FF emulation + other options, any good?

[icawn]

Hi.  I have not played FF8+.  I am debating whether to buy a PS2, or get a cheap PSx joystick/adapter and play FF7(pc) and FF8+(emulation) all on the PC of course.  PS2 runs about $70 shipped.

Also, how do the FF games (or all ps2 games in general) run on the PS3 vs the PS2?  are those all compatible and run any better/worse?

thanks for the input.

[Silver Wings]

There is an FF8's pc version, you dont have to emulate it. There's also an online version on pc, FFXI (well, go for it if you have money :p)

Speaking of FF series on PSX (FF7,8,9, FFT) and PS2 (FFX,X-2,FFXII,FF7DoC), there are 2 ways for you: playing on ps2 or emulating on pc. The ones on Psx are not a problem if you wanna emulate them on pc but those on PS2 are another story. You need a really powerful rig to run pcsx2 (a ps2 emulator) at enjoyable speed. So, I prefer a ps2 which can play psx's games as well.

Getting a ps3 at this time is not ideal unless you want a cheap bluray drive

[Tsetra]

Emulation is going to look a whole lot better, although if you get the PC version of FF8 there's a good loader for download on here that will make it also look incredible. Less load times, too. Either way is superior than the consoles, but you need a fairly new machine to get the most out of an emulator. The obvious upside to getting a PS2 is that you'll be able to play PS2 games as well if your system isn't up to specs for PCSX2. If there aren't any PS2 games you're dying to play, I'd say hold out on a console for now. PS2 emulation will undoubtedly mature to be pretty good, and in the meantime if you're a hardcore Sony fanboy, their PS3 library probably won't suck by that point and your saved money can go towards it.

[auxili160]

Playing on pc is also better because you can play on a high res monitor. Meanwhile, ps2s require a standard 480i resolution (and it doesn't even render in 480i. PS2 only renders stuff at around 380i, just like the ps1 renders at around 320i).