Dear fellow gamers, I wish you all the best for 2017! May this brand-new
year be full of delights, accomplishments and successes, in gaming as in other
fields. We'll obviously focus on gaming here, as I'll lay down my gaming hopes
and plans for 2017. Without further ado, let's get started!
One thing is pretty obvious as I'm writing this: 2017 will mark the end of my
collecting endeavours, at least for the time being. My collecting pace already
slowed down considerably last year, and it will slow down even more over the
next months. My prognosis is that by the end of 2017, my 3DS purchases will
have trickled to nothing as the 3DS will be quietly yet firmly ousted to make
room for the Switch; as for Vita purchases, they will probably have become
occasional occurrences by the time 2018 rolls in.
But like I've said before, my ultimate collecting moments will be glorious
ones. I have a massive list of coveted titles for the first half of 2017, with
the Vita playing the star role. See for yourself all the goodness I'm planning
to get my greedy paws on: Fate Extella, Akiba's Beat, The
Nonary Games, Mary Skelter, God Wars, Period Cube, Hakuoki
Kyoto Winds, Danganronpa V3, Operation Babel, plus any
digital-only game that will capture my interest. On the 3DS, there is
unfortunately very little on my radar, with only Dragon Quest XI, Ever
Oasis and maybe the upcoming Story of Seasons on the purchasing
horizon; but maybe a couple of interesting releases will pop up in the months
to come. Fingers crossed!
This leads us to my localizations wishes, which are quite reasonable. I'm only
pinning for two games, one for each system: Ys-Lacrimosa of Dana and
Etrian Odyssey V. If I get this duo, I can bid the Vita and 3DS farewell
with a serene heart. And lucky me, there are actually good chances that we'll
indeed get these two games, if Nihon Falcom's and Atlus' track records when it
comes to localizations are any indication. And while I'm mentioning Etrian
Odyssey, I wonder if a remake of Etrian Odyssey III: will ever come
to life. Atlus remade the first two DS entries, so it would make perfect sense
to remake the third as well; but on the other hand, the 3DS is on its last legs
and maybe they don't want to bother with a dying console. Oh, well; 2017 will
tell, I guess.
2017 will also certainly tell if the Switch lives up to the hype and turns out
to be a resounding success. I'll follow the fortunes of Ninty's newest piece of
kit very closely, and I may even write a couple of posts about it if I'm
inspired. But you know my plans, dear fellow gamers: no Switch will join my
collection in 2017, and the next months will be all about exploring the depths
of my current treasure trove of games.
So that's 2017 in a nutshell: watching the Switch from a comfortable distance,
getting my paws on the ultimate games that pique my interest and enjoying all
the great games I managed to secure over the last five years. As my collecting
days are slowly but surely coming to an end, it's now time to lay back and
enjoy my hard-earned games without worrying about game-hunting. Goodbye custom
fees and endless internet browsing and hello long gaming and blogging sessions!
Hopefully I'll keep you entertained along the way, dear fellow gamers. Thanks
for reading, and be my guest anytime!
Labels: Coveted Games, General
Anonymous3 January 2017 at 21:20
Collecting can
get kind of exhausting, especially if it out-paces your own ability to finish
them. Sometimes I feel like I'm building up a wall of work, when I already have
so many hobbies and things to occupy my time. I've been trying to take it easy
lately, but my constant worry is that prices will only rise in DS and Vita
games (which are the two consoles I'm focused on primarily right now).
As a side note, I loved Memories of Celceta and can't wait for news regarding a
localization for Lacrimosa of Dana. MoC was one of my top 3 for the whole past
year and I can't wait for another portable Ys game!
Oh yes,
collecting can be absolutely draining, especially when you have to import your
games. And unless you focus on the nichest of the niche, your collecting
efforts are obviously going to out-pace your actual playing. There were moments
when I was so tired of my own constant stream of purchases that I nearly wanted
to play dead, avoid the post office and let my games being sent back.
But let's face it, a collector cannot take it easy when collecting for older
and/or legacy systems; and that's why you have to keep up with the good work
and collect for the Vita and DS while you can, because prices will undoubtedly
go up as time passes. I've myself resorted to purchasing coveted Vita games
more or less Day One, because I don't want to miss out on any of them. Better safe than sorry!
I was never
able to partake in collecting much, the only reason I was able to get such a
rich Vita library in a year was because of Sony's awesome European sales. But
now that I have a PS4, even the days of importing a game like Moco Moco Friends
(which I wasn't sure if it was coming over to Europe) are over. Even buying
most of my PS4 games on ebay for 25 bucks and the 3DS dying down doesn't leave
me with enough income to consider collectors editions.
Out of the games on your list (all of which I want), I'm only going to get a
physical version of Period Cube (which will probably mean importing) since I
had been eyeing that game before it even came out in Japan and it's a Christmas
miracle to me that it's going to get localized; digimon world next order for
the PS4 because I'm still wary of digimon's future in the west so it's in my
best interest to buy it first week and show Banco that it's worth it; and demon
gaze 2 english asia version if NISA decides not to localize it. Which is very
unlikely by this point, yay for Operation Babel.
I'm pretty sure both the games you mentioned will be brought over. As for an
Etrian Odyssey 3 remake, maybe it's the game Atlus is working on for the
switch? I'm betting it's either that or a Persona 5 port, since they always
port those games to handhelds eventually (and it's why I'm actually not going
to buy its PS4 version until two have passed and there's no handheld version in
sight). The only other option I see for its first switch game is a Tokyo Mirage
port, since it seems that game sold horribly on the Wii U despite being an
excellent game. I sure wouldn't blame them for trying to recoup something from
that investment.
