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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ar4757 said:
Megaman Starforce 4, Legends 3 hype
I wish

Oh hey like Persona 3

...also Persona 3 :p
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I never did finish Persona 3. I appreciated the big tower, but every time I tried to get my climb on my party would get tired and I'd have to take the rest of the week off, or the game would decide that I'd climbed enough before fighting the next boss and I'd have to take the rest of the MONTH off. That's no way to run a dungeon.

...

Also, still holding out hope for Battle Network Transmission 2.

 
JCAll said:
I never did finish Persona 3. I appreciated the big tower, but every time I tried to get my climb on my party would get tired and I'd have to take the rest of the week off, or the game would decide that I'd climbed enough before fighting the next boss and I'd have to take the rest of the MONTH off. That's no way to run a dungeon.

...

Also, still holding out hope for Battle Network Transmission 2.
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Sounds like someone was neglecting their social life and being the best high school student they could be

 
 
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Am I really in the minority when it comes to watching anime? I usually watch around 8 - 12 anime a season and always felt it wasn't enough as I usually still had about 10 or so I would put in the back burner that I would wait once it's over and or wait for the Blu-Ray releases.

0qXt83G.gif


BlackRockWaifu said:
Wow, these guys have faces of steel. I skimmed through it and they didn't smirk, or laugh, or blush, or pinch a tent once. I don't know if they are desensitized to anime boobies flailing in their faces or they are really good actors.
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I watched the video and the guy on the left is a father and jokingly said when his son asks him what game does he work on he replies with Story of Seasons.

The Dead Texan said:
Re: Anime

I watch a couple of shows a season at best. Last season I watched Eromanga Sensei and Saekano s2, and this season I'm watching New Game s2 and Aho Girl. I don't watch or care about shounen shit anymore. It was fine when I was 14 and watching new episodes of DBZ every day, but waiting a week for what will obviously be a filler episode of a 100+ episode arc can fuck right off. As for buying anime, I only buy Japanese releases. I hate the presentation and dubs of localized stuff. I don't actually play any of the physical media anyway. I just stick to fansubs and buy the releases for a series I actually care about and want to support.
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I still watch some shounen anime but I'm very careful not to deal with a series that will keep being ongoing and never end. I've only ever dropped 2 anime series ever and those were Naruto (quit after the Pain arc) and Bleach (quit after the Aizen arc) as there was no reason to keep dealing with either when I'm reading the manga anyway and watching them do continuous fillers was annoying. I never picked up One Piece but I would've dropped that too since I heard fillers were just as bad on it. Thankfully now in days it doesn't seem as common for a anime series to do the non stop ongoing rhythm unless the company behind it is the one doing the milking (Toei with Dragon Ball Super or Studio Pierrot with Naruto / Boruto) and instead opt for a seasonal version (such as Attack on Titan or Gintama).

I'm enjoying New Game Season 2 and Aho Girl (fan of Hiroyuki's previous series Doujin Work and Mangaka-san)

NeoMonk said:
It's one of the series I'm looking forward to watching once it's over.

That's kind of my setup now since I binge watch a series in a day or so when I have time after they're finished.

Can't do the weekly thing anymore like Dead Texan mentioned, I lose interest.

Still making my way thru last seasons shows. Just finished watching the Danmachi spinoff & Lefiya can burn in hell for all eternity. :whistle2:
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BaCmeAi.jpg


whoknows said:
http://www.animemaru.com/anime-community-decides-to-just-sit-out-this-season/
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I honestly feel this way for this anime season. I haven't been this uninterested in a season for years, but the Fall season looks very promising.

 
EdJericho said:
Am I really in the minority when it comes to watching anime? I usually watch around 8 - 12 anime a season and always felt it wasn't enough as I usually still had about 10 or so I would put in the back burner that I would wait once it's over and or wait for the Blu-Ray releases.

