My Top 5 PS Vita JRPGs

I’ve always been a fan of portable consoles and for a long time, the PS Vita was my favourite. As I transitioned into work life, the PS Vita was what helped me keep my gaming time in tact and introduced me to some of my all-time favourite immersive JRPG series during small moments of free time in my day and for that, it holds a special place in my portable console collection. Unfortunately, the world of PS Vita has grown quiet as of late, particularly in the west with Sony’s announcement a few months ago of the end of physical Vita cartridge production, along with the innovative Nintendo Switch providing current-gen console game quality on the go and eliminating the need for Cross-Buy as a portable and home console hybrid. But that doesn’t mean the PS Vita isn’t still a useful console with its library of amazing JRPGs new and old and its ability to play PS One Classics and PSP games meaning there is still a big library of great games for portable gamers looking to experience classic games and Vita exclusives. So as a look back at the portable console that got me more into the JRPG genre, here are my five favourite PS Vita JRPGs.

JRPGs I Played in June 2018

During June, I had a good amount of time before Ys VIII came out since it was a quieter month, so I decided to make up for lost time and catch up on all the great demos that had come out during E3, making it a surprisingly busy month for my gaming time. It was probably also made even more busy since I also continued with a bunch of my favourite experiences, including jumping into the Persona 3 side of the Persona dance spin-off games that I love, trying some Atelier DLC and getting back to Persona 2. This is before I took a much needed dive into a full, proper JRPG in the form of Ys VIII after having played a lot of spin-offs and small experiences and I enjoyed taking a dive into a new, big JRPG world. So with a mix of new, old, long and short experiences, here are the JRPGs I Played in June.

Review: Persona 3 Dancing in Moonlight (Reviewed on PS4, also on PS Vita, Japanese version)

Choosing between Persona 3 Dancing in Moonlight or Persona 5 Dancing in Starlight is mostly a matter of preference. Where Persona 5 brings the acid jazz, Persona 3 Dancing in Moonlight brings more of a funk, hip hop flair in terms of soundtrack, which is reflected in the tracks featured from the original game and also in the remixes based off its tracks. Dancing in Moonlight features the same polished rhythm game experience that Dancing in Starlight does, but with a Persona 3 makeover and its characters. Setting it apart is that Moonlight features the most high quality 3D models we’ve seen of Persona 3’s characters in years, so playing this game and seeing the updated versions of these characters felt special as someone who has played the original Persona 3 game as a PS2 classic. Whether you’re here for the dancing or here for more Persona 3, Persona 3 Dancing in Moonlight delivers the polished rhythm game and visual experience that fans of Persona’s Dancing games expect while being a great visual tribute to Persona 3 and its great characters in this rhythm game experience.

E3 2018: My Favourite JRPG Trailers and Announcements

E3 2018 was pretty good this year, even if I wouldn’t call it my favourite E3. I don’t mind too much since TGS is always the better conference for news of new JRPGs, but regardless we did get a few interesting ones at E3. As someone who usually finishes E3’s conferences most excited for what Sony is bringing, I found Nintendo’s conference more interesting as a JRPG fan, although all of the conferences had at least a little bit of news about what’s coming to the genre in the next year. As with all E3’s there were a few surprises big and small for JRPG and video game fans in general, so these are the JRPG trailers and announcements that got me the most excited at E3 2018.

Review: Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight (Reviewed on PS4, Japanese version, also on PS Vita)

With its great acid jazz soundtrack, it’s no wonder Persona 5 works so well as a rhythm game. Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight features the already great involved rhythm game mechanics from its predecessor in a familiar form with an updated UI alongside the characters of Persona 5 showing their personalities in dances. While it’s new event-based story mode sets it apart from the last Persona Dance game, there are many events to unlock, on top of costumes, fun challenges and ways to shake up both its core gameplay and its social aspects to keep Persona fans busy. If you like rhythm games and Persona 5’s characters and music as much as I do, Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight is worth a look for story and rhythm game fans alike.

JRPGs I Played in May 2018

As much I enjoyed playing video games in May, my gaming time in May mostly didn’t go how I expected it to. I started my month playing two portable Persona games as I’d planned to, although not as much as I wanted to. Then I played Little Witch Academia: Chamber of Time and was much more mixed about it than I expected to be. Thankfully at the end of the month though, I had two games that caught my attention in the right way and put me in good JRPG spirits going into June. So although I only played a few games this month compared to other months again, here are the JRPGs I played in May.

Review: Little Witch Academia: Chamber of Time (Reviewed on PS4, also on PC)

Little Witch Academia: Chamber of Time’s demo showed me some great things that were the reason I decided to pick it up. It introduced me to the series charming characters, a side-scrolling dungeon crawler that combined JRPG elements into something of its own and a fairly interesting story premise. In its full game however, the unique, quirky JRPG I expected Chamber of Time to be felt different, with its excessively repetitive boss battles making the experience drag on longer than it needed on top of dungeons that feature great ideas and potential that are never fully realised. While it has charming characters and enjoyable story moments that have made me interested in Little Witch Academia’s anime, Chamber of Time’s repetitive design unfortunately didn’t keep me under its spell for very long.