Watch next: 10 Must-play PS1 JRPGs kzfaq.info/get/bejne/ipZkjK2Xv9C-aHk.html

PS2 is a blessed console

While the FFX voice acting isn't necessarily the best out there, that laugh scene gets taken out of context way too often.

In quality and quantity PS2 definitely was the best. there's no doubt. Every 6th generation consoles including psp,nds,gba were golden ages in JRPG games. It was the most happiest times in my gaming experience and memories. Thank you this list remind me my teenage and early 20's.

I would add Valkyrie Profile Silmeria, Star Ocean 3 Till The End of Time, Mana Khemia 1-2 and Persona 3 on this list. But It's your personal opinion. Great list.

Seeing Shadow Hearts on this list makes me so happy.

I'm so glad Rogue Galaxy is included. One of my most favorite games from the PS2. Insectron is also one of the best minigames I've played. Haha. Still hoping Level 5 would make a sequel or any form of follow-up

Shadow Hearts needs an HD collection.

Thrilled with knowing your going to do PS3 and PS4 as well. PS2 was the gold star for jrpg's was fun an very nostalgic for the wife and I to see your top 10 list

my favorite jrpg ps2 games are ff x and dragon quest viii and star ocean 3 and persona 3, 4

I would definately recommend also Final Fantasy 12 and Star Ocean 3.

I completely recommend the game Odin Sphere for anyone who likes any of the RPGs in the video. Amazing art style, fun game play, and a really good story. Very underrated but it’s definitely worth a try. Also GrimGrimoire, which is a game made by the same studio Vanillaware.

FF10 is so iconic ... i cry every damn time 😭♥️

Star ocean 3 is another gem

Great video Taylor, I really enjoyed it, thanks! I'm glad you included the original kingdom hearts, that game may be rather simple compared to later entries in the series , but it has tons of charm. I had a blast replaying it before the release of KH III. Any KH fan out there that didn't play the game and has the time to, please do so, this game is so lovely.

I wasn't expecting Xenosaga to make it into the list, but color me surprised and very happy, an absolute must play

Great list! As a JRPG fan I know of course about all those games but it’s still nice to get a reminder because I haven’t played all of them yet. I recently got myself a CRT and it’s such a joy to play my PS2 on it :)

Great list! Half of these are available on PS4 too so not many barriers to playing them. I just wish the other half were too...

Excellent video!! Love all.of this games, played them all ...with the PS2 games library I just got to grow more as an JRPG fan..

Excellent list!!! I really love this series! I really need to check out a few of these again as it’s either been awhile or I just haven’t played them at all.

Man, the Nocturne snub hurts my heart.

Great list! It’s like you read my mind of all the must play JRPGs in PS2. I haven’t played Rogue Galaxy. I might have to check that one out!

Aaaahh! DQ8 Travelling with Wagon theme. Brings me back...

I feel like ps1 and ps2 alone have such a huge library of great games that you could just play those 2 consoles for your whole life, and you would still have great games to play, specially JRPGs. I'm always replaying a classic game or too, and I always enjoy the heck out of those gems. Great list!

I love FFX too, but sometimes the switching so that I can hit flying enemies, kill magic with Lulu and etc is like a blessing and a curse, or more like a joy and a chore..

Awesome list!! I was always on the lookout for these kinds of lists several years ago, in the 2010's to be able to have and play all of the ones I was interested in. 10 years later, I still have a lot of Ps2 jrpgs to go through, but luckily still have the ones on this list!! Deciding if I should play FfX, DQ8, or Persona 3 as my next PS2 Jrpg.

omg i cant believe someone actually made a ranking video where all of my favorite ps2 games are included, good stuff!

I just went through a huge nostalgia trip whilst watching this video reliving alot of my childhood memories.

Ah, the ps2. The memories. Loved all the games listed. I would switch disgaea, xenosaga, and dark cloud with star ocean 3, radiate stories, and persona 3.

Really solid list! Besides Dark Cloud and Disgaea 1 I own everything else. I would love to own Disgaea 1 again but I'm pretty happy with Disgaea 5. I gotta get around to playing Dragon Quest VIII whenever I can.

I love Xenosaga so much I really love that its on this list

Great list! I’ve ironically been interested in a few of these for a while (FFX, P4G & Abyss).

Wow, I actually played and loved all 10 of these games. Great choices! I also really liked .Hack, Star Ocean 3 and a few others.

Awesome vid! Ff10 is probably still my favorite jrpg. Also love your podcast, Giant Sword. Here's hoping we get a P4 Golden port to ps4.

