Japanese Niche Games Deals & Discussion Thread 4.0

shivan128

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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I received my copy of the Tristia Legacy & Restore Bundle Pack from Play-Asia today. Each game is in a separate case housed in a cardboard sleeve. Surprisingly, all the text (except for the game logos) on the cardboard sleeve is in English. I haven't opened it yet, but the game names on the spines are in English too. I'm not sure if the English packaging is exclusive to Play-Asia, but just a heads up for anyone who's interested.

 
Strictly Limited Games is releasing AKAI ITO & AOI SHIRO HD REMASTER physical Switch versions for the NA region. They will cost $34.99 for a standard copy and $59.99 for a collector's edition including a poster/soundtrack and postcards in a bigger box. These go up in a bit over a day limited to 1500 copies for the collector's edition and 2500 copies for the other edition.

Strictly Limited Games

 
gpn said:
I received my copy of the Tristia Legacy & Restore Bundle Pack from Play-Asia today. Each game is in a separate case housed in a cardboard sleeve. Surprisingly, all the text (except for the game logos) on the cardboard sleeve is in English. I haven't opened it yet, but the game names on the spines are in English too. I'm not sure if the English packaging is exclusive to Play-Asia, but just a heads up for anyone who's interested.
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Awesome, watching my mailbox for it.

Edit:

Hey, look, now I'm right from a bit ago... Nights of Azure reprint!

https://twitter.com/VideoGamesPlus_/status/1669752568963117058?cxt=HHwWhMC9_avHk6wuAAAA

 
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Is Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of DANA PS5 already out of print?  Amazon and best buy have been out of stock for a while.  I was waiting for a discount, but I don't think it ever had one.  Gamestop has it new, but they sent me an open copy with the artbook and soundtrack beat up.  Nisa still has the limited edition, but I don't know if I want to spend that much.

 
scorponok said:
Is Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of DANA PS5 already out of print? Amazon and best buy have been out of stock for a while. I was waiting for a discount, but I don't think it ever had one. Gamestop has it new, but they sent me an open copy with the artbook and soundtrack beat up. Nisa still has the limited edition, but I don't know if I want to spend that much.
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I'd order that NISA LE if I were you. That I was last thing I purchased. I can't believe they are still available. Been sitting at 0% low stock / OOS for a few months now.

I've been wanting to fire up my Ys VIII PS4 LE for several months, but I was reading that the PS5 version has actual performance improvements in a few areas. So you really do want the updated version. Playing the PS4 disc on a PS5 player also does not give you the updated PS5 version.

I've also been waiting on the Ys IX LE to come back in stock; I've had it bookmarked for several months. It will happen one day. They always seem to have an extra carton or two in the back of the warehouse save for order issues and damaged shipments. EVERYTHING comes back at least once.

I can't in good conscience open these PS4 LEs for either of those games. Been staring at each of them for a couple of years, causing befuddlement. Isn't that silly? They're too expensive to open. Well I can tell you I felt a lot better as soon as the Ys VIII PS5 version was delivered.

(this isn't all directed at you; I realize you probably don't care about the LEs. But there is likely at least one other reader here deliberating some of these things.)

 
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scorponok said:
Is Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of DANA PS5 already out of print? Amazon and best buy have been out of stock for a while. I was waiting for a discount, but I don't think it ever had one. Gamestop has it new, but they sent me an open copy with the artbook and soundtrack beat up. Nisa still has the limited edition, but I don't know if I want to spend that much.
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Knowing VGP, they may get it reprinted down the line and sell on their store.

Sent from my SM-N970U1 using Tapatalk
 
Nothing- said:
I'd order that NISA LE if I were you. That I was last thing I purchased. I can't believe they are still available. Been sitting at 0% low stock / OOS for a few months now.

Been sitting here with my Ys VIII PS4 LE and wanting to fire it up for several months, but I was reading that the PS5 version has actual performance improvements in a few areas. So you really do want the updated version. Playing the PS4 disc on a PS5 player also does not give you the updated PS5 version.

I've also been waiting on the Ys IX LE to come back in stock; I've had it bookmarked for several months. It will happen one day. They always seem to have an extra carton or two in the back of the warehouse save for order issues and damaged shipments. EVERYTHING comes back at least once.

