Japanese Niche Games Deals & Discussion Thread 4.0

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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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elessar123 said:
Edit: Googling mostly confirms it? People are complaing about VC4's bad hit detection compared to VC1's.
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I've heard that before too and am not sure what people are complaining about. Unless they are raging when they shoot a sniper round too close to a fence and it gets lost to an invisible wall. I mean it's not a fps so people complaining about hit detection sound like they just wish it was one.

In vc4 scouts are squishy, often frustrated by grenadier interception fire, and have relatively bad weapons for most of the game. Their AP advantage is no longer as large due to a shocktrooper buff. Scouts still can be OP but mainly through an abuse of one of three things: Defense^ orders, direct command + double movement potential, and a certain minor-spoiler weapon gained at the end of the valkyria dlc.

 
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Nothing- said:
My primary concern is Sega not doing so hot down the line, and it affecting Atlus' business.
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I wouldn't worry too much. Sega's diversification as a publisher seems to be paying off for them. They don't have the same level of "hype" as a lot of other big-name releases. But their sales for their various franchises seem to be steadily increasing, not decreasing. And the fact that they haven't been spending as big on marketing also means that they don't have as much to recoup. There's also the fact that they very frequently publish Japan-focused games, often when those games have already made a sizable number of sales in their home country. Going with a more slow-burn approach to western releases may be the better option in the long-run. Series like Yakuza may not be marketing juggernauts in the west, but the fanbase for the series has been steadily growing. And they have been consistently giving those titles localized releases.

For now, things seem to be fairly solid in the Hedgehog House.

 
gospelman said:
I've heard that before too and am not sure what people are complaining about. Unless they are raging when they shoot a sniper round too close to a fence and it gets lost to an invisible wall. I mean it's not a fps so people complaining about hit detection sound like they just wish it was one.
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Yea, it's more like the X-COM style of missing, to a far lesser extent. It makes sense for the genre. I can't recall a single SRPG that had all hits be 100% hit rate.

 
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I think because of the way it plays like a hybrid, people have expectations that maybe aren't in line with the actual gameplay and systems. I agree that many times it looks like your shots really should be hitting, but this is an RPG; one needs to remember that each shot is essentially a dice roll, and your perfectly aimed headshot doesn't guarantee anything. 

 
superxgaga said:
I absolutely hate the fact whole VC franchise revolves around the scout capture flag mechanic (especially late game invincible scouts). But hey, how else would a tiny country like Galia win over the imperials lol?
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Through knowledge of the terrain/home field advantage, access to supplies vs the enemy needing supply routes and of course having special technology. It's feasible they could win against a large powerful enemy. The writers just suck at doing their jobs.

There's also allying with other countries as another option but those usually come with large costs.

 
elessar123 said:
I always thought scouts being OP past a certain level was a bug. So if you want to play by exploiting it and saying it's bad, then that's partially on you.

I don't remember any issues with hit detection though?

Edit: Googling mostly confirms it? People are complaing about VC4's bad hit detection compared to VC1's.
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Scouts being over powered wasn't a bug and I have no idea how you would leap to such an unfounded conclusion. Three scouts came with rng abilities that gave them another free turn at the end of their turn irrc. This coupled with orders allowed them to charge through maps with little to no issue and reach the flag in the first game. It was poor balancing plain as day. After a certain point your machine gunners can take out tanks making the lancers a useless class when their niche against tanks was already the only thing they were supposed to be good for.

Zaku77 said:
I think because of the way it plays like a hybrid, people have expectations that maybe aren't in line with the actual gameplay and systems. I agree that many times it looks like your shots really should be hitting, but this is an RPG; one needs to remember that each shot is essentially a dice roll, and your perfectly aimed headshot doesn't guarantee anything.
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While I agree there are times where enemies just drop to the ground but I have prettymuch never seen the reverse happen. It also kills suspension of disbelief and becomes meme worthy when enemies can be shot with a gun to the back of their heads and still dodge. As a hybrid it does everything wrong mixing parts that don't go together and come off as idiotic.

My secondary issue besides dodging and invisible hit boxes on railings walls ect blocking shots would be the weird physics the games use. I can throw a grenade as an example and it will bounce under the tank. Or the death tank maps where you use lancers and such to try and knock the rocks down and a rocket launcher will miss.

gospelman said:
I've heard that before too and am not sure what people are complaining about. Unless they are raging when they shoot a sniper round too close to a fence and it gets lost to an invisible wall. I mean it's not a fps so people complaining about hit detection sound like they just wish it was one.

