As was foretold, we've added advertisements to the forums! If you have questions, or if you encounter any bugs, please visit this thread: https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/240191/forum-advertisement-faq-and-reports-thread/
Options
PS Vita: The original Switch
Roe
Always to the EastRegistered User regular
Always to the EastRegistered User regular
PS Vita is probably the most unappreciated handheld gaming device of its time. Created by Sony, the Vita includes near PS3 graphics and cross applications between the Playstation consoles.
The closest features to a portable normal console, the Vita boast great graphics, long battery charge, a touch pad, and mobile internet subscriptions for multiplayer gaming and browsing on the go.
Probably closer to a smart phone than any other handheld has ever been, the multimedia functions on the Vita are unmatched. Pictures, downloadable games, music, Internet browser, and visual novels are features found on the device out of the box and without charge.
Below is a quote of the previous thread's long list of games and features taken from the last thread stolen from @joshofalltrades .
joshofalltrades wrote: »The Playstation Vita! It's a wonderful little handheld device that boasts amazing graphics, intuitive control via it's twin-stick interface, and some really amazing games that you either won't find anywhere else or won't find anywhere else in mobile form. That last bit is really important for some of us, especially those of us who have children that like to monopolize the TV!
(Special thanks to @bss for the system information I copied/pasted/edited in this OP)
But enough talk. Have at thee!
The Hardware
The OG
The original Vita model (PCH-1000 series), lovingly dubbed the OG model by some, is the one with the gorgeous OLED touch screen. It launched in 2011/2012 and plays everything Vita. The screen really needs to be seen to be believed, but what you've heard is right --- it looks amazing. In addition to the (multi-press) touch screen, the Vita has two analog sticks, a D-pad, four face buttons, two bumpers, and another multi-press touch pad on the back, in addition to the normal PS button and start/select buttons. Overall, the OG Vita is one impressive (and impressive-looking) handheld. You can find it in black and in white in North America --- the cool colors are reserved for other countries, sadly.
The Vita Slim
The slim model (PCH-2000 series) is the latest revision on the Vita, launched in 2013/2014. It trades the OLED (replaced by a still-pretty-good IPS LCD) screen for a slimmer, more svelte build, better battery life, and USB charging cable. It's probably the easiest model to find retail. Some folks prefer the OLED, others the LCD, but either way you're still getting a great screen with the same great pixel density. The Slim also feels better in the hands by most accounts. Try both and see! The Slim has a variety of colors, but again, other countries get all the fun. In North America you can get a Vita Slim in any color, as long as it is black.
Vita TV (or PlayStation TV/PSTV)
2013/2014 also saw the launch of the Vita TV (named the PlayStation TV in the West), a lower-cost model that essentially tied the Vita internals to an HDMI, Ethernet, and USB port, popped it into a cute little shell, and presented a way to easily play (some) Vita-compatible games on a TV or to have PS4 Remote Play occur on a second TV. Unfortunately, the Vita game compatibility is not 100% --- most (but not quite all, check the guide) PSP and PS1 games from PSN that work on a Vita work on a PlayStation TV, but Vita compatibility is come-and-go. Incompatibility stems from games that rely on Vita features like the integrated camera, or make extensive use of the touch screens. There's ongoing effort to patch games so they can be played on PlayStation TV, but check a compatibility guide. Still though, if you need an inexpensive way to play some PSP or PS1 classics (including up to 4-controller multiplayer for the PS1 games), the PlayStation TV is a great option.
