10 PS2 Games That Still Blow Our Minds
3. Final Fantasy XI
Final Fantasy XI marked a great departure for the long-standing RPG series. It was going online for the first time ever and, reaching out to multiple formats. As such, most people associate the game with the PC. However, it actually first released in March 2002 in Japan for the PS2.
What's most important in fact is that the PS2 version was the baseline for its further PC and eventually Xbox 360 editions, likely because it would be the least powerful system of the three. Even so, what this means is that the success of future releases of FF11 don't happen without it's PS2 sibling.
Whilst it was always the most under-powered port, it still blows our minds that this was even possible. The PS2 had never been built with online functionality in mind, only adopted later in the face of competition from Xbox Live. FF11 is considered an early entry in console MMOs, not to mention the first ever that could handle cross-platform play and it set a standard with it's minimal UI and controller-friendly commands. In fact, whilst it had occasional frame rate issues, some of it's effects were better on PS2 than anywhere else.
Despite being treated as a forgettable footnote nowadays, the Final Fantasy XI console servers enjoyed a healthy 14-year long life before they were switched off in 2016.