Any chance any of them will be coming to west?

The general consensus is “almost zero”. Would be a licensing nightmare since they’d need approval for the license holders of those 15+ different series in the US/EU. Releasing Japan/Asian versions with english support is probably their best way to support a western audience without dealing with this.

That being said, it’s not that hard to buy from a different eShop region. When I bought Atri I simply created a Japanese account using a different e-mail and got a prepaid card for that region from play-asia.com.

The Akurasu Wiki is a good reference for SRW info, including series list.

Tengen Toppa Gurren Laggan

Quick FYI that SRWX includes that series. 🙂

SRW games are love letters to fans of Mecha anime that also happens to be surprisingly good Strategy RPGs.

Gameplay loop is fairly simple, short VN-style story sections -> Customize/upgrade units -> Battle.

Stages are turn-based, and late game you can deploy around 20 units. Recent games are more on the easy side (with SRW30 being the biggest offender), but some of the older games like the OG series have a rather good challenge curve. They’re very friendly to handheld play since you can save at almost any time.

Most games are crossovers of 15+ different anime, and the main story is a combination of plotlines from those series. This is one of the reasons why familiarity with at least part of the series helps, if you know nothing at all you about them it may get quite overwhelming with too many characters and plotlines. To their credit, they do a decent job trying to ease you into it, slowly adding series and also featuring a very detailed encyclopedia with series details, character and mecha profiles.

The fancy battle animations are this game series’ trademark, mimicking in good detail the original anime series.

If that sounds interesting, there’s 4 games on the Switch with official english translation: The V/X/T trilogy and the most recent game which was the 30 year anniversary game for the series.

I personally think the V/X/T games are much better, and would recommend any of them as a starting point. There’s virtually no connection between them (just small cameos), so you can play them at any order.

They need to be imported physically or bought from eastern eShops, and one thing to keep in mind that for T you need specifically the Asian version. For V, X and 30 both the Asian and the Japanese versions are multi language.

Super Robot Wars

Did someone type the magic words to summon me? 😆 I’ve commented that I love this series in the past but I don’t think I’ve mentioned how deep I am into it with… 38 games beaten according to my notes.

So yeah, if you want to know more about the series just ask me.

No Vampire Hunter this week?

Vampire Survivor? No, I ended up taking a break this week.

imported the physical?

For this particular game I got the physical version from amazon.co.jp. I’ve been buying a lot from there, because there’s a few interesting games that only get physical releases on Japan/Asia, but also because a lot of Switch games are multi-language and for less popular games it’s often easier or cheaper for me to get them from that site.

Forgot to mention on the post above but IIRC Under Defeat is getting a western release sometime in 2025, no need to import it unless you’re like me and can’t wait.

Do you have a Japanese e-shop account

I also do have an account there. 😀

It got it because of a VN I was really interested that for some reason is only available in Japan digitally, but I’ve also used it to redeem free codes with extra stuff on some physical games I bought from there.

Finished Qualia: The Path of Promise!

Feels to me like the developer could not quite figure out what they wanted to do with this VN and just tried adding a bit of everything, but the end result is a very average game with nothing really strong or memorable.

It spends most of its runtime on the romance, but the chemistry between the two leads is not strong enough to carry the game, and while there are some interesting twists and themes those aren’t explored properly.

There’s one neat feature at least: You can enable two languages at the same time, which can be useful for people learning japanese. I’ve seen VNs before where you can switch between languages with a button, but this is the first time I’ve seen something like this.

Playing If My Heart Had Wings!

Resumed this game after Qualia, but didn’t get much progress this week. It’s quite good so far, I really like the way it’s deailing with the theme of disabilities and the overall relaxing slice-of-life feel of the story.

Playing Under Defeat!

Current side-game, a classic G-Rev shooter. Really hard, and the heli controls can take a while to get used to, but what a great game. Unfortunately only available in Japan right now, so you either have to get it from the japanese eShop or import the physical version.

13 Sentinels is their most unique game.

Strange mix of genres (point-and-click adventure mixed with… tower defense?!) but if you enjoy story-heavy games it’s an absolutely must-play. But stay away from spoilers, going “what the hell is going on” while trying to piece together the story is part of the experience. 😆

Also, while the tower defense segments are fairly simple (in particular compared to Unicorn Overlord) I did enjoy them quite a bit, replayed a bunch of stages multiple times and grinded all my characters to really high levels.

Oh, and the OST is amazing.

Or are you using it with just one hand?

