Best PS2 games that didn't come out for PC

Hello everyone. This is my first post on this all new blog. I know I should make some kind of introductory entry about who I am and what's this blog is about. However I won't. At least not yet. I'll do it somewhere down the line. I decided to make my first post about something far more interesting, at least to me.

Now I started gaming when I was about 10 on a 486 IBM PC. Over the years I have always had a PC so that has been my main venue for gaming. I can't complain. I firmly believe that the best games are PC games. However I was always a bit envious of my friends who had consoles, not because they could play on the couch with a controller on a big screen TV. No I happen to like my desk and mouse and keyboard setup. It was always about games. There were always a couple of games of each console generation that I really wanted to play. Sure there were emulators but it was not the same and not all systems were properly emulated anyway.

It was several years after the release of PS2 and Xbox that I finally gave in and decided to get a console for myself. The prices had gone down considerably since their release. From the two I went with PS2. It had more interesting exclusives and as an RPG gamer the choice was easy. Xbox to me was more for people who didn't have a PC since it had some ports of great PC games like Morrowind.
Actually the first run in that I had with a PS2, appart from playing at friends' houses, was when a friend of mine let me borrow his for a Summer. He urged me to play Final Fantasy X, it was the game he bought the console for. I had played several Final Fantasy games that far and I'm a fan of the series so it definitely was a game I wanted to play. However I didn't till I got my own unit. That summer I played two other amazing games, but more on that later.

So what is this list about? First of all why make a list? Well I happen to like lists, although I tend to dissagree with 90% of the lists on the internet. I'm sure a lot of people (if a lot of people actually read this) will disagree with mine. However I find them fun and useful as a way to get aquainted with games you may not have known as well as the person making the list. If someone agrees with mine they might be more willling to read my future posts to see what my opinion is on other things gamey.
So since I already mentioned I'm a PC player that turned to consoles to play games not available on the PC, my list includes just that. I could say Playstation 2 exclusives but there are some games that may have made it to the Xbox or GameCube (not sure if there is any on the list but there might be).

Finally a warning. This post will contain spoilers about the games mentioned. I for one hate for games to be spoiled for me even if they have been out for years. I tend to play older games now and then. I'll try to have the titles visible so you can skip over the text for games you haven't played and plan on someday playing, if you care about spoilers. Finally, on with the list:

Final Fantasy X

There has been much debate about which is the best Final Fantasy. Different people have different opinions. Common answers are FF 6, 7 and X. Personally my favorite is Final Fantasy 8 (why requires a new blog post altogether) but FF X is close second. It features the best elements of the series. Stunning visuals, jaw dropping cutscenes (at the time but they stand the test of time very well), a fantasy story full of twists and some interesting and lovable characters (Tidus wasn't so bad as his appearance would imply). And for the first time in a Final Fantasy game it had voices. The combat system was more or less the same with previous instalments but it had a bit more focus on tactics based around elemental resistances and weaknesses. It also had some great minigames. I must have spent half of my time in game playing Blitzball. The game went away with the overhead map but I think because of that, among other things, had the most believable world. There was no disconnect with cities extremely different from each other like in FF7. The game was also a system seller, a lot of people bought the PS2 just to play Final Fantasy X and were not dissapointed.

Shadow Hearts 2

 

But is FFX the best RPG on the PS2? My answer is no, there is Shadow Hearts 2. A bit of history first. There was a game for PS1 named Kudelka. It was a strange mix of survival horror and RPG. The gameplay was interesting and the writing was amazing. A game in the same universe with loose connections to Kudelka was one of the first RPGs on the PS2. It was Shadow Hearts 1. It is an alternative history game that takes place in early 20th centrury Europe (if I remember right) where there is magic and vampires and a shapeshifting protagonist. The premise is interesting the setting original and fresh and a new mechanic is introduced that makes the battles more active and engaging. However it doesn't have a spot on this list because it is also boring and repeptitive. In addition, being one of the first RPGs on the PS2 it looks and plays more like a PS1 RPG. However there is a very important reason to play it. Shadow Hearts 2 is a direct continuation and it is that good.