I still watch some shounen anime but I'm very careful not to deal with a series that will keep being ongoing and never end. I've only ever dropped 2 anime series ever and those were Naruto (quit after the Pain arc).

BaCmeAi.jpg
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Yeah, I thought I was in the minority for not watching much anime, but now I think it's the opposite. In fact, I think I actually watch more anime than most of the other CAGs here. And I've only been watching more now due to the new Digimon series. You, Vic, Squarehard, and Neomonk seem to be the few that actually keep up to date with the new stuff.

I've actually stopped reading Naruto a bit after the pain arc as well. A little bit further though, it was when Kisame got bodied by Guy, and I got pissed off since he was one of my favorite characters, and I just dropped it after that.

Also, I actually agree with that image. I guess when he mentions foreign, it's Western games to us. And the only noticeable, cute female characters are like Aloy, Miranda from Mass Effect 2, the sniper from Killzone, Catwoman, Overwatch waifus, Chloe from Uncharted, Morrigan from Dragon Age, Red from Transistor, and Yennifer/Triss from The Witcher 3. And I guess maybe like Carmella from WWE 2K17 if that counts.

 
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Nothing371 said:
People here don't watch anime, they buy Miku figurines.
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It's been awhile since I've seen someone use the word figurines.

You must be well over 80.

I always knew there was something different about you!

Jk, the word just still feels dated to me. :*(

 
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to me, "figure" suggests that they are pose-able and articulated.  "statues" have the connotation that it's made out of a stone-like material, metal, or another rock hard substance.  I think it sounds weird when publishers or people on here refer to Collector's Edition figures as "statues", as both terms sound like misnomers to me. 

I suppose it is possible that I also subconsciously chose the word "figurine" to be patronizing without meaning it. 

 
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EdJericho said:
Am I really in the minority when it comes to watching anime? I usually watch around 8 - 12 anime a season and always felt it wasn't enough as I usually still had about 10 or so I would put in the back burner that I would wait once it's over and or wait for the Blu-Ray releases.
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Yeah, I'm surprised there's not more anime watchers here. I'd definitely take a good anime over a Japanese niche game any day of the week. I can go long stretches without playing Japanese niche titles, just because many of them are so formulaic, but I hardly go a month without trying to watch an anime series or two.

 
JCAll said:
Just to chime in on the anime discussion, I also barely watch anime. About 1 show a year, I only keep up on the scene to see if anything comes out I might like and because I enjoy pointless fandom drama. Really, I just enjoy the tropes of JRPGs more than I enjoy the tropes of anime. Climbing a big tower, fighting God, and murdering him with a chainsaw; that's what gets me hyped. Friendship, powerlevels, and Japanese highschool just doesn't do it for me.

Though it might be that every time I get recommended a show I might like I end up disappointed. Oh you have to watch Soul Eater, oh you have to watch Hunter X Hunter. And I watch them, and they're great, and then at some point they turn to shit and I'm stuck with 30 more episodes of a show I'm not enjoying anymore because "I gotta see how it ends", but half the time it doesn't end because they're adapting a manga that's still ongoing so I'm doubly disappointed. At this point, half the shows I do end up watching are adapting from manga I've already read so I know I'll like.
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yeah hunter hunter or as its known by its true name hiatusxhiatus is never going to finish since the writer is dying slowly. soul eater manga got cancelled before it could end things properly so all you get is a rushed mess much like bleach.

What's really killing me is world trigger has gone nearly a year with no updates or anything after the author was rushed to the emergency room. My guess would be that they died :/

 
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roger watersmelon said:
I try to keep hype at a minimum and not tell people that they have to watch anything,. Usually, the show just winds up disappointing them if you do.

I think that people in general should give a little more thought to the shows that they suggest when trying to get somebody else interested in anime. For example, I would never suggest someone's initial series be something with 50+ episodes like Soul Eater or HxH. I find that shows around the 26 episode mark are generally the way to go. The majority of shorter shows throw too much out too fast, and longer shows drag on too long to maintain their interest.

