Is Getting A Vita A Good Idea?

[Smolderin]

So I am strongly considering getting a Playstation Vita sometime here in the next month or two (gotta save up dem monies) all due to Persona 4 Golden. Lately I have been on a bit of a Persona rampage with Persona 4 Arena kicking it off, now I am pouring absolutely tons of hours into Persona 3. But that isn't the only reason, I am a big RPG fan and there are some titles that look interesting....yet, unlike the WiiU, which is now gaining momentum...the Playstation Vita still seems to me to be stuck in a limbo like state with barely anything good coming out.

Buuuut, the price has dropped to a respectable 200 dollars here in the U.S with alot of them packaged with the Borderlands 2 game for no extra charge so price wise I could definitely say that now would be the time to buy it. Though as for as a long term investment, the future for the Vita seems a bit hazy, so I want to know what the Escapist community thinks. Is getting a Vita worth it around this time?

 

[Maximum Bert]

It is if you think it will provide enough entertainment for you in comparison to the expense. Only you can say whether its worth it for you, for me personally its not worth it yet the price is still too high and I wouldnt use it enough its also why I dont have a 3DS as that isnt worth it to me either.

As for its future I cant see it blowing up and becoming massive but I think it will have a steady stream of titles especially with cross play on PSN.

 

[Total LOLige]

If you don't mind buying second hand you can probably get on for way cheaper than $200 on eBay. Lots of Vitas bundled with games seem to be going for less than £80. Sold mine a few days ago for £60.

Every Vita game that I ever bought actually got released on PS+ for "free" eventually. So buying a cheap Vita and getting PS+ could be a good option.

 

[klaynexas3]

You sound like me. That is the exact reason that I bought a Vita. I bought it last...November I believe, and now currently have 8 physical games, with two bought digital games and all the PS Plus stuff from then til now. So I've probably got upwards of nearly 20 games on the thing, which is actually more than I think I have on most of my consoles. But you know what? I got lucky. I had no idea that I would find things to play on this, and most of what I have found is ports of older games that I never got around to playing, or some decent newer ones. Basically, I'd say look around the game library and see if there are other things in it that you would like to play, and also don't already own, or if you do own them, want to play it on the go. I'm a weirdo in that I prefer playing a lot of my games on the go, such as TBS or JRPGs, typically turn based games. But, enough rambling from me. Basically, I think the system's good, but you need to research first before you buy it, because you could easily end up only liking P4G and hating the rest of the library. So, tread lightly mate.

 

[The Almighty Aardvark]

I find that one thing the Vita is really good for is the ports. There's very few Vita exclusives that I think are great (Gravity Rush being one that is), but the majority of my enjoyment from the game has come from PS2/PSone ports. It's a really great system if there's a lot of games from that period that you ended up missing out on. FF:T War of the Lions, other FF games, the Jak series, Disgaea, and Armored Core being some of them.

I actually really like it for old rpgs, because the grindy sections that I normally wouldn't have patience for are much less painful to endure when you are playing it on a train ride

 

[StriderShinryu]

The Vita is a great machine, and it could be a great purchase for you if you happen to like it's specific library of games. Just like the PSP before it, the Vita is a major powerhouse when it comes to smaller, lesser known Japanese titles that you really can't get anywhere else. If, however, that's not your thing or if you need a massive variety of titles to keep you going, you're probably better off without one.

 

[William Fleming]

I freakin' love my Vita though many may disagree with my viewpoint but it depends what games your are getting for it. If like indies, JRPGs and own multiple Sony consoles, I'd say go for it. Just be warned, the prices of those mandatory memory cards are not exactly cheap and the main reason everyone brings up when talking about the Vita's success or failure.

One thing I should mention, the Borderlands 2 port for Vita is not the best from what I hear (subpar framerate (people are saying the patch that supposedly fixed this actually fixes nothing), 2 player max, freezing issues, DLC as an online pass (many people assumed it was on the game cartridge) and no word if future DLC will be released for it). So if you have any interest in Borderlands 2, it's best to get it on another platform which is a shame since Borderlands 2 portable would have been amazing if it was actually ported better.

Also a list of games worth checking out on Vita:
-Gravity Rush
-Persona 4 Golden (which you seemed to be getting a Vita for anyway)
-Danganronpa
-Muramasa Rebirth
-Ragnarok Odyssey ACE, Soul Sacrifice Delta, Toukiden (Monster Hunter clones so I'm counting them as on point)
-Dragon's Crown

And future games that look interesting:
-Freedom Wars
-Danganronpa 2
-Natural Doctrine
-Tales of Hearts R

Hopefully that will help you decide whether or not get a Vita. There are few other interesting games coming out that seem more to the taste of anime fans like SAO: Hollow Fragment, Neptunia Rebirth or Senran Kagura

 

[The_Lost_King]

Do you like jrpg's? If yes get the vita that is almost all that's on there. If no don't get it because it is all that is on there.

