Overlooked PSP Suggestions

[Vyk]

I'm going to end up shooting myself in the foot here, because there's a lot of great games that I just can't get into. But I still would like some suggestions. Over the entire life of my PSP I don't think I've beaten a single game. I honestly can hardly get into most PSP games and I think that's a shame. The only games I've really beaten on the system are ones from other consoles that I'd emulated on there

I'd say I want hidden gems, because I have a hard time getting into the mainstream ones that everyone would immediately suggest. But there's still a chance that there are mainstream gold mines that I'd just overlooked

I will preface this by saying that I did not like the original Kingdom Hearts, and had no interest in Kingdom Hearts 2 because of that. If anyone believes that it's entirely possible to enjoy a spin-off of a franchise that turned me off, I'd be willing to listen to arguments

Other than that, I own Crisis Core, and thought it was super repetitive and slow. I've already said my peace in many threads regarding why I can't get into FFT and Tactics Ogre Battle/Battle/Battle/Plot/Battle/Battle formula. So that counts out Disgaea and all its ilk too, sadly

And for some reason Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth just didn't do it for me either. Or Dissidia

I so wanted to enjoy Trails in the Sky, I actually pirated that one and then immediately bought it new due to such high praise I wanted to make sure XSeed got money for the attempt to bring over quality games. But sadly it too was a little too slow and repetitive. Great characters. Can't really speak on the story. But the battle system got me. And I lost enjoyment

I can't say that I hate the old JRPG battle/grind or have a complex against standard battle systems. I'd still play FFVI and VII and Xenogears all day everyday. But they didn't feel quite as tedious as the standard JRPG. And sadly, as far as I know there's no good Tales or Grandia games on the system to change things up

I am probably a pretty lost cause, but I would still like to one day get invested in a good JRPG on the system and have a feeling I probably overlooked some things

tl;dr - I need good JRPG PSP suggestions

[Wolf Kanno]

I will always give my token shout-out for Persona though I would stick to Persona 2 as P1 is um... an acquired taste and I felt P3P's interface made the game very disengaging but I'm never been fond of Visual Novel style games.

You may also want to check out the ports for Star Ocean if you're a Tales fan, but other than that I am in agreement that the PSP was largely lacking in good JRPGs that weren't ports of older (and better) games or using it to emulate better games than its library. My advice would be to sell the PSP and get a 3DS so you can play the good RPGs on the DS and the 3DS.

[Bolivar]

If you want a handheld whose original RPGs are better than its remakes, going to the 3DS would be a horrible idea.

I always recommend Valkyria Chronicles 2. It is somewhat story-battle but not in the linear way you might be dreading, as you unlock side missions and character interactions depending on the characters you use in battle and there's always a variety of things to see and do, instead of forcing you down one path. The gameplay is also just so new and refreshing, there's plenty to fall in love with. It's the evolution of the SRPG formula in case you're unfamiliar with the series.

You might want to try some top 25 lists and such on Google. I've heard great things about Ys Seven, Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky, Jeanne D'Arc, Half Minute Hero and Gungnir. I honestly didn't play a lot though because the PSP had so many great games outside of the RPG genre.

[Wolf Kanno]

If you want a handheld whose original RPGs are better than its remakes, going to the 3DS would be a horrible idea.

I always recommend Valkyria Chronicles 2. It is somewhat story-battle but not in the linear way you might be dreading, as you unlock side missions and character interactions depending on the characters you use in battle and there's always a variety of things to see and do, instead of forcing you down one path. The gameplay is also just so new and refreshing, there's plenty to fall in love with. It's the evolution of the SRPG formula in case you're unfamiliar with the series.

You might want to try some top 25 lists and such on Google. I've heard great things about Ys Seven, Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky, Jeanne D'Arc, Half Minute Hero and Gungnir. I honestly didn't play a lot though because the PSP had so many great games outside of the RPG genre.

Honestly three of the games you mentioned are the SRPG style games he mentioned not liking so only Ys Seven and Half-Minute Hero are worth it. Even then Half-Minute hero is more like a RPG Minigame/puzzle than a real RPG though I would recommend it cause its funny as hell.

