I haven't seen one of these lately and there appear to be a glut of DS recommendations threads, so I figured it was okay to ask.
Was recently given a PSP Lite, and I'm loving it so far but as I was never expecting to get one I haven't been keeping up with the games available for it.
I have Daxter and GTA: Liberty City Stories so far (loving the latter, as always) and I'm wondering what else I could put on Christmas lists.
Games I am already buying:
GTA: Vice City Stories
Silent Hill: Origins
Games I am interested in but will wait to borrow from a friend:
Jeanne D'Arc
Games I know of but am not interested in:
FF: Tactics
Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness (I've seen FF: Tactics played before, and Disgaea played on the PS2 and I found both boring).
Games that are ports are a-okay as the only other console I have ever owned is a DS so you can assume I've not played anything.
Platformers/side-scrollers I am not so hot at. I'd only really be interested if they are super-duper easy (a la Princess Peach).
I have also never got the hang of thumbsticks on any console. The first thing I did when playing Liberty City stories was to re-map the vehicle controls to the d-pad.
I'm a sucker for micro-management simulation games, but as a result I have at least 5 of those waiting to be played on the DS so perhaps I'd best not buy the latest Harvest Moon or whatever...just yet.
I like narrative games - adventure games and RPGs with fun stories and less grinding - and puzzle games.
If it helps:
Examples of games on the DS I have loved: Phoenix Wright, EBA, Hotel Dusk, Puzzle Quest, Princess Peach, Rocket Slime, Mario vs Donkey Kong 2
Examples of games on the DS I have not loved: NSMB, Castlevania, Contact
Thank you in advance!
Posts
CRISIS CORE: FFVII
(I feel like starting an LP thread for that game seriously if I could be bothered to get RemoteJoy SDL working)
Anyone who does not buy and play this will be sent to rot in the Lifestream for all time. I don't care if you can't read Japanese, you could play it with your eyes shut and Linkin Park blaring in the background. At least, I'm pretty sure I could. =X
In short? Best game (ARPG) for the PSP apart from Killzone imo. Period. Also: NO GRINDING REQUIRED TO PROGRESS THROUGH MAIN STORYLINE.
Others in order of awesomeness:
Killzone: Liberation if you don't already own it (Isometric shooter that I can't finish you goddamn final boss)
Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops (It's MGS. But more portable-ized and definitely made into bite-sized chunks.)
Monster Hunter Freedom 2 if you want a portable MMO. Like, think MU Online but with a more Eastern nomadic setting. (ARPG MMO, think Diablo 3D if you don't know what MU is)
Locoroco (This depends, I am a fan of vectors and I actually wanted to see how it worked. Also the platforming is rather fun and easy)
Tekken 5: DR (This is best when you have friends who don't own it due to GS) (Fighter)
Tomb Raider Anniversary (Mixed reviews, but personally I like it, though naturally it's been toned down from the other versions on other platforms)
Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth if you have a lot of time, more than enough narrative to keep you occupied from dawn to dawn. (I like the combat system, Turn Based Action RPG would be the best way I can describe it.)
WIPEOUT PURE (No. Contest. Or you could wait for Pulse, I guess.)
Burnout Dominator (because I love smashing shit up and the graphics actually impressed me)
There are a few more in my collection, but those are titles I think most people will probably enjoy. Unless they hate fun. [/ds response to anyone to hates ds games]
As you can tell, games with images come highly recommended.
EDIT: I can understand if you're not a fan of FFT, personally I think it wasn't really worth the price, but I think I prefer it over J Darc, if only because there are a lot more gameplay options in FFT. Presentation-wise J Darc is definitely an SRPG for the modern times though. BTW GTA VCS, while definitely a decent title, would probably be better off at the near bottom of above said list because personally I think the gameplay suffered from being really, really unpolished.
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So far the story has been meh, as they are using the story to tell you how to do certain things. For example, Snake is almost deterred by a ladder until the supervisor on the codec tells him how to climb it. Another oddity is that they have a psychic helping to give you direction. The gameplay is great, though, and so far has made up for the weak story.
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Killzone: Liberation
Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth
PoPoLoCroiS
Prince of Persia: Rival Swords
Final Fantasy 1 & 2 (remakes)
God of War: Chains of Olympus (when it comes out)
Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Legend
Dissidia: Final Fantasy (when it comes out)
LocoRoco
Puzzle Quest Challenge of the Warlords
Monster Kingdom: Jewel Summoner
Valhalla Knights
Dungeon Siege Throne of Agony
Me and My Katamari
Crush
Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror
Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow
Final Fantasy: Crisis Core (if you can read japanese, otherwise wait until english release)
Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops
Metal Gear AC!D 1 and 2
Silent Hill: Origins
Manhunt 2
Ace Combat X
Gurumin
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories
Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles (not a Metroidvania)
Gitaroo Man Lives!
