You should invest in a used PS2 because it has a large library of games with lots of variety. And a used one is pretty cheap. You can get PS2 games on the cheap, just go on ebay and do a search for bundles, sets, etc. Personally I have both Final Fantasy X and XII up for sale - bundled with 8 other games with starting price of $24.99. item number: 280294441901

FFX is my favorite in the series because of the battle system - 3 character battles but you can swap party members in and out, there's a timeline of the all the character's and enemies turns so there's no guesswork involved (I hated the ATB because if you weren't lucky and timed things wrong, it could mean game over). The story is different in that it's not very epic in scale - it's more about the characters - who they are, how they became the way they are. Only the female lead can call on summons (there's only about 8 of them) and you actually control them in battle, they're not like magic spells. There are limit breaks but are called overdrive.

FFXII is like vagrant story for the PS1 (made by the same teams I think). It's more european in design and even story is a more western - about politics, large scale wars between kingdoms. I hate the upgrade system in FFXII - you have to buy licenses in order for a character to know how to use a different type of weapon, armor, magic. Then you still need to spend exp. points to actually learn those moves.

wackoss