Deciding on whether to get a PSP-3000 or 3DS

[king_harkanian]

Yep. It's a tough decision to say the least, seeing as I used to have a 3DS last spring, but I traded it in for a PS3. The reason being is due to visual impairment that prevents me from seeing 3D. I know I can turn it off, but wouldn't that defeat the purpose of getting one in the first place? I bought it with a slight hope that the 3D, being glasses-free, would be something I could enjoy. But it wasn't, and almost a year later, I'm thinking of getting one again, give it a second shot because the games don't have to be played in 3D, and the game library isn't the abortive selection they had at launch.

Either that, or I thinking of going with a PSP-3000 because they're cheaper and have many RPGs I could get for it (Star Ocean, Tales games, etc). So in essence, I don't know which would be a better choice for me, 3DS versus PSP. Any suggestions/feedback is greatly appreciated.

[Gil_Hamilton]

At this point in time, I'd get the PSP. It's near end-of-life, and has a lot of good titles available cheaply(or out of print and unavailable anywhere, for that matter).
Also, the ease of running unofficial software is not something to be ignored.
Also the ease of copying LEGALLY-ACQUIRED SOFTWARE to a memory card, which gets around the whole "god DAMN optical disks are a stupid format for a portable system" issue.

I am against the Star Ocean remakes on principle, however, and have been since the first screenshots with the paint-by-number portraits of Rena Lanford, age 8 came out.
And fuck the Lunar remake. Game Arts is dead to me. Deader. Whatever, the point is it's a terrible remake.



Come back to the 3DS later.

[king_harkanian]

A PSP sounds more and more tempting, and while I agree that Star Ocean 2's new artwork isn't that great, we can both agree that the voices (especially in battle) aren't the abortive, muffled/overactive voice they once were back in 1999. "PARABORA BEAM!" or ""Shouldn't you run away?" But either way, I heard that the PSP has quite a homebrew/emulation scene going for it, another plus.

[Rashidi]

Also, the ease of running unofficial software is not something to be ignored.
Also the ease of copying (LEGALLY-ACQUIRED) SOFTWARE to a memory card, ...

reason why less ruckus in PSP compared say, PS3's huh?

[Gil_Hamilton]

A PSP sounds more and more tempting, and while I agree that Star Ocean 2's new artwork isn't that great, we can both agree that the voices (especially in battle) aren't the abortive, muffled/overactive voice they once were back in 1999. "PARABORA BEAM!" or ""Shouldn't you run away?" But either way, I heard that the PSP has quite a homebrew/emulation scene going for it, another plus.

CRAWDE HAS ADVANCED FORWARD!

No, I like Star Ocean: Second Story in SPITE of SCEA's translation, not BECAUSE of.
I picked up a hack that restores the rest of the J voices(one of Rena's clips was never dubbed in the first place), but I've never gotten around to playing it.

[odditude]

damn game was crash-happy in the bonus dungeon, to the point i finally gave up.

[king_harkanian]

A PSP sounds more and more tempting, and while I agree that Star Ocean 2's new artwork isn't that great, we can both agree that the voices (especially in battle) aren't the abortive, muffled/overactive voice they once were back in 1999. "PARABORA BEAM!" or ""Shouldn't you run away?" But either way, I heard that the PSP has quite a homebrew/emulation scene going for it, another plus.

CRAWDE HAS ADVANCED FORWARD!

No, I like Star Ocean: Second Story in SPITE of SCEA's translation, not BECAUSE of.
I picked up a hack that restores the rest of the J voices(one of Rena's clips was never dubbed in the first place), but I've never gotten around to playing it.

This Japanese voice hack you speak of, is it still floating out there somewhere? Like Romhacking.net? But I do like the new voices in the PSP version (Claude sounds more like a teenager rather than Tommy from the Power Rangers).

[Gil_Hamilton]

damn game was crash-happy in the bonus dungeon, to the point i finally gave up.

I've heard it likes to crash on some people. I had good luck with mine.
I had good luck with Valk Profile too.
Then my PS1 died and I tried to play it on a PS2. Three crashes in a half-hour... *sigh*

A PSP sounds more and more tempting, and while I agree that Star Ocean 2's new artwork isn't that great, we can both agree that the voices (especially in battle) aren't the abortive, muffled/overactive voice they once were back in 1999. "PARABORA BEAM!" or ""Shouldn't you run away?" But either way, I heard that the PSP has quite a homebrew/emulation scene going for it, another plus.

