PS2 Appreciation Topic: A Thread Fit For A King

[Hero-of-Time]

I've pretty much exhausted the Wii U games library at this point. Apart from a couple of digital titles the same can be said about my Xbox One as well.

 

I was going to continue buying a few N64 games to pass the time but i've picked the worst year to start collecting that as the prices are huge at the moment. This being the case I have dropped that for now and decided to go back to one of my favourite consoles ever. The PS2.

 

 

 

The PlayStation 2 went on to become the best-selling home video game console in history, selling over 155 million units.[8] More than 3,870 game titles have been released for the PS2 since launch, and more than 1.5 billion copies have been sold.[9] Sony later manufactured several smaller, lighter revisions of the console known as "slimline" models

 

Many call this the King of Consoles, due to the sheer number of amazing titles, both 1st and 3rd party, that were on the system. Not only that, as you can see from the wiki quote it went on to sell 155 million units. Insane!

 

I don't expect to get many people in this thread but I'm using it much like I did the N64 one, to record my PS2 purchases and adventures.

 

So, I made my mind up last week to get involved with PS2 gaming again and off to ebay I went. I managed to find a brand new and sealed console for £100, which I was more than happy to pay. I mean i've seen them go for up to £180 before so this was a bargain in my eyes.

 

With that on it's way I need to get a hold of a controller extension lead and a component cable, both of which were £10 in total on amazon.

 

Lastly I needed to decide on what game I was going to start my collection off with. I thought back to what were the games that got me to buy the console in the first place. This was a nice flashback of me going to Charlies in Newcastle ( @Ike you wouldn't happen to know if they are still there, would you? ) and picking the console up. I didn't get it at launch as I waited for some games that interested me to arrive.

 

Anyway, I found the games I was after and got them ordered as well. I got in from work of Friday and the postie had left a note saying he had been. I had to go pick the goods up on Saturday morning. My games and cables had managed to get shoved through the door though.

 

I got up on Saturday and picked up the PS2 from the posties office.

 

 

 

I set it up and turned it on. I then went to set the languages and sadly I couldnt get the controller to work. None of the buttons responded to me pressing them. Marvelous!

 

I phoned a few mates up to see if they still had a console or controller but I had no luck. I called one of my sisters as I remember playing a dance game at hers on the PS2, years ago one Christmas. Luckily she still had hers stored away, so I drove over and nicked one of the controllers.

 

I got back home and plugged it in. Success! I then emailed the ebay seller and managed to get a £20 refund so that I could by a new controller. Not that i'm in a hurry seeing as I have my sisters, who wont be using it anytime soon.

 

Finally I could start playing the game that got me to buy the console in the first place back in 2001.

 

 

I LOVED this game ( and series ) back in the day. I remember when I first seen footage of it and it was hailed as a samurai Resident Evil game. I was instantly sold on it.

 

Upon booting the game up I was surprised how well the graphics have held up. I honestly was expecting some jaggy mess but it looked really good and quite crisp on my LCD TV.

 

Gameplay wise it took me a while to get used to again. I kept trying to use the analogue stick to move, which is hilarious because I remember back in the day I hated having to use the sticks in games and just wanted to use the D-Pad all the time.

 

The tank controls took a little getting used to as well. Near the start I was clumsily banging into walls and moving slowly trying to line my samurai sword up to the enemies. Eventually I got to grips with it and was running, killing and using the quick turn like a pro. It did take me a while to realise that I could block attacks as well.

 

The voice acting in the game is pretty bad. People think that voice acting is bad now. They should really go back and play some of these classic games and you would realise just how far we have come! It didn't bother me in the slightest and despite it being hammy I still embraced the game.

 

I love how you can switch the weapons in the game. I usually just rocked the lightning sword at the start but once I started powering up the flame sword then I just mained that. I was never a fan of the wind staff and only whipped that out when fighting that insect/bee boss.

