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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Thanks for the golden time recommendation, added to the watch list. I actually own it already on Blu-ray from a good sale. Had heard it’s a classic, so I picked it up not sure when I would ever get to it, but that moved it up.
 
Vinny said:
I have no idea what all these sets/packs are... and some of this stuff is crazy expensive for what I thought were just cards but given how many stuff is already sold out, guessing they know what they have.
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Look awesome, but $70 for some playing cards with cool artwork ain't for me. I'd rather buy some artist prints to put on the wall.
 
I'll rec toradora if you like romcom and especially if you were a fan of Shana and Index. Since iirc similar art due to being jc staff. The 2 Ed themes are both bangers if nothing else and the op/s isn't too shabby.

Anti rec for C unless you are in a good head space. it hits extremely hard and personal if you've ever been in a tough spot financially. If you want to give that one a watch the summary is basically guy meets death gambling matches with your not pokemon that may become a girl.

Though nothing ever hit like the one line from aggretsuko deer chick about gamers. Ouch.
 
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I haven't been watching as much new anime cause it really hasn't resonated with me much and a lot of feels junk food like with not as much sustenance. One of the anime that really got at my feels though quite a while back was Honey & Clover (and the sequel). Probably one of the more realistic looks at artists in a way. Really interesting and I probably should watch it again since it's been years.
 
I occasionally enjoy watching a few episodes of Bofuri just because of how completely insane the mechanics of the MMO in that series are, but yeah, a lot of anime from the past ten or fifteen years has largely been kinda soulless. These days I mostly read obscure yuri manga for my Japanese pop culture fix. Garan no Hime (post-apocalyptic anti-tech world with monsters and robots) and Oneesama to Kyoujin (isekai about a girl who did a murder suicide and wound up in a fantasy world with a giant imouto) are pretty good. Just started Hitokiri Shoujo Koushaku Reijou no Goei ni Naru last night and that was surprisingly engaging for being essentially a shounen manga. Pest ga Aketara Asobimashou is a nice calming time travel slice of life set in Germany after the Black Death, which is not a sentence I ever expected to type. Watamote is still pretty fun most chapters, and Sorry But I’m Not Yuri is a lot of fun. Shoujo Seikan Hyouryuuki doesn’t have a lot of scanlated chapters yet, but it’s shaping up to be gay Kino no Tabi, so that could be fun.
 
nitrosmob said:
Honey & Clover
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I've seen that one recommended.
shadowysea07 said:
I'll rec toradora if you like romcom and especially if you were a fan of Shana and Index. Since iirc similar art due to being jc staff. The 2 Ed themes are both bangers if nothing else and the op/s isn't too shabby.

Anti rec for C unless you are in a good head space. it hits extremely hard and personal if you've ever been in a tough spot financially. If you want to give that one a watch the summary is basically guy meets death gambling matches with your not pokemon that may become a girl.

Though nothing ever hit like the one line from aggretsuko deer chick about gamers. Ouch.
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I appreciate the heads up on Clannad. I am prepared. Clannad and Toradora were recommended by other Golden Time fans. Clannad does seem like the more risky of the two... just due to the subject matter, but I'll give it a fair shake and if it doesn't hit... jump ship. Toradora though I will watch regardless. There's a few others I'm adding to my list for later... like Your Lie in April which I understand is pretty heavy hitting... though I plan to put other anime between these heavier ones just so I don't over do it. Amiga Brilliant Park was a good for this... I have Outbreak Company to finish and it seems disconnected enough from life (focusing on the class system and inserting otaku culture as some comedy relief) that it should work as well.

Last night I finished the second season of My Teenage Romantic Comedy SNAFU (also the OVA episode for that season). I'm starting the third season today. I really love how introspective it is. Will probably finish Outbreak Company after that and then pick from Toradora or Clannad.

