Japanese Niche Games Deals & Discussion Thread 4.0

shivan128

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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Oh I could already see the Google translate stuff in the first game as well as named npcs with generic design models. A number of them clip through themselves among other things. Especially the female characters when they put their hands up to their faces or chests. The one npc that is connected to the goat sidequest and frescher and the pudding recipe had her near full arm go through her chest. She was obviously not supposed to be designed so larger and you can definitely tell by her weird posture.
 
nightc1 said:
I own them all, just only played and finished XC2 & XC2 Torna . Once I was deep into XC2 I was tracking down the other games (skipping the wii version of the first game for the 3DS version). I forget how much time I put in with XC2, maybe 120 hours? I didn't want to leave that world but had done most everything possible including maxing each blade affinity chart.


So far XC1 seems good but I need to work on my map reading skills because the first person I did a quest for (delivering buiscuits to her grandson) I forgot completely where she was and the map didn't make it super obvious (that I could tell) where to find her (though I knew the area).
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I just realized I already knew you played the other Xenoblade games because I know who you are. You changed your profile pic though, so I didn't recognize you lol sorry about that! I'm better with profile pics than names.

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super1upqueen said:
The Ryza trilogy made me finally pick up some of the older Atelier games (that I unfortunately still haven't played, because TOO MANY GAMES).
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That's also what I'm doing. Despite owning everything from Rorona forward, I had only played Ryza 1 & 2. I'm currently at the end of Sophie 1 because I figured I should play it before Sophie 2 and Ryza 3. The game really struggles on making clear what is needed to be done to progress. Basically just underscores the many improvements that came on the thighs of Ryza 1. The presence of an english dub was a surprise to me. But they did cast several VAs I like despite the odd production decision to pronounce "atelier" incorrectly. On the positive, Sophie 1 was a perfect fit on steam deck and fiddling with alchemy on a portable device is much superior.
 
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super1upqueen said:
I just realized I already knew you played the other Xenoblade games because I know who you are. You changed your profile pic though, so I didn't recognize you lol sorry about that! I'm better with profile pics than names.
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The new "online now" green icon that'll appear over your icon when you are online kind of made my old one look like I had a pacifier, lol. Plus it didn't frame right with the new way icons are done. Figured I'd change my icon to what I used on IGN for a few decades (since the days of Imagine Gaming Network and the launch of the GBA) and here for my first decade. I might change the background on this or dig up the specific gif I was using that has the background cut out and see how that looks.

Side note, played more XC1 last night. I can't dedicate all day to the game, but a couple hours was spent and I'm slowly easing into it... grinding away at the side quests, and leveling up just because that's how I try to approach most rpgs. I don't mind a little grunt work if it helps make the game a little easier. So far I'm loving it, as expected. XC2 is easily among the top gaming experiences of my life (along with Shenmue and Zelda Wind Waker).

keyblader1985 said:
Can't say I was expecting a Sand Land game at all. I remember seeing it in my old Shonen Jump issues back in the day.
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My oldest son told me about this game sometime middle of last year because he wanted to read my copy of it. I don't have a lot of manga, but I was pretty serious into Toriyama stuff (Sand Land, DB, DBZ, and Doctor Slump) when the manga were getting their first english releases.

This reminds me, I was looking through tv shows & streaming movies coming out over the year and I came across Netflix dropping a "Doctor Slump" movie later this year... it has nothing to do with the manga/anime but rather is some romance movie, lol.
 
gospelman said:
That's also what I'm doing. Despite owning everything from Rorona forward, I had only played Ryza 1 & 2. I'm currently at the end of Sophie 1 because I figured I should play it before Sophie 2 and Ryza 3. The game really struggles on making clear what is needed to be done to progress. Basically just underscores the many improvements that came on the thighs of Ryza 1. The presence of an english dub was a surprise to me. But they did cast several VAs I like despite the odd production decision to pronounce "atelier" incorrectly. On the positive, Sophie 1 was a perfect fit on steam deck and fiddling with alchemy on a portable device is much superior.
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Heh.

