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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That is far out, I didn't notice that. I think March is a placeholder for a generic 'Q1 2024'.

VGP also has distro on the Red Art Games ESRB copies of Macross Shooting Insight. It has a collector's edition (steelcase, OST, coins, poster), and like the other Red Art Games releases it also has a limited 'Special Edition' that's the same price as standard (art book, slipcover, acrylic stand - art book is only for special and not collector's?) Free shipping on these too.
Standard/special $69.99 CAD (~$51.50 USD)
Collector's $99.99 CAD (~$73.50 USD)

videogamesplus.ca

MACROSS -Shooting Insight-

VIDEOGAMESPLUS.CA
videogamesplus.ca videogamesplus.ca
 
I am going to guess that is why Macross Shooting Insight had no English in the Japanese version even though it was advertised as having it early on. If you want the DYRL DLC you will still have to get the Japanese version. Lynn Minmay is not on the cover art.
 
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PSN_Mercenary09 said:
So I've never ordered from PlayAsia. If something says in our warehouse does that mean they have it or not?
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It honestly depends. I have a June order that still hasn't shipped. No preorders, either. It'll come, but just expect that it may take some time. There are just fewer disc/cart manufacturers now so everything takes longer.
 
I started Xenoblade Chronicles DE.

While I'm still slowly poking at the first LoH TiTS game, I'm relieved that XC hits pretty fast with solos voice acting, great music, and while a bit tropey, keeps the pace rolling.

I need to soldier through LoH, as I'm committed to seeing the series at least up into the modern releases, but it's definitely the epitome of slow burns, whereas the pseudo MMO world of CC mixed with a high polish single player JRPG makes it much more attention grabbing out the gate.
 
TheKbob said:
I'm committed to seeing the series at least up into the modern releases, but it's definitely the epitome of slow burns, whereas the pseudo MMO world of CC mixed with a high polish single player JRPG makes it much more attention grabbing out the gate.
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Fair. For me I was in "ehh let's get through this" with Sky FC pretty much until the final scene and credits roll. FC and SC were originally one game that was split late in development. You'll want to still read everything , but feel free to fall back on turbo mode and easy difficulty to quicken progress.

XC1 is a great standalone game. If these are your first playthroughs, you have a lot of good content ahead of you!
 
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You started at the beginning though, right?

hqdefault.jpg


This joke will never get old.
 
The Tales and Trails are great updates for release. I'm curious about Yakuza Kiwami on Switch, but just looking at the footage shown, it definitely looks less lived in. The bustle of Kamurocho is what makes that world to me.
 
It'll just be nice having Yakuza Kiwami on what I play the most already. Hopefully they don't have to cut much out of it. Of course this will mean me buying the whole series again if they follow it up with Kiwami 2 and Zero. But if it's physical and complete on cart, I'm down.
 
I'm so glad they've finally unleashed TiTS.

I started playing Graces f on PS3 last week. I guess someone had to fall on the sword to will it into existence. I'll let you guys know when I start playing Xillia so you know when to expect that remaster.
 
The TitS unleashed today far exceeded my expectations.

Pros:
Full remake.
Some of the daybreak features (field battle option) without some of the terrible changes. Classic turn order and CP systems look intact.
Looks like they absolutely nailed character design. They look like a modernized midpoint between the original portraits and encore appearances of the characters later in the series.
Specifically, Falcom continues to handle Estelle with white gloves. One of the best female protagonists of all time looks untarnished.

Sounds like the titles will be changed. TitS FC, TitS SC, and TitS the 3rd will become TitS the 1st, TitS the 2nd, and TitS the 3rd.

Cons / concerns:
Installments - this release will be FC remake only in 2025
Caution: New players do not want to play FC and have to wait for SC. Only play FC if you're able to immediately pick up SC upon finishing, even if that means the non-remake version.
Looks like it will be three separate purchases, and then likely bundled and sold as a collection down the line. (Four separate CEs?)

Reused assets from Cold Steel III through Daybreak. For example, that's the same old rhinocider from CSIII. Doesn't really bother me, but they're there.

The music, at least what plays in the trailer, is a new arrangement. The music of this release might be a lot worse depending on who works on it. The evo arrangements were inferior back in the day. Hopefully they have classic audio options. This is a big deal because the original soundtrack is one of the best parts of these games. I'm legitimately worried about the injection of a new "modern" irritating, ear-bleeding battle theme that causes me to rip my headphones off.

Appears to be running on the Daybreak engine. Meaning that while TiTS will finally be on nsw, the nsw1 version will again be much inferior. For me, these are going to be played on pc and steam deck. Hopefully PH3 works on them.

