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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Covnam said:
Yeah, not really doing it for me either. It's odd that they would redesign them while leaving the in-game sprites the same too.

Well, I just recently played this, so I won't be picking it up any time soon, if ever, but hopefully it does well enough for 2 to come out here. No reason to play the PSP version like 1 when there's a better version on the PS4 already out in Japan
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Interestingly enough they apparently kept both the original and the new designs in the game to toggle through as options along with the original voice work and the new voice work. It's announced to be a world wide release for dec 5th and is 20.99 Which is surprisingly low given lazier ports have gotten 40 or more. Still since I played it only a few years ago it's a solid pass for me. Especially since it's digital only.

What I want to know is if they changed the characters models why didn't they redo the cutscenes? It will look pretty stupid if you see new versions of them one moment then switched to cutscene and they have in some cases completely different designs.

 
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shadowysea07 said:
Interestingly enough they apparently kept both the original and the new designs in the game to toggle through as options along with the original voice work and the new voice work. It's announced to be a world wide release for dec 5th and is 20.99 Which is surprisingly low given lazier ports have gotten 40 or more. Still since I played it only a few years ago it's a solid pass for me. Especially since it's digital only.

What I want to know is if they changed the characters models why didn't they redo the cutscenes? It will look pretty stupid if you see new versions of them one moment then switched to cutscene and they have in some cases completely different designs.
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Oh, it's good that they give the option, I was wondering about that. Also, yeah I found it pretty funny that the cutscenes were the same (using the old designs) and weren't redone either.

Maybe that's why it's cheaper then you'd expect coming from them, the only thing they really did was create some new portraits and re-dub it :lol:

 
Squarehard said:
As much fun as First Departure was, Second Story is still my GOAT of SO.

Played the hell out of that game.
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Yeah, that was one of my all-time favorite JRPGs of the PS1. The freedom the game gives you with just about every aspect of character leveling is nuts. The PSP 'remake' was a fun way to revisit it.

Save scumming for that NG+ sword in one of the first towns in the game was hilarious. Same for making those forged medals so you can level up to 99 any time you want. Such a cool game

 
Gungrave looks kind of cool but it looks way different than the anime and so does the art. Am I missing something here? What's the story of this game?

 
tangytangerine said:
Just wanted to mention that Amazon has restocked Kotodama: 7 Mysteries of Fujisawa on PS4: https://www.amazon.com/Kotodama-7-Mysteries-Fujisawa-PlayStation-4/dp/B07Q96PY9B/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=kotodama&qid=1568268363&rnid=2941120011&s=videogames&sr=1-1

But beware, because I've ordered it 3 times this week and all 3 times were PAL copies. After the third time, I was told to keep it and they issued a credit for it. Also was told they're having the department who looks into that to check their inventory for more PAL copies. All 3 that I got just had stickers on the front with the title and a barcode, but still had the PAL barcode uncovered on the back.
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Besides the PEGI logo. What's the difference with the PAL version of this game with the NTSC version?

 
anotherpoorgamer said:
Besides the PEGI logo. What's the difference with the PAL version of this game with the NTSC version?
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Nothing that I can notice, seems fine to me. It's apparently got bugs where it corrupts saves and can't progress through the game during certain choices. Although I haven't played it enough to run into those yet and not sure the patch fixes them. But apparently all 3 systems(PS4, Switch & PC) all have the same bugs.

I guess that's the reason why it was being sold for $30 when it originally came out.

 
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tangytangerine said:
Just wanted to mention that Amazon has restocked Kotodama: 7 Mysteries of Fujisawa on PS4: https://www.amazon.com/Kotodama-7-Mysteries-Fujisawa-PlayStation-4/dp/B07Q96PY9B/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=kotodama&qid=1568268363&rnid=2941120011&s=videogames&sr=1-1

But beware, because I've ordered it 3 times this week and all 3 times were PAL copies. After the third time, I was told to keep it and they issued a credit for it. Also was told they're having the department who looks into that to check their inventory for more PAL copies. All 3 that I got just had stickers on the front with the title and a barcode, but still had the PAL barcode uncovered on the back.
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Did you only get the PS4 version or did the Switch version have a similar problem at Amazon? The Switch version is about $6 more expensive so I'm considering going that route.

 
nagpo said:
Gungrave looks kind of cool but it looks way different than the anime and so does the art. Am I missing something here? What's the story of this game?
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gungrave

Gungrave, the game series came first. The Anime is themed off of the original game series. Gungrave VR is the modern rebirth of the series and the third game. It was developed by a new developer under the supervision of the original developers... and is the oddball looking one of the bunch.

