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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nightc1 said:
Well, that ended up easy. $55.07 after shipping and converting to USD.

Now... Zero and Reverie and I'm caught back up. PA has them both PAL... total is $105.98 and free shipping.



Yeah, I just want to have the games in the collection so I can play them. I'm willing to compromise on EU versions (or even Japan or Asia versions if they listed English as an included language and it was confirmed). I went ahead and gave PA a try but initially I couldn't get past the cc payment screen. I even disabled my browser extensions. I thought maybe it was needing to agree to their "Reach US" handler for US orders? Ended up switching over to paypal and just went that route. No issues with Paypal.

So now I'm caught up. At least until Daybreak 2.
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Make sure you use a discount code for PA. I think Gematsu24 is one that works.
 
pjmomo said:
Think Yakuza Zero is considered the best of the series while also giving you the origin to the main protag. Personally I would recommending starting with that before going into Kiwami.
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Yakuza 0 was so good that it kinda ruined the rest of the games for me outside of 6 (a lot of which is solely due to the Dragon Engine). I'd honestly have a hard time suggesting what's the best order to play them in... Yakuza 1 is ROUGH by today's standards, even Kiwami. I heard Kiwami 2 uses the dragon engine so it's much better. And then 3, 4, and 5 all use the original engines. And then there's 6 that uses the Dragon Engine.

If anything I'd suggest saving 0 and 6 until the end, I feel like even though it's not the right chronological order, you'll appreciate 0 more after playing the others.
 
Nothing- said:
It's availability is suggested to be limited via multiple outlets and that may or may not be true. But it's not widely available across all retailers. Including periods of preorder unavailability.

I could say more, but people struggle with that stuff here. reading between the lines, following social media & press releases. They think it's speculation, just because they don't follow the market nor care about news. But I can tell you for a fact that:
  1. a good company is not going to continue to let their IPs become devalued, the way Square titles previously have been (languishing on shelves). That hurts digital sales too. 'Price memory' is strong, which is why things get clearanced and moved out quickly.
  2. We've already seen them tighten print runs. and on CEs, years ago.
  3. Some games aren't even getting initial print runs. Including Pixel Remaster, and a breadth of Indies.
  4. When Target and Walmart aren't carrying something, I pay attention.
The bottom line is that we get the market we deserve because customers are not buying new games. Heck, one just needs to glance at the activity in here to understand that. Square just wants physical stuff to sell and become gone so that they can make more money off of digital.

Think about this: Square tightened their print runs and didn't sell out of FF16 Deluxe. They made a rock solid edition at an attractive price point, and the market didn't even show up to buy it. There are still stores in my metro where I find one new copy occasionally. A critically well-received numbered entry in their flagship franchise.

Nintendo has been going through the same thing for about ~5 years where people don't even want to buy the $80-$100 special editions. They don't want them, because they are available on store shelves. Well those are going away too. Fewer special editions because customers don't want them unless they can't have them. We had close to two decades of people complaining about the availability of NoA SEs and CEs in our NA market but look you don't hear from any of those people anymore. Maybe it's product fatigue. and our gen retiring from video gaming. But NISA can barely move their limited products anymore either. People have grown out of buying them.
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So bottom line is...you don't know for sure lol
 
After finishing Yakuza 0 (loved it) I moved right in to Kiwami and put it down after playing a bit. A mix of too much of a good thing and from the quality difference between the two.
Eventually I came back to it some time later and just main lined the story on easy just to finish it and enjoyed the story. No reason to force yourself to go through it to get every little thing if you're not enjoying it.
If you want a change of pace, you can always jump to 7 (Like a Dragon) since it's a soft reboot and a turn based game and go back for to the action games later.
 
I got the platinums in Yakuza 0 and Yakiza Kiwami, I don't think the drop off is that bad. The differences are noticeable, don't get me wrong, but it's kinda like the difference between playing a fighting game and a brawler. Still enjoyable, just set your expectations accordingly: there is janky, older gameplay in Kiwami but the story and side content is still top notch (mostly; looking at you, MesuKing).
 
Since the Lollipop Chainsaw Remaster is on sale and a bunch of updates are out figured I'd ask how the games doing? I'm contemplating either PS5 or Xbox pick up. I've heard Xbox is a much better port as PS5 has a lot of stuttering and frame drops and more bugs, but curious how anyone feels about the game on either platform especially after the recent patches?


