ILX: Press × To Continue, Press Δ To Cancel: Best PS2 Games Of All Time NOMINATIONS/FORMAT DISCUSSION THREAD

DONE here's hoping anyone but us nerds in the nerd corner care

wait-- is this the nerd corner? or is one of the other corners nerdier ie. WWE or cricket? xp

Is there a way to weight it towards games you are unlikely to have played before so that it is more like a best most-overlooked game of all time? (the immediate problem is how do you vote for a game you've never played before)

I'm not quite sure what you mean-- like, maybe a bonus section for "game I wish I played but never did"? Or more like, games that are highest rated among those who managed to play them? The former would be easy, but the latter would involve me asking everyone to say which of the hundreds of games they actually have and ahven't played and that mgiht be a bit much to ask everyone.

this will be cool, some more noms i can remember
Bully
Okami
Ratchet & Clank
Pro Evolution Soccer 2005

RE2
Ape Escape 2/3
Guitar Hero 2
Burnout Revenge
Def Jam Vendetta
Hulk: Ultimate Destruction
Manhunt
NBA Street
NHL Hitz Pro
Ratchet and Clank: Going Commando
Spider-Man 2

hmm well, considering that the canon (ie n/a's "obvious ones") will get a lot of votes and will probably sweep the upper part of the results, maybe we could allow one game per entrant to be asterisked as "special to me". those could ALSO be tabulated seperately or something, to give a non-canon canon.

xps

That sounds like a good addition, goole. I will include that in the second thread!

Feel pretty conflicted about certain multiplatform and port entries. For instance I'd definitely consider Killer7 as one of the best of the decade but the Gamecube version is really the original/best - possibly same for Viewtiful Joe, and PS2 got the better RE4 port but the game was really a GC game too - not to mention something like Rez. I played the GTA games on PC, but they are obviously PS2 games at heart and I have no problem voting for San Andreas in the poll. Plus, uh, I just got a PS2 two months ago. On second thought, maybe I should skip this.

I wouldn't sweat it too much-- some people will skip Rez b/c it's better on DC or 360, and some will list it because that's how they played it, eg. so you cant' really do it "wrong." Just put yr fave PS2 games in order in a list, you know? Overthinking = for the P&J. This is Coint and Plick!

So weird, but I can't remember a single game I played on the PS2. I wonder if I somehow just missed that entire moment in gaming.

Also, Forks, a year or two ago you managed to get some pretty awesome non-ilx folx voting (mitch k, for instance)-- did you mail them and ask them to contribute? Or did they find it somewhere else or are they secret lurkers?

xp Mordy I felt the same way and thne I started looking at big lists of every game ever, and it started jogging my memory!

I guess I can nominate SSX, SSX Tricky and Gran Turismo 4, at the moment those are the only ones I can remember playing.

hmm well, considering that the canon (ie n/a's "obvious ones") will get a lot of votes and will probably sweep the upper part of the results, maybe we could allow one game per entrant to be asterisked as "special to me". those could ALSO be tabulated seperately or something, to give a non-canon canon.

well this is a constant thing in polls, do you vote for "the best" or "your favorite (i.e. the best to you)"? I guess everyone has their own opinion about which approach to use. I'm definitely more of a "vote my personal favorites" man, I just listed canon stuff because I probably played nowhere near as many PS2 games as other people on here and I have a bad memory so I thought I'd help others out by getting the obvious stuff up. But I'm not going to vote for the GTA games, for example, because I never really enjoyed them as much as everyone else seems to, and I'll definitely vote for Bully (which I forgot about).

I am always jealous of all the ballots filled with cool Japanese stuff I haven't heard of.

i just assume all those are tentacle child rape games or cargo barge driving sims.

unfortunately if my list is not at least 40% Rockstar games i will be lying about my fave games from that generation

i don't know why anyone would vote for stuff that's not their own favourite!

well then I guess I don't understand the need for the "special to me" designation?

games that you really liked but you know not many people played it. even if you don't have it highly ranked on your own ballot cos, like, san andreas was better anyway.

i dunno, maybe it's a dumb idea.

might be cool to have a "featured faves" section

Madden 08 - partly just as a conventionally great last-gen Madden but also for the FANTASY MODE which is the greatest bit in the history of the series - you assemble a team of NFL all-stars and take on THE GLACIERS (made of ice, disappear at random), THE DEVILS (actual devils with horns and shit), etc.

