Hey guys, if this is supposed to be in the recommendation thread I apologize.

I've got a few PSN dollars left over, and I'm looking for a new game. The last two PSone games I played were Final Fantasy 9 and Symphony of the Night. I have also played Chrono Cross. I'm typically a big RPG fan, but I've been taking a break. Action RPGs are OK, but turn based is getting boring so unless there is something with a really good twist and challenge, please don't suggest.

My favorite games are: KOTOR, Halo, Indigo Prophecy, Baldur's Gate 2, Dead Space, Psychonauts, and Chronicles of Riddick Escape from Butcher Bay

I haven't played most PSone games, but I can tell you right now I'm not thinking of: Metal Gear Solid, Resident Evil (Controls make me angry),Final Fantasy games, Tony Hawk, Racing games.

I'd rather the game have some length to it. Multiplayer is not an object. Just looking for something good that may not necessarily be A-list.

I'm currently working on buying a wii and games for my dorm right now, and since I'm a PS3 owner I'd appreciate some help with titles. These are generally going to be played by people that don't own a console, and probably aren't into gaming. In other words, casual gamers. Though my mind immediately flies to games like house of the dead overkill, dead space extraction, twilight princess, and no more heros, these are probably too narrow to be interesting to the girly folk that will be playing them. Multiplayer is a requirement! I've only got $100 to spend, so suggestions would be appreciated!

Current ideas:

Mario Party

Warioware: smooth moves

Rock band, if its cheap

Thanks for the ideas in advance!

I have been reading more and have found that the 80gb models are generally substantially cheaper used. Getting one new would be ideal, but I dunno if its possible. I'm prolly gonna send him a message saying to get the 2nd generation 80gb model, but I'd need to clear up some stuff relating to warranty coverage and the like, esp if its a refurb. I don't feel like something breaking on me right out the door.

What model do you have? I'm between the 80GB with emulation or the 60gb with hardware.

I apologize for the frustration you may have had with an unreliable console, but as far as I've read, PS3's even the first generation, had MUCH better reliability and the xbox. After all, which one is someone more likely to understand...RROD of YLOD?

I will take advantage of at least a few of the advantages that were listed above me, in particular I WILL use the backwards compatability- not everyone had a PS2 before the PS3 came out and I've got some catching up to do.

Thanks so much for the input guys, carry on.

I think I'm gonna go for it- thanks for the input, any other advice is welcome.

Ugh that complicates things slightly. To clarify and inquire further:

1) to the person that says they have seen them for 250...where?

2) Let me reiterate that this is NEW, not used. I wouldn't pay 350 for used.

3) Does anyone have any clue if warranty would cover this?

Hey guys, I just got the opportunity to get a brand new first generation 60GB PS3 from one of my friends that works are gamestop. He said it would cost $350. The only reason I haven't been getting a PS3 is the lack of backwards compatability, since I'm currently biding my time for game prices to go down some. If I got a backwards compatabile PS3 I'd have the luxury of getting most PS1/2 games used for very little and playing those whilst waiting for prices to drop. I've been doing this with my Xbox but have started running out of games worth playing sadly. For the games I'd be playing from the PS2 era, just off the top of my head, I can think of Metal Gear Solid 3, Devil May Cry series, Final fantasy VIII to X, Ikaruga, Persona series, Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, Kingdon hearts 1+2, and I'm sure I could come up with more.

If I were to get the PS3 slim, I'd miss out on alot of those, and it seems like only FFVII is on the PSN thus far, which is a bit of a downer. That said, 350 is still 50 more than a brand new slim with a bigger hard drive. Should I just keep waiting and pray for the (unlikely) return of backwards compatability, or seize the opportunity? Is it a decent price/ were there any reliability issues/ do you think it would be warranteed?

Thanks

What part of a videogame do you feel is the most important? Graphics? Story? Music? Characters? Gameplay? Replay value? Voice acting? etc...

I've always felt that music is by far the most powerful part of a game because it is, to me, the best way for the story to convey emotion and make the player feel those emotions. I'm a big RPG fan and this applies most to that area, since very few of the best RPGs are lacking a good soundtrack with at least a few memorable songs. Just a few examples would be Final fantasy VI's opera scene, VII's One wing angel, tons of chrono trigger, songs from secret of mana, and Star ocean (the original, don't know the others), and tales of phantasia. Yes, I do like the SNES, if you can't tell. That said, there are RPGs on other systems with good sountracks, such as Baldur's gate II and Oblivion, so this certainly isn't a console specific phenomenon.

The importance of music is definitely not limited by genre though. The original Diablo had a soundtrack that helped to scare the life out of the player, as do the resident evil games. The metal gear solid games all have stellar soundtracks that help bring the game's story to life and then some. The music from the original Halo and Quake II both did great jobs of getting you pumped to blow the crap out of something. I can think of several others but I won't drag on about them.

I think the fact that the least important part of a game is the graphics, to a fault. When we cross the uncanny valley, graphics will matter as then they will be able to convey emotions clearly as well, but until then, graphics are really the least important part of a game. If a game has a wretched soundtrack, storyline, or gameplay, it can ruin the experience provided by the game. Note that. Games should be an experience, not just a mindless run and gun where you blow things up from point A and B. They should make you -feel- something. Often modern games don't really pull this off but that is a different topic. The least important part of being able to experience a game is how it looks- the fact that I am still able to play games on dead consoles and get a little warm inside during certain scenes definitely says something about the importance of graphics in a game.

That's just my opinion- What is yours?