Japanese Niche Games Deals Thread: Atlus, NISA, Aksys, XSeed and More!

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The following thread are for niche-based Japanese video games by smaller companies such as Atlus, NIS America, AKSYS, XSEED, D3 Publisher, KOEI/TECMO, SNK Playmore, Ignition, Natsume or any sweet deals for those who are passionate and hardcore about Japanese video games even from the bigger companies like SquareEnix, Sega, Bandai Namco, etc.

But to avoid any messiness of links everywhere, we'll focus on games within the last 2-3 years as opposed to the last five-ten. [although, if you do see older titles on sale, please post them regardless].

The theme of these deals are Japanese video games distributed in the US by the smaller niche companies. The thread is literally for those who love Japanese games. There will be a few Korean games that you may see on this list, such as the "DJ Max" games.

If you see a deal, please post!

NOTE: Please check the most recent page for the latest deals.

And I want to thank many of you in advance who submit their deals and their support!!!
 
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zulux21 said:
the time limit in the first game was a bit of a handcuff as you didn't have much time to do anything but the assigned stuff, which made it a bit of a drag but overall it was fine...

I do wish the games in general had a free play mode at the end of the game though.... I am never going to be motivated enough to go through and get the true endings when I can't just take my time to do stuff, especially since on totori the way the game ended was me one space away from the final side dungeon... but when I try to go there I get the end credits because my time is up :(
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Once I got used to the system, I finished most assignments in 10 days, leaving 80 something days to just run around. But yeah, a free play mode for post game to finish up events and/or dungeons would've been good.

shadowneko003 said:
Is there any VN games like 999/Virtue's last reward? I know Danganronpa, but I don't have a Vita.
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Ever17? It's from the same guy that wrote 999/VLR.

I guess you could watch the Saw movies but it's not exactly the same.

 
Pheria said:
How import friendly is Onechanbara Z2 Chaos if I don't speak / read Japanese?

I can make it through simple stuff fine - like Monster Monpiece in Japanese, Hatsune Miku, etc. But I never take on anything too complicated.

It seems pretty friendly to importers, but I want to check with someone that's played it to be sure first.

There's also no way I could apply the DLC bonus to my NA PSN account, correct?
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The main game is fairly simple - you should not have any issues playing it from a gameplay standpoint (story-wise...well...). I haven't finished playing it yet, but I haven't had any issues.

Now if you try to play the mission mode (challenges, whatever you want to call it), it might be a little more trial and error (though I'm sure if you peruse something like GameFAQs, you should be able to find what you need to do to clear certain stages).

 
I actually just went for the $19.99 physical version of Firefly Vita game. I went on youtube and found the soundtrack and honestly that is not stuff I want to be hearing often or at all. It may work in game but wow......just really gloomy. Very cheap physical edition nonetheless.

 
Just bought a ps3 from a friend a few days ago and got myself final fantasy lightning returns for ps3 for $15.40 with PUR and birthday coupon today. It came with the steelbook from Target too! Happy day!! I'l be joining in on this forum more now that I have a ps3 haha! Looking towards buying Ni No Kuni and the atelier series and move towards other niche games. Sucks Gamestop is doing a b2g1 for under $20 games, but i think I can build my collection. Perhaps Disgaea, white knight chronicles, and other games as well including what was previously stated. Recommendations anyone :D
 
shadowneko003 said:
Is there any VN games like 999/Virtue's last reward? I know Danganronpa, but I don't have a Vita.
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Tears to Tiara II and Xblaze(haven't played this one myself) on PS3. Also Hakuoki if you want to include otome.

