[recommend on] PSP games

acidlacedpenguin

So on a whim I ordered a PSP3000 and Metal Gear Ac!d 1 and 2 to play on it. I had intended to also play Peacewalker but I'm less enthused now that I've realized it will be included in the HD collection coming sometime in the future (I may as well wait until that comes out to play it on a controller). With that said, I'm looking for recommendations on games that are easy to pick up and play in 5 or 10 minute bouts. I'm definitely a fan of SRPGs (it's easy to play a turn or two while I wait for other things to happen) so I've been told that I'm crazy for not having bought a PSP years ago.

Esh

Final Fantasy Tactics: War Of The Lions

Enc

Valkyeria Chronicles 2, Final Fantasy Tactics, Star Ocean One and Two.

Probably in that order.

Esh

Jeanne D'Arc is pretty good as well.

CorporateLogo

Tactics Ogre and Monster Hunter Freedom Unite

mere_immortal

Lumines.

Lumines.

BlindZenDriver

Lumines for sure, and the sequal. Also Echochrome, Little Big Planet, Wipeout, and Loco Roco.

Essee

I've never been able to get into Lumines for some reason, even though I love basically every music game I've played. But, speaking of music games, you should get Patapon, because it's a lot of fun and also adorable! I haven't played the sequel yet, but I've had some good fun with the first game. Otherwise, all the RPG/strategy suggestions are pretty much spot-on (although depending on your tastes, Monster Hunter might be a bit much because it seems a little complicated from what I played of it-- maybe it's just me), Little Big Planet is great on both consoles it's on, and Echochrome is pretty neat (from the demo). Haven't played Wipeout/Loco Roco yet, but heard good things about them. Oh, uhh, another game I'd personally recommend is Half-Minute Hero. It's pretty quirky, but I thought it was really fun.

acidlacedpenguin

is it worth it to get all the patapons or can I just pick up the third? ...same deal with loco roco?
Also, Valkyria Chronicles 2: is it pertinent to play Valkyria Chronicles one on the PS3 before it? I just realized how silly looking the word "Chronicles" is when written down. . .
the PSP can play psx games bought on PSN right? If so, that should open me up to Front Mission 3 right? Or is that another victim of not on PSNitis?

finally, I realized memory stick pro duos are retarded expensive so I ordered a microSD->pro duo adapter from one of those ebay sellers from China; have I made a grave mistake?

THEPAIN73

Kingdom Hearts BBS is really fun.

So get that.

Page-

CorporateLogo wrote:

Tactics Ogre and Monster Hunter Freedom Unite

This is the correct answer.

lessthanpi

acidlacedpenguin wrote:

is it worth it to get all the patapons or can I just pick up the third? ...same deal with loco roco?
Also, Valkyria Chronicles 2: is it pertinent to play Valkyria Chronicles one on the PS3 before it? I just realized how silly looking the word "Chronicles" is when written down. . .
the PSP can play psx games bought on PSN right? If so, that should open me up to Front Mission 3 right? Or is that another victim of not on PSNitis?

The 3rd Patapon is an abomination that ruins the name of the series. It plays nothing like the first 2. Just get one of those.

Valkyria 2 doesn't really require the first one to appreciate. The learning curve will just be a bit steeper.

FM3 is playable on the PSP. There's a lot of great PS1 games. Suikoden, Saiyuke, Silent Hill, Parasite Eve 1/2, etc

If you're looking for nice pickup and play games look at the various Capcom, Metal Slug,Taito, etc arcade collections.

The system is also region free so there's a lot of great stuff from Japan, and a few good things from Europe you can get as well.

About the only thing I'd recommend you avoid is First Person Shooters because the lack of a second analog stick makes them hellish.

BlindZenDriver

acidlacedpenguin wrote:

is it worth it to get all the patapons or can I just pick up the third? ...same deal with loco roco?

I think the Loco Roco's are different but I could be mistaken since I only have the first (to many platforms(PSP+PS3+360+PC), to many games, to little time). Anyway most of the better older titles will have been released as value-editions meaning the older games can be bought really cheap.

skeldare

acidlacedpenguin wrote:

finally, I realized memory stick pro duos are retarded expensive so I ordered a microSD->pro duo adapter from one of those ebay sellers from China; have I made a grave mistake?

I would never order anything from China. While memory stick pro duos are not cheap, they're not THAT expensive. You can pick up a 4GB one for $20.

