I Miss the PS2 Days/7th generation (WITH DISCUSSION VALUE)

[Arqus_Zed]

The days when J-RPGs were thriving and weren't dying?

Gamecube/PS2 JRPGs were 90+ hour grindfests with mind-numbing stories. I'm surprised they lasted as long as they did.

...As opposed to the 900+ hour WRPG and MMORPG grindfests without any story. Or personality. Or interesting characters. Or basically anything except lore.

Anyway, yes, I do miss the times when your average RPG coming from the far East was more like Shadow Hearts, Lucifer's Call or Rogue Galaxy and less like Hyperdimension Neptunia, Atelier WhatEverTheHell, Time And Eternity or any other abomination cobbled together by Gust, Idea Factory, Compile Heart or Imageepoch on a way too regular basis.

On the other hand, I still have a working PS2 and I own almost every JRPG released in Europe - of which I've probably only finished a fourth up until this day. So, yeah, I'm still living the high life (though I don't think I'll be finishing Unlimited Saga or the .Hack series anytime soon).

As for my personal recommendation for JRPGs form that era: Shadow Hearts and Shadow Hearts: Covenant for the PS2. These are spin-off games from a PSOne title called Koudelka. While Koudelka is a very mediocre game - mainly because of its troubled production - the first two Shadow Hearts games are just pure, uncut, old school JRPG fun (and no, there's no need to play Koudelka before starting with the series). While the first game has some of the worst graphics I've ever seen - very low-poly models and pre-rendered CG-backdrops of PSOne quality - the story, characters, atmosphere, setting (WWI and pre-WWI, with monsters and magic), pacing and music are simply magnificent. What it lacks in budget, it makes up with heart (and solid game design). The gameplay is very basic: combat is turn-based and characters learn new moves as they level. The big twist here is the Judgement Ring mechanic, a 'love it or hate it' addition that adds an extra layer of depth in combat. I liked it, but I can understand other people not being so accepting. As for its sequel, it fixed what was broken in the original and improved what already worked, a classic. (There's also a third installment, but we don't talk about that one...)

 

[Something Amyss]

Does anyone else miss the old days, the days when you had to get up and buy your games?

Yo know what I like? Options. I like the option of buying my game new or used, and I like the option of downloading it from a virtual storefront, buying from an etailer, or going to a brick and mortar storefront as I see fit and suits my needs.

The days when J-RPGs were thriving and weren't dying?

Every genre is always dying.

When FPSs were smart and intelligent and required you to think?

Uhhh...pretty sure that didn't happen in the PS2 days. Or ever, really.

Remember Dark Cloud?

All I really remember from Dark Cloud was that it had some Zelda elements and a really annoying weapon damage system.

Do you miss the TRUE RPGs?

Didn't you just profess your love of old JRPGs?

And as for missing 'TRUE RPGs' well... I have no idea what you mean by that. Care to elaborate on what makes a 'true' RPG?

Well, this is the internet, so "true" generally means "kind I grew up with."

...As opposed to the 900+ hour WRPG and MMORPG grindfests without any story. Or personality. Or interesting characters. Or basically anything except lore.

Are these the only two choices? Like, is does Souplex have to be team Western MMO for that last statement to not be a problem?

 

[SKBPinkie]

When FPSs were smart and intelligent and required you to think?

Lol wut. Destiny alone needs a shitton of strategy and teamwork for the harder portions. And heck, while people love to fantasize about how FPSs like Doom, Quake, Unreal were smarter - they just weren't.

They were significantly more twitch / reaction-based than shooters today. An argument can be made claiming that those games may be more fun, but smarter? Hell no.

And finally, always remember this - gaming can only get better, because you still have access to the PS2 titles that you fondly remember. Online access may be lost, but single player stuff is always there to revisit.

 

[Sean Renaud]

While I think the term "True RPG" might be a bit narrow minded I do agree that JRPGs and Western RPGS (which seems to be the officially accepted lexicon) are really two different genres and liking one doesn't mean you care for the other. I would make the same distinction in acouple of other places though few have enough entries to bother. Like Smash Brothers is not a fighting game, it's. . .Smash Brothers. And Kart Racing games are sufficiently different from real racing (and have nearly enough entries even if most of them are named Mario) to qualify as their own thing. I personally would throw Twisted Metal in with the Kart races, probably the Extreme G series and anything else with weapons and gimmicks like that. I'm probably wrong in the technical sense but I get it.

