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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If there was a figure or nendo or such it would be worth it. It honestly looks like an $80 LE, but that's just me. The poster looks cool though, and cloth posters are nice.

 
BoxPizzaBox said:
Apologies if already mentioned, but there are Blue Reflection: Second Light LE's up for preorder on NISA for PS4/Switch, $129.99 kinda pricey like all the GUST ones seem to be.

https://store.nisamerica.com/blue-reflection-second-light

blue-reflection-second-light_ps4_2.jpg
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Seriously, they're doing the import collector's edition again? And they want even more than they did for the Ryza 2 one? Hard pass, NISA. I was excited when I saw this in my email and then immediately disappointed upon reading it. I don't see how in the hell that's even close to $130.

EDIT: ok, apparently the Japanese limited edition also has a soundtrack, towel, and school bag. If you're going to charge us $130 for import junk you're too lazy to translate, you can at least give us all of it!

 
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shadowysea07 said:
The writing for palace #3 is soo terrible. Like seriously whoever wrote this is a complete moron. If he wanted to blackmail them maybe not have them in the room while trying to do so while holding a hostage? seriously how stupid can one person be.
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Yeah, that's a really terrible part of the story. For one, we gain Makoto as a party member in a palace she has no personal attachment too. Also, on top of the silly blackmail issue you mentioned, I asked myself at least a hundred times during that whole part of the story, "how do the cops not have any leads on who this guy is?" A couple of stupid high school kids figured out this guy's name and location in a few days. I understand it's supposed to show that the cops (and, by extension, adults) are useless and corrupt and Japan has a serious organized crime problem, but if all it took to expose this guy was a nosy high school girl just asking to see him, I think even the dumbest cop on the force could figure out a way to do it. These guys traffic in young girls, right? Why not send an undercover, female cop in who looks young, like how they get online pedophiles in real life? Or, if you don't want to endanger a woman, send a young-looking male cop to ask the boss' goons about these quick-paying jobs. The whole thing was such a strain on my suspension of disbelief.

 
super1upqueen said:
Seriously, they're doing the import collector's edition again? And they want even more than they did for the Ryza 2 one? Hard pass, NISA. I was excited when I saw this in my email and then immediately disappointed upon reading it. I don't see how in the hell that's even close to $130.

EDIT: ok, apparently the Japanese limited edition also has a soundtrack, towel, and school bag. If you're going to charge us $130 for import junk you're too lazy to translate, you can at least give us all of it!
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JP import is up on Play-Asia to take advantage of the free shipping (Amazon.JP shipping is like the same price as the LE itself right now lol)

It looks like it's a drama CD and not a music CD. The one with the towel and bag is like $180 on Play-Asia but the normal LE that is just the drama CD minus the keychains is like $100. The import stuff is still expensive though it makes me wonder if the Ryza dlc will be exclusive to the LE set or not.

 
Pikagreg said:
JP import is up on Play-Asia to take advantage of the free shipping (Amazon.JP shipping is like the same price as the LE itself right now lol)

It looks like it's a drama CD and not a music CD. The one with the towel and bag is like $180 on Play-Asia but the normal LE that is just the drama CD minus the keychains is like $100. The import stuff is still expensive though it makes me wonder if the Ryza dlc will be exclusive to the LE set or not.
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Jesus, this thing is overpriced everywhere. I'll probably just snag a standard copy, since I'm sure the game will have a low print. I thought the first game was compelling, but a bit repetitive and easy, so I'm hoping the sequel is better because I just love the art style and music of the series (I believe Hayato Asano is back as composer, so that alone is worth the price of admission).

 
super1upqueen said:
Yeah, that's a really terrible part of the story. For one, we gain Makoto as a party member in a palace she has no personal attachment too. Also, on top of the silly blackmail issue you mentioned, I asked myself at least a hundred times during that whole part of the story, "how do the cops not have any leads on who this guy is?" A couple of stupid high school kids figured out this guy's name and location in a few days. I understand it's supposed to show that the cops (and, by extension, adults) are useless and corrupt and Japan has a serious organized crime problem, but if all it took to expose this guy was a nosy high school girl just asking to see him, I think even the dumbest cop on the force could figure out a way to do it. These guys traffic in young girls, right? Why not send an undercover, female cop in who looks young, like how they get online pedophiles in real life? Or, if you don't want to endanger a woman, send a young-looking male cop to ask the boss' goons about these quick-paying jobs. The whole thing was such a strain on my suspension of disbelief.
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The majority of the victims were all being blackmailed due to drug possession and other illegal activities that they took part in. The others were being well compensated and or recruiting others. But yeah I found it incredibly jarring that they couldn't trace things back to the boss somehow. They were using couriers, dead drops and the like and avoiding any contact with the boss if at all possible with few of the underlings knowing their name. So that part makes some sense that coupled with the unwillingness to testify they had a lack of a case. As soon as he abducted her in broad daylight I feel that the writing fell apart.

