Time to sit down for another YvoCaro Plays. As always, these blurbs are mostly about the video games I’m currently playing. Unedited thoughts that spring up in my mind, mostly game related. And sometimes a random train of thoughts starting with the game and ending somewhere completely different!
If you like these bits of gaming thoughts you can find the previous ones here
The Switch Lite versus the PS Vita
Someone I follow on Twitter posted an interesting tweet last week. A Vita fan, like I am too, who is a bit annoyed at the way former critics of the Vita are now flocking to the Switch.
Ridiculous how everyone that destroyed the PS Vita at launch is now praising the Switch Lite as the second coming of God. Released over 7 years ago, the Vita has a better; screen, quality built, buttons, analogue sticks, overall plastic, Bluetooth, trophies, party chat… pic.twitter.com/bg5cRY4ZIi
— 1up2play (@1up2play) September 27, 2019
Now, I wasn’t “in the loop” when the PS Vita was released 7 years ago, so I don’t know about everyone destroying the device at launch. I had my eyes fixed on Nintendo’s handheld devices since the beginning of my gaming days. The PS Vita was my first and last Sony outing. I got the device for my birthday in 2015. At the time I wrote:
So here I am, at the final Nintendo frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship “gaming lady”, her mission, to seek out new games and new forums, to boldly go where few Nintendo fans have gone before!
Little did I know that it would be my go-to gaming device for some time to come. Sure, I often brought my 3DS with me anyway (trying to get Streetpass hits) but a lot of my favourite games appeared to be on Sony’s handheld. Not the simulation games I love so much, but the Vita was the home for great JRPG!
The pros and cons of the PS Vita
I found the Atelier series, played Persona 4 Golden, Dragon Quest Builders, World of Final Fantasy. And I played my first ever visual novel too. I loved what the device could handle, how it felt in my hands and the games on offer. That doesn’t mean I wasn’t still a Nintendo fan, a very enthusiastic one too.
There were a couple of things I didn’t like about the PS Vita. There was the memory card: the machine couldn’t do much without it, even with physical game cards. You could only buy special PSP Vita micro SD’s and you can guess: Sony wanted to make some money on that, resulting in ridiculously expensive cards.
The second thing I was taken aback about was the experience I had in several Playstation oriented forums. On general, forum with Nintendo gamers were very polite, maybe because of the family orientation of Nintendo games. Not so in the PlayStation forums. When I started gaming on my Vita I searched for a nice forum to chat Vita gaming and to get to know more about my new device.
Well let me tell you, it’s a whole different world out there! I’ve seen words used that I don’t think should be used anywhere, let alone online in a conversation. I’ve seen arguments with people saying horrible things to each other. It’s not like people were rude to me, they were nice enough. I guess going in with an open mind and a friendly attitude helps, like it does in “real life” too! But unlike in most Nintendo forums, it didn’t feel safe to say a lot. And where Nintendo fans are usually very positive about their device, I’ve seen comments from people who were putting down their own device of choice.
The third complaint about my Vita was that Sony treated it like an ugly stepdaughter. In the years I owned and loved it, I felt Sony had already abandoned it with gusto.
Is the PS Vita better then the Switch Lite?
Back to the tweet, alright? It states that pretty much everything about the Vita is better then the Switch Lite is. Honestly, I have never been the kind of gamer who knows about all the technical stuff “under the hood”. I’m the kind of person who, when someone enthusiastically tells he’s bought a new car, can only think to ask what colour it is.
Sure, there are some annoying things about the Switch. It doesn’t have Bluetooth built in. There is the problem with the JoyCons. And maybe the Vita handles huge games better. So maybe the Vita is more powerful, I honestly don’t know.
What I do know is that the Switch is a device that is loved by its company. Like a well loved daughter of proud parents. And that’s enough for me. That is why I love the Switch, I love how the library keeps on expanding and diversifying. And I expect a lot of great gaming moments ahead with my faithful companion during all my travels!
