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 4 Downvote
Nothing- said:
IT BEGINS !!!


doctor-weird.gif


P3R $54.99
Click to expand...
PS5 version has already been $56.99 at Target for a couple weeks now…just sitting in my cart waiting for it to drop further.
 
I'll pre-order if there's a steelbook (FF7 Rebirth), if I know I'll play immediately (Ghost Trick), or if it's from a smaller dev/publisher I'm trying to support. Unfortunately most of the third category has been going through LRG lately so I've either been skipping them or picking them up at VGP post-launch. Back in the days of 20% off pre-orders through Amazon and GCU I used to do it a lot more, but there's really just not much reason to anymore.
 
Mostly waiting for Target B2G1 free. It is funny that Square Enix of all people is having hard to find games with Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade. Crisis Core Reunion PS5 is also going up in value.

My prediction is Star Ocean The Second Story R will be the next rare game if they don't print more copies.
 
Last edited:
Souffrir said:
There was a time Atlus games were basically the only ones I pre-ordered. Now I don’t pre-order anything anymore.
Click to expand...
atlus games used to have cool pre-order/collector's edition freebies and bonuses before the ps4/ps5 era. now all you get for pre-ordering an atlus game is ripped off vs just waiting for the $20 or less complete edition re-release with all the day 1 dlc included.
 
gaystation4 said:
atlus games used to have cool pre-order/collector's edition freebies and bonuses before the ps4/ps5 era. now all you get for pre-ordering an atlus game is ripped off vs just waiting for the $20 or less complete edition re-release with all the day 1 dlc included.
Click to expand...

A lot of them still get launch editions as SBs or with a soundtrack still.. I know the 3DS had a few and I think both P5 and P5R had SB launch editions? Aegis 13 had artcards or something. But yeah, those all ended up being on sale for way less...
 
Nothing- said:
First initial impressions of Rebirth: wow this game has a really strong opening straight out of the gate. I've only played a few hours. But right away I can tell that you are getting really high quality and polished content. Graphics are excellent. The immediate foreground is impressive and dynamic, the environmental detail is great, and the draw distance and horizons are astonishing. The character models and their art direction and cinematic implementation are sooo enticing and Final Fantasy. It has all of your favorite elements: like the cartoony invitedness of FF9, the overworld exploration and farming of Xenoblade, and some of the most lovable character interactions and warm-hearted humor that just make you grin. I can't get over how well-shot, centered, and immersive the cinematics are. This game was practically made to showcase photography and taking screenshots. Much like the previous title, materia acquisition, use and implementation is very satisfying. The battle systems are robust; they've about doubled the weapon skill and character synergy unlocks from Remake. Queen's Gambit is addictive as hell. Non-linear world exploration is there in full force. Finally, the game looks astonishing in 4K HDR. They really delivered the complete package here.
Click to expand...
Just finishing area 2, this continues to be a great summation, and I’m sure will hold for the rest of the game. The side content is such an improvement over Remake, I’m enjoying it just as much as the main story. I‘m still not a fan of running between open world dots, but the amount of it is balanced well with other content. My only small criticisms, let me turn off the button guide in bottom left, and they should make some kind of tweaks with how they handle Max materia. You work to get a Materia Max level, but then once that’s done, you are missing out on leveling other Materia if you continue to use it. So I usually don’t. I think every character should have 1 dedicated slot that is for max materia only, independent of weapon or armor, and maybe you could upgrade it to add a link at some point. So you could at least pick a few favorite Max materia to still use without negative repercussions. Minor refinements though, they really delivered otherwise. Fully justified breaking the game into 3 parts. This has to be the most ambitious videogame soundtrack ever as well, I heard it has over 400 tracks, and they are all great so far.
 
Xenogears said:
Just finishing area 2, this continues to be a great summation, and I’m sure will hold for the rest of the game. The side content is such an improvement over Remake, I’m enjoying it just as much as the main story. I‘m still not a fan of running between open world dots, but the amount of it is balanced well with other content. My only small criticisms, let me turn off the button guide in bottom left, and they should make some kind of tweaks with how they handle Max materia. You work to get a Materia Max level, but then once that’s done, you are missing out on leveling other Materia if you continue to use it. So I usually don’t. I think every character should have 1 dedicated slot that is for max materia only, independent of weapon or armor, and maybe you could upgrade it to add a link at some point. So you could at least pick a few favorite Max materia to still use without negative repercussions. Minor refinements though, they really delivered otherwise. Fully justified breaking the game into 3 parts. This has to be the most ambitious videogame soundtrack ever as well, I heard it has over 400 tracks, and they are all great so far.
Click to expand...
Sounds like we are in the same spot. I've been bingeing Rebirth for the last two days straight and I'm just finishing up exploration on the second map (chapter 4) at ~28hours on my save file clock. These are my impressions so far:

+
  • The soundtrack. There must be at least 15 different arrangements for the Chocobo track as well as all of the main themes. You are constantly hearing new orchestral or meledoic remixes of each world and dungeon theme. It's insane. I'll have to keep playing, but this is probably the best soundtrack and mixing I've ever experienced in an rpg.
  • Character designs and art direction. Especially the minor ones. So many memorable and attractive characters and I've just scratched the surface.
  • The world feels lived in. Much like the original game, you're constricted in corridors inside the oppressive city during Remake. Then as you leave Midgar, the world opens up into endless possibilities, exploration, sidequests, and mini-games. Inhabitants are living their free lives and you are free from Shinra's grasp. The world is your oyster and you get to tour it now.
  • Mini games. Probably the other most impressive feat of this game. The number of mini-games is astounding, and it will blow you mind. If you can manage to stay away from spoilers completely. Which I would absolutely recommend.
  • Boss Battles and Summon Materia. The boss battles are grandiose but are never unwelcome. They are short and to the point, and some assessment and leveling make most of them an easy one shot. The other huge plus is that unlike FF7R, you are fully charging your summon materia in almost every slightly longer battle and you get to use them all. the. time. You're getting WAY more summons and limit breaks, the way it should be.
  • Equipment. The equipment and materia management is near perfect. It's also a step up from the previous game. There are a ton of options but it never feels overwhelming. Crafting also serves its purpose.

-
  • fuck off Chadley.
  • I had no idea this was going to be an Ubisoft map vomit game. Map points to complete all over the place. The difference is that this time it is all much-welcome and I don't mind them one bit. This is the perfect 'Open-World game' in a Final Fantasy skin. It's also everything most fans are always clamoring for: a massive overworld to explore, and much less linearity. The exploration is fun and there are surprises and mini-games around every corner. Excellent pacing.
  • Along with all that comes the endless worthless resource gathering. I never like the minutiae of endless resource accumulation and micromanagement of ingredients which feel useless. But you can pretty much ignore it though. It's not so bad. I guess they serve the purpose of the carrot-on-a-stick which gets you to run to new spots on the grasslands.
  • The combat challenges are really annoying when you have to redo them, and they keep repeating the narration dialogue over the speaker.
  • Synergy Abilities. At this point of the game, this is the most obtuse part of the battle system. You unlock these duo attacks in your character upgrades that function like mini limit breaks, but it's very ambiguous and awkward how they are supposed to be implemented.

Rebirth has some flaws but it is a 10 / 10 in spite of them. The game is near-perfect and has everything you could ask for. I've never seen such jarringly uneven gameplay...but then the game is superbly well directed and excellently paced. I'm going to be spending a lot of time with this game, and I'm still in awe that we've received the best modern RPGs in Baldur's Gate III and FF7 Rebirth during the last year. In addition to other mind blowing releases like Zelda: TooK and Elden Ring. RPGs are peaking right now, and this generation of console games have really hit their stride.
 
Last edited:
Vinny said:
Posting here too from the CE thread, but I got a Target Circle offer for 20% of video games, very limited selection like always but quite a few preorders worked/including some CEs and some niche games:
Guilty Gear Strive 25th PS5
Blasphemous 2 NS and PS5
Gundam Breaker 4 NS
Eiyuden Chroncile NS
Visions of Mana PS5/XB
Demon Slayer Kimetsu no Yaiba NS
Xuan Yuan Sword Mists Beyond the Mounts NS (no clue what this is, I just liked the cover)
Talos 2 Deluxe
Sea of Stars NS/PS5
Pokemon Scarlet/Violet + DLC bundles
Click to expand...
Stellar Blade has been added to Target and works for this offer if you have it:
www.target.com

Stellar Blade - PlayStation 5

Read reviews and buy Stellar Blade - PlayStation 5 at Target. Choose from contactless Same Day Delivery, Drive Up and more.
www.target.com www.target.com

If there is a B2G1 between now and launch that also applies to it, that'll end up being a slightly better deal (I think first party Sony is usually excluded now? I'm not completely sure of that)

The Pokemon Scarlet/Violet DLC bundles seem like decent picks for it too (the offer, if you have it, works on multiple games in one order). They're usually excluded from the B2G1 sales (I have seen them in some of the Best Buy Plus membership promotional sales in the past, but since you can't do the cancel and pro-rate thing at Best Buy you'd have to buy three of them (or $94.99 games) to maximize it.)