...I need to actually start one of the dozen Ateliers in my backlog one of these days.
 
Trying to start the Atelier series is like trying to get into beginning One Piece (anime) for me. Where to start. Where would I even begin. lol

Easiest to just forget about it. Best to just stick to the hundreds of other things in my backlog and focus on new games, heh. Such as finishing XC1 which I started like four years ago. I have this thing where I only play (or watch) things in order, from the beginning.
 
I tried Atelier Rorona (I think that was the name) back in the PS3 days and just couldn't get into it. Never tried the series again.
 
nightc1 said:
The new "online now" green icon that'll appear over your icon when you are online kind of made my old one look like I had a pacifier, lol. Plus it didn't frame right with the new way icons are done. Figured I'd change my icon to what I used on IGN for a few decades (since the days of Imagine Gaming Network and the launch of the GBA) and here for my first decade. I might change the background on this or dig up the specific gif I was using that has the background cut out and see how that looks.

Side note, played more XC1 last night. I can't dedicate all day to the game, but a couple hours was spent and I'm slowly easing into it... grinding away at the side quests, and leveling up just because that's how I try to approach most rpgs. I don't mind a little grunt work if it helps make the game a little easier. So far I'm loving it, as expected. XC2 is easily among the top gaming experiences of my life (along with Shenmue and Zelda Wind Waker).
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I got lucky my Senran girls made the transition pretty painlessly. I thought about changing my pic when I returned here, but someone needs to remember the Senran Kagura series, so it's gonna be me.

Wind Waker, Xenoblade 1, Persona 4, Pokemon Gold/Silver/Crystal/Heartgold/Soulsilver, and Final Fantasy X I think are my top 5 games of all time, in that order. Xenoblade 2 I think gets in the top 10. Incredible games.
Nothing- said:
Trying to start the Atelier series is like trying to get into beginning One Piece (anime) for me. Where to start. Where would I even begin. lol

Easiest to just forget about it. Best to just stick to the hundreds of other things in my backlog and focus on new games, heh. Such as finishing XC1 which I started like four years ago. I have this thing where I only play (or watch) things in order, from the beginning.
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Not as hard as getting into Trails, since you can at least start Atelier from the first game in any of its various trilogies. Hell, you could start in the middle of a trilogy and still be okay (though I often start at the beginning of series, too). With Trails, you're pretty much required to start at the first Sky game and never skip a single entry if you want the whole story. I played the Sky trilogy but still haven't gotten to the Crossbell games, and with every passing month, I feel I'm losing my chance to keep going due to not remembering a lot of what happened in Sky (beyond the major story beats) and my own personal barrier of being overwhelmed by the prospect of having to commit to such a long series.

I hope you love Xenoblade 1, it's seriously so good.
gmsick said:
I tried Atelier Rorona (I think that was the name) back in the PS3 days and just couldn't get into it. Never tried the series again.
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My first game was Rorona, too, played on the Vita. I was immediately turned off by how strict the time limit was, and I usually don't let time limits get to me that bad (I play Persona, after all). But, the one in Rorona seemed so stressful, so I dropped it pretty early. Ryza 1-3 made me want to try the older games again, but only the ones without a time limit (or a less restrictive one). I ended up getting the Dusk and Secret trilogies, since the former eased up on the time limit a bit and the latter nearly did away with it entirely. I know that kind of makes me sound like a filthy casual, but something about how Atelier does the time limits just sucks all the fun out of it for me.
 
Nothing- said:
My biggest regret is not buying 100 PS TVs when they were on clearance for twenty bucks about ~8yrs ago and then sit on them. I knew it, too. But I only bought two of them.
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nightc1 said:
I only bought one extra PSTV at that time (bundle with sly cooper & lego movie) from walmart. I want to think it was $30 or less.