Go watch some youtube videos if you need to see more.

 
BigManJapan said:
That CG Gungrave trailer was badass. Not sure how the actual gameplay will compare.
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I loved Gungrave back in the PS2 era though it has "tank" controlling which I despise. But even than I still loved its crazy gameplay and its wacky animation when you start comboing. Think of the game as a rail shooter with "tank" control.

This new one seems to keep the "tank" controlling and everything else that made the original game fun. So if you can tolerate the "tank" controls, you will probably like this game

 
Josef said:
Did you only get the PS4 version or did the Switch version have a similar problem at Amazon? The Switch version is about $6 more expensive so I'm considering going that route.
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Only got the PS4 version, as it was the only one on sale and don't have a Switch. So for right now, I can only confirm them sending PAL copies for the PS4 version.

 
tangytangerine said:
Just wanted to mention that Amazon has restocked Kotodama: 7 Mysteries of Fujisawa on PS4: https://www.amazon.com/Kotodama-7-Mysteries-Fujisawa-PlayStation-4/dp/B07Q96PY9B/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=kotodama&qid=1568268363&rnid=2941120011&s=videogames&sr=1-1

But beware, because I've ordered it 3 times this week and all 3 times were PAL copies. After the third time, I was told to keep it and they issued a credit for it. Also was told they're having the department who looks into that to check their inventory for more PAL copies. All 3 that I got just had stickers on the front with the title and a barcode, but still had the PAL barcode uncovered on the back.
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But is the game enjoyable?
 
Miker525 said:
The dualshockers interview with the developer sounds like it will definitely be coming to the west! Pretty excited, think it looks cool and I've wanted to play the originals so this is great.
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Really? May be Sony is scaling back on its strange policy towards some Japanese developed games.

I'm happy to wait but if there's a multi-language version with English subtitles, I'll probably import.
 
Everybody's favorite Gundam game is $10 shipped from a third party Amazon vendor.

New Gundam Breaker $10, Oh boy!

tenor.gif


 
romeogbs19 said:
Really? May be Sony is scaling back on its strange policy towards some Japanese developed games.

I'm happy to wait but if there's a multi-language version with English subtitles, I'll probably import.
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Oh don't get me wrong if they release an Asia English release I'll probably order that too just to get it sooner and to avoid any potentially censored content but does sound like it will come west dubbed in the case it's not Asian english
 
Weird seeing an Onechanbara game using cel-shading, but I guess they have to reuse that Senran Kagura game engine somehow. Considering the creator of that series left the company.

Starcrest said:
But is the game enjoyable?
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It's okay, but the story leaves a bit wanting more. It does still have bugs, as one of my saves couldn't load(corrupted). I'm guessing it feels a bit incomplete due to it being PQube's 1st original IP. It does
set up a sequel with the ending
, but I don't see that happening. Had a better time playing Song of Memories than this.

 
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Arland sales were pretty abysmal even for a niche game, Only the PS4 trilogy charted Media create. Famitsu showed 4451 PS4 copies and 2339 switch copies respectively.

 
bappt said:
Arland sales were pretty abysmal even for a niche game, Only the PS4 trilogy charted Media create. Famitsu showed 4451 PS4 copies and 2339 switch copies respectively.
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If they did some kind of limited, LE only release, they'd get some guaranteed weeb sales for it, at least. I know a lot of us are going to wait for a deep sale due to digital, but I'd pony up money day 1 for what I just described. Haha

 
Weird move by Gust, but I'm happy for those who wanted this. However, I do feel like Atelier is oversaturating their already small market with a new game every year, spin-offs, and ports everywhere.

 
It’s too bad they don’t show any love for the Atelier Iris series. Those were probably the best Atelier games imo. They deserve the remaster treatment for sure, especially Eternal Mana.
 
As someone that was not familiar with the series until a few days ago I would have jumped all in on the physical Nintendo Switch releases; that is until I found out about the crazy amount and cost of the DLC that most of the releases have. If they were complete editions I would buy at least one in a heart beat to try it out!

