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:
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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Hmm, I haven't used them before but it looks like they offer decent shipping for the Egret II Mini bundle compared to Amazon. I'll have to keep them in mind. Thanks for the suggestion :)

 
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Pikagreg said:
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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Caligula effect is the only bad game I can think of with good music.

I cannot understate how amazing the music is in the game. It's just...the game is a vita game and it shows in every aspect...but whoever designed the gameplay didn't really play the game for more than 10 minutes to realize how broken it is.

 
Brought a "new" Saviors of Sapphire Wings/Stranger of Sword City Revisited from gamestop.

It arrived used w stupid stickers on case.

Not unexpected, still disappointing.

game went OOS at best buy/amazon (was delaying/hoping for a markdown)

 
That's always the risk of ordering from GS any time after a game launches.  I looked into that combo pack a month or so ago trying to decide if I wanted it or not.  Opted out after watching a few reviews.  Nicely I think I own all the games currently out that I want except Zelda Skyward Sword (Switch)... which I'll just get at Walmart when I'm ready to play it.

 
Just finally started playing Samurai Warriors 5 after finishing Skyward Sword HD (I swear, that game was developed by two teams: the veterans creating some of the best dungeons in the series and a newbie team crapping out an uninspired overworld, horrifically ugly NPCs, and seriously questionable controls). I'm only a few hours in (finished chapter 1 of Nobunaga's story and a few Citadel Mode missions), but I just feel like it's lacking something. The combat is awesome, combining the frenetic pace of the fourth game with new Ultimate skills that are just so satisfying to pull off. But, the story so far is way too fast-paced (you have barely enough time to get to know characters before they're shuffled to a different part of the story and you're expected to feel something for the development when you had no clue who the guy was) and the Citadel Mode is already proving to be a bit of a grind. I was so hopeful that this was going to be the great successor to Spirit of Sanada, but that game just does the personal, single clan focus story so much better. Characters are given a chance to sit down and introduce themselves to the player, and being able to walk around your settlement is a great way to get to know people and immerse yourself in current events. In 5, it's all just menus, so you're never actually living the events to way you did in SoS.

I think the main problem here is that SoS was based on a TV drama (it was made to promote that show), so Koei was able to draw from that program to tell a great story (plus, the story had to be good to properly represent the drama). This new game is an original creation, and it shows that Koei/Omega Force is getting a bit lazy with its storytelling in the main Warriors games. Hell, I was just telling someone on another sub that Hyrule Warriors Age of Calamity's story sucked, and though Nintendo was involved with it, it really reeked of Koei's trope-heavy, predictable writing. I know I'm not that far in yet and I will definitely be playing more (I love Samurai Warriors, after all), but it's just a shame that it didn't end up being a successor to my favorite game in the series, despite looking so much like it would be.

With all that said, I adore bishie Ieyasu, plus he's a goddamn beast on the battlefield. Ranmaru's exclusion hurts, but Ieyasu will do as a replacement. Plus, playable Dosan Saito is just a trip. I remember his unique NPC appearance in the first game. It's wild finally playing as him. "Kill the fool...kill the fool..."

 
super1upqueen said:
I think the main problem here is that SoS was based on a TV drama (it was made to promote that show), so Koei was able to draw from that program to tell a great story (plus, the story had to be good to properly represent the drama). This new game is an original creation.
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A lot of SW5 is going off the vibe of the 2020-2021 NHK taiga drama, Kirin Ga kuru. Like how Sos off the NHk Taiga drama Sanada-Maru.

 
Loads of announcements and releases for VNs mainly from Aksys' presentation. Those are about 100% otome games, but I find some of those games have good story and usually excellent art.

Aksys had many announcements and release dates for their VNs. I'll link them all to their VNDB entries and talk about each a bit. VNDB entries are all ages but the site isn't so be warned.

