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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GameStop has discounts on new games (well, Gamestop 'new' anyway).

Wario64 has some links that go by discount percentage, but note that they aren't mutually exclusive. IE, 75% off will only show 75% or more off but 25% off will show all of the same items

Gamestop's website barely works, keep in mind the price you see when searching may be BEFORE the discounts. IE, Tactics Ogre Reborn shows $49.99 on Switch, but if you click through (and select 'new', it defaults to pre-owned) then you'll see $24.99

Wario64 post:

https://twitter.com/Wario64/status/1710890604522299696

Pro members can get 10% more off as well.

A few finds but not exhaustive:

Tactics Ogre Reborn (Switch PS4 PS5) $24.99

https://www.gamestop.com/video-games/products/tactics-ogre-reborn---nintendo-switch/352245.html

GrimGrimoire OnceMore (Switch $24.99 - PS5 is $12.50! But sold out for shipping on PS5 :( Check local stores maybe):

https://www.gamestop.com/video-games/products/grimgrimoire-oncemore---deluxe-edition---playstation-5/355852.html

Labyrinth of Galleria: The Moon Society (Switch PS4 PS5) $24.99:

https://www.gamestop.com/video-games/products/labyrinth-of-galleria-the-moon-society---playstation-5/345364.html

R-type 3 Final 3 Evolved (PS5) $24.99:

https://www.gamestop.com/video-games/playstation-5/products/r-type-final-3-evolved-deluxe-edition---playstation-5/357840.html

Raiden IV x MIKADO remix (only Xbox version on sale) $19.99:

https://www.gamestop.com/video-games/products/raiden-iv-x-mikado-remix---deluxe-edition---xbox-series-x/351153.html

Process of Elimination (Switch on sale, PS4 version is not) $24.99:

https://www.gamestop.com/video-games/products/process-of-elimination---deluxe-edition---nintendo-switch/355856.html

The King of Fighters XV (PS5) $19.99:

https://www.gamestop.com/video-games/products/the-king-of-fighters-xv---playstation-5/313491.html

Pokemon Shield seems to be about $15, but not available for shipping

WarioWare Get it Together (Switch) $24.99):

https://www.gamestop.com/video-games/nintendo-switch/products/warioware-get-it-together---nintendo-switch/305250.html

Metroid Dread ($29.99):

https://www.gamestop.com/video-games/nintendo-switch/products/metroid-dread---nintendo-switch/307731.html

Tales of Symphonia Chronicles Remastered (PS4 and Xbox versions only on sale) $14.99:

https://www.gamestop.com/video-games/products/tales-of-symphonia-remastered---playstation-4/351938.html

Ys VIII (PS5) $19.99:

https://www.gamestop.com/video-games/playstation-5/products/ys-viii-lacrimosa-of-dana-deluxe-edition---playstation-5/342190.html?utm_id=3613654&utm_kxconfid=tebx5rmj3&cid=afl_10000087&affID=77777&sourceID=y9ozrjBcgg8-v7HNriEFfrIsu2rTQGFFhQ&ranMID=24348&ranEAID=y9ozrjBcgg8&ranSiteID=y9ozrjBcgg8-v7HNriEFfrIsu2rTQGFFhQ

void* tRrLM2(); //Void Terrarium 2 (PS4 / Switch $24.99):

https://www.gamestop.com/video-games/products/void*-trrlm2%3B---void-terrarium-2---deluxe-edition---nintendo-switch/355836.html

 
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If their website gives you an error about not being able to ship to your address, or something similar, give the app a try. I've had that problem in the past and a few others seem to be encountering it now.

 
I just nabbed a ton for 50% off.

Sadly Ryza 3 was sold out on Switch, but I got Grimgrimoire, Labyrinth of Galleria, Void Terrarium 2, Labyrinth of Zangetsu for switch and Dungeon Munchies, Diofield Chronicles for PS4.

Legit sale. Now let's see how many come sealed.
 
TheKbob said:
Legit sale. Now let's see how many come sealed.
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I ordered a few games but I'm assume these days they're going be opened copies. The last time they had a major sale on new games, I ordered 8 games, 6 arrived opened, 1 sealed, and 1 was disc only with an apology note for not having the case. But Crisis core and SF6 are too good to pass up... assuming the GS stores actually have them in stock to ship.

 
Grimgrimoire once more has been pricematched at Amazon for 24.99 if you want a sealed copy.

