star ocean for the psp

[zaldar]

So just picked up a used psp (will eventually be making a thread about questions on how to use some of the extended features as the used one came with no instructions). I'm an RPG nut so I picked up the first star ocean game along with the sega genesis collection (phantasy star) and final fantasy tactics. Any other RP games that are worth picking up? Also I have heard from some of the star ocean fanatics I know that the psp version was "ruined" they usually can't give details but thought I would ask here..is it awful if so how and is there a good way to get a definitive version?

[ADC]

The first SO/psp is decent. The second SO/psp sucks elephant balls. In neither case does it have anything to do with being on the PSP; SO2 is just a lousy game with horrible characters, bad writing, and a-fuckin-bominable cat-strangling voice work. (Some of SO1's voice work was just as bad — Ilia's in particular is an aural rash — but some was also quite good.) Beyond that? You have FFT. I think Crisis Core is at least a 3 out of 5. And there's a game on the way next month called Class of Heroes that looks like another of Atlus's Nintendo Hard dungeon-crawler RPGs á là Etrian Odyssey. I can't wait for that one. Other than that … uh … the first Disgaea's out and seems still to be available at Worst Buy, and the second one's on the way this summer.

[Betenoire]

I haven't heard anything about the first one being ruined, but to the best of my knowledge it was never available in the in the US before but 2 was on the PS1. I haven't had a chance to play either of them yet though.

My PSP library is rather small so I don't have much to recommend. I grew tired of FF Crisis Core's mechanics and Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology became a bore as you basically just go on missions to gather items or meet people in the same few dungeons over and over- add in you have a number of job classes and each class starts you at level 1 again (you keep the level of the previous class) and sometimes the allies you wish to recruit don't feel like it at the time and the game eventually wore thin for me. I did enjoy Brave Story for a decent number of hours. Jeanne Darc is more a tactical style game but is a decent play.

[Fencedude]

Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth and Jeanne D'Arc

[HitokiriShadow]

Any other RP games that are worth picking up?

Well, you already have the two I've actually played (both of which I would recommend), so....

Lunar: Silver Star Harmony will come out later this year. The original was good and it looks like they don't plan to deviate from the original too much aside from some visual updates (which look fine, unless going from a 2D birds eye view to 3D, Star Ocean-ish backgrounds bothers you), so the remake will probably be good too.

Crimson Gem Saga just came out but my copy hasn't arrived yet, so I can't say whether its worth getting at the moment.

Also I have heard from some of the star ocean fanatics I know that the psp version was "ruined" they usually can't give details but thought I would ask here..is it awful if so how and is there a good way to get a definitive version?I haven't heard anything about that. I heard they made some sort of changes to the SO2 battle system, but I don't know exactly what it was (something about combos, I think) or what kind of effect it ultimately had. I personally think the new character designs for SO2 is a huge step down, but that's all I can say about the game until I get around to playing it.

I've played a good amount of First Departure and its pretty good, but I don't have anything to compare it to. Furthermore, as the original was a Super Famicom game, comparing it to the original is much more difficult than with Second Evolution, which was a PS2 game and pretty much looked and played like the PSP version of First Departure did (aside from the character designs).

[ADC]

I've played a good amount of First Departure and its pretty good, but I don't have anything to compare it to. Furthermore, as the original was a Super Famicom game, comparing it to the original is much more difficult than with Second Evolution, which was a PS2 game and pretty much looked and played like the PSP version of First Departure did (aside from the character designs).
One clarification: Star Ocean: The Second Story was, in fact, a PS1 game.

[HitokiriShadow]

I've played a good amount of First Departure and its pretty good, but I don't have anything to compare it to. Furthermore, as the original was a Super Famicom game, comparing it to the original is much more difficult than with Second Evolution, which was a PS2 game and pretty much looked and played like the PSP version of First Departure did (aside from the character designs).
One clarification: Star Ocean: The Second Story was, in fact, a PS1 game.

Yeah, you're right, that was typo.