I think content occasionally gets overlooked too. Sometimes people lump all of it together into a single genre because that's just how it's been labelled since the days of the "Special Interest" VHS section at Captain Video. Higurashi, Planetes, Genshiken, and Guin Saga are no more similar than American Horror Story, The Expanse, Big Bang Theory, and Game of Thrones.
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well longer series don't drag things out on purpose its just difficult to adapt a couple pages of manga into a 11-18 minute anime series. Then as mentioned you got the filler issues from animes catching up to mangas too quickly.

JCAll said:
I never did finish Persona 3. I appreciated the big tower, but every time I tried to get my climb on my party would get tired and I'd have to take the rest of the week off, or the game would decide that I'd climbed enough before fighting the next boss and I'd have to take the rest of the MONTH off. That's no way to run a dungeon.

...

Also, still holding out hope for Battle Network Transmission 2.
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what version did you play? The tired mechanic is nearly nonexistent in the psp version.

BlackRockWaifu said:
Yeah, I thought I was in the minority for not watching much anime, but now I think it's the opposite. In fact, I think I actually watch more anime than most of the other CAGs here. And I've only been watching more now due to the new Digimon series. You, Vic, Squarehard, and Neomonk seem to be the few that actually keep up to date with the new stuff.

I've actually stopped reading Naruto a bit after the pain arc as well. A little bit further though, it was when Kisame got bodied by Guy, and I got pissed off since he was one of my favorite characters, and I just dropped it after that.

Also, I actually agree with that image. I guess when he mentions foreign, it's Western games to us. And the only noticeable, cute female characters are like Aloy, Miranda from Mass Effect 2, the sniper from Killzone, Catwoman, Overwatch waifus, Chloe from Uncharted, Morrigan from Dragon Age, Red from Transistor, and Yennifer/Triss from The Witcher 3. And I guess maybe like Carmella from WWE 2K17 if that counts.
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yeah naruto got stupid so be glad you stopped at the pain arc since it gets worse from there.

 
Squarehard said:
It's been awhile since I've seen someone use the word figurines.

You must be well over 80.

I always knew there was something different about you!

Jk, the word just still feels dated to me. :*(
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I still use the word "figurines", and as a result, so does my 5-year-old. I know I saw someone use "figs" here a while back, and I liked the ring of it, so I've been going with that too.
 
JCAll said:
Just to chime in on the anime discussion, I also barely watch anime. About 1 show a year, I only keep up on the scene to see if anything comes out I might like and because I enjoy pointless fandom drama. Really, I just enjoy the tropes of JRPGs more than I enjoy the tropes of anime. Climbing a big tower, fighting God, and murdering him with a chainsaw; that's what gets me hyped. Friendship, powerlevels, and Japanese highschool just doesn't do it for me.

Though it might be that every time I get recommended a show I might like I end up disappointed. Oh you have to watch Soul Eater, oh you have to watch Hunter X Hunter. And I watch them, and they're great, and then at some point they turn to shit and I'm stuck with 30 more episodes of a show I'm not enjoying anymore because "I gotta see how it ends", but half the time it doesn't end because they're adapting a manga that's still ongoing so I'm doubly disappointed. At this point, half the shows I do end up watching are adapting from manga I've already read so I know I'll like.
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that's cause those shows get derailed, since at the time, they caught up to the manga so the anime ppl decide to make stuff up and go off in their own direction instead of waiting for the author to continue his script. also those are shounen, which tend to be meh unless they're light novel based or end within a year or 2. get better recommendations basically.

also gamers! is just ok, nothing special just probably more relatable to us cause they mix anime tropes with stereotypical casual/hardcore gamer tropes. but I'll watch it to see how it comes out.

I also like ED watch alot of anime each season and drop the crappy ones. I also avoid most shounen they are basically like the Michael Bay movies of the anime world. though, my hero academia is good.
 
