What are your favourite PS2 games? (Not shmups)

[Jockel]

Right now i am running out of ideas what to play next.
So i'd like some inspiration.
Name a few great games or underdogs for the PS2 that you love and why.
Some stuff i loved:
Dragon Quest VIII
Katamari Damacy
Shadow of the Colossus (can't play Ico because it runs in 240p and my HDTV doesn't support it)
Psychonauts
Persona 4

[nZero]

I enjoyed Persona 3 FES but I never got around to playing P4.

My favorites are the games that are kind of sim-like but still simple enough to have arcade-y feel:

Ace Combat 04 and Ace Combat Zero - because I like flying around and blowing stuff up
Shutokou Battle Zero/Tokyo Xtreme Racer Zero - driving around racing everyone on the freeway and then using the cash to tune up 20th century japanese muscle
Racing Battle C1 Grand Prix - same idea, caRPG with circuits
Kaido Battle Touge no Densetu - same idea, mountain passes with emphasis on drifting

Also stuff like Simple 2000 Vol. 101 Oneechanpon (Oneechanbara 2 Special), Nanobreaker (best 3D castlevania game yet), that Macross game by Sega AM2, and the Taiko no Tatsujin series are great for shorter bursts of fun.

[Jon]

Off the top of my head:

SMT Nocturne
Persona 3 and 4
DMC 3
God of War 1 and 2
Disgaea

[Jockel]

Kaido Battle looks fair enough, i'll probably try that.
Does Disgaea have a satisfying battle system?

[ZOM]

Bah, hard to answer - Off the top of my head

Baroque
Shadow Tower Abyss
God Hand
SMT Nocturne
Silent hill 2&3

There are more, can't really pick just a few...

[icbluscrn]

well i dont hear about these games being mention much but i like playing them.


gallop racer 2006 = horse racing enough said
Firefighter F.D.18
Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis = only if you never played it before as it does not have much of a replay value
Digital Devil Saga 2 = not an rpg guy so don't know where it compares to the others being mentioned
metal gear solid 3 = never gets old for me

[Fenrir]

Shadow of the Colossus
Okami

Sure, I enjoyed lots more. But everything just pales and withers in comparison.

[sven666]

here goes the reputation..

Grand Thef Auto : Vice City

awesome game!

[third_strike]

Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike - Fight for the Future
Cool!

[kengou]

Metal Gear Solid 3
Shadow of the Colossus (I see you've played it but play it again! Over and over!)
Burnout series
Ace Combat series
God of War series

I have Ico but I wouldn't recommend it, personally. I just didn't enjoy it much. That girl is one of the most frustrating game characters ever created, and the whole game is a friggin escort mission. Your mileage may vary.

[ZOM]

I have Ico but I wouldn't recommend it, personally. I just didn't enjoy it much. That girl is one of the most frustrating game characters ever created, and the whole game is a friggin escort mission. Your mileage may vary.

This reminds me... I forgot to mention ICO in my list.

[Jon]

Can't believe I forgot Okami and Snake Eater.

[Elixir]

Persona 3 FES
Metal Slug 3/6
Tales of Rebirth
Gitaroo Man
Rez
Ace Combat Zero (I usually just boot it up, jerk off to the OP and turn it off)
ICO
DMC1
Jak 1
Disgaea (not 2)
Okami
God Hand
Odin Sphere
Tales of Abyss (don't bother if you've played Vesperia)
Pop'n 12, 13
Kingdom Hearts 1
Sengoku Basara 2

I haven't kept up with non-shmup PS2 titles since 2006 but I doubt I've missed anything special.

[sjoecool1991]

Fatal Frame I
Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly
Fatal Frame III: The Tormented
nuff said.

[ZOM]

Fatal Frame I
Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly
Fatal Frame III: The Tormented
nuff said.

See? That's exactly what I meant by too many to list off the top of my head: +1 to the whole Project Zero/Fatal Frame series.

EDIT: aye, have another one to add: Suikoden V (How could I forget this one, it's one of my favorite RPGs)

[BulletMagnet]

Another vote for SMT: Nocturne, arguably my favorite RPG ever (though it's not for everyone, obviously). Elsewhere in RPG-ville you might want to look into the Shadow Hearts games for something a little different. I also enjoy the Gust RPGs (Atelier Iris, Ar Tonelico, Mana Khemia), though you have to have a rather strong tolerance for "anime-isms" to do so. On a similar note, if you don't mind an all-anime-girl tourney fighter Arcana Heart is worth playing.

[Rob]

Time Crisis 3 and Crisis Zone

[Engineer]

Here are mine.

Fatal Frame I,II AND III
All the Shin Megami Tensei games, (especially Nocturne).
ICO
Shadow of the Colossus
Zone of the Enders the 2nd Runner
Disgaea
Katamari

The same as many of you I see.

[Koa Zo]

Snoopy vs the Red Baron is one of my all time favorites.
The slow motion of Snoopy's biplane may convince you the game sucks, but give it an hour or two and you should be hooked to the end.

[MOSQUITO FIGHTER]

The PS2 is one of my favorite systems. List is probably too long but, anyways.

