Must Have PS2 Games

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lawlflip

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I really want to build on my collection, could you guys recommend some PS2 games that must be experienced?

I have:
Shadow of the Colossus (Loved it)
God of War (Haven't really played it)
MGS3 (Not really interested since I haven't completed 1 or 2)

I'm interested in:
Persona 3
Arcana Heart
Ico
God of War 2
Silent Hill 3 and Origins
Metal Gear Solid Collection
Resident Evil 4
Okami
Odin Sphere

I'm just wondering if there's any other must have titles I should try to play.
 
Odin Sphere really isn't a must-play if you ask me, the game is little more than an arcade brawler w/ nice graphics and long/boring cutscenes. Here's a list of the better action/adventure games (some are multiplatform so disregard if you have them for other consoles):

SILENT HILL 2 (although it seems you might have played it already)

Devil May Cry 1, 2, 3
Disgaea 1, 2
Jak 2, 3
Onimusha 1, 2, 3
Prince of Persia 1, 2, 3
Ratchet and Clank 1, 2, 3
Sly Cooper and the Thievius Racoonus
Viewtiful Joe
Zone of the Enders The Second Runner

My personal favorites:
Breath of Fire Dragon Quarter
Radiata Stories
 
Devil May Cry 10th Anniversary Pack
Final Fantasy X
Final Fantasy XII
God of War 2
ICO
MGS Essential Pack
Odin Sphere
Persona 3
RE4


I would have recommended all of the games you own already...Shadow of the Colossus is one of my favorite games of all time.
 
If you loved Shadow of the Colossus, you will probably love the Prince of Persia series. Sands of Time feels the most like playing a fairy-tale. Warrior Within is similar to GOW (actually it is more correct to say that GOW is similar to WW).

Play God of War since you already have it before you decide whether to buy GOW2. You've waited this long, GOW2 will undoubetdly make a drop to $10 or under anytime now so you might as well wait for that.

MGS3 is a prequel to the others so go ahead and play it even though you haven't finished 1 or 2. If you like it go for the Metal Gear Collection. Metal Gear is definitely a must have series IMO.

If you are interested in Persona 3, you might as well get Persona 3 FES instead since it gives you more bang for your buck.

Since you loved SOTC you might as well get ICO if you can find a good deal on it. There was a recent thread here about ICO that discusses its pros and cons that you can check out.

Resident Evil 4 and Okami are must have games.

Since you seem to like action/adventure games I would say that another must have game that is not on your list is Devil May Cry 3:Special Edition.

There are so many great action/adventure games on the PS2 its hard to pick just a few. I'll second the recommendation on the Onimusha series though I'm not sure it qualifies as a must play. My personal favorite is Demon Seige but if I remember correctly a lot of people in general didn't like it. I also liked the 2nd Onimusha a lot, but it definitely has clunky, dated controls.

A lot of people say Silent Hill 3 is a must have. I personally thought it was boring and the controls made it a chore to play. I think the people who love it so much mostly played it when it came out. IMO it is very dated.

If you want a horror game that is great (but is only a must play for horror fans) check out Haunting Ground.

If you like platformers then one of the games from the Ratchet & Clank series (except Deadlocked) is a must have. The Jak & Daxters and the Sly Coopers are also great, but Ratchet is the best. Actually PS2 has a lot of great platformers. Psychonauts and Kya Dark Lineage are some other great ones. If you like action/adventure type games you will probably like these platformers.

I'll second the recommendation for the Disgaeas -- but only if you are the kind of person who likes SRPGs.

There are plenty of great RPGs on the PS2. I'm going to have to say that FFX would be the top must-have one, if only because it is the one PS2 RPG that everyone likes to argue about the most. You need to play it so that you can join the many threads about its merits or lack thereof. :D My personal favorite RPG is Shadow Hearts:Covenant.

There are too many must-have games for the PS2. It is a great system.
 
[quote name='Solori']
MGS3 is a prequel to the others so go ahead and play it even though you haven't finished 1 or 2.
[/quote]
Actually it's better to play them in order 1-3, since questions that rose in 1 and 2 were answered in 3 so playing 3 first would kill 1 and 2 for you.
 
