Alright, so thanks to the machinations of a crazy uncle and more than a bit of generosity on my little brother's behalf, I have come into possession of a PSP. Almost immediately, I began scouring pawn shops and used game stores for games I had always wanted to play but lacked the means to do so.

My absolute first order of business was to track down Crisis Core, which I am pretty fond of, outside of a few hiccups in presentation that don't sit well with me (Sephiroth's dumb-as-hell Macross-style dogfight with Angeal and Genesis comes to mind immediately, for instance). Music is great, and the team did a good job of translating the trappings of FF7's materia system to this faster paced action game. I like it.

I picked up Valkyrie Profile, Prinny: Can I Really Be the Hero?, and Final Fantasy Tactics, all for very cheap. I'm surprised at how depressing VP is, and that I missed out on it for this long. The amount of polish present in the spritework and pre-rendered backgrounds is remarkable. I'm not too far in, so I can't comment on the soundtrack, but what I've heard is nice, albeit standard-issue Sakuraba fare. I am excited to play more.

FFT is just as great as I remember. The much-needed retranslation effort is amazing, about the same level of linguistic polish as that of Alexander O. Smith's work on Vagrant Story, but as far as I know, it's someone else's work this time around. Great game, all told.

I picked Prinny up because I was intrigued by its' visual style, knowing next to nothing about the games' pedigree. What I got was an old school platformer with tight gameplay, music that teeters between dark and whimsical, and a wonderful sense of humor. I really like it.

So what can STC recommend for me? I'm open to all suggestions!

The others have kind of been through this a couple of times before, so check the related posts I have kindly linked for you in the sidebar to the left for a start.

If I were to finally get a PSP I'd be all over some Ys.

Yes, especially since XSEED is bringing three Ys games over to the US (Ys 7, The Oath in Felghana, and Ys I & II Chronicles).  I have them all in Japanese already, but I'll probably end up picking up the English versions as well.  I would also check out Valkyria Chronicles 2 and Dracula X Chronicles if you're into that sort of thing.

I actually like XSEED a lot and was glad that they localized the last three WA titles rather than, say... Agetech. Alter Code:F had problems from the get-go but I think Agetech's delays and translation sucked the last bit of life out of the title.

As for WA4, I don't think anything XSEED could have done could have saved that game's narrative. OMG, Jude... *shakes head* Jude, you made Virginia somewhat passable.

so many good games on PSP, you'll need five years or more to play them all.

tactics ogre will be great and soon we'll get oath in felghana.

I find such a quote extremely charitable. The PSP may have some good games, but it's not exactly rolling the hits out like crazy. A kid with good taste (probably a rarity these days) and a ton of time (probably not a rarity) could probably rip through it in less than half of that.

Also, one has to consider that if they were into gaming during the PS1 generation, they've already played a sizable portion of what the PSP has to offer. I liked Star Ocean: Second Evolution myself but I was technically "there" in 1999/2000.

I disagree, personally. I didn't even own a PSP until 2008 and I've already amassed a collection of over 60 games with relatively few duds (picking up a Street Fighter game for a portable was, in retrospect, something I should've been able to tell would be trouble). Of course, whether or not mine is 'good' taste is equally subjective. But I also don't think the rehash aspect is a fair strike either, unless you'd also hold it against the Game Boy Advance, which was absolutely awash in "re-buy it because it's portable now" carryovers and remakes, most of which surprisingly came from Nintendo themselves.

Since you mention Second Departure, though, this seems a good place to verify something I'd heard - is it true that it doesn't allow you to choose your main character, and only has Claude's scenario?

if you like long games (RPG,SRPG etc.) you'll be hard-pressed to finish every good game there is while maintaining other interests. i'm not finished with everything i've wanted to play and i already had the PSP for years.

and like SonicPanda stated: it's crazy easy to get a hold of good PSP games with a small money investment.

I do!  It's why I don't think the GBA is anywhere near as good a platform as the DS has ended up being... and why I'm highly unimpressed by the PSP in general.  Don't get me wrong - I don't regret getting a PSP in any way... but it still exists almost entirely as a Falcom game player for me.  I initially got it for the three Gagharv games in English (yes, they're super crappy ports and yes the translations are terrible, but I still appreciated having them), then continued on with Gurumin (still shocked that got an English localization at all) and now am loving Ys Seven and looking forward to Oath and Chronicles.  And of course next year we're getting all of Sora no Kiseki, because XSEED are now my new favorite publisher.

As for other games - I have MGS: Portable Ops and have tried getting into it, but between the controls and the strategy elements haven't really gotten far or cared to keep trying.  Crisis Core is generally okay but I hate a lot of the retconning they've done to the FF7 story with all the compilation stuff.  Exit is fun, but I think it's available on other platforms, now.

Edit: I might also add that I don't play TRPGs, and the PSP does seem to be a gold mine for those.  Also, I'm the person here who has more Gamecube games than PS2 games from last generation and thought it was the better console overall, so remember my tastes do not always fall in line with the mainstream.

Absolutely untrue, although all the other options that once appeared when you started a new game on the PS1 version (audio settings, vibration settings and combat mode) are now gone. Basically, once you choose your character and their name off you go. Could have done without the J-pop song in the new opening however (I think they made Rena look too young as well).

If you haven't played the PS2 versions, I highly recommend Persona 3 Portable. You get a lot of bang for your buck and the PSP version adds a lot of game play refinements from P4.

I also recommend Phantasy Star Portable 2. Very solid game with free online play.

Valkyria Chronicles 2 is also very good if you don't mind the rather generic anime conventions the game is unfortunately filled with.

Definitely get Ys7. It's easily one of the best action RPGs out there today.