 

I actually forgot how short the game was. I started it around half 9 Saturday morning and then finished it at around half 1. The game time said I beat it in under 3 hours! I remember it being a lot longer when I originally played through it. Maybe i'm just a better gamer now.

 

It was a fantastic experience to play through it again though. It's crazy to think that this game is now 13 years old! Where in the hell has all the time gone?

 

That was done and dusted but thankfully I had ordered another game.

 

Now, this one wasn't a game I bought the console for back in 2001. I did have it on the PS2 though but originally I bought it on the Dreamcast. It's one of my favourite fighting games ever ( Street Fighter Alpha 3 holds that trophy ) and it still plays like a dream.

 

 

"I WANNA TAKE YOU FOR A RIDE!"

 

Awesome game. I helps that I was a huge Marvel fan back then, what with watching the cartoons and collecting the X-Men comics. Marvel characters still hold a special place in my heart and seeing all the characters in their now classic uniforms takes me back.

 

One of the big things I love about the game is the amount of characters, art and stages to unlock. It's great getting a bunch of points saved up and hitting the store. I still cheat by closing the store and reopening it, hoping that the prices have gone down a bit. Think of it as haggling with the game.

 

At the moment I have yet to unlock one of my mains ( Gambit ) so i'm having to use Ryu, Cable and Wolverine ( for now ).

 

While I think I got better at games like Onimusha over the years, I actually think i've gotten worse at beat-em ups. The AI keeps kicking my butt on the game and I have had to use a few continues now and then just to get through certain fights. My reactions are clearly not what they used to be.

 

I haven't unlocked everything yet and it's going to be a game I just keep picking away at and coming back to in between my other games. For now though it does have my attention, at least until my next wave of titles arrives....

 

One thing I will say, I have clearly picked the right time to start picking up PS2 games. They are dirt cheap at the moment compared to N64 ones. I mean I picked up Onimusha for £4 and Marvel Vs Capcom 2 for £7. Both are in mint condition. Even if the discs are scratched or the box is battered you can easily get the discs cleaned and buy replacements boxes on ebay.

[Jonnas]

The PS2 has a pretty amazing library, true.

 

I also think MvC2 is overrated. Sure, it's sheer fun at the core. Crazy character after crazy character, crazy combos, crazy strategies... Everything and the kitchen sink is in there, it's like the developers just said "Fuck it, throw all of the ideas". And it is mental, in a good way.

 

But it's so badly organized. Haggling with the store is not bad, but arbitrarily blocking certain characters from appearing, to the point that the store is empty for ages? Having next to no single player content besides the Arcade? No recognizable music (and for that matter, all of it smooth jazz)? No character endings, no plot? And on top of that throwing original-made characters? And what the hell is up with two nearly-identical Wolverines? And why can't we go back if we select the wrong character or assist? Why can't we see what the character colours or assists are before we select them (what is the difference between "Variety" and "Expansion", the hell do those mean)?

 

By all means the game is a mess, and it feels like it ended up good pretty much by accident.

Edited July 1, 2014 by Jonnas

[Hero-of-Time]

I also think MvC2 is overrated. Sure, it's sheer fun at the core. Crazy character after crazy character, crazy combos, crazy strategies... Everything and the kitchen sink is in there, it's like the developers just said "Fuck it, throw all of the ideas". And it is mental, in a good way.

 

But it's so badly organized. Haggling with the store is not bad, but arbitrarily blocking certain characters from appearing, to the point that the store is empty for ages? Having next to no single player content besides the Arcade? No recognizable music (and for that matter, all of it smooth jazz)? No character endings, no plot? And on top of that throwing original-made characters? And what the hell is up with two nearly-identical Wolverines? And why can't we go back if we select the wrong character or assist? Why can't we see what the character colours or assists are before we select them (what is the difference between "Variety" and "Expansion", the hell do those mean)?

 

By all means the game is a mess, and it feels like it ended up good pretty much by accident.

 

I never cared about any of that stuff. I got to put Ryu and Gambit in a team and that's all that mattered!

