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

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kndy

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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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rockykai said:
It seems like Atlus is busier than ever. I just hope the quality doesn't get lost along the way.
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It's because Sega bought them. Persona 5 was always going to come out, but I'm not sure the other two would have if Sega didn't focus on their popular franchises. Why was everyone worried about Sega again?
 
whitereflection said:
It's because Sega bought them. Persona 5 was always going to come out, but I'm not sure the other two would have if Sega didn't focus on their popular franchises. Why was everyone worried about Sega again?
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Because now we get Year of Persona while they ignore all their other franchises or create new IP.

 
whitereflection said:
It's because Sega bought them. Persona 5 was always going to come out, but I'm not sure the other two would have if Sega didn't focus on their popular franchises. Why was everyone worried about Sega again?
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http://segaforums.wikia.com/wiki/The_Sonic_Cycle

That's basically why everyone (including me), is worried about everything Sega does. It seems as though Sega leaves their subsidiaries alone for the most part, which is good news but... still, I can't help but think what'll happen if Sega ever gets desperate enough.

 
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WOOOO. Best announcement of the morning for me. Definitely excited for next year. 

Part of me was hoping for a Persona 3-4 HD Release but oh well. :lol:

 
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mask-air-raid said:
Persona Q looks cool, but what's with the Scooby Doo font?
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lol I think someone in the persona team likes the 70s a lot. disco poses in persona 4 and the look of the character The Midnight Venus from Catherine

SgtWiggles said:
Wait, so is Q a Persona game in the gameplay style of Etrian Odyssey? If so i think i just wet myself a bit
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it is going to have a lot of people who worked on etrian odyssey 4 so yeah :D

 
haku67 said:
lol I think someone in the persona team likes the 70s a lot. disco poses in persona 4 and the look of the character The Midnight Venus from Catherine

it is going to have a lot of people who worked on etrian odyssey 4 so yeah :D
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Don't forget about the TV sets. They're almost always stylized from that decade.

 
P5 and Q will be immediate purchases for me.  I think I will wait for PSN sales for the fighting and dancing games, though.  :)  I still haven't played P4 Arena, and dancing games aren't really my thing. Love them tunes, though (but maybe wouldn't love them if not for my P4 exposure).

 
Jesse_Dylan said:
P5 and Q will be immediate purchases for me. I think I will wait for PSN sales for the fighting and dancing games, though. :) I still haven't played P4 Arena, and dancing games aren't really my thing. Love them tunes, though (but maybe wouldn't love them if not for my P4 exposure).
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The Persona Q game might convince me to buy a 3DS.

 
Jesse_Dylan said:
P5 and Q will be immediate purchases for me. I think I will wait for PSN sales for the fighting and dancing games, though. :) I still haven't played P4 Arena, and dancing games aren't really my thing. Love them tunes, though (but maybe wouldn't love them if not for my P4 exposure).
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I would definitely recommend Persona 4 Arena, and seeing that it is only around $20 now on amazon, it is a great deal.

I have played fighting games for years now and I have to say P4A is possibly the best fighting game I have ever played, easy to pick up, fun and difficult to master. If you want to find some inspiration, I would recommend watching the Evolution Championship top 8 for P4A.

Anime fighters usually get a bad rep for being too niche but I think P4A happens to appeal to both fans of the series and fighting game players as you will find a lot of tidbits that reference the main games.

If you are worried that P4AU is just gonna be an add on, I can guarantee you its not, it features a alternate play-style/shadow form for each character, and also adds a couple of new characters and a new story mode. In my opinion, it would be best to get the first one beforehand to understand the story and to pick up the gameplay mechanics.

If you ever get the game you can always add me on PSN and I would love to get some matches in.

 
NewEgg is at it again, lol. Anyways...Pre-Order titles @ $35/FS with Promo codes of these following games.

Hakuoki - Stories of the Shinsengumi (PS3): EMCWWVR74

Demon Gaze (Vita): EMCWWVR77

 
62t said:
and Atlus USA didn't release PSP Eternal Punishment, so whats your point?
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To be fair, they said there was behind-the-scenes issues that they can't disclose that prevents them from localizing it. It's not just because they didn't want to or whatever.

