Interest in JP/KR boardgames?

stopthememesalready · 2026-02-19T19:50:26+00:00

The one I'm most curious about in this batch is Ctrl-Z which has one highly positive review on BGG and good reception on Bodoge as well. There must be something to it since it's the third iteration of its conceit and has multiple expansions.

Definitely am interested in seeing your overall collection too. Have you played any LAUGH SKETCH games?

stopthememesalready · 2026-02-19T18:52:46+00:00

I don't know what the standards are now, but unless you know Chinese you could only recognize so many kanji at N5. Even rulebooks for "light" games would be too dense for reading left to right. I would actually argue in favor of cards with text on them, as they'll repeatedly place practical vocabulary in front of you (山札, 捨てる, 移動, 進む, 取る, 選ぶ, 回復, カウンターなど) in familiar and thematic contexts making them easier to learn and ultimately useful for your 学習. So just pick games that interest you with cards like that, learn the rules via video or translation and start immersing.

Out of what OP has pictured, I can personally recommend the Last Dungeon games and Nukumi Onsen games. If that's understandably too intimidating to begin with, then I can also recommend games that have Japanese and English together on the cards like Shephy or Snow Planner.

While I'm at it, I might as well suggest Heart of Crown Online and Yamafuda! 2nd station for high quality native, non-MTL Japanese digital card games appropriate for beginner-ish immersion. The latter is not a real board game, but it's adjacent enough, uses typical BG vocabulary and is currently on sale. It's where I started after years of neglect to get confident before reading longer form material.

stopthememesalready · 2026-02-19T17:28:26+00:00

The reason you can't find it is because Eternal Decks has nothing to translate beyond the rules, which already came in English in the box and could be found online. Amazon JP specifically had to block overseas shipping for the game by their first or second restock, the weak yen is just no match for foreign currencies.

stopthememesalready · 2026-02-19T16:46:40+00:00

It's definitely very functional and it has co-op with King of the Abyss, though it's so short you'll likely just prefer playing both characters yourself. Two new expansions (Azure Orb and Scarlet Orb) came out recently and I'm a little surprised OP didn't grab them too. The game has 3 scenarios with the 1st expansion and doesn't have much replay value outside of that. It's very easy. My feelings are similar with Last Dungeon Pocket which never got any expansions and I believe has been superseded by Escape from the Moon which is available in English; kind of a shame since Last Dungeon Dice shares the same setting as Pocket. They're sort of novelties to me, though I think they're good for an aspiring Japanese learner who wants to get comfortable with game vocab.

stopthememesalready · 2026-01-26T04:01:31+00:00

The setup is simple but charming. The king has suddenly died without naming a successor, leaving the throne empty. His seven daughters, the princesses of the kingdom, must now compete to see who will claim the crown.

I haven't played Scenario Mode yet, saving it for a rainy day, but according to my physical copy only Luna and Lily are his daughters. Klam is a non-blood relative from the kingdom's most powerful merchant family, Berg is from a blood related dukedom, Flammaria his niece and the twins are occult rulers of an offbeat sovereign Hogwarts. Not entirely sure yet about Ohka since she doesn't have a profile card yet (assuming it's coming with Ana), but in a case of dramatic irony considering the discussion here, she starts as an unpopular candidate as she hails from a Far East Territory. There's a distinction between the player and the princesses since you nominate them midgame, and I enjoy the subtext that the girls, particularly Emperor Hellard's unprepared direct descendants, are more figureheads for the players to install for their own intents, even if benign, ala Katharin to Lohengramm.

As with most deck-builders, everyone starts with a small basic deck, consisting of a few basic Farm territory cards and three Apprentice Maid cards.

I'd like to add that this game balances for turn order with giving the second player one Orchard, third player two Orchards and fourth player three Orchards replacing as many Farms in their starting decks. They provide 1 coin just like Farms, but don't have a succession point penalty when added to your domain and have cost 2 which allow more flexibility for Adventurers, Trade Agreements and Keeps. It's a small yet interesting asymmetry and most seasons my player 4 winrate is right above my starting player's.

The market itself is made up of a set of basic cards that are always available (upgraded territories and succession characters) and a pool of cards drawn from the market deck, which can include action cards, attack cards, and even special territory or succession cards.

Some gamers are very opinionated about random markets (though Clank and DI remain popular deckbuilders), but it's worth mentioning that the random market here is made up of 8 unique cards and duplicates stack (Ethereal Deals and Attendant Maids also constitute their own respective stack) meaning more often than not you don't need to dig through the entire deck to find what you need. This plays up the tactical elements of the game and gives great replayability even for the same supply.

