Classic PSX/2 games to play for the summer

[Yora]

Since today my summer break is starting and I have both a huge amount of time and a tiny amount of money, I am thinking about trying aout some old playstation games that I never got around to play.

I played all of the Metal Gear Solid Games, Final Fantsy 10 and 12, Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, Soul Reaver, Blood Omen 2, Okami, and Primal.

I am considering finishing Soul Reaver and getting Soul Reaver 2 and Defiance (which apparently are a lot better gameplay-wise than Soul Reaver), and I've also seen that Ghost in the Shell game on ebay, which I always wanted to try. But those really don't get me terribly exited right now. Maybe someone has other ideas what I could try.
Just not any sports games.

[Farix]

The GITS game was alright, nothing spectacular mind you but enjoyable if you're a fan of the series. As for recommendations, if you havent played them before, and enjoyed the ones you have, pick up the earlier Final Fantasy games. 6 and 9 in particular are the high points of the franchise in my opinion though this being FF there are plenty who might disagree. Kingdom Hearts is another series that gets named a lot, haven't seriously played them myself so someone else can vouch for them.

Also check out this thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=292428) for some more ideas.

[KillianHawkeye]

If you like RPGs, I can recommend a few.

For the PSX: Lunar Silver Star Story and Lunar 2 Eternal Blue are both fantastic games. Note that Lunar 2 spoils a ton of major plot points from the original game despite being a relatively unrelated story with new characters.

For the PS2: Persona 3 and Persona 4 are some of the best games I've ever played. These are mostly unrelated, like Final Fantasy games, although there's a couple easter eggs in P4 for those who have already played P3.

[Triaxx]

PSX: Star Ocean: Second Story is awesome and has two campaigns to play. And if you haven't, you have to play Legend of Dragoon.

[Forbiddenwar]

I am considering finishing Soul Reaver and getting Soul Reaver 2 and Defiance (which apparently are a lot better gameplay-wise than Soul Reaver)

Yes, a thousand times yes. They are. You have no idea what you have missed. Seriously, get offline now and go finish the series. Things might not make sense since you played them out of order (Soul Reaver 2 comes before Blood Omen 2 and in fact sets Blood Omen 2 up), but you'll figure it out.
If you are turned off by the gameplay of SoulReaver and don't care at all about the story, then at least play what most agree to be the best game of the series, Defiance.

[erikun]

Grandia and Grandia 2 are very nice. I highly recommend both of them. Grandia 3 is pretty good as well, even if it does become a bit generic towards the end.

Legend of Mana is a very fun game to just wander around in an explore, and absolutely beautiful at that. And speaking of gorgeous games, Odin Sphere is on the PS2 as well.

It's a bit hard to find (even compared to the others) but Tactics Ogre is an excellent series. It is made from the same people that put together Final Fantasy Tactics, and is in my opinion the better game. Ogre Battle is also on the PS1 (and just as rare) and is certainly not similar to most other games I've played.

If you'd like something similar to Ogre Battle, then Soul Nomad and the World Eaters is on the PS2.

Tecmo made several good games during the PS1/PS2 run, such as Monster Rancher 2 (probably best in the series) and Deception 3 (same). Steambot Chronicles has a nice mix of peaceful fun playtime and enjoyable mech combat. Dark Cloud 2 is also a lot of fun for much the same reason, but with more dungeon exploration. The PS2 also has Mega Man Anniversary Collection and Mega Man X Collection, if you are in the mood for some good old-school games.

Those would be my top picks. Please note that a lot of these are going to be hard to find physical copies of, so you'd want to judge just how much money you want to pay for a game.

[Airk]

Grandia and Grandia 2 are very nice. I highly recommend both of them. Grandia 3 is pretty good as well, even if it does become a bit generic towards the end.

To provide a dissenting opinion here, as a big fan of JRPGs, Grandia 2 was okay, and after about the first 5 hours or so, Grandia 3 caused burning pain whenever you weren't actively involved in combat.

My off the wall suggestion of the day is: Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon.

[Fri]

Maybe you could check my thread for cross recommendation :smallbiggrin:. I'll definitely be checking this thread as well.

