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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Vinny said:
Any idea if these are perm drops or just like a day long sale? Debating on both but also feel like a bunch of these niche games are just PS5 bound, like a lot of PS3 games ended up on the PS4.
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I guess you are specifically asking about sophie 2? Given past history its possible it will end up in an atelier bundle on ps5 down the road given that they did bundles for the ps4 and switch ones from the ps3 games arland and dusk. But those bundles are also expensive. So price wise this would likely be your better option. Moreso if you can pricematch it to gamestop or somewhere you have credit/promo and such discounts.

 
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Atelier games seem to top out their discounts around $25 plus or minus a few dollars. Most niche games do honestly that aren't overproduced like the Persona or Yakuza games do. I generally pick up whatever games around $25ish. If they suck, it's not as much put in at least.

 
nitrosmob said:
Atelier games seem to top out their discounts around $25 plus or minus a few dollars. Most niche games do honestly that aren't overproduced like the Persona or Yakuza games do. I generally pick up whatever games around $25ish. If they suck, it's not as much put in at least.
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Other than games I 100% want at or near launch... I'm pretty much the same. $30 for most of these more niche games that have lower production runs and I'm good with that gamble.

 
I don't think an atelier has gone below 30 since the dusk trilogy. And that started due to them getting reprints with ayesha and going backwards from there.
 
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Just a heads up but LoH Trails from Zero appears to be low print (at least on switch, I didn't look into the ps4 version).  BestBuy, for instance shows it not available for shipping and there's only one copy at the nearest store (nearly an hour from me).   I read about this last night on reddit in a thread showing off the launch trailer, I haven't verified with every store.  I was already pretty much decided to just let this series go as my appetite to play games has been really low this last year... watching the trailer and this shortage is kind of helping me let it go as I know I'd just buy it to stick on a shelf.  Plus I know when the desire to game comes back I have Xenoblade Chronicles 3 and a bunch of other games that I am more passionate about (as well as the other endings for Live A Live to see).   DQ Treasures also isn't far off.

 
Right now is RPG glut land with Valkyria whatever coming out and so many on the horizon, with Star Ocean next I think. I got Trails, but I have most of them already, so it's more of a habit. I will likely play the Star Ocean one on release though and likely Dragon Quest Treasures as well.

 
nightc1 said:
Just a heads up but LoH Trails from Zero appears to be low print (at least on switch, I didn't look into the ps4 version). BestBuy, for instance shows it not available for shipping and there's only one copy at the nearest store (nearly an hour from me). I read about this last night on reddit in a thread showing off the launch trailer, I haven't verified with every store. I was already pretty much decided to just let this series go as my appetite to play games has been really low this last year... watching the trailer and this shortage is kind of helping me let it go as I know I'd just buy it to stick on a shelf. Plus I know when the desire to game comes back I have Xenoblade Chronicles 3 and a bunch of other games that I am more passionate about (as well as the other endings for Live A Live to see). DQ Treasures also isn't far off.
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I wouldn't trust BB alone for anything... it's in stock at GS and Amazon shows it'll ship in a few weeks, which to me says they're waiting inventory. Seems like BB just says stuff is sold out even if they're just waiting allocations of inventory.

 
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Vinny said:
I wouldn't trust BB alone for anything... it's in stock at GS and Amazon shows it'll ship in a few weeks, which to me says they're waiting inventory. Seems like BB just says stuff is sold out even if they're just waiting allocations of inventory.
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BB does take it down on release if they didn’t get their inventory. Has that happen to a game that released on the 22nd. They got their inventory by the 25th and shipped it out. As for Trails from Zero, Target currently has it in stock and they did ship it out to me before release date.

 
Also NISA is very well known for having smaller first runs of some games that come back in stock later like Langrisser 1+2, although that one went out of stock again and is OOP for the Switch it seems.

 
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Nisa is weird with prints. Who knows if it will be a limited print run or not or if it will get reprints later. Look at ys 8 switch and 9, celceta ps4 and cs3 and 4 switch and ps4 vs ys8 ps4 and vita.
 
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Twilightsparkle said:
BB does take it down on release if they didn’t get their inventory. Has that happen to a game that released on the 22nd. They got their inventory by the 25th and shipped it out. As for Trails from Zero, Target currently has it in stock and they did ship it out to me before release date.
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That's good to know. It did say they had a copy in stock at the closest BB store but just not available from BB itself for shipping.

nitrosmob said:
Also NISA is very well known for having smaller first runs of some games that come back in stock later like Langrisser 1+2, although that one went out of stock again and is OOP for the Switch it seems.
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I felt fairly lucky that I caught on to Langrisser right before it disappeared. The only store that had it at the time was BB and I think it shipped from a local (hour away) store.

