I recently bought a Vita on a whim, because there was a great Ebay deal. I didn't put a lot of thought into it, so I really don't know what games are out there that I should buy. A little info on what I like:

• I enjoy RPGs of both the Western and Japanese persuasion.
• I like a good strategy game, including the FF Tactics/Fire Emblem style and also a more Civ-like experience
• Adventure games are generally right up my alley.
• I'll play action games, but I'd rather play them on a TV or PC monitor

I know I'm going to get Persona 4 Golden, but apart from that I have no ideas. Any recommendations?

Edit: spelling typo

Danganronpa 1 & 2 are really good adventure games with the story being the highlight instead of the gameplay.

If you don't mind the grind Disgaea 3 & 4 are good turn based strategy games with a silly storyline.

This! Muramasa, Persona 3 Portable, Virtues Last Reward, Valkyria Chronicles 2 and Trails in the Sky are some of my favourites on the system too. You can also play Final Fantasy 1 through 10-2 on it.

Really looking forward to the Odin Sphere remake next year as well.

While not really an RPG i'd recommend Dragons Crown, it's a good addictive D&D inspired brawler with some leveling and loot mechanics. You could also play Persona 3 if you missed it on the PS2 and PSP. Broken Age is also coming to PS+ this month, i've only played part one on PC but it seemed alright.

It's a more of a monster-hunter knock off, but I had a really good time playing Freedom Wars. Everyone should play Tearaway. Dragon's Crown works really well specifically as a Vita game (or a PS3 game if you have people on the couch). The Disgaea games mentioned are also a good time on the platform if you've never checked them out. Doki-Doki Universe is a strange, adorable and just straight fun adventure game.
This is also a great console to play little indie games like Steamworld Dig, Spelunky, Binding of Isaac, ect.

Also there are some great PSP RPGs available for the Vita as well like Jeanne D'Arc that you shouldn't pass up.

I also just bought a Vita, so I appreciate the tips. I'm curious about Valkyria Chronicles 2, can you play that without having played the first one? I mean, will the story make sense? Same question for VLR, by the way, will you miss much without having played 999?

So far my free PSN games have been paying off big time, if all I ever use my Vita for is Spelunky, Luftrausers, OlliOlli 2, Pix the Cat, Velocity 2X and Geometry Wars 3, it'll have been well worth the money.

Vita (and PSP) are big Hunter platforms: If you have never played any, I would recommend you get one and try it out! Personally, I have tried Soul Sacrifice and Freedom Wars. Of the two, I liked Freedom Wars better because the action and the systems in place were easier to get. SS has all this stuff about harvesting magic from bad guys. I'm sure it's great, but I didn't put enough time in to really get it. If you decide to get into Hunters, make sure to get the most recent version. They often seem to come out with GOTY versions of the games that include a bunch of DLC.

My favorite Hunter games playable on Vita are Monster Hunter Freedom Unite and Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. They're both PSP games, but they play great and are super addicting. Mapping the second joystick to camera controls also makes both games infinitely more enjoyable than they probably were on PSP.

Otherwise if you like the Nippon Ichi style of strategy RPG, you can get all the Disgaea 3-4 on Vita and 1-2 on PSP. I just started 3 recently. The story isn't great but the gameplay is still as good as it's ever been.

Y: Memories of Celceta is my favorite exclusive Vita RPG. The story is nothing special, but it's a super solid action RPG. You get to play as mutliple characters, everyone has different skills, there's crafting... lots of stuff to do, and zero performance issues.

Uncharted, Gravity Rush, and Killzone are all great and give you an idea of what the Vita could have been if anyone cared.

For VC 2: Playing VC 1 isn't required, the story is set a few years afterwards with different characters, and they recap the first game at the beginning if I remember rightly. But you'd be doing yourself a disservice not playing VC 1 first, as it's easily one of the best games of last gen (plus VC 2 spoils a couple of plot points). In comparison VC 2's story is weaker, it's characters are awful, but the gameplay (while the maps are smaller) is still very fun. You get a bit more customization for your squad in comparison to the first game, upgrades are handled pretty poorly though (stupid random rewards...). Think you might need a PS3 to transfer it to the Vita though? Unless they changed that since I bought mine.

For VLR: I played it before 999, and I think it's perfectly enjoyable if you're planning on doing so. Be warned however, it does spoil 999 (since they explain a lot of the events during VLR, so you're not left out in the cold if you've not played it) and a couple of moments in VLR would likely have more impact if you'd played 999 first. But if you've not got the option of playing 999, then I'd say just play VLR.

Edit: If you're from the EU, the EU version of VLR doesn't have the English dub (which I quite liked). Since the US version is region free, just pick that one up if you want the English dub.

I pretty much use my Vita for Spelunky, Binding of Isaac, Rogue Legacy and Luftrausers. The rogue-likes fit well on a portable console, and I enjoy playing a run or two before bed.

If you don't care for indie games then Killzone, Dragon's Crown, and Tearaway are also worth checking out

Virtues last reward, danganronpa 1 & 2 (skip another episode), steins gate, and once you are done golden get dancing all night.

