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[RK128]

Hello everyone .

Including today, we only have 3 days until 2015 ends, so lets reflect on this year as a whole the Vita, gaming and life in general .

I personally found 2015 to be a great year for me. I got into a lot of great series that I never considered giving a honest chance before. The Neptuina series was a big one for me as while I heard about the series, I never gave it a chance due to how it looked but thanks to Sir TapTap recommending ReBirth 1, I really loved my time with it and latter got ReBirth 2. Next year I plan on getting ReBirth 3, Action Unleashed, Victory II and the two upcoming Vita Spin-Offs at some point .

Even now I'm still trying out new franchises, like Summon Night (which I am really enjoying my time with) and Ar Artelico (love Ar No Surge and love the score + story of Ciel No Surge). Hopeful that my time with new series will continue with the Trails series and Dangromnpa next year .

I also made some personal growth for myself, as I started getting more social online after my ban from Gaf. I used Line and love chatting with Vita Gaf and Amiibo Gaf, frequently use my Twitter, made my own blog just two days ago and just allowed myself to be more connected to the net. This is important as due to being part of the net, I can understand how younger generations become so invested within those systems, and considering I want to be a teacher, that is huge for me.

And this year was the time where my grades in college have been the highest they've ever been, with two semesters where my GPA adverages out at a 3.5 or higher. Personal accomplishment for myself and other college related ventures (taking my first teaching exam....and failing it :l, and my first shot at student teaching being a wonderful experience and success) just make me a bit proud of myself .

2016 will be a big year for me, as I will be taking more tests for my teaching, will use my writing skills for working relations considering I will be done with my English courses next semester, and it will be the year I get a PS4. Very excited about 2016 and looking back, 2015 was a great year for me .

Hope 2015 was a great year for you guys and that 2016 is an even better year !

Top of the Page: Everyone give Summon Night 5 a shot as it reminds me a lot of Advance Wars or Fire Emblem . Also get Ar No Surge Plus for Vita while its on sale too ! Happy holidays everyone .

 

[Funyarinpa]

Year would've been pretty damn great.

Then Zero Time Dilemma was announced.

Can't wait for 2016, never looked more forward to the release of anything in my life, ever.

Finally played Danganronpa 1 and 2 myself, got some great use out of the Vita, had a lot of fun!

Happy new year VitaGAF!

 

[FDC1]

No store update this week?

 

[teflontactics]

2015 for me was, well...

I played a ton of games this year, earning trophies for more than thirty-five titles, platinuming seven, 100%-ing another two more, and playing some I know I didn't earn any more trophies on (Hot Shots Golf, you bastard).

I reviewed probably ten titles (which was far less than I liked to), however I had a hand in probably five times that with regards to editing. I've edited (most of) eight magazines, been a part of over fifty podcast episodes, and edited up over thirty Vita videos for our Lounge Play channel (including over twenty-five gameplay videos, beginning with my first just three months ago). I've written over six-hundred Vita news posts, made nearly eight-hundred posts here on GAF (95% of which in these PSN threads), and more Tweets about Vita than I care to enumerate.

Basically, I spent 2015 on games

Spoiler

and I don't regret it.

 

[Ingueferroque]

???
Sony are the ones convincing indie developers to make games on Vita in the first place.

They don't do enough. They regularly even omit new Vita releases from the PS Blog, this is significantly harming the small publishers like XSeed that put a lot on the line when bringing over Vita exclusives. New releases don't show up on Vita's Store App. (Only discoverable via search, what the fuck) Or some Vita games just aren't listed on the web store, or have the wrong platform identifier.

I'm not saying that they need to invest millions into production for internally developed Vita releases, that ship has sailed. But their neglect is just a bit too extreme.

I'm aware Vita had some stage presence at PSX.

Please tell me why my PS4 still tells me 'This device is not supported.' when I plug my Vita in it for charging? It's just such an ironic fucking issue/message.

 

[NormalFish]

Can it be March please

 

[teflontactics]

No store update this week?

It's updating as we speak with regards to sales, so something is happening - just unsure if we're getting new titles as there was no Drop.

 

[Funyarinpa]

No store update this week?

Holiday Sale Week 4 is going up soon

 

[teflontactics]

Holiday Sale Week 4 is going up soon

It's sort of up now; https://store.playstation.com/#!/en-ca/holiday-sale/cid=STORE-MSF77008-HOLIDAYSALEGAMEG

Unsure if complete though (probably not).

 

[Kresnik258]

Hello everyone .

Including today, we only have 3 days until 2015 ends, so lets reflect on this year as a whole the Vita, gaming and life in general .