 
One of my older brothers (who isn't a gamer, though he's tried to get into games as deals have popped up) has been going through his boxes of stuff he's collected over the years (not just games, like all kinds of random things).  He was having trouble testing a few ps2 games on his ps2 slim and asked for my help.  Anyway I told him I could just take whatever he had and give it a full test since my instructions on what to look for confused him... and he starts sending me pics of the few games he has.  Mostly common stuff.  Some games in paper sleeves and generic boxes... a greatest hits version of Kingdom Hearts... then he sends me this one picture that included a PS1 Lunar Silver Star Story Complete (Sword Cover Art, all 4 discs in the box).  I told him that alone was likely worth more than what he was looking to get for everything as a bundle... but to let me test it and if it works I'll put it with my stuff to ebay off as I can't get him to make the effort to ebay and he lives check to check as is.

Just thought that was interesting out of all the random things he could buy he manages to grab something that is worth a few bucks and overall looks fairly pristine other than a stress crack in the center of the front of the box.  Before I left he showed me what he wanted to hook up and play that was more his speed (an old TeleSystems brand Atari 2600) and pulled a PS1 copy of Discworld 2 out of the box which I added to the bag of things I was taking.

 
That seems strange. I think I read that the version of the game used in this release already had cut content.  A removed ending and a silly set of costumes.

I was already leaning switch physical for this, so I guess I'm holding to that.  This probably hits hardest the segment of the fanbase that was wanting to use the fan translation on the coming pc release.

 
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There's also a current site error on GS taking a free $5 off many games and preorders.  $50 games like Trails from Zero and Chaos Head/Child are good choices as they also qualify for free shipping.
Edit: Seems like most preorders, even below 49 is getting free shipping right now.

 
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gospelman said:
There's also a current site error on GS taking a free $5 off many games and preorders. $50 games like Trails from Zero and Chaos Head/Child are good choices as they also qualify for free shipping.
Edit: Seems like most preorders, even below 49 is getting free shipping right now.
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Was going to get the Chaos double pack on steam.. but then realized the steam version of Noah was cancelled. Might just preorder it

 
Fanatical has a Kodansha manga bundle up. It’s mostly repeats from previous bundles Kodansha has done with Humble Bundle, and the runs generally aren’t as complete as they were in the bundles that featured those series, but it’s a reasonably wide selection and a pretty good tankobon per dollar ratio compared to some of the more recent Humble comics bundles.
 
Another week and some bigger VN releases have come out.

The biggest one is Nekonyansoft releasing Renai X Royale - Love's a Battle. This one is about some guy that is a transfer student and starts declaring his love for girls and some declare their love for him or something and it's a battle royal afterwards. It's a comedy one and has a launch discount of 10% or a bit more on Steam if you own previous titles from the company. There is an 18+ patch for the Steam version, although the 18+ version is available elsewhere.

18+ Patch for the Steam version (NSFW)

JAST USA released an HD version of Heart de Roomatte. This is an old comedy eroge game. I played it ages ago and thought it was alright. If you owned it on the JAST USA store like myself, it's free for you.

JAST USA (NSFW)

Shiravune released another of their rogue-lite VN shrine maiden games. This looks extremely similar to the last 3 from the series. This one is called Dawn of Kagura: Maika's Story - The Dragon's Wrath. This one has some gameplay and some youkai, and I'm guessing some very questionable situations after the patch is applied. The steam version is SFW, but I'm also providing the patch for that version to make it 18+. There is a 20% discount.

Steam

18+ Steam Patch (NSFW)

Shiravune also announced that they are localizing the new Clockup game Sacrifice Villains. This one is a story about villians taking over the world and a small place is protected by heroes. This place is getting attack hard by villians, but their are 3 ladies whom are former villians that you are interested in acclimating to help out in the fight. Of course this means training them to fight for the cause. I should mention that Clockup games are not for the faint of heart and there is likely a lot of violence and sexual situations along with a million fetishes. I enjoy the games like Eromanga, but others like Maggot Baits and Euphoria are more not to my liking. This feels like a Maggot Baits type game. I do love the plot though and will still likely buy and play it.

