So, how is Freedom Wars?

I'm not sure yet. It really bombards you at the start and I haven't clicked with the controls yet.

Graphics and atmosphere are stunning though. Just makes me sad that we won't really see many games using Vita hardware to its potential now.

Hear, hear. This game more than any other on the Vita makes me sigh and think about what might have been. (Phantasy Star Nova localization, plz.)

As much as I liked Soul Sacrifice's style of story telling, it definitely made the game feel a lot smaller. You are always either in a menu or a fight, so everything feels very compartmentalized. I expected much the same from Freedom Wars, especially when they were all, "LOL, you can't see anything until you get to the battlefield, sinner! Enjoy this black screen!" So I was pleasantly surprised that there is actually a town with a lot of people to talk to and an impressive amount of dialogue that changes based on the situation.

I still have hope that Japan Studio will still do collaborations and provide games with this kind of scope at least one or two per year. Although that hope is pretty bleak.

Bad news is, Sega is probably going to scale down on their non-MMO efforts, which is sad because shining resonance looks awesome. And that means no PSnova 2, probably.

How big is the pre-mission area? It sounds big.

And lastly, I forgot to ask, how are you enjoying your 3DS so far? I hope region locking is going to be history on the 3ds soon.

It's actually just a small hub area with a couple of shops and then a bunch of other (very basic and samey) areas that you unlock as you rank up, but I haven't explored it that much or even gotten all that far into the game. I've been too tied up with Evil Within to give Freedom Wars my full attention up until now, but I just got the platinum in that so hopefully that will change. I just thought it was neat that there is as much NPC dialogue as there apparently is. The other characters are surprisingly fleshed out, and it really does seem more of an RPG than just another hunting action game. It is a ton of fun, too. Climbing all over Abductors and dismantling them piece by piece is super fun and satisfying, sort of like Dragon's Dogma but implemented differently.

Honestly, my 3DS has been collecting dust since very soon after I got it. Probably not the best gaming investment I've ever made. But I really liked Luigi's Mansion, and I'll eventually check out Persona Q and Theatrhythm (though probably not as soon as I originally intended), so it's not a total waste. The Legend of Legacy looks super hot, too, so hopefully that will get localized. I do really wish Nintendo would improve the VC offerings and their obscene eShop policies. I'm not sure if anyone knows why they don't have SNES games on 3DS VC, but it's really befuddling to me.

Mine has barely been touched since I got a Vita, though the missus enjoys Luigi's Mansion on it. It honestly feels so outdated and archaic to me with the low resolution, poor frame rates in anything that isn't a flagship Nintendo title and lack of dual analogue.

I'm seriously disappointed N3DS got announced, because it makes me think a Nintendo handheld closer to/more powerful than Vita is a lot further away than I was hoping.

Where are the PSTV sales on the front page???

I tried Marksmen and it works great whilst you have firearms equipped, but doesn't feel great with the Thorn. However it seems Technical gives you the best of both worlds, playing like a TPS if you have a gun, but if you have Melee equipped, Thorn is mapped to R which just seems to feel more comfortable to me. Trying to do the CODE2 Exam at the moment. I'm really struggling to gel with the game controls lol, but I'll keep at it as I'm loving so much about the setting of the game.

I'm sure once it clicks it'll be great. I just hope it does click. Any guidance for n00bs who struggle with complex controls would be greatly appreciated (I tend to prefer just using a couple of buttons, so this is waaay more technical than I'm used to).

*Edit* Technical is working far better for me so far :D

I'm definitely getting a 3ds, if only for fire emblem. Not anytime soon though, maybe after the new 3ds releases and region free is here. There's also monster hunter and I've always wanted to try out the ace attorney series. A new metroid would be nice too. Hopefully you get more games that interests you on the 3ds later.

@MikeRox

Is there any point in making a new3DS more powerful than the vita? The extra power is for the sake of one game so far. In fact, is there any point in making any handheld more powerful than the vita? The west is a lost market for handhelds and Japanese developers don't bother to use even a third of the vita's capabilities. I think the question should not be whether sony decides to make a vita sucessor but whether it's even needed.

Isn't it counted as a single sku under vita? Maybe you can see their distribution in the next NPD? October NPD is not here yet I think.