Recommendations for RPGs on a PSPgo?

[Vencoris]

What are general impressions of Gungnir (the fairly new SRPG)?

Reviews seem very mixed, with the only thing everyone agrees on being that it's very hard.

That sounds appealing to me though.   I often end up handicapping myself like this to some extent in most SRPGs to counter power creep that comes with having all those end game skills at your disposal.  When playing FFT, for example, I'd pick a strange party of vanilla recruits (say, 5 chemists, no special chars except ramza), go straight there and use that for the rest of the game with no grinding allowed.

A game that is already that hard from the get-go would be a nice change.

[Kevadu]

I haven't played Gungnir yet myself, but Sting makes nice SRPGs that tend to emphasize the S over the RGP.  If that's what you're looking for then I would really recommend Yggdra Union which is one of their older titles but it's still my favorite Sting game to this day.

[insertnamehere]

If you ever happen to get a (Nintendo) system that has a Fire Emblem game, you may want to try those, since those come to mind as being well known for difficulty.
And strictly on PSP, you may find Knights in the Nightmare up your alley if you're willing to learn a complex system.

[daved]

What are general impressions of Gungnir (the fairly new SRPG)?

Reviews seem very mixed, with the only thing everyone agrees on being that it's very hard.

That sounds appealing to me though.   I often end up handicapping myself like this to some extent in most SRPGs to counter power creep that comes with having all those end game skills at your disposal.  When playing FFT, for example, I'd pick a strange party of vanilla recruits (say, 5 chemists, no special chars except ramza), go straight there and use that for the rest of the game with no grinding allowed.

A game that is already that hard from the get-go would be a nice change.

I have Gungnir but have barely played it.  The battle system seems decent; it's a nice turn-based SRPG style although the isometric perspective can sometimes make it difficult to keep track of your characters positions relative to the enemy.  But really the reason I haven't played it more is the story was rather boring and generic.  And as soon as Growlanser: Wayfarer of Time came out, I put Gungnir aside and played through Growlanser twice (original route and modified route).  I still need to play it again on the "evil" path.

I'd recommend Jeanne D'Arc over Gungnir if you want a turn-based SRPG. 

[Vencoris]

Thanks for all the recommendations in the thread; I've picked up Trails in the Sky and am looking at a few others mentioned to use up some PSN credit.

However, I also found out that a new Carnage Heart is coming out for PSP next week so TitS may need to wait a bit.

The original Carnage heart on PS1 was definitely an acquired taste, but great if you like programming and strategy.  I had been pining for a sequel to get ported, but assumed after 15 years of nothing since the first that it was never going to happen.

[TiamatNM]

I played Gungnir on "Advanced" mode for my first (and so far, only) play of the game and it was HARD.  Certainly a challenging game on that mode, though I'm not sure how hard it would be on normal.  Keep in mind my impressions are based on this difficulty level. 

The gameplay itself is similar to other SRPGs other than the turn system.  Enemies have individual wait times/turns just like most SRPG but the player gets only one turn and can use it for any character in his party.  Your turn will come up frequently though so you will be able to get things done.  The individual characters have a wait time after being used and if you keep using the same character every time your turn comes up without waiting for that character's wait time to go to zero they will suffer a penalty to their max HP for the rest of the battle.  For example, if you choose to move a character who has wait time left they will suffer a 5%hp penalty, and then if you use them again they will suffer another 5% penalty, etc.  Sometimes it is worth using the same character over and over even though you suffer a penalty, it's up to you.  I've seen some people say they don't like the turn system but I find it to be very clever and flexible.  You can also delay your turn if you want to wait for a specific character's wait time to go to 0 and stuff.  There are some other quirky things as well like being able to knock characters out of the battlefield if they are on the edge (this is very annoying if you're on the receiving end).

