PS2 games with most interesting environments?

[InfernalGrape]

Could you name those? I know that Rogue Galaxy has wonderful world. I would also mention Psychonauts as volcano of ideas there, but it looks better on xbox or pc
So, i'm interested in both setting (away from faceless facility corridors or stamped modern streets) and level-design (are there any games where you can walk here, than through some time you wander above that place but much higher, and after that you got access to roof level ? )

 

[Daystar Clarion]

Shadow of the Colossus.

It's estimated that the land that the games takes place in is the size of Tokyo. And there's literally no reason to explore any of it.

But you do anyway, because it's so breathtakingly sparse, so devoid of life, yet so beautiful.

This games was made on the PS2, and it still blows me away.

 

[Foolery]

Final Fantasy XII. Big world. With a decent variety of environments. Plenty to explore, fight, hunt, and so on.

Edit: Almost forgot! Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King. It's cel shaded, and I thought the environments were pretty decent and large-scale. It's a great RPG if you like crafting and oldschool battles.

Spoiler

 

[Glongpre]

Shadow of the coll....Final Fan....

Uhhh...I enjoyed God of War but I also really enjoy greek myth. Drakan was fun to explore.

 

[Auron225]

The Wind Waker - I friggin loved sailing around! So many islands you didn't have good reason to visit but there was always treasure to find, side-quests to do, sea monsters to fight but only for those willing to go looking for them!

EDIT: Just realied this thread is only for PS2 games... woops! Even so... I like the Wind Waker...

 

[FoolKiller]

The Wind Waker - I friggin loved sailing around! So many islands you didn't have good reason to visit but there was always treasure to find, side-quests to do, sea monsters to fight but only for those willing to go looking for them!

Man... I want to know where you got the port of Wind Waker on PS2.

Hmm... I liked all of the above and I would recommend the Jak and Daxter and also Dark Cloud 2. Jak was awesome as there weren't levels. It was all very sandboxy for a platformer.

 

[Exius Xavarus]

The Wind Waker - I friggin loved sailing around! So many islands you didn't have good reason to visit but there was always treasure to find, side-quests to do, sea monsters to fight but only for those willing to go looking for them!

While I agree, Wind Waker is a Gamecube/Wii U title, not a PS2 title. :x

Tales of the Abyss
Tales of Symphonia
Okami
Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus
Sly 2: Band of Thieves
Sly 3: Honor Amongst Thieves

I just noticed that only one of the games I listed isn't cel-shaded. x,x

Anywho all of these games have great environments, greatly varied from one to the next. The first three are open worlds(after a certain point) and have such huge areas that are absolutely beautiful and such wonders to explore.

The latter three aren't quite as open world but are, to a small extent. The art style and level design for the Sly Trilogy is superb. They're all stunningly beautiful, expansive and full of things to do.

 

[GraveyardTricks]

I personally really loved Jak II's environment. Everything about it just seemed to feel awesome back in the day.

 

[InfernalGrape]

Thank you all for suggestions!


"..I enjoyed God of War "

Do enemies leave you opportunity to look at buildings?

 

[danm36]

Practically every Kingdom Hearts environment bar the Tarzan one, because fuck the Tarzan level

 

[Zipa]

Legacy of Kain / Soul Reaver games, Nosgoth was absolutely amazing. Too bad Squeenix have effectively killed off any hope of a proper sequel.

 

[Roxas1359]

The first 3 Jak and Daxter games had pretty good environments, which the Desert in Jak 3 being the largest open-area without needing a loading screen that the PS2 could render just fine.

Final Fantasy XII has a variety of areas that have plenty to do in the, (hunts, Rare Game, level grinding) which is good, of course f*ck the damn Great Crystal! >.<

Final Fantasy X has nice environments to explore, the only downside is the constant random battles, but when you have No Encounter then it is nice.

Okami has pretty good areas that I tend to just run around at full speed in all the time so that's a fun one.

Thank you all for suggestions!


"..I enjoyed God of War "

Do enemies leave you opportunity to look at buildings?

They can if you're quick enough really, and in the first God of War there is the really expansive desert where Chronos is.

 

[RejjeN]

Hmm, well if you mean the world in general then I would say Ar Tonelico 1/2, though the actual "in-game design" was a bit too repetitive a lot of the time with 2, but unless my memory fails me 1 had a lot of interesting backgrounds.
First Tower of Ar Tonelico [http://www.abload.de/img/at1tower11majt.jpg]

 

[Ryan Hughes]

Silent Hill 2 anyone? with every spec of dirt, rust, and blood lovingly placed in order to make you urinate your clothes, it is largely the best environmental design on the PS2.

 

[Arqus_Zed]

Shin Megami Tensei: Lucifer's Call

That game was just downright eerie.
The soft diffuse glow effects, the hard shadows, the strong clair-obscur effects, the overall stoic feel...

Now, while the locations themselves varied from generic (subway station tunnel) to amazing (the red, black an white pyramids) to downright freaky (Inside the Amala Network), the most baffling part was that all of it played out in a present day Tokyo that had been warped to a sphere shape to form some sort of inside-out planet.

With a living sun in the center of it.

Interesting environment? I would think so.

EDIT: Oh, and that one dungeon with all the optical illusions. That was just a great idea with a great execution.

 

[BrotherRool]

I think I actually prefer FFX environments to FFXII. They lose points for generally being a touch more linear, but I thought XII's were a little uninteresting and overcomplicated. Arcadia didn't stay in my mind in the same way that Besaid or Guadosalam did. Special props go to Zankard and Luca.


The environments in LotoR: The Two Towers did a great job at recreating the atmosphere of the films, although they're probably too limited in size and don't have any of the interesting pathing. I'm probably somewhat swayed by the way they were full to brim with enemies too.

Shadow of the Colossus and Okami clearly deserve their reputations.

 

[Not Lord Atkin]

Jak & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy. What they did was to mix cash bandicoot-style platforming levels but put them all together into a large, semi-open world. You've got your standard-issue beach levels, ice levels, jungle levels, lava levels... but it's all put together into one large, seamless island environment, which you can traverse any way you like.

 

[Blunderboy]

Shadow of the Colossus.

It's estimated that the land that the games takes place in is the size of Tokyo. And there's literally no reason to explore any of it.

But you do anyway, because it's so breathtakingly sparse, so devoid of life, yet so beautiful.

This games was made on the PS2, and it still blows me away.

Wait, Daystar, are you feeling okay?

Wasn't Okami on the PS2? (That's where I first played it anyway.)

 

[Daystar Clarion]

Shadow of the Colossus.

It's estimated that the land that the games takes place in is the size of Tokyo. And there's literally no reason to explore any of it.

But you do anyway, because it's so breathtakingly sparse, so devoid of life, yet so beautiful.

This games was made on the PS2, and it still blows me away.

Wait, Daystar, are you feeling okay?

Wasn't Okami on the PS2? (That's where I first played it anyway.)

I thought I'd give someone else a chance to say Okami, for a change