Japanese Niche Games Deals & Discussion Thread 4.0

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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ATLUS is conducting a survey. Eligible respondents will have a chance to win gift certificates for the ATLUS Online Store, Nintendo eShop, PlayStation Store or Xbox/Microsoft Store. It might also be an opportunity to make yourself heard on games you'd like to be localised or distributed on a particular digital platform.
 
I got the email and saw the survey.  But I closed the window.  I'm trying to be more responsible about putting my personally identifiable information out there in the wild and it's not worth it just to have a chance at a $500 gift card.

 
I got the email and saw the survey. But I closed the window. I'm trying to be more responsible about putting my personally identifiable information out there in the wild and it's not worth it just to have a chance at a $500 gift card.
I'm still bitter that NISA let their store get hacked and lost my CC info. Youre right, even if it's not strictly CC info. Don't think these small companies are any better than the big ones with their security.
 
I'm still bitter that NISA let their store get hacked and lost my CC info. Youre right, even if it's not strictly CC info. Don't think these small companies are any better than the big ones with their security.
Yeah. It's not even run by Atlus. It's a surveymonkey run by a third party and its purpose is mining and sharing your info.

 
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Yeah. It's not even run by Atlus. It's a surveymonkey run by a third party and its purpose is mining and sharing your info.
The Atlus survey didn't seem like that. It gathered some demographic info at the beginning (i.e. state, employment status), but nothing particularly personally identifiable. I work with data a lot, and this seems more like demographic analysis and demand assessment than the more sinister, Facebook-esque "sell your data" type of thing.

 
I know it's been reported before that the Asia version of Dead or Alive Xtreme 3 Scarlet will be supporting English, but after just looking at the Japanese version up for pre-order on the Japanese eShop, it also shows support for English, Korean and Chinese.

This really cleared up some doubts I had, especially after that one Play-Asia article that seemed too good to be true.

Now I know which version of the game I'll be getting. :)

 
The survey text hurts my eyes. Like that effect when your monitor has a weird refresh rate.

Edit: lol, I'm not the only one here with this problem, right?

dfyVVkz.png


 
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I know it's been reported before that the Asia version of Dead or Alive Xtreme 3 Scarlet will be supporting English, but after just looking at the Japanese version up for pre-order on the Japanese eShop, it also shows support for English, Korean and Chinese.
I forgot they were releasing a new edition of DoA Xtreme 3 but, with Tecmo, I'm not surprised. Glad I held out on the original version.

 
The survey text hurts my eyes. Like that effect when your monitor has a weird refresh rate.

Edit: lol, I'm not the only one here with this problem, right?

dfyVVkz.png
Out of that list I own digital devil saga, summoner, smt, growlanser, persona and catherine. Amusing that stella glow wasn't on that list since they did publish it an all.

 
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there's a lot of talk about digital purchases and digital preorder incentives.

I hope everyone is choosing physical format as the preferred purchase and physical incentives instead of digital preorder DLC.
 
The survey text hurts my eyes. Like that effect when your monitor has a weird refresh rate.

Edit: lol, I'm not the only one here with this problem, right?

dfyVVkz.png
I have all of those aside from Growlanser and Radiant. So there are others who pretty much buy anything they release. I did enjoy Stella Glow a lot and saddened to see it is not on here.

 
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I hope that Atlus brings over the original Utawarerumono remake when it's done. Kinda sad that I never really hear the two Utawarerumono games mentioned here as they're really good games.

Also for any of you metroidvania lovers here who don't mind gaming on a PC, Touhou Luna Nights finally exited early access today. It seems to be rather competent from what I've read and is likely rather unknown, so I figured I'd at least mention it. It's a Japanese indie game to boot and currently isn't likely to release on consoles.

 
I forgot they were releasing a new edition of DoA Xtreme 3 but, with Tecmo, I'm not surprised. Glad I held out on the original version.
Well, actually, the early news is that the "new" version will be censored in such a way that the original version would be the better of the two. The only positive thus far is that the grinding is supposedly easier, but otherwise, less than clear whether there is any real plus to this upcoming release, and Tecmo seems to be cagey about details.

 
I hope that Atlus brings over the original Utawarerumono remake when it's done. Kinda sad that I never really hear the two Utawarerumono games mentioned here as they're really good games.