Also, Capcom Puzzle World is like crack. Who didn't love Puzzle Fighter?
Yeah, it's beat-em-up/RPG. But it's damn good beat-em-up/RPG with superheroes. I love this game. I know that some people don't. These people are crazy.
Pretty much all you need.
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Pirates! will probably be bought. LocoRoco looks interesting as do maximumzero's suggestions. Killzone looks to have great reviews and thankfully it appears to be in 3rd person perspective so I may find it good to play. (I've never really played a shooter before). Burnout - I really loved playing the multiplayer games on a friend's X-box but could never get the hang of the single player races. I'll probably buy my better half MGS: PO and then borrow it >_>
I was going to pick up Vice City Stories as it's super cheap, but thanks for the warning, sonictk. And I'll certainly mull over the other suggestions, at least I have some titles now!
I've only gotten FFT, Dracula X, and Valkyrie Profile so far, but I've always had my eye on Lumines II. Addictive puzzle music goodness from the genius behind Rez and Space Channel 5. Instant sell for me.
If VCS is super cheap then it's probably worth a playthrough. I won't deny it's definitely a solid title that was seriously full of hilarious dialogue, but I never found myself wanting to do a second playthrough or even explore more of VC. (I paid through the nose for an import since it was banned in my country and anyway, I'd played the PC VCS before already.)
I dunno, I think the Japanese voice overs sound way cooler than anything I ever heard in AC or that any actor can do. NO ONE will replace Gackt for Genesis. Seriously.
Plus, notice how I chose a shot without revealing Aeris' eyes? That's because if I didn't, anyone who looked at them would immediately hit up play-asia.com and import. Like, 2 copies.
You guys may think I'm nuts but honestly I believe that the kind of presentation in Crisis Core is what games in general should be striving for. A decent UI that doesn't incorporate flashy animations, near-zero load times, a storyline that doesn't actually suck balls, hand-done animations that look better than those in HL2 (not fucking kidding, the characters may be less detailed but their animations, especially in cutscenes feel much better than what I see in HL2, ep1 and ep2), and for once, an RPG that doesn't involve grinding!
I was already partial to ARPGs like Fable but this game, for me, was sent from the skies above.
Anyway, back on topic: the Syphon Filter franchise really disappointed me. The graphics were there, gameplay was almost-there, story went down the drain. Sigh.
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I must second Guitaroo Man, and I never played EEE but I ought to. Guitaroo Man is one of the quirkiest and fun music games out there. Rivals Parappa.
I've been informed that I must buy LocoRoco, which is fine by me!
I also apparently have to buy Valkyrie Profile because it has 'Valkyrie' in the title, perhaps I shouldn't always listen to my friends. However it seems to be highly recommended here so far.
I'll definitely get a puzzle game, will probably browse in store to find exactly which one.
Not saying it isn't tempting, but I prefer to actually understand the story.
Now, a game that is import friendly? DJ MAX Portable/ 2. Music simulator, basically portable Beatmania(uses the L/U/R and Circle/Triangle/X buttons to play notes as they come down the screen).
As far as I'm concerned you could pass on Valkyrie Profile. I haven't played the PSP version but I've tried the PS version numerous times. Rather, tried to start. It's just so dull.
For puzzle games, if you want something more traditional go with Lumines. If you want something more unique go with Crush. Exit is a good choice, too.
Oh hells yeah. That's all I do and it's still super fun. SUPER.
Yea the opening cutscene is a bitch but it's not as if you weren't warned. All SE games, or at least, games published by SE require you to set aside half a day to actually get past the prologue. But at least the cutscene was actually good.
Oh, and I totally forgot about SOCOM. The older games can probably be picked up for dirt cheap now, and Tactical Strike will be out soon.
Pirates! got really boring after I managed to take over some crazy ship which basically destroyed every other ship it came across. Also, I never really liked the minigames, it felt more boring than enjoyable, but that's just me probably, because everyone else seems to adore it.
Also, Exit (the original) > all other puzzle games I've seen on the PSP so far. Seriously. Except maybe Crush, but I haven't played that yet so I can't comment.
PoP:RS would be fun on the PSP...if it didn't look and play like a half-assed port from Ubisoft, but I really didn't expect anything better from them after Double Agent.
The real fun in MHF2 is multiplayer, why on earth would you want to go all SP? Don't be fooled by Ad-Hoc; Xlink Kai allows us PSP players to meet each other online to coop in MHF games, bypassing Ad-Hoc restrictions on MHF or any other PSP game for that matter.
I will say this though: the PSP really suffers from a lack of good RPGs that aren't ports imo.
