I Just Got a PS2, Tell Me the Best Games! :)

Hahahaha.

So last night my girl and I played co-op Burnout Revenge for the first time, and it was a BLAST. She's not much into gaming, but she wants to play more if it's co-op. YAY!

So I got component cables for the PS2 after getting recommendations on clearing up the picture. After a derpy incident on my part (apparently I had the red cables switched, as everything was yellow), it REALLY looks nice and clear. Not PS3/HD clear, but way better than with the composite cables. Yay!

Now, back to Burnout Revenge, which is all I can play.

YAY! I finally got the game for which I primarily wanted the PS2:

Inspired by Brian, I picked up a couple of PS2 games to play via emulation on the PC. Odin Sphere is pretty. Over dramatic voice actors abound! Didn't get far before tossing in Dragon Quest VIII, and put in a couple hours of that last night and have been loving it.

Nice!!

Hey y'all, I keep reading about this Zone of the Enders re-release, so I looked into the games and they look pretty cool! I love mecha games, so I'm tempted to get the originals since they're so cheap. What do y'all think?

I think how you feel about the difference between "fast" mechs and slow, "realistic" mechs is going to weigh a lot. ZoE is a lot of fun, but it definitely plays more like a flying third person shooter/melee where you zip around smashing and fighting (in solid, interesting ways, mind you) than your an "inside the cockpit stomping around" game. So maybe look at some gameplay videos and see if it's your bag.

Oh, I'm fine with either. I love games like Mechwarrior to Heavy Gear to Shogo to Thexter. :) Mecha games are one of my other favorite subgenre's of gaming, just below space games, really. :)

In that case, I'll mention the Armored Core series again (on the PS2, you can play AC1 to AC3 - Last Raven). The mechs tend to be more on the 'realistic' side of the scale (at any rate, you aren't going to be zipping around like in ZoE) and there's a lot of customization. That said, it's a From Software title, so expect difficulty spikes. I still haven't completed Last Raven.

The series (up until AC5, I think) has a versus mode, which is pretty damn fun.

Also, the series has some pretty awesome music, though it can be hard to hear over the sound of everything exploding:

Holy crap, there are like 3 for the PS1 and 8 for the PS2! Which ones here should I look into?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armored_Core

Well, ya know, the fanboy part of me wants to say 'all of them...' That said, I think you'll be ok skipping the PS1 titles (unless you really wanna play them). As far as the PS2 titles go, I've heard Nine-Breaker is a low point of the series (though I've never played it), and I have no idea how Formula Front plays. Other than that, the rest of the titles are pretty solid... though Last Raven is by far the most difficult of the PS2 titles.

Oh, so I can skip the PS1 titles and go straight to AC2? The reviews for AC2 are very positive.

Yeah, you won't miss too much storywise by skipping the PS1 ones... though I'd still recommend playing them eventually, as they hold up surprisingly well all these years later.

Alright, simpler question then. Out of ALL of these AC games, which ONE would you recommend to me, someone who loves Mecha games but has never played an AC game, to start with, to see if I like the series, its concept and gameplay and so on? :)

Hm. I'd recommend AC2 then. It's one of the 'simpler' titles in terms of mechanics, while still having quite a bit of depth.

Awesome, got it, thanks!

By the way, if any of you haven't gotten Okami for PS2, then you should get the HD remake from PSN. It's a great game and only costs 20 bucks.

I plan to Nebty, thank you. :) In the case of Zone of the Enders though, for some reason I'd prefer to get the originals. Weird. I don't feel the same way for the Sly Cooper, Jak and Daxter or Ratchet and Clank remakes...

Cool! Let me know what ya think of it!

Also, Nebty, I've been meaning to ask, and apologies for the off-topic: Do you know if the PS3 HD Remake of Okami adds or changes anything other than the whole "It's in HD now" thing? I've played it before on PS2 (as a rental, unfortunately), and I'm very tempted to pick it up again.

It adds trophies, move support (haven't tried that b/c I don't have move), and extra challenge thingies. I'd recommend picking it up. It's one of the best games I ever played on the PS2, and this really is the definitive version.

