— by Tyler G.
If you were into RPGs, the 2000s were a veritable golden age, the highs of which hadn't been seen since the Super Nintendo. The success of Final Fantasy VII on the PS1 was a massive shock to the western end of the industry, but led to the floodgates opening on a previously niche genre.
A Second Golden Age For Console Role Playing Games
Even when the PS2 rolled around, this and the concurrent first major anime boom led to even more RPGs coming over, even giving us an attempt at pushing Dragon Quest again, running around with Disney characters in Kingdom Hearts II, and smaller titles like Rogue Galaxy and the original Dark Cloud. For a good while, if you were a Japanophile, you were eating good.
FINAL FANTASY X
If you were alive in the early 2000s, you had at least seen a cover of Final Fantasy X. If you're younger, it might've even been your first title in the genre. The first Final Fantasy game to launch on PS2, it left an impression as one of the console's best RPGs.
Drawing heavily from Asian and South Pacific scenery and culture, plus Buddhist theology, for the fantasy world of Spira, this balances a lush, atypical fantasy world while still being wildly approachable for the average Joe.
Matching this splendor was the writing - while being the required epic journey, at the core of Final Fantasy X is the complicated and horribly messy nature of relationships, the sins of our fathers, and a healthy spoon of musing on organized religion and its benefits and failings, and it pulls these off with some pretty memorable characters too.
A Final Fantasy Game That Still Looks Good
Precious few games in the franchise have as fantastic of an art style as Final Fantasy X does. This game is, over twenty years after its release, still an incredibly nice-looking title that showcases Square's penchant for visual splendor. The in-engine scenes' models to this day are so lively and expressive that one of the biggest criticisms of the otherwise enhanced version on PS4 is that they ruined this, especially in the faces, leading to some still calling this the best version.
FINAL FANTASY XII
On the other hand, Final Fantasy XII was a bit of an odder beast- to say it was controversial among the fandom at the time is a bit of an understatement. This game was widely loathed at the time for being so radically different from its predecessors that you can argue it belongs in a different franchise entirely. Sure, like most Final Fantasy games, its plot could be described as “Star Wars but [x]”, but that's not only reductive but hardly a sign of the franchise.
A Song Of Blizzarga And Firaga
But a decade on, something interesting happened. At its heart, it's a political fantasy story. When it came out, that wasn't mainstream - but then came Game of Thrones. Suddenly, political thrillers meet high fantasy was something EVERYONE was into.
Turns out, the public was now ready for what the actual premise of Final Fantasy XII is - “What if Star Wars was also Game of Thrones?” Overnight its reception changed, from one of the most maligned games to one of the most beloved. A Final Fantasy game way ahead of its time that's worth experiencing, in any way you can.
Drakengard
The next game, Drakengard is an oddball, and the first title from the infamous Yoko Taro. The first game published by Square Enix, the bulk of its battle system is a real time combat mixing the gameplay of Dynasty Warriors and titles like Panzer Dragoon or Ace Combat, and tells the story of the warrior prince Caim as he fights against the empire that killed his parents and crushed his kingdom. When aided by the dragon Angelus and other companions, Caim takes to land and skies to fight his way through its hordes.
The Darkest Of Fantasy
Now here's the catch - it plays this generic RPG plot as a horror story, and in a way only a game could. This is a Dragon Quest story by the way of Silent Hill with heaping amounts of surreal horror and examinations on what type of person someone would really need to be to slaughter thousands with no qualms.
Mix that with its infamously discordant soundtrack and how the mediocre combat accidentally enhances the bleak moods, and you'll find a pitch-black dark fantasy masterpiece hidden in a role playing game - and an excellent case of the video game as art.
Despite its many flaws, it's one of my favorite games.
dothack//IMOQ
.hack// is a quartet of titles - “INFECTION”, “MUTATION”, “OUTBREAK”, and “QUARANTINE” - that could only come about when it did. A series of action roleplaying games emulating the MMOs of the early 2000s, you're actually pushed into roleplaying as the character behind the computer, Kite, as he goes about solving the mysterious string of comas caused among players of the online game “The World'' after his friend falls into one himself.
