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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Persona 5 royal is already half price at retailers after 6 months, yeah, i'd say strikers isn't a full price game.

The only reason for the switch version is portability, it runs like ass on the switch ( unless you're afraid of sony censorship, which is justified ) 

 
mylifeisgarbage said:
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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Geo in Japan has an exclusive PS4 Steelbook for Strikers. It's pretty inexpensive too. I got mine for $20 earlier this year.

 
Picked up The Seven Deadly Sins Knights of Britannia ps4 since its on sale as gamestops dotd. Sadly it doesn't work with the 50% off sale though. But I've been eyeing that for a while.

 
Alright peeps, I know you guys have the answer I'm looking for, but where is the best place to preorder the new Fire Emblem Lyndis figure?

She's always been my day one FE character, along with Ike, so I need this. So far, I know of directly with good smile and AmiAmi. Any others I should be aware of? What is the general consensus of recommendation who I should go with?

Edit: Main factors I want to consider are price, packaging, and CS for potential damages.
 
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itzd4n said:
Alright peeps, I know you guys have the answer I'm looking for, but where is the best place to preorder the new Fire Emblem Lyndis figure?

She's always been my day one FE character, along with Ike, so I need this. So far, I know of directly with good smile and AmiAmi. Any others I should be aware of? What is the general consensus of recommendation who I should go with?

Edit: Main factors I want to consider are price, packaging, and CS for potential damages.
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I used AmiAmi when Mythra and Pyra were available for preorder, I was pleased with the packaging and condition. If I was to order another figure, I would happily order from them again.
 
jedimario said:
I used AmiAmi when Mythra and Pyra were available for preorder, I was pleased with the packaging and condition. If I was to order another figure, I would happily order from them again.
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itzd4n said:
Alright peeps, I know you guys have the answer I'm looking for, but where is the best place to preorder the new Fire Emblem Lyndis figure?

She's always been my day one FE character, along with Ike, so I need this. So far, I know of directly with good smile and AmiAmi. Any others I should be aware of? What is the general consensus of recommendation who I should go with?

Edit: Main factors I want to consider are price, packaging, and CS for potential damages.
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I've had good experiences with AmiAmi too. If you'd rather go though a US retailer, I see BigBadToyStore has it for pre-order too.

 
I tend to buy most of my stuff from E-Knight Media. They are typically really good about fast shipping but have found their ETA on preordered product to be.... iffy at best. For instance, I preordered the Edelgard figma when the window was open and it had a estimated release of Oct 31st. Still nothing. Same happened with one of the Racing Miku's last year. It was almost three months after the original estimated date. 

 
jedimario said:
I used AmiAmi when Mythra and Pyra were available for preorder, I was pleased with the packaging and condition. If I was to order another figure, I would happily order from them again.
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I LOVE AmiAmi. Everything I've gotten from them has been packaged perfectly, and I've ordered Gunpla, boxes of Gundam Assault Kingdom/Converge figures, amiibo, card sleeves, and even video game special editions. Their customer service is great and their shipping is reliable. Highly recommended!

P.S. if you ever see any of their "pre-owned" goods, don't be afraid to buy one. "Used" to them practically only means it's been opened, because otherwise it's like getting a brand new item. The previous owners took care of their stuff!

 
You guys talking about getting the ps4 version of strikers. You remember you can get it on PC now right?

dragonx said:
Touhou Luna Nights coming to Switch December 17th:

https://www.gematsu.com/2020/12/touhou-luna-nights-for-switch-launches-december-17
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Oh lord they actually remembered. A lot of people thought the switch release was getting canceled since there was no news from the developers for months. I wonder if they remembered to put in the Cirno mode. I'll gladly buy it again on switch since it was such a tight metroidvania with great music and abilities. A warning to others though, it is a 5-8 hour game.

itzd4n said:
Alright peeps, I know you guys have the answer I'm looking for, but where is the best place to preorder the new Fire Emblem Lyndis figure?

She's always been my day one FE character, along with Ike, so I need this. So far, I know of directly with good smile and AmiAmi. Any others I should be aware of? What is the general consensus of recommendation who I should go with?