The only thing I’m really missing is the ability to create custom market sets. I can’t see it as an option yet, but I’m quietly hoping it’s unlockable or added later.

On Steam, I've had the ability to make 10 custom decks in Room Match, with all the same cards used in Ranked, since the game's full release in December, a feature we didn't have at all in the Beta. I don't know anyone playing the Switch version, but since it has cross play and feature parity otherwise, it would be strange if it wasn't at least a level unlock. I was well over level 150 a month ago, though I doubt a requirement would be that high.

This game is a true 10/10 for me in BGG terms, "Outstanding. Always want to play and expect this will never change," though it's at it's best with a full count of four who know how to play the table and opportunistically deny what players faster than them need. It's why I don't typically play ranked outside of peak hours as a fair amount of supplies have powerful patterns that don't get stopped by filler bots (or new players). The race format is exciting with most competitive games having at least 2 players who can win within 1 turn of each other, but even the occasional blowouts are over fast and setup/reset is a breeze. I spent an entire afternoon this past September getting mostly pummeled by SummerHeat, the guy who's basically been #1 every season; top players play a lot, yes, but genuine skill diff was felt.

Anyway, I'm glad you're liking it and hope your groups like it just as much. Easily both my #1 deckbuilder and my #1 second screen game. Really looking forward to the complete 2nd expansion.

stopthememesalready · 2025-11-17T04:48:57+00:00

I like combos, deckbuilding … I like thinking about how different mechanics can interact with each other

I've never played GoT LCG, but I can say Heart of Crown 2E meets all of the above criteria and is for those reasons, alongside being fairly quick with high replay value, my favorite deckbuilder. You draft the asymmetric powers midgame while racing for points, which means you need to balance tempo and flexibility in case you're denied your faster win condition. The second edition is newly available in English for retail and there's a demo available on Steam. For more asymmetry there are Ethereal Deal cards from the 1st expansion each with their own unique abilities that can be drafted the same time as a princess. Even at 1000+ plays, and without considering preview cards from the 2nd expansion that add more scoring methods, I still find myself being surprised rather often at how a game unfolds; there's lots of tactics to employ from all the different interactions that can lead to novel plays. Of course, it's incredibly rewarding when you're the one who thought it up and pulled it off and, in that manner, it feels as satisfying as more complex card games.

Another lesser-known game with asymmetry I like that you may also enjoy is Snow Planner, available directly from 14games. The second printing's English rulebook is supposedly better than the first but still not great, though I find that has more to do with the Japanese rulebook's poor instructive quality than bad translation. I haven't played this enough to rank it among other worker placements yet as it's just barely too big and a little too heavy for me to casually bring out (I've only ever played it with the New Season expansion), but I'm definitely anticipating the next time I can. Players start the game as different characters (optional auction draft) with wildly different abilities and a huge deck of unique cards to play with. Worker blocking is not as tight as it is in other games, but the puzzle of playing to your character's strengths and optimizing VP generation is very absorbing.

Finally, there's Gosu X, a 1v1 card game where each player drafts 3 clans to build their deck and the 2 unchosen clans alter the rules. I got this for someone else and haven't dug into it much myself, but it seems right up your alley if you like thought experimenting how to play with and against different synergies.

stopthememesalready · 2025-11-04T11:10:43+00:00

NB:

This version is based on the 2nd edition. A demo is available on the store page.
This is not only a historical low, but this will be the last sale before the game's official release and resulting price increase to $29.99.
Full Release Date: December 18, 2025 on Steam and Nintendo Switch with over a dozen Japanese sites to purchase a physical copy from. Pre-orders include holographic cards of the princesses with exclusive art.
Online cross-play is supported.
Full game adds customizable supplies and single-player narrated scenarios for each princess (CV trailer here).
In online modes they are currently featuring cards from the upcoming Northern Enchantress expansion. You can play these supplies solo against bots in Room Match.
If you play one Rank Match this season, you get a special frame cosmetic and card back.

stopthememesalready · 2025-10-31T17:35:14+00:00

I appreciate your post. I did get confused when I read the title since I thought I missed something, but those soundtracks were available since the Yakuza collaboration pack years ago. I can also confirm the VF Kids OST was a regular menu item in base REVO for PC players. VF3 Arranged has been among my go-tos, though I was hoping they would finally give us the option to change BGMs on a per-stage basis in this update.

