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 The PS2's getting a little old now. Maybe there's not that many games keeping you busy on the PS3 as you wait for the next generation. Why not explore some obscure or underrated hits on the PS2? It's not relatively expensive to get ahold of games. Even Japanese ones are cheap, with softmodding your PS2 (all you need to know is at http://freemcboot.info/) and buying the games themselves off ebay. And lord knows there are a gently caress-ton of PS2 games. Wikipedia reports that as of last year, there are over 10,000 PS2 games in all regions.  Mister Mosquito A wierd little adventure game where you play as a mosquito and bother a family by stealthy trying to drain their blood.  Echo Night: Beyond An interesting horror game in that you're stuck on a lunar base and you try to help/avoid ghosts by tracking down their special possessions. It's pretty atmospheric.  Another Century's Episode One of the best giant robot games on the PS2, this can be a very insane crossover between Gundam, Macross, and even more giant robots I'm unaware of. There are 3 games in the series and the PS3 one is bad from what I hear.  Armored Core: Silent Line Made by the same people behind Another Century's Episode, this is a giant robot series that's a bit more down to earth. They've released something like 7 Armored Core games on the PS2.  Blood Will Tell An unusual little action game on the ps2. Demons have stolen your body, piece by piece. You're a man whose body is made of weapons. Like your arms are swords.  Gitaroo Man A little expensive to find, but it's one of the more unique rhythm games on the PS2. Very very addicting and can be hard.  King's Field: The Ancient City A fan of Dark Souls/Demon's Souls? Then why not try what came before? This is seriously atmospheric as gently caress. It can be challenging and after a certain point, you just start raping the game. Sorta like Dark Souls. The less you know about this game, the better.  Dark Cloud A more obscure RPG for the PS2, you could actually build towns, and the dungeon crawling was fantastic. That's all you can really do in this game but its very fun. It also had a sequel that made everything better.  Okage: Shadow King A cute, quirky and very barely known rpg on the PS2. The game is a little easy and a little short, but it's fantastic if you want something a bit more casual or to help someone get into RPGs.  Hungry Ghosts This is sort of like King's Field. An atmospheric dungeon/world crawler where you track down ghosts and have to kill them. Ineffiable fucked around with this message at 23:23 on Jul 11, 2012 |
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Jul 11, 2012 23:15
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Way of the Samurai Walk into town, chop dudes in the face with your sword. Varied endings based on factions you support and branches you take, uprgradable swords that persist through various playthroughs (unless you lose them), fun all around.
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Jul 11, 2012 23:18
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Dark Cloud was a Greatest Hit you could get for $20. It was the first PS2 game I had and I loved it. If you like Monster Hunter and the like, I'm sure you'll love Dark Cloud 1 and 2. Building and enhancing weapons was addicting. I think weapons could level up too, I don't remember. But seriously, play those games.
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Jul 11, 2012 23:20
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FoolishLobster posted:Dark Cloud was a Greatest Hit you could get for $20. It was the first PS2 game I had and I loved it. If you like Monster Hunter and the like, I'm sure you'll love Dark Cloud 1 and 2. Building and enhancing weapons was addicting. I think weapons could level up too, I don't remember. But seriously, play those games. Weapons leveling up was the major mechanic, instead of your characters leveling up their weapons would. Anyone wanting to try these games should note that the first one has a thirst bar forcing you to drink,its a pain. The second game is far better.
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Jul 11, 2012 23:23
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Robot Alchemic Drive was a game developed by the guys who later did Earth Defense Force. It's a game where you're an anime kid and you have to fight off an alien invasion by using a giant loving robot. Except! You control the kid, not the robot directly. You have a jetpack type power that lets you get up on top of buildings. You have to constantly change position so you have a good view of your robot as the battle progresses, then you can control it like an RC car. Relevant: http://youtu.be/KJW2WiY_ULk
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Jul 11, 2012 23:36
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bloodysabbath posted:Robot Alchemic Drive was a game developed by the guys who later did Earth Defense Force. It's a game where you're an anime kid and you have to fight off an alien invasion by using a giant loving robot. Only somewhat relevant, but R.A.D got a sorta-sequel in Japan called Remote Control Dandy. It was like RAD but with more customization. You could customize and paint the robot and there was more for the human pilot to do. I'm sad we never got it with a terrible comedy dub.
