2023 HAUL VER 11.6
(note: images are hosted via AUKN for the meantime)
Final few packages for the month of November. I was expecting another one to appear today from Eureka Entertainment but it looks like it didn't arrive so that's probably tomorrow instead.
Over the past weekend was NIS America's Black Friday sale which is not particularly amazing by all means, but the three PlayStation 5 games that I picked up each have their own reputation to which they tend to sell out due to NISA's format. The games I purchased were
Monochrome Mobius: Rights and Wrongs Forgotten, which is a
Utawarerumono spin-off presented in turn-based RPG format than the mainline tactical RPG design, as well as
Ys VIII: Lacrimosa Of DANA &
Ys IX: Monstrum Nox, two upgrades from the PS4 versions that I own.
In addition, I also made use of their Deal of the Week offer which was for
Rhapsody: Marl Kingdom Chronicles on the Nintendo Switch. This 'unofficial NIS Classics Volume 4' collection consists of two Japan-only games now available in English for the first time (and with English audio for those who like dubs); the 1999 PlayStation game
Rhapsody II: Ballad of the Little Princess and 2000 PlayStation 2 game
Rhapsody III: Memories of Marl Kingdom. Whilst
Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure is a tactical RPG, the sequels changed the battle system into a traditional turn-based RPG. This collection is also available on PS5 but I decided its better suited for Switch (especially given the first game is only on Switch) as I didn't see any notes on why the PS5 version is the better format.
The final batch of items for this month's haul is an order that I placed way back in August which was held up as it required all of the items to be available altogether. The hold-up is because they're all pre-orders from Third Window Films for their new Director's Company line-up.
The first three films were released across September, October & November. First we have Kiyoshi Kurosawa's 1992 film
The Guard from Underground (地獄の警備員), followed by Banmei Takahashi's 1988 film
DOOR (ドア) & 1991 film
DOOR II: Tokyo Diary (ドア2：東京日記), and Shinji Sōmai's 1985 film
Typhoon Club (台風クラブ).
In terms of what's incoming next, Shinji Sōmai's Luminous Woman was rated recently for a UK release, and there's also Evil Dead Trap but the film will be distributed by 88 Films as part of their Japanarchy line-up in early 2024.
And here's an added bonus. I bought a $50 PSN card to get some more classic PlayStation games from the PSN stores. The ones I went for were
Grandia,
Jet Moto,
Kurushi Final,
Twisted Metal and
Twisted Metal 2.
Now I'll recap why I use the USD approach here. If a PS1 game was released on PS3 or Vita, you are entitled to a free download of the PS4/PS5 versions. I buy from the US PSN store on PS3 to get the NTSC versions and it's also cheaper at $5.99 (compared to PS5's $9.99). Sometime later, Sony did update their EU PAL releases to include US NTSC versions but not every game has this feature. Kurushi Final was never released in the US so it's PAL 50Hz anyway. The point is that, from the image you see above, with the exception of
Ape Escape,
Everybody's Golf 1,
Kurushi,
Kurushi Final,
Twisted Metal and
Twisted Metal 2 (latter two I'll explain in a bit), every other game I have picked up was bought on PS3 for $5.99, saving myself a lot of funds in return.
I did encounter a problem in relation to
Twisted Metal 1 & 2. Ever since the games were added to PS Plus last Summer, the PS3 store broke for them both. This doesn't affect those who bought the games beforehand, but if you buy them on PS3 post-PS Plus launch, it would accept the purchase & payment but it won't recognise that you own it, won't let you download it, and prevents you from buying it on PS5. Essentially you're robbed of a digital purchase.
The only solution that I saw from reading online was basically request a refund via support. Thankfully I got it sorted and was able to buy them on PS5. In addition,
Twisted Metal 2 is no longer available to buy on PS3 and whilst the first game still is I don't recommend it. Don't worry about the other games as they are unaffected (as seen with
Grandia &
Jet Moto).
