Games that make it worth upgrading a PSP to a Vita/3DS

[nicweb]

I'm a fairly picky gamer with a lot of long bus & train journeys to fill. Most of the games I enjoy are first or third person shooters (e.g. Bioshock, Gears of War), action adventures (e.g. Assassin's Creed), or fully 3D rpgs (e.g. Xenoblade Chronicles, Fallout 3).


The PSP never quite seemed up to the job of providing that kind of immersive experience on the go. The God of War games were great but soon over, as was Killzone: Liberation. Many other 'major' titles were deeply flawed, like Crisis Core & Resistance: Retribution. My PSP ended up gathering dust.


Now both the PS Vita and the 3DS seem to have the potential to create 'realistic' immersive 3D worlds with decent control schemes. But I'm hesitant to buy as neither seems to really be attracting that kind of quality title.


Vita has Uncharted, which looks great, but like it wouldn't last long. All the other major franchises released so far seem to have been botched though (Resistance, Assassin's Creed, Call of Duty.) There's still Killzone to come, but who knows if that will stay true to console versions. And Soul Sacrifice looks interesting, though I doubt I'd ever find another person with the system to play with.


There's also a Bioshock in the pipeline (which would be great) but apparently it's on the back burner until Infinite is done, so it could be years away. And Final Fantasy X is being rereleased, though again it could be stuck behind other projects. After what happened with Type-0 on the PSP, I wouldn't be suprised if both games never show up.


Other than that, there's Persona 4 & Gravity Rush, with Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath to come, though I'm slightly put off by the cartoony vibe of all of them.


On the 3DS Resident Evil: Revelations seems to show the system's capacity to support major action titles. But there don't seem to be many more in the pipeline. Although since the system appears to be massacring the Vita in terms of sales, perhaps it will attract more 'mature' titles in time. I'm not interested in Nintendo's 1st party franchises, with the possible exception of Ocarina of Time & Kid Icarus: Uprising.


Any thoughts on whether it's worth purchasing either system (based purely on the 'hardcore' games), given the current state of things?

 

[tuna]

I really like my Vita and have played a lot with it. Golden Abyss is a pretty long game btw...

Also, MGS3 is really great on the Vita!

 

[Arwin]

The biggest problem for PSP was controls. There were actually some decent shooters, but they were held back by controls quite a bit. Technology wise, the 3DS does not seem far enough above the PSP to get really big 3D games, imho. The Vita shows that it is certainly capable, with Uncharted (played and finished it, and yeah, it's not short), NFS Most Wanted (which is a big, open world game with just about everything the console version has, and plays great), Resistance, Unit 13 and CoD, even if disappointingly Unit 13 may well be the best of those last three (depends a lot on whom you talk to though).

The Vita even fixes some of the PSP games, by offering you to use the second analog stick where shooters originally had to use the face buttons, and from the 2.0 firmware update you can also configure the back touch for various types of buttons. Combined with typically very low load-times and a very, very nice screen, that gives a lot of PSP titles a second lease on life, making the wait for more big RPGs on Vita very bearable (most people for instance consider the Ys series much better than Final Fantasy, and they run and look great on Vita).

You can always just try some of the games first hand, and wait until you've played something that sells you the system. I've never played anything as much as the Vita, so far, but then I also love games like Zen Pinball 2 or Rayman on the system, so my tastes are fairly varied.

The Unreal Engine 3 seems to be running pretty well now on the Vita though (at least 3 games have been released on that engine so far as I know, among which Gravity Rush, Mortal Kombat and Smart As), and I'm wondering if it will take long before someone releases a shooter with it.

 

[nicweb]

Golden Abyss is a pretty long game btw...

Also, MGS3 is really great on the Vita!

The impression I got of Golden Abyss is that it's more of a fun demonstration of the system's capabilities, like God of War on psp, rather than one of those 'classics' you want to play over and over. Is the gameplay really that good?


