Wizardry Vita: Dungeon Travelers 2 or Operation Abyss?

[Obviousplant]

I'm currently playing Demon Gaze and I should be finished with it pretty soon, so I'm looking for the next JRPG to buy for my Vita. Currently I've only got P4G, DG and Disgaea 4. And I've played through/till boredom many of the better titles on PSP, DS and 3DS (though if there are any recently released 3DS titles that I might've missed, I'm open to suggestions)

Regular JRPGs with weeb pandering and ARPGs don't interest me, I'm looking for turn based dungeon crawlers and SRPGs to kill time when I'm sitting on public transportation/on a lunch break. What's the best choice right now? Dungeon Travelers 2 and Operation Abyss seem to fit my criteria the best, any preference between the two? Deep and meaningful party development are the most important thing to me in Wizardry clones.

 

[Siveon]

duanth123 will probably say Dungeon Travelers 2.

Both are pretty meaty... but in terms of party development I know Abyss is a little lacking due to the lack of multi-classing. It's much better than Demon Gaze in that regard, however. I'd say that game would be one of the worst, next to Mind Zero (although it's way better than that one). This is due to the fact you have much more developed games like Class of Heroes or Elminage: Original. I think Operation Abyss would be easier to play on public transportation since it isn't bombarding you with fanservice monsters and CGs every 30 minutes or so. I don't think you can go wrong with either.

Oh, and you ever play Dark Spire? That's definitely up your alley. As well Etrian Odyssey, obviously.

 

[duanth123]

Deep and meaningful party development are the most important thing to me in Wizardry clones.

I think DT2 is the better game when it comes to some level of party development, as you acquire a pretty large roster, each of whom can chose between a number of distinct classes. Distinct enough that on the Japanese wiki there are builds within individual classes.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...oYqc2VenVqVgYqLwY_37pA&bvm=bv.110151844,d.cGc

Whereas with O:A there are fewer classes with less interesting skills in each (though they hew closer to Wizardry type skills.)

And yeah, the main (read: only) enemies in DT2 are fruits (I mean that literally) and scantily clad monster girls. You tend to forget as you're playing the game, but it can be pretty humorous to an onlooker.

Also, while there is some slight weeb pandering in DT2 (mostly fanservice stuff...you pretty much acquire a harem) as opposed to the straighter delivery of O:A, the characters are all fairly inoffensive, even likeable. The dialogue is much like that in Demon Gaze: serviceable, at times genuinely humorous.

 

[aweigh]

yeah man if you're talking about a wiz-like crawler for the vita i also vote for playing the PSP version of Elminage: Original.

if you haven't played that shit you should make that your top priority. after you finish Elminage: Original go through class of heroes 1 and 2, which are also psp games. (CoH 2 > 1)

(vita's can play psp games right?)

 

[Siveon]

(vita's can play psp games right?)

Digital-only, but yes. The icons are ugly as sin, though.

 

[aweigh]

but vita's can run emulators right?

can't you just then install and run PPSSPP (the psp emulator) on the Vita and play (as an example) elminage: original as an emulated UMD via PPSSPP running on your VITA? that way you can enjoy the PPSSPP emulator's functions of higher resolutions and save-states. seems like a better way to play it than just a boring ole play through of the regular UMD.

 

[Siveon]

Woah, dude. You got it all mixed up. PPSSPP is an emulator for PC's, Macs, etc. The Vita is nowhere near as powerful (and no version of PPSSPP works for it), and instead just uses a basic official emulator that Sony made, similar to their official PSX emulator on the PSP/PS3. The PS Vita can't handle UMD's natively, but instead can play (if hacked) ISOs/CSO files extracted from the UMD that'll let it play like a regular PSP. There's no save states or anything like that, unless someone in the Vita hacking scene developed it. The only stuff the official emulator can do is map keys to the touch screen and hack screen, and try and boost load speeds.You can also mess with the resolution and switch disks, but like I said, really basic stuff.

Anyway, the only way to legally/illegally play PSP games on a PS Vita is using that limited emulator.

However, a hacked Vita can in fact play emulators made for it, but only for older stuff like GBA or SNES. It can also play stuff made for a hacked PSP. It all respects it's just an upgraded PSP, no where close to a top of the line Android device (which would, in fact, do the things you've described).

 

[aweigh]

so basically if someone decided to work on porting the PPSSPP emulator to the VITA one could play PSP games on their VITA via PSP emulation featuring PPSSPP stuff like 10x resolution and save states.

i just thought the vita had already been "cracked" like the psp in the sense that i thought one can turn a VITA into a portable emulator console. my mistake.

 

[Siveon]

I sincerely doubt someone would take the time to do that, since the official emulator works perfectly. Boosted resolution is also pointless due to the fact the Vita has an extremely similar resolution in the first place. Not to mention the aforementioned hardware issue, the Vita is powerful, and can handle PS2 ports - but straight up PSP emulation leaves me doubtful.

It's plausible to have a hacked Vita, but it's no more easier than cracking a PS3 or 360. It requires older models with older firmware, with exploits, etc. It's a pain, I wouldn't bother with it.

