3 Greatest Square Enix Games From The PS2 Era

Published Aug 25, 2026, 11:00 PM EDT Yuliya Geikhman has been writing professionally for over 17 years. She started out in the MMO scene with Pando Media Booster and now dives into everything gaming at Screen Rant. She's a lifelong gamer, a relentless industry sleuth, and a passionate follower of everything happening in the games industry. Square Enix has developed and published dozens of video games over its many years as a gaming giant. What began with a literal Final Fantasy (developed by Square, prior to its merger with Enix) has launched the game company into multiple popular multi-game series. Final Fantasy remains one of the best-known and most beloved game franchises, but there are, of course, many more games developed by the game studio. The PlayStation 2 era, between 2000 and 2006, was a particularly good time for the company, which published over three dozen games for the console. Of these, a surprisingly small number were actually developed by the game studio. Despite this, three titles stand out as being the greatest PlayStation 2 exclusives developed and published by Square Enix. Final Fantasy 10 Marked A Stylistic Shift Final Fantasy 10 followed the easygoing Tidus on a journey with summoner Yuna to find a way home, and restore peace to her land. The game tells a story of courage in the face of sacrifice and breaking away from a cycle of evil's rebirth. Yuna and Tidus—and all the allies they meet on their travels—fight against fate. Final Fantasy 10 was the first Final Fantasy game to be released for the PlayStation 2. When it arrived in 2001, it brought with it a huge shift in style and quality. FF 7 might have been the first impressively 3-dimentionsal rendition of the game, but FF 10 took this to a new level. The game had the first truly 3D areas for players to explore. It was also the first Final Fantasy game to include voice acting and start tweaking the Active Time Battle system to a more dynamic combat style. Subsequent Final Fantasy games would continue playing around with combat to move with the times to a more engaging and hands-on battle system. The title remains one of the best-loved Final Fantasy games in the series, and one of the greatest PS2-era Square Enix games. Final Fantasy 12 Was An Epic Adventure If Final Fantasy 10 and 10-2 were all about two individuals making a huge difference in the world, Final Fantasy 12 took a step back for an even grander political story. The game brings players to the world of Ivalice—which is also the setting of the Tactics game that was recently remade—and throws them right in the middle of a war. The game focuses on a cast of characters fighting in a resistance movement, led by princess Ashe and the sky-pirate in-training, Vaan. The 2006 title took a step further into the modern age with Final Fantasy game design. Once again, the battle system was revamped, as were the skills and classes. The game uses a unique Zodiac Job system and licenses, which allows players to change the specialties and abilities of their playable characters. Final Fantasy 12 also featured an open world, a controllable camera, and a move away from random battles. Instead, enemies now appear directly in the world, letting players have more control over which encounters they engage. The game's grand story and memorable characters made it one of the best Square games to be released during the PS2 era. Kingdom Hearts Was An Unexpected Disney x Final Fantasy Collab Disney is notoriously picky about letting outsiders depict its beloved characters, so it was pretty unexpected when the company released a collaborative RPG with Square in 2002. The game was, of course, Kingdom Hearts, and it spawned a series with die-hard fans as dedicated as those of the Final Fantasy franchise. The first game brought iconic Disney characters like Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy into a hack-and-slash action game. They're joined by the young protagonist Sora, who wields a Keyblade weapon against shadowy organizations and enemies. The party travels through various Disney worlds, restoring peace and bringing down Disney villains, Final Fantasy characters, and brand-new nefarious masterminds. The Kingdom Hearts games have grown a huge following over the years. The franchise is still going strong, with sequels and partial-sequels constantly adding to the involved and tangled story. Fans wait with bated breath for more information about the highly anticipated Kingdom Hearts 4. The original Kingdom Hearts was one of the best-selling games of the PS2 era, and one of the greatest Square Enix games ever made. Date Founded April 1, 2003 Subsidiaries Square Enix Consoles Nintendo Game Boy, Nintendo DS, PlayStation Classic