KudosConan said:
Just bought a ps3 from a friend a few days ago and got myself final fantasy lightning returns for ps3 for $15.40 with PUR and birthday coupon today. It came with the steelbook from Target too! Happy day!! I'l be joining in on this forum more now that I have a ps3 haha! Looking towards buying Ni No Kuni and the atelier series and move towards other niche games. Sucks Gamestop is doing a b2g1 for under $20 games, but i think I can build my collection. Perhaps Disgaea, white knight chronicles, and other games as well including what was previously stated. Recommendations anyone :D
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The games you mentioned are quite good(other than WKC, I didn't like that one myself) I would also recommend Valkyria Chronicles, Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection(for the Phantasy Star and Shining Force games, Beyond Oasis, and many other games that aren't RPG), Tales series(I'd recommend Xillia to start with probably if you haven't played any before, or maybe Symphonia)

 
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KudosConan said:
Just bought a ps3 from a friend a few days ago and got myself final fantasy lightning returns for ps3 for $15.40 with PUR and birthday coupon today. It came with the steelbook from Target too! Happy day!! I'l be joining in on this forum more now that I have a ps3 haha! Looking towards buying Ni No Kuni and the atelier series and move towards other niche games. Sucks Gamestop is doing a b2g1 for under $20 games, but i think I can build my collection. Perhaps Disgaea, white knight chronicles, and other games as well including what was previously stated. Recommendations anyone :D
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Catherine! That game is amazing, Valkyria Chronicles is also a must along with Yakuza 4, Demon's Souls and Dragon's Crown

 
Catherine doesn't really belong that high up on a general list.

Also, if you have a PC, you may or may not want to wait for FF13, 13-2, and Valkyria Chronicles to be cheap cheap.

 
Dammage said:
Catherine! That game is amazing, Valkyria Chronicles is also a must along with Yakuza 4, Demon's Souls and Dragon's Crown
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between catherine, valkyria chronicles, and yakuza 4, which game takes the shortest time to complete, if i just want to do one playthrough. i don't care about completion, and getting all the trophies

 
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KudosConan said:
Just bought a ps3 from a friend a few days ago and got myself final fantasy lightning returns for ps3 for $15.40 with PUR and birthday coupon today. It came with the steelbook from Target too! Happy day!! I'l be joining in on this forum more now that I have a ps3 haha! Looking towards buying Ni No Kuni and the atelier series and move towards other niche games. Sucks Gamestop is doing a b2g1 for under $20 games, but i think I can build my collection. Perhaps Disgaea, white knight chronicles, and other games as well including what was previously stated. Recommendations anyone :D
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Definitely rec Tale of. I'd start out with Symphonia on the basis of simply the battle system. It's hard going from Xillia's (or really anything newer then Symphonia) battle system to Symphonia. You'd really miss the Free Run. But both games are good. Xillia 2 is gonna be on sale for $20 at Gamestop on BF. FFX/X-2 and Kingdom Hearts HD if you've never played them. Child of Light is pretty good as well, but it's digital only I think.

Soma_Cruz said:
Tears to Tiara II and Xblaze(haven't played this one myself) on PS3. Also Hakuoki if you want to include otome.
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I'll check those out. I've already played Hakuoki on the psp, and the story's basically the same for the ps3 version.

 
shadowneko003 said:
Definitely rec Tale of. I'd start out with Symphonia on the basis of simply the battle system. It's hard going from Xillia's (or really anything newer then Symphonia) battle system to Symphonia. You'd really miss the Free Run. But both games are good. Xillia 2 is gonna be on sale for $20 at Gamestop on BF. FFX/X-2 and Kingdom Hearts HD if you've never played them. Child of Light is pretty good as well, but it's digital only I think.