[Morbis Meh]

PSX: Xenogears, Legend of Dragoon, Suikoden 1 and 2, Breath of Fire 3

PS2: Shadow Hearts, Shadow Hearts 2: Convenant, Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2, Suikoden 3 and 5 (4 was terrible imo), xenosaga 1-3

[zorenathres]

though i never got to finish it, Breath of Fire 5 for PS2 was pretty sweet, the story is epic as well so i wont spoil anything...

[Yora]

I have to say I heard almost nothing about any of those games. What can you tell me about them to sell them to me?

[Terraoblivion]

It might help if you clarify which of them you're asking about. I can comment on Persona 3 and 4, as well as Suikoden 5 if they're among them. Also, I can guess at Suikoden 3 between hearing my girlfriend talk about it and having played 1, 2 and 5 to know the series in general. Although, I didn't play that much of 2.

[erikun]

The Grandia games are primarily known for two things: a good combat system for a RPG, and good (and funny) stories. Combat takes place in a separate field, much like traditional RPGs. However, to actually attack an opponent, the character needs to walk over to them. This leads to situations where a character can attempt to avoid attacks by running to a different portion of the screen, or you can try to interrupt opponents by attacking them while they're moving or when they're preparing an attack or magic spell. In fact, I consider Grandia is the non-action RPG that has enjoyable combat because of that - you have the ability to cancel enemy attacks with careful planning.

The first Grandia, on the PS1, is very much a boy-goes-on-adventure story. Just watching the characters go from kids in a remote town wanting to see the world, into people out to save the world to help those friends they've developed along the way, is a very enjoyable story to play through. Grandia 2 on the PS2 takes a different route, being a story about cynical main character eventually breaks through his stoicism and another character realizing that she'd been lied to for most her life and deciding her own sense of right and wrong. (And them saving the world.) Grandia 3 on the PS2 starts out very similar to the first game, with a protagonist in a small town who wants to get out and have an adventure. The biggest problem with that game is that, towards the end, some creatures start pulling out instant-completing attacks, meaning the whole tactical side of combat is pretty much forgotten.

(I'll do the other games later.)

[Morbis Meh]

OOOh boy where to begin....

Xenogears: You will either love it or hate it there is no inbetween. The plot is deep, the characters are for the most part well developed and likeable. I really don't want to give a plot synopsis since I may give something away buy the main selling point.... YOU GET TO FIGHT IN MECHS THAT HAVE THE ABILITY TO CRUSH ENTIRE PLANETS!

Xenosaga: If I recall correctly the original designer of Xenogears decided to make a parellel game since he didn't have the freedom with Xenogears and was under a massive time constraint. Plot: Alien beings generally undetectable/unstoppable suddenly appear and begin laying waste to humanity (Gnosis, they insta stone people). The main character is a scientist who has developed a prototype android (KOS-MOS) to fight the alien threat. This series is pretty fun and in depth, the characters (and villains ERMAGERD ALBEDO YOU CRAZY!) are solid and in the second/third game you get to play in fun mechs (the first game had a lousy attempt at it but made up for it in the other two installments)

Suikoden series: All of these games take place on a single planet/world (the timeline is 4, tactics, 5, 1, 2 and 3) Each game takes place within a specific nation and deals with a political struggle of some sort, usually revolving around a 'True Rune'. The main character usually comes into possession of one and has to build up an army to fight the enemy faction. Selling points: you get a 6 person party (1,2,3 and 5... 4 allowed 4 and I will stop there since I didn't like the game) couple with the ability to recruit 108 'stars of destiny' (around 40 or so are playable party members) for really custom teams. The characters are really good and the plot varies from good to exceptional (Suikoden 2 is my favortie followed by 5/3 and then 1).

[Terraoblivion]

One thing that is also important to know about Suikoden is that the games heavily favor plot over gameplay, so if you want gameplay challenges it's probably not the right place to look. However, the writing really is that good, though less so in 1 than the games that followed. It is also noteworthy for an RPG in that the politics are always at the heart of the story and never give way to bigger, magical issues.

Also, the setting is kind of an odd mix of European fantasy, 18th century France, feudal Japan and pre-industrial China. The latter is by far the dominant of the aspects, which probably isn't too odd given how the series is very loosely based on The Water Margin, and it's often quite atmospheric.