In vc4 scouts are squishy, often frustrated by grenadier interception fire, and have relatively bad weapons for most of the game. Their AP advantage is no longer as large due to a shocktrooper buff. Scouts still can be OP but mainly through an abuse of one of three things: Defense^ orders, direct command + double movement potential, and a certain minor-spoiler weapon gained at the end of the valkyria dlc.
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Already mentioned above but yeah the weird hit boxes where I can shoot an enemy on a bridge and the railing on the bridge I am standing ons invisible hit boxes block the shot from me despite my gun being above it. But when the enemy fires back at me all the bullets land. Its inconsistent shit like that which is the issue.

 
Some things that could help te vc franchise would be a stats window like in fire emblem and other rpgs when you are attacking an enemy.  To show how much damage, hit rate ect.  Second would be showing your movement radius.  Another thing found in most srpgs.  Last would be enemy radius highlighting options for their movement, attack range and maybe show their sight lines so you can use stealth if you choose to.

 
Only major issue I had with VC4 was that they kept the ranking based on turns passed. It was a poor choice in the first game and seeing that by the 4th it was still the same was a real disappointment.

Besides that, nothing really impacted my enjoyment of the game

 
for someone who hates the game/series so much, you sure seem to have played a lot of it..

I enjoy the series in general, not that it doesn't have its faults, but I found it to be an enjoyable experience.  Thankfully, so do many others.

 
shadowysea07 said:
Scouts being over powered wasn't a bug and I have no idea how you would leap to such an unfounded conclusion. Three scouts came with rng abilities that gave them another free turn at the end of their turn irrc. This coupled with orders allowed them to charge through maps with little to no issue and reach the flag in the first game. It was poor balancing plain as day. After a certain point your machine gunners can take out tanks making the lancers a useless class when their niche against tanks was already the only thing they were supposed to be good for.
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I was refering to their grenade damage. They're scouts; they're supposed to excel at movement. Not do insane damage.

 
DarthPwner said:
NISA Store Preorder Trails of Cold Steel III: Thor's Academy Edition
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fuck you NISA. You translate terribly, can't fix damn near any bugs and can't port to the PC worth a damn. I hope you rot in the deepest reaches of hell. I had some extremely annoying life shit happen yesterday and now this bullshit.

I wonder if Brittany was hired by NISA. That would soften the blow of the translation at the very least. Seems like Sean is still voicing Rean, which he was one who had previous said he wouldn't work with NISA if they got the Trails series. I wonder what happened.

Amazing that they misspelled the hashtag on the announcement tweet. They're off to a good start already.

EDIT: They deleted the tweet and posted a new one with the correct hashtag.

 
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Draekon said:
fuck you NISA. You translate terribly, can't fix damn near any bugs and can't port to the PC worth a damn. I hope you rot in the deepest reaches of hell. I had some extremely annoying life shit happen yesterday and now this bullshit.

I wonder if Brittany was hired by NISA. That would soften the blow of the translation at the very least. Seems like Sean is still voicing Rean, which he was one who had previous said he wouldn't work with NISA if they got the Trails series. I wonder what happened.
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I have no idea where this guy found the quote and whether it would include Brittany, but:

https://twitter.com/CStrife27/status/1085906330345385986

A comment of some kind from XSeed or Sean would be much appreciated.

 
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Vigilante said:
I have no idea where this guy found the quote and whether it would include Brittany, but:

A comment of some kind from XSeed or Sean would be much appreciated.
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I think there's a panel or something tomorrow that I believe will address this.

Chavez who just recently said she was returning to translating and was the original translator for the Trails series before Brittany started working on the Trails series. I don't mind that person either, but Chavez era quality I feel is slightly less than what it was once Brittany became lead editor for the series. Regardless, both are better than any other at NISA as I believe they'd actually put forth an effort as well as keep up with the consistency between the games.

So I guess I hope Chavez is translating and or Brittany is are editing. Then all that's left is to pray that NISA doesn't introduce bugs and they don't fuck up the inevitable PC port and hire Durante to do it. That is the only way to soothe my anger at this announcement. Even then I'm still angry because it really sucks to see XSeed lose another series they've build up a fan base for only for them to get them stolen from them after they've busted their asses working on the series.

EDIT: Signs currently pointing that Varion is translating and Jessica Chavez is editing. It wouldn't be a bad combo. For some reason I thought Chavez was a translator rather than an editor.

 
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Draekon said:
I think there's a panel or something tomorrow that I believe will address this.