Kimi wa Yukima ni Koinegau

Lover Pretend

Paradigm Paradox

Piofiore Episodio 1926

Dairoku: Agents of Sakuratani releasing December 2021

Olympia Soiree release September 9, 2021

Undernauts: Labyrinth of Yomi releasing October 28th, 2021 (Dungeon crawling Experience-developed RPG). PS5 release planned for 2022.

Variable Barricade releasing February 2022

[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vc2WjVtKHvI[/media]

[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqJOCSnGecs[/media]

[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjpBBHOvVSI[/media]

[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVEwxto8alA[/media]

Kimi wa Yukima ni Koinegau takes place in the Edo era and has a shogun fighting against monster attacks. A girl named Suzuno discovers a power where when she sees a black thread a bad fate is incoming. The villagers drive her away and she finds non-human characters and some romance. Very nice art, though likely not for me without a good discount, although I do love me some Edo era games.

Lover Pretend has the protagonist Chiyuki, a university student, doing part-time work. She has dreams of becoming a scriptwriter and finding a father she never met.  She lands a job as an assistant to a script writer and ends up being cast in the role of the love interest. This role is pretend love, and will she be able to create a script about fake love without knowing love herself? This sounds very typical but I actually like visuals and it probably is a cute one. Likely a buy.

Paradigm Paradox has our protagonist Yuuki Takanashi being completely bored as a student. One night she decides to leave her dorm and ends up in the neighboring colony of the enemy Vermin. She finds out she has a secret power that makes her a hero. She ends up then doing a student by day hero by night lifestyle. Looks OK enough although the art is just OK. Lower priority of these for me.

Piofiore Episodio 1926 is a fandisc sequel taking place after the good and true ends. I haven't played the first, but own it. Will likely get and it comes out Summer 2022.

Quereate released their ecchi visual novel IdolDays. This one has a delinquent girl who aims to transform into an idol. An 18+ patch is available. Their games have some of the highest chances to be bundled, so I'll likely wait although it sounds like a fun albeit short one.

Steam

18+ Patch (NSFW)

VNDB (NSFW)

Honey*Honey*Honey was launched by Johren. A Steam release with an 18+ patch is releasing August 13, 2021. In this game sexual harassment countermeasures came 30 years ago. Now opposite sexes interactions are dictated by the government. In a world where they must always be 6 feet apart, sexual activity requires authorization, but there is a loophole. The protoganist and 3 girls are going to shape the future of these laws, and the guy wants to keep them away, but they want to cling onto him. The art is done by the same artist as Marco & The Galaxy Dragon (really good art). Maybe not a super high want, but looks like fun, and if I find time I'll buy and play it.

Steam

Johren (NSFW)

VNDB (NSFW)

Johren also launched both Primal Hearts 1 and 2. Both star a student (not the same one) who comes into an academy and is accosted by two student councils. These student councils don't get along and the incoming protagonist is the tie breaker. One is about tradition and one is about innovation. I'm sure romance and hijinks ensue in both games. The second takes place six years later and I believe has cameos from the first game. Both are on sale 20% off until August 12, 2021. Bought both and will play both and give some impressions.

Johren Primal Hearts 1 (NSFW)

Johren Primal Hearts 2 (NSFW)

VNDB Primal Hearts 1 (NSFW)

VNDB Primal Hearts 2 (NSFW)

Mangagamer is releasing Uchikano - Living With My Girlfriend August 26, 2021. The protagonist Tachibanaki Keisuke just started working and is feeling lonely living alone. He wants a girlfriend and one day his childhood friend Mataoi Ayame arrives at his doorstep. Her parents moved abroad for work and she needs to stay behind to take her college entrance exams. Of course they live together and romance blooms. Very typical and looks like nice art. Just 1 girl from MOONSTONE. I do like playing these, but they're usually lower priority for me. Has a launch discount.

Mangagamer (NSFW)

VNDB (NSFW)

 
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nitrosmob said:
Loads of announcements and releases for VNs mainly from Aksys' presentation. Those are about 100% otome games, but I find some of those games have good story and usually excellent art.