I can't in good conscience open these PS4 LEs for either of those games. Been staring at each of them for a couple of years, causing befuddlement. Isn't that silly? They're too expensive to open. Well I can tell you I felt a lot better as soon as the Ys VIII PS5 version was delivered.

(this isn't all directed at you; I realize you probably don't care about the LEs. But there is likely at least one other reader here deliberating some of these things.)
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Pick a version and play it. I put it for for a few yrs but when I fired it up, it was well worth it. But I also had no idea the PS5 version of Ys 8 had actual improvements... wish my TV support VRR or Sony added Freesync support.

 
I'm keeping those LE's sealed.  Recently played through Ys VIII and IX on pc at 120fps.  I recommend those as PH3 made them polished products.  And I think they lack only costume dlc comparted to the newest ps5 releases.

 
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Sadly with every NISA LE I ended up just buying a regular edition to open and play.

I though about the Ys VIII PS5 LE but I already owned the LE for the PS4, Switch and Vita version ...

 
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baten kaitos 1/2 trailer is up.  releases sept 14th.  I never played the originals so the lack of dub support is disappointing. The mods sound really nice especially the no encounters.

 
Vinny said:
Really hope Namco puts more effort into this than they did Symphonia PS4/NS.
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Everything I've seen on this says that Monolith Soft is actually handling the development. If that's true, and it's not just smoke and mirrors where some other unnamed company is handling the ports, then I think it'll be ok.

Considering it's Monolith, this is likely a purchase for me.

 
I've been filling a cart of 3-6 titles at Play-Asia several times now. But I keep on seeing that those Romancing Saga and Saga Frontier games I want to import are compressed files with like 1/3 the the normal game file size than on the E-shop.  Not sure how many Asia-English releases like this fit the same bill.  Where they try to save money in order to fit on a smaller cart. I don't want my graphical fidelity or sound quality compromised. 

https://www.play-asia.com/romancing-saga-2-english/13/70f1d1#reviews

https://www.play-asia.com/romancing-saga-3-remaster-english/13/70epjf#reviews

So I dunno what to do.  :argue:

 
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Nothing- said:
I've been filling a cart of 3-6 titles at Play-Asia several times now. But I keep on seeing that those Romancing Saga and Saga Frontier games I want to import are compressed files with like 1/3 the the normal game file size than on the E-shop. Not sure how many Asia-English releases like this fit the same bill. Where they try to save money in order to fit on a smaller cart. I don't want my graphical fidelity or sound quality compromised.

https://www.play-asia.com/romancing-saga-2-english/13/70f1d1#reviews

https://www.play-asia.com/romancing-saga-3-remaster-english/13/70epjf#reviews

So I dunno what to do. :argue:
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Digging into this, it's not cart prices since so far collectors have found no games on carts below 2gb. The problem is that region's eshop version is this size so this is what's on the physical version for that region. As far as i could tell, these were the only two games where this was noted as happening. Though my digging might not have been super exhaustive.

If there's not another region version with english (even as a download) that hasn't been nerfed like the asia version... then it might be a case where going digital is the best option and if you want the shelf decoration maybe look into ebay for someone that already imported it, is disappointed, and is planning to take the hit to sell it on.

 
Nothing- said:
I've been filling a cart of 3-6 titles at Play-Asia several times now. But I keep on seeing that those Romancing Saga and Saga Frontier games I want to import are compressed files with like 1/3 the the normal game file size than on the E-shop. Not sure how many Asia-English releases like this fit the same bill. Where they try to save money in order to fit on a smaller cart. I don't want my graphical fidelity or sound quality compromised.

https://www.play-asia.com/romancing-saga-2-english/13/70f1d1#reviews

https://www.play-asia.com/romancing-saga-3-remaster-english/13/70epjf#reviews

So I dunno what to do. :argue:
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Do the digital titles need more space for the installer?

 
nightc1 said:
Digging into this, it's not cart prices since so far collectors have found no games on carts below 2gb. The problem is that region's eshop version is this size so this is what's on the physical version for that region. As far as i could tell, these were the only two games where this was noted as happening. Though my digging might not have been super exhaustive.

If there's not another region version with english (even as a download) that hasn't been nerfed like the asia version... then it might be a case where going digital is the best option and if you want the shelf decoration maybe look into ebay for someone that already imported it, is disappointed, and is planning to take the hit to sell it on.
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That's awesome, I appreciate your response. :wave:

 
Tothoro said:
What's shipping like from Ami-Ami for games? It just tells me "to be determined" in checkout.

