PlayStation Vita Console Discussion

[Happenstance]

@drahkon would you recommend the Zero Escape series for someone who is interested in the story but shit at puzzle games? 

[drahkon]

Just now, Happenstance said:

@drahkon would you recommend the Zero Escape series for someone who is interested in the story but shit at puzzle games? 

If you find a guide that only gives you the solution for the puzzles without spoiling the story, yeah. You do have to enjoy visual novels, though.

[Happenstance]

7 minutes ago, drahkon said:

If you find a guide that only gives you the solution for the puzzles without spoiling the story, yeah. You do have to enjoy visual novels, though.

That's a good point thanks, didn't even think about guides. I do enjoy visual novels anyway so that's ok.

[Shorty]

13 hours ago, Happenstance said:

@drahkon would you recommend the Zero Escape series for someone who is interested in the story but shit at puzzle games? 

Dude! Get 999 at least, what a game, nobody should miss it.

[Hero-of-Time]

I'm thinking about picking up a Playstation/Vita TV purely for playing US PSOne games. Stuff like Parasite Eve, Legend of Mana, Xenogears, Megaman Legends 1+2, Legend of Dragoon and Dino Crisis 1+2 never got released digitally over here and it seems like a pretty cheap way to actually play these games.

[Sheikah]

I'm thinking about picking up a Playstation/Vita TV purely for playing US PSOne games. Stuff like Parasite Eve, Legend of Mana, Xenogears, Megaman Legends 1+2, Legend of Dragoon and Dino Crisis 1+2 never got released digitally over here and it seems like a pretty cheap way to actually play these games.

Don't forget Chrono Cross! What a game.

[Hero-of-Time]

Just got outbid by a quid for brand new one. *shakes angry fist*  

[Happenstance]

How much are they going for these days?

[Hero-of-Time]

6 minutes ago, Happenstance said:

How much are they going for these days?

About £40-£50 second hand and around £70-£80 new.

[Happenstance]

1 minute ago, Hero-of-Time said:

About £40-£50 second hand and around £70-£80 new.

Nuts how much they varied over a short lifetime. Was down to around £20 new for quite a while.

[Hero-of-Time]

Just now, Happenstance said:

Nuts how much they varied over a short lifetime. Was down to around £20 new for quite a while.

The issue is that the homebrew/piracy scene has pushed the price up.

[Hero-of-Time]

Seeing as I'm not playing anything on my Vita at the moment, I figured I would faff on and change the regions in order to grab some of the US games I'm wanting to play. I totally forgot I already had Tron Bonne and Chrono Cross. I must have bought them on my PS3 when they were on sale at some point.

[drahkon]

44 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Seeing as I'm not playing anything on my Vita at the moment, I figured I would faff on and change the regions in order to grab some of the US games I'm wanting to play.

How do you do that? And can you change it back?

Edited August 5, 2018 by drahkon

[Hero-of-Time]

1 minute ago, drahkon said:

How do you do that? And can you change it back?

You just format the memory card and sign in but with your US account. You've always been able to do it but I never wanted to faff on with it. Now that the UK releases are drying up I figured now was the perfect time to do it.

Yeah, you can switch back.

[Ike]

 Tron Bonne is is one of those games I've always wanted to try but haven't gotten around to it.

[drahkon]

Currently at my mom's and I don't have my PS4 with me so I started playing The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel on the Vita again. 2 1/2 hours in, here are my thoughts:

• looks like a deep and complex JRPG, hope I can stick with this and finally fully get out of my gaming slump  
• apparently there are things like building friendships, similar to social links in Persona; what I like better with Trails of Cold Steel: You can see where your friends are on the map and actually teleport directly to them, or to places close to them; makes it much less tedious
• very slow start with many tutorial screens; and there are more to come it seems
• the game suffers a little on the Vita; framerate is not smooth at times and before each fight there is a little bit of loading involved; so far it hasn't annoyed me that much but that's because there haven't been a lot of fights; we'll see how it'll affect my future progress

Overall: good first impressions. The slow start is usual for a JRPG and the technical issues are negligible as of yet. The rest seems right up my alley.  

[Hero-of-Time]

The end is nigh, @drahkon   

Quote

PS Vita will be manufactured until 2019 in Japan and there are currently no plans for a successor, Sony Interactive Entertainment senior vice president Hiroyuki Oda told Famitsu at Tokyo Game Show 2018.

 

[drahkon]

[drahkon]

Wanted to put my SNES and GB/GBC/GBA library on my favourite system of all time and since the VITA is now basically officially dead, I decided to hack it a while ago.

Aside from emulation possibilities, it was a pretty good decision. Installed a plug-in that lets you overclock the device and my goodness...the FPS increase is real. 

I also just found out that there's an adapter that let's you use an microSD card instead of the official memory cards. I ordered one and if everything goes well, I can use the 32GB microSD card that I currently don't use with my VITA soon. Definitely won't be enough space to download my complete library but as soon as there's an offer for a 128GB microSD card I'll be all over it  

[drahkon]

On 1/30/2019 at 7:16 PM, drahkon said:

I ordered one and if everything goes well, I can use the 32GB microSD card that I currently don't use with my VITA soon.