Aksys had many announcements and release dates for their VNs. I'll link them all to their VNDB entries and talk about each a bit. VNDB entries are all ages but the site isn't so be warned.

Kimi wa Yukima ni Koinegau

Lover Pretend

Paradigm Paradox

Piofiore Episodio 1926
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What’s interesting is that Lover Pretend is not the usual type of otome that Aksys brings over. It is pure fluff. So they are expanding their offerings.

But in addition to this some others are dipping into the otome market. Idea Factory is bringing Cupid Parasite over in the fall and they will also bring Birushana Senki and one other title they can’t announce yet (hoping it’s My Next Life as a Villainess).

PQube just released Bustafellows and said they’d license more otome if it did well.

I hope this doesn’t lead to market over saturation though.

 
I need to play Bustafellows for sure, and likely get a physical copy since they're running a bit dry. Looks pretty good. It's a bit of oversaturation, but Otome seems to be selling in some niche, which is good.

 
super1upqueen said:
Then I guess they're just phoning this one in compared to Spirit of Sanada. Maybe NHK didn't need the ratings boost as much lol
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Kirin[ had alot of problems during production, from Covid, to replacing female lead (the actress for Nohime was changed after 11 episode was filmed, she was arrested for drug abuse and other crap) then the show was cut from 60 episodes to 48, then a 6 months pause on the production.

I believe it's also the first modern Taiga drama series that had mitsuhide as the leading character, and plus the JP/CN community is filled with memes about the yearly honouji BBQ, and the implied homosexual relationship between Nobunaga and Mitsuhide etc.

The game has really good art, but overall not the best in the series.

Was gonna order the 250 dollar ikki something edition from play-asia during free shipping last month, then I read some reviews on the asian forums.
 
superxgaga said:
Kirin[ had alot of problems during production, from Covid, to replacing female lead (the actress for Nohime was changed after 11 episode was filmed, she was arrested for drug abuse and other crap) then the show was cut from 60 episodes to 48, then a 6 months pause on the production.

I believe it's also the first modern Taiga drama series that had mitsuhide as the leading character, and plus the JP/CN community is filled with memes about the yearly honouji BBQ, and the implied homosexual relationship between Nobunaga and Mitsuhide etc.

The game has really good art, but overall not the best in the series.

Was gonna order the 250 dollar ikki something edition from play-asia during free shipping last month, then I read some reviews on the asian forums.
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Wow, that's all really interesting. I had no idea the game was drawing from a drama plagued by so many issues. I've seen people online say that the story never really gets better, so I'll just have to enjoy the gameplay and all its chaos. Worst case scenario, I can finally get to Persona 5 Strikers to satisfy my hack and slash bloodlust if Samurai Warriors 5 starts overstaying its welcome. Still, I waited so long for this game, it's a shame it isn't more exciting.

 
super1upqueen said:
Wow, that's all really interesting. I had no idea the game was drawing from a drama plagued by so many issues. I've seen people online say that the story never really gets better, so I'll just have to enjoy the gameplay and all its chaos. Worst case scenario, I can finally get to Persona 5 Strikers to satisfy my hack and slash bloodlust if Samurai Warriors 5 starts overstaying its welcome. Still, I waited so long for this game, it's a shame it isn't more exciting.
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Oh yea I too was waiting long time for SW5(SW is my favorite from the warrior genre) been a fan since the first one on PS2, Plat'd all 4 games on PS4. Hopefully with the reboot, koei will make stronger sequels.

I plat P5S last year(bought the asian version), it's very fun, the core gameplay it's still much like P5, where u go talk, collect clues, buy gears/supplies then palace, combat starts with very heavy warrior style game-play, but by endgame, you would just spam more skills as you get/fuse more powerful personas. Story is good, the new phantom thief members are awesome and the music kicks ass(especially the remix songs).
 