Also:

Prince of Persia - Sands of Time!

Persona 3 & 4
Dragon Quest 8
psychonauts (not really sure what the best platform for this ws but it's still psychonauts)

I never had a PS2 or lived with anyone who had one, so I've only played on one maybe five times in my life. Two of those were for State of Emergency, which seemed pretty fun for the two hours I put in. So I'll nom that.

(p.s. I might buy a PS2 in the next year or two so I'm pretty excited to see results, even if my participation is basically none)

PS2 def worth picking up now, esp. given pawn shops/cash convertors in the UK are littered w/lots of titles for no more than £3, and its library is on a par w/SNES

lots of my favourites already nommed, so:

zone of the enders 2: 2nd runner
dark cloud
rogue galaxy
breath of fire: dragon quarter
metal gear solid 2
metal gear solid 3: subsistence
pro evolution soccer 5
viewtiful joe
sos: the final escape
valkyrie profile 2: silmeria

omitted sly raccoon/way of the samurai series ;_;

God Hand (anyone voting for anything else is a butt)
Yakuza 2
Killer7
Fire Pro Wrestling
The Warriors
Odin Sphere
Beyond Good & Evil

^^^sick list worthy of the top 7

anyone ever play world of football?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-hoyfGLgfk&feature=related

Wip3out
Singstar (let's not get arsey about versions eh)

I'm enthusiastic to see the final results for this, too... there's really just so much to choose from, getting into the system at this point. As always I'm wondering which games hold up today.

Is Rogue Galaxy that good? There are like a billion copies at my local BB new for $10. Then again I should probably start off with FFX or DQ8 or a million other JRPGs...

Probably should be arsey about versions here:
Tekken tag
Tekken 4
Tekken 5

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7rcN-i7S8Y

lol ignore that

Oh, how I loved Consolevania. Great review. But wait, so do you not agree with that one, because it pretty much convinced me not to bother with it?

(after seeing the last post) haha ok

DQ8 is a priority for sure

Dragon Quarter is one of my favourite games ever. Never managed to complete it though because i always manage to completely fuck up my d-meter thing.

it's the warriors, there's no point going any further guys

^the only game on cobo's list I haven't played ;_;

A couple that would probably only ever get votes from me, but:
- Ring of Red
- Stuntman

also:
- Gran Turismo 3
- Jak and Daxter (don't think it's been mentioned already)

Looking forward to various Pro Evolution Soccer games getting individual votes because everyone disagrees on which is the best...

ring of red had a good look and was too slow

xp i'm sure we can agree, mine and coz' nom should be the same

Some things I am shocked are not yet up here:

Silent Hill 2
Suikoden III
Suikoden V
Final Fantasy X
Final Fantasy XII
Def Jam Fight For NY
Fahrenheit / Indigo Prophecy
Tony Hawk Underground
Gradius V
R-Type Final
Outrun 2006 Coast2Coast
DoDonPachi Dai Ou Jou

Def Jam Fight For NY
^^^all time

Rez
Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy
Mega Man Anniversary Collection
Resident Evil Code: Veronica X
SoulCalibur II

although I played the last 3 on gamecube/wii.

There are lots of multi-system stuff that's going to dominate this list; personally, I'd love to see a PS2 exclusive poll. The PS2/XBox/Gamecube/Dreamcast generation seems defined by cross-platform games, and what made each distinct is going to get lost or repeated over and over (Psychonauts and Beyond Good and Evil were two of my favorite games ever, but it seems silly to vote them near the top of multiple systems).

capcom vs snk 2 (2001)
dark cloud 2 (2002)
disgaea: hour of darkness (2003)
gradius v (2004)
grimgrimoire (2007)
growlanser v: generations (2006)
ICO (2001)
klonoa 2: lunatea's veil (2001)
lord of the rings: the return of the king (2003)
marvel vs capcom 2 (2002)
metal gear solid 2: substance (2003)
metal gear solid 3: subsistence (2006)
prince of persia: sands of time (2003)
silent hill 2 (2002)
shadow hearts (2001)
sly 2: band of thieves (2004)
smt III: nocture (2004)
smt: digital devil saga (2004/2005)
star ocean: til the end of time
valkyria profile 2 (2006)
virtua fighter 4: evolution (2003)

CvSNK2 and MvC2 were really DC titles. Hmm... how about Contra: Shattered Soldier?