Mato anomalies is 9.99 but don’t know if it’s even worth it at that price.

 
I like how all the recent SquareEnix jrpgs from the previous year are 20 bucks or less if you had just waited. 

-Octopath

-DioField

-Valkyrie

-Tactics Ogre

-Crisis Core

-Star Ocean

-Stranger of Parasie: FF Origin

All sorts of NISA SE's too.  I haven't played even one of them yet.  There's so many games to play if you don't spend all your time doing it. 

 
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I've spent way too much after thinking I'm not gonna spend that much. 

Star Ocean 

Valkyrie E 

Crisis Core (extra copy, figured can give to my brother) 

Ys VIII 

GrimG 

Dread (semi-far store showed a copy not sure it'll actually be available) 

 
Waiting on these worked well in the end. Snagged the following for roughly $100 gs trade credit:

GrimGrimoire OnceMore nsw
CRISIS CORE xsx
Void Terrarium 2 nsw
Tactics Ogre: Reborn nsw
Stranger of Paradise xsx

In-store:
Tales of Arise ps4 $4.50
Pokemon Shield $13.50
Neo TWEWY ps4 $5.62
Edit: Don't place in-store pickup orders, the system is broken.
 
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I went to my local store, got Wanted Dead and Star Ocean, both for PS5. Then had them search for Ryza 3 on Switch. One store had a copy 15 minutes away.

Managed to get the last copy in my greater metro area.

Probably a better sale than Black Friday if they're dumping all of these titles in October.
 
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I wonder why you can't preorder DoDonPachi Blissful Death Re:Incarnation Switch/PS4 at playasia anymore.  They shut off preorders weeks ago.  You can still preorder it at Japanese shops.  M2 games usually stay in stock for a long time after release.

I ordered these "new" games at gamestop yesterday.

Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak Switch (Is this out of print?  I don't see it in stock anywhere else.) 

Star Ocean: The Divine Force PS5

R-Type Final 3 Evolved Deluxe Edition PS5 (I hope this arrives sealed because there is no way the soundtrack CD isn't going to have marks on it from their sleeves.)

Wanted: Dead PS5

Has anyone's online order ship yet?

 
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scorponok said:
I wonder why you can't preorder DoDonPachi Blissful Death Re:Incarnation Switch/PS4 at playasia anymore. They shut off preorders weeks ago. You can still preorder it at Japanese shops. M2 games usually stay in stock for a long time after release.

I ordered these "new" games at gamestop yesterday.

Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak Switch (Is this out of print? I don't see it in stock anywhere else.)

Star Ocean: The Divine Force PS5

R-Type Final 3 Evolved Deluxe Edition PS5 (I hope this arrives sealed because there is no way the soundtrack CD isn't going to have marks on it from their sleeves.)

Wanted: Dead PS5

Has anyone's online order ship yet?
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I did two orders, one around 4AM Sunday morning and then another later in the afternoon on Sunday. The first order has mostly shipped, everything but one game which is still 'preparing for shipment'. The second order hasn't shipped anything yet, all of them are still 'preparing for shipment'

EDIT: All of mine have shipped now.

 
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Both S-E games and Atlus games are both niche, but not niche enough to get good cheap sales if you wait, and they generally have plenty of stock. This works generally for NISA games up to a certain amount, and then they disappear from the shelves and may be restocked. Spike Chunsoft games generally fall in price once or twice, but then also disappear from the shelves. XSeed also follow this tradition.

I generally get some niche games I like physical (Trails games mainly although there are some S-E games there as well), as well as Otome visual novels (I read these slowly but do like to support them), and some other games in general. I order generally 2-3 play-asia orders a year as well.

I'm starting to prefer very cheap digital for some niche games, but they were usually very low on my radar anyway.

 
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nitrosmob said:
Both S-E games and Atlus games are both niche, but not niche enough to get good cheap sales if you wait, and they generally have plenty of stock. This works generally for NISA games up to a certain amount, and then they disappear from the shelves and may be restocked. Spike Chunsoft games generally fall in price once or twice, but then also disappear from the shelves. XSeed also follow this tradition.

I've generally get some niche games I like physical (Trails games mainly although there are some S-E games there as well), as well as Otome visual novels (I read these slowly but do like to support them), and some other games in general.

