends
Metal Saga
Technic Beat
God Hand
Space Channel 5
AntiGrav
I've gotten a small number of PS1 suggestions as well. I played Twisted Metal 2 and 4 on that back in college, and I watched someone play FF7. I intend to explore that system's library as thoroughly as the PS2's.
Resident Evil 1
Silent Hill 1
Parasite Eve
Spyro
Crash Bandicoot
Care to help a fellow relive a youth he never had?
Streck on
0
Posts
You're right though - the libraries are enormous and figuring out everything to buy would be an enormous undertaking. I could probably spend all day making a response but as some quick notes...
I'd add the Sly Cooper series
If you like sports - NBA Street v3, SSX Tricky, Def Jam Fight for NY/Vendetta all age well
Ico/Shadow of Colossus I would only recommend if you don't have access to the PS3 remakes - Ico is one of my favorite games of all time, but Shadow really benefits from the better framerate.
PS1 Add Castlevania SOTN and Tony Hawk 2
PSN/Steam/NNID: SyphonBlue | BNet: SyphonBlue#1126
If you like grid based tactical combat with a small real time engagement in an alternated japan, Ring of Red is pretty good.
Max Payne you're better off on PC with (cheap and modible).
If you find a USB headset you can play Manhunt with that. The Director will then only speak through it and you can use the mic for making distraction noises.
Bro fist X 1000
Ring of Red was one of my favorite PS2 games. Underrated gem that one.
Since you like platformers, you might want to look into Sly Cooper, which is a platformer blended with light stealth. The first game is a fairly straightforward platformer and is good, but 2 and 3 are like open-world platformers built around wonderfully tight heists. Like great heist movies, there's a lot of preparation leading up to one big heist, which are complex, multi-activity things that invariably go wrong and require last-minute improvization.
Oh, and if you're wondering, the PS2 hard drive was never really used for much beyond Final Fantasy 11. You'll be fine sticking with memory cards.
Nice, Disney style graphics with brutal murder animations and violence. Still has a cool combat style, where you sweep the second analog stick around to highlight enemies and then you use the face button assigned to that enemy to attack them. It's kind of (but not really) proto- Arkham combat.
Avoid the sequel.
Some casual research seems to indicate that I inadvertently obtained one of the older models, which were equipped with a little-used "i.LINK" port (FireWire) for networking in lieu of Ethernet.
This system couldn't be more different from the Xbox in its aesthetic. Both its external appearance and system menus exude a sort of laid-back authority, whereas the Xbox is an in-your-face "please notice us!" It's sleek and Japanese and very sure of itself. Some of that probably just comes from knowing that I will have a good time with this console due to its enormous library.
I've gotten a little into Ratchet & Clark and am absolutely loving it!
(RIP Ryan Davis)
They made a sequel on the 360/PS3, but it wasn't as well received. It was OK, but just OK.
Another game you might want to check out is Dark Cloud 2. It's an action RPG whose battle system is slightly similar to the 3D Zelda games, but the dungeons are all randomized. As you explore them, you find items to help build stuff in the corresponding town area. There's a lot of stuff to do in the game, including item crafting. fishing, and photography (for use with inventions/crafting). When you complete a dungeon floor, you can even play a (difficult) golf-like game.
I mentioned the town building stuff earlier; basically there are specific areas in the game where you can build houses and other buildings and place them wherever you want. You get a bird's eye view of the area and can move things around pretty easily. I had a lot of fun building up areas and then exploring them on foot.
You don't need to experience the first Dark Cloud to enjoy it. In fact, I recommend against playing the first game. They basically took almost everything good about Dark Cloud and threw out all the bad stuff for DC2.
I couldn't find a professional review from one of the big sites back then, but this amateur one seems to show some of the good aspects of the game:
I completed the game, but I never did finish the bonus dungeon in the epilogue. I believe it was 100 floors long. I think I had spent over 80 hours in the game at that point and decided to "take a break and come back to this game later." My save file is still awaiting my return 10 years later.