Was THUG the last good Tony Hawk? I think I tapped out around TH4.

xp I think the PS2-exclusive poll would be better too, though it does seem wrong that you'd have to exclude stuff like GTA and a ton of stuff listed here already. Imagine a generic poll for the PS2/GC/DC/Xbox generation that includes ONLY multiplatform titles!

Also OMG Tekken Tag was godawful. I remember it being terrible when the PS2 first came out. The one I just got actually came with it, so I tried it, wondering if it was really as bad as I thought? And it was. Oh, how it was.

RE2

― antexit, Monday, February 22, 2010 1:44 PM (9 hours ago) Bookmark

Is this like resident Evil 2? did that get a ps2 release?

CvSNK2 and MvC2 were really DC titles

sure but i mean more ppl probably played them on the ps2 + this is a ps2 poll? its hard 2 say really - like i def wouldnt vote for re4 or okami on ps2 bcuz their definitive versions were on other consoles but @ the same time it makes sense to nominate them & thats probably how a lot of ppl played them.

i think trying to limit a "best ps2 games" poll to console-exclusives wld be p pointless/inauthentic/skewed. i think a generation poll (so ps2/dc/gc/xbox maybe gba?) where ppl specified platform wld work if ppl are interested in making sure the 'best' version of a game is listed

wondering whether to just nom every tony hawk game or not. surely there was something else i played, i'm just not sure what...

yeah i thought re2 was a ps1 game? xpost.

Cargo Barge Driver Reloaded - The Canal Diaries

Yep, I have heard from a few of the people I've emailed, and I wrote myself an email of others I am going to bug. Speaking of which, a couple of nominations I received by email that weren't ITT:

- Burnout 3: Takedown
- Yakuza 1

tryna get this down 2 15 is going to be ~impossible~

Capcom vs SNK 2
God of War
God of War II (never played but assume it’s just as good as I)
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (I never got San Andreas)
Katamari Damacy
Jak 3 (add this btw, might as well add 2 also)(I never played the prequels)
Ratchet & Clank
Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves (add this btw) (I never played the prequels)
Street Fighter Anniversary Collection (w/ III: 3rd Strike)
Street Fighter Alpha Anthology (add this btw)
Katamari Damacy (never played the sequel)
Twisted Metal Black
I own Shadow of the Colossus and only barely played (might be on my final list)
I own Suikoden III but never got far into it (might be on my final list)
I never played Bully and maybe I should borrow it (might be on my final list)
SSX3 (add this btw) (I never played but I did like SSX and if this was supposed to be an improvement on SSX and Tricky)

these are my top games^

some stuff I really should check out like Odin Sphere and Okami (even though I would play Okami for wii)

that's not meant to be my final list.. just sharing my thoughts

i'm not gonna list my ballot as it feels like jumping the gun, but I will say that I am leading the Shadow of the Colossus bloc to what I hope will be well deserved victory

It's kind of annoying (for me) that I haven't played games like Jak 1 &2, Sly 1 & 2, Ratchet and Clank: Up Your Arsenal, and all the SSX sequels because they may have definitely been better than the sequels I played. I almost feel like you should lump together SSX, Jak, Sly, and Ratchet and Clank for those reasons. But then who's stopping you from not lumping sequels together for all the respective games

haha considering how um 'independent' ilg poll results often are im not even gonna try to predict any results. my ballot it still in the early stages - i figured id just write down all the games that i think are worth voting for and stoppped after like 40. right now my cut-off is like:

16 metal gear solid 2: substance
17 capcom vs snk 2
18 we ♥ katamari
19 growlanser: generations
20 sly 2: band of thieves

srsly getting this down to 15 feels sooooooooooo difficult

hey I was serious about State of Emergency!