For Vita? 2015 was pretty disappointing. 2013 had been the last year of AAA and had some amazing indies. 2014 was my favourite year for Vita so far - loads of great localizations (more than like 2012 & 2013 combined for me); a splattering of great indies and even a trickle of Sony support I cared about.

2015 was like an inferior version of 2014 for me. Lots of localizations I was disappointed in - DanganRonpa UDG wasn't as good as 1 & 2; SAO Lost Song wasn't as good as SAO Hollow Fragment; Operation Abyss wasn't as good as Demon Gaze etc. Resident Evil was a bit of a let down after Borderlands, which ran like shit but at least was ambitious. Hotline Miami 2 let me down. There were no more HD Collection ports from Sony.

Some stuff I liked this year at least. Geom Wars 3 was fantastic, and Bastion capped the year off nicely. Steins;gate was a lovely surprise, as was Lost Dimension. Gust's work is always great and I enjoyed both Atelier Ayesha & Ar noSurge.

(At least 2016 is looking better. If the games I'm looking forward to live up to their expectations, it'll be a great year, and if the games I'm hoping will get localized do, it'll be even better).

As a result, gaming as a whole was a bit meh for me this year as I mostly game on Vita. Some PS4 stuff was decent - I really enjoyed Tales of Zestiria and Dragon Quest Heroes, as well, so it wasn't a write off. And there's plenty of stuff in my backlog.

 

[names2hard4you]

Like I said on Twitter, 2015 for me was a year in which I played less and beat less games too. Maybe it's me getting more and more skeptical about things, or just the fact that I don't have as much time as I did before, but I cut my gaming time quite significantly and I can go weeks without playing, whereas before I'd feel like I had to play something every day.

That being said, the year wasn't all that bad. And my love for gaming isn't gone. The game I loved the most this year was The Witcher 3, a huge densely packed game, but that didn't stop me from playing it from start to finish.

And of course I'm very much looking forward to next year, games are looking great!

 

[nampad]

Quit embarrassing me on the PS Blog, Vita fans.

You can complain about it on the PS Blog, especially if you want to criticize people directly like you did before your edit.

 

[18-Volt]

2015 was overall great year for handhelds but it was even better for PSP. The 11 year old grandpa got 3 amazing games, I'm still playing two of them. I think this proves that PSP was a perfect system in every way.

For Vita, overall quality of releases were lower than 2014 and 2013 but great nonetheless. Lots of flawed but fun games.

Oreshika, Persona 4 DAN, Steins Gate, Trails of Cold Steel, and Code Realize were among the best games.
Best Publisher was XSEED, releasing total 6 games.
Best indie games was Helldivers.
Best genre was Otome, all three released games were critically praised. Plus 2015 got 2 Hatoful Boyfriend games.
Most fun game was Helldivers, followed by J-Stars Victory
Best graphics belonged to Persona 4 DAN, followed by Samurai Warriors 4-2.
Best music belonged to XONiC Superbeat followed by Deception 4 Nightmare Princess.
Best announcement was Dragon Quest Builders, followed by 13 Sentinels.

Can it be March please

Uncharted is coming out in April.

 

[NormalFish]

Sword City is March.

Could not care less about Uncharted.

You can complain about it on the PS Blog, especially if you want to criticize people directly like you did before your edit.

Lmao

 

[YianGaruga]

You can complain about it on the PS Blog, especially if you want to criticize people directly like you did before your edit.

I agree, but I also agree that the PSBlog comment is really dumb.

 

[Xenoflare]

YES FINALLY DOA5LR IS ON SALE FOR PS3.

I'm so glad I waited

 

[HowardRoark]

Just started Steins;gate and holy crap the MC is obnoxious. Is that intentional, or is he supposed to be funny?

 

[Shizuka]

Just started Steins;gate and holy crap the MC is obnoxious. Is that intentional, or is he supposed to be funny?

That was my biggest grip when I started. Just wait until Chapter 6, your opinion will change.

 

[YianGaruga]

Just started Steins;gate and holy crap the MC is obnoxious. Is that intentional, or is he supposed to be funny?

I had the same reaction at the start, just roll with it for now. My opinion of him definitely changed later.

 

[names2hard4you]

Just started Steins;gate and holy crap the MC is obnoxious. Is that intentional, or is he supposed to be funny?

No one talks shit about my boy El Psy Congroo.

 

[HowardRoark]

That was my biggest grip when I started. Just wait until Chapter 6, your opinion will change.

Definitely going to stick through it, glad to hear he gets better (or different?). How many chapters are there?

 

[Kresnik258]

People really hated Okarin to begin with? I loved him. Felt refreshing. Loved his quips right from the get-go.

