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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FlawlesslyFatal said:
Yakuza Like A Dragon already on sale for $35 at bestbuy, time for price adjustment

Sent from my SM-N970U1 using Tapatalk
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Not surprised. The Yakuza series tend to drop pretty quickly. Interestingly, Judgment took a whioe longer, though that one technically is only made by the same devs.
 
Got my Persona 5 Scramble treasure box from play-Asia last week, beat it over the weekend, the "semi-musou" style combat does not take away the core persona experience, the 2 new playable characters are very likable, solid 9/10 for me.
 
Mattiful-Joe said:
Not surprised. The Yakuza series tend to drop pretty quickly. Interestingly, Judgment took a whioe longer, though that one technically is only made by the same devs.
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Best Buy also put that one on sale for $15 prior to Black Friday. Got a copy.

Pretty much got most of the game for $30, or less, now. I just used my $5 reward cert to pick up 7.

 
nitrosmob said:
Play-Asia might be a bit expensive but I always liked their packing and all. I wont see my order for a while at least. Got pre-orders so whenever they come out they will ship, which is likely mid December.

On another note some new VN releases one of which I'm enjoying currently were released.

Sekai Project released Nekopara Vol 4. It is recommended to play them in order. 18+ patch is for sale on Denpasoft as well. Denpasoft version doesn't need the patch. Slight discount currently.

Steam

18+ Patch (NSFW)

Denpasoft (NSFW)

Meteor World Actor was released as well. This one is only currently available on one site and was rejected by Steam. I bought this and it's a good translation and deals with cops and detectives and stuff like that. Pretty entertaining so far. It's currently half off around $20 bucks and well worth it so far. I can give a review for it. The site makes it look like a nukige, but I've been playing it for hours and it's not like that. It's more of a detective with a strange personality and the people he works with trying to solve some interesting cases. Don't pass up just because of the one place available for downloading.

VNDB (NSFW)

Official Site Store (Very Very NSFW)

Yu-No is put on hold for me. To say the gem system for saves drived me mad was no small feat. Game is very hard to complete easily without a guide.
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Wondering if Meteor World Actor is DRM free and do you need Japanese language support on your PC to run it?

 
Thanks for the Yakuza heads up; Price matched that plus Robotics;Notes Elite & DaSH at Best Buy with the $39.99 price on Amazon.

 
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Underwater ray Romano mask of truth I just got Kuon back in the party. Though she's so underleveled I will not be using her.

Paper Mario origami king made it to the final dungeon. I hate that block smashing puzzle.
 
gospelman said:
Yeah i always used Kuon. She and munechika were my favorite characters. She eventually has some strong passives as well.
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They bumped her levels by 11 as of the last map where <spoiler> Munechika </spoiler> and Anju joined so I may actually use her now. As at the level she was I have no idea how they expected me to use her prior. Was really surprised to see Anju join let alone the other character. It's weird though as neither of them are showing up on the saves menu. As they are in the party so they should have their images there with everyone else barring it doesn't show up till after the next story point.

Speaking of it was really weird how Fumirul's scenes were the only blocked scenes of the entire game thus far. As there were none prior to this or any blocked scenes in the first one. Only section it blocks is the start and save menus for whatever reason. Fumirul fills out the clutzy maid cliche role which I didn't even notice was missing from the harem. Now I guess all that's left is the wacky scientist who will somehow also end up being a princess as well.

Kuon does have that +10 zeal to her and 4 adjacent units thing going on so that and her healing and attack and def buffs could be useful. But usually I don't need any of that and healing wise I typically use oshtor since he gets more turns due to his taunt, plus taunt accessory and turn order advance when attacked skill combo. Even if he can't heal multiple targets or as much hp he gets more turns than kuon does usually 2-3 per her 1. And healing multiple targets requires positioning units near eachother in a plus formation anyway so it's not that useful. Oshtor also comes with stat buffs to any allies in range and a speed boost for them as well via accessory.

I still can't stand Kuon personality wise as she's just such an awful obnoxious person. At least she finally has some awareness of that when she returned to the party finally. As she seemingly felt bad for the way she treated them especially nekone. No apology to anju though (which isn't surprising given that she really doesn't like anju) but she did give her the medicine so that probably works as an apology.

The biggest thing is Woshis who I really want to kill already. They did a great job making him easy to hate. I'm hoping my vibes of breath of fire 4 are wrong about this and that he isn't going to be left unaddressed like the one antagonist of that game was. Since if that happens it will kill the game for me.

Oh there's been a few translation errors here and there. There's one where Oshtor goes on about how pretty the sky is and that there's not a cloud in it but the image they show is partly cloudy. I actually took a screen shot of that one because of how hilarious it is. Like dude you had one job.

