Recommend me some PS2 games?

[Johan_H]

I just got one, finally. Mostly because they're dirt cheap now and I needed a new DVD player :P

Anyway, me likes 2D shooters and platformers and fast action games in general. Co-op play is always a times two fun multiplier.
I can't stand playing FPSs on a console (though we did pick up TimeSplitters 1 and 2) and what I've seen of modern console RPGs doesn't appeal to me, but I'm open to most things.
Besides Timesplitters we already got Viewtiful Joe and Neo Contra.

Don't worry about naming completely obvious games because they probably aren't to me.

Oh, and I guess I'm restricted to games available in PAL regions? Any onfos on this would be appreciated.

[Killa B]

Gitaroo Man

[grinvader]

Can you elaborate a bit more on what you don't like in 'modern console RPGs' ? Coz there's a pretty wide choice for PS2.

Also not that much 2D wise.

Give Kingdom Hearts 1 & 2 a couple tries to see if you like them.
Dark Cloud 2.
The N1 stuff (La Pucelle, Disgaea 1&2, Phantom Brave, Makai Kingdom, Soul Nomad), dood.
Jak & Daxter 1-3.
Ratchet & Clank 1-4.
Ys 6.
Star Ocean 3.
Odin Sphere.
Grandia 2.
Ico & Shadow of the Colossus.

[diminish]

Yes, PS2 is region locked. Some games have display mode selector so you can enjoy flicker-less, faster 60Hz, some useful info here. Based on your preferences vs what I've played I may recommend only Gradius V and Rez. But the awesome also lays here, there and much further.

First of all Ico. In my opinion much more coherent than his younger brother, Shadow of the Colossus, which is higly recommended also. Atmosphere, art, excellent-planned game world is what you're looking at here.

Secondly, Katamari Damacy, but that unfortunately isn't available for PAL. One of the best game OSTs of all time plus cute, simple and flexible gameplay inspired by winter activity known as snowman construction (lawl). PAL has the sequel, We ♥ Katamari, which has more of everything and is similarly good. Gameplay-wise, I would say it's even better.

Other than that, Silent Hill 2 for psychological adventure, MGS2 and 3 for interesting stories and boss fights.

Didn't mention jRPGs and stuff I haven't fully munched on.

[Agozer]

let's see...

GunGrave Overdose
10,000 Bullets
Burnout Revenge
Crimson Sea 2
Devil May Cry 1, 3 (2 if you're willing to deal with its annoyances)
Homura
Genji
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
God Hand (masochistic gameplay aside, this is a gem)
God of War 1-2
Gradius V (hell yes)
R-Type Final (double hell yes)
killer7 (just because it's killer7)
Shinobi
Nightshade
Red Star
SSX3
Sword of Etheria
Crisis Zone (if you're into lightgun games)
Viewtiful Joe 1-2
Wipeout Fusion, Wipeout Pulse
Zone of the Enders 1-2

If you get a kick from non-RE survival horror then Clock Tower 3 (good but hard), Haunting Ground (better, but still kinda hard-ish), Forbidden Siren 2 (ace, but can be really hard) and Project Zero 1-3 (best ever). Oh yeah, and Silent Hill 1-4 and 0rigins.

+ whatever games grin already mentioned

[odditude]

dragon quest viii (doesn't have the number on pal). old-school.

[Johan_H]

Can you elaborate a bit more on what you don't like in 'modern console RPGs' ?

Hard to put my finger on that, really. I think I've just lost interest in slow, story-centric games and hours of cutscenes. The cheesy voice acting most seem to suffer from doesn't help either. I haven't actually played a game like that since FF IX so my impressions are based mostly on gameplay videos.

Also not that much 2D wise.

I should make it clear that graphics don't really matter, I'm talking about games with mostly 2 dimensional mechanics. Like Neo Contra and Gradius V (which I'll try to get my hands on).


Thanks everyone so far for the suggestions!

[I.S.T.]

I believe Contra: Shattered Soldier has a PAL version. I'd try it.

[Louis Cypher]

Can you elaborate a bit more on what you don't like in 'modern console RPGs' ?

Hard to put my finger on that, really. I think I've just lost interest in slow, story-centric games and hours of cutscenes. The cheesy voice acting most seem to suffer from doesn't help either. I haven't actually played a game like that since FF IX so my impressions are based mostly on gameplay videos.

If it's gameplay you want, look into Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne (hit pal as "SMT Lucifer's Call.") It looks like most of the PS2 SMT games hit the EU, excepting Raidou 2, and they're all very heavily focused on gameplay.

If 2D is more your style, go with Atelier Iris or Mana Khemia (also available in the EU.)