I'll check those out. I've already played Hakuoki on the psp, and the story's basically the same for the ps3 version.
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Thanks for the tips! And rest assured I have my eyes on the Tales series haha! Soo going to buy tales of Xillia 2( and look out for the other parts) on BF along with the other final fantasy game. Luckily my friend already had kingdom hearts 1.5HD so that is on my playlist right now as well. Soo many good games haha! Probably going to keep xillia 2 sealed and find symphonia first. Thanks guys! :D
 
aerozero said:
Wait why is the physical edition of the game so cheap? Only $30 for the LE? And thanks for the heads up, I had no idea the physical version was exclusive to their store.
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if you had to bother looking it up you would see what the price of the digital version is and figure it out

 
KudosConan said:
Thanks for the tips! And rest assured I have my eyes on the Tales series haha! Soo going to buy tales of Xillia 2( and look out for the other parts) on BF along with the other final fantasy game. Luckily my friend already had kingdom hearts 1.5HD so that is on my playlist right now as well. Soo many good games haha! Probably going to keep xillia 2 sealed and find symphonia first. Thanks guys! :D
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Niño kuni and the guided fate paradox, not to mention persona arena if you enjoyed the persona games, if you have yet to play the persona games go buy them for ps3 from the psn store.
 
RikuXIII said:
Niño kuni and the guided fate paradox, not to mention persona arena if you enjoyed the persona games, if you have yet to play the persona games go buy them for ps3 from the psn store.
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Thanks! Haven't heard of fate paradox, but will look into it and maybe get it this BF at gamestop with their nerfed b2g1. LOVE the persona games. I have persona 3 portable and am still playing it when I travel. Home time is console time haha! Ni no kuni is at the top of the list too. The art is beautiful and is definitely a game I will get as a new ps3 owner :D. Thanks for more recommendations. Compiling a list of the recommendations you guys give mee. It helps a lot!!! :)
 
valkryia chronicles is pretty mediocre and despite its gameplay being unique it had some really hateable aspects for its srpg combat.  Personally I don't rec it.

I don't think anyone has said these yet so 

Enchanted arms

Eternal sonta

star ocean 4 

They are all good combat wise and unique as well but are pretty awful in every other categories.  star ocean is especially annoying since they chained the synth system to the stupid ship which becomes stationary and is always the furthest away from anything so it gets tedious fast.

 
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YBX87 said:
between catherine, valkyria chronicles, and yakuza 4, which game takes the shortest time to complete, if i just want to do one playthrough. i don't care about completion, and getting all the trophies
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If you happen to choose Yakuza 4, I would recommend completing as many revelations as possible (new abilities) for each character. Besides setting the difficulty to a low level, ignoring all the mini-games and substories that don't unlock extra moves can dramatically reduce overall playtime.

 
shadowysea07 said:
valkryia chronicles is pretty mediocre and despite its gameplay being unique it had some really hateable aspects for its srpg combat. Personally I don't rec it.

I don't think anyone has said these yet so

Enchanted arms

Eternal sonta

star ocean 4
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I didn't know opinions could be objectively false until this post.

Conan, what kinda J-games are you into? There's a lot for the system, so it's kinda hard to point you in any one direction. Also note that most of the good PS3 games have superior ports (PS Vita, PS4, PC), so that's something to keep in mind too if you have those systems.

 
Yakuza 4 isn't just about going through they story, but exploring Tokyo.  you are not really experiencing the game if you don't date one of the hostess.

 
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shadowysea07 said:
valkryia chronicles is pretty mediocre and despite its gameplay being unique it had some really hateable aspects for its srpg combat. Personally I don't rec it.

I don't think anyone has said these yet so

Enchanted arms

Eternal sonta

star ocean 4

They are all good combat wise and unique as well but are pretty awful in every other categories. star ocean is especially annoying since they chained the synth system to the stupid ship which becomes stationary and is always the furthest away from anything so it gets tedious fast.
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KudosConan said:
Thanks for the tips! And rest assured I have my eyes on the Tales series haha! Soo going to buy tales of Xillia 2( and look out for the other parts) on BF along with the other final fantasy game. Luckily my friend already had kingdom hearts 1.5HD so that is on my playlist right now as well. Soo many good games haha! Probably going to keep xillia 2 sealed and find symphonia first. Thanks guys! :D
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If you are at all interested in starting on the Tales of series, do yourself a favor: do not start with Xillia 2. Even aside from any quality issues, it's a sequel, and there are better places to jump in. If we're talking NA PS3 only, then Symphonia is going to be your best bet for an entry point, second best being the first Xillia.

 
shadowysea07 said:
valkryia chronicles is pretty mediocre and despite its gameplay being unique it had some really hateable aspects for its srpg combat. Personally I don't rec it.