 
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gospelman said:
Fighting words right there. Anyway, I always found her to be a strong but likable character who is trying to responsibly manage being pulled in a number of different directions.

Keep playing.
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To be fair to Kuon Nekone is even worse in mask of decepticons but she's a little kid and not some ignorant rich girl. And with her mother and stuff going on I have more forgiveness for Nekone in mask of truth than I did in mask of deception.

Best girls ranking for me are Munechika, Rulutieh and Nosuri (if nosuri didn't have that gambling problem she'd probably be top tier for me since she has a damn fine head on her shoulders). Rulu fits the perfect wife material girl next door vibe to a T. Munechika's a badass stoic lady though she doesn't value her appearance very highly sadly. I would have said Atuy a while back but she's been made pretty mentally unstable in these games compared to just being Kiyone from tenchi muyo type character from the anime where she'd go out for drinks with Haku and complain about her lack of a love life and wasn't involved in the harem stuff as much as the others. The one interesting positive change they made to her character in the first game was that she designs and makes the clothes for the navy vs in the anime she just bought them for them. As I didn't expect her to have any talents outside of combat given that they've never hinted towards any. I don't get why they didn't think of having her make clothes for the people of enukamuyi sp? when Atuy was bored since that seems like something she would enjoy doing given her penchant for wanting to improve the looks of others whether they want her to or not.

 
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shadowysea07 said:
mentally unstable
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This. "I wouldn't touch you with a 10-foot unbrella/spear, but please continue going on killing sprees for me. Thx."

Touka deserves a spot in my favorites as well but she's more of a Prelude character.

Edit: I recently purchased an AWD listing of :vita: Mask of Truth and it came complete (first print ed.) with typical bubble mailer damage for around $15. Sealed game inside. I wish winding a physical copy of Deception was as easy.

 
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gospelman said:
This. "I wouldn't touch you with a 10-foot unbrella/spear, but please continue going on killing sprees for me. Thx."

Touka deserves a spot in my favorites as well but she's more of a Prelude character.

Edit: I recently purchased an AWD listing of :vita: Mask of Truth and it came complete (first print ed.) with typical bubble mailer damage for around $15. Sealed game inside. I wish winding a physical copy of Deception was as easy.
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Same applies to the ps4 version. I have the ps4 physical version of truth but wasn't able to get a copy of deception. Since I want them for down the road when and if it's not longer easy to download off psn.

 
motaku96 said:
Got my playasia order from their recent free shipping campaign. That was a lot faster than I anticipated. And they have this tiny little cardboard box that just perfectly fits a switch case.

Got Girls und Panzer Dream Tank Match DX. Had it on PS4 but never got the dlc.
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Some of my more recent Play-Asia orders have actually been shipping from within the US (KY, I believe). I guess they are using a warehouse in the US for some of the items they sell. That could explain the quicker shipping for certain orders.

 
Josef said:
Some of my more recent Play-Asia orders have actually been shipping from within the US (KY, I believe). I guess they are using a warehouse in the US for some of the items they sell. That could explain the quicker shipping for certain orders.
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I don't know why but they've used several different couriers in the past few months. My last orders shipped were (oldest to newest) PostNL, DHL, FedEx, DHL, and USPS.

 
Atelier Ryza 2 came out in Japan. I went with the PS5 version of the game. Pretty much it just loads faster, but there's a weather effect "after the rain" where the puddles might be raytraced. 

It's just more Atelier Ryza except with more budget. By the time the first dungeon is finished you can figure out what the final boss is going to be, but the fun comes from character interactions and crafting. 

 
https://twitter.com/Wario64/status/1334738046831345664

Persona 5 Strikers release trailer accidentally posted early. Feb 23.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvBUkOmNz-k

 
bappt said:
https://twitter.com/Wario64/status/1334738046831345664

Persona 5 Strikers release trailer accidentally posted early. Feb 23.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvBUkOmNz-k
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Video said "Strike fast, strike smart, strike back" but all my brain heard was "Strike first. Strike hard. No mercy, sir!"

This is a musou game right?

 
hostyl1 said:
Video said "Strike fast, strike smart, strike back" but all my brain heard was "Strike first. Strike hard. No mercy, sir!"

This is a musou game right?
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Yes, but unlike most musou games where the plot is usually just "there", this functions as a full-on sequel to Persona 5 [Royal].

