So I just got a PlayStation 2...

[hardband]

ratchet and clank 1-3
kingdom hearts 1&2
jack and daxter 1-3 (and x if you like racing and shooting)
metal gear solid 3
devil may cry 1-3

great games.

This, definitely this. These games are all kick ass!

 

[Joseph Valdez]

Final Fantasy x
Shadow Hearts
Ark The Lad: Twilight of the Spirits
Grandia II
Radiata Stories

That is if you like RPGs

 

[Tennou486]

All the Ratchet and Clank games are awesome. Also the first two God of War games, Sly Cooper, Shadow of the Colossus, Okami are only a few. There is no shortage of great PS2 games.

 

[mechanixis]

Final Fantasy XII. The fanbase seems to despise it for being too different from the formula, but it's the only JRPG I've ever enjoyed.

Also, Shadow of the Colossus. Metal Gear Solid 3 is the best of its series, too.

 

[Shiftygiant]

Star Wars Battlefront 2. The greatest star wars game of all time.

 

[Tallim]

Soul Calibur 3 was a great exclusive on the system... of course... nobody plays that anymore.

I do, or rather I do with a friend. Soul Calibur 4 just broke too much so on the rare times he visits we always boot up 3.

OT: Godhand, any Shin Megami Tensei game. Soul Nomad and the World Eaters. Fatal Frame.

 

[The Coop]

A little list...

Ace Combat 5 (Flying)
Ace Combat Zero (Flying)
Alien Hominid (Run 'N Gun)
Altered Beast (3D Action)- I know this got panned a lot, but it's so over the top, it's fun.
Castlevania: Lament of Innocence (3D Action)
Contra: Shattered Soldier (Run 'N Gun)
Dragon Quest VIII (RPG)
Fatal Fury Battle Archives Vol. 1 (Fighting Compilation)
Fatal Fury Battle Archives Vol. 2 (Fighting Compilation)- Censored a bit, but still fun.
Final Fantasy XII (RPG)
Gradius III&IV (Shmup Compilation)
Gradius V (Shmup)
Guilty Gear X2 (Fighting)
King Of Fighters XI (Fighting)
Maximo: Ghosts to Glory (3D Action)
Maximo vs Army of Zin (3D Action)
MegaMan Anniversary Collection (Action Platformer Compilation)
Metal Slug Anthology (Run 'N Gun Compilation)
Neo-Geo Battle Coliseum (Fighting)
Okami (3D Action)
Onimusha (Survival Horror)
Onimusha 2 (Survival Horror)
Onimusha 3 (Survival Horror)
R-Type Final (Shmup)
Raiden III (Shmup)
Rygar (3D Action)
Samurai Shodown Anthology (Fighting Compilation)
Sega Ages 2500 Vol. 29: Monster World Complete Collection (Action RPG Compilation)*
Sega Ages 2500 Vol. 30: Galaxy Force II Special Extended Edition (3D Shmup Compilation) *
Sega Ages 2500 Vol. 33: Fantasy Zone Complete Collection (Shmup Compilation) *
Shadow of the Colossus (3D Action)
Shining Tears (Action RPG)
Silpheed: The Lost Planet (Shmup)
SkyGunner (Flying)
Soul Calibur III (Fighting)
Taito Legends 2 (Compilation)
The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning (3D Beat'em Up)
The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night (3D Beat'em Up/Platformer)
The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon (3D Beat'em Up/Platformer)
WipeOut Fusion (Battle Racing)

* = Japanese game

 

[Kursura]

I'd recommend the following:
Okami
Ratchet and Clank (mainly Up Your Arsenal)
Spartan: total warrior
Soul reaver 2
Sky odyssey
Spiderman 2
Armoured core 3
LotR Return of the King

 

[Cymen]

Shadow of the Colossus
ICO

 

[NeoShai]

The Ratchet and Clank Trilogy
The Jak and Daxter Trilogy
The Sly Cooper Trilogy
The Prince of Persia Trilogy
Okami
Metal Gear Solid 1 and 2.

 

[mireko]

Persona 3: FES

Persona 4

Digital Devil Saga

Digital Devil Saga 2

Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne

Atlus makes some of the best RPGs on the market, and most of their catalog is on the PS2. You don't need to have played Persona 1 or 2 to catch the story, so you can safely start at Persona 4 (the most accessible one) and go wherever you want from there.

If dialog bores you, you may want to start with Digital Devil Saga instead. More text and writing than Nocturne, far less than Persona. Combat difficulty is somewhere in between. Fantastic story.

I'd also like to recommend Devil May Cry. Skip DMC2, though.

 

[Wintermoot]

the .hack series I also heard Persona is good

 

[AgentNein]

If it hasn't been mentioned, Silent Hill 3 and 4 if you're into survival horror (so yeah, if you don't know, pick these up if you end up enjoying Silent Hill 2).