Yup, mostly for things I can play with one hand like VNs. Might also be OK for quick sessions “on the go” or for younger kids like my nieces as well.

Playing Qualia: The Path of Promise!

Still progressing slowly, have not been in a gaming mood. But one thing I realized that putting a kinetic VN like this one on “Auto” works really well as a distraction when I’m cycling at the gym, so this should help speeding up progress. 😆

I also learned that several games that should work well with a single Joycon work like VNs don’t. 🙁 So I bought one of these small controllers from 8bitdo to use on these situations, let’s how it works.

Playing Vampire Survivors!

Still playing this as a side-game, still unlocking more weapons/stages/characters.

Replayed Portal + Portal 2!

Had beaten those games a long time ago on the 360 but could resist picking them up with that -75% sale. They’re still just as good as I remember, and the Switch version runs perfectly.

Playing Qualia: The Path of Promise!

Not a lot of progress this week. So far it’s been underwhelming, just a generic romance story.

Playing Vampire Survivors!

Still playing this as a side-game, still unlocking more weapons/stages/characters.

Finished Ys X: Nordics!

Not as good as Ys 8, but a massive improvement over Ys 9. Karja is a fantastic character, probably my favorite Ys heroine alongside Dana, and her sibling-like relationship with Adol was great. I know the odds are low but I’m really hoping we’ll have her show up again in a future entry.

The new engine was a huge improvement for Switch players, unlike the previous game there was no point in this one where I considered performance a problem. But I do have a lot of criticism for the “ocean exploration” part of the game - not only there’s annoying gameplay issues with the speed and clunkiness of the boat, but it also looks very dated visually.

But overall this was a great game that I can definitely recommend despite some things that could have used a bit more polish.

Oh, and since @slimerancher@lemmy.world asked about it: I got the “all sidequests” achivement by simply exploring the whole map and paying attention to the quest markers.

Playing If My Heart Had Wings!

Picked up this VN from my backlog as my next main game. It’s a slice-of-life story about a group of friends who decide to revive their school’s “Soaring Club” and try to build a glider and go flying.

Having a main heroine in a wheelchair is interesting, and I really like how the MC is trying to break some of the preconceptions other cast members have about her disability. Another small detail I like is the appearance of the city, a nice mix of old-school buildings like the dorm the MC lives with more modern, maybe even slightly futuristic buildings in the downtown parts.

Overall this was a good start and I’m interested in seeing where this one goes.

Playing Qualia: The Path of Promise!

I had this one in my wishlist for a while, but I was unsure if I wanted to pick it up or not. I’m a massive sci-fi fun and can enjoy almost anything with these themes, but most images you’ll find for this game is of a big-boobs maid android, which made me suspect the sci-fi parts would be just a thin background. But in the end a sale combined with some small but promising spoilers I read convinced me to give it a shot.

I don’t usually play two VNs in parallel, but this one is supposed to be a fairly short kinetic VN so I can probably make it work.

Playing Vampire Survivors!

Still playing this as a side-game, and still unlocking more weapons/stages/characters.

It’s a really fun and fast-paced battle system, and feels a lot closer to a traditional fighting game than most Tales games do. It rewards playing smart, like chaining attacks or dodging at the perfect timing instead just spamming your strongest skills.

Also, some characters have rather unique playstyles that are a blast to play with. Like Pascal who mixes longe-rarge attacks with a gun with close-range magic, with most of her spells being AOEs centered around her. She’s a complete glass cannon, but can dish crazy damage if played correctly.

Story is weak/generic, but the battle gameplay is fantastic, one of my favorites in the whole series.

I really like the cast as well, but opinions are more split on that.

There’s definitely some sidequests that are missable, though those are usually (always?) marked in the map.

Playing Ys X: Nordics!

Boat is much faster now and exploring the ocean is finally fun. Taking a while to progress the story because I’ve been trying to get 100% exploration in each area before moving to the next one.

I’ve reached Chapter 9 and I think I’m getting close to the end, plot has started moving faster and looks like there’s only one (rather large) ocean area left to explore.

Playing Vampire Survivors!

Still playing this as a side-game. Not much to add, still unlocking new weapons/stages/characters.

Did no one here get Mario + Luigi Brothership?

Not yet, but with a holiday today I’m probably finishing Ys X and I’m thinking of buying that one as my next game.

How was Ys IX’s performance?

Been a long time since I finished the game, but from what I recall it’s “definitely playable, but has issues”.

