PSP investigation....

[Justin]

I think its time I finally put all my random questions concerning games on this console in one thread. I have been randomly asking about games as they pop into my head but I always forget what is recommended. I am really starting to value your opinions guys!!

FF Tactics: War of Lions - Now I already have this for playstation, and I have never finished it. It seems like a game that needs SERIOUS time investment. Time is not a luxury I had in the past, but seem to have now.

Tales of the World - I am a fan of the series, but I do know its gone stale over time. If its not really all that great I would rather pass it over. I dont want to get stuck playing the same game with different characters.

Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai - I love Dragon Ball. Problem is I have not bought a Dragon Ball game since Final Bout GT for PSone.... I would be interested in a DBZ game as I dont have a single fighter on the psp...more on that later.

Gradius Collection - I think there is one game in the collection I dont have on another disk or cart... but it sure would be nice in widescreen and all in one umd. Is it really worth ordering though??

Viewtiful Joe: Red Hot Rumble - Never gave this series any attention in its heyday. Dont really want another console game but I think it would be a nice fit on psp.

Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops Plus - Dont know a thing about this game, but if its that card rpg one then Ill pass....

Metal Slug Anth. - Saw this for the Wii, but a metal slug game would be deadly on a handheld. Especially on that widescreen..or is it a straight port with a 4:3 scale.

PaRappa the Rapper - Didn't get the whole "rhythm game" thing when this came out and completely ignored it. Its become a "classic" apparently and I am pretty good at music games.

Wild ARMs XF - Love this series, but wary of the gameplay change....

Darkstalkers Chronicle: The Chaos Tower - Dont own a single fighter for the psp. The controlles would be good for it, but I have never played one on a handheld. I like darkstalker and streetfighter big time so I have been thinking of this one alot.

There are some others which I plan on picking up for sure such as Popolocrois, Jean d'arc, and Gurumin.

[Incog Neato]

Tales of the World: I couldn't get into this game. It's the second Tales of the World game I've played (first being Summoner's Lineage on the GBA which never saw an English release). It seems like it's just you taking on a crap ton of quests from a guild, go dungeon crawling, and then meeting a crap ton of Tales characters. The voice acting is also horrendous.

PaRappa the Rapper - Button mash your way to cool rappin's! XD (http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=AzMGJtu6Dac) I never played this back when it came out on the PS but I watched my friends play. Seems pretty fun but a very short game. :/ Even those Taiko no Tatsujin ones are longer and have more replay value. :P

Gurumin - Guruguru fun! ^O^ I actually didn't play much of this but I would believe it's not that different from the PC version and THAT one was full of awesome fun. Except the snow mountain and lava dungeons.

If you want rhythm games for the PSP, they're mostly imports. :/ DJMax Portable, DJMax Portable 2 and Taiko no Tatsujin Portable 1 & 2 are fun times. *___*

Pump It Up EXCEED and Zero (on sale now at www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-bj-49-en-70-2r7a.html) are supposedly good too but the menu button configuration in EXCEED drove me up the wall.

And if you haven't played the GBA version of Tales of Phantasia (or even if you have), the PSP version is much more tolerable. No crap voice acting and, most of all, NO SLOWDOWNS IN BATTLES. This is the true port from the PlayStation! Of course, the original Super Famicom was full of awesome too.

[Yakra]

I can give my opinion on two!

Final Fantasy Tactics - I loved it on PS1 and the moment I heard it was coming out on PSP I pretty much went insane with joy. I LOVED this game. Still do. It's probably my ultimate favourite. (And so you now know my review is very biased!)

It is very time consuming actually. It took me 3 months to get through. But then I'm very slow and I wanted to try to get each and everything. I suppose you could rush through it but... oh well. My main gripes with the PSP version were the changes. Some were good, some not so much. As you didn't finish the PS1 one, you probably won't have the issue with the dialogue or the places I had. I had pretty much memorized everything so... at first it felt all wrong. (Later once I got used to it, it seemed a lot nicer.) The FMVs though I did not get used too. It appeared they were trying too hard to be... arty? (But I'm really nitpicking here. Ignore me! It's just that the sudden break of the music for Delita's thoughts each and every time (argh!), Ramza's voice, and just overall extra attention to fanservicey Balthier)

But the overall gameplay remained as nice as ever, if a bit slow and lagging, and the addition of the new classes (and new scenes!) was fun. I've always loved all the battles, and ofcourse the music is amazing. But yeah, it took a long time to finish. (Not that I'm complaining about that!)

Tales of the World - Erm... fanservice. I lost motivation halfway to finish it. It wasn't bad really, but the fanservice bits were its only highlight. Though the battles were fun, the dungeons were not, and going through the same route over and over and over soon got tiring very quick.

Its story was pretty flimsy too. Well... as expected from a game who's main character is someone who you create on your own. It feels like you're controlling a walking log who everyone keeps smiling at. Er... zero character development puts me off I guess?

But for the time I did play it, I enjoyed it quite a bit? Perhaps I just played it at the wrong time (and so, have such a poor opinion of it!)

[FM-77AV]

Gradius collection sucks. At least if you like pixel perfection. The PSP's resolution does not match that of the Gradius games, naturally, so it looks like shit. Either the screen is too small, or it is scaled in odd ways.

[Justin]

Yeah but I dont see it anymore, and if the screen ratio can be changed I would rather it on the PSP. I need more "pop and play" games to enjoy because I picked up a bunch of RPG's for the system.