I played them when I first started learning Japanese before coming here to Wanikani and had a blast, but if you already know hiragana and katakana, it won’t be much use to you, and for kanji I prefer wanikani over the learn kanji to survive.
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And the total price doesn’t add up. Around a little less than 20 USD is gone from my wallet.
Installing 幻肢痛 right now.
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Oh wow, it seems you’ve just had great timing and MGS V is now currently on sale though it hasn’t been earlier today 
Well, in that case you wouldn’t even need to wait for the Steam Sale in 10 days. But I’m not entirely sure what’s the source of your confusion now
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I paid 262.50 for a bundle that includes an item that costs 550.00
Now looking at NIOH that is up to 75% from Jun 13-23. (Looks interesting, but I don’t going to get it now.)
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Yeah, that’s usually the case that it doesn’t add up, because the bundle is usually cheaper than buying all the individual items on their own. But it is a little strange how the whole bundle is cheaper than most of its items on their own, I agree
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I have close to 40 hours in Ground Zeroes, it’s one map but it has plenty of different missions taking place in that map. Only one story mission though.
Enjoy Phantom Pain! Excellent stealth action game.
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NIOH is pretty good if you like challenging high-pace combat!
I think the Japanese spoken in it is a bit antiquated though, which makes sense considering it’s not exactly set in modern-day Japan. Not sure if it’s even halfway faithful to the actual time it’s supposed to be set in though 
No doubts about the historical accuracy of it though. Tokugawa Ieyasu was definitely fighting yokai. This is established fact and nothing you say can change my mind.
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It might be that the lower discount wins in this case. They don’t add up, though, even if there are overlapping sales or an item is in multiple sales at the same time.
I was at some point investigating how easy it is to install Skyrim in Japanese while already having the game installed. Afaik, you need to install again. One can’t simply swap languages in and out like in Switch games 
.
But now my entire PC is in Japanese so Steam is in Japanese by default as well 
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Which one should I buy first in Yakuza series? It might also matter that my screen is ultra wide HD.
I also noticed that several games aren’t made in Japan, but has Japanese dub (and Japanese interface). While made-in-Japan games might not have Japanese interface. (region-locked?)
Steam made it convenient to buy games, but then return them anyway. (Usually they do look interesting, but I have some problems…)
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I would recommend playing them in the chronological order! So the first game that was released was Yakuza, followed by Yakuza 2 to 5. After that, they released Yakuza 0 which is a prequel to the whole series which takes place in the 80s. After that, they made full-on remakes of the first two titles in the series, which are called Yakuza Kiwami and Kiwami 2.
So if you want to play them in chronological order, the first game to play would be Yakuza 0. After that comes the OG Yakuza game or Yakuza Kiwami, after that Yakuza 2 or Yakuza Kiwami 2, and after that Yakuza 3 to 6, and then Yakuza 7 which is known as Yakuza Like a Dragon. I think I’ve heard that you could also start with the newest title, Yakuza Like a Dragon, since it features a different set of protagonists but I haven’t played that game yet, so I can’t judge that myself
Edit: Btw all of the Yakuza games are on Xbox Game Pass (also for PC), so that might also be a way for you to play them perhaps
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Either Yakuza 0 or 7 is good, although every game is more or less self contained. I would opt for 0 as I’m pretty sure you have to press to continue dialogue (aside from cutscenes), whereas 7 has auto advance text.
If you’re up for it you can pick the traditional font, but it is harder to read than the mincho one. You do need to go to properties and select Japanese as the language on steam for quite a few games that support it. I think Lost Judgment on ps4/ps5 contains JP text as an option in the english versions as well, though that one also has the auto advance text like 7.
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So, I decided to go by storyline ordering; but there is a bundle of 0 and Kiwami, so I got both of them (for about 10 USD). Both of them work very well with ultra wide HD.
The reason I asked? – Well, I got confused about the Kiwami’s…
Regarding the storyline… I might need help regarding vocabularies. Also, even for tutorials, I still need to be able to read faster.
Perhaps also some Yakuza / organized group mangas?
7 is limited by its price tag. Also, I want to go through storyline as if it is a book. (I still don’t get where Kiryuu comes from, though.)
Perhaps I should start with Kiwami, as it is a part of 0-1 bundle.
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Tbh you could start with either one of those games, I think. I personally started with 0 and found that pretty good from a story perspective
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Kiwami was made after zero. It is a remake of yakuza 1 but has the connections to 0, so I recommend playing 0 first. Also it’s about Kiryu’s origins and Majima.
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Could someone help IDing this video?