As for Yakuza it's still one of my favorite franchises but I still think 3-5 are pretty rough. I know as a whole people like 4 and 5 more than 3 but they're so overly long it actually was a bummer for me having played them chronologically (sorta. I'd played 1,2 and 3 before 0 and remasters when young and replayed them all after 0). 0 is still far and away my favorite but Kiwami 2 is incredibly close behind, the gameplay from the Dragon Engine in K2 is just absolutely killer. 0, K2 and 6 all play incredibly. Kiwami was a bit of a let down after 0 but that's more a credit to how fantastic 0 is. I still really enjoy 3 but the gameplay is difficult. I'll also admit I haven't played the new Hawaii game as I felt LAD was a good place to stop and give myself time as the turn based gameplay wasn't super for me... But Like A Dragon Gaiden is absolutely phenomenal and is actually definitely in my top 3 Yakuza games. So I highly recommend that one as well
 
Miker525 said:
Since the Lollipop Chainsaw Remaster is on sale and a bunch of updates are out figured I'd ask how the games doing? I'm contemplating either PS5 or Xbox pick up. I've heard Xbox is a much better port as PS5 has a lot of stuttering and frame drops and more bugs, but curious how anyone feels about the game on either platform especially after the recent patches?


As for Yakuza it's still one of my favorite franchises but I still think 3-5 are pretty rough. I know as a whole people like 4 and 5 more than 3 but they're so overly long it actually was a bummer for me having played them chronologically (sorta. I'd played 1,2 and 3 before 0 and remasters when young and replayed them all after 0). 0 is still far and away my favorite but Kiwami 2 is incredibly close behind, the gameplay from the Dragon Engine in K2 is just absolutely killer. 0, K2 and 6 all play incredibly. Kiwami was a bit of a let down after 0 but that's more a credit to how fantastic 0 is. I still really enjoy 3 but the gameplay is difficult. I'll also admit I haven't played the new Hawaii game as I felt LAD was a good place to stop and give myself time as the turn based gameplay wasn't super for me... But Like A Dragon Gaiden is absolutely phenomenal and is actually definitely in my top 3 Yakuza games. So I highly recommend that one as well
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Do you have a PS3 or 360? If so, in earnest, get Lollipop Chainsaw for one of the older gen consoles.
 
Mattiful-Joe said:
Do you have a PS3 or 360? If so, in earnest, get Lollipop Chainsaw for one of the older gen consoles.
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Yeah actually I still have both my PS3 and Xbox 360 copies of the game. My PS3 is long dead however and while I have a few 360s it's such a pain in the ass to break one out and set it up I was just figuring this would be both easier and maybe better after patches
 
on vgpca after currency conversion rates.
Bustafellows 21.35
Disgaea 6 switch same price 21.35
Fairy fencer f refrain chord ps4 21.35
Mary skelter finale ps4 21.35
Mato anomalies switch 21.35
Neo the world ends with you ps4 21.35
Othercide switch 21.35
P3 Reload ps4 24.91 ps5 24.91
P5r ps5 21.35
P5 vanilla ps4 3.55
P5 strikers ps4 10.67
P5 strikers switch 14.23
P5 tactics ps4 14.23 ps5 14.23
Smt 3 nocturne ps4 10.67
Smt 3 nocturne switch 14.23
Smt 5 vanilla switch 14.23
Smt 5 v steelbook le switch 24.91
Shining resonance refrain ps4 7.11 ps4 le 14.23
Soul hackers 2 ps4 le 7.11 xbox le 7.11 ps5 le 7.11
Diofield chronicle ps4 14.23
 
Miker525 said:
Yeah actually I still have both my PS3 and Xbox 360 copies of the game. My PS3 is long dead however and while I have a few 360s it's such a pain in the ass to break one out and set it up I was just figuring this would be both easier and maybe better after patches
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I get it being irritating to pull out the old console. That said, the new release doesn't look that much better and it lost all the licensed music, which I think takes away quite a bit from the atmosphere.
 
Fantasian seems to get getting normal retail release in Canada. I did a preorder anyway since Square Enix can be weird about reprint (FFVII Remake PS5)
 
I am like 15 hours into the endgame and Dragon stance just now finally became good / viable, with the finisher. Weird design choice decision. But now it also has me want to see it through to the end and finish all the coliseum and Majima unlocks for it.

So I'm figuring out the delicate balance. I should have just finished the game 10 hours ago and moved on to a new title instead. turn on easy and finish the story like Covnam said.
 
I find it interesting that I don’t actually like the gameplay or main story of the 2 Yakuza games I’ve played that much, Yakuza 0 and Kiwami 1. The main story of both got to be so nonsensical and convoluted that I had no idea what was going on, and I don’t think they were told particularly well. I don’t like the Yakuza theme either, which is what kept me away initially, but even with all that against it, Yakuza 0 was still one of the funnest gaming experiences I’ve had in a long time. Because of the side quests, atmosphere, humor and probably the fun 80s setting done well. It’s still the closest we got to Shenmue sequels as well. I definitely prefer Yakuza 0 to Shenmue 3. I would like to play the others eventually, sounds like kiwami 2 I should definitely, but I’d be in for a bit of a slog after that, if playing in order.
 
