I'd say that you should play all the rachet and clank games from the start to the finish. The first game is a bit boring compared to the later ones if you play it after them

Metal Gear Solid 3 Subsistence if you can find it. ♥♥♥♥ amazing game.

Spartan - Total Warrior was actually a lot of gory fun back in the day. Had some really nice graphics for a PS2 game, give it a go if you like the look of videos you see about.

Kingdom Hearts (the first one was better) - kind of dated graphically, but it's got a nice battle system and square enix's trademark OMGWHUT cutscenes all over the place.

Final Fantasy XII - you either love it or hate it. It's got an amazingly well developed world, and quite a lot of "shtuffs to doo", you just better hope that you don't ever have a corrupted save or anything along those lines, cause redoing any area is very draining. But - no random encounters.

We are all just giving you our subjective opinion on all of these things though, you probably want to go youtube just about everything we've suggested to see if you like how it looks.

Yo man, pick up some PS1 game while you're at it.
Grandia, FFVII/FFIX, Zone of the Enders...

For PS2, Dark Chronicle is pretty nice.

All the good crash bandicoot games.

Im dissapointed in all of you...

Does no one remember the god of all graphicly imaging in Shadow of the Colossus?

Also Beyond Good and Evil was pretty goddamn prime too.

^etc.

He should get X before he gets XII, X was, in most people's opinions, a MUCH bettter game. PErsonally, I think it's as good as, if not better than, Final Fantasy VII. Yeah, it's that good. The storyline is amazing, the gameplay is deep, the sphere grid system is the best ability system of any Final Fantasy.

Personally, I find turn based battle systems activated by random encounters to be a terrible mechanic and entirely unnecessary, so I cant stand playing X at all any more. I did enjoy it, but that was about 5 years ago.
X has an amazing universe feel though.

Shadow of the Colossus kicked ass too, as did Ico.

I had the First one, Champions Of Norrath but i could never find the Return to arms D:

I agree, ive never managed to even play a game with turn based battle systems other then Fallout 1 & 2. Even more so ive never managed to play a JRPG.

(Slight off topic)
I'm no fan of turn based battles either, but Final Fantasy Tactics Advances is strategy-y enough for it to work. It's not a "Hit me, then I hit you", there's moving and stuff involved. Like Fallouts.

The Getaway is a nice PS2 game, as well as Splinter Cell.

Remember kids, stay the hell away from final fantasy ten, it will take time off of your life that you cant get back. Unless of course you like playing as a whiny man child who wears half shorts half pants, has hair that looks like meg ryans, and the second most akward romance only trumped by FF8 the list goes on...... Also get star wars battlefront 2 'tis mindless blaster fun.

Dude, FFX was GODLY, don't even compare it to the miserable wreck that FFVIII was. Also, yes, Battlefront 2 is very fun.

TBH I always thought Tidus was kind of cool. *shrug*

The PS2 game that as given me the most enjoyment would be Radiata Stories. It's a funny little RPG with a good battle system, and a story that isn't too shabby. It has good voice acting, and feels very polished. (Awesome music too)
It wasn't a major title so I don't think many people know about it.

The Kingdom Hearts games are good, first one has better plot and the second one has better gameplay. IMO they both have their merits, but I found KH2 to be more polished.

If you're into RPGs you've probably heard of the godliness that is FFVII, just beware of bad graphics. Not really a PS2 game though...

Final Fantasy 8 was a good game, but it was annoying how monsters leveled up faster than you. The main point of the game was actually to level up as little as possible. And no, this doesn't eliminate grinding. I didn't get very far into it but I hear it has a very interesting plot. Gameplay is entertaining.

Final Fantasy 9 is your standard RPG with cliche'd story, but it has some twists. Fun to play.

Final Fantasy 10 was alright. I got stuck in the calm lands and ended up just playing blitzball all of the time, which is a fun minigame. It's almost like a game within itself. It's a little more serious than other Final Fantasy games and doesn't laugh at itself much.
The main character is a little cocky and obnoxious, but to be honest I don't mind.
The game itself is fun to play. There's a crafting system of sorts, and an interesting level up system.
My brother really liked the game, and actually beat the game like ten times over, getting max stats each time. We actually had to take the game away from him so he could take a break.

Final Fantasy 12 was very... dry. It has a lot of politics, which is alright, but I like stories that are on a more personal level than just about country politics. It tries to be a bit more of a western RPG than a 'J'RPG, but kind of fails, and ends up just being bad IMO. The voice acting isn't very impressive either. Gameplay was decent. Similar leveling system to FF10, but more limited.

Rogue Galaxy is an RPG by level 5 (a new game development company that has been doing well IMO) that is about a man who always dreamed to be a pirate... but in space. It might sounds sort of cliche but it develops from there. It has a really nice battle system and a very fun (but slightly complicated) crafting system, though it can get a little tiring.

Mana Khemia is a really nice game where you play as an alchemist. You're studying at a school and have to complete various assignments. The main feature of this game is a simple yet somehow fun crafting system. The thing I find most fun about it is the immense amount of character development. You actually choose to spend your weekends/free time with colorful characters to learn more about them and do little quests. It's pretty fun to do, and it actually affects the game. The battle system is stolen from the Atelier series (a series made by the same company), but it's still good.

ICO is a game that I got recently, and it seems to be pretty good. You'll like it if you like puzzle games.

And you can't go wrong with a DDR game.


TL;DR: I recommend Radiata Stories, FF7-10, Rogue Galaxy, Kingdom Hearst 1 & 2, Mana Khemia, and maybe a DDR game. (DDR Max 2 anyone?)

Oh god I just remembered that "star ocean : till the end of time" was on the PS2 for a while. If you can get a second hand copy from somewhere it's a freaking amazing game. Like, so good. 2 Disks (why don't they do that anymore?) of pure cool. Had an alright battle system too, but still random battles for a while if I remember correctly. It was pretty A+, had a lot of endings and like 80 hours or so of gameplay with cutscenes etc. It's really deep, but you kind of need to like RPGs to enjoy it.