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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Upvote 4 Downvote
removing which ps3 vita titles?
there's some ps3 ps plus games i have that id like to purchase in case they get delisted or i stop using ps plus.

Got screwed by having Scott pilgrim and a few other delisted games already from ps plus and got complacent never buying them. Now I'm at the mercy of having an active plus account to play em.
 
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vic_x51 said:
removing which ps3 vita titles?
there's some ps3 ps plus games i have that id like to purchase in case they get delisted or i stop using ps plus.

Got screwed by having Scott pilgrim and a few other delisted games already from ps plus and got complacent never buying them. Now I'm at the mercy of having an active plus account to play em.
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did they removed scott pilgrim cause i paid for that one


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b3mike said:
did they removed scott pilgrim cause i paid for that one


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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It's removed, but delisting games just means they no longer show it in the store as something you can purchase. It's still listed on your account and you can still download the game via your download list.

 
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is playing pokemon soul silver for the first time.  It's amazing how slow it feels.  I am going to migrate a bunch of mons upstream soon and will take advantage of having so many gen 1/3 mons to use.

 
Is anyone else still waiting on Sword and Fairy from Play-Asia to ship? I got a tracking number, but the package hasn't been ingested yet. Since they've apparently got a shortage to the point of sending out sample copies I'm a bit worried that the package may not actually exist.

 
Just checked and that's apparently the exact situation I'm in. I'm going to email them regarding it as it was "shipped" April 4th, but shows in the tracking information that it's just prepped for shipping.
Tothoro said:
Is anyone else still waiting on Sword and Fairy from Play-Asia to ship? I got a tracking number, but the package hasn't been ingested yet. Since they've apparently got a shortage to the point of sending out sample copies I'm a bit worried that the package may not actually exist.
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Soma_Cruz said:
I saw that but it seemed like speculation. I would think they aren't removing Vita from the store at least, I mean it's still been getting new releases in 2019.

I really liked Tokyo Xanadu, so long as the PC version is solid(I played on PS4) I'd recommend it.
And it looks like everything from Falcom is on sale on GOG right now.

edit: not just Falcom https://www.gog.com/promo/20190410_midweek_sale
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Good sale. Caligula Effect already at 25% off.

I didn't know play-asia sold steam keys direct. Soul Calibur VI is $20 right now. I wonder if it's legit or grey market. Usually the legit places will say what region the key can be activated.

 
I really liked Octopath up until I suddenly got bored with it. I should have paced my exploring better because between my characters being overpowered and every chapter having the same exact structure it lost my interest. Glad more people will get to play it though, I'd really like to a sequel with a more interesting story and better pacing.

 
Soma_Cruz said:
I really liked Octopath up until I suddenly got bored with it. I should have paced my exploring better because between my characters being overpowered and every chapter having the same exact structure it lost my interest. Glad more people will get to play it though, I'd really like to a sequel with a more interesting story and better pacing.
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From what I understand it is not possible to keep characters from being overpowered due to how they designed it to go through each characters section. You'll have a rough start with the first character every time then things level off and by the end you're always op. The only way I can see around it would be to have only the main character carry over exp and stuff while the others do not into each section.

 
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Tothoro said:
Is anyone else still waiting on Sword and Fairy from Play-Asia to ship? I got a tracking number, but the package hasn't been ingested yet. Since they've apparently got a shortage to the point of sending out sample copies I'm a bit worried that the package may not actually exist.
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Just received notice my copy of Sword and Fairy is in transit.

Tracking History
April 11, 2019
2:59 pm
Acceptance,
NETHERLANDS
 
Nice

D309MJfWsAAiRWD.jpg


 
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I got bored of Octopath too, and just haven't gone back to finish it. I did Chapter 4s for about half the characters and Chapter 3s on the rest.

As for Utawarerumono, why does the CD art look like Haruhi?

 
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Beware of spoilers from the Utawarerumono Zan trailer for Utawarerumono: The Mask of Deception. It hasn't been posted here yet, but I figured I'd give a heads up.

One of the few musou games that I feel actually fits the gameplay of a musou game. Here's to hoping it's one of the better ones. I think I'll grab it at some point since it's Utawarerumono and I like the series. Not a big fan of musou games, but I can still get enjoyment out of them from time to time like when I played the first Zelda one.

 
[media]https://twitter.com/IdeaFactoryIntl/status/1116413256233410560[/media]

This shit needs to stop.. 