Metal Gear Solid 2 & 3 (I've beaten 1 and 3, but not 2...yet)
God of War
Devil May Cry 1, 2 & 3
Kingdom Hearts 1 & 2
Shadow of the Colossus (Unless they re-release it for PS3 with a better framerate)
 
Fatal Frame 1, 2, 3
Persona 3 FES
ICO
Silent Hill 2-4
Siren
Odin Sphere
Shadow of the Colossus
Ghosthunter
Beyond Good and Evil
Rogue Galaxy
Digital Devil Saga 1 & 2
Nocturne
 
best robot game on the ps2 is R.A.D Robot Alchemaic Drive ( hard to find but worth owning)

if you like games with psi powers get Psi Ops

gta san andreas

tenchu

socom

katamari damacy
 
[quote name='iHack']MGS 1 (PS1) 2 AND 3 (IN THAT ORDER)

Best series ever (IMHO)[/quote]

yeah play them in that order. after finishing MGS3, you could get MGS Portable Ops (original, NOT Plus) if you have a PSP. it happens some years after MGS3. then if you have MGS3: Subsistence, pop in the 2nd Persistence disk and play MG1 and MG2. those come after Portable Ops. that'll be complete your MG experience...at least until MGS4.

i can't really think of any must play games that haven't been named already. the only ones would be:

Fatal Frame I, II, III: the first two games you should play for sure. there's something about these games that just scare the hell out of me. maybe it's because you don't have a gun. these games offer an experience that no one has really been able to reproduce.

a few second string games might be:

Shadow of Rome: this game gets overshadowed by GOW...but for good reason. it's a good looking game that plays pretty well. the story is not as engaging as GOW. still, i'd say it's worth the $17.99 used price at GS.

Radiata Stories, Tales of the Abyss, Star Ocean, Suikoden III: RPGs that you may love or hate. all of them are great in their own way. but if i had to choose just one, i'd say Tales of the Abyss is best.
 
Here's a few(some already mentioned) that I found to be great on the PS2:

Robot Alchemic Drive- This game is a great title for PS2, with hokey VA(intentionally done like that I believe) and a pretty incredible sense of scale. You control a giant mechanized robot(called a Meganite) from the perspective of a seperate character on the ground holding what appears to be a Playstation controller.

Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance(and it's sequel): Action RPG/dungeon crawler, lots of action, plenty of fun to be had in this title.

Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel: This is another Action RPG/dungeon crawler, set in a post apocalyptic world where mutants and creatures rule.

War Of The Monsters: If you remember those Neo-Geo giant movie monster fighting games from the 80's and 90's, then you'll love this. Many of the backdrops are almost completely destructible and most of the classic movie monsters from 1950's cinema are represented here.

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City: If you were a kid in the 1980's like I was, then you'll love this game for all of the great music and 80's references, as well as the typical Rockstar brand of humor. Oh and did I mention it has many memorable voices you might recognize. Here's a brief list of the stars who did voice work for this game: Burt Reynolds, Jenna Jameson, Dennis Hopper and the lead character is voiced by none other than Ray Liotta(of Goodfellas).

The Godfather: This is a Grand Theft Auto clone with alot of action in it. You can take over compounds of other rival mobs and rule NYC. This was Marlon Brando's last piece of work before he died. He provided the voice to The Don in this game. Nuff said on that one.

Scarface: The World Is Yours: Yet another GTA clone, with a big brass set and so much 'blue' dialogue, it'd make even a sailor blush. You can specifically target areas of your enemies bodies for easy decapitations to rush through the various tasks in the game.

Those games were just a few that I've personally played myself(though not all on PS2) and I'm sure I'm missing many more. I hope you enjoy some of my game picks and have fun with them.
 
Regarding Silent Hill 2 vs Silent Hill 3, what does the second one have that you all consider makes it better than the third one? The only things I know about the second one is that its story is separate from the 1st and the 3rd, and that it has pyramid head who sounds like the nemesis from Resident Evil 3 only scarier. Still, I'm curious of what else it has, since I've never played it. I did play SH3 since it was the sequel to the first game's story, and enjoyed it overall. However I'd like to hear more about what the second one has that makes fans consider it an overall better game than the third one, as I've always been thinking about getting it some day.
 
The story is much better than the other Silent Hill games.

It might have the best videogame story in history.

Honestly it was the best survival horror game I've ever played (before it I favored Resident Evil on Gamecube).
 
