System Shock How do I play PlayStation 2 games?

[Whiny-Butthurt-Liberal]

I've been wanting to replay the entire Legacy of Kain series, and it seems like all five games are available on PlayStation 2. How do I play the actual games, assuming I were to get the console? Does it only use CDs or have a digital store? Do I burn the ISOs to CDs? Should I bother buying "used" CDs from Amazon, given that the new ones cost upwards of 80 dollars (lol what)?

Any instructions are helpful!

P. S. No, I am not getting a PC, and it wouldn't be the best options for this series anyway. I remember trying to play Soul Reaver on my PC a long time ago, and after I eventually got it to work, it seemed like the PC port was vastly inferior to the playstation original.

 

[SausageInYourFace]

No, I am not getting a PC

 

[JDR13]

 

[Bad Sector]

Well, the easiest - though not the cheapest - solution is to get a console, get an RGB or SCART cable (the AV cable that comes with the console will work but the quality isn't great, especially if you connect it to an LCD monitor - it can be passable on a CRT TV, but most CRTs have RGB and -in Europe- SCART input for better image quality) and get the games off ebay (you should be able to find most PS2 games cheap enough, just search worldwide. Also depending on where you live there might be local used game stores).

If you want to download the ISOs you'll probably need to have a console with a modchip or something like that installed (i think it might be possible with a modified memory card - you'd need to buy that from ebay - but i'm not sure if it works for playing ISOs or just for playing homebrew). I don't know about these, where to find them (though i'd guess ebay) or their installation procedure.

As for emulation... i have the least experience with that. Some years ago i got Gungrave and Ghost in the Shell and both had issues with PCSX2, especially Gungrave which had sound issues, so i bought a used PS2 to play them. And then Gungrave turned out to be broken... :-P. But at least GitS was good, even if i ended up paying almost as much as a brand new AAA release for an old third person shooter. I do want to try my hand at homebrew at some point though, so that money may not be completely lost (i'll need to figure out the whole modchip or modified memory card in the meanwhile though - gah, i hate how locked down consoles are, only Dreamcast was the exception and nobody bought that so units are ridiculously expensive nowadays).

 

[rusty_shackleford]

https://pcsx2.net/

 

[DalekFlay]

I'm sure you can play the PC versions on a budget machine with a gamepad for a pretty identical experience with better graphics. They're all on GOG. PS2 emulation would probably take a better PC, I'd think?

 

[A horse of course]

I believe some of them are available as digital downloads on the PS Store if you have a modern playstation console. Not sure though. I played all of them except Blood Omen and Soul Reaver 1 on PC.

 

[deama]

I believe the PC-emulation route would be the easiest and cheapest, and quickest too as all you'll have to do is download the emulator, (easily) find bios for the ps2, download the game isos, and finally find some basic setup guide to set it all up. Whereas if you wanted to play it on an actual PS2 you'll first have to hunt for a working model (with controllers, or buy those separately, in hopefully working order), hunt or burn the iso's into a CD, and the wait for it all to arrive until finally having to set everything up.

I don't think there really should be any issues with the PS2 emulator anymore, from my memory, back in 2014-ish, the emulator was perfected from what I could tell as all the games I played on it worked, and I could even make them look better than how they did originally. Admittedly you did have to play with the settings, but I'm sure there's a basic guide for it, maybe even for the specific titles.

 

[Siveon]

I believe the PC-emulation route would be the easiest and cheapest, and quickest too as all you'll have to do is download the emulator, (easily) find bios for the ps2, download the game isos, and finally find some basic setup guide to set it all up. Whereas if you wanted to play it on an actual PS2 you'll first have to hunt for a working model (with controllers, or buy those separately, in hopefully working order), hunt or burn the iso's into a CD, and the wait for it all to arrive until finally having to set everything up.

I don't think there really should be any issues with the PS2 emulator anymore, from my memory, back in 2014-ish, the emulator was perfected from what I could tell as all the games I played on it worked, and I could even make them look better than how they did originally. Admittedly you did have to play with the settings, but I'm sure there's a basic guide for it, maybe even for the specific titles.

Very rarely is an emulator perfected, and PCSX2 is not that. The compatibility is extensive, but it's always been scraping at patchwork solutions that barely work and with mixed results. There are still graphical and audio errors, textual errors, and some games simply do not work at a correct framerate unless you have a 2000 dollar computer.

Its a decent emulator, but it is no Dolphin, it's no higan, it's like... Dreamcast emulation.

 

[DJOGamer PT]

Just download PCSX2.
You don't pay anything and can have it fully set up in 10 minutes (and there's a fuckton of guides online).

Its a decent emulator, but it is no Dolphin, it's no higan, it's like... Dreamcast emulation.

Do not exaggerate.
It isn't as good as Dolphin but it also isn't in the lackluster condition Dreamcast is in.
I could run shadow of the colossus at a semi-stable 30FPS in a 2010 mid end laptop using the 1.4.0 version.

 

[DalekFlay]

These games are available on PC, for cheap, and would surely be easier to run that way than through the emulator. I don't really get "emulation is easiest" unless you're ignoring the games he's specifically talking about.

 

[DalekFlay]

Most PC ports are inferior, if there even are any. Emulation isn't necessarily the easiest, but it's almost always better.

Far as I know every Kain entry is on PC, so I don't know what you mean by "if there are any." I hope you don't mean in general console versions are superior because that would be a retard tag beyond all retard tags. If there's something particularly bad about the Kain PC versions then fair enough, you should probably outline that to him so he knows. Keep in mind sites like PC Gaming Wiki outline fixes and enhancements for many issues, like removing the 30fps cap in Soul Reaver.

Of course he doesn't want to buy a computer in the first place, so this is all moot. If he does I'd think a PC version would run better on a cheaper PC than a PS2 emulator would, that was my main point.