Here's the trailer:

... holy...

Yeah, this is definitely getting nabbed in the very near future. How the hell did they manage to make Okami even more beautiful than it was before?

I have no idea, but they somehow managed it. And I can confirm that it looks that good on my TV, maybe even better. Hell, it looks better than a lot of current-gen games I've played lately.

Street Fighter Alpha Anthology

K, found a nice cheap copy of Armored Core 2 with manual and everything for like 5 bucks. Zone of the Enders 2 is next on my list.

Did you already pick up the turn based mech game from Square? Front Mission i believe it was called, or one of the sequels, in true Squaresoft fashion, the sequels are mostly unrelated except for their containment of mecha.

I already have Front Mission 4, I believe, from the PSN store. :-)

Oh, and how about Ring of Red, that was an interesting one.

That's a mecha game?!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_of_Red

Yup.

Oh and you can try out Votoms, that's more action oriented:

Feh, not much into anime, thanks though!

Since you like mecha, you should make an exception for VOTOMS! :D It's very different to the other (far more teen-oriented) mecha shows I've seen, and far more heavily inspired by western SF. I don't think it'd be to everyone's tastes, but it's certainly worth a look.

Well alrighty then, I'll see if I can track it down.

HOLY SHIT Armored Core 2 is hard. It doesn't even use the stick, only the D-Pad. WTF. I die SOOO quickly. Boooo.

Huh. Could have sworn there was a way to make the game use the analogue sticks... though maybe that became more of a thing in the later titles.

As far as your constant deaths, what missions are you doing, and what's your AC setup? I find that it's always easier to do the early missions if you gear for AP. And if you find yourself low on money, you can sell your starter parts, assuming you have parts to replace them with. Can't go around as just a floating upper body, after all (though, the later games did introduce Hover legs... I tend to gear for mobility, so those were right up my alley).

Only one, THE FIRST ONE outside the tutorial destroy some little droney things. I have negative money now. Ergh.

Hmm. That is a problem. You know, I'll tell ya what... I have a copy of the title myself, so I'll give that mission a try, and see what I can dig up to help ya.

Awesome, thanks! I think this is a game I could love once I learn it.

So, what's your AC setup? Did you make any edits to your AC before the first mission, or did you start off as stock? The first thing you tend to learn in the Armored Core titles is that your stock Core kinda sucks. Thankfully, buying and selling things is at cost, so you can actually sell off every piece of your Core and rebuild it with no penalties. Admittedly, you still won't be able to make a very good core, but it should be better than stock - If you check the Performance tab on your starter AC, it rates at "Below Average" for a reason XD

Out of curiosity, what kind of setup you comfortable with? Lightweight and speedy? Slow, but packing a punch? Balanced, but balanced a lot better than the starter?

EDIT: Oh! Did you go for "MT Suppression" or Eliminate the Informer"? I'm guessing you did MT Suppression, but I want to be sure.

OK! I usually wouldn't double post, but I think I found a decent setup for getting through MT Suppression. Using it, I managed to beat the mission with 22895 Credits worth of payment. My only deductions were -280 for Ammunition costs, and -3825 for AC repair... I noticed the MT's in MT Suppression use shotgun style weapons, and I'll be honest... those are pretty annoying weapons to go up against.

Start the game over, and give this loadout a try:

Now, for my rationale behind this choice. This will be a bit of a text wall, as I've got a few beginner tips I want to mention as well, so I'll spoiler this too.

Sorry for the lengthy post, Brian! Hope this helps ya!

EDIT: One last thing. Be sure to do the Arena fights. They carry absolutely no risk if you lose, and you get paid if you win (though the beginning ranks aren't much), and don't incur any costs for ammo or damage. More importantly, you'll get combat experience, which is always good. If you do arena fights, it helps to enable some of the extra HUD displays through the Cockpit Arrange option in the Garage... there's a few options that let you read the enemy AC's health, weapon loadout, and other stats.

Awesome, I will try all that! Thanks!