They had a bunch of them and I could have had a nice stack of them but I wasn't into reselling and just wanted a backup.

My first vita was a PSTV. Loved that to bits and I grabbed my Vita 2000 Borderlands 2 bundle from a walmart when most stores had already liquidated them off.
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Yeah I have like 3 or 4 of the PSTV's from that time, not sure as to how many as I only have the one I whitelisted out while the others are in a bin in the closet still sealed. The one I whitelisted was a regular one while the others were that Sly Cooper & Lego bundle. All I know is I'm good on PS3 controllers lol.

My first Vita though was the white Assassin's Creed Bundle one,
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While the game wasn't my cup of tea the system looked gorgeous, still does actually. Though I think it may need a battery replacement at this point.
 
I have and adore the Miku Vita

I did also get one of those PSTV bundles with the LEGO movie game, Dualshock3, and 8GB memory card for around $30 that nightc1 pointed out.

I miss all the days in general of getting "last gen/on the way out" systems for around $20-35
My Gamecube, Gameboy Micro (shiny red one even - but no Famicom faceplate), Pokemon White edition DSi were all $25-35 each used from Gamestop when no one seemed to want them. You'd have to get lucky and find one in decent condition, but if you did it was awesome.
Hardware doesn't seem to really drop to that level anymore. It used to happen pretty quickly too once the next gen product was out.

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Miku Vita best Vita.
 
I do like how easily accessible replacement parts are nowadays though. I just recently bought replacement shells and parts for both my GBA and GBC for about twenty dollars total. If you want a nice custom design it will cost a little more, but basic colors are really cheap.
 
I was a cheapo and got a Vita from Boomcows or whatever it was called that was owned by Best Buy. I got one that was near mint and got it on a coupon as well. It had a near flawless screen, with some slight scratches on the top triggers. It worked great for all the stuff I played with it.

I didn't play much for JRPGs last year. Had almost no interest in playing them. I do feel I'm growing out of RPGs in general with how much so many drag on now with not as amazing stories, characters and sometimes gameplay. I'll start hitting on my collection especially my newer PS5 RPGs which are still untouched. I did start FF7 whatever, so I should try to work on that one to be prepared for the new one coming.
 
keyblader1985 said:
I do like how easily accessible replacement parts are nowadays though. I just recently bought replacement shells and parts for both my GBA and GBC for about twenty dollars total. If you want a nice custom design it will cost a little more, but basic colors are really cheap.
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For sure, even less successful stuff like the Neo Geo Pocket Color has a lot of that now. I've been wanting one again after selling my frontlit modded one years ago, and there are way better backlit mods now, lens replacements, shells, button replacements, and flash card options.
 
nitrosmob said:
I didn't play much for JRPGs last year. Had almost no interest in playing them. I do feel I'm growing out of RPGs in general with how much so many drag on now with not as amazing stories, characters and sometimes gameplay. I'll start hitting on my collection especially my newer PS5 RPGs which are still untouched. I did start FF7 whatever, so I should try to work on that one to be prepared for the new one coming.
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I'm in the same boat with JRPGs. I'm getting really burned out with the 100+ hour bloated ones and a growing reluctance to commit myself to what feels like a project has been keeping me from playing very many lately. I'm just so sick of so many scenes of just talking, talking, talking with no actual story progression, so I've been gravitating more toward open world games, exploration-based games, "cozy" games, and shorter adventure/role-playing games without the time wasting. Last year, I really jived with TotK, Theatrhythm Final Bar Line, Spider-Man 2, Subnautica, the Pikmin series, Forspoken, Cult of the Lamb, SaGa Frontier, and currently Dave the Diver, and now I'm looking forward to finally trying out No Man's Sky. As much as I liked FFXVI (for a while, anyway), and as amazing as the story was (again, for a while), I just wanted everyone to shut up and let me play. I recently completed Soul Hackers 2 and while that was a long game, it had plenty of actual gameplay on top of a reasonable number of cutscenes telling a pretty cool story with interesting characters. Perfect 8/10 game for me. I've been really thinking about finally getting to Octopath Traveler II, since I loved the first game, but then I remember Pikmin 4 is still waiting for my playthrough and I'd just rather play something like that.
 