 

[Shizuka]

Definitely going to stick through it, glad to hear he gets better (or different?). How many chapters are there?

Spoiler

Ten chapters.

 

[erpg]

You can complain about it on the PS Blog, especially if you want to criticize people directly like you did before your edit.

No worries, I already did.

 

[kevin1025]

I played Dancing All Night so much today I can still see the ring. Send help.

 

[NormalFish]

My copy of S;G arrived today. I'm away from home, however, and totally exhausted, so I'll have to start it tomorrow or Thursday. I'm starting to really feel the weight of my backlog lol.

 

[Shizuka]

My copy of S;G arrived today. I'm away from home, however, and totally exhausted, so I'll have to start it tomorrow or Thursday. I'm starting to really feel the weight of my backlog lol.

Don't let it swoop away into your backlog. Play it as soon as you can, it'll be worth it.

 

[autoduelist]

Should I be grabbing Tokyo Ghost Hunter? How does the strategy side hold up? Note that I absolutely can't stand VNs.

For LA Cops the AI is terrible and your partner is just going to get killed. I just wound up using the other character as a backup if my main character died and took manual control. The AI partner was a promising idea that doesn't actually work out like you want it to. It is weird that there is no way to have a second player control the AI partner. Two player Hotline Miami would have been fun.

Hmmm. Well, it's not really 'partner AI'. You set them up yourself to cover you. I'd say the non-playing partner gets about 75% of my kills, because I set him up to cover me / trap enemies .... I engage, and pull them into our crossfire. If you're not doing that, I think perhaps the AI would definitely feel terrible. They need to be in cover, preferably out of site to enemies racing at you.

The only thing I find 'bad' about it so far is that the AI tracks enemies too slowly for my liking (so, for example, if he's within a doorway and an enemy runs by the doorway quickly, he might not get the kill. But... well, on one hand, that's perfectly acceptable if I know that, and on the other, the 'speed' stat may make him better (don't know yet).

I don't want to beat a dead horse and go on about how I think those games have better alternatives. I appreciate the write ups and your different opinions.

It doesn't matter to me if games have 'better alternatives'. I think Super Stardust is better than Geo Wars, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't recommend Geo Wars. I think both of those are better than We are Doomed, but that doesn't stop me from liking or recommending WAD, especially on sale for $2.50.

More to the point -- if you're into a genre -- be it shmups, or dual stick shooters, or rpgs, or drpgs, we often want to play both the good -and- the bad, so you can better identify and discuss not only the games themselves, but the mechanics and systems which we like or don't like.

I mean, heck, i generally buy every dual stick shooter and drpg I can get my hands on. Just because some aren't top tier doesn't mean I wish I skipped them. I don't need every game to reinvent the wheel, and sometimes we find gems we love that others don't.

Case in point -- Crystal Defenders is a fairly dry, grindy, and slow tower defense game with a Final Fantasy skin. But the fact that i didn't enjoy it shouldn't stop someone who likes TD and FF from trying it, because if it does click for them, it's worthwhile.

 

[Shizuka]

Should I be grabbing Tokyo Ghost Hunter? How does the strategy side hold up? Note that I absolutely can't stand VNs.

Don't get it.

 

[Kudo]

Just finished Tour Mode on Miracle Girls Festival, man what a fun game.
There's probably long time to next Project DIVA so this fills up the space great for me. Miku fans would beat me up for saying this but I even prefer it to PD thanks to the song selection being more to my taste.
Definitely recommend to all rhythm game fans that are able to import.

 

[ATXAlchemy]

https://twitter.com/nihonfalcom/status/682030525058449408

Falcom's next game to be yuri confirmed.

 

[teflontactics]

So I just tried the Miracle Girls Festival Japanese demo, and though I'm horrible at it... it works on the PlayStation TV, and actually looks pretty good.

Nice one, Sega.

 

[newjeruse]

No PS2 game this week. Boo.

 

[kevin1025]

No PS2 game this week. Boo.

This saddened me, too. I suspect it'll be King of Fighters 2000 or Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits next, since they were in the video. But Dark Cloud 2 or Ape Escape 2 being next would be incredible!

 

[incpdo]

Best Vita game for 2015 . superbeat xonic . incredible game. Top notch quality. Great music. ( subjective opinion)

 

[Tizoc]

https://twitter.com/nihonfalcom/status/682030525058449408

Falcom's next game to be yuri confirmed.

Bah generic designs like that are boner killers >=/

 

[YianGaruga]

Bah generic designs like that are boner killers >=/

Pretty sure that's not a Falcom game and the post was a joke. I think that's the booth opposite of theirs or something.

