I Bought a Vita, Yay!

[Slammers]

Got myself a vita couple of months ago. Your right, after playing on a 3ds and 3ds xl, the screen is great. Joystick and tiny buttons not so great. Been having alot of fun, but last few weeks it has dawned on me that in a month or two I literally will have played and finished everything decent there is to play on vita. Still it was all worth it for personna 4g. Cant wait to get olli ollie when it is out on nz store.

[Lingwo]

Is OlliOlli really that good?

[DirtyLarry Veteran]

You do know you can take screenshots on the Vita Larry?  :rofl:

 

PS button and start button I believe. I guess a camera snap could be quicker though!

I did take one actually, but then I realized I never set up the Mail so could not e-mail it to myself, did not want to post to Facebook or Tweet it, and also did not feel like going through all the steps needed to either sync it or get it manually off the Vita to my computer, so taking a picture with my cell phone was actually easier than all of those options. I wish the Vita had a dropbox app.

If there is an easy way to get it I am all ears.

Is OlliOlli really that good?

Depends on what type of games you are into, but if you are into the type of game it is, it absolutely is. Challenging as all hell and really takes a lot of precision to get goals done.

[Brian M. Veteran]

I did take one actually, but then I realized I never set up the Mail so could not e-mail it to myself, did not want to post to Facebook or Tweet it, and also did not feel like going through all the steps needed to either sync it or get it manually off the Vita to my computer, so taking a picture with my cell phone was actually easier than all of those options. I wish the Vita had a dropbox app.

If there is an easy way to get it I am all ears.

Depends on what type of games you are into, but if you are into the type of game it is, it absolutely is. Challenging as all hell and really takes a lot of precision to get goals done.

I like OlliOlli, but it took a while to betray my instinct of "x to jump" :p

[Lingwo]

I think i'll give it a go. I do like the look of it.

I'm sure if it is too challenging the game and vita won't last long.

I'll have to make sure i got the wrist strap done up tight :laugh:

[DirtyLarry Veteran]

I like OlliOlli, but it took a while to betray my instinct of "x to jump" :p

I do not think I will ever get over it, as I still am pressing X!

 

I have hit a wall in OlliOlli myself with one challenge in particular. It is driving me insane and my OCD like gaming habits is making it worse, as I almost refuse to move in until I get this challenge down. It is Level 1 in the Base stages.

 

I have been able to 5 star every challenge up until this point, but I am finding it hard as hell to get the high score challenge on Level 1 of Base. I can do everything else, including high combo, but the overall High Score challenge is just hard as all hell. Even worse is it is 270k and I got 269k so literally just missed it by 1k. :cry: However I have not gotten close to that since.  I am pretty decent at getting the spins in there, etc., it is just that one level is so damn hard to get the high score. I have played the 2nd and 3rd levels after it and gotten all 5 challenges, but again the OCD in me keeps trying to do that High Score challenge in that level, and I am now feeling like I may never get it. I am not kidding when I say I have attempted it several hundred times now. It is pretty crazy.  :s

[DirtyLarry Veteran]

I think i'll give it a go. I do like the look of it.

I'm sure if it is too challenging the game and vita won't last long.

I'll have to make sure i got the wrist strap done up tight :laugh:

It is a great game, it really is.

My advice is:

• Start learning how to add spins as soon as possible. It makes things harder, but it is imperative to getting higher scores
• Master "Perfect" everything. Grinds and Landings are also absolutely imeprative to higher scores and also keeping your speed.
• Master "Perfect" everything.  :laugh: it really is important.

What I think makes the game so great is how they somehow managed to capture skateboarding itself with the controls. I actually skated way back when for over 10 years, so I know how hard even the simplest things are to pull off. Somehow they translated this over with the controls in a way that makes sense and pretty much emulates the act of skating itself. I think the game SKATE also did a great job of it as well, but somehow the simpler controls of OlliOlli manages to do it better.

[Matrix XII]

Congrats!

 

The Vita is a fantastic device, I love mine to bits! :)

 

Some games I'd recommend:

 

Persona 4 Golden

Ys: Memories of Celceta

Rayman Legends

Gravity Rush

Uncharted

WipEout 2048

Velocity Ultra

Spelunky

 

There's also Demon Gaze, Conception II, and Dangan Ronpa: THH coming out very soon!

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

Thought I'd post a mini review since I've owned it for almost a week now.

