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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If you've been waiting for a drop on any of the woot titles, they have 10% off at checkout using their app. Today only I believe.

I'm sill eyeing P3R and Unicorn Overlord CEs. But I think I'll end up waiting for further drops.
 
Nothing- said:
It's weird to me how SquareEnix reprinted the crap out of Crisis Core PS5. But refuse to reprint any additional copies of PS5 Remake or PS4/NSW I-VI Pixel Remaster for NA.
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They reprinted Crisis Core Reunion? Odd, I don't recall it ever being that expensive...

EDIT* And if they're gonna reprint anything, about about reprinting the PS4 FF Pixel Remaster.
 
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I don’t think they have otherwise done a FF collection since PS1. Waiting till PS9 for the next at that rate. Physical will be long dead by then, or an exclusive limited release price gouged to absurd levels we can’t even imagine.
 
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I feel like it was super expensive and their store only. Might have only been 1-9.

Hmm seems like I may have been thinking of something similar to the anniversary collection. but that was digital only from what i read. while I believe the one I was thinking of was at least huge looking like one of those encyclopedia sets but for games.

Ah I may have been the ultimate box collection for the 25th anniversary? It came with physical copies but they were all for each individual platform from ps1-ps3.
 
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shadowysea07 said:
Hold gif from that car trade commercial
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God I hate that commercial. I'll dive across a room to get to the remote and mute that shit.
Xenogears said:
I don’t think they have otherwise done a FF collection since PS1. Waiting till PS9 for the next at that rate. Physical will be long dead by then, or an exclusive limited release price gouged to absurd levels we can’t even imagine.
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They'll be beaming the games directly into our brains by then. Or, better yet, we'll experience them in holosuites.
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Finally took time this weekend to go through my more recent purchases of switch games released within the last year to redeem all the gold coins. Ended up with just under $6 in gold coins. Then took advantage of the last full day of the eshop sale to get the Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Expansion Pass which ended up $17.21 (after tax). Not a bad way to burn gold coins.

Also started playing Mario Vs Donkey Kong on the switch. I played the original 20 years ago when it came out as at the time GBA was my main platform... but I haven't played it since. I still own the original but was looking forward to the two new worlds and potentially trying the 2-player mode. The new worlds are good, but overall I haven't found the base game mode that challenging. Hopefully plus mode and expert levels gives my brain a little workout. This might end up something I finish and like the original, like seeing on the shelf but just don't replay. Which if that's the case, I'll probably move it to my sell pile after giving other family members a chance to play it.

Side note, forgive my over sharing, but my youngest son moved out over the past week. He's sharing an apartment near college for his last two years. This opens his room up for the most part to be my new room for storing all media, sorting through stuff, and having a small game setup (still keeping a bed for him if he needs to spend the night). So all of my media shelves, I'm about to take apart and rebuild for a single wall in the room. I'm kind of amped about having the space to get better organized and seeing everything out will maybe help me decide on where to start with downsizing the collection.
 
Finally beat Valkyria Chronicles on Sunday after 15 years. Put 20 hrs into the PS3 version back in 2008 and my OG PS3 died & I never started over. Then got the Remaster on PS4 day one and got back to mission 6 before the game eventually got buried in the backlog. Booted it up last week and pushed through the rest. Such a great strategy RPG with characters you get attached to. I still loved that the 3 main characters from Skies of Arcadia are squad members. Glad I finally finished. Playing Tunic until the Elden Ring expansion drops this later week.
 
Personally I disliked vc1. almost all the maps were capture the flag, which while not exactly terrible it penalized you for doing anything than finishing the map as quickly as possible :(, unit balance was wonky since scouts are broken, snipers and to a lesser degree shock troopers are good while lancers are super niche and mechanics only have use when ranks are deployed.
Also the bugs with the hit boxes and physics really ruined my playthrough. I threw a grenade for example and it somehow ricochet under a tank back to me. Sorry to be a bummer. I Really wanted to love the game as srpgs are my bread and butter.
 
nightc1 said:
While true, I want to make it clear that III comes this year and I&II will release next year. It's not the all in one package people were hoping for.
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We can't have nice (affordable) things, I know. I have the Asian import three pack, which I just got recently for a fair price.

So you are all welcome for the inevitable I&II announcement.

Now if only the middle children could get ported to Switch, then I could have a system with all the Final Fantasy games and all the Dragon Quest games on it from the originals to PS2 era.
 
