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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Has anyone called their credit card company about Play-Asia transactions being declined and how did they fix it? I'm trying to get Capital One to fix my issue with stuff not going through.

 
There's an indiegala bundle for $4 for a bunch of Dharker Studio VN's and some soundtracks.

https://www.indiegala.com/dharker

I ended up grabbing it but already had a few of the games so here are some Steam keys if anyone wants a specific game I had extra of:

Sword of Asumi - Deluxe Edition

2EI3Y-AWT8H-ZGBFI

Divine Slice of Life

2CJAA-HC7MD-0VJTD

Highschool Possession

2BTVB-6H6QI-3MRWC

Beach Bounce

2BRZW-L29IZ-ZX0N9

 
Pheria said:
There's an indiegala bundle for $4 for a bunch of Dharker Studio VN's and some soundtracks.

https://www.indiegala.com/dharker

I ended up grabbing it but already had a few of the games so here are some Steam keys if anyone wants a specific game I had extra of:

Sword of Asumi - Deluxe Edition

2EI3Y-AWT8H-ZGBFI

Divine Slice of Life

2CJAA-HC7MD-0VJTD

Highschool Possession

2BTVB-6H6QI-3MRWC

Beach Bounce

2BRZW-L29IZ-ZX0N9
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I took Silce of Life & Beach Bounce. Thank you.

 
Not a Japanese game, but I have no interest in venturing any further into the mobile section of this site any more than I already have.

Futurama: Worlds of Tomorrow was released last night (on Android at least).  It's made by TinyCo and is a reskinned version of Family Guy: Quest for Stuff.  So if you played that game, you'll need to do like I did and weigh your tolerance for bad game design with your love of Futurama.  The spoiler below is for those who never played Family Guy to give you an idea of the frustrating aspects.

When I was still able to stomach FG, the biggest pain came from their events.  They would push out events with goals that were impossible.  And I don't mean "I don't want to work hard" impossible, I mean actually impossible.  Either the timeline is too short, or the requirements are too large.  Once this gets found, then there would usually be some kind of update designed to correct this, however that would do you no good if you gave up early.  Plus, it doesn't ALWAYS happen, so you can't depend on it getting fixed either.

Then there's the item system.  To unlock people, or earn things required to move along in events, you will need X amount of various items.  Those items will drop randomly from tasks with differing rarities.  They are not ever guaranteed to drop.  So that means you could spend 2 hours to get what you need, or two days to get the exact same item with the exact same rarity.

Third, there's the worker system.  In this case it's the X-1 robot.  Though at first you'll be fine with just one, you will eventually NEED to buy more with premium currency.  It's because they are required to do things.  You can't build two buildings at a time without two workers.  And though it doesn't seem like you'd need it, again you don't want to wait four hours to start a building because you might run out of time to collect everything you need from it during the event.

Finally, though not as annoying as others, they constantly push money offers out to you that are always framed as better deals than they are.  Of course that's marketing and a company wanting to make money, but it doesn't stop it from being annoying.  A great example is the common pop-up task to "Buy $5 in regular currency and get $5 in premium currency free!"  That sounds a lot better than "Hey, if you're going to buy some premium currency, why not get a meaningless amount of regular currency too?"

 
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July's PS+ Games

:ps4: Until Dawn
:ps4: Game of Thrones
:ps3: Tokyo Jungle
:ps3: Darkstalkers Resurrection
:vita: Element4l
:vita: Don’t Die, Mr. Robot (Cross-buy with :ps4:)

Outside of Tokyo Jungle and Darkstalkers, there isn't really anything else thread related. Probably one of the weaker selections for what I typically play, but it's still somewhat decent. Junes PS+ Games are still available until next Tuesday as a reminder.

 
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Everyone: I won't spend money on English Fate/GO.

Me: *struggles calculating a gacha allotment because Japanese Fate/GO launches this new banner tomorrow.*
DDbAB6DUQAESMbU.png
(Disgaea fans will recognize the design of one of the characters ;) )

Besides that, anyone play Dark Rose Valkyrie? I just remembered that came out earlier this month and was curious about it.

 
Draekon said:
Outside of Tokyo Jungle, there isn't really anything else thread related. Probably one of the weaker selections for what I typically play, but it's still somewhat decent.
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I would argue that Darkstalkers: Resurrection would be somewhat appropriate for this thread. The bright, colorful, anime-inspired visuals for the Darkstalkers series are somewhat Japan-related.

 
Princess Maker 3 English (no English translation before I believe) now on Steam. I actually played this in Japanese and got a lot of endings...ah I had way more time and patience back then.

20% off before July 4th and more % off if you get a bundle with previous games. I will support this and get it with my Steam summer haul.

