Playstation II

[Debaser]

I have a Playstation II, now. It is, quite literally, the first console I have owned since the original Nintendo Entertainment System. I did this for three reasons:

1. There will never ever be a playable wrestling game released on the PC, apparantly.

2. I'm sick of DVDs trying to install horrid front end software when I try to play them on my computer, and am convinced it'll only be a matter of time before the rat bastards in charge decide to make them entirely unplayable, like they're doing with CDs, now.

3. I bought a handful of secondhand PS1 games years ago to run on an emulator, but performance was always kind of shoddy, so I never really played them much.

I also have problems.

First and foremost, this whole memorycard thing is shit. One doesn't come included. Man, that pissed me the fuck off. Especially because I caught myself flirting with the 16 year old behind the register at Best Buy, and then buying the warranty for damn thing because I've reached the point in my life where I believe falling for a lame sales pitch an winning a retail girl a five dollar commission is supposed to make me some monkeyfucking knight in shining armor who's entitled to an evening of wine, cheese, and statutory rape. What this means is that now I have to drive all the way back to Best Buy ten minutes later and wait in line for the same fucking cashier to buy the memory card and give that kinda awkward smile-giggle thing you give when you want to make an attempt at self-depreciating humor but really there's nothing especially funny about the situation so you really have nothing to say. I suppose I could have mentioned that I accidentally threw the warranty papers out allong with the box packaging and receipts and effectively spent thirty dollars on nothing, but I didn't realize that I'd done that until days later.

Oh, and the absence of a second controller is Grade A Prime Cut bullshit, too. Doesn't really matter to me because I'm past the point in my life where video games are a social activity, but still, Kali's Tits, that's fucking stingy. And that force feedback thing is hellalame. What the fuck's the point of making the controller shake in your hand? Is anyone enamoured with this feature?

But back to the main point. The memory card I bought is 16 Megs, as opposed to the 8 Meg standard. "It's like twice as good!" I told myself as I bought it. But you have to put in some stupid "configuration" CD every time you want to use it, which is bullshit. Even bigger bullshit is that, for some damn reason, it refuses to work with PS1 games, effectively eliminating a third of the reason I even wanted the damn thing. Basically that leaves me with 150 dollars for a DVD player with a crappy control system and the ability to tear clothes off of kinda poorly-rendered representations of women in Smackdown!: Here Comes the Pain.

So, until November when I'll be able to tear clothes off of somewhat better rendered representations of women in WWX: Rumble Rose, I need to Justify My Purchase. I need answers:

For starters, if I buy a branded, Playstation approved memory card will I actually be able to save old PS1 games, or is this simply not implemented at all?

For seconders, someone recommended a game called Disagea which is apparantly some sort of console RPG, but I've never heard a damn thing about it and am kinda burnt out on console RPGs. Anyone know if this is any good?

On a related note, is it possible to play Final Fantasy X-2 without slowly developing a need to feel the tender embrace of another man, or is it as absolutely gay as the commercials make it out to be?

What are the absolute "must play" games for this console, both out now and coming out? Although I've listed RPGs thus far, I'm actually more interested in good games in other genres, since I get enough of that sort of thing on the PC. No stupid "party" games. Definitely no puzzle games, or anything that requires me to buy a dance mat. Nothing that's also out on the PC, unless the PS2 version is somehow vastly superior. Any recommendations?

[Roody_Yogurt]

Yeah, you have to buy a PS1-only memory card. Took me a while to figure that out on my PS2, also.

[Lysander]

I'm a huge fighting game buff, so I'll jump in here real quick and say that the best games in that regard you can get are Capcom VS. SNK 2 (although its better to get that on an Xbox), Guilty Gear X2, Soul FCalibur 2 and Mortal Kombat 5. Get Marvel VS. Capcom 2 if you must, I suppose, but I personally don't aproove of it. And, hey, welcome back, yo.

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

3. I bought a handful of secondhand PS1 games years ago to run on an emulator, but performance was always kind of shoddy, so I never really played them much.

Aces!!

I just went through the EB website over at www.ebworld.com. They have a shitload of games (pre-owned, PS1) for like $2.99. I managed to pick up:

Sentinel Returns (one of the greatest fucking games ever, and NOW I HAVE IT for a system where the graphics won't get worse depending on whether or not I have a 3dfx card available or not)

Robotron X (bought it for the PC. I can't get it to work on my PC because apparently it uses DirectX 3.0 and... well, I am guessing that such happenstance means that DirectX 6.0 and above ain't gonna cut it. Fuck. FUCK. Walrustitty even burned me a copy of it for the Playstation, but I never got mine modded. Oh well, for $2.99 I'll try for success the third time.)

