PS2 RPGs worth playing

[matmanx2]

Having missed most of the PS2 generation of RPG's I am currently in the process of gathering a collection of games to play on my 60gb PS3. I enjoy turn based and action RPG's more so than SRPG's but I do enjoy the occassional SRPG every once in a while. Here's my list based on discussions here and on other sites and if you all would be kind enough to let me know which ones are "must play" or just "worthwhile" or even "not worth the time" based on your experiences I would be much appreciated.

PS2
Xenosaga series
SMT: Nocturne, not sure about the other SMT's.
Persona 3
Suikoden series (is 3 the only one really worth playing?)
DQ8
Okami
Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2
Shadow Hearts series
Rogue Galaxy
Star Ocean: Til the End of Time
Odin's Sphere
Atelier Iris series (heard mixes reviews on these)
Ar Tonelico 1 and 2
Grim Grimoire
Soul Nomad and the World Eaters
Dark Cloud 2
Tales of Legendia and Tales of the Abyss
FF12
Valkyrie Profile: Silmeria
Any others I missed?

Sheesh, I hadnt realized my list was so huge. Evidently this project will take most of 2008 to complete. And I must say I am very much looking forward to it!

[Sean]

I shall consult my shelf and read off every single worthwhile RPG, one moment.

[Sean]

If no comments on them, they're worth playing, some need special comments.

Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits
Ar tonelico
Atelier Iris 1, 2, 3
Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance
Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter
Dark Cloud 1, 2
Dawn of Mana (Just fucking barely worth playing if you can get it for really cheap)
Disgaea 1, 2
.hack 4-part series
.hack GU 1, 2, 3
Dragon Quest 8
Final Fantasy X, X-2, XII
Grandia 2, 3 (and Xtreme if you are a sadist)
GrimGrimoire
Growlanser Generations (2&3)
Growlanser Heritage of War (barely worth it)
Kingdom Hearts 1, 2
LaPucelle Tactics
Megaman X Command Mission (hell yeah)
Odin Sphere
Okami (Not really an RPG, like Zelda isn't an RPG, faggots, but whatever)
Phantom Brave
Radiata Stories
Rogue Galaxy
Shadow Hearts: Covenant
Shin Megami Tensei - Digitial Devil Saga 1 &2, Persona 3, Nocturne (Devil Summoner sucks ass though)
Soul Nomad
Steambot Chronicles
Star Ocean 3
Stella Deus
Suikoden 3 (decent), 4 (shitty, but kinda playable if you're a Suikoden fan), 5 (BEST in the series, imo), Tactics (not terrible)
Summoner 1 (so-so), 2 (a lot better)
Tales of Legendia (decent, FU Vinen), Tales of Symphonia (Good), Tales of the Abyss (Great)
Unlimited Saga (If you even think about playing this game you should stab yourself in the eyes until you die)
Valkyrie Profile 2
Wild Arms Alter Code F, 3, 4, 5
Xenosaga 1, 2, 3
Ys, the Ark of Napishtim

[Tancred]

So you like JRPGs, right?

[Vinen]

Stealing Sean's list and adding my own comments since I am slightly less forgiving then Sean. As a side note, I own every game on this list. Even if I didn't play it...

Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits
Medicore Game. Well worth the 7.99 or less used entry price. I enjoyed it but I will acknowledge it was terrible.

Ar tonelico
EASY GAME. Only buy if you are into constant sexual humor. The game barrages you with it over and over again. Stops has a dating sim then beats you over the head with it more and more.

Atelier Iris 1, 2, 3
Atelier Iris 1/3 define the word Backtracking. If you like medicore stories and easy games then play them. Atelier Iris 2 on the otherhand is a fun, yet easy RPG which manages to make you go wtf when you get your ass kicked by the boss of the game after the rest of the game being a joke.

Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance
Didn't Play

Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter
Didn't Play

Dark Cloud 1, 2
Didn't Play

Dawn of Mana (Just fucking barely worth playing if you can get it for really cheap)
Anal Sex with a Rusty Fish hook is more enjoyable

Disgaea 1, 2
Didn't like but many people did. I would recommend it (Try and make sense out of those comments!)

.hack 4-part series
PLAY NOW

.hack GU 1, 2, 3
PLAY NOW

Dragon Quest 8
BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING

Final Fantasy X, X-2, XII
BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORIBG BORING

Grandia 2, 3 (and Xtreme if you are a sadist)
Weak stories. Best Battle System Known to RPGs. Play 2 & 3. Skip Xtremne.

GrimGrimoire
Didn't Play

Growlanser Generations (2&3)
Growlanser 2 & 3 are incredible free form tactical RPGs. I would recommend them to anyone. Chances are you will not get the good character endings without a guide.

Growlanser Heritage of War (barely worth it)
Uhhh, don't play it. It sucks

Kingdom Hearts 1, 2
I HATE DISNEY

LaPucelle Tactics
Playing Now

Megaman X Command Mission (hell yeah)
Fuck No

Odin Sphere
Decent Game, not really an RPG but is really fun.

Okami (Not really an RPG, like Zelda isn't an RPG, faggots, but whatever)
Bought it, Didn't play it.