 

[hosannainexcelsis]

People really hated Okarin to begin with? I loved him. Felt refreshing. Loved his quips right from the get-go.

He falls into that chuuni stereotype of people who are aggravatingly up their own asses. If he didn't harp on the whole "Hyouma Kyouin" nonsense so much, he would be more tolerable.

 

[ATXAlchemy]

Bah generic designs like that are boner killers >=/

Your boner is weak. True boners does not stop at designs and sees what's on the inside.

Pretty sure that's not a Falcom game and the post was a joke. I think that's the booth opposite of theirs or something.

Kinda, sorta. But I wish it happens, LOL.

Believe me, it was fascinating to learn that KOGADO Studio (工画堂スタジ&#12458 is the very same group that also developed this yuri game. Their name doesn't have impact. >___>

And no, that's not the opposite booth. They're next to Falcom, and they do sell Falcom goods. It was the same for the last comiket, too.

I only realized it now even though I bought HakuAi on Vita and the fact that I went to Falcom/Kogado's booth in Comiket 88. <____<

 

[Kudo]

So I just tried the Miracle Girls Festival Japanese demo, and though I'm horrible at it... it works on the PlayStation TV, and actually looks pretty good.

Nice one, Sega.

Game looks beautiful on TV, played it that way too. No idea what kind of magic Sega is using to make it look that good and the load times are really fast too.

 

[ZeroAKA]

Free games for PlayStation Plus subscribers in January:

• Dragon Age: Origins (PS3)
• Grim Fandango Remastered (PS4)
• Hardware Rivals (PS4)
• Legends of War: Patton (Vita)
• Medal of Honor: Warfighter (PS3)
• Nihilumbra (Vita)

I wish they'd take out PS3 games already and give us more Vita/PS4 games instead.

 

[YianGaruga]

Free games for PlayStation Plus subscribers in January:

• Dragon Age: Origins (PS3)
• Grim Fandango Remastered (PS4)
• Hardware Rivals (PS4)
• Legends of War: Patton (Vita)
• Medal of Honor: Warfighter (PS3)
• Nihilumbra (Vita)

I wish they'd take out PS3 games already and give us more Vita/PS4 games instead.

I don't really need more Vita games, I just need ones that aren't.. this
Japan makes games too btw

Grim Fandango is neat though and also on Vita

EDIT: This Patton game is apparently a PSP title again smh
Looking at the recent titles and the way only the PS4 games are promoted, my guess is they'll drop PS3 and Vita altogether in the near future

 

[names2hard4you]

I don't even pay attention to the PS+ offerings anymore ahaha.

 

[FriedConsole]

Free games for PlayStation Plus subscribers in January:

• Dragon Age: Origins (PS3)
• Grim Fandango Remastered (PS4)
• Hardware Rivals (PS4)
• Legends of War: Patton (Vita)
• Medal of Honor: Warfighter (PS3)
• Nihilumbra (Vita)

I wish they'd take out PS3 games already and give us more Vita/PS4 games instead.

Nice. First time in a long time I don't have a single game from the list already. I'll probably sample all these but finish none of them.

 

[hosannainexcelsis]

I don't really need more Vita games, I just need ones that aren't.. this
Japan makes games too btw

We just got Freedom Wars, so there is that at least.

EDIT: This Patton game is apparently a PSP title again smh

I wouldn't mind PSP games (or even PS1/PS2 games), if they were actually interesting and not what looks like shovelware.

 

[YianGaruga]

We just got Freedom Wars, so there is that at least.

Yeah you're right. It's not as bad as this month makes it seem.

 

[teflontactics]

The Patton PSP title? C'mon PlayStation, that's some weak shit.

 

[shmoglish]

I already own Gf, Da and Mh, but The rest is Fine.

I don't even pay attention to the PS+ offerings anymore ahaha.

Funny.

 

[names2hard4you]

Funny.

I know. If it weren't for the cloud space for my saves and the occasional discount here and there I'd totally drop it, like many others here have already done.

 

[RK128]

Free games for PlayStation Plus subscribers in January:

• Dragon Age: Origins (PS3)
• Grim Fandango Remastered (PS4)
• Hardware Rivals (PS4)
• Legends of War: Patton (Vita)
• Medal of Honor: Warfighter (PS3)
• Nihilumbra (Vita)

I wish they'd take out PS3 games already and give us more Vita/PS4 games instead.

I feel that the line up is okay, as Grim Fandango, Dragon Age and Nihilumbra look really interesting !

But I will agree with everyone here; the lack of JP games on plus is very odd :l. So much of the Vita's line up is composed of JP games so the fact that Sony is ignoring them for PS+ is not only strange but very limiting in terms of game selection.