Colony Wars (heard good things about it)

Blast Chamber (apparently it's a good "party" game. I am still at the point in my life where the Playstation is a social activity, so I figured I'd get it. Actually, it's not really a social activity per se, because me talking shit to Pinback when I'm dropping sixty on him in NFL2K3 is sort of "anti-social.")

Of course, I chose the shipping where they strap it to a three-legged mule and sort of shove him in the direction of Colorado, so I'm hoping to get it before the PS3 is released.

First and foremost, this whole memorycard thing is shit.

Yeah. They really burn you:

o Memory card for the PS2
o Memory card for the PS
o Second controller
o The four-port hub

Thanks, ass mags. And the whole thing about needing a CD to use your memory card -- man. MAN. If you can, return that shit and get a Sony memory card. It may hold less, but at least it works without invoking tricks, traps and tecmo's deception.

For starters, if I buy a branded, Playstation approved memory card will I actually be able to save old PS1 games, or is this simply not implemented at all?

You need to get a PS1 memory card, yeah. =(

For seconders, someone recommended a game called Disagea which is apparantly some sort of console RPG, but I've never heard a damn thing about it and am kinda burnt out on console RPGs. Anyone know if this is any good?

It is! In fact, I just scrambled to get myself a copy.

Here's a review on Caltrops by K. Thor Jensen, noted cartoonist.

Annnnnnnnnd here is the forum where we were all talking about the game.

I like it so far. It's sort of like Final Fantasy Tactics. Sort of like a poor man's X-COM in certain ways, and a rich man's X-COM in others.

I couldn't get it locally, though, and had to get it from Amazon.com.

On a related note, is it possible to play Final Fantasy X-2 without slowly developing a need to feel the tender embrace of another man, or is it as absolutely gay as the commercials make it out to be?

Gayer. GAYER. The game starts out with an all-chick rock video. Then you make three chicks try to ... have adventures or something. I don't know.

I learned recently that X-2 is sort of like THE SEARCH FOR TIDUS so when things calm down round here I am going to pick it up and solve it. But yeah. It's just as gay as advertised. Gayer, even. And I don't mean in the "lame" way, oh no.

What are the absolute "must play" games for this console, both out now and coming out? Although I've listed RPGs thus far, I'm actually more interested in good games in other genres, since I get enough of that sort of thing on the PC.

Here's what I own:


RECOMMENDATIONS:

Disgaea (Squad based tactics. Good, so far.)

Final Fantasy X (I hate the save system, bought it a while ago, didn't finish it)

Final Fantasy X-2 (Still hate the save system but it is just plain gorgeous, and the story's at least there.)

Maximo (Insanely difficult, and not in an ICJ-hates-games way difficult, either. )

NFL2K3 (Better than Madden, dunno if NFL2K4 is better, but NFL2K3 is good in and of itself.)

Ico (One of the best adventure games ever made. It's the best game for the PS2, still, even though it was close to a launch title.)

Parappa the Rapper 2 (Not as flaming as you may think! Really short, though, so get it off eBay or something like that.)


NON-RECOMMENDATIONS

Spy Hunter (The most fun I had with it was when Pinback entered his character's name as "agent butt.")

The Thing (Who turns into the Thing is... scripted! That'd be a negative, then. If it wasn't scripted, it'd be one of the best games ever.)


(And then, the PS1 games that I have that I like are Clock Tower, Spider Man, Tecmo's Deception, Parappa the Rapper, Fear Effect II. I am not sure if I like Silent Hill, Final Fantasy Tactics, Crusader: No Remorse and Persona II mostly due to not playing them enough.)

But if you haven't, definitely get Sentinel Returns. For $3 even if you hate games like that it rock.

[Roody_Yogurt]

The first Oddworld was the reason I bought a Playstation, and I thought Medevil was some good Halloween-ish atmospheric fun.

[Debaser]

Sentinel Returns (one of the greatest fucking games ever, and NOW I HAVE IT for a system where the graphics won't get worse depending on whether or not I have a 3dfx card available or not)

Is that the one where you're like running around on polygonal hills or something? And you warp or it didn't make any sense when I read it, but I think you gushed about this game back on the old "Knight Orc Homepage". So what's the deal?