Edit: Main factors I want to consider are price, packaging, and CS for potential damages.
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Yeah just go with amiami. All the other places have it too(Hobby search, hlj, big in japan, tokyo otaku mode, etc) but they're all priced around the same(except TOM since they're overpriced) so there's no reason not to stick with amiami.

Only thing is, unless the shipping situation fixes itself by next november, be prepared to shell out at least $50-$100 for shipping.

 
itzd4n said:
Alright peeps, I know you guys have the answer I'm looking for, but where is the best place to preorder the new Fire Emblem Lyndis figure?

She's always been my day one FE character, along with Ike, so I need this. So far, I know of directly with good smile and AmiAmi. Any others I should be aware of? What is the general consensus of recommendation who I should go with?

Edit: Main factors I want to consider are price, packaging, and CS for potential damages.
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Solaris Japan is my go-to for figures, but I also buy used more often than new. Customer service is perfectly fine, never had an issue with packaging, and pricing is comparable to most of the other retailers.

 
itzd4n said:
Alright peeps, I know you guys have the answer I'm looking for, but where is the best place to preorder the new Fire Emblem Lyndis figure?

She's always been my day one FE character, along with Ike, so I need this. So far, I know of directly with good smile and AmiAmi. Any others I should be aware of? What is the general consensus of recommendation who I should go with?

Edit: Main factors I want to consider are price, packaging, and CS for potential damages.
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I've ordered from GoodSmile and didn't have an issue with them, though that was before they opened their US store front, so not sure if that would change anything.

Amiami was good too.

You may also want to check out Amazon, Amazon Japan and RightStuf to compare pricing and shipping costs.

 
Starcrest said:
That looks suspiciously like castlevania.
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Can't wait to see what you think about their current project then ;)

Record of Lodoss War: Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth https://store.steampowered.com/app/1203630/Record_of_Lodoss_WarDeedlit_in_Wonder_Labyrinth/

header.jpg


(Steam Early Access Game)

 
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Used my 15$ coupon on ebay to order Nier Automata gotye since best buy  fuck ed up my order from black friday and instead sent me 3 copies of the outer worlds.  :wall:  At least with the coupon I got it for 13$.  The part that ticked me off about best buy was that they didn't offer me anything for the inconvenience let alone for the honesty as the outer worlds costs far more than nier did and I could have kept and resold them if I wasn't an honest person.  Next time I sure as hell will instead of returning them.

 
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Amiami always had very high shipping prices for the better shipping options. I can only imagine the terrible shipping prices now. I haven't ordered any figures except for some Good Smile Company global stores ones usually with a flat shipping price (deals at the time). All I have to say is factor shipping into the price as well as the time to get the figure. Also I'm likely sure it's worse now but don't be surprised by delays. Also figures don't get as good pre-order discounts. It's a shame, but the prices were always getting higher and higher even before the pandemic.  

 
https://twitter.com/Wario64/status/1338034183344517120?s=08

I order it because maybe i get persona5s. I chat today with amazon. Let see what happens


[attachment=35074:Screenshot_20201213-114626~2.png]
 
Pretty clearly a mistake on the listing. I noticed it a few days ago. I think there's a pretty good chance of arguing for a replacement shipment of p5s after receiving 13s. Ultimately, I decided not to bother since don't want all that on my amz account when I'll just buy the game
 
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Space Invaders Extreme.  One of my all-time favs reissued on NSW and PS4 today.  

Turns out to be a straight port of the Steam release, which makes sense from a development point of view.  The Steam release appears to be a complete reimplementation.  Something like "inspired by true events" would describe it.

I'd only previously played the DS/PSP incarnations. While the sound and graphics surely now pop more, on the whole I find the DS version still to be superior and more engaging.  While Stage 3A of NSW kicks ass, in Stage 4A of the NSW, I found my mind wandering, slightly bored. 

That's generally not the feeling a shmup should create. On the whole, I'd wait for a price drop as $30 is really just fleecing the shmup fans.