 
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Just a quick note on Time and Eternity. It looks like more people were waiting for the price to drop to $20 than I thought, since Amazon's stock went from 999+ to 501 from the time I posted about it a week ago. So, I don't think I'd count on it to drop in price anymore. Just FYI for those who care.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BJH11FQ

 
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Nitemare25 said:
Just a quick note on Time and Eternity. It looks like more people were waiting for the price to drop to $20 than I thought, since Amazon's stock went from 999+ to 501 from the time I posted about it a week ago. So, I don't think I'd count on it to drop in price anymore. Just FYI for those who care.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BJH11FQ
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I watched a gameplay video. It immediately reminded me of the over-the-shoulder, off-center hero POV that Arkham Asylum provided. Even if the game was fantastic otherwise, that alone is enough to not make me interested. I hated it in AA.

 
BlackRockWaifu said:
I would definitely recommend Persona 4 Arena, and seeing that it is only around $20 now on amazon, it is a great deal.

I have played fighting games for years now and I have to say P4A is possibly the best fighting game I have ever played, easy to pick up, fun and difficult to master. If you want to find some inspiration, I would recommend watching the Evolution Championship top 8 for P4A.

Anime fighters usually get a bad rep for being too niche but I think P4A happens to appeal to both fans of the series and fighting game players as you will find a lot of tidbits that reference the main games.

If you are worried that P4AU is just gonna be an add on, I can guarantee you its not, it features a alternate play-style/shadow form for each character, and also adds a couple of new characters and a new story mode. In my opinion, it would be best to get the first one beforehand to understand the story and to pick up the gameplay mechanics.

If you ever get the game you can always add me on PSN and I would love to get some matches in.
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Aw thanks! That's nice of you! Well, I do have it (got it on sale some time back, then got it on PSN on sale as well with all the DLC and sold the disc copy), but I just haven't played it. Now I'm kind of excited to.

62t said:
and Atlus USA didn't release PSP Eternal Punishment, so whats your point?
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Don't be crabby. Everyone here loves you.

Sega has quite a few games they've refrained from localizing, such as the latest games in the Yakuza series. Unfortunately, in both the cases of Yakuza and Valkyria Chronicles, sales of the English-language versions was cripplingly low. They can't afford to release things at a loss. It would be nice if they could release them and break even, but that's probably not a great business decision when they are finite in resources and have profitable things they could do instead.

I'm pretty sure we'll get all these Persona games here in NA in a timely fashion; Europe, as usual, will be left hanging.

 
Matenshi said:
To be fair, they said there was behind-the-scenes issues that they can't disclose that prevents them from localizing it. It's not just because they didn't want to or whatever.
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The "behind-the-scenes issues" is that the PSP, despite having a ton of great titles, was a warez cesspool. Obviously they're not going to say as much because they'd have throngs of people jumping on their back at the mere suggestion that it's not a viable platform to release such a niche product; RPGs normally have tons of text, and this one in particular has a lot of cultural differences that would have been difficult to make palatable to western gamers. I don't blame Atlus or Sega at all for not wanting to throw their franchises into the grinder.

Jesse_Dylan said:
Sega has quite a few games they've refrained from localizing, such as the latest games in the Yakuza series. Unfortunately, in both the cases of Yakuza and Valkyria Chronicles, sales of the English-language versions was cripplingly low. They can't afford to release things at a loss. It would be nice if they could release them and break even, but that's probably not a great business decision when they are finite in resources and have profitable things they could do instead.
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I'm honestly surprised that they've released as many Yakuza titles in the west as they have. None of them could have been hits. Other than Yakuza and Valkyria, which you've accurately surmised as selling cripplingly low numbers, what other titles didn't they localize? I can only think of the updated version of Phantasy Star Portable 2. There are some Shining titles, but I would bet any amount of money that they're crap going by the other Shining-but-not-Shining-Force titles they've released here.

 
whitereflection said:
The "behind-the-scenes issues" is that the PSP, despite having a ton of great titles, was a warez cesspool. Obviously they're not going to say as much because they'd have throngs of people jumping on their back at the mere suggestion that it's not a viable platform to release such a niche product; RPGs normally have tons of text, and this one in particular has a lot of cultural differences that would have been difficult to make palatable to western gamers. I don't blame Atlus or Sega at all for not wanting to throw their franchises into the grinder.