And the whole thing about needing a CD to use your memory card -- man. MAN. If you can, return that shit and get a Sony memory card. It may hold less, but at least it works without invoking tricks, traps and tecmo's deception.

Yeah, and the HILARIOUS thing is that I only own one PS2 game right now, so basically I'm going through all this trouble for 15.999 Meg of unused space. The packaging said nothing about this. Nothing. It's sheer luck I didn't throw out the CD along with the packaging, as they'd stuffed it away in this sort of secret compartment between two layers of cardboard in the backing.

Annnnnnnnnd here is the forum where we were all talking about the game.

That's an interesting use of pronouns, considering that it doesn't look like you've posted in that forum. If you're the Queen of England or a Spider Man villain, then "we" means "me and no one else". If you're Ice Cream Jonesy, it apparantly "we" means "a bunch of other people who I kind of know". Still, I guess I'll be picking the game up.

Gayer. GAYER. The game starts out with an all-chick rock video. Then you make three chicks try to ... have adventures or something. I don't know.

Yeah, something about that damn J-Pop song they sing is just off. Still, making three chicks try to "have adventures" is the kind of gay I like! Get it? Get it?!? Cause it's like a double en... nevermind.

I learned recently that X-2 is sort of like THE SEARCH FOR TIDUS so when things calm down round here I am going to pick it up and solve it.

Actually this is the other thing that's kind of discouraging me from playing it. I've never played FFX, I have little real desire to play FFX, cause I get the feeling that FFX is one of those games that takes one-thousand-million-billion hours to play and by the time it's through you've kind of forgotten the point of the whole damn thing anyway, kinda like FFIX. But I hate jumping in in the middle of a story, especially since Squaresoft plots tend to be murky and incomprehensible at the best of times.

Of course, I'm sure FFX-2 FFIX is probably just like that, too, which makes me question the wisdom of starting off down this path in the first place. But still, getting the opportunity to play "Pretty Princess Dressup" with three anime chicks has a certain appeal. So long as it isn't too gay. Damn, I'm confused.

[Debaser]

I'm a huge fighting game buff, so I'll jump in here real quick and say that the best games in that regard you can get are Capcom VS. SNK 2 (although its better to get that on an Xbox), Guilty Gear X2, Soul FCalibur 2 and Mortal Kombat 5. Get Marvel VS. Capcom 2 if you must, I suppose, but I personally don't aproove of it. And, hey, welcome back, yo.

Hmph, here's the thing. I've got an arcade emulator and a few of the various X-Men/Marvel vs. Street Fighter/Capcom games sitting on my hard drive, and I kind of like them. Especially X-Men vs. Streetfighter and the one where it's only Marvel guys and you fight Thanos with the Infinity Gauntlet at the end. I really know shit about what makes a good fighting game, and was always under the impression that they're really a genre where you kind of need two people to get the full experience. But I like these games because there's something inherently more satisfying about pretending to be Juggernaut and pummeling guys like Spiderman and Psyclocke than there is pretending to be Generic Anime Guy 1 and pummelling Generic Anime Guy/Gal 2.

So is MvC an inferior game than the aforementioned, or is it just kind of a poor showing for people who know the genre? And of the other games you mentioned, which would be the best for a complete neophyte, bearing in mind that I found the Mortal Combat Snes/Genesis era games dreadfully boring once you got passed the fatalities (which I could never properly execute anyway), but had a small soft spot for the whole Street Fighter 2 thing before they tore open the whole X Alpha Omega Turbo hymen.

[Lysander]

Before I do *anything* else:

The first Oddworld was the reason I bought a Playstation,

Yes. YES. Absolutely. Listen to this man. Oddworld and Oddworld 2 are the funnest damn games I have played in a long, long while. Oddworld 3's for Xbox, and its 3d, so I've never played it. Anyway.

Well, see, the Marvel VS. Capcom 2 game has one major, major "draw" to it, and a whole bunch of slightly more minor issues. The main thing that's *good* about it is that its got, if I remember correctly, 56 characters. Yeah. That's a shitload of characters to choose from and have fun with, narmean? So that's really cool. The problem is, the way the game's designed, you don't need very much strategy to play it. Its a button masher's wet dream. Just take a look at a moveslist and you'll know what I mean; nothing more complex than a half-circle forward or backward in either direction, and the super moves are one arrow press and both attack buttons, leading to such hilarious golden comedy moments as this:

Super Final Attomic Buster:QCF+P+K

Not to mention that the game has its share of bugs. So, yeah. As for what game you should *get*, I'd probably have to recommend Capcom VS. SNK 2 at the top of the list for ya. All of the rest of those games are 3d games with the exception of Guilty Gear X2, and its got a really goofy system that'd take a while to learn good. Still, though, they're really good games, and I'd like to state for the record that MK:DA is very, very different from its previous games. I mean, if it didn't have the "Mortal Kombat" name and different characters, it *would* be a completely different game. Also: Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution. Forgot to mention that. You can catch my review of X-Men: Next Demention on JC too, if you like.

