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[tedtropy]

About two years ago I gave my original PS2 to a friend. I hadn't played any games on it in awhile, and my XBox and GC were keeping me busy enough. Unfortunately since then I've missed out on quite a few great titles, so I finally broke down yesterday and picked up one of those sexy slim PSTwos and a used copy of Metal Gear Solid 3. I had a Target gift card and they were throwing in a free copy of X-Men Legends 2 (I know, woo woo) with the system. Now I'd like to build up a back library of other great titles. Old or new, it doesn't matter, I'd love to hear everyone's recommendations.

Oh, and a few other questions...

I hear the video quality on the PSTwo is supposed to be a nice step up from the original (with the obvious addition of progressive scan support aside) and I'm kind of hoping I can use it to replace my mediocre Phillips DVP642.

Despite my used copy of MGS3 being in near-perfect shape, I've noticed some of the opening codec conversation were, for lack of a better word...skippy. The audio seemed to be loading mid-conversation as I'd hear a few jarring pauses or hiccups. Do I just have a crap copy of the game?

Do you have to do anything special to ensure that progressive scan is enabled in the games that support it, or does the PS2 just automatically enable it so long as it's connected via component cables?

I cheaped out and bought a Mad Catz X-Box/PS2 component cable. I normally stear clear of these all-in-one cables, but I do see any real quality problems with this one and it was a third of the cost of the official Sony one. Anyone else using this?

Thanks.

 

[8bit]

Not knowing your preferences, it's kind of hard to recommend anything in particular direction. However, these are a few of the exclusive PS2 games I had fun with:

Maximo vs The Army of Zin
Ape Escape 2
Blood Will Tell
God of War

No idea about your video query though.

 

[Solo]

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Shadow of the Colossus
God of War
Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening
Resident Evil 4 (ONLY if you dont have the GC version)
Black (next month)

EDIT: The MGS3 "skip" is a part of all copies, sadly. Apparently they remedied this in Subsistence, however.

 

[tedtropy]

Not knowing your preferences, it's kind of hard to recommend anything in particular direction. However, these are a few of the exclusive PS2 games I had fun with:

Maximo vs The Army of Zin
Ape Escape 2
Blood Will Tell
God of War

No idea about your video query though.

Any genres really. I'm not a big racing game fan, but that aside, pretty much everything else. Thanks for the recommendations.

 

[Joico]

VF4 Evolution
Guitar Hero
Prince of Persia 3
Guilty Gear X2
Pro Evo Soccer 5
Zone of Enders 2
DQ VIII
Devil May Cry 3 Special Edition
Katamari Damacy

 

[jiggle]

DQVIII is onsale at Target right now! how perfect is that? buy buy buy!

 

[Amir0x]

ICO (lol arthouse)
Shadow of the Colossus (lol arthousex2)
Amplitude or Frequency
Katamari or <3 Katamari
Devil May Cry 3
Dark Cloud 2
Dragon Quest VIII
God of War
Final Fantasy X
Ratchet and Clank: 2 or 3 (or both!)
Shadow Hearts 1 and 2
Virtua Fighter 4: Evo
Twisted Metal Black
Choose N1 SRPG: Disgaea, Phantom, etc...
Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne
Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga 1/2

 

[tedtropy]

DQVIII is onsale at Target right now! how perfect is that? buy buy buy!

On sale for how much?

 

[jiggle]

On sale for how much?

thirty something...

 

[tedtropy]

thirty something...

Cool. Don't know if I have time for a bazillion-hour RPG, but damn if I can't try.

 

[blindrocket]

I don't blame you for eagerly wanting to play MGS3 and picking up a used copy, but Subsistence is coming out in a couple of months!

 

[SKOPE]

Not a racing fan? Buy Burnout: Revenge anyway. It's the racing game for people who don't play racing games. (People like me.)

Especially if you like games where you break a lot of things.

Other PS2-exclusive games worth picking up (in no particular order):
Rayman 2: Revolution (not worth it if you've played Rayman 2: The Great Escape)
Kya: Dark Lineage
Ape Escape 2 (or wait for more reviews of part 3 first)
Klonoa 2
God of War
Guitar Hero
Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future
Shadow of Destiny
Ico
Shadow of the Colossus
Grandia II
Final Fantasy X
Soul Calibur III (unless you have II, they play similarly)
Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution
Jak 3
Dragon Quest VIII
Katamari Damacy or We Love Katamari
Jak & Daxter
Ratchet & Clank trilogy (only one, they all play the same)
Rez
Space Channel 5 Special Edition
Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga 1&2

Those ought to keep you busy for a while.