Gravity Rush

Muramasa: Rebirth is my favorite game on that system. Plays well on a handheld and looks super sharp.

And Spelunky. I've played so much Spelunky...

@riostarwind:Thanks for the suggestions! I was thinking about the Danganronpa games. I remember Patrick really liked the first one a lot.

I don't know much about the Disgaea games. A good strategy game with humor sounds awesome! Should I play Disgaea 3 first, or can I just jump into 4? Are they connected by narrative?

@dtat: Sure Disgaea 4 is a good place to start. The narrative isn't connected in any way other than a bunch of references to other games. Plus even though I introduced it as a RPG with a lot of grinding if the humorous story is all you want to see the main campaign can be beaten without grinding at all with the right tactics. But once it gets its hooks in you it might not let you go for a while.

Sadly there have barely been any strategy games released for it despite it seemingly being perfect for that genre. There is one Advance Wars/Battle Isle style PSP game available on PSN for it though - Tom Clancy's Endwar (not at all the same game as the console game of the same name). It's kinda rad.

If you can somehow figure out how to retroactively buy Playstation Mobile games now that the service is down you should buy Ten by Eight.

Otherwise the usual indie suspects. It's a good indie game machine but having said that I haven't turned mine on in months.

Oh also EDF2 portable if you're into EDF

EDF2 is coming out pretty soon. Thats gonna be dope.

Also PS1 games. If you never played Suikoden 2 I highly recommend that classic.

TL;DR: My three favorite Vita games are Persona 4 Golden, Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, and Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward.

• The Best Game on the System: Persona 4 Golden (I also strongly recommend Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 Portable)
• The Other Best Games (That Also Have Great Stories): Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward (And Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair if you like the first game). I think visual novels work great for the Vita since you can press the power button and go into low power mode. So you can leave your Vita on, come back, and play right where you left off. This is also great for RPGs like Persona. That aside, Danganronpa and Virtue's Last Reward both have incredible stories.
  • Danganronpa's strengths include the class trials, plot twists, and characters. It also has a very well put together and unique styyyyyyle and feel.
  • Virtue's Last Reward's strengths include its characters and it's crazy ass story that uses the visual novel format to help tell it's story. (Like I played the game for about 5 hours straight when all of the pieces started falling into place and finished the game at 4:00 AM. It feels like VLR hasn't received the same amount of love as Danganronpa, but it is just as good)

• Games That Are Just Fun to Play: Rayman Origins, Super Stardust Delta, Hotline Miami, Guacamelee!, The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth, Luftrausers
• What About Other Exclusive Games: Gravity Rush, Sound Shapes, Tearaway
• Uh, Would You Be Interested in Playing a Hatsune Miku Game?! (Cause....I actually....like those games....): Persona 4: Dancing All Night, Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA F 2nd

Other Random Thoughts:

• Some games don't run that well. There is a port of The Walking Dead on the Vita. While it does work, it is not the ideal way to play this game. Those games always had technical issues, so imagine those issues applied to a less powerful platform. What's the best way to determine what plays well and what doesn't? Generally speaking the size and scope of the game. These are weird comparisons I know, but as an example: Proteus runs better than Killzone Mercenaries / Virtue's Last Reward runs better than The Walking Dead / and why would you want to play Borderlands 2 on this thing anyways?
• What about the big console like exclusive games? This is kind of an interesting situation, at least from my perspective. You see, there are plenty of exclusive games on the Vita. However, a lot of these were chasing the "console experience on a handheld". This philosophy lead to an amazingly designed handheld, with games that are best played elsewhere. I played a little bit of both the Uncharted and Killzone games that came out on the Vita, and they didn't feel right. And these were considered by people to be the better games, especially when you compare them to say Call of Duty and Borderlands 2. So the better/best exclusives to me are Gravity Rush, Sounds Shapes, and Tearaway. (Aside from all that, wouldn't you just rather play Uncharted 2 than Golden Abyss?) However, they aren't the absolute best games on the platform. They're still good, but with the Vita it's not like how most the best 3DS games are made by Nintendo.
• To me the Vita's success lies in with it being a well designed handheld, with some added bonuses (like lower power mode, being able to play PSP/PS1 games, etc.) that make it a great platform. Sometimes Sony hits upon this, sometimes they didn't. That's why the shining light comes in from third parties and indies. I would have never played The Binding of Isaac or Thomas Was Alone without a Vita, but that's not exactly why you would buy a Vita, right? However, it's just a great platform for certain types of games, like RPGs (Persona), visual novels, (Danganronpa), platformers (Rayman), twin stick shooters (The Binding of Isaac), and some action games (Guacamelee). For other games, like character action games (Ninja Gaiden Sigma Plus) and first person shooters (Killzone Mercenaries)...eh, not so much.

@clagnaught: Lots of great info. Thank you! I'm pretty sold now on the Danganronpa games haha. You have all convinced me.

First thing's first, buy PS+. I assume you haven't been investing which sucks, but right now Super Meat Boy is free.

I bought Dancing All Night for 80 bucks and that has been worth it so far.

I bought mine to play Persona 4 Golden, and then downloaded FF1 - X-2 and haven't played anything else since.So much FF.