My PS2 has never had problems. I'm fairly loyal to Sony... and even more loyal to Metal Gear and Final Fantasy. I'll sit on my wallet for a few more months if need be.
Have you owned it longer than 3 years?
We got DRE (Disc Read Errors) on our old PS2 three times. We eventually got it fixed for free...but it broke again. So we had to buy the new slimmer version. Nowadays, I hardly play the PS2.
(glances at the Xbox 360) Say what you will about Microsoft...they made a tough console. I've had no problems with it (or the older Xbox for that matter). Their addition of the hard drive to a console was a stroke of genius. And Xbox Live is STILL better than anything Sony has to offer.
FFX was one of the best games ever IMHO. I am looking forward to FFXII. GT4 was also right up there.
Why I get all three consoles:
Xbox - Halo, Fable, Perfect Dark, PGR-3, etc.
Game Cube - Zelda and Mario
Playstation - GT4, Final Fantasy, SSX, etc.
N-64 - Banjo Kazooie, Mario, Zelda, etc.