TheKbob said:
We can't have nice (affordable) things, I know. I have the Asian import three pack, which I just got recently for a fair price.
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I grabbed the switch import for 1/2/3 from PA back in 2019. Paid $44.89 for it (I might have used a coupon and preordered). I'm pretty happy with just playing those versions, XI on switch, and then leaning on my New 3DS XL and the DS/3DS versions of the other games. More switch ports of 4->9, I'd like to see X-Offline at least get an english release. I played some of the online version since US IP address are able to play the free content with a JP account... but no way was I going to try and and dig into it with the language barrier let alone throw money at a digital only game. Still, I'll likely buy all the 2D-HD ports because it's DQ even if I don't need them, it's a franchise I like to collect for. It would be cool to have everything mainline on the Switch... but I feel like those games are only a part of what I love about DQ. The spinoffs are pretty exceptional with Monsters Joker & Rocket Slime being among my favorite. So at minimum I'll Iikely always need my New 3DS XL anyway. Same for keeping a GBA SP+ for GBC DQ3. Also even though I got the PS4 versions of Heroes 1 & 2, I still grabbed the swith version as those games are pretty fun and the language barrier isn't as big a deal.
 
For me the most surprising announcement at the Nintendo direct was the Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics. No one thought these games would ever get released for consoles again because of licensing. I think the last time a Marvel Capcom game came out for consoles was 22 years ago with the release of mvc2 PS2.

I have a mvc2 Dreamcast story from back in the day to share. Mvc2 Dreamcast was hard to find and in demand even over 20 years ago. They sold for about $50 each on ebay at the time. In my area it seemed to be common, or nobody wanted it. I would pick them up on clearance for around $10 each at the stores. They would open a KB Toys Express around the holidays in the malls, I went in one and found 30 copies of mvc2 Dreamcast for $3 each, they couldn't give these things away, of course I bought them all. I think I moved about 50 copies of it on ebay. I put together quite a large Neo Geo AES collection from the money I made from those. Now I see they sell for $150+ used.
 
I just beat Dragon Quest III on the Switch 3-pack last year and hardly remember a single thing about it.

It was good tho!

scorponok said:
For me the most surprising announcement at the Nintendo direct was the Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics. No one thought these games would ever get released for consoles again because of licensing. I think the last time a Marvel Capcom game came out for consoles was 22 years ago with the release of mvc2 PS2.
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MVC3 / Ultimate and MVC Infinite don't exist?!
 
scorponok said:
For me the most surprising announcement at the Nintendo direct was the Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics. No one thought these games would ever get released for consoles again because of licensing. I think the last time a Marvel Capcom game came out for consoles was 22 years ago with the release of mvc2 PS2.
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Marvel vs Capcom Origins and Marvel vs Capcom 2 were released on PS3 and XBox 360. Digital only
 
Mario & Luigi Brotherhood honestly looked like the best game but that combat looks like battles will be super long and slow, unless all of those were special moves.

Fantasian is another one that's interesting, I had no idea it even existed. I don't think having a legendary name tied to the game means much since most of them haven't done anything legendary since the 90s or 00s, but this looks a pretty cool game.

I initially loved the idea of playing as Zelda but Echoes of Wisdom just looks so fucking boring. I'm not against a less combat/more puzzle heavy game but conjuring up tables just seems like it's something that'll stop being fun after you do it twice. Regardless, they should have called it Legend of Link: Echoes of Wisdom.

DK Returns HD is cool but Luigi's Mansion 2 HD..? The Luigi's Mansion games were kinda meh. I honestly figured we'd finally see Xeno X HD by now.

Prime 4 looks... fine.

With all that said, my ramblings are meaningless and Nintendo is going to print money freely with their line-up. And in all honestly, I could see myself getting at least 4-5 of these games over the next year whereas with Sony... dunno, after finishing Rebirth I can't say there's anything else in 2024 or 2025 I want outside of Wolverine.
 
gmsick said:
Marvel vs Capcom Origins and Marvel vs Capcom 2 were released on PS3 and XBox 360. Digital only
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I didn't know those existed. I don't really pay attention to most digital only releases. I just looked those up and origins came out in 2012 and was delisted in 2014, that didn't last long!
 
Whoever wrote and designed the final section for atelier escha & logy ruined an otherwise good time. The boss is beyond ridiculous and is arguably worse than some of the superboss monsters. Heals itself 1k hp each turn, removes debuffs and buffs itself, attacks multiple times usually with full screen stuff, has attacks that automatically hit you every few turns. Status ailments that didn't exist prior including one that removes supports and party member switching.

