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Vita PSN Game & Service Thread | May 2013 | Lovecraftian Wasteland

That Farming Simulator video has passed 1,000 views. Clearly a lot of FS fans out there ;)

Almost top of the page, buy Farming Simulator! ;)
 
It has a lot of depth within its narrow confines - it does what it does very well, and its mechanics are certainly more complex than they initially seem.

But I wish that the depth went beyond just customization, stat boosts, etc. There are a metric ton of spells, but many of them are very similar to each other. I also don't really feel that the elemental system is creative or fun - instead of making me change my gear set to best fight enemies based on their unique fighting styles, I choose based on the arbitrary elemental weakness the developers have saddled them with.

This design choice is probably a consequence of the fact that the bosses are, like the spells, too same-y. In Dark Souls (a tired comparison, I know), each boss forced me to play the game a totally different way. There wasn't some "weak spot" telegraphed to me - I had to discover their vulnerabilities for myself and alter my approach as needed.

And the "branching missions" as you call them are probably not the best example of depth to use...

The biggest problem is that after a while, the game just stopped being fun in single player for me.

And the bigger problem is that the things they could add to address it (more environmental variety/complexity, bosses with actual AI, to name a few) would make the multiplayer unworkable. Add open environments and you end up with either PSO2's barely Dreamcast-level graphical fidelity (Sony's not going to allow that) or shitty framerate (Inafune's not going to allow that).

It's a small feat as it is that it's as smooth as it is with four players and all that chaos. So you either keep solo play simple and boring or you design separate maps for the single player and multiplayer modes.

I agree that it's a must-buy and tailor made for Vita. Most fun co-op experience I've had in ages - but it could've been so much more.

I see. Thanks for going into more detail. I also agree with much of what you said although I'm still enjoying the single player (not as much as the multiplayer of course) quite alot. Enemy repetition is probably my single gripe, especially in the grunt types. Boss repetition is less of a gripe for me because Archfiends are more fun to fight and tend to be consistently fun, especially in a group. (Perhaps that is the MMO player in me coming out?)

10 new bosses are coming via DLC. That won't change the fact that you are still fighting the same bosses repeatedly in the story missions but it will at least give that much new content and keep the mutliplayer fresh.

Regarding the elemental system you spoke of, since each spell generally has a version for each element (fire tree root, ice tree root, etc.) you should be able to pick the element and the spell type that you want for each encounter. Some bosses are much harder to deal with at close range (Illecebra comes to mind because she 's quick and likes to use that ice explosion as does the Centaur simply because he charges around the stage) and some bosses don't have elemental weaknesses at all. I feel like there's plenty enough variety in the spell types and boss types to keep all of that interesting while still giving the player some freedom to use the types of spells they favor.

Anyway, I'm not picking on you and I do appreciate your explanation. Thanks!
 
Oh wow... I didn't know that. I was under the impression that the games I downloaded for free are forever mine to keep regardless of the PS+ membership... Huh. No wonder it sounded way too good the first time I heard about it.

Well then... that greatly diminish the value of PS+ in my eyes, especially since I only want to use it for Vita. It's basically 'renting', while what I want is 'full ownership.'

Yeah, the Plus service would be much worse in terms of amount and quality of content if we were able to take full ownership of the "free" stuff. I just couldn't see them completely giving away about $1000 worth of games for $50. It's a great service, but it's not THAT great. Publishers would probably want nothing to do with it.

Nice, thanks. Any other recommendations?

I don't have them since I'm more into the over the ear headphones, but as an anecdote, I've heard several people throughout the last year here mention that they really liked those for the price.
 
Am I the only one that loves the free to play game treasures of montezuma blitz? I put almost 20 hours in it so far with a high score around 31 million. I recommend everyone to try it.
 
Am I the only one that loves the free to play game treasures of montezuma blitz? I put almost 20 hours in it so far with a high score around 31 million. I recommend everyone to try it.

I've played it for 50 hours. The quite recent patch pretty much broke the game, but it made me enjoy it a bit more. It's a match-3 game so I guess that makes it addictive by default.
 
10 new bosses are coming via DLC. That won't change the fact that you are still fighting the same bosses repeatedly in the story missions but it will at least give that much new content and keep the mutliplayer fresh.
Isn't it 10 free bosses and more paid bosses/dlc? Unless plans changed.

Still love my Vita. Ordered a matte black finish cover/skin in hopes of reducing finger prints. Will maybe make it look less of a toy & more like the beast it is. Will post pics if anyone's keen upon arrival.
 