Man, the PS2 was such an awesome system. Since you have an older model, be aware you could end up getting the dreaded Disc Read Error problem. Sony fixed mine for free since it had become so common at that point, but I doubt that they do that anymore. It was basically the PS2 equivalent of the Xbox 360's Red Ring of Death. Any time you'd put a disc in, it would try to read it and return a "Disc Read Error." There are DUI fixes that seem to be temporary which involve opening up the system and turning a screw to increase the power of the laser, but I never messed with that.
My original model PS2 hasn't had any issues since it got repaired by Sony 11 years ago, but I also don't play it nearly as much. Maybe once a year at the most.
It's awesome that you're getting to experience Ratchet & Clank for the first time and enjoying it. That series was so much fun.
My Backloggery
It might be a little pricey these days though.
My Backloggery
Zeboyd Games Development Blog
Steam ID : rwb36, Twitter : Werezompire, Facebook : Zeboyd Games
Dark Cloud 2 is fucking great and goddamit, where are my town building 3rd person zelda style action games?!? My Life As A King could only take me so far...
Metal Gear Solid 2&3, especially 3. It's still my favorite of the series.
Shinobi
Zone of the Enders 1&2 (though as was mentioned above with Ico/SotC, if you have access to a PS3, the HD remake is probably easier to find and better)
Ys: The Ark of Napishtim
Basically any of the Armored Core games. If you want to choose just one, then probably Nexus.
If you're into really bizarre/unhappy stories, and are willing to put up with pretty mediocre-bad Dynasty Warriors-esque gameplay, then I highly recommend Drakengard. Just, uh, turn off the music.
And many more, but if you're not looking for RPGs I'll lay off of them.
Also The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction.
The Warriors was an awesome beat 'em up.
Play all the PS2 era Grand Theft Autos.
And you mention Resident Evil 1, 2, & 3.
But you don't mention 4.
I'm an RE fanatic.
And my favourite RE by far (yes, even more than 2) is RE4. I have completed it so many times it's not funny anymore.
GET RE4. PLAY RE4.
Although let me just say this about Zone of the Enders: the voice acting/story is pretty cringeworthy. I just finished playing through the game a few minutes ago. I'm still going to move on to the sequel, but I wish I didn't have to hear most of the VO. The lady playing the computer voice wasn't too bad, at least.
It's still pretty fun, at least!
My Backloggery
The original ZoE was a vehicle for the MGS2 demo. ZoE2 was fantastic.
Though some of the voice acting is still pretty bad.
I'd also throw in SSX3 and Burnout 3, both of which are some of my favorite games of all time. It's been such a long time since I last played any PS2 games that I can hardly remember what my favorite titles were.
Forbidden Siren. That one can be annoying though.
FF12
Dragon Quest 8
I would look at some titles like SOS final escape, or Ring of Red really great titles that are pretty cheap.
I played RE4 half a dozen times on GameCube and loved it every time, though I never quite got the hang of the Mercenaries game. Is there anything I especially need to see in the PS2 version?
I actually don't have any consoles beyond the Xbox/PS2/GameCube generation, so the original releases are my only option until that changes. I honestly don't care about spruced-up graphics at all.
Never been much for sports or racing games, like I said - and I've never found playing against AI, no matter how good it is, to be all that satisfying. The only RPGs I've been able to get into are ones like Deus Ex or System Shock 2 that include elements of other genres, so something like, say, Kingdom Hearts is a possibility. JPRGs I avoid for a variety of reasons, a big one being turn-based combat... just can't stomach it.
I haven't played the PS2 version, but I did play through the Wii version and it included some bonus content from the PS2 game where you play as Ada Wong. It was...ok. I think it re-used a lot of areas from the base game, and it wasn't particularly long.
My Backloggery
GameCube, PS2 and XBox.
Loved starting at Peak 3 and just going all the way down to the base city in one glorious run.
I'd say start with Tony Hawk 2 or 3.
It's the same game. I've never really bothered with Mercenaries. There are two alternate storylines in the PS2 game where you play as Ada Wong. Umm... Did the Gamecube version have the alternate costumes on new game+?
It also has one of the greatest "stealth" missions ever. And a fun twist on golf.
2015 PAX Prime Omeganaut (I will forever hate Katamari)