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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BoxPizzaBox said:
Most LRG releases now do usually show up on Amazon for pre-order later, you can save on shipping that way. But you definitely gamble a little more on "actually getting a copy" as it's usually after the LRG pre-order window closes.

Best Buy too.

Whole process is brutal if you're a fan of something and prefer physical.

Digital only -> Time passes, see if you cave and buy it -> A physical copy! Wanna double dip (Pay more and pay shipping) -> Amazon/Best Buy orders can get free shipping, but those show up even later and after the pre-order window.

The thing most people want and we were so used to getting at a game's launch is all the way at the end of the pipeline now.
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I have a feeling companies sometimes intentionally stagger physical and digital releases to capitalize on this kind of double-dipping scenario, but I have no real evidence for that so I'll put it in my tinfoil hat box for the time being.

Fortunately with VGP distributing LRG titles though, if it really doesn't show up anywhere the premium is pretty palatable. Not like the old days where Vita games would only show up on eBay like 30 minutes after the sale at double the price.

 
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Tothoro said:
I have a feeling companies sometimes intentionally stagger physical and digital releases to capitalize on this kind of double-dipping scenario, but I have no real evidence for that so I'll put it in my tinfoil hat box for the time being.
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It was not so bad with indie games that no one was sure were going to be that great and they ended up turning out great. But major developers/publishers holding games to digital only seems a bit purposeful. They have the means to do a limited print themselves and should be doing that for their major series.

BoxPizzaBox said:
Whole process is brutal if you're a fan of something and prefer physical.
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That's a big reason why I've reduced what I'm a major fan of to mostly games that get a retail physical. Yes some things I could end up double dipping on but it's very few series (Dragon Quest, Xenoblade, Zelda). Nearly everything outside of that I'll wait for a deal and if I never get one... fine. Same for games that go digital only at first and change later. It's a race to the bottom and whomever hits a price point that I find acceptable ... I'll make the decision then if I really want it or not.

Looking at my purchases for this year... only Zelda TotK got a full price purchase. Everything else (Octopath 2, Tactics Ogre Reborn, Harvestella, & Advance Wars 1&2) was deals on things I wanted but didn't have in my primary series. had they never had deals, oh well. And for digital, my (I think) only purchase this year beyond Nintendo Online was Star Ocean First Departure when it dropped down to just over $8. I could have passed on it and there is no physical option... but it got cheap enough that I am opting to give it a chance. Will it get promoted and become something I care about physical? Maybe. But we'll cross that bridge later. Same for deciding on Star Ocean Second.. and if it rises to my wait for a physical sale list ... or I hold out for a super cheap digital... that is if I don't just let the series go.

 
nightc1 said:
That's a big reason why I've reduced what I'm a major fan of to mostly games that get a retail physical. Yes some things I could end up double dipping on but it's very few series (Dragon Quest, Xenoblade, Zelda). Nearly everything outside of that I'll wait for a deal and if I never get one... fine. Same for games that go digital only at first and change later. It's a race to the bottom and whomever hits a price point that I find acceptable ... I'll make the decision then if I really want it or not.

Looking at my purchases for this year... only Zelda TotK got a full price purchase. Everything else (Octopath 2, Tactics Ogre Reborn, Harvestella, & Advance Wars 1&2) was deals on things I wanted but didn't have in my primary series. had they never had deals, oh well.
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Agree with that sentiment, hard.

still laughed at "reduced what I'm a major fan of," hahaha :D/

 
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Again, I just import. The yen tanking is a major discount, so for small stuff, I just grab the Nihon version.

I only ever pay $40 max for Switch games unless they're import/compilations. Like $90 for the Atelier packages, three games at $30 each? No prob.

I do want Atelier Ryza 3, but hasn't had a good sale yet...

I still have too many games, even with my restrictions.
 
TheKbob said:
Again, I just import. The yen tanking is a major discount, so for small stuff, I just grab the Nihon version.