These are the PS2 games I'd keep if I had to whittle my collection down to 20 or so games:

Ace Combat 4
Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance
Beyond Good and Evil
Culdcept
Devil May Cry
Diagaea: Hour of Darkness
Final Fantasy X
Front Mission 4
God of War
Hot Shots Golf 3
Killzone (I might be one of the very few people that actually liked this game a lot)
Metal Gear Solid 2
Okami
Onimusha Warlords
Silent Hill 2
Tekken 5
Virtua Fighter 4
Xenosaga
 
[quote name='Drizzt']Regarding Silent Hill 2 vs Silent Hill 3, what does the second one have that you all consider makes it better than the third one? The only things I know about the second one is that its story is separate from the 1st and the 3rd, and that it has pyramid head who sounds like the nemesis from Resident Evil 3 only scarier. Still, I'm curious of what else it has, since I've never played it. I did play SH3 since it was the sequel to the first game's story, and enjoyed it overall. However I'd like to hear more about what the second one has that makes fans consider it an overall better game than the third one, as I've always been thinking about getting it some day.[/quote]


silent hill 3 just sucks pure and simple. ive only played the first 3 silent hill games and honestly the first was and is the best to me so far. i can see why people like 2 over 3 because he story in 3 to me made no sense ad the characers in the game were very stock and uninteresting. after the mall area i put the game up and returned it to the videostore. that game felt like a lazy cashin on the franchise.


nemesis in re3 was the shit and one of the scariest characers at the time because of his freakish tenacity and him taling didnt help.
 
[quote name='Drizzt']Regarding Silent Hill 2 vs Silent Hill 3, what does the second one have that you all consider makes it better than the third one? The only things I know about the second one is that its story is separate from the 1st and the 3rd, and that it has pyramid head who sounds like the nemesis from Resident Evil 3 only scarier. Still, I'm curious of what else it has, since I've never played it. I did play SH3 since it was the sequel to the first game's story, and enjoyed it overall. However I'd like to hear more about what the second one has that makes fans consider it an overall better game than the third one, as I've always been thinking about getting it some day.[/quote]

I thoroughly enjoyed Silent Hill 3.

Silent Hill 2 was very dark. I don't remember much about the combat, enemies, etc., but I do remember the storyline and the impact of various revelations throughout. Silent Hill 2 did absolutely everything right when it came to the pacing. The soundtrack was perfect.

I also found that SH2 has so much open to interpretation that it merits multiple playthroughs. Every time I've played it, something new has jumped out about the storyline. Whereas I felt the other SH games show you more about the town of Silent Hill, SH2 was more about its psychological part.
 
[quote name='thelonepig']I thoroughly enjoyed Silent Hill 3.

Silent Hill 2 was very dark. I don't remember much about the combat, enemies, etc., but I do remember the storyline and the impact of various revelations throughout. Silent Hill 2 did absolutely everything right when it came to the pacing. The soundtrack was perfect.

I also found that SH2 has so much open to interpretation that it merits multiple playthroughs. Every time I've played it, something new has jumped out about the storyline. Whereas I felt the other SH games show you more about the town of Silent Hill, SH2 was more about its psychological part.[/QUOTE]
I've got the xbox version of silent hill 2. Did the trees look like big black blocks? the textures are terrible.
 
Final Fantasy XII, seriously...

That game will last you a LONG time, and is a lot of fun to play if you are a fan of the Final Fantasy games, though I wouldn't recommend it as your 1st FF game...
 
[quote name='sparklecopy']I've got the xbox version of silent hill 2. Did the trees look like big black blocks? the textures are terrible.[/quote]

Not from what I recall. The game has some great graphics, but it uses a filter (on top of the fog) as part of its presentation. Silent Hill Origins was very similar. The graphics looked jagged and blocky, but when you beat the game you can turn off the filter and it actually looks very nice.
 
[quote name='thelonepig']I thoroughly enjoyed Silent Hill 3.

Silent Hill 2 was very dark. I don't remember much about the combat, enemies, etc., but I do remember the storyline and the impact of various revelations throughout. Silent Hill 2 did absolutely everything right when it came to the pacing. The soundtrack was perfect.

I also found that SH2 has so much open to interpretation that it merits multiple playthroughs. Every time I've played it, something new has jumped out about the storyline. Whereas I felt the other SH games show you more about the town of Silent Hill, SH2 was more about its psychological part.[/quote]

And Silent Hill 2 was by far the scariest. I'll never forget that apartment bldg, what a ride!

Music ruled too.
 
[quote name='freakyzeeky']Final Fantasy XII, seriously...

That game will last you a LONG time, and is a lot of fun to play if you are a fan of the Final Fantasy games, though I wouldn't recommend it as your 1st FF game...[/quote]

This game is good if you like FF AND mmorpg. I personally found the story to be weak and the combat got tedious (running around for hours just grinding so that I could get through the next section). I'll take turn based anyday. Granted I did finish the game, but that was only because I forced myself.
 