Bit of an aside on those since they're a little more complicated compared to the 'Pokemon Sword/Shield Plus Expansion Pass' physical copies (Those have all the DLC on cart, but there is a small patch after that that isn't on the cart):
The rights to the DLC are on cart and there isn't a code in the box (apart from the one for free Pokeballs).
The 1st DLC data is on the cart.
The 2nd has to download in like a patch.
It isn't ideal, but, at least download/patch servers stay up longer than transactional ones. So, if the Switch store is shut down but as long as it remains in a "you can still download your games" state, it seems like it should work since you don't have to 'buy' the DLC it just sees it as update data for that version.
 
Last edited:
Beloved final chapter LOL. The Answer was OK for what I played, but it would be dry for most people. I like dungeon crawlers and even I got bored at times.
 
I’m pretty sure FeMC would sell better, but other than the director of P3P, the MegaTen team seems weirdly sexist about having female protagonists. The only other example was, what, SH2?
 
I'm really enjoying Rebirth so far. I'm about 45 hours in, in chapter 9. Nothing's write-up sums everything up well, but I would really emphasize the sheer volume of things there are to do and how great the main cast's chemistry and animations are. It's really a delight. I'm not as big of a fan of the materia system because it feels like some things that should just be under a "strategy" menu take up materia slots - i.e. letting your non-controlled characters use weapon abilities or unique abilities. But maybe I'm just spoiled by Tales.

SephirothWF said:
Synergy is not obtuse. Use 3 atb charges on 2 characters each, unleash synergy.
Click to expand...
My problem is that I end battles too quickly and I rarely get a chance to use Synergy outside of boss battles (same with Limits). Maybe that's intentional? But I do understand how to use them. Playing on normal, not trying to min/max, I feel like I'm playing pretty normally. It's possible they'll become more relevant on Hard or in the latter chapters. It'll be interesting to see how/if balance changes throughout the game; Hard mode on Remake was one of my favorite Hard modes so I am looking forward to that second playthrough too.
 
The first anime I've ever bought was a bootleg vhs copy of Dragon Ball Z movie #9 from chinatown. The cover was in japanese with sick art on it. The movie was just as hyped as the cover led to be.
 
I never got the hype for this designs/styles, and I'm saying this as someone who's fave game of all time is CT and who also watched DBZ up to the Buu saga, you cannot deny that his syle is probably one of the most recognizable styles of our generation, right up there with Amano, the lady who did Castlevania starting from SotN, and MGS artist.
 
I’ve never thought highly of any of Toriyama’s work, either his art or writing, and I feel like he set some bad precedents within shounen manga and anime, but I will freely admit that the man’s output is legendary in an industry that has a habit of killing the spirit of its most popular creators. I’ll always respect his work ethic and determination, and when it really comes down to it, isn’t that what shounen is all about?
 
I thought it was all about violence and friendship and violent friendships. And guys not knocking on doors before entering with the naked female characters behind it.
 
For anyone that still wants a Rebirth Deluxe, SE store has them in stock. Shipping is crazy expensive ($25) but I got one that's basically perfect unlike the damaged one from BBY (going back now) or the copy my brother found at his WM (passed on).
 
keyblader1985 said:
This was a big time gut punch, just like losing Takahashi. RIP to the most influential mangaka of our time.
Click to expand...
Yeah it's like I said to someone one time when discussion manga/anime. Dragon Ball didn't have to be your favorite, you didn't have to think it was good or even remotely like it but one think you had to admit was that gobal impact it had/has. You could take pictures & show them to random people anywhere in the world & they go, "Oh that's Spider-Man", "Oh that's Batman" & "Oh that's Goku". That's the type of recognition it has across the world.

And not just with Dragon Ball, the man contributed so much work towards cultural media over the years from manga/anime, novels, video games (w/Chrono Trigger & Tobal No.1 being personal favs), it's actually mind boggling to me on how much he's done.

Akira Toriyama put a lot of joy out in the world & it's going to be little bleaker without him in it.
 
I saw the news of Toriyama's death on my phone last night while I was wrapping up Pikmin 4 and all I could do was repeatedly say, "Oh my god!" So sad and sudden. That man created so many people's childhoods. Dragon Ball Z was one of the shows that got me into anime. I had a lot of guy friends in junior high and that show was one of the only things we talked about. Then I made a lot of girl friends in high school and we were all into DBZ, too. My parents used to make fun of it by saying every time the characters were powering up, it sounded like they were taking a dump lol my father called it "Dragon Ballzee." I was addicted to that show...and then Toonami got the original Dragon Ball. Oh my god, what a show. I knew every word of the English opening theme by heart. I'd speed through my homework so I could watch DB/DBZ, Rurouni Kenshin, Yu Yu Hakusho, G Gundam, and all the other great Toonami anime. I got the DBZ official magazine in the mail. I staged epic battles between my DBZ action figures, having them hit each other so hard, they scratched up each other and anything else unfortunate enough to cross their paths.