Never really got into MGS to be honest - don't think stealth games are my thing. I never got past the first few levels of Portable Ops - it just seemed bland.

 

[Sigfried1977]

I really like my Vita as well, but if it's shooters you are mostly after I can't recommend it just yet. Golden Abyss is pretty good (even if it is kinda tech demo-y in a not so good way), and I also heard good things about Unit 13 (which simply looks way too fucking bland for my taste). The rest is mediocre if you are feeling generous and rather abysmal if you are being honest with yourself.

It's a nice system if you like variety: Many genres are represented already, and represented rather well no less. There's Tennis, Golf, Pinball, Puzzle, a variety of fighting games, third person action adventures, jump and runs, sRpgs and more. Not a whole lot of shooting, though.

 

[nicweb]

The biggest problem for PSP was controls. There were actually some decent shooters, but they were held back by controls quite a bit.

Yes, I especially found this with Resistance - different enemies seemed to want different control schemes, and it was never comfortable. But I also found the waves of enemies just generally unsatisfying to defeat - it all felt kind of 'on rails' compared to even a last gen home console shooter.

Technology wise, the 3DS does not seem far enough above the PSP to get really big 3D games, imho.

I've found it very hard to get any consistent idea of the technological capabilities of the two. One source seemed to put the 3DS at twice the capabilities of the PSP (which he said made it equivalent to the PS2 -capable of large if simple 3D environments like Shadow of The Colossus), with the Vita twice as capable again (but still half that of a PS3). I have no idea whether that's total bs or not, or how you'd go about taking all the different specs into account to make a comparison. But I guess it doesn't really matter how capable a system is if you can't get the developers to push the best out of it.

that gives a lot of PSP titles a second lease on life, making the wait for more big RPGs on Vita very bearable

The question is, are those big RPGs coming, and how long will you have to wait.

most people for instance consider the Ys series much better than Final Fantasy

Do you mean 'better than FF games on PSP', or 'better than FF games in general'? Because I doubt the second. Not really into sprite based rpgs personally (either early FF or Ys).

You can always just try some of the games first hand, and wait until you've played something that sells you the system

I should try more games first hand - although I fear it may be a long time before I find something that really sells it to me.

 

[nicweb]

There's Tennis, Golf, Pinball, Puzzle, a variety of fighting games, third person action adventures, jump and runs, sRpgs and more. Not a whole lot of shooting, though.

I do like third person action adventures. I was really pinning my hopes on Assassin's Creed Liberation being the game to clinch it for me. But apparently the story is underdeveloped, it has less 'side quests' than the home console titles, and there are major framerate issues & bugs.

 

[BoardBonobo]

I do like third person action adventures. I was really pinning my hopes on Assassin's Creed Liberation being the game to clinch it for me. But apparently the story is underdeveloped, it has less 'side quests' than the home console titles, and there are major framerate issues & bugs.

I've played a fair bit of AC:liberation now and I haven't encountered any bugs yet. There have been a few frame rate issues but nothing that has much impact really, it's quite an achievement to get as much of the core AC game play onto the Vita as they have!

 

[tuna]

Never really got into MGS to be honest - don't think stealth games are my thing. I never got past the first few levels of Portable Ops - it just seemed bland.

MGS3 is nothing like Portable Ops (which I found to be pretty crappy).

 

[Arwin]

I've found it very hard to get any consistent idea of the technological capabilities of the two.

The Vita has 640MB of memory. It can push at least 200k polys per frame. The main bottleneck is its memory speed (presumably around 13GB/s for its 128MB VRAM, and who knows what for its 512MB Main RAM, but I'm not sure of the figures exactly) and shader ability (probably half or less of HD consoles), but still fully programmable.

Again, I'm not an expert, but from what I'm seeing on 3DS, it looks like the amount of poly's it can push, it's not far beyond the PSP. It has some kind of fixed shader unit though that can make things look a fair bit nicer at times. It's certainly not close to capable of running Wii games without some cutbacks in particularly polygons, which suggests that it may be close to PS2, but probably also doesn't have anything like that machine's EDRAM (though again, not sure, but certainly doesn't look like it from what I've seen so far).