I suggest the 3DS because it is also backwards compatible with the DS and having TWEWY, Bravery Default, Shin Megami Tensei IV, FF: 4 Heroes of Light, and DQIX at your fingertips is rather nice.

[Bolivar]

Legend of Heroes is not considered an SRPG in that style, the encounter screen just happens to have a movement component to it. I thought I'd mention the other games since they have quite the reputation behind them and are worth checking out regardless.

[Del Murder]

I second Wolf's sentiments about P3P. It was my first Persona game and the interface really threw me off, so much that I haven't had the desire to ever play another Persona game.

I haven't gotten to Valkyria Chronicles 2 but the first one was great so I'm sure it's great, but VC is a strategy RPG so you may not like it as much. That's too bad, too, because Tactics Ogre is the best game on PSP.

Also if you like Kingdom Hearts then Birth By Sleep is one to play since it's the best one.

[Vyk]

I really really want to enjoy Trails in the Sky. Maybe I'll give it another go. It gets such rave reviews and praise from its fans. Though people admit that it is a slow burn, so maybe I just didn't stick with it long enough

And I guess I kinda forgot about Persona 2. I have Persona 3 Portable, and put quite a few hours into it, but the sim life sorta threw me too much at the time. I felt overwhelmed. Only after starting Persona 4 earlier this year with my girlfriend, who explained that I wasn't required to try to do everything I was signed up for did I realize I was going about it wrong. Super enjoyed Persona 4 and watching her play FES, but I'm not sure the set-up for P3P is for me. But P2 definitely interests me

And yeah, TWEWY has been on my list for a long while. Same with Radiant Historia, and a few other DS games I missed out on

I also own Jeanne D'arc, and think its great for what it is, but sadly it also had that battle/battle/battle progression and I got burned out on it as well. But that too I bought new just a year or so ago just to make sure that the developers got a scrap of money for their work

Thanks for the suggestions so far. I did hit up a couple of sites on google search hits, and a couple that sprang up was the Lunar remake, which I can imagine loving if they didn't bastardize it like they did with the last one, as I loved the PS1 remake

And the Ys 3 remake ranked pretty high as an overlooked gem, which is amusing, because it's the only Ys I've actually played when it came out on the SEGA Genesis all those years ago. And I remember 7 getting all kinds of praise when it came out. So I'll definitely put those guys on the list :)

Edit: Oh yeah, forgot about VC2. I heard it got a lot of crap originally for going back to old Japanese tropes about kids in high school and coming of age crap. But the list I saw recently that had it on it was talking about how they were dealing with genecide and stuff. So it's probably a lot more interesting than people originally gave it credit for. I have the 3rd one downloaded and ready to patch, but at the moment people are having issues getting it patched on 64bit windows so it will have to wait a bit

As for Kingdom Hearts, is Birth By Sleep any different than Kingdom Hearts 1? My main gripe with that game was just a bunch of running around whacking stuff. If there's more plot and character interaction and maybe a little more to the battle system I'd probably be up for at least giving it a chance

[Del Murder]

There's definitely more to the battle system in BBS and it's the most refined of any of the KH battle systems, but in the end it is a lot of running around whacking stuff. Also the story isn't any better or worse than KH1.

[Wolf Kanno]

The combat system is a bit deeper with you equipping skills which unlock style forms which change how your character fights and is pretty fun, though it's still lot of running and whacking things though no frustrating platforming like the original. I feel the plot is much better though it depends on who you play as. Terra's story is kind of a start of darkness tale, Ventus plot is probably the weirdest and far out there of the bunch but makes sense in context with the other two character scenarios and Aqua's plot is pretty good. Overall I feel BbS is probably the strongest entry in the KH franchise and luckily it doesn't require you to play the other games to understand because it is a prequel. If you're still not convinced, don't sweat it.

Instead I feel I should bug Del to play the console versions of Persona 3 because it plays more like a traditional RPG though you still do all the social link stuff.

