Lets Talk About Playstation 2

RAZO · Jun 23, 2018

The playstation 2 is probably one of the best video game systems of all time. The library of games is off the chain and it offers alot of games for almost every genre your into. Problem is the playing games in 480i like everyone mentioned.

I would recommend playing it on a quality CRT like the Wega over a HDTV.

Off the top of my head, two games I would recommend are Hokuto No Ken and Thunder Force VI.

fake · Jun 23, 2018

RAZO said:
The playstation 2 is probably one of the best video game systems of all time. The library of games is off the chain and it offers alot of games for almost every genre your into. Problem is the playing games in 480i like everyone mentioned.

I would recommend playing it on a quality CRT like the Wega over a HDTV.

Off the top of my head, two games I would recommend are Hokuto No Ken and Thunder Force VI.

Agreed. The library is just absurd. I've always resented PS2 a bit because it put the final nail in Sega's hardware coffin, but it had the best exclusives of that generation by far. I'd say Xbox is the best way to play multi-platform games, but there were so many great PS2 games.

My favorite exclusives:
Devil May Cry 1 & 3
Dragon Quest VIII
Final Fantasy X
God Hand
Ico
Katamari
Kingdom Hearts 1 & 2
Klonoa 2
Metal Gear Solid 3
SMT: Nocturne
Shinobi
Shadow of the Colossus
Silent Hill 3
Taiko Drum Master

If you had only played those games and nothing else, it would still take you 2 years to get through them all.

sylvie · Jun 23, 2018

fakeXsound said:
Final Fantasy X

When's the last time you actually played this? Just asking because, when I first played this game, I thought it was amazing. Playing through it again as an adult proved to be an endurance test that I ultimately gave up on. And I have no problem playing other Final Fantasy games (well, 1 through 9 anyway).

I have the HD Remix for Vita. Aside from the weird "HD updates", it was appealing due to it being the International version which was never released in the US before. I chose to have more control of the sphere grid (each character starts out at the same spot or whatever, and you move them how you like) and it is a HOAX. Stray from your intended path and you get burned. Due to the game shoehorning each character into having a drastic effectiveness against a certain type of enemy, if you don't have one of these archetypes available, random encounters prove to be tedious/absurdly easy to fuck up and die. I spent a good couple of hours grinding in order to get my characters back on their path and then ultimately gave up because it was fucking BORING

fake · Jun 23, 2018

Sylvie said:
When's the last time you actually played this? Just asking because, when I first played this game, I thought it was amazing. Playing through it again as an adult proved to be an endurance test that I ultimately gave up on. And I have no problem playing other Final Fantasy games (well, 1 through 9 anyway).

I have the HD Remix for Vita. Aside from the weird "HD updates", it was appealing due to it being the International version which was never released in the US before. I chose to have more control of the sphere grid (each character starts out at the same spot or whatever, and you move them how you like) and it is a HOAX. Stray from your intended path and you get burned. Due to the game shoehorning each character into having a drastic effectiveness against a certain type of enemy, if you don't have one of these archetypes available, random encounters prove to be tedious/absurdly easy to fuck up and die. I spent a good couple of hours grinding in order to get my characters back on their path and then ultimately gave up because it was fucking BORING

I only played it in 2003. I loved it. It's still my favorite FF game. But I know it won't be as good the second time around, so I haven't retried it. I know it gets a lot of hate, but I loved the Carl Jung angle, I like the Sphere Grid (thought like you mentioned, you do have to draw within the lines), the environments were unreal, etc.

Psygnosis8 · Jun 23, 2018

Jibbajaba said:
Edit: Psygnosis reminded me of another problem with the system. Looked great on a tube TV through composite, but once I upgraded to an HDTV it looked like shit, but it also kinda looks iffy on an RGB monitor because it's interlaced (for the vast majority of games). I need to mess around with it more with my Framemeister, I guess. Or just play it on my 1702 through composite again.

When I use the scart cable it has this loud, unearthly hum that I couldn’t get rid of. It could’ve been a bad cable, but in the end I decided just not to bother with it.