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Jul 11, 2012 23:38
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Zaodai posted:Way of the Samurai I wish more games took on the Groundhog Day formula. Same sets of events happen over the course of several days and you take whatever knowledge / skills you acquire through your playthroughs to make different outcomes happen. Global Defense Force Pal / Japan only - sequel to Earth Defense Force 2017. A love letter to bad B-movies and bad video games - it's one of the most fun co-op experiences you'll ever play. Dozens of ridiculous weapons and hundreds of giant insect enemies coupled with hilarious game design decisions. I just hope EDF4 is able to recapture the magic that the American devs behind Insect Armageddon could not.
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Jul 11, 2012 23:46
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I totally forgot about that blue stand that the PS2 had. I've never seen one of those in person.
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Jul 12, 2012 00:01
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Pretty much any NIS title. Phantom Brave, Makai, Disgaea, etc. I've sunk so many hours collectively into these games it's a bit frightening.
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Jul 12, 2012 00:05
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Gladius A Roman themed fantasy SRPG by Lucasarts. Its combat system is like a combination of Advance Wars and Mario Golf. It got good reviews pretty much everywhere but sold very poorly and was one of the big nails in Lucasarts coffin that lead to them exclusively making Star Wars games (well, that and that abysmal third person shooter). Bujingai A fun brawler with a pretty deep combat system. Unfortunately like a lot of really awesome third person action titles from that era (Spartan: Total Warrior, Otogi 2) it was eclipsed by the meteoric rise of God of War.
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Jul 12, 2012 00:51
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Steambot Chronicles It's a mellow mecha sandbox game with a ton of sidequests, musical minigames, and customization options for your character and his robot/car. There's a main story but most of the fun is exploring the world and finding out all of the things you can do. Primal It's an action-adventure game that stars a sentient gargoyle that can turn to stone and climb stony surfaces and a girl with the ability to change into different types of demons. Both characters have to solve puzzles to help each other progress and the girl has to fend off enemies to protect the gargoyle. I liked some of the monster designs in Dark Cloud, especially the Mimics. It was funny to watch a group of adventurers fleeing from a treasure chest with teeth was in hot pursuit.
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Jul 12, 2012 01:34
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Action Tortoise posted:Steambot Chronicles Edit: just checked, was released in 2006 and has metacritic score of 74 which is far too high. I'm going to be predictable and say GOD HAND except I know that by now every goon with a PS2 has at least tried it and many more have heard of it. It's a game about punching people, if you weren't aware, and it's one of the best games on the PS2 no joke. Kung-Fu Jesus fucked around with this message at 01:49 on Jul 12, 2012 |
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Jul 12, 2012 01:39
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Evil Dead: A Fistful of Boomstick Listen to Bruce Campbell's one-liners as you button mash your way through stages while keycard hunting so you can go to the next area. It's simple and pretty short, but I sure like shooting things and listening to Bruce Campbell talk! 
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Jul 12, 2012 01:50
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Capcom put out this weird game in maybe 2006 or 2007 called Shadows of Rome, which blended survival horror-style exploration gameplay with gladiatorial combat and some free-roaming stuff, and managed to put all of that into one game without any single part of it feeling underutilized. I don't remember it getting that much marketing or press, plus it came out right in the middle of that period of time where God of War was still pretty new and everyone had a Greek or Roman-themed action game coming out. It's a lot better than it has any right to be, particularly since just about every other game that's ever tried to be that many things at once has usually hosed at least one of them up.
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Jul 12, 2012 01:52
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Wanderer posted:Capcom put out this weird game in maybe 2006 or 2007 called Shadows of Rome, which blended survival horror-style exploration gameplay with gladiatorial combat and some free-roaming stuff, and managed to put all of that into one game without any single part of it feeling underutilized. I don't remember it getting that much marketing or press, plus it came out right in the middle of that period of time where God of War was still pretty new and everyone had a Greek or Roman-themed action game coming out. Shadows of Rome is amazing just because of how quickly the alternate history goes from sufficiently plausible to just loving ridiculous.