Also for any of you metroidvania lovers here who don't mind gaming on a PC, Touhou Luna Nights finally exited early access today. It seems to be rather competent from what I've read and is likely rather unknown, so I figured I'd at least mention it. It's a Japanese indie game to boot and currently isn't likely to release on consoles.
underwater ray romano I imagine most people are turned off by visual novel, srpg combat or both. And they are connected games iirc. I wouldn't mind picking them up someday but I have a backlog as it is.

 
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The survey text hurts my eyes. Like that effect when your monitor has a weird refresh rate.

Edit: lol, I'm not the only one here with this problem, right?

dfyVVkz.png
I left 5 of them unchecked, but that's only because I sold Trauma Center and Soul Hackers. I never bought Growlanser, Radiant Historia or Devil Survivor.

 
There's a Neptunia bundle up on Humble right now for anyone interested in those games who hasn't already bought them. Steam keys only, of course.

The $1 tier also includes Amnesia: Memories for all you contrarians out there.
 
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This better be a placeholder price:

https://twitter.com/Wario64/status/1100567266695888897/photo/1

Even if it's supposed to be $40, it would suck if we also only get RE0 on the cart. :bomb:

 
$20 more than the Origin Collection was on PS4 for only one of the game on the thing you just bought. It better at least be 1080p 60 FPS, or this is a pathetic offering. 

 
I hope that Atlus brings over the original Utawarerumono remake when it's done. Kinda sad that I never really hear the two Utawarerumono games mentioned here as they're really good games.

Also for any of you metroidvania lovers here who don't mind gaming on a PC, Touhou Luna Nights finally exited early access today. It seems to be rather competent from what I've read and is likely rather unknown, so I figured I'd at least mention it. It's a Japanese indie game to boot and currently isn't likely to release on consoles.
I just bought luna nights but I wish I had bought it last week when it was in early access for a better price. It has some of the best sprite work I've ever seen. Really digging the balance of the game and all the things you can do with time stop.

There's a Neptunia bundle up on Humble right now for anyone interested in those games who hasn't already bought them. Steam keys only, of course.

The $1 tier also includes Amnesia: Memories for all you contrarians out there.
I already have all the neps except for VIIR but tempted to get it anyway. Does anyone know if the "deluxe editions" are separate keys?

 
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having played beaker 2 and bought 3 (its in the backlog). Reviews tell that most of the features and Gundam suits are MIA in "new Gundam breaker".
Basically it's like they went backwards and are offering a barebones product. Probably why it doesn't have a "4" on it.
I'd spend the extra money and import Gundam breaker 3 Break edition with English subtitles for the ultimate Gundam gaming experience.
 
It's trash. Like they took out everything that was good from Breaker 2 and 3 and added a MOBA aspect into it.

You're better off buying Gundam Breaker 3 Break Edition

 
Ace Attorney Trilogy confirmed for release on April 9th: http://www.capcom-unity.com/capkel/blog/2019/02/27/phoenix-wright-ace-attorney-trilogy-comes-to-your-favorite-platform-beginning-april-9th

There's no mention of physical editions. That doesn't bode well.
I bet it'll get announced later on, after the game's been out a while. That seems to be the marketing ploy now. There are people who will buy it on launch digitally and on physical later, if you launch both at once you miss out on that double-dip market.

It's part of the reason I very, very rarely buy digital. With all of the limited companies trying to do physical prints now, any half-decent indie game is likely to get one. And if I miss out on one or two games I won't be terribly upset; there are already way too many good games out that I don't have time to play. If anything it just makes my decision in that regard.

 
I bet it'll get announced later on, after the game's been out a while. That seems to be the marketing ploy now. There are people who will buy it on launch digitally and on physical later, if you launch both at once you miss out on that double-dip market.
I doubt it. The last few releases never came out physically in the US.

 
I bet it'll get announced later on, after the game's been out a while. That seems to be the marketing ploy now. There are people who will buy it on launch digitally and on physical later, if you launch both at once you miss out on that double-dip market.

It's part of the reason I very, very rarely buy digital. With all of the limited companies trying to do physical prints now, any half-decent indie game is likely to get one. And if I miss out on one or two games I won't be terribly upset; there are already way too many good games out that I don't have time to play. If anything it just makes my decision in that regard.
Maybe, just maybe Capcom will let Limited Run Games release PS4 and Switch versions, but I'm fine importing the Switch version through Play-Asia. Remember, this is the same Capcom that won't include both RE0 and RE1 on the cart in the Switch Resident Evil Origins Collection in Japan and left half of two Mega Man Collections off the Switch cart in the US versions, so I'm not optimistic they'll care very much about Ace Attorney Trilogy. Even if they did, I bet they'd do something dumb like make AA3 a digital download.