[Worm]

Well, I guess I'll shoot out my recommendations in hopes to look entertaining.

R-Type Final: Damn good shoot 'em up. Fun, hard, and a shit load of ships. Loses something if you thought R-Type was a racing game.

Gradius III/IV: That's the arcade Gradius III with some neat PS2 add-ons if you want to get into them. The Gradius IV part is pretty ugly, pretty fun, and just not that great when compared to the Gradius III on the disc.

Mobile Light Force II: It's another SHMUP (These things are getting popular and soon enough the maggots at Something Awful will be gushing about them so you better familiarize). Pretty fun, really hard, extremely cheap.

That's pretty much the motif for SHMUPs they are all nice and cheap. I bet Gradius is about 10-20, MLF can't be more than 10, and R-Type Final (NEW GAME) is only about 30 bucks.

For PS1 I'd say you deserve to pick up a few games. You are such a great poster so I'm going do you a favor and recommend these games, just for you.

Rising Zan: Samurai Gunman - Damn great beat 'em up (BEMUP? Who knows?) fun bosses, fun "fatality" things that are all button mashing, and a pretty good scoring game.

Bushido Blade: What every fighting game should be modeled after. It is to Great Swordsman what Virtua Fighter was to other 2d fighting games. You *could* get BB2 which is pretty good but not as good. You, now only if you really want to, could pick up Kengo(PS2) which is a "Bushido Blade-ish" game for the PS2 with life bars and other annoying crap.

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

Sentinel Returns (one of the greatest fucking games ever, and NOW I HAVE IT for a system where the graphics won't get worse depending on whether or not I have a 3dfx card available or not)

Is that the one where you're like running around on polygonal hills or something? And you warp or it didn't make any sense when I read it, but I think you gushed about this game back on the old "Knight Orc Homepage". So what's the deal?

Sentinel Returns is a game about... the struggle for existence. It's life... but as a video game.

Essentially, you play a creature with low energy. You're attempting to boost yourself up until you're higher than the sentinel. You can boost yourself by sucking down the energy of trees and other things lower than you.

However!

The sentinel is always scanning for you! It wants to remain on top, of course. And if it finds you, it will suck the energy from you, so you'd better move quickly.

It's just a marvelous, unique game. I think I bought it for the full retail price of $39.99 when it came out -- it was like twenty bucks within two weeks. It's now like three pre-owned for the PS1. It's worth much more than that. (Well, I presume the translation is good to the PS1. I'll find out soon.)


re: Disgaea

That's an interesting use of pronouns, considering that it doesn't look like you've posted in that forum. If you're the Queen of England or a Spider Man villain, then "we" means "me and no one else". If you're Ice Cream Jonesy, it apparantly "we" means "a bunch of other people who I kind of know". Still, I guess I'll be picking the game up.

Well, I am the admin over there.


re: FFX-2

But I hate jumping in in the middle of a story, especially since Squaresoft plots tend to be murky and incomprehensible at the best of times.

Yeah, I think that FFX-2... yeah. Pretty much.

But still, getting the opportunity to play "Pretty Princess Dressup" with three anime chicks has a certain appeal. So long as it isn't too gay. Damn, I'm confused.

I am still rather conflicted as well. At least we're able to keep this thread nice and platonic. So it hasn't affected me too bad.

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

Before I do *anything* else:

Do you swing?

...

... Fuck FUCK!! Fucking FFX-2.

[Debaser]

Well, see, the Marvel VS. Capcom 2 game has one major, major "draw" to it, and a whole bunch of slightly more minor issues. The main thing that's *good* about it is that its got, if I remember correctly, 56 characters... nothing more complex than a half-circle forward or backward in either direction, and the super moves are one arrow press and both attack buttons

I know that, in some circles, the fact that I still can't input the fawking Dragon Punch motion properly on a control pad would be grounds for hatred and mockery, but really, as far as I'm concerned you've just hit the features, baby.

