Upcoming Niche Japanese Games

[disgaeniac]

Natural Doctrine was pushed back another week, it's now releasing on the 30th of this month.

all versions?

[davifus]

Natural Doctrine was pushed back another week, it's now releasing on the 30th of this month.

all versions?

Yeah

[argyle]

Atlus announced that first-run copies of Tears to Tiara II will include a 31 page artbook. 

[davifus]

Atlus announced that first-run copies of Tears to Tiara II will include a 31 page artbook. 

Gamestop website doesn't have the 31 page included. Is it just not updated yet or something?

[argyle]

Probably not - the way they describe it it's physically included with the game, not a separate preorder bonus, so it shouldn't matter who you buy it from. 

[abe]

Atlus announced that first-run copies of Tears to Tiara II will include a 31 page artbook. 

That is awesome, I already preordered it but now it's even better. This fall is going to be awesome.

Probably not - the way they describe it it's physically included with the game, not a separate preorder bonus, so it shouldn't matter who you buy it from. 

I second this. To my memory, Atlus' first print editions (or any other publisher's) have never been exclusive to any particular retailer. It's more of a limited edition than a first print run if you have to buy it at a particular place.

[argyle]

Abe, I see from your sig that you've started playing Neptunia Rebirth - how is it so far?  Did you play the original, and if so how improved is it? 

[abe]

Abe, I see from your sig that you've started playing Neptunia Rebirth - how is it so far?  Did you play the original, and if so how improved is it?

Re;Birth1 is a massive improvement over the original. I haven't actually finished the original yet, but being the first in the series it's a bit rough around the edges. I wouldn't say it was a bad game though, I've enjoyed what I played. HDN Re;Birth1 takes all the good stuff from HDN Victory (my personal favorite in the series) and adds it to the first game. A lot is actually changed, more than just the battle system, even the story is changed slightly from the original version (the characters in the game even make reference to this in their dialogue ). It's kinda hard to list everything that's been changed/added to Re;Birth1, since there's so much. The best way to put it is, if you've played HDN Victory, you'll know what to expect.

[argyle]

Abe, I see from your sig that you've started playing Neptunia Rebirth - how is it so far?  Did you play the original, and if so how improved is it?

Re;Birth1 is a massive improvement over the original. I haven't actually finished the original yet, but being the first in the series it's a bit rough around the edges. I wouldn't say it was a bad game though, I've enjoyed what I played. HDN Re;Birth1 takes all the good stuff from HDN Victory (my personal favorite in the series) and adds it to the first game. A lot is actually changed, more than just the battle system, even the story is changed slightly from the original version (the characters in the game even make reference to this in their dialogue ). It's kinda hard to list everything that's been changed/added to Re;Birth1, since there's so much. The best way to put it is, if you've played HDN Victory, you'll know what to expect.

Thanks - I actually haven't played any of them yet, but was curious to hear your thoughts.    I've heard people say that the original was kinda rough tho. 

[disgaeniac]

The only Neptunia game that I've played is the 1st one on the PS3 and, yeah - it was pretty rough around the edges.

What I remember as my 2 biggest annoyances with it were:

1).  being unable to re-sell anything at the store (overly cluttered inventories full of old, useless, outdated, & obsolete shit just...vex me + the extra $ that you can't get for it early in the game like you can in (what?  almost every RPG made in the last few *decades*) is another annoyance      ), and

2).  the stupid-ass healing system   

I mean, can you simply use and/or consume one of your healing items either in or outside of battles (*again*, like you can in most RPG's made in the last few *decades*?

Answer = Hellz NO you can't!

Instead, wouldn't our fan-base just adore & enjoy it if we take a simple turn-based RPG staple (like the healing system) and turn it into a system almost identical to FF XII's 'gambit' system (which, don't get me wrong - worked in & suited FF XII just fine); so, something simple & intuitive (like using a freakin' potion) becomes variable-based (ie "if HP = < 30% then chance to use a healing item = 20%", etc...

...blech

/rant

I wouldn't say that the entire game sucked (personally, I'd rate it at around a 6.5/10 (which, if you use ALL TEN #'s of the 10-point scale like I do -and- very few reviewers seem to; that's a different rant for another day, though) does not necessarily a bad game make...

Anyways, what kind of game is this "Tears to Tiaras" & what's its premise/what's it like & about?

[argyle]

Edit: doh 

Kenny, it's a SRPG - I don't know anything about the story, but I can say I love the graphic style.  Checkout this link for some gameplay from the Japanese demo:

http://youtu.be/Z0VtWJKs7dI?t=10m1s

[disgaeniac]

Edit: doh 

Kenny, it's a SRPG - I don't know anything about the story, but I can say I love the graphic style.  Checkout this link for some gameplay from the Japanese demo:

http://youtu.be/Z0VtWJKs7dI?t=10m1s

thanks!

[argyle]

There are a ton of new English gameplay videos of Ar nosurge in this article over at gematsu.com:

http://gematsu.com/2014/09/ar-nosurge-gameplay-screenshots

[argyle]

Looks like the PS4 version of Akiba's Trip has a release date now so I added that - I haven't heard anything from the PS3/Vita versions, anyone know how they were received?

Also made a couple other minor updates - put final box art on Class of Heroes 2G & marked the LE of Ar nosurge as sold out.  Hope everyone that wanted that one got it! 

[abe]

Looks like the PS4 version of Akiba's Trip has a release date now so I added that - I haven't heard anything from the PS3/Vita versions, anyone know how they were received?

From what I've heard from people who have played Akiba's Trip, it seems to be fairly well received. Unfortunately, I haven't picked up a copy yet, so I can't offer any of my own input on the game.