The Switch has my total attention too. I usually don't even glance at a console
until two years after its release, so I gladly miss all the specs talk and
speculations mumbo-jumbo that the industry loves. In the end what matters to me
is the console's library. But I can't deny that the switch is going to be
massively important for gamers like us, so I'll actually tune in to watch
Nintendo's presentation of it on the 12th this month.
The news of an
english asia release of Demon Gaze 2 had me leaping with joy, because now I
have the certainty that I'll be able to play that game in english no matter
what. And if we can get a proper localization, that's even better. All hail
NISA!
"I'll actually tune in to watch Nintendo's presentation of it on the 12th
this month": heck, I think I'll do that too. To my utter amazement, the
internet hype surrounding the Switch is quite contagious and I find myself
being more and more thrilled to uncover more.
Give me
Danganronpa V3, Coven and the Labyrinth of Refrain, Rose in the Twilight, Mary
Skelter, Scarlet SaGa, Dungeon Travelers 2-2, Rabi-Ribi and Romancing SaGa 2
and I'm good. And maybe that one cyberpunk visual novel whose name I completely
forgot. I'm not even sure what's gonna release this year on the 3DS but I can't
recall anything that caught my interest. Maybe I'll finally import Metal Max 4
though.
Also, happy new year to you too, Isleif!
By the way, what's the fourth game in the top row and the third one in the
bottom row in the picture?
There won't be
much released on the 3DS this year, I'm afraid. Heck, I wouldn't even be
surprised if Square Enix ditched the 3DS version of Dragon Quest XI and
released it solely on the Switch.
I'll certainly get Coven and the Labyrinth of Refrain at some point, because
first-person dungeon crawler. Hopefully we'll get a localization AND a physical
release.
Assuming that you're counting from the right, the fourth game in the top row is
Dragon Fantasy: The Black Tome of Ice (Limited Run exclusive physical edition)
and the third one in the bottom row is Mei-Q: Labyrinth of Death (alternative
cover art). ^^
Naa, they know
they have an untapped RPG market in the 3DS. People who wanted FF or DQ only
got Theatrhythms for both (in Japan), Final Fantasy EXplorers and Bravely
Default 1 and 2, games that that are love it or hate it. Square KNOWS they can
release it and hit millions of sales (in Japan at least) and then just remake
it in 5 or 6 years instead of wasting time and money porting it to a new and
unknown console with 0 potential market for now.
For all the hate NISA, rightfully, gets, it's still one of the most european
market friendly localizer. Leagues different from some other companies
*cough*Atlus*cough*. I'm sure they'll end up bringing it over and making a
physical release.
Ah, thanks!
I wonder if
there are any hopes of a localization for Scarlet Saga... Play-Asia has a
Japanese physical version, but it's shockingly expensive; and given my recent
string of disappointmentw with Squeenix, I'm not ready to fork out 60 euros in
one of their games unless I'm absolutely sure that I can enjoy it. Guess I'll
have to study the Saga Scarlet case thoroughly.
I have only good things to say about NISA, to be honest. I don't remember them
ever disappointing me, and it puzzles me to no end that they get ten times more
hate than Squeenix despite the fact that they have ten times more respect for
us Europeans.
I'd wager that
Scarlet Saga has a near 0% chance of coming over, even in digital form.
Although, I've been hearing only good things about it so I'm hopeful that SE
will end up bringing it over. Who knows at this point? Maybe they'll just bring
it over in PS4 format.
Oh boy, what to say about NISA? Basically, they are part of the Holy Terrible
American Localisators Trio. NISA, Atlus USA and Gaijinworks.
Let's see here:
>Terrible coding work. Games like Disgaea 3 or 4 on the PS3 would work with
slowdowns and some random lags that a sprite-based SRPG shouldn't have at all,
specially in a home console and specially in Disgaea 3's case since it didn't
eve have HD sprites.
>No optimization whatsoever. Their games are trainwrecks most of the time.
Crashes, bugs, glitches, even shortcircuiting consoles are common place with
their localisation "works". The most well known cases were Ar
Tonelico 2, Disgaea D2, The Witch and the Hundred Knights and the fist Mugen
game on the PS3, among others.
>Terrible localisation choices. Removed content? Censoring left and right?
Almost completely change the text's tone? Check, check and check. Most infamous
cases were Ar Tonelico games, Disgaea 4, Rhapsody DS and the Criminal Girls
games. Also I should had that they are incapable of using textwarping in 2016
for their Visual Novels.
>Pacthes? What Patches? They won't patch crashing bugs and stuff like that
most of the time, unless its a Disgaea game.
Despite all this, they make great and fun games (NIS of course; the American subsidiary
is horrible for the points I've presented and more) and they're really good at
bringing over niche games and releasing them physically and sometimes with
collector editions to boot!
After having
watched a gameplay video of Saga Scarlet, I'm immensely glad I didn't purchase
it on a whim. This... thing looks like a phone/browser game, with production
values being the lowest of the low. How dare Squeenix slap Kobayashi's gorgeous
art on the cover when the game itself is ugly as sin, and how dare they sell it
for such a ludicrous price? Squeenix never cease to amaze me with their sheer
impudence and total lack of shame.
On the other hand, the Saga Scarlet Vita models look absolutely splendid, and I
would certainly have invested in them if not for the fact that I already own a
ridiculous number of Vita consoles. ^^
Aye, the game itself doesn't look anything special, just another budget game. But it seems like the gameplay, music, story, characters, etc are really great and it's getting stellar reaction from players. Whatever the case, it seems like it was a great success in Japan unlike Setsuna.
Really? well, that sounds interesting... I'd like to think that such a success is promising and could lead to a localization; but it's Squeenix we're talking about, i.e. people that couldn't point Europe on a map if their lifes depended on it. :P
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