I got into Dragon Warrior/Quest and noticed immediately "the Dragon Ball Z guy" did the character designs. That was one of the reasons I was so interested in the series. Yes, many of his character designs look the same, but I think that's what adds to their charm. Toriyama's art is pure comfort food, the kind of reliable designs that enhance the characters with personality and levity. They are iconic, immediately popping into one's head when someone says "Dragon Quest" or "Chrono Trigger." And hey, as a preteen girl who didn't get to play as her gender in very many video games, being presented with a "Videl option" as I jokingly called it in DQ3 was incredible.

RIP Toriyama-sensei. Your works had a profound effect on my and many, many many other people's lives.
DQIII_Hero_Class.png
72r912ss2o591.png
 
DBZ was one of those important things of my friends and such growing up as obviously it was showing on Toonami and really got me into anime in the first place. I get bored of it now, but back then I watched the beginning stuff so many times. I also watched a lot in Spanish as that was usually ahead of Toonami. While none of his works were my favorite I quite liked the art style of the characters usually when they were used for something. They were generally easy to identify and cool looking. It's always something when of the greats of something passes away, but for those few years I was crazy about DBZ and barely getting into anime it was really good.
 
TheKbob said:
Y'all chomping at the bit for a sale on this version when you know there's going to be an update one in a year or two.
Click to expand...

shadowysea07 said:
They'll buy that one too.
Click to expand...

I still don't understand this post nor its response. The entire ongoing conversation has been surrounding how almost nobody is buying P3R even though we want to play it.

and how Atlus publishing has recently taken a sharp turn for the worse.
 
I posted this to the eshop thread, but I figure some of you here may be interested too. This is pretty much my go to plan for first party nintendo games that I don't care to get day 1 but wouldn't mind getting if they got cheaper.

... here's the post...

Just heads up Gamefly finally did their first major price drop on used (but complete) copies of Super Mario RPG to $34.99. After 10% tax ($3.50) and shipping ($2.98) it came to $41.47 for me. So I pulled the trigger. I know there's a chance this might drop lower later, but usually $30 is the best deal before tax & shipping with the major stores.

Video Games: Rent/Buy PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X, Nintendo Switch, 4kUHD, Blu-ray & MORE! Plus Consoles, Collectibles & Arcades Games | GameFly

GameFly, the #1 video game rental service. Rent and buy PS5, PS4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X, Xbox One, 4k UHD, Blu-ray and more. Plus Consoles, Controllers, Accessories, Collectibles and Arcades.
www.gamefly.com www.gamefly.com
 
gospelman said:
Saw that, but GF frequently offers free shipping. I'm pretty much never willing to pay it during the times its not offered.
Click to expand...

What I've noticed for most of the Nintendo first party stuff on gamefly, it doesn't survive in stock long enough to make a free shipping sale. Advance Wars (I'd imagine is less popular) hit $40 twice and sold out each time within a couple days (faster the second time around) and neither time was during a free shipping deal. Right now Advance Wars doesn't even show a used option. So it can be a bit of a gamble to wait for a sale, especially since next time they could price it $40 instead of $35.

I'll still be trying to keep an eye on this specific game just to see how long it takes to sell out and if it has any other price drops. Advance Wars though, outside of coupon deals or buy 2 get 1 or other similar type deals... ended up having no major retail sales. Just one drop at best buy for something like $53. Currently Super Mario RPG hasn't dropped below $49 at retail (not counting buy 2 get 1, coupon sales, etc).
 
Vinny said:
I swear, this has been on sale so many times... like how many did they make? I checked and got it from GS back in April 2022 for $20.
Click to expand...
I think you are thinking about Hellbound and Debriefed 10th anniversary edition, not Undead & Undressed which this is the first time it's hit $20 for the day 1 switch edition.
 
Vinny said:
A lot of them still get launch editions as SBs or with a soundtrack still.. I know the 3DS had a few and I think both P5 and P5R had SB launch editions? Aegis 13 had artcards or something. But yeah, those all ended up being on sale for way less...
Click to expand...
nah I meant actually cool bonuses like the raiho plushie just for preordering raidou kuzunoha 2 (a $40 ps2 game) or all the stuff included in like persona q deluxe for $80. now they want you to pay $200 to preorder collectors editions for a bunch of garbage dlc codes and maybe a 10 page "artbook." they don't give you neat stuff for free/cheap anymore.

409493_front.jpgpurpq_final_032.png
 
I wish just one of the Persona whichever editions had come with a full tarot deck in a uniform style—not just the major arcana. How am I supposed to play games with just the trumps, Atlus?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
bread's done
Back
Top