Holk's PSP Picks Part 2: Turn-Based Strategy

[Holkeye]

FINAL FANTASY TACTICS: WAR OF THE LIONS

How could I type something up about TBS games without mentioning the grand-daddy of them all? This version features bonus jobs, characters, missions, and beautiful cut scenes. The only downside is that there is a bit of lag. I can't figure out why though.

SPECTRAL SOULS

My current favorite TBS, this game is sort of obscure. Very addicting.

NEVERLAND CARD BATTLES

This game takes place in "Neverland", which is the location that Spectral Souls and Generation of Chaos both take place in. It is like Magic: The gathering, but in a good way. Units are summoned from cards, and you must destroy the opponent caster.

DISGAEA: AFTERNOON OF DARKNESS

If FF: Tactics is the granddaddy of TBS, then Disgaea is like the smarter, more intricate, much much longer uncle.

DISGAEA 2: DARK HERO DAYS

Just when you completed leveling all your units to 9999, upgraded all of your items, and finally slept and took a shower, along comes a sequel.

YGGDRA UNION: WE'LL NEVER FIGHT ALONE

This is sort of like medieval Advance Wars. Hey, you know what I always wondered? If the NES had Famicom Wars, the Game Boy had Game Boy Wars, and The GBA had Advance Wars, why does the DS have Advance Wars, too?

GENERATION OF CHAOS

Originally playing this game, I turned it off after 5 minutes of WTFing. Later, once I started to learn what was going on, I found that it was very deep, but fun once understood. I'm probably not doing half the things I can, but it's still fun. MASS ARMY BATTLES!

AEDIS ECLIPSE: GENERATION OF CHAOS

I didn't know that this sequel existed. I thought they were the same game. This one is much more fun. You ease into it a little more, and it isn't so overwhelming.

JEANNE D'ARC

My second favorite TBS. It's just so fun. Not difficult so far, just fun.

WILD ARMS XF

Hex-based Wild West/Fantasy Strategy. The music is wonderful, and the gameplay is sweet, too.

OTHER WORTHWHILE TBS GAMES:
DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS TACTICS
METAL GEAR ACID
METAL GEAR ACID 2
THE LORD OF THE RINGS TACTICS

NEXT TIME ON THIS THREAD: PSP DUNGEON CRAWLERS!

[SirJackRex]

Yggdra Union is real good.
It had the most interesting Battle System, for a TBS, I've ever used. Definitely worth a try for all of those who have never heard of/played it.

I always wanted to play Disgaea...but I don't have a PSP or a PS2. 

[HowlingWinds]

Wild Arms XF is amazing. It kept me busy for a long time, and, is one of the few games where I actually had to plan out what I was doing. Also as you said, the music is really good, though, it's to be expected when coming from the Wild Arms series.

[Esmeralda]

They're releasing La Pucelle in just a few days too for the PSP and there's a planned trilogy for it. The PSP will be seeing many more strategic games from NIS in particular.

[Kokowam]

BUMP. Holk, I'm planning on playing Disgaea (I really need to finish off FFIX, too...). It'd be fun to play with my friend. :3 Would you recommend me playing Disgaea 1 or 2? Which would you say was better?

And is #2 related to #1? Well, it obviously is, but I mean in terms of storyline/plot.

[Holkeye]

They are only very loosely related plotwise, so it doesn't really matter which you play first.

[Kokowam]

Oh, cool. Do you have a preference as to which you think is better? Like, does #2 have more content than #1 or does the difference between the two vary mostly in plot/story?

[Esmeralda]

2 has way more content and story isn't any worse, it'll last you longer and there's a lot more to do. If you have to pick between one of them there's no reason to pick the first one over the second one.

[Holkeye]

The cast of the first one is far more entertaining in my opinion. Skanker is right, though. As in most sequels, the gameplay has been polished. Taking into consideration the amount of time that can possibly be invested into a NIS game, I would say play each for a few hours, and then stick to whichever one strikes you more. I'm only a few chapters into the second one, but that's because I spent a year and a half on the first one. Like I said, these are major time-sinks.

[diaskeaus]

The first one is also for the DS, though I don't know which features it has or doesn't have varying from the original.

** on a second note, dang!  That's a lot of tactical games.  Didn't realize there were so many.

[Holkeye]

The DS version sucks.

[Kokowam]

Hm. I'm thinking of playing through the first one for just the story/knowing the game, and then spending time on the second one and then seeing which to keep playing. Good strategy or no? Worth it/no?

[Holkeye]

You won't be able to play through the story as quickly as you think you could. It is mandatory to go into the item world multiple times. You'd be better off just picking one and diving in.

[Kokowam]

I chose the first one. Apparently the second one doesn't have 2-player, and I really like to see my efforts bearing fruit as I fight against my friend. At first, I thought, "meh, this game is okay..." but then I quickly started to like it. :3 I think I understand all the aspects of the game now, albeit not 100% comprehensively. I first didn't like the game because I was poor and couldn't really heal at the hospital. >_>

I really need to finish up FFIX and Patapon 2 someday, though. P:

[Holkeye]

You'll go from not having any money to having more money than you need pretty quickly.

[Kokowam]

Ahaha yeah, that happened. I fought some pig boss that got me 5k HL, and now I have massive amounts of money. Is there any end-game use for HL besides healing? There doesn't seem to be anything of great value in the shops, but I don't know how good they can get with the "More expensive stuff" legislature or whatever it's called.

[Holkeye]

Shit gets expensive. If you want to buy more music for the item world, the songs are 100000hl each. More expensive items bumps the price up exponentially. You'll do so much character/item leveling that it won't really matter. Truthfully, you can beat the story portion of the game without getting too involved in those kind of things, but it's so addicting once you start doing geo-clearing that time slips away.

[Kokowam]

Ahahaha nice, nice. I just found a map, apparently, where I can capture all the monsters and sell all their equips for 175 mil or sth. I think that'll be a good start. And is the music that you can buy actually worth listening to or is it mostly so everything's not monotonous? lol.

And yeah, I'm about half-way done with the game in terms of the first play-through. I can see how this game would take forever to get a perfect team of Divine Majins with 3 Super-Robo-Suits and perfect Legendary Yoshi.

EDIT: Making things more expensive really helps. My money actually has a place to go.