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I was just about to post this, but they also finally emailed me this:

8713522099_b5405877f8_b.jpg


So there you go, it's official - SCEA makes it deliberately harder for devs to put stuff on the American PSN.

huh? we just had a dev not too long ago delay a EU release because of the process being more complicated than they had expected. i don't think that screenshot really proves that scea deliberately makes the process harder.
 
huh? we just had a dev not too long ago delay a EU release because of the process being more complicated than they had expected. i don't think that screenshot really proves that scea deliberately makes the process harder.

Idk, lots of stuff has come out in JP and EU regions and it takes months, months for it to come to the States, while lots of the stuff is already in English. I'm just making a hyperbolic assumption at SCEA, lolll. I know there's a lot of stuff that doesn't come to EU or it takes longer to come to the EU regions as well, but lately on Vita it seems like the releases aren't as planned across different regions.
 
So there you go, it's official - SCEA makes it deliberately harder for devs to put stuff on the American PSN.
Not really, it's just that they've got separate submission process, so smaller devs often just focus on one area before starting the process for the other. Usually this means American release before European one, but for EU devs it sometimes ends up the other way.
 
I was just about to post this, but they also finally emailed me this:

8713522099_b5405877f8_b.jpg


So there you go, it's official - SCEA makes it deliberately harder for devs to put stuff on the American PSN.

How the hell did you come to this conclusion? For all we know the process for getting on the European store could've been equal or longer.

And keep in mind that this is a self-published game from a small dev that probably doesn't even have an office in the US.
 
How the hell did you come to this conclusion? For all we know the process for getting on the European store could've been equal or longer.

And keep in mind that this is a self-published game from a small dev that probably doesn't even have an office in the US.

I guess you guys don't enjoy hopping on the SCEA hate train ;( It wasn't too long ago the store was delayed a whole day and everyone had their torches and pitchforks out. I JUST WANT THE GAME OK :((
 
Hey at least you have games like cs:go

Which still hasn't been released on psn in the EU and no reason was given or updates either
 
Hey at least you have games like cs:go

Which still hasn't been released on psn in the EU and no reason was given or updates either

CS:GO? I was just trying to poke fun at how inconsistent cross-regional releases seem to be, it always seems to be the biggest growing pain we as gamers have, when stuff doesn't come to our region ;( I'm just super excited for Farming Sim, I reallllllly want it!
 
I haven't been keeping up with the platformer scene on PSP or Vita particularly well, are there any good ones in the vein of Mario?
I've got Guacamelee, Dokuro and Sound Shapes, they're all amazing games in their own right, but not really what I'm looking for. Any tips?
 
I guess you guys don't enjoy hopping on the SCEA hate train ;( It wasn't too long ago the store was delayed a whole day and everyone had their torches and pitchforks out. I JUST WANT THE GAME OK :((

I only hop on the SCEA hate train whenever there is genuine proof that they are fucking up. This isn't one of them.
 
Oh wow... I didn't know that. I was under the impression that the games I downloaded for free are forever mine to keep regardless of the PS+ membership... Huh. No wonder it sounded way too good the first time I heard about it.

Well then... that greatly diminish the value of PS+ in my eyes, especially since I only want to use it for Vita. It's basically 'renting', while what I want is 'full ownership.'

I'm usually like that but I figure 50€ for a year of games is probably cheap enough and by the time PS+ stops being worth it the games you may still want to play are probably just pennies to buy.
 
Dident Sony just make a big deal.at GDC about how much easier it would be for devs, and pubs to put their games on the store? I guess maybe that will onlu happen when the PS4 launches.
 
I haven't been keeping up with the platformer scene on PSP or Vita particularly well, are there any good ones in the vein of Mario?
I've got Guacamelee, Dokuro and Sound Shapes, they're all amazing games in their own right, but not really what I'm looking for. Any tips?

Out of Mind is a unique PSM platformer of sorts. I'm having a blast with it and for less than 2$ is a must buy.
 
Why can't they offer SF4 AE on PSN store for VITA? If they don't want to release physical game they can at least release digital version.



If anyone can tell me ?
 
I guess you guys don't enjoy hopping on the SCEA hate train ;( It wasn't too long ago the store was delayed a whole day and everyone had their torches and pitchforks out. I JUST WANT THE GAME OK :((

Look at stuff like Frobisher Says and Flying Hamster HD.
How long have they been out in EU with full english translation and yet it took OVER A YEAR to get Frobisher says over here and it's looking like... 5 months or so for Flying Hamster HD. Factor in even smaller developers? Yeah, I'd think there's some validity to your claim, substantiated or not.
 
Dident Sony just make a big deal.at GDC about how much easier it would be for devs, and pubs to put their games on the store? I guess maybe that will onlu happen when the PS4 launches.

It is easier right now, and has been for a while now.

You guys are way overreacting about that "two months" comment.
 
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