Lindsay Lohan

I picked one up earlier in the summer too - the games are super cheap right now if you don't mind that UMDs aren't supported by the PS Vita. I did the adaptor from a Hong Kong seller as well since it was like 2 bucks and I already had an 8gb microSD card from an old cell phone kicking around - so far it's worked great - I can't see any performance difference between it and the official 2gb pro duo card I bought initially.

If you like action games at all Pursuit Force is easily my most played game on the console so far. Incredibly fun. I haven't tried many PS1 games though - just Theme Hospital which I couldn't resist.

Not to hijack - but someone mentioned Star Ocean - it's $7.50 on clearance at Toys r Us right now - worth it?

Riale

I would argue that the 2nd Star Ocean is a superior game (and the first is not required playing), but they're both good and at that price I certainly wouldn't turn it down.

acidlacedpenguin

Just picked up locoroco 2, wipeout: pure, and patapon 2 for $10 each at HMV and Ogre Tactics, wipeout: pulse, and lumines 2 for like, $25, $8, and $10 respectively.

I think I got a pretty good deal out of it already. I don't have the means to save anything at the moment so I've just been enjoying the hell out of lumines 2, I shamefully admit how much I grooved to hollaback girl. . . and having just invested a shitload of time into Child of Eden I totally squee'd when I got to heavenly star.

man, picking up devices at the very end of their life-cycle is awesome.

Lindsay Lohan

acidlacedpenguin wrote:

man, picking up devices at the very end of their life-cycle is awesome.

It addictive. I got my PSP this summer and I've already picked up 32 games for the thing. You just can't beat stuff like Hot Shots Golf, Twisted Metal, and Daxter for less than $5 each. I'm working on getting a few fighting games next - there's a bunch of good ones on the system it just doesn't seem like they've dropped in price as much as other genres.

corky842

Half-minute Hero is amazing.

Al_wat

You can get FF7 through the playstation network. I've been playing the shit out of it on my PSP.

cj iwakura

DJ MAX Portable/Fever/Clazziquai Edition.

UltimaBuddy

Most fun I had with my PSP(-1000) has probably been with:
Half Minute Hero
Kingdom Hearts BBS
Persona 3 Portable

Admittedly, Half Minute Hero is the only one that qualifies for the 5- and 10-minute time-limit.

corky842

skeldare wrote:

acidlacedpenguin wrote:

finally, I realized memory stick pro duos are retarded expensive so I ordered a microSD->pro duo adapter from one of those ebay sellers from China; have I made a grave mistake?

I would never order anything from China. While memory stick pro duos are not cheap, they're not THAT expensive. You can pick up a 4GB one for $20.

You should be fine. I used one of those for a few months until I needed my microSD for something else, no errors at all. It's just a hardware adapter, so there's no electronics in there to break.

Zython

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Dissidia: Final Fantasy yet. It's a solid game that does something interesting (RPG-based 3d fighter) and pulls it off spectacularly. Easily one of the best games with the FF name to come out in years. Go straight for duodecium, though, as this contains the story of the first one as well.

Keep in mind, however, there is a somewhat steep learning curve. But once you get past it, it works as a "pick up and play" game.

AnteCantelope

Esh wrote:

Jeanne D'Arc is pretty good as well.

Valkyria Chronicles 2 and FFTA2 are good, but I have to recommend against Jeanne D'Arc. Simplistic, slow, dull.

Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth was pretty good, I got Metal Gear Solid 1 on PSN, as well as portable Ops and Peace Walker, they were all fun but I think you'd know in advance whether you'd like them or not.

I bought a micro SD to memory stick adapter from china, and it's fine. I only got the adaptor there though, not the microSD cards.

Esh

AnteCantelope wrote:

Esh wrote:

Jeanne D'Arc is pretty good as well.

...but I have to recommend against Jeanne D'Arc. Simplistic, slow, dull.

http://www.metacritic.com/game/psp/jeanne-darc

Pretty much everyone else disagrees with you. ; )

AnteCantelope

Maybe they do, but I have a whole list of complaints about it. Trivially easy, so you can solo most levels with two different characters. Simplistic levelling, simplistic classes, simplistic level design. Tiny cap on friendly and enemy unit numbers, which limits scenarios to, again, simplistic. Long load times everywhere, including stuff like normal attacks, special attacks, and spells regularly taking a couple of seconds to load. A third of the way in the story forgets that it's about France and Jeanne D'Arc, and becomes a generic JRPG story. So on and so forth.