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Jul 12, 2012 01:54
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Kung-Fu Jesus posted:I'm going to be predictable and say GOD HAND except I know that by now every goon with a PS2 has at least tried it and many more have heard of it. It's a game about punching people, if you weren't aware, and it's one of the best games on the PS2 no joke. I don't care if it's predictable, there are people out there who still haven't played God Hand or Okami and they really should. Clover's games were wonderful. Every time the Bombcast talked about Darksiders like it was the first game to ever really excel at the Zelda-clone formula I got all uppity, because Okami owns.
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Jul 12, 2012 01:58
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Kung-Fu Jesus posted:No, sorry, this game is awful. Have you played it in the last 10 years? It's also available on PSN along with Grimgrimoire and Odin Sphere which were made by Vanillaware. Both are really good side scrollers, with the first being an RTS while the other an RPG. What really stands out about these games are the graphics which were all done with a gorgeous hand-drawn style. Also back in the day you had to deal with SD TVs making everything blurry as poo poo so you couldn't appreciate how pretty the graphics looked. The PSN version gets it upscaled to fit HD TVs which was kind of a hack-job but at least you don't have to deal with blurred graphics and the like. Before these went up on PSN, the PS2 discs were going for a premium on ebay because the games are were so fuckin hard to find.
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Jul 12, 2012 02:03
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Ring of Red Essentially a clusmy portmanteau of Valkyria Chronicles and Steel Batallion, Ring of Red was a cult classic in the making whose audience never showed up to the party. Overly prolonged, grueling tactical battles where giant walking tanks blew the poo poo out of each other in a surprisingly politically aware but no less poorly translated or written alternate history scenario. Probably one of the more unique pedecessos to Steel Batallion out there.
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Jul 12, 2012 02:08
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Mercury Crusader posted:Evil Dead: A Fistful of Boomstick All the Evil Dead games were surprisingly good.
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Jul 12, 2012 02:10
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I remember really enjoying a game called Extermination that came out very early in the console's life. You're a soldier in a base in Antarctica that's being infested by an alien type thing. It's like The Thing mixed with Resident Evil. I'd bet it hasn't aged well at all, but I remember liking it 10 years ago. Also, does the Fatal Frame series count as underrated? Because they are excellent games.
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Jul 12, 2012 02:10
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Kung-Fu Jesus posted:No, sorry, this game is awful. Have you played it in the last 10 years? Part of the game was fine, but whoever decided to go with that for combat controls should be shot. I liked that the gameplay varied so much, but controlling your mech was a pain in the rear end. I mean its like if you took Virtual On and made the combat much slower, with less going on
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Jul 12, 2012 02:11
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If anyone is a fan of the original Wild Arms on the PS1, you should really check out the remake for the PS2: Wild Arms: Alter Code F. Redoes the entire graphics engine, as well as adding many small changes from the games later in the series. New characters/storylines are also well done.
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Jul 12, 2012 02:12
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blackguy32 posted:Part of the game was fine, but whoever decided to go with that for combat controls should be shot. I liked that the gameplay varied so much, but controlling your mech was a pain in the rear end. I mean its like if you took Virtual On and made the combat much slower, with less going on Most enemies just would up being able to be punched to death anyways. You would grab onto them like a retarded chimp and pound away until they died, more often than not taking any damage because your mech was able to be tricked out if you abused the part system. You became a tiny metal retard who destroyed entire legions with a single button, battle controls ment poo poo because you wound up just beating everyone to death by punching.
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Jul 12, 2012 02:15
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I thought the PSP port GTA games where great. Vice City Stories in particular.
