Japanese Niche Games Deals & Discussion Thread 4.0

shivan128

shivan128

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Welcome to the Japanese niche games deals and discussion thread!  Feel free to talk about local and import Japanese games here.  Our goal is to maintain a thread dedicated to active deals on niche games including RPGs, Visual Novels (VN), Shoot'em ups (Shmups), Musou, etc.  Also maintained are pre-orders for standard, limited and collector's edition games with key release dates provided.

I've wikified the thread to make it more friendly and open to others that can actively update with important information. You can find the wiki post directly below this one.

NOTE:  Please, leave the censorship discussion away from this thread.  It's common for japanese games to have questionable content outside of the country.  We want to keep discussions to the game itself and not about cultural/societal tolerance.

A message from Thorbahn:

Our CAG Japanese Niche Games Thread also has a community on PS4, where you can interact and game with other members of the thread.

Our moderators are: Draekon, Las_Hole, and Waffleswanton

You can basically friend any of our members, or any moderator, and you will be able to request to join the community under "Communities friends are in" tab, and a mod will approve your request.

You can also leave your PSN ID in the thread, saying you want to join, and we can invite you directly as well.

As always, have fun and enjoy your stay!

 
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Ar no Surge was somewhat boring for me (played most of it on the PS3), but I would love to get and play them both since Ciel supposedly has a lot of back story for Ar. Was just a bit underwhelming. Honestly after Ar Tornelico 2 I didn't care much for the series games afterwards (the PS3 sequel as well as Ar no Surge, which I believe was in the same universe since it had the diving mechanic).

 
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So did that Ryza Switch restock ever happen on Amazon yet aside from the few 3 minute ones? DeepDiscount just shipped my order so something is happening. I'd hate to pay them $55 if it inevitably sits on Amazon for a while at $39.99.

 
super1upqueen said:
the combination of booming military anthems and haunting, harpsichord-heavy tracks Uematsu composed fit the game perfectly. Everyone always remembers "Liberi Fatali", but I think "The Landing" is the true theme song of this game.
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This is spot on. I've probably done an unfair recall over the years on VIII's soundtrack since my first & immediate association for each game is the world map bgm. I have and still do find VIII's annoying (but distinctive at least) and an anthem for moving an extremely slow, bloated "airship." Love the tracks you linked though. I've enjoyed the nerd essays on the previous page and have actually always thought
someone should probably be dead after taking a massive shard of ice through the chest.

Since I'm not alone in my love for haunting harpsichord tracks, I'm dropping my favorite below from Ao no Kiseki. Which, incidentally, is probably my single favorite game - a conclusion I've arrived at after recently finishing my third playthough.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1x4gqmw0xw

 
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gospelman said:
Since I'm not alone in my love for haunting harpsichord tracks, I'm dropping my favorite below from Ao no Kiseki. Which, incidentally, is probably my single favorite game - a conclusion I've arrived at after recently finishing my third playthough.
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Falcom's music department rocks my SOCKS off. I adore that company (as evidenced by one of my signatures lol). I've actually only played through the first two Trails in the Sky games so far, meaning I still have The 3rd, both Crossbell games, and all the Cold Steel games left to go, but I'm slowly working on it (don't want to get burned out). But, I've played the majority of the Ys games and those were what made me fall in love with Falcom.

Not harpsichord, but you reminded me of quite possibly my favorite piece of music in any video game, from one of my favorite games growing up (and it still holds a special place in my heart, so make with the remake, Bamco!):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgmACxDTX10

 
akgamerx said:
So did that Ryza Switch restock ever happen on Amazon yet aside from the few 3 minute ones? DeepDiscount just shipped my order so something is happening. I'd hate to pay them $55 if it inevitably sits on Amazon for a while at $39.99.
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You could always just buy it on PC like someone with a job would do.

 
super1upqueen said:
Not harpsichord, but you reminded me of quite possibly my favorite piece of music in any video game, from one of my favorite games growing up (and it still holds a special place in my heart, so make with the remake, Bamco!):
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Nice selection. I can't help wondering if there was a technically or logistical reason that they went with GU over the original quadrilogy. Perhaps they lost the source code or something?

 
Covnam said:
Nice selection. I can't help wondering if there was a technically or logistical reason that they went with GU over the original quadrilogy. Perhaps they lost the source code or something?
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It’s because the original quadrilogy looks like ass, and no amount of filters or slapdash lighting/particle effects is going to change that. For all that people say they don’t play games for the graphics, humans are visually oriented animals, and you’re going to find a larger audience with better looking trailers and screenshots. Bamco would actually have to put a little effort into modernizing the look of IMOQ, and judging by the amount of effort that went into the GU remaster, they really didn’t want to put effort into the IP.

It’s a damn shame because IMOQ is actually quite good, unlike GU.
 