Phantom Brave
Fucking Sucks

Radiata Stories
Best Asshole Main character ever. Game sucks otherwise.

Rogue Galaxy
Has too many abilities which can be defined as Easy Mode. Story is good; ending pissed me off.

Shadow Hearts: 1
PLAY

Shadow Hearts: 2 Covenant
PLAY SH1 First

Shadow Hearts: 3
DONT PLAY

Shin Megami Tensei - Digitial Devil Saga 1 &2, Persona 3, Nocturne (Devil Summoner sucks ass though)
PLAY PLAY PLAY PLAY PLAY PLAY PLAY PLAY PLAY

Soul Nomad
AWFUL GAME

Steambot Chronicles
See Above

Star Ocean 3
Worse Plot Twist Ever. Otherwise Enjoyable

Stella Deus
Didn't play

Suikoden 3 (decent), 4 (shitty, but kinda playable if you're a Suikoden fan), 5 (BEST in the series, imo), Tactics (not terrible)
I loved them all. Then again Suikoden is one of my favorite game settings.
Summoner 1 (so-so), 2 (a lot better)

Tales of Legendia (decent, FU Vinen), Tales of Symphonia (Good), Tales of the Abyss (Great)
Ok Sean. Tales of Legendia FUCKING SUCKS. It's terrible, the battle system is slow. Not to mention they sort of forgot to budget time for Voice acting in the second half of the game. Other then that, Moses owns. ToS is a Gamecube game unless you live in Japan and TotA is great. ONCE AGAIN THE US DID NOT GET THE BEST THREE FUCKING PS2 Tales games.
1. Tales of Destiny 1 Remake
2. Tales of Destiny 2
3. Tales of Rebirth

Unlimited Saga (If you even think about playing this game you should stab yourself in the eyes until you die)
I beat this game. I want to gouge my eyes out.

Valkyrie Profile 2
A lot of people did not like. A lot of people did. I for one, loved it.

Wild Arms Alter Code F, 3, 4, 5
PLAY

Xenosaga 1, 2, 3
Tolerate 1, Slug through 2, then play 3 to redeem them all.

Ys, the Ark of Napishtim
Didn't play

[Aulirophile]

Reading that list 2-3 of those games are available on the GCN as well and I had planned to pick them up for that... I'm guessing the PS2 versions are better though. Will have to change approach, since I'm going to be getting a PS2 specifically for the RPGs I missed.

[Sean]

Ar tonelico's constant sexual humor owns. =(

I should probably buy visual novels.

[Blumpster]

That's a lot of vidya games.

[Kreugen]

So from what little I looked into it, pirated PS2 games are basically rip-your-own and there's hardly any sort of torrent community for them?

Thgouht about buying one but not if I have to hunt down every game.

[Soygen]

Blackcats has a ton of PS2 games and you can make requests. But if you aren't currently a member, they have closed down new account creation.

[Kaosu]

Originally Posted by Kreugen

So from what little I looked into it, pirated PS2 games are basically rip-your-own and there's hardly any sort of torrent community for them?

Thgouht about buying one but not if I have to hunt down every game.

You don't. Just search using torrentz, get a account with blackcat games. Or the fastest option (with only the really ultra rare games out of reach) is to get a newsgroup account.

Oh. And the above story is a work of fiction, simply meant for educationally cheap purposes.

[Hatorade]

Did you even play soul nomad? Not the best game ever but no way it sucked. Give it a solid 8/10

Story was very well done. Combat just rocks any fan of the Nippon Ichi's games should grab this.

Y's is old school action. Super Hard bosses with patterns and one weak spot(normaly)


On a side note I grabbed the very first .hack game and wasn't impressed it was kinda cool but couldn't really get into it. Played for a good 20 hours or so. Think it was the dungeons that turned me off...maybe I forget. So never picked up another one after that. I keep hearing play .hack though guess I would have to start from .hack sequel or can I jump into a later one and not be confused?

[Kaosu]

Originally Posted by Hatorade

Did you even play soul nomad? Not the best game ever but no way it sucked. Give it a solid 8/10

Story was very well done. Combat just rocks and fan of the Nippon Ichi's games should grab this.

I agree with this.

[Kaosu]

Originally Posted by matmanx2

Suikoden series (is 3 the only one really worth playing?)

This. I still think #3 is the worst one of the series. Two of the characters are annoying as fuck.
To be quite honest, I would rate it as something like this 2 > 1 (only here for nostalgia sake) > 5 > 4 > 3

I really liked five, as it was probably more inline with its roots that the other ones.

Three was by far the biggest piece of shit there, as the characters totally killed it for me.

[Sean]

You can play the GU series (though you have to start at 1 and go in order) without playing the original 4 parter, yeah. But you'll understand a lot more about the .hack universe as a whole if you slug through the original games. I'd also recommend watching the animes - it's just a fun universe to get into.

I highly recommend watching Roots before playing GU, too. Haseo's character has a ton more depth if you do so. Also of note on Haseo:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Haseo is Sora from //Sign and the original 4 games. However, at the end of the that stretch of the .hack universe his mind was basically totally wiped of the events that happened and he doesn't have any clue that he ever played The World before.