Compatibility Guide for NA
Compatibility Guide for EU
The Games
Here's a (hopefully) exhaustive list of games (thanks to @Orivion for providing this)! I'll bold the stuff that's recommended to keep an eye out for:
Dated Releases
- 7/14 - Deception IV: The Nightmare Princess (Tecmo KOEI)
- 7/28 - Blazblue: Chrono Phantasma EXTEND (Aksys)
- 7/28 - Lost Dimension (Lancarse/Atlus)
- 8/11 - Toukiden: Kiwami (Tecmo KOEI)
- 8/18 - Dungeon Travelers 2: The Royal Library & the Monster Seal (AquaPlus/Atlus)
- 8/25 - Amnesia: Memories (Idea Factory)
- 8/25 - One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3 (Bandai Namco)
- 8/25 - STEINS;GATE (MAGES./5pb./PQube)
- 9/1 - Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls (Spike Chunsoft)
- 9/15 - Earth Defense Force 2: Invaders from Planet Space
- 9/29 - Persona 4: Dancing All Night (Atlus)
- 10/13 - Corpse Party: Blood Drive (Team GrisGris/Xseed)
- 11/10 - Norn9: Var Commons (Idea Factory/Aksys)
- 11/17 - The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel (Falcom/Xseed)
- 11/24 - Code: Realize Guardian of Rebirth (Idea Factory/Aksys)
Release Window Announced[*]Darkest Dungeon (Red Hook Studios) --- October 2015
[*]Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax (Sega) --- October 2015
[*]Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky - Second Chapter (Falcom) PSP --- Sometime before Trails of Cold Steel
[*]Mighty No. 9 (Inti Creates/Comcept) --- Late 2015
TBA
- A Virus Named Tom (Misfits Attic Inc.)
- Alone With You (Benjamin Rivers Inc.)
- Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer (Playdek)
- Assault Android Cactus (Witch Beam)
- Axiom Verge (Tom Happ)
- Aztez (Team Colorblind)
- Baboon! (Relevo Videogames)
- The Banner Saga (Stoic)
- Bastion (Supergiant Games)
- BigFest (On The Metal)
- Blast ‘Em Bunnies (Nnooo)
- Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
- Bodycheck (Ludometrics)
- Broforce (Free Lives)
- Chroma Squad (Behold Studios)
- Class of Heroes 3 (Acquire/Monkey Paw) PSP
- Cloudberry Kingdom (Pwnee Studios)
- Cosmic Star Heroine (Zeboyd Games)
- Crypt of the Necrodancer (Brace Yourself Games)
- Day of the Tentacle Remastered (Double Fine Productions)
- Death Ray Manta (Bagful of Wrong)
- Death Tales (Nine Tales)
- Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth (Bandai Namco)
- Dragon Fantasy Book II (Muteki Corporation) Cross-Buy Out in NA
- Dragon Fin Soup (Grimm Bros)
- Drifter (Celsius Game Studios)
- EarthNight (Cleaversoft)
- Energy Hook (Happion Laboratories)
- Fenix Rage (Reverb TripleXP)
- Forma.8 (MixedBag)
- Foul Play (Devolver Digital)
- Gravity Rush 2 (SCE Japan Studio)
- Guns Up! (Valkyrie Entertainment)
- Gunship X (Hidden Elephant)
- Hatoful Boyfriend (Devolver Digital)
- Hatoful Boyfriend: Holiday Star (Devolver Digital)
- Heroes of Loot (Abstraction Games)
- HTR+ Slot Car Simulation (QUByte)
- Hyper Light Drifter (Heart Machine)
- Imagination is the Only Escape (Nine Tales)
- Klaus (La Cosa Entertainment)
- Kodoku (Carnivore Studio)
- Kyn (Vs. Evil)
- The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II (Falcom/Xseed)
- Legend of Raven (Nicalis)
- MechRunner (Spark Plug Games)
- MilitAnt (Xibalba)
- Moon Hunters (Kitfox)
- The Muppets Movie Adventures (Virtual Toys)
- Murasaki Mist (Hollow Games)
- Ninjin: Clash of Carrots (Pocket Trap)
- Not a Hero (Devolver Digital)
- Nova-111: A Cosmic Voyage (Funktronic Labs)
- Nuclear Throne (Vlambeer)
- Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee - New 'n' Tasty (Just Add Water) Cross-Buy
- One Way Trip (Beret)
- Papers, Please (Lucas Pope)
- Pier Solar and the Grand Architects (Watermelon Co)
- Rainbow Skies (SideQuest Studios)
- Ray’s The Dead (Ragtag Studio)
- Reaper (Luc Bernard)
- Risk of Rain (Hopoo Games)
