Playstation 2

[bechyni]

Does any know where in the heck to even find an older playstation 2? Everytime I search for one it just shows me the new slim ones that wont run FFXI. Basically what I am looking for is 1. A bigger playstation 2. ffxi with harddrive 3. the vanadiel collection for it.
I tried contacting SE and they basically said GoodLuck haha....whats new. If anyone can help me with I give you much thanks lol.
(Hopefully this is in a decent section for this topic)

[Martinius]

i'd try ebay, or any used games store. the irony is that, despite being cheaper than what came after, they are rare enough that it'll likely be on the expensive side. the biggest problem i've found (having gone through 2 ps2s before moving to pc), was that after 2-4 years of regular usage, the dvd-rom laser simply refuses to read anymore. simply being unable to read expansion packs (and a shit experience w/ 360) finally pushed me over the edge (well, and bootcamp happened, so i run ffxi on my mac), to switching to pc.

good luck though. as for the vana'diel collection, try searching amazon. if they don't have it in stock anymore, they can generally refer you to a seller who does. it may not be cheap, but amazon tracked down an obscure, out of print, irish play by frank mcguinness for me, from a used-book seller in dublin. finding the vana'diel collection after that shouldn't be too difficult.

[bechyni]

yeah thats what happened to my old ps2 before i could download wings of the goddess and just recently lightning struck the transformer outside my house and fried it :/ but with the prices ive been seeing it might be cheaper just to buy a new PC and run it off that

[Byrthnoth]

It took me almost 100 eject/reinsert cycles before I could get WotG to install.

Edit: Oh yeah, about the OP. Ebay or asking friends are really the only ways to go. I have a fat PS2 with harddrive at my house (5+ hours away from me) with all the expansions installed and such and I don't use it, but I'd have no way to send it to you for a few weeks.

Honestly, just get a cheap PC and enjoy all the benefits of Windower.

[Spider-Dan]

I would find it hard to believe that you could get a (reliable) working PS2fat with HDD and Vana'diel Collection for less than the cost of a new X360 Pro and 360 Vana'diel Collection.

But that's me.

[Lahan]

I have played ffxi on my ps2 until just this year, (I moved to 360) Once the game starts just eject the drawer and that stops the cd motor from spinning the entire time you play. The unit will last for ever that way. Ironically this does not work for the 360 so I hope it wont burn up on me (damn you microsoft).

These guys are right try used shops, garage/yard sales, friends! I am a teacher and I have students that have old crap they sell me all the time its how I got a extra of the big ones

But Spider-Dan is right even if you CAN find an old PS2 fat AND the FFXI disks those registration codes wont be good so you'll have to but new codes from SE. Go for the 360 and just play it in 740i it Looks 10X better than the 480p from PS2.

[Mayareira]

At this stage, a ps3 or an x360 would probably be a better long-term investment.

All ps3's run FFXI, afaik...according to the compatibility list here at least.

60 gig one definitely does.

[Auspice]

Well, my launch 60 technically *does* play XI but it's even worse than I remember it being on my PS2. With how much it's going to cost you to gather up all the expansions or just buying the Vana 08 along with the system you're probably going to save yourself a lot of headaches to just get a 360.

tl;dr Playing XI on PS3 is NOT the way you wanna go

[Unspeakable]

Sending you a PM!

[bechyni]

only thing about the 360 is that it doesnt have the cabalities of HNM(it lags even at KA alittle) on PS2 i was able to claim fafnir(see it pop yellow at the very least) with 70+ in zone. but the grapichs on 360 are alot better.

[bechyni]

Sending you a PM!

havent got one yet if you sent

[ssjjfar]

At this stage, a ps3 or an x360 would probably be a better long-term investment.

All ps3's run FFXI, afaik...according to the compatibility list here at least.

60 gig one definitely does.

All the ps3 that run ps2 game will run it, but those ones that don't run ps2 games(newer models), can't unless SE makes a ps3 version of it.

[Omniyoji]

I would find it hard to believe that you could get a (reliable) working PS2fat with HDD and Vana'diel Collection for less than the cost of a new X360 Pro and 360 Vana'diel Collection.

But that's me.

^

At this stage, a ps3 or an x360 would probably be a better long-term investment.

All ps3's run FFXI, afaik...according to the compatibility list here at least.

60 gig one definitely does.

Doesn't FFXI on the PS3 look crappier tho? I hear the visuals look better on the PS2 than on PS3 (something about scaling or washed out/grainy).

My recommendations for searching one for sale is to search by revision/model numbers. Hmmm.... I thought I saw a list of them on the wiki. If you search the web you'll find the numbers.

Another better alternative is if you have one already and it has a hard time reading DVDs (but sometimes still does) you can try this copy pasta from a another site I posted:

I was in the same boat as you (PS2 DRE disc read errors), but this was on my pre FFXI days so I played a variety of games. I have an old PS2 (the GT3 bundle). I tried everything except a fix (I'll be mentioning later on). My friend referred me to changing this white dial inside the PS2 (didn't work). I tried cleaning it thinking it was the dust from my dusty house (didn't work). Now before I resorted to calling Sony and shipping it in for repairs I had my console modded. I had the top half of the PS2 case switched to a flip top design (played a lot of Initial-D).