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Jul 12, 2012 02:15
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yellowcar posted:It's also available on PSN along with Grimgrimoire and Odin Sphere which were made by Vanillaware. Both are really good side scrollers, with the first being an RTS while the other an RPG. What really stands out about these games are the graphics which were all done with a gorgeous hand-drawn style. Also back in the day you had to deal with SD TVs making everything blurry as poo poo so you couldn't appreciate how pretty the graphics looked. The PSN version gets it upscaled to fit HD TVs which was kind of a hack-job but at least you don't have to deal with blurred graphics and the like. Before these went up on PSN, the PS2 discs were going for a premium on ebay because the games are were so fuckin hard to find. Y'know, Odin Sphere just never really clicked with me. There was something intangible I felt it was missing, and I could never put my finger on it until I played what's in my mind a vastly superior game in Muramasa. Odin Sphere is clunky and slow, while Muramasa is fluid and fast paced. If you've played either one, it's worth it to give the other a shot since Muramasa is basically just Odin Sphere without the RPG elements, but I dunno. I could never get past an hour or two into Odin Sphere before forgetting about it.
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Jul 12, 2012 02:20
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Dan Didio posted:Ring of Red Wow, a CD-ROM game for the PS2? I thought they all used DVDs. It sounds like my kind of game though, I have to keep my eyes open for it.
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Jul 12, 2012 02:24
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Komoxdos posted:Wow, a CD-ROM game for the PS2? I thought they all used DVDs. It sounds like my kind of game though, I have to keep my eyes open for it. There were quite a few, actually. Mostly budget titles, sports games and fighters but not entirely. The real oddities are the DVD-9 games, which were quite few and far between. dis astranagant fucked around with this message at 02:31 on Jul 12, 2012 |
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Jul 12, 2012 02:25
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Comedy Answer: Serious Answer(s):    I love that all of these have the responsible party in the lower right of the box art... loving Natsume 
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Jul 12, 2012 02:26
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Koei made a game called Colosseum: Road to Freedom that was really fun. You played a slave who was forced to fight in the gladiatorial arena. I spent so much time playing that game but I don't think I ever saw it get much coverage anywhere. The only way I found out about it was because I was working at Gamestop and someone came and traded it in.
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Jul 12, 2012 02:28
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Ive got both Kings Field and Mr Mosquito sitting on my shelf right now. I should get around to playing both of them but without a working PS2 its kinda pointless. Can you get an EMU to run your legit games? If this isnt kosher with the rules ill remove this.
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Jul 12, 2012 02:31
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Skygunner is one of those games I played the poo poo out of (back when magazines still came with demo disks) but never ended up buying. I remember it being rad as gently caress, I should track down a copy. Anyway, my contribution to this thread is a gem by the name of Champions of Norrath, an Everquest spinoff that's basically Diablo for the PS2. It had online play and everything you would expect in a good hack-n-slash romp. Also underrated: Ratchet & Clank 3's online multiplayer. I played that poo poo to death. I'm legitimately considering buying a PS3 just for the Ratchet & Clank HD Collection, because they're reviving 3's multiplayer for it.
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Jul 12, 2012 02:34
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I'm a huge navy game sperg so I picked up Warship Gunner 2 a while back and drat is it a blast. You start out in a fairly unassuming WWII setting (if fairly anime) slugging it out with destroyers and suddenly the technology level starts going nuts with guided missiles, lasers, energy shields shields and plasma projectors that split the sea as they fire!  You also have full control over the customization of your ship and you can build insane things like eventually. 
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Jul 12, 2012 02:35
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yellowcar posted:It's also available on PSN along with Grimgrimoire and Odin Sphere which were made by Vanillaware. Both are really good side scrollers, with the first being an RTS while the other an RPG. What really stands out about these games are the graphics which were all done with a gorgeous hand-drawn style. Also back in the day you had to deal with SD TVs making everything blurry as poo poo so you couldn't appreciate how pretty the graphics looked. The PSN version gets it upscaled to fit HD TVs which was kind of a hack-job but at least you don't have to deal with blurred graphics and the like. Before these went up on PSN, the PS2 discs were going for a premium on ebay because the games are were so fuckin hard to find. Does the PSN version of Odin Sphere solve the terrible frame rate issues that would crop up every significant fight? I wanted to love the game so badly because the art was beautiful, but the poor performance just killed it for me.
