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PlayStation 2 (2000 sequel to the popular console from the Sony Corporation)

Started by boki, February 20, 2019, 02:46:03 PM

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boki

Anyone else still using one?  What are you using it for?  I'm very much a casual gamer and still really crap at old games like GTA Vice City, so I've no real need to move on yet.  Got Fifa 13 (the second last one they made for it) for 50p from a chazza shop recently, which made me happy.  Some of the Leicester City players are even still at the club!

Alternatively, please feel free to use this thread to reminisce like you're on Game Sack or summat.

NoSleep

I still use mine, apart from the PSX game I'm currently playing (Vandal Hearts II), which comes up as "disc error" on my PS2 (and even occasionally crashes on startup on my backup PSOne despite looking pristine). Recently replayed FFXII (actually I haven't finished yet, just having a rest after 150 hours of playing every side-quest as I go).
I also use it as a backup to my DVD player, which can be temperamental with some discs (not that all of them successfully play on the PS2, either).

I bought some dead cheap PS2 games from CEX the other day - about 50p each and had to take a couple back as they came up with a message saying they weren't even proper PS2 discs and one other that declared "disc error". I always found that the secondhand market on PS2 games required me to ask to see each disc before purchase, as the slightest hint of a scratch usually means the game is kaput unlike the sturdy PSX games (I have a game on the PSX that plays perfectly despite the disc having a split from circumference to centre).

If you're interested in shoot em ups, then you might look into Dodonpachi DaiOuJou which is one of the greatest ever bullet hell games or Psyvariar (there are several Psyvariar games on the system, including the sequel - all gold) which is a 'grazing' game where you get powered up by flying close to the bullets without dying. It's well exciting. Gunbird 1&2 are also great, very arcadey, accessible.

I never had one so missed out on a shitload.

Away from shmups, Resident Evil 4 is one of the best games on any system. Silent Hill 2 is supposed to be the peak of survival horror (never played it). Should be some good gaming in all that.

madhair60

Traded in all my PS2 games recently. Got hundreds, was great. So much space.

tookish

I don't use mine much any more, especially since we got an Xbox One, but I'm fond of a lot of the games one could buy for it. No surprises here but I still occasionally load it up for a play through of the LOTR games.

madhair60

Quote from: tookish on February 20, 2019, 03:08:21 PM
I don't use mine much any more, especially since we got an Xbox One, but I'm fond of a lot of the games one could buy for it. No surprises here but I still occasionally load it up for a play through of the LOTR games.

Return of the King tie-in game is so, so good. Still got it on Xbox, works on the 360. Truly stunning game. Game Boy Advance version was fit too, great little Diablo-like.

NoSleep

Quote from: tookish on February 20, 2019, 03:08:21 PM
I don't use mine much any more, especially since we got an Xbox One, but I'm fond of a lot of the games one could buy for it. No surprises here but I still occasionally load it up for a play through of the LOTR games.

Those were the games I bought for 50p but only one of the trilogy didn't get taken back. I was left with the Fellowship one and haven't yet worked out how to get out of Hobbiton past the Nazgul. The one other that survived and I've tried out is LOTR - The Third Age, which a standard turn-based RPG, set in the same time as LOTR but is a parallel side-story. The bit I've tried of this is a lot more enjoyable than the Fellowship one but I'm a fan of RPGs.

NoSleep

Quote from: madhair60 on February 20, 2019, 03:14:59 PM
Return of the King tie-in game is so, so good. Still got it on Xbox, works on the 360. Truly stunning game. Game Boy Advance version was fit too, great little Diablo-like.

I'll persist in finding a working copy of both, then. What about the Two Towers one? No?

madhair60

Quote from: NoSleep on February 20, 2019, 03:20:55 PM
I'll persist in finding a working copy of both, then. What about the Two Towers one? No?

It was good too, but the ROTK for me basically supplants it. Better systems all round.  And it starts with Helm's Deep anyway!

madhair60

also it's worth mentioning that the Fellowship game (developed by WXP) was not based on the movie but the book, with the subsequent Two Towers and ROTK games by EA being utterly unrelated to it.

Osmium

Still plugged in, most recently used for Outrun 2006 some time last year. I can't see myself unplugging it as you never know when the urge to play through Gitaroo Man will strike.

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth

I fired it up recently (well, two or three years ago, but recent by my sloth-like standards). Some games really didn't hold up (Time Splitters 2, in particular suffers from piss poor early console FPS controls) but Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 are still close to perfect.