UGh, final fantasy x. I enjoyed it for a while, but I thought the sphere grid was a bunch of bullshit to extend play time unnecessarily. I was opening that thing up after nearly every fight. It really detracted from the game. In the end, there wwas some obnoxious maze level that quickly became a headache and a chore, so I stopped playing. After that the only one in the series I tried was XIII. I applaud them for doing something interesting with the combat system, but it was so linear and unchallenging that it basically played itself. This was a big problem with much of the 360 and PS3 era, in fact.

sylvie · Jun 23, 2018

fakeXsound said:
I only played it in 2003. I loved it. It's still my favorite FF game. But I know it won't be as good the second time around, so I haven't retried it. I know it gets a lot of hate, but I loved the Carl Jung angle, I like the Sphere Grid (thought like you mentioned, you do have to draw within the lines), the environments were unreal, etc.

it's not a good game. don't take the rose tinted glasses off.

Colorado Rockie · Jun 23, 2018

Like others have mentioned, I mainly used it as a DVD player for the first year. Twisted Metal Black was the first game that really wowed me. Then Silent Hill 2 and MGS2, which were both amazing at the time. Once I got an Xbox and Gamecube I didn't really play the PS2 a whole lot. Anything multiplatform I'd always go for the Xbox version. PS2 still had a lot of good exclusives that I like such as Ratchet and Clank series, Radiata Stories, La Pucelle Tactics, Zone of the Enders, and Dragon Quest VIII.

fake · Jun 24, 2018

Colorado Rockie said:
Like others have mentioned, I mainly used it as a DVD player for the first year. Twisted Metal Black was the first game that really wowed me. Then Silent Hill 2 and MGS2, which were both amazing at the time. Once I got an Xbox and Gamecube I didn't really play the PS2 a whole lot. Anything multiplatform I'd always go for the Xbox version. PS2 still had a lot of good exclusives that I like such as Ratchet and Clank series, Radiata Stories, La Pucelle Tactics, Zone of the Enders, and Dragon Quest VIII.

Oh yeah, I should've had ZoE 2 on my list.

k'_127 · Jun 24, 2018

ggallegos1 said:
Shadow Hearts

Good call. The second game was superb.

Other underappreciated games (not counting remastered ones):

Fatal Frame series
Legaia 2
Contra Shattered Soldier (my favourite in the series)
Suikoden 5

DevilRedeemed · Jun 25, 2018

That Gradius game made by Treasure

Ip Man · Jun 25, 2018

ps2 is and i think always will be the greatest console of all time imo. it started off slow but by the end of its life the ps2 had the greatest collection of games ever.

my favourites

vice city
gta 3
shinobido
shinobi
onimusha dawn of dreams
tony hawks underground
silent hill 2 and 4
final fantasy x
yakuza 1 and 2
shadow of the colosus
devil may cry 3
medal of honour frontline
resident evil 4
persona 3 and 4
gungrave
psychonauts
simpsons hit and run
spiderman 2
castlevania curse of darkness
extreme g raceing
ssx 3 and tricky
myst 3
akira psycho ball
boldurs gate games
odin sphere

and not to mention all the ports of the snk and capcom fighters.

Gaston · Jun 25, 2018

There is so many there...
But the top 3 that absolutely stood out were
1 Gradius 5 - the best shmup om the system
2 MGS 3 - for all that 2 did wrong, 3 righted it all
3 GTA III - came in under the radar for me and I got blown away by the size of LC and all there was to do

sylvie · Jun 25, 2018

Gaston said:
3 GTA III - came in under the radar for me and I got blown away by the size of LC and all there was to do

yep. this one was crazy awesome back then. still my favorite GTA (i dont care about or even really play GTA anymore but yeah, 3 was bitchin'. also Vice City. Both games had amazing soundtracks too)

Chempop · Jun 25, 2018

Some of my non-shmup somewhat exclusives

honorable mention

ChuChu Flamingo · Jun 25, 2018

Jibbajaba said:
Edit: Psygnosis reminded me of another problem with the system. Looked great on a tube TV through composite, but once I upgraded to an HDTV it looked like shit, but it also kinda looks iffy on an RGB monitor because it's interlaced (for the vast majority of games). I need to mess around with it more with my Framemeister, I guess. Or just play it on my 1702 through composite again.