I'm starting to prefer very cheap digital for some niche games, but they were usually very low on my radar anyway.
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Publishers do it to themselves. If there was less stock, non-negotiable non-discounted $59.99 pricing, and fear of sellout, then people would buy them for full price before they become unavailable.

I think a lot of these releases are charity + love letters to fan like us anyways. We should be grateful that they still fund development for these types of low-volume selling games. SE has proven that they can go the Aniplex pricing model route with things like the physical FF Pixel Remaster set if they wanted, and it would be a smashing success.

Discounts are nice. But these 'AA' game, b-tier jrpgs are NOT very profitable for them. It's bittersweet in some ways. Because I want more of them to be made. But I absolutely detest the way SE handles sales and operations for the big titles and service games, and their collectors editions too.

They print too many copies of niche games, maim their values, and it's healthy for us but not for them. Price history from initial demand is strong, sticky, and hard to influence in the aftermarket and with subsequent releases too. Discounted titles often have their closeout prices stick with them for over a decade.

 
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scorponok said:
I wonder why you can't preorder DoDonPachi Blissful Death Re:Incarnation Switch/PS4 at playasia anymore. They shut off preorders weeks ago. You can still preorder it at Japanese shops. M2 games usually stay in stock for a long time after release.

I ordered these "new" games at gamestop yesterday.

Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak Switch (Is this out of print? I don't see it in stock anywhere else.)

Star Ocean: The Divine Force PS5

R-Type Final 3 Evolved Deluxe Edition PS5 (I hope this arrives sealed because there is no way the soundtrack CD isn't going to have marks on it from their sleeves.)

Wanted: Dead PS5

Has anyone's online order ship yet?
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I got in from out of town on a late flight and I was just browsing around at like 1 AM CST before going to bed and saw the sale was live. Even then, a lot of titles were already OOS- Kirby Star Allies, Ryza 3 and Calisto Protocol CE. And a lot of titles also have been OOS for a while, like RE4 CE, but are being listed as part of the sale.

 
Little Goody Two Shoes launches 10/31 for Steam, Switch, PS5, and Series X, Steam demo out now:

https://www.gematsu.com/2023/10/little-goody-two-shoes-launches-october-31

Visuals are stunning, looks like a 90's anime movie that would air on Adult Swim back in the day, the kind that seems like it's for kids but then devolves into some psychological madness at the end. Hopefully the game itself doesn't suck, but it looks fun.

On the topic of Squeenix, I can't believe they're putting a game like this out. I'd expect this to come from Nippon Ichi.

 
Picked up Ghost Trick, Pocky & Rocky Reshrined and Baten Kaitos HD for the switch along with the Xenoblade 3 OST while I was in Japan. Also found (and bought) the LE for Super Robot Wars OG Frontier Exceed for the DS that never got released outside Japan =D

 
nightc1 said:
I feel like such a cheapass ... I've bought nothing from any of these sales. Well, yet anyway.
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You're not alone; I haven't either. I already own most of what I'd want from the sale, though I have to admit I am eyeing those Story of Seasons games on the Prime Day sale (Friends of Mineral Town and Pioneers of Olive Town). But, I keep telling myself TOO MANY GAMES and I need to play the other farming sims I have lol

 
There are a few that are likely to go cheaper, but modern NIS games for $25 is about as low as they'll go.

Other games, like Strangers in Paradise, are not going to be found new for $5.

Dungeon Munchies for $10 is legit, too. Diofield might get below $15, and even under $10, but I'm okay with that one.

And Atelier Ryza 3 on Switch for $30? You'd be lucky to get that price digitally, let alone a physical copy.

I'm quite happy with the sale... As soon as my games arrive...
 
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It's amazing how much stuff there is to buy right now.  LIke Rune Factory 4 & 5 Prime Day deals $19.99 each, for those into the cutesy / moe stuff. 

https://www.amazon.com/Rune-Factory-4-Special-Nintendo-Switch/dp/B07XLGKW39/ref=sr_1_2?crid=106XOGULMZ63D&keywords=rune+factory+switch&qid=1697047285&sprefix=rune+factory+switch%2Caps%2C132&sr=8-2

https://www.amazon.com/Rune-Factory-5-Nintendo-Switch/dp/B09HQ551H2/ref=sr_1_1?crid=106XOGULMZ63D&keywords=rune+factory+switch&qid=1697047309&sprefix=rune+factory+switch%2Caps%2C132&sr=8-1

I still haven't paid up and ordered the special edition of #3 which I need to buy for $79.99.  I'm going to order the final 3 remaining Bleach sets I need on blu-ray for $19.99 apiece tonight. 