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BTW second route in Wagama High Spec impressions:

I have to say I enjoyed this second route a lot more than the first. While the girl in the first was cute, the attraction didn't seem as natural and was kind of cliche and silly especially with the drama. I played the next route and wow this was actually a fairly realistic sounding route. The tone for all this was a lot different. You could tell somehow that the characters were way more attracted to each other than the last route. In fact the eroge scenes were very well written and I could even say hot. It's kind of weird but I feel a strong feeling of deja vu reading these routes. I think it's just my own experience with a pretty good amount of VNs, so the story and characters are nice but pretty typical, though the character route i was on was somewhat different than what I'm used to. Still high quality and a lot of fun.

 
3 routes done for Wagamama....likely going to take a day break before last route. This game is really, really cliche and even used the same twist for two routes (done differently though). This game is turning about to be Harem The Cliche VN. It's drawn decently well (though I think the body types are maybe too similar...) and the music is still good. It's just super, super typical. I would like to give it an average 7/10, but it's more a 6.5 just cause it's kind of boring. I really don't understand how this game won an award. There really is nothing special about it. It's likely a good early eroge for someone though since it really isn't trying to do anything different. I don't think i'd really recommend this one, as I keep rolling my eyes and predicting the stories. It's not bad though...just not really good either.

 
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Backloggers Anonymous CAG thread has Final Fantasy Type-0 ( :ps4: / :xb1: ) as the August Game of the Month! So feel free to join us and clear it from the backlog if you haven't already.

I'll start posting these here every month we change the game if no one minds.

Miker525 said:
Yeah I knew we were PSN pals but wasn't sure if you had an XB1 as well. If I remember correctly you also live fairly close. We gotta organize a NYC cag barcade funtime at some point....

But also yeah, I decided after years of waiting for it it was time for me to play through No More Heroes recently. I'm enjoying it, but I definitely don't find it as good as Lollipop Chainsaw or Killer Is Dead. I like the characters and feel of the world of NMH more than KiD but KiD just had more entertaining gameplay. Lollipop is still my absolute favorite Suda title. Still worth playing, since I know you like those kinds of games.
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Yeah, there's tons of NYC CAGs around here. I'm sure one of these days, a convention or something could work. I've met Vic at the PS Experience thing already, and I'm pretty sure I've ran into a CAG or two in a Gamestop during the trading weekends. I live in Brooklyn now, but was in Long Island a year ago. The MTA is crazy convenient here, so if you live in NY, you can practically get to anywhere else in NY.

I too felt the gameplay in No More Heroes was outdated, the movement and fighting felt stiff. I guess due to it being a motion-controlled game before. I never got pass the baseball stadium stage. I think Lollipop Chainsaw's gameplay was well done, and Killer is Dead is one of the best, reminding me of Devil May Cry.

NMH's probably has the best character designs out of any of Suda51's games imo, besides maybe Ranko Tsukigime. All his games have crazy cool and elaborate designs, but NMH takes the cake, especially the other assassins. I think I already said this, but I highly recommend the Grasshopper Manufacture art book (its Japanese but everything is translated.)

KiD is my favorite of the series, mainly because of the DLC vampire chick Betty, and the final boss fight (one of the greatest.) I do have a special place in my heart for Lollipop though, and it's got one of the best and most fitting soundtracks ever. It was selected by James Gunn (of Guardians of the Galaxy fame) if I'm not mistaken. The lollipop song, Hey Micky, Cherry Bomb, were all awesome picks. Not really related, but there's a horror/comedy called "The Final Girls" that's got the exact same soundtrack and feels like it's inspired by the game.

 
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Not much in the way of big name titles, however I do recommend checking out the demo for Shadow Tactics when it releases Tuesday. Otherwise it's the usual ports and lower tier games. There was another interesting game I noticed on PC that didn't have a release date. It reminded me a little bit of of an unlocalized SNES/PS title that I can't recall the name of. It had some old pixel style pixel art and had some RTS/Strategy elements to it.