CRAWDE HAS ADVANCED FORWARD!

No, I like Star Ocean: Second Story in SPITE of SCEA's translation, not BECAUSE of.
I picked up a hack that restores the rest of the J voices(one of Rena's clips was never dubbed in the first place), but I've never gotten around to playing it.

This Japanese voice hack you speak of, is it still floating out there somewhere? Like Romhacking.net? But I do like the new voices in the PSP version (Claude sounds more like a teenager rather than Tommy from the Power Rangers).

I only ever saw it as a torrent for a set of pre-patched disk images.

And yeah, I can't imagine Second Evolution is anything BUT an improvement, from a localization standpoint. I just can't abide it from a design standpoint. The character art seriously pissed me off that badly(not always hard to do, granted). I don't understand Japan's insistence on taking perfectly fine existing art, "moe-ifying" everyone, then reducing the color palette until all the detail is gone. Unless the point is to make it look like a modern anime release, in which case I have to ask a whole 'nother set of questions.

Also saw a list of the japanese voice actors and I was disappointed that they basically booted the entire original cast to redub the whole game with the current crop of cool voices(not that they didn't do the same for the anime adaptation anyways, so it's clear that the character voices were never considered to be set in stone).
This did not inspire me, and furthers the "totally targeted at the current anime fans and not fans of the original game" theory.
...
But I MAY be biased, as I was already seriously pissed about the character art. Also, a personally-favored VA with a relatively small list of roles was among those axed for the new version, so that irked me too(and imagining Chisato as Pixy Misa never gets old).
...
And I'm ranting about VA choices now. And have favorite VAs. I am ENTIRELY too much of an anime nerd.

[king_harkanian]

VA's can be annoying in many JRPGs (*cough* Knights of Ratatosk *cough*), but all I can say is, thank goodness the PS3 version of Star Ocean 4 has the option for Japanese audio. And yes, knowing the language helps, but I like to learn more Japanese vocab from anime and videogames. Still, I'll do some more research/comparing before making any decision. I heard that the PSPs have slight interlacing issues, but whatever.

[I.S.T.]

Main problem with PSP-3000s is it's harder to hack them.

[king_harkanian]

Are the 2000 series easier or are the 1000s easier to hack?

[adventure_of_link]

Actually, just about every PSP is hackable in some way...

[king_harkanian]

Huh. And is the LCD really that bad, as far as the jaggy/interlacing is concerned?

[Gil_Hamilton]

Huh. And is the LCD really that bad, as far as the jaggy/interlacing is concerned?

No, it's not.
In general, it's WAY better than the smeary mess used on the older hardware revisions.
I have a 2000 and a 3000.

[sweener2001]

Actually, just about every PSP is hackable in some way...

unless the 3000 is at a certain firmware or lower, i thought they were still un-hackable.

[adventure_of_link]

Actually, just about every PSP is hackable in some way...

unless the 3000 is at a certain firmware or lower, i thought they were still un-hackable.

Nope, that was changed in the last ~6 months; thank you Davee and some1's downgrader (true, some1's downgrader will attack the higher firmwares, but some1's DG was based off Davee's work, you know).

I have no idea what the latest version of Sony's firmware is, but I know up to 6.60 is hackable. (EDIT: As of this posting, 6.60 is still the latest firmware Sony has. Keep in mind though that if you have a 5g-9g PSP you can only go down to 6.35)

as for king_harkanian getting rid of his 3DS solely because he can't see 3D... why? I've got the HTC Evo 3D, knowing full well I can't see 3D worth a crap. (unless all the games so far are boring, remakes, gimmicks, etc I can understand)

[king_harkanian]

Actually, just about every PSP is hackable in some way...

as for king_harkanian getting rid of his 3DS solely because he can't see 3D... why? I've got the HTC Evo 3D, knowing full well I can't see 3D worth a crap. (unless all the games so far are boring, remakes, gimmicks, etc I can understand)

