Japanese Niche Games Deals & Discussion Thread 4.0

shivan128

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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Vinny said:
The one that probably takes the cake (or "case", HUR HUR HUR): spent a lot of money on this, because I found it fascinating that someone enjoyed FF7 so much about ~30 years ago that they that they decided to save a box for it from some soda they bought.
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That’s actually pretty cool. Was not aware that ever existed. I still have Nintendo cereal boxes, people pay good money for that kind of stuff, and they are fun collectibles. My cereal boxes aren’t for sale, but if you like Star Wars I have a few KFC episode 1 chicken buckets, the grease is long gone by now.
 
Xenogears said:
That’s actually pretty cool. Was not aware that ever existed. I still have Nintendo cereal boxes, people pay good money for that kind of stuff, and they are fun collectibles. My cereal boxes aren’t for sale, but if you like Star Wars I have a few KFC episode 1 chicken buckets, the grease is long gone by now.
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I never actually bought any gaming related food growing up nor when I started collecting, outside of one occasion- got a kids meal from Burger King from when they did some Pokemon promo. And even if I did, I wouldn't have kept any of the packaging.

It's sad, now when I randomly do get some menial thing from the past, I save it- like this bag from Electronics Boutique that some eBay seller used to wrap a some NES game I bought from them.
 
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$20 is usually the bottom out price for most S-E games so I say it's a buy if you don't have it and want it. I got it at whatever the $30ish price drop was like a chump!
 
I think I’ll wait and see if a potential switch 2 version gets announced, and if it’s a key card I’m probably done with 3rd parties on that console.
 
nitrosmob said:
$20 is usually the bottom out price for most S-E games so I say it's a buy if you don't have it and want it. I got it at whatever the $30ish price drop was like a chump!
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$20 is a great price for a physical copy.. but I know I'll never play it on PS5. I'll just wait till it reaches 50-60% off on GMG and grab a steam copy so that I can play it on the steamdeck. I think it's a game I'd rather play on a handheld.
 
I got one of the regular marketing emails from NISA and checked the Trails Beyond the Horizon CE page, and noticed it's already down to 50% on PS5/25% on NS.

I think this was announced fairly recently and while I know the series is probably their most or one of their most popular games, I was a little surprised it's already down this low given the game's still a while away and their CEs have been getting shittier and not selling out as quickly these days. But just an FYI, for anyone now wanting to gamble.
 
Vinny said:
I got one of the regular marketing emails from NISA and checked the Trails Beyond the Horizon CE page, and noticed it's already down to 50% on PS5/25% on NS.

I think this was announced fairly recently and while I know the series is probably their most or one of their most popular games, I was a little surprised it's already down this low given the game's still a while away and their CEs have been getting shittier and not selling out as quickly these days. But just an FYI, for anyone now wanting to gamble.
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For me, it's an easy decision--if it's a Legend of Heroes LE with steelbook included, I preorder. I have them all so far, so I can't skip this one.
 
Vinny said:
I got one of the regular marketing emails from NISA and checked the Trails Beyond the Horizon CE page, and noticed it's already down to 50% on PS5/25% on NS.

I think this was announced fairly recently and while I know the series is probably their most or one of their most popular games, I was a little surprised it's already down this low given the game's still a while away and their CEs have been getting shittier and not selling out as quickly these days. But just an FYI, for anyone now wanting to gamble.
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It was previously at 25%; they actually bumped it back up to 50% a few days ago.

I keep checking for a restock on the previous one.
 
Vinny said:
I've seen this with them before on some other CEs, anyways wondered if I was just crazy. Guess not.
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Don't worry about it. If you were going crazy me and the other voices would be sure to tell you.

Ce wise the only ce I was ever tempted to get from them was Ys 9. That one looked swag.
 
PA uses different shipping methods. I detailed this back with my December order. I believe them when they say this doesn't affect regular non-ems orders. They ship through third parties that don't detail origin and then move it around the country before it ever gets to USPS.