I'm honestly surprised that they've released as many Yakuza titles in the west as they have. None of them could have been hits. Other than Yakuza and Valkyria, which you've accurately surmised as selling cripplingly low numbers, what other titles didn't they localize? I can only think of the updated version of Phantasy Star Portable 2. There are some Shining titles, but I would bet any amount of money that they're crap going by the other Shining-but-not-Shining-Force titles they've released here.
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Only a few things come to mind, like 7th Dragon or whatever that RPG was called. But if there are any RPGs that don't suck on the 3DS, and hopefully other systems, I think Sega will release them; certainly Atlus titles will continue being localized at the same clip if not more frequently.

They also released Resonance of Fate here in the US, and I don't think that sold at all. They're willing to take risks. That's more than we can say about most companies. They released Hatsune Miku on PS3.

We do already have an English version of Eternal Punishment, too, and they did release Innocent Sin...

 
Seriously. Look at the non-Sonic titles Sega has released in recent years: Yakuza, Valkyria Chronicles, Binary Domain, Resonance of Fate, Bayonetta, Vanquish, Anarchy Reigns, Condemned, Infinite Space, Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown, Hatsune Miku - all of those have garnered critical praise but only Bayonetta and Hatsune Miku have panned out in sales in the west. I cannot believe that with how fast information travels on the Internet, there is still strong confirmation bias against Sega. I think most people who have negative views on Sega are going on their multiple successive console failures - exiting the hardware business is indeed a huge paradigm shift for Sega admittedly - and the bad Sonic titles before 2008. Sega also has a strong presence on PC and mobile devices - probably the most rife with piracy - which is more than most publishers can say.

 
Sega also didn't localize Phantasy Star Online 2 after announcing it to be coming here quite some time ago. They also said they have no intention of bringing Phantasy Star Nova to the west that I read somewhere.

I think a big issue for the localization is that not only do they not do it, they wait forever to say anything about whether they will or not after having brought previous titles to the West. I mean I kind of understand that it leaves them more open to change their minds, but I would think that fans would be happier for them to say "it's not coming" and change their mind, than to let them go for over a year with little more than speculation. In the case of PSO 2 they announced it for here and then went completely quiet about it so even if they announce something it's hard for some people to trust them as a result until they have the copy of it in their hands.

Also on the Hatsune Miku game I can't imagine that was difficult for them to localize from a translation standpoint.

 
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I think it's important to keep in mind, at least as it's relevant to the original topic, that Atlus is still Atlus, same as they were when Index owned them.  Sega does not necessarily make any administrative choices.  I also strongly suspect that all three of the recently-announced Persona games (including the dancing game) were already in development before Sega purchased Atlus.

Slightly off-topic, but I was assuming "winter 2014" meant Jan-March or so 2014.  Is that right, or did they mean Q4 2014?  "Winter 2014" is ambiguous, in my opinion, because you have winter both at the beginning and end of every year in most areas where "winter" exists in the snowy sense in the northern hemisphere.

 
whitereflection said:
Seriously. Look at the non-Sonic titles Sega has released in recent years: Yakuza, Valkyria Chronicles, Binary Domain, Resonance of Fate, Bayonetta, Vanquish, Anarchy Reigns, Condemned, Infinite Space, Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown, Hatsune Miku - all of those have garnered critical praise but only Bayonetta and Hatsune Miku have panned out in sales in the west. I cannot believe that with how fast information travels on the Internet, there is still strong confirmation bias against Sega. I think most people who have negative views on Sega are going on their multiple successive console failures - exiting the hardware business is indeed a huge paradigm shift for Sega admittedly - and the bad Sonic titles before 2008. Sega also has a strong presence on PC and mobile devices - probably the most rife with piracy - which is more than most publishers can say.
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To be fair, Bayonetta / Vanquish / Anarchy Reigns were games Sega simply published and none of them were really marketed in any sort of attempt to make them successful. The same can also be said of Yakuza, Valkyria and Binary Domain.

While I do agree with your overall point, Sega has also done a lot of bad. As previously mentioned, we got PSO 2 announced and then it just went silent. Still could happen, but who knows. We've also seen Sega do things that are just absurd. Like delaying Anarchy Reigns for 6 months, which they didn't even tell Platinum Games until it was announced. However, despite the Japanese game being done (and 100% localized...), Sega didn't even bother to bring Anarchy Reigns to E3, but made sure VF 5 was there, even though it was made free for Plus the day before. We also had Sega toying around with the idea of localizing Miku, but with almost no effort. 2 E3's ago they had the Japanese demo of the PSV version of the game on display. You were able to play the songs in the US PS3 demo, though I don't recall anything telling you how to enter star notes, which probably turned off a lot of people. Not to mention, someone should have been there to gauge interest and talk to people. Instead, they tossed it there and then wrote it off as "gauging interest".