Yakuza 1 and 2 were written by the same team I believe. I played Yakuza 1 and parts of Yakuza 2 way back when. It was pretty decent story though quite over the top (lots of the series now is this). Yakuza 3 had one of the slowest moving stories and really took me a long time to get through. I kind of fell out of the series starting with 4 (started a bit but didn't finish). I did play the first Judgement game at least and Yakuza 0 (good gameplay just a pretty okay story). I really need to revisit the series, as it's been quite a while since I played one.
 
nitrosmob said:
Yakuza 1 and 2 were written by the same team I believe. I played Yakuza 1 and parts of Yakuza 2 way back when. It was pretty decent story though quite over the top (lots of the series now is this). Yakuza 3 had one of the slowest moving stories and really took me a long time to get through. I kind of fell out of the series starting with 4 (started a bit but didn't finish). I did play the first Judgement game at least and Yakuza 0 (good gameplay just a pretty okay story). I really need to revisit the series, as it's been quite a while since I played one.
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yeah Yakuza 3 was supposed to be this godsend new import for PS3 machines and it sucked.
 
gpn said:
Is Fantasian any good? I watched a trailer for it and it looked like a mobile game.
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I mean it was an Apple Arcade exclusive game released in 2021, and what's coming out is is an enhanced port of the mobile game. This is likely Sakaguchi's last game producing/writing, and it had positive reviews. This is also likely the last game with a full Nobuo Uematsu soundtrack. I wish we got it ported earlier (I don't touch Apple products really), but there is a lot of pedigree here. I'm getting it for sure.
 
The only reason I got interested in the Yakuza series was that's where a lot of the developers of Shenmue 1 & 2 went... and this was the closest we had for a couple decades to a Shenmue-like experience. Zero going back to the 80's... makes perfect sense to me that it would scratch a lot of itches for something Shenmue-like since this was set in a very similar time. I'm not big on the Yakuza theme itself, but I like the overall game design of having a world to sort of live in with all kinds of side activities to do.
 
Project xzone series got me interested in it oddly enough along with shenmue and others in that game. But I only briefly played 0 since it was free on pc. The button layout was janky and I couldn't get fighting to work properly since the attack button was the same as pick up object button. Tldr I was having control issues same as God eater 1.
 
nitrosmob said:
I mean it was an Apple Arcade exclusive game released in 2021, and what's coming out is is an enhanced port of the mobile game. This is likely Sakaguchi's last game producing/writing, and it had positive reviews. This is also likely the last game with a full Nobuo Uematsu soundtrack. I wish we got it ported earlier (I don't touch Apple products really), but there is a lot of pedigree here. I'm getting it for sure.
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Thanks for the info on it. I'll still need to see some reviews on it before i decide to get it or not.
 
I looked a little into Fantasian.... I like that art cover that is everywhere but I'm not so sure the actual game is for me. I probably need to watch a review or something and get the gist of the overall gameplay and world design. I like a world and some freedom... but thanks to Tokyo Xanadu, now I'm like really pushing for writing. That game, I'm just really enjoying it. Currently I'm going through chapter 4 and have most of the side stuff I can do completed.
 
Reviews for Fantasian are very positive across the board. I was undecided up to now due to its origin on mobile. But it's safe to say now it's a game that will be either good or great and one I need to take seriously.
 
gospelman said:
Reviews for Fantasian are very positive across the board. I was undecided up to now due to its origin on mobile. But it's safe to say now it's a game that will be either good or great and one I need to take seriously.
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I was ready to wait for a sale or slight discount on the physical version from Amazon at some point, but when I checked their PS5 listing earlier, I saw that despite releasing tomorrow, the expected arrival isn't until 12/18, so I panic-preordered one just in case. Do what you'd like with that info.

 
I've been seeing high praises for Fantasian that I preordered it along with Black Myth Wukong a few hours ago, my delivery date is 12/16.
 
I ended up watching the review Nintendo Life did for Fantasian, while there's a lot I like about it... they knock the writing and pace. Also with how the game was broken in two it ends up with some pitfalls when the game opens up for those last 40 hours. I think with all I have to play, I can probably just resist this for now and maybe reconsider it later. Looking ahead to next year I already have Trails through Daybreak II, Xenoblade Chronicles X, Tales of Graces f, Suikoden 1 & 2, ... and that's just the first three months of the year.
 