 

[The Decline]

PS2 emulation has always been far too shitty for my tastes. That's why I retrofitted my old fat ps2 with the network adapter, a hdd and softmodded it with a memory card I bought on ebay.

 

[Citizen]

You don't you fool

Soul Reaver 1 must be played on a dreamcast or a dreamcast emulator cause this version is superior to both the pc and ps ones

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

These games are available on PC, for cheap, and would surely be easier to run that way than through the emulator. I don't really get "emulation is easiest" unless you're ignoring the games he's specifically talking about.

IIRC the PC version of Soul Reaver lacks dynamic music, which was one of the coolest parts of the game. Soul Reaver 2 is probably best enjoyed on a CRT screen in the original resolution unless you want to see some jarring shit in story events (e.g. noticeable lack of character animations in the background).

Also, I remember that the PC ports used to have issues ranging from random crashes to spending quite a while getting them to run. The latter is to be expected from older games, but I remember having issues even when they weren't that old.

 

[SerratedBiz]

This is what happens when you let GD out of its cage.

 

[DalekFlay]

Every PC port of a PS2 game I've played was a broken piece of shit. I don't know anything about Kain, but emulators now have a much better chance of working properly than crappy old half-assed ports.

I don't play a lot of console style games, but if you go to PC gaming wiki most of these games seem to only have minor and very fixable issues. As I said, emulation usually takes more hardware power and still has inaccuracies. If he's going to try playing these on some ancient piece of shit, I think the PC versions with the Wiki's fixes would be the way to go.

I don't really care about PS2 games enough to argue about it more though, I was just trying to give general advice that a native PC version would be less demanding than emulation.

 

[laclongquan]

If you want no PC, you can buy Legacy of Kain ps2 DVD on ebay or amazon.

If you want cheap, you can do the whole emulator thing easily, quickly.

There is no cheap and easy way for no-PC route.

 

[Mexi]

Get a PS3. I'm sure you can get a used one for very cheap nowadays. Only way to play Playstation 2 games is on one since it ups some of them to HD and looks great. IIRC, Code Veronica looks stunning on a PS3.

Emulators are for poor retards. Games shouldn't be played on those.

 

[Citizen]

Get a PS3. I'm sure you can get a used one for very cheap nowadays. Only way to play Playstation 2 games is on one since it ups some of them to HD and looks great. IIRC, Code Veronica looks stunning on a PS3.

Emulators are for poor retards. Games shouldn't be played on those.

"EmUlAtoRs aRE FoR pOoR RetArDs"
*proceeds to emulate ps2 games on ps3*

Peak consoomer culture, pathetic

 

[oddech_wymarlych_swiatow]

Get a PS3. I'm sure you can get a used one for very cheap nowadays. Only way to play Playstation 2 games is on one since it ups some of them to HD and looks great. IIRC, Code Veronica looks stunning on a PS3.

Emulators are for poor retards. Games shouldn't be played on those.

Only the early models are backwards compatible.

Every PS3 has built-in software emulator that runs 99% games, you just need to softmod it. I used ii a lot before I sold my PS3, only games that issues were Ace Combat 5 (glitches) and Street Fighter EX3 (crashes).

My advise - buy original Xbox, console is cheaper, games are cheaper or you can just transfer games to HDD and with additional cable Xbox can be connected to modern TV. Blood Omen 2 has native port and there is a PSX emulator that should run Blood Omen 1 and Soul Reaver just fine.

 

[Kalin]

Push the CDs up your ass and keep it high so they won't fall out right away.

 

[Kwota]

I've been wanting to replay the entire Legacy of Kain series, and it seems like all five games are available on PlayStation 2. How do I play the actual games, assuming I were to get the console? Does it only use CDs or have a digital store? Do I burn the ISOs to CDs? Should I bother buying "used" CDs from Amazon, given that the new ones cost upwards of 80 dollars (lol what)?

Any instructions are helpful!

P. S. No, I am not getting a PC, and it wouldn't be the best options for this series anyway. I remember trying to play Soul Reaver on my PC a long time ago, and after I eventually got it to work, it seemed like the PC port was vastly inferior to the playstation original.

Get a fat PS2 with atleast one memory card, HDD adapter for SATA disk, a SATA disk to install all the games you need then install Free MCboot on memory card and enjoy your games running from HDD so no shitty loadtimes - its a setup I'm running personally and it's quite good for my needs (love me some older Koei games like Kessen and Nobunaga Ambition/ROTK)

For video I use OSSC scaler so I can output video signal to HDMI but it aint the cheapest option.

Also what Citizen said - Soul Reaver had best version on Dreamcast

 

[oddech_wymarlych_swiatow]

Well, if you have to mod it just to use an emulator that's probably worse than PCSX2, what's the point?

'Propably'.... I've tested many games, including patched undub Xenosaga 3' and everything except two mentioned games run perfect. Software emulator for PS3 is way more reliable than PCSX2.

Like, just get an Xbox, bro. It will totally help you play PS2 games, lol!

OP was interested in LoK games and they're available for Xbox (it not includes Soul Reaver 2 thought, my mistake).

Unless you wonna focus on exclusive PS2 games, Xbox is great alternative, much more reliable as hardware, has better multiplatform ports (e.g. Just Cause is a joke on PS2), is still cheap as fuck plus is emulation heaven. It really doesn't deserve reputation of 'Halo machine that killed PC gaming' or something.

 

[newtmonkey]

You can also use a slim PS2 with Freemcboot card to play backups, with the PS2 connected via LAN cable to a shared drive containing the backups. A raspberry PI with network share and backups stored on a USB stick is a great solution you can just leave plugged permanently into the PS2 ethernet port.

Might be a fun self-isolation project!