Tothoro said:
Weird move by Gust, but I'm happy for those who wanted this. However, I do feel like Atelier is oversaturating their already small market with a new game every year, spin-offs, and ports everywhere.
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I think sales probably dropped significantly between them doing 1 game a year minimum and making them subtitles only instead of english with a dual audio option. And until recently you could always depend on them dropping to 20$ new range. But it seems they lowered prints so that it doesn't occur any longer.  Not like I care that much given I haven't played the 5 or so entries I have in my backlog minus Ayesha on the ps3.  Ayesha was fun for what it was but some of the event triggers were absurdly annoying and guide dang it.  Durr you have to go to an area but enter it backwards.   I wasn't even aware you could enter areas backwards depending on the direction you came from on the map so I ended up having to google/youtube that part. The other section that killed me was you had to go to the library and trigger a scene before you could enter the floating dungeon and fight it's boss.  I didn't know this and it takes 2 weeks to travel there let alone doubling back so that was part of the wasted time I had.

Apparently I am a master at the series by complete dumb luck.  I beat the majority of the games super bosses and such by complete accident with no knowledge whatsoever or experience with the series.  Ironic given that I ran out of time and got the bad ending and had to reset to get to the final dungeon and the true ending. Which I also dumbly stumbled into without a guide.  It was some impressively stupid luck.

 
Did anyone else notice that the Limited Edition for Atelier Ryza doesn't have a soundtrack CD?

I feel like this is the first time that NISA has ever done a LE for Atelier that doesn't contain a soundtrack (even the spin-off Nelke game had one too)

Kinda disappointing since I have physical soundtracks for almost every Atelier. Them not adding one for Ryza makes the company look cheap

 
Re: Atelier series has been averaging one a year for like 20 years. It's not new.

That said, I wouldn't mind if they slowed down, and updated older titles either, like Mana Khemia.

Edit: Hopefully, they'll slow down cause they're working on the Fairy Tail game.
 
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Ya that's all they do now; recycle old shit on 10 different consoles with 12 different collectors editions, then make a variant cover art for them all and do it again.

 
dsman3717 said:
Did anyone else notice that the Limited Edition for Atelier Ryza doesn't have a soundtrack CD?

I feel like this is the first time that NISA has ever done a LE for Atelier that doesn't contain a soundtrack (even the spin-off Nelke game had one too)

Kinda disappointing since I have physical soundtracks for almost every Atelier. Them not adding one for Ryza makes the company look cheap
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They've been matching the Japanese "Premium Box" offerings these past few releases and I noticed even for Japan the sampler CD wasn't included in that version. I guess they want everyone buying the $30 soundtrack. (They're actually on Amazon MP3)

 
bappt said:
They've been matching the Japanese "Premium Box" offerings these past few releases and I noticed even for Japan the sampler CD wasn't included in that version. I guess they want everyone buying the $30 soundtrack. (They're actually on Amazon MP3)
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Damn, guess they really want to sell those separate Soundtrack CDs, goodbye sampler CDs :(

Well, I guess their horrible new approach is working since I'll likely import the Ryza CD (really like the music in the series)

Also, my hesitation regarding this missing CD made me miss out on the Switch version of the LE, it's now out of stock....Maybe I'll get the PS4 version since that one is still available

 
elessar123 said:
Re: Atelier series has been averaging one a year for like 20 years. It's not new.

That said, I wouldn't mind if they slowed down, and updated older titles either, like Mana Khemia.

Edit: Hopefully, they'll slow down cause they're working on the Fairy Tail game.
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It is for those of us not in japan. They didn't start bringing the series over until iris afterall. also 1999 2000 and 2018 didn't have releases in japan unless you are counting ports and hand held titles? Though even then 1999 is still empty.

I am surprised that it's been a yearly release outside japan since they started localizing them. I like others didn't really notice until the dusk trilogy.

 
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shadowysea07 said:
It is for those of us not in japan. They didn't start bringing the series over until iris afterall. also 1999 2000 and 2018 didn't have releases in japan unless you are counting ports and hand held titles? Though even then 1999 is still empty.

I am surprised that it's been a yearly release outside japan since they started localizing them. I like others didn't really notice until the dusk trilogy.
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Given the yearly releases, is Japanese game development just as soul crushing a career as it is here in the US?
 
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