- Rocketbirds 2: Evolution (Ratloop)
- Salt & Sanctuary (Ska Studios)
- Samurai Gunn (Teknopants)
- Senran Kagura Estival Versus (Tamsoft/Xseed)
- Severed (Drinkbox Games)
- Shantae: Half-Genie Hero (Wayforward)
- Shu (Coatsink)
- Skullgirls 2nd Encore (Lab Zero Games) Cross-Buy
- Snapshot (Retro Affect) Cross-Buy
- Soft Body (Bodysoft)
- Son of Scoregasm (RC Knight)
- Squares (Leap GS)
- Starbound (Chucklefish)
- Starwhal (Breakfall)
- SteamWorld Heist (Image & Form)
- Summon Night 5 (Bandai Namco/Gaijinworks) PSP
- Super Time Force Ultra (Capybara Games) Cross-Buy
- Supermagical (Tama Games)
- Sword Art Online: Lost Song (Namco Bandai)
- Tales from the Borderlands (Telltale)
- Teslagrad (Rain Games)
- To Leave (Freaky Creations)
- Tower of Guns (Grip Digital)
- Towerfall: Ascension (Matt Thorson)
- Unmechanical: Extended Edition (Grip Games)
- VA-11 HALL-A (Sukeban)
- Volume (Mike Bithell)
- World of Final Fantasy (Square Enix)
- Zero Escape 3 (Spike Chunsoft)
If there's something on that list you feel needs to be bolded, please let me know. Note that I didn't highlight Vita exclusives. If it's a good game and it's on the system, it comes recommended, because for a lot of people the experience of playing something on Vita (with portability, system suspend at any time, the amazing screen, twin sticks, etc.) makes it the preferred system for some of these games.
Ye Olde List of Recommended Vita Games
- Akiba’s Trip: Undead & Undressed (Acquire)
- Another World (Digital Lounge) Cross-Buy
- Assassin's Creed III: Liberation (Ubisoft Sofia)
- Atelier Ayesha Plus (Gust)
- Atelier Meruru Plus (Gust)
- Atelier Rorona Plus (Gust)
- Atelier Totori Plus (Gust)
- Blazblue: Chrono Phantasma (Arc System Works)
- BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend (Arc System Works)
- CounterSpy (Dynamighty) Cross-Buy
- Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc (Spike Chunsoft)
- Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair (Spike Chunsoft)
- Dead or Alive 5 Plus (Team Ninja)
- Dead Nation (Housemarque) Cross-Buy (PS3/Vita)
- Demon Gaze (Experience Inc./Kadokawa Games)
- Disgaea 3: Absence of Detention (Nippon Ichi Software)
- Disgaea 4: A Promise Revisited (Nippon Ichi Software)
- Divekick (One True Game/Iron Galaxy) Cross-Buy
- DJMax Technika Tune (Pentavision)
- Dragon's Crown (Vanillaware)
- Final Fantasy X | X-2 HD Remaster (Square Enix)
- Freedom Wars (SCE Japan Studio)
- Flower (thatgamecompany) Cross-Buy
- Gravity Rush (SCE Japan Studio)
- Guacamelee! (Drinkbox Studios) Cross-Buy
- Helldivers (Arrowhead Game Studios) Cross-Buy
- Hohokum (Richard Hogg/Honeyslug) Cross-Buy
- Hot Shots Golf: World Invitational (Clap Hanz)
- Hotline Miami (Dennaton Games) Cross-Buy
- htol#NiQ: The Firefly Diary (Nippon Ichi Software/NIS America)
- Killzone: Mercenary (Guerrilla Cambridge)
- Knytt Underground (Nifflas' Games) Cross-Buy
- La Mulana EX (Nigoro/Pygmy Studio)
- LittleBigPlanet Vita (Double Eleven/Tarsier)
- Lone Survivor: Director's Cut (Superflat Games) Cross-Buy
- Luftrausers (Vlambeer) Cross-Buy
- Lumines: Electronic Symphony (Q? Entertainment)
- Metal Gear Solid: HD Collection (Kojima Productions)
- Motorstorm: RC (Evolution Studios) Cross-Buy
- Muramasa Rebirth (Vanillaware)
- Need for Speed: Most Wanted (Criterion)
- Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath (Just Add Water/Oddworld Inhabitants)
- OlliOlli (Roll7)
- Oreshika: Tainted Bloodlines (Alpha System)
- Persona 4 Golden (Atlus)
- PixelJunk Monsters Ultimate HD (Double Eleven/Q-Games)
- PixelJunk Shooter Ultimate (Double Eleven/Q-Games) Cross-Buy
- Plants vs. Zombies (PopCap Games)
- Rayman: Origins (Ubisoft)
- Rayman: Legends (Ubisoft)
- Rogue Legacy (Cellar Door Games)
