PixlBit

My goodness, I remember the crazy second-hand prices revolving around the PS2's launch.  Some of it was quite hilarious, though, seeing PS2s listed for over a million dollars.  At least my brother got his at launch because he preordered it.  Sadly, his unit didn't last anywhere near as long as yours.  Meanwhile, my 2002 unit is still working, which is good considering all the PS2 games I need to play.

As for getting incomplete games, it's a necessary evil.  At that point you either play that game or you don't.  It's annoying, though, because you're left with those oddball games in your collection with no labeling (although you can find some here).  In regards to my PS2 collection, I only have one game like that - Stella Deus - and it bugs me.  Maybe Atlus will throw me a bone one day and reprint it.

The changes to the notification system are much appreciated.  Now I don't need to double click through every message to delete them!

It could have been the fatique system; each character could only perform a number of actions before that blue bar over their head depleted.  Once that happened, you needed to avoid attacks for a bit until it filled up again.

Wow, look at that!  When I checked Amazon yesterday, Devil Summoner 2 was still $100.  They must have restocked after I looked the game up.  That said, I suppose you could just drop the $40 (total) for reprints of Digital Devil Saga 1 and 2 to get them complete.  Actually, that might be the best thing to do as you'll have sealed copies for your collection and two loose copies to play.  I'm actually looking to do that myself for several games I don't want to open (mostly NISA games).

No, these are just the base games.  It's similar to how NISA handles reprints (Ar tonelico, Mana Khemia, Neptunia, etc.) where they just sell the game without the bonus materials.  It would have been awesome if they reproduced the whole thing, but Altus can't upset that delicate relationship they have with their consumer base.

At least on CD Universe you can place the order and they will keep it open for a month as they look for a copy (I've done this a few times to varying success).  Still, there are $30 reprints of the first game on Amazon for you, so you can get that for a big discount over the original.   I'm just hoping that the second game shows up soon on Amazon, but I have bad feeling that it came and went already (the Siliconera story was from March 7th, which is not good).

I want to see more lateral thinking about games now that the hardware is so powerful.  Back when Blu-Rays were first unveiled, I wasn't thinking about high-definition movies.  I honestly thought the technology was going to be used to deliver more content per disc than a standard DVD, like housing an entire season for a show.  I'm very open to the idea of games doing the same thing, where a game like Dynasty Warriors or Star Wars Battlefront kept the visuals to a PS2 standard (or lower), but improved the scope, draw distance, and the amount of on-screen objects with greater physics systems and damage models.  In short, I want to see gaming spread out in all directions and utilize modern technology in different ways, instead of focusing on just the presentation.

(By the way, sorry this comment is so late.  I've been having some trouble keeping current with the site, but I'm doing my best to keep track of all the old blogs.)

There's some harsh criticism in here!  Some of the games deserve it, though.  As I'm working my way (slowly) through these games, I'm starting to get a very good idea of what I want from these games and what I don't.  There is such a wide gulf of quality in regards to level and boss design across the whole classic series, but it's getting easier to pick out which of these games deserve the praise and which ones don't.  When I finally finish with this set of games, I'll have to drop a summary post similar to yours to see where we agree and disagree.

The reprints should be $30 each, although I noticed some places like CD Universe charging as low as $20 for them.  They are both backordered on their site, though.

The reprints are going to bring down the value of the originals, just like the Etrian Odyssey, Digital Devil Sage, etc. reprints did.  When Atlus reprints a game they are indistinguishable from the originals, so you would be safe buying from the new supply.

By the way, the new supply of Devil Summoner 1 has begun appearing on Amazon.  I suppose it's only a matter of time now before the second game comes back.