Chavez who just recently said she was returning to translating and was the original translator for the Trails series before Brittany started working on the Trails series. I don't mind that person either, but Chavez era quality I feel is slightly less than what it was once Brittany became lead editor for the series. Regardless, both are better than any other at NISA as I believe they'd actually put forth an effort as well as keep up with the consistency between the games.

So I guess I hope Chavez is translating and Brittany is editing? Then all that's left is to pray that NISA doesn't introduce bugs and they don't fuck up the inevitable PC port and hire Durante to do it. That is the only way to soothe my anger at this announcement. Even then I'm still angry because it really sucks to see XSeed lose series they've build up a fan base for only for them to get them stolen from them after they've busted their asses working on the series.
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That quote came from RPG Site: https://www.rpgsite.net/news/8185-nis-america-announces-the-legend-of-heroes-trails-of-cold-steel-iii-to-release-in-north-america-and-europe-in-fall-2019-for-playstation-4

We recently had the opportunity to visit NIS America's offices in LA, where we got the chance to get a look at some of their upcoming games - including a brief teaser for Trails of Cold Steel III. While more information regarding the localization will be revealed during the company's PAX South panel on Friday, we were told that players should expect news regarding who will be helming the title's translation, with an emphasis on NISA bringing aboard talent that already has experience with the series, to "help contextualize, translate and localize the title".
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I'm now cautiously optimistic.
 
I guess I should get this off my chest to help relieve a little stress. Been trying to decide when to mention it even though I decided this a month ago but didn't want to bring it up around Christmas or New Years.

Anyways, I won't be returning to posting weekly releases or Tuesday releases. I won't go into specific detail, but I was in very bad shape in November and I think the biggest contributing factor was the stress of everything I have to deal with. I've recovered since then, but it was seriously bad to the point where I was almost completely incapacitated from the pain and lack of appetite. As a result I'm lightening my load as much as possible. So always make sure to take care of your mind and body because the force your mind can exert on your body is absolutely ridiculous as I've seen first hand.

Like I've mentioned before I'll still read and post here but since I'm not doing the weekly posts. I typically don't say a whole lot to begin with as I've grown tired of drama on the internet over the decades I've been using it and thus tend to try and avoid it. So I'll still be here, but less frequent and will try to reply if someone says my name. Though you can always PM me here or contact me through Steam. PS4 is also possible as well and uses the same ID as the forum here, but I mostly use it for Netflix/Amazon Video and don't always resign-in when the PSN messaging app logs me out.

 
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Draekon said:
I guess I should get this off my chest to help relieve a little stress. Been trying to decide when to mention it even though I decided this a month ago but didn't want to bring it up around Christmas or New Years.

Anyways, I won't be returning to posting weekly releases or Tuesday releases. I won't go into specific detail, but I was in very bad shape in November and I think the biggest contributing factor was the stress of everything I have to deal with. I've recovered since then, but it was seriously bad to the point where I was almost completely incapacitated from the pain and lack of appetite. As a result I'm lightening my load as much as possible. So always make sure to take care of your mind and body because the force your mind can exert on your body is absolutely ridiculous as I've seen first hand.

Like I've mentioned before I'll still read and post here but since I'm not doing the weekly posts. I typically don't say a whole lot to begin with as I've grown tired of drama on the internet over the decades I've been using it and thus tend to try and avoid it. So I'll still be here, but less frequent and will try to reply if someone says my name. Though you can always PM me here or contact me through Steam. PS4 is also possible as well and uses the same ID as the forum here, but I mostly use it for Netflix/Amazon Video and don't always resign-in when the PSN messaging app logs me out.
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Sorry to hear things have been rough. Take good care of yourself.

 
Be good Draekon.

Put a preorder in for ToCS since I managed to accumulate $20 of points and don't see myself ordering much more from them in the future.  Surprised I had this much since I only buy one or two things a year.

 
Draekon said:
fuck you NISA. You translate terribly, can't fix damn near any bugs
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Pretty much my biggest gripe. I didn't realize til recently how many games I've played of theirs where there's some major game breaking bug that they refused to patch. It's one reason I never bought Witch and the Hundred Knights 2 or the remaster. Fix your original shit before you release more.

Along with XSEED Aksys doing so much otome, and Atlus being bought by Sega, my enthusiasm for the niche Japanese game companies died down a lot.

 
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elessar123 said:
Pretty much my biggest gripe. I didn't realize til recently how many games I've played of theirs where there's some major game breaking bug that they refused to patch. It's one reason I never bought Witch and the Hundred Knights 2 or the remaster. Fix your original shit before you release more.