Most areas including dungeons run fairly well with a stable framerante, but there’s a lot of fluctuation when exploring the main “hub” which is this huge open-world city. Since you don’t do a lot of fighting in the city this doesn’t hurt gameplay too much, but it’s definitely annoying.

But there are some “tower defense” stages similar to Ys 8, and and performance can tank hard there. It doesn’t happen very often, and usually only lasts a few seconds, but it’s another thing to keep in mind.

Hope they fix the sea exploration, but the game has been out in Japan for a while, so I doubt there would be any changes to gameplay now.

They probably expect you to stick to the main story for the early parts of the game and go exploring the map later, when you have enough boat upgrades to make it less frustrating… but my OCD doesn’t let me progress without checking every corner of the map first. 😅

Finished My Girlfriend is a Mermaid!?!

Of the three VNs I played from COSEN this is definitely the weakest. It’s not terrible, but also doesn’t have any particularly strong or memorable points.

It was also another fairly obscure game with no english-language guides, so I once again ended up writing one myself so others will be spared the trouble of going through korean guides using Google Translate to find out how to unlock all endings. 😅

Playing Ys X: Nordics!

So far this game is great. It’s cool to see an adventure set early the Ys chronology (this one takes place right after Ys 2), and I’m loving Karja’s relationship with Adol, they’re pushing towards a more sibling-like relationship instead of a romantic one and it works really well with the themes of the game.

The combat is fun and fast-paced, with two “styles” - solo and duo. The former gives you more movement and evasion, while the latter has the two characters working together to block strong attacks and dish serious damage. However, I feel the balancing between modes is kinda off, there’s almost no reason to use solo mode on bosses as duo mode auto-blocks most of their attacks and makes those battle a breeze. Though solo is still quite useful while exploring or fighting a lot of enemies.

Speaking of exploration, the overworld of the game is a large ocean you transverse with a ship, with several islands you can explore. Exploration on foot is really fun, even more after you unlock some skills like the grappling hook and the hoverboard. However, the ocean part is easily the worst part of the game, and for a very simple reason: The boat is way too slow! If there’s one thing I want from a patch to this game is a drastic improvement of the initial speed, or at least a much faster recharge for the ability to “ride the wind” that gives you a short speed up. This does improve as you get some boat upgrades, but it’s still a major oversight in a game as fast-paced as this one.

Performance on Switch is a huge improvement over Ys 9. I think this is running on the same engine as Trails through Daybreak, and framerate is very stable without any significant hiccups so far. The only issue I have is that some areas have significant object and texture pop-in, which can be distracting but that doesn’t cause any gameplay issues.

Playing Vampire Survivors!

Still playing this as a side-game. Not much to add to the, still unlocking new weapons/stages/characters.

MTG and D&D are both amazing games owned by a horrible company.

Oooh, what happened with Magic the Gathering?

Wizards of the Coast (the game manufacturer) announced they are going hard into “Universes Beyond” sets, which are based on 3rd party IP like LOTR, Final Fantasy or Marvel. They have been releasing a few of these in recent years, but next year that’ll be half of their product line.

This is rather controversial for several reasons:

• A lot of players dislike this mish-mash of franchises, and see it a loss of identity of the game. This comic from 2020 has been reposted non-stop during the week as a prediction of the future of MTG.
• So far these sets have been more expensive, likely due to the IP licensing costs.
• They also announced a change where all competitive formats will include those sets, removing the option to play without them.

There’s a lot of discussion going on if this is just the cynical attempt at short-term cash grab sacrificing the long-term health of the game, or if this new focus will help increasing the playerbase.

And that adds to a few other problems that are already plaguing the game.

• Product and wallet burnout: They doubled the amount of new cards being released in the last ~4 years making it very hard to keep up. And they announced even more sets in 2025 so this will probably continue keep getting worse.
• Power creep: This is something that always existed in the game, but also sped up a lot recently. There’s also concerns that they’ll push cards too hard to ensure these “Universes Beyond” sets sell - as an example we had a LOTR set last year and “The One Ring” was an game-warping card. Even worse, 18 months later it hasn’t been banned and lot of people are questioning if this is going to be the trend with these sets.

For a lot of people this was the breaking point to drop out of the game, or change the way they interact with it. I’m moving away from competitive play for good, and will only play unnoficial “nostalgia” formats based on the game’s past like Premodern (1995-2003) or 2015 Modern (2003-2015) where I can just stick to old decks and ignore all new releases.

TL;DR: “Magic the Gathering” is now “Fortnite the Gathering”, and a lot of people are pissed.