My dream of a remastered 2D trilogy pretty much died today. So, in my opinion, this won't make the original releases obsolete. What would have been ideal would be a 3d/2d toggle feature similar to what we've seen in DQ. But perhaps that's an unrealistic expectation with Falcom's resources relative to SE.

This reality of multiple installments spanning multiple years might mean a new localization from NISA. If that's the case, the original script will be much superior. The xseed product was excellent, and the recent nisa jobs have been, in my opinion, terrible. It's possible xseed publishes this like the YS: Oath in Felghana release, which would be the best case scenario.

 
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Just got through the direct wish listing some indie Steam games and such. TITS 1 I am excited for although the wait is a bit. I like Rune Factory games a lot and hope Guardians of Azuma doesn't run like a** and is a more refined RF5. Tales of Graces F Remastered is one of the better Tales games and also is one of the more challenging ones. Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D remake looks gorgeous and is my highest wanted game this holiday season. The new Atelier looks looks boring, but I have 0 expectations from any of these games. I think one of the more cuter things is the Friends of Jimbo update for Balatro to put some pizazz on those face cards. Also the Castlevania DS collection is something I've wanted and will likely buy soon enough.
 
Graces F had the best battle system of that era of Tales games imo. The story was solid too. I'll probably pick up the PS5 version eventually. Glad it was freed from the PS3. Hopefully people give it a chance.
 
Capcom Fighting Collection 2 announced
includes
Capcom vs. SNK: Millennium Fight 2000 Pro
Capcom vs. SNK 2: Mark of the Millennium 2001
Capcom Fighting Evolution (this game is terrible)
Street Fighter Alpha 3 UPPER
Project Justice
Power Stone
Power Stone 2
Plasma Sword: Nightmare of Bilstein
 
I'm guessing that collection is just arcade versions as I thought the PS1 Rival Schools game was pretty good and it had plenty of mini games and unlockables and such. Also Suikoden collection will be mine. I sold my Suikoden 1 (never owned 2) ages ago and always wanted to get physical copies again (I got all the others physically except tactics).
 
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Rival Schools did have an arcade release, so I am not sure why it's not in this collection. I love Project Justice, I can still remember preordering it for the Dreamcast, it was only $20 new, the ebay prices are pretty scary for it now. For completionist this collection is also missing the original Capcom vs. SNK. The original is kind of pointless since pro added 2 characters and new moves for existing characters but would have been cool if it was in there.

Also, some interesting news about the Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection, the new trailer showed Norimaro from Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter. So that confirms he will actually be in the game.
 
TiTS looks great but honestly I would take taken a basic remaster of all of the games in one package rather than a full blown remake of 1. I feel like we'll get a full blown remake of 1 and then SC and 3 will never get localized.

Also, excited to see Suikoden HD finally get a date.

Overall though, wow... most everything that has my interest is a re-release of some kind outside of Atelier.
 
scorponok said:
Capcom Fighting Collection 2 announced
includes
Capcom vs. SNK: Millennium Fight 2000 Pro
Capcom vs. SNK 2: Mark of the Millennium 2001
Capcom Fighting Evolution (this game is terrible)
Street Fighter Alpha 3 UPPER
Project Justice
Power Stone
Power Stone 2
Plasma Sword: Nightmare of Bilstein
Click to expand...
They could almost call this the Capcom Dreamcast Fighting Collection.
 
Vinny said:
I feel like we'll get a full blown remake of 1 and then SC and 3 will never get localized.

Also, excited to see Suikoden HD finally get a date.
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I'm also excited for this Suikoden 1+2 release. I've never played them and have been waiting a while since this was announced.

I can assure you that outside of an unforseen corporate collapse, there's no way Falcom would only remake the 1st. That would profoundly turn off the new players they're trying to draw in, and they have enough awareness of their product to avoid that mistake.

As someone pretty discouraged with the most recent Trails game, having these to look forward to is what will keep me from checking out.
 
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gospelman said:
I can assure you that outside of an unforseen corporate collapse, there's no way Falcom would only remake the 1st.
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I dunno... if this remaster bombs, I can't see them spending development $s remaking 2 and remaking/localizing 3 regardless of how much the people who bought part 1 wants the rest. I mean, people have wanted 2 physically and 3 localized and that hasn't happened.
 