 
Don't think it mentioned yet, but the West will not get physical copies of Fatal Frame Maiden of Black Water. Only PS4 and Switch copies are being printed for Asian territories; PS5, Xbox One, Series S/X are digital-only worldwide.

Certain costumes from WiiU version also got axed from this release.

Sent from my SM-N970U1 using Tapatalk
 
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FlawlesslyFatal said:
Don't think it mentioned yet, but the West will not get physical copies of Fatal Frame Maiden of Black Water. Only PS4 and Switch copies are being printed for Asian territories; PS5, Xbox One, Series S/X are digital-only worldwide.

Certain costumes from WiiU version also got axed from this release.

Sent from my SM-N970U1 using Tapatalk
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Bummer. Looks like Play-Asia removed their listings for the NA pre-orders.

 
Souffrir said:
Can you elaborate?
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The 2 skimpy outfits in the JP WiiU got cut, same goes for the NA Princess Zelda and Samus. Both regions will have 2 less outfits respectively. The Zelda and Samus probably understandable with licensing constrain, but I don't think the other 2 has to do anything with licensing issue.

Sent from my SM-N970U1 using Tapatalk
 
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FlawlesslyFatal said:
Don't think it mentioned yet, but the West will not get physical copies of Fatal Frame Maiden of Black Water. Only PS4 and Switch copies are being printed for Asian territories; PS5, Xbox One, Series S/X are digital-only worldwide.

Certain costumes from WiiU version also got axed from this release.

Sent from my SM-N970U1 using Tapatalk
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Saw that. Fortunately, there will still be the physical Asian English release for PS4. That works for me.
 
FlawlesslyFatal said:
The 2 skimpy outfits in the JP WiiU got cut, same goes for the NA Princess Zelda and Samus. Both regions will have 2 less outfits respectively. The Zelda and Samus probably understandable with licensing constrain, but I don't think the other 2 has to do anything with licensing issue.

Sent from my SM-N970U1 using Tapatalk
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It's fine. NA never got the Japanese costumes anyways, and of course, now that this is a multiplatform title, the removal of the Nintendo costumes is expected.

For those looking for some more skin, the news said each character would have a swimsuit costume.

Also excited for the new Ayane story.
 
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Hey, I had a question for anyone who has reached Daimyo or higher with Playasia's loyalty program. Have you gotten any exclusive promotions for being at that level, and if you have, what ones? 

 
guy3467 said:
Hey, I had a question for anyone who has reached Daimyo or higher with Playasia's loyalty program. Have you gotten any exclusive promotions for being at that level, and if you have, what ones?
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I've been at Daimyo for a while and haven't gotten anything. It resets your rank every year (kinda like BBY rewards) so there's a possibility they sent something out while I was working my way back up to Daimyo, but I'm skeptical because I've also never seen anyone else mention any exclusive promotions.

 
FlawlesslyFatal said:
The 2 skimpy outfits in the JP WiiU got cut, same goes for the NA Princess Zelda and Samus. Both regions will have 2 less outfits respectively. The Zelda and Samus probably understandable with licensing constrain, but I don't think the other 2 has to do anything with licensing issue.

Sent from my SM-N970U1 using Tapatalk
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So this is NOT a definitive edition, then. Sad that it's full priced yet it's missing content from the original. Normal for gaming today, I guess.
 
Tothoro said:
I've been at Daimyo for a while and haven't gotten anything. It resets your rank every year (kinda like BBY rewards) so there's a possibility they sent something out while I was working my way back up to Daimyo, but I'm skeptical because I've also never seen anyone else mention any exclusive promotions.
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I just checked mine and I'm at Daimyo too, never received any special offers either. However, I think it only resets yours experience at that level when it's been a year. The rank you get to, you stay on for another year if you don't rank up before then. At least, thats my take from the way it's worded.
 
caggamers said:
So this is NOT a definitive edition, then. Sad that it's full priced yet it's missing content from the original. Normal for gaming today, I guess.
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There will never be a definitive version of this game, at least as it comes to the costumes. Frankly, this new release is pretty darn good since it also includes the new Ayane story that was not part of the Wii U release.
 
