Are you kidding?! I’m most definitely a “hardcore” gamer and Kingdom Hearts was one of the fucking HARDEST recent console releases I’ve ever played!
…of course, I played as a Mage and got the beginning that gives you an experience penalty with no compensation for the rest of the game, so I was sorta screwed from the beginning.
If you get this, remember: Bright and Happy = EXTREMELY GOOD when you answer the personality questions at the beginning. I got the gloomy character analysis, and it made the game nigh impossible.
I believe new PS2s all ship with the online adaptor now?
If so, and you’re considering online play, then definitely consider Champions of Norrath (addictive, Diablo-esque gameplay, fun with the friends) and SOCOM II (squad based FPS, good single player game, intense multiplayer).
And of course Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. It really does meet expectations raised by the hype.
Are you insane? “Overrated” means that it isn’t as good as it is widely considered to be. The only way you could “prove” that something isn’t overrated is by showing me low sales numbers and bad reviews.
I’m going to second Bob here, but not for the reasons he gives. GTA3 and GTAVC are both excellent games. They are full of atmosphere and little things to find and do. Nice exploration games, especially if you like squeezing every bit out of a game. I enjoyed them both and played VC as much as any other PS2 game that I own.
I would definately chalk one up for Kingdom Hearts, (Little Mermaid aside, it was a great game, and if you’re creative, you’ll like gummi ships) FFX and FFX-2 (they pretty much go hand and hand) GTA3 , if you don’t mind the 80’s; Vice City, Twisted Metal Black, the list goes on…
Boo to everyone leaving out survival-horror games! Actually, I think I get why they’re being left out of the discussion - I’d have a hard time including any such game in a list of “must-have” titles. But if you’re down for some scares, don’t neglect:
(in no particular order, I guess)
Silent Hill 1 or 3
Fatal Frame 2
the upcoming totally awesome looking Forbidden Siren and totally, um, Silent-Hill looking Silent Hill 4
I’m leaving off of the list:
Silent Hill 2 because while it tells one of the most intriguing stories I’ve ever seen in a game, it’s incredibly short on scares. Making a horror game that has no horror in it seems to be missing the point to me. There’s exactly one creature in the game that is genuinely creepy, and he only appears every so often.
Fatal Frame 1 because I liken it to System Shock 2 - it’s so incredibly frustrating that it manages to detract from the great creepy atmosphere.
The entire Clock Tower series because it just didn’t click with me. Pretty damn disturbing cutscenes, but not much else. I’m probably being unfair there since I never finished CT3, which is the only one I’ve played.
The entire Resident Evil series, but only because I haven’t played any yet, not because I’m some Silent Hill ultra-fanboy who believes they’re too low-brow to be worth considering.
(Little Mermaid aside, it was a great game, and if you’re creative, you’ll like gummi ships)
Okay, this is the final fucking straw.
I can tolerate people who like KH, provided they are apologetic and sheepish about their guilty pleasure, but damn you to hell if you recommend it over any other game for the PS2, and damn you to hell if you’ll defend even its lousiest aspects.
Kingdom Hearts is a shitty, shitty game. It’s awful. It’s the worst game I’ve played this generation and I’ve played Silent Hill 2 and Rebel Strike.
But! It has some redeeming values. If you can get past the truly shitty interface, shitty camera, shitty jumping bits, hopeless teammate AI, generic cut & paste gameplay, total lack of enemy variety, mindless repetition, button mashing, lousy character design, trademark Square pretension and angst, manipulative Disney heart-string-pulling, bloated and clumsy story, pop songs, ugly and interfering market pandering … you might find some redeeming aspects.
Most of these are pretty give or take - for instance, lush environments/animation and high production values are just annoying in something that is innately terrible - but you can still appreciate them for what they are. Also, some of the gameplay isn’t that bad - it’s tolerable. There are dozens or similar games that are better, but it seems unfair on KH to call it ‘bad’ simply because it’s nowhere near as good as them.
But! The Gummi Ship is not one of these sorta-okay things. It is undeniably the worst thing about a lousy game. Creative people don’t want to tool around with idiotic dumbness when they could just imagine building a giant Gummi ship, loading it with all the artists, programmers, designers and marketing execs who contrived this piece of shit game and then lovingly slam the ship into a cattle corral filled with the people who paid for this stupid goddamn piece of stupid cunty shit game oh god it sucks.
Oh yeah - Jak and Daxter sucks too, as does Twisted Metal Black. Rez and Guilty Gear are overrated and GTA is not.
