You have one of, if not the best starting points for Final Fantasy in the whole series on this system with X. Just play it. There's no mainline numbered Final Fantasy game that ties together. They're all separate stories. A few share a common setting with Ivalice, but that's about it. Hop on X now. I know there's a PC version, and that's probably the recommended way to experience that game at this point, but I don't really care how you start it. If you ever wanna experience Final Fantasy, FFX is the one a loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooot of people will say start with.

Radiata Stories - a looker even for a PS2 game.

NFL 2K5 - the greatest NFL game ever made.

Jak and Daxter - This console's Crash Bandicoot.

Rachet and Clank - I actually have the same problem you have with Final Fantasy with this series. Just pick one.

Need For Speed Underground 2 - One of the best arcade racing games ever made.

Burnout 3 Takedown - Same as above except you crash the cars instead of pimp them out.

SSX3 - Some say Tricky is better, I like them both but usually give 3 the edge.

Soul Calibur II - Best Soul Calibur game IMO

Dragonball Z Budokai 3 - Played the shit out of both this and Budokai Tenkaichi 3

I'm not even scratching the surface.

I love the ps2 era of games! Here are some suggestions:

• ICO: Minimalist game about a cursed boy & a girl with mysterious powers trying to escape a castle together. An absolute classic.
• Shadow of the Colossus: Another Team ICO game, this one you've probably heard of. You play as a young man who sets out for the Forbidden Lands, finding and slaying 16 colossi to resurrect his deceased love.
• Silent Hill 2: One of the greatest survival horror games ever made. Introspective, tackles mature themes, and deeply chilling. A game I truly feel is haunted.
• Persona 4: High schoolers solving a murder mystery in a rural Japanese town. I prefer the vanilla ps2 version to the revised Golden edition, it graphically preserves the fog & spookier ambience - with better pacing from less bloat.

For some more obscure games:

• The Adventures of Cookie & Cream: A brutal co-op/singleplayer puzzle game developed by Fromsoft. Has a fun art style & interesting levels.
• Tak 3 - the Great Juju Challenge: Works best in co-op but still a blast in single-player. 3D platformer with varied levels & a fantastic voice cast (Patrick Warburton as Lok is the highlight).

Btw if you're playing mgs3 on the ps2 make sure it's the Subsistence edition! It has a 3D camera that works way better than the top-down the og game shipped with.

I strongly recommend Dark Cloud and Dark Cloud 2. DC2, to my memory, could have aged well, but DC1 might be a rough play if you're not in the headspace for a game of that era. I haven't played them in an age, though.

Otherwise, I find that Kingdom Hearts (and KH2 in particular) aged very well. KH2 just feels really good to play.

As for Final Fantasy, if you have a wild hair to play just one, you'll get a dozen different opinions. However, since essentially every game plays with new universes and new gameplay mechanics, you really do get a fresh start with each one.

Katamari Damacy and sequel <3

Burnout 3 is one of the best arcade racing games for this generation.

I see you have Kingdom Hearts II in there. There's also the original Kingdom Hearts as well.

The Simpsons: Hit & Run is like GTA but more "family-friendly".

There's also other Ratchet & Clank games on the PS2, including the original, Going Commando, and Deadlocked.

If you like racing games, Need for Speed: Underground 2 is one of the best games in the NFS series. IMO it's better than Underground 1.

Also, appreciate the guide for higher res textures.

Ratchet & Clank and Going Commando are great.

Beyond Good & Evil

Devil May Cry trilogy
If you liked God of War (and its PS2 sequels), another franchise well worth checking out!

Final Fantasy X. Hands down the best entry of the franchise (fight me), and one of the best introductions to the series.

Ico + Shadow of the Colossus
Literal works of art.

Killer7

Manhunt + Manhunt 2
If you like Bully & PS2-era GTA entries, this series is well worth exploring. Very dark and gory.

Need for Speed Underground + Underground 2
Some of the best racing OSTs ever, and the offline PS2-editions don’t lose tracks when licenses expire.

Prince of Persia - Sands of Time

Silent Hill 2

Viewtiful Joe + Viewtiful Joe 2
An incredible 2d beat-em up with a great vibe.

The Warriors
Rockstar’s love letter to a cult classic 70s film.

Zone of the Enders + Zone of the Enders 2nd Runner
Hideo Kojima just doing more of his thing outside of the MGS franchise.