There are plenty of good SRPGs on the PSP, like Valkyria Chronicles 2 and FFTA2. There's Disgaea, which I haven't played, and I'm sure there's PS1 stuff too.

Esh

AnteCantelope wrote:

Maybe they do, but I have a whole list of complaints about it. Trivially easy, so you can solo most levels with two different characters. Simplistic levelling, simplistic classes, simplistic level design. Tiny cap on friendly and enemy unit numbers, which limits scenarios to, again, simplistic. Long load times everywhere, including stuff like normal attacks, special attacks, and spells regularly taking a couple of seconds to load. A third of the way in the story forgets that it's about France and Jeanne D'Arc, and becomes a generic JRPG story. So on and so forth.

There are plenty of good SRPGs on the PSP, like Valkyria Chronicles 2 and FFTA2. There's Disgaea, which I haven't played, and I'm sure there's PS1 stuff too.

I'm just saying, there's an overwhelming consensus that it's a good game. How would you rather have it at the end? She gets burned at the stake? Also, FFTA2 is DS, not PSP

AnteCantelope

Esh wrote:

AnteCantelope wrote:

Maybe they do, but I have a whole list of complaints about it. Trivially easy, so you can solo most levels with two different characters. Simplistic levelling, simplistic classes, simplistic level design. Tiny cap on friendly and enemy unit numbers, which limits scenarios to, again, simplistic. Long load times everywhere, including stuff like normal attacks, special attacks, and spells regularly taking a couple of seconds to load. A third of the way in the story forgets that it's about France and Jeanne D'Arc, and becomes a generic JRPG story. So on and so forth.

There are plenty of good SRPGs on the PSP, like Valkyria Chronicles 2 and FFTA2. There's Disgaea, which I haven't played, and I'm sure there's PS1 stuff too.

I'm just saying, there's an overwhelming consensus that it's a good game. How would you rather have it at the end? She gets burned at the stake? Also, FFTA2 is DS, not PSP

Well, scratch FFTA2 then, but there is a FFT game on there, right? Or am I just going crazy?

Since this isn't a Jeanne D'Arc thread, I don't want to complain too much about it. I'll just say that it's the company's first attempt at an SRPG, and it feels that way: like a tentative first step into a genre. If you like SRPGs and have played a lot, it will probably feel like a step back from what you're used to.

I'm a little bitter because I bought a PSP because I was told it was an SRPG machine, and Jeanne D'Arc was a good one. It was hard to find, took me a few months to find a copy that wasn't ridiculously priced, and I absolutely did not think it was worth the effort.

Page-

It has Tactics Ogre remake, so it's a srpg machine. Anything after that is gravy.

Also, Wild Arms XF if you can find it.

reddog

I just picked up a PSP a year ago and find it to be the best decision ever. Favorite games so far have been:

Pangya: Fantasy Golf
Hot Shots Tennis: Get A Grip
Phantasy Star Portable 2
Disgaea 1 & 2
Monster Hunter Freedom Unite
Little Big Planet

ASimPerson

The original FFT is on there, with a brand new translation that makes it entirely worth it despite the slowdowns whenever anyone casts anything.

RPGeek

I love FFT, but it's odd no one's mentioned that all special attacks slow the game down to half-speed. It doesn't make the game unplayable, but it does make grinding even more hellish than it should have been. Moreover, though, I think this has been fixed on the recent iPhone release, if that's an option for you.

How about Yggdra Union? It's an SRPG port from the GBA, with some pretty unusual design for the genre.

Lindsay Lohan

reddog wrote:

I just picked up a PSP a year ago and find it to be the best decision ever. Favorite games so far have been:

Pangya: Fantasy Golf
Hot Shots Tennis: Get A Grip
Phantasy Star Portable 2
Disgaea 1 & 2
Monster Hunter Freedom Unite
Little Big Planet

Just curious - why Pangya over the normal Hot Shots Golf 1/2 recommendation? I love me some over cute golfing action but never really gave much thought to anything other than Hot Shots...

Bartholamue

There's a lot more to it than just playing golf. The story mode and RPG elements make the game for me. (Person with a 60 hour file here). Hot Shots Golf seems so limiting to me, when I've played Mario Golf so much.