 
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Maybe, just maybe Capcom will let Limited Run Games release PS4 and Switch versions, but I'm fine importing the Switch version through Play-Asia. Remember, this is the same Capcom that won't include both RE0 and RE1 on the cart in the Switch Resident Evil Origins Collection in Japan and left half of two Mega Man Collections off the Switch cart in the US versions, so I'm not optimistic they'll care very much about Ace Attorney Trilogy. Even if they did, I bet they'd do something dumb like make AA3 a digital download.
LRG has been touting an exciting Switch release in April. This was my first thought after the announcement today.
 
It is terrible and worth your time to do anything else. I bought it for $12 a few months ago and not having played GB3 thought "Oh how bad can it really be???" It was so bad I sold it a week later and ponied up the $50 to get Breaker 3 Break Edition off Amazon. Night and day difference between the games. GB 3 is fantastic btw.

 
It could be cancelled or it could be sold directly on Nicalis' web site. Rumors show that Nicalis is changing its business model (selling direct vs retail), but nothing has been officially announced.
Has anybody followed up or found any info for Remilore PS4? I checked Nicalis' website, and it's only available for purchase on switch and xbox... which is kinda weird. You can buy digital on PSN, but I'm not exactly motivated to do so.

 
Has anybody followed up or found any info for Remilore PS4? I checked Nicalis' website, and it's only available for purchase on switch and xbox... which is kinda weird. You can buy digital on PSN, but I'm not exactly motivated to do so.
There is no physical version for Xbox and Nicalis canceled the physical version for Playstation 4 for an unknown reason. People have tweeted and e-mailed them but they don't respond about it so no one knows why. The only physical version of the game is for Switch.

 
So after over a year I finally went back to give Xenoblade 2 another chance.

I had to force myself to play the game a little differently (basically, stop treating it like the first two games, because this one's pace is very different), and once I accustomed myself to the flow I am now loving the game. I love the skill tree system, the world building is phenomenal, and the music of course is just exquisite. The gacha blade system is kind of a kick in the balls, but getting a rare blade is always fun when it does happen, and the merc system gives you an actual use for the blades you'd never have equipped anyway. 

I'm about 60 hours in, and only just started Chapter 5, and have loved just about everything I've gone through. My current gripes with the game are still essentially the same as they were when I first played and hated the game. The combat, while fun when you've got full team synergy, can still feel a little like a grind at times. Positioning is almost never an issue because of the clear aggro markers, but what does kill the combat at times is the terrible terrain placement for certain enemies. One fight in particular I was fighting a large enemy near a tree, but after fighting it for a good 10 minutes the enemy's attacks starting separating the team because of the tree's roots and the further they strayed from the enemy, the more they invited all nearby enemies to the fight that wiped us all out. The opposite is also true, which makes certain fights totally anticlimactic. I ran into some unique enemy on a fucking catwalk under a bridge, and a knockdown moved pushed him off, and that was the end of that fight not two seconds after the music started and gone was the loot they dropped as well.  

The technical limitations of the game/hardware is what really drag down the experience at the worst times. One particular story fight has you fighting a group of enemy drivers and blades in a crowded town, so the fights went from the usual 30ish FPS to 10 and below. The only net positive in this scenario is that it makes the button prompts during combos unmissable. The driver+blade mechanic is really fun and unique, but it's moments like this where you can tell they never once thought about how it was going to work reliably in-game. 

I've been enjoying the story for the most part. It's typical JRPG/anime tropes endlessly, but the characters carry it well beyond that with some great performances throughout (JP audio obviously). It's only when things get way too silly and anime that I find myself cringing a bit at the chuuni shit, but at least it's always fun. I still hate Rex's terrible character design. I get the whole boy versus the scary world thing, but he looks like such a stupid asshole and I hate looking at his dumbass face. It's sad, because they've developed his personality really well and is actually the most mature person in the entire game, but again, that stupid fucking FACE. 

So yeah, awesome game. I'm sorry I didn't give you a proper chance last year. Looking forward to beating it, and playing the DLC.

 
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So after over a year I finally went back to give Xenoblade 2 another chance.