I don't think anyone has said these yet so

Enchanted arms

Eternal sonta

star ocean 4

They are all good combat wise and unique as well but are pretty awful in every other categories. star ocean is especially annoying since they chained the synth system to the stupid ship which becomes stationary and is always the furthest away from anything so it gets tedious fast.
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Bashes Valkyria... proceeds to recommend Eternal Sonata. Well, that's the end of the human race, folks. We had us a good run of it!

 
I like Star Ocean 4 a lot. A lot of people rip it, but it has a great battle system and a lot of content. Ok, Edge Maverick is annoying, but if you have a PS3 you can use Japanese voices if I remember correctly. Story kinda falls apart, but what JRPGs have amazing stories these days? If I want a great story, I'll read a novel.

I loved the game.

 
ShadowAssassin said:
I like Star Ocean 4 a lot. A lot of people rip it, but it has a great battle system and a lot of content. Ok, Edge Maverick is annoying, but if you have a PS3 you can use Japanese voices if I remember correctly. Story kinda falls apart, but what JRPGs have amazing stories these days? If I want a great story, I'll read a novel.

I loved the game.
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Agreed. It has a lot of great stuff going for it. The hate that it gets is unreasonable hyperbole, as there is way too much good there to deserve all of that.

 
ShadowAssassin said:
I like Star Ocean 4 a lot. A lot of people rip it, but it has a great battle system and a lot of content. Ok, Edge Maverick is annoying, but if you have a PS3 you can use Japanese voices if I remember correctly. Story kinda falls apart, but what JRPGs have amazing stories these days? If I want a great story, I'll read a novel.

I loved the game.
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I would say most games in general don't have amazing stories. Entertaining? Sure, but gameplay will always be more important to me anyways.

 
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That 3DS exploit is actually fun liked playing street fighter on it [customspoiler='']
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[/customspoiler]

 
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After playing through Valkyria Chronicles on PC, I can't really recommend it as a must play. The strategy gameplay is honestly not that great. Orders are OP and kill the game. You can rush many battles with just demolition, defense, and caution. The story though is fine, but it's not really my cup of tea. My favorite part of the game? ... RAITA's character designs, OH YEAH. Selveria is best gurl.

Props to SEGA though for porting the game over to PC, it's a decent one at that.

 
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From the 5hrs or so I put into the PC version of Valkyria Chronicles, I'm finding the "unique" combat system to be the worst part of it. It obfuscates basic info, which is a big no-no for a TRPG. Things like being unable to see a map's features before deploying (for example, I have to guess whether or not to use my Sniper with the watch tower bonus), a vague movement bar instead of highlighting exactly where my unit can move (like in the Neptunia games), unable to select a character's viewpoint without devoting a command point to it (the overview map isn't very good at highlighting obstacles), and the worst bit is how it allows you to aim your shots without any indication of actual accuracy (like the % chance that my Sniper will hit its mark). Also, free-range movement with the sometimes wonky terrain and invisible walls make precise maneuvers far too annoying. I hate fiddling around with my joystick to get a unit to face the right direction. Even then, it's not clear what my line of sight is, unless I missed how to toggle that on/off.

It's not a terrible game by any means, but the casual approach to tactics really puts me off. The game seems fairly forgiving with the number of units available and often braindead AI (watching enemy tanks move is hilarious), encouraging that "just line up a shot and hope it hits!" mentality.