VGP should also be ok since they ship out of NY.

I'm just glad I went ahead and got what I got when I did. I'm good for stuff until the Swtich 2 and hopefully I can just get that directly through Nitnendo.com ... and then just go digital for switch 2 stuff and be very very picky.
 
Yeah I'm trying hard to not do any Kickstarters, crowd funding or import orders currently. Also deciding for releases if it's worth it. Just uncertain times and with the way everything is you never know if things will change in your life in a flash. For something a bit more positive or maybe negative I will give my impression for Blue Prince on PC soon enough. Just barely received my Play-Asia with Venus Prism. Only import I really want whenever it releases is Saga Frontier 2.
 
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Covnam said:
VGP is based out of Canada though, right? Presumably anything they move from Canada to their (I presume) shipping warehouse in NY would be subject to tariffs =/
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De minimis exceptions still apply to all countries except China. Unless you're ordering more than $800 of items in one shipment your orders with them won't be impacted.
 
Tothoro said:
De minimis exceptions still apply to all countries except China. Unless you're ordering more than $800 of items in one shipment your orders with them won't be impacted.
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I wonder how they are pulling it off if that's how they are doing it? Are they simply printing the shipping off for NY while the package is in canada and then bringing it all over in a truck to their NY warehouse? There's nothing on my last order to indicate it was ever anywhere except NY.

Whatever the method is, it works. It might be similar to how PA is doing it through some mysterious third party shipping companies. I don't see anything on either site about an $800 limit. Not that they can't declare it be worth less.
 
nightc1 said:
I wonder how they are pulling it off if that's how they are doing it? Are they simply printing the shipping off for NY while the package is in canada and then bringing it all over in a truck to their NY warehouse? There's nothing on my last order to indicate it was ever anywhere except NY.

Whatever the method is, it works. It might be similar to how PA is doing it through some mysterious third party shipping companies. I don't see anything on either site about an $800 limit. Not that they can't declare it be worth less.
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I think the warehouse and merchandise are both in New York State. Based on a few interactions I have had with their customer service people when things never shipped, it sounds like it's just a drop shipping operation and the stock they have in Canada for their retail store and presumably Canadian orders is not what they are shipping from for US and international orders.
 
bojay1997 said:
I think the warehouse and merchandise are both in New York State. Based on a few interactions I have had with their customer service people when things never shipped, it sounds like it's just a drop shipping operation and the stock they have in Canada for their retail store and presumably Canadian orders is not what they are shipping from for US and international orders.
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I wondered if maybe that was the case ... that the US warehouse was their primary location for distribution from the website other than the products that specifically say they only ship to Canada.
 
No clue how VGP manages the logistics between their warehouses across the border, I just meant that if you're in America you're not going to have the tariffs applied to your order from them. Can't imagine it's a good time for them, but it shouldn't impact the general consumer (unless you're buying $800+ in one order, in which case you should just make multiple orders).
 
BTW if anyone sees listings go live for Lunar Remastered Collection physical on Amazon go up please post them here. The game officially releases tomorrow. If I see them I'll post it here. This is stupid and should have been a pre-order. I do hope they go up well and everyone gets a copy if they want it, but I doubt that will happen.
 
nitrosmob said:
BTW if anyone sees listings go live for Lunar Remastered Collection physical on Amazon go up please post them here. The game officially releases tomorrow. If I see them I'll post it here. This is stupid and should have been a pre-order. I do hope they go up well and everyone gets a copy if they want it, but I doubt that will happen.
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It's Amazon only, but nobody knows when the listing will go live. Presumably in the next 24 hours but it could be any time tomorrow. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DP3SK4FQ

krzysio87 said:
Is it supposed to be hard to find?
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No. It's not a limited print, but it's exclusive to Amazon and they didn't do pre-orders for whatever reason.
 