 
For any who has played them, how is Robotics;Notes Dash/elite? I'm eyeing the recent :switch: drop to 39.99. Does the package contain two legitimately different vn's?
 
gospelman said:
For any who has played them, how is Robotics;Notes Dash/elite? I'm eyeing the recent :switch: drop to 39.99. Does the package contain two legitimately different vn's?
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I haven't played it myself yet, but the PS4 version contains two separate trophy lists (one for Dash and one for Elite) each with a platinum, so there are two distinct VNs on the disc/cart.

 
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62t said:
It is good if you like Steins;Gate or Chaos;Child
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S;G is still my favorite vn, so looks like I'llpick up the double pack. Thanks.

On a related note, s;g 0 is on sale for $12 on eshop. I personally went with Darling's Embrace for the same price. Not sure if I'll like it but it's the only s;g game i haven't played at this point.
 
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gospelman said:
S;G is still my favorite vn, so looks like I'llpick up the double pack. Thanks.

On a related note, s;g 0 is on sale for $12 on eshop. I personally went with Darling's Embrace for the same price. Not sure if I'll like it but it's the only s;g game i haven't played at this point.
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iirc all the steins gate titles and others connected to them were on sale on the eshop as I remember friskytanuki posting them in the eshop thread and wario posting them on twitter.

I still haven't played a steins gate game yet. I have Elite collectors edition in my backlog from amazon warehouse since I got it on sale for about 24.xx and it came complete and sealed just banged up on the outside of the one box but the slip cover box and innards were all fine.

But I did read the manga's back when mangastream was around (may they rest in peace) and watched some of the animation. The animation I wasn't too thrilled with since they cut out stuff (some of it important) the girl with pigtails on the bike and the kid from the temples scenes.

I managed to score a copy of pokemon platinum complete from mercari today for 42.12. I made sure to check all the signs and side by side comparisons to make sure it was a legit copy. So barring the counterfeits have gotten that good now it should be legit. square dotted i in nintendo logos, front serial numbers match the ones on the back, tm's in the nintendo logo, cart color, label color, circuit board and so on. I can only assume they either priced it to sell quickly or something since usually complete copies go for around $100. Or their like me and like to undercut resellers. But even I would have only priced it like 10-20 under what it resells for vs 60 off.

 
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So many releases for visual novels in a short amount of time.

Sekai Project released The Ditzy Demons Are In Love With Me fan disc. Play the original first of course. They also released I Walk Among Zombies Volume 0 and 3. All of these have a launch discount currently.

Steam Ditzy Fan Disc

Steam Zombies Volume 0

Steam Zombies Volume 3

Denpasoft Ditzy Fan Disc (NSFW)

Denpasoft Ditzy Fan Disc 18+ Patch (NSFW)

Denpasoft Zombies Volume 0 (NSFW)

Denpasoft Zombies Volume 0 18+ Patch (NSFW)

Denpasoft Zombies Volume 3 (NSFW)

Denpasoft Zombies Volume 3 18+ Patch (NSFW)

Mangagamer released Fxxx Me Royally!! Horny Magical Princess and its DLC. It also has a launch discount. I believe this is a rare otome eroge.

Steam (NSFW)

Steam DLC (NSFW)

Mangagamer (NSFW)

Mangagamer DLC (NSFW)

Nekonyan released Riddle Joker. It's on Steam and other platforms like Mangagamer and has a launch discount.

Steam

18+ Patch (NSFW)

We haven't gotten this many concurrent releases in a while. Lots of good stuff for all types of fans. Riddle Joker will be played by me over the holidays, as I've been looking forward to it for a while, followed by the fan disc. If you want a review I'll gladly give them of both when I'm done. I do support all of these even though I haven't played the I Walk Among Zombies games yet. 

 
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Neptunia Reverse came out in Japan on the 17th. It is just Neptunia Rebirth 1 with raytracing turned on. Lots of shiny surfaces and lighting effects added to maps, but you're still just playing Neptunia Rebirth with the same reused maps. The music and environmental effects are changed between maps so they feel less repetitive (one Lowee snowfield had snow falling, while the other had clear sky.) There were 8 new illustrations added to the game. Half are menu screen illustrations and two of the remaining four are seen during the opening event and another was a Japanese preorder poster.