Souffrir said:
a lot of anime from the past ten or fifteen years has largely been kinda soulless.
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I used to think that until I got into it. But it's like the most soulful anime I've ever watched. The animation style might be a bit generic but the emotional portrayal is some of the best. Which honestly if someone said something like this to me even six months ago I wouldn't have believed it. If you go look up the top recommended emotionally soulful anime, like pretty much all the top recommendations are anime from the last 15 years.
 
nightc1 said:
I used to think that until I got into it. But it's like the most soulful anime I've ever watched. The animation style might be a bit generic but the emotional portrayal is some of the best. Which honestly if someone said something like this to me even six months ago I wouldn't have believed it. If you go look up the top recommended emotionally soulful anime, like pretty much all the top recommendations are anime from the last 15 years.
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I’m not saying there’s nothing good being produced, it’s just that it tends to get buried under the absolute mountain of paint-by-numbers generic-ass blah that’s coming out. I also just don’t have the patience to just sit down and watch stuff very much anymore.
 
If you enjoy Clannad, there's also Kanon and Air. Two more titles by the same author, animated by the same studio. So you can expect similar quality in rich storytelling, animation, and performance.

Those three are classic vn/anime that will pull your heartstring if that's what you're looking for.
 
nightc1 said:
I've seen that one recommended.
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Honey and Clover is probably still one of my favorites.

Saekano is pretty decent too. Almost like the boy's version of Hachikuro.

If anyone hasn't watched it, absolutely watch Frieren. It happens to be very popular to older people (40+) for good reason. It has themes to do with fleeting moments and enjoying the little things, which resonates even more with the older crowd.

pjmomo said:
If you enjoy Clannad, there's also Kanon and Air. Two more titles by the same author, animated by the same studio. So you can expect similar quality in rich storytelling, animation, and performance.
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Kanon was my first visual novel, I think. Might as well add in Little Busters to that list.

Edit: Oh, Odd Taxi is also worth a watch.

Edit 2: It's not well known or popular, but I really like Salad Bowl of Eccentrics. Reminds me a lot of Hayate the Combat Butler in vibes. Kinda like slice of life where nothing goes as planned/expected.
 
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Thanks for all the recommendations. My list has expanded. Being 51, Frieren might be right up my alley. Will look into it. Made notes on everything else. My gaming backlog is probably not getting any smaller anytime soon, but I really love what I'm experiencing in Anime right now. I had picked pretty clean a lot of the classic stuff (I also have a RetroCrush channel I can dvr) and it's like the world of Anime just greatly expanded in a way I thought maybe I was too old for.
 
I'll have to check out Frieren. I'm actually going to recommend against Kanon TV at least, didn't feel like the best adaptation and I kind of slogged through it. I liked Anohana quite a bit too, but it's another not super light one.

I'm watching so far just one anime and it's so stupid but it's okay stuff to leave on in the background something about a guy and his appraisal skill or something this season. It's fast food and not amazing for sure. I'll forget about not long after the season is over. In fact I may forget it sooner and watch a better anime haha.
 
nightc1 said:
Thanks for all the recommendations. My list has expanded. Being 51, Frieren might be right up my alley. Will look into it. Made notes on everything else. My gaming backlog is probably not getting any smaller anytime soon, but I really love what I'm experiencing in Anime right now. I had picked pretty clean a lot of the classic stuff (I also have a RetroCrush channel I can dvr) and it's like the world of Anime just greatly expanded in a way I thought maybe I was too old for.
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oh Frieren was easily the biggest show of last year. That's a must-see, if you haven't watched it already. Keep in mind it's a really slow starter and a slow burn, so buckle up. The story arc and its pacing are fantastical. If you like Romanticism and drama, but not necessarily Romance, I also highly recommend The Apothecary Diaries. Based on your notes, you should also def see Violet Evergarden if you haven't already.

biggest and best shows of 2024, that I've seen so far:
  1. Frieren (second cour.)
  2. The Apothecary Diaries (biggest surprise hit of the year for me personally; anyone can enjoy.)
  3. Delicous in Dungeon (is in Netflix jail)
  4. Kaiju #8
  5. Dan Da Dan
If you were ever into mmorpgs and gaming overtones/overlay in shows then Shangri-La Frontier and Solo Leveling are very good.