Bless your Soul for putting Rouge Galaxy on yout top 10 it will always be in ours :)

Can't give you a top 10 but I can give you a Top 4 1. Kingdom Hearts 1 FM / COM / 2 FM (People say KH is convoluted but MGS is just as convoluted but praised because guns, Kingdom Hearts is a complicated story but if you don't want to dive into the entire 10 plus entries you can enjoy your experience with just the original three on the PS2, beautiful combat, exciting plot twists, sublime music) 2. Tales of the Abyss (Best character progression in a single game entry ever for Luke Fon Fabre, The best Tales game in the series, the golden standard for the combat for every 3D entry after it, the OST is to die for and the story is basically if the plot of FF X married the plot of KH II) 3. Final Fantasy X (The most fantasy of all the Final Fantasy games, every other entry was either medieval, steampunk, cyberpunk but FF X is the only... Out of this world Fantasy that you can't compare it to anything else, People took the laughing scene completely out of context on purpose... psst.... it was supposed to be cringe guys, beautiful OST, great combat, for an early PS2 game it's still one of the most gripping stories on the system and in all of gaming) 4. Persona 3 FES (While Persona 4 went for the Scooby Doo approach, Persona 3 FES is the most depressing game I've ever played, darkest story by a country mile, and still the best story in the series, people complained about the combat only controlling the main character, BUT as soon as you find the weakness your party members follow suit, P3FES=Best Persona

Love to see Rogue Galaxy in this list! Definetely one of my favorite ones on PS2 after Kingdom Hearts and Valkyrie Profile!

Really excited for the rest of this series. Thanks for this!

Bro Real Talk! As soon as the Persona 4 Music kicked on I teared up lol😁😥 Oh the Nostalgia. Great List Man! Officially A New Sub

I always though of Rogue Galaxy as the 2nd sequel to Dark Cloud without the city building. Other JRPGs I loved were Wild ARMS 3 (Not as good as the original but still great), ARC the Lad twilight of Spirits and Legaia 2 Duel Sage, has an interesting combat mechanic.

the HA HA HA HA scene was intended to be strange / awkward.... so bringing THIS up as a reason for bad voice acting... is not justified

Loved that Rogue Galaxy and DQ8 made the cut. Suikoden 3, Legaia 2: Duel Saga, Ephemeral Fantasia, Arc The Lad: Twilight of Spirits are also fantastic games to check out.

Very nice list! Here's mine, in no particular order: Dragon Quest 8 Dark Cloud 2 (1 was great, but 2 was better in almost every single way) Shadow Hearts 1&2 (I consider these 2 parts of one game, the story is so closely connected) Final Fantasy X Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne (most ppl prefer the Persona series, but I prefer the more gameplay-focused parent series) Valkyrie Profile 2 Suikoden V Wild Arms 3 Odin Sphere Rogue Galaxy

Radiata Stories.

Its so Rare for Shadow Hearts to be mentioned in a Video of RPGs... A very Rare gem. I salute you. I really really what a remaster of Xenosaga and ShadowHearts. Rogue Galaxy😭 damn... Those feels...

Great video like always. You mentioned Tales of the Abyss but not the 3DS remake. Any thoughts on it?

That thumbnail is very nice! And real fans recognize the Blitzball theme.

I love how u have shadow hearts on the list. I love that game.

i actually loved the english voices of FF10 and about the infamous laughing scene: this sound odd was intended, the japanese original is no better in this scene

Cool list and idea for a video series. I know other people have done similar lists for different consoles, but it will still be interesting to see your choices for each of them. I recently bought and tried Persona 4 Golden when it was released on Steam this summer, and I feel like I'm missing something. It's very stylish and the characters are great, but I've never liked randomized dungeons, the scope of the story isn't as grand and sweeping as I like in my JRPGs either. I prefer to save the world, or a country or something bigger than solving friends' personal issues as the main goal of a game. I never liked high school much when I had to go 20 some odd years ago, so I find myself wondering why someone would want to virtually simulate the experience for a fictional character. Persona 4 feels very slow at first as well, with it taking roughly 6 hours before you are turned loose with no training wheels in your first dungeon. I want to like it and hear so many good things from many people, but I'm just not getting it. I'll give it another chance in a month when I finish the game I've been playing.

My favorite is Digital devil saga

I just realized final fantasy made my childhood since ps1 Love the franchise

I forgot about Rouge Galaxy. I remember buying that as a kid with zero idea what it was and it was one of my favorite games ever. Time for a PS2 throwback day/week/month(s) lol

Dark Cloud was my first PS2 game and began my love affair with Level 5. Deffo got a sub just for all the love you gave them! Rogue Galaxy is super underrated as a gameplay experience, even if the story really frustrated me.

