First-Time PSP Owner - Questions & Suggestions

[XZero]

Hi everyone,

I just picked up a PSP 3000 from Best Buy (along with Dissidia, Mega Man X, Castlevania, and Crisis Core: FFVII). I had two basic questions:

1) Can I import Japanese games or European games and play them on it without hacking the system (I'm specifically looking at the various Tales series games that apparently aren't available in North America)?

2) Any recommendations for some good games to pick up? I typically play RPGs, but I also enjoy action/adventure titles. I have Lunar reserved, and am probably going to get Half-Minute Hero when I can find a used copy. Anything else particualrly worthwhile?

[Gollgagh]

1) PSP's are region-free so, yes, you can play any UMD game in any PSP that has a working UMD drive

2) Recommendations off the top of my head:

if you like SRPG's and Metal Gear, then get Metal Gear Ac!d 1 and 2

Disgaea 1 and 2

Ridge Racer is a great arcade racer

Gran Turismo is good in you're more into racing sims

Daxter is a pretty good counterpart to the Jak series on PS2 (I hear that "Lost Frontier" game is pretty good too, but I haven't played it yet)

Lumines is great puzzle fun

if you're willing to import, any of the DJ Max Portable series are fantastic rhythm games (Oh yeah, DJ Max Portable Fever was released here and it's basically a "greatest hits" version of DMP 1 and 2)

God of War: Chains of Olympus

GTA: Chinatown Wars

Prinny: Can I Really Be the Hero for hard side-scroller platforming

Patapon is an odd sidescroller/tactical/rhythm game hybrid

I may add more later

[The Biznut]

I cannot recommend Half Minute Hero highly enough

[Kidd Cabbage]

Halfminuteherohalfminuteherohalfminuteherohalfminuteherohalfminuteherohalfminuteherohalfminuteherohalfminuteherohalfminuteherohalfminuteherohalfminuteherohalfminuteherohalfminuteherohalfminuteherohalfminutehero

[XZero]

Halfminuteherohalfminuteherohalfminuteherohalfminuteherohalfminuteherohalfminuteherohalfminuteherohalfminuteherohalfminuteherohalfminuteherohalfminuteherohalfminuteherohalfminuteherohalfminuteherohalfminutehero

.... so are you and The Biznut saying that Half Minute Hero is a wise investment...?

And thanks for the suggestions, Gollgagh. Have any of you played the Legend of Heroes games, and if so, are they any good?

EDIT: One other thing. I love the Tales series, and I know that at least one game was released in Europe (which means importable and playable in English). Which one was it (I seem to recall that it may have been Eternia), and can anyone recommend a good website to order it through?

[sephfire]

If you've never tried a Monster Hunter game, I highly suggest Monster Hunter Freedom Unite. It's only like $15 now and you can get literally hundreds of hours out of it.

[Bleck]

Dissidia: Final Fantasy is actually really fun. If you like Metal Gear but don't like SRPGs, go for Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops.

[Jaeman]

Ok, good, you already got Castlevania and Dissidia. So you're off to a good start. I gotta say listen to everyone here. The PSP may have slim pickins, but the good ones are all stellar.

Patapon is my first recommendation. Its a 2D RPG/RTS Rhythm game. Don't give me an excuse like 'i don't have good timing/rhythm.' I didn't think so either, but you catch on right after level one. It gets frustrating after you beat the final boss the second or third time, but who cares? It was a fun time.

Im sure you've heard of Puzzle quest. Its best played Portable but both PSP and DS versions suffer horrible slowdown. But it really hasn't stopped me, because you don't really need good framerates for swapping gems. Go buy this, my Number 2 recommendation.

Metal Slug anthology is a great Bundle. Almost as good as the orange box. Its got all 7 Arcade Metal Slugs. Loads of fun, and even with 30 credits you'll be hard pressed to actually beat any of the games, unless you're some kind of master.

Like Gollgagh, i highly recommend Lumines II. The best version is on the PSN, but this is best portable, and best with headphones. *as is patapon. Definitely use headphones. Eaiser to get in the beat.