Understand immediately that they're not going to live up to the awesome of SH2 IN SOME WAYS.

I will always stand by the fact that Silent Hill 3 is the scariest Silent Hill game ever. Pyramid Head has got nothing on Valtiel.

But yeah, as far as storyline goes SH2 will probably always take the cake. Still, these two are worth checking out as well. SH3 is a pretty straight shooter, sticking to the typical SH survival horror mode (a bit more linear than 1 or 2), and SH4 well... it's controversial. It's got some silly design decisions, it does. But I think that those design decisions, while making gameplay slightly annoying in some ways, really actually contribute to the overall themes and tone of the game. One things for sure, it definitely shot for a new approach.

Ahh what the hell. If you enjoy all these, pick up SH Origins and SH Shattered memories too as both have been ported to the PS2.

Origins only if you find yourself really enjoying the traditional survival horror gameplay. Because it can be chalked up to "more of the same". If you're like me, one of the .00001% of people in the world who actually enjoy (not just tolerate) oldschool survival horror gameplay, it might be worth a go. Horribly silly looking last boss though.

And on the other end of the spectrum we find Shattered Memories. Don't bother looking for classic survival horror gameplay, Shattered Memories took it out back and had it shot. But hey that's cool, because this is one of the best and most original Silent Hill stories since 2 (odd cuz it's easy to assume that it will simply rehash the events of the first game, WHICH IT TOTALLY DOESN'T). I absolutely hated the gameplay. Neat idea, but taking enemies out of the "normal" world and keeping them ghettoed in the "otherworld" (which is a glorified arcade game) makes anything in the real world just not terribly scary (as creepy as some shit can be, it can only be so creepy when I have absolutely no fear of dying). And while being chased by shambling things in the otherworld is actually very disturbing the first couple of times (never forget when I realized that there's a "rear view option", and seeing all of those things on my tail), it's very one note and gets old quick.

STILL ALL WORTH IT IN MY OPINION FOR A VERY NEAT STORY USING VERY INNOVATIVE STORYTELLING TECHNIQUES.

 

[icame]

Try Persona 4, or Godhand. I enjoy those a lot. And if you don't have a Gamecube then you should get Resident Evil 4.

This man (Or woman) is a genius. Listen well.

 

[Solo-Wing]

Ok I got a few.
Shadow of the Colossus the must have of all these games.
Silent Hill 2
An Ace Combat game, Preferably Zero
Final Fantasy X (NOT and let me make this TOTALLY CLEAR. DO NOT GET X-2.)
Resident Evil 4
ICO
A Ratchet and Clank game, Preferably Up Your Arsenal (DO NOT GET Size Matters)
A Sly game, Either 2 or 3
A Jak game, Preferably 3
God of War, 1 and 2
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
And the Price of Persia games.

If you want a game Similar to Team Fortress 2 try Starwars Battlefront 2

 

[AgentNein]

Also have you played Psychonauts? If not, pick up pick up pick up.

 

[DarthFennec]

Persona 3 FES, Psychonauts, Okami, We <3 Katamari, and Resident Evil 4 are some of my absolute favorites.

 

[T-Bone24]

Go buy Okami. Right now. You can get it brand new for £10 at Amazon. Seriously, it's one of the best action-adventure games ever made.

 

[blankedboy]

Get Okami. If you don't get it, then Amaterasu will be disappointed...

You wouldn't want that now would you?

What he said.

Also, the Jak trilogy, Tekken 5, and Shadow Of The Colossus.
Go for it.

 

[Arqus_Zed]

...but don't really know of any kick-ass games for it. I know of a few, which I'm planning on getting as soon as humanly possible.

But I'm genuinely very uneducated about the truly great titles of this console, so can anyone recommend any?

I feel I should point out for the sake of me not getting swamped to death with suggestions for them, I'm already planning on getting Ico, Shadow of the Collosus and Silent Hill 2.

Question.

What genres do you prefer?

I mean, one could suggest the best game of its genre, but if you don't like the genre.. Well it's still gonna suck, isn't it?

My main genre is fantasy RPG type games, hands down. I'm also a big fan of the insane, over-the-top action game or the insane over-the-top shooting game, so they'd work for me too.

I like stealth-based games too, even given my general lack of skill at them. Oh, and I like me some horror despite being very easily scared.