Hey, first time watching a video of yours. Good job, I found it entertaining and informative. Still, I believe it would be better if you commented about the re-releases, or all releases of that game, for the sake of informing its availability. "Oh, this is available on steam and ps4 as well", something like that, as you did with the last one.

There is a game that unfortunately not a lot of people in the internet talks about which is Radiata Storie ... I would really recommend it as a must play JRPG and its similar to suikoden series in some aspects

I was big into JRPGs in the 90s but I pretty much stopped playing games altogether when I turned 16 in 2002 and I just decided I had grown out of it. I did get a PS2 but, aside from playing half of FFX, I just played GTA and PES. Next gen was similar, I got an Xbox 360 but, again aside from FFXIII, I just mainly played FIFA and the odd AAA game (Fallout, Bioshock etc). The DS and Wii actually drew me back to gaming more through Zelda and Mario but I didn't fully get back into playing JRPGs regularly until Covid. I just found myself with a lot more free time, remembered how much I loved them and realised I had 18 years of great games that I'd missed. Even now, I've only played four games across this list and the PS3 one combined: FFX and XIII, Disgaea and Nier. I started Suikoden III this week, twenty years after last playing Suikoden II.

I hear so many good things about the Shadow Hearts series that I wish I was able to play them. Let's just hope one day they'll be either placed on Steam or the PS4/5 Great list, though! I have to agree that most of the games are amazing titles to pick up!!!

Love the FFX Blitzball Soundtrack in the back

Dark Cloud 🙏 I'm sad I've never met another person who has played it but it's my favorite PS2 game!!

Xenosaga 3 is the crowning achievement in that series

Rogue Galaxy was an absolute GEM of a game and one of my top picks for PS2!

To Zanarkand, I always request that when DJs play video game music.

I would love to see a Rogue Galaxy sequel. It's just hard to find good single player sci-fi jrpgs.

Never heard of Shadow Hearts before, looks really interesting.

Excellent list!!

We really need dragon quest 8 on ps4

Gotta add Growlanser there because it has strategy unlike many "Strategy" games where either you do things in one specific way or grind highlight is Boss in Dual Darkness who was 20 levels above my party and was one-shoting every character I did not want to grind so I found out he did not have ranged skills or magic so I used bait on one character to attract boss started running away while other 3 were dishing out damage to boss

Nice. I would have also added star ocean till the end of time and maybe ff12.

My top 10 PS2 JRPGs (with one per franchise): 10. *Final Fantasy XII* 9. *Ar Tonelico II: Melody of Metafalica* 8. *Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits* 7. *Mana Khemia: Alchemists of Al-Revis* 6. *Shadow Hearts: Covenant* 5. *Rogue Galaxy* 4. *Suikoden V* 3. *Tales of the Abyss* 2. *Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4* 1. *Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King* It says a lot about how many solid JRPGs there were on the PS2 when I feel like I could easily make this a top 20 list without skipping a beat.

Yuna's laugh reminded me of Eska's laugh in legend of korra XD

Have to say, a very good list ! It's true the PS2 had great JRPGs. Had never heard of Shadow Hearts though. I would say that an important missing game here is Star Ocean : Till the end of time. Also my personal favorite, Shin Megami Tensei 3 Lucifer's Call/Nocturne (but at least it was shown in the introduction). Otherwise, I understand that Dark Cloud was the first of the series, but I would still recommand Dark Chronicles over it. Anyway, a good trip down memory lane I must say

Can't wait to see the rest of the consoles and what is considered the must-plays for JRPG (Waits for Eternal Sonata to be skipped like the underappreciated Perfection that it was.)

Shadow heart incredible good memories

Any video that praises Dark Cloud is an instant like from me, my favourite game of all time! Also funnily enough, I did actually start with KH2, and I felt I followed along well enough xD In fact, I've still not finished KH1 yet... xD

Great, thx for the list. I want play rpg now :D

Have all of these games and most of their remasters. Except Disgaea, never played before. And I have Shadow Hearts Covenant, not the original. Nice list.

Thanks for keeping my life entertained , I owe you alot..

Thanks for sharing. Love the PS2.

