The Shrine

<div style='font: 10pt "Stylus BT"; text-align: left; '>I got some money for my birthday yesterday and decided to pick up a PS2 with it. I haven't been keeping up on what's out for the system lately so I'd like to ask for recommendations on games for the console. I like action games, fighters, shooters, and especially RPGs... racing games too if they're really good. I heard Kingdom Hearts was a good game although it's a couple of years old isn't it... there's probably better RPGs out now? How is the Final Fantasy game on this system? I'll probably pick up DDR Max 2 or Amplitude to start with, but other than that I'm clueless.

I'm all about NES and SNES games. I know next to nothing about any video game that was released in the past 3 years.</div>

<div style='font: italic bold 14pt ; text-align: center; '>Rpg's KH, .Hack, Xenosaga was ok, FFX was pretty good, Wild arms 3 was fun. didn't suck like the second, Suikoden 3 rules all ass. then again all 3 of them were amazing. BoF:Dragon quarter is a good game, that's all I have right now. fighting you have VF4:evolution which is the greatest.</div>

<div style='font: 10pt "Stylus BT"; text-align: left; '>Thanks. I'll make sure to find Suikoden III somewhere. Passing on VF4 though.</div>

<div style='font: italic bold 14pt ; text-align: center; '>how could you. for 20 bucks new it's the best deal for an amazing game out there</div>

<div style='font: 9pt ; text-align: left; '>Maximo is an excellent cheapy buy and one of the best next gen action games. Same with Contra (it's a worthy sequel, unlike the PSOne games). Rez is great, if you can find it. Derith recommended the good RPGs, and I still had fun with Kingdom, even with all it's flaws (it is for kids, after all)</div>

<div style='font: 10pt "Stylus BT"; text-align: left; '>Does PS2 have any good 2-D action/adventure/platformers? The games I love are Mega Man, Ninja Gaiden, Castlevania, Metroid, etc style games. Actually I think I've heard about a new Ninja Gaiden game. Is that PS2?

I already know about the new Castlevania one about to be released.

I think my first RPG will be FFX. I heard that was a long, involving game and one of the best RPGs for the system so I'll do that one first. Still trying to decide on a non-RPG to pick up at the same time.</div>

<div style='font: 10pt "Stylus BT"; text-align: left; '>I detest, VF, Tekken and the like. Here... you can have it.</div>

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>Who are you again? J/K, but crap it's been awhile since you popped your head in. .Hack is fun, I got Derith hooked. He returned the favour by giving me Suikoden III. Dark Cloud 2 is a blast also.</div>

<div style='font: 9pt ; text-align: left; '>Ephemeral Fantasia - a little known RPG, it has some major flaws: bad camera angles, excessive loading, a town that is confusing as all hell, mediocre graphics, if you can overlook all those things it is very good, the story is interesting when you sort things out and the characters are good too. the game is actually hard (not the battles) but if you want to figure out everything for yourself without a guide it's borderline impossible.

Suikoden 3 - it's good but there is very little story, you just seem to play the same story 3 times over (and you're forced to do it). but if you liked the previous ones you'll enjoy this too.

Shadow Hearts - the battle system is a little different, overall it's a decent game. has a more modern and gothic feel than most other RPGs which is a good change.

Wildarms 3 - i don't like the graphics at all but the game is pretty good. much better than WA2 which i hated.

FFX - i love this game, it's as much like watching a movie as playing a game, some people may hate that but i like it, i liked the story and characters a lot.

.hack - as a whole this should be great, alone each part is not really worth anything.

Xenosaga - a cross between .hack and FFX, story and characters are not as good as FFX but maybe it's because it's not complete. problem is you don't really know when the whole thing will be out, unlike .hack which is scheduled to come out within the span of two years.

Legaia 2 - sucks really bad, avoid it like the plague. i only finished it because i'm stubborn. this is a sequel of Legend of Legaia without all the good qualities of LoL.

Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits - not as good as the previous Arc the Lad games but overall it's pretty good, more of a SRPG like FFT without an actual grid.</div>

<div style='font: 9pt ; text-align: left; '>2D? No, not that I know of other than the new Contra. Try Maximo, it's that good IMO. You'll fondly be reminded of Super Ghouls 'N Ghosts after you get used to the new (3D) gameplay. Wonderful game and only $20 used (Cdn)</div>

<div style='font: 9pt ; text-align: left; '>The only one I've played (and beaten) is FFX. Easily one of the best of the whole series, and if I wasn't thrifty, I'd have bought a PS2 simply so I could buy my own copy.</div>

<div style='font: 10pt "Stylus BT"; text-align: left; '>Okay thanks for the insight. I think I'll go with FFX and Amplitude to start, and give Maximo a rent. Dark Cloud 2 has my interest also, and Suikoden III is a must at some point</div>

<div style='font: 10pt "EngraversGothic BT", "Copperplate Gothic Light", "Century Gothic"; text-align: left; '>I highly recommend: Rez, FFX, Zone of the Enders 1/2, Xenosaga, Tekken 4, .Hack.</div>