God Hand is probably the most underrated game on the platform. Dont let the visuals or the crass humor turn you off. It's made by Clover (the same devs behind Okami and Viewtiful Joe) and is mechanically deep to an absurd degree. Easily the best beat-em-up on the console.

I'm a big fan of the R-Type series, and R-Type Final plays very well on the Deck.

Also:

Katamari Damacy - Really weird concept for a surprisingly fun game. Roll up the world!
Devil May Cry - The high-speed brawler that launched a genre.
Tales of the Abyss - A good RPG with likeable characters and some great twists.

Here's a list from my collection

• .hack://Infection

• .hack://Mutation

• .hack://Outbreak

• .hack://Quarantine

• .hack://G.U. Rebirth

• .hack://G.U. Reminisce

• .hack://G.U. Redemption

• 007: Agent Under Fire

• 007: Nightfire

• 007: Everything or Nothing

• 10,000 Bullets

• Altered Beast (i.e., Project: Altered Beast)

• Ape Escape 2

• Ape Escape 3

• Ar tonelico: Melody of Elemia

• Ar Tonelico II: Melody of Metafalica

• Armored Core 2

• Armored Core 2: Another Age

• Armored Core 3

• Armored Core: Last Raven

• Armored Core: Nexus

• Armored Core: Nine Breaker

• Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana

• Atelier Iris 2: The Azoth of Destiny

• Atelier Iris 3: Grand Phantasm

• Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance

• Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II

• Beyond Good & Evil

• Blood Will Tell

• BloodRayne

• BloodRayne 2

• Bloody Roar 3

• Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter

• Bunjingai: The Forsaken City (i.e., Bunjingai: Swordmaster)

• Castlevania: Curse of Darkness

• Castlevania: Lament of Innocent

• Champions of Norrath: Realms of EverQuest

• Chaos Wars

• Chulip

• Clock Tower 3

• Cold Fear

• Contra: Shattered Soldier

• Crimson Tears

• Dark Cloud

• Dark Cloud 2 (i.e., Dark Chronicle)

• Destroy All Humans!

• Destroy All Humans! 2

• Deus Ex (NB: Worse than PC version)

• Devil May Cry

• Devil May Cry 2 (NB: Only because I'm recommending the others)

• Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening - Special Edition

• Disaster Report (i.e., SOS: The Final Escape)

• Disgaea 1: Hour of Darkness

• Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories

• Downhill Domination

• Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3

• Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King

• Drakengard

• Drakengard 2

• Dynasty Warriors 5

• Dynasty Warriors 5: Xtreme Legends

• Evergrace

• Fatal Frame

• Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly

• Fatal Frame III: The Tormented

• Final Fantasy X (NB: See end)

• Final Fantasy X-2 (NB: See end)

• Final Fantasy XII (NB: See end)

• Forbidden Siren

• Forbidden Siren 2

• Forever Kingdom (NB: Prequel to Evergrace)

• Gitaroo Man

• Gladius

• God Hand

• Grandia Xtreme

• Grandia III

• Gregory Horror Show

• GunGrave

• GunGrave: Overdose

• Haunting Ground

• Headhunter

• Headhunter Redemption

• Hitman 2: Silent Assassin

• Hitman: Contracts

• Hitman: Blood Money

• Ico

• Initial D Special Stage

• Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy

• Jak II

• Jak 3 (NB: Fuck the naming scheme)

• Jak X: Combat Racing (NB: Get V2.00 specifically)

• Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier

• Katamari Damacy

• Kingdom Hearts - Final Mix

• Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories

• Kingdom Hearts II - Final Mix (NB: Translation somewhere online)

• Kinetica

• Lumines: Puzzle Fusion

• Makai Kingdom: Chronicles of the Sacred Tome

• Mana Khemia: Alchemists of Al-Revis

• Mana Khemia 2: Fall of Alchemy

• Manhunt

• Manhunt 2

• Maximo: Ghosts to Glory

• Maximo vs Army of Zin

• Mega Man X7

• Mega Man X8

• Mercenaries - Playground of Destruction

• Mercenaries 2: World in Flames

• Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence (NB: See end)

• Michigan: Report from Hell

• Mister Mosquito

• Need for Speed: Underground

• Need for Speed: Underground 2

• Need for Speed: Most Wanted

• Need for Speed: Carbon

• Nightshade (NB: Sequel to Shinobi)

• ObsCure

• ObsCure II

• Odin Sphere

• Okage: Shadow King

• Onimusha 1: Warlords (NB: Pressure-sensitive buttons)

• Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny (NB: Pressure-sensitive buttons)

• Onimusha 3: Demon Siege (NB: Pressure-sensitive buttons)

• Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams

• PaRappa The Rapper 2

• Phantom Brave

• Primal

• Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

• Prince of Persia: Warrior Within

• Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones

• Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy

• Psychonauts

• Radiata Stories

• Ratchet & Clank

• Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando (i.e., Locked and Loaded)

• Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal

• Ratchet & Clank: Deadlocked

• Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters

• Raw Danger! (NB: Sequel to Disaster Report)

• Red Dead Revolver

• Resident Evil Code: Veronica X

• Resident Evil Outbreak

• Resident Evil Outbreak: File #2

• Resident Evil 4

• Rogue Galaxy

• Romancing SaGa

• Rygar: The Legendary Adventure

• Samurai Western

• Second Sight

• Shadow Hearts

• Shadow Hearts: Covenant

• Shadow Hearts: From the New World

• Shadow of Destiny (i.e., Memories)

• Shadow of Rome

• Shadow of the Colossus

• Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne (i.e., Lucifer's Call) (i.e., featuring Dante from DMC!)

• Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga

• Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga 2

• Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner, Raidou Kuzunoha vs. The Soulless Army

• Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner 2: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon

• Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 FES

• Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4

• Shining Force EXA

• Shinobi

• Shinobido: Way of the Ninja

• Silent Hill 2 (NB: Pressure-sensitive buttons)

• Silent Hill 3

• Silent Hill 4: The Room (NB: Just because)

• Silent Scope

• Silent Scope 2: Dark Silhouette

• Silent Scope 3

• Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus

• Sly 2: Band of Thieves

• Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves

• Soul Nomad & the World Eaters

• Spider-Man 2

• Star Ocean: Till the End of Time

• Steambot Chronicles

• Suikoden III

• Suikoden IV

• Suikoden V

• Super Dragon Ball Z

• Tales of Legendia

• Tales of the Abyss

• Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven

• Tenchu: Fatal Shadows

• The Bouncer

• The Getaway

• The Getaway: Black Monday

• The Godfather

• The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction

• The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

• The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

• The Simpsons: Hit & Run

• The Sword of Etheria

• The Thing

• The Warriors

• Tokyo Road Race

• Tokyo Xtreme Racer 3

• Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3

• Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4

• Tony Hawk's American Wasteland

• TY the Tasmanian Tiger

• TY the Tasmanian Tiger 2: Bush Rescue

• Way of the Samurai

• Way of the Samurai 2

• Wild Arms 3

• Wild Arms 4

• Wild Arms 5

• Wild Arms: Alter Code, F

• Xenosaga Episode I: Der Wille zur Macht

• Xenosaga Episode II: Jenseits von Gut und Böse

• Xenosaga Episode III: Also sprach Zarathustra

• X-Men Legends

• X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse

• Yakuza

• Yakuza 2

• Zone of the Enders

• Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner (NB: Get PAL special specifically)

So Final Fantasy games are often unrelated to one another. Meaning you can just pick whichever to start. Although Final Fantasy X has a direct sequel, that being Final Fantasy X-2.

Next is about Mega Gear Solid 3: Subsistence. Even though you have it listed I still mention it because Subsistence includes:

• Metal Gear
• Metal Gear 2

Being the most recommended versions of those games. (Not including Nintendo's recent ports)

Final fantasy isn't a continuation from game to game, they are new stories each time. Final fantasy is more like a feeling than a specific place or group of people.

All that said I really think you should consider trying Final Fantasy 10, it has fantastic cinematics and is a very emotional game.

One of my favorite eras to live through and emulate!

Aside from Dark Cloud 2, mentioned already, I also really love:

Katamari, but on Deck the native version is better and includes the sequel.

The Jak and Daxter trilogy, simply amazing games! The first or the second are usually the favs. 1 is a solid mascot platformer. 2 also is, kind of, but adds guns and cars and a slightly GTA inspired open world. 3 is also fun but leans harder into vehicles and generally isn't regarded as highly.

Odin Sphere. All the VanillaWare games are great, but OS is one of the most beautiful games ever drawn, and has really fun brawler\rpg combat. GrimGrimoire is another of theirs, also good, kind of a side scrolling RTS.

Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2 are both a lot of fun, especially if you love Disney or SquareEnix games. If not, they're still pretty fun and have an... interesting, if convoluted, lore. I probably wouldn't recommend if you dont care for Disney though. Probably worth playing Final Fantasy 7 first as well. It's referenced quite reverently and is a great standalone game (and PS1 still counts I think, haha).

Devil May Cry 1 and 3. You can skip 2, even the fans and creators don't care about it, and 3 is a prequel. DMC1 is a landmark game, and is required playing in my opinion for being both important and incredibly fun. It can be quite hard though. 3 is arguably the best in the whole series, and holds up really well near the top of the genre to this day.

God of War 1, 2, and 3. They're fantastic action games, and pretty influential still. I dont like them as much as DMC, but they're still pretty fun.

There were actually a lot of pretty mediocre DMC clones on PS2, like Gungrave or Bujingai. If you love the genre, they're neat and OK fun. God Hand is quite funny and kind of unique, probably the best of the 3 listed here.

I see Okami in there and I approve! Although I think the remasters released on other platform more recently are a better way to play. I also preferred the Wii version back in the day.

The Sly Cooper games and the Ratchet and Clank games are also both really excellent series. I liked Jak more, but they're distinct games with their own neat elements. Sly's particularly unique as a mascot stealth game.

Metal Gear Solid series and the Tony Hawk games are obviously excellent, but you've got so many other ways to play those I'm not sure they're worth emulating.

Zone of the Enders, 1 and 2. ZoE 1 is infamous as being the game that came with the first MGS2 demo on it. The game is fine but short, and mostly serves to set up ZoE2, which fucking rules! You pilot a badass mecha and it just has a really fun plot, great music, and good action. An underrated gem!

Not your jam I'm sure, but I'd be remiss if I didnt mention the many hours I spent playing Capcom vs SNK 2. Still one of my favorite fighting games, legendary roster and soundtrack.

If you'd like a roguelike, I'd suggest Baroque or (PS1) Azure Dreams. Both pretty fun, quite long games with lots of replay value. Baroque is uh... well titled, kind of challenging to get into.

Ah, there were so many good games in that era. Truly one of the most stacked console lineups ever.

Party Girls

Ghost Rider

Ultimate Spider-Man

LEGO games, like harry potter and batman

Ratatouille

Beyond Good and Evil

Devil May Cry, DMC2, DMC3

Ghostbusters

Kuon

X-Men Origins Wolverine

Scarface

Mister Mosquito

The PS2 Ace Combat games (4/5/Zero) are still best-in-genre as far as I'm concerned, and have held up exceedingly well in general. Aerial dogfighting with good controls, good mission design and interesting story.

Sky Odyssey is a more "relaxed" little flight game that I also like, still got game-like controls but no combat, just missions where you fly through hard situations.

No Final Fantasy because I'm not even sure where to start!

Final Fantasy is somewhat of an anthology: each major installment (just "Final Fantasy" plus a roman numeral, nothing else) takes place in an entirely different world and thus includes its own tutorial. You don't need to know anything before going into one of them. You can start anywhere, like Final Fantasy X, which was one of the most acclaimed FF releases and happened to be on the PS2.

I think that you're going to likely get more-helpful suggestions if you list some games or genres that you like, something beyond "No Final Fantasy" and "No GTA".

This Reddit post has a list of PS2 games that "still hold up", without genre restrictions. There's nothing there that I glance at and say "oh, I loved that and one needs to go back and play it", but it's probably a reasonable starting point. Like, I enjoyed Max Payne (which I recommend playing on the PC rather than console) when it came out, but I don't know if I'd go back and play it as an FPS in 2025.

Kingdom Hearts

I recently went through a ps2 games phase. Some already mentioned but the lesser known standouts for me were;

God hand (probably the best game on ps2 and released really late in the life of the PS2 so many people missed it),

Odin sphere (best looking game on the system and really fun),

urban reign,

steam bot chronicles (robot action rpg really satisfying game play)

robot alchemical drive (ride on the shoulders of huge gundam style robots, really unique game)

champions of norrath, (action rpg based on EverQuest universe, really fun)

psi ops, (fps like game with stars wars style force powers, crazy fun)

Drakan: Ancient gates, (action rpg, fly on a dragon, one of the best magic systems ever where you have to trace the pattern to cast. The reason I started my ps2 phase was to replay this game, loved it as a kid and still holds up)

Lots of good suggestions already, but I don't think I saw anyone mention Twisted Metal: Black. It's very dark and lots of fun.