 

[TekunoRobby]

I hear the video quality on the PSTwo is supposed to be a nice step up from the original (with the obvious addition of progressive scan support aside) and I'm kind of hoping I can use it to replace my mediocre Phillips DVP642.

Are you sure you're talking about the same awesome DVD player that allows you to play a good portion of all the subbed animé that's out there? Granted its not great video quality so I wouldn't really know any other reason than to pick it up aside from its ability to play divx and xvid files.

EDIT: Damn I'd help out with suggestions but everyone has mostly taken care of that so I'll go ahead and choose one game for each category in order to simplify things. All of my suggestions are games from 2005.

Action:
God of War
(grab this or DMC: Special Edition later this month)

Adventure:
Shadow of the Colossus
(a bit hard to reccomend since its mostly a series of boss fights but if you're ok with that then definitely grab it)

RPG:
Dragon Quest VIII
(RPG of the year, it is awesome)

FPS:
Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30
(if you're gunning for online then grab Socom 3 instead)

Fighting:
Soul Calibur III
(fighting game of the year, no contest)

Music:
Guitar Hero
(do not doubt the power of rock)

Wacky Jappy:
We <3 Katamari
(a fun little game thats both comical and unique)

 

[Johnas]

I didn't see Gradius V mentioned, it's an awesome 2D sidescrolling shooter, but you probably knew that.

Ys: Ark of Napishtim isn't must-have, but it's a fun, old-school action RPG, you might look for it cheap.

Both Maximo games are fantastic, the first one is sort of hard, the second one was made easier.

Everything else I already see mentioned.

 

[tedtropy]

Are you sure you're talking about the same awesome DVD player that allows you to play a good portion of all the subbed animé that's out there? Granted its not great video quality so I wouldn't really know any other reason than to pick it up aside from its ability to play divx and xvid files.

EDIT: Damn I'd help out with suggestions but everyone has mostly taken care of that so I'll go ahead and choose one game for each category in order to simplify things. All of my suggestions are games from 2005.

Action:
God of War
(grab this or DMC: Special Edition later this month)

Adventure:
Shadow of the Colossus
(a bit hard to reccomend since its mostly a series of boss fights but if you're ok with that then definitely grab it)

RPG:
Dragon Quest VIII
(RPG of the year, it is awesome)

FPS:
Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30
(if you're gunning for online then grab Socom 3 instead)

Fighting:
Soul Calibur III
(fighting game of the year, no contest)

Music:
Guitar Hero
(do not doubt the power of rock)

Wacky Jappy:
We <3 Katamari
(a fun little game thats both comical and unique)

Function-wise, the Phillips player is awesome and pretty much supports everything under the sun and is really easy to make reigon-free. It's a little wonky with XviD stuff sometimes, but that aside it's played most stuff I've thrown at it. Unfortunately the actual video quality is really 'meh'. Thanks for the suggestions, a big motivator in buying the system was for inevitably getting Guitar Hero. That title just looks too awesome to resist. Thanks.

 

[Tarazet]

It would be a good idea to pick up Rez, Gitaroo-Man, Growlanser Generations deluxe, and Guitar Hero while they're available. The former two are reprints of games that were extraordinarily rare beforehand, and the latter two are games in limited supply with expensive extras, so they're likely to become almost impossible to find. So now would be the time to buy them if you're interested. I'll describe what they are briefly -

Rez - A stunning shooter with vector graphics and Panzer Dragoon-esque controls, in which all of your shots will be automatically timed to the beat and will build the music's intensity. Extremely short at about two hours, but should be experienced at least once.

Gitaroo-Man - A funky little music game from Koei, who are better known for war games set in feudal Japan and China. Notable for being extremely difficult, but rewarding.

Growlanser Generations - two excellent tactical RPGs, Growlanser II and Growlanser III. Power-leveling is not necessary in these games, and the gridless system is very easy to deal with. The deluxe set ($65 at GameQuestDirect.com) includes a nice watch and some other extras.

Guitar Hero - If you have any metal in you, you'll enjoy this. I don't, so I didn't, but that's just me.

 

[Doom_Bringer]

Ace Combat IV
God of War
Final Fantasy X
Tekken 5
Soul Calibur 3

 

[tedtropy]

While I'm at it, is Taiko Drum Master remotely rare, because there's about two copies at my local Gamestop?

 

[Tarazet]

While I'm at it, is Taiko Drum Master remotely rare, because there's about two copies at my local Gamestop?