I only ever pay $40 max for Switch games unless they're import/compilations. Like $90 for the Atelier packages, three games at $30 each? No prob.

I do want Atelier Ryza 3, but hasn't had a good sale yet...

I still have too many games, even with my restrictions.
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Yeah I'll pick up ryza 3 when it gets sub 30 possibly. I've been buying fewer stuff though and trying to work on my backlog instead. Especially with the atelier and trails series since they are quite large and I have many of them in my backlog still.

speaking of I just finished atelier meruru.

2023
Pokemon Scarlet 1/21
Fire Emblem Engage 3/20
The Legend of Heroes Trails From Zero 6/8
Utawarerumono Prelude to the Fallen 8/4
Persona 3 Dancing in the Moonlight 8/5
Bug Fables the Everlasting Sapling 8/28
Atelier Meruru the Apprentice of Arland 9/27

Series ranking wise I'd say I like the cast of rorona better. But meruru has a number of qol improvements over it. I managed to kill almost every super boss but 3 since I ran out of time. Plus the one that isn't doable on a first playthrough.

Having the 2 homs is a huge plus. It sucks that the arena and factory monthly money drops are later unlocks since those would have helped so much more early on. Granted I didn't look up a way to make dosh efficiently.

Probably the hugest help though was having 3 alchemists in the party. Though rorona starts out really useful but drops off towards the end and many bosses are fire resistant hurting totori skill wise.
 
The reviews are coming in for Infinity Strash: Dragon Quest the Adventure of Dai and they are bad.  Square Enix probably was smart in not releasing it physically in North America.  

 
Twilightsparkle said:
The reviews are coming in for Infinity Strash: Dragon Quest the Adventure of Dai and they are bad. Square Enix probably was smart in not releasing it physically in North America.
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Yep read/watched some, hyper bummed. It looks visually awesome and would think that the bar is higher for DQ series spin-offs, but NoisyPixel called it one of the worst releases in SquareEnix's library and blessing it with a 4/10.

Said it felt like a mobile game with console paint over the top along with the story being told with still shots from the anime having a thick coat of filters added on-top. Wonder if it was a mobile game they pushed for full cost release?

 
TheKbob said:
Yep read/watched some, hyper bummed. It looks visually awesome and would think that the bar is higher for DQ series spin-offs, but NoisyPixel called it one of the worst releases in SquareEnix's library and blessing it with a 4/10.

Said it felt like a mobile game with console paint over the top along with the story being told with still shots from the anime having a thick coat of filters added on-top. Wonder if it was a mobile game they pushed for full cost release?
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I saw the reviews, too. I couldn't believe most of the cutscenes are just screenshots from the anime. Apparently, when the game gives you actual in-engine cutscenes, they're awesome, so I wonder if they ran low on money early into production and had to quickly throw together those visual novel segments with the anime stills. Really sucks.

 
Not going to dig into the why... but I'd imagine it's a deadline issue that they couldn't get everything rendered in time.

As someone that buys everything DQ... I'll probably still buy this but not in a rush to do so.  Maybe it'll get a price cut or someone will import the switch version and flip it to ebay on the cheap.

 
Souffrir said:
There’s a fake manga bundle on Humble if anyone’s into that kinda thing. Never heard of any of it.
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Me either. I actually really like graphic novels and comics not from Marvel/DC (although they have good series now and then). This just looks like a bunch of generic shounen like "manga." I've bought too many book bundles from them lately, so this will be an easy pass.

Also just curious, but does anyone else have a hard time paying attention to audio novels? I generally do okay with podcasts, but for some reason I really am having a hard time with the new sc-fi classics audio novel bundle. I was listening to the Ringworld first book and just couldn't after about 10 minutes. I then just put on a fantasy football video.

 
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nitrosmob said:
anyone else have a hard time paying attention to audio novels?
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I can do them when driving something monotonous but if at home I need to have a comfy space and just close my eyes to really focus on the stories otherwise I'm just going to get lost and need to start over. I used to really enjoy the star wars books on tape back a couple decades ago when tapes were still somewhat common for books and I had a long commute to work. I have some other audio novels digitally that I've wanted to get into... but just don't have the time for and my commute to work is pretty quick.