Because I was stupid for thinking that by some slight chance, I'd be able to see the 3DS' 3D since it didn't require the glasses (parallax-barrier layering being a newer technology and all). I set my expectations way too high, and well, it didn't do jack squat. So, naturally I felt that I was royally screwed out of $250 USD, and traded it to Gamestop towards getting a 160GB PS3 Slim (which I haven't regretted doing ever since getting back in May 2011). Will I give the 3DS another chance? Who knows. The only game I had was Street Fighter IV, and while enjoyable, I only played the system four, yes, four times and then it just sat there for a month collecting dust. I had buyer's remorse to say the least. Do I regret the fact that I didn't even give the bloody handheld a chance to grow on me? No, but it probably would've turned out fine.

[sweener2001]

i personally think the 3ds still isn't worth it. layton v. wright, ace attorney 5, and the inevitable hardware revision are what i'm waiting for.

but unless you fully intend to hack the psp, i'd wait until you can get your hands on a vita and seeing if you'd rather get that over a psp or 3ds.

[kode54]

Inevitable hardware revision, hah. The most they can do is cram in that stupid right analog nub, or maybe make the system DSi XL sized and shove in a larger battery.

I'm satisfied with the battery life I already have, and I don't need a right analog nub.

[king_harkanian]

Vita's a little too expensive in my opinion (unless I didn't get the one with the crappy 3G), and even then, I'd have to get a game...yeah, it would exceed $300 USD easily. Hopefully the PSVita will have a decent homebrew scene.

[Gil_Hamilton]

Inevitable hardware revision, hah. The most they can do is cram in that stupid right analog nub, or maybe make the system DSi XL sized and shove in a larger battery.

I'm satisfied with the battery life I already have, and I don't need a right analog nub.

THANK YOU.

Everybody makes revisions. Some highly visible cosmetic revisions, most merely the more significant internal hardware modifications.
Somehow, only Nintendo gets BLAMED for this. I don't see anyone running around going "Man, I won't buy a PSVita until the revision hits."

[blackmyst]

I don't see anyone running around going "Man, I won't buy a PSVita until the revision hits."

Actually I make a point of doing that whenever there's an article or post about the Vita. The responses are pretty funny sometimes.

And it's true, I'm not gonna buy a Vita till a revision, and a major price drop as well. I have my hands full with other games right now, and the Vita just doesn't add anything of value that I can't already get elsewhere. As was the case with the PSP. In trying to replicate the home console experience, Sony only created something redundant.

[Gil_Hamilton]

I don't see anyone running around going "Man, I won't buy a PSVita until the revision hits."

Actually I make a point of doing that whenever there's an article or post about the Vita. The responses are pretty funny sometimes.

And it's true, I'm not gonna buy a Vita till a revision, and a major price drop as well. I have my hands full with other games right now, and the Vita just doesn't add anything of value that I can't already get elsewhere. As was the case with the PSP. In trying to replicate the home console experience, Sony only created something redundant.

Price drop, sure. Revision... meh. In terms of physical form factor, I think the original PSP case was the most comfortable to hold. The 2k and 3k series are both too thin. Though I grant the 3ks have the better screen.
But the improved battery life of the 2K was offset by the reduced battery size and could've been added to the 1k just as easily, making it an objectively inferior device.

[I.S.T.]

Except you can buy an extended life battery, which when put into the PSP can make it last 10 hours of gameplay(From personal experience) if you use ISOs instead of that blasted disc drive.

In addition, many PSP-1000s had trouble with the Square button not working a lot of the time. Plus, 2000s and later have the video/audio out port.

[odditude]

I played through most of Birth by Sleep with my 2000 hooked up to the TV (which, by the way, looks FANTASTIC with the game in 32-bit color and the OC profile turned on). I also have the extended battery, and I'm quite pleased with the battery life.

I got my 3DS two days before the official price drop, to pay the lower price and still get the Ambassador bundle (Walmart dropped the price a few days early). I got the Nyko extended battery, which works quite nicely. However, the only actual 3DS title I have is OoT, which I've barely touched ("barely" as in "I haven't finished the Deku Tree yet").

The biggest question I have is, do you already have a DS/Lite/i? If not, then the 3DS has an even bigger library than the PSP. If so... I'd wait until a game you actually want comes out.