Totally agree with you! Still have my Vita, but probably have not played it in years. The two biggest “cons” for me, as you point out, were the ridiculous pricing on additional memory, and it feels like Sony abandoned the Vita quite early. I have an Xbox, I have a PS4, but I’m still looking forward to getting my Switch. The main reason? Animal Crossing! I play New Leaf almost daily on my 3DS. There’s something about Nintendo games that brings out my “inner child”…which was half a century ago!
I like how you put it, Nintendo games bring out your inner child! And I should think Animal Crossing is going to be the main reason a lot of people will get themselves a Switch.
That’s why I’ve stated before that I don’t understand why they waited so long in making this game. The way I see it, is that the AC community is quite different from the average gaming market. Those are the folks who love AC the most and don’t really want to play anything else. So they will get a Switch just for that reason!
But then, who knows how the marketing gurus at Nintendo work? Maybe they like the way it’ll give a new incentive to the Switch after the main wave of gamers has already bought the device.
I totally agree too Yvonne!
It makes a lot of difference how a company treads their own product.
Why should you love and invest in something when the company itself doesn’t?
I didn’t like the expansive memory cards too, a mistake in my opinion.
Yes, they made some money from it, but they lost a lot of money on ‘not sold digital games for lack of memory space’. + The physical games where hard to get and expensive.
The Switch is my ‘feel good’ console, I get happy even thinking about it.
I feel great about owing and playing it. I’m so so happy so many people agree with me and so many good games are in the future!
I also think it’s a great plus it serves console and handheld players alike. Bigger market = more money = more and better games.
Looking foreword to Animal Crossing too!!!!
Nice title eh?
My Switch is my precious, as they say. I treat it with utmost care, slide it in the dock carefully. I thought of only touching it with white gloves on, but that’s taking it too far. Nah I’m kidding, but I am very careful with it. It is indeed my feel good console, really love it.
And the way we are getting more and more great games is so wonderful! I’m even planning my purchases, there is just too much out to play it all. Gotta make sure I have time to play what I buys too.
It’s a real head turner alright! (the title)
Lol, of course that was the plan!
Ow, and the title of this article made it a ‘What?! Must read immediately!!’ for me… haha
I will always love and support the Vita. The memory cards are a pain and when I lost one of my 16GB cards, I had to get a new one (I decided to order the biggest and most expensive one 64gb as an investment). Sometimes I feel the battery ends too quickly, but it’s smaller, more compact, and sturdier than another handhelds before. And when I realized the system was going to be dropped so soon in its lifecycle, I made sure to buy what games I could for it, both digital and physical before the market on them gets more expensive. Persona 4 Golden, the Persona dancing games, Grand Kingdom, Ar nosurge Plus, Utawarerumono Mask duology, Atelier Arland trilogy, Trillion, Ys Memories of Celceta, Gravity Rush, and Fate/Extella. What really bums me most is how most Vita games are now ported to PC now, but I get why. They want to make sure they don’t fall behind.
I loved my little Vita as well, and bought into the 64 gb card immediately. That was because finding physical games for the device was a pain from the beginning. Over here, in stores, they usually had a few obligatory titles, like Minecraft. And after awhile, even they disappeared from the store.
I did always feel it was a shame that there wasn’t a good Animal Crossing-like title available for it.
There are not exactly a lot “Animal Crossing” game, let alone on the PS Vita, but there are a few Playstation games you could buy through the online store to play on the Vita, like Harvest Moon Hero of the Valley or Innocent Life A Futuristic Harvest Moon.
Also there was a sort of more anime-esque port of Little King’s Story called New Little King’s Story, where you go around managing villagers to change classes to help build the town while going out to explore the world and do tasks kind of like in Pikmin.
And oddly enough, Monster Hunter Freedom Unite. The game is usually hard and grindy fighting big monsters for upgrade parts to create armor and continue the cycle over again, but there are other Animal Crossing loops like mining, fishing, farming, and item collecting, so to speak. I’d only suggest that if you like a challenge though as the monsters you fight are no joke.
Oh yes! Innocent Life! Loved it on my Vita, write about it on the site too. It was even better then harvest moon titles back then.
About Little Kings Story: I bought it thinking it would be like the same title on the Wii. Was very disappointed, it didn’t have any of its charm.
You’re right of course, animal crossing-like titles are hard to find anywhere!