I thought I'd do something fun for myself and put some top 5 lists here and there. Now, I'll do my top 5 favorite PS2 games. Don't ask why I'm doing this, just go with it. ^^;;



Let's go down the list starting with....

5.) "Shadow Hearts: Covenant"

Shadow Hearts: Covenant marks the return of the previous game's protagonist, Yuri, protecting a German village from being occupied by the army. Yuri is a Harmonixer, a human who can transform into demons. After being struck by a curse, he seeks out to find a cure and to stop a threat that would end the world.
This title got plenty of praise (Midway tried to also boost sales by including the first game as a preorder bonus), and it most certainly deserves it. The plot, although dark at times, can be very light hearted, with a lot of goofy characters and silly moments. The real draw, however, is the battles that take place.
Although the game is traditional as an RPG, take turns and random encounters, Covenant takes what the franchise is known for and gradually improves it to become an addictive element: The Judgement Ring. Every attack, spell, or item action draws up a circle (the Ring) with shaded areas and an arm that swings clockwise over these areas. It's your job to make sure you hit the areas in a timed manner, which can be your benefit or your downfall.
Covenant is a great game, greatly improving over the first, but criticism can be drawn from the long boss battles. The game wasn't an entire commercial success, but still managed to grow the cult following the first game produced. You can find it relatively easy at any used game store for about $30.

4.) "ICO"

With the way games are going, being all complex and very pretty and flashy, I'm surprised at the number of titles that have relatively simple gameplay mechanics are highly addictive. ICO is no exception. The game puts you in the shoes of a horned boy, casted out by his village to a castle. Escaping from his prison, he encounters a strange girl (Yorda), with a colored aura of white, who cannot communicate the same language as the boy (Ico). It turns out, the castle is in possession of Yorda's mother, the dark queen, who seeks out her daughter who will help fulfill her demonic plan.
The game is simple, you walk around, hit stuff with sticks and swords, and solve the castle's puzzles, all while escourting and protecting Yorda. Some might actually dislike the babysitting, but it's deeper than that. It helps to mesh out the relationship between Yorda and Ico. Everytime an enemy took Yorda captive, my heart tugged and made it my priority to rescue her. In this kind of industry, where so many games have cutscenes flesh out the stories and try to make their characters likeable, ICO has only a handful, but the results are almost multiplied.
Even the gameplay, seemingly simple at first, has complexity. I found myself stumped on plenty of the puzzles presented before me, only to have them solved and feel very accomplished. The game is also very beautiful. I don't know if it's just me, but even though your confined only to the castle the whole time, I couldn't help but marvel at everything from the wide expansive fields near the windmill, to every chain and windowsill within the caslte.
The game can be completed rather quickly (a day if you the put effort into it), but it doesn't need to be a long game. It doesn't need a lot of stuff that a lot of mainstream games have. It;s very refreshing to see games like ICO, where complexity can be found skin deep.

3.) Okami

I'm a sucker for Japanese lore, so when I first heard about Okami, I was instantly anticipating it. To my relief, it lived up to the hype. Okami puts you in the fur of the Wolf Sun Goddess, Okami Amterasu. You're set out, along with your inappropriate but funny sprite, Issun, to bring color back into the graying and corrupt land of Nippon (Japan in case you didn't know ;3). Throughout the way, you battle demons of every size and shape, and revitalize plants and give the people hope of a bright future. The first thing you'll notice is how the game looks: Gorgeous. The fantastic cell shading and parchment paper filter make it seem like you're watching the ancient folktale unfold on Japanese scrolls.
The game is so bright and charming, I found almost NPC worthy of great calibur and leaking of personality (there are never the same NPC anywhere else). The main gameplay mechanic in Okami is the Celestial Brush mechanic, where you hold the R1 trigger, to have everything pause and a brush in your control. You can make many shapes and symbols for either revitalizing plants, or slashing enemies in half. On the subject of enemies, this game has some of the most fun boss battkes I've ever enjoyed having to face.
The game does practically everything right. PS2 owners might have trouble finding it, but the recent Wii re-release should be more obtainable (Shame on anyone who misses both chances). Striving of originality and charm, Okami was an answer from the gods.