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super1upqueen said:
Just finally started playing Samurai Warriors 5 after finishing Skyward Sword HD (I swear, that game was developed by two teams: the veterans creating some of the best dungeons in the series and a newbie team crapping out an uninspired overworld, horrifically ugly NPCs, and seriously questionable controls). I'm only a few hours in (finished chapter 1 of Nobunaga's story and a few Citadel Mode missions), but I just feel like it's lacking something. The combat is awesome, combining the frenetic pace of the fourth game with new Ultimate skills that are just so satisfying to pull off. But, the story so far is way too fast-paced (you have barely enough time to get to know characters before they're shuffled to a different part of the story and you're expected to feel something for the development when you had no clue who the guy was) and the Citadel Mode is already proving to be a bit of a grind. I was so hopeful that this was going to be the great successor to Spirit of Sanada, but that game just does the personal, single clan focus story so much better. Characters are given a chance to sit down and introduce themselves to the player, and being able to walk around your settlement is a great way to get to know people and immerse yourself in current events. In 5, it's all just menus, so you're never actually living the events to way you did in SoS.

I think the main problem here is that SoS was based on a TV drama (it was made to promote that show), so Koei was able to draw from that program to tell a great story (plus, the story had to be good to properly represent the drama). This new game is an original creation, and it shows that Koei/Omega Force is getting a bit lazy with its storytelling in the main Warriors games. Hell, I was just telling someone on another sub that Hyrule Warriors Age of Calamity's story sucked, and though Nintendo was involved with it, it really reeked of Koei's trope-heavy, predictable writing. I know I'm not that far in yet and I will definitely be playing more (I love Samurai Warriors, after all), but it's just a shame that it didn't end up being a successor to my favorite game in the series, despite looking so much like it would be.

With all that said, I adore bishie Ieyasu, plus he's a goddamn beast on the battlefield. Ranmaru's exclusion hurts, but Ieyasu will do as a replacement. Plus, playable Dosan Saito is just a trip. I remember his unique NPC appearance in the first game. It's wild finally playing as him. "Kill the fool...kill the fool..."
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Hopefully they do another empires spin off. Always loved those games.

 
Mangagamer made some announcements at Otakon.

Mangagamer Blog (NSFW)

Erovoice (NSFW)

Love Sweets (NSFW)

Namaiki Dark Elf Sisters (NSFW)

Seventh Lair (NSFW)

Erovoice is from ClockUp and is about a guy who is late finding work after college and ends up at an ero voice company that is small but growing. It's similar sounding to their other game Eroge Sex and Games Make Sexy Games, which was a fun one. An easy buy.

Love Sweets from Moonstone is about a guy who enjoys his Spring break but comes back to find all his friends now have girlfriends. Feeling left behind he goes and works part-time at a cafe where hopes to meet girls. I'm a sucker for these and usually have fun with them, so it's an easy purchase. Also the games usually have decent comedy.

Namaiki Dark Elf Sisters is from Waffle and is about a half human/half elf guy who is discriminated against. One day the sword of prophecy decides that he will bring good fortune for many years for dark elves. After this his sisters are ordered to bear children for him. I like Waffle games, and this will be an easy buy.

Seventh Lair from Novectacle is a spinoff of House of Fata Morgana and stars an indie developer who is pressured by his fans to release a game. He says he will release it on April 1st and him and some fans get sucked into this game. I still need to finish that game, but this will be a likely buy.

Great announcements from one of my favorite localization companies.

 
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Neo TWEWY update... just finished week 2.. and I have to say... gosh damn this game is amazing.  Just when I though they had revealed everything on how they expanded the game... they go and do more.   I have a feeling this game is going to be around for me at least another couple weeks between finishing the main story and then using the chapters option to jump back and replay some segments of the game to flesh out the noisepedia and anything I missed along the way (like a few side quests I didn't notice).  This is such a brilliant continuation of TWEWY.

 
nightc1 said:
Neo TWEWY update... just finished week 2.. and I have to say... gosh damn this game is amazing.
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Worst part of the game for me is that the combat is too much fun lmao. I hit like level 70 on week 2 and just had to force myself to stop and finish the story. I was mastering every pin I found and always going for as big of battle chains as I could form which is really time consuming.

