Is it worth getting a PS2?

[Mike Richards]

Recently I've been thinking about picking up a PS2, I was a GameCube kid that generation so I missed out on it entirely. They aren't terribly expensive but I haven't quite been able to justify it to myself yet. Most of the things I can think of are either also on systems I already own but easier to find for PS2, or have already been ported to it's younger brother.

And so I bring the issue to you, Escapist. Are there enough good games buried in the library to make it worth buying? Are they titles I can't easily find somewhere else? Will anyone even respond to this at all? Will Batman and the Boy Wonder make it out alive? Tune in at some indeterminate point in the future to find out, same game time, same game forum!

(Oh, and I also picked up a PS1 not too long ago, if any one has any recommendations for that too that'd be great.)

 

[CrazyBlaze]

Yes. I really feel that is all that is needed to be said but that is coming from someone who played the living hell out of my PS2. The games library is deep and there are a lot of great games for it that came out that I'm pretty sure were not released on gamecube. GrimGrimoire is an interesting one. An RTS style game developed by Nippon Ichi, they guys who gave us Disgea. You play as a student who gets trapped in a five day loop where at the end of the five days everyone dies and you have to stop that from happening.

Odin Sphere is a game where you play through as five different characters in their own stories and what you do in one can affect others. Its kindd of hacking slashing with a power bar that limits how many attacks or actions you can do before you have to let it refill again.

The Jax and Daxter series, The Ratchet and Clank series and The Sly Cooper series are all great series though if you have a PS3 you can pick them up as HD releases for about thirty bucks. Same with the Prince of Persia and Ico and Shadow of the Collouses Collection HD remakes and the God of War I and II collection. All of those are also great games.

Okami is another great game if you haven't played it already. You play as a god in Wolf form who must restore beauty to a feudal type Japan. you use an ability called the Celestial Brush where you draw things like Wind or bombs to defeat your enemies. Its a gorgeous game and really fun despite the lack of enemy design later on, with many of the enemies being reskins of earlier ones. Its pretty much Zelda but better despite its enemy short coming and the nonsensical talk can start to get on ones nerves after a while.

Final Fantasy XII is a great game (shoot me I love it) with a pretty good story but it kind of lacks a really central character and its story really ends up being a group of people fighting in a war for their country. You can set up different strategies for your characters called gambits that allow them to perform actions without manual input all the time but you can still put in all the commands you want if you wish to ignore the gambit system. It can take a major investment of time to beat but for me it was totally worth it. Also if you hate random battles, this game has none of them. You see and fight your enemies all within the same area instead of being randomly attacked every thirty seconds.

The Kingdom Hearts series is a must play IMHO. A mash up between Disney and Final Fantasy and it works. The combat can be kind of clunky in the first game due to the lack of camera control using the analog sticks but the story is great. The second one has improvved combat but the story drops a bit. Not a lot but a little bit.

From what I hear Silent Hill 2 is really great and so are Persona 3 and 4 but I've never played those. Also Dragon Quest VIII is good I hear. If you like racing car games I would recomd looking at the Burnout series and Gran Tursimo 4.


I know I missed a few but people can added to the list.

 

[alphamalet]

The PS2 is IMHO the best console ever made. The third-party and first-party catalog of games is unmatched. Yeah, I think you should get one. At the very least it represents a time in video games where there was no such thing as DLC, people would be outraged if a game's length was 4 hours, Western and Japanese developers were valued equally, and every other game wasn't an FPS.

Not to mention: Silent Hill 2, Shadow of the Colossus, ICO, Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy X & XII, Metal Gear Solid 3, Jak and Daxter, Ratchet and Clank, Fatal Frame... I could go all day.

 

[xPrometheusx]

these guys pretty much covered it all. Okami was an incredibly unique game, totally great. Final Fantasy is good, Ratchet and Clank, Jak and Dexter... I'd throw in the Battlefront games. Star wars? Some of the best shooters ever made.

 

[w9496]

It would be worth grabbing one now.

It's pretty cheap, has a lot of decent-good games, and the games are cheap.

The Resident Evil series might be worth picking up if you're into survival horror games at all, and Grand Theft Auto is great fun in general. Metal Gear is also great, but if you own a PS3 or Xbox, you might want to buy it on those instead.

 

[targren]

Hell yes. Absolutely, and with no qualifications.

I still play my PS2 more than my 360 or Wii (I didn't bother with the PS3). And now that it's last-gen (almost thre generations old, we're coming up on) the games are mostly as cheap as stuff that comes in a box of breakfast cereal, and they still blow the pants off what we get now.

 

[Savo]

Pretty much yes. There is a goldmine of quality JRPGs to be found if you are into them (Persona 3-4, Digital Devil Saga 1-2) and other gems like Silent Hill 2-4 or the Metal Gear Solid series. If you're into action, there's the Devil May Cry series to check out.

The PS2 is definitely worth the price it's currently at if you want some new games to play.

 

[Signa]

I don't see why not, but it might be more trouble than it's worth tracking down all those games. Most of the good exclusive ones have reached current-gen consoles, so you might not even need the PS2 to have fun with them.

