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Happy 20th birthday to the PS2

Discussion in 'Gaming Forum' started by Unlucky 13, Mar 4, 2020.

  1. Unlucky 13

    Unlucky 13 Team Raheem Club Member

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    The PS2 was originally released in Japan on March 4, 2000, later coming to the US that November. My memories of that time are very similar to the current one with the PS5. There was a ton of talk years in advance of what we would be getting, and expectations were high that it would be a giant leap forward in gaming, which is certainly was.

    Around this point back in 2000, I went to my local Gamestop. I was a very regular customer, and knew the manager and a few of the employees. The US release date had recently been announced, so I wanted to put a reservation down to get my own PS2. They basically laughed at me, and said that reservations had been taken for everything that they would be getting before the holidays. After talking it out, the manager said that if I wanted to, that I could reserve one for the next batch that they would get after New Years. Knowing that I would absolutely be buying one, I went ahead and paid in cash the full $300 plus tax right then and there. Sadly, the new year came and went and I didn't hear anything. I called and went by, and nothing, over and over. I finally ended up getting mine in March of 2001, a full year after I'd paid for it.

    But it was worth it! The PS2 was a great machine. Tons of good games, and in those days Gamestop was a great place to sell and buy used games, so I could trade in two or three that I was done with and walk out with a few that I wanted all the time. Good days.

     
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  2. invid

    invid Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    I got mine that November with FFX and GTA III if I recall correctly. I honestly can't rake my memory banks between PS2 and PS3 releases it feels like so long ago, though there are still some old game cases at my parents house. One of my friends dug out Tribes 2 weekends ago. Man, did that take me back.

    [​IMG]
     
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  3. Unlucky 13

    Unlucky 13 Team Raheem Club Member

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    For me, they were landmark years in my life, which makes it easier. I got the ps2 the first year i was out of college and working full time. I got the ps3 the year that I got married. And I got the ps4 the year my second daughter was born. The ps5 will likely be the year that I get back into the workforce, if I can find something.
     
  4. invid

    invid Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    Some other ones I played the everloving **** out of:

    • Max Payne (this whole series is great, even the 3rd one for PS3)
    • Midnight Club 1 and 2
    • Ace Combat Series (all of them)
    • Devil May Cry Series (Numbers 1 and 3 were a cut above)
    • God of War Series (didn't like these as much as DmC series but they were okay)
    • Jak and Daxter Series (the one in the desert was awesome)
    • Shadow of the Colossus (the HD remake is free this month for PS Plus users and I can't recommend it enough)
    • SOCOM 1 and 2 (Amazing 3P-shooter. Life was precious. When you died, you had to wait until the next round. Such a heart-pounding experience online.)
    • Guitar Hero 2 (many underage drinking nights with friends)
    • Kingdom Hearts 1
    • Okami
    • Suikoden 3
    There's quite a number of JRPGs I would love another chance of playing because I missed out on them. I never finished Xenosaga's first installment, skipped over the Tales series this generation, and never played Rogue Galaxy. Surprisingly, I played a lot of JRPGs on other consoles at this point. I think I played Grandia 2 or 3 (can't remember which one) on XBox and Tales of Symphonia on Gamecube (great RPG).
     
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  5. Unlucky 13

    Unlucky 13 Team Raheem Club Member

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    I love talking about things like this, because I am almost exclusively a Sony guy, I've never played a single one of those games! However, my wife has played all of the Kingdom Hearts series, and she's played Okami several times, so I'm very familiar with them.

    I downloaded the remaster of Shadow of the Collosus last week, but haven't gotten into it. Its a game that I've had my eye on since they first started talking about it on G4 back in 2005 or so, but I just never got around to it.
     
  6. invid

    invid Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    "Gotten into it" as in you tried it and didn't like it or you haven't had the time to start it yet?
     
  7. Unlucky 13

    Unlucky 13 Team Raheem Club Member

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    Its loaded on my ps4, but I haven't gotten motivated to play it yet.
     
  8. invid

    invid Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    It's a unique experience. It goes for evocation moreso than a straight up video game experience. The bosses can feel a bit samey at first but stick with it and they start to diversify. The controls also take a bit of getting used to. Sometimes I think Team Ico makes them deliberately obtuse, like they made the animal AI in Last Guardian deliberately obtuse.

    The art direction in Shadow of the Colossus is like no other though, especially with the landscapes and how cinematic the camera angles can get sometimes.

    Just a unique game, but with that- it might not be your cup of tea.
     
  9. Dol-Fan Dupree

    Dol-Fan Dupree Tank? Who is Tank? I am Guy Incognito.

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    I loved my PS2. When I bought it I got two games.
    I got Grand Turismo 3 A-spec and Ring of Red.

    I did not even like racing games, but I bought it because my friends would play it and there weren't any other game I was interested in until Madden 2002.

    I lost interest in Ring of Red pretty quickly.

    My favorites, Final Fantasy X, Madden 2008, NFL 2K5, God of War Series, Devil May Cry, Kingdom Hearts 1, Grand Theft Auto III (I loved the talk radio station, sometimes I would just drive around listening to it), Suikoden III, Soul Calibur III, NFL Street series, Legia Duel 2 Saga, and, Kessen II
     
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  10. Unlucky 13

    Unlucky 13 Team Raheem Club Member

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    I was a big Gran Turismo guy too, from the start through 6. Every time I hear Lenny Kravitz sing "Are You Gonna Go My Way", I associate it with the awesome intro to GT3. I remember just sitting there and watching that with my mouth hanging open, the graphics were so amazing for the time. I think that the upgrade from the end of the PS1 era to the start of the PS2 era is the most dramatic improvement of that sort in gaming history. When I expected the same thing to happen five years later with the PS3, I was severely dissapointed.

    Other favorites were FFX and XII, GTA: San Andreas, Xenosaga 1 & 2, the early Lego Star Wars games, and of course the very best Madden games ever made. I still own about a dozen of them, but I regrettably gave my PS2 and most of what I had to my nephews years ago, and who knows what became of them.
     
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  11. invid

    invid Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    Needed a chewy JRPG for quarantine so I got Rogue Galaxy off the PS Store for $5.
     
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  12. Dol-Fan Dupree

    Dol-Fan Dupree Tank? Who is Tank? I am Guy Incognito.

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    That game is fun.
     

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