Along with XSEED doing so much otome, and Atlus being bought by Sega, my enthusiasm for the niche Japanese game companies died down a lot.
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What’s wrong with SEGA? From what I’ve been able to tell, they’ve been more hands off with Atlus than Index ever was, and have been more encouraging of Atlus to take their time and do niche stuff, too. Not to mention they’ve got their own niche stuff that’s generally pretty highly considered. I mean, yeah, Sonic continues to be a train wreck despite upswings like Sonic Mania, but you just kinda expect that.
 
elessar123 said:
Pretty much my biggest gripe. I didn't realize til recently how many games I've played of theirs where there's some major game breaking bug that they refused to patch. It's one reason I never bought Witch and the Hundred Knights 2 or the remaster. Fix your original shit before you release more.

Along with XSEED doing so much otome, and Atlus being bought by Sega, my enthusiasm for the niche Japanese game companies died down a lot.
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Do you mean Aksys Games? The only otome game Xseed did recently was London Detective Mysteria.

 
Souffrir said:
What’s wrong with SEGA? From what I’ve been able to tell, they’ve been more hands off with Atlus than Index ever was, and have been more encouraging of Atlus to take their time and do niche stuff, too. Not to mention they’ve got their own niche stuff that’s generally pretty highly considered. I mean, yeah, Sonic continues to be a train wreck despite upswings like Sonic Mania, but you just kinda expect that.
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Nothing in regards to the main first party Atlus titles like SMT and EO, but there's a lot less outside of those nowadays.

Vigilante said:
Do you mean Aksys Games? The only otome game Xseed did recently was London Detective Mysteria.
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Oops, yes.

 
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Just look at Atlus's 5 year period from 2008-2013, and 2013-2018. In the Sega period, there's literally only 1 game that isn't a remaster/SMT/EO, and it's Tokyo Mirage. The period before that? About 20.

 
Draekon said:
I guess I should get this off my chest to help relieve a little stress. Been trying to decide when to mention it even though I decided this a month ago but didn't want to bring it up around Christmas or New Years.

Anyways, I won't be returning to posting weekly releases or Tuesday releases. I won't go into specific detail, but I was in very bad shape in November and I think the biggest contributing factor was the stress of everything I have to deal with. I've recovered since then, but it was seriously bad to the point where I was almost completely incapacitated from the pain and lack of appetite. As a result I'm lightening my load as much as possible. So always make sure to take care of your mind and body because the force your mind can exert on your body is absolutely ridiculous as I've seen first hand.

Like I've mentioned before I'll still read and post here but since I'm not doing the weekly posts. I typically don't say a whole lot to begin with as I've grown tired of drama on the internet over the decades I've been using it and thus tend to try and avoid it. So I'll still be here, but less frequent and will try to reply if someone says my name. Though you can always PM me here or contact me through Steam. PS4 is also possible as well and uses the same ID as the forum here, but I mostly use it for Netflix/Amazon Video and don't always resign-in when the PSN messaging app logs me out.
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I'm glad you recovered, and hope you stay that way :) I've always like reading your posts, especially the review ones. So it is good to know you will still somewhat be around on CAG. Just take it easy, and stay healthy.

I know you mentioned you don't play on PS4 much, but I'd always be down to play something with you if you ever want :)

 
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elessar123 said:
Just look at Atlus's 5 year period from 2008-2013, and 2013-2018. In the Sega period, there's literally only 1 game that isn't a remaster/SMT/EO, and it's Tokyo Mirage. The period before that? About 20.
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Even tokyo mirage was advertised as smt x fire emblem early on.
 
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The companies you believe to be niche Japanese developers were bought out by larger companies in the early 2010s for their popular IP. They were just nice enough to keep on the original staff.

 
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Draekon said:
. Then all that's left is to pray that NISA doesn't introduce bugs and they don't fuck up the inevitable PC port and hire Durante to do it.
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Wait wtf what has Durante done recently? Has he done some terrible work recently or what? from what I member this dude is known to fix spotty ports of many games and done awesome work with the amount he tries to fix

 
itzd4n said:
for someone who hates the game/series so much, you sure seem to have played a lot of it..

I enjoy the series in general, not that it doesn't have its faults, but I found it to be an enjoyable experience. Thankfully, so do many others.
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Its a catch 22 as people complain if you don't give games A fair chance.

 
lakers714 said:
Wait wtf what has Durante done recently? Has he done some terrible work recently or what? from what I member this dude is known to fix spotty ports of many games and done awesome work with the amount he tries to fix
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Nearly positive that was just poor phrasing/grammar. Like, "I hope that they don't mess the PC port up; and I hope that they hire Durante, as he did the prior two amazingly well--to make sure that it's done properly."