<div style='font: 10pt "EngraversGothic BT", "Copperplate Gothic Light", "Century Gothic"; text-align: left; '>As with .Hack, I really enjoyed Xenosaga as a part one in itself. Sure, the story still has some loose ends for part two, but the storyline as it progresses is really good. (Xenosaga moreso than .Hack, as there was not much revealed in the storyline for it.)</div>

<div style='font: 10pt "EngraversGothic BT", "Copperplate Gothic Light", "Century Gothic"; text-align: left; '>And you call yourself a fan of fighting games. Pfffft...</div>

<div style='font: bold 9pt ; text-align: left; '>Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and GTA3 are awesome. You'd like Kingdom Hearts(screw it being old. It's fun! :). FFX is great, too.</div>

<div style='font: 11pt "Fine Hand"; text-align: left; '>First thing you should do is kick Seeker in the balls and then we'll send you free PS2 games. =8^D</div>

<div style='font: 10pt "EngraversGothic BT", "Copperplate Gothic Light", "Century Gothic"; text-align: left; '>Duh...forgot about GTA:VC.</div>

<div style='font: 9pt ; text-align: left; '>yeah, definitely get both GTA games, Ico is a good rental if you like puzzle games (too short to purchase).</div>

<div style='font: 9pt ; text-align: left; '>there's a lot more than some loose ends but it is a good game.</div>

<div style='font: 9pt ; text-align: left; '>Suikoden 3 should be $45 new (Cdn). If anyone tries to sell it to you at more than that, piss on them. BTW, I'm in Toronto now</div>

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>Just on a note, they fixed NHL 2004 from the 2003 version (which I told everybody sucked, but no one would listen!), I'm probably going to buy this one new, I've only played a bit of it so far thoughthough. This year, NHL Hitz has blended its fun arcade style with simulation, there are now 5 players on the ice instead of three. I am not sure how the new Hitz game will turn out, but if you see one of the older ones for a cheap price, I would definetly recommend buying it. Also, get Tiger Woods PGA 2003 instead of 2004, they're similar games only one costs about 30 bucks more than the other. The only reason I would even buy 2004 is to play as Mike Weir, but that's not worth the 30 bucks, I might as well go out and buy some other older game for that price.

Either way, this is a good time to get videogame systems, the prices on the systems are cheap, and there are a lot of games available for dirt cheap, just look around the store and get what you want, you can't go too wrong for 15-30 bucks a pop.</div>

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>I just kind of assumed he'd buy these two games, they're the best on the system =)</div>

<div style='font: 11pt ; text-align: left; '>Castlevania is coming out the 21st of this month. :)</div>

<div style='font: 10pt verdana; text-align: left; padding: 0% 10% 0% 10%; '>No shit? Aw man... I'm probably going to see that somewhere then, and I'll probably buy it, and then I'll start playing it, and aw man. I don't have time for that.</div>

<div style='font: bold 9pt ; text-align: left; '>Oh, definitely the best. If I could play only one game ever on the system, it'd be GTA:VC.</div>

<div style='font: 10pt "Stylus BT"; text-align: left; '>Yeah? I didn't know about that one... I'll have to check that out. What type of game? Doesn't sound like a straight racer...</div>

<div style='font: 10pt "Stylus BT"; text-align: left; '>Yeah. I read an online interview which made the game sound pretty cool. They also did a lot of apologizing for Castlevania 64...</div>

<div style='font: bold 9pt ; text-align: left; '>GTA is like an awesome open-ended world where you steal cars, do missions for mob bosses, etc...There's too much detail to explain here. Go find a review on IGN or something. It's an amazing game.</div>

<div style='font: 10pt "EngraversGothic BT", "Copperplate Gothic Light", "Century Gothic"; text-align: left; '><b>Link:</b> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0314123/fullcredits">Voice credits</a>

The voice acting has a big cast, too: Ray Liotta, Ms. Cleo, Tom Sizemore, Dennis Hopper, Burt Reynolds, Jenna Jameson, Gary Busey, Luis Guzmán, etc.</div>

<div style='font: bold 9pt ; text-align: left; '>Yeah, I forgot to mention that. He should just buy this game. There's no way he won't like it! :)</div>

<div style='font: 10pt "EngraversGothic BT", "Copperplate Gothic Light", "Century Gothic"; text-align: left; '><b>Link:</b> <a href="http://db.gamefaqs.com/console/ps2/file ... >Reference Guide (Xenosaga)</a>

You get a lot of neat info (from Xenosaga) in the keywords database. This FAQ is also good reading... (BTW, there are already screenshots for Xenosaga II in a previous Game Informer.)</div>

<div style='font: 10pt "EngraversGothic BT", "Copperplate Gothic Light", "Century Gothic"; text-align: left; '>However, unless you want to pull your face out, it might be a good idea to use the cheat codes after about 10-20 hours of gameplay.</div>

<div style='font: bold 9pt ; text-align: left; '>I never had any problems with it. I found that GTA has the one style of gameplay where I didn't get overly angry losing cuz it was stll fun. :)</div>