- Senran Kagura Shinovi Versus (Tamsoft)
- Shovel Knight (Yacht Club Games)
- Sine Mora (Digital Reality/Grasshopper)
- Sly: Thieves in Time (Sanzaru Games) Cross-Buy
- Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed (Sumo Digital)
- Sorcery Saga: Curse of the Great Curry God (ZeroDiv/Compile Heart)
- Soul Sacrifice (Marvelous AQL)
- Soul Sacrifice Delta (Marvelous AQL)
- Sound Shapes (Queazy Games) Cross-Buy
- Spelunky (Derek Yu & Andy Hull) Cross-Buy
- Stealth Inc. - A Clone in the Dark (Curve Studios) Cross-Buy
- SteamWorld Dig (Image&Form) Cross-Buy
- Super Stardust Delta (Housemarque)
- Tales of Hearts R (Bandai Namco)
- Tales from Space: Mutant Blobs Attack (Drinkbox Studios)
- Tearaway (Media Molecule)
- Thomas Was Alone (Mike Bithell) Cross-Buy
- Toukiden: Kiwami (Tecmo KOEI)
- Uncharted: Golden Abyss (Sony Bend)
- Velocity Ultra (FuturLab)
- Velocity 2X (FuturLab)
- The Walking Dead: Season 1 (Telltale Games)
- The Walking Dead: Season 2 (Telltale Games)
- wipEout 2048 (Sony Liverpool)
- Xblaze Code: Embryo (Arc System Works)
- Ys IV: Memories of Celceta (Falcom)
- Zero Escape: Virtue’s Last Reward (Chunsoft)
This OP is a work in progress and I reserve the right to go back and change things as they are announced or requested.
New Content manager:
What was the name of the content manager replacement program?
Roe on
+2
Posts
PSN: SirGrinchX
Oculus Rift: Sir_Grinch
Best, worst marketed handheld ever. Vita is up there with the NGPC for me.
Also, it's funny to see Nintendo copying Sony when it used to be the other way around. Now if they could only copy a good account system. :snap:
// Switch: SW-5306-0651-6424 //
On the other hand I find Sony first party games generally not worth the price (Except Gravity Rush. Yasss gravity Queen.) while the system is literally full of all my favorite types of games and I have a shelf full of 50 odd titles, ignoring the digital only stuff.
... So yeah, I dunno. Go Vita.
Pretty sure the Vita was marketed, but was just marketed wrong. Sony tried to sell the portable to Western publishers, but there wasn't anything they could do that would sell a portable to them. Western publishers have never been interested in anything portable other than mobile, and nothing any game console manufacturers have done has changed that. If they stuck with Japanese publishers and indie developers out of the gate, it probably would've been a lot more successful, or at least a lot more honest. As it stands, their idea of making it 'a portable home console' was a bad idea... consumers didn't want that, and publishers didn't want to risk throwing money at it.
Vita has its audience just like the PSP does, in fact it has the exact same audience. It just had to redirect the marketing to that audience after it tried to push the portable to people and publishers that didn't want it.
Which sucks, cause I always wanted one, it was incredibly powerful and had insane potential when it was unlocked/modded/whatever you call it to run custom stuff.
Then again, you could probably make a equivalent with a raspberry pi that does everything it could do, and more, for less than half the price now a days.
Personally I think the price of the memory kills it, and still does to this day. Not something they look to change either... it's a hell of an investment to make your Vita viable, and not many are willing to jump in.
Yeah, those sony memory sticks that no one but sony used so the price was absurd.
Unrelated, does anyone use a grip? I got one for my 3DS for Monster Hunter but never take it off now, figured it would probably stop a bit of handstrain for the Vita too.
It launched at the same price as the 3DS, which was a pretty big deal at the time. Granted, Nintendo dropped its price in response, but still.