Just why? Especially in a series known for being otherwise braindead easy would you implement that?
 
scorponok said:
I didn't know those existed. I don't really pay attention to most digital only releases. I just looked those up and origins came out in 2012 and was delisted in 2014, that didn't last long!
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Capcom had some other games like Dungeons & Dragons Chronicles of Mystara being pulled as well at that time. Nicely everything went on sale before hand and I bought them all digital thanks to frequenting cag and the ps deals thread back then. Folks were good about spreading the news of upcoming delistings. Also I made sure to get Ultimate MvC 3 on Vita physical for a similar reasoning. The only major things (I think) I missed were TMNT & SImpsons arcade games on PS3, but I think before I bought a couple PS3's for the house and was digging deep into the library as games were cheap.
 
Vigilante said:
GameStop has the DQ3 remake listed at $49.99 for preorder, $10 less than everywhere else unless this is the actual MSRP (a bit nicer IMO):
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SE themselves list it as $59.99 ...

https://na.store.square-enix-games.com/dragon-quest-iii-hd2d-remake

I hesitate to order anything through GS, but this might be worth it since it should be new/sealed as a preorder.

Went ahead and added it to my cart... $64.10 after $6.99 Shipping & Handling + $7.12 tax. Which my tax is 10%, which GS is charging the 10% on the total plus shipping and handling... actually they are charging more than 10% even on that. So it's saving me about $1.89 to buy from them. No thanks.
 
nightc1 said:
SE themselves list it as $59.99 ...

https://na.store.square-enix-games.com/dragon-quest-iii-hd2d-remake

I hesitate to order anything through GS, but this might be worth it since it should be new/sealed as a preorder.

Went ahead and added it to my cart... $64.10 after $6.99 Shipping & Handling + $7.12 tax. Which my tax is 10%, which GS is charging the 10% on the total plus shipping and handling... actually they are charging more than 10% even on that. So it's saving me about $1.89 to buy from them. No thanks.
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Yeah, no longer qualifying for the free shipping threshold ($59+ for preorders) is definitely the downside to this. I might just get two copies and take my chances with returning one in-store since I do want to play this at release.
 
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scorponok said:
For me the most surprising announcement at the Nintendo direct was the Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics. No one thought these games would ever get released for consoles again because of licensing. I think the last time a Marvel Capcom game came out for consoles was 22 years ago with the release of mvc2 PS2.
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For real, I flipped my lid for that announcement. I never actually owned a MvC game, but I played it a lot at arcades and friends' houses, so hearing "I wanna take you for a ride!" is like a syringe of nostalgia injected right into my veins lol

So I've got about 110 hours in FFVII Rebirth and am close to the end (I think) of chapter 13, and I'm really just ready to finish this up. This is a very twofaced game, with half of it having interesting story beats and amusing callbacks, fun gameplay, and great side content, and the other half full of unnecessary changes from the original's plot, sections that drag on with tedious mechanics, and a slew of minigames that were clearly not playtested. They really should have stuck to just a handful of minigames they could devout plenty of time to refining, instead of 50 that are mostly broken. Even the one that seems like it had all the work put into, Queen's Blood, just straight up shits the bed at the end. Spoilers for final card duel: when you finally get to the Shadowblood Queen, after spending the whole game learning all the rules and refining your deck for the perfect strategy, you have to play against a bitch who straight-up cheats, playing cards that don't exist. Plus, she starts with the ultimate card already on the board. I had to look up online how to beat her, and I'm really good at Queen's Blood, having been on a winning streak for most of the second half of the game.

Listen, I know a lot of these minigames are optional, but a lot of them aren't, and it really starts to wear on you when you just want to get the plot moving. Plus, when side content makes up half a game and a lot of it sucks, that should absolutely affect a game's score. You can't excuse poorly-implemented mechanics just because they're optional, since developer time still went into creating that content and it's fair for players to expect it to be at the same quality as the main stuff (which, in Rebirth's case, also shows some poor design choices).

Anyway, I haven't hit the games "polarizing" ending yet, but I'm almost there. I'm leaning toward a 7 or 8 out of 10 so far, and I'm really hoping the third game isn't as bloated as this one is. Having said that, there have been a lot of things I really liked in this game (I somehow managed to get Yuffie for the date despite favoring everyone equally and that was such a pleasant surprise), I just wish it had a little more focus and less filler. This is definitely a good example of the recent trend of JRPGs being way too big.
 
