Japanese Niche Games Deals & Discussion Thread 4.0

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shivan128

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Welcome to the Japanese niche games deals and discussion thread!  Feel free to talk about local and import Japanese games here.  Our goal is to maintain a thread dedicated to active deals on niche games including RPGs, Visual Novels (VN), Shoot'em ups (Shmups), Musou, etc.  Also maintained are pre-orders for standard, limited and collector's edition games with key release dates provided.

I've wikified the thread to make it more friendly and open to others that can actively update with important information. You can find the wiki post directly below this one.

NOTE:  Please, leave the censorship discussion away from this thread.  It's common for japanese games to have questionable content outside of the country.  We want to keep discussions to the game itself and not about cultural/societal tolerance.

A message from Thorbahn:

Our CAG Japanese Niche Games Thread also has a community on PS4, where you can interact and game with other members of the thread.

Our moderators are: Draekon, Las_Hole, and Waffleswanton

You can basically friend any of our members, or any moderator, and you will be able to request to join the community under "Communities friends are in" tab, and a mod will approve your request.

You can also leave your PSN ID in the thread, saying you want to join, and we can invite you directly as well.

As always, have fun and enjoy your stay!

 
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keyblader1985 said:
Doesn't seem like there's a lot of crossover between those two demographics IMO. (Yakuza and Roblox)
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I think the goal is drawing in newer players moreso, I.e. us old folks. “Oh, I like yakuza, and my kid plays Roblox, what’s going on here, let me give it a shot”. It’s the same reason you see stuff like Robocop get added to Fortnite, they know kids don’t care about it, but their parents might.
 
Maybe that’s part of why they want to basically advertise in Roblox, came out of some meetings on how to expand and attract a new market I’m sure, but seems like the most out of touch “want to be in your thing popular with kids” crossover I’ve ever heard of.
 
My kids have, no exaggeration put hundreds of hours into Minecraft at this point. I refuse to let them play Roblox (and the fact it isn’t available on Switch is helpful), but even when I have no problem letting them borrow any number of my switch games (and they each have more games than I had at their age for NES) they still go back to Minecraft constantly. Ah well, I’d rather they’re focused on that than something like Call of Duty or Fortnite… god this post makes me feel old.
 
Sounds like my older kid and Stardew Valley and Splatoon 3. We actually have Stardew on Switch and PC.

Although she has asked for a gaming laptop since the laptop we have struggles with Minecraft. I just don’t know where to start looking (or even what to look for).
 
Constantly trying to get my nephews off their roblox addiction and toward playing actual games that contain good artwork, stories, and have clear endings. I recently had to have a discussion with them why leaving the (low end) gaming desktop I built for them running Roblox idle all night for loot drops is irresponsible.

Nsw2 release with MKW will help, but what they could really use is a new 3d mario. Hoping for later this year.
 
I think any regular game is going to suffer against a fomo driven multiplayer title which may make kids feel left out if they're not playing it.

This next batch of kids are going to predominantly play always online F2P games.
 
More KH4 predictions since the new pics got me thinking. Square Enix and Disney are both big numbers driven conglomerates, so it’s inevitable they are going to put in things in that try to appeal to the Roblox generation, even though they couldn’t care less. Zootopia or Inside Out maybe. Moana would probably replace pirates if they want a boat level again. Pirates is kind of dead right now and has been overdone in the games already, doubt we see it again even if it does match the more realistic setting KH4 seems to be going for so far. Finding Nemo could be fun if they want underwater again without rehashing little mermaid. Toy Story is too popular and felt like a good fit in the last game, unlike the rest of the Pixar Fest. Buzz Lightyear movie bombed too bad for them to try that version. Cars would bring new game play, which would also be more open world, like i‘m sure there is some push for. It’s also going to be tough for the suits to resist another Frozen area for that girl power demographic. That would be way too much Pixar again. If they allow at least one token area from the classics, Peter Pan maybe, since Tokyo Disney just opened a new land based on that, and it could make up for lack of pirate ships still. Maybe even a big open world type area with islands and water, that has elements of Moana, Peter Pan island, then going underwater with Nemo stuff. 20,000 leagues under the sea would be cool if they want to stretch, but not happening if they aren’t doing anything else with the IP. There is so much they could still do though. The creepy realistic remakes might get something, realistic lion king could work. Or the horrific dwarves in the new Snow White could be a good replacement for nightmare before Christmas as a horror level.
 