Yeah. I have a grip for my OLED that's wonderful for long playing sessions. It's not one of the L2/R2 Remote Play ones though. Still, I'll put the thing on anytime I'm playing for hours. I still need to buy one for my Slim.
I highly recommend getting one if you have big hands or are doing huge playing sessions. I need to get one for my 3DS myself.
// Switch: SW-5306-0651-6424 //
That can't have helped.
Like Mega Man Legends? Then check out my story, Legends of the Halcyon Era - An Adventure in the World of Mega Man Legends on TMMN and AO3!
That was one thing they did get right with the PSPGo. 8Gb internal memory and I believe space for more.
8Gb is a LOT of PSP games too.
I think I was one of the 12 people that bought one though.
I do agree, Sony can stick their proprietary memcards in their butts.
That said, I do like my Vita. No regrets.
It reeks of affection for the very best in gaming experiences.
Various other notes for Ciel nosruge, as well as the old 'chapter summaries' can be found at the translator's page.
For those that have a CFW Vita, some of the people that released the wonderful translation of Ar tonelico 2 just this Christmas received the entire script from the Ciel translator and are going to eventually insert it into the Vita game itself, but it won't be for a while. It'll be the next project after Atelier Marie + Elie is finished being fan-translated.
// Switch: SW-5306-0651-6424 //
Uta-wa-re-ru-mono
Coming to the west for PS4/Vita by way of Atlus.
Mask of Deception due for release "spring 2017". It's followup Mask of Truth due out "soon".
The second's supposedly much better and closer to the original game in every way, but the lady friend (who was more into the original than I) bowed out after one, and I'm not sure whether or not the seemingly better impressions are just that the awfulness of the first gated off the people who wouldn't put up with the same shit.
Never played any of em. Should I go back and play the first couple or can I just start wherever?
You can start wherever as they're not connected, but Breath of Fire 2 is fantastic.
Nah, it's like final fantasy, except instead of moogles and chocobros you've got Ryu and Nina and whatever they name Rei/Cray.
...Meanwhile, Deis, the actual only recurring character through them all, is just over there feeling totally ignored.
1-4 technically are connected, but it's a retcon continuity at 4 ala Zelda (but not as shitty as Nintendo's attempt to do so).
It doesn't really matter.
(Play BoF3.)
QCMA
Edit: We might want to add this too: https://repod.github.io/psdle/
And more story/character details.
Again, I super did the UI and the monster designs.
And I freaking love the giant teddy bear laser beam eye attack.
// Switch: SW-5306-0651-6424 //
*shower*panties*bra-hug*
Oh, nvm. I understand.
If it's a JPEG and there's ladies in it, they'll be comparing breast sizes at some point in the game.
It's all of the everythings, because why stop at just one?
It's funny, because the first thing I thought of when I saw stuff start with the game was "Oh, it's Nega0, but completely inverted." Nega0 being a pornographic VN RPGish thing from a few years back by the same people who made Yumina and Aselia. Cartoonish as absolute fuck, but the gist of the game is "magic is fucking the fabric of reality up, and you need to stop all these magical girls who are knowingly or unknowingly using it to create miracles to not face various personal tragedies." And then you Phoenix Wright the hell out of their memories to find what went wrong and destroy whatever miracle they created to force them to deal with reality. It gets downright grim at times, especially for how cartoonish everything is, and does some really neat meta-narrative stuff.
This, on the other hand, despite the more realistic veneer and grotesque monsters, Gust's writing being what it is, I expect to be little more than "Yay, magic! Yay, friendship! Believing in yourself! Girls in underwear!"
...and then there's the Japan factor. I'm not sure how old I was when I started recognizing that there were games I would never play in front of other people, but I can tell you it's been longer that I've had that distinction than I haven't. And I've been playing video games since I was five. And I'm 38.
That said, Blue Reflection looks like it could be fun. My biggest problem with those games isn't even the content (it's on Vita, I'm not worried about it being on my plasma TV), it's that they just don't look fun. Usually it's nice graphics, but shitty dungeon/game worlds with sub-par gameplay. This doesn't even look like it's getting away from the latter, but the combat looks enjoyable. But "run around the blocky world to collect the glowy things and then do some combat" doesn't fill me with confidence.