 
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nitrosmob said:
Me either. I actually really like graphic novels and comics not from Marvel/DC (although they have good series now and then). This just looks like a bunch of generic shounen like "manga." I've bought too many book bundles from them lately, so this will be an easy pass.

Also just curious, but does anyone else have a hard time paying attention to audio novels? I generally do okay with podcasts, but for some reason I really am having a hard time with the new sc-fi classics audio novel bundle. I was listening to the Ringworld first book and just couldn't after about 10 minutes. I then just put on a fantasy football video.
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If I were just listening to an audiobook and not doing anything else, I’d go crazy. In a vacuum, if it comes down to listening to an audiobook or reading the book, I have a much easier time focusing on reading the book. I listen to audiobooks when I’m out walking/biking/driving somewhere, or sometimes when I’m playing a game that requires a different kind of attention than me listening to something—a jigsaw puzzle or picross or monster hunter, for example.
 
So now that it's out, has anyone confirmed whether the Japanese version of Infinity Strash has English? It's about $40 on Amazon Japan compared to $60+ for the SEA variant elsewhere.

 
I am also still curious about that.  I would rather buy the cheaper Japanese version.  Today I asked playasia if the Japanese PS5 version has English.  They just said the Asian version has English, which didn't answer my question.  The Japanese Nintendo Store says it's multi-language.  So, unless the digital and physical versions are different the Japanese Switch version should be multi language.

 
TheKbob said:
Whomever has the rights to LoH:TitS should make Switch ports and sell me a three pack, similar to the Atelier games.
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XSeed, currently. And yes, everyone wants this.

I actually think a rerelease might happen eventually based on small hints taken from people who worked on those localizations.

Steam deck, in the meantime, is still a solid option.
 
Meh at this point I'd only play them if they did a 3 in one pack with lots of qol changes. Going backwards to zero wasn't exactly that fun. I don't think I'd have any patience for the sky trio.
 
Vinny said:
I mean the marketing for it would be so easy........
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removing-glasses-wow-meme-3bfd7rlnji7ow1p2.gif


 
Twilightsparkle said:
Did they ever fix it? It had tons of bugs on all platforms. It didn’t get great reviews when it released.
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I do not know as seemingly no reviews were written after launch. But I figured I would give it a shot since it looked interesting and I'm sad that it's the closest I'll get to a paper mario game.

 
I would recommend not getting the Outbound Ghost. It is no longer being patched and supposedly has performance issues on all consoles. There is sueing going on from the publisher and developer. I'm guessing the game will come back in a better way eventually, but not touching that release with a ten foot stick.

There are a decent amount of visual novels that were released.

Nekonyan released Secret Agent. There is an 18+ patch for the Steam version.

Steam

18+ Patch (NSFW)

JAST USA have released VenusBlood GAIA International. It is getting review bombed on Steam from the Chinese translation, but I believe is a decent release in English. There is an 18+ patch for this as well.

Steam

18+ Patch (NSFW)

Visual Arts have released Stella of the End.

Steam

 
Bringing up Trails again, I finished Legend of Nayuta over the weekend and, despite it having a very slow start (super-cliched story, lackluster first couple boss battles, one-dimensional characters), I actually did enjoy it overall, even if my complaints about the plot and characters didn't change much at the end. The gameplay is very fun and engaging, with a satisfying loop involving trying to three-star levels and collect ingredients for cooking and museum donations for profit (bugs, fish, fossils, and artifacts, because someone on the dev team liked Animal Crossing). Learning and mastering both Nayuta and Noi's moves is engaging and helps keep the game's difficulty at a fair level (though no post-hit invincibility leads to a lot of instances of enemies ganging up on you and pushing you off ledges right after respawning from a fall). The soundtrack is also classic Falcom, with serious foot-tappers and earworms.

