I figured we have a thread for reading and watching, why not have one for games too?
I recently got a bit of a craving for a JRPG, so I downloaded a handful of 体験版 from the Nintendo eShop.
I played a bit of Triangle Strategy, I love the artstyle in that, story seems interesting too. I also bought Ys Orgin on steam and then I noticed 日本語対応はない！but it regularly goes on sale on the eshop so ill just pick it up then.
So, what are you playing today?
Started playing 夢現Re:Master b/c it’s 60% off on Steam for GW, and it has overwhelmingly good reviews, sounds interesting (yuri + game dev office setting), etc. I’m only 3 hrs in, but so far I’m very… confused? on the fence? underwhelmed, but still interested? Also started NEW GAME! -THE CHALLENGE STAGE.
The premise is completely unbelievable - a girl who can’t so much as touch type, and barely knows anything about computers or game design/development, gets scouted to a game dev company b/c it will somehow be helpful for her younger sister (who cut off contact with her 5 years ago)… but just gotta roll with that. The way the office functions is also incredibly unrealistic so far. The coworker interactions border between mysterious and kinda fun and interesting, to asinine and borderline insulting to your intelligence. I guess it depends on your expectations…
The part that really should be interesting: the game dev aspect is so far a really lost opportunity, as it starts from the most basic of basics (which is bg knowledge that anyone playing a VN probably already has). I can’t help but compare it to NEW GAME! | L22 1, which really nailed making the game dev stuff both accessible and interesting.
On a brighter side, the protagonist is enjoyable, and the emotional side of things is kinda interesting so far, and the aesthetic is really on point. The language is a good level for me (at most 2-4 unknown words per screen). So it’s great for vocab acquisition. Everything besides the protagonist’s internal monologue (which there is a lot of) is voiced.
This one is really simple language wise, so far, and everything is voiced (besides Aoba’s internal monologue). So far it’s basically what you’d expect from the anime. EAGLE JUMP got an urgent request for DLC, and Aoba’s put in charge. There’s different routes (non-romantic I assume). The (mostly) simple language almost felt like a let down, right after 夢現Re:Master… but it’s not like I have zero lookups either. So far though this has been the easiest VN I’ve tried to read, and I can mostly follow in realtime. So I guess I’ve got something nice to relax with 
If anyone’s played 夢現Re:Master, I’d be curious to hear your thoughts. I’ll probly keep playing it for language learning, and also cuz I already spent the money on it 
I’ve been playing ファイナルファンタージーI on and off on my 3DS; it’s a port of the PSP version. Since I’m playing so casually I’ll frequently forget what I’m doing, so I’ve got a handy walkthrough open on the side so I can remember where I’m supposed to be going, haha.
I’ve been playing dbd in japanese which I found a really good way to start things off
Learning specific vocab and meanings and getting used to the description of things (that sometimes even other players don’t 100 get until they play the events and etc lol) has been great and to the point that I honestly forgot the English names for things 
I’m hoping to play よまわり in japanese, will see I guess
Has to do with time as well lol
I ordered some games from Japan and started 十三機兵防衛圏. So far it’s been relaxing fun with some active visual novel style storytelling and light battle acts. I needed something to play where I don’t have to think TOO much The style, art and feel is really nice. Language-wise it has been surprisingly simple, despite the sci-fi setting. I guess one reason because there is mostly dialogue.
I’ve been v.e.r.y s.l.o.w.l.y making my way through ファミコン探偵倶楽部 消えた後継者. I played the other game (うしろに立つ少女 ) and absolutely blasted through it. I found out after the fact that while it is set chronologically later, it was actually a prequel. I’m not sure if that’s why it’s been so hard for me to get into the other game or if the story just isn’t interesting me. I have a ton of other Switch games I picked up in Japan last year (including Triangle Strategy @Psdes!) and I should really just see if one of the other games hooks me better, but I’m being stubborn since the other famicon detective game was SO GOOD. Maybe I just need to get a little deeper in the story…
What is dbd?