My personal recent favorites are Re:zero (s3 is currently airing), Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation, and Classroom of the Elite. Usually the best of what Fantasy + Iskekai / Adventure and Psychological + Seinen has to offer.
 
Yea, I'm not actually sure I'd recommend Kanon/Air/Little Busters in 2025.

Wasn't a big fan of AnoHana either, tbh. I think it's too exaggerated/over acted for the feels, and it took me out of it.

Edit: Wait, wasn't there a Kanon remake? I've only ever seen the original.
 
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I‘m not sure why but I did not like Frieren much. The concept was great and interesting, and I’ve heard nothing but good things. I guess I was expecting too much though, and then it seemed kind of generic once I got to watching it. Last time I had heard such rave reviews was attack on titan, and that kicked ass. And I don’t just mean the action; the music, and pacing were both great. I just didn’t think much stood out about Frieren. It’s just one season so far, as a start to a longer series, it could be good still, but not hooking me immediately like attack on titan.

I did not like Clannad much either. I already knew what happened in the end, and the main point of the show, so the lead up and conclusion just seemed so drawn out.
 
Souffrir said:
I occasionally enjoy watching a few episodes of Bofuri just because of how completely insane the mechanics of the MMO in that series are, but yeah, a lot of anime from the past ten or fifteen years has largely been kinda soulless. These days I mostly read obscure yuri manga for my Japanese pop culture fix. Garan no Hime (post-apocalyptic anti-tech world with monsters and robots) and Oneesama to Kyoujin (isekai about a girl who did a murder suicide and wound up in a fantasy world with a giant imouto) are pretty good. Just started Hitokiri Shoujo Koushaku Reijou no Goei ni Naru last night and that was surprisingly engaging for being essentially a shounen manga. Pest ga Aketara Asobimashou is a nice calming time travel slice of life set in Germany after the Black Death, which is not a sentence I ever expected to type. Watamote is still pretty fun most chapters, and Sorry But I’m Not Yuri is a lot of fun. Shoujo Seikan Hyouryuuki doesn’t have a lot of scanlated chapters yet, but it’s shaping up to be gay Kino no Tabi, so that could be fun.
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Bofuri is something my family gets together to watch. It's just so over the top ridiculous the antics of maple.
 
Sorrowful Anti rec for jobless reincarnation. The animation is quite beautiful but jfc at the rest of it. If it was just mild fanservice I could stomach it. Also wtf is wrong with the people in that town? I'm pretty sure his entire school is on the sex offender list.
 
Frieren is peak storytelling, but it's not for everyone. If you can appreciate a slow paced slice of life, you'll most likely enjoy it. There are actions and demon slaying, but those are few and far between. It mainly focus on the relationships building along their journey through the eyes of an elf, as she start to understand how fleeting and precious the moments she share with her human friends.

It's relatable for the people that have witnessed loved ones passed on or wished they could cherish the person a little bit more. So the audience that enjoy it tends to be on the older side, while everyone else was probably hyping JJK next fight.

Delicious in Dungeon has a great story, wonderful characters, and comedy, if someone wanted something more lighthearted.
 
pjmomo said:
Frieren is peak storytelling, but it's not for everyone. If you can appreciate a slow paced slice of life, you'll most likely enjoy it. There are actions and demon slaying, but those are few and far between. It mainly focus on the relationships building along their journey through the eyes of an elf, as she start to understand how fleeting and precious the moments she share with her human friends.

It's relatable for the people that have witnessed loved ones passed on or wished they could cherish the person a little bit more. So the audience that enjoy it tends to be on the older side, while everyone else was probably hyping JJK next fight.