R-Type Final: Damn good shoot 'em up. Fun, hard, and a shit load of ships. Loses something if you thought R-Type was a racing game.

I've completely lost all respect from you, haven't I? I find it kind of neat that, in this day and age, something as essentially old-fashion as the SHMUP is suddenly all the rage again. Then again, I was always horrible at these things as a kid. What was the one where the first level boss was like a watermelon? That one was pretty cool.

[Roody_Yogurt]

Yeah, I've always been bad at them and probably because of that, don't care for them that much. I think I put the most time into Ollo II for the C64 just because I thought for sure I was going to beat that damned thing eventually.

[Lysander]

Before I do *anything* else:

Do you swing?

Now, see, if I told you that, then you'd promptly tell everyone else you know via ICQ, Yahloo instant messenger, America Online instant messenger, everyone on JCBBS (again), everyone on Groucho, and everyone on Caltrops. So that'd be a "no", there. HTH! HAND!

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

Do you swing?

Now, see, if I told you that, then you'd promptly tell everyone else you know via ICQ, Yahloo instant messenger, America Online instant messenger, everyone on JCBBS (again), everyone on Groucho, and everyone on Caltrops. So that'd be a "no", there. HTH! HAND![/quote]

No, wait, I only told Roody about your "swinging" because he thought you were on the Mud.

It does help.

I am having a nice day -- why do you... oh.

[Jethro Q. Walrustitty]

Lest Debaser is misled, let me make it clear:

IT IS POSSIBLE TO OWN A PS2 AND NEVER PLAY ONE OF THOSE GODDAMN GAY FINAL FANTASY GAMES.

Though apparently it is impossible to not own one, as someone gave us a copy of FF7 for the PS1. I don't think it's ever made its way into the PS2.

As for best games - geez, I have a modchip, so I have way too many games to pick out one or two. Gotta be more specific.

Though I will say that Maximo is really not that difficult, as least as far as I've played.

Ah! Ah! "Devil May Cry" - that's the kind of game that is probably best on a console, and is unavailable for anything else. It's older and there's a sequel, so you can probably pick it up for a song (and I don't mean Karaoke Revolution.)

If you want a rhythm game, Amplitude is quite popular without requiring a dance pad or DJ table. Space Channel 5 is almost amusing in a "what the hell is in the water in Japan" way, though it might not be available in this country. (At least, the version I've got isn't.)

Onimusha would be good except that you control your dude like the fucking spaceship in Asteroids. Rotate, forward, rotate, etc.

The Dynasty Warriors games are good for pure mindless hack-n-slash.

Kingdom Hearts is supposed to be an excellent RPG if you feel like regressing to an 8-year-old mindset, as opposed to going absolutely flaming by playing one of the FF games.

Jak & Daxter is pretty good. Actually, there are a zillion pretty good games of that type.

WRC is a pretty good racing game - of course, my world rotates around WRC racing, so that kind of skews my viewpoint.

Oh! Oh! Almost forgot - NBA Street Vol 2. Even for people who aren't particularly into sports games (like me), this one is a blast.

[Jack Straw]

Kingdom Hearts is supposed to be an excellent RPG if you feel like regressing to an 8-year-old mindset, as opposed to going absolutely flaming by playing one of the FF games.

Yeah, Disney characters are way less gay.
Fuck man, I can't believe you have FF7 and haven't fired it up. Other than 3(usa) that's the best one!!

[Lex]

I always prefered the non-freakish-dolls approach that guy used for FF8. But, the main character was an ass.
And Kingdom Hearts has several characters from the FF games in them, including a Sephiroth voiced by Justin Timberlake, so you have caught a sneaky form of Teh Gay.

[Worm]

Fuck man, I can't believe you have FF7 and haven't fired it up. Other than 3(usa) that's the best one!!

Shut up. Just throw out your fucking keyboard, you cunt.

Onimusha would be good except that you control your dude like the fucking spaceship in Asteroids. Rotate, forward, rotate, etc.

Oh, and it's 2 hours of gameplay. Don't you fucking think?

[Jack Straw]

Thanks, ass mags. And the whole thing about needing a CD to use your memory card -- man. MAN. If you can, return that shit and get a Sony memory card. It may hold less, but at least it works without invoking tricks, traps and tecmo's deception.

FYI, I did a little research into adding a HDD to my PS2. There's really nothing to do with it, and you can't even use it as a memory card! In Japan you can but you need to insert a CD first before every save to mount the "virtual" memory card.

Why even have a hard drive then??