The Persona Dancing collection is at a new low price. I think I'll finally get it; I already have the P4 game and was initially put off by potentially having to buy all the DLC again since I have it on Vita, but it turns out that the DLC for that particular game is cross buy (but not the DLC for the other games..). Weird but it kind of works out for me.
 
keyblader1985 said:
The Persona Dancing collection is at a new low price. I think I'll finally get it; I already have the P4 game and was initially put off by potentially having to buy all the DLC again since I have it on Vita, but it turns out that the DLC for that particular game is cross buy (but not the DLC for the other games..). Weird but it kind of works out for me.
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I'll never understand why Atlus printed discs for the P3 and P5 dancing games but put a digital code for P4 in this release. As such, to this day, the only physical release of P4 dancing remains on the Vita.
 
Actually after purchasing the bundle, it turns out that I didn't get any DLC except for the ones that are already free. I've been looking around online and have gotten mixed messages; some say the DLC is supposed to be cross buy, some say it's discounted if you already purchased it on Vita, and some say you're just out of luck.

I think there's a possibility that something changed after Sony closed the PS Vita store. I'll try to get in touch with Atlus and see what they say.
 
I'm still progressing through Tokyo Xanadu eX+ on Switch. Currently I'm in the early parts of Chapter 5. Just doing early chapter stuff like doing the side helper tasks, talking to folks, grab the news paper for the day and any new books, ... deciding who to spend my points on for the bonding stuff. I'm not as bothered as I should be that I can only do some of the bonding events. It adds some decisions and forces me to pick favorites. I've opted to do the ones with Rion (the idol girl that people don't know she's an idol) when they are available because she's (so far) not involved with anything else going on and there's a nice antagonistic thing between her and Kou. Him not really getting the whole idol thing and just treating her like a person is nice. I like how putting the random crap up in your room triggered Ryouta and Jun coming over and remarking on them. Ryouta flipping out about the SPiKA poster was perfect. It really fleshes out the world that these characters react to those decisions and events are triggered in unobvious ways. I really love this game world they've crafted. Hopefully Tokyo Xanadu New Project ends up as well done as this one is.


Speaking of Falcom, I downloaded the demo for Yx X Nordics. I've not really been big into that franchise. Legacy of Yx Books I & II on DS is probably the only games I completed (not sure if I finished II, I know I finished I as it was short). The demo for IX was just too dull (very bland looking) and the vertical traversing felt slapped together. So I didn't even think about it. Nordics though ticks some boxes with the sailing, having the home base city basically be the ship, ship battles, and just exploration... I can probably get behind that. Not that I need another series to go back to. I went back and fourth on VIII and ultimately opted out because even though it's action, it didn't tick enough boxes. I've read the demo for X pretty much runs until right before the boss of Chapter 3. So a pretty meaty demo. Unrelated, I downloaded the demo for Romancing SaGa 2 as well. It's probably not for me but I want to keep an open mind and check more games out.
 
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Last night, put in a few more hours on Tokyo Xanadu eX+. Finished all the side stuff I could do in Ch 5 and found a few unlisted side quests. Went ahead and finally checked out the skateboarding minigame... not too bad. 100% completed the initial 3 tracks available. Also went by the arcade and found a game to play involving cards which seems pretty enjoyable. I feel like I could waste an hour on that alone. Pretty cool how that brings in a bunch of the NPC's as who you play against. So far, just over 20 hours and I'm in chapter 5. Given how I like to just talk to everyone and see where their conversations go it's probably going to take me all month. Not a complaint.
 
It was mentioned over in the thread for $5 stuff at Shopville that it's a canada site and that it might have shipping delays like VGP (due to the postal strike in Canada. Just posting this here if anyone was concerned... the copy of Trails to Azure I ordered started in Bay Shore, NY. So, VGP orders should be fine as they don't originate in Canada for US customers. I know that's how it was years ago, but wasn't sure if that was still true or not.
 
Weird seeing Nintendo flip-flop so much this generation. Prior to the Switch they were super conservative, this gen they let loose, now they're reining it back in. With Sony a lot of the restrictions started happening after Omega Labyrinth Z got attention, I wonder if there was a specific game that caused this with Nintendo.
 
I don't blame anyone for adhering to SUPER WEIRD American cultural and bandwagoning viewpoint on sexuality, and regarding minors. People get crazy insane and passionately violent over that type of stuff, especially the offenders.

It might be our county's craziest virtue signal. Often by the non-virtuous.
Whole lotta repressed sexuality out there. Oppressed too; many people take extreme offense if someone so much as hits on them, or even talks to them.
 
Tothoro said:
Weird seeing Nintendo flip-flop so much this generation. Prior to the Switch they were super conservative, this gen they let loose, now they're reining it back in. With Sony a lot of the restrictions started happening after Omega Labyrinth Z got attention, I wonder if there was a specific game that caused this with Nintendo.
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Maybe they were too busy counting all the Switch, MK8, Animal Crossing, etc. money to notice... but now that sales have waned, they're started looking.
 
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