Glad I did though, week 3 is absolutely awesome. I love the final day a lot, really brings everything together in a satisfying way.

The game has secret endings apparently, though I don't think I will get to them anytime soon since Hades is coming to PS4/5 this week and I've been looking forward to that.

 
Zenax[zd] said:
I hit like level 70 on week 2 and just had to force myself to stop and finish the story.
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I think I'm around level 50 or the very late 40's as of the end of Week 2. I took some time to grind, but didn't want to get burned out. I've got plenty of other games to play but I'm going to stick with this until the story is done and I've finished most of what I want to do. I don't want to rush this, it's too good to waste.

 
shadowysea07 said:
Them just leaving without the shadow returning to it's host. They know that the dungeon self destructs after taking the treasure and where they were was going to be destroyed in a few minutes after the shuttle launch for the area.
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Part of it, is to show that the phantom thieves were getting overconfidence (massive rating on phan-site) , since it everything just worked out for them in the previous dungeons. The other part is to setup the "black mask" as a ruthless murderer that's gonna be a major obstacle for the phantom thieves.

 
I'm still taking my time with Neo TWEWY... the last two days I've put a pause on moving forward and jumped back to polish up everything in week 1.  Next, I think I'm going to go back through week 2.  Make sure I finish any side quests I missed, flesh out the noisepedia on the other difficulties, and have all of the social stuff and whatnot done.   I'm just over 70% on social now.   It was pretty amazing playing on Hard during Week 1 day 5 and wiping out a group of enemies in 3 seconds and at the time had my health turned down to where I was getting 50% drop per group.   Makes leveling with food easy to stack every enemy in an area.  I did stupidly go back to day 2 to finish the boss on Hard only to be reminded at the end that the kill doesn't count due to what happens.  Lol.   Still... I think I've just about done everything possible on week 1.  I even went through many of the influence moments and took every other combination of answers to see what would happen.  It's cool the game keeps up with what combos you have previously used.

 
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Okay so I'm a complete weirdo. Started Neo but fell off already (I will hop back in after a vacay next week.) Picked up Akiba's Trip because it seemed uniquely odd.... similar to Disaster Report 4. Well folks I think I hit gold again: 

- Quirky seriousISH story 

- Ridiculous game design

- Clearly made for otaku 

- Ugly as sin 

- EXTREMELY FUN 

Strong recommendation for anyone that wants to play something Japanesey without being a JRPG. It plays like a Beat Em Up with light RPG stuff like armor/levels. 

 
I've seriously contemplated getting this remake of Akiba'sTrip.  But I need to play more of the vita sequel and see how much I enjoy it.

I'm still deep into Neo TWEWY.  Have been working through week 2 again before pressing forward deeper into week 3.  Last night though may have burned me out on this... I was at the first week 2 territory game and thought I needed 300K for all of the prizes... when it was 400K so after I got to 300K I took it easy on one or two of the remaining areas which of course made it pointless to go for 400k.  Going to save that for after the end if I ever even bother to do it.  What a hell of a grind.   To get those scores you have to pretty much stack every enemy in an area along with only one of the noise (or people)... then leave the area, come back, and do it all again until you finish it.  Each battle you need to really be focused on the enemy that has the boost attached that round as well as making sure you are constantly doing combos to get the meter up (which it maxes at 5.0).  Wash and repeat over and over and over... not sure I have it in me to do any of that again.  At least the first one during week 1 I managed to finish it pretty easily once I found out you can stack noise and then approach one of the people guarding an area.   Didn't realize it was even possible till I read it from someone else.