I've just liked and subbed after finding your channel on what seems to be super content and excellent breakdowns on a subject close to my heart in Jrpgs which I play a lot. If I am to debate but obviously each to their own opinion: 1) I thought Dark Chronicle was better than the original Dark Cloud just because it felt a little less grind through the caves due to the entertainment of the golf and fish side games added plus the story I felt was more interesting and for the record I played the 2nd one first and it held no real tie in with the 1st game. 2) KOH2 is better than 1 but I agree with you that it is better to play the first one as it is far more of a catalyst and its still a hell of a great game. 3) Another sequel battle... Disgaea 2 I think made just enough improvements to edge the prequel but again just an opinion. 4) Where is Star Ocean? One of the best storylines and entertaining RPGs on the Ps2. I would also shout out Valkryie Silmeria as another excellent shout although tbf your list is pretty stacked despite me being from PAL and not having played a couple of those games due to non Pal releases but it was good to see them in action. 👍 5) One last shoutout to Final Fantasy XII. I didn't appreciate this game when I was younger but now I am older and gone back to it, there is something brilliant about it and Balthiers story despite Vaan and Penelo being non existent leaders. Again great video and loved the detail.

There's so many JRPG games on PS2 that its hard to narrow it down to 10. Persona 3, Arc Tonelico series, Suikoden 3-5, Steambot Chronicles, Mana Khemia, Legaia 2, Tales of Legendia, Arc the Lad, Radiata Stories, Final Fantasy 12 to name a few

Rogue galaxy was amazing, I wish they would make a remake and also release it on steam. I’m missing grandia on this list. I also enjoyed the alchemist serie

Funny Shin Megami Tensei goes *Dies 20 times in an hour

I didn't play yet to all the ps2 rpg's, because I liked ps1 rpg's more, but from what I've seen you definitely want to put FFx and Persona3 in a Top 10. Also, so sad that Xenosaga 1 and 3 wasn't available in Europe, i would have like to try them so much..!

Instant fan of the channel

I'm a simple man, I see DQ8 and I know you have good taste. I wonder how hard it was to just pick 10. PS2 was really the gold mine for JRPGs.

Ps2 and even more Ds have so many amazing jrpgs.On ps2 for years my favourite one was FFX and that changed when i finished the Xenosaga trilogy.The story of Xenosaga is so great and so complicated.I loved it.

What a great list that held some of the top PS2 Jrpgs as well as some other ones that don’t get talked about a lot. Props for mentioning Dark Cloud 1 over 2. Both are good but 1 is more welcoming to newcomers and isn’t as messy with its game flow as 2. Also a thumbs up for mentioning Disgaea.

Ahhh yes, Final Fantasy 10. Meg Ryan's first foray into JRPGs.

Shadow Hearts I & II are masterpieces.

Man. Although I have precious memories owning a gamecube, I think I did myself a big disservice by not owning a ps2. I only got to try Persona 4 through the recent pc port. 12 fuckin’ years later lol. I missed out on tons of gems, rpgs and non-rpgs

My top 10 ps2 jrpgs #1 rogue galaxy #2 .hack #3 xenosaga #4 suikoden #5 dragon quest 8 #6 star ocean 3 #7 legaia 2 dual saga #8 final fantasy x2 #9 monster rancher #10 raidou vs soulless army

should had radiata stories on it a true hidden gem

Currently replaying Rogue Galaxy.. Even after 13 years its still a blast to play. Level 5 is easily one of the best JRPG developers.

Fun Fact, just as Xeno Saga is the spiritual successor to Xeno Gears, Xeno Blade is the successor to Saga. Kos-Mos even has a cameo in XenoBlade 2.

Nice list. More of a ff12 guy myself, but I can see why 10 would make the cut.

Shadow Hearts was phenomenal!! I so regret selling my copy along with the sequels when I needed a few bucks way back when. But I've made that mistake with so many games over the years that my PS and PS2 collection are maybe 10% of the total games I owned at one point on each system. I picked Disgaea up on a whim and played the crap out of it from the day it released until the next Fall. Xenosaga, great. Dragon Quest, excellent. etc, etc. However I didn't see Suikoden 3 or V on this list; shame imo. There's a few other notables that I'd have liked to see as well. Goes w/o saying but a great list. Every single game on this list is great. I just wish they'd do some of them proper service and re-release/make some of them for the HD era. I have no problem going back to 8 and 16 bit games but PS-PS2 era I have a hard time pushing through. I'd love to re-play Persona 4, DQ8.... though I'm still waiting for Breath of Fire re-releases or upgrades as well. As always, never should've sold my PSP because at least I had Breath of Fire imported from the EU for it.

I’m so Happy to see Tales of Abyss

Rogue Galaxy is one of my all time favorites!!!

I think I liked Shadow Hearts 3 best...but maybe 2...glad the series got represented here.