Japanese Niche Games Deals & Discussion Thread 4.0

shivan128

shivan128

CAGiversary!
Feedback
163 (100%)
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!

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Upvote 5 Downvote
Last edited by a moderator:
I have CSI-IV & zero too, but I think I'm okay not having Reverie's on my kiseki shelf.  Even though plotwise the game is mostly Cold Steel 5.

General warning: The switch version of this game will not run well.  It will be less like Zero and more like CSIV or Ys IX on nsw.

Has anyone heard anything about the ps4 disc including a ps5 version upgrade?

 
Last edited by a moderator:
gospelman said:
I have CSI-IV & zero too, but I think I'm okay not having Reverie's on my kiseki shelf. Even though plotwise the game is mostly Cold Steel 5.

General warning: The switch version of this game will not run well. It will be less like Zero and more like CSIV or Ys IX on nsw.

Has anyone heard anything about the ps4 disc including a ps5 version upgrade?
Click to expand...
I'm hoping for this as well but haven't heard any confirmation. Ys VIII's PS5 version isn't a free upgrade, but that's because of "exclusive" DLC it's getting and Reverie likely won't be in that position.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Vigilante said:
I'm hoping for this as well but haven't heard any confirmation. Ys VIII's PS5 version isn't a free upgrade, but that's because of "exclusive" DLC it's getting and Reverie likely won't be in that position.
Click to expand...
Right, it may also be different since the rerelease of Ys VIII came much later. In this instance they're being released at the same time. I don't even know the "ps5 version" has any real differences. There was no ps5 release in Japan - ps5 compatibility was added by update after release. Falcom started ps5 versions at launch with Kuro.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Those Aksys announcements are not exciting at all. Tengoku Struggle Strayside looks alright, and I'll likely get it, but the others are low cost licenses announcements mainly for kids, other than Agarest War, which is just really boring IMHO. I don't think I liked any of them, although I did play Zero a bit more than the others.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
gospelman said:
I think it's fine to talk about games apart from deals but I'd at least spoiler that. Personally haven't played more than a few hours of XC3 yet. Kinda waiting to see if they do a Touna-like physical release +dlc before really going through it.
Click to expand...
I agree. Show some respect for other users, especially for games that can easily be 100+ hours long. It takes 2 seconds to tag something as a spoiler.

 
gospelman said:
I think it's fine to talk about games apart from deals but I'd at least spoiler that. Personally haven't played more than a few hours of XC3 yet. Kinda waiting to see if they do a Touna-like physical release +dlc before really going through it.
Click to expand...
Lithium Flower said:
I agree. Show some respect for other users, especially for games that can easily be 100+ hours long. It takes 2 seconds to tag something as a spoiler.
Click to expand...
Didn't really think that was all that much of a spoiler...
just mentioned you see a picture cameo at the end, don't really say of what. I mean like, yeah, you find out you see a picture and it's a cameo from my post but I don't really see how that itself spoils anything.
But I'll comply.

 
Vinny said:
Didn't really think that was all that much of a spoiler...
just mentioned you see a picture cameo at the end, don't really say of what. I mean like, yeah, you find out you see a picture and it's a cameo from my post but I don't really see how that itself spoils anything.
But I'll comply.
Click to expand...
I agree, I'm not that far into XB3 and all I learned is there's a picture cameo somewhere later in the game, it was vague enough- but spoiler tags don't hurt I guess so I'm doing it too :p

 
Vinny said:
Didn't really think that was all that much of a spoiler...
just mentioned you see a picture cameo at the end, don't really say of what. I mean like, yeah, you find out you see a picture and it's a cameo from my post but I don't really see how that itself spoils anything.
But I'll comply.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I haven’t played the game yet, but I don’t think what you said was a big deal, I don’t feel spoiled. You kept it generic enough for my tastes, but I guess not all.

 
No offense, and I like that this ties in with my profile pic, but kind of an ill advised joke.  Which I’m assuming this is.  There is no course of follow up response to this that does not cause an actual spoiler.  Any response or lack of response is pretty telling.  Even though I have little faith in modern square management allowing this to be done in any meaningful way, I’d still like to think this is a possibility, which most responses to this would rule out or confirm.  Regardless of how much they do well, I doubt I would like monoliths take on it much anyway (maybe that’s the cheesiness mentioned).  I’d recommend no one really respond to this though.  Even though I don’t think the first thing said was spoiler worthy, you are stating again one of the main things people asked spoiler tags for, which whether they agreed or not, people still went out of their way to go back and cover up out of respect for the requesters.  I haven’t quoted the above or said anything that I think would add to spoilers, but with how quick people were to jump on the first vague comments, probably best to just end this chain of conversation before it really causes spoilers.