Definitely not worth the full price on the Japanese store, but the $49.99 asking price for the western version is probably about right all things considered. Idea Factory International has to re-translate PS3 HDN1 for the fishing minigame unless they license the script from NISA and possibly re-dub a couple actors since the original Vert and Noire were replaced.

 
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bappt said:
Neptunia Reverse came out in Japan on the 17th. It is just Neptunia Rebirth 1 with raytracing turned on. Lots of shiny surfaces and lighting effects added to maps, but you're still just playing Neptunia Rebirth with the same reused maps. The music and environmental effects are changed between maps so they feel less repetitive (one Lowee snowfield had snow falling, while the other had clear sky.) There were 8 new illustrations added to the game. Half are menu screen illustrations and two of the remaining four are seen during the opening event and another was a Japanese preorder poster.

Definitely not worth the full price on the Japanese store, but the $49.99 asking price for the western version is probably about right all things considered. Idea Factory International has to re-translate PS3 HDN1 for the fishing minigame unless they license the script from NISA and possibly re-dub a couple actors since the original Vert and Noire were replaced.
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Thanks for the review. Sounds like a pass to me since I've already platted Re;Birth 1 on Vita. Considering how much merchandise this series pushes I'm really surprised they can't be bothered to put in more effort than re-remaking a game with a few minor additions. Will be interesting to see what sales look like, I remember the PS4 re-remake bombing pretty hard.

 
So just a heads up - I'd kept hearing about how good 13 Sentinels was here and saw a few articles saying it's a game of the year contender. I saw it was on sale at Best Buy for $30 so I ordered at my local store for pick up. It turned out to be idk what it's called but the version that comes with an art book so that was awesome. Might be worth looking into for those of you looking for it
 
I personally wouldn't put it in goty conversations but yes, it's good.  Have the platinum & recommend it.  The edition with artbook seems largely still available at this point.  Regardless - worth $30 for sure, enjoy.

 
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Haven't played it yet or even opened it.  I'll get to it someday.  Almost at the end of underwater ray romano mask of truth.  The one plot twist I didn't see coming at all.  Of course it was completely out of nowhere with zero foreshadowing so its eh. I just completed the double boss map where the one you beat to the north and then a second one pops up from the south east on the other side of the battle field so that should tell you how far I am.

 
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elessar123 said:
Enough flaws and tropes that it's simply not ground breaking.
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A game does not have to be ground-breaking to be good. That said, I don't necessarily think that 13 Sentinels is an award-winning contender deserving of extensive accolades either. I ordered a copy for myself about a month ago when there was a sale for $30. But that's partially based on my extensive fondness for Vanillaware's output. My past experience with their games, and especially their art, made it an easy decision. But I also held off on buying until it was on sale.

I don't need a game to be ground breaking or shockingly original in order to hold it up as an example. There have been plenty of games that weren't ground breaking, and yet through sheer execution managed to shine. I'd point to titles like The Secret of Monkey Island, or Kings Quest VI. Those were titles that certainly didn't break the mold. But they also both thoroughly understood the mold, and used that understanding to craft some of the best point-and-click titles in history.

Revolution can be overrated. Sometimes superior craft allows developers to excel.

 
I doubt many here are all that interested in mobile gaming, but for those who are, Monster Hunter Stories is 75% off on iOS at the moment ($4.99, down from $19.99). It’s an attractive and fun monster collecting take on Monster Hunter, and the mobile port (originally from 3DS) runs much smoother than on original hardware. Battles have simple controls and are turn-based, so it works fine with a touch screen, and it has full XB1 and PS4 controller compatibility if you prefer.
 
I'm more interested if the mobile version has the update, I know when I played it on 3DS, the update with elder dragon never made it into US region.
 
elessar123 said:
I didn't know it got ported. I assume it doesn't have amiibo support?
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I highly doubt it. I didn’t even know the 3DS version had amiibo support, though.

superxgaga said:
I'm more interested if the mobile version has the update, I know when I played it on 3DS, the update with elder dragon never made it into US region.
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I think I remember hearing no, but the little information I can find quickly on Google is pretty hearsayish, with some people saying yes and others saying no. The wiki might have better information.
 