Delicious in Dungeon has a great story, wonderful characters, and comedy, if someone wanted something more lighthearted.
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That’s what I wanted more of, but it instead seemed filled with pointless side content. Tons of characters that had little relation to the overall story, an overly long dungeon and mage guild tournament that has taken up half the story so far and added little to the overall plot. The character relationships and motivations of that guild kind of boring, so the hyping up of the inconsequential mage guild and other fights, which it still had alot of, is also what I didn’t like. Maybe it has an overall story it’s building to, tied in to the past, but I don’t see it yet. I mean, everyone seems to like it, so not expecting much agreement, could have just been bad timing for me to watch it. I’ll watch things later and like them more. Think the problem is what you and most are describing the show as, is what I wanted pretty much the whole focus of the show to be, not just sprinkles of reminiscence on top of an otherwise generic mage guild shonen serial. The concept has the opportunity to be more unique, but feels half baked to me.
 
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I was entirely bored with Frieren through about 7 episodes, thought it was massively overrated, and then my opinion of it changed dramatically sometime around the end of the first cour.
 
What I have watched and liked recently are Monster and City Hunter. Monster is a very slow detective procedural, probably one of the most drawn out series I’ve ever seen, but everything keeps building on the overall plot. Good writing, atmosphere and world building. City Hunter is one of the original weird inappropriate anime’s, I’m not sure why I randomly started it. I was just going to curiously watch one episode, but I found it amusing, so I kept going. It’s very formulaic, if you watch one episode you've seen them all. It has been interesting to watch as a anime history lesson, and the mokkori stuff is funny. Not sure why that term never become a staple, the show sure tried to make it one.
 
keyblader1985 said:
I like City Hunter too; I watch a lot of the stuff on the free streaming channels since I don't have any paid subscriptions.

I think there was a new City Hunter fairly recently, where Ryo was called out on his lecherous ways; "this isn't the 80's anymore!!"
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I mean, he already gets called out every episode. All the recurring side characters basically exist just to beat him up for being a creeper. I’m sure it’s a different tone, but still seems like kind of a cop out. That other time that doesn’t exist anymore is all to blame, all good now. Say the modern producers bringing back the same character. Will be interesting to still watch and compare the modern versions, if it’s just a difference in our own perspective due to the time period we are watching it in, or the actual show and content. I think there is a Netflix version, Ryo probably gets taken to the pound and neutered in that one.
 
Finished My Tenenage Romantic Comedy SNAFU season 3 last night and the last OVA this morning. I wasn't intending to, but I was just so hooked on it. It has a lot of introspection by the main character and a few of the others. I'd say it's kind of good for those open to re-examining life and seeing things from the perspective of someone that has thought so much about the situations they have been in that they've built walls to protect themselves. It also goes into some depth on the lines between being co-dependent and healthy relationships. It's not as profound as Golden Time was to me, but it made me think. Which I'm calling that a win.

Xenogears said:
What I have watched and liked recently are Monster and City Hunter. Monster is a very slow detective procedural, probably one of the most drawn out series I’ve ever seen, but everything keeps building on the overall plot. Good writing, atmosphere and world building. City Hunter is one of the original weird inappropriate anime’s, I’m not sure why I randomly started it. I was just going to curiously watch one episode, but I found it amusing, so I kept going. It’s very formulaic, if you watch one episode you've seen them all. It has been interesting to watch as a anime history lesson, and the mokkori stuff is funny. Not sure why that term never become a staple, the show sure tried to make it one.
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I watched all of City Hunter last year. My dvr has a hidive channel and a retrocrush channel and it's on retrocrush. Both channels cycle content so if I miss something, it'll come back. I wanted to see it because I had finished Cat's Eye (Same people behind City Hunter and it's the same anime universe) and was interested in it for that reason alone. I got into Cat's Eye due to the crossover movie with Lupin III that release in the last few years. So, that whole Cat's Eye cafe in the later seasons of City Hunter, that's from the Cat's Eye series and there are a few characters that make appearances in City Hunter as well as some that are near copy/paste of Cat's Eye characters. If you haven't watched it, that would be a good option. It's thieves but not like robber thieves who are just stealing things. There's a purpose to it. The outcome is very much in line with City Hunter and the episodes are mostly stand alone stories. It's a lot shorter than City Hunter, only 36 episodes, and there's none of the leud behavior in City Hunter. Oh, and while neither series is some big anthology there are call backs to past episodes, multipart episodes, and characters that return. So while they both have stories that are very watchable as standalone things, there's more to it if you watch it all in order. For the movies/specials, since you've seen the series... my suggestion is to 100% avoid the dubs. I watched the dubbed movies before the series because they became available to dvr sooner... and while I wasn't bothered on first watch, I tried to rewatch one of them after the series and wow... the dubs are bad.
 
