There is a problem when you make something subversive: how do you back it up with a sequel? If the sequel is too familiar and follows in the footsteps of its predecessor, it is no longer subversive by definition. It has lost its creative identity. This is unfortunately the case with Labyrinth of Galleria, the sequel to Labyrinth of Refrain:…
NISA’s efforts to preserve niche JRPGs of yesteryear has been admirable in recent years. The Prinny Presents series has now reached three volumes, each with two games that you may well have never played otherwise on them. Now the company has announced a collection focused specifically on the Rhapsody series.…
This one has been a long time coming, but NISA has finally…
The Legend of Heroes series certainly has its fans – big, bigtime…
There is a problem when you make something subversive: how do you back it up with a sequel? If the sequel is too familiar and follows in the footsteps of its predecessor, it is no longer subversive by definition. It has lost its creative identity. This is unfortunately the case…
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NISA’s efforts to preserve niche JRPGs of yesteryear has been admirable in recent years. The Prinny Presents series has now reached three volumes, each with two games that you may well have never played otherwise on them. Now the company has announced a collection focused specifically on the Rhapsody series.…
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This one has been a long time coming, but NISA has finally given the world a release date for Ys IX: Monstrum Nox. It will land on May 9 in North America, May 12 in Europe, and will have all DLC baked into it. You have, of course, been able…
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The Legend of Heroes series certainly has its fans – big, bigtime fans – who are certainly loyal to the series. For everyone else, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to get on board with the series, as they all tend to feed into one another, and that’s certainly the case with…
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Labyrinth of Refrain: Coven of Dusk was one of those lesser-known dungeon crawlers that was actually very good. Now there’s a successor on the way courtesy of NISA, called Labyrinth of Galleria: The Moon Society, and it too is looking very good. The plot, as we know it so far,…
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It took a little over 15 years to get Kamiwaza localised in the west, and while this is an incredible niche title, it’s well worth trying. To this day it comes across as overly ambitious to what developer, Acquire, perhaps had the resources to deliver, but this game and its…
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The Legend of Heroes series is famous for being impenetrable for newcomers and also having a fanbase that likes it that way. They’ll insist that you absolutely cannot play any game in this series without having magically played all the other games first. And if you like the wrong ones…
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NISA is on to a good thing with the Yomawari series. These might look like humble little indie anime games, but they know how to throw an emotional and horrific gut punch and a half. The publisher has a third on the way later this year and has shared an…
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The release of a The Legend of Heroes game is always an exciting event. This series has, over quite some time now, bubbled along as the JRPG for the most committed JRPG fans, with rich worldbuilding, character writing, and classical JRPG combat coming together to produce something that isn’t necessarily…
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Nippon Ichi is at its best when it is at its most inscrutable and inaccessible. The more heavily a NIS game’s humour leans into a surrealistic anime-style over-the-top tone (whether for comic effect or otherwise), and the more numbers the game can throw at players, the more they tend to…
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