[nekunando]

I actually find most of the PS2 library quite unappealing and looking through my own collection that I've built up over the last 5 years or so I fail to see much to get me excited

 

I got my PS2 new and sealed around 2009 for £40 in Sainsburys so I'm almost a bit surprised that you had to pay as much as £100 for yours, @Hero\-of\-Time I guess it's probably more difficult to get a 'new' one now, though!

 

Having a GC here in Northern Ireland meant that I was significantly in the minority, and even now I could count the people I know who had one on a single hand It was a time when the 'kiddy' Nintendo image was probably at its peak but I had such awesome experiences with a multitude of games that I knew I wouldn't have got on the PlayStation 2!

 

The only franchise I was jealous of not being able to get my hands on was Pro Evolution Soccer as it truly was the pinnacle of football games at the time and it was a firm favourite amongst all my friends at the time and everyone could play it. The competition was fierce and I kind of miss that. Perhaps thats one of the reasons why I find the current crop of football games so uninspiring

 

I eventually got Winning Eleven 6: Final Evolution on GC in 2005 and, if anything, it may well be the best of the Pro Evolution Soccer series, though PES 6 would certainly have a huge say in that.. and ISS Pro Evolution 2 on PS1

 

Anyway, as for the PS2, games that were supposed to be great, such as Kingdom Hearts, Gran Turismo 3 and God of War just never really resonated with me, though I plan on resuming my file on the latter in the near future.

 

I've played and enjoyed Onimusha, Metal Gear Solid: Sons of Liberty, Silent Hill 2 and Devil May Cry, as well as several others, including GTA III, but Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater and Shadow of the Collosus are probably my two biggest disappointments Don't get me wrong, they're good games, but I was hoping for so much more from both. Snake Eater didn't come anywhere close to the original Metal Gear Solid ICO has also failed to impress from the opening section, though I'm going to start it from the begining again next time I give it an opportunity

 

Any other great games, such as Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Tony Hawks Pro Skater 3, Splinter Cell, Resident Evil 4 and Killer7 are games I already cleared on Gamecube years ago and sort of don't really associate them with the PS2 as such. I suppose if I had those taken out of my GC collection and added to the PS2 rack, my PlayStation 2 line up would start to look significantly stronger than it does. It still wouldn't have stuff like Metroid Prime, F-Zero GX, Wave Race: Blue Storm, 1080 Avalanche, Luigi's Mansion or Ikaruga, though

[Hero-of-Time]

I actually find most of the PS2 library quite unappealing and looking through my own collection that I've built up over the last 5 years or so I fail to see much to get me excited

 

I got my PS2 new and sealed around 2009 for £40 in Sainsburys so I'm almost a bit surprised that you had to pay as much as £100 for yours, @Hero\-of\-Time I guess it's probably more difficult to get a 'new' one now, though!

 

For me, the PS2 was a big eye opener. I learned that a game didn't just have to be about gameplay, you could now have great gameplay and an engaging story. There were a host of titles that had both and for someone who mostly grew up with Nintendo consoles this was a game changer. Sure, you got one or two on the original Playstation but the whole cinematic game really came into play with the PS2.

 

There were also a bunch of lesser known gems on the console, some of which I'm looking forward to playing again ( Mark of Kri, Ghost Hunter ), while others I look forward to playing for the first time ( Primal ).

 

As for my console, a new and sealed one is hard to get a hold of now. When a console does die out you can usually grab them very cheap off retailers looking to clear their stock but it's been a fair few years now since that happened with the PS2.

[Tales]

PS2 was amazing for RPGs, especially if you had a modded one so you could import from America.

 

Had to stop using it as I strongly suspected it corrupted my memory cards(the first memory card that corrupted I lost nearly 500 hours of saves, and then a brand new memory card I bought as a replacement got corrupted as well) It was pretty much at the end of the PS2 era, the last game I played was Odin Sphere, so I never bought a new one. I don't think with my library that there's much use in buying a regular unmodded PS2 and I imagine getting someone to mod it, or sell modded PS2 is more expensive now than back then.