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Souffrir said:
I highly doubt it. I didn’t even know the 3DS version had amiibo support, though.
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I only know because I imported one of the amiibos. They never got released here. The US version has support but they never released them here. It's odd.

71zM%2Bv1F4-L._SL1500_.jpg

 
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Figured I would ask here as well just in case anyone here is knowledgable about it. I got a copy of pokemon platinum but I am not certain if its legit or counterfeit. I already know about the usual stuff to look for like the square i in nintendo, letters on the front of the cart matching the back and such.  But since this is a sealed copy I'm unable to look at most of those things. 

Edit got my answer and its a repro.  Oh well you win some you lose some.

 
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shadowysea07 said:
Figured I would ask here as well just in case anyone here is knowledgable about it. I got a copy of pokemon platinum but I am not certain if its legit or counterfeit. I already know about the usual stuff to look for like the square i in nintendo, letters on the front of the cart matching the back and such. But since this is a sealed copy I'm unable to look at most of those things.
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Bring it to an MRI.

 
Best Buy emailed me this evening about my Persona 5 Strikers PS4 order.  They added a PS4 Steelbook to the order that they're saying should have added to my order.  So whether or not this signifies that there will in fact be a PS4 Steelbook or not is anyone's guess though.  The page is still just showing the steelbook being available only on the Switch version though.

 
Amairo Chocolate officially has an English translation now. It currently is 20% off on Steam and has an 18+ patch on Denpasoft. If you need more moe cafe eroges well here you go.

Steam

Denpasoft (NSFW)

18+ Patch (NSFW)

JAST USA is finally releasing Majikoi tomorrow on 12/25/2020. This is likely missing miscellaneous voices. Majikoi is a very good VN and worth playing through.

Steam

JAST USA (NSFW)

Also JAST USA, Mangagamer, Denpasoft web stores are having sales. Lots of their titles on sale and the ones as well as theirs on Steam.

 
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gospelman said:
Merry Christmas, cags!

Just noticed vgp started a sale yesterday that runs through the 31st. A lot of the usual sale titles. Sadly my order is falling $0.02 below the free shipping threshold. Anyone figure out a good way around this other than adding another $20-25 title?
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Here's a list of some of the stuff after conversion rates.

Heroes of Mana ds 11.64
Bloodborne ps4 15.53
Nioh 2 ps4 15.53
Zanki Zero 15.53
Final Fantasy 12 revanant wings ds 15.53
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Ring of Fates - DS 15.53
Yakuza 6 : The Song of Life [Essence of Art Edition] 15.53
Star Fox Zero [WITH STARFOX GUARD] - Wii U 15.53
Valkyrie Profile : Covenant of the Plume - DS 15.53
Our World Is Ended (Day One Edition) - PS4 15.53
Shining Resonance Refrain (Draconic Launch Edition) - PS4 15.53
Super Neptunia RPG - PS4 15.53
Chaos child vita ps4 19.41
Steins gate 0 ps4 19.41
Utawarerumono Mask of Deception 19.41
Labyrinth of Refrain Coven of Dusk ps4 Nintendo switch 19.41
Nexomon Nintendo switch ps4 23.29
Yugioh legacy of the duelist link evolution Nintendo switch 23.29
Conception PLUS Maidens of the Twelve Stars 27.18
Captain Tsubasa Rise of New Champions Nintendo switch ps4 31.06
Catherine Full Body Nintendo Switch 31.06
Sakura wars 31.06
Persona 5 r 31.06
Streets of rage ps4 switch xboxone 31.06
 
So yesterday, Best Buy cancelled my pre-order of Digimon Survive, giving no reason other than it's no longer available. I still had GCU when I made the pre-order, meaning I just lost that discount. The game has disappeared from the website, so I probably can't get order reinstated. Sucks.

 
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