Awesome

In that case, a few of my suggestions:

(fantasy) RPG

-- Final Fantasy X --
(very traditional;
decent story;
uses conditional turn based battle system and random encounters;
no longer uses an explorable world map system;
pretty, colorful graphics and a decent soundtrack;
famous for it's original 'sphere grid' leveling system;
has a mini-game called Blitzball that plays like an turn based RPG/sport game)

-- Final Fantasy X-2 -- (a VERY dangerous one to recommend, some like it, others abhor it)
(very over-the-top girly, with pop songs and a Charlie's Angels attitude;
a poor story;
a poor soundtrack (unless you're into J-pop);
lots of re-hash from FF X's graphics, this goes for areas, characters and enemies;
it DOES, however, have a nice combat system, a variation on the 'active time battles' with a throwback to the old job system;
still has random encounters)

-- Final Fantasy XII --
(gameplay is somewhat like that of an MMORPG, except you play offline and you control an entire party of characters instead of one;
rich world with tons of fantasy lore, but a poor story;
a big world with hours worth of exploration;
characters and environments have less polygons than FF X, in favor of better graphics, giving it a very distinct and detailed look;
uses a 'license board' system, not as original as the 'sphere grid';
turn based battles make way for active dimension battles, there are no more random encounters and you can run around freely in battles;

-- Shin Megami Tensei: Lucifer's Call --
(soundtrack by Shoji Meguro, going from jazz-like tunes to hard-rock battle themes;
dark and occult atmosphere;
unique art direction, very stoic and eerie, uses a lot of clair-obscur;
challenging;
180+ demons you can persuade to your side;
in battle you yourself fight, with a maximum of 3 demons at your side;
the press-turn system as a variety on the traditional turn based combat;
random encounters;
deep and intriguingly philosophical story)

-- Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga 1 and 2 --
(a good soundtrack, simple but strong;
as every SMT-title, an engaging story;
random encounters;
a combat mechanic that also uses the press turn system)

-- Persona 3 and 4 --
(original mix between life-sim and JRPG;
turn based combat;
no random encounters;
the combat areas are a good example of classical dungeon crawling, or you love it, or you hate it;
deep and intriguing story;
the soundtrack is unique, bizarre and very lively)

-- Shadow Hearts: Covenant -- (the original Shadow Hearts is good, but feels really dated, and Shadow Hearts: From the New World just sucks)
(an ability system that uses both personal spells and skills as interchangeable ones;
a truly amazing soundtrack by Yoshitaka Hirota;
a story that knows exactly when to be serious and when to put in the humor;
a fun combat system that uses a unique feature called the 'Judgement Ring';
the best CG-movies you've ever seen, not the most detailed, but the cinematography is unparallelled;
random encounters)

And in lesser extend (e.g.: get these when you've bought the rest):
- Valkyria Profile 2: Silmeria (if you like those 'typical' tri-Ace RPGs)
- Star Ocean: Till The End of Time (if you like those 'typical' tri-Ace RPGs)
- Odin Sphere (beautiful 2D action/RPG)
- Dark Chronicle (The original Dark Cloud isn't that good)
- Dragon Quest: The Journey of the Cursed King
- Jade Cocoon 2 (if you like Pokémon-esque stuff)
- Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter (if you're looking for something 'different')
- Rogue Galaxy (a game with space pirates, pretty decent)

action - shooting (I'm sure you've heard of GTA, so I'm not gonna post that here)

-- Ratchet and Clank trilogy -- (and in lesser extend Racthet: Gladiator, also known as Ratcheteadlocked)
(tons of action packed fun;
is full of highly original weaponry;
has a good sense of humour)

-- Jak & Daxter trilogy -- (and if you're interested in combat racing, you can also try Jak X)
(the first title is a pure platformer, the other two are free roaming action/adventure/platform/shooter mixtures;
pretty much no loading times throughout the entire game series, and the areas are really huge;
great sense of humor;
plays really smooth)

-- Devil May Cry I and III -- (the second one kind of sucked)
(action-packed combat;
challenging;
using both guns and blades)

-- God of War I and II --
(action-packed combat;
feels truly epic in both scenery and story;
incorporates puzzle and platformer elements;
brutal)

-- TimeSplitters 2 and Future Perfect -- (I don't recommend the first TimeSplitters, it hasn't aged well)
(short but powerful story mode;
good sense of humor;
fast and action-packed gameplay;
weapons and areas from different eras;
an Arcade and Challenge mode to lengthen the solo experience;
a very expansive multiplayer experience;
lots of weapons, characters, game modes and adjustable settings;
includes a map maker)

And in lesser extend (e.g.: get these when you've bought the rest):
- Red Faction I and II (fun fast-paced shooters with destructible environments)
- Total Overdose (if GTA was made by Robert Rodriguez, it would be this)
- God Hand (a throwback to classical 3D beat 'em ups)
- Viewtiful Joe 1 and 2 (fast-paced 2D beat 'em up)
- Alien Hominid (fast-paced 2D shoot/beat 'em up)

Stealth and survival/horror aren't exactly my personal field of expertise, but I figure you can't really go wrong with Metal Gear Solid 2 and 3, Silent Hill 2, Resident Evil 4 and maybe some of the Splinter Cell and Hitman games. You can also consider the acclaimed Sly Racoon trilogy, it's a mixture of platforming and stealth.