I had to force myself to play the game a little differently (basically, stop treating it like the first two games, because this one's pace is very different), and once I accustomed myself to the flow I am now loving the game. I love the skill tree system, the world building is phenomenal, and the music of course is just exquisite. The gacha blade system is kind of a kick in the balls, but getting a rare blade is always fun when it does happen, and the merc system gives you an actual use for the blades you'd never have equipped anyway.

I'm about 60 hours in, and only just started Chapter 5, and have loved just about everything I've gone through. My current gripes with the game are still essentially the same as they were when I first played and hated the game. The combat, while fun when you've got full team synergy, can still feel a little like a grind at times. Positioning is almost never an issue because of the clear aggro markers, but what does kill the combat at times is the terrible terrain placement for certain enemies. One fight in particular I was fighting a large enemy near a tree, but after fighting it for a good 10 minutes the enemy's attacks starting separating the team because of the tree's roots and the further they strayed from the enemy, the more they invited all nearby enemies to the fight that wiped us all out. The opposite is also true, which makes certain fights totally anticlimactic. I ran into some unique enemy on a fucking catwalk under a bridge, and a knockdown moved pushed him off, and that was the end of that fight not two seconds after the music started and gone was the loot they dropped as well.

The technical limitations of the game/hardware is what really drag down the experience at the worst times. One particular story fight has you fighting a group of enemy drivers and blades in a crowded town, so the fights went from the usual 30ish FPS to 10 and below. The only net positive in this scenario is that it makes the button prompts during combos unmissable. The driver+blade mechanic is really fun and unique, but it's moments like this where you can tell they never once thought about how it was going to work reliably in-game.

I've been enjoying the story for the most part. It's typical JRPG/anime tropes endlessly, but the characters carry it well beyond that with some great performances throughout (JP audio obviously). It's only when things get way too silly and anime that I find myself cringing a bit at the chuuni shit, but at least it's always fun. I still hate Rex's terrible character design. I get the whole boy versus the scary world thing, but he looks like such a stupid asshole and I hate looking at his dumbass face. It's sad, because they've developed his personality really well and is actually the most mature person in the entire game, but again, that stupid fucking FACE.

So yeah, awesome game. I'm sorry I didn't give you a proper chance last year. Looking forward to beating it, and playing the DLC.
XB2 has some pretty major problems, especially given that it's an--assumedly--big budget, first party game. But they can easily be gotten over once the game clicks. But I also struggled with playing it right and really 'getting' it. Once I did, though, hoo-boy! Two of my favorite things about it (not going to go into everything, obviously) would be the music and the cut scenes. There are some awesome fights and great choreography in the cut scenes, which I'm not used to and really enjoyed.

 
I'm just thankful we live in a day and age where Nintendo is willing to commission studios such as Monolithsoft to make core games like Xenoblade to appease RPG nerds like us even though they will only sell 1-2million copies if successful.  Look what's happening around the rest of the industry, especially in the West. 

 
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There are some awesome fights and great choreography in the cut scenes, which I'm not used to and really enjoyed.
I like a lot of the cutscenes, but it's silly to see them jumping around doing DBZ shit when you had just finished fighting them by standing still and waiting for your extra flashy moves to charge. I know every single JRPG ever is guilty of this, but it's still funny to see it unfold like that.

 
I'm just thankful we live in a day and age where Nintendo is willing to commission studios such as Monolithsoft to make core games like Xenoblade to appease RPG nerds like us even though they will only sell 1-2million copies if successful. Look what's happening around the rest of the industry, especially in the West.
Isn't monoliftsoft second party since nintendo owns them?

 
Zanki Zero censored in the west.

https://www.spike-chunsoft.com/news/zanki-zero-last-beginning-western-release-changes/

To ensure a release for the West, content changes will also be included in the localized PlayStation®4 and Steam® (PC) versions. To reduce content which could be interpreted as sexualization of characters depicted as minors, the following changes have been made:

  • PlayStation®4 Packaging art
    In order to conform to public storefront display standards, images that can be interpreted as too sexually provocative must be modified.

[*]Sachika Bedroom Scene CGIs
  • In the Japanese release, Sachika's panties are visible. In the Western release, Sachika is wearing pajama bottoms.

[*]Sachika CGI in the Opening Scene
  • In the Japanese release, Sachika's panties are visible. In the Western release, the camera angle has been raised to not show Sachika's panties.

[*]Child Rinko Extend Machine CGI
  • In the Japanese release, Child Rinko covers her chest with her arms. In the Western release, the position of her arms has been adjusted.

[*]All “Child” bedtime event cutscenes removed
 
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