― begs the question, when is enough enough (Euler), Wednesday, February 24, 2010 2:02 AM (4 days ago) Bookmark

fuck you

i unironically wish physical harm upon you

if san andreas doesn't win, can we just close down ILG

better gta than shadow of the colossus 4 sure altho im hard 4 vice city

san andreas is the platonic ideal of gaming

can't vote San Andreas (never played) but I'm sure Vice City will be in my top 15
kinda sucks once again that I know sequels/prequels are good but I don't know if I'll list any
I think that games with sequels/prequels will score lower because split votes amongst the series for reasons like I said

vice city felt more visceral to explore & the missions were better designed i think? tbf the both kinda blur 2gether in my mind a little w/ the exception of the music

I'm hoping to at least check out Persona 4, Bully, Dragon Quarter, ZoE2, and Transformers for this ballot.

also idea: what if we signed up to write something about one game each to try to rally support for it before the vote? e.g. I would write a quick case for God Hand (duh), Lamp could do one for P3FES, the ILX Britishes could argue over who gets to do the soccer game, etc.

good idea! a "make your case for:" thread.
If will's down for it, I'll volunteer for several.

I think SA and VC are going to split the vote giving the top spot easily to SOTC. (How you could guys not even play San Andreas after Vice City? SA had so much more going for it in general, minus 80s nostalgia)

I didn't play any of the GTAs on any system in between III and IV tbh, but then again in between the death of the Dreamcast and the ascent of the DS I didn't really care too much about games.

despite enjoying my fuck, canks, what's wrong with State of Emergency? I played it for about an hour once, thought it was pretty fun, never wanted to play it again but w/e. I'm not VOTING for it, for crying out loud, just naming a game that I thought was decent on a system I o/w completely missed (though gonna remedy that I hope; looking for the poll for some guidance eventually, at least re. rpgs).

How you could guys not even play San Andreas after Vice City? SA had so much more going for it in general, minus 80s nostalgia

i played the f outta both of them but @ some point gta: sa became a chore, a parody of irl saturdays spent doing shitty little errands: buying stuff @ the hardware store, getting groceries, picking up your dry cleaning. vice city u started to feel like u had the run of the place p quickly & the missions didnt get as tedious & repetitive. gta: sa is a rad game & a respectable top pick but <3 vice city.

im def willing to stan 4 x jrpg

we should be limited to one game each though; that way we're forced to focus on one maximally interesting game. also ppl may be more inclined to jump in and participate if their game of choice hasn't already been written up.

I'll do mr mosquito

alright, i'm committing for Colossus then.

RE: Make Your Case Thread

MAKE IT HAPPEN MR. TOFU

director's commentary: I almost wrote "fappen" accidentally, which I almost changed to "HENFAPPEN" but i figured that'd be dumb

as previously mentioned, I got God Hand

I'll take Bully or the Warriors

actually the Warriors. Someone else can have Bully

do we really want to entrust sotc to forks?

you go to hell pal.

MAKE YOUR CASE: A Thread for Defending an Individual PS2 Game

: P j/k j/k

I want to change my nomination from Madden 2002 to Madden 2004.

polyphonic, why not '08 then? The gameplay's virtually identical*, and you get the whole extra amazing mode.

*: Unless you are a vision cone stan

I didn't play 08 on the PS2

Vision cone is an abomination.

can we poll ps2 save game icons next pls

why is there not a website with a searchable database of those

man, is there a website with gifs of those?
would be so awesome XP great minds think alike

I never finished P3FES bcz i discovered it as P4 was just about to come out and switched all my attention over to that. Fully intend to go back to it when i finish but i think i prefer P4's tvworld dungeons inspired by characters psych. issues to the single mega random dungeon. Prefer the world of P3 though. The sequence early on when yr out and everyone turns into a coffin ws fucking great. P3&4 must have some of the most enjoyable fmv sequences of any games.

err, shoulda gone on the name yr case thread really.

MAKE yr case. ffs codeine.

I must not have explained this thing pretty well because like 4 people I e-mailed sent me "sorry I don't have time before March 14th" messages, and another two sent me their ballots-- my reply that "it's only nominations right now" got a reply from one of "oh, so I can add to that list? I switch a for b and c for d, then"