What I didn't like was just how stock anime the plot was, and how most of the main characters' personalities could be summed up with one or two words (Nayuta: smart, Cygna: big bro, Eartha: nice, Lyra: teenage girl, Noi: fairy). The side characters were actually a bit more interesting, especially the administrators of Terra (and they had really cool fantasy designs), and many characters discussed things that were happening around the world that were way more interesting than the main story (an unnamed Empire being in disarray, the world fighting wars and disease, etc). It was a little disappointing for Falcom, known for its insane storytelling and intricate worldbuilding, to go so basic with this game's narrative and choose to only hint at the overarching politics of the world, and even though the supporting cast was interesting and the dialogue was engaging and more on-brand for Falcom, this shortcoming definitely asserts that this is a Trails/Kiseki game just to boost its sales and it doesn't really borrow anything from that larger series. Lots of people have stated this was probably meant to be Zwei 3 (I've never played the Zwei games, but apparently the combat and food giving experience are systems directly from that series), and yeah, I can see Falcom changing the name last minute to ensure its success.

Overall, 7/10. I almost didn't do the postgame, but went back to it and was glad I did. Won't do new game plus, though. Oh, and the final boss was a major letdown, both in who it was and how the battle was fought. Fun game, but it kind of fizzled out right in the finale. Reminded me of the series finale to Star Trek Voyager, and that's all I'll say to avoid spoilers.

 
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Nayutas a side game for asset flipping from what I've heard so that isn't too surprising. My understanding was they also use them for training and to make occasionally new things they came up with that can be used down the line.
 
I started lost Odyssey. I feel like someone could die of alcohol poisoning if they swig every time someone says "grand staff" in this.
 
shadowysea07 said:
I started lost Odyssey. I feel like someone could die of alcohol poisoning if they swig every time someone says "grand staff" in this.
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Hopefully the game hits its stride for you. I fucking loved Lost Odyssey. This was one game Xbox exclusive that needed to make it's way to the PS ecosystem- would have sold much better in Japan and prob the US too.

 
Oh man, so many good memories of Lost Odyssey--excellent writing, lovable (and mildly annoying in the case of two specific) characters, fun gameplay, well-done voice-acting, and amazing music. And the final boss music slaps.

 
Lost Odyssey's writing is incredible, especially the Thousand Years of Dreams side stories. It's one of those games you wish you could experience again for the first time.

Mistwalker in general just makes excellent games (not surprising since it was founded by Sakaguchi). It's a tragedy that they've been stuck in the mobile market for a decade.

 
gospelman said:
Sounds like I need to play LO. Been backlogged for a decade. Is digital / backward compatible on xbox console still the best way?
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It's BC on the Xbone but I don't think it offered any technical benefits. LO had some super long load times before each battle (and long load times in general) that were made bearable only because of the 360's eventual addition of the "install disc" option or whatever that copied disc data to the hard drive for faster load times. I'm not sure those load times/install option are available on the Xbone.

EDIT* I should mention my experiences were all with the disc copy, can't speak for digital copy.

EDIT2* I guess it does run better, forgot how much lag/slowdown the original had.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdrLbJQz7BE

 
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Vinny said:
Hopefully the game hits its stride for you. I fucking loved Lost Odyssey. This was one game Xbox exclusive that needed to make it's way to the PS ecosystem- would have sold much better in Japan and prob the US too.
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I'm enjoying it so far but much like blue dragon it has a lot of items to find scattered around. Thankfully not exactly like nothings.

The dreams sequence is super depressing though outside of the returning mother. And maybe prerty little liar since that one possibly has a happy ending. I'm taking a break after playing for 2 hours iirc then I can get to do the first dungeon or whatever the mountain is.
 
Lost Odyssey is one of my favorites.  I have a US digital version stored on my system, a Japanese edition, the demo on disc released only in Japan, and the complete soundtrack on CD. 

It's the real FFXI, IMO.