In principle I understand what’s going on, but I don’t quite follow if it’s a short homemade animation of a cinematic from a game, in which case I would be very interested.
Okay, looks like I found more info: 宇宙戦艦ヤマト2202 愛の戦士たち - Wikipedia
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The first one looks like a homemade animation to me – the credits list the usernames of the people who provided the 3d model, explosion effect, etc (I assume there’s an online community and freely downloadable stuff for the 3d modelling program the video was made with.)
The version of the video on niconicodouga is tagged ヤマトMMD, which is for Yamato videos made with the freeware animation software MikuMikuDance.
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It’s been awhile since I posted in this forum but I am so happy about my discovery that I am inspired to share it today.
GAME: Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town (牧場物語再会のミネラルタウン)
PLATFORM: Steam, Switch, Playstation 4 Xbox One/Series X & S
*I am reviewing the Steam version.
PRICE: $39.99 (currently for $23.99 during Steam’s Summer Sale)
Steamdb link for regional prices
GENRE: Slice of Life Farming Sim
LEVEL: N4-N3 maybe… Just look at the screenshots below and decide for yourself. Imho, if you can breeze through NHK News Web Easy articles without furigana while not getting a headache, you’re in for a comfy reading experience.
REVIEW:
The game is a remake of Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town (牧場物語 ミネラルタウンのなかまたち) which is lauded for its simplicity and casual friendly gameplay. I have played the original (in English) on a Gameboy Advance emulator and it’s been years since so I’ve mostly forgotten the plot points/character backgrounds. The fundamentals have largely remain unchanged with some QoL improvements.
The game is very simple, you’ve inherited a farm and have decided to settle and thrive in this small and cozy town. To earn money, you have to sell:
- crops that you’ve grown
- animal products like milk, eggs, and wool
- fish that you’ve caught
- stuff that you’ve gathered in the wild like wild flowers
At first you will be limited to growing crops and gathering wild plants but as your money grows, your options will increase.
When you use tools to cut grass, chop wood, break stones, till the soil, sow seeds, and water crops, it will drain your stamina. If you keep using those tools, it’ll level up and will allow you to upgrade it and be more efficient (i.e. can water more tiles, be able to break bigger rocks). Materials for upgrading your tools can be found in a mine.
Your life as a farmer isn’t just limited to your farm as you have to socialize with the locals, know their likes, gain their favor, participate in events, and maybe find your waifu/husbando and fight the ever decreasing population of Japan.
The remake has updated graphics (changed the character designs too), difficulty options, additional visual appearances for both male and female avatars, new characters, you can marry the same gender as your avatar, and can save anytime and anywhere instead of having to sleep to save.
Now for the “Studying Japanese” related stuff. Please look at the following screenshots:
As you can see, the instructions and dialogue are written in an easy to understand way but doesn’t shy from using idiomatic expressions and differences in word usage for each person. Only the dialogue have furigana so you have plenty of time to test the Kanji that you’ve learned. It’s a given that there will be vocabulary that’s associated with farming. You can read the instructions and dialogue at your own pace but… there will be a character that will speak sooooo damn fast and TV programs that will blast you with info that you can’t scroll back to re-read them. At least you can visit the library and learn more about the game’s systems (i.e. how to use fairies as unpaid farm labor).
All in all, I think this game is a very good entry way for playing games in Japanese. The writing style is easy to understand, fonts are easy to read, setting is in the modern age so everyday casual language is used, and lots of materials to read.
Personal Note
It’s almost two years since I’ve studied Japanese and being able to 100% play a game in that language is a very rewarding experience. I’ve tried and failed to play other games in 100% Japanese but end up just using them for listening practice with English interface (Yakuza 0, Sekiro, Valkyria Chronicles). I finally have a material that I can immerse in-between reading manga and novels. From almost 0 knowledge to being able to play a Japanese game is something that the me two years ago couldn’t imagine. I hope that this inspires someone to keep on studying the language and find more ways to enjoy using it.
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Hey everyone, I hope this is the correct place to post this!
I’ve been looking at which Visual Novels I want to try, and I have put them all on my Steam Wish list (I am waiting to know a bit more kanjis and grammar before starting)
I just got a notification that The House in Fata Morgana is on sale, 50%, so I’m going to grab it now, maybe somebody else will be happy to hear that 
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It’s the same in Pokémon Legends Arceus. Furigana in dialogue, the rest without. I don’t know what their supposed target audience is with that weird still, but it’s good practice having both.
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I love the assets. It looks like it’s a very cool game. I rarely play video games but I might give this one a go.
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