Finally and perhaps most importantly, Sega let Aliens: Colonial Marines to happen. Not only was the demo ludicrously deceptive, the actual game was a flat out train wreck. So bad, that the previously announced and formerly eagerly anticipated Wii U version was cancelled, despite commercials showcasing it and many promises related to it.

Sure Sega has made and published some awesome games the past couple of years, but they've also released some real losers and sent many games out to die. In recent years, they've become more dodgy about localizing things, which is horrible news for niche fans. PSO2, Yakuza 5/Kezan/PSP/PSP 2/ 1 & 2 HD/Isshin, possibly Nova and many many other titles. Combine this with poor marketing for anything that isn't Sonic and it isn't hard to see why people are worried, pissed, hate or are hesitant about Sega.

 
admiralvic said:
To be fair, Bayonetta / Vanquish / Anarchy Reigns were games Sega simply published and none of them were really marketed in any sort of attempt to make them successful. The same can also be said of Yakuza, Valkyria and Binary Domain.

While I do agree with your overall point, Sega has also done a lot of bad. As previously mentioned, we got PSO 2 announced and then it just went silent. Still could happen, but who knows. We've also seen Sega do things that are just absurd. Like delaying Anarchy Reigns for 6 months, which they didn't even tell Platinum Games until it was announced. However, despite the Japanese game being done (and 100% localized...), Sega didn't even bother to bring Anarchy Reigns to E3, but made sure VF 5 was there, even though it was made free for Plus the day before. We also had Sega toying around with the idea of localizing Miku, but with almost no effort. 2 E3's ago they had the Japanese demo of the PSV version of the game on display. You were able to play the songs in the US PS3 demo, though I don't recall anything telling you how to enter star notes, which probably turned off a lot of people. Not to mention, someone should have been there to gauge interest and talk to people. Instead, they tossed it there and then wrote it off as "gauging interest".

Finally and perhaps most importantly, Sega let Aliens: Colonial Marines to happen. Not only was the demo ludicrously deceptive, the actual game was a flat out train wreck. So bad, that the previously announced and formerly eagerly anticipated Wii U version was cancelled, despite commercials showcasing it and many promises related to it.

Sure Sega has made and published some awesome games the past couple of years, but they've also released some real losers and sent many games out to die. In recent years, they've become more dodgy about localizing things, which is horrible news for niche fans. PSO2, Yakuza 5/Kezan/PSP/PSP 2/ 1 & 2 HD/Isshin, possibly Nova and many many other titles. Combine this with poor marketing for anything that isn't Sonic and it isn't hard to see why people are worried, pissed, hate or are hesitant about Sega.
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Atlus let Game of Thrones and Cursed Crusade happen. They've done their share of stinkers. Not that I'm ragging on Atlus, though, because they're very kind to us about localizing. Just saying, #1, they've made mistakes too, not just Sega, and #2, a lot of our woes expressed at Sega have to do with games that they would take a loss on. I desperately want to play the Yakuza games, which seem to just get better and better, but Sega released not one, two or three Yakuza games here, but FOUR, four Yakuza games, and they didn't sell. They probably took a loss on all four.

 
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I can't blame Sega as much for Yakuza since the games just cost way too much to localization and they weren't breaking even over here,and I think they gave the fans enough chances to prove that the games were worth the time and money to bring over.

 
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I would like to just come in here to remind everyone about Yakuza: Dead Souls. Good idea: Releasing a zombie game when anything and everything with zombies can become hugely popular. Bad idea: Having a soft launch, and then telling no one the game exists once it's actually on store shelves. 

Come on, guys! As much as you all want to praise Sega for taking chances, they have NO idea what they're doing. I have don't know if they just blow through their entires budgets on localization costs or if the actual marketing team is just that one guy running their twitter, but whatever the problem is, they have needed to straighten it out for years now.

 
kndy said:
Time and Eternity just dropped to $19.99 on Amazon....but I'm guessing from comments about this game, this is "Last Rebellion" type of quality, so maybe it's best to wait $14.99-$16.99?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/Time-and-Eternity-PS3/ref=%26%2574%2561g%3d%2562l%2575r%2561yg%2561mes%252d20?SubscriptionId=AKIAIY4YSQJMFDJATNBA&tag=bluraygames-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B00BJH11FQ&ASIN=B00BJH11FQ&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER
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Have you played Ar tonelico Qoga: Knell of Ar Ciel on the PS3? I'd suggest you buy that for $19.99 (from the NISA store) instead if you haven't played it.