Quote from: The Boston Crab on February 20, 2019, 03:06:00 PM
Silent Hill 2 is supposed to be the peak of survival horror (never played it).
A foul-mouthed Cockney thug would like a word with you: https://youtu.be/WEiNrLESexg?t=78

tookish

Quote from: madhair60 on February 20, 2019, 03:14:59 PM
Return of the King tie-in game is so, so good. Still got it on Xbox, works on the 360. Truly stunning game. Game Boy Advance version was fit too, great little Diablo-like.

It's brill, isn't it? I got stuck for quite a while in the Dead Men of Dunharrow part, where Aragorn yells 'Everything collapses!' the first time I played. Almost quit, then finally cracked it and I'm so glad I did.

Two Towers is quite good too, but as you say, RotK is just better.

Fellowship is a bit of a disappointing game, and I was always disappointed we didn't get a film-version FotR game.

tookish

The Pirates of the Caribbean games are surprisingly neat, compelling little numbers.

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth

I remember those EA Lord of the Rings games being really impressive for the time, thanks to the way they transitioned seamlessly from footage from the films into the game engine.

I just went on Youtube and nostalged my face off just be watching a video of the PS2's bootup screen. I was instantly transported back to my first term at university, spending a big chink of my student loan on a PS2 and a copy of Red Faction.

NoSleep

Quote from: Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth on February 20, 2019, 03:45:21 PM
Some games really didn't hold up (Time Splitters 2, in particular suffers from piss poor early console FPS controls)

That's odd. I recall reconfiguring the controls to play like all the other FPS I've played on the PS2; strafe left, strafe right, forward, backward on analog 1 and look around/turn on analog 2, same as I have on Q3, Deus Ex, Half Life, Unreal, Red Faction. Minus jumping in TS2, of course.

St_Eddie

I don't have the same level of affection for the PS2, as I do for the PSOne.  When I think of the original Playstation, it brings warm fuzzy memories of some of the greatest games of all time, each of them with a very distinct and charming early 3D aesthetic.  Whereas when I think of the PS2, I think of a cold and dull era, lacking in personality, with an aesthetic which isn't unique and instead merely represents an awkward period of evolution in 3D graphics (sort of halfway point between the almost abstract graphics of the PSOne and the relatively realistic looking graphics of the PS3 era).

Having said that, as with most consoles, there were some cracking games.  Perusing my shelf, the highlights of my PS2 collection would be...

* Frequency / Amplitude
* Giataroo Man
* Grand Theft Auto III / Grand Theft Auto: Vice City / Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
* Hitman: Silent Assassin / Hitman: Contracts / Hitman: Blood Money
* Ico
* Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance
* Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
* PaRappa the Rapper 2
* Resident Evil 4 (a port of a GameCube game but whatever)
* Shadow of the Colossus
* We Love Katamari

Great games but if I look at my PSOne collection, there's triple the amount of classic games.  So, PS2; eehhhhh, it's alright but no great shakes.

Quote from: Osmium on February 20, 2019, 03:28:38 PM
Outrun 2006

Quote from: Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth on February 20, 2019, 03:45:21 PM
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

I'll add these to great PS2 games which I've played.  I own copies of both, just not for the PS2.

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth

Quote from: NoSleep on February 20, 2019, 04:58:09 PM
That's odd. I recall reconfiguring the controls to play like all the other FPS I've played on the PS2; strafe left, strafe right, forward, backward on analog 1 and look around/turn on analog 2, same as I have on Q3, Deus Ex, Half Life, Unreal, Red Faction. Minus jumping in TS2, of course.
As I recall it was more the loose feel of the controls. Aiming in particular felt really haphazard, especially when using the precision aim option that was carried over from Goldeneye 64.
I traded Red Faction in at some point, so I wasn't able to see if that played any better.

The Culture Bunker

I remember at uni when a friend got a PS2 early-ish on, with Pro Evolution Soccer. We'd all been crazy for Pro Evo on PS1, holding World Cups over a weekend (everyone put in a fiver, prizes for top four. I always picked Norway and won far more than you'd think), so this was a big deal. On first viewing, we were amazed: I recall my reaction was "that looks just like Ruud van Nistelrooy!"

Still got my PS2, though I doubt I could get it to work with my modern TV. The aforementioned OutRun 2006 was brilliant fun and I enjoyed the Splinter Cell games too. The career mode in Smackdown: Here Comes the Pain has yet to be equalled in any subsequent wrestling game that I've played.

Last memory: picking up Fahrenheit for a tenner or so and being intrigued by the premise and initial bits of playing, before it all went to shit. Kind of a theme with that guy's storytelling.