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62t said:
My middle and elementary school age family members only care about Roblox and maybe Minecraft. They have zero interest in other gaming.
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Same here... Almost every person under 25 that I know, knows what Minecraft and Roblox are better than many gaming franchises outside of the Mario's and Halos and CoDs.
 
Tothoro said:
Disney owns Star Wars and Marvel now, I bet we see at least one of those in KH4.
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Yeah, I’ve been rambling. Those were in the first post I mentioned. If Star Wars and Marvel don’t get in, someone messed up big time. They could make whole KH series out of each of those. Muppets was the other I initially mentioned, muppet Sora would have plenty of merch they could push, and could be a fun lighthearted comedy area to balance out the overly dramatic story. And Tron again, since they are releasing a new movie and it fits well with the series. Everything else will be Pixar again.
 
Disney bought Star Wars in 2012 and KH3 came out in 2019. I’m not saying it’s not going to happen in 4, but I think if either company thought Star Wars was a must have property in the franchise, something would already have come of it.

As far as I’m concerned, they can go nuts. They already ruined Final Fantasy in KH, and Star Wars was already ruined in canon years ago, so I don’t really care.
 
BTW forgot it was coming but Death end re;Quest: Code Z came out and I'll try it out and give some impressions soon. Guess it's only on a few radars, but it looks like it could be interesting.
 
Yeah I beat it being announced on Wario64 twitter or such. I saw the Switch one get mentioned and just was like oh I wish the PS4 was in and it was! Guess I'm holding off my VGP order till I can figure out something to get with Saga Frontier 2 Remastered Switch.
 
I love how we see the Graces f deal and most people's snap reaction is "oh sweet, I can wait and get it for $20 now."

nitrosmob said:
Lunar PS4 in stock on Amazon. Believe Switch has been going in and out of stock as well.

Edit: Both seem to be going in and out.
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Friendly reminder that pubs said they're going to print this game for as long as there is demand. This shouldn't even be close to something you (a person) should prioritize fomo buying.

crazy how people lose their minds over 'what's happening on Ebay'. like they really missed out on the net ~$25 they could have made, if they were one of the 1/3 of sellers who actually sold their listings, or even had any follow through with doing so.
 
While it's true you shouldn't FOMO the restocks are there and some people do want to play the game sometime soon. They are erratic and yesterday was the first true restock of it. I'm guessing after this one it will be a few weeks again and so on. I don't want to FOMO Claire 33 either, but I'll be glad when it comes in stock for PS5.

In other news I will be playing Death end Request: Code Z tonight along with 2 demos (Blades of Fire, Captain Blood) and will give impressions of them, so look forward to that!
 
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nitrosmob said:
While it's true you shouldn't FOMO the restocks are there and some people do want to play the game sometime soon. They are erratic and yesterday was the first true restock of it. I'm guessing after this one it will be a few weeks again and so on. I don't want to FOMO Claire 33 either, but I'll be glad when it comes in stock for PS5.

In other news I will be playing Death end Request: Code Z tonight along with 2 demos (Blades of Fire, Captain Blood) and will give impressions of them, so look forward to that!
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I played the Blades of Fire demo this morning and enjoyed it more than I was expecting to. Highlights:
  • The face buttons are linked to swinging your weapon from that direction (on PS5, Square swings from the left, Circle from the right, Triangle from the top, X from the bottom), and you can one-shot some enemies with a charged attack.
  • Forging new weapons is a somewhat involved and neat process, with a minigame that determines how many times you can repair a given weapon.
  • The graphics and voiceover performances were above-average-to-great.
It felt like a PS2/PS3-era game in the best kind of way, though I can wait for a sale--I'm still working through Expedition 33 and will likely be starting the new Doom next.
 