On another note, I’m just playing xeno 2 for the first time actually.  Its a bit bloated and awkward, but great exploration and environments again, and I like how it’s starting to wrap up.  I had a feeling I skipped an important cutscene towards the end though, because my characters just showed up in front of a major character next time I started.  Probably the last conversation before what is being set up as the last boss.  Went back to theater mode and sure enough I had somehow skipped like a 40 minute cutscene that explains the entire game more than any other, and explains why this character just appeared in front of me.  Just found that funny.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Obviously a tie in with xenogears would never happen for a number of reasons. So that large post in reaction to the idea seems a little exaggerated.  At best all we would get is something like the kosmos and tellos reference from saga in one of the other titles. 

As far as the absence of something is a spoiler territory that goes a little into crazytown. No one needs to confirm or deny any spoilers in the first place and if they feel the need to do so can obviously communicate via pms or using spoiler tags if need be.

If you can't even make a semi joke about a hypothetical cool idea that could have been in the game then that's no fun.  

Ignoring spoilers are not that meaningful without context to even understand that it's a spoiler. 

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Finished DioField Chronicles a little bit ago, but haven't had a chance to post about it.

  • If you liked the demo, it's literally just more of the same.
  • Platinumed on hard in about 29 hours. Nothing's missable that I know of.
  • I enjoyed it for what it was, but it ultimately left me unsatisfied on all fronts.
  • I would buy it at the $60 price point again with the Steelbook, but I don't think I would recommend it for over $20 for 99.9% of people.
  • Everything felt experimental and unfinished. Feels like it's setup for a sequel or DLC that I'd be surprised to see.
  • Plot twists led nowhere, which is a big part of the disappointment.
  • Extreme lack of enemies. There's like a dozen total, and half is like different flavors of soldiers.
  • It's like they finished 60% of the game and stretched it to the full 100% experience.

Personally it's probably a 7.0-7.5 / 10 for me. There's so much unrealized potential that I would love to see a sequel that improves on everything. But I doubt they will make another.

 
My initial post is agreeing with you, that the type of things that have been mentioned so far are not really spoilers.  I and the original posters also agreed that it’s better to just hide them though if multiple people are requesting it.  Just pointing out, that even if it’s just a joke, your post is probably inadvertently a worse “spoiler” than anything else so far, and basically mentions the same vague concepts that have already been spoiler tagged.  

 
Pikagreg said:
Lame looks like RE8 Gold Edition has a voucher for the dlc and it isn't on disc like RE7
Click to expand...
giphy.gif


 
do not preorder anything nisa or koei or any other niche stuff from gamestop anymore

second time now they just didnt get anything in

 
Last edited by a moderator:
toska said:
do not preorder anything nisa or koei or any other niche stuff from gamestop anymore

second time now they just didnt get anything in
Click to expand...
This has been a common issue over on r/GameStop, as well, but from the employees.

The weebs are consistent pre-order types since getting them locked in for smaller prints is a tradition, but many are complaining of getting "negative numbers." Meaning people come in and cancel more than they get in pre-orders, resulting in a negative percentage on their sales data. This is due to their pre-order games not coming in at all at those stores.

I don't really support pre-ordering in general, but at least there is somewhat of a contextual reason to do so for low print physical titles from niche publishers. But it appears the GameStop can no longer guarantee delivery.

Stores are able to see inventory of other locations and should be able to cross ship titles for free between stores, so that's always an option, but if you would rather cut ties, that's totally reasonable. Just be prepared for potential pushback if you try to cancel all at once because GameStop corporate provides strong incentives to not allow that to happen.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
they look it up out of courtesy and NO store got yomawari near me

i dont even know what to say

my trails is still not there what else can i do but cancel

just go elsewhere trust

its over

 
It's possible you might aidestep some of the current allocation issues instore by preordering on the gs site and getting shipments from a warehouse.  I don't do it often but didn't have any issue with the chaos double pack.

The one existing instore preorder I have is FE: Engage Divine.  I'm hoping that is a large enough release that gs won't screw up.

Anyway I continue to shop there despite ongoing issues because I can use gs trade credit. I've been getting negative reward points on trades for months now, ha.  I don't even care.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Alice Gear Aegis CS: Concerto of Simulatrix coming west in 2023 from PQube. I'm usually up for trying some mecha type games, but this looks pretty bad.

[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8l1IA9i5QuI[/media]

Also some announcements from I believe both JAST USA and Nekonyansoft will be at Anime Weekend Atlanta with new announcements and a joint panel. The Neko stuff may be livestreamed somewhere. I'll put a post about the announcements anyway.

Shiravune is releasing Liar-soft's ALPHA-NIGHTHAWK on October 27th, 2022. I will post the 18+ patch later.

