You should really pick up a cheap gamepad instead of using your keyboard to play PS2 games.
Persona 3 and 4 are both great, but they're also 70+ hour games. As much as I liked them, I never finished 3 and had to practically force myself through the final dungeon of 4. Not only are they long, but you'll probably want to have multiple FAQ windows open while you play. They'll both run fine on an emulator though - neither game is graphically intensive or badly optimized (hello Shadow of the Colossus).
Definitely pick up Persona 3 and 4 (I know, this has been said countless times)--the gameplay is really unique (school/dating sim by day, dungeon crawl by night!), the writing's great (real life lols), and the menus are really well designed (okay that may be just me but I like good menus). Also it almost has this Pokemon-ish mindset ("havetogetthemallhavetogetthemall") to it because of all the personas you can get. (Although I know this is not limited to P3/4--all SMTs are like that--but the production value of P3/4 and writing are better.) It is very much JRPG though so if that's not your style you may not like it.
Another RPG could be Rogue Galaxy--same developer as Dark Cloud. My friend played it and loved it. A huge plus is very low load times.
Edit: just saw that it said "rpg" in the title. How embarrassing. Well leaving the below in case you're curious about others. Also for variety (this isn't strictly RPGs, right?)--God of War I/II, Fatal Frame II, and Odin Sphere. The first is low on story but high on action and blood, and as a mythology geek it was cool seeing those characters recreated...and then ripping their heads off. The second is a survival horror game and highly atmospheric. My friend had it and he would literally not play it unless the lights were on, and I was in the room and reading the walkthrough to him. As to why the second in the series, I think the story's best. And Odin Sphere is like a weird side-scrolling action RPG (I guess you could call it that) but has really good art direction and charm. It may lag on your computer though...it lagged on the PS2 sometimes.
On May 30 2011 07:47 Torte de Lini wrote: Wild Arms 3 Oh and my girlfriend loves Persona, the entire fucking series. I kid you not, she won't stop about it.
But seriously: The Wild Arms series is so underrated ):
I just stopped in a little independent game shop today that carries a bunch of old school games (so I immediately love it more than any other chain - I miss being able to buy Dreamcast games) and I happened to pick up Wild Arms 3.
Along with Valkyrie Profile 2 and Heavy Rain. ^^
Travis: Glad you're liking Persona 4, it's such an amazing game and only gets better.
On May 30 2011 07:47 Torte de Lini wrote: Wild Arms 3 Oh and my girlfriend loves Persona, the entire fucking series. I kid you not, she won't stop about it.
But seriously: The Wild Arms series is so underrated ):
I just stopped in a little independent game shop today that carries a bunch of old school games (so I immediately love it more than any other chain - I miss being able to buy Dreamcast games) and I happened to pick up Wild Arms 3.
Along with Valkyrie Profile 2 and Heavy Rain. ^^
Travis: Glad you're liking Persona 4, it's such an amazing game and only gets better.
So jealous D: We have none here in Montreal that I could find.
On May 30 2011 07:47 Torte de Lini wrote: Wild Arms 3 Oh and my girlfriend loves Persona, the entire fucking series. I kid you not, she won't stop about it.
But seriously: The Wild Arms series is so underrated ):
I just stopped in a little independent game shop today that carries a bunch of old school games (so I immediately love it more than any other chain - I miss being able to buy Dreamcast games) and I happened to pick up Wild Arms 3.
Along with Valkyrie Profile 2 and Heavy Rain. ^^
Travis: Glad you're liking Persona 4, it's such an amazing game and only gets better.
So jealous D: We have none here in Montreal that I could find.
Yeah, Vegas is pretty barren too when it comes to small independent shops. Maybe 10 years ago we had a fairly cool chain store called Funco (I think) which was certainly better than the competitors in both pricing and selection, then EB bought them out and it just went downhill from there. When GameCrazy closed, GameStop was pretty much the only dedicated store we had left in town, and I hate GameStop with a passion.
Was pleasantly surprised to find this little store near my new house. They're reasonably priced on a lot of items and a little overpriced on others, but I'll happily eat the difference if it's only a couple of bucks to support the store. Biggest draw for me is that they actually seem to prize collector-ish items; almost all disc based games are still in the original cases and every game I've purchased so far has had the manual (though the Wild Arms 3 and Valkyrie Profile 2 manual are written in/cut up a bit.) They have a fair amount of rare titles I'd pick up at a reasonable price if I were more in a collection mood at the moment. Needless to say I'm very happy to have the shop nearby.
On May 30 2011 07:47 Torte de Lini wrote: Wild Arms 3 Oh and my girlfriend loves Persona, the entire fucking series. I kid you not, she won't stop about it.
But seriously: The Wild Arms series is so underrated ):
I just stopped in a little independent game shop today that carries a bunch of old school games (so I immediately love it more than any other chain - I miss being able to buy Dreamcast games) and I happened to pick up Wild Arms 3.
Along with Valkyrie Profile 2 and Heavy Rain. ^^
Travis: Glad you're liking Persona 4, it's such an amazing game and only gets better.
So jealous D: We have none here in Montreal that I could find.
Yeah, Vegas is pretty barren too when it comes to small independent shops. Maybe 10 years ago we had a fairly cool chain store called Funco (I think) which was certainly better than the competitors in both pricing and selection, then EB bought them out and it just went downhill from there. When GameCrazy closed, GameStop was pretty much the only dedicated store we had left in town, and I hate GameStop with a passion.
Was pleasantly surprised to find this little store near my new house. They're reasonably priced on a lot of items and a little overpriced on others, but I'll happily eat the difference if it's only a couple of bucks to support the store. Biggest draw for me is that they actually seem to prize collector-ish items; almost all disc based games are still in the original cases and every game I've purchased so far has had the manual (though the Wild Arms 3 and Valkyrie Profile 2 manual are written in/cut up a bit.) They have a fair amount of rare titles I'd pick up at a reasonable price if I were more in a collection mood at the moment. Needless to say I'm very happy to have the shop nearby.
Yeah, back in Jersey, we had a store called Funcoland, sold a lot of great oldies that I regret never taking advantage of now D:
I hate Gamestop, I hate most gaming stores, but I hate electronic stores more, sigh...