Top 5 Memorable PS2 Moments
written by Justin Prince (@prince_justin)
Following up my article paying homage to the PlayStation 2, here is a Top 5 list of my most memorable moments in PS2 gaming. Now while I personally believe that once a game has been out for a certain number of years, SPOILER warnings should be expected. So unless you want some spoilers, steer clear… otherwise… check the list! ALSO, interspersed in the article are some comments from the Facebook page, I asked our fans to share some of their favorite moments, wanted to share them with you folk here as well.
Lake Macalenia “Suteki da ne”: Oh the FMVs, while I still criticize Final Fantasy X for the whole voice acting job (the Tidus and Yuna laugh sequence still makes me shiver a little bit) this sequence always did get me a bit. While the game had an arguably bittersweet ending, this sequence solidified all the heartstring-tugging-feels I’d experience during the ending FMV. Our main character comforts a crying Yuna the only way he knows how, underwater synchronized make out sessions to string instrument heavy sad Japanese pop music… oh the feels.
The Battle of 1,000 Heartless: Remember this much? It was featured in a few of the trailers for Kingdom Hearts 2 but this moment of the game was hands down my favorite battle. It wasn’t as challenging as say the Sephiroth fight or the Xaldin fight with his freakin’ lances but the chance to just mow down hoards of relatively weak Heartless was an absolute delight. If there was ever a point in the game where I felt like “damn Sora’s an absolute bad ass” it was this. Even now, I’ll play through the game in anticipation for this sequence. I have a save on my memory card just before this segment, ya know… for all those times I just want to pop back into this one sequence.
Indigo Prophecy, yes all of it: Before Heavy Rain, there was Indigo Prophecy (Fahrenheit in European markets). A very different game, more focused on story and multiple outcomes, it was more reminiscent of point-and-click adventure games like Dragon’s Lair. Many of the character inputs were achieved through quick time events, more so like Shenmue and less like God of War. Overall, this whole game griped me and I only played it once, if I could get my hands on another copy (or perhaps the fully unedited European copy) I’d be a happy little g33k.
MGS3 The Sorrow “boss battle”: I put boss battle in quotes because this wasn’t really like the typical boss battle, rather it was a creepy sequence where Snake slowly trudged through waist deep water while being confronted by all the soldiers you’ve killed. In fact, if you play a run where you tranq everyone and only kill an enemy during the boss battles, you can actually make it so the only spirits that appear in front of you are the bosses, conversely you can CQC throat slit almost everyone and be bombarded with a veritable hoard of guys screaming with blood spurting out of their necks. I’d call this a boss non-battle, but you can still die. At times The Sorrow will shoot a beam of astral energy you can dodge, also when the ghost of soldier gets near Snake, his life can be slowly sucked away.
Persona 4’s TRUE ending: Persona 4 was a game where I poured literally hours into just one playthrough. If I remember correctly, about 70+ hours were poured into it and even though I didn’t complete all the Social Links, I was able to get the true ending… of course it was one of those “and it comes full circle” moments that kinda blow your mind. After it is all said and done, the FINAL final boss of the game is revealed to be Izanami, her human form is that of the Moel Gas Station attendant your MC first meets in the beginning of the game, a short and very brief interaction all of a sudden becomes the true start of this adventure. It’s revealed that she was the one who awakened not just the MC’s hidden power, but also the hidden power of Tohru Adachi and Taro Namatame. Persona games (and the Shin Megami Tensei series for that matter) have always played with the idea of multiple endings and various different plot twists, but this just fit so perfectly it didn’t feel tacked on. I knew this was the developer’s true intent for their ending and I am glad I played it.
