And before you rush in to suggest - yes I’ve played Metal Gear Solid 2 and 3 to completion.

  • ProfessorOwl_PhD [any]@hexbear.net
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    10 days ago

    PS2 is still my favourite console. Games might look even prettier now, but I feel like they don’t have a fraction of the creativity to their stories and gameplay. There’s very little I’ve played since that quite scratches the itch these all did, unless they were a continuation of the same series:

    • Jak and Daxter, Jak II, & Jak III
    • First four Ratchet and Clank games
    • Psychonauts
    • Dark Cloud & Dark Chronicle
    • Dragon Quest VII
    • Rogue Galaxy
    • Katamari Damacy
    • Okami
    • Shadow of the Collosus & Ico
    • Soul Nomad and the World Eaters
    • Beyond Good and Evil
    • Canis Canem Edit (Bully in the US)
    • God Hand
    • Prince of Persia Sands of Time, Warrior Within, & Two Thrones
  • callouscomic@lemm.ee
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    10 days ago

    Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction. You play one of a few Mercenaries working for money from any of three factions in a complex war in the DMZ between the Korea’s. Third person shooter, a little espionage, lots of blowing stuff up.

    A great game on PS2. I played the entire thing on PCSX2 on Steam Deck.

    I’d also recommend all of the Socom games on PS2.

    Rebel Raiders is a fun alternative to Ace Combat.

    Just Cause (the first one) is a cheesy classic. However you can get a better version on Steam or X360 I think.

  • Rose Thorne(She/Her)@lemm.ee
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    10 days ago

    .hack. The original quadrilogy is still locked to the PS2. Clunky in places, very Japanese, good time all around.

    Just remember, it might be time to log out and check your mail.

  • doublepepperoni [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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    10 days ago

    There’s literally hundreds of great PS2 games you could play, but I’m going to recommend stuff I played last year

    Onimusha: Warlords (You can tell the first game was built on the template of the first Resident Evil and it’s fun to spot the similarities despite the shift in genre. I also got a kick out of playing a PS2 game with pre-rendered backgrounds. Warning: it’s a melee combat game with fixed camera angles and tank controls.)

    Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny (Still uses the first game’s formula. The first game was pretty short and confined to a single castle, the sequel is a more sprawling adventure)

    Onimusha 3: Demon Siege (The series moves to full 3D and slightly towards character action, also Jean Reno is in it)

    Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams (A soft reboot for the series which brings a shift in tone and art style as well as gameplay, playing like an action RPG)

    You should also take the opportunity to play the rare survival horror game holy trinity as a middle finger to the ridiculous prices these games go for on the second hand market

    Haunting Ground (Easily the easiest game of the three to recommend. One of the prettiest games on the PS2 and the gameplay is nice and polished. Has one of the greatest dog companions in gaming)

    Kuon (From Software’s PS2 horror game set in the Heian period. You can definitely see they weren’t working with a AAA budget- there’s no facial animation during cutscenes, for example, but the various spells you can use make for interesting survival horror combat system and the atmosphere and story are great)

    Rule of Rose (A unique female-focused video game narrative dealing with topics you don’t usually see, like bullying. Genuinely emotionally affecting story, atmosphere and soundtrack. Sadly, the gameplay is not that great but hey, there’s a dog companion in this game too)

  • machinya [it/its, fae/faer]@hexbear.net
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    10 days ago

    ps2 had very good horror games, like the silent hill saga, fatal frame saga and some hidden gems like haunting ground and rule of rose. there is also the resident evil outbreak games with the online patch so it’s possible to play them in multyplayer mode.

    there are also many good action games like the devil may cry saga or many jrpgs like the persona games or the disgaea games.

    honestly, ps2 had so many games that it’s hard to list just a few. there was lots of slop but also lots of interesting ideas there. some games got re-releases later for more recent consoles so there are better versions but most of them still hold up

  • ElChapoDeChapo [he/him, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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    10 days ago

    You’ve played Metal Gear yes but have you played Hideo Kojima’s other games

    Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner is one of my favorite games of all time and I would argue it’s the best PS2 action game, also I’m pretty sure it ended up being a massive influence on the writing of Armored Core VI

    The original Zone of the Enders is OK too but it’s nothing compared to the sequel

    To really understand the lore and setting I recommend playing the GBA game that I myself only just started playing because I just got into GBA emulation last week because the main games don’t always explain everything