Tothoro said:
No clue how VGP manages the logistics between their warehouses across the border, I just meant that if you're in America you're not going to have the tariffs applied to your order from them. Can't imagine it's a good time for them, but it shouldn't impact the general consumer (unless you're buying $800+ in one order, in which case you should just make multiple orders).
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Can't say I know how VGP does it either or how they might be affected, but they would presumably be paying tariffs if they're moving goods in to the US from another country. Whether they pass that on to the consumer (regardless of the size of your order) is something we'll unfortunately have to wait and see.

Maybe they only move <$800 worth of product at a time though lol

For example, Good Smile US raised the prices on all of their pre-orders, but everything in-stock (which presumably is already in the country) didn't go up in price. In fact, they're having a "tariff free" sale right now.

At least De minimis still applies to Japan though for all those import games ^^;
 
Super tempted on Lunar, but the price makes me pause (CAG in me strikes again).

Feels like this would've been $40 a few years back...even paying $50 for Suikoden feels dirty.

Also, don't want it to "sell out" and then the price doubles via resellers or whatever...
 
jupiterjones said:
Super tempted on Lunar, but the price makes me pause (CAG in me strikes again).

Feels like this would've been $40 a few years back...even paying $50 for Suikoden feels dirty.

Also, don't want it to "sell out" and then the price doubles via resellers or whatever...
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I thought that would happen with Fantasian going OOS in December and look at it now, $35 and seemingly plentiful at Amazon and VGP, plus GungHo has assured that Lunar won’t be a limited release. I can wait for $40 or less on Lunar.
 
Vigilante said:
I thought that would happen with Fantasian going OOS in December and look at it now, $35 and seemingly plentiful at Amazon and VGP, plus GungHo has assured that Lunar won’t be a limited release. I can wait for $40 or less on Lunar.
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Thought the same on Fantasian and boy do I regret it... first 10 hours were great, next 10 hours were meh, and then there's this crazy difficulty spike half-way through with the bosses and the game just feels like such a chore. If there was an easy mode, I'd pick that just to finish it but I have no idea why this game is so highly rated.
 
I got my copy of Lunar. Potentially $10 savings is not enough for me to risk it. I have nostalgia for the series and want to support it anyway.

But for the video game day traders: We don’t have much experience with Amazon as the sole retailer to know how many copies will be available. Most recent I’m aware of was Fantasian. There was a period of about a week where fantasian was unbuyable on the internet, even eBay. Amazon quickly put up a 2nd “pre-order“ for that, shipping like a month later, when it sold out. Maybe that happens again, maybe not. We have 0? experience with Gung Ho distributing through Amazon. They said they will keep producing as long as there is demand. If they have to lower the price, maybe they consider that the point where there is no longer demand. Especially with tariffs. VGP could ship Fantasian copies to the US, so that also helped. They are restricted from US shipping for Lunar, not getting any help from them this time.

Thats my thinking why I just bought it. I‘m out $7 price difference so far by buying Fantasian when I did with similar reasoning, but oh well. Lunar I’m not missing.
 
PS4 version is gone already for Lunar WTF! I knew this was going to happen. I'm sure it will come back, but I felt like like playing Lunar SSS sometime in the near future. Also Xbone version. This is why they should have freaking done pre-orders. Sorry for getting sleep like a normal person.
 
nitrosmob said:
PS4 version is gone already for Lunar WTF! I knew this was going to happen. I'm sure it will come back, but I felt like like playing Lunar SSS sometime in the near future. Also Xbone version. This is why they should have freaking done pre-orders. Sorry for getting sleep like a normal person.
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I'd normally panic buy from eBay in situations like this but I'll put my faith in Gungho that more copies are coming.

I'd have bought this day one if I knew I'd have time to play it but I don't have the time so waiting it out for a bit.

I'm glad this sold out though, shows people wanted it... And maybe we'll get a post release CE.
 
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