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Jul 12, 2012 02:36
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Nthman posted:Ive got both Kings Field and Mr Mosquito sitting on my shelf right now. I should get around to playing both of them but without a working PS2 its kinda pointless. The emulator's kinda flaky and needs a fairly badass processor to run most games. My lovely old dual core box from 2006 runs a few at playable speeds, but you really need an I5 to run most games full speed. Look for the PCSX2 thread here in Games. BillyJoeBob posted:I'm a huge navy game sperg so I picked up Warship Gunner 2 a while back and drat is it a blast. You start out in a fairly unassuming WWII setting (if fairly anime) slugging it out with destroyers and suddenly the technology level starts going nuts with guided missiles, lasers, energy shields shields and plasma projectors that split the sea as they fire! This game is amazing and everyone should play it. Best boat related game I've ever played and great for scratching that customizable vehicle itch. dis astranagant fucked around with this message at 02:39 on Jul 12, 2012 |
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Jul 12, 2012 02:37
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Road Trip is a great game that looks like a cheap budget game, and it is, but it's great. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cCtZV7jc4A It's a CaRPG! Get in races, upgrade your car, do quests, populate a city, and play sports! Everything you could ever want to do in a car. It's part of the ChoroQ series but they changed the name to Road Trip, then released another in the ChoroQ series titled "ChoroQ" and it's not as good. They took out the free roam that was so fun in RT.
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Jul 12, 2012 02:37
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Skygunner was awesome. There really wasn't a lot like it for the time and it was actually pretty fun to play. With a sorta interesting story to go along with it. Plus, you had characters which had different paths through a level, am I remembering that right?
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Jul 12, 2012 02:45
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Romance of the Three Kingdoms X is by far one of the most underrated games on the PS2 in my mind is probably the game I've sunk the most amount of hours of my life into at the PS2 level. The level of replayability in combination with the admittedly repetitive and yet shockingly addictive gameplay will have you saying 'just 10 more minutes' for hours into the night for multiple nights. I'll submit Juiced as a decent and obscure racing game with a lot of neat features that I hadn't really seen done in other racing games and still haven't. It was brutally hard due to its very permanent effects if you lose (lose your car in pink slip races, lost most of your money preventing you from playing any further, etc) but the combination of building your own fleet of race cars, your team, creating your own racing events which you don't even have to race in and can simply just bet on the results was a very fun one. Sadly, the actual racing part of it was pretty weak but I think I had more fun with it than some of the Need for Speed games for the other mechanics it had going for it.
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Jul 12, 2012 03:29
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Philip Rivers posted:Y'know, Odin Sphere just never really clicked with me. There was something intangible I felt it was missing, and I could never put my finger on it until I played what's in my mind a vastly superior game in Muramasa. Odin Sphere is clunky and slow, while Muramasa is fluid and fast paced. It had a lot to do with item management system. A lot of times I found myself spending a good chunk of time mixing and combining items just so my inventory isn't full. If you weren't murdering everything on screen, you were managing items which creates the disconnects. The stamina gauge didn't help keep things fast-paced either. Muramasa was definitely better in that aspect since it got rid of those things. Too bad it was so much shorter and both characters were identical gameplay wise so the game felt pretty stagnant at times. Avynte posted:Does the PSN version of Odin Sphere solve the terrible frame rate issues that would crop up every significant fight? As far as I know, my FPS hasn't dropped one bit when I played it. I heard that the one up on PSN is the EU version with the fixed framrate issues. So there you go.
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Jul 12, 2012 03:30
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blackguy32 posted:Part of the game was fine, but whoever decided to go with that for combat controls should be shot. I liked that the gameplay varied so much, but controlling your mech was a pain in the rear end. I mean its like if you took Virtual On and made the combat much slower, with less going on Yeah the controls were rear end, but it was the closest thing to Megaman Legends.
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Jul 12, 2012 03:32
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I own this and Overdose, and it is a legitimately fun game for as bad as I am at it. I tried to play Warship Gunner 2 but the TV my PS2 is hooked to is tiny because it's in a back room, and that game does not go well with low visibility at all.
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Jul 12, 2012 03:33
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