I like games with good stories. To be the good hero in a quest to save the world and everything turns all right in the end isn't a very good premise for a story. The best RPG stories aren't about saving the world but about saving yourself (cue Planescape: Torment, Mask of the Betrayer, etc). Shadow Hearts 2 won me right from the start. Shadow Hearts 1 had two endings a good and a bad. SH 2 considers the bad ending canon and continues from that with the main character reeling from the loss of his beloved, his actions throughtout the game driven by the trauma of his past. Also early in the game the main character is cursed, a curse that is more or less a ticking time bomb. Till the end I was convinced that he would remove it somehow. However none of the two endings is exactly a happy one. Both have fair doses of melancholy. Now other than the begining and the ending the game takes place in an alternative Europe, including actual historic figures like princess Anastasia (a little girl that joins your party) and Rasputin (one of the main antagonists). There is a fair share of world saving but the story is one of the most interesting I've played in a JRPG. The cast is colorful and sometimes and silly. You have a bodybuilder wrestler vampire, a puppeteer, a dog, among other. They each have their own optional side quest that is either emotional or funny. There are some over the top scenes but I didn't mind them much. The battle system is also one of the most interesting in JRPGs with actions being decided by a roulette and your reflexes playing a major role but the positioning on the battlefield is equally important. I would say not only that Shadow Hearts 2 is the best JRPG on the PS2 but it's also a game very few people have played. The game is also known as Shadow Hearts: Covenant in case you have trouble finding it. I think I should make a blog entry just for this game some time.

God of War

 I'm sure this game is in many people's lists. One of the best action games on the PS2 or any console for that matter. A friend introduced me to it as a game like Prince of Persia: Warrior Within. Although I maintain that the Sands of Time trilogy is better than the God of War games this doesn't reduce at all the value of this great game. More focused on action than acrobatics, God of War was dark and brutal and viceral (despite the word being PR candy nowadays it is actually true in this occasion). The combat mechanics were awesome, the graphics amazing. This is the game that for good or bad introduced quick time events to a mainstream audience. However in God of War they were well done and served the purpose of seeing Kratos, the protagonist, deliver punishing fatalities to his enemies while not taking the control away from the player. Kratos himself was one of the most interesting elements in the game. His story was trully dark, a story of revenge and redemption. He was a character that in most accounts can be considered evil. He was a barbarian, ruthless, vindictive. A welcome reprieve of the good paladin types or charming rogues of other games. The other God of War games are all pretty good but none of them as good as the first when you play it for the first time.

Metal Gear Solid 3

 

This was the first game I played the summer I had borrowed a PS2 from a friend. I had played MGS 1 and 2 and I was a fan. MGS 3 is still one of the best games in the series. For the first time you controlled Big Boss and not Solid Snake (or Raiden). He was the villain of the first 2 Metal Gear games (not the Solid games) and Snake's mentor. Here we saw his story for the first time. The game, it takes place in the 70s, set the stage for the games that followed, it introduced new characters and plots while bringing back a few favorites in their younger versions. The biggest departure storywise is that it a much more emotional game than the first two. Big Boss seemed more capable of emotion than his clone of the first game and the mission itself was much more personal. He had to assassinate his former mentor. The whole game takes place in a russian jungle and it incorporated many new elements like survival mechanics, the need to eat and some ingenious Kojima gimmicks. You could for example defeat an old sniper by turning off your PS2 for a couple of days and wait for him to die of old age. The final battle happens in a field of white flowers, a one on one fight between mentor and student and it is one of the best final battles in this type of game. The sequel, MGS 4 for the PS3 was probably the worst in the series but Peace Walker for the PS3 lets you once again control Big Boss and is a worthy successor to MGS3.

Kingdom Hearts

 

The other game I played that summer. I was already at college so I had outgrown disney movies a long time ago. I played it because it was by square and had good press inspite the disney crossover. What I found was a gem. The game is a platformer with RPG elements. Like many other games on this list it had a great story, very imaginative, blending disney worlds with square characters. The beginning scene is one of the best in video games. Playing it I felt like a kid in a dark fairy tale where things were lurking behind what was visible. The gameplay is very fun with easy platforming bits and action combat. To my surprise revisiting the disney worlds of my youth was a delight and Donald and Goofy, your trusted companions were excuisite company. There are tons of hidden things like power ups or story bits. Some of the cameos are formidable. The first time I battled Sephiroth it was a rare experience. The second time I played the game I managed to beat him even and althought it's not that hard, he had kicked my ass so bad the first time that I was ecstatic. Kindgom Hearts 2 sadly doesn't make the list. It changed a couple of things, probably for the worst. It had a more RPG focus and it did away with all the platforming. The story in KH1 has a lot of hidden staff and requires some thinking but in 2 it was unnecessarily complex and convoluted. The battles are the main focus. There are a lot more things to do and they are flashy but are also pretty easy. The worst thing for me is that they rewrote the disney stories it featured and the game versions are much worse, making the characters stupid or shallow.

Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne

 

Another game I played due to its interesting premise. The world comes to an end. Everybody but very few dies. You are a half-demon/half-human. You are thrown into an interim world populated by demons who each have a different idea of how the new world that will emerge should be shaped. There are three major powers representing different philosophies and there are all in all five different paths you can follow. Your choise will at the end be the determining factor of what will happen with the world. The game has very little story development and dialogues apart from key moments. There are some interesting things like your friends, those of them who survived, each have chosen a different demon/phiosophy to allign with and try to get your favor. The game is in fact a japanese style dungeon crawler. The interesting premise wouldn't be enough to keep me going through the endless dungeons and battles if the game mechanics weren't so interesting. Appart from yourself you control demons. You collect these demons by persuading your enemies to join you and by combining demons together to make new ones. Demons level up and learn new attacks. The battle system while classic turn based JRPG fare has some twists that make it one of the most interesting and brutal out there. Attacking enemies with resistances costs you not only damage but also part of your turn while exploiting weaknesses makes your opponents lose theirs. Combined with a punishing difficulty if your build isn't on par, it makes for a very interesting dungeon crawl experience. Now there are other Shin Megami Tensei games on the PS2 that could potentially make the list, I'm a fan of the series, but this is the only one I've played on this console.

Soul Calibur 3

 

Now there are a lot of good fighting games on the PS2. Others prefer Tekken, others Soul Calibur 2 or some other series all together. For me it's SC3, one of the first games I bought for me PS2. My brother and me used to play a lot of fighting games. The first one we spent countless hours on was Mortal Kombat 3 (and then Trilogy). Then it was Samurai Shodown 4. The third was Soul Calibur 3. We would sit and play for hours. I had actually ulocked all secrets in the game through versus play. The single player story is just awful so I won't even mentioned it. What I liked was the fast pace, how different each fighter was to the others, the use of weapons, the enormous moveset and how easy it was to execute each move but it was all about timing, learning to block your oppontent and counter with your own attacks at the right time and height to go through his defence. I have played some other fighting games since then, like the new Mortal Kombat, but gone are the days of playing fighting games for hours so I look back to SC3 with fondness.

God Hand

 

This game is awesome and it's a shame so few people have played it. Remember those great 2d beat em up like Double Dragon or Cantilacs and Dinosaurs? God Hand is that in 3d. And it is awesome. ( I know I already said that but it can't be said enough about this game). You play as a man who has the hand of God and you battle hordes of demons, including a lot of the most imaginative demon bosses I've seen. The game is hilarious with way over the top scenes and characters, bordering to ridiculous. It also features very deep fighting mechanics with unlockable moves and tactics. I rarely play a game more than once but I've played this three times, almost back to back. The second playthrough doesn't offer anything new, it's just that much fun.

Onimusha: Warlords

 

The first Onimusha game is a blend of survival horror and action. It takes place in medieval Japan and you control a samurai fighting demons. The game won't scare you but it is creepy and distrurbing. The first Onimusha I played was no 3 for the PC but I think the first is better. It is darker and has some great cinematics. It featured 2d backdrops and 3d characters. That allowed for some very detailed environments compaired to other games of its time.

And with that this list comes to a close. 9 great games for the PS2 that never made it on PC. I'm sure you guys will have your favorites that I didn't mention. That could mean one of three things: I haven't played them, I played them and didn't like them or I played them, liked them but just forgot about them, it has been a few years since I last touched a PS2 afterall. If anyone does happen to read this blog post, feel free to share some of your favorite PS2 games on the comments and tell me if you dissagree with me (in a civil manner please :). Keep in mind this list is of games that never came to the PC so the Sands of Time trilogy, Psychonauts, Devil May Cry 3 and a lot of other games are out by default.