[Jonnas]

I never cared about any of that stuff. I got to put Ryu and Gambit in a team and that's all that mattered!

 

Well, Gambit is one of those characters who doesn't appear in the store for a long time And you can also do that in Marvel vs Capcom 1 (a better-made game, IMO).

[Falcon_BlizZACK]

A feature I highly rated in the PS2 was the ability to make the visuals smoother in PS1 games - Class inclusion.

[Hero-of-Time]

Well, Gambit is one of those characters who doesn't appear in the store for a long time And you can also do that in Marvel vs Capcom 1 (a better-made game, IMO).

 

I guess we will have to agree to disagree as I though the second game was easily the better one.

[lostmario]

Brilliant thread HoT.

 

Best way to rebuild your PS2 games collection is go to your local car boot. I've picked up a few for 50p each.

 

If you give me a list I'll keep an eye out for some for you.

[Hero-of-Time]

Brilliant thread HoT.

 

Best way to rebuild your PS2 games collection is go to your local car boot. I've picked up a few for 50p each.

 

I didn't realise you were a fan of the console, lost. What are some of your favourite games on the console?

 

My next batch ( 3 ) of games arrived yesterday. I paid a fiver each for them. I will show them as I play them.

 

The next title I decided to play was another game I picked up with the console back in the day. Looking back I must have bought my console at the end of June 2001. The 3 games I wanted with my console were out then and I remember buying GT3 at launch, which was in July.

 

Anyway, as I said, this next title I picked up with my console back in 2001.

 

 

I played the original back when I was a kid on the Amiga. I loved it to bits. I played another one ( as well as Day of the Tentacle ) at my mates house a few years down the line. I cant remember which one it was but it did have a spitting contest in it.

 

With the release of this one I was finally able to play a Monkey Island game on a console. Yeah, a lot of the core MI fans didn't really care for it but I thought it was great.

 

I managed to get an hour or so on it last night in between the football matches. I thought I would fly through it ( these games tend to be easy if you play through them a few times ) but there was still a bunch of stuff I couldn't remember. That being the case i'm still on the first chapter.

 

The humour in these games is awesome and this one is no different. The voice actor for Guybrush really brings the character to life. He's such a clueless but innocent guy. Some of the lines have been great.

 

I checked a chess set out.

" I love chess, especially the horsies"

 

When checking out his bedroom.

"It's the door to our bedroom. Oh yeeeeaaaaah.

 

When buying a boat.

" It's pink!"

"But...but it's pink!"

 

The NPCs are great as well. Otis and Carla freaking out over being left on Monkey Island, the Voodoo lady saying how she has a five game deal with Lucasarts, all of them add a great deal to this world.

 

I managed to make it to Lucre Island before having to switch it off. I remember a bunch of stuff that I have to do in this section, like getting the termites on the cane, putting the skin over the manhole cover ( this stumped me for ages back in the day ) and generally going about proving that i'm not guilty after the robbery.

 

With no World Cup matches on for a couple of days I should be able to make some good progress once I get in from work.

[Sheikah]

@Hero\-of\-Time if you can find Shadow Hearts and Shadow Hearts: Covenant (aka Shadow Hearts 1 + 2) then you are in for a cracking treat, if you haven't played them already. Some of my favourite RPGs and a really cool battle system. The second game has aged much better but they're both awesome fun with a great story. If I want a HD remake of anything, it's them.

[Hero-of-Time]

@Hero\-of\-Time if you can find Shadow Hearts and Shadow Hearts: Covenant (aka Shadow Hearts 1 + 2) then you are in for a cracking treat, if you haven't played them already. Some of my favourite RPGs and a really cool battle system. The second game has aged much better but they're both awesome fun with a great story. If I want a HD remake of anything, it's them.