Xenogears said:
What I have watched and liked recently are Monster and City Hunter. Monster is a very slow detective procedural, probably one of the most drawn out series I’ve ever seen, but everything keeps building on the overall plot. Good writing, atmosphere and world building. City Hunter is one of the original weird inappropriate anime’s, I’m not sure why I randomly started it. I was just going to curiously watch one episode, but I found it amusing, so I kept going. It’s very formulaic, if you watch one episode you've seen them all. It has been interesting to watch as a anime history lesson, and the mokkori stuff is funny. Not sure why that term never become a staple, the show sure tried to make it one.
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I've been slowly getting all the releases from Discotek, as they go on sale. I need to stop buying media for a month or two so that I can invest in plastic steelbook protector cases.

City-Hunter-1.jpg
 
At my current age I know I will never watch any anime shows more than once. Instead I am double down on manga because they are so much easier to go back to, especially for classics. They are just so expensive and take up a lot of space.

I honestly enjoyed Angel Heart (manga) a lot more than Cat's Eye and City Hunter.
 
I'm sticking with digital for anime... though am tempted to grab a br copy of some of what I've recently enjoyed. I'm trying to let things go a little easier... though, it's not always that easy.
 
I don’t buy much manga anymore. I do have a digital sub to Viz manga - it’s only $2 a month (they also have a Shonen Jump sub for $3 a month). They do limit it to 100 chapters per day, but unless you have way too much free time, it’s more than enough.

I don’t have many physical discs but I do have Ace Attorney and K-On which my younger daughter would watch over and over again.
 
I've been just getting manga from the library, other than Chainsaw Man cause I got the boxed set fairly cheap ($25ish?). I was at some point buying light novels digitally, but mostly stopped when Amazon nuked some stuff.
 
Yeah I've cut back my physical manga collection a lot. I've pretty much just got Junji Ito stuff and Ranma 1/2 now. I got rid of a lot of my light novel/random manga volumes.
 
My manga collection is small. Mostly first print english runs of DB/DBZ & Dr Slump. My anime on disc colleciton is similar. I have some other stuff in anime and manga ... some which is worth pretty decent money since it's first english prints .. but nothing else I really stuck with. There's so much more out there digital that won't get physical... and a lot of what has gotten a release is so limited that the only options are to do the import versions. Which I'm not against but I'd rather just have most stuff I care to keep on a harddrive. Which most anime I can kind of watch and let go. That is kind of the beauty of my dvr setup since I watch and delete and if something hits hard... I might record it again and watch it again. Like Run WIth The Wind, I finished that one weekend and deleted the last episode and then set it back up to record the whole series and watched it a second time a week later.
 
I've cut my anime/manga buying pretty much entirely since RightStuf got bought out. I still keep up with Berserk but otherwise I've mostly checked out of the hobby. Not that I don't enjoy it, but it's pretty hit-or-miss for me and I only have so much free time.