I'm leaning more towards RPG's these days ... but I'm demanding like a lot of quality and for them to tick boxes. I need exploration, I don't like linear rpgs or overly generic. I don't mind throwing 100+ hours into a game as long as the experience is great. XC2 for me was that (as well as XC2:Torna). So far the whole series meets that quality for me. IF it's not just exceptional, then I'll take a shorter rpg if it does something unique or fun. Like the quirky Destiny Connect: Tick-Tock Travelers. I got a new copy for $21.78 from gamefly a couple years ago. It's not super long and was quirky in all the right ways. I think I might have put 25 hours into it. Similar to Live A LIve... it is kind of basic in the world design but I loved the whole experience and how condensed it was. Perfect for playing a chapter over the course of a game session or two.

Pheria said:
I did also get one of those PSTV bundles with the LEGO movie game, Dualshock3, and 8GB memory card for around $30 that nightc1 pointed out.

I miss all the days in general of getting "last gen/on the way out" systems for around $20-35
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I looked last night an my original PSTV was the Lego Movie bundle but the one I bought as a backup is the Lego Movie & Sly Cooper bundle.

As for systems dropping cheap, it still happens but not as sweet a deal. Like the $50 2DS refurbished I grabbed from Nintendo.com ... the $99 New 2DS XL from Walmart (which I gave to my youngest son)... or the $20 Sony Playstation One Classic... which I bought 2 of them since that got free shipping and if nothing else the controllers are usb and pretty nice. They don't happen as often but the systems are also getting more expensive. Probably the next system to get cheap is going to be the Switch lite... but probably only $75 or something.
 
I haven't played a JRPG in awhile, either. But I am 100+ hours deep in my first BG3 run, so that's where my time has gone.

I believe I own most of the Legend of Heroes, Atelier, Ys, Xenoblade games that are on modern hardware... perhaps I should play one of those next.

I'm one of those folks who got a PSVita TV for like nothing and it's modified... and sitting in a box somewhere.

One I move the old futon to the basement on my 1080p set, I will probably start working my way through console games again since the Mrs. can enjoy the 4k set for her viewing pleasure (only my PS5 is on that one).
 
nightc1 said:
I'm leaning more towards RPG's these days ... but I'm demanding like a lot of quality and for them to tick boxes. I need exploration, I don't like linear rpgs or overly generic. I don't mind throwing 100+ hours into a game as long as the experience is great. XC2 for me was that (as well as XC2:Torna). So far the whole series meets that quality for me. IF it's not just exceptional, then I'll take a shorter rpg if it does something unique or fun. Like the quirky Destiny Connect: Tick-Tock Travelers. I got a new copy for $21.78 from gamefly a couple years ago. It's not super long and was quirky in all the right ways. I think I might have put 25 hours into it. Similar to Live A LIve... it is kind of basic in the world design but I loved the whole experience and how condensed it was. Perfect for playing a chapter over the course of a game session or two.



I looked last night an my original PSTV was the Lego Movie bundle but the one I bought as a backup is the Lego Movie & Sly Cooper bundle.

As for systems dropping cheap, it still happens but not as sweet a deal. Like the $50 2DS refurbished I grabbed from Nintendo.com ... the $99 New 2DS XL from Walmart (which I gave to my youngest son)... or the $20 Sony Playstation One Classic... which I bought 2 of them since that got free shipping and if nothing else the controllers are usb and pretty nice. They don't happen as often but the systems are also getting more expensive. Probably the next system to get cheap is going to be the Switch lite... but probably only $75 or something.
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Oh nice, I'll consider refurbished consoles from them in the future perhaps.

I still quite like JRPG's/RPG's but I haven't been exclusively playing them.