Listed as having English on Play-Asia: https://www.play-asia.com/crayon-shin-chan-ora-to-hakase-no-natsuyasumi-owaranai-nanokak/13/70fr9r
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I just recently ordered Witch on the Holy Night Limited Edition PS4 and ONI: Road to be the Mightiest Oni PS5. After you place your order, they will send you an email with all of the shipping options available, then you pick one and pay for your order. For my order it was ems, dhl, air, and 2 different surface shipping. DHL is always cheaper than ems and air, so I always pick it, I paid about $25 for shipping. I personally would not use surface. I tried surface once a long time ago and it was like waiting for a limited run games order! Orders from them are always securely packed in a box.

 
I've also been working on a playasia cart.  The main thing I want is Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy.  I thought I had read that this would be digital only in NA like the Turnabout collection.  But playasia has 'coming soon' NA listings for the Apollo triligy, even for Xbox.  Did I read something incorrect and NA physical releases are expected to happen?

 
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gospelman said:
I've also been working on a playasia cart. The main thing I want is Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy. I thought I had read that this would be digital only in NA like the Turnabout collection. But playasia has 'coming soon' NA listings for the Apollo triligy, even for Xbox. Did I read something incorrect and NA physical releases are expected to happen?
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Play-Asia often jumps the gun on putting listings up. I wouldn't read too much into it.

 
I have a glut in from Play Asia...

Witch and the Holy Night, Space for the Unbound, Buccanyar, FFX/X-2 (SEA), Tristia double pack, FF Pixel Remasters, and EO Collection.

Banger summer for Switch.
 
TheKbob said:
I have a glut in from Play Asia...

Witch and the Holy Night, Space for the Unbound, Buccanyar, FFX/X-2 (SEA), Tristia double pack, FF Pixel Remasters, and EO Collection.

Banger summer for Switch.
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EO Collection is Asia Physical only right? No western physical? I think that and Fatal Frame Mask of the Lunar Eclipse are my only two games I want from PA right now.

 
Per VGP and Atlus, Persona 5 Tactica will have physical release. Launch Ed will just be dlc and coasters



Sent from my SM-N970U1 using Tapatalk
db61eb8527d0a078d29da77f8ecf4b22.jpg
 
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I did not expect Star Ocean's Second Story remake to get a physical release. Definitely getting it on PS4.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzePrvWIT04

 
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So many jaggies in Star Ocean 2 whatever. That's my favorite in the series and I too will be getting it physical. I'll likely wait for Persona Tactics to get cheap, but it will be an eventual buy. I'm a bit tired of the milking of P5 myself.

 
Man I haven't been this down on Western game development in AWHILE.  Diablo 4, Activision-Blizzard.  Microsoft acquisitions and today's announced Gamepass price increases.   Destiny 2's monetization.  Every defecting digital distribution platform trying to become its own individual service-based game ecosystem.  No new AAA games on PC being developed.  Everything happening in my sphere of influence is bad bad bad. 

Meanwhile today's Nintendo Direct is awesome.   These are the best infomericials in existence.  Nothing gets you more excited for new video games.  Playing Switch (on OLED) is more satisfying than ever.  So has been acquiring these niche and import physical games.  These new announcements were great; I don't mind paying for HD remasters and reskins of these all-time classics, many of which were missed the first time around.  The Switch library is becoming insanely robust, and it's going to go down in history as one of best collectable consoles / libraries of all-time.  I can't wait to play FF16 on PS5 this weekend. 

Japanese game development is peaking again.  Western gaming is Microtransaction Hell.  When they've previously held the reins of innovation for much of this century, kind of since the PS2 era. 

 
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Nothing- said:
Japanese game development is peaking again. Western gaming is Microtransaction Hell. When they've previously held the reins of innovation for much of this century, kind of since the PS2 era.
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Well it also completely ruined an entire genre of Japanese developed games I used to enjoy (fighting). But I hear you, probably 80% of my actual gaming time is sunk into Japanese developed games, and the rest is western indie/rougelike. For me, steam deck has also been great for appreciating releases like VN's that are non-existent or substandard on nsw.

I'm really happy to hear about the planned remaster of Super Mario RPG, which was my introduction to Squaresoft.

 
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