[quote name='bigl523']This game is good if you like FF AND mmorpg. I personally found the story to be weak and the combat got tedious (running around for hours just grinding so that I could get through the next section). I'll take turn based anyday. Granted I did finish the game, but that was only because I forced myself.[/quote]

I enjoy the FF series, but have been disappointed in the games since VI, though I did somewhat enjoy VIII. I hate MMORPG.

FF XII was fun though. The combat was fresh and new for a FF game. The storyline was very political in nature and went as fast/slow as you wanted it to. I sunk a little over 100 hours into the game before I finally just went in to try the boss. I thought for sure I was going to die thanks to the numerous areas of the world that I still couldn't venture into without being killed by the first monster I found. Yeah... took out the final boss without so much as a potion or cure spell.

So yeah, the game is HUGE.
 
Yeah, FFXII is ridiculous in scope for a console rpg. I spent some 130 hours on it without even touching the rare monster sidequest. It just took up too much of my time away from other games I wanted to play to keep going. Still, I find myself craving to play it again every now and then, so it must've done something right.
 
I'm pretty loyal to Nintendo and Microsoft these days (more so Microsoft though. My proof lies in that I don't own a PSP or PS3) so my collection is pretty slim (30 games is slim in my collection, trust me) so here are my picks:

Beyond Good and Evil (Don't even ask why or I'll shoot you.)
Dragon Quest Series
Devil May Cry
Final Fantasy Series
Haunting Ground (It might have sold like crap, but this game is pretty damn awesome.)
Shadow Hearts series (Extremely underated and my wife's favorite RPG series to date. When the wife says It's good you know you got gold!)
Shin Megami Tensei Nocture (It's got a reprint so grab it for $50ish shipped while you can, which isn't too pricey for a game that went for near $100 sealed just weeks ago)
Suikoden V (If it weren't for the hideous loading times I would say this up to par with the first in the series)
Virtua Fighter 4: Evo (VF5 might be online for the 360, but for single play and quest mode VF4 is a better game)

Edited some of the other titles out noticing you already had interest in them.
 
[quote name='camoor']Definitely Xenosaga and Xenosaga III. These games absolutely rule, the characters are really great.

Culdcept[/QUOTE]

I picked up Xenosaga 1 for $4 shipped on eBay awhile back figuring I couldn't go wrong and could pick up the other two in the series down the road if I get into it. What's wrong with part 2?

Culdcept was pretty damn good but I held off once I heard of the 360 version in the works.
 
[quote name='Monsta Mack']I picked up Xenosaga 1 for $4 shipped on eBay awhile back figuring I couldn't go wrong and could pick up the other two in the series down the road if I get into it. What's wrong with part 2?

Culdcept was pretty damn good but I held off once I heard of the 360 version in the works.[/quote]
I would say 2 was my least favourite, play wise and story wise, but I would see no point in skipping it if you actually want the whole story. Just get it andp lay it if you enjoyed 1.
Also, WORD to the Shadow Hearts recommendation. Covenant is one of my all time favourite games, though unfortunately I still haven't found a copy of Shadow Hearts to get the full backstory
 
[quote name='Monsta Mack']I picked up Xenosaga 1 for $4 shipped on eBay awhile back figuring I couldn't go wrong and could pick up the other two in the series down the road if I get into it. What's wrong with part 2?

Culdcept was pretty damn good but I held off once I heard of the 360 version in the works.[/quote]
They negatively changed the battle system on part II. Also the story was much shorter and the story plots were altered due to the original story writer being removed from the project. The character design was also changed to look more photo realistic (fan didn't really like it though).

Then they did it right again on part III. The story was much longer due to the fact they decided to end the series prematurely at part III (instead of part VI) and had to squeeze in all the answers in this concluding part. So it was really loaded. The battle system was much improved and load time was reduced to almost nothing.

In short, parts I and III are gold and part II is a mediocre in comparison (which is actually not that bad if you don't compare it to the other two). If you like part I, you should still play part II to go through the story so that you can truely immerse yourself in part III :)
 
Xeno III is everything that I and II should have been. Playing II before you play III will make you appreciate III that much more. It's night and day.
 
[quote name='Monsta Mack']I picked up Xenosaga 1 for $4 shipped on eBay awhile back figuring I couldn't go wrong and could pick up the other two in the series down the road if I get into it. What's wrong with part 2?[/quote]

To expand on what the others are saying:

Xenosaga 2
- Ripped out the database (which is chock full of important/interesting story info)
- Replaced minigames with tedious fetch-quests
- Inexplicably changed the voice acting, used inappropriate voices for certain characters
- Changed up the battle system (wasn't bad, but I didn't like it as much)
- Gave the chars a more mature look (why?)
- Made you play through that horrible beach area like 5 times

Xenosaga 3 brought back everything great from the first game - and made the world/chars look more beautiful then ever!