Time Crisis 3 - Great port, I like the extra mission.
Crisis Zone - Improved over the arcade version. Machine guns!
God Hand - Best 3D Beat 'em up ever.
Williams Pinball - My favorite pinball sim.
Contra: Shattered Soldier - Good game while it lasts. It’s just too memorization heavy. It’s still fun with two players and getting the good rankings. Still haven’t unlocked the last stage.
Metal Slug 3 – Good port.
Guilty Gear Accent Core – Lame characters but it has lots of depth.
Capcom Collection 1 & 2 – Sure, all these games are in mame but I still like them.
God of War 1 & 2 – A little repetitive but enjoyable, great setting.
Fatal Fury Mark of the Wolves – Good port.
Shadow of the Colossus
Urban Chaos: Riot Response – Probably the best FPS on PS2. I liked using the shield.
Okami – Worth it for the art style.
Metal Gear 3 - Fighting that old guy in the woods was really memorable.
Sega Ages Treasure Box – Alien Soldier
Street Fighter Anniversary - Good port.
Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution – Worth it for the training mode.
Soul Calibur II & III
Ico
Katamari Damacy series - I've almost sold these a few times. I still play them every once and a while though.
Namco 50th Anniversary - Cheap way to get PSX Klonoa. Mr Driller included.
Devil May Cry 1 & 3
Tekken 5
Ace Combat series - I sold these, need to get them again.
Vampire Night - I can't seem to get my Guncon calibrated well enough to play this very well. It seems to be good though.
Dragon Quest VIII - Just a straight up no nonsense RPG.
Final Fantasy XII - Nice game when I'm feeling really tired. The game kind of plays itself.

[Elixir]

Zone of the Enders the 2nd Runner

I completely forgot about this despite being one of my favorite games ever, probably in my top 20. This game is important, so play it.

[Ed Oscuro]

Aside from what's been mentioned, a few games I always wanted to play but haven't, so plz commentary dem:

Onimusha series (the action titles)
Devil May Cry series
Shinobi / Kunoichi (Nightblade isn't it?)
Uh...I guess the Sly Cooper games too!

Can't think of more right now.

[Ruldra]

Some that wasn't mentioned yet:

Demon Stone: Dungeons & Dragons setting, you control a group of a fighter, rogue and mage. Relatively unknown but pretty good. Kinda short though, only 10 stages and no extras.
Mercenaries
Black
Puyo Puyo 15th anniversary
Need for Speed Most Wanted
Need for Speed Carbon
Front Mission 4

[Matsunaga]

God of War 1 + 2
Final Fantasy X, XII
Disgaea
Gran Tourismo 3 + 4
Capcom vs SNK 2
Tekken 5
Persona 4
Champions of Norrath 1 + 2
Baldur's Gate 1 + 2
Freedom Fighters
Ace Combat (all of them)
Timesplitters series

Probably a shitload more that I can't think of.

[sven666]

haha had enough yet jockel?

pretty funny that people are always fast enought to shit on Sony and their consoles yet looking at this thread its pretty evident they do carry some of the best titles and reach out to a large crowd, cant think of any other console where recomendations would pour in like this (except maybe PS1)

[ZacharyB]

I bought the system for its Gran Turismos. Tourist Trophy was a nice add-in later on.

I also enjoyed Ace Combat 4 and 5, and Okami. ...That's most of the games I own for the system.

Gran Turismo 5 is probably going to be great on the PS3, but I feel like I'm too old to care.

[dcharlie]

Favourites :

Shox - yes, it's a western EA game, but other than the switch-off-able shox-zones this is as close as we'd had to a real Sega Rally in years. Revo has since came, and i'm ignoring the other turgid Ps2 Sega Rally game. Available in budget bins no doubt, but very fun rally game.

Persona 4 - nice story, great atmosphere, good combat and insanely long. Fantastic stuff.

Shadow of the Colossus - really liked ICO, but loved Wanda - amazing sense of scale playing on a projector and some of the best music in a while all gave a really huge feel to the proceedings. Fantastic idea excuted as well as the PS2 could do it. Would be nice for a reworked HD version with a locked frame rate, but it doesn't detract.

Earth Defense Force 2 - okay, so the frame rate goes to single digits a lot of the time, but when you are flying above a city and you see the massive centipede tearing the place up from miles away then it sinks in that this game is a mini-marvel.


ton more, but at work... update later

[handsome_rakshas]

Metal Gear Solid 3 Subsistence
Shadow of the Colossus
Silent Hill 2-4
God Hand
Guilty Gear X2
Zone of the Enders 2
Remote Control Dandy
Yakuza 1/2
and a ton more I'm forgetting

[evil_ash_xero]

I've been thinking a bit about this lately, for some reason or another....

God Of War 1 + 2
Dragon Quest VIII
Disgaea 1 + 2
Metal Gear Solid 3
Shadow Of The Colossus
Okami
Metal Slug 3
Tekken 5
Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus

I have to say that RE 4 would be one of my top two favorites, if it wasn't for it being a lesser port of a Game Cube game.
I would also say "Treasure Box", but it's just ports. But it's top notch.

Loads of others, but those would probably be my favorites(not counting shmups, of course)

[Gespenst]

ALL PS2 Ace Combat FTW!
Air Force Delta Strike (Deadly Skies 3)
Burnout 3 & Revenge
Front Mission 4
Armored Core Last Raven

Super Robot Wars: Original Generations & OG Gaiden (never touched the Gaiden, but OG is epic)