Topic: I'm out of money...

[JacksRag(e)]

So, on a whim I ran out and picked up Jeanne D'arc, Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness, and Me and My Katamari...all in the last two days.  I'm so broke right now.  But yet, so entertained.  I'm torn.  I'm still eyeing Final Fantasy Tactics and have Patapon, God of War, and Crisis Core pre-ordered too.
I had all but forgotten about the PSP.  What happened?

Anyway, any other suggestions on what I should pick up?

And it totally didn't hit me until later how Jeanne D'arc got its name.  A duh.

[Quemaqua]

What do you mean how it got its name?

But yeah, the PSP has a pretty decent chunk of good stuff on it now.  I've got I think 24 games for it now.  If you don't have Crush yet, you should totally try it.  Loco Roco of course, but you likely have that already.  Gurumin was cute, but I didn't quite give it enough time (that happens way too often with me and portable stuff), Dead Head Fred was entertaining but just lacking enough in design to make it worth only a recommendation heavily dependent on personal preference, aaand... um... Metal Slug Anthology, but that's got the worst fucking load times EVER.  If you buy it and are homebrew capable, definitely throw it on a memory stick (which gets it running perfectly).  Test Drive Unlimited is also pretty awesome, though I still haven't gotten a real copy of it yet.

[JacksRag(e)]

I couldn't put it into the right words.  But it didn't click until a little bit into the game and it hit me that she was Joan of Arc.  I'm a bit rusty on my history, but I didn't realize how much I had forgotten.  Anyway, airhead moment.

[Pugnate]

That's kinda funny.

[Quemaqua]

So I'm finally getting around to playing Crisis Core, and I'm having a D moment to resurrect this dead thread just because starting a new one for a game that I don't think more than 2 people here played (that's being optimistic) doesn't seem worth it.

Anyway, I'm actually really enjoying it!  Zack is sort of an annoying douchebag, but that can actually lead to some funny moments that end up being oddly endearing for all his stupidity.  And I'm sure like any RPG he'll get better as he goes along.

What surprises me most is the combat.  I knew it was a little more actiony, particularly when compared to its predecessor, but it's more so than I thought originally.  Like you actually have to make really good use of the dodge button if you're playing on Hard (Normal, maybe not so much).  I thought Normal was way too easy when I started out, so I switched to Hard shortly after, and while on the whole I think it makes the game more fun, it also makes it... well, Hard.  Like a guy on Normal that takes one hit to kill with a fireball takes four on Hard, and when they throw 15 of them at you at once, that ends up making a pretty huge difference.  Bosses turn into seriously frantic affairs that constantly keep you on the edge of potential death, and the randomness of the game's roulette wheel thing just makes it even more stressful and fun.  Some people hate it, I think it's really amusing.  Sure, sometimes it just sits there doing jack shit when you need to score some heavy hits on a boss, and sometimes it'll chuck a nice fat limit break at an enemy that you could kill in 2 hits, but the randomness of it makes things consistently entertaining because you're never sure what'll happen or if it'll be just the thing you'd most want.  I like that there's a little more skill involved on the part of the player, too.  On Hard, you better dodge well and make good use of the little sub-conditions that pop up during battle.

Anyway... surprisingly cool game!  I'm actually unsure as to why it didn't create more of a stir.  I know a lot of people were interested in it, then it came out, some people dug it and some traditionalists didn't, and then I never heard anything about it again.  Certainly one of the higher-tier PSP games I've played, though.  Great production values across the board.

[beo]

yeah, i played through crisis core a little while ago and i really liked it. i thought the boss battles were extremely fun, and were only helped with the seemingly random roulette wheels. when you get free AP/MP, you damn well better start attacking with everything you've got in that area, while keeping an eye on their patterns and blocking/dodging at the right times. yes, i think "frantic" is the best way to describe the combat.

i love the side quests you pick up along the way too. if you don't want to get involved in the main story, you can just play for a few minutes, have some fun, gain some XP and then put it down again. a really well thought out mechanic for a portable rpg.

the story is fantastic too - it goes a long way to describing the fuzzier bits of the FFVII plot, while being highly engrossing in it's own right. after i finished crisis core, i immediately started playing the original again and it made a hell of a lot more sense.

favourite game i played on the psp. makes me a little sad that i sold the thing.

[Quemaqua]

Awesome... glad to hear something from someone else on it.  I'm pretty sure Sy played through it and liked it, also.  I'm looking forward to getting my ass handed to me by more boss monsters.  I got killed 4 or 5 times by those two giant anti-SOLDIER monsters in Wutai, and then another 3 or 4 times when you fight Ifrit (I assume it's Ifrit) outside Wutai.  I'm going to have to spend some time leveling to play this game on Hard, for sure.