My Entire PS2 RPG Collection

Yeah those two games right there are it. Kingdom Hearts 2 and Final Fantasy 12. Man those 2 game couldn't be farther apart in quality. Who would have thought an RPG  where your party Members are Donald Duck and Goofy would even come close to rivaling Square-Enix's second Final Fantasy on the PS2? Well it did and far surpassed it. Although this blog is dedicated to PS1 RPGs I decided to share my small PS2 collection with you and my thoughts on the games. So here it goes...

So Kingdom Hearts, wow. Seriously who thought Sqaure-Enix and Disney working together could make such a memorable game? For those not familiar with the game it's about a young boy who's out to save the world from all the "Heart" being taken out of it. Sounds cheesy I know but that's the Disney side of it. So the main character, Sora, is warped into the world of Disney, traveling through different worlds based on movies such as Aladdin, Pirates of the Caribbean, Mulan, and many more. In each world you basically play a shortened version of the movie plot while throwing in the story of the Heart and saving people from becoming "Heartless".

Despite it's light-hearted premise it's has some dark story arcs and is an enjoyable experience overall. And this is probably the only time I'd EVER  call Mickey Mouse a Bad Ass.  Seriously he freaking pwns noobs in this game. You only wish you could fight with him more because King Mickey, as he's known in the game, is by far the best  fighter you'll get on your team through the game. The mythos of the heartless enemy is interesting and the addition of the "Nobody's" adds further depth(and confusion) to the story. I don't wanna ruin any major plot points but if you haven't played Kingdom Hearts 1 or 2 you should do yourself a favor and play them. They have a more action-oriented battle system so if you don't like the tradition turn based system common in Final Fantasy then this should be a welcomed change.

Now on to the disappointment known as Final Fantasy 12...I was actually really excited for this game because it took place in the world of Ivalice which was the setting for the highly popular PS1 Classic "Final Fantasy Tactics". The first disappointment is ,outside of the name, it pretty much has nothing to do with FFT. Yeah it has the name which is cool, but I think they only did this to push sales. So there are a few new additions to the game which I actually liked.
1.) The Jobs board. Basically it's like an MMO in that you get a quest to go find/ kill something and you get rewarded for each one you complete. There are close to a hundred if I remember correctly so that should add some hours and fun to the game.
2.) Leveling system. Instead of generic characters you can upgrade them to specialize in weapons, summons, and abilities. So it's pretty customizable. Adding more depth to the game.

Now for the rest...the game basically plays itself in battles. You set up actions before the battle so they act according to a set of priorities. Example: Top priority to heal if life is below 50%, second is revive if someone dies, third attack, etc. It's nice to innovate but it acts more like a movie than playing it at all. And that's the problem as a whole, it just feels like a movie more than a game and its just boring. The dungeons are long and a bit boring at times. To top it off the two main characters, Vaan and Ashe, are so annoying and I feel like other characters should have/ could have been the main characters. Vaan and Ashe just aren't interesting.

My favorite character of any Final Fantasy is a guy by the name of Balthier. He's a sky pirate with a really interesting past. It gets revealed slowly through the game and you end up wanting to know more about him than anyone else (well at least I did). Also, he's just funny! His dialog is super witty and I find myself begging for cut scenes so I hear hear him spit a gem of wisdom out. I actually tried playing through this game TWICE and stopped both times. I couldn't muster up the will to do it. It's pretty, intriguing to a point, but it just becomes a chore and games shouldn't be that.

So there ya go, my small collection of PS2 RPGs. I actually would love to own Kingdom Hearts 1 because that game was awesome as well. I'm sure there are better PS2 RPGs but this is basically all I've played and all I own. I'm still playing through Lunar so as more updates come I'll post them. Later Gamers!