 
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In Devil May Cry 5 the added lense flare was removed in the recent game update. I'm guessing Sony had a change of heart in that case only because the Xbox One version was left untouched. Sony probably didn't want the mindset to start to become censored games on Playstation are uncensored on Xbox.

Which then leads me to believe Sony won't be asking for censorship in future games that will also be released on Xbox. Some people wondered about Cyberpunk 2077. Whatever makes it into the Xbox version I think will be in the Playstation version.

But games that aren't on Xbox will probably continue to be subject to the new policies. A Playstation release of a game can't look less-than to a non-existent Xbox version. There are Nintendo releases, but Sony and Microsoft pretty much just look at each other as their competitor.

You might have to hope part of the reason Phil Spencer was in Japan recently was to try to get Onechanbara back on Xbox.

 
Holy Hell, I never thought I would live to see the day anyone was censoring anything above and beyond what "N" used to do, but I guess it has happened. I would vote with my wallet, and skip the PS4 version in favor of the NS, or just not at all, as this is insanity.

 
deadofnight said:
In Devil May Cry 5 the added lense flare was removed in the recent game update. I'm guessing Sony had a change of heart in that case only because the Xbox One version was left untouched. Sony probably didn't want the mindset to start to become censored games on Playstation are uncensored on Xbox.

Which then leads me to believe Sony won't be asking for censorship in future games that will also be released on Xbox. Some people wondered about Cyberpunk 2077. Whatever makes it into the Xbox version I think will be in the Playstation version.

But games that aren't on Xbox will probably continue to be subject to the new policies. A Playstation release of a game can't look less-than to a non-existent Xbox version. There are Nintendo releases, but Sony and Microsoft pretty much just look at each other as their competitor.

You might have to hope part of the reason Phil Spencer was in Japan recently was to try to get Onechanbara back on Xbox.
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Well, that and the fact DMC5 got more media coverages calling Sony out for the practice. Anime games on the other hand won't get that treatment.

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deadofnight said:
In Devil May Cry 5 the added lense flare was removed in the recent game update. I'm guessing Sony had a change of heart in that case only because the Xbox One version was left untouched. Sony probably didn't want the mindset to start to become censored games on Playstation are uncensored on Xbox.
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I've been wondering if the lens flare removal on Trish was even intentional anyway, the one on Lady was not removed. I mean that one actually looked believable unlike the one on Trish which just looked utterly ridiculous, but still.

 
FlawlesslyFatal said:
Well, that and the fact DMC5 got more media coverages calling Sony out for the practice. Anime games on the other hand won't get that treatment.
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Yeah, that's what I'm getting at. This time there were articles where the story was the PS4 has the game censored while the Xbox One version is uncensored. I'm guessing Sony does not want Playstation to look lesser than Xbox in any way.

Censoring anime games isn't going to be a big deal because most of those games aren't on Xbox. There isn't going to be as much media coverage because there isn't a "Playstation vs Xbox" angle to it.

Zenax[zd] said:
I've been wondering if the lens flare removal on Trish was even intentional anyway, the one on Lady was not removed. I mean that one actually looked believable unlike the one on Trish which just looked utterly ridiculous, but still.
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I don't think the flare in Lady's scene would be removed because I think that scene looks exactly how the developers intended.

It's hard to believe of all the cutscenes in the game a visual glitch just happened to show up the few frames Trish is briefly exposed. And it happened on just one platform; in a couple regions. And the flare isn't in the 1.00 version of the game, but it shows up once you install a day-one patch. All this on the platform that has been censoring games recently.

 


deadofnight said:
Censoring anime games isn't going to be a big deal because most of those games aren't on Xbox. There isn't going to be as much media coverage because there isn't a "Playstation vs Xbox" angle to it.
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Defending censorship in anime games like Senran Kagura and Neptunia might insinuate publication's stance as pro-pedo/CP. They will avoid going down that rabbit hole.


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NeoMonk said:
[media]https://twitter.com/IdeaFactoryIntl/status/1116413256233410560[/media]

This shit needs to stop..
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Seriously, Sony is out of its mind with these censors. It makes little/no sense given the sheer level of violence it's glad to endorse and promote in other games. The very fact that these are Japanese games makes even less sense.

I do hope that eventually Sony realizes this is a terrible business move on their end, or at least allows non-censored versions to be released in Asia. That would at least allow the company to split the baby and allow those who don't want the censored version to import the multi-language Asia/HK copies.

While I appreciate Nintendo not doing the same, the bad part of this is that the PS4 grossly outpowers the Switch so then we're left with choosing between a graphically impressive, smooth framerate but censored version and the more technically challenged, frame-rate dipping, graphically watered down version.

