Ten Games Japanese Gamers Reccomend

Following up on that article from Kotaku I mentioned in my Dungeon Travelers 2 post, I can agree on most of their recommendations.  Aside from Dungeon Travelers 2 I've also played Senran Kagura Shinovi Versus and DmC.  Those are really fun games and they play really well (ignoring Senran Kagura's excessive fanservice).  I'm surprised as with most people that the Japanese loved Far Cry 3, which I haven't gotten my hands on yet but am looking for it to be on sale during the Steam Summer Sale.

Demon Gaze and 7th Dragon 2020 II are some RPG's I haven't really heard much of, but they do like like excellent games.  The 7th Dragon series has never and localization and probably never will, but as Demon Gaze is a new IP, I'm hoping one of the niche developers here in the US like Atlus, Aksys, NIS America, or Xseed will pick it up.

NIS's The Guided Fate Paradox is coming over sometime in the Fall and I am looking forward to the spirtual sequel to Z.H.P. Unlosing Ranger vs Darkdeath Evilman.  That was a fun spin on the roguelike RPG genre and had quite a few cameos from Disgaea and various manga/anime.  Hoping Guided Fate Paradox will do the same.

Soul Sacrifice is out right now but I haven't the opportunity try it out/ buy it, but the reviews have been positive.  Macross 30 is something the states will never see but as new Macross fan I'll believe the Japanese to its quality.

Dungeon Travelers 2 The Royal Library and the Seal of Mamono

After reading an article that caught my eye at Kotaku that lists ten games Japanese gamers recommend this year, Dungeon Travelers 2 caught my interest.  Easily described as a Moe dungeon crawler RPG with tons of fanservice, with tons of ecchi CG's and just about every enemy in the game being some kind of anthropomorphosized monster-girl, or fruit,(seriously Fruit.).  Aside from all of that, it is a pretty enjoyable game that differentiates itself a lot from other dungeon crawlers.

For one, you don't create your own characters in this game.  Instead as you progress, new girls join your team about every chapter of the game and each of them have their own classes available and you build your party around it.  Speaking of classes, there are tons of them as there are five base classes that split into a large class tree.  From the first class it splits into two, and from those it splits into another two.
For example here is the fighter class tree from this wiki

Fighter	Paladin	Valkyrie
		Samurai
	Berserker	Samurai
		Dark Lord

Gameplay is standard dungeon crawler RPG fare, explore dungeons, find treasure, fill maps, random encounters, trap floors etc.  In battle each character takes turns like your normal RPG instead of the usual your team then enemy team turn orders most dungeon crawlers take like Etrian Odyssey.  The battles flow pretty fast from what I've played and aren't as slow or as difficult as many dungeon crawlers usually are.

I happened across a sale on the Limited Edition premium box set for the game shortly after reading the article at yesasia.com.  From their full retail price of $128.99 to just $79.99 I took the opportunity to snag it up for myself.  Consider myself lucky :P

The premium box set includes a cardboard box that holds inside the game, a deck of playing cards decorated with some of the monsters from the game, a artbook, soundtrack, and drama CD.  I was also lucky to still receive the pre-order bonus that I guess yesasia had leftovers of which include a PSP skin and a PSN code for a PSP custom theme.

The game was released in Japan in March 28 2013 and is rated for 17+.

Developed by Aquaplus, Game Website http://aquaplus.jp/dt2/   

NIS America's TGS 2012 Announcements

NIS America's recent Prinny Bomb Newsletter has revealed that NIS America will be releasing Hyperdimenion Neptunia Victory in spring of 2013.  They've also got an iPhone Neptunia app in the works. Wonder what that will be? 

Next, they got Generation of Chaos: Pandora's Reflection for the PSP via the PSN.  I'm not all that familiar with the series but I'll check it out as it looks interesting.  They expect it to be released sometime 2013 as well.

Lastly, they will be publishing Atlus' Persona 4 Golden in Europe for release in spring 2013.

Fate/Extra CCC Promo video

The first promo video was streamed today by Marvelous AQL for the 2nd Fate/Extra game.

Fate/Extra CCC is a spin-off of  the Fate/Stay Night series by TYPE-MOON.  It's an RPG where you can choose a male or female main character and a servant of your choice from Saber, Archer, Caster, and new in CCC, Gilgamesh.

The game is offered at 6,279 yen (about US$81.20) for the standard edition, and a limited edition Type-Moon Virgin White Box for 10,479 yen (US$135.50), which includes a Saber bride figma figure, a visual works collection, and CD with 3 songs by Saber's voice actress Sakura Tenge.  It's release date is currently set for February 21, 2013 in Japan.

The original Fate/Extra was released in 2010 in Japan and last year in the US by Aksys Games.  Got the game somewhere in my huge collection, need to play it sometime.

Details from Anime News Network.

Atlus Huge 50% off PSN Sale Ending Soon

One of my favorite game publishers Atlus USA had a huge 50% off sale for many of their games on PSN including the popular Persona series and Catherine during the entire month of July.  The sale will end next week and this is a good chance to get these really great games and JRPGs for a really good price.  I myself have bought their Dept. Heaven series from this sale, and may be thinking of grabbing another game before the sale ends.

[Review] Ys: The Oath in Felghana (PSP)

The Ys series of action RPG games are supposedly a cult favorite amongst RPG fans.  Many have praised its soundtrack and fast placed hack-n-slash action platforming gameplay and after playing this remastered third entry in the Ys series, I would agree.


The story begins with series protagonist Adol Christin and his companion Dogi arriving on the remote island of Felghana to find their childhood friend Elena attacked by wild monsters.  As the prologue unfolds, our heroes learn that the monsters appearance is unnatural and it will be be up to them to figure out where they are coming from and put a stop to it.

The graphics in Ys: The Oath in Felghana features a 3D environment with 2D animated sprites for all the characters.  The game features a multitude of environments from forests, mines, ruins, volcanic underground caves, and a snow covered mountain to name a few.  Most of the monsters are rendered with sprites but all the bosses are large 3D models and they look really impressive.  During conversations, character portraits are displayed and most of the dialogue is voiced, a new addition for this PSP remake.  Almost all the visual effects in the game are presented with a glowing orb, which essentially are just hit-boxes for your attacks or an enemy.

The voice-over in this game is great, as it includes some of my favorite voice actors I recognize from many other JRPGS and anime.  But the music in the game is exceptional.  The game features a remixed soundtrack from the original release, which includes two sets of the old soundtrack.  Most of the best tracks in the game come from the later dungeons and the boss battle themes.  They're all fast paced rock tunes that get you really pumped.

The gameplay mechanics are all relatively simple.  The game is presented with a birds eye view on Adol and combat is simple button mashing with the X button with the occasional magic spell from the square button.  There's also a burst meter that when built up from combat is unleashed with a press from the triangle button which will grant Adol a significant buff and will heal a bit of health.  Weapons and armor can be upgraded once obtained, and their are consumable items which aid you in combat.  Surprisingly the game does not feature health recovery items, and you can only heal at save points, a full burst meter, or health pickups from defeated foes.  With no healing items means that the gameplay is difficult and you have to avoid getting hit, especially in boss fights where you can't even use any items.  The game features a wide range of difficulty modes from very easy to a almost impossible nightmare mode.

This game was very fun and one very classic RPG from the Ys series.  This entry is one of the best in series according to hardcore fans and I'd recommend this game to anyone who loves a fast paced action RPG or anyone interested in the Ys series.  This game also gas a Steam version and it is really cheap right now during the Summer Sale.