Had fatal frame ps4 US version preordered from playasia. They took that down and I got an email that only the Asian version is getting a disc. Said I could switch it to the Asian version but I've only ordered 2 things from them before. Anyone know how to go about that? Hopefully since I ordered when shipping was free they will still have free shipping.
 
cactustrav77 said:
Had fatal frame ps4 US version preordered from playasia. They took that down and I got an email that only the Asian version is getting a disc. Said I could switch it to the Asian version but I've only ordered 2 things from them before. Anyone know how to go about that? Hopefully since I ordered when shipping was free they will still have free shipping.
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They would switch it for for you AFAIK, however, please double check and verify the price. If there is a price difference between the asian version and what was supposed to be the NA version, they will assume you're okay with any increased costs. The free shipping they will honor though, that I am fairly confident about.

In your response to them, just ask them to confirm everything you have concerns about
 
itzd4n said:
They would switch it for for you AFAIK, however, please double check and verify the price. If there is a price difference between the asian version and what was supposed to be the NA version, they will assume you're okay with any increased costs. The free shipping they will honor though, that I am fairly confident about.
In your response to them, just ask them to confirm everything you have concerns about
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They are both $59.99 but I used a promo code for $3 off too. Just figured I would get the US version as I'm in the US. Have a hk account so dlc shouldn't be an issue.
 
cactustrav77 said:
Had fatal frame ps4 US version preordered from playasia. They took that down and I got an email that only the Asian version is getting a disc. Said I could switch it to the Asian version but I've only ordered 2 things from them before. Anyone know how to go about that? Hopefully since I ordered when shipping was free they will still have free shipping.
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If you just respond that to their email, they'll get you taken care of. Bit of a language barrier, but they don't generally give customers grief in these situations. Happened to me a handful of times in the past and I had no issues swapping the item or getting a refund.

itzd4n said:
I just checked mine and I'm at Daimyo too, never received any special offers either. However, I think it only resets yours experience at that level when it's been a year. The rank you get to, you stay on for another year if you don't rank up before then. At least, thats my take from the way it's worded.
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It's possible, I just read it as "after one year you get dropped back down", but the wording isn't super clear. My rank is apparently good until 2/14 so I don't think I'll be able to speak to that particular element with certainty until then.

 
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Made it to the 4th dungeon in p5 vanilla. This ones a bit repetitive. I do appreciate the Egyptian theme though. It's too bad they didn't make the town the hub and let you buy items and such from there.
 
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Just a heads up, Neo:The World Ends with you has gone down to $49.94 at gamestop again. If I was willing to go through the whole buy and return, I would but I don't really feel like making that trip.

 
motaku96 said:
Just a heads up, Neo:The World Ends with you has gone down to $49.94 at gamestop again. If I was willing to go through the whole buy and return, I would but I don't really feel like making that trip.
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Looks like Amazon pricematched it.

I considered grabbing it since I liked the demo but I think I'll play the first game or watch the anime before I get the sequel.

 
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Finished the story in TWEWY Final Remix on Switch late Saturday night.  Thinking back, I never did finish it on DS.  I think I finished 1/3 of the game (to the first major plot twist) and then put a pause on it.  That was well worth playing on switch and I just did the single joycon the whole way through.  I didn't bother to co-op/dual-wield any of it.  Perfectly playable.  I even got used to scratching the background for certain pins.  And that soundtrack even more amazing than I remembered.   Only major negatives were that pins don't have any options to sort.  Made going through them a bit of a pain at times so I often just stuck with what I was using and then would update to the same type pins.  I didn't use any health pins.   Also music... this game should have had a streamlined music player.  Took a few too many steps to drill into the inventory to listen to tracks.   I'll get back to this for the after game stuff later.

Sunday I opened Neo TWEWY and continued from where I left off with the demo on Switch.  I played through the next two story days.  SOOOO damned amazing.  Soundtrack is even better than Final Remix (which seems impossible).  While I got used to the single joycon on Final Remix... playing with the pro controller is so great.  Unlocking hard mode and a bunch of other stuff like the social network bit and having health bars for the enemies as well as cash pins auto converting to cash.  Good stuff.  Hard mode with health turned down was still a bit easy for stuff but then it ramped up with the Shark enemies and some of the higher tier wolf like creatures.   I love so much about this game.  Glad I finished Final Remix instead of putting it off like I did with the DS version (which I still have).   I was a bit worried I'd get burned out by too much TWEWY... but that doesn't seem possible.

I think there's a pretty good chance Neo TWEWY could end up a single print.  I'm sooooooooo glad I gave the demo a full play and didn't give up early in it.  I love how it opens up and the pacing to just chill and explore and level grind is great.

 
Souffrir said:
I can’t imagine playing TWEWY on anything other than a dual screen system where at least one of them is a touch screen.
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I couldn't either until I did it. The convenience of Switch (which I play regularly) was hard for me to pass up. It worked surprisingly well with the single joycon. And that music... the remix version on Final Remix is excellent. The graphics update also was well done. I played this in my living room which is a 55" plasma.