[zaldar]

The first SO/psp is decent. The second SO/psp sucks elephant balls. In neither case does it have anything to do with being on the PSP; SO2 is just a lousy game with horrible characters, bad writing, and a-fuckin-bominable cat-strangling voice work. (Some of SO1's voice work was just as bad — Ilia's in particular is an aural rash — but some was also quite good.) Beyond that? You have FFT. I think Crisis Core is at least a 3 out of 5. And there's a game on the way next month called Class of Heroes that looks like another of Atlus's Nintendo Hard dungeon-crawler RPGs á là Etrian Odyssey. I can't wait for that one. Other than that … uh … the first Disgaea's out and seems still to be available at Worst Buy, and the second one's on the way this summer.

Interesting...ign liked the second game much better for exactly that reason they said the story was much better on the second one. Their review of the first one is here.

http://psp.ign.com/articles/920/920901p1.html

The second is here
http://psp.ign.com/articles/945/945125p1.html

for comparison purposes the gamespot review of the first one which was even worse. Comments are welcome.

http://www.gamespot.com/psp/rpg/staroceanthefirstdeparture/index.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=gssimilargames&tag=similargames;img;2

Story in an RPG is important to me...what makes phantasy star bad especially the early ones is the complete lack of story (along with the difficulty level...my god just finished the biolab on two gah! I had forgotten how crazy the maze that is that dungeon was. At least I remembered not to make the same mistake I did when I played it on the genesis and try to use the dynamite in battle and so not have it when I need it to blow open doors...computer RPG's usually have a great story the witcher for example is my current favorite on that score.

How are the remakes of the "first" FF games on the psp? Never played anything before seven which I enjoyed (though never finished it) and the ones after seven were ok but had moved on to computer games by then.

[Suwako Moriya]

Speaking as one who finished playing both versions of Star Ocean 2, I can say flat out that the PSP version is just fine. Now obviously if you hate the PS1 version then the PSP version won't make you like it.

However if one was fine with the PS1 version they should be fine with the PSP version. Unless of course they're one of those extreme purists who feels even the slightest change ruins the experience.

[HitokiriShadow]

How are the remakes of the "first" FF games on the psp? Never played anything before seven which I enjoyed (though never finished it) and the ones after seven were ok but had moved on to computer games by then.

The early FF games barely have stories at all. There is an evil thing in the world and you kill it and its minions, that's it. Characterization is non-existent. FF4 is the first one to have a half-decent story and actual characters worth caring about in the slightest. FF1 and FF2 are only worth getting to see how far the series has come and because you really like exploring dungeons, killing things, leveling up, and buying better gear.

[ADC]

Interesting...ign liked the second game much better for exactly that reason they said the story was much better on the second one.
Ha ha! You fool! You fell victim to one of the classic blunders! The most famous is never get involved in a land war in Asia, but only slightly less well-known is this: Never trust an IGN review when your hard-earned dollars are on the line! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Ha ha ha—!

[Suwako Moriya]

Never trust an IGN review when your hard-earned dollars are on the line!

Actually, I'd say one should be cautious of any review. The same holds true of opinions of other fans.

Trust me if I had used the opinions of certain people to gauge the worth of certain games, I would have missed out on stuff that I ended up either liking or loving.

I've had instances of both agreement and disagreement. Hence why opinions and reviews should only be a source of info and one should learn the art of reading between the lines to see how they feel.

That being said, I rarely if ever use reviews as a gauge. I tend to just read up on a game and decide it's worth from there.

[zaldar]

heh well I usually use PC gamer for reviews but as these are not pc games....is IGN generally considered to be a bad place for reviews by other people? Gamespot didn't give the first one a great review either...but have the first one and will play it see if I agree and use that to guage their other reviews.

Oh and what is this about a land war in asia...I mean I had my mech troops all ready to go and everything...:devil:

[Suwako Moriya]

is IGN generally considered to be a bad place for reviews by other people?

From my experience it seems almost every review site has its detractors. Be it IGN, Gamespot, or heck even fan reviews at places like Gamefaqs.