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Gitaroo Man is wonderful -- I never got to play the PS2 version, but the PSP one is great. Also, I got it for $20 new at GameStop, although apparently it's only dropped at some stores and not others, so it's worth looking around. And I haven't put as much time into EEE as I want to, but that's only because I just bought it and I'm also playing FFT on PSP and E4 on XBLA -- which is surprisingly quite different than EEE but similar enough that it stays my hand.
OP, I think you'd really like Loco Roco -- I can't really look for it now, but there's a demo of it available. If you didn't know, a lot of PSP games actually have downloadable demos that you can try out; run a search or look on PSP sites like PSP Fanboy, and it'll give you pretty straightforward examples. Also, I believe that Harvey Birdman should be on your upcoming radar; it looks to be a very passable Phoenix Wright clone with the Adult Swim license. Dunno when it comes out.
I also think every single PSP owner needs to try the DJ Max Portable 2 demo, the game cj iwakura mentioned. It's possibly my favorite PSP game and one of my fave rhythm games ever, just because it's portable and so robust. I'll try to find a link for it later.
The Twisted Metal game was fun for the hour or so I played it... reminded me of a merger of TM: Black and TM2 (which, for my money, was the best of the series in terms of playability and level of difficulty).
D&D Tactics seems... faithful to the Tabletop rules. I haven't decided if that's good or not.
I haven't played Valkyrie Profile yet, but I'm trying to find it. I like that sort of game... sounds like a good match for the PSP.
Does the PSP version still have that glitch in it where Partners abilities don't work or some such?
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I've never seen my party members do anything but chatter and trigger quests... so yes, at least my (used) copy is bugged.
Of course, the companion effects are nearly useless anyway. 10 damage off the bat to a lich with 200 health? That's less than 1 normal skull match for a midgame character. Yay? It's all about crafting gear in that game regardless.
Honestly I wouldn't avoid PQ:CotW for fear of that bug.
I'd most certainly get Harvey Birdman.
And I completely forgot/didn't think about demos. An excellent suggestion! I shall get to downloading some straight away, thanks.
I'll hand you that one. It's taken me 3 or 4 play sessions just to figure out mundane party management... like how to trade items and memorize spells. You never know what menu uses what controls, and how... and waiting for the slow text crawl at the bottom to tell you is a drag.
I think some things are worth pointing out about Exit. One: the game can be very, very difficult. As such I never completed it and got far more playtime out of things like Lumines.
One nice thing, though, is there's downloadable content.
BUT it also just came out on Xbox Live for cheap so it's probably cheaper/easier to find it there. But it's not portable, so.
Oh! I also highly recommend I.Q. Mania. If you've ever played Intelligent Qube on the PS1... it's the same thing. It's the PSP collection of the original PS1 game plus the sequel(s) we never got in America. Unfortunately you have to import it (only released in Japan) but the entire game is in English. It even comes with an English instruction pamphlet. Also, last I checked it was pretty cheap on Play-Asia.
Now, Killzone: Liberation and Chapter 5 on the other hand...
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I don't know... I got frustrated and quit after a certain point. I'm not saying it's unsolvable by any means, but I the game does ramp up in difficulty quite a bit early on so it's something to consider.
YES. Every time somebody asks about PSP games, the Ac!ds are always the first thing I mention. As you say, it's a hard experience to capture with words, but basically they're two of the most unique, addictive and enjoyable games I've played on any platform. Plus, given that they didn't sell very well, they should be quite cheap. You could maybe even get them in a bundle.
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Wow. I loathe anything Metal Gear and that STILL sounds pretty dang cool.
The Ac!d games are the only ones I have played...and I loved em. Mind you, I think there isn't much reason to get 1, since 2 is better in every way. It's just a really cool way to play a game.
Brave Story
Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles (isn't out over here yet but it's one of my must haves)
Crush
Killzone: Liberation
LocoRoco
Metal Gear Acid
Metal Gear Acid 2
Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops
Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror
Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow (see: Castlevania)
Tekken: Dark Resurrection
And these are the upcoming games that you can look forward to:
Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core
God of War: Chains of Olympus
Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep
Patapon
Silent Hill Origins
SOCOM: Tactical Strike
Star Ocean: First Departure
Star Ocean: Second Evolution
I really cannot believe how people can say that game has a decent storyline with a straight face. The script for that game sounds like something that came right out of Pokemon and got rewritten by a 10 year old. Gameplay, for a traditional RPG was mediocre, though I liked some of the elements (such as unity skills) but it never really stood out as a good example of an RPG.
(And my god whoever thought up some of the character designs has been tripping on way too much acid.)
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Yeah, that's a good point. Still: for all its flaws, the first one is still a great game in its own right.
(Oh, and it sounds cool because it IS cool. You should totally try it out, Pink - even it turns out to not be your kinda thing, it's still unique enough to warrant a looksee.)