Steve’s
PlayStation 2 Games
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Final Fantasy X |
Final Fantasy X-2 |
|
When this was released for PS2, I had to go out and buy PS2. (Of course, two weeks later the price
dropped $100.) I thought the story was
dramatic and captivating. Tidus, Yuna, Lulu, Auron, Rikku, Wakka, and Khimari battle Sin
in order to save Spira. The visuals were great, the music was warm,
and the story left me feeling like I had lived a saga. It was tough getting into the habits of
bringing everyone into every fight in order to let them earn experience
points, but it became habitual after a while. |
I was initially utterly disappointed in this game. Yuna, Rikku, and Paine go on a quest with the Gullwings. The
basic story was fine – no issues there.
But some aspects were a bit weird, I have to say. At one point, the girls in the |
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Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits |
ICO |
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A good game all around. I enjoyed playing the light and the dark. That was an interesting storyline. It wasn’t too challenging until you get to
the last boss. Then it’s
ridiculous. You need a very specific
strategy, a bit of luck, and massive amounts of time to kill the last boss. It made the end of the game into an “ugh”. I haven’t picked up the sequel to this yet,
but IGN
only gives it a 6.9, so maybe I shouldn’t… |
Wow. This game was
terrific. Yes, it was more of an ‘art’
game than anything else, but it was gripping. Sure, battling the shadows that crept up on
the mute girl was annoying and often pointless, but this was a great game. I can’t wait for Shadow of the Colossus. |
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Disgaea: Hour of Darkness |
La Pucelle:
Tactics |
|
Purely addicting. 100%. This game is fantastic. Sure, the story is hokey, but the gameplay completely overpowers that. You can create a character, have that
character create another character. Then
when the ‘pupil’ levels up the ‘master’ gets a bonus. Plus, the master can learn skills the pupil
picks up along the way, and those can be passed up and up. So make a fighter, then a mage, then a
priest. Eventually, you can transfer
healing spells to the mage and then to the fighter. Awesome.
And how about leveling up an item… by going inside the item!? Cool. What to shop for better items? Visit the Dark Assembly, and if you don’t
win their vote, beat them into submission! |
This had several similarities to Disgaea. The storyline was better and more focused. The purifying of energy nodes made for an
interesting stratagem in the game. Yet
when it comes down it, Disgaea was simply more versatile
and therefore more addicting. |
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Kingdom
Hearts |
Baldur’s Gate: Dark |
|
The fusion of Final Fantasy and Disney... I admit that I was skeptical. I wasn’t crazy about the prospect of running
around with Goofy and Donald. Still
not crazy about that part, but the rest of the game was a lot of run. I liked the story quite a bit, and though I’m
not the biggest fan of action RPGs, I really got
into this one. It’s also fun tearing
things up at the Coliseum, but what’s the deal with the Gummi
Ship? I’m looking forward to KH2. |
With my love of Baldur’s Gate for the PC, I simply had to get this. Ok, so it’s missing the massive storyline
of the PC series, but it was a good hack-and-slash game. Of course, I generally use the sorceress
instead of the ranger or fighter, but who can resist the call of magic? Not I, my friend. Not I. I still have not picked up the BG:DA2. |
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Dark Cloud |
Rygar: The Legendary Adventure |
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This was fun. I
enjoyed the town-building aspect of the game more than the endless dungeon
crawling. Refining weapons was also
good, but it was weird that they’d break. Annoying, actually. Ok, down-right frustrating at times. But the overall game was fun. I still haven’t invested in DC2. |
As an action RPG, this was a good game. Colorful, challenging, interesting. But I lost my focus and I still haven’t
finished it. I have to go back and
replay this to complete it. I loved
the original Rygar for the NES, but I wasn’t grabbed quite as forcefully
this time around. |
|
Xenosaga I: Der Wille zur Macht |
Xenosaga II: Jenseits
von Gut and Bose |
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What a gripping tale!
I was pleasantly surprised by all the cut-scenes. They were so well crafted, like a
high-budget film. I felt the suspense,
the anguish, and joy. It was
unfortunate that so many people complained about these storyline scenes,
because #2 had a major reduction in them. The fighting took some getting used to, and
ultimately there is not a major focus on battles. I was fine with that. #2 came with the DVD that had most of the cutscenes laced together into a movie-style video. I was thrilled to just sit back and watch
that! |
This game was good, though the original was better. This was particularly short. I have a feeling that the creators
originally intended a lengthier bit of storytelling which was present in the
first installment, but customer complaints led them to reduce the story
segments. So sad! I was looking forward to the same drama that
was in the first. Originally this was
to be a 6-series set, and I was anxiously awaiting them all. Last I read, Monolith is cutting it down to
4. :( |
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.hack (1, 2, 3, & 4) |
Mega Man: Anniversary Collection |
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I could not fully appreciate this set of games until
recently. I enjoyed them, indeed,
though the repetitive dungeon-crawls and collection of repeated items was a
bit of a drag. The story was great,
but I felt the whole thing could have been properly done in two games, not
four. As the series progressed, the
games just became so short. After
playing Guild Wars online now, I have a much greater appreciation for the
feel of these games. They truly did
capture the feel of an MMORPG. |
Go Mega Man, go!! Wow,
it was such fun reliving these games. I had played most of them through on the old
systems. Actually, I didn’t realize
just how many I had played until I went through this anthology! The challenges are still great and now that
I’m writing this, I’m itching to equip my Fire Arm and blast some baddies! |
There’s more to
come…
What’s next?
Home Games NES SNES PC PS [PS2]