If JRPGs were your thing though the PS1 and now that we have ROMs here in the US SNES are vastly superior choices to the PS2 for that kind of thing. That genre was dying a slow painful death by that time at least on consoles. They are still going rather strong on hand helds. Sorry on Gameboys. Someone once told me a joke about how Sony released some handhelds a few years back that just enough people own to say they did better than Game Gears. (And yes I still call them all gameboys, just like I blow my nose with Kleenex and make Kool-Ade and Jello regardless of brand.)

Honestly no, I don't miss those days at all. First I can still access all of that stuff if I want it. Between indy developers and the handheld market if you can't find quality JRPGs and platformers (really the only genres which have suffered in the 7th and 8th generation) that's because you're not looking hard enough or you're being absurdly picky about some nitpicky thing.

The problem with games with "soul" is that they don't sell because we don't want games with soul. We can as a community ***** and moan all we want but when you live in a world where New Super Mario Bros sells 28 million copies vs 11 million for Mario 64 and 10 million for Mario Galaxy and 5 million for Mario Sunshine you have to admit we simply don't want innovation. (Incase you didn't catch that NSMB sold more than M64, SMG and SMSunshine COMBINED) And you can see similar trends throughout most of gaming. New IPs don't sell for shit, games with soul tend to be quirky and hard to convince people to get into.

If you honestly care about soul though, go and buy up Indy Games on Wii U, XBone and PS4, buy them on Steam even some of them that might not be perfect because they need money.

 

[Fox12]

Not really, great games are still being released with frightening regularity. The Last of Us, Mass Effect, Dark Souls, and now Bloodborne, Persona 5, and more? Games aren't just keeping up, they're getting much better.

We'll always have Silent Hill 2, and a plethora of excellent JRPG's from the PS2 era. I respect all the generations for the great games they've given us, and look forward to even better games in the future.

Also, welcome to the Escapist!

 

[Saltyk]

Honestly, I think I would say that the PS1 is the best console of all time, with the PS2 being a close second. This is especially true if you're a fan of JRPGs. The PS1 had one of the best lineups of JRPGs in history.

Just off the top of my head:
~Final Fantasy 7
~Final Fantasy 8
~Final Fantasy 9
~Final Fantasy Tactics
~Breath of Fire 3
~Breath of Fire 4
~Suikoden
~Suikoden 2
~Legend of Dragoon
~Legend of Legaia
~Star Ocean: The Second Story
~Xenogears

There really isn't a better console for JRPGs. And then there are other games and franchises that found their start there, like Tekken, Twisted Metal, Metal Gear Solid, and Spyro. Truly one of the best consoles of all time.

Of course, what I really miss is the JRPGs. The games strangely seemed better and with better mechanics. I'll take Legend of Legaia's combat over FFXIII's any day of the week.

 

[RealRT]

Do you miss the TRUE RPGs? I do. Do you, too? Is this enough for discussion value?

Of course not! True RPGs - IE the western RPGs - are all the rage these days, just look at Divinity and Pillars of Eternity.

 

[Nazulu]

Honestly no, I don't miss those days at all. First I can still access all of that stuff if I want it. Between indy developers and the handheld market if you can't find quality JRPGs and platformers (really the only genres which have suffered in the 7th and 8th generation) that's because you're not looking hard enough or you're being absurdly picky about some nitpicky thing.

The problem with games with "soul" is that they don't sell because we don't want games with soul. We can as a community ***** and moan all we want but when you live in a world where New Super Mario Bros sells 28 million copies vs 11 million for Mario 64 and 10 million for Mario Galaxy and 5 million for Mario Sunshine you have to admit we simply don't want innovation. (Incase you didn't catch that NSMB sold more than M64, SMG and SMSunshine COMBINED) And you can see similar trends throughout most of gaming. New IPs don't sell for shit, games with soul tend to be quirky and hard to convince people to get into.

He may miss those days because he could actually look forward to them then as he believes those were better times for that genre.

Also gaming has changed A LOT. I really couldn't see any JRPG or platformer that makes me give a shit either. Of course you could throw out the usual "you are not looking hard enough" or "you're being too nit-picky", even though you haven't got the faintest clue what he's actually interested in.

As for games with soul, yeah some absolute shallow crap sells extremely well while something more interesting may suffer greatly. Unfortunately it is common, but I have no idea how you can make 10 million sound bad when it's pretty great. It's idiotic to say that isn't good. And in-case you have forgotten, Artists like to do their own thing, not afraid to take risks and make a name for themselves. Are you really saying no one should do anything interesting because they could make more money? Because that is shallow in itself.