[Gil_Hamilton]

I just got one, finally. Mostly because they're dirt cheap now and I needed a new DVD player

Would this be a bad time to point out that the PS2 is a notoriously poor DVD player?




R-Type Final tickle your fancy?

[Johan_H]

Thanks for the further recommendations!
I'm going to look closer at the mentioned RPGs especially, I've been out of that 'loop' for a while, so I'm guessing my view of them isn't really fair. Are there any OK ones with multiplay, something at least vaguely similar to Secret of Mana?

Would this be a bad time to point out that the PS2 is a notoriously poor DVD player?

Hmm, didn't notice anything, is this also true for the latest revision?

[Agozer]

I can't think of any PS2 RPGs with multiplay that are like Secret of Mana. Ys: The Ark of Napishtim is probably the closest one, although it's single player only.

Oh yeah, a Ar Tonelico 1 and 2 are worth looking into. The PAL release of the first game is super rare though.

[powerspike]

For kicks give Castle shikigami 2 a try, the translation is hilarious but I can vouch for the game itself being fun.

[Johan_H]

For kicks give Castle shikigami 2 a try, the translation is hilarious but I can vouch for the game itself being fun.

Huh, what a coincidence; this was the first youtube result, and earlier today, I watched this (which includes that piece of dialogue).

[powerspike]

Haha good youtube video. I chat up a big gamer friend of mine about terrible voice acting in games sometimes and that shikigami one came up once so I decided to try it out. He also pointed me to some site called audio atrocities which has some good stuff on it.

[Gil_Hamilton]

Would this be a bad time to point out that the PS2 is a notoriously poor DVD player?

Hmm, didn't notice anything, is this also true for the latest revision?

Yeah. They got better, but the player software is still buggy and chokes on some perfectly valid disks.
And the image quality leaves something to be desired(My XBox on S-video puts out a notably cleaner picture than my PS2 on S-video on the same display).

[Joe Camacho]

...
God Hand (masochistic gameplay aside, this is a gem)
...

SOOOOO GOOOD.

Specially if you like Viewtiful Joe, such a "hard game", but once the gameplay "clicks", you can kick some serious ass (Or spank it ).

[grinvader]

200K GET

[Joe Camacho]

200K GET

HA !

[Mark57Raider]

I'd put my bets on trying Dawn of Mana, it's a pretty good action-rpg oriented style of game play. Certainly up there with Secret since it can be played cooperatively.

Star Ocean : Till the End of Time, which most already played

Rouge Galaxy is pretty good, the upgrade system (Revelation) is sort of a knock off of Final Fantasy X, but you need to sacrifice items sometimes that are sacrificial in battle sometimes and also they aren't stat activating. The system is more in the line of battle skills. Very interesting battle system.

Dragon Quest 8 is okay, but after I beat dhoulmagus in battle. I started losing interest, because *spoiler* Jessica got possesed by him

Dark Cloud 2 like one person said, I thought was a real long game.

Castlevania : Curse of Darkness. All castlevania innocent devils and adventuring. Although it is short

Radiata Stories : short rpg, but very good. Not hard at all though

Ys: Ark of Napishtim very good zelda clone looking game.

Okami is also a pretty good darkness erasing adventure.

Wildarms 3

[Gil_Hamilton]

Ys is NOT a freaking Zelda clone series.

That is all.

[Neo Kaiser]

Very well said. Ys are just Action Adventure RPGs on Steroids and they don't have anything that resembles Zelda except being Action Adventure like with the difference that Ys games are RPGs.

[funkyass]

Very well said. Ys are just Action Adventure RPGs on Steroids and they don't have anything that resembles Zelda except being Action Adventure like with the difference that Ys games are RPGs.

Thank you for verbosely adding nothing to the conversation.

[Neo Kaiser]

Very well said. Ys are just Action Adventure RPGs on Steroids and they don't have anything that resembles Zelda except being Action Adventure like with the difference that Ys games are RPGs.

Thank you for verbosely adding nothing to the conversation.

Thank You for being a smart ass! Your response is just as useless.

[Johan_H]

I'd put my bets on trying Dawn of Mana, it's a pretty good action-rpg oriented style of game play. Certainly up there with Secret since it can be played cooperatively.

I don't think Dawn of Mana is available in PAL regions. And I can't find any evidence that it's 2-player (quite the opposite)
And unfortunately it doesn't look like much fun to me anyway :/


Have bought:

Gradius V (fuck yeah)
Jak & Dexter
Odin Sphere
Okami
R-Type Final
Tekken 5
Viewtiful Joe 2

This thread has been helpful and keeps being helpful, thankses!