PSP - What should I play next?

Hey guys,

I was hoping you could help me pick the next game that I'm going to play on my PSP. First, some background info. Since I got a PSP in January, it accounts to 95% of my video gaming (used to be DS for the 3 years before that). I like most genres, but probably RPGs the most. I don't like space sims, tower defense games, or most FPShooters.

What I have played so far:
- Patapon (the 1st game in the series) - got quite bored after 5 or 8 missions. Sold it.
- Metal Gear Solid (1st) - beat it, loved it (as I love the series)
- Loco Roco 2 - beat it, loved it for its quirkiness.
- Monster Hunter Freedom Unite - probably 75 hours clocked in, love it, but need to take a break from it occasionally.
- Jeanne D'Arc - beat the New Orleans mission some time ago, then set it aside for a while. I always thought I liked sRPGs, and I do enjoy them, but I don't think I've really beaten any...
- Final Fantasy VII (yeah, I've not played it before) - I quite liked it, but got burnt out somewhere near the end of Disc 2
- Ys I and II - not great, but enjoyable. Beat it - I like retro games, and grinding was not bad either. But if it was longer, I would have quit mid-way through, probably.
- Lego Star Wars Original Trilogy - beat it. The game was OK, I liked it, but not enough to come back and try 100%-ing it.
- Rock Band: Unplugged - a fun game that I really enjoy in short bursts (beating a few tracks in one sitting). Playing on Medium (I suck at music/rhythm games)

Now, here are the games I have in my library (a.k.a. pile of shame):

- Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain - old game that I've never played, though it got great reviews back when it was released. Bought the PSN version, played for about an hour, did not really like the gameplay.
- Soul Reaver: Legacy of Kain - is it better than BO:LoK?
- Half-Minute Hero - played for 2 or 3 hours, probably. It was fun at first, but after 9 or 10 missions it got boring. Then I had a quick look at an FAQ, saw that there are 30 levels, and put the game aside.
- Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together - I thought it might be better to finish Jeanne D'Arc first, rather than start another sRPG game
- Final Fantasy Tactics - ditto (never played it)
- Wipeout Pulse - I thought a racing game might be a nice change. I beat a few races, and I will probably come back one day.
- Valkyrie: Lenneth - never played this one, got good reviews so I picked it up.
- Gitaroo Man Live - quite 'different' music game.
- Metal Gear Acid 2 - got better reviews than the 1st one, so I picked it up. Played the tutorial missions just to see how the gameplay works.
- Final Fantasy VI and VIII - some more classics that I've not played. Not sure about them though, as I didn't manage to finish VII (supposedly the best EVAR).
- Persona 3 Portable - played 2 SMT games on my DS - Devil Survivor (quit on the Baelzebub mission, seems to be my 'unfinished sRPG curse'), and Strange Journey (quit in sector G, when I needed a lot of grinding due to an apparent difficulty spike). Enjoyed both these games - I had a good time, but not great enough to focus on BEATING them).

I know this is a lot of text to digest, but I put it all there to help you help me. Which of the games above would you suggest I play next? Or is there any other game outside my library that you think I would like? Any hints would be useful for me.

Unfortunately I haven't played most of the games in your pile, but here's what I can recommend.

I played through about as much of Blood Omen as you did and was also really disappointed. It just didn't hold up for me. I remember playing Soul Reaver years ago and it's a completely different game. It's something I very much want to go back to and try again. It's more of a 3D zelda-style game. Also, I liked FF VI much more than VII, so even if you didn't love VII you might get a kick out of it.

The only game not on your pile that I'd definitely recommend Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core. It might be a little weird not having played through much of VII, but if you watch Advent Children or just read a few spoilers, it'll make some sense. Gameplay-wise, it's a fantastic game. I wish there were more RPGs in this style. It's possibly the high water mark for the PSP, and it's a good enough game that seems to fit your taste that it'd be worth bypassing the rest of the pile for.

Thanks, gravity. Crisis Core is one of the games on my wishlist, though I suppose I will watch some 'Let's Play' video of FF VII first, just to see how the plot develops.

I'm glad about your Soul Reaver comments - I got two Blood Omen games in one transaction, and was slightly angry at myself after Blood Omen disappointed me so. I guess I will need to ckeck out Soul Reaver, especially since there's another part waiting in the PSN Store.

FF VI seems more old-school than FF VII, which might be good - the PS1 3D graphics have not aged well, the 2D sprites should be better (at least in DQ IV and V on DS they were pretty good). I heard good things about its story too. I am also quite curious about FF VIII, which many say was the worst of the series. I can always drop it after an hour, with no regret.

Good thread...

I'm a huge PSP fan, but really only use it on long journeys (particularly overseas ones).

I'd recommend:

GTA: Vice City Stories - What you'd expect from a GTA, but really well designed for gaming on the go. At the time of release it was pretty much the best demonstration of the power and versatility of the system.
Syphon Filter (Dark Mirror and Logan's Shadow)
Beaterator - It's not actually game, but pretty addictive once you get into it.

Avoids:

World Series of Poker, any Madden, NFL Street - Abominable load times... at almost every stage of each game.
Any driving game - The analogue nub just isn't robust enough to survive more than a few weeks.
Killzone: Liberation - The top-down isometric view just wasn't to my taste.
SOCOM: Tactical Strike - A great XCom-like idea, but really fiddly controls; you'll end up replaying sections endlessly... not because you made a poor tactical choice but because the system interpreted your inputs incorrectly.