<div style='font: 10pt "EngraversGothic BT", "Copperplate Gothic Light", "Century Gothic"; text-align: left; '>You sorta required some weapons, which you had to buy every time.</div>

<div style='font: 9pt ; text-align: left; '>what i don't like is that i don't know when the story will end. with .hack it's 4 parts. with Shenmue you knew it was 3. i don't know if they ever said when Xenosaga will end and there's no time table for when a 3 or 4 will come out.

and you can't link directly to Gamefaq FAQs.</div>

<div style='font: 10pt "Stylus BT"; text-align: left; '>Found it new for $49 at EB but I didn't get it yet 'cause I already dropped $150 on them today. They kept sayin' the price is going up (i.e. buy it now) becuse the game's been discontinued for awhile.</div>

<div style='font: 10pt "Stylus BT"; text-align: left; '>I don't find the gameplay in VF exciting or even particularly deep. Tekken 4 similar story just to a lesser degree.</div>

<div style='font: 10pt "Stylus BT"; text-align: left; '>It was GTA3 or Vice City where you can pick up a hooker, and then beat her afterward and take your money back. I think. And the song I Ran is in that game.

GameSpot makes it out to be an excellent game with a lot of replay value, and I found new copies of it are on sale everywhere for less than $30. I didn't get it yet though... I had to get a PS2 memory card and then I picked up FFX and Amplitude. I'm going to try them both in a minute.

Xenosaga looked cool on the back of the box but I've heard too many cons about it from my friends to actually buy it. Maybe I'll rent it first.

The games I current plan to get next are Suikoden III, Vice City, probably Dark Cloud 2 (looks fun) and possibly DDR Max 2.</div>

<div style='font: 10pt "Stylus BT"; text-align: left; '>It was GTA3 or Vice City where you can pick up a hooker, and then beat her afterward and take your money back. I think. And the song I Ran is in that game.

GameSpot makes it out to be an excellent game with a lot of replay value, and I found new copies of it are on sale everywhere for less than $30. I didn't get it yet though... I had to get a PS2 memory card and then I picked up FFX and Amplitude. I'm going to try them both in a minute.

Xenosaga looked cool on the back of the box but I've heard too many cons about it from my friends to actually buy it. Maybe I'll rent it first.

The games I currently plan to get next are Suikoden III, Vice City, probably Dark Cloud 2 (looks fun) and possibly DDR Max 2.</div>

<div style='font: 9pt ; text-align: left; '>They just released a new batch a month and a half ago or so.</div>

<div style='font: 10pt "EngraversGothic BT", "Copperplate Gothic Light", "Century Gothic"; text-align: left; '>I just bought it used for about US$22.</div>

<div style='font: 10pt "EngraversGothic BT", "Copperplate Gothic Light", "Century Gothic"; text-align: left; '>Don't believe the bad bullshit about Xenosaga. Hell, I think I play more that 15 game hours on that card game alone.</div>

<div style='font: 10pt "Stylus BT"; text-align: left; '>Is it true that it's more like watching a movie than playing a game...</div>

<div style='font: 10pt "EngraversGothic BT", "Copperplate Gothic Light", "Century Gothic"; text-align: left; '>However, there is still plenty of gameplay throughout, so it's not like it's an "interactive movie", like many people make it out to be.</div>

<div style='font: 10pt "EngraversGothic BT", "Copperplate Gothic Light", "Century Gothic"; text-align: left; '>VF is a expert's fighting game. The gameplay is more about balance than having a hundred useless moves. Tekken is less so, but a bit more fun. Both games are about juggles and other unlisted combos.</div>

<div style='font: 9pt ; text-align: left; '>That sounds about right</div>

<div style='font: bold 9pt ; text-align: left; '>I dunno, I never ran out of weapons that I couldn't find really. Of course if I ever died or got busted, I'd reset. :)</div>

<div style='font: 10pt Baskerville; text-align: left; '>...Kingdom Hearts is cool and not dated at all...I think you'd dig it. Suikoden 3 is very good as well. Don't know if you'd like FFX...if you liked the Playstation ones (well 7 and 8), go for it...if not, maybe rent...can't remember how you felt about those...I don't think you'd like Xenosaga...very long winded, tons of just watching story scenes...the gameplay that is there is excellent, but it's barely there...it relies on the story and it isn't that strong...Dark Cloud 2 and Wild Arms 3 aren't bad either...

The Grand Theft Auto games go without saying...they are amazing...

Ratchet & Clank...might be up your alley...I really enjoyed it...same with Jak & Daxter...can't wait for both sequels...Devil May Cry is cool too, tough as shit game...the Contra game you'd probably like too...total old school hard as hell game...

...good 2d fighters are pretty rare...try Guilty Gear X2 if you can find it or any of the Capcom vs. games...</div>

<div style='font: 9pt ; text-align: left; '>Yeah, forgot about the Guilty Gear PS2 games, they're great...and long time, no talk with you as well</div>