I was about to mention that the RSS feed for RPGamer has noted a review of VP, but then I opened the front page and noticed that everyone has a review of it … I’m avoiding reading anymore now that the game is on its way to me …
Mike
Picked it up, put a couple hours in after work.
Essentially it’s a dirty port to the PSP as the reviews stated. The loading for the submenu is about 3 seconds, which can feel like a lifetime given how often it is usually accessed during play.
The framerate hitches to jerky levels while exploring certain town/dungeon maps, (which is totally puzzling) and some of the bitmap backdrops look really nasty and stretched, while others seem alright (ie. Arngrim’s bedroom is putrid looking during the intro).
Finally, some of my personal complaints with the console version still weren’t addressed. No cutscene skip option, platforming control is still wonky and loose(some of you will go mad in the later dungeons), and even on the fastest speed setting, the dialogue is delivered way too slow and stilted, especially during voiceover.
On the flipside, the new FMV’s are stunning, and the core game is still wonderful. Shame there wasn’t more of a thinktank about how to improve on the original and take advantage of the strengths of the PSP, but what can you do.
I can not buy it. Shame they ruined it, I wanted it portable.
The Jumping Controls are horrible horrible horrible.
I have the original, and it is good.
That’s actually #2 on my list of flaws. Thankfully, this isn’t a platform action title. In the first 5 chapters, you might miss out on some bonus experience points and one save point, but that’s pretty much it.
Of course, there’s ALWAYS the danger of detroying a treasure chest :(
I pretty much stopped playing it. The whole idea that you can lose at the end of the game because you run out of time really irritates me. I mean I really like to explore shit but with the time limit it really feels like I dont have time to do that. I also dont really like the battle controls all that much either. I guess its just not my cup of tea.
I also dislike blade dancer but for other reasons.
It’s not hard to beat the game by the time limit, really.
Anyway, I’m glad I saved money by not having to pick up either of these two PSP RPG’s (or any of the other ones :-P).
In other news the Breath of Fire 3 port is rocking!
Speaking of, are there any PSP RPGs worth playing? The only current generation handheld RPG that I’d consider playing is Mario and Luigi. Is there anything else?
No. Contact should be great, though, and the DS has also got Deep Labyrinth, FFIII, Xenosaga I and II, and Magical Starsign coming. And uh, I guess Dungeon Siege on the PSP might be good.
I understand you can put it into sleep mode and the game keeps playing itself right to the end.
The Breath of Fire 3 port is AWFUL, duder! It takes like 10 seconds to load a battle, and they didn’t even bother to put perspective correction and/or filtering on thise hideous textures. LOAD LOAD LOAD.
The VP port is good and, as I’ve previously asserted, this is the best RPG of the PSOne era. The menu load only happens the first time you do it in a dungeon, and I really haven’t noticed any frame rate hitches that weren’t in the original. It’s a winner.
Well if you play it off the memory stick you dont have any of these problems!
I dunno about the textures I didnt think they looked bad.
There are some ‘OK’ RPG’s, but it really depends on your cRPG vs. jRPG taste and just how deep and well translated you want the experience. Nothing ‘great’, and mostly mediocre.
Yep … just like the PC version ;)
So, I’m playing VP, and I’m enjoying it. However, I just finished the first dungeon… and for the life of me, don’t know how to get out. There’s just a sprite that tells me about the combat system, and a large empty dungeon. I can find no menu options, no special doors, or anything.
You have to make ice platforms behind the chick and jump out through the roof… yeah its retarded.