VNDB (NSFW)

Also I would like to mention a fan patch release of a game Ima Sugu Onii-chan ni Imouto da tte Iitai! from fairys translated by Studio Frisay. This is an all ages title that takes place before Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate and has a few cameos from that game. This one has a guy in school who meets some girls before being accepted into high school, and then meets and is friends with them in it. All 4 girls have their issues including his step sister after his dad remarried. This one doesn't seem to have the mass drama of Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate and seems pretty lighter overall. I have only almost gotten through 1 route, but it seems high quality. I kind of wish it wasn't all ages, but it doesn't detract much from the enjoyment. The patching is a bit tricky and took me a few tries to get it to work.

VNDB (NSFW)

Patch (Google Drive with 1.00 Patch)

 
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After second thought I might pass on the Chaos;Head double pack and hope that Steam reconsiders the ban. The switch version of Noah is heavily censored. Technically the steam version would be too if it was released, but it'd be much easier to patch unless you've got a modded switch or use an emulator. It's crazy that a VN that was already heavily censored still got banned on Steam

 
Pocky & Rocky Reshrined (Switch) is down to $22.50 (shipped and sold by Amazon).

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09TFR6DFS/

I know this version got panned because in one piece of static art in the game there's a character whose cleavage is covered... but from what I've read, it's just that one picture which is used during story segments.   Also some of the modes are locked until you play the game, though not a big deal if you plan on playing it solo for an hour or two to finish story mode before wanting to play two player.

If this were a year ago I'd probably have just grabbed it as I loved the first two when I owned them for SNES... but now I'm not gaming as much so probably going to resist the purchase.

EDIT:

Lol, resistance is futile I guess.   I started looking at other things I needed on amazon... ended up throwing Pocky & Rocky Reshrined into my cart along with the other things.

 
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The games run better and are higher resolution on the PS4. I also like the PS4/5 controller more for playing. The main thing would be the graphics although some like Atelier Ryza still look very good on the Switch (this is the only one I have on both).

 
The Switch versions will likely not get that low.  While the PS4 version does have better fidelity, reviews seem to state both target 30FPS, so its not a difference between one being 30 and the other 60.

I grabbed a Switch copy at $40; I'll hedge a $10 bet since Switch versions of these games both hold their value and rarely go on deep sale before they entirely sell out.

 
Vinny said:
Is anyone else's Trails Zero CE PS4 from NISA kinda... I dunno, bulgy? Like the contents inside the box are too much for the box to hold?

Sweet. I ordered a few days ago when it was $30 but was able to cancel and re-order.
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The top and bottom of mine are bowed out. I opened it and didn't find anything amiss. Just seems like the packaging size is a little off :/

 
Vinny said:
Is anyone else's Trails Zero CE PS4 from NISA kinda... I dunno, bulgy? Like the contents inside the box are too much for the box to hold?
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Yes. Mine is rounded at the bottom. Fairly annoying since it won't sit well on a shelf.

Covnam said:
The top and bottom of mine are bowed out. I opened it and didn't find anything amiss. Just seems like the packaging size is a little off :/
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Did opening it allow it to sit flatter afterward? I'm not in a rush to open mine since I've played the game several times already. But it would be nice knowing I don't have to live with the curve.

 
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gospelman said:
Did opening it allow it to sit flatter afterward? I'm not in a rush to open mine since I've played the game several times already. But it would be nice knowing I don't have to live with the curve.
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Maybe a little, but not really. I suppose if you want to put is somewhere to try to fix it (say in a tight shelf or with something heavy on top) then it might help to unwarp it.

 
Just saw the reveal trailer for Wild Hearts, and even after years of the Switch Axe and self-digging pitfall traps, I loled at the “inventions” they showed off.

Looks pretty, don’t think I like EA’s dub, not enough action showcased. Not sure if want. Off to watch the new gameplay trailer.
 
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Souffrir said:
Just saw the reveal trailer for Wild Hearts, and even after years of the Switch Axe and self-digging pitfall traps, I loled at the “inventions” they showed off.

Looks pretty, don’t think I like EA’s dub, not enough action showcased. Not sure if want. Off to watch the new gameplay trailer.
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It having crossplay definitely makes me more interested

 
There are some customized Target offers out for the next couple of days, some get $10 off $60+ ($59.99 games seem to work, thankfully), $15 off, or 10% or 15% off. I got the $10 off one and was poking around at my options, it says it excludes Switch games and mostly that seems to be true (Persona 5 Royal for Switch didn't work, but it does for PS5/Xbox).

