I like your style!Fappy said:
Anyway, here's my two cents:
- Good JRPGs, fun combat mechanics/good story/non-bitchy manchild protagonist -
1) Shadow Hearts: Covenant: fun combat (Judgement Ring system), good story (alternative World War I scenario) and a non-bitchy protagonist (see spoiler below if you want proof, but skip it if you plan to check this game out). The original Shadow Hearts has a very good story and soundtrack, but the gameplay and graphics have not aged well. Oh, and just skip Shadow Hearts: From The New World, it has almost nothing to do with the first two games and is just stupid.
The protagonist Yuri is a Harmonixer who can transform into monsters and earned himself the name of "Godslayer" after actually killing (Meta-) God. He also punched Rasputin in the face and told the demon Astaroth to "shove it".
2) Shin Megami Tensei: Lucifer's Call (or Nocturne): Within the first 15 minutes of this game, the world will be destroyed, Tokyo will have been inverted to an inside-out sphere with a blue light at its center, everyone except 5 other people will be dead, the souls of said dead will still roam the streets and this new, abstract world will be populated by demons. And you can recruit pretty much all the demons in battle by talking to them and haggling. And then you can fuse them to forge even stronger demonic allies. Oh, and you can make yourself stronger thanks to the demonic parasite Lucifer himself jams down your throat at the beginning. Have fun!
3) Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga 1 & 2: Sadly, these games do not have the demonic recruitment shtick that makes Lucifer's Call so freakin' awesome, but it does have a unique atmosphere and story. And cannibalism. Lots and lots of cannibalism.
4) And a quick summary of other potentially interesting titles:
- Grim Grimoire and Odin Sphere (if you like sprites).
- Valkyrie Profile 2 and Star Ocean: Till The End Of Time (if you like that typical "action" mechanic Tri-Ace puts in all its games).
- Jade Cocoon 2 (if you like Pokémon).
- Dragon Quest: Journey of the Cursed King (if you like very traditional JRPG gameplay and the weird visual style of Akira Toriyama).
- As for other Shin Megami Tensei titles, it looks like you already know about Persona and the only other games are the two Devil Summoner titles. Personally, I'm not a fan of Devil Summoner, but hey, maybe you'll like it.
- And then there's also Suikoden, Wild Arms, .Hack, Dark Cloud, Dark Chronicle, Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter, Drakengard, Wizardry, Arc, etc. But I'd recommend checking the other stuff out first. Oh, and I didn't mention any Final Fantasy titles because of your "non-bitchy protagonist" remark. That said, most FFs are still worth checking out, if anything, the production value always shows.
- Really good platformers! I realize that there are plenty of good platformers for the PS2, but I have enough 1st party Nintendo games. If you suggest a platformer it had better be fucking phenomenal -
1) Maximo: Ghosts To Glory and Maximo: Army of Zin: extremely decent action platformers, old school, hard as balls, but never unfairly so.
2) The entire Ratchet & Clank trilogy: platformers with shooter elements and even RPG influences. Ratchet & Clank: Gladiator (or Deadlocked in the US) is decent as well, but only if you're planning on playing co-op and multiplayer.
3) The entire Jak and Daxter trilogy: platformers with action/adventure influences. From an evergreen open world platformer without loading times to a genre-fusing epic that includes flying cars, GTA-influences, puzzles a morph-gun and a hoverboard. Oh, and the funniest sidekick in any game ever, don't skip this. You might want to check out Jak X as well if you're into car combat games.
4) The entire Sly Raccoon trilogy: platformers with stealth influences and distinct cell shaded visuals. I swear Assassin's Creed and the new Batman games have been leering at these games...
- Fighting games, this is a weird one I'll admit. If there are any classic fighting games a fan of the genre must have lay it on me -
1) Soul Calibur II & III: Probably some of the best fighting games out there. The character customization isn't as impressive as Soul Calibur IV or V, but it sure as hell has more to offer when it comes to gameplay. SC II offers the enjoyable Weapon Master Mode and SC III has the unique "Chronicles of the Sword" mode.
2) Tekken 4, 5 and Tag Tournament: It's Tekken, what more can I say?
3) Guilty Gear X and/or XX: Do you know BlazBlue? Do you know Persona 4: Arena? Well, this was the series they were working on before all that. 2D fighter mayhem.
4) Street Fighter EX3: Ok, I'm gonna be honest, this game did not age well, however, I'm still gonna mention it because of one thing: 4-player mode.
5) Mortal Kombat: Armageddon: The combat isn't nearly as fluent as in Sould Calibur, on the other hand, this games features all the combatants from all the previous Mortal Kombat games. So that's a character select menu with 60+ squares. Worth considering seeing how cheap you can get the game these days.
- Action/Adventure, there are plenty of these so feel free -
1) Okami: Probably the best Legend of Zelda game ever made - and seeing how it isn't a Legend of Zelda game, that's quite something.
2) Viewtiful Joe 1 & 2: 2D action/adventure at its finest.
3) God Hand: Old School, merciless and crazy. You know what's funny? This game, just like Okami and Viewtiful Joe, was made by Clover Studios.
4) Screw it, you know the drill: God of War, Devil May Cry, GTA, etc.
- Misc., I'll be open to anything else that's worth playing -
1) Rez: It revolutionized the rail shooter genre. The rail shooter genre. I mean, you would think something as simplistic and straightforward as a rail shooter could offer something new to the table, but by God, they did it.
2) ICO and Shadow of the Colossus: Not going to explain why, because there are probably a dozen other people who already listed these.
3) Bombastic: Ok, kind of an obscure one, but a personal favorite. It's a fun little puzzle game that revolves around dice. Now, this is also one of the few games that has a multiplayer that allows up to 5 people to play simultaneously. I can honestly say that the Bombastic multiplayer is some of the most hectic fun I've ever had.
4) TimeSplitters: Future Perfect: Yeah, it's a shooter, but they just don't make 'em like these anymore. A true classic, 4-player split-screen multiplayer, co-op story, Arcade and Challenges modes to lengthen the solo experience, a map maker, 150 playable characters, 41 weapons, good music, nice visual style, enjoyable humor and just plain fun.
5) Transformers: a game that came out before the Michael Bay films and the subsequent game-adaptions. This is a third person shooter game developed by Melbourne House. Now, I'm not exactly a fan of either third person shooters or transformers, but dammit, this one caught me buy surprise. Huge environments, quick robot/car transformations promoting guerrilla style tactics and tiny transformers you can use to customize one of your three big transfomers.