The past couple weeks I’ve been playing a lot of あつまれ どうぶつの森 (which I found out today gets abbreviated to あつ森). The last time I’d played it was like Nov 2022 for about a week or two I think. I bravely did not reset despite being afraid of how overrun with weeds my island would be and how many wilted flowers I’d have. It actually wasn’t that bad, and I don’t think flowers wilt in this game, either. I am determined to not reset this one and actually complete my Critterpedia and the museum for the first time in my life.
I’m disappointed about the all-new gyroids, though :( I miss the old ones. (Embarrassingly, I didn’t piece together that はにわ were gyroids until Brewster gave me a fragment, despite Lloid being called ハニワくん…)
Dead by Daylight I think
I bought 夜廻 for friend last year, they are yet to play it 
You keep on talking about it and I’m almost gonna do it, but it’s still not that cheap, and I have so many other games to play…
as Luna said it’s Dead By Daylight
Adding an explanation in case you or anyone else here doesn’t know (and in case they want to try out 
though I wouldn’t recommend starting it right now due to bug and disconnection issues lol)
it’s a multiplatform horror themed asymmetrical game
you have 1 “killer” trying to kill 4 “survivors” who need to fix generators to escape
If you heard about it there’s another really similar game, that I heard some of the developers of dbd helped with the development of, called “Identity V”
Tbh I did dabble 5 minutes in and it wasn’t too bad actually
But the japanese was a bit hard for me so I want to give it a crack again
The monsters come at you in annoying angles though lol
Definitely a good call. Like I said, I’m on the fence about it… I actually haven’t played it since I wrote that on the other thread. Played the New Game one some more. It’s fun, though I think the 五等分の花嫁 game employs a more refined/interesting version of the mechanic, and so far has more interesting writing.
But mostly I’ve been obsessively reading 赤髪の白雪姫 | L26 - and am finally past the end of the anime
Hi! First time poster, short-ish time lurker.
I’m currently studying N4/Genki 2 grammar, so my video game options are limited at the moment. I did get the urge to start up Animal Crossing New Horizons for the first time in 2 years the other day, so I made a new character specially to play in Japanese as. I… did not anticipate the amount of lookups I had to do in the beginning! It might be a while before I can play something like Persona or Xenoblade in Japanese!
You may want to check out some VN style or RPG games. The newer ones tend to be fully voiced with the text. If you play on PC you can also text hook and be able to use yomichan to look up words too. You’re probably not as far off as you might think, especially with the right tools.
Hello and welcome 
You can try out playing the old Gameboy Pokemon games in japanese!
They’re completely in kana so you can do them regardless of jlpt level and they’re good to getting used to sentences as well as faster reading of kana
Plus nostalgia factor is always a great motivator lol
I had planned to get through the tutorial in german and switch to japanese later… but all the text-heavy politics kinda scared me off Haven’t played far yet, and that was back when it came out, so maybe I should try again… How hard was it for you?
After Rune Factory 5, I decided to replay RF4 on the switch. Been fun! RF3 was my first exposure to Kansai dialect, but since I struggled with it a lot I avoided talking to that character all the time While I like that characters in RF and 牧場物語 have dialects, it did make me dread every dialogue with them was good practice though.
I am also half way through Dragon Quest 9. Also a replay, who knows when I will finish that one.
I would recommend a replay (not sure if you are someone who enjoys that) or at least a game of a series you already know.
I found in the beginning the tutorials and menus the hardest I certainly wouldn’t have been able to play the fire emblem games in japanese ~5 years ago had I not already known the mechanics etc beforehand.
Games with a lot of voice acting were also easier than the ones without.
I would also recommend pokemon. I think in some of them you can switch between kana and Kanji version in the main menu. And it’s not like you need to understand 100% of what is said to get through the game and have a fun time.
I know someone that played Persona 5 in japanese and… from what he told me, it is quite hard 
Like the text the demons get when you recruit them
I didn’t have much trouble following along, but if you miss something, you can always go back into the dialogue history thing and also listen to the voice acting again. If its your first time with this genre, then I think a lot of the vocab could slow you down.
Game Gengo has a video on it too, you can just skip to the outro for a summary of their thoughts https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cx-6DRpcq5M
Has anyone played any of those popular simulator games?
Like Supermarket Simulator, I feel like these games could be a great way of learning new words, in a really hands on way.