Also, for those of you whom haven't seen it yet.....Bleach: The One Thousand Year Blood War on Hulu is absolutely astonishing.  One of my favorite anime I've watched in recent years and the production values are off the charts.  It's well worth getting a Black Friday Hulu sub for $1.99 whenever that comes up next month.  Will be spending anything on whatever collectors sets they release for it. 

 
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Infinity Strash for the PS5 is 3,370 JPY (~$23) on Amazon JP: https://www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/インフィニティ-ストラッシュ-ドラゴンクエスト-ダイの大冒険-PS5-早期購入特典/dp/B0C68GPCYB/. All of the sources I've seen indicate this version has English. Game has bad reviews but it's still Dragon Quest.

Shipping isn't cheap ($20-ish) but it still ends up being cheaper than Play-Asia or eBay. If there's other stuff you want from Amazon JP you can bundle and it makes the shipping slightly more palatable.

 
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nightc1 said:
I feel like such a cheapass ... I've bought nothing from any of these sales. Well, yet anyway.
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I didn't by a single thing either. This weekend I'm flying to the west coast for my last convention of the year and I probably won't buy any games there either. Spending money over the years on a backlog got out of hand. Lol!

 
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shadowysea07 said:
Circle sticker seal and a bunch of torn off stickers on my ryza 3. But I paid 16.99 for it so I can live with that.
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Whenever I get a gutted Gamestop copy, I clean the case as best I can and if it's still grungy, I swap it with another game I don't like as much.

I don't understand why Gamestop still does gutted copies. There's no manuals to look at anymore, and any information one can read on the back of the box can be found on a smartphone. Just fill the shelves with printed-out game covers if you're too cheap to buy those plastic security boxes Best Buy uses. Hell, Gamestop has been slowly but surely converting its stores into Hot Topics, so they don't need all that shelf space for games, anyway. Tape a list of available new games to the wall and have people ask for the ones they want.

 
The stickers themselves, assuming they come off mostly cleanly and aren't ancient work pretty well to clean up the sticker gunk.

I just press a portion of the peeled off sticker repeatedly on a gunk area, and the gunk will stick to the sticker instead. Tape works too. If you get a badly scraped papery one it can still work if you peel a lot of the paper off first and then follow-up, but that's not as quick as peeling one of mostly clean and just tapping it around the edges a few times.

While rare, I've had a few games where some maniac put the price sticker on the art insert directly instead of the outside case.

I have straight up removed everything from them and washed them in the sink in the past, or bought a cheap game with a good condition case to use as a replacement in the past. I'm the real maniac. The ones they've been using for years now aren't as bad as the old ones, at least.

 
Oh I have a big bottle of goo gone for stuff like this. But as I said it's not a big deal considering the price I paid for it. Now if I paid over 30 I'd damn well expect it to be new.
 
I find a hair dryer helps in removing stickers.  I take the artwork and game out of the case so they don’t get damaged and then use a hair dryer to warm up the adhesive on the stickers.  Unless they are really old this really helps in minimizing the sticker residue left on the case.  

 
BoxPizzaBox said:
I just press a portion of the peeled off sticker repeatedly on a gunk area, and the gunk will stick to the sticker instead.
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That's been how I've done it all the way back to buying NES games from rental places. For modern cases, I remove the art/game/etc and then put a piece of posterboard behind the sticker area because the repetitive push/pull of the sticker on the cases that have formed insides with ridges can deform or bubble the clear plastic a little. If I'm not having an easy time with a sticker, goo gone and it can sit for a while.

Thankfully these days I mostly stick with new and usually don't settle for "gamestop new". But the old cartridge days... I had my tricks for stickers and of course all the sharpie. The worst stickers were the ones like blockbuster used that when removed left a pattern behind... and really bad on cartridges as they'd put them over some of the art or the sticker on the back. Took a lot of time to remove them right and not damage the art.

 
Rainbow Cotton Japanese PS5/Switch up for preorder at playasia.  I think I will give this game another chance and order it from playasia, skipping strictly limited games this time because I have 5 preorders there that are taking forever to ship.

 
scorponok said:
Rainbow Cotton Japanese PS5/Switch up for preorder at playasia. I think I will give this game another chance and order it from playasia, skipping strictly limited games this time because I have 5 preorders there that are taking forever to ship.
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That's a good price. I'm still going to wait for reviews before I decide to get it. It looks better playing than the original, but who knows at this point.
 