One source seemed to put the 3DS at twice the capabilities of the PSP (which he said made it equivalent to the PS2 -capable of large if simple 3D environments like Shadow of The Colossus), with the Vita twice as capable again (but still half that of a PS3).

The PS2 had 32MB RAM and 4MB of (very fast) VRAM. That's already a fraction of the 3DS, let alone the Vita which has 5 times the memory of the 3DS.

But I guess it doesn't really matter how capable a system is if you can't get the developers to push the best out of it.

This of course it he crucial point. Hence why I suggest that if you don't think what's currently out there can entertain you, you are probably better off waiting. It's not likely to get more expensive.

Do you mean 'better than FF games on PSP', or 'better than FF games in general'? Because I doubt the second. Not really into sprite based rpgs personally (either early FF or Ys).

Which I think looks rather good, and holds up rather well against anything releasing on Vita. Most RPG fans would without reservations recommend Ys Celceta and Seven heartily. And they're not expensive as digital downloads.

Note that he's just running through the scenery to show how different parts look on Vita.

I should try more games first hand - although I fear it may be a long time before I find something that really sells it to me.

If you've never played Ys, you could definitely do worse. The Vita is one of those rare consoles that genuinely improve games that ran on its predecessor quite significantly. And the PSP has very, very many RPGs.

 

[tuna]

Forgot. Motorstorm RC is brilliant. It is really good on the PS3, but even better on the Vita.

 

[Gitaroo]

if you can stand slow down, get little king story, addictive game. Dokuro if you like pizzle, and Odd World stranger Wrath HD is coming out this month for US PSN. Miku and DJMax if you are into music and rhym game. I have a 3DS also.... honestly nothing I can recommend that is a must have........

 

[nicweb]

Which I think looks rather good, and holds up rather well against anything releasing on Vita. Most RPG fans would without reservations recommend Ys Celceta and Seven heartily. And they're not expensive as digital downloads.

It looks ok. Only just out in Japan though isn't it? With no western release scheduled. So you may have a long wait. I'd sooner have FF Type-0 though.

If you've never played Ys, you could definitely do worse.

I did seriously consider getting Seven, but thought the world & characters in it looked kind of bland and generic, and the combat simplistic & repetitive. The story didn't seem that interesting to me.

The Vita is one of those rare consoles that genuinely improve games that ran on its predecessor quite significantly.

How does it improve a game like Ys? Is it just the sharpness of the screen, or does it fix control problems or something?

 

[nicweb]

Forgot. Motorstorm RC is brilliant. It is really good on the PS3, but even better on the Vita.

Thanks, but never really been into racing games.

if you can stand slow down, get little king story, addictive game. Dokuro if you like pizzle, and Odd World stranger Wrath HD is coming out this month for US PSN. Miku and DJMax if you are into music and rhym game. I have a 3DS also.... honestly nothing I can recommend that is a must have........

Little King's Story looks a bit cutesy for my tastes. I don't really like puzzle games (with the exception of Portal), or music games. Stranger's Wrath is supposed to be out this month, but still no release date, so it could be delayed. Will be keeping my eye on that one though.

 

[Arwin]

It looks ok. Only just out in Japan though isn't it? With no western release scheduled. So you may have a long wait. I'd sooner have FF Type-0 though.

Sorry about that, I actually meant YS 3 Oath in Felghana. Actually, for a Vita game, it doesn't look that hot, to be honest, but at least it runs really smooth from the looks of things.

I did seriously consider getting Seven, but thought the world & characters in it looked kind of bland and generic, and the combat simplistic & repetitive. The story didn't seem that interesting to me.

How does it improve a game like Ys? Is it just the sharpness of the screen, or does it fix control problems or something?