 

[aweigh]

damn. so sony wised up? i was having fantasies of buying a vita and installing a CFW and using it as an emulator machine with integrated touchpad for possibly playing things like fallout and planescape on it and/or simultaenously having entire snes/n64/psp/ps1/saturn/sega-cd/genesis/wii/nds/3ds library of games at my disposal.

 

[Siveon]

saturn/3ds

Not even the PC can emulate those well, but yes. This is mostly due to the fact that each Vita has their own proprietary memory card, instead of your run of the mill SD card. That, and, it's still updating at a fairly average pace.

 

[aweigh]

super off topic but (has that ever mattered to me?) would the nvidia shield function as what i described in my vita-fantasy? i'm too lazy to goolge right now.

(yes i know tablets exist. screw that noise).

 

[Courtier]

i was having fantasies of buying a vita and installing a CFW and using it as an emulator machine with integrated touchpad for possibly playing things like fallout and planescape on it and/or simultaenously having entire snes/n64/psp/ps1/saturn/sega-cd/genesis/wii/nds/3ds library of games at my disposal.

Never gonna happen. Vita is like a walled up fortress that at the most, with some effort, allows you some extremely basic emulation or stuff like changing of game bubbles, and even those exploits are being constantly patched. PSP on the other hand is completely cracked up to the latest system software (which is no longer being updated), and has emulators that can run everything from SNES to Atari 2600, Neo Geo, GBA, PS1 (!) and so forth. But the screen size is pretty small compared to the Vita...I might try hooking up mine to a small monitor when at home.

 

[aweigh]

are vitas still only supporting sony's proprietary usb sticks that retail for the same cost as the actual hand-held itself? i'm thinking of getting a vita or an nvidia shield; i'm torn between the two. the nvidia shield would basically do all of what i mentioned i fantasized about being able to do with the incredible display and built-in touch screen of the Vita; except the shield doesn't feature mouse-tracking of any sort built into it.

at the very least an nvidia shield would basically be the same as buying a shinier, bigger, much more poerful "PSP" if you will, and one could stuff it with as many emulators as your pants can fit. (YES I KNOW TABLETS EXIST. A TABLET IS NOT A HAND-HELD.)

you might want to take a gander at the newest version of the shield and the awesome custom "OSes" community around it. small community but dedicated. you can do p. much whatever the fuck you want with a shield. its build in controls are absolutely top-notch for gaming and its display is beautiful. if it had a touch-pad like the Vita it would be hands down the best hand-held / portable gaming emulator made so far.

obviously going with the shield means no vita games. i searched but vita emulation seems to be a LONG way off; ironically it seems to be much longer off than actual PS3 emulation which already has an open-source emulator that can load and play a select number of ps3 titles in a fully playable manner.

yeah, i was shocked too. i actually downloaded it along with a 100% legal copy of wizardry: labyrinth of lost souls to see if i would luck out and be able to play it on the ps3 emulator but alas, the emu is 64 bit only. i'm running 32 bit x86 hardware. ah well.

 

[Siveon]

Dude, how do you crank out these text walls so quickly? You really have to tell me your secret, sometime. Also, is this exactly the right topic for this? Talk about thread high-jacking.

To answer your question, yes, memory* sticks do still cost quite a bit due to the fact that only Sony manufactures them. I was lucky enough to get a 16 gb memory card for $20 on a winter sale, but that still doesn't really cover as much as any owner would like. Especially with the increase of digital-only localizations nowadays.

As for your second question, I'd say you seem much more inclined for Shield. It does the emulator stuff, I believe, and you seem to have the money for it. The Vita is good for Vita stuff and you'd have to wait for when a PPSSPP comes out for it. The Shield is instant gratification and easy games to download at your fingertips. Most (good) Vita games cost upwards of $20 and you don't know when it's worth it. I probably want a Shield, but I'm holding out for something better.

I don't agree with your assessment of a touch-pad (frankly I find them useless, I wouldn't try and play anything with them), though.

 

[aweigh]

well codex used to be quite the wild west back in the old days of yore. i stopped posting for several years and during my absence the entire website became what it is today. i.e. by the time i stopped posting (but not lurking. always lurking.) there still were no brofists, to give you context.

anyway my point is that there used to only be 4 forums, or 3 i think: rpg disc, site shit, and GD. oh, and retardo land of course. i gravitated towards the codex because of my love for rpgs and the community i found here AND also because unlike 99% of all other forums the codex (didn't used to) care about things like "thread hijacking". codex was fucking wild wild west motherfucker 8 children died in a school bus crash AND IT WAS WEAK. WEAK I SAY.

take a gander at 2002-2005 posts (especially 2003 ones) and read any random ole thread to the end. there were no such things as mega threads (shudder) and there was no moderation. to absolutely no one's surpise ever guess what? everyone was 1000x more civilized and shit-posting was almost non-existant. i take great pride in being part of the 1st wave of shit-posters coming in circa 2005 tee-hee.

so i guess tl;dr i have never cared about such silly things as "netiquette" and codex didn't used to either.