Vinny said:
Very true but at the same time, it's so hard to predict what's gonna happen with games these days with what's going on with... everything.
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Fair enough. Though as gaming becomes more expensive, we should expect sales to stall and (big may be) prices to come down, or at least game prices to not hit $80.
 
If anyone has the tolerance to hunt for gutted copies of physical games at gs in-store, there are a number of $15 clearance titles. I bought Cold Steel III&IV, Reynatis, Legend of Legacy HD, LAD infinite Wealth. Calling or asking in-store for employees to check nearby inventory in their system is the most reliable way to find available games.
 
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I got most of those clearance titles around $25 bucks new somewhere along their fall. I do think some prices are keeping me from getting some games. The price for the Asian-English Super Robot Wars Y is just super expensive around $69.99 I think. I like those games, but that's a lot especially considering these titles get plenty of DLC.
 
I'll swing by a GameStop or two today to sniff out some clearance titles, well report back.

As for anime, I'm also done with To Your Eternity, which is getting a third season.

The main character can be a drag, but the exploration of death, humanity, and ideals is well done, IMO.

Highly recommended to check out.


The main antagonist force being called "The Knockers" is a but of a distraction; haven't feel this since Dragon Age Origins called their antagonist "The Taint."
 
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I finally finished Persona 5 Royal last night. I started playing it in 2020 and dropped it, then picked it back up in November of last year. Took 119 hours total. Some thoughts below. For context, this was my first Persona/MegaTen game.

When I quit for the first time, it was because I was tired of being beaten over the head by tutorials and not playing the game. That doesn't get better until probably 20 hours in. After that there are still more tutorials but it feels much more manageable and the game mostly takes the training wheels off. I do think the opening few palaces are the game's highlight, with a brief resurgence for the ending.

Style, art, and soundtrack are phenomenal The game oozes production quality. Having been to Japan, it also does a pretty good job of depicting the individual neighborhoods. I don't like the high school motif, and that's part of why it took me so long to get around to the game. I think SMT may be more up my alley in that regard.

The core combat system is pretty good. I do wish the combat allowed for more personalization, but with how weaknesses and the one more mechanic work it very much feels like there's a right way and a wrong way to do things. Toward the end of the game, once you have a full party and plenty of slots for the main character, it starts to feel better but almost a little too easy. I don't think it's the best of all time, but there's enough that's interesting and enough growth for it to be fun for most of the game's run-time.

However, I don't think the writing was very good. The main scenario was mostly good, but the stretch from the end of the Bank palace to the beginning of the Casino palace nearly put me to sleep several times. I'm moreso critical of the day-to-day dialogue. Whatever happens in cutscenes is immediately repeated, as if they expected everyone who played this game to suffer short-term memory loss. Almost every day I got texts asking to go to the Palace (or, if I'd already completed the Palace, fretting about whether we were successful). The back-and-forth about whether stealing hearts was good or bad was way overdone. This isn't unique to P5R, it seems to just be a thing with modern games, because Tales of Arise did pretty much the same thing (and it's my least favorite Tales game, partially for that reason).

Confidant progression is a good idea, but the characters and their stories just aren't that interesting with a few exceptions. I don't care about Ryuji and the track team or some kid using the Arcade for escapism. Each character has pretty limited significance outside of their arc. Some main characters seem to only talk to the MC and don't really feel like they're integrated in the group (Haru, Yoshizawa). I didn't necessarily dislike any of the characters, but some felt like more bloat than substance. Makoto was my favorite character and I feel like she, the intro four (MC, Mona, Ryuji, Ann), and Akechi would have made for a better, more succinct cast. I understand that Yoshizawa was added in Royal so there were limited opportunities to integrate her earlier, but the points where she showed up did feel a little ham-fisted, whereas the Maruki integration seemed a lot more seemless.