Still loving the game... though... mindful not to do anything seriously grindy again until I'm nearly 100% done and just wanting to play it for fun.

 
Spring Roll said:
Okay so I'm a complete weirdo. Started Neo but fell off already (I will hop back in after a vacay next week.) Picked up Akiba's Trip because it seemed uniquely odd.... similar to Disaster Report 4.
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Are we talking the new remake (debriefed)? I've heard so many things against it to pretty much only buy when they clearance out the physical copies haha. If it's the other one I agree it's pretty fun. It's quirky though the battle system gets annoying when too many enemies are on the screen and agressive. Failed one mission upwards of 10 or more times and just said F* it. Not a bad game though and one I do recommend on the cheaper end. I will wait for the new one to bottom out before getting it though. I don't care about graphics, but have heard the gameplay is really poor.

 
nitrosmob said:
Are we talking the new remake (debriefed)? I've heard so many things against it to pretty much only buy when they clearance out the physical copies haha. If it's the other one I agree it's pretty fun. It's quirky though the battle system gets annoying when too many enemies are on the screen and agressive. Failed one mission upwards of 10 or more times and just said F* it. Not a bad game though and one I do recommend on the cheaper end. I will wait for the new one to bottom out before getting it though. I don't care about graphics, but have heard the gameplay is really poor.
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You can jimmy rig the game's battle system by taking yourself out of combat. It refills your health/clothing as long as it hasn't been ripped off. I actually think that may be a technique because on Gamer difficulty it's VERY easy to get overwhelmed and killed quickly. Also you can trick the NPCs into fighting each other (very fun).

I'd say the reviewers are correct: It plays poorly. It wasn't optimized. It could have been improved from the original PSP release. However... it's very unique, funny (without being cliche. It clearly was written and translated by otaku nerds.)

I bought ASAP because I think these JP publishers are starting to wisen up: Easier to do a low print and have nerds beg for a reprint than flood the market only to lower the cost down the road...

 
Ah yeah niche games are getting smaller and smaller prints all the time. I think this one will still crash in price because it's not popular at all and has mainly middling and negative reviews. I hope this leads to getting either version around $30. I had to buy Bustafellows earlier than I wanted because the physical is only at Gamestop new (before they F up and make it "Gamestop New"), so I purchased it. The otome games surprise me with their quality especially for the newer ones coming from Otomate and other developers. I have Shadowverse coming in from them as well and I will play and give an impressions eventually. I love me some deck building card games. 

 
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nitrosmob said:
Ah yeah niche games are getting smaller and smaller prints all the time. I think this one will still crash in price because it's not popular at all and has mainly middling and negative reviews. I hope this leads to getting either version around $30. I had to buy Bustafellows earlier than I wanted because the physical is only at Gamestop new (before they F up and make it "Gamestop New"), so I purchased it. The otome games surprise me with their quality especially for the newer ones coming from Otomate and other developers. I have Shadowverse coming in from them as well and I will play and give an impressions eventually. I love me some deck building card games.
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I swear I saw bustafellows on Amazon...
 
nightc1 said:
Last night though may have burned me out on this... I was at the first week 2 territory game and thought I needed 300K for all of the prizes... when it was 400K so after I got to 300K I took it easy on one or two of the remaining areas which of course made it pointless to go for 400k.
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Yeah the way that one is set up is very annoying. I did not realize until I had spent like half an hour on it that it was going to be impossible to get the max score. IMO they clearly designed it so you'd come back to it later on when you've unlocked the skills to chain more battles together, but you're not gonna know that going into it for the first time.