I've found that I'm really resistant to getting into a game for the first maybe 4-5 hours and find it kind of a drag (not just RPG's, in general). But by the time I Get around 7-10 hours I'm pretty familiar with how it operates/the world and find it more enjoyable to play longer.

So my strategy has sort of been, 1.5 hours at a time when starting something new, after that switch to something else for 60-90 minutes that I'm already familiar with (Rhythm games or WoW, usually). Then after a while of that (This is usually like a week or two because of limited free time on weekdays, and not 'sampling' every day but I do also typically have two going at a time- so usually I'm 'into' one already) I'm usually into it enough to play it more frequently and for longer.
If I hate a game I'll drop it before then, but I frequently am in a "Do I really want to play this game, I haven't really learned how it all works yet, do I really want to start this long game instead of another long game?". So it's usually only effective at powering through a "I want to like this game, but I'm not yet" feeling. It feels more familiar and like a thing I just pick up to enjoy that some unknown mountain to evaluate and put a lot of time into.

Recently had this with Sea of Stars, I considered dropping it frequently early on but I ended up playing all the way through and liking it after that staggered, rocky start I had with it.
If you can grind in the game sometimes that works too. Once I hit that '90 minute wall', I can just stop progressing and run off to grind for a bit to relax. But in games with level scaling (like Sea of Stars) grinding is kind of pointless so I just play something else instead. Side rant about how much I hate level scaling in games.

Probably not for everyone, but I need systems and rules (they can be broken, it's not that serious, if I really don't feel like it or I'm not having fun I'll bail, but it's just a push/direction to get started), otherwise the analysis paralysis takes over instead and that's the fail state. lol
 
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super1upqueen said:
I'm in the same boat with JRPGs. I'm getting really burned out with the 100+ hour bloated ones and a growing reluctance to commit myself to what feels like a project has been keeping me from playing very many lately. I'm just so sick of so many scenes of just talking, talking, talking with no actual story progression, so I've been gravitating more toward open world games, exploration-based games, "cozy" games, and shorter adventure/role-playing games without the time wasting.
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Yeah, traditional jrpgs have become a bit antiquated. I still like them a lot, but they don't hold my attention like they used to. Esp when it feels like the game does not respect your time. There is good, lengthy content and then there's nonstop grinding on every world.

Young kids definitely don't play m/any jrpgs.
 
Atelier rorona vanilla I don't have any experience with. But I played plus and didn't find it restrictive at all compared to ayesha vanilla. Ayesha which I got the early bad ending in because of how strict the time limit was and how you burn a month just going to the floating dungeon area alone.

I appreciate the time limit being removed from ryza somewhat. But it never really bothered me besides when trying to get certain endings and such that aren't things in ryza.

Of the series I've played ayesha vanilla, rorona plus, meruru vanilla and ryza 1. So there's 16 titles I haven't played give or take from just the localized ones.

Of them I'd actually say rorona was my favorite since it was the most serious and structured. While the others are less so. Ayesha is the worst protagonist of the batch definitely thus far. There's idiot savant and then there's whatever ayesha is. She's just so air headed that I am amazed she remembered how to dress herself.

Trails I skipped sky entirely. And started with cold steel. Then after 1 and 2 I later played zero after it was finally localized. Next up will be Azure. But I'm sort of dreading it since people I know did not care for that one. I have cs 3 4 and reverie in the backlog.

Ys I've played celceta and lacrimosa. Origin, napishtim, and monstrum are all in the ol backlog.

Atelier backlog is khemia 1, one of the Iris titles, escha & logy, shallie, Sophie 2, ryza 2 &3.
 
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nightc1 said:
I don't care for level scaling either. I'm purposefully wanting to grind to make the game easier, not more challenging!
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Oh 100% me too. Very few games did level scaling well (FFVIII since that's all about raising GFs and drawing/junctioning magic in order to get better than the enemies, BotW/TotK since they mix in harder enemies with the weaker ones as you grow but don't completely eliminate weaker enemies) and most just make the enemies as strong as you with no way for you to get the edge on them. I don't want to play a game that I don't feel like I'm getting better at.

