PixlBit

This section covered my two favorite PS2 games: Dragon Quest VIII and Final Fantasy XII. DQVIII was a shock in how big of a leap it was from its PS1 predecessor. I took the day off from work for FFXII's launch. 

I bought DQ VIII for the FF XII demo and fell in love with the game. I didn't finish it, but the combination of the battles showing your characters and the fact that Toriyama's art translates so well to 3D made me show up for IX on day one.

Other than Mario and Zelda, Dragon Quest is the series I've stuck with for the longest, having played the original when it first came out on NES. That said, it was hard for the seventh game to make a splash on PS1 compared to the Final Fantasies or even more offbeat fare like Lunar or Enix's own Valkyrie Profile. But I did get the Game Boy Color remakes of the NES games. Level-5 was the best choice they could possibly have made for VIII, as not only was that game great, but I think it was an eye-opener for Horii and Toriyama that they could both stick with tradition, yet work with more modern technology. 

Link to the guide, in the podcast from Deer Hunter on p. 8 to Lowrider on p. 20: https://www.listchallenges.com/all-north-american-release-playstation-2-games

True story, I finished this episode about a week after it came out, plotted out a reply, and then was hit with the worst stomach flu I've ever had as an adult, forgetting everything.  Better late than never though!

Deus Ex: The Conspiracy (surprise surprise) has been on my backlog for years.  It's a scaled down version of it but I heard some of the level design isn't half bad (some of it is trash though).  It's too bad it doesn't have mods like the PC version though, I don't usually recommend the first DX without GMDXv10 (significant changes) or at least BioMod/Shifter.

Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure uses the same engine as THPS4.  Always meant to give it a try.  I remembered it was in a past SDGQ (2015) but apparently it was at last year's too!

Never played them but I love the idea of those 00s EXTREME Donald the Duck games, great stuff and that boxart, wow!  Looney Toons have a couple here this time as well!

Speaking of GDQ, Dog's Life is a classic awful game run.

FromSoftware games: Echo Night: Beyond got fan-translated I want to say a year or two back.  It's not as a whole as good as the first one, but it does have some of the peak FromSoftware weirdness to it.  Eternal Ring on there, another FromSoftware game, is basically a tech demo for King's Field IV (a lot of empty dungeons with nothing in them), but it has some top-tier weapon/magic effects and what is probably the most bizarre ending out of a FromSoftware game.  Speaking of, King's Field IV is actually good (I've been wanting to replay it for years) but it is a bit slower than the other games in the series and, spoilers, doesn't tie much into them (it's likely a prequel.  King's Field I-III are very self-contained though so I can understand it not tying in).  Evergrace is interesting but, maybe just the localization, is incomprehensible (the bonus dungeon part is awesome and ties into their Shadow Tower series though).  The pseudo-sequel, Eternal Kingdom, is a pretty damn competant kinda character action game although it's a totally different style than its prequel.  Kuon is very Silent Hill/Resident Evil influenced and while it fails in many ways (jump scares that get old and predictable quick, hitboxes that quickly become too combersome especially with the character you play as the longest) it has an okay plot although I have mixed feelings on the ending (it's kinda cool but the secret character, a gender-swapped mythology character, just comes out of nowhere and is integral to the last act).

Final Fight: Streetwise.  What's your highest score in the cockroach stomping game?  Ugh.

I remember some of the Frogger GBA games being pretty decent?  Not all of them were ports it looks like.

Anyone interested in Futurama you should look into the game, it was a very meta game produced shortly before the first cancellation and the cutscenes were even included on one of the DVDs as a "lost episode".

I forgot which PSX Harvest Moon game was the okay one but I was more of a Harvest Moon 64 person (and later the GBA one, both great games with crazy breakable depth if you want to grind the rest of your life).  Further on the list, Innocent Life: A Futuristic Harvest Moon is well-considered definately NOT one of the good ones, but it does break the traditional Harvest Moon rigamarole and the Wiki mentions it's more like Rune Factory in its RPG quest structure.  It also has an interesting narrative where you are an android working on an uninhabitable world which you travel through on a futuristic buggy.  No marriage for androids!

Klonoa games are great but I've never actually played that one.  The original and GBA ones are top-tier, though, definately a lost classic series.

Hmm, I remember the Lemony Snicket's a Series of Unfortunate Events GBA game actually being very ambitious.  Just one of those weird tie-in games that somebody must've put some real effort into creating.

Okay, I think that's more than enough!  Thanks again!