There is still another scramble in the game as well and my advice is to just not even bother trying to go for max scores until you unlock those chain skills. It makes it a much easier experience, don't even really need to worry as much about hitting the 5x modifier in battles.

 
nitrosmob said:
Ah yeah niche games are getting smaller and smaller prints all the time. I think this one will still crash in price because it's not popular at all and has mainly middling and negative reviews. I hope this leads to getting either version around $30. I had to buy Bustafellows earlier than I wanted because the physical is only at Gamestop new (before they F up and make it "Gamestop New"), so I purchased it. The otome games surprise me with their quality especially for the newer ones coming from Otomate and other developers. I have Shadowverse coming in from them as well and I will play and give an impressions eventually. I love me some deck building card games.
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I plan to pick up the new Akiba's Trip but will wait for the price to go lower (which it will). There may be smaller print runs but so long as we're talking about a regular retail release, I'd imagine it's still a relatively large print run. It doesn't make too much economic sense to print too few of any new retail release when a company is spending money advertising and marketing this to players, and stores are stocking it.

All of this is to say that one should not feel too much FOMO to pick up games sold regularly through retail channels UNLESS you absolutely want to play it right away.

 
We all said this about: (insert random JRPG that didn’t go on sale and we had to beg publishers for a reprint)

Then again Atelier is on sale right now for the Switch…
 
shadowysea07 said:
I swear I saw bustafellows on Amazon...
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You’re right, it was definitely on Amazon and Walmart too, but Amazon didn’t seem to have many preorder allotments. I got mine from Walmart as they had that $30 price mistake briefly for a day or so.
 
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Spring Roll said:
We all said this about: (insert random JRPG that didn’t go on sale and we had to beg publishers for a reprint)

Then again Atelier is on sale right now for the Switch…
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Ryza 1 and 2 mainly because it was a huge success for them so they keep reprinting it and it keeps selling out. Lulu and the others though I don't recall going on sale below 30 or so. Ever since they stopped using english audio the series kept getting smaller prints until ryza.

 
Zenax[zd] said:
There is still another scramble in the game as well and my advice is to just not even bother trying to go for max scores until you unlock those chain skills. It makes it a much easier experience, don't even really need to worry as much about hitting the 5x modifier in battles.
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I have several levels of chaining unlocked. I have no problem chaining an entire area along with one of the blue noise. I think my max so far was 16... or maybe it was 18. The first problem with these challenges is breaking apart the guard noise for each area so you only get one and then stacking that with all the red noise in the area (and a blue one if you are lucky, though it's often more trouble than it's worth). After that the main problem is just the amount of battles. Like 15 on average per area times three noise or three people and then also making sure to not solve the teamup in the first territory game in week 2 so the others take over more of your area thus giving you more opportunities to build that score. And it's daunting. LIke I put over 2 hours into that day just stacking battles. We're talking 9 areas... plus two or three you have to repeat... so let's just say 11 areas... 3 runs per area... then 15 stacked battles... and an average of 5 enemies per battle. So that's ~495 battles... with ~2475 enemies total... and on that stage you have to be aware of your combo for that bonus. It can mean the difference in making 300 points per battle or 1000+. It was over 2 hours just to get to 300k.

Spring Roll said:
We all said this about: (insert random JRPG that didn’t go on sale and we had to beg publishers for a reprint)

Then again Atelier is on sale right now for the Switch…
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Yeah, that's why I buy my must have games at/near launch and take whatever discount I can get. IF it goes to walmart, there's at least that savings. It's the oddball games like AkibaSTrip where I'm not going to get upset if I miss it. If it goes $30 or less... it'll be a no brainer niche game for me.

 
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Debating if I should get Scarlet Nexus for $35 off the Xbox Live store or wait till it drops further. It's a Bandai Namco game so it will eventually drop further but I'm curious if it will go considerably lower for Black Friday or if this is the safest bet to nab it. I don't mind buying digital on Namco games and I was going to eventually buy it anyway.

 
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I expect Scarlet Nexus to end up in the price range like Code Vein around the $20 mark. Bandai Namco games go on sale often digitally and physical becomes cheap. If you are not playing now just wait.

