I am a very casual gamer and I just recently decided to pick up a ps2; I like to play easy games... when things get too hard I usually lose intrest since its no longer relaxing. Last year I played FF7 and loved it. I have also enjoyed other pure turn based rpg's in the past such as grandia 2 and skies of arcadia. I was thinking about picking up games like Kingdom hearts 1 and FF-X but a friend of mine warned me that Kingdom hearts wasn't a turnbased game and FF-X was much harder than FF7.

So basicly I was hoping to get some suggestions for some good pure turnbased (FF7 style and skill level) games on the ps2. I am sure there are a handful that are old by now that I can pick up for under $20... thanks.

Your friend is right about Kingdom Hearts. It's not a turn-based RPG. However, he was wrong about FFX. There's nothing harder than FFVII other than the initially confusing leveling up system. At least, we're not talking about FFX-2. I would consider Xenosaga Episode 1 as it is turn-based. The parts of the game where you actually play and not watch that is. Plus, it's got this elaborate story, which in actuality is a lot of fluff, but I managed to enjoy it despite the fluff. You can also consider Shadow Hearts 2, which should be under $20. It's turn-based with a small twist of interaction during the actual "action" sequence. I would avoid FFVIII because the leveling up system is a pain in the ass on top of the graphics looking worse than FFVII in my opinion. I've heard good things about FFIX, but I have never played it personally.

You might was to check out Xenosaga. It's turn-based, fairly easy, and features some cut-scenes so long that you can literally just put the controller down and kick back on the couch and eat popcorn while you watch them.