In "ye olden days" though, some of my favorites were Monster (anime/manga), Soul Eater (anime/manga), Goodnight Punpun (manga), Dragon Ball (anime/manga), Yu-Gi-Oh (anime/manga), Death Note (anime), and all of Shinichiro Watanabe's anime. Nothing I'd consider a deep cut really, mostly just the shounen stuff that was popular as I was growing up.
 
62t said:

A new Samurai Pizza Cats game is coming
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If nothing else props for having the vas reprise their roles supposedly. Of course this would be a case where if they couldn't get them back it's reasonable. I mean it's been actual decades. Almost half a century at 35 years give or take. I'm amazed they are even still alive and able to perform / active. Plenty of vas have passed away or retired in that length of time.
 
I think there used be an artbook thread somewhere but can't find it, so figure I'd ask here but does the Udon store ever have sales?
 
They used to have Black Friday sales. Unsure any more. What are you looking for? I've been getting rid of stuff recently, including a couple of Udon artbooks.

Edit: Oh, they're re-releasing the Okami one as hard cover. Guess I'm not going to be able to sell that one any more

Edit2: This thread maybe?
 
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elessar123 said:
They used to have Black Friday sales. Unsure any more. What are you looking for? I've been getting rid of stuff recently, including a couple of Udon artbooks.

Edit: Oh, they're re-releasing the Okami one as hard cover. Guess I'm not going to be able to sell that one any more

Edit2: This thread maybe?
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Haha, it was actually the Okami HC artbook. I have the OG one (I think it was reprinted after too) but would rather have HC version but eh.. $50 + shipping is a bit much.

And yep, that's the thread.
 
I'm about to finish Cold Steel II. I was all excited to jump straight into III, but I'm looking at the release timeline, some Reddit recommendations, and it sounds like I should probably play Trails from Zero + Azure instead, bc CS III builds off of them. Then you read further, and its like "oh you'll miss some story beats from Sky 1-3 if you haven't played them before Zero". asdf. But honestly I wasn't going to do that. Not until the Sky remakes are out. It also sounds like Sky right now is pretty skippable if you want it to be, and considering the scope of tackling the series.

Just when you think you have it figured out you read other recommendations that are basically, "no, you have to play them all. and in release order, or else you miss out." and it's like....people aren't going back to PSP Sky1 now my dudes! I tried that years ago, and petered out after a few hours. and right now is definitely not the best time. There are 12 games (currently) and we are just trying to do this!

Any recommendations??? Play Zero and then Azure, or else wait until Sky remake in the fall? I'm on a roll for once and really didn't want to halt progress right here.

Save-and-continue.gif
 
^I was in the same boat as you, thinking I needed to play the three TitS games on PC before going on to Zero and Azure, but with the announcement of the first TitS remake, I’m going to just bite the bullet and start Zero next. I got Trails through Daybreak II’s limited edition earlier this month and I want to stop delaying catching up on the series.
 
Good calls for both of you. Zero is currently the starting point I recommend for the people who know they will be buying Sky the 1st. I played through Sky FC, SC, and 3rd on Vita toward the end of '24. And while I still love them, especially SC, there are some serious quality of life changes that are overdue. (Feels bad: Trying to navigate dungeons in tiny resolution with no map, then getting ambush encounters triggered when a mob makes contact with a long line of characters following you.)

Zero and Azure before CSIII is strongly recommended. There are a lot of throwbacks in CSIII you will appreciate having played Azure beforehand. This is what I personally did - during the long wait for CSIII I played the rough fan translations of Zero and Azure. Was very glad I did. And the experience will be better now that the finished localizations are available.

Edit: Nothing, in case you didn't know, there is an semi-important ng+ only cutscene for CSII. If you don't want to do NG+ right now, perhaps just look up a video of that one cutscene. There's also official bits of the CSI-II story that were released in the form of drama CDs, the official translations can be found here. There's another one between Zero and Azure - an unofficial translation on youtube is best we have for that one.
 
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