Anyways I call the representative and tell him about the DRE problem with the disc skipping sounds. He tells me that it's been reported more frequently and asks if I've opened up the system previously (removed the warranty tape on the back). I said I have changed the top half of the case inorder to play japanese games. He told me that that was fine as long as the damage wasn't a result of my modding. I ask how much this was going to cost (hoping this was going to be free seeing it as it was their fault) and he said it'd depend on what the technician discovers... soooo I take a risk and send it in.

Days later to my surprise I receive my PS2 back in the mail (thought I was gonna get a call on the details). I open it up and quickly look for some sort of invoice. I find the paper and look at the details and it didn't cost me a thing. According to the invoice the fee was payed by "PSX Project". Either that was Sony paying for the crappy disc lasers in the PS2 or some other company handling the fee... I don't know. I open it up and see they replaced the whole laser device.

NOTE* This was a long time ago and they probably won't do this anymore especially since the PS2 is obsolete.

Anyways years later my PS2 is doing fine since the fix and can read everything once again (DVD movies, PS2 CD, PS2 DVD, PSX, audio CD etc). After sometime again my PS2 fails on my again... WTF! I start getting the DREs again -_-
I buy a DVD cleaner disc and it helps for a few months and then it stopped working (even if I bought a new cleaner disc). This whole 2nd failure stage happened during my FFXI saga (lol). I needed to get the CoP expansion seeing I couldn't get as many parties since they were leveling in CoP zones.

Eager to get my PS2 fixed I do massive research online and find 2 options.

A) Open it up and do a hack, changing the amount of voltage the laser puts out. Pretty complicated and somewhat dangerous to the system.

or

B) Something even easier open it up and carefully clean the laser lens.

I resort to option B and solve my problem. One of the main problems with these PS2 DREs is dust. Dust is probably the #1 killer of electronics. My stupid dusty house was killing my PS2. The cleaning allowed me to install CoP and later on down the road ToAU. Soon when I come back I'll have to see if this method still works (have yet to pick up WotG). Now the only problem I've seen with this fix is that for some reason I can't play PS2 demos and probably PSX games (idr I currently don't have any on me... in storage).

Now the cleaning process is simple (PM me if you need to know how to open your PS2). Once it's open you'll need the following:

1) Dust free work place (or area with good ventilation)

2) Can of compressed air

3) Rubbing alcohol

4) and either Q-Tips or a clean micro fiber cloth (I used Q-Tips, it worked)

Clean your system with the can of air before cleaning the lens. Then clean the lens with the can of air as well. Dip the Q-Tip or cloth in some alcohol, but not too much you'll want it somewhat damp but not dripping. With the Q-Tip roll it over the lens in a circular motion. You'll notice the lens will move up and down that's normal (the lens moves up and down during the reading process) but don't apply too much pressure when cleaning. I suppose you'd do the same with the cloth in a lightly fashion. After that blow the lens dry with the can of air and that's it.

So yeah I suggest you give that a shot before dropping more money on another console. Your console isn't currently working so what do you have lose? You'll probably even wanna try out the voltage thingy. My PS2 still works, just recently I played Cap Vs SNK two days ago. If you have anymore questions feel free to ask and goodluck with your console.



=+=+= <(*~*<) \(*~*)/ (>*~*)> =+=+=


Another alternative and one I'm considering soon is just buying a new laser module for your PS2. I haven't looked into the replacement procedures but it's probably simple. When I researched on pricing long ago they were cheap/fairly priced. Replacing that fixes your Disc read errors (That's what Sony did to my PS2).

Goodluck~

[bechyni]

I looked up the model numbers for it (70000 something) found a couple but they were around 300~500$ O.O. I found a site that had the vanadiel collection for 40$ "think" i found a reliable new(<--i doubt it) HDD and playonline disc. but the decent PS2 is the problem :/

[Lahan]

At this stage, a ps3 or an x360 would probably be a better long-term investment.

All ps3's run FFXI, afaik...according to the compatibility list here at least.

60 gig one definitely does.

only if your ps3 has that emotion chip for ps2 emulation. I have a ps3 that does not run anything ps2. And they were suposed to make a softwear thing for that and thewn scraped that as well sony is kinda lame

[Yugl]

Since we're divulging into the topic of Sony products, if I sent my 20GB PS3 to Sony (For repairs), would they return it with the chip?

[Lahan]

Since we're divulging into the topic of Sony products, if I sent my 20GB PS3 to Sony (For repairs), would they return it with the chip?

I have had two students tell me they just sent them back a referbed one that did not have that chip.

[bechyni]

on a side note anyone know a decent computer that i could be looking into incase I cant find the need PS2 items?

decent computer for camping HNMs on(sorry i dont really know to much about computer except for porn lawl)

[Isiolia]

on a side note anyone know a decent computer that i could be looking into incase I cant find the need PS2 items?

FFXI doesn't take much, really just need to look at a PC with a half-decent video card (though basically anything current will run it to some degree, even a netbook).

[Yugl]

I have had two students tell me they just sent them back a referbed one that did not have that chip.

Oh damn, thanks for the notice/warning.