Likes:

 

• Build quality - I've read a lot in the past the original Vita is a bit creeky due to its design but I have to say I've not witnessed much of that myself. It's a very solid unit and although I wouldn't like to test, feels like it could survive a decent drop. I've also read the card slot covers are difficult to open and again I've not had this issue. I remember reading about people using screwdrivers to open them which just sounds ridiculous to me. They're a breeze to open and I have very short nails, so not sure where others are having problems. The screen is nice and the colours great but it's not as bright as I expected. I'm almost positive my original PSP is brighter and my 3DS XL definitely is. Games look beautiful on it though. The dual thumb sticks really do make all the difference over the PSP nub and a really impressive addition considering the limitations of a portable. The deadzone on them is tiny which is great too, it's very noticable in all the games I've played so far.

 

• Responsivness - The OS is fast, much faster than I expected. Load times in games can be a bit mixed but switching from them and back to the OS is instant. The screen too is really responsive with touch control and I've not had any issues with it registering touch.

 

Dislikes:

• Face buttons - I'm not sure what it is I don't like about them just yet. I can't decide if it's the hard plastic, their size or because they click more than "squish". It might just take some getting used to and I have been playing a lot of X1 recently which has very "squishy" buttons in comparison.

 

• Cameras and Speakers - I'm grouping these 2 as they both share a common fault IMO. The natural resting position for my thumbs just so happens to be where the speakers are, so I often end up "muting" the sound for my games, which sucks. Moving them obviously then causes discomfort to compensate for it. I would have placed them on the same side as the charge port/headphone port like an iPhone, but maybe there isn't enough room inside to allow that. The speakers themselves aren't very loud either and the 3DS XL speakers beats them hands down. It almost feels like you need to play with headphones to get the best out of it, whereas the 3DS XL is more than loud enough to play without them. The front facing camera too is in an odd position. I can't say I'll be making much use of it but again I can only guess the front-top-centre of the console doesn't have enough space to accomodate it. The actual quality of the cameras themselves leaves a lot to be desired, but I'm not fussed personally. I will say certainly don't buy one thinking it's a good point and shoot device or great for Skyping; it'll almost only be used for in-game activities.

 

50/50:

• Dpad - I mentioned this on Twitter over the weekend which some might have already read but the dpad is pretty weird. I'm struggling to compare it to anything else but it's somewhere inbetween the 3DS thumbstick and a 360 dpad. There's too much movement and freedom in it. When I was playing SFxT I noticed it a lot and it was making shoryukens difficult to pull off. When you're not performing half circle or quarter circle inputs its fine though. Definitely a nice size and shape.

 

• Design - I really like the front of the console, but I have to admit the new LCD Vita looks a lot smarter in all black. I think the silver trim is a pretty dated look and would have prefered an all matte finish (or at least all matte finish on the back and sides).

 

• UI - Almost forgot to mention the UI. I'm not sure what they were thinking when they designed it but it's a bit of a mess. It's like a phone, tablet and portable OS all blended together and can be quite jarring when it switches depending on what you're doing. It's taking parts of the old XMB style, mixed with iOS/Android and then has tablet features when you task switch. I hope in future they'll refine it or at least update it to look more like the PS4 UI. There's nothing technically wrong with it, the menus all work and for most part are in places you'd expect, it's just not coherent.

 

Verdict:

I won't give it a score but I will say it is a great little console and it has surprised me. I dismissed it for a long time due to the strategy Sony went with during the first 12 to 18 months of making cut down PS3 ports. They seem to be changing that and if the indie support continues, it's going to be an addictive time waster. The battery life is a lot longer than I was expecting. I was sure the LED screen would kill it quickly but I got a lot of sporadic use out of it over the weekend without needing to charge it. If you're sitting for hours at a time it'll obviously drain much faster. I used my wi-fi connection to transfer games from my PS3 and it took a long time to put a dent in the battery though. I'm really nitpicky when it comes to controls compared to most people. I notice small details that most wouldn't care about so don't be put off by my comments above if you're thinking about buying one. The new PCH-2000 model apparently feels a lot better in the control department anyway so shouldn't be a problem going forward for those yet to buy one.

[compl3x]

The Vita is incredible, but in true Sony fashion propriety ###### hampers an otherwise superior system. Why Sony, why, have proprietary mem cards I can't use for anything else? I heart Sony's take on gaming, but this stupid ###### makes me want to fly-kick the idiot who thinks proprietary mem cards increase profit.

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

After reading Andy's thoughts I really do wish the 2000 model had an OLED screen :(

 

Would be interesting to see if someone could butcher the OLED screen into the Vita 2000 lol.