 
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Zaku77 said:
Bashes Valkyria... proceeds to recommend Eternal Sonata. Well, that's the end of the human race, folks. We had us a good run of it!
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eternal sonatas a short fun little game with a pretty good and one of a kind combat system. It shares alot in common with valkyria actually. bad characters bad story balance issues and bugs, Alot of characters don't get much fleshing out or just a few back story comments. its just that I actually had more fun playing the former while the latter grows stale much quicker and isn't what I'm looking for when I play an srpg.

And I didn't bash valkryia was just trying to point out its not the must play game everyone who recs it makes it out to be.

On the subject of star ocean 4 it gets the crap it does because its mostly well deserved as the game has alot of problems. That's also ignoring people who played it originally when it first released where you couldn't get past the one planet due to issues. Hell I tried to beat the secret dungeon and it froze. Having read that its a problem everyone had and they never fixed and its a common occurrence with their games is saddening especially when we are in the age of patches. But the fact that people couldn't even get through the story at launch shows that quality control was non existent.

Don't get me wrong the gameplay was pretty good. Blackhole sphere is one of the best ideas and reimi plays as a very unique archer. I'm glad they made the attack skills better, ore numerous and more fluid in chaining together than 3's mess. It was also great they increased it from 3 to 4 characters at a time. Its a shame they took out the fury system and mp death as neutered items and status effects (when not on the party like fog and paralysis ugh)

 
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Since Catherine was mentioned a few times I will also chime in and say that is one of my favorite games this generaiton. It was a pretty sweet game and makes me want to dig it out to see if I can get anyone to play 2-player with me.

Finally got an order to go through on NISA. Credit card orders wouldn't work  - just spinning loading signs and nothing would ever load correctly. Paypal I could only ship to my parents house. If I tried to change the shipping address to my apartment (which I haven't lived at home for about 5 years) the NISA website would reject it saying some error.

 
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I too will echo the opinion that Valkyria Chronicles is not nearly as good as it is hyped up to be. Bought a gutted copy back when GS dropped it to like $20 like 4-5 years (or more) ago. I gave it two tries and got up to around Chapter 8 or 9 and dropped it. I'm not much of a SRPG fan, nor do I have much history with the genre, but the gameplay just felt too vague and loose. I felt like something was missing and I always had a feeling whether I was playing the right way every time I had a battle in the game.

Similar thing with Eternal Sonata. I got about 20 hours in and just stopped. I'll probably pick both up again one more time, but both games stories and casts were dull and did nothing for me. The gameplay of either games also wasn't good enough to keep me hooked.

 
Vigilante said:
Thanks for the help, but even after changing my password at the old store, I can't log in to the new store.
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So, I thought about this more and what I actually did was go to the new store, buy it but not log in (used same email and stuff, though), then went to the old store and changed my password and it was in my orders. Now, what I don't know is if they looked at it and decided it should be there and manually put it there. Also, I still have seen no emails from them in days.

 
Thermopyle said:
Amazon has some Vita jRPGs on sale:

Disgaea 4 $30 instead of $40: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IFF0SH2/

DanganRonpa: Trigger Happy Havoc $28.50 instead of $40: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DVPMVIU

Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth1 $30 instead of $40: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00K6ZNX3K

Demon Gaze $30 instead of $40: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DVPMYXC

DG is the lowest ever, I believe. Be nice to see BB PM for the GCU discount, but I dunno if that's at all likely.
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As a reminder, they seem to be PMing Gamestop, whose used copies for DG are still $24.99 before discounts: http://www.gamestop.com/ps-vita/games/demon-gaze/112685

 
Dark_Sage said:
I didn't know opinions could be objectively false until this post.



Conan, what kinda J-games are you into? There's a lot for the system, so it's kinda hard to point you in any one direction. Also note that most of the good PS3 games have superior ports (PS Vita, PS4, PC), so that's something to keep in mind too if you have those systems.
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I guess I'm into rpgs but am open to many recommendations. Doesn't hurt to try new things haha. And right now I have only 3ds, xbox one, 360, and now the ps3 mainly for exclusives and niche games. And thanks guys for your recommendations and inputs! I can see I missed out on many games haha. So if there is a game you think I should definitely try and play. It would be my pleasure!! :D
 
I played the demo for d4 vita and didn't care for the controls. The cursor is too inaccurate makes selecting units annoying. The voice work volume also is way too low.  You can barely make anything out half the time.  The tutorials did a good job explaining the basics though. 