Dark cloud 1 - amazing

Dark cloud 2 (Dark Chronicle in EU) - 11/10, I replay it almost every year

Smugglers Run 2

Castlevania Symphony of the Night

Gladius

Burnout Revenge

Gran Turismo 3&4

Final Fantasy X/ X-II

Just Cause 2

Drakkengarde

I'm sure I'm forgetting some really good ones.

You have to... No, You NEED to Play Downhill Domination. There is NO WAY you won't have fun playing that, trust me.

Oh! And Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi 3! You don't have to be a DBZ fan to have fun with that, is amazing and so chaotic!

Also, have you consider trying Devil May Cry 3? (Don't worry about the number, it's a precule). It's kinda hard but so fun and satisfying.

No Final Fantasy because I'm not even sure where to start!

I had the same problem too, but after trying to play them chronologically (and failing), I learned that you can play any FF game at any time, cuz they are very unique and don't actually relate one another.

Final Fantasy X is a great pick, for example, it helped me overcome my despise for Turn-base combat RPG.

And, if you're up to some Big Robot Fight mayhem anime style, Zone of The Enders is Amazing.

edit: AND YAKUZA! HOW COULD I FORGOT YAKUZA!!?? YOU HAVE TO PLAY THE FIRST YAKUZA ASAP!!

(unless you want to play / already played the kiwami version, which may be a better experience)

Zone of the Enders 1 and 2
Shadowhearts
SSX Tricky
Burnout
Katamari Damacey
Ribbit King
Roommania #201
SkyGunner
Oni
Dead or Alive 2
Silent Hill 2 and 3
Mobile Suit Gundam: Zeonic Front
Mobile Suit Gundam: The Lost War Chronicles
Xenosaga
.dot Hack
Smackdown: Here Comes The Pain
Def Jam Vendetta
GunGrave
Capcom vs SNK
Marvel vs Capcom 2

Black

It's great!

Challenging without being too frustrating, but patience is definitely required. Tactics play a big role when you're playing it on the hardest setting

Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction

Super underrated. The first one.

Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction, Destroy All Humans! Shadow of the Colossus, The Matrix: Path of Neo, Psi Ops: The Mind Gate Conspiracy, Burnout Revenge, Gitaroo Man, God Hand.

I’m sure there’s more but that’s off the top of my head. Also some of these can definitely be found in newer versions or ports, but they started on PS2 so I listed them anyways.

Ratchet and Clank is a great series, and so are the Jak and Daxter series; both are excellent platformers for different reasons. Although, it might be easier to play Jak 1 and 2 through OpelGOAL, which will run the games natively on the Deck instead of emulation and isn't too hard to set up.

It's a bit of a black sheep, but Spyro A Heroes Tale is a guilty pleasure of mine. It isn't as great as the original Spyro trilogy on PS1, but it's entertaining in its own right. I'm currently playing through it and enjoying it.

Ratchet and Clank is the best, and the story is best experienced in order but the first game is a bit clunky so starting on the second game isn’t the worst idea. I personally started with Up Your Arsenal! then got hooked on the series and backfilled.

There are some good PS2 Crash Bandicoot games-- any of the platformers, or the racing ones (I had Crash Nitro Kart and can confirm it's a good time).

You could also try Kingdom Hearts (+ the sequels, Re:Chain of Memories and KH2) if you want to be confused

Armored Core 2, Armored Core 3, Armored Core: Silent Line

Need for Speed Underground 1 and 2

If you want a wacky, unique rhythm game: Gitaroo Man

For the PS2 entry into one of the best shoot em up series of all time: Gradius V

For a fun, anime themed, voice acted tactical RPG that you can just literally play forever because it seemingly invented the "looping, start over but with better base stats" mechanic that idle games use these days: Disgaea

(As a bonus, the original PS2 version of Disgaea has a different voice for one of the characters than it does in other releases because they lost the rights or some thing like that, so you get to experience it in a slightly different manner than most other people.)

If you have the time for a JRPG, Dragon Quest 8 is one of my favorite games ever. Maximo is also a cool third person action game.

Simpsons: Road Rage is my all-time favorite of any game on any console..

So much so that I bought the game without having the console to even play it 🫣

Bloody Roar is a fighting game where you can turn into a furry, and it's so cool I think they have a PS2 sequel, games go hard.

Dr.Muto is a funny 3D platformer