Quality RPGs are kinda a rarity on the PSP. If you're into Final Fantasy Tactics, definitely go for that, but i wasn't a fan. Jeanne D'arc was another Strategy RPG, but i have yet to find one to emulate Shining Force (that's my favorite). Valkyria Chronicles 2 is also coming in the summer. And the PSN is overfilled with Classics (most crap), but you can find some good RPGs like FFVII, FFVIII, Suikoden, Wild Arms 1 & 2, and all the original spyros and crash bandicoots.

I think that's a good enough bunch.

[prophetik music]

i'd highly suggest dungeon seige: throne of agony for relatively simplistic d2-style dungeons and gaming.

crush is a weird puzzle game that's relatively decent. kind of hard. dungeon maker 2 is cool for the concept, somewhat limited in implementation but i spent a lot of time in it. the GTA games are similar to Vice City in gameplay.

the legend of heroes are direct knockoffs of the dungeon seige games - or the other way around, i forget.

edit: and look what popped up in my feeds today! http://www.gamingunion.net/news/hidden-gems-dungeon-siege-throne-of-agony--1068.html

[XZero]

I wasn't originally planning on getting Patapon, but the surprising amount of praise it's getting has added that to my list. I will also be picking up Metal Gear Portable Ops at some point (SRPGs are good, but I've got a lot of them for the DS already).

I had forgotten about Dungeon Seige; I borrowed a friend's PC version of that years ago and remember enjoying it, so that's one I'll look into some more.

[yosefu]

Ace combat skies of deception is pretty good and Coded arms if you like First person shooters.

[DarkeSword]

did somebody say half minute hero

[XZero]

Thanks for the recommendations, everyone!

I had another question that I'm hoping someone can help me with. I know that FFVII is available on the Playstation Network. I don't have WiFi right now, though it wouldn't be hard to simply drive to school and use theirs if I must. Can someone explain how I can download FFVII from the PSN? (If it's relevant, I have a 4gb memory card, so space shouldn't be a concern.)

[Gollgagh]

I believe you can actually download PSN titles using your PC and then transfer to your PSP, but I'll have to look up how to do it as I've not used that method before.

I would highly recommend against trying to download FF VII directly to your PSP as the chance of getting timed out during the download is astronomical.

[atmuh]

did somebody say half minute hero

i actually JUST heard about this game yesterday and im about to try it now

[Gollgagh]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_Go

http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/download/mediago

This'll download stuff from PSN for your PSP it looks like

[Thin Crust]

4 games coming out this year that are definate picks for me, and should be considered by everybody else.

Valkyria Chronicals 2. Hitler doesn't like it though.

Metal Gear Solid Peacewalker It's Metal Gear Solid. What else do you need?

Final Fantasy XIII Agito We don't know much about it yet, but it looks really good so far

Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep You can't say no with a debut trailer like this.

[XZero]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_Go

http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/download/mediago

This'll download stuff from PSN for your PSP it looks like

Thanks! Of course, now I have to go out and pick up a USB cable for the thing, but that's okay...

And BTW, Thin Crust, I had no idea that there was a new MGS coming out. Thanks for letting me know about it! Can't wait till May!

[atmuh]

ok half minute hero is great

[Thin Crust]

Thanks! Of course, now I have to go out and pick up a USB cable for the thing, but that's okay...

And BTW, Thin Crust, I had no idea that there was a new MGS coming out. Thanks for letting me know about it! Can't wait till May!

There's a demo of it that's been out for a while if you want to try it. The last mission on it is very hard without co-op.

[Bigfoot]

If you like Rhythm games, get DJ Max.

[relyanCe]

i remember when that add for half minute hero was out but didn't have a name yet and we were all goin nuts cuz we thought it was a new zelda title

[Gollgagh]

If you like Rhythm games, get DJ Max.

already covered, bigfoot

[Kanthos]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_Go

http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/download/mediago

This'll download stuff from PSN for your PSP it looks like

That's the way I do it; the download is faster (if your PC uses an ethernet connection instead of WIFI).

The PSP has a bunch of good fighting games too, though you might want to do a really easy mod to your d-pad for games like Street Fighter Alpha 3 Max that use the d-pad for all the circular moves that are best done on an arcade stick.