The stupid Sony Mantra of “ALWAYS include a proprietary storage format” broke their handheld’s future and potential. The PSP-UMD were crap - not enough storage space, physical media prone to damage and exorbitant power drain because of drive/laser, and the special and hella-overprized Memory sticks for the Vita weren’t better either. If Sony FINALLY get rid of pushing the format-wars-envelope it would be a fine future…remember Betamax? 3D-TV? Yeah me neither, and good riddance to that.
3 Likes
Tactics Ogre is the best SRPG on the PSP and I won’t hear anything else.
4 Likes
That is correct. Disgaea is funnier, FFT is glomier, Jeanne D’Arc is flashier but TO wins overall top spot.
1 Like
It is hard to argue with any of that. If Jeanne were a little harder in the late game and a little longer, though…
I liked Disgaea, but I always became too pre-occupied with adding levels to my weapons, which in hindsight I think was a waste of time.
True that. If I have anything bad to say about Disgaea and the other SRPGs from Nippon Ichi is they went full on retard with the item world and customization aspects here.
I like pretty much everything even the insane character level-grind (and re-grind after resetting your lvl from 9999 to 1because why not) but the item grinding is bogging me down too much as well…getting bored either or shot down by analysis paralysis in the process.
1 Like
Disgaea loses me in its glut of systems.
2 Likes
Yes–that’s a better way of describing it. I never knew which thing was the important thing to be focusing on.
Disgaea was vast but shallow, like a pool a mile wide and six inches deep. I bought it and bailed after a few hours.
Jeanne has charm for miles and was fun enough I played through it a couple times. Solid all around.
TO’s original release was both excellent and flawed. While future isometric SRPGs owe it a debt for paving the way, it is definitely not as good as FFT. The PSP version of TO was also both excellent and flawed, but in very different ways than the original.
There’s also LotR Tactics, Dungeons and Dragons…the list goes on and on. Not all winners, but still lots of good or even great titles.
1 Like
I enjoyed LotR tactics for what it was. I’m also remembering a Suikoden one as well, but that may have been on a console; I’m not sure. FFT is my cream of the crop, though. It is simply the best.
2 Likes
Yeah, LotR was somewhat vanilla but still had some fun, especially with the evil playthrough.
You are so right. FFT has yet to be topped, and after two decades there’s little reason to believe it will be anytime soon.
2 Likes
I forgot about D&D Tactics! I really liked that one, played through a number of times. It was not on a par with TO, FFT or JdA, but it was just different enough and tactical enough to keep me coming back. And it was also never ported either…mutter mutter.
I still play tactics ogre on my 3ds running an old emulation software
1 Like
Suikoden Tactics for the PS2. Funnily enough given Suikoden’s stellar credentials as a series the only one which kept me invested back then, but I had only played the PS2 era Suikodens and back then I had way too many jRPGs so I got slightly fed up with the Suikoden series straight after playing trough the flawed but still incredible Xenosaga series.
Also PS2 era were Dynasty Tactics 1+2 both being spin-offs from the Dynasty Warrior games. Back then I was craving for anything Tactical on my PS2 but the deeper intricacies of the conflict and the units were lost on me…no internet for me back then meaned no google, gamefaqs or wikias to help me. If I had played any of the “Romance of the three kingdoms” games prior I might have appreciated them more for their lore/worldbuilding and plot…so it was totally confusing mess of not fully understand gameplay elements and a sack full of similar sounding “kinda important maybe” generals shouting at each other before engaging.
Which gives me pause…I hope “Fire Emblem: Three houses” doesn’t go down that road as well @,@
1 Like
Also played Tactics Ogre:Knight of Lodis (TO:KoL)? It was the Gameboy Advanced TO. Not as good as the remade TO:luct for the PSP but at that time more “modern” than the original TO:luct for the snes.
Also was one of my prouder purchases/scavenger hunt stories for an original copy of a game flashcard/cartridge.
1 Like
Yeah, FFT and Metal Gear Acid were the games I bought the system for. Would kill for a remastered version of MGA on mobile or steam.
1 Like
Oh man, I forgot about the Ac!d games. Those were a real trip. Boss Mode was excellent, since those were the places where the game really shined. Not unlike the main series, really. But they seem to have been relegated to the dustbin of gaming history.
2 Likes
I liked the Ac!d games as well, though I don’t think I ever finished one. The card/deck building matched with rpg aspect was well-done, and the story always took interesting turns. I think it was the story progression that made me feel list if I took a break for a few days and came back. “Now wait a minute…who is secretly working for who this time?”
So many great games on that system that should be ported to mobile.
4 Likes
This is completely out of left field and maybe not a Stately game, but my son got some Beyblades for Christmas and my interest is greater than I had thought. At its core, Beyblades is a battling tops game where you win points by knocking your opponent’s top out of the ring, destroying the other top, or being the last top spinning. The tops themselves are made up of 3 parts and are rated for attack, defense, and stamina. Parts are interchangeable so you can cobble up your own creations, too. I don’t know how much skill or strategy is involved, but after playing a bit I do see certain personalities in the way some of the tops work. I’ve already grabbed a couple more off the shelf to augment our collection.
4 Likes
My twin sons are obsessed with Beyblades. Took them shopping separately to buy Christmas gifts for each other, and they each picked out a new Beyblade battle arena for the other one … which I think gets us up to 4 total in the house. I have no idea how many tops they have.
They have each other, so they don’t need me to be interested.
Got a Switch for Christmas, waiting on Smash to come in the mail. In the meantime, downloaded West of Loathing and Into the Breach.
3 Likes