 
In case anyone missed the other thread and gs thread they have a sale 5 for 50 on preowned 19.99 and under.  A number of ps4 rpgs are still in stock. Sadly sakura wars was already oos as for 10 I was gonna pick it up. Oh well.  I did get judgement and fist of the north star at least along with gun girls online fatal bullet. 

 
I used to get pretty excited for those GS deals but my local store (the other one closed) had a pretty small selection when I went in there last and no way I'm doing an online order for a bunch of games that'll probably be cart only (as I mainly buy for switch).  Pretty sure I have all the ps4 games I want except maybe grabbing a physical import of InFamous First Light

 
shadowysea07 said:
In case anyone missed the other thread and gs thread they have a sale 5 for 50 on preowned 19.99 and under. A number of ps4 rpgs are still in stock. Sadly sakura wars was already oos as for 10 I was gonna pick it up. Oh well. I did get judgement and fist of the north star at least along with gun girls online fatal bullet.
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Damn, wish I knew this was part of the sale this morning... looks like they jacked up the price all the way to $55 used. Wonder if it being $20 used was a mistake?

 
Vinny said:
Damn, wish I knew this was part of the sale this morning... looks like they jacked up the price all the way to $55 used. Wonder if it being $20 used was a mistake?
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Nah as stuff selling out then being restocked at a higher price is pretty typical for them. It was probably just an overlapping sale/price match from another retailer since they do that now sometimes without requiring the manual price matching stuff.

It sucks too since I already had it in my cart the night before but I guess I should of checked before going to bed that the sale was up since it wasn't around 1am where I am.

 
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Nelke and the Legendary Alchemists  :switch:  is available new from Amazon for $24.99 and Walmart for $26.34. 

Lulua $48.99 Amazon

It's not in stock at Gamestop and Best Buy

 
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Might not be niche enough... but Monster Hunter Rise (Switch) has dropped to $39.99 over on gamefly:
https://www.gamefly.com/game/monster-hunter-rise/5025771

It's gamefly where used is pretty much like buying a new open copy.

________________

Neo TWEWY... put a few more hours into it last night.  Wow what a great experience.  I don't want to spoil anything for anyone that is interested... but what a step up from TWEWY and TWEWY:Final Remix.  Nothing against those games, they are both excellent, but Neo just hits it out of the park in every department for me.  The music, the battle system, the controls, the game world is soooo much better in 3d (easier to navigate, more interesting terrain/elevations, easier to memorize, and just feels right).... and all the new stuff... just amazing.   The QOL improvements ... some of which might be spoilers... my hats off to the developers H.A.N.D.  Seems like lately I've been playing a lot of games they either fully developed, ported, or had a huge part in developing.

Side note, I had a part for my washer to buy over on amazon and went through my wishlist and picked up a few odds and ends as well as an EU physical copy of InFamous First Light.  So I think I'm back to no ps4 games I want until we get another game in the Yakuza family or something odd I want that isn't on switch.

 
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bappt said:
Nelke and the Legendary Alchemists :switch: is available new from Amazon for $24.99 and Walmart for $26.34.
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How does Nelke run on nsw? On one hand I've heard that the game is mostly menus. But still I tend to avoid multiplatform games like this on nsw due to performance.

 
gospelman said:
How does Nelke run on nsw? On one hand I've heard that the game is mostly menus. But still I tend to avoid multiplatform games like this on nsw due to performance.
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Supposedly runs pretty horribly haha. I've only really played Ryza on the Switch and honestly it ran fine. Obviously there will be a graphical downgrade for that, but still played and looked well enough portably (have all the older ones on the Switch, newer on PS4). Nelke I never bought and looks like one of those games I would get digitally for like $10 at most. Never been into simple city builders.

 
Sorry not specifically game related, but I figured some people here might have some familiarity with this:

I want to purchase something from Japanese Amazon, but the seller doesn’t seem to ship out of the country. Does anyone know a reliable third party service that doesn’t charge an arm and a leg to get something like that shipped to the states?

While I’m asking, does anyone have recommendations for places to purchase highly obscure, old, untranslated manga?
 
Started Caligula Effect Overdose the other night (on the 3rd dungeon) and am pleasantly surprised with how much I am enjoying it. The combat is pretty basic even on hard mode and the side quests are very low-effort but the story has been pretty engaging and the music is god tier. 

 
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Souffrir said:
I want to purchase something from Japanese Amazon, but the seller doesn’t seem to ship out of the country. Does anyone know a reliable third party service that doesn’t charge an arm and a leg to get something like that shipped to the states?
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I used Zenmarket before, ¥300 commission per item + domestic and international shipping. They used to run half off or even zero commission promo here and there , haven't seen any since COVID.


Sent from my SM-N970U1 using Tapatalk
 
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