I watched my husband play Assassin's Creed Odyssey and thought it looked super-cool, so I gave it a try, but I got so frustrated when I would spend hours playing, then go back to the starting area for a quest I missed or something and the enemies would kick my ass. That's just so unnecessary and it made me not only feel like I was making no progress on raising my character, but it also felt like just a way to pad the game out. So then Ubisoft actually responded to this criticism and gave an option to lessen the level scaling, but they also raised the level cap to 100, making things worse because now everyone was leveling past their favorite gear, and level grinding was the longest chore on the planet. OH BUT NOT IF YOU BUY EXP BOOSTERS WITH UBISOFT COINS. So they fixed one problem, but then created several more. It was a mess.
 
shadowysea07 said:
Gog has 50 something games free to download as of the email this morning. Not sure how many rpgs visual novel titles are among them.
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I don't think I got this email, what was the subject line on it? The only ones I have are normal promotions and discount codes for a D&D game
 
Pheria said:
I don't think I got this email, what was the subject line on it? The only ones I have are normal promotions and discount codes for a D&D game
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free games collection and beloved old titles
and the top of the email page has this text

"Range of our free games!

Interesting indie games, pixel marvels, atmospheric adventures, and all this for free?! Yes!"
 
shadowysea07 said:
free games collection and beloved old titles
and the top of the email page has this text

"Range of our free games!

Interesting indie games, pixel marvels, atmospheric adventures, and all this for free?! Yes!"
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Thanks - Weird, don't have that email from them but it doesn't seem to be targeted: https://www.gog.com/partner/free_games
Sunrider might be the only one relevant to this thread, but free is free
 
nightc1 said:
Not to change the subject, but last night I finally seriously started Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition on the Switch. I had previously started XC3D (3DS) to test a complete used copy when I added it to the collection and then opted to wait for the Switch version when it was announced only to get sidelined by other games and then life. So far, it's pretty wonderful as expected but also a bit overwhelming with all the ncp quests and just getting a handle on how things work.


I recently dug through my PS Store purchases with the PS3 and while it was a scroll of doom to get through everything... at least they fixed it on PS3 so if you opt to download something you aren't forced back to the top of the list. Hopefully the Vita interface for the download list isn't too terrible.



IMO the Vita was the new DC ... similar sized library of QUALITY retail releases before LRG watered down and pretty much doubled the library size. Still, it's a hell of a system especially when you consider the PSTV and using PSN to transfer saves between the console and handheld... and focus mostly on retail releases. That's not to say there aren't good games among those that got released in the limited print world... there are good games, but there's a lot of fluff.

There area few games you can get using the PS Store on PS3, but the majority of stuff has been pulled from purchase. If you already own something, it's hard to avoid the scrolling of doom if you have a huge purchase history on the system.
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I actually just started XCDE as well and am about 20hrs in. I never finished it on Wii, but was very involved with Operation Rainfall's efforts to bring it over. I love the qol improvements and even Reim's ridiculous quips after battle. I am going to keep playing through all the games in release order this year. Enjoy!
 
Earendil_aod said:
I actually just started XCDE as well and am about 20hrs in. I never finished it on Wii, but was very involved with Operation Rainfall's efforts to bring it over. I love the qol improvements and even Reim's ridiculous quips after battle. I am going to keep playing through all the games in release order this year. Enjoy!
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So happy to hear you like it! It makes my heart soar to see so many people playing Xenoblade, especially the first one! I really hope Nintendo re-releases X so more people can experience it. I want to see it get the same love 1-3 do!
 