There are a few exceptions though, perhaps, I noticed it works on a Switch Atelier Ryza 3 preorder for example.

A controller might be another okay option if you're looking for something to use the discount on and need one.

 
Yep another ymmv target circle offer.  I got that 15$ one along with a 20$ gift card after 3 50$ purchases. 

Details
$15 off one in-store or online purchase of $75 or more
 
*Exclusions apply
 
Terms & conditions
Category Coupon. Valid one-time use in store or online. Limit one coupon/offer per guest. Cannot be combined with any other Category Coupon. Void if copied, scanned, altered, transferred, purchased, sold or prohibited by law. Quantities limited; no rain checks. Item(s) may not be available at all stores. Gift cards and tax not included in determining purchase total. Coupon cannot be applied to previous purchases. No cash value. Excludes items sold & shipped by Target Plus™ Partners.
Excludes alcohol, Apple products, Barbie camper and houses, Beats Fit Pro, Beats Flex, Beats Powerbeats Pro, Beats Studio Buds, Bose, Bratz Collector and Designer Dolls, Bullseye’s Playground, Cards Against Humanity, Casper, clinic & pharmacy, Cricut, dairy milk, DockATot, Dockers, Do-a-Dot, DSLR cameras & lenses, Dyson, Elf on the Shelf, face masks (Dolan, Sanctuary & Sugar Fix brands), Fisher Price Laugh n Learn, Fitbit, Funko Standard Pop, gift cards, GilletteLabs Heated Razor Starter Kit by Gillette – 3ct, Google, Hair Appliances, HALO Baby, Hasbro Games (Classic Monopoly, Connect Four, Jenga, Sorry, Trouble), Healthy Roots Dolls, Hot Wheels Ultimate Garage, Honest Baby, HP Inc., Infant Optics, JBL, LEGO, Levi’s Red Label, LG OLED and QNED TVs, limited-time designer partnerships, Luvable Friends, Mega Bloks, Meta Oculus and Portal, mobile contracts, Motrin, Ninja, Nintendo hardware and Switch games, Polder, Peg Perego, Philips Avent, Plan B, power shave, power dental, prepaid cards, Play-Doh Ice Cream Truck Playset, PlayStation consoles and accessories, Revival, Samsung TVs, Shark, simplehuman, Sonos, Sony Electronics, Take Action, Target Optical, Tempur-Sealy, Trading Cards, Tylenol pain relief, Tylenol PM, Ulta Beauty at Target Brands, Unlocked phones, Vera Bradley handbags, Weber, and What Do You Meme? game.
 
As always try to use it on switch games and preorders immediately before they fix it. 
 
I sorted pre-orders by 'newest'. These Switch games seem to work:

Monster Menu

https://www.target.com/p/monster-menu--the-scavengers-cookbook-deluxe-edition---nintendo-switch--no-aasa/-/A-87650543

GrimGrimoire

https://www.target.com/p/grimgrimoire-oncemore-deluxe-edition---nintendo-switch--no-aasa/-/A-87650550

Fire Emblem Engage

https://www.target.com/p/fire-emblem-engage---nintendo-switch--no-aasa/-/A-87650535

Octopath Traveler II

https://www.target.com/p/octopath-traveler-ii---nintendo-switch--no-aasa/-/A-87657530

Master Detective Archives: Rain Code

https://www.target.com/p/master-detective-archives--rain-code---nintendo-switch--no-aasa/-/A-87650542

Atelier Ryza 3

https://www.target.com/p/atelier-ryza-3-alchemist-of-the-end-38-the-secret-key-nintendo-switch/-/A-87710856#lnk=sametab

I was hoping to use it on Harvestella, but that one isn't eligible unfortunately.

There are a few others in the same timeframe that probably work, I didn't check every game. But the other recently announced NIS games, Tales of Symphonia, and Theatrhythm may also work

 
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anywho target is giving me a 5$ credit due to their error from the promo running back in august where there were technically 2 promos but it was actually one and they just sent out the other email for that promo mistakenly. as they had the 10$ off a 50$ video game purchase promo and the get a 10$ target gift card after a 50$+ video game purchase promo. I got emails for both so I assumed that the latter was legit when it wasn't despite having its own get the offer button and taking me to the games applicable page. I was using it on valkyrie elysium and stacking it with the other 10$ promo so that likely didn't help things.  Still better than nothing. 