 

[Kingjackl]

It's a great console, but the overpriced memory cards will let you down. I only bought an 8 gig one with my Vita (because I only wanted to spend a small fortune), and now I have to rely on boxed copies for big games, which are usually 2-3 gig downloads. This means it's hard to take advantage of the cool discounts and certain games are hard to get a hold of because Vita games are so scarce in shops.

There are plenty of great games on it and a fairly extensive back-catalogue of PSP & PSOne classics (though I've heard mixed opinions about the latter), so it might be worth shelling out the extra money for a bigger memory card and recouping the losses on free PS Plus games.

 

[Sack of Cheese]

If you love Japanese games, then sure! Otherwise, it will disappoint you with its lineup.

 

[theevilgenius60]

Yes. My vitas sees and has seen more playtime than my PS3, PS4, 360 and 3DS combined. It's got an ocean of older games and the new games have started coming too. Also, golden is easier and tougher than the original. Easier(third Shadow Boss has a weakness now, no spoils as to who's), and harder(waaaaaaaay harder to catch the sea guardian than the river guardian. Hermit's damn near incompletable

 

[Rozalia1]

If you've been with Plus as I have than getting it puts all those games available for you to play immediately and while I don't play all of them, there are quite a few I've played and enjoyed.
The Vita actually has a lot of exclusives and is a fine platform for as people have said Japanese games. Dungeon Crawlers, RPGS, first party games like Gravity Rush (love it Maggle), and even bloody visual novels are being translated and brought over (damn that is a good thing).

I assume from your mention of Persona that there likely would be enough on the Vita to satisfy you. The Vita can only really cater to a select group of people, those who are all about the shooty shoot shoots aren't really going to dig it.
Once upon a time my Vita actually got little use, but its used pretty much everyday now as the value is actually there whatever the "no games brigade" say.

 

[Windcaler]

I bought a Vita a long time back and its slowly gotten more and more games for it. Sadly not many newer games. The Vita actually launched with one of the biggest libraries of any handheld or console but many of the games it has access to are from previous era's. If you still own and have the means to play those games its worth a lot less to you. If you want to play some old RPGs like Legend of Dragoon or final fantasy X you can do it on the Vita.

The vita's also gotten some good games by itself like Gravity rush, Soul sacrifice, Muramasa Rebirth, and Dragon's crown. However newer games on the vita seem pretty rare and then theres the distinction of if theyre good or not

The issue with the vita is there isnt a lot of development going for it. A lot of people dont want to buy the system because they think there arent many games for it (new games I would agree with but not older games). Developers dont want to develop new games for it because theres a perception that games on it dont sell and once again games dont sell all that well because the userbase is rather small. Its a bit of a self full filling prophecy.

Is it worth it? Its hard to say. Overall the $200 I spent has been more worthwhile then the money I put into my Xbox 360 and PS3 so I guess at the very least its a winner by default. I would just do some info on a variety of games youre interested in and if you think X amount of games is worth a $80-100 used Vita then get one. If not its probably not worth your time

 

[kilenem]

I would check Craigslist or wait for a good sell or bundle. I did that for my Wii U

 

[Eve Charm]

Sony themselves said they were giving up on the vita and had no more plans for it after about a year and a half of not making anything first party for it. If their is stuff out now or stuff that is "almost out" I.E. to far in development to can it that you see that can make the purchase a buy, go ahead. But don't get your hopes up for new vita games getting announced for the system at this point.

 

[Refresh220]

Yes, I think you should definately get it. I take mines everywhere. There are tons of good games you can play on the system, And playing Persona 4G and Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD on the go is awesome.

 

[WeepingAngels]

It's a great console, but the overpriced memory cards will let you down. I only bought an 8 gig one with my Vita (because I only wanted to spend a small fortune), and now I have to rely on boxed copies for big games, which are usually 2-3 gig downloads. This means it's hard to take advantage of the cool discounts and certain games are hard to get a hold of because Vita games are so scarce in shops.

There are plenty of great games on it and a fairly extensive back-catalogue of PSP & PSOne classics (though I've heard mixed opinions about the latter), so it might be worth shelling out the extra money for a bigger memory card and recouping the losses on free PS Plus games.

You do know that you can backup your games to your PC or PS3 hard drive, right?

 

[Rozalia1]

Sony themselves said they were giving up on the vita and had no more plans for it after about a year and a half of not making anything first party for it. If their is stuff out now or stuff that is "almost out" I.E. to far in development to can it that you see that can make the purchase a buy, go ahead. But don't get your hopes up for new vita games getting announced for the system at this point.

While I'm sure Sony would love having enough capacity to produce every single Vita game ever...they don't. Their statement means no more first party AAA titles from them, it doesn't mean the Vita won't get anymore games (many of which will be exclusive anyway FYI).

Its no real issue when the main appeal of the Vita does not lay in those games to start with (though that isn't to say the titles they did produce for it were bad, Gravity Rush was everything a Vita game should strive to be).