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

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.

definitive okami is on PS2 iirc

this thread makes me sad that my ps2 is is painfully RIP

the PS2 port of killer7 makes the baby cozen cry but it's still a super rad game

As far as choosing a Tony Hawk goes, number 3 has to be the one really. It's the only one I really fell in love with. Also, it's number 10 on the gamerankings best ever list, and metacritic's number one (which is surprising, to be fair).

I'm also finding it hard to remember much I actually played on that machine though. And of the ones I can remember, none feel like true AAAs really, in retrospect (except THPS3). Burnout 3, SSX, Singstar, The Eyetoy games. They were all fun enough, but I'm not sure my life would've been significantly worse if I'd missed any of them.

Singstar changed my life!

Wip3out ruined your life.

Actually, hold on, I believed your original nom, but Wip3out isn't a PS2 game. You meant Wipeout fusion.

I'll vote for Pro Evo 2005 for the sake of having one unified entry under that banner

Wip3out isn't a PS2 game

aw crap, it was in high res, i thought that meant ps2. oh well scrap it, do not replace with poosion.

games i loved that everyone else prolly hates but i haven't seen them nommed yet but i haven't looked too close but:

burnout: revenge
worms 3d
guitar hero 2
lego star wars 2: orig trilogy
bully
micro machines v4

Frasier, seasons 1-11

i play that on my ps2 more often than anything !

Special game for me would be Transformers i think

THPS3 is the only sensible nom, I think

darragh, is pro evo 05 the same as pro ev 5? I already nommed the latter

THUG was sort of supposed to be like a revolution for the series, it was the first non-"pro skater" and instead there was like an actual story. It was a pretty stupid story to be fair, but there was something to it and I think it's different enough from THPS3 to warrant its own nom.

Some people are talking abt a 6-gen battle royale for best game (DC and PS2 and GC and XBOX) so that games like Rez and Killer7 can get their dues. I am still okay with this even though this thread is started-- Would you all prefer this stay PS2-only? The problem, I think, with opening it up is that we already have so few voters vs. the number of games that the more we open it up the more it's going to be 42-WAY TIE FOR 99TH!

if we're going to poll the last generation, I think we could probably just do polls for the PS2, Dreamcast, GBA, and then a catch-all one "Everything Else", and then do a final poll for the whole generation based on the top 20 results from each of those.

not that that wouldn't be a shitton of work but hey.

Did anybody ever play that shitty-lookin' Warriors game they put out on XBLA? I'm sorely tempted even today, remembering how much I loved that game. Oh! So violent! So visceral! So satisfying!

Yeah I don't know about anybody else but I like the fact that there's going to be some consensus this time-- especially since realistically there's not going to be a lot of hidden gem seeky-outage stemming from this poll. I think as well that you should be able to vote for a cross-platform game that you consider in your nerdy mind has its definitive iteration on another same-gen console. You should NOT be allowed to vote for a game ported down from the next gen just bc you like it a lot, though.

ps i loved the fuck out of some of the tony hawk games on this console but I can't remember which now, and they've been effaced by subsequent suckage... maybe it was THPS4?

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"