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Dark_Sage said:
1. Get a job

2. Buy a PC

3. Get Ryza on Steam; no stock issues, you can even get it on sale. Digital distribution is amazing!
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For lack of any better word you sound like a complete idiot lol. You assume someone doesn't have a job, or a PC for that matter because they asked a stock question? You clearly had no answer to my question and no reason to reply to my post so I guess the first thing to come to mind is stfu and just watch your anime until you have something relevant to say. Think before you speak kind of thing.

 
Splurged and bought Pokemon XD Gale of Darkness since mercari had a 15$ off 50 coupon.70 is a lot more than I was looking to spend but I've wanted this game for a long time. Childhood dream fulfilled.
 
Souffrir said:
It’s because the original quadrilogy looks like ass, and no amount of filters or slapdash lighting/particle effects is going to change that. For all that people say they don’t play games for the graphics, humans are visually oriented animals, and you’re going to find a larger audience with better looking trailers and screenshots. Bamco would actually have to put a little effort into modernizing the look of IMOQ, and judging by the amount of effort that went into the GU remaster, they really didn’t want to put effort into the IP.

It’s a damn shame because IMOQ is actually quite good, unlike GU.
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lol, that could very well be it, but did GU look that much better with it also being on the PS2? I'd be surprised if they used a new game engine for it

 
Covnam said:
lol, that could very well be it, but did GU look that much better with it also being on the PS2? I'd be surprised if they used a new game engine for it
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IMOQ honestly didn't look very good even for when it started coming out back in 2002; by the time GU started coming out in 2006, CyberConnect2 seemed to have gotten a significantly better handle on PS2 graphics. GU's graphics weren't anything all that spectacular, but they were reasonably good by late 6th-gen standards; and they featured cel shading, which definitely helped the low-poly anime-styled models age better. All that means that with a higher resolution, some anti-aliasing, some new lighting, and a few other fairly easy to apply effects, the GU remaster at least looks decent, even with as lazy of a graphical overhaul as it received.

Unfortunately, it'd take a bit more work to get [customspoiler=this]
52002.jpg

[/customspoiler] up to reasonably saleable standards, even though honestly the design work is better. I've literally seen non-pre-rendered 3D graphics from the 4th gen that hold up better.
 
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Vigilante said:
Indivisible - All Future Updates, DLC Cancelled

That sucks.
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It was inevitable after Lab Zero fell apart. The Skullgirls IP at least is held by a different company, so the already planned update for that should still go through, but anything past that may be questionable since, from what I've heard, the guy everyone got pissed at was one of the main design forces for new characters in that game. I haven't really looked into any of that, though, so this is mostly hearsay.
 
So no more physical copy of the game for Switch? Does that mean Amazon and Best Buy and others are going to take down their listings soon? Makes the physical backer CE with a copy of the game extremely valuable.

 
I dunno gu looks drastically different than imoq. I would love an updated version of the first quad but keeping most of it's gameplay just adding in the more real time elements of gu and the combo action commands it's equipment had. Loved the arena twin blade weapons skill to dash through enemies and hit them multiple times.
 
Souffrir said:
IMOQ honestly didn't look very good even for when it started coming out back in 2002; by the time GU started coming out in 2006, CyberConnect2 seemed to have gotten a significantly better handle on PS2 graphics. GU's graphics weren't anything all that spectacular, but they were reasonably good by late 6th-gen standards; and they featured cel shading, which definitely helped the low-poly anime-styled models age better. All that means that with a higher resolution, some anti-aliasing, some new lighting, and a few other fairly easy to apply effects, the GU remaster at least looks decent, even with as lazy of a graphical overhaul as it received.
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Ah, that's quite a gap and cel shading would definitely help. All good points.

GU probably didn't sell well enough to justify it, but I guess a full remake in a new engine of the original 4 games would probably be the best option. Maybe condense the 4 games to 3 or even 2 and improve the systems like shadowysea07 suggested.

 
akgamerx said:
So no more physical copy of the game for Switch? Does that mean Amazon and Best Buy and others are going to take down their listings soon? Makes the physical backer CE with a copy of the game extremely valuable.
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As an anomaly maybe. All they did is slap a European cartridge into a case with an ESRB rating which is actually a violation of Nintendo and ESRB policies.

 
ritchardf said:
yeah, enjoy your niche japanese games on xbox :roll:
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Fairly sure this is a temporary issue. Fact is right now with the economy collapsing thanks to our moron-in-chief, people have no money for games so niche publishers are reevaluating their sales projections and opting not to print discs.
 
ritchardf said:
yeah, enjoy your niche japanese games on xbox :roll:
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Though I agree. This is the second publisher I’ve seen sick of Sony’s censoring policy and have decided to just skip the PlayStation completely and go with Xbox. That said. I hope it keeps happening to the point Sony has to reevaluate easily the dumbest thing Sony has done this generation because it’s hurting their bottom line and hopefully the publishers return.
 
Covnam said:
Ah, that's quite a gap and cel shading would definitely help. All good points.