I'm with you on Patapon, by the way.

Crush!

FF Tactics is pretty good but you have to have a lot of patience for it, imo.

P3P and Tactics Ogre are possibly the two best games on the system. Must plays. The above recommendation of Crisis Core is a good one. It's a great follow up for FF7 fans and a better game too. Corpse Party is an excellent Japanese horror adventure game. The setting is pretty unique. Ys 1 & 2 is good but both Ys 7 and Oath in Felghana are great Ys games. Highly recommended.

Considering your tastes and which games you've quit on, my recommendation is Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth. It's a truly underrated, overlooked game that contains a rare one-two punch of engaging combat/gameplay and a very interesting narrative premise - you're playing a Norse valkyrie who collects the souls of warriors from earth for the great battle Ragnarok (end of the world type thing). Each character you seek to recruit has a little vignette detailing who they are, and most are interesting.

It's a really unique game, there's not a lot like it. I like Monster Hunter a ton, but I don't like the PSP versions, and you realistically wouldn't be able to play online which is a big part of the draw.

P3P. That is all.

Tanglebones wrote:

P3P. That is all.

The answer.

SixteenBlue wrote:
Tanglebones wrote:

P3P. That is all.

The answer.

The only answer that matters.

Thanks for all your comments, guys. P3P sounds great, though I find its length quite intimidating, to be honest. But hey, I don't really mind quitting half way through the game, as long as the overall experience is fun. And I already bought the game during one of the price drops.

GTA: Vice Story - I beat in on my DS and I just LOVED IT! Great game, fun story, tight controls. The only thing that I felt was missing was talking on the radio (which I always found hilarious in GTA games).

I just got two games from a friend yesterday - Patapon 3 (I'll give the series a second chance - let's see if thee improved the gameplay issues from the 1st game), and Lord of Arcana (I launched it to check it out, and so far it seems like a rip-off of Monster Hunter + God of War - gonna shelve it for a while).

For the time being, I returned to Jeanne D'Arc. I played a 'free battle' twice to level up a bit, then beat the mision that I got stuck on (Patay - the one where Bartholomeo joins). I suppose I will play it some more - the artstyle and dialogues are really charming. I will probably start P3P after I beat it (I like switching genres, to avoid burnout).

Oh, one more thing - how's Trails in the Sky? Some time ago I was considering getting Lunar for a 'standard RPG' fix, but someone on the forums recommended that I get TitS instead.

MsbS wrote:

Thanks for all your comments, guys. P3P sounds great, though I find its length quite intimidating, to be honest. But hey, I don't really mind quitting half way through the game, as long as the overall experience is fun. And I already bought the game during one of the price drops.

GTA: Vice Story - I beat in on my DS and I just LOVED IT! Great game, fun story, tight controls. The only thing that I felt was missing was talking on the radio (which I always found hilarious in GTA games).

I just got two games from a friend yesterday - Patapon 3 (I'll give the series a second chance - let's see if thee improved the gameplay issues from the 1st game), and Lord of Arcana (I launched it to check it out, and so far it seems like a rip-off of Monster Hunter + God of War - gonna shelve it for a while).

For the time being, I returned to Jeanne D'Arc. I played a 'free battle' twice to level up a bit, then beat the mision that I got stuck on (Patay - the one where Bartholomeo joins). I suppose I will play it some more - the artstyle and dialogues are really charming. I will probably start P3P after I beat it (I like switching genres, to avoid burnout).

Oh, one more thing - how's Trails in the Sky? Some time ago I was considering getting Lunar for a 'standard RPG' fix, but someone on the forums recommended that I get TitS instead.

Trails in the Sky is very fun; I got about 20 hours in before I burnt out on it, but what there was, was great classic PS1 era JRPG.

Soul Reaver is a very different game to Legacy Of Kain. It is a 3rd person adventure, 3D, not top down 2D, with some amazing (for the time) gameplay innovations. For my money, it was the best and most imaginative game of it's type for that generation, but, unfortunately, was let down by it's successors. I bought it for DC and PS1 on disc, and can feel a PSN purchase coming on, as long as it runs on Vita.

Of the 3-4 hours I've played of Trails in the Sky, its a standard rpg with lots of missable sidequests, a large map, and a slow ramp up. Not sure why people recommend it so much, there's a lot of padding to the game and I'm not a fan of the combat.

YS Seven is good if your looking for a good top down combat game.

I'm also running through P3P for the first time atm. I have the PS2 version, but the AI was sub-par and I ended up skipping over it to play Persona 4.

Motleyai wrote:

Of the 3-4 hours I've played of Trails in the Sky, its a standard rpg with lots of missable sidequests, a large map, and a slow ramp up. Not sure why people recommend it so much, there's a lot of padding to the game and I'm not a fan of the combat.

I felt the same, was really disappointed.

Trails in the Sky is very good, I beat it in 40 hours or so. It's very much like a traditional JRPG from the 16bit console era but with none of the frustration and all of the polish you expect in a modern game. Highly recommended.

Lunar is a nice remake but the gameplay and story are very dated. I got bored with it after about 15 hours. So definitely go Trails over Lunar.