I finished Monochrome Mobius on PS5 this weekend. I purchased the physical version when it launched ($40 via target b2g1) because I wanted to support the aquaplus release and I really enjoy Mask of Deception & Truth.

Overall a quirky game with extremely uneven levels of quality and polish. In many ways (length, structure) it feels like a Tales game, even down to the little mascot character that accompanies the playable party. Another similarity is a low cap on item quantities, but that ends up being a problem because the game never actually tells you what the maximums are. The degree of polish in animation and visual presentation is extremely rough in many places, almost feeling like an unfinished game. Im not sure if aquaplus has developed a 3d game world before, but it wouldn't surprise me if this was it's first attempt. Combat is conventionally turn based, closest to say DQXI but with some unnecessary complications added. A stagger system exists but with a meter that is always hidden. There is still some good music, plot moments, world building and character development to be found - but overall these fall a bit below the standard set in Deception & Truth. It also becomes apparent at one point that the game is being set up for a sequel, intentionally leaving some things unresolved as in the Ryza games. Overall I would only really recommend the game if you (like me) are already fans of Deception & Truth. 7/10 for that audience, lower for others. I kinda wish they would have just made more VN's.
 
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Started Silent Hope on Switch last week after finishing Saga Frontier Remastered (incredible game, highly recommend it). It's sort of like a Diablo-style game, with the isometric dungeon crawling and large loot drops, though it is not a roguelike (I keep seeing people call it that and they clearly don't know what a roguelike is). There are seven characters to play as, but if you want to keep all of them leveled and geared up, you will be grinding forever, so it's best to stick to maybe one to three main characters. Unfortunately, you'll more often than not find weapons that aren't for your characters while exploring, and the crafting is so bare bones that you can't use that system to make up for it. You can only craft weapon plans, meaning whatever skills are on that plan, you're stuck with. No ability to swap out skills or craft new ones onto weapons with open slots. Therefore, if you don't find a decent weapon for your character for a while, you're simply stuck with the one you have with no option to improve it, save for the ability to power it up with money and a special booster item, but that only gives you a whopping one to two more attack points. Sure, you can just swap your legendary tier 1 weapon with the common tier 2 you just found, but there goes all your shiny abilities and all you're left with is a flat attack boost. In short, the gear is bland and uninspired.

Now, this is going to be a problem because the game loses its mind with difficulty spikes. Any reviews that say the game is too easy clearly didn't make it to the third dungeon. The first dungeon is indeed pretty easy, while the second increases the difficulty a fair amount, and there are other dimensions called void rifts that provide a great challenge if you're looking for more loot and experience. But then, that third dungeon happens, and you'll quickly find yourself overwhelmed by damage sponge enemies that really highlight what I'm going to call the Holy Trifecta of Artificial Difficulty: no invincibility frames, no immunity during skill execution, and no ability to drop down from small ledges. That last one is a major gaming pet peeve of mine, and in this game, it leads to enemies completely pinning you against invisible walls and picking you off. And since only two of the characters have a dodge that allows them to phase through enemies, the other five will be quickly devoured by the unforgiving mechanics (I mean monsters). The other two points are an issue not only because of how easy it is to be overwhelmed, but because your three skills will be constantly on cooldown, and because there's no true lock-on in this game, you'll be wiffing moves quite often.

Last night, I made it to the fourth dungeon and found the layout was almost entirely ledges, and I felt like the game was spiting me, so I put it down. It's really a huge disappointment and I'm debating if I should even finish it. The Legend of Nayuta had similar problems (boring gear system, being easily overwhelmed by enemies), but the combat was so fun and the platforming/ease of movement was so accessible that I was able to ignore a lot of the issues. With Silent Hope, however, it becomes very difficult to look past these shortcomings, and that's such a shame because the game starts out extremely fun and addictive (plus the art and OST are very good). If you're interested, my personal suggestion is to pick only one character to play as, so you'll always be at a high level, and be prepared for an extreme grind. I haven't even mentioned the dungeon checkpoint system that doesn't put a checkpoint before the boss (so if you lose, you'll have to travel several floors back to try again) and the mobile-game style resource creation (complete with the ability to speed up the process with an item), but this post is already way too long. I'll give it 5 Archers out of 10 (seriously, use the archer, he's a fast, ranged character who can avoid getting gangraped by enemies). Might give Trinity Trigger a try next, to kill the time before Mario Wonder/Spider-Man 2. Hopefully that one's better.