And what does this all have to do with the strange bracelet his player character in “The World” has...? An intriguing plot develops that ends up focusing on the nature of sentience, the birth of true AI, and the role technology plays in our lives.
Kirito, Eat Your Heart Out
These are distinctly great for a level of immersion that's still fantastic. Before things completely get dire, you can look at your email. You can surf the in-game internet. You can check what people are talking about, in and out of the World.
And all of this is colored by an attempt at predicting what the future will hold by people right at the cusp of the internet revolutionizing everything. These four are stuck on PS2 for the time being - but are well worth seeking out.
Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance
Until recently, with the incoming release of Baldur's Gate III on PS5, we never truly got Baldur's Gate experiences on console. Understandable, as the real-time with pause gameplay of the first two games usually handles pretty awkwardly on a console. Hell, we got Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 plus several other games using the same engine ported recently - but I won't touch them because I just don't think they'll play as well as they do on my PC.
Cast Magic Missile At The Darkness - With A Pal!
But at the time, we got Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance and its sequel for those who weren't PC gamers. Swapping out combat systems of the original game for a real time hack and slash, the best way to describe these are if you reskinned a console Diablo II as a couple of Dungeons and Dragons games. They're not amazing games, but if you have a buddy to play couch co-op with? You'll have a good time.
Soul Nomad and the World Eaters
You get a lot of talk about NIS titles, since for better or worse, the publisher basically carried the RPG genre through the rough spots of the late PS2/PS3 eras - gone were the days of getting Xenosaga episode I, no questions asked.
Gig's Been Locked In PS2 Prison
But while they ported most of their famous games to PSP and up, they took ages to do so with Soul Nomad. And even then, the port we got was a mixed bag - the gorgeous sprite art style smeared by filters - so you're best off getting this on PS2.
The best way to describe this game is Ogre Battle on crack. While the game offers plenty of customization, it's both notably substantially less comedic than their flagship Disgaea series and nowhere near as focused on level grinding. It's also one of their best games, especially from their golden age.
Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne
Brutal turn-based combat gameplay, a biblically apocalyptic tone, Nietzsche philosophy, and your inner mythology kid obsessed with Pokemon collide in the more "hardcore" older brother of the Persona series and regular contender for best RPGs of all time.
Featuring Dante From The Devil May Cry Series!
The first game in the main series to come west with the name Shin Megami Tensei, SMT Nocturne has you play as a high school student suddenly turned into a hybrid of a demon and a human - and cast into a twilight at the death of the old world and the creation of the next, fought over by groups of Law and Chaos. What will you do? Will join one force to make their desires a reality, or take your own destiny and craft it with your own two hands?
And yes. You can also infamously do a few side missions to recruit Dante from Devil May Cry if you get the originally released version, which is a level of silliness in an otherwise dour RPG that I adore.
Ar Tonelico: Melody of Elemia
When you think of created worlds, you think of the sheer scope of Middle Earth. And few works can truly match that, especially in an RPG - but one that can is the setting of Ar Tonelico, seen in the RPG series of the same name.
A game where song is magic, where your playable characters include the heroic squire, a few of the magical songstresses, and a cyborg with a Gatling gun arm to fight the personification of viruses. It sounds like standard RPG game stuff and the story hits those beats, but it's executed with such conviction and detail it's amazing.
Song, Swords, And Viruses, Oh My!
But what really sells it is the music. Ar Tonelico has a gorgeous soundtrack, often sung in a language made specifically for these games and with some absolutely beautiful vocals. It's as impressive as some of the Elvish songs in Lord of the Rings.
The sequel is considered one of the best PS2 RPGs by its cult fandom, but the US release was botched enough that people grumble about NIS America's handling to this day, so beware.
PS2 Options For Everyone
Whether you're inclined towards any of these RPGs, or you just want to browse a collection of other solid PS2 games, we've got you covered at Fair Game Retro Video Games.