VNDB (NSFW)

Steam

Today Shiravune released two VNs Platonically Mauled by a Magic Cougar and Slippery Richard! ~ He's Taller Than My Husband ~. These look like okay nukiges and are nothing special.

VNDB Cougar (NSFW)

VNDB Slippery (NSFW)

Steam Cougar

Steam Slippery

18+ Patch Cougar (NSFW)

18+ Patch Slippery (NSFW)

 
Last edited by a moderator:
toska said:
they look it up out of courtesy and NO store got yomawari near me
i dont even know what to say
my trails is still not there what else can i do but cancel

just go elsewhere trust
its over
Click to expand...
They fulfill site pre-orders over in store, so if you want to have better odds do that. Otherwise yes move on to greener pastures.
 
toska said:
do not preorder anything nisa or koei or any other niche stuff from gamestop anymore

second time now they just didnt get anything in
Click to expand...
Maybe they are getting better or certain areas are worse? I just got a call that my copy of Paradigm Paradox is ready for tomorrow. A totally niche otome game. I probably was the only one that ordered that in the store. When they called to let me know it would be ready tomorrow (the release date) I asked about Bayonetta Trinity Masquerade and she said they already got them and they are in the back ready for Friday,

 
R-Type Final 3 Evolved 3 for PS5 and R-Type Tactics 1 and 2 for PS4, PS5, Switch and PC
 
 
 
https://twitter.com/gematsu/status/1585148750271549441
 
 
 
https://twitter.com/gematsu/status/1585148923160805376?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1585148923160805376%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=
 
Twilightsparkle said:
Maybe they are getting better or certain areas are worse? I just got a call that my copy of Paradigm Paradox is ready for tomorrow. A totally niche otome game. I probably was the only one that ordered that in the store. When they called to let me know it would be ready tomorrow (the release date) I asked about Bayonetta Trinity Masquerade and she said they already got them and they are in the back ready for Friday,
Click to expand...
Not saying you're wrong but in what ways did they get better? I don't deal with GS much anymore because I just don't find deals there anymore or I simply keep missing deals... but my last few transactions with them haven't been great. Lots of gutted new games and online reward certs that simply don't due to some stupid reason or another.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Vinny said:
Not saying you're wrong but in what ways did they get better? I don't deal with GS much anymore because I just don't find deals there anymore or I simply keep missing deals... but my last few transactions with them haven't been great. Lots of gutted new games and online reward certs that simply don't due to some stupid reason or another.
Click to expand...
I don’t deal with online. I have one store I go to where they know me. I used to order my niche stuff at Best Buy but since they killed their rewards, it’s not worth it. I try not to buy from Amazon if I can help it,

I never have problems with rewards in store. I pretty much only buy new games that I preorder so I get a sealed copy. I used the $5 monthly along with gift cards I can get at 15% off. Unless there is a good trade flip from GameFly and then I get trade in credit.
 
Shiravune released ALPHA-NIGHTHAWK. There is a 20% release price. An 18+ patch is also provided for the Steam version.

Steam

Johren 18+ Patch (NSFW)

JAST USA have given a release date for Gore Screaming Show on November 11th, 2022. I'm sad this didn't make it in time for a Halloween release. It will be available on JAST USA, GOG and Steam likely with an 18+ patch. This looks disturbing but neat at the same time.

Steam

JAST USA also are having a Halloween sale until October 31st.

JAST USA (NSFW)

Mangagamer are releasing Nightmare x Sisters - Sacrifice of Lust-Hell on November 17th, 2022. This one is about sisters performing exorcisms and I'm sure will have a lot of demons doing things in it. Not for me. It has a 10% off pre-order price.

Mangagamer (NSFW)

Mangagamer are also having a Halloween sale until the 31st.

Mangagamer (NSFW)

Nekonyansoft have announced games at their AWA panel. They are below each linking to the VNDB pages (NSFW). I will spoiler a basic summary of each and my thoughts on the announcements.

Love Elections and Chocolate aka Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate from Sprite
Love Love Love, Burning in my Heart! from Praline
My Klutzy Cupid from Hulotte
Mysteries of the Heart: The Psychic Detective Case Files from Azurite
Ready or not, the deadline is coming! from Sonora
 
[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUwhN5xoJY0[/media]
[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ht4aQFeYVfQ[/media]
[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pb5B5r_8MA0[/media]
[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQ_dYZ9BO24[/media]
[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLODwCiwG6k[/media]
 
Love, Elections and Chocolate is about a guy looking for love and a girl who hates chocolate. They spend time in a club where they just use the budget to get snacks, and the current student council president threatens to close down clubs that don't produce anything. To fight this the main character decides to run in an election against them. I have played and fully beaten this one already. It's very high quality with very good writing. The main issue is the drama. It is extreme at times in every route, and it was predictable most of the time. Other than that this comes highly recommended. It is 100% translated.
 