PS2 480i looks amazing, hardly any flicker on a consumer tube. I believe you are correct about it looking best on a console tube due to phosphor persistence being less on pro grade monitors iirc. Tl;dr higher phosphor persistence masks flickering better.

Jibbajaba · Jun 25, 2018

ChuChu Flamingo said:
PS2 480i looks amazing, hardly any flicker on a consumer tube. I believe you are correct about it looking best on a console tube due to phosphor persistence being less on pro grade monitors iirc. Tl;dr higher phosphor persistence masks flickering better.

Oh yeah, it looked great on my TV back in the day. On a PVM in RGB however, the flicker is pretty bad. Maybe if I sit back a little bit... Or I should just hook it up to my 1702.

Gaston · Jun 26, 2018

Chempop said:
Some of my non-shmup somewhat exclusives

Godhand was a blast. Very weird but very original game - too bad they never got a chance to make a part deux.

Heinz · Jun 26, 2018

The bulk of my console gaming would have to be the PS2 for sure, great console I just wished the Vita would do what the PSP did in playing PS1 games. PS2 games are locked away from a handheld experience bar a few ports.

pva · Jul 17, 2018

Ah, the PlayStation 2. How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

The PS2 was the first and only console I bought for a single game alone, GTA: San Andreas. It was also the first console I had chipped (with a Matrix Infinity) for playing NTSC imports (namely Katamari Damacy). My other favourites on the platform include Okami, Shadow of the Colossus and Dragon Quest VIII.

The advent of the Open PS2 Loader (OPL) has made life a lot easier in recent years, as it allows me to load ISOs from a SMB share on my NAS instead of fiddling around with physical discs (I hate optical media with a passion!). It's also easier on the laser.

Psygnosis8 · Jul 17, 2018

My ps2 fried last week. I was playing Sega Ages Gain Ground and I smelled smoke. Then boom. Black screen, and that’s the end of our program. I gotta open it and pry the disc out now.

sylvie · Jul 17, 2018

Psygnosis8 said:
My ps2 fried last week. I was playing Sega Ages Gain Ground and I smelled smoke. Then boom. Black screen, and that’s the end of our program. I gotta open it and pry the disc out now.

well shit!

BlackaneseNiNjA · Jul 17, 2018

lachlan said:
The bulk of my console gaming would have to be the PS2 for sure, great console I just wished the Vita would do what the PSP did in playing PS1 games. PS2 games are locked away from a handheld experience bar a few ports.

+1

Outside of the neo, this is where I spent most of my gaming time. Between imported titles and domestic releases, there really isn’t much that the ps2 library didn’t have from a genre perspective.

titchgamer · Jul 17, 2018

Psygnosis8 said:
My ps2 fried last week. I was playing Sega Ages Gain Ground and I smelled smoke. Then boom. Black screen, and that’s the end of our program. I gotta open it and pry the disc out now.

That blows

Psygnosis8 · Jul 17, 2018

Sylvie said:
well shit!

My sentiments exactly. Truth be told, I actually found it kinda funny. They’re easy to replace. I will miss my fantasy zone collection for awhile, though.

cat · Jul 18, 2018

I got my ps2 on release day, i pre ordered it and was one of the lucky ones to get it, crazy when you look back because i could have flipped it for double the price i payed for it, such was the demand over here in the UK.
I got timesplitters with it when i picked it up and TBH i was kinda disappointed with it at first, but it didn't take long for the system to pick up, so many good games and my first DVD player to boot.
Here's a few i don't think have been mentioned, some of the shooters are little suspect but, meh, i've enjoyed them.
Fantavision and zone of the enders i bought way, way back , i love fantavision by the way, and i've still got my original timesplitters lol.

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