I recently went through a ps2 games phase. Some already mentioned but the lesser known standouts for me were;

God hand (probably the best game on ps2 and released really late in the life of the PS2 so many people missed it),

Odin sphere (best looking game on the system and really fun),

urban reign,

steam bot chronicles (robot action rpg really satisfying game play)

robot alchemical drive (ride on the shoulders of huge gundam style robots, really unique game)

champions of norrath, (action rpg based on EverQuest universe, really fun)

psi ops, (fps like game with stars wars style force powers, crazy fun)

Drakan: Ancient gates, (action rpg, fly on a dragon, one of the best magic systems ever where you have to trace the pattern to cast. The reason I started my ps2 phase was to replay this game, loved it as a kid and still holds up)

Subnautica - Simon Chylinski Absolutely crushed that soundtrack. Perfectly set vibe for that game.

The Devs are instantly legends for even offering this up. Bravo

The old style auto added points based on what attributes you used. So if you leveled destruction a lot during level 5 you could get a boosted willpower or Intelligence stat when you leveled up. It was a little chaotic. Now you have 12 stat points(virtues) you can add to whatever 3 attributes you want maxed at 5 points per attribute.

Feels on brand for Bethesda to secret release this just before skyblivion mod finally gets near their release date. Kind of feels like a slap in the face to the community. I guess we will get a who did it better comparison.

I don’t work in the industry and I could be way off here. But aren’t some of the developers hired on as a type of contract worker to finish a big game and well aware that if the next project isn’t lined up perfectly, it’s impossible to house that many employees. That’s how our construction industry is. Companies have to hire on and then trim the fat as needed.

I was at around 55 hrs during endgame, which was finishing the main story line after doing most of the side quests. I think I had 1 main base with 10 - 20 buildings and equipment. I was playing on a series S. I am boggled you didn’t have many crashes, I’ve seen hundreds of reports of similar issues when I was trying to figure out what was going on.

Endgame was brutal. It was a 50/50 chance if you paused to save while moving it would crash.

My honest review, I had fun with it. It’s best described as an ocean of content but only 1” deep. The ship building was really the only unique thing in this game and it was really well done I thought. Beyond that it was the usual Bethesda mess that I expected. So I wasn’t totally put off by the jenk. Except for the late game crashes…. In the end game on the series S, I would crash ~ 40% of the time I paused to save if I was in action. Really frustrating.