Steam Store

 
Richard Kain said:
I would argue that Darkstalkers: Resurrection would be somewhat appropriate for this thread. The bright, colorful, anime-inspired visuals for the Darkstalkers series are somewhat Japan-related.
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For some reason I read Darkstalkers as Darksiders, which caused me to not mention it specifically.

 
Nothing371 said:
I am really sick of rerolling in Fate/Grand Order. 11 tries and haven't seen a 5* yet. Gotten several 5* equipment though. As soon as I get one I'm stopping.
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godofwar7 said:
I gave up after 3 rerolls. Definitely won't spend anything on this.
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Well I'm sure you two are aware, but I know some weren't. So I'll put it out there just in case. You aren't rerolling from that tutorial pull right? Supposedly that's fixed and you will never get anything good from it.

 
Richard Kain said:
I would argue that Darkstalkers: Resurrection would be somewhat appropriate for this thread. The bright, colorful, anime-inspired visuals for the Darkstalkers series are somewhat Japan-related.
Click to expand...
Considering it's a Japanese game, I'd say Darkstalkers is absolutely appropriate. And also the best game on that PS+ list.

 
kintanos said:
Well I'm sure you two are aware, but I know some weren't. So I'll put it out there just in case. You aren't rerolling from that tutorial pull right? Supposedly that's fixed and you will never get anything good from it.
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nah. I'm talking about the 46 tokens you use on pulls after that. Thanks for the heads up though. Again this is one of those things which is explained nowhere and I found out on accident by reading comments on the subreddit and gamefaqs.

 
This is actually one of the best PS+ months in a while. I know Until Dawn isn't a niche game, but it's absolutely fantastic and I definitely recommend checking it out. Very unique and does exactly what it sets out to do, which is nail that B-rated horror movie cliche right on the head. Darkstalkers collection is already decent, as is Tokyo Jungle. Nothing to say on GoT but it's probably better than an indie game no one has heard of.

Olengie said:
Did you guys forget Darkstalkers is a Capcom game. Lol
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I don't know if we forgot, but I think Capcom probably forgot they made it.

 
Morrigan and Lilith are in it. Resurrection is two games in one

I remember when Capcom said they didnt want to do a new Darkstalkers game becuz Resurrection didnt meet their expectations despite selling very well for a re release.
 
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BlackRockWaifu said:
This is actually one of the best PS+ months in a while. I know Until Dawn isn't a niche game, but it's absolutely fantastic and I definitely recommend checking it out. Very unique and does exactly what it sets out to do, which is nail that B-rated horror movie cliche right on the head. Darkstalkers collection is already decent, as is Tokyo Jungle. Nothing to say on GoT but it's probably better than an indie game no one has heard of.

I don't know if we forgot, but I think Capcom probably forgot they made it.
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I watched ProJared do a playthrough of Until Dawn on his ProJared plays channel and found it quite interesting. I'll more than likely snag most of the PS+ games for July. I need to clean off some of the games on my old PS3 or replace the hard drive sometime soon.

 
Olengie said:
Morrigan and Lilith are in it. Resurrection is two games in one

I remember when Capcom said they didnt want to do a new Darkstalkers game becuz Resurrection didnt meet their expectations despite selling very well for a re release.
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I think that's the same line we got from Square with the last Chrono Trigger port. I guess a million people buying a game just doesn't have the cred it once had.

 
BlackRockWaifu said:
This is actually one of the best PS+ months in a while. I know Until Dawn isn't a niche game, but it's absolutely fantastic and I definitely recommend checking it out. Very unique and does exactly what it sets out to do, which is nail that B-rated horror movie cliche right on the head.
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I loved Until Dawn. Easily one of my favorite PS4 exclusives.

 
Draekon said:
Looks like XSeed posted another blog recently. Somewhat interesting read and it focuses on their upcoming game, Zwei:

Zwei: The Ilvard Insurrection - Localization Blog #1

Apparently they're working on a patch for it, according to a reply of theirs on Twitter. Outside of that and the very distracting main character portrait, the game is decent so far though. I'm going through it very slowly however.
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Thanks for the info. At least they acknowledged it. Good to hear it's at least decent.

Josef said:
Wonder if we will get either of those Fire Emblem Warriors Premium Editions in the States?
Click to expand...
I hope so. If that crystal is anything like the one in the P5 famitsu crystal edition, it's a really neat CE item.

 
This isn't niche or even gaming related but I thought it was cool to share.

Sony's TV division is taking user-submitted ideas for a new TV series, and they'll select 5 fan ideas to make a pilot with and eventually create an entire show with the Playstation community choosing which one is best.

http://www.ign.com/articles/2017/06/27/sony-taking-public-pitches-for-its-next-playstation-tv-shows

Again, it's not gaming related, but I know we have a couple of amazing writers in here. SolidSnake86 is one, and you can check out his works on his sig, and he even has an Amazon page. Its great stuff so I definitely recommend it! I used to write some Neptunia fanfiction myself. And I think there might've been some literature majors in here as well. 