The game is fairly light on customization so don't expect a robust job/class system like FFT or TO.  There aren't really any free battles (you can't grind iirc) and you can't choose where you go, it is very linear.  Graphics and music are pretty good, the sprites look quite nice IMO.  The story is weak and feels unfinished.  Not a high recommend from me but still a good game.  Not nearly as good as Yggdra Union imo, though it doesn't really play much like it at all anyway

[Vencoris]

The Etrian Odyssey thread has be wondering, what is the consensus for the best wizardry-clone (is that the proper term?) on the PSP?

I know that EO is for the (3)DS, but wondering how the PSP options compare.

Thanks!

[daved]

The Etrian Odyssey thread has be wondering, what is the consensus for the best wizardry-clone (is that the proper term?) on the PSP?

I know that EO is for the (3)DS, but wondering how the PSP options compare.

Thanks!

"Unchained Blades".   I'm not really a fan of that sub-genre but it seems to be quite well liked among people who are.   I don't think there's many other PSP dungeon crawlers that are on the PSN. 

[Vencoris]

"Unchained Blades".   I'm not really a fan of that sub-genre but it seems to be quite well liked among people who are.   I don't think there's many other PSP dungeon crawlers that are on the PSN. 

They have been hit or miss for me, but the last one I played was 'shining the holy ark' on saturn and have fond memories of that so the EO thread got me thinking of them.

[TiamatNM]

"Unchained Blades".   I'm not really a fan of that sub-genre but it seems to be quite well liked among people who are.   I don't think there's many other PSP dungeon crawlers that are on the PSN.  

They have been hit or miss for me, but the last one I played was 'shining the holy ark' on saturn and have fond memories of that so the EO thread got me thinking of them.

Unchained Blades is like STHA in that you have preset characters instead of making your own from generics like most other games in the genre.  Same number of player characters even (8)

[Vencoris]

Sorry to bump this thread again, but how is the Lunar Silver Star remake on PSP?

Is it worth playing if I've already played the Sega cd version (skipped the ps1 remake)?

Reviews seem good, but no one mentioned it in the thread; is it not up to current standards?

[Kevadu]

I know I'm in the minority here (in fact I think there were people in this thread who recommended the game), but personally I think the PSP version of Lunar is terrible.  Mostly on a technical level.  They made some really weird decisions in that game.  Combat is embarrassingly easy.  I feel like you would have to intentionally tell your party to just sit there and do nothing every turn to actually lose a fight (and even then it would take a while).  But despite being so easy it moves slower than a snail high on marijuana.  Every animation is unnecessarily long and filled with awkward pauses.  Combined with the complete lack of any credible threat this makes combat purely a chore.  This is literally how I would play the game, absolutely no exaggeration: At the start of a turn I would queue the actions for all my party members, then I would put the PSP down and do something else, like browse the web for a while as I waited for it to be my turn again.  There was no reason to actually pay attention to what was happening on the enemy's turn since my party was never in any danger.

Then there are the loading times, oh the loading times.  Which get compounded by really weird and unnecessary stage design.  Why does practically every single house have a foyer with absolutely nothing in it as a completely separate map?  Which, despite being literally two steps wide, takes just as long to load as a full-sized map?  So to enter a house you go through the door, load load load, enter the foyer, walk to steps, load load load, do whatever you were going to do in the house and then exit, load load load, you're back in the fucking foyer again so you walk two steps to get to the other side and then load load load, etc.  It drives me mad!  Who in their right mind thought this was a good idea?!

Sorry, I'm getting emotional.  I really can't stand that game...

[Vencoris]

(in fact I think there were people in this thread who recommended the game),

You're right, it was mentioned once that I missed earlier.

I'd imagine the loading times would be better on the downloadable version; but the other parts sound like some poor design choices.

[Zendervai]

The load times seem to be coded in. The music actually fades out between screens which is utterly baffling.

If you want to play a Lunar game and you can't get your hands on the PS1 version, there are worse games, but it's not the best port.

[Vencoris]

Sounds like a pass.

I've gotten spoiled in regards to loading times since converting all my PCs to SSDs, and reinforced with not having to deal with UMDs on the PSPgo.