Love Love Love, Burning in my Heart! has an mc who goes to Renren academy where they have many couples events. Our mc badly wants to find love, but there are people in the academy who despise the lovey dovey atmosphere and want to stop these events and even take down some statue. Of course our mc wants to be the best guy around. This sounds silly and I'm sure will be very entertaining, and I will buy it on release. It's 100% translated and edited.
 
My Klutzy Cupid has an mc who finds a notebook on the ground. An angel of love tells him to pick it up and use it. Whoever's name he puts down in it will gauge the destiny level between them and give hints to how to fulfill it. If the user of notebook doesn't find a bride in 90 days they will be impotent for life. This sounds silly and I'm sure will be fun. Another buy on release. It is 95% translated.
 
Mysteries of the Heart: The Psychic Detective Case Files has an mc who can envision the thoughts of others, but he can't see exactly who they're coming from. They often overlap and he can't control the power well. The school eventually puts everyone in action groups randomly and he ends up with 8 eccentric individuals. Shortly after there is a theft in the girl's changing room starting the adventure. Another good one with pretty nice looking art and not the usual moege stuff. I will buy on release. This is 65% translated and edited.
 
Ready or not, the deadline is coming! has an mc who's sister is the CEO of a startup eroge company. She warns him if they don't meet a deadline collectors will be coming for them for years. Another in the company says their deadline is coming and calls in her inexperienced sister to help out with the voice lines. I'm sure a lot of drama and hilarity ensues and they try to finish up this product. It looks cute and silly. I will buy on release. It is 100% translated and 20% edited.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
JAST USA announced just one game at AWA. They announced the Onigokko! Fandisc from ALcot. JAST USA's Twitter wanted to make to sure to point out that in this one you can sleep with your sister. The original was excellent and well worth buying. I think I still have 2 routes left, as I was playing this when I was moving, so I stopped as my computer was not available for a week or 2. I just never went back. This is a good announcement and I do recommend the original, as it was funny but also serious.

JAST USA Halloween Sale Last Day Onigokko! (NSFW)

VNDB Fandisc (NSFW)

JAST USA are also releasing Slow Damage, a BL game from Nitro+chiral on November 14th, 2022. This game takes place in a yakuza ran portion of a country that is a casino resort. Our MC decides to expose the seedy running of this resort, but may get more than he realized. It looks good for a BL game. There is also a physical expected to ship in 2023 and the digital pre-order is 10% off.

JAST USA (NSFW)

JAST USA Physical Pre-order (NSFW)

 
Last edited by a moderator:
gpn said:
Looks like Witch on the Holy Night is getting a physical release in the US. Limited edition up on Amazon. (credit to Wario64)
Click to expand...
Is your link for the Switch version? For some reason, I get a "page not found" error, but the PS4 version is up here and I can't seem to find the Switch listing otherwise.

 
i saw the switch le was available for preorder earlier today as well. even had it bookmarked.

now that listing is gone, but a ps4 le is up for preorder... wonder if that was a mistake.

 
ausu said:
i saw the switch le was available for preorder earlier today as well. even had it bookmarked.

now that listing is gone, but a ps4 le is up for preorder... wonder if that was a mistake.
Click to expand...
I don’t know why they took it down, but assume it will be back eventually. They had Switch cover art and Amazon isn’t mocking that up themselves. They get it from someone.
 
Vigilante said:
Is your link for the Switch version? For some reason, I get a "page not found" error, but the PS4 version is up here and I can't seem to find the Switch listing otherwise.
Click to expand...
Yeah, it was the switch version. I see the page is down now, but it’s still showing in my orders.

[attachment=37443:23C818FD-C7C6-45EF-BC3C-CD4E0213182F.png]
 
sounds like the mistake was opening preorders before their "official announcement" as days continued to move closer to release in a month or two...

 
I know there are some Disaster Report fans here, and while this is kinda old news, I just learned that Disaster Report 3 for PSP finally got fully translated earlier this year. The fan translation project has been in the works since 2014, and last I'd checked in several months ago, I kinda figured it was indefinitely stalled, but they actually got it done. Congrats to them, and here's a link in case anyone wants to check it out:

https://gbatemp.net/threads/zettai-zetsumei-toshi-3-translation-project.368872/

 
That's a pretty meaty patch at 630mb.  Not a complaint... just making note.  It's cool they stuck it out and completed the translation.

 
VGP is having a reprint of Attack on Titan 2 The Final Battle for Switch today at noon EST if anyone has been looking for one. (no product link at the moment, they said it will be emailed when it goes live but I'm guessing it'll also be searchable then)

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
bread's done
Back
Top