I have an idea inspired by Persona, Evangelion, and Fallout, so I know what pitch I'll send in. 

 
JohnnySako said:
I wonder How many copies Amazon sold with that 50% price drop prior to the US launch...
Click to expand...
I missed something big didn't I.

Picked up a few random things off the psn sale.

Natural Doctrine for $5(PS3) seemed like a good enough price to take a gamble on it. I am pleased to see that it has anime portraits.

Malicious Rebirth(vita) never heard of it but seems like a short beat 'em up boss rush thing

Battle Princess Arcadias(PS3) Been mildly interested in this for awhile. A sidescroller with strategy going on in the background while you fight in the foreground.

Jeanne D'arc(PSP) Played through about 3/4 of it on psp but never finished it. It's decently fun srpg. Liane is best girl and deserved to be the hero.

Mana Khemia(PSP) First time it's gone on sale I think. But the psp version is inferior to ps2 since no dual audio and annoying loading screens. Still it's cheap and worth owning on my atelier machine.

Oh and I've been emulating Fate/GO on my pc. Got Altera and Elizabeth Bathory.

 
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Kaiser499 said:
Has anyone called their credit card company about Play-Asia transactions being declined and how did they fix it? I'm trying to get Capital One to fix my issue with stuff not going through.
Click to expand...
yes recently for the ghost blade hd preorder.
my cc sent me an email that they declined the charge based of possible fraud. the email gave me a link to allow the charge or leave it declined & block playasia. I clicked acknowledge charge, than like 10 hrs later play asia emailed me saying on the second attempt my payment went threw.
I think play asia tries once a day charging your cc, i guess they get that a lot.


also sweet can't wait to play Darkstalkers!

Until Dawn is also a great horror game giving nods to the old school flicks.
 
I thought about getting Malicious Fallen also. It reminds me a little bit of Soulborne mixed with Dynasty Warriors. But I decided to wait til it's cheaper.
 

I ended up buying:

Aedis Eclipse (PSP)

Mana Khemia (PSP) (same series as the Atelier series, FYI)

Mimana Iyar (PSP)

Missus got a Vita recently, so got:

htoLNiQ (Vita)

Sorcery Saga (Vita)

And the non-JP PS4 stuff no one cares about:

How to Survive 2

God of War III Remaster

Shadow of Mordor

Lego Hobbit

 
elessar123 said:
I thought about getting Malicious Fallen also. It reminds me a little bit of Soulborne mixed with Dynasty Warriors. But I decided to wait til it's cheaper.

I ended up buying:

Aedis Eclipse (PSP)

Mana Khemia (PSP) (same series as the Atelier series, FYI)

Missus got a Vita recently, so got:

Sorcery Saga (Vita)
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I bought aedis as well since a 1$ and change game even if it sucks is within my experimental budget. I also got murdered soul suspect.

motaku96 said:
I missed something big didn't I.

Picked up a few random things off the psn sale.

Natural Doctrine for $5(PS3) seemed like a good enough price to take a gamble on it. I am pleased to see that it has anime portraits.

Jeanne D'arc(PSP) Played through about 3/4 of it on psp but never finished it. It's decently fun srpg. Liane is best girl and deserved to be the hero.

Mana Khemia(PSP) First time it's gone on sale I think. But the psp version is inferior to ps2 since no dual audio and annoying loading screens. Still it's cheap and worth owning on my atelier machine.
Click to expand...
And natural doctrine even though I heard its horribly unbalanced and punishing difficulty wise. A few of those other games I already had physically.

 
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It looks like we might get a release date of Nights of Azure 2 in the west tomorrow.

[media]https://twitter.com/KoeiTecmoUS/status/880172362997448704[/media]

 
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I'm looking forward to Trails of Cold Steel on PC :D I haven't had the chance to play it yet, so will probably be a day 1 purchase for me :) I enjoy the "Tales of" series, and this looks similar with a bit more story.

 
Katsumi said:
I'm looking forward to Trails of Cold Steel on PC :D I haven't had the chance to play it yet, so will probably be a day 1 purchase for me :) I enjoy the "Tales of" series, and this looks similar with a bit more story.
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...a bit more story is a huge understatement. I'd probably write you an essay on the series if I felt like going to the effort today. So I'll just leave it with a recommendation of checking out the Trails in the Sky trilogy. Playing Cold Steel first is possible, but it will spoil things from the Sky trilogy seeing as Cold Steel is actually the 6th game and third story arc in the series. PC versions have been the superior versions for all the series games in English and we're missing the second story arc in English (Game 4 & 5).