According to GAF, Ys Seven is really, really good. I haven't played enough, but so far I am more impressed than with Final Fantasy games (but then I only really loved VII and XII, although I could never get very far into XII, as I had an import version and then the PS3 came and my PS2 moved out).

Yeah, the sharpness and colors (PSP had some kind of limited color/dithering, not sure what) on Vita is far better, and the OLED doesn't know what ghosting is at all either. And yes, you can set controls to use the analog stick, which is more comfortable almost always.

I hear Z.H.P. is also really good. There are some threads on GAF with suggestions on what the best RPGs are to play on Vita.

Vita is also perfect now for PSOne games, by the way. And basically all the Final Fantasy's up to (but not yet including) X are available on it (and Vagrant Story, Parasite Eve II). You can customise scaling options to anything now, use the analog sticks, configure back touch for stuff, load speeds, etc.

Also, with Playstation Plus you'd get a lot of good stuff for very cheap (starting with Uncharted and Gravity Rush).

Personally I'm also a big fan of Zen Pinball 2, by the way.

 

[tuna]

Thanks, but never really been into racing games.

It is not a racing game, it is something very different.

 

[Gitaroo]

Thanks, but never really been into racing games.


Little King's Story looks a bit cutesy for my tastes. I don't really like puzzle games (with the exception of Portal), or music games. Stranger's Wrath is supposed to be out this month, but still no release date, so it could be delayed. Will be keeping my eye on that one though.

you like jrpg? Persona 4 is a no brainer. Oddworld is finished for a few weeks according to the dev and I think the CEO confirmed November release. Next tuesday is the last chance for Nov release. Since no new Vita release has been planned I would be on it. Fighting games are also great on Vita, if you are into that, the lastest version go Guilty Gear is coming next year...

 

[manux]

My favorites on vita have been uncharted and mgs hd. Uncharted wasn't short by any means and it has maps one wants to play again. Other games I have liked have been mutant blobs attack, rayman origin's, lumines and super star dust. Ofcourse there is some and then more psp and ps1 titles to throw into the mix.

PSN+ seems to give pretty good value for gaming. Especially if one hasn't already invested into uncharted and gravity rush.

 

[nicweb]

According to GAF, Ys Seven is really, really good.

I tend to give more weight to critic reviews than user reviews, because a critic will always make it clear which elements of a game they think are weaker and why (e.g. story), whereas many gamers enjoy hack 'n slash gameplay and don't care about things like story, so will rave about games that have major weaknesses.

I haven't played enough, but so far I am more impressed than with Final Fantasy games (but then I only really loved VII and XII, although I could never get very far into XII, as I had an import version and then the PS3 came and my PS2 moved out).

I find it hard to be objective about FF games (7 & 9 anyway), because I loved them so much as a kid. But I think I generally prefer their approach to creating a fantasy world than those of other RPG series. They seem to create tension and conflict in the stories much better than others. I can imagine that the combat might well be better in games like Ys though - no random encounters!

Vita is also perfect now for PSOne games, by the way. And basically all the Final Fantasy's up to (but not yet including) X are available on it (and Vagrant Story, Parasite Eve II). You can customise scaling options to anything now, use the analog sticks, configure back touch for stuff, load speeds, etc.

I think I've got about as much as I want to out of PSOne games already on my PSP. Played all the FFs to death. Vagrant Story was good, (loved the cutscenes) although the equipment system seemed flawed.

 

[nicweb]

It is not a racing game, it is something very different.

How so?

you like jrpg? Persona 4 is a no brainer.

I like a few. To be honest I've much preferred western rpgs in recent years - games that give you a large world & the freedom to explore it (Xenoblade fits that trend). I'm not really keen on the anime style of games like Persona 4, although I hear good things about it pretty much everywhere.

Fighting games are also great on Vita, if you are into that, the lastest version go Guilty Gear is coming next year...

Not really my thing. First & third person shooters, action-adventures and some RPGs are what I enjoy. 2D sprite based fighters don't really appeal. Like I said, picky :smile: .