Great to see Trails in the Sky finally getting a remake. A collection of all 3 would have been nice, but not surprised to see them being released individually.
Hopefully there isn't too long of a turnaround for the other games. I never got around to playing my PSP copy of the first one and the PC trilogy never had a decent enough sale for all of them, so it will be nice to finally have a good excuse with the remake to finally get this series started =D

Happy to see Suikoden is still alive too lol
 
Vinny said:
I dunno... if this remaster bombs, I can't see them spending development $s remaking 2 and remaking/localizing 3 regardless of how much the people who bought part 1 wants the rest. I mean, people have wanted 2 physically and 3 localized and that hasn't happened.
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I bought Trails in the Sky the 3rd localized the day it released in 2017.
Zero chance the 2nd doesn't get released. In the case of extreme failure, it's more possible the 3rd wouldn't happen. 3rd remake would be a unique project, probably using 1st-2nd assets in a gameplay framework taken from Reverie and/or 2025's Kai no Kiseki.
 
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Well it looks like my big blunder from 2023-24 was failing to buy both Witch on the Holy Night LE and Tsukihime LEs. The hand-wringing and indecision over which platform to buy and collect on, cost me. There are so many expensive things to buy each year. I keep things bookmarked and try to sift through a priority system, ordering things when they're on sale, or likely quick to sell out. But some items slip through the cracks. Dunno what to do, dunno how to rectify the situation. Guess that I am just screwed and have to wait and purchase it digitally on sale.

I hope that Koei Tecmo and Aniplex make more but that seems rather unlikely to happen considering bad guy Aniplex.
 
gospelman said:
I bought Trails in the Sky the 3rd localized the day it released in 2017.
Zero chance the 2nd doesn't get released. In the case of extreme failure, it's more possible the 3rd wouldn't happen. 3rd remake would be a unique project, probably using 1st-2nd assets in a gameplay framework taken from Reverie and/or 2025's Kai no Kiseki.
Click to expand...

I honestly didn't realize 3 was localized already... Thought it was never westernized.
 
Nothing- said:
Well it looks like my big blunder from 2023-24 was failing to buy both Witch on the Holy Night LE and Tsukihime LEs. The hand-wringing and indecision over which platform to buy and collect on, cost me. There are so many expensive things to buy each year. I keep things bookmarked and try to sift through a priority system, ordering things when they're on sale, or likely quick to sell out. But some items slip through the cracks. Dunno what to do, dunno how to rectify the situation. Guess that I am just screwed and have to wait and purchase it digitally on sale.

I hope that Koei Tecmo and Aniplex make more but that seems rather unlikely to happen considering bad guy Aniplex.
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At this point any kind of reprint will just be game only. Best to just pay ebay price now and they will get more expensive once Tsukihime part 2 comes out.
 
62t said:
At this point any kind of reprint will just be game only. Best to just pay ebay price now and they will get more expensive once Tsukihime part 2 comes out.
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I'd take that. A game only reprint at MSRP would be better than paying over MSRP for a CE.

EDIT* just looked up the prices on Witch on the Holy Night.. yikes, yeah, we need a reprint.
 
Via VGP newsletter, PM Studios is doing a physical Muse Dash release.
I love Muse Dash, so I think that's pretty neat. Sounds like most of the songs will still be downloaded if it's only offering "97 initial songs". Muse Dash has over 500 songs after all its years of free updates on Switch. The game's menus chug a little bit on Switch now too.
videogamesplus.ca

MUSE DASH

VIDEOGAMESPLUS.CA
videogamesplus.ca videogamesplus.ca

EDIT: I assume this won't come with quite "All DLC" as it's likely "MD Plus" instead of "Just As Planned" (to be fair, if you buy it digitally today that's also what you'd get)

The original game on Switch included "Just As Planned" (optional DLC pass on Steam). Which includes all current and future DLC for the game, that's why the Switch version had free updates (and Steam too, if you bought the more expensive version).

But late last year they removed "Just As Planned" and replaced it with "MD Plus". You still get all the DLC released up until that point, but there are a few paid DLC packs a year that you don't get. Previous "Just As Planned" purchasers can still get them for free (I see some old posts saying you have to log in within 1 week of release to get it for free though, not sure if they kept that rule or not- I don't believe it's required).

Since the Switch version switched to 'MD Plus' instead of 'Just As Planned', assuming the physical release is the same way, you won't get all current and future DLC for free. It should still be a lot, but I forgot about all of this at first.

x.com

x.com x.com

EDIT2: Best Buy has them listed, too: https://www.bestbuy.com/site/muse-dash-collectors-edition-nintendo-switch/6599098.p?acampID=0&affgroup="Content"&ar=1852158324761160419&irgwc=1&loc=Narrativ+Campaign&mpid=3139288&nrtv_cid=99de222f3d94134292b97157c95d7c4b1b2f88f274d99dc3e946b9dc574e0081&ref=198&skuId=6599098&utm_source=narrativ
 
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That sucks for the employees, but at least their work wasn’t a total waste. Imagine you spent years on a game and then it just got shelved for taxes like the Batgirl movie.
 
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