Xenosaga 2 is still good - but take this advice, if you're playing through it then aim to do the bare minimum to complete the story. If you start doing the side-quests in earnest you will eventually hate yourself for all the time you wasted on this ultimately mediocre (but still better-then-most) game.

One thing about X2 that was fun were those boss battles. Herman and Roger were hilarious and I've never fought a
Cathedral
before
 
man, I've played every great ps2 game so far and I finally got GOD OF WAR 2 and it is by far THE BEST GAME EVER on ps2. It is light years ahead of everything. the graphics are mind numbing. I can't believe the ps2 could even be capable of the things GOW2 did. It feels like they took the best things out of resident evil, onimusha,devil may cry, prince of persia, and crossed it with Clash of the titans, which they did and it is amazing.
 
Here is a list of games I got since joining CAG and finding out about them. I suck at adventure fighting games so have not picked up any GoD or DMC games yet. Quite a few are RPGs cause I like them the most. Most have not been played yet.

Shadow Hearts 1-3
Dragon Quest (about half way through)
FF XII
SMT: DDS 1 &2
SMT: Nocturne
SMT: Devil Summoner
SMT: Persona 3
Odin Sphere
ICO
Shadow of the Colossus
Rogue Galaxy
Xenosaga 2 & 3 (played 1)
MGS Essentials Collection
Wild Arms 3
Rygar
Star Ocean: Til the end of time
Neo-Geo Battle Colosseum
Raiden III

I plan to pickup Suidoken 3 & 5 next time GS has another 25% off coupon.
Maybe some SRPGs, but I've never played one before.
I dont really like the horror stuff like SH or Fatal Frame.

What else should I get besides the GoD & DMC series?
 
I won't add to the games that are listed - most of what I would have been mentioned such as RPGs, but here are others:

FPS genre: Timesplitters: Future Perfect - this game is amazing. Great humor, 2 player co-op, deathmatch, nice story, and monkeys!

Fighting genre: Marvel vs Capcom 2 or Capcom vs SNK 2 - both are fairly rare (the former being REALLY rare) but you've played these in the arcade and are pretty good ports. Since you're looking for PS2 titles, I won't mention the XBox version since that'd be moot. Soul Calibur III is also good and exclusive to PS2.

Arcade: Metal Slug Anthology, Time Crisis 2/3. MSA is a damn fine tribute to the series, and Time Crisis should be known by everyone.
 
[quote name='Caliburn']
FPS genre: Timesplitters: Future Perfect - this game is amazing. Great humor, 2 player co-op, deathmatch, nice story, and monkeys![/quote]
+9000
Timesplitters 2 also has nice multiplayer.
 
Grand Theft Auto Trilogy
Klonoa 2
SSX Tricky
Marvel vs Capcom 2
Street Fighter Anniversary Collection
Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution
 
Yeah, SSX Tricky is fun even if you don't like sports games.

I really didn't like SSX3 that much, snowboarding down a mountain just seemed boring after SSX Tricky's melting Hawaiian mountain, Tokyo's pinball course, and that part where you snowboard through the city.
 
Oh yeah, I have to say Killzone. I enjoyed the hell out of that game, the weapons were awesome and the characters were sweet.

One thing - you have to read some of the Gamefaqs to really enjoy it - your char selection on levels really count. Also the sniper character is actually really sweet, the trick is not to use her primary fire and use her secondary sniper fire instead - that way she becomes a sniper with a TON of free ammo, and with the weapon swap you can just carry around a all-purpose machine gun to boot.

After screwing around with the char I enjoyed playing through the entire game with the main character - thats whats great about the game, there are four diff ways to play it and it's like an awesome WWII game in the future.
 
I'm surprised no one has said Okage yet. It's one of the funniest RPGs the PS2 has to offer.
 
[quote name='Okari']I'm surprised no one has said Okage yet. It's one of the funniest RPGs the PS2 has to offer.[/quote]

I agree with the funny. The load times on that game ensure that I will never be able to complete it.
 
[quote name='thelonepig']I agree with the funny. The load times on that game ensure that I will never be able to complete it.[/quote]
I don't mind the load times, but the dungeons felt like they were the same thing over and over. It was my second PS2 game, and I've still never beaten it. It's dirt cheap though, everyone should try it at least once.
 
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