 

Yeah, I've heard great things about those games and will no doubt pick them up at some point as I never got to play them when I originally had the console.

[Sheikah]

Yeah, I've heard great things about those games and will no doubt pick them up at some point as I never got to play them when I originally had the console.

 

Cool, they're some of the slightly rarer titles out there and seem to go for about £18-25 each. Saying that though, maybe this one will end up a bit cheaper.

[lostmario]

I didn't realise you were a fan of the console, lost. What are some of your favourite games on the console?

 

I wouldn't say I'm a fan, I didn't get a PS2 until 2006 and that was only when my brother gave me it after he had got his 360.

 

I stuck with just the gamecube that gen so missed out on a few games that I really wanted to play.

 

The games I bought within weeks of finally owning one that I had missed out on.

 

Pro Evo 6 (I played this to death - downloaded the custom save file so had all correct stadiums, teams & kits too)

Time Crisis 2

Time Crisis 3

Crisis Zone

Tekken 5

Tekken Tag Tournament

God of War

God of War 2

MGS 2

GTA: SA

Hyper Street Fighter 2

 

I had Fire Pro Wrestling Returns - don't know if you know of that game anyway the PAL version only came out in Italy so it was very rare. Like Pro Evo, you could download really professionally done save files so I had all the 80s, 90s, 00s WWF, WCW & ECW wrestlers with their movesets and all the rings & belts.

 

Really good game, up there with No Mercy but there wasn't much of a single player mode and most matches lasted minimum 15-20 minutes. Goes for £80-£100 now, sold mine for £50 4-5 years ago.

 

Only recently have I started building my collection a bit more via car boots.

 

Picked up Monster Hunter, MGS 3, MD Collection, Devil May Cry, Final Fantasy XII, X-2 & Okami for between 20p and £1 over last year or so.

 

Like I said before, if there are any games you are after, just send me a list and I'll keep an eye out for them for you.

[nekunando]

Pro Evo 6 (I played this to death - downloaded the custom save file so had all correct stadiums, teams & kits too)

 

I've tried to manually customise teams such as Liverpool, Real Madrid and Chelsea over the years, as well as transferring numerous players between clubs.. but it's getting to be a bit too much now A lot of the current players just aren't in the game, obviously, and having to create them has become a chore. The limited amount of opportunities we get to play the game these days just doesn't make it worth it It's kinda cool to have a completely 'unique' version of the game, though

 

I actually wouldn't mind a custom save file for PES 2013 on PS3 if anyone has it or can get me one I tried to download one in the past but I didn't trust what was being downloaded to my PC so I cancelled it

[dwarf]

Tekken Tag was unreal. Hilarious bowling mode as well.

So Japanese.

[darksnowman]

one of my favourite consoles ever. The PS2.

 

Yes, I thanked your post but I just can't believe the HERO OF TIME would say this. Ocarina o' Time ain't on the Greystation2 you know.

 

 

 

 

(I don't care if you don't like them, get Persona 3 and/or 4... and tell me what they are like, as I've only played Persona 3 a bit. )

[Hero-of-Time]

(I don't care if you don't like them, get Persona 3 and/or 4... and tell me what they are like, as I've only played Persona 3 a bit. )

 

I still have my copy of Persona 4, as well as DQ VIII ( which I hope to finish one of these days ) and Final Fantasy XII ( which I hope to start at some point ).

 

I finished Escape From Monkey Island this afternoon. I really enjoyed it, despite it being very rough and clunky.

 

Despite finishing it before, there were times where I was completely drawing a blank as to what to do. There was a part in the second chapter where I knew I needed a clock for my raft but couldn't for the life of me remember where it was. I spent an hour looking around the town for it and eventually I found in a place I had overlooked.

 

Monkey Kombat was a little tedious, especially as you have to sit and wrote down all the different combinations and what move beats what. Jojo shouting the name before the fight was still a lol moment.

 

Overall good game that brought back happy memories.