Other stuff that released without warning last week (Assume PC unless otherwise noted):
- Super Lovely Planet (3D Platformer)
- Pink Rage Otome (Visual Novel)
- 火箭星战 Star-Rocket Strike (Third-Person Shooter)
- Piece of Memory (Action / Adventure)
- Blind Men (Visual Novel)
- Winning Post / ウイニングポスト (Simulation / JP Only)
- NOBUNAGA’S AMBITION: Shouseiroku with Power Up Kit / 信長の野望・将星録 with パワーアップキット (Strategy / JP Only)
- Romance of the Three Kingdoms　VII with Power Up Kit / 三國志VII with パワーアップキット (Strategy / JP Only)
- The Letter - Horror Visual Novel (Visual Novel / Horror)

Weekly Releases (July 30th - August 5th)

Blaster Master Zero - EX Character Shovel Knight (DLC)
- Platform(s): 3DS, Switch
- Genre: Platformer
- Demo: N/A
- Online: N/A

Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun
- Platform(s): PS4, Xbox One
- Genre: Real-Time Tactics / Stealth
- Demo: Yes, releases Tuesday.
- Online: N/A
- Comments: Previously released on PC. Pretty good game. Check out the demo when it launches this week. Not Japanese though.

Patapon Remastered
- Platform(s): PS4
- Genre: Rhythm
- Demo: N/A
- Online: N/A
- Comments: Pata, pata, pata, pon. Digital only in NA with 20% off pre-order discount with PS+ (Asian region has English Physical). Not a compilation and only includes the first Patapon game.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel
- Platform(s): PC
- Genre: RPG
- Demo: N/A
- Online: N/A
- Comments: Best version and previously released on PS3 & Vita. Tons of dialogue is newly voiced unique to this version and will not be backported. 60 FPS and other graphical enhancements.

THE HOUCHI PLAY -THE 放置プレイ-
- Platform(s): PC
- Genre: Action
- Demo: N/A
- Online: N/A
- Comments: Wat. Red light, green light but styled for perversion?

Lionheart
- Platform(s): PC
- Genre: RPG
- Demo: N/A
- Online: N/A
- Comments: Fruitbat published game.

Seven boys
- Platform(s): PC
- Genre: Visual Novel
- Demo: N/A
- Online: N/A
- Comments: Chinese dev.

BULLET SOUL INFINITE BURST / バレットソウル - インフィニットバースト -
- Platform(s): PC
- Genre: SHMUP / Bullet Hell
- Demo: N/A
- Online: Yes.
- Comments: Not sure if multiplayer is actually online or local only.

Sango Guardian Chaos Generation Steam Edition
- Platform(s): PC
- Genre: Fighting
- Demo: N/A
- Online: N/A

Blind Witch -Peek Window-
- Platform(s): PC
- Genre: Action / Adventure
- Demo: N/A
- Online: N/A
- Comments: Japanese language only.

逮到你了!
- Platform(s): PC
- Genre: Action / Simulation?
- Demo: N/A
- Online: N/A
- Comments: Chinese language only.

Winter Cold
- Platform(s): PC
- Genre: Visual Novel
- Demo: N/A
- Online: N/A
- Comments: Not Japanese.

Piece of Memory 2:prologue
- Platform(s): PC
- Genre: Action / Adventure
- Demo: N/A
- Online: N/A

Past Releases
July 23rd - July 29th
July 16th - July 22nd
July 9th - July 15th
July 2nd - July 8th
June 25th - July 1st

 
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Is there any chance Patapon Remastered gets a domestic physical release in the US?  I'm assuming its currently digital only as I haven't seen it listed at Best Buy or Amazon yet.