Earendil_aod said:
I actually just started XCDE as well and am about 20hrs in. I never finished it on Wii, but was very involved with Operation Rainfall's efforts to bring it over. I love the qol improvements and even Reim's ridiculous quips after battle. I am going to keep playing through all the games in release order this year. Enjoy!
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I am starting Xenoblade DE for the first time too. Hoping I can finish it and the extra content before FFVII Rebirth release. Kind of embarrassing that I owned multiple copies of Xenoblade on different platform but haven't played it yet. Big fan of Xenogears and enjoyed Xenosaga so not sure why I waited this long to play it.
 
blueweltall said:
I am starting Xenoblade DE for the first time too. Hoping I can finish it and the extra content before FFVII Rebirth release. Kind of embarrassing that I owned multiple copies of Xenoblade on different platform but haven't played it yet. Big fan of Xenogears and enjoyed Xenosaga so not sure why I waited this long to play it.
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Xenoblade is my favorite in terms of story, characters and setting... but if you played 2, Torna or 3, it's gonna feel very outdated in terms of gameplay. But it's the only game with "Reyn time!".

scorponok said:
Preorders are open for the standard edition of Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana Switch reprint at VGP.
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Damn, isn't this like the 3rd printing of this game? Crazy.
 
Vinny said:
Xenoblade is my favorite in terms of story, characters and setting... but if you played 2, Torna or 3, it's gonna feel very outdated in terms of gameplay. But it's the only game with "Reyn time!".


Damn, isn't this like the 3rd printing of this game? Crazy.
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I don't know how many times it's been reprinted at this point but it definitely seems like it and fairy tail then the ryza games and 13 sentinels have been quite a bit.

Underwater ray romano mask of truth though definitely has to be the most. I don't know where vgp would be getting stock of the launch edition still if they weren't reprints.
 
Vinny said:
I preordered a copy of the NS reprint... and while I currently have 8 copies of Ys VIII (don't ask), I'll now have 9.... I've ruined balance in the universe.

This is how Ys Minus 1 starts... to get me back to owning 8 copies of Ys VIII.
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You can't stop at 9, dude. You need 1 more, so you'll have a copy for every numbered entry of the Ys series. It's the only way to rebalance the universe.

...oh crap, does Origin count? Better make it 11.
 
Back to Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition... I'm going to end up taking a lot longer than others (most likely) to finish it. I'm in no hurry but I also like to do all the side quest stuff and level my characters. I'm just under 8 hours in and at the start of chapter 4 after discovering that first thing in chapter 4.

I have a question though, were there any Side Quests in the first chapter or two that are miss-able due to events advancing in the story? I had many done before hand but didn't really dedicate myself to going around and talking to all npc's to get them in my list. Before leaving town I did go back through every area to trigger any side missions and completed them all and have done good since then to complete all the side missions in an area before advancing (and will do that going forward). But just in case I did make a new save so worst case I'll just go back to the save during chapter 1? and go through clearing all the side quests. (EDIT: and I did research this and it seems like the ones you can miss due to story progress are upcoming areas for me and I should be fine, just want to make sure as I'm likely not playing a second play through of this for ages).

Side note to all of that, when you get a bit over powered at the start... that was a great time to just kill everything possible to do some quick leveling up and finished a couple harder side missions. So if I had to replay that for some missed side missions, I would be ok with that since those battles were so easy.
 
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I thought I was bad with 5 copies - I have regular version Ys VIII PS4 PAL and NTSC, Ys VIII Limited edition of Vita, PS4, Switch. Might get PS5 version at some point.
 
nightc1 said:
Back to Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition... I'm going to end up taking a lot longer than others (most likely) to finish it. I'm in no hurry but I also like to do all the side quest stuff and level my characters. I'm just under 8 hours in and at the start of chapter 4 after discovering that first thing in chapter 4.

