Onion Games, an independent Japanese developer, surprised us earlier this week with a survey to discover if there is interest in seeing games like Rule of Rose (one of the most sought-after on PS2 , by far) rescued for the occasion on current systems by middle of the typical remastering.
Among the most expensive there is usually a common link: either they are horror or they are RPG . That is why we are going to review the most interesting ones that have the most abusive prices, so that we can reach the day when there are many more people who can play them without giving the speculators a chance. Something good had to have the remastering in cases like this, saving the lack of originality, right?
Rule of Rose
We start precisely with the aforementioned Rule of Rose , which apart is one of the most expensive by far. And it is that depending on the state in which it is, its price goes from 500 to 1,000 euros easily. Of fireworks!
The reason? It was released in 2006 and for PS2 , the same year that its successor, PlayStation 3. If we add to this that it had a limited edition and was a survival horror , we have the ideal combo to turn it into a cult game. .. especially knowing in advance that he was surrounded by controversy due to his eroticism with the presence of minors and that he had bad reviews for his playability .
Kuon
Five years before becoming a world-renowned studio with Demon’s Souls, its biggest turning point, From Software developed this Kuon for PS2 in 2004 , being a horror game that had a rather weak reception in the West (57 on average), saving him 28/40 from Famitsu in his home country.
It arrived in Europe with a delay of two years, being able to get it today with prices ranging between 200 and 400 euros in its PAL version . Looking at it with perspective, reviewing its pros and cons, it shows that it was a 100% From Software work for the time: good setting and plot, but with a somewhat crude and slow response control. Now I regret not paying attention to it.
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 FES
Today the Shin Megami Tensei are fully established in the West thanks (especially) to the boom that Persona 5 has supposed, but the Atlus saga did not have it easy far from Japan and those were rather niche outside their country of origin.
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 FES , a “festive” expansion for Persona 3 , was sold both as an add-on to the original and as a combined batch, with the latter arriving in both the United States and Europe. A high quality RPG whose prices range between 100 and 300 euros … in perfect English.
Shadow Hearts
Does anyone remember that Koudelka from the first PlayStation? It was a mixture of survival horror and RPG by the Sacnoth studio that had a very tepid reception (I had it at the time and I did not enjoy it either), but, as often happens with these cases, it ended up reaching the status of a cult game. And why do we talk about him? Because Shadow Hearts is part of his universe, as a sequel.
Released in 2001 for PS2 , it was an RPG that made a significant leap in quality compared to its predecessor, although without reaching excellence. His alternate reality, with humans capable of turning into monsters and the presence of magic, was one of his greatest draws, as was his turn-based combat system. In its PAL version (seen in 2002) prices range from 100 to 250 euros .
Blood Will Tell
If Capcom had the Onimusha, SEGA would bet on Blood Will Tell in 2004, an action game with demons based on the Dororo manga by Osamu Tezuka. In the end, in any case, the only official video game of that Japanese series from 1967.
He did not get a bad press, reaching close to the average notable in the West, although obviously it was enjoyed much more in his home country, where he reaped a 30/40 in Famitsu. Its PAL version landed here in 2005 and looks between 100 and 200 euros .
Other PS2 Games Worth Noting
In this review we have ignored the exclusive games from Japan or the United States that have not been released in Europe , for logical reasons, as well as those special editions due to their particular state of preservation or the kind of games that have been released in later systems. , like Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes on PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade in 2009, despite it being pulled from the digital market four years later.
While we have .hack // Quarantine with prices ranging between 100 and 200 euros, at least we received in 2017 another remastered trilogy with .hack // GU Last Recode on PS4 and Steam . The normal thing at this point is to be placed in a scale below 100 euros, as is the case with Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, a Climax Studios work that first came out on Wii and was later converted to PS2 and PSP. Although seeing the panorama with Konami, we do not know if it will ever have a remaster . And if it does, it is not like what happened with Silent Hill HD Collection on PS3 and Xbox 360 because of the old code, among other “pearls.”
Other classics that today really want to revisit (or discover for the first time) are also usually around 100 euros , such as Wild Arms 5 . Since the saga debuted on PlayStation in an unforgettable 1996, it has been dwindling, but that does not prevent it from being another of the most remembered RPGs on Sony consoles, where Wild Arms 3 was also remastered for PS4 within PS2 Classics . Although, already put to request, better to rescue Wild Arms Alter Code: F , remake for PS2 of the 1996 classic, because it never came out in Europe and is very expensive in NTSC.
Finally, among those who usually come out when listing cult games on PS2 we have Haunting Ground , a Capcom survival horror considered a spiritual successor to the Clock Tower. It was not the panacea in its day, but knowing (also) that Clock Tower 3 was the last official of the saga and came out in 2002, it would be a good time to reissue them with graphical improvements and playable level, don’t you think?
To get carried away and dream whistling before one of the best intros in history.
