[Continue Play] The Vita version of Hatsune Miku Project Diva f is set to see western release for Q1 2014. Continue Play takes an advance look at the Vita version and decides if it is worth your time...or whether you should stick to the Playstation 3 version.
VGChartz's Adam Cartwright: "Despite its somewhat anaemic lineup of backwards-compatible titles (unusual in light of the genre’s strong pedigree on Sony consoles), Vita’s selection of rhythm games is highly impressive in the modern market with genre favourites like DJMax, Hatsune Miku and Taiko no Tatsujin all present and plenty of quirky oddities like Deemo, Love Live & Persona thrown in for good measure. You’re definitely going to need to try your hand at importing to get the most of the genre here, but that shouldn’t be an issue thanks to region-free hardware and easy-to-grasp gameplay."
VGChartz's Adam Cartwright: "the handheld was unable to attract certain types of software – western AAA development quickly evaporated, as did Sony’s own support, because there weren’t enough consoles out there for such titles to be profitable. But that doesn’t mean that every publisher failed to find success. Indeed, there are a number of franchises out there that have been able to appeal to the Vita’s niche and which have seen positive sales numbers and critical reception, leading to them becoming mainstays on the handheld.
It’s these series that I intend to examine in more depth this article – what they are, what entries we’ve seen, what success they’ve had, and what it’s meant for the console’s future. I’ll be using known sales figures where possible to back things up, hopefully demonstrating that the Vita has been a solid home for a number of great series despite its otherwise weak commercial performance on the market."
Hatsune Miku has become an international icon. What began as a singing synthesizer turned into a character recognized around the world that stars in multiple forms of media. In the realm of games, people recognize her as a rhythm game star. But what else do people need to know about her?
" the biggest, almost game destroying problem with the Vita port has to be the controls. The strumming actions for guitars/bass that were assigned to the R-stick on the PS3 version have been remapped to the touch-screen/rear touch pad for the Vita version."
wtf,the stars were remapped for the ps3 version not in the vita they were made thinking for the psvita touch screen and work fine.
bad review.
--"Maybe you should upload some off-screen footage on easy proving that these controls are "game destroying"? --
By'game destroying' we are talking about the destruction of long-term value that most rhythm-and-music games are built upon (which requires precise control).
This loss of long-term value is exemplified most when playing for the highest score you can (which means playing higher, rather than lower difficulty levels). This is why proof of concept for a higher level difficulty is important, but not for a lower levels; I don't believe people get a large amount of their replay value from seeing how high a score they can get on Easy mode.
--"You swipe your finger across the screen... this is hardly a precise action and is functionally the same as the thumbstick. In fact, they use the same action, so the only REAL difference is hand placement."--
The actions (swiping) and leniency on input timing is indeed the same. But input pick-up (the game registering your input) is different between the two because the Vita touch interface is fickle.
What I am talking about in this review is that rogue dropped star. That one you know you thumbed but the game simply didn't pick that up. That one star you know you probably could have gotten if you were playing with a more reliable input interface.
The reliance on (what I feel) are unreliable touch controls means that every once in a while you will drop the odd star you know you hit. And the upshot is that makes luck a factor (even if a small one) in determining your score.
I feel many players will not continue playing the game for a long time if they feel their play result is, even if only in a little way, affected by chance. This reduces the replayability of the game down to a few dozen hours.
--"Your excuse of who you write for is just lazy. If I had to guess, I would assume the MAIN person reading your review was actually people who never played the game."--
Which is correct and not at all at odds with what I said. I'm sorry, I don't understand the problem you are raising here.
A consumer who has never played PDf still has the choice between the PS3 and (as of yet unreleased) Vita version. My review approaches the subject matter with that in mind.
Whether it was PS3 or Vita version that was the lead version in development doesn't strike me as important; the western consumer doesn't care about that, only importers and the developers do. To everyone else getting that particular detail right probably seems pedantic. What matters is the end result.
--"It sounds like you have more to prove than Dark-Kyon anyway"--
Yes. I do have more to prove (or explain).
Dark-Kyon is perfectly in the right to express their opinion. I disagree with it, but as the writer of the review I am adding explanation here to aid readers. A simple 'I don't agree' isn't very useful for them.
As with any review, consumers are encouraged to make up their own minds. I feel my review touches on a problem that a demo simply can not highlight because the damage caused by the control issues is more pervasively a long-term issue.
By all means, you are free to disagree. But I don't think anything meaningful can be said. We are just going to have to agree to disagree.
edit: I have marked your comment up as 'interesting'. You may well be raising some valid points that the review did not clarify (that I hope I have clarified here).
I will take your criticism on and try to make my writing increasingly clear in the future.
The review has been altered based on constructive feedback so that the criticisms are easier to understand (though the points being made are the same). It may take some time before the page updates.