Very nice. Reading your second paragraph is like seeing my own jumbled thoughts put into words =)
I also have Terraria on Steam, and as much as I love the concept, I never play it.
If it was on Vita, and had a similar online capabilities, I would snatch it up in no time.
I think the main reason people say "Vita has no games" is because most of us are "just" playing ports and indies at the moment. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but if we start seeing more original, fully-fledged titles like Gravity Rush and Soul Sacrifice, we can surely expect to kiss this unfortunate meme goodbye.
Thanks! Unfortunately, I was writing it on my kindle Fire, and the auto-correct had a field day with some of that stuff.
My thoughts on the ports are "better a port than nothing at all." Many of the games that are ports I've never played, like Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath, and Persona 4.
Some of the non-ports tends to get dismissed as "less than" a console game. While, technically, that may be true, I think games like Uncharted: Golden Abyss, Unit 13, Assassin's Creed 3: Liberation, etc, are being sold way, way short by a lot of gamers on gaf. There's this stigma that's been around since the early days of handheld gaming that portables are always inferior versions of console games. PlayStation All Stars is pretty much a perfect port, and I play it 99.9% of the time on my Vita. I prefer the Vita version, actually.
The PSP didn't help matters, with its lack of a second analog stick, making the claim of "console experience on the go," a dubious one at best. The Vita, however, is a superbly designed piece of hardware, and playing games like Uncharted, Unit 13, and even Monster Hunter PSP, feel great, being able to use that second stick to control the camera and aiming/shooting like you would on the console.
Sure, Assassin's Creed Lib is a spin off, but it
feels (and looks) like Assassin's Creed. I don't have to hold my controller in a weird position just to play the game properly (no CLAW needed).
The thing I love the most about the system is its versatility. It can have "real" console experiences, and it can have bite sized games as well.
I welcome ports and new experiences. Anyone doubting that we'll be seeing new IPs on the Vita are ignoring the rather impressive library of original content seen on the PSP. Not all of those games were released year one. It takes time for a console/handheld to build up a sizable, varied library. The Vita is still just getting started, but it's year one already boasted 100 games covering various genres (and not including PSP and PS1 titles; these are Vita specific games, apps too, I believe).
Year 2 has some great stuff coming as well. Patience is a virtue that it seems gamer's lack. I have so much on my plate already. I don't want new games just to add to my backlog. I'm actually trying to work my way through games first, before buying new ones (I'm still not too good at that, actually. I just bought Sly: TiT when it was on sale on Amazon, but I'm still playing through Ni No Kuni).