Not really. There's little to no demand for it, and it's easy to find. Guitar Hero, on the other hand, is already heatedly sought after. If you're interested in it, though, by all means buy it. Taiko drumming rocks. I was fortunate enough to be treated to a private, open-air performance by San Jose Taiko during the course of a world-music class I took, and it was fantastic.

 

[Ranger X]

While I'm at it, is Taiko Drum Master remotely rare, because there's about two copies at my local Gamestop?

Buy 2!! And buy a second guitar for you Guitar Hero. Those 2 games are so awesome and even better at two players!

(playing with a controller sucks even if it's possible...)

 

[CompositeMolar]

GUITAR HERO!!!

 

[ascully]

Any of the Sly Cooper games

 

[golduck342]

Maximo
Maximo vs. Army of Zin

 

[Community Forum]

Whoa... Rez had a reprint? Where can I find a copy?

 

[Mac the KNife]

Whoa... Rez had a reprint? Where can I find a copy?

http://search.store.yahoo.com/cgi-bin/nsearch?catalog=game-questdirect&query=rez&Submit=GO

 

[Community Forum]

http://search.store.yahoo.com/cgi-bin/nsearch?catalog=game-questdirect&query=rez&Submit=GO

Crazy cool! Thanks!

 

[shpankey]

ABSOLUTELY MUST HAVE PLAY RIGHT FUCKING NOW's!!!

Shadow of the Colossus
God of War


THE REST...

Hot Shots Golf Fore. (great fun game!)

Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening (wait for upcoming Special Edition)
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (wait for Subsistence)

Resident Evil 4 (ONLY if you haven't played the GC version already)
Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones (ONLY if you haven't played Xbox version already)
Call of Duty 2: Big Red One (only if you haven't played the Xbox version already)
Black (next month, but I would get the Xbox version instead)

 

[chinmonster]

RE4 (basically all you need)
Ico
Klonoa 2
Ace Combat 4
Soul Calibur III
Dragon Quest VIII

 

[demi]

tedtropy, buy my RPGs!

 

[tedtropy]

tedtropy, buy my RPGs!

Which RPGs would those be?

 

[demi]

http://www.ga-forum.com/showpost.php?p=2548250&postcount=639

 

[tedtropy]

Bit of an update, in case anyone else finds themselves new PSTwo owners. I swung by EB Games and picked up a copy of Final Fantasy X for $10. I'm not sure if I'll even get around to giving it another go, but I felt bad not having it in my collection at that price. And DVD video wise, the progressive picture quality coming out of the system looks considerably better than my Phillip's DVP642. The picture is sharper, less saturated, and just generally nicer. Pretty impressive considering the size of the system, although Sony is nuts for charging $15 for a fricken piece of plastic that allows my system to stand vertically. Heaven forbid they throw it in the box with the system. I'm sure I'll be bending over to take that particular raping soon, as the system just looks so much sleeker that way.

 

[Wario64]

Since you bought FFX for that price, mind as well pick up FFX-2 while you're at it (it's $5 at Gamecrazy, NEW copy)

As for MGS3 having skippy sound, that's normal. You can resolve this by using HDloader but I'm not sure how compatible it is with the slim PStwo's


And get Guitar Hero GET IT NOW (supposedly $60 at Target)

p.s. Taiko sucks since there's a huge dead zone on the drums and GUITAR HERO IS BETTER

 

[tedtropy]

Since you bought FFX for that price, mind as well pick up FFX-2 while you're at it (it's $5 at Gamecrazy, NEW copy)

As for MGS3 having skippy sound, that's normal. You can resolve this by using HDloader but I'm not sure how compatible it is with the slim PStwo's


And get Guitar Hero GET IT NOW (supposedly $60 at Target)

p.s. Taiko sucks since there's a huge dead zone on the drums and GUITAR HERO IS BETTER

Cool, I may drop by Gamecrazy and pick that up if it's available. It's amazing that such an otherwise polished game like MGS3 would have such a skipping issue and unfortunately the PSTwo won't support an HD as far as I've heard. That's a very nice price for Guitar Hero. Thanks.

 

[Pedigree Chum]

Ssx jr. in the making?

*pukes*

 

[tedtropy]

Ssx jr. in the making?

*pukes*

You've caught me, I find cute Asian women attractive. May the Internets forgive me.

 

[Zaphod]

Which RPGs would those be?

All of them.

 

[tedtropy]

I must say, regardless of my so-so opinion of the actual game itself, I still find the opening cinematic to Final Fantasy X to have a very resonating quality to it. And it has to be about three years since I last saw it. Probably one of my favorite bits of Uematsu music too.