Weird, I beat the final QB opponent on first try without issue. The ones I looked up were the challenges that feature a gimmick I didn't have the patience to figure out by trial and error. (The overdramatic solo monologues for QB felt like a rehash of FFXIV Ardyn cutscenes)

I put the game down again right around where you are, once again when it forced me into set parties. I'm going to have to force myself to finish.

On the other note, the direct announcement I'm most excited over is Ace Attorney Investigations.
 
gospelman said:
Weird, I beat the final QB opponent on first try without issue. The ones I looked up were the challenges that feature a gimmick I didn't have the patience to figure out by trial and error. (The overdramatic solo monologues for QB felt like a rehash of FFXIV Ardyn cutscenes)
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Oh yeah, I looked up the solutions to the Costa del Sol puzzles, too. I like playing Queen's Blood, not being forced to put my cards on certain spots of the board to solve a puzzle. I probably just didn't have the right deck to beat the last duel since when I looked it up and saw the cards recommended, I instantly understood the strategy and was able to make a good deck to implement it.

...I love Ardyn.🙃 I legit felt he was the best FF villain in a long time. It's why I hated FFXVI's villain so much since he was just some generic god/monster/demon/alien who spoke in riddles and had no personality. Meanwhile, Ardyn is destroying Insomnia in his DLC and quipping, "Ooh, that's going to be hard to replace..."
 
super1upqueen said:
...I love Ardyn.🙃 I legit felt he was the best FF villain in a long time. It's why I hated FFXVI's villain so much since he was just some generic god/monster/demon/alien who spoke in riddles and had no personality. Meanwhile, Ardyn is destroying Insomnia in his DLC and quipping, "Ooh, that's going to be hard to replace..."
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Unpopular opinion: Overall, I think FFXV was better than FFXVI, or at least I liked the characters, world, and OST (Shimomura-san doesn't miss) of XV more than XVI's.
 
Vigilante said:
Unpopular opinion: Overall, I think FFXV was better than FFXVI, or at least I liked the characters, world, and OST (Shimomura-san doesn't miss) of XV more than XVI's.
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Oh, not unpopular with me. I adored FFXV, even if it was clear the game was fairly unfinished and had a very radical direction shift halfway through. I liked FFXVI for the first two thirds of it, but its gameplay and story didn't keep me engaged in the end the way XV's did. That final campfire with the bros is one of the most emotional scenes I've watched in a game.
 
nightc1 said:
Capcom had some other games like Dungeons & Dragons Chronicles of Mystara being pulled as well at that time. Nicely everything went on sale before hand and I bought them all digital thanks to frequenting cag and the ps deals thread back then. Folks were good about spreading the news of upcoming delistings. Also I made sure to get Ultimate MvC 3 on Vita physical for a similar reasoning. The only major things (I think) I missed were TMNT & SImpsons arcade games on PS3, but I think before I bought a couple PS3's for the house and was digging deep into the library as games were cheap.
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Yeah I got most of the Capcom stuff except JoJo's Bizzare Adventure. Also Missed Konami X-Men & The Simpsons before they were delisted.
 
Not instant buy prices in that IFI sale for standard editions ($30/ea)... though tempting to pick back up buying Neptunia games. It's a shame they don't have screen shots and gameplay video in their store for each of the games. Death End re;Quest sounds interesting on paper but I'd have to research it to see if those two games are something I might like. Same for the Fairy Fencer F games. Probably staying on the sidelines on this sale... though Megadimension Neptunia VII is tempting.
 
gospelman said:
Weird, I beat the final QB opponent on first try without issue. The ones I looked up were the challenges that feature a gimmick I didn't have the patience to figure out by trial and error. (The overdramatic solo monologues for QB felt like a rehash of FFXIV Ardyn cutscenes)
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That's impressive. I honestly cannot imagine how you accomplished that. I was pretty good at QB outside of the gimmicky trials (like at the Gold Saucer or at the Costa Del Sol store) but that final QB match was complete and utter non-sense.

And I know love for FFs are always debated but FF15's story made absolutely no-sense after that mid-point but agree Ardyn is top tier FF villains.
 
I am interested in the Fairy Fencer F: Refrain Chord Limited Edition PS5 but it's not enough for free shipping. Not really interested in tactical games, I just want to try it because I like the first game. Anyone find it weird how easy they made it to max level 999 late game in Advent Dark Force? It only took me less than an hour to do it.
 
Took me exactly five tries on the final Queen's Blood match.

A couple of the latter matchups are just RNG. when opponents finally get to manufacturing additional overlap, removal cards outta thin air.
 
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