 
I'm just looking forward to the Trails of Cold Steel PS4 release next month.  Going to pick it up on release week.  I love the steelbooks too.  :hot: 

 
lakers714 said:
Wait wtf what has Durante done recently? Has he done some terrible work recently or what? from what I member this dude is known to fix spotty ports of many games and done awesome work with the amount he tries to fix
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Nothing wrong with Durante, but he's not a wizard. If the port is fucked to begin with there's only so much he can do. Good example is YS8. The port was so bad originally that itd need months of work to fix. Durante did what he could to fix it but he was getting paid to work on other titles and probably didn't have the time to put in the work needed to fix it.

Another good example of this is Little Kings Story. That was fixed to some extent by durante and its still buggy. A port should be halfway decent to begin with before getting released, or shit like that can happen
 
Say what you want, I think that the RPG and JRPG landscape has been much healthier and higher quality than it was last gen.  (PS3/360, and even PC).

 
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Zaku77 said:
Nearly positive that was just poor phrasing/grammar. Like, "I hope that they don't mess the PC port up; and I hope that they hire Durante, as he did the prior two amazingly well--to make sure that it's done properly."
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Ohh I guess I read it wrong whoops

spoderman said:
Nothing wrong with Durante, but he's not a wizard. If the port is fucked to begin with there's only so much he can do. Good example is YS8. The port was so bad originally that itd need months of work to fix. Durante did what he could to fix it but he was getting paid to work on other titles and probably didn't have the time to put in the work needed to fix it.

Another good example of this is Little Kings Story. That was fixed to some extent by durante and its still buggy. A port should be halfway decent to begin with before getting released, or shit like that can happen
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Yeah those 2 games have been known for their ports not being good

 
Dead_Batteries said:
Off-topic, but is anybody going to the Fate Grand Tour in LA? I just bought my ticket and the movie is supposed to premiere on the 23rd.

https://fate-go.us/tour2019/
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Tempted to, but the drive down to LA is such a drag lol. Guess I'm gonna have to pass :/ I'll just go to the normal release for the movie on the following month.

The Dead Texan said:
$45? For what? Are they at least giving you an SSR for attending this?
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Looks like panels and stuff, and access to their exclusive merchandise booth.

Also, is it bad that I'm only interested in this because of the exclusive goods? I've pretty much grown out of attending panels, I honestly don't care about them anymore. But hard to find goods though..... =P~

 
Not super excited for NISA and TOCS3. I trust them about as much as I trust Sekai Project, which is not at all, but I buy the games because I like the games. Both have been translating horribly lately.

I'll give them the benefit of the doubt till I get it, but yeah, I'm going to be seeing a decent bit of NISA this year with this, Caligula Effect whatever (Vita version was OK but man that battle system was slow as molasses and the getting to know a bunch of nameless students....fun) and The Princess Guide, which I've been wanting for a while. It's a love/hate relationship for sure with both of these companies. Please prove me wrong sometimes?

 
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nitrosmob said:
Not super excited for NISA and TOCS3. I trust them about as much as I trust Sekai Project, which is not at all, but I buy the games because I like the games. Both have been translating horribly lately.

I'll give them the benefit of the doubt till I get it, but yeah, I'm going to be seeing a decent bit of NISA this year with this, Caligula Effect whatever (Vita version was OK but man that battle system was slow as molasses and the getting to know a bunch of nameless students....fun) and The Princess Guide, which I've been wanting for a while. It's a love/hate relationship for sure with both of these companies. Please prove me wrong sometimes?
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Is the new version of Caligula Effect that improved? Given what you say about it, doesn't sound like a game you'd buy again.

I'll be seeing quite a bit of NISA this year as well. Just got Disgaea 1 Complete, definitely getting ToCS3 and probably The Princess Guide, and will consider Caligula/RPG Maker MV/Lapis x Labyrinth.

 
lakers714 said:
Ohh I guess I read it wrong whoops
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Yeah, I typed that pretty quick plus I wasn't in a particularly good mood as this is almost the worst outcome I wanted for the series. It was meant to say that that NISA's PC port would be shit and they should include Durante from the get go. Everything concerning NISA PC ports have been worse than Koei Tecmo which takes skill or rather complete lack thereof.

I guess I'll end up playing Zero with the finished fan translation as I assume they'll be done editing before this releases and then play the minimal edited version of Azure. It really sucks we didn't get them before Cold Steel III.

 
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