 
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gospelman said:
Sounds like I need to play LO. Been backlogged for a decade.
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Same here, I've had Lost Odyssey forever and never played it. Now I'm thinking I better bump it up to the Immediate Backlog™

Yes, that's right. I have the entire backlog (a list on my phone), and the Immediate Backlog™ (a stack of games I really want to play right away that's always within eyeshot in my living room). So, I'll put Lost Odyssey in that pile.

Oh, and I'm grabbing A Silent Hope tonight and want to play that alongside Saga Frontier Remastered, which I started over the weekend. I have a major problem.

 
I have my backlog catalog on my computer by system and alphabetical. It also has my beaten games and the time date and length. Occasionally I forget to move something to the complete pile.
 
I don't track anything.  I have certain games in my mind that I want to play but just need to be ready to dedicate the time.  I want to say next for me is probably Xenoblade Chronicles 3... but I've contemplated finally digging deep into the first game or hooking the WiiU up for Chronicles X.  But I could easily flip and pick something else completely.   I have put a little time into F-Zero 99... which is good as it's getting me back to at least turning a game system on for a while.

 
nightc1 said:
I don't track anything. I have certain games in my mind that I want to play but just need to be ready to dedicate the time. I want to say next for me is probably Xenoblade Chronicles 3... but I've contemplated finally digging deep into the first game or hooking the WiiU up for Chronicles X.
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Play 1 first, 3 references it. If you haven't played 2, play that one after 1, then 3. If you don't feel like playing 3 connected Xenoblade games, then go with X since that's a spinoff. It has Easter eggs from the first 2 Blade games, as well as Xenogears and Saga (and longtime fans are still trying to connect it to the larger Xeno canon), but it can 100% be played by itself. Plus, it's an amazing game. All the Xenoblade games are amazing (though I'm one of the few fans who was less than impressed with 3).

shadowysea07 said:
I still have to play the other 3 xeno games before blade 3.
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This is like me and Trails, I still haven't played anything beyond the Sky trilogy (aside from Nayuta, which doesn't count). So many critically acclaimed game series that need so much time to play...

 
I've only played cs1, cs2 and zero. so I'm there as well.  Trails series is the longest when it comes to playtimes though like you said. 

trails or atelier is the largest.

after that then disgaea and xeno for series I have entries for but haven't gotten to them all. My most famous game I haven't played is probably ff5. 

 
shadowysea07 said:
I've only played cs1, cs2 and zero. so I'm there as well. Trails series is the longest when it comes to playtimes though like you said.

trails or atelier is the largest.

after that then disgaea and xeno for series I have entries for but haven't gotten to them all. My most famous game I haven't played is probably ff5.
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Oh yeah, I have tons of Atelier and Disgaea games but have only played a few (Ryza 1-3 and a little of Rorona, and Disgaea 1 and a little of 3). My husband had that problem with the Tales of series, but he managed to bang out Vesperia, Berseria, Xillia (he didn't like that one and didn't get very far), Symphonia 1 & 2 (he had played 1 as a kid but wanted to play it again), Abyss, and Arise over the past few years.

I actually played through Pikmin 1 and 2 a few weeks ago since I watched my husband play 4 and wanted to finally play the series. I had 1 as a kid but thought it was too stressful and never finished it, even though I love the concept and look of Pikmin. So like decades go by and now I'm finally going to play all 4 games. I am obsessed with Pikmin now, such an amazing series. Once there's another gap in my must-play games (with Wonder and Spider-Man 2 coming, that won't be for a while), I'm diving right into Pikmin 3 and 4.

 
On the topic of catching up on beloved games/series, I'm playing Ys VIII for the first time (nearly finished now), and enjoying it a lot. It's my first Ys game as well, I'll definitely check out some more in the future.

 
super1upqueen said:
All the Xenoblade games are amazing (though I'm one of the few fans who was less than impressed with 3).
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Add me to that list. I see tons of people gush about 3 and call it the best of the series and it's a good game but it's easily my least favorite. Story started out interesting but then just got kinda... meh as it neared the final quarter or so, helped along thanks to the series tie-in. Did not care for the battle system either, just got to be too many boring pointless characters to learn abilities from. Also hated how, 3 games in and with dozens of games under it's belt- they still cannot figure out "a few good side quests" > "tons of really stupid/tedious/vague side quests" (granted, that could also be said of SE... and many other devs).