Also it's not action based at all. The battle system is more similar to Lunar and Grandia in a way with how it moves and what not. It's not that similar to those, but it gives you an idea on how the battle system moves around since it's still very turn based.

If you've been around the thread, you should know I highly recommend the series.

[customspoiler='Maniacal Laughter']
Another potential victim.[/customspoiler]

 
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I'm playing through Cold Steel on Vita now(a bit slowly, I'm stuck sharing a car with my wife which leaves me stranded at work very late so I play in the office break room at the end of the day sometimes). I really like how character development focused it is. Unless I spend a day grinding (which I don't think is needed, it's just how I play RPG's typically) pretty much every time I play I'm learning something about someone or they're showing a new side of themselves.

EDIT: Is this the kind of game that has a difficult to obtain True Ending? I'm enjoying not playing with a guide, but I hate situation of playing some games where you miss a true ending flag at the midpoint of a long game and get locked out of it.

 
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Draekon said:
...a bit more story is a huge understatement. I'd probably write you an essay on the series if I felt like going to the effort today. So I'll just leave it with a recommendation of checking out the Trails in the Sky trilogy. Playing Cold Steel first is possible, but it will spoil things from the Sky trilogy seeing as Cold Steel is actually the 6th game and third story arc in the series. PC versions have been the superior versions for all the series games in English and we're missing the second story arc in English (Game 4 & 5).

Also it's not action based at all. The battle system is more similar to Lunar and Grandia in a way with how it moves and what not. It's not that similar to those, but it gives you an idea on how the battle system moves around since it's still very turn based.
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I appreciate the input :) I haven't played any of the games yet, so I may look into the Sky games. I need more time in the day to play!

I've watched a couple of short videos, and the turn based combat doesn't bother me at all. The story is typically my favorite part of RPG's and as long as the combat is fun, I'm happy.

 
Pheria said:
I'm playing through Cold Steel on Vita now(a bit slowly, I'm stuck sharing a car with my wife which leaves me stranded at work very late so I play in the office break room at the end of the day sometimes). I really like how character development focused it is. Unless I spend a day grinding (which I don't think is needed, it's just how I play RPG's typically) pretty much every time I play I'm learning something about someone or they're showing a new side of themselves.

EDIT: Is this the kind of game that has a difficult to obtain True Ending? I'm enjoying not playing with a guide, but I hate situation of playing some games where you miss a true ending flag at the midpoint of a long game and get locked out of it.
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So the Trails series and hidden shit. It's a running theme. You typically have two types:

1) Books - Get the series throughout the playthrough and turn them in at the end for one piece of Zemurian Ore. You turn one Zemurian Ore into an ultimate weapon for a character. There are usually a few ways to obtain them, but you're limited on the amount you can obtain in a single playthrough.

2) Quests - There are usually at least a few 'hidden' ones. Quests in the series tend to count towards you chapter "score" and in some cases how you respond to quests. In Trails in the Sky it's about your bracer rank and in Cold Steel it's your school evaluation. So long as you hit a certain number by the end of the game (I think it's like 10 AP points leeway), you'll get the best rank. All this does is give better bonuses for carry over into the sequel as well as some other item you can obtain at the end of the game on top of hitting certain total AP milestone rewards. Which in this case is a medal that can reward you with a master quartz if I remember correctly. Though I think there are two choices and you have to go through NG+ to obtain the other.

There isn't a "true ending" so to speak. You'll get the same ending no matter what you do in any of the games. The bonding system (which is kinda of annoying since it locks you out of seeing all character development) will have an effect on a few scenes. Basically some stuff you can do during the final chapter and who appears in a couple certain scenes. All of which is actually rather minor.

If you do a NG+ run for carrying over data to the sequel for whatever reason, you'll have to (re)gain the best possible AP rank. Here's the carry over bonuses into the sequel:

Rank A1: Silver Medal accessory (HP+500, EP+50)
Rank A0: Golden Medal accessory (can't be obtained otherwise, HP+1000, EP+100, STR, DEF, ATS and ADF+10)

Rean's level is 69 or lower: 100 of each sepith except mass, Attack 1, Zeram Powder
Rean's level is 70-79: 300 of each sepith except mass, Attack 1, Soul Blur, Zeram Powder
Rean's level is 80 or higher: 500 of each sepith except mass, Attack 1, Soul Blur, Saintly Force, Zeram Powder x2

The latter bonuses are easy if you grabbed the shining pom DLC when it was free a ways back. Use them at the end of the game in the final dungeon (once you've left it, you can't go back and use them) to push you to at least that level. If you didn't grab the DLC while it was free, it's not worth wasting the time getting to the best carry over reward. Second best should be decently doable with a little grinding though.

 
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