After a few errors and me getting very annoyed, I got it to work. I made a mistake that wasn't easy to avoid with the guide I used.  

Anyway, what I didn't know before: The adapter uses the game cartridge slot, which is pretty annoying when you are playing a retail game. So now I'm trying to dump Final Fantasy X onto the microSD card so I don't have to switch whenever I want to play something else.

If it works, I'll definitely dump the other two retail games I currently have with me (Disgaea 3 and P4 Golden) onto the microSD card, as well, depending on how large the files are. Edit: Ohh boy, a whooping 3.3GB. Takes quite a long time. Not sure if I'll bother with dumping more games today. I just wanna play again  

Upgrading to a larger microSD card seems to be a mater of copy-and-paste, so if I ever need to upgrade, there shouldn't be any hassle.  

Edit: And it worked. Thanks to the horrible transfer speed it took 3 hours.  It was worth it, though.  

Edited February 1, 2019 by drahkon

[drahkon]

It's wonderful to finally be able to have more than 3 big games installed on my Vita  

FFX, FFX-2, P4 Golden, Gravity Rush, and lots of Indie titles already on it. Downloading some more.

Have to say: Hacking the device was a good decision. My favourite system ever has become even better  

[Hero-of-Time]

Quote

PS Vita will soon end production in Japan, according to the official Japanese PlayStation website. The pages for the PCH-2000 ZA11 (PS Vita Black) and PCH-2000 ZA23 (PS Vita Aqua Blue) SKUs, which are the only two remaining PS Vita models in production in Japan, mention that “shipments are scheduled to end soon.”

Sony Interactive Entertainment, which manufactures PS Vita, had previously confirmed that production of the handheld will end in 2019.

While a specific end date is currently unknown, it is worth noting that when PlayStation 3 ended production back in May 2017, the official Japanese PlayStation website posted the same notice two months prior.

PS Vita first launched in December 2011.

Easily one of the most underrated gaming devices that has ever been released. 

[drahkon]

 

Doesn't matter that Sony's first party support for the PSVita has been horrendous (i.e. pretty much non-existent), the handheld will always be my favourite gaming device (until a PSVita 2 will be released...so...).

I remember ordering one two months after its European release (which was 7 years ago!). Played Uncharted: Golden Abyss, Motor Storm RC, Escape Plan and Wipeout 2048. I never actually finished those games (I simply wasn't feeling them) and traded the physical ones in pretty soon. For a while I didn't use the Vita. Until the Indie Scene started to pick up the support that Sony dropped. And it was amazing. So many great games got to see a release on the handheld...pure bliss for me. Especially with all the rogue-likes coming out  

There are so many gems on the system that (while admittedly also available on other platforms) felt weirdly at home on the device. 

• Spelunky
• Darkest Dungeon
• Downwell
• FEZ
• Axiom Verge
• Shovel Knight
• Hotline Miami 1 and 2
• ...

Just a few examples. And don't get me started on the JRPGs. There are quite a lot I still have to play.

It's a shame that the PSVita didn't sell well and in turn made Sony drop out of the handheld market probably forever. It's such a wonderful device. Aside from the terrible sticks (that you get used to after a while, though) and the touchscreen on the back its design is top-notch. It feels great to hold (although, experiences may vary with these kinds of things), touch screen (front) is a neat little addition (a little underused in games, sadly) and the buttons...my goodness are they good. Probably the best D-Pad I've ever used and that "click" when pressing a button...lovely  

A while ago I decided to hack my PSVita to have my SNES and GB(A) collection readily available via emulation (yes, not entirely legal - I think - but I do own all the games I have on my Vita). Didn't know what a gold mine would open up. There are so many plug-ins available, it's unreal.

• overclocking is possible - makes for smoother gameplay with some games
• an easy way to capture screenshots
• change resolution for certain games
• battery percentage indicator (why Sony never implemented this themselves, I will never understand)
• easy way to switch between accounts (no need to format the memory card every time)
• and most importantly: SD2Vita - being able to use a microSD card instead of the ultra expensive official cards is incredible

I won't use any of the plugins/programs that are used to acquire games illegally, though. Never have, and never will.

 

I love my Vita  

[Shorty]

The PS Vita is the machine that let me play Persona 4 Golden, that alone makes it a memorable entry in my collection

I don’t really play handheld systems at all anymore but I’m sure if I did, the Vita would’ve reigned supreme for me. Great piece of kit! 

I still maintain they should’ve made memory cards cheaper many years ago as that was a prohibitive factor for many people considering picking one up. 

[Hero-of-Time]

10 minutes ago, Shorty said:

I still maintain they should’ve made memory cards cheaper many years ago as that was a prohibitive factor for many people considering picking one up. 

Yup. This was easily the biggest mistake made with the handheld. Had they just used standard SD cards then I think it would have done a bit better. Also, Sony dropping support for the thing early on didn't help in the long run. Honestly, i'm surprised the Vita has stayed around for as long as it has.