PSP: Crisis Core

[Caydr]

Before I begin: I bought my PSP for homebrew, knowing full well there are no good games that aren't done better on a PC or NDS. I still think the PSP is a solidified mass of lame, but FFVII:CC is actually incredibly good.

Anyone play this? It is IMHO one of the best games I've ever played. The crafting system is very interesting and well done, the fighting is fast-paced and enjoyable, and above all else the story is excellent.

Notice I say excellent because "awesome" makes you think of Transformers and other... special effects whoredom stuff without substance.

Some of the characters are difficult to understand and borderline emo. Ok, there's one guy who is genuinely the stereotypical anime poetry-quoting emofag, but at least the main character and the good guys have personalities and agendas you can understand if not sympathize with.

Unfortunately the experience is damaged by ever-present random encounters, but it's not too bad that way. You don't have to grind to get good enough stats that you can win.

All the game's negative aspects are negated by the superb soundtrack and story. The music on its own is very unusual and not at all like you'd expect, there's a very strong western influence.

Once you've played the game you'll want to know more, so I'm almost tempted to say save it until Square Enix comes out with the inevitable FFVII remake that everyone knows is coming. I am in the middle of playing it for the first time right now, but the game's age shows... really badly. I have a hard time sticking with it.

[Master-Athmos]

Well I probably would play it if I had a PSP because it's one of the very few games for the PSP that I find interesting. That's why I stay with my NDS and the old Final Fantasy games just as Chrono Trigger which is my all-time-favorite RPG anyway imo being even better than FFVII...

[HectorMeyer]

I am a huge PSP fanboy, I never understood the imo completely baseless HAZNOGAEMS claim. Hacked, the PSP is also an excellent platform to run SNES (romhacks ), GBA and PS1 games.

I can only suggest to get an image of Monster Hunter 2nd G and a WiFiMAX (costs about 20Ôé¼) + Xlink Kai, so you can play it online. It basically plays like an MMORPG, but with much more action and adrenaline plus it's sleek and stylish as hell.

Monster Hunter is one of the best games I ever played.

[Caydr]

I think the haznogaemz claim, for me, has to do with it not having very many games which are well-translated to portable use. For instance, FPS games are just about impossible to control, at least the ones I've tried, because the thumbstick is so difficult to use. Or, maybe it's just too different from what I'm used to. I've played console FPSs mainly on my Gamecube.

Besides this, frankly, every moment I played crisis core I was thinking, Damn, this would be so awesome on a big screen with a proper controller.

That's where the DS excels, because the developers seem to realize that it's a portable system and they don't need to try to imitate modern console games, it's not expected. Well, for the most part - Prime Hunters excluded... although through the use of a thumb stylus it was actually *very* easy and intuitive to control, almost like using a mouse.

Besides this, the fact that the PSP has so much power leads many developers to believe that they are obligated to use all of it, basically shutting out the possibility of the games that are thriving on the DS. On top of that, it means bigger budgets and less profit, which doubly shuts out a lot of potential games.

I wouldn't say I'm a DS fanboy, I just find it to be very practical for my needs - I take it with me pretty much everywhere, especially when I know I'll be waiting for something or someone. It eases the boredom and even though I have a DSi, it'll last for around 10 hours.

I have a PSP-2000 with the expanded battery and all my games loaded onto a memory stick, so there's never any disc motor battery drain. Even so I don't think I've ever got 10 hours out of it.

For the record I only have the DSi because I always used to flick the DSLite volume control with my little finger, and the d-pad and buttons are much more responsive. Otherwise, yeah, it's just a money grab and I wanted the newest shiny toy.

That said, nothing tops the PSP for playing emulators and homebrew.

[AF]

I got a free psp from work ^_^

[Caydr]

I got a free hernia v_v

[MidKnight]

Now play Monster Hunter Freedom Unite. If you liked Crisis Core's combat system, you'll love Monster Hunter's (no random encounters ^_^).

On the other hand, if you really enjoyed CC's storyline, Neon Genesis Evangelion should appeal to you.