Phil_A

Last year I finally decided to investigate soft-modding options for my ancient PS2 as the DVD drive is on the way out, it turns out it's as simple as ordering a pre-prepared memory card and plugging it straight in. Literally that easy, can run pretty much anything from a burnt disc or USB hard drive. The only issue is streaming video can go a bit stuttery via USB(as we're talking 2.0 speed here), so games that are particularly video heavy are a bit of a wash-out. I suspect that wouldn't be an issue with a powered USB drive but I haven't tried one yet.

NoSleep

Quote from: Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth on February 20, 2019, 05:39:02 PM
As I recall it was more the loose feel of the controls. Aiming in particular felt really haphazard, especially when using the precision aim option that was carried over from Goldeneye 64.
I traded Red Faction in at some point, so I wasn't able to see if that played any better.

I think there's no substitute for mouse and keyboard when it comes to FPS, so I always made do on the PS2. Although I really miss the dual analog controls when I try to play FPS on the Dreamcast with a controller. Most FPS that use a controller have some sort of auto aim built in as compensation for the inherently poor control.

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth

Yeah, but Timesplitters was crap even by the expected standards of  console shooters. It seemed like something that had been worked out and standardised by the industry, but the recent Wolfenstein: The New Colossus also controlled unusually badly.

Quote from: St_Eddie on February 20, 2019, 05:35:31 PM
I don't have the same level of affection for the PS2, as I do for the PSOne.  When I think of the original Playstation, it brings warm fuzzy memories of some of the greatest games of all time, each of them with a very distinct and charming early 3D aesthetic.
This may well be the first time I've ever seen someone praise those early polygon graphics. I'd have thought their nostalgic appeal was obvious, despite their crudeness, but I don't think I've ever even seen them praised on that level either.

bgmnts

They say its the greatest console of all time but I can only really think of around 10 or so brilliant games on it.

NoSleep

The PSX or PS2, because there are more than 10 good games on both?

NoSleep

Quote from: Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth on February 20, 2019, 06:26:27 PM
Yeah, but Timesplitters was crap even by the expected standards of  console shooters. It seemed like something that had been worked out and standardised by the industry, but the recent Wolfenstein: The New Colossus also controlled unusually badly.
This may well be the first time I've ever seen someone praise those early polygon graphics. I'd have thought their nostalgic appeal was obvious, despite their crudeness, but I don't think I've ever even seen them praised on that level either.

I don't remember now. I have more memories of playing TS3 which I don't recall were problematic (apart from the lack of jumping).

St_Eddie

Quote from: Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth on February 20, 2019, 06:26:27 PM
This may well be the first time I've ever seen someone praise those early polygon graphics. I'd have thought their nostalgic appeal was obvious, despite their crudeness, but I don't think I've ever even seen them praised on that level either.

A great deal of my love for those PSOne graphics does come down to nostalgic appeal.  However, they also have a very distinct aesthetic.  You can look at a screenshot of a PSOne game and immediately identify it as such, even if you're completely unfamiliar with the game itself.  It's the same thing with the colour clash of the ZX Spectrum, or the gaudy, chunky blocks of the Amstrad CPC.

Conversely, take a look at a screenshot of a PS2 game and you'd be hard pushed to identify it as such, should you be unfamiliar with the game itself.  Those graphics just look bland and generic these days and could have belonged to any platform from that era.  Unlike the PSOne, there's no identity or personality that can be associated with the platform hosting those graphics.  There's nothing unique and therefore charming about them.

Quote from: bgmnts on February 20, 2019, 06:27:10 PM
They say its the greatest console of all time but I can only really think of around 10 or so brilliant games on it.

My thoughts exactly.  It's rather lacking in the classics department, considering how insanely popular the console itself was (not to mention long lasting) and just how many thousands of games came out for it.

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth

Could you distinguish between a PS1 screenshot and a Sega Saturn one?

Timothy

Not for me.

I don't agree with Eddie there. PS1 games aren't that unique or charming imo.
Not in the way SNES or N64 games are.

Phil_A

Quote from: bgmnts on February 20, 2019, 06:27:10 PM
They say its the greatest console of all time but I can only really think of around 10 or so brilliant games on it.

Pfft.

Katamari Damacy
Ico
Shadow Of The Collossus
Silent Hill 2
Silent Hill 3
Silent Hill 4(well, maybe)
Breath Of Fire: Dragon Quarter
Final Fantasy X
Okami
Metal Gear Solid 2
Devil May Cry
Godhand
Dragon Quest 8
God Of War

That's at least 13!

St_Eddie

Quote from: Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth on February 20, 2019, 07:55:11 PM
Could you distinguish between a PS1 screenshot and a Sega Saturn one?

Generally speaking, absolutely.  The Sega Saturn has a sharper look to its 3D games, for want of a better description.  It also uses a lot of differing.  Case in point...



That's so Sega Saturn.