PS2 emulator PCSX2 puts out its first major release in 4 years, with big improvements

erek

erek

[H]F Junkie
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Pretty sweet! You guys into the scene?

"New builds pop up on the PCSX2 Github page almost daily, with notes like "Fixes Robin Hood" and "[skip ci] GSDumpGUI: Add context menu to GSdx and Internal log" (no, I don't know what that means, either). These kinds of changes are focused on progress, which inevitably means things break, or the interface is in flux, or a new feature isn't fully optimized. The downside for players is we we either take a chance on those builds, or we use an older version of the emulator that may be missing years worth of great additions.

That conundrum makes this PCSX2 release, version 1.6.0, an exciting milestone. A post on the PCSX2 website rounds up bullet points from the last few years of changes, but it's hard to appreciate what they all mean if you aren't a software developer. They really are extensive, though. GUI overhauls, support for modern display features like adaptive sync, better gamepad configuration tools, better support for sprite-based games, and innumerable core improvements and bug fixes."

https://www.pcgamer.com/ps2-emualto...jor-release-in-4-years-with-big-improvements/
 
.....assuming you have to resort to some searching on the interwebs to power this thing with cd images rite.....
 
It astounds me just how broken game design was for the PS2 the last time I broke-out PCX2. Even though it has the ,most buttons of any console of it's day, several high-profile titles consist of nothing more than pressing the same button dozens of times a second to open a treasure chest/open a bridge/perform a special move

God of war made it even worse by shifting between HOLDING a button, and pressing it dozens of times a second TO DO THE SAME ACTION! And the coordinated right and lleft button hammering required to open a bridge is in Jak and Daxter is just old-schools Track and Field fuckery!

Fuck the PS2, it's just overrated 80s games ported to 3d, with a bunch of extra shoulder buttons no game actually uses! And the ones that do are actually terrible at controlling your character (Ico, Shadow of the Colossus). And Final Fantasy 12 is the worst game in the series!
 
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Uh, the PS1 came out in 1995. 1994 if you're Japanese.
 
defaultluser said:
It astounds me just how broken game design was for the PS2 the last time I broke-out PCX2. Even though it has the ,most buttons of any console of it's day, several high-profile titles consist of nothing more than pressing the same button dozens of times a second to open a treasure chest/open a bridge/perform a special move

God of war made it even worse by shifting between HOLDING a button, and pressing it dozens of times a second TO DO THE SAME ACTION! And the coordinated right and lleft button hammering required to open a bridge is in Jak and Daxter is just old-schools Track and Field fuckery!

Fuck the PS2, it's just overrated 80s games ported to 3d, with a bunch of extra shoulder buttons no game actually uses! And the ones that do are actually terrible at controlling your character (Ico, Shadow of the Colossus). And Final Fantasy 12 is the worst game in the series!
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Worse than 13? :eek:
 
defaultluser said:
It astounds me just how broken game design was for the PS2 the last time I broke-out PCX2. Even though it has the ,most buttons of any console of it's day, several high-profile titles consist of nothing more than pressing the same button dozens of times a second to open a treasure chest/open a bridge/perform a special move

God of war made it even worse by shifting between HOLDING a button, and pressing it dozens of times a second TO DO THE SAME ACTION! And the coordinated right and lleft button hammering required to open a bridge is in Jak and Daxter is just old-schools Track and Field fuckery!

Fuck the PS2, it's just overrated 80s games ported to 3d, with a bunch of extra shoulder buttons no game actually uses! And the ones that do are actually terrible at controlling your character (Ico, Shadow of the Colossus). And Final Fantasy 12 is the worst game in the series!
Click to expand...
Nice 'opinion' ya got there....Personally, I loved 12.
MaZa said:
Worse than 13? :eek:
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This I can agree with though, hated 13 lol
 
Pcsx2 is a pretty solid app. I’d been running the older version for a while now. All my systems are on Ubuntu these days though, gonna have to see about getting the new version running there.

Since we’re talking about ps2 game design, I’ve been really impressed at the graphic design of later ps2 games. FF12 (divisive though it may be) is a great example - the amount of detail visible with higher render resolution and texture filtering applied is incredible for a game that was released in 2005. It kind of boggles the mind that they put as much effort into the art as they did, considering the system’s render resolution and available TVs at the time.

a lot of the more popular games have gotten remasters and rereleases on ps3 or ps4, but for the ones that haven’t, if you have the ability to (legally) play the games on an emulator it’s worth the effort imo.
 
deruberhanyok said:
Pcsx2 is a pretty solid app. I’d been running the older version for a while now. All my systems are on Ubuntu these days though, gonna have to see about getting the new version running there.