GU probably didn't sell well enough to justify it, but I guess a full remake in a new engine of the original 4 games would probably be the best option. Maybe condense the 4 games to 3 or even 2 and improve the systems like shadowysea07 suggested.
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They wouldn’t really need to do a ground-up remake; they could do something along the lines of what Square did with FFVIII or Nintendo did with the N64 Zelda games: remake or touch up some of the important models and completely overhaul most of the textures and lighting. They could even use cel shading to bring it more in line visually with GU. It’s a bigger job than they did for GU, but it’d go a long way towards modernizing the look. Unfortunately Bamco seems to have very little interest in updating its back catalog outside of Pac-Man. It’s especially annoying since they’re sitting on several of the best RPGs from the 6th generation.
 
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VG Plus currently has a Thanksgiving sale going on with decent prices on a lot of niche games (Canadian Thanksgiving in October 12th).  Keep in mind their prices are in Canadian dollars so the US conversion is a lot cheaper.

As always, use Paypal if you want to order from them.

https://www.videogamesplus.ca/specials.php

 
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akgamerx said:
So no more physical copy of the game for Switch? Does that mean Amazon and Best Buy and others are going to take down their listings soon? Makes the physical backer CE with a copy of the game extremely valuable.
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There is talk now that a limited number of ESRB-rated copies of Indivisible will be available at select US retailers on its November release date (11/17 I think?).

 
Josef said:
There is talk now that a limited number of ESRB-rated copies of Indivisible will be available at select US retailers on its November release date (11/17 I think?).
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Yeah I just saw warios tweet about it a couple hours ago. Will be nice for the chose few that get their orders fulfilled.

That sale you posted is so tempting for a few of the titles in there.

 
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Josef said:
VG Plus currently has a Thanksgiving sale going on with decent prices on a lot of niche games (Canadian Thanksgiving in October 12th). Keep in mind their prices are in Canadian dollars so the US conversion is a lot cheaper.

As always, use Paypal if you want to order from them.

https://www.videogamesplus.ca/specials.php
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I'd be careful. I want to order, but a lot of reviews online say they don't send shipping info and then when it doesn't arrive will just ignore you. This is from multiple sites and their facebook page.

 
CheapAssDragon said:
I'd be careful. I want to order, but a lot of reviews online say they don't send shipping info and then when it doesn't arrive will just ignore you. This is from multiple sites and their facebook page.
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Obviously YMMV, but I bought from them a few weeks ago (and have bought from them several times in the past). Got tracking within 48 hours, tracking number worked all the way to my mailbox. In the US for reference. International shipping is all kinds of bonked right now, so I don't know that I'd risk an international purchase personally.

Also, feel like I've beat this dead horse a few times, but it's been speculated for years that there's a vulnerability in their site. If you pay with PayPal you should be fine, just avoid entering your CC# directly if you have other methods available.

 
CheapAssDragon said:
I'd be careful. I want to order, but a lot of reviews online say they don't send shipping info and then when it doesn't arrive will just ignore you. This is from multiple sites and their facebook page.
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While you should always be careful, I pre-ordered from them in May, it shipped on the 4th and I got it on the 7th. I didn't receive a shipping email though, so it just wound up being a surprise. I ordered once before 2 years ago and also didn't have an issue. Two orders isn't a lot to go on, but I did get what I ordered without issue.

 
CheapAssDragon said:
I'd be careful. I want to order, but a lot of reviews online say they don't send shipping info and then when it doesn't arrive will just ignore you. This is from multiple sites and their facebook page.
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I've ordered dozens and dozens of games from them in the past two years and every one has arrived quickly and as promised. The only issue I am aware of is that they have been hacked on occasion, so you should always use Paypal and not a credit card payment.

 
ritchardf said:
yeah, enjoy your niche japanese games on xbox :roll:
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This is one of the reasons I had bought a Switch again since it seems like NIN has become the home for weeb shit this generation and most likely next one too. 99% sure I'll be picking up Mary Skelter Finale on the Switch too when that is released.

 
Just got my copy of Robotics;Notes Elite & DaSH double pack. I didn't know it was coming in this larger box with a pin set, so I was pleasantly surprised. The pin set is actually really nice quality and the lid is held shut with a magnet.

IMG-3708.jpg


IMG-3709.jpg


The inside of the disc case is pretty sad, with no artwork or booklet, though.

IMG-3710.jpg


 
CheapAssDragon said:
I'd be careful. I want to order, but a lot of reviews online say they don't send shipping info and then when it doesn't arrive will just ignore you. This is from multiple sites and their facebook page.
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I've used VG Plus before, but it was before it was well known about the security vulnerabilities on the site and my CC info was indeed stolen. Thankfully when all the charges poured in at some random building supply company I got the alerts immediately (as I have text alerts for any spending on this card) and before I even called the card company they locked my card as the activity looked fraudulent. So... lesson learned. It's been probably 2 years since that happened. Haven't ordered from them since, but other than that one issue they packed the game well and it arrived without issue. So, as others have said and will continue to say about VG Plus... always pay with paypal (or if it's still a thing I think you can order by phone).

 
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