 
BoxPizzaBox said:
On the topic of catching up on beloved games/series, I'm playing Ys VIII for the first time (nearly finished now), and enjoying it a lot. It's my first Ys game as well, I'll definitely check out some more in the future.
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Kinda curious how that plays out for you. VIII is easily the best game in the series... might have spoiled the rest. I played the Western updated versions (like the PSP versions of I & II, and Oath which is III, etc.) of them in order of release up to VIII and loved the series. Then I played VIII and was like, "damn, easily the best game in the series." Haven't played IX yet but really want to get to it some day. Also I think there's like 1 or 2 games in the series that's JP only, wish they'd just port those over.

 
Vinny said:
Add me to that list. I see tons of people gush about 3 and call it the best of the series and it's a good game but it's easily my least favorite. Story started out interesting but then just got kinda... meh as it neared the final quarter or so, helped along thanks to the series tie-in. Did not care for the battle system either, just got to be too many boring pointless characters to learn abilities from. Also hated how, 3 games in and with dozens of games under it's belt- they still cannot figure out "a few good side quests" > "tons of really stupid/tedious/vague side quests" (granted, that could also be said of SE... and many other devs).
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The problem with 3's story is, unlike 1 and 2, it just refuses to provide satisfying answers to all of the questions that are raised. I keep using the term "mystery box storytelling," but so many games are doing that crap now and 3 is no exception. If you're going to make your story convoluted and enigmatic, you need to eventually answer some questions before the player starts losing interest. Oh, and you need to make those answers definitive and easy to understand, not just more mysteries and questions. I am so sick of this type of storytelling. People try to say old school games like Final Fantasy had barebones stories, but I'll take a hundred of those types of stories over this bait/tease mystery box method. My husband has a picture of me on his phone from when I fell asleep playing Xenoblade 3 because I lost so much interest in the story. And no, I didn't cry at the end. I just didn't care anymore.

I enjoyed the battle system, especially building up chain attacks and thrashing unique monsters, but I agree the method by which you earned jobs/skills was really tedious, and most of the side characters were pretty bland. Plus they made so many of them optional, that when cutscenes would pop up about the main characters talking about who they were fighting for, they'd just show the same like 3 people over and over. It was so silly.

Worst of all, the soundtrack was so disappointing. The battle themes were pretty good, but the field themes were so forgettable and bland and the cutscene music wasn't memorable at all, nothing amazing like 1's Confrontation with the Enemy and 2's Counterattack.

Vinny said:
Kinda curious how that plays out for you. VIII is easily the best game in the series... might have spoiled the rest. I played the Western updated versions (like the PSP versions of I & II, and Oath which is III, etc.) of them in order of release up to VIII and loved the series. Then I played VIII and was like, "damn, easily the best game in the series." Haven't played IX yet but really want to get to it some day. Also I think there's like 1 or 2 games in the series that's JP only, wish they'd just port those over.
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VIII is tied with Origin for me as my favorite Ys game. The first Ys game I played was actually Memories of Celceta and I thought it was just ok, but gave VIII a chance based on how beautiful the character art was. So glad I did, since it made me play the other Ys games and hooked me on the series. I actually think IX is a weaker entry, since it tries to do a lot of stuff VIII did but doesn't execute it as well, and the story wasn't as interesting. It's not bad by any means, but a little disappointing after VIII.

 
Playasia now says the Japanese versions of Infinity Strash are multi-language.

 
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I only play on PS and Xbox so my trophy/achievement will keep track of games I played and finished.

Only finished Trails FC, so at this rate I will never catch up

 
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