Another thing is we don't know which are going to sell more over time (or played more since they're so easy to download), and even the classics are not that old yet. 2001: A Space Odyssey is a hell of a risk we're not sure could even work today, but over it's lifetime it's almost generated 60 million, which is pretty damn good for something as extreme as that.

 

[Arqus_Zed]

...As opposed to the 900+ hour WRPG and MMORPG grindfests without any story. Or personality. Or interesting characters. Or basically anything except lore.

Are these the only two choices? Like, is does Souplex have to be team Western MMO for that last statement to not be a problem?

Nah, I just don't like it when people make short, overexaggerated statements without backing them up, with an obvious intent to 'diss' something. So, then I like to have my 3 seconds of fun and reply with a sentence following the same mindset. It didn't have to be about WRPGs or MMORPGs, I could have made a similar hollow statement about any genre. I could have written a statement for all genres, but then it would become a tangent, which wouldn't just be too much work for what it's worth, it would also defeat its purpose. Kind of like what I'm doing right now.

Huh...

 

[Mister K]

My only true complaint is that during PS2 era if I bought a game I could put it in the console and play it right away. No installations, no day 1 patches, no nagging about signing in with EA or Ubisoft account, stuff like that. But hey, I could finally play fighting games with other poeple thanks to internet connection (none of my friends ever played fighting games), I got a chance to get games that I couldn't recieve physically, so modern times have their ups and downs.

Although, something came to my mind: Did PS3 even HAD at least one iconic, memorable game? I mean, PS1 had FFVII, Crash Bandicoot and platoon of various other JRPG's, PS2 had FFX, Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, Ratchet and Clank, the whole SMT/Persona 3 and 4 collection, but what about PS3? The only thing I can somehow think of is Infamous duology. OH, and Souls series.

 

[Guffe]

You've only been here 2 days and 25 posts already!
Welcome to the Escapist! Hope you enjoy it here.

On Topic:
No not really, there are still good games out there and I still have the fond memories of the old games, which I can replay if I feel like it. My gaming has lessened a lot recently, I just don't feel like playing, might have to do with the fact that it's summer and hot as hell. But as I already said, no I don't really miss the "good old days", todays days are also pretty good for me so no use in looking back too much, just keeping hold of the good memories

 

[Odbarc]

PS2 was a good era of gaming but I find SNES was the best of all time.

 

[Zhukov]

Does anyone else miss the old days...

Nope.

... the days when you had to get up and buy your games?

Nope. Downloads for life.

The days when J-RPGs were thriving and weren't dying?

Meh. Not really.

Always preferred the western flavour of RPG myself.

When FPSs were smart and intelligent and required you to think?

Nope.

Regardless of era, I never found clicking on polygonal heads to be all that mentally taxing, fun though it can be.

Remember Dark Cloud?

Nope.

Do you miss the TRUE RPGs?

Nope.

Although I do miss the time when people didn't say "TRUE RPGs" with a straight face.

Is this enough for discussion value?

It'll do.

 

[Zykon TheLich_v1legacy]

Does anyone else miss the old days, the days when you had to get up and buy your games?

No, never enjoyed the process of buying a game, steam is much more convenient.

The days when J-RPGs were thriving and weren't dying?

Not a fan of JRPGs, so no.

When FPSs were smart and intelligent and required you to think?

...I don't remember that at all. Do you mean maze like corridor shooters with all the backtracking and keys like doom etc? In which case no, really not my thing, Goldeneye was the 1st FPS I played and thought "oh, now I get it".

Remember Dark Cloud?

No

I miss those days. And I was wondering, do you do too?

No. Back in PS2 era games were even more throwaway entertainment to me than they are now. I had a PS2, there were some games I played on it, the only one that stands out to me being Cold Winter because it reminded me of Goldeneye so much.
The only thing about gaming I can say I miss is playing various multiplayer games with friends on the PS1 & SNES and that was really about doing stuff with friends. I don't really miss games of any era, they aren't important enough to me to miss (also, could still play most of them if I wanted to).

Do you miss the TRUE RPGs? I do. Do you, too?

Yeah, but playing PnP is one of those things that takes quite a bit of time and effort, fitting it in around life is kinda difficult, especially as you get older the people you know have much busier schedules and I much prefer face to face, doing it over the internet doesn't work for me. Again, probably more a spending time with friends thing.

Is this enough for discussion value?

Yeah, I reckon so, but you could have put in more about your own opinions, as it is your OP comes off as a bit "I like the old days, everything new is crap, who's with me (or against me)?!?"

 

[LauriAJ]

I certainly liked playing FFX and Jak and Daxter games on PS2 back in the day. I do wish I had the Gamecube as well to complement it...