Ugh.

 
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That's America for you.  Think about the way everyone you know discusses this topic of sexuality or the discussions you see online.   People are hardcore entrenched in their beliefs and in the grand inquisition.  It's taboo AF.   Some things will never change.  In fact all things public in regards to sexuality are going even further in the other direction.  Everyone who partakes in anything is a pervert, it's people's right to not feel uncomfortable at all times, and there is zero tolerance for any kind of sexuality in the workplace.  Men are treated like creeps for even talking to strange women.  It's why the birth rate is massively down, people are staying single much longer, and kids are too ratchet and stuck up to even date one another.  It's not going to change anytime soon either when you consider cases like Bill Cosby, Michigan State/USA Gymnastics, and Harvey Weinstein are still in the limelight.  People are still in the process of waking up to this stuff and perceiving abuse everywhere they look because people in positions of power have been ruining things for everybody else. 

Japan has some really weird societal stuff too that we read about from time to time.  Think about idols and their rules, the weird apology and humiliation stuff, honorifics and social class structure, and their super hard-line stance on recreational drugs. 

 
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deadofnight said:
It's hard to believe of all the cutscenes in the game a visual glitch just happened to show up the few frames Trish is briefly exposed. And it happened on just one platform; in a couple regions. And the flare isn't in the 1.00 version of the game, but it shows up once you install a day-one patch. All this on the platform that has been censoring games recently.
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Well I wasn't really saying it was a glitch that it existed in the first place, I was more wondering if them actually removing it was intentional. Cause from everything I've read (can't test myself though) is that the update didn't remove the lens flare in EU versions of the game. That seems kind of weird to me. I have such little faith in Sony that if it gets uncensored in one region but not another then my knee-jerk reaction is that it wasn't supposed to be uncensored.

It'd help if someone would actually make some sort of official statement about it, but no one has said a thing to my knowledge.

 
Nothing- said:
That's America for you. Think about the way everyone you know discusses this topic of sexuality or the discussions you see online. People are hardcore entrenched in their beliefs and in the grand inquisition. It's taboo AF. Some things will never change. In fact all things public in regards to sexuality are going even further in the other direction. Everyone who partakes in anything is a pervert, it's people's right to not feel uncomfortable at all times, and there is zero tolerance for any kind of sexuality in the workplace. Men are treated like creeps for even talking to strange women. It's why the birth rate is massively down, people are staying single much longer, and kids are too ratchet and stuck up to even date one another. It's not going to change anytime soon either when you consider cases like Bill Cosby, Michigan State/USA Gymnastics, and Harvey Weinstein are still in the limelight. People are still in the process of waking up to this stuff and perceiving abuse everywhere they look because people in positions of power have been ruining things for everybody else.

Japan has some really weird societal stuff too that we read about from time to time. Think about idols and their rules, the weird apology and humiliation stuff, honorifics and social class structure, and their super hard-line stance on recreational drugs.
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Japan's honorifics and class structure aren't weird, they're pretty damn similar to what you'd find in most English speaking countries less than a century and a half ago. You could argue that the class structure is outdated, maybe, but I certainly don't see a problem with the honorifics, at least. The slide away from anything remotely resembling formality in the English-speaking world over the last century is kind of a bummer, honestly; it's severely impacted our ability to be subtle in our social behavior. The English language is the richest in the world, but we've lost some of that in making casualness the norm.
 
romeogbs19 said:
Seriously, Sony is out of its mind with these censors. It makes little/no sense given the sheer level of violence it's glad to endorse and promote in other games. The very fact that these are Japanese games makes even less sense.

I do hope that eventually Sony realizes this is a terrible business move on their end, or at least allows non-censored versions to be released in Asia. That would at least allow the company to split the baby and allow those who don't want the censored version to import the multi-language Asia/HK copies.

While I appreciate Nintendo not doing the same, the bad part of this is that the PS4 grossly outpowers the Switch so then we're left with choosing between a graphically impressive, smooth framerate but censored version and the more technically challenged, frame-rate dipping, graphically watered down version.

Ugh.
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It doesn't exactly look like it's going to be a system killer or anything (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRQs7wJoV4o), but it's also coming to PC if you're concerned

 
Don't trust Spike Chunsoft with games any more after lying about Zanki Zero.

Glad Iffy has integrity. Will buy all their games for switch from now on. No more sony for me.

