Best Looking PS2 Games

[Anim8rDude]

@Anim8rDude Most of us will only be able to post emulator footage.
I guess we should try using very vanilla settings, or the software renderer, and integer scaling is probably nice too.

Hopefully these are fine.

I think my comments came off as a bit harsh. Truth is PS2 has a lot of great games with great art direction, & they all deserved to be loved in HD. I've just spent way too much time tinkering with silly PS2 video stuff...

Dragon Quest is a pretty nice looking game, & these screenshots are nice. It's weird, because this looks exactly like what you would see when hooking up your PS2 via component to a modern TV.

 

[Mopeybloke]

I think my comments came off as a bit harsh. Truth is PS2 has a lot of great games with great art direction, & they all deserved to be loved in HD. I've just spent way too much time tinkering with silly PS2 video stuff...

Dragon Quest is a pretty nice looking game, & these screenshots are nice. It's weird, because this looks exactly like what you would see when hooking up your PS2 via component to a modern TV.

For this game, true. However, the emulator improves certain games substantially. PCSX2 has a setting called anti-blur, which skips the process of converting the image to analogue. On real hardware, this process makes certain games very blurry. Some companies seem to completely avoid it though.

Edit: I ain't turning it off though. Just imagine I have one of those modded PS2's that intercepts the images directly digital.

 

[Skeleben]

Haven City from Jak 2 & 3 is genuinely such an awesome looking main location to set your game in. That giant main tower looming over the city is so atmospheric I love it. All of the Jak games have really strong artistic direction imo

 

[Anim8rDude]

For this game, true. However, the emulator improves certain games substantially. PCSX2 has a setting called anti-blur, which skips the process of converting the image to analogue. On real hardware, this process makes certain games very blurry. Some companies seem to completely avoid it though.

People never mention this anywhere (or don't experiment), but via GSM (homebrew program) if you force 480i, even when your game is already 480i, you can disable the blur/flicker filter for basically every game. Already by doing that you can make games look quite a bit better on actual console.
This should be a rule of thumb!

I think even Dragon Quest VIII can potentially looks better on PS2 than the raw pics you shared

 

[FTLOTG]

Cold Winter, a first person shooter with lots of physics and interactivity. Visuals are good but the environments are densely packed, there's tons of gore and tons of physics objects.

Watch coldwinter1min | Streamable

Watch "coldwinter1min" on Streamable.

streamable.com

 

[Mopeybloke]

@FTLOTG Those tracer and particle effects when you shoot the SPAS look a lot like F.E.A.R.

 

[FTLOTG]

@FTLOTG Those tracer and particle effects when you shoot the SPAS look a lot like F.E.A.R.

Came out right around the same time. Transformers Armada is another excellent looking game on the console, especially for its massive levels full of foliage. Physics driven gameplay as well.

 

[thanonyx]

Valkyrie Profile 2 looks absolutely stunning not to mention the music sounds amazing and it has a great story to boot.

It's just a creative arts trifecta of a game.

 

[Antilocal123]

All of them because the PS2 is a lovely console < 3

 

[Prism_Red]

I'm not a graphics guy but 3 titles stood out that made me went "damn this shit looks next gen" at the time.

Black
Final Fantasy XII
Transformers Armada as mentioned above.