One big VN fan translation has come out courtesy of Maji Translations. It's Majikoi A-4 (NSFW). I have only played Majikoi and Majikoi S. I now have A1-A4 to go through. Very decent games. Patches are linked from the English entries on the VNDB page.

 
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nitrosmob said:
I expect Scarlet Nexus to end up in the price range like Code Vein around the $20 mark. Bandai Namco games go on sale often digitally and physical becomes cheap. If you are not playing now just wait.
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Agreed. Scarlet Nexus should definitely hit that pricepoint over BF/the holidays.
 
shadowysea07 said:
I swear I saw bustafellows on Amazon...
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Yeah it was on Amazon for a while. The publisher even has a link from their website for you to purchase it at Amazon. But my order still hasn’t shipped out from Amazon nearly 3 weeks after release. Don’t know how they screwed this up so bad, contacting CS at Amazon is a joke. I got an email that they expect to finally ship it out by the 21st but we’ll see.
 
I know mobile games aren't talked about so much here, but with the popularity of Fire Emblem Heroes and Langrisser - two long-running classic strategy-RPGs that found great success as mobile titles - I thought it was worth mentioning that Shining Force is getting a new installment as well that pays tribute to the history of its franchise and looks decent, at least graphically. Shining Force launches worldwide next year.
https://youtu.be/B9kAOaHMNxQ
 
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Shining Force looks pretty decent but I googled it and it's a Free To Play game... so that crosses a line for me.  I won't even download it when the time comes.  I don't need a game that's a time suck for the purpose of getting you to spend money to speed up the process and I'm dang well not buying virtual items for an online only game.  I won't ever spend the money and it'll just addict me to spend all my game time with it.

 

Finished Week 3 day 2 in Neo TWEWY last night and started day 3.   Now that I've completed most of what I missed along the way (obviously nothing Expert mode)... I'm taking my sweet time to make sure I get all the noise drops for easy/normal/hard modes to fill out the Noisepedia... as well as any new restaurants I go ahead and clear those requirements even if I need to grind a few enemies to empty the fuel meter.   I'm now at level 84 then dialed back to 10 for just over 100 droprate.  My characters are max health and all but the boss are max style.   Now I just need to focus on attack & defense to get them maxed.  I DONT mind at all being over powered.  That's how I prefer to play RPG's when possible.  Like NES Dragon Warrior back in the day, I'd roam around and level grind to make the overall experience easier.   So far Day 3 is a trip.  I want to milk these last few days as much as possible.   At my pace, I'll probably be closing in on done with the game sometime in September.

 
shadowysea07 said:
Yeah I don't think scaret nexus did that well. It definitely felt like a budget god eater type game too.
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Bandai said in their financial report earlier this month that the game had a strong start and they plan to continue the IP.

I mean it's pretty obvious the game had a small budget so I can't imagine they had to sell a whole lot to actually turn a profit on it.

 
Twilightsparkle said:
Yeah it was on Amazon for a while. The publisher even has a link from their website for you to purchase it at Amazon. But my order still hasn’t shipped out from Amazon nearly 3 weeks after release. Don’t know how they screwed this up so bad, contacting CS at Amazon is a joke. I got an email that they expect to finally ship it out by the 21st but we’ll see.
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Speaking of I saw it at best buy yesterday when I went to pick up cyberpunk. 49.94 I think.

Played the arise demo. Shame what they did to bloody howling. Not super thrilled about some artes requiring jump to use. New skits system is ugly. Cooking system works on a timer now which is good and bad. On one hand it's nice not having to refill every few battles but on the other 5 minutes isn't very long and it will get really tedious having to go to the camping spot to refill vs using an item/cooking from the after battle results screen.

 
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nightc1 said:
Now I just need to focus on attack & defense to get them maxed. I DONT mind at all being over powered. That's how I prefer to play RPG's when possible. Like NES Dragon Warrior back in the day, I'd roam around and level grind to make the overall experience easier.
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Isn't that how we all play? :whistle2:

 
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