Also , I should say that the following games are probably better for you:

Disgaea 4

Atelier series

FF13

FF13-2

Tales of series

etc...

There are many good JRPGs on the PS3 , don't buy one of the worst ones (Time and Eternity).

 
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And I still don't get why everyone's big point is "Sega has screwed stuff up".  They have for sure (c.f. pretty much every game system they ever released except the Mega Drive), but what does that prove?  Atlus so far is still just doing their own thing.

 
admiralvic said:
lots of stuff
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You're right that Sega rarely advertises for their non-Sonic games. But look at all the games we mentioned. Do you think that traditional, expensive advertising would have helped any of those titles? They have done more creative campaigns like starting their own fighting game tournament and offering bigger pot bonuses than Street Fighter with Virtua Fighter to no avail. In any case, Sega follows the Marvel model of revenue: hardly anyone reads comic books anymore compared to other forms of entertainment, but without the comic books, there's no movies, merchandising, and other highly profitable streams of revenue. Well, Sega actually makes most of their money from the tons of real estate they own in Asia. Their arcades division generates more revenue than their entire consumer products line! That's public info - look up their financial reports on their website.

I don't see why the tepid reception for Aliens: Colonial Marines is most important. I would cut them some slack on licensed properties - I would not be surprised at all if securing an IP of that caliber cost more than the development of the game. They did great with Captain America, though that game looked like ass and pretty much ripped off Batman. I still think PSO2 will be released eventually since they already announced it, and Nova too depending on how well it does in Japan.

Jesse_Dylan said:
Atlus let Game of Thrones and Cursed Crusade happen. They've done their share of stinkers. Not that I'm ragging on Atlus, though, because they're very kind to us about localizing. Just saying, #1, they've made mistakes too, not just Sega, and #2, a lot of our woes expressed at Sega have to do with games that they would take a loss on. I desperately want to play the Yakuza games, which seem to just get better and better, but Sega released not one, two or three Yakuza games here, but FOUR, four Yakuza games, and they didn't sell. They probably took a loss on all four.
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There's actually been five Yakuza games released in the west - you're forgetting Dead Souls, the zombie one. The gameplay takes some getting used to, but the story is phenomenal because you watch Tokyo under siege and get taken over by zombies gradually. The bittersweet part is during the closing credits, they showcase all the games in the series including the ones not released here - the samurai one looks awesome. I hope Sega passed on releasing it here because they were saving their pennies on localizing the bigger, badder sequel which is a PS4 launch title in Japan.

 
themaster20000 said:
I can't blame Sega as much for Yakuza since the games just cost way too much to localization and they weren't breaking even over here,and I think they gave the fans enough chances to prove that the games were worth the time and money to bring over.
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I wish they would have released "Yakuza"....since "Shenmue", I really missed the gameplay of visiting Japanese shops and kicking arse. I actually enjoy all the games, in fact, I've just recently purchased the second "Ryu ga Gotoku" game for the PSP since prices have finally come down this month on eBay.

But personally, I think that while there is a niche of gameplayers like myself who love games such as "Yakuza", the cost of localization is pretty high and while there are diehards who would pay full price on release day, because the games would go down in price within months or so, many would wait to buy the game when it was under $20.

But when it comes to Japanese-based niche games, there is that group who will always purchase a game at full price to support the company. But for a lot of people who are CAG's, they wait for the better deal and lower price.

 
Ys CE shipped today even though they initially gave me a Dec 2nd estimated ship date. My Zelda box set shipped today as well via FedEx. Hopefully it comes in undamaged!
 
kndy said:
For those who purchased "Atelier Ayesha" from Amazon, did it come with any swag? I noticed it's $29.90 on Amazon and if this is a limited edition, I'm guessing that is a pretty good price.

http://www.amazon.com/Atelier-Ayesha-Alchemist-Dusk-Playstation-3/dp/B00ANGVX9I/ref=sr_1_1?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1385418387&sr=1-1&keywords=Atelier+Ayesha%3A+The+Alchemist+of+Dusk
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as far as I recall Ayesha lacked both japanese voices as well as any sort of limited edition.

 
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