What I'd do is make a list of the games you really want to play, and then see how many of them can be played on other consoles like the PS3. Assuming you don't own current-gen consoles, then I'd weigh that list against current-gen games that you want to play. Factor in how many games you couldn't play without a PS2, and then you will have your answer.

I suppose that all sounds like a lot of work. You could just say fuck it and buy it anyway. Slim PS2s don't take up a lot of room.

 

[xPrometheusx]

I concur with Signa. It depends on how easily accessible the games are. For example, my gamestop sells old PS2s for like... 30 bucks, but their selection of games is awful. Mostly sports stuff. On the other hand, a few miles away there's a sort of pawn-shop/card-shop type deal that sells every PS2, Gamecube and N64 game ever MADE. So if there's something like that nearby, I say go for it. Nothing beats the original. If not, I'd go with Sigma and see if there's any dowloadable alternatives.

 

[Girl With One Eye]

I've been thinking about getting a ps2 too. My old one died and since I got a ps3 by then I didn't really play it anymore. But now I keep remembering so many awesome games on there I want to buy another one ! I'm not sure what you've played already, but the Metal Gear Solid series is something you should play - especially the first one.

 

[Lawnmooer]

Get a PS2, the ability to play all the great PS2 and PS1 games is fantastic (Though you say you already got a PS1 to be able to play PS1 games)

Games I'd reccommend for PS1 and PS2 (Based entirely on what I can see on my shelf from my computer)

PS1:
Worms
Tekken 3
Hogs of War
Final Fantasy I-IX
Resident Evil 2 and 3
Theme Park World

PS2:
Disgaea: Hour of Darkness (Haven't got around to playing others in the series yet...)
Soul Reaver 2
Shadow Hearts: Covenant
Final Fantasy X
Def Jam Fight for NY
Drakenguard
SSX 3

There are many, many more great games for both platforms, so many that I've no hope in remembering even a fraction of them I'd definately reccommend looking around (Especially if you're getting tired of the repetetive CoD and various clones that are being primarily released nowadays)

 

[Scrustle]

Oh yes very much so. As people have already pointed out it has a huge fantastic library of games. Some games may look kind of aged, but they're still easily playable.

 

[neonsword13-ops]

Spoiler

The only 2 reasons you need a PS2.

OT: Persona fanboy-ism aside, yes, it's a great console with a HUGE library of great games.

Ratchet & Clank -A TPS Platformer with a unique weapon upgrade system. It's funny as hell, too. 3rd one is the best.

Sly Cooper -Stealth platformer with some very fun missions. 1 is the best in my opinion.

Jak & Daxter -Another platformer, but 2 ad 3 turn into some pretty good GTA clones.

Shadow of The Colossus-

Spoiler

Words cannot describe it. Skip to 3:51 for the good part.

Disgaea -Strategy RPG with a great story and hilarious dialogue.

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater -Stealth game with a great story and some unusually long cutscenes.

And that's just barely scratching the surface.

The niche JRPG titles like Disgaea and Persona can be a bit difficult to find, but I constantly see some copies of P4 in Gamestop every now and again.

 

[Elemental]

Goddamnit YES, I would LOVE to get my hands on a PS2! As much I love today's games, the PS2 has fucking excellent games
Plus all the reasons the dudes/dudettes gave you above

 

[KINGBeerZ]

Buy a Ps2, buy a Ps1 memory card, buy FFIX, play it. It's amazing.

 

[Kyrian007]

Yes, PS and PS2 are the only places you can find the "Tecmo's Deception" series. More fun per hour of play time than anything current gen. Skip the first one on ps1, it was terrible... but the other 2 ps1 titles and "Trapt" for the ps2 are amazing. If you are as cruel as me anyway.

 

[Andrew Drake]

Yes, it is worth it at its current price plus the cost of the assosiated games.

Kingdom Hearts costs almost as much as I remember it costing at launch, used. That should give you a idea of how well the game has held up. Although KH-2 Plays a bit better, because all of the sequel money went towards improving the combat system (It didn't stink so much as it was like a system designed for monkey people rather than humans, just needed a bit of help), and the story remained the same level of excellence.

Ratchet and Clank is a great series in general, and is almost worth buying a PS2 on its own, although that isn't needed because there is so much else here.

Star Wars:Battlefront 1 & 2 need to be played as well, they are great.

Not to mention everything else you see on this list.

 

[Smertnik]

Of course. It's got the best selection of games, even compared to the current gen, and is dirt cheap these days, too.

 

[devotedsniper]

The PS1 and 2 are my all time favourite consoles, maybe it's because I grew up with them but I still haven't found a current gen game that can compete with some of the gems on those 2.

The games on there also don't hand hold you either, god I can't stand hand holding.

 

[Twilight_guy]

Yes. The PS2 has a ridiculous library of games because its lived forever. I guarantee you there is plenty of untold gems in that library. If you don't have much cash, it's cheap, (although if you do have some money to throw around, go find an old PS3 with backward compatibility and buy that so you can play PS2 and PS3 game), and the game are pretty cheap to since many people have moved on to PS3 games.