 
I played the demo for d4 vita and didn't care for the controls. The cursor is too inaccurate makes selecting units annoying. The voice work volume also is way too low.  You can barely make anything out half the time.  The tutorials did a great job explaining the basics though. Other than the sound an cursor issue It was a nice step up from disgaea 2

 
KudosConan said:
I guess I'm into rpgs but am open to many recommendations. Doesn't hurt to try new things haha. And right now I have only 3ds, xbox one, 360, and now the ps3 mainly for exclusives and niche games. And thanks guys for your recommendations and inputs! I can see I missed out on many games haha. So if there is a game you think I should definitely try and play. It would be my pleasure!! :D
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there is nothing wrong with liking different things. but if you don't like eternal sonata, or valky chronicles. i cannot see you liking other jrpg games. have you tried ni no kuni, or tales of xilla?

 
YBX87 said:
there is nothing wrong with liking different things. but if you don't like eternal sonata, or valky chronicles. i cannot see you liking other jrpg games. have you tried ni no kuni, or tales of xilla?
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Well Valkyria chronicles is just barely an RPG and eternal sonata was kinda mediocre

I would say he should try Dragon's Dogma or Tales of Symphonia since that is typically reguarded as one of the better tales games

 
The Crunchyroll app for PS3 has finally been updated to include the full catalog - including Japanese and Korean dramas - for free with commericals, though only premium members can watch the latest episodes. (Free members have to wait a week.) You don't need to create an account - just start watching.

 
Dammage said:
Well Valkyria chronicles is just barely an RPG and eternal sonata was kinda mediocre

I would say he should try Dragon's Dogma or Tales of Symphonia since that is typically reguarded as one of the better tales games
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I played Eternal Sonata on the 360 during one of their sales and I thought it was pretty good. So definitely picking up games like that as well. But again, willing to try any games you guys recommend. Love to give games a chance. Thanks for further input! :D
 
KudosConan said:
I played Eternal Sonata on the 360 during one of their sales and I thought it was pretty good. So definitely picking up games like that as well. But again, willing to try any games you guys recommend. Love to give games a chance. Thanks for further input! :D
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get ni no kuni, basically playstation's version of pokemon, but better

 
Dokstarr said:
Since Catherine was mentioned a few times I will also chime in and say that is one of my favorite games this generaiton. It was a pretty sweet game and makes me want to dig it out to see if I can get anyone to play 2-player with me.
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Catherine is my favorite game ever made. If anyone is thinking of buying it, DO IT. Love that game so much, I was even #1 on the online leaderboards for one of the Babel stages for a while, and top 10 for the other ones. Not sure how I still rank since I haven't played it in a year or two, but I should probably give it a replay sometime soon.

 
YBX87 said:
get ni no kuni, basically playstation's version of pokemon, but better
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I only heard good things about the game,especially the art 0_0. At the top of my buy list this season haha. And seeing you guys talk about Catherine, I'll take the advice and try to get a copy too! Man, I missed a lot of stuff by only having xbox. Glad I bought a PS3, although my wallet thinks otherwise haha
 
KudosConan said:
I only heard good things about the game,especially the art 0_0. At the top of my buy list this season haha. And seeing you guys talk about Catherine, I'll take the advice and try to get a copy too! Man, I missed a lot of stuff by only having xbox. Glad I bought a PS3, although my wallet thinks otherwise haha
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if you have bestbuy gamer unlocked membership, it is around $15 right now for a new copy. i hope you buy it new tho. if more people buy it new, hopefully we will have a better chance to get a sequel for ni no kuni

 
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