 
Okay, think I finally found what they're referring to. Found a Reddit post that referred to the comments section in an article on Gematsu. A user by the name of Tarik claims to have received a review copy and that there are many changes that were not reported. He provides no actual evidence, citing an embargo (which seems kind of ironic to me as he claims to quote some scenes) but he is very insistent and makes his claims a few times in response to various people.

Honestly I am disinclined to believe him as I think Spike Chunsoft is unlikely to risk the fiasco that would result from hiding changes of this level while also openly admitting to the other changes. I should also note that further into the comments section another user, Kelvin Leong, claims to have also received a review copy and says that Tarik is lying.

That said, for reference, here are Tarik's claims:

There is much more censored at that point
CGs are removed or edited, complete Scenes are removed, Sexual Jokes are removed,
Gay Jokes are removed, Jokes about the Sachikas artificial limbs are
removed and any scenes which contains violence against the children or
were harmful (in a non-sexual but phsyical way) against them ARE REMOV
They changed the translation
Some examples:

There is one scene in the game, where someone makes a statement about Sachikas artifical limbs and that she is only stronger because of them and this is the only reason why he losed against her

They changed the translation to "she is even stronger than him, despite the fact she has artifical limbs and he should never judge book by his cover"
Or this one....

That someone has a Leg Fetish and he is still okay with one leg, as long its look so beautiful like hers which is changed in "she looks beatiful and appereance doesnt matter"

https://gematsu.com/2019/03/zanki-zero-last-beginning-gameplay-trailer#comments

tsoul said:
Not sure what the lie about Zanki Zero is. They posted the change on their site too (summary of cuts and child cgi at https://www.oneangrygamer.net/2019/03/zanki-zero-last-beginning-heavily-censored-for-ps4-steam-release/78271/amp/ )

I'm just sad that BOTH the PS4 and Steam version got same censorship.
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shadowysea07 said:
Played the demo for zenki zero. It's passable but the real time combat is just too rough in 1st person. Didn't help that a pig got behind my party somehow so I was getting attacked from 2 enemies at once. I don't think enemies should be able to move past where you currently are standing blocking an entrance.
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I was quite surprised by the combat in that first example fight. It takes some getting used to for sure. But I was able to get a 14 hit combo on the first boss. I also don’t understand how the pink charge spot is supposed to work.

I don’t know what was censored, but even for liberal me, the dialogue so far has been pretty crass.
 
If you land on the pink charge spot all 4 of your party members get to use a charged attack at once.  But yeah I have yet to land on that.

 
There's an Asian English version available, though I don't know for certain whether it's censored or not. The pictures I've seen of the physical item on eBay show the same cover picture as the Japanese version, so my assumption is it is uncensored. I went ahead and ordered it off of Play-Asia so I'll be sure to report on it's censorship status once I receive it.
vic_x51 said:
damm zanki zero was butchered. well that game is crossed off the want list.
maybe it'll get ported to switch.
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There's multiple people claiming that Zanki Zero was censored far beyond what is mentioned / a bilingual reviewer went over this as well.

There is much more censored at that point CGs are removed or edited, complete Scenes are removed, Sexual Jokes are removed, Gay Jokes are removed, Jokes about the Sachikas artificial limbs are removed and any scenes which contains violence against the children or were harmful (in a non-sexual but phsyical way) against them ARE REMOVED

This has also not been refuted by Spike Chunsoft.

Do not buy Zanki Zero. Do not support censorship, and more importantly not just censorship, but developers actually lying about things to cover it up.

source: Gematsu review poster:

https://www.reddit.com/r/KotakuInAction/comments/awrur2/censorship_changes_to_zenki_zero/

 
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So far I've only seen one person in the Gematsu article comments claim that there's more changes, and even then another person there claims he's lying. Who else have you seen claim there's more changes? Have any of them actually posted evidence of the changes?
 
EvraiTerrule said:
So far I've only seen one person in the Gematsu article comments claim that there's more changes, and even then another person there claims he's lying. Who else have you seen claim there's more changes? Have any of them actually posted evidence of the changes?
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Nobody knows. we're all boycotting / waiting for 75% offf

 
I didn't mind a little panty censorship, though most would guess I do love my panty shots in games, if that's what they intended. Changing the story though and dialogue is Fire Emblem Fates or My Heart Has Wings garbage censorship. I don't believe in censorship period, obviously with me raving about 18+ patches, but don't mess up the stories or characters. I have this game and wanted to play it badly, but it's sad to hear about this. Also some of the translation looks a bit rough from the examples I've seen. 

 
I was interested in Zanki Zero until I saw that it is yet another dungeon crawler in the gameplay trailer. 

 
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