 
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I just played the demo of Silent Hope, chose Archer to play, and really enjoyed my time.  So I guess I chose correctly to get the best experience.

I'll wait for it to be much cheaper to pick it up, but appreciate the insight!

 
I had Silent Hope ordered myself, but just realized I probably had too many pre-orders, and I had some expenses come up, so it was one that got canned for me. It just looked a bit too bland and mobile like for me. I cancelled Crymachina as well, but will likely try the demo at least. A bit too many October/November releases for me to get them all on release. 

 
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gospelman said:
I finished Monochrome Mobius on PS5 this weekend. I purchased the physical version when it launched ($40 via target b2g1) because I wanted to support the aquaplus release and I really enjoy Mask of Deception & Truth.

Overall a quirky game with extremely uneven levels of quality and polish. In many ways (length, structure) it feels like a Tales game, even down to the little mascot character that accompanies the playable party. Another similarity is a low cap on item quantities, but that ends up being a problem because the game never actually tells you what the maximums are. The degree of polish in animation and visual presentation is extremely rough in many places, almost feeling like an unfinished game. Im not sure if aquaplus has developed a 3d game world before, but it wouldn't surprise me if this was it's first attempt. Combat is conventionally turn based, closest to say DQXI but with some unnecessary complications added. A stagger system exists but with a meter that is always hidden. There is still some good music, plot moments, world building and character development to be found - but overall these fall a bit below the standard set in Deception & Truth. It also becomes apparent at one point that the game is being set up for a sequel, intentionally leaving some things unresolved as in the Ryza games. Overall I would only really recommend the game if you (like me) are already fans of Deception & Truth. 7/10 for that audience, lower for others. I kinda wish they would have just made more VN's.
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That's a shame. Also I figured it would get a sequel since the characters alone requires more stuff than 1 game would have to address it. Plus they never seem to make just one standalone entry.
 
Crymachina PS5 demo impressions:

Overall I would give it a better than average, but likely waiting for a big sale. To summarize the story you are some girl in high school who is dead and becomes a robot thing (forget the exact name) after humanity wipes itself out. In this place she ends up in AIs created by humans control the spaces they're in, and if you become a true human, you can have control over all AI. Of course this girl is a group's savior of sorts as she works towards becoming human.

This game takes place from a hub area where you can talk to people for skits of sorts (kind of boring with these cliché characters honestly), get the story skits, and once you have the required skits you can go into the next area where the bulk of the game is. In these you pretty much go around areas and fight cherubs in pretty button mashy quick combat. It has some nuance to it like a parry system when timing perfectly when an enemy flashes purple, to some sub weapon things. There is kind of a combo system where when an enemy is weakened you can launch them and then when they're down you can perform some ground move finisher I believe it's called. It all works OK although the parry and dodge timing are a little weird. The first boss required parrying to remove shield, and it was a pretty long and boring fight. Overall this gameplay was all fine and dandy and never felt horrible other than trying to dodge/parry attacks which are tricky, but it wasn't that exciting either.

I think the graphics in this are nice enough. The models for the characters are detailed enough, as are all the battle effects. The environments are a bit bland and boring. The enemies are also kind of bland and boring. The music is really, really generic stuff that will be forgotten right as you turn off the game. The voices are solid for the most part. It has a Japanese dub. I also think the fight sounds are decent enough as well. Overall it's all better than good, but not excellent.

I'm glad I played this demo, as it pushes this game to a buy on heavy sale and added to my wish list. The story and characters were way too cliché and straightforward for my liking, and frankly the whole humanity destroys itself is glossed over so quickly in the story after the beginning, and the only thing that matters are these AI spaces. It has clean enough combat, but I can see it being aggravating for long drawn out boss fights that require quite good parrying and dodging to beat them. I'm sure the levels will get better after the first, but exploring was pretty boring already other than it being neat seeing sliding areas. If I was to put this like one of the Steam Fest demos it would be a 7/10. 7s to me are a bit better than average, but lacking something to be very good or excellent (8+s for me). This one is not for me, and at the least I hope whenever I play it in the future the story goes somewhere special.

 
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