Although one thing to keep in mind is a single site can have multiple reviewers with different tastes. Thus sometimes whether or not a title gets a positive or negative review is due to luck of the draw.

[Ryos]

The first SO/psp is decent. The second SO/psp sucks elephant balls. In neither case does it have anything to do with being on the PSP; SO2 is just a lousy game with horrible characters, bad writing, and a-fuckin-bominable cat-strangling voice work. (Some of SO1's voice work was just as bad — Ilia's in particular is an aural rash — but some was also quite good.) Beyond that? You have FFT. I think Crisis Core is at least a 3 out of 5. And there's a game on the way next month called Class of Heroes that looks like another of Atlus's Nintendo Hard dungeon-crawler RPGs á là Etrian Odyssey. I can't wait for that one. Other than that … uh … the first Disgaea's out and seems still to be available at Worst Buy, and the second one's on the way this summer.

Interesting...ign liked the second game much better for exactly that reason they said the story was much better on the second one. Their review of the first one is here.

http://psp.ign.com/articles/920/920901p1.html

The second is here
http://psp.ign.com/articles/945/945125p1.html

for comparison purposes the gamespot review of the first one which was even worse. Comments are welcome.

http://www.gamespot.com/psp/rpg/staroceanthefirstdeparture/index.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=gssimilargames&tag=similargames;img;2

How are the remakes of the "first" FF games on the psp? Never played anything before seven which I enjoyed (though never finished it) and the ones after seven were ok but had moved on to computer games by then.

Well, I guess I'll throw in my 2 gold since I'm a pretty big RPG guy, though I've been a bit of a slacker in actually finishing up PSP games (or my DS games for that matter). The changes first of all for SO are significant enough for SO that I actually enjoyed playing it this time around (the SNES game was mostly a chore), and the SO2 changes are mostly not big enough to matter other than the voice acting went from god awful horrible to ok. As far as the games themselves go, most people prefer SO2's plot to the first, though I tend to think that's because SO's is so generic more than anything else. In either case SO games haven't fared too well in the plot arena but have in the gameplay, which both games do well in.

As far as the FF remakes go, those are actually pretty good, if you don't mind the fact they haven't aged too gracefully (these WERE NES games). I've played the original NES versions, the PSX Origins version, and these ones, and as far as this goes, the PSP version is the best of the bunch. FF2 benefits in particular from the fact stats can't decrease, making the broken gameplay system actually rather tolerable. Both games have some rather addicting side dungeons that I found enjoyable above and beyond the main games (though how much of those are not originally from the GBA remake, I am not as sure of). Graphically and aurally the PSP remakes are very nice.

Some other games worth noting that I noticed a bit of duplication of earlier in the thread (though that's never a bad thing ;)):
Brave Story: New Saga (anime-based RPG that is actually pretty good? I was sold)
Disgaea (arguably the best version of the game, though probably not worth bothering with if you got the PSX or DS versions already)
Final Fantasy Tactics (I'd argue this is worth getting even if you got the original version because there are some nifty improvements, including a much, much better localization) - you have this though
Jeanne d'Arc
Legend of Heroes games (only if you're big on old school stuff. Honestly, the games don't hold much appeal if you aren't into that. Well, the Engrish level of localization is good for MST3K critiques, I suppose)
PoPoLoCrois (hilariously bizarre game that evoked images of the Mother series)
VP: Lenneth (ONLY if you don't have the PSX version)
Wild Arms: XF

For future awesome games:

Lunar (looks like it should be the best remake version with ease)
Persona (probably worth even if you played the original, since a LOT of things were changed, including the soundtrack)
Yuusha 30 (unlike pretty much any other RPG out there, with 5 types of game modes)
Growlanser (it hasn't been announced yet, but if Atlus doesn't release this here, I'm going to be a sad panda. Pretty much one of the best of an epic SRPG hybrid series with Urushihara designs - which come on, that's totally worth buying a game for right there even if the game sucks :P)