 

I started my next game after finishing Monkey Island but will write about that tomorrow.

[Grazza]

I used to be a true pro-Sega, anti-Sony fanboy, but then I saw what Nintendo was doing with the Wii and realised there was no point in being loyal to companies. I decided to buy a PS2 and catch up on the games I had heard about that I thought I'd like. Saying that, I can only remember playing and completing five:

 

Okami - If anything, this was the No.1 game I bought a PS2 for, as I'd read it was the closest anyone had come to replicating a 3D Zelda. My opinion? Not too keen. Whilst I completed it (and what a long game it was), I found the gameplay somewhat unintuitive and unnatural. Still, it's a game with a unique atmosphere that I won't forget.

 

ICO - It's a good job patience was on my side, as I struggled to get into this one. The early stages of the game don't seem anything special, and it took me a while to get into its groove. Eventually, though, I began to appreciate to movement around the game environment, and how the overall form truly felt like a fortress. A good game, although probably does veer a little bit towards "overrated" territory.

 

Shadow of the Colossus - Like ICO, I needed patience to get into this, although soon found it more rewarding. Once the controls are learnt, you realise you are in a remarkably huge game world, chasing down giants on an unrivalled scale (at the time, certainly). It almost helped that the land was quite empty, as it made it more fascinating how such giant creatures could hide in it. Is that one on top of the hill? Will there be one in this cave? Traversing the overworld and finding them was almost like meditation.

 

Final Fantasy XII - My first Final Fantasy. At first I found it quite confusing, and quite honestly the learning curve continued for me throughout the game. This is the FF that introduced a real-time combat system to the series, something similar of which was utilised, I believe, by games like Xenoblade Chronicles. The 'Gambit' system fuelled this by offering an enormous list of command options, and on top of that was a gargantuan overworld. Although I struggled with FF XII, I would quite like to have another crack at it someday.

 

Dragon Quest VIII - I saw a review of this in a games magazine and though "I've always wanted to try a Dragon Quest; I'll give this a go". Oh man, I'm pleased I did! Massive overworld, easy-to-get-into battle system, colourful graphics, beautiful music... to date, the best RPG I have ever played, and worth buying the PS2 just for this. I genuinely hope to play another game I love as much as DQ VIII.

 

...

 

So yeah, glad I bought a PS2! Even with those five games (and even just with Dragon Quest), I liked it enough to be one of my Top 2 systems that generation. Actually, it's no exaggeration to say the PS2 was the last time I truly enjoyed hooked-up-to-the-TV console gaming. Now sure why - maybe they (the consoles themselves) are a bit too complicated and demanding for me nowadays, with everything so internet- and accounts-focused. Anyway, that aside - a great console, and I still have it, so if there's a hidden gem that I didn't know about I could still play it.

[Sheikah]

It's such a shame the way Japan is, I would kill for Dragon Quest to go back to Sony consoles. Imagine how good it could be two generations on from the godly DQVIII.

[Hero-of-Time]

@Grazza have you never fancied playing Final Fantasy X, Rogue Galaxy or Dark Chronicle?

[Grazza]

@Grazza have you never fancied playing Final Fantasy X, Rogue Galaxy or Dark Chronicle?

 

I didn't actually know about them, but they look just my thing. Might try to track them down and get the PS3 remaster of FFX.

 

This thread is making me think I should get more not just out of my PS2, but my PS3 as well.

[Sheikah]

I didn't actually know about them, but they look just my thing. Might try to track them down and get the PS3 remaster of FFX.

 

This thread is making me think I should get more not just out of my PS2, but my PS3 as well.

 

Shadow Hearts 1 and 2! Do iiit.

 

FFX and X-2 digital versions are on sale on the PSN store (something like £15 for both). Well worth it, crazy value.

[Goafer]

Rogue Galaxy is awesome. It's not quite as good as Skies of Arcadia, but it's the closest you'll get to it without just playing SoA again.

 

Really should get back to that at some point.