 
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Josef said:
Is there any chance Patapon Remastered gets a domestic physical release in the US? I'm assuming its currently online only as I haven't seen it listed at Best Buy or Amazon yet.
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I think it's digital only in NA. If you want physical, you need to import the Asian version that has English. Otherwise digital is 20% off on pre-order currently on PSN if you have PS+.

 
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Draekon said:
I think it's digital only in NA. If you want physical, you need to import the Asian version that has English. Otherwise digital is 20% off on pre-order currently on PSN if you have PS+.
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After they hyped them up so much it's strange that NA is only getting a digital release.

 
ar4757 said:
It's probably gonna suck be average/decent
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It should be better than the pos Persona 4 Golden the Animation.

Hopefully itll have a better budget than the Vanilla Persona 4 Animation and be 24 episodes or something
 
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Tothoro said:
Are there any "filler" items on Play-Asia? I'm trying to use a $5 off $60 coupon, but the item I'm planning on getting is $59.99. >.>
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If you can't find anything cheap, then just use the rolling codes, and save $3 off instead, no minimum, so you don't have to overspend on something else to meet that minimum.

GEMATSU is one that you can use.

 
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Wagamama High Spec Final Impressions as well as Princess Evangile W impressions after 1 route:

Okay so I finished all 4 routes of Wagamama High Spec. The VN got worse in my eyes. A very similar twist happened in this last route, so I seemed to read the same twist 3 times. The story wasn't even strong enough for any of the routes before these obvious twists happen. This is not a VN I would recommend at all because it's so cliche and the story is relatively weak, and the body sizes are all similar so stuff looks the same. What a big disappointment from an award winning game. 6/10 and a big pass if you're thinking about it.

Now Princess Evangile W seemed pretty nice. I did one of the newer girl routes and it was actually a pretty decent amount of fun, with good and not overblown twists and drama and frankly it seemed very natural for the progress of the relationship in the route. The route I think took me 5 hours or so. I'm enjoying it and the original Princess Evangile was one of my top VNs the year it was localized. If you've beaten the first this seems like a strong one to get enjoyment out of all the characters. It's also nice it includes the common route for those who didn't play the first, but you miss out on 4 of the characters story, so it's recommended you play the first. Seeming like an 8/10 so far, but will update later.

 
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Tothoro said:
Are there any "filler" items on Play-Asia? I'm trying to use a $5 off $60 coupon, but the item I'm planning on getting is $59.99. >.>
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I had this exact problem last week. Ended up getting a Disgaea CD for $0.99. There's quite a bit of low priced stuff in the sale section.

 
 
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The Dead Texan said:
Not even gonna bother. All the P4 ones were bores and the less said about Danganronpa the better.
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Vanilla P4 gave us Nanako saying "manwhore". The fight vs Mitsuo when Yu just dumps out persona after persona was great. And I really enjoyed how they handled the "Kings Game" scene. (Drunk Yukiko FTW!)

That said, I also liked the two "Future" and "Despair" arcs of D3 as well. I haven't watched much of the game adaptations though. To each his own, I guess.

 
hermit link in the anime trying to throw herself off the roof was funny but yeah the anime was pretty boring and shows the pacing issues among other problems the game had and amplifies. Festival section in the anime was cheat mode since you can't do multiple s links at the same time in the game.  As if you could it would not be such a pain.

 
Just remember when Amakuni comes up that usually means exclusive figures which means very expensive figures you can only get from certain stores. I collected Seven Deadly Sins Figures (may just sell to get money....anime sucked haha). It's very expensive and just warning as you look at those nice sculpts....very likely exclusive, exclusive, exclusive.

 
Also I have went through 3 of the princess Evangile W routes. They encompassed newer routes and I am currently doing an epilogue. So far the stories have been consistently nice and pretty natural. It's overall a love letter for the fans and I think is well worth it if you liked the original game. I'll give a more complete picture when I finish the last 6 routes.

 
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