I really despize the in-game calendar making everything missable. I followed a guide for the platinum, but if I'd just played through normally and missed half of the stuff I would've felt pretty bad. I get that the intent is player choice and to an extent the MC serving as a self-insert but I'd rather have a more catered experience or fewer limitations. And I don't have the amount of free time that would enable me to play through six times and discover everything that way.

The "Royal" arc was... fine? It feels a little contrived to continue after where the original P5 ended but I did like that the villain was someone closer to the party instead of Random Corrupt Adult #6. I know they made some QoL changes to the game but I don't know exactly what. I didn't feel like there was anything overly burdensome in the game's systems though so I'll give them points for a smooth experience.

Overall I'd give the game an 8/10. Despite my gripes, it's a pretty good game at its core. Most of the things I didn't like were subjective, like the motif and the calendar. But I struggle to understand why people place this as one of the greatest JRPGs of all time given the serious bloat and pacing issues. I don't regret my time with the game but I don't think I'll be picking up another mainline Persona game for a while.
 
Tothoro said:
I finally finished Persona 5 Royal last night.
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I wonder how much of the negatives were self inflicted by using a guide for and (I presume) chasing the platinum? Like, were you just hammering thing after thing to try and get it all done in the time allowed? That would exhaust me and burn me out completely on a game. It's why I've just come to accept I can't do everything and I shouldn't even try unless I finish a game and then really feel compelled to experience more because it was just that good. Xenoblade 2 was a good example for me because I didn't go chasing every blade but saved a lot of that for after finishing it and really wanting more. Getting all those little side stories while maxing out the affinity chart for each special blade was much fun. Eventually I got tired of it as I had nearly every blade, but it was nice to stay in that world a little longer and see more even though I wasn't given a virtual trophy for i t.
 
Yeah that was my thought as well. Going for a guide-aided platinum right away for your first Persona experience is probably what led some of that disdain for the calendar.

Other points of criticism hit more fairly. I wouldn't call any of the main cast especially strong characters. Akechi is probably the best written and the.. new girl with Royal.. is at least a different beat than usual. (I'm a model/idol/actress = zzzz)
 
P5(R) is a visual novel disguised as a JRPG, and I would argue it leans more towards a YA crowd.

I enjoyed playing it. I feel like each "season" was a complete thought with just enough hooks to go along with, but you have to equally in for the slice of life stuff as you do the overall plot.

I agree about going for the Platinum on the first go around being an issue in a "vibes based" game like P5(R). I lived in Japan for three years and played the game while living there (inception). During COVID, for a bit, too. It was like having nostalgia for just a few months prior while still being in country.

I don't know if I find the monster collecting and merging so valuable, since it never feels like you have room to experiment or a way to make your current guy stronger without merging them for something new. I was creating special attack dispensers, not demonic allies.

I haven't played Royal yet, but I feel Haru got the short end of the stick since she arrives so late. Major bummer and felt like the team should have been doing their Japanese Scooby Doo stuff with all of them sooner.

As for High School focus, that's a very contemporary Japanese phenomenon. In the USA we say people peaked in High School as a point of derision, but Japan feels like High School is the crossroads where you're going to define the rest of your life. What clubs you're in, your test scores, etc. all played into what college you'd get into, which shapes which jobs you can get and how successful.

So it's a bit considering the most free time in an average Japanese person's life, the most impactful, and the major point of inflection. Also, similar to Western drama, young love is very emotional and reactive due to lack of experience, similar to the awkward romances depicted in Japanese High School set media.

I don't think it's wrong to dislike Persona. It's a lot in more ways than one and definitely revels in every small detail of the banal day in the life story as much as a supernatural demonic caper.
 
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