2.) Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne

Okay, history lesson: back in 1992, on the Super Famicom, Shin Megami Tensei made its first appearance as a dungeon crawling RPG where you battle demons and try to negotiate with them on your ranks. We never saw the first two games released here. Some spin-off series were made, but only 2 games(one and a half, to be more precise) in the Persona spin-off series made it over. This all changed when the third and, so far last entry into the main series, SMT: Nocturne washed up on our shores, and I'm grateful it did. You play as the protagonist (You get to name your character) a teenager who goes to meet up with his friends. Suddenly, the world ends. In a series of events known as the Conception, everything you knew and loved has been destroyed, Tokyo is in ruins, and you wake to find yourself transformed into a demon. What must you do? Well, try to see if your friends are alive, but also (based on your decisions) recreate the world in your own image. The world is in your hands, make the right decision.
The game (or rather the series) digresses from the usual fantasy RPG and puts you in the modern day, battling demons and trying to recruit them onto your own ranks (a lot of people will say this is the Big Boy's version of Pokemon, but Shin Megami Tensei has been doing it long before Pokemon was ever thought of). The demons themselves are greedy bastards, sometimes wanting money, an item, or some sort of response or action from you. Hell, you can even recruit the bosses if you'd like.
The battles are fast paced, and make you expose the enemy's weakness to get you in the lead. Sounds easy at first, but this isn't the case for some battles. The infamous Matador and the Oni Brothers are some of the hardest boss battles in gaming history. The game also boasts a strange cell shading style, in fact I'm sure a lot of people will agree with me that it's perhaps the most beautiful SMT (yes, even more gorgeous than the latest SMT: Persona 3).
The game is difficult, but its very doable to beat. You can commit hundreds of hours into this game if you wanted to. The downside is that it's readily becoming a hard to find title these days. I had to fork over $50 for the game disk by itself. However, the game has recieved a reprint on sites like Play-Asia, so people might want to jump the bandwagon on that.

*Drum rolls*

1.) Final Fantasy XII

Okay, this is coming from someone who only loves 4, 6, 8, IX, and Tactics, but 12 might be my most favorite entry into the Final Fantasy series. Never have I seen so much hate and love from many people in the online community for a game that broke many traditions and set new bars. But I will be biased on this and say that if someone were to say FFXII was the worst game ever, I'd defend it.
Perhaps the first thing to say about this game is the strange development cycle that it went through. Yasumi Matsuno, one of the few geniouses this industry has seen, was elected to head the FFXII project. Ever since the first ever showing and mentioning of the game was back in 2001 (2002?), the game has seen multiple push backs and delays. Then it was announced Matsuno would be bowing down out of the project (and from Square-Enix entirely) due to health issues while remaining in the industry. Many speculated this would plague the title. Some will still uphold to that, but when I play this game, I feel Matsuno's inspiration and aura all over the game.
The game is the first Final Fantasy title to be set in the same world as another title, Ivalice (first mentioning of Ivalice would be seen in the two FF Tactics games on the PSX and Gameboy Advance). While the game primarily puts the protagonist shoes on Vaan, the game is actually about Princess Ashe, the Princess of Dalmasca who faked her suicide when her country became overrun by the over powering Arhcadian Empire. She seeks the power of her ancestor, the Dynast King, to combat the power of Manufacted Nethicite that has a deeper role than a stone granting immensive power to Archadese.
Everyone will take notice of the game's battle system, the Active Demension Battle system sets new heights for RPGs. The ATB gauge is still there, but there are no longer any blacking out into another screen to fight enemies. The battles take place while journeying through dungeons, so no longer having to worry about how many steps until you're faced with an unescapable battle that could cost you your life.
Plenty of people will argue the characters are unimaginative and/or uninspiring. I'll agree, to some extent. Balthier is my favorte FF character ever, with his nonchalant attitude and his 'lead role' personality. While I find it difficult to admire Penelo for trying to act as Vaan's motherly figure/love interest, I couldn't help but admire Ashe's personality. Seemingly dominate and with "balls of steel", this Princess can kick all the past FF female character's asses (although she might have a problem with Tifa, unless she got those boobs reduced, balance and all). While Vaan isn't the brightest bulb in the drawer, he has his moments.
Those who praise the game might point fingers at some of the gameplay features. Gambit system, in which you program the AI to carry out actions in battle instead of you having to go through the menus and carry out actions getting rid of repetition. If someone tells you they fell asleep during the game and found themselves fighting the boss at the end of the dungeon they had just walked into, they're lying. The game recquires you move the characters to locations, and it allows you to intervene and change actions that were programed into the AI. The License Board was also the source of some criticism. You need to establish licenses on this chess board esque menu in order to equip armor and weapons, and be able to use magic.
I can remember being charmed into this game ever since I saw it back in 2002(?). I love everything about this game. From hearing the Shakespearen dialog being worded from each of the characters, to the deep complexity of the ADB and Gambit systems, I could go on and on about this game. But as if this post was long enough, I should stop.

There you go, my top 5 PS2 games. I promise you, these top 5s will not be as long as this. I SWEAR! XD