Me too, this forum rocks. Congrats on nearly 3700 posts. The older I get, the more I just love fun, addicting games. You know? Everyone is always looking for the most innovative games ever. Like, people got boners over the aforementioned Vagrant Story because it had "Breakable weapons" and all these ridiculous innovations, but the games just weren't fun. As much as I like Metal Gear Solid 1, I thought the next 3 were honestly quite bad, with about 90 minutes of actual gameplay in each one.. they just flat-out weren't fun. No matter how clever they were, and genuinely "Revolutionary", they were just lacking fun gameplay elements for the most part. Not awful games by any means, but not even half as good as most PS2 games.
The game I put the most hours into last gen was Disgaea. It took me 39 hours to beat the regular game, but all the post game quests and shit took another 65. It's one of those games you can beat and just pick up randomly and play at your leisure.
So badass.
I also put tons and tons of hours into Rez (beat the regular game in an hour -- an HOUR! -- but replayed it so many times, I bet I put 50 hours into it) and Katamari games.
All in all, though, my favorite game for the PS2 -- next to Killer7 - was ICO!
It was the one game that really took you to another place. It made you feel true expanse. True depth. It gave that Zelda feeling... but it simplified the experience even more, while making it more genuinely fun. I think a lot of games attempted to do the Ico thing -- God of War, Prince of Persia, etc.. but all of them missed out on what made Ico so brilliant. I remember when the game came out, it got pretty shitty reviews. "Too short, just a bunch of puzzles, boring combat." Then they went on to praise GARBAGE like Silent Hill, which is
nothing but shitty puzzles and horrible combat... with a cool atmosphere and not much more.
...well, ICO has
the best puzzles ever in an adventure game. Nothing is ever frustrating. Nothing is ever stupid, no "find a horse head to put in the horse hole in the door". There's some box stuff, there are some lever stuff, but there's stuff way more clever than that. It's never daunting. The princess handholding mechanic was nothing short of beautiful. You know how Resident Evil 4 had that "protect Ashley" thing? ICO had "protect the princess", but I think it was better integrated.. you're swinging around on ropes, climbing walls, trying to make a path for the princess. Suddenly, you find out that a gate you opened for her has black shadow demons comign out now, trying to take her to the underworld. You must jump off a huge castle, which might break your legs, but there's no other way! You then hit them with clubs and knock them to their death, and take the princess and run away.
It's just so beautiful, exhilerating, and feels almost effortless in its simplicity and beauty. The soundtrack is beautiful... sometimes it sounds like Robe.! Haha. (I was very inspired by this game for Robe.'s "Hadramaut")... sometimes it sounds like Stars of the Lid. It's always ambient and floating around, but with a quiet darkness.. crumbling castles, destroyed bridges.. lots of swinging around.. just amazing.
I can't say it enough: ICO IS ONE OF THE BEST GAMES EVER.
Now, Shadow on the Collossus, the "Sequel"? It was alright. The camera sucked. I liked how it was nothing but boss fights, and the bosses were like big puzzles. I liked just riding around the huge deserts and shit. But eh. It felt like a retread on one hand, while feeling really dull. It still had some amazing moments but...
If you want to play one truly life changing game, ICO is your game. It is to video games what Boredoms are to music, El Topo is to film, and Burroughs is to authors.