Collector's delight: A most divine edition

In the wake of my recent purchase of the FFCC: Echoes of Time DSi, I started hunting for other interesting editions of the system. To my surprise, there are actually not so many of them, and it seems that the DSi cannot hold a candle to the New 3ds when it comes to swarming the market with countless special editions—judging whether this is a good or a bad thing is left to everyone's discretion. At any rate, it turned out that only one edition of the system was gorgeous enough to capture my eye, namely the SaGa 2 special edition that had already been on my radar for quite some time. The Kingdom Hearts edition turned out to be too Disney-ish for my taste upon close inspection, and the Ace Attorney edition looks plain weird and doesn't please my retinas in the slightest. I already own the Pokemon White edition, so this SaGa 2 DSi that I snatched for a very fair price may well be the last special edition of the DSi that I purchase. Anyway, behold the gorgeousness of that piece of kit!

It comes packed with the game, which I would have LOVED to see localized. Not that this will stop me from playing it sooner or later, mind you; I loved the Gameboy version so much that not playing this remake is simply unthinkable. The console itself looks amazing with its hamonious colour palette and its blend of matte and glossy textures.

While I'm at it, I may as well mention two other collecting-oriented purchases I've made lately, starting with the limited physical edition of Ar Nosurge Plus. I was patiently waiting for a discount on that game on the PSN store when I learnt that limited physical copies of the game had been pressed for the North-American market. I knew right away that I needed one of these, and a couple of days later, a brand-new copy had joined my collection.

Although I'm delighted to own a physical copy of such a major release (Vita-wise, that is), I'm none too pleased with the goodies that came packed with the game. We're talking about a pin badge, a cleaning cloth, a poster and a sticker sheet, all things entirely useless that won't bring a thing to the gameplay experience and are nothing but cheap items to boot. This is the typical example of a half-hearted attempt at putting together a special edition: instead of going for it full force and crafting a valuable package with useful and gorgeous feelies that could enhance the whole gameplay experience and strengthen the player's love for the game, the publisher threw in a handful of trinkets sporting the game's colours to justify a higher price tag and make it look like they were selling something more valuable than the game and its box alone. Well, the trick didn't work with me, and I would have preferred either the game alone with no bibelots or a full-blown special edition with strategy guide, soundtrack and the like. Oh, well.

Last but not least, here is my brand-new Asian copy of Moe Chronicle! I had written this kinky first-person dungeon crawler off as a distant dream that could never be played, until I learnt about Asian editions sporting english and the possibility to order such editions from Play-Asia. Next thing I knew, the game had joined my precious collection, ready to be played and enjoyed to the fullest.

This was my first purchase ever from Play-Asia, but it certainly won't be the last—all the more so as these excellent sellers were kind enough to include a discount coupon in the parcel, despite the fact that I was a brand-new customer. Now that's what I called stellar business practices! I was already planning to buy more games from them, but this unexpected kind gesture motivates me to do so even more.

That's all for the time being! Since I love Demon Gaze so much, I was just that close to ordering the special edition of that game, but I managed to restrain myself. I already own a physical copy of the game, after all, and the goodies are not that great anyway. There are enough games waiting to be purchased not to waste my money on purchasing games that I already own! As for future purchases, there is not much on my radar right now. The special editions of the New 3ds slated for release until Christmas could have interested me if not for my dwindling love for the system, so the only 'special' I'm looking forward to getting my paws on is the Lionheart Edition of Trails of Cold Steel, which packs a yummy-looking artbook for a price hardly higher than the price of game alone. I am so getting it, I am! Until then, thanks for reading, and be my guest anytime!