[Morbis Meh]

[QUOTE=Terraoblivion;15736444]Words of truth!QUOTE]

Thank you kindly for filling in those details for me and phrasing it in such a succinct manner... it is really sad that the games lack a female protagonist (except suikoden 3... Chris is pretty bad@ss :smallsmile: ) As far as individual settings go 5 had the best imo (I really enjoyed the Queendom of Falena!) 2 had the best story and villain (I will always be a die hard Luca Blight Fanboy) and 3 was pretty solid overall. Though I would recommend you play one since the time frame between one and two is only 10 years and they do share some plot and playable characters.

[erikun]

Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together is very similar to Final Fantasy Tactics (if you're familiar with it) and many of the people who worked on TO went to work on FFT. The story and characters from the Tactics Ogre games tend to be very well written, with the big thing in TO is that you can make decisions throughout the game, which lead the story onto different paths. Even some in-game actions will change how various characters view and respond to you. The difference between this and other black-white morality games is that there is no real clear "good" or "evil" side. Tactics Ogre follows the lawful-chaos axis, and so there are people and actions on both sides of the story which have done both good and terrible things.

Tactics Ogre was originally released on the SNES, and later ported onto the PS1. There is also a port on the PSP. The SNES and PS1 games are very limited runs, and so these are the ones that will be nearly impossible to find (and likely expensive). I'd actually recommend the PSP version if you are interested and if that is possible. Just for clarity, there is a second Tactics Ogre game (The Knight of Lodis) released on the GBA. It has most of the good points of Let Us Cling Together, but is a completely different game.


Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen is related to the Tactics Ogre series, in that they both occur in the same world and sometimes have the same characters. The difference is that Ogre Battle is more of an actions-strategy-RPG game. The way it works in that you put together "units" of up to five characters, and then send these unit onto the map. Your units will fight others, at which point all characters in a unit will make attacks and the victor pushes back the loser. The RPG elements come into play with each individual character having a class, stats, and equipment they can wear.

Unlike Tactics Ogre, there are not clear-cut points where you make decisions that influence the story in Ogre Battle. Rather, you have an overall reputation meter that determines how NPCs interact with you. If the reputation is too low, then evil NPCs will get along with you and good NPCs won't. With high reputation, the reverse is true. Endings and events are influenced by who you recruited and your overall reputation, although you play through the same basic game (except a few stages) with any reputation.

Ogre Battle is definitely quite different from most other games, including most strategy games and definitely most RPGs. The game was released on the SNES and the PS1, and is just as incredibly rare as Tactics Ogre on those systems. It's also out on the Wii Virtual Console, and perhaps other systems. Again, if it's conventent, it might be more practical to just get the digital version. There are two other Ogre Battle games out there. One is Ogre Battle 64: Person of Lordly Caliber which is only on the n64 and Wii virtual console, and the other is Ogre Battle: Legend of the Zenobia Prince which was only in Japan.


Soul Nomad and the World Eaters is not related to the Tactics Ogre/Ogre Battle series and is made by a completely different company, Nippon Ichi Software (NIS). However, it plays remarkably similar to the Ogre Battle games, complete with individual characters which are assigned to units, which you then confront other units as battles progress automatically. Soul Nomad doesn't have Ogre Battle's storyline and doesn't have any real branching choices that influence the story, although you will frequently have choices that can result in "bad ends" you can pick. (You are always shown if a choice will bad-end or not.)

The game also has characters and humor similar to other NIS titles, such as Disgaea and La Pucelle. It is PS2 only, and probably difficult to find (although not as bad as trying to find a PS1 Ogre Battle/Tactics Ogre).

[Terraoblivion]

Persona 3 and 4 are a pair of urban fantasy JRPGs that mix a heavy focus on social interaction with NPCs and party members with more traditional dungeon crawling elements. The former is set in a major city and features some science fiction elements, while the latter is in rural Japan and more narrowly focused on daily life and fantasy elements.

The things that make them stand out the most are excellent writing of both the main plot and at least the majority of the individual subplots of characters, including dealing with themes of identity, sexuality, alienation, death and loss that are rarely really touched upon in triple A gaming. They also feature a fair amount of Jungian psychology, though knowing it is by no means a requirement to understanding or appreciating the games. Apart from this, they feature some of the greater visual and aesthetic design in the medium, along with rather atypical and catchy music, though in neither of these fields they reach the heights of games such as Okami and The World Ends With You respectively.