I have a question though, were there any Side Quests in the first chapter or two that are miss-able due to events advancing in the story? I had many done before hand but didn't really dedicate myself to going around and talking to all npc's to get them in my list. Before leaving town I did go back through every area to trigger any side missions and completed them all and have done good since then to complete all the side missions in an area before advancing (and will do that going forward). But just in case I did make a new save so worst case I'll just go back to the save during chapter 1? and go through clearing all the side quests. (EDIT: and I did research this and it seems like the ones you can miss due to story progress are upcoming areas for me and I should be fine, just want to make sure as I'm likely not playing a second play through of this for ages).

Side note to all of that, when you get a bit over powered at the start... that was a great time to just kill everything possible to do some quick leveling up and finished a couple harder side missions. So if I had to replay that for some missed side missions, I would be ok with that since those battles were so easy.
Click to expand...
Iirc it has side quests that appeared at different intervals in game time.
 
nightc1 said:
Back to Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition... I'm going to end up taking a lot longer than others (most likely) to finish it. I'm in no hurry but I also like to do all the side quest stuff and level my characters. I'm just under 8 hours in and at the start of chapter 4 after discovering that first thing in chapter 4.

I have a question though, were there any Side Quests in the first chapter or two that are miss-able due to events advancing in the story? I had many done before hand but didn't really dedicate myself to going around and talking to all npc's to get them in my list. Before leaving town I did go back through every area to trigger any side missions and completed them all and have done good since then to complete all the side missions in an area before advancing (and will do that going forward). But just in case I did make a new save so worst case I'll just go back to the save during chapter 1? and go through clearing all the side quests. (EDIT: and I did research this and it seems like the ones you can miss due to story progress are upcoming areas for me and I should be fine, just want to make sure as I'm likely not playing a second play through of this for ages).

Side note to all of that, when you get a bit over powered at the start... that was a great time to just kill everything possible to do some quick leveling up and finished a couple harder side missions. So if I had to replay that for some missed side missions, I would be ok with that since those battles were so easy.
Click to expand...
Side quests that are missable in XC1 have a little timer icon next to them, meaning you should do them ASAP. There are other things that could be argued as missable, but getting into what would be story spoilers. Basically, as long as you heed those timer icons and you're paying attention to how the story is going, you'll be fine. My advice is to always revisit areas soon after clearing them in the story and poke around as much as possible. Just take the time to immerse yourself in the game and you'll inevitably find most things on your own.
 
super1upqueen said:
Side quests that are missable in XC1 have a little timer icon next to them, meaning you should do them ASAP. There are other things that could be argued as missable, but getting into what would be story spoilers. Basically, as long as you heed those timer icons and you're paying attention to how the story is going, you'll be fine. My advice is to always revisit areas soon after clearing them in the story and poke around as much as possible. Just take the time to immerse yourself in the game and you'll inevitably find most things on your own.
Click to expand...

I didn't think to go around and talk to everyone with an mission "!" icon to even log them all until after that first major story thing happened after going to refill the the canisters. So, I have no way to know if any of them had a timer icon. Plus reading up on this, some time quests don't show up until other regular quest are completed. I'm fairly sure the first timed quest happens are after where I'm at but just to be sure I think I'll go into my current save (which is still what's loaded in sleep mode right now) and make note of all the quests I've completed and then load up my early game save and then walk around and unlock all the quests and make sure I got them all. If so, I'll go back to my newest save and know I'm good.

EDIT: Found a guide that covers this... looks like I'm good as I haven't gotten to the situation described in the first one you can miss. Cool!

Xenoblade Chronicles - Lockout/Point of No Return Guide - Wii - By Yamada-kun - GameFAQs

For Xenoblade Chronicles on the Wii, Lockout/Point of No Return Guide by Yamada-kun.
gamefaqs.gamespot.com
 
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62t said:
I thought I was bad with 5 copies - I have regular version Ys VIII PS4 PAL and NTSC, Ys VIII Limited edition of Vita, PS4, Switch. Might get PS5 version at some point.
Click to expand...
Not that I want to encourage you, but the PS5 version is the most upto date in terms of patches, dlc, etc. Pretty sure I heard the translation on that version is vastly improved, too.
 
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