[Noire]

If you can find it, Hexyz Force is pretty damned fun. It's a classic turn-based JRPG with rather nice presentation (FFIII style sprites, but with Star Ocean/Tales style anime portraits for cutscenes) and two separate stories which eventually converge. It doesn't really break the bank for originality, but it definitely fits the bill of "overlooked" quite nicely. Unfortunately, it costs a fortune on eBay.

I'll always recommend Zettai Hero Project: Absolute Victory Unlosing Ranger vs. Darkdeath Evilman, as well. It's a murderously difficult dungeon crawler that was just made for people who grew up with superhero shows. Watch the opening ten minutes (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBG0BErj9jE) and see what you think of it. The humour is an acquired taste, like most NIS games, but if it makes you laugh, it's definitely a game worth looking into. It'll keep you occupied for hours and provide a decent challenge.

Also, Tales of Eternia is on the PSP, and it easily holds its own against the console versions - I'd argue that it was better than any of them, except perhaps Symphonia. The Radiant Mythology game isn't brilliant, but if you're familiar with all the characters it provides a nice bit of fanservice with some "good enough" gameplay, too.

[Vyk]

I was not aware Eternia made it to PSP. That is good news. Some solid suggestions

I just checked out Ys: Oath of Felghana and absolutely fell in love with the presentation. The voice acting was so over-the-top and you could tell it was competent voice actors doing it on purpose, so it's way better than any other run-of-the-mill campy voice acting that makes your ears want to bleed

If the other Ys games were given the same love, I may have to collect those legit. As it stands I really want to spend real money on getting at least that one. And everyone still says VII is the best. So here's hoping for that one in the future

I may have to give Birth By Sleep a try and perhaps finally "get" what people see in that series. I'd love to enjoy the series, but nothing's stuck. But I guess I'm not super missing out either way

I actually just recently watched the opening to The Unlosing Ranger. The internet messed up and cut out on me and I forgot to back and finish it. I never even got to see the gameplay. NIS games have a hard time sticking with me, but I never just write them off. I love the imagination and zaniness they invest. You can really tell they love their work

Annnd finally, Hexyz Force. I have adored a lot of Sting games, though this is (I believe?) the only traditional RPG they've made. Sadly it did kinda feel like "My First RPG". But I still adored the presentation. The characters seemed a bit one-dimensional to start with, but not really in a bad way. The voice acting was pretty good when there was some. The character art was pretty gorgeous most of the time. And the battle system was simple and fast. I only played like an hour or so though and was taste-testing when I did it, and sadly Ys has over-powered it somehow. But I will probably go back to it in the near future to give it a real legitimate chance. Unfortunately it is a little pricey, even on Amazon ($50USD for a decent copy in a box), so it's probably one of the least likely ones I'll be supporting with real money :( But if they garner a fan out of me, then that's something at least

I try to be as good-guy of a pirate as I can be. Just can't always justify paying money for games I can't rent that don't blow me away too much. Still, some really solid suggestions, and I've gotten a much better perspective on what to aim for because of it. Thank you everyone so far for the suggestions

[Ultima Shadow]

If you like action rpgs and epic boss battles, then Ys Seven. Ys Seven is probably the most overlooked/underrated PSP exclusive gem that I've played.

[Vyk]

Yeah. With as much love as that game gets, I'm not even going to bother pirating it to taste test it first. It's $25 on amazon. Kinda steep for a PSP game, but sounds like it'll be worth it. And even if it doesn't jive with me, it's one of those things where I will give my appreciation to the developer/publisher. Soon as I have the money, I will get Ys Seven, just because I love Oath in Falghana so much already

[black orb]

>>> I played a game named Jeanne d'Arc, it was like FFT with anime cutscenes..:luca:

[Laddy]

Brave Story: New Traveler is kinda easy and short. Still it's a fun Dragon Quest-y game well-suited for portable play.

Despite the anime aesthetic, Class of Heroes is a solid game if more in the 1980's WRPG dungeon crawler a la Wizardry.