Since we’re talking about ps2 game design, I’ve been really impressed at the graphic design of later ps2 games. FF12 (divisive though it may be) is a great example - the amount of detail visible with higher render resolution and texture filtering applied is incredible for a game that was released in 2005. It kind of boggles the mind that they put as much effort into the art as they did, considering the system’s render resolution and available TVs at the time.

a lot of the more popular games have gotten remasters and rereleases on ps3 or ps4, but for the ones that haven’t, if you have the ability to (legally) play the games on an emulator it’s worth the effort imo.
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Yeah, I fell in love all over again with FF12 on pcsx2, it looked beautiful all over again for me :) Plus, you can break the game within the first couple hours and then just smooth sailing after that. Loved getting into the technical side of it's RNG for opening treasures and what not.
 
maclem8223 said:
Yeah, I fell in love all over again with FF12 on pcsx2, it looked beautiful all over again for me :) Plus, you can break the game within the first couple hours and then just smooth sailing after that. Loved getting into the technical side of it's RNG for opening treasures and what not.
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For me, FF12 took the last of what was interesting in FF: strategic combat, and killed it dead on the operating table.

If I wanted to play Nothing but a Random Number Generator, would get into collecting cards packs. I find pure random draw game SO BORING.

If I'm going to draw collectable playing cards, it's in a booster draft (to play after you're done building a deck). Just randomly drawing a deck i s really no fun!

I know there are people out there who like their 100% RNG experience (Rouge-and-such), And there is a small-subset 100% let-the-computer-do-this "gaming" (football manager :rolleyes:) but such a drastic change in combat was not going to be well-implemented by Squaresoft (like the FF7 to FF8 transition, jarring, and poorly-thought-out).

FF12 changed to the same active combat system as Tales series, but they completely removed any interactivity from the player (start battle, sit-on-your-ass) Just ask folks how poorly-received Dragon Quest 4 's new "auto-attack for the rest of the party, for the majority of the game" was received, and you'll understand what they fucked-up in FF12.

Instead, they implemented full auto-battle as an option in later dragon quest games, and it was much better. MUCH LIKE LATER Final Fantasy 15 gave you full-interactive-combat (with easy scripted full-party special moves by pressing a direction key, for those of you who hate action!)

Yes, you CAN have the best of both world. No, Japanese game designers don't realize this until nobody buys their games.
 
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defaultluser said:
For me, FF12 took the last of what was interesting in FF: strategic combat, and killed it dead on the operating table.

If I wanted to play Nothing but a Random Number Generator, would get into collecting cards packs. I find pure random draw game SO BORING.

If I'm going to draw collectable playing cards, it's in a booster draft (to play after you're done building a deck). Just randomly drawing a deck i s really no fun!

I know there are people out there who like their 100% RNG experience (Rouge-and-such), And there is a small-subset 100% let-the-computer-do-this "gaming" (football manager :rolleyes:) but such a drastic change in combat was not going to be well-implemented by Squaresoft (like the FF7 to FF8 transition, jarring, and poorly-thought-out).

FF12 changed to the same active combat system as Tales series, but they completely removed any interactivity from the player (start battle, sit-on-your-ass) Just ask folks how poorly-received Dragon Quest 4 's new "auto-attack for the rest of the party, for the majority of the game" was received, and you'll understand what they fucked-up in FF12.

Instead, they implemented full auto-battle as an option in later dragon quest games, and it was much better. MUCH LIKE LATER Final Fantasy 15 gave you full-interactive-combat (with easy scripted full-party special moves by pressing a direction key, for those of you who hate action!)

Yes, you CAN have the best of both world. No, Japanese game designers don't realize this until nobody buys their games.
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Read whole post.....nope, still love the game :)
 
vegeta535 said:
Final fantasy has sucked since 9. There is no arguing it.
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9 was the last classic FF game that was worth playing for a JRPG fan. Though I would say X was simply deeply flawed but not the worst thing out there as far as gameplay goes. But after that, less said about the X-2 the better (WTF was Square even thinking...) Never played XII, that one flew completely off the radar for me and apparently why I missed the news that Final Fantasy had turned to shit. Because 13, mother of god, is one of the worst Triple A games I have ever played. :banghead:
 
defaultluser said:
For me, FF12 took the last of what was interesting in FF: strategic combat, and killed it dead on the operating table.

If I wanted to play Nothing but a Random Number Generator, would get into collecting cards packs. I find pure random draw game SO BORING.

If I'm going to draw collectable playing cards, it's in a booster draft (to play after you're done building a deck). Just randomly drawing a deck i s really no fun!

I know there are people out there who like their 100% RNG experience (Rouge-and-such), And there is a small-subset 100% let-the-computer-do-this "gaming" (football manager :rolleyes:) but such a drastic change in combat was not going to be well-implemented by Squaresoft (like the FF7 to FF8 transition, jarring, and poorly-thought-out).

FF12 changed to the same active combat system as Tales series, but they completely removed any interactivity from the player (start battle, sit-on-your-ass) Just ask folks how poorly-received Dragon Quest 4 's new "auto-attack for the rest of the party, for the majority of the game" was received, and you'll understand what they fucked-up in FF12.

Instead, they implemented full auto-battle as an option in later dragon quest games, and it was much better. MUCH LIKE LATER Final Fantasy 15 gave you full-interactive-combat (with easy scripted full-party special moves by pressing a direction key, for those of you who hate action!)

Yes, you CAN have the best of both world. No, Japanese game designers don't realize this until nobody buys their games.
Click to expand...
What are you blathering on about? Did you even play XII?
 
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