Games The Defined The PS2 - Add Your Contribution!

[alienjesus]

Tekken Tag Tournament, Tekken 4 and Tekken 5 were all big deals over here in the UK, just like Tekken 2 and Tekken 3 were before them.

[marurun]

Tekken Tag was big for PS2, but the original Tekken series was far more defining on PS1, IMO

[Jmustang1968]

Tekken Tag was big for PS2, but the original Tekken series was far more defining on PS1, IMO

Yet we used Mario, Mega Man, and Zelda games for the SNES. So for Tekken and things like Madden, a series can continue to define the next generation console.

[Segata]

Likely been mentioned but.

Okami
Dark Cloud
DMC
DQVIII
FFX-XII
Katamari Damacy
Onimusha series
Shinobi
VF4

Just some of my picks.

[marurun]

Tekken Tag was big for PS2, but the original Tekken series was far more defining on PS1, IMO

Yet we used Mario, Mega Man, and Zelda games for the SNES. So for Tekken and things like Madden, a series can continue to define the next generation console.

That's kind of why I don't like using series for everything instead of individual game titles. A few series mentions are ok, but when over half the list is this series and that series it feels weird to me. Isn't there a particular game in the series that can exemplify or represent it?

I realize this is going to be a minority opinion...

[alienjesus]

Tekken Tag was big for PS2, but the original Tekken series was far more defining on PS1, IMO

Yet we used Mario, Mega Man, and Zelda games for the SNES. So for Tekken and things like Madden, a series can continue to define the next generation console.

That's kind of why I don't like using series for everything instead of individual game titles. A few series mentions are ok, but when over half the list is this series and that series it feels weird to me. Isn't there a particular game in the series that can exemplify or represent it?

I realize this is going to be a minority opinion...

The problem with most of them is that any or all of the entries in the series would be worthy of the list. You choose MGS2 and people will complain it should have been MGS3.

If we were to pick 1 of each though, then I guess it'd be the first Devil May Cry, Tekken Tag Tournament, Final Fantasy X and Metal Gear Solid 2.

Grand Theft Auto - good luck picking the most representative on that lot. If we were to seperate them, then I would feel comfortable calling GTA3, GTA Vice City and GTA San Andreas the top 3 most defining games on the system.

[Ack]

Actually I'd say you could skip over Vice City if you didn't want to do the whole of the GTA titles on the PS2. GTA3 should be called out because it marked the change to the franchise. GTA: San Andreas is the best selling PS2 game of all time according to the Guinness Book of World Records, and it also ties directly into ongoing issues with censorship, government, and the ESRB.

[isiolia]

Actually I'd say you could skip over Vice City if you didn't want to do the whole of the GTA titles on the PS2. GTA3 should be called out because it marked the change to the franchise. GTA: San Andreas is the best selling PS2 game of all time according to the Guinness Book of World Records, and it also ties directly into ongoing issues with censorship, government, and the ESRB.

Even so, the top five selling PS2 games are the three GTA games and two Gran Turismo entries. So, just listing the franchise would still be quite fair.

Similarly though, I think some of the other franchises have different reasons to highlight them. FFX and FFXI are notable for different reasons, and even if things like FFX-2 or FFXII aren't quite up there, the fact the system had the main series Final Fantasy entries in general was a key aspect. Part of the more general defining aspect of far greater developer support than any of it's competition.

[BogusMeatFactory]

Yeah I think it would be fair to lump the GTA games as a series together in this instance, whereas as a devil may cry or Jak and Daxter should be just one title.

[marurun]

That's kind of why I don't like using series for everything instead of individual game titles. A few series mentions are ok, but when over half the list is this series and that series it feels weird to me. Isn't there a particular game in the series that can exemplify or represent it?

I realize this is going to be a minority opinion...

The problem with most of them is that any or all of the entries in the series would be worthy of the list. You choose MGS2 and people will complain it should have been MGS3.

If we were to pick 1 of each though, then I guess it'd be the first Devil May Cry, Tekken Tag Tournament, Final Fantasy X and Metal Gear Solid 2.

My (admittedly less informed) opinion is that those are actually the most-representative and most-defining picks in those cases. And I think having individual titles helps the lists pop a little more, and makes it easy to write up the descriptive text of WHY something was selected. And you can even mention the series, and the difficulty of picking, in the write-up.

Actually I'd say you could skip over Vice City if you didn't want to do the whole of the GTA titles on the PS2. GTA3 should be called out because it marked the change to the franchise. GTA: San Andreas is the best selling PS2 game of all time according to the Guinness Book of World Records, and it also ties directly into ongoing issues with censorship, government, and the ESRB.

And this is exactly why. It's harder to drill down into the specific reasons when every entry is an entire series. As a potential reader, I think the specificity, and the ability to discuss why a tough call was made, will make the article a lot more fun to read and open up a lot more opportunity for discussion in the comments and in the forums. But, again, that's just my take on this.

Part of the more general defining aspect of far greater developer support than any of it's competition.

And I think that's a great detail to include in the lead-in to the article. It also highlights why the the list won't and can't jibe perfectly with everyone's particular viewpoint. It helps put tough calls in context.

I'm not advocating not having any series entries, just that they should be infrequent, and that we shouldn't shy away from making difficult decisions.