 
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I don't really understand why it's on pc and switch since those exclusive players will have no idea what's going on plot wise

 
bappt said:
Persona 5 Strikers release trailer accidentally posted early. Feb 23.
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This month’s Humble Choice seems like it may be somewhat thread relevant, with both Japanese and Japanese-inspired titles. It includes:

Overcooked 2 + Too Many Cooks Pack
Children of Morta
One Step From Eden
The Beast Inside
Indivisible
Shining Resonance Refrain
Zwei: The Arges Adventure
Zwei: The Ilvard Insurrection
Tabletop Playground
Frog Detective 1: The Haunted Island
Frog Detective 2: The Case of the Invisible Wizard
Still There
Struggling
Path of Giants
 
hostyl1 said:
This is a musou game right?
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I just beat the game last weekend, its still mostly a Persona 5(seuqel) experience, u collect info then u go into jail(palace/dungeon), u can still sneak up on enemy for surprise attack, then u go into combat which u can free attack and dodge like musou game, but for the most part you want to use persona skills to hit enemy weaknesses so u can all out attack and use buff/debuff/consumable just like a normal persona game. You still collect mask(persona) and fuse stronger ones for joker, the available personas are less than a normal game but most are still there (eyes mara... yep).

 
Yeah, there is a demo on the Japanese PSN store and I assume Switch that was pretty long for anyone that wants to go through the trouble of trying it out. I was surprised at how many of the Persona battle system mechanics they managed to incorporate into the musou style gameplay. Glad it's finally being released over here.

 
Got my iffy order from black friday. I ordered 8 of the azur lane metal prints.

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The back of the plate is pretty simple. Just a wood block with a hook you can hang on canvas mounts.

5U5CP0M.jpg


The machining is decent but not perfect. The corners aren't sharp but it's easy to see how it was cut and not perfectly smooth.

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Seems iffy includes these cards with every purchase.

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They're pretty nice and a decent size. $40 each is far too expensive for what it is, but I think $10 is just about right.

 
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Iffy started doing trading cards in August in conjunction with Nep's 10th anniversary. Those are really nice for $10 apiece and yeah, I'd never pay $40 a pop. 

 
Persona 5 Strikers (Scramble) is available for pre-order at Best Buy right now, but ONLY the Switch version comes with a steelbook:

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/searchpage.jsp?st=persona%205%20strikers&_dyncharset=UTF-8&_dynSessConf=&id=pcat17071&type=page&sc=Global&cp=1&nrp=&sp=&qp=&list=n&af=true&iht=y&usc=All%20Categories&ks=960&keys=keys&irclickid=Sy1UAcXO3zWuTaWWh6z9uRMuUkE1iR01T3cmw40&irgwc=1&ref=198&loc=CAG%20Productions%2C%20LLC&acampID=0&mpid=312361

I've seen comparison videos between the two versions and Switch has longer load times and (of course) jankier visuals. I hope they're going to add a steelbook to the PS4 version soon.

It's also available at Gamestop with a free Joker pin for both versions:

https://www.gamestop.com/search/?q=persona+5+strikers&lang=default

 
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Yea no steelbook or collector's edition means I will wait 6 months and get it for $20

 
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62t said:
Yea no steelbook or collector's edition means I will wait 6 months and get it for $20
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That is basically my approach to every game nowadays. I can't recall the last game I paid full price for, which I'm sure was a Nintendo game. Even those nowadays I would not pay full price for.

 
I generally prefer musuo games on the PS4. Likely will get it there eventually. Does it play decent on the Switch? I remember Hyrule Warriors playing okay, but that game is pretty old now.

 
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This is one of those times where I'd prefer to buy the steelbook by itself for $9.99.   Not a $60 game and certainly not now during PS5, XSX, and Cyberpunk release.

 
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It's good for my wallet that there's no PS Steelbook. Means I can wait until it drops in price instead of impulse buying it at full price which I otherwise would have.
 
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Had Strikers come out in the Summer I would have been all over it. Now with CP2077, Ryza 2, and Y's IX within these next three months along with Age of Calamity in the backlog, Strikers is just going to have to keep on waiting. Figure I'll pick it up next summer for $20.

 
nitrosmob said:
I generally prefer musuo games on the PS4. Likely will get it there eventually. Does it play decent on the Switch? I remember Hyrule Warriors playing okay, but that game is pretty old now.
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I recall reading the Switch suffers from some slowdown, and as expected, doesn't run as smoothly as on the PS4. Anyways, as others have said, I always prefer the PS4. I find sacrificing smoother gameplay and framerates for mobility isn't worth it.
 
Photophonic said:
Had Strikers come out in the Summer I would have been all over it. Now with CP2077, Ryza 2, and Y's IX within these next three months along with Age of Calamity in the backlog, Strikers is just going to have to keep on waiting. Figure I'll pick it up next summer for $20.
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I understand having reasons not to play a game right away, but I noticed you didn't list any?

 
With the steelbook only being $10 I might just return the Switch version and keep the steelbook by taking the $10 hit and then pick it up on PS4 later after a price drop.

 
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