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!
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).
ReplyDeleteAs 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.
DeleteBut 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.
ReplyDeleteOut 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!
Delete"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.
ReplyDeleteAlso, 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.
DeleteI'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.
DeleteFor 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.
DeleteI 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.
DeleteOh 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.
DeleteOn 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.
DeleteReally? 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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