 
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https://twitter.com/SpikeChunsoft_e/status/1578189767120162816?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1578189767120162816%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=

Chaos;Head Noah is unbanned from Steam

 
shadowysea07 said:
Yep another ymmv target circle offer. I got that 15$ one along with a 20$ gift card after 3 50$ purchases.

Details
$15 off one in-store or online purchase of $75 or more

*Exclusions apply

Terms & conditions
Category Coupon. Valid one-time use in store or online. Limit one coupon/offer per guest. Cannot be combined with any other Category Coupon. Void if copied, scanned, altered, transferred, purchased, sold or prohibited by law. Quantities limited; no rain checks. Item(s) may not be available at all stores. Gift cards and tax not included in determining purchase total. Coupon cannot be applied to previous purchases. No cash value. Excludes items sold & shipped by Target Plus[emoji769] Partners.
Excludes alcohol, Apple products, Barbie camper and houses, Beats Fit Pro, Beats Flex, Beats Powerbeats Pro, Beats Studio Buds, Bose, Bratz Collector and Designer Dolls, Bullseye’s Playground, Cards Against Humanity, Casper, clinic & pharmacy, Cricut, dairy milk, DockATot, Dockers, Do-a-Dot, DSLR cameras & lenses, Dyson, Elf on the Shelf, face masks (Dolan, Sanctuary & Sugar Fix brands), Fisher Price Laugh n Learn, Fitbit, Funko Standard Pop, gift cards, GilletteLabs Heated Razor Starter Kit by Gillette – 3ct, Google, Hair Appliances, HALO Baby, Hasbro Games (Classic Monopoly, Connect Four, Jenga, Sorry, Trouble), Healthy Roots Dolls, Hot Wheels Ultimate Garage, Honest Baby, HP Inc., Infant Optics, JBL, LEGO, Levi’s Red Label, LG OLED and QNED TVs, limited-time designer partnerships, Luvable Friends, Mega Bloks, Meta Oculus and Portal, mobile contracts, Motrin, Ninja, Nintendo hardware and Switch games, Polder, Peg Perego, Philips Avent, Plan B, power shave, power dental, prepaid cards, Play-Doh Ice Cream Truck Playset, PlayStation consoles and accessories, Revival, Samsung TVs, Shark, simplehuman, Sonos, Sony Electronics, Take Action, Target Optical, Tempur-Sealy, Trading Cards, Tylenol pain relief, Tylenol PM, Ulta Beauty at Target Brands, Unlocked phones, Vera Bradley handbags, Weber, and What Do You Meme? game.

As always try to use it on switch games and preorders immediately before they fix it.
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I got the 15% coupon, works on Xbox One Series S in cart. I won't get one though

Sent from my SM-N970U1 using Tapatalk
 
Loop8: Summer of Gods 'Celestial Edition' announced for North America ($69.99)

Loop8-Celestial-Edition-Ann_10-07-22-1024x576.jpg

Trinity Trigger 'Day 1 Edition' announced for North America ($59.99)

Trinity-Trigger-Day-1-Edition-Ann_10-07-22-1024x576.jpg

 
I think I'm all for Loop8 however it turns out. The setting is nice and maybe it might have a cool story. The other looks like a wait for digital version or even physical edition price drop. Just doesn't look that good to me.

 
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nitrosmob said:
I think I'm all for Loop8 however it turns out. The setting is nice and maybe it might have a cool story. The other looks like a wait for digital version or even physical edition price drop. Just doesn't look that good to me.
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Ditto. It sounds interesting, and the scenery is great.

 
There appears to be some news in "ye olde game" front.

Similar to how VGP is reprinting certain titles for sale, there are some less scrupulous sellers out there selling off sealed games (of the rarer variety) without saying whether or not they are from a reprint lot.  This appears to be happening on the auction streaming site "whatnot."

So for certain PS3 games and specifically AOT2FB for Switch, there are folks out there charging interesting pricing for what are now less rare games.

Likely not to impact folks here, but know that others have caught on to what VGP and few other retail sites are doing.  Sticking with trusted seller who state whether a game is a reprint versus first edition would be wise.

 
https://twitter.com/videogamedeals/status/1579095523172450306

Target Circle has a 10% off one electronics or video game offer

 
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