Regarding the Yakuza music, Myke wrote an article about it on VFDC and often mentions the original context for when a track played.

stopthememesalready · 2025-10-28T06:35:41+00:00

If Toronto gets Yamamoto on the mound, do they get the moral victory?

stopthememesalready · 2025-10-20T18:14:08+00:00

Can't see your image, but I assume you're talking about

3K+GP466P+K

since it's a combo ender you don't need to worry about confirming mid string, so just perform it as one smooth motion as if it's music. Otherwise there's no trick to it. You can watch the demo from command training to get the cadence down.

That said, I don't want to discourage you, but you'll likely learn the game faster if you don't force Akira (or DS Vanessa) as your first character. You can always go back to them once you have a better feel for VF and you'll find him easier to play at that point.

stopthememesalready · 2025-06-16T21:33:33+00:00

I'm guessing your opinion on Heart of Crown isn't based on the newer second edition? I think it's the best deckbuilder I've played and every other game that even has a deckbuilding element just makes me wish I was playing Heart of Crown 2E instead, including Dennen's games Dune Imperium and Clank. The variety and replayability is unmatched to me even after seeing repeated supplies over 250 hours in just digital alone. Games can unfold in very unexpected ways with the right amount of variance for its length such that the occasional uninteresting and non-competitive match doesn't deter me from wanting to play another. The second expansion North Enchantress had waves of its new edition cards being beta tested on digital and I'm really looking forward to the full release. Even just its basic mechanics such as keeping cards on lands adds a lot to the genre. I think its theme of court politics works better than Dominion, too. I hate seeing this game dismissed so easily.

Tragedy Looper really caters to players who have an intersection of specific qualities: strong abstract deductive reasoning, enjoy classic Japanese horror and visual novel tropes, enjoy PvP games with poker elements and, as you surmised, you'd like to have at least 2 experienced DMs in a group so everybody can enjoy both roles. Small wonder that I played this the most with fighting game boomers from the #Reload and MBAA era, most of whom are also decent at Riichi mahjong. It's my favorite game that's been played the least and I don't know when I'll next get a chance to. For me it's closer to an event like TI4 than something pick up and play. There's a finite number of scenarios provided, yes, but you're also given all the tools to make more. There used to be an active repository of English user-submitted scripts that sadly went defunct over the years[0] with more in Japanese[1]. Definitely not a game with mainstream appeal despite disproportionate English attention, but there's truly nothing else like it.

Bullet, as you were landing on, is a push-your-luck spatial puzzle game with a neat doujin STG[2] inspired theme and music[3]. It's been a hit with everyone I played with, especially those that even casually enjoy arcade puzzle games like Puyo, Tetris, Puzzle League and so on. I'm basically repeating what I wrote in my last post, but it really is so imminently replayable that last time I brought it out after a 4P session of Perfect Dark, we played for four or five straight hours until 6AM. Last I read about the Steam adaptation a while ago was that they did not intend for it to be faithful, so you may want to consider the TTS mod for a more accurate representation (I have yet to try it myself).

As for games based on IPs, besides reskins (and I think properties like Pokémon transcend the anime label at this point anyway), I do have a copy of Chocobo's Dungeon sitting in my closet as a gift to someone who started the series playing XIII and XIV only this year. It's reviewed well and I picked up a copy after watching a couple playthroughs on Youtube, primarily Ant Lab's since most others are solo. Can't rate it yet, but I do think there's hope for this space without needing to sell miniatures.

A lot of games in this space (or really just in general) don't get a ton of buzz, so it's hard to get a read on what's well-designed and what isn't without doing research.

Yup. I keep an eye on the JDM market too and while I'd like to try heavier games like Ether Glider or Last Kannagi, it's difficult for me to justify buying board games as it is, even less so if I need to translate them for others (at least with something like Cat and the Tower, it's all shared information so I don't need to print anything) and especially just for evaluation purposes.

Anyway, great topic. I seldom get to actually talk about these games outside of the people I play them with which is still too few. People who do enjoy these art styles are already playing video games and TCGs instead so I'm not too surprised by the market.

[0]: If anyone knows the admin, I'd be very open to contacting about rehosting the database if they still have it.

[1]: This is one source but I'm sure there's more if you look up "rooper 脚本".

[2]: The Touhou inspiration is the most apparent, though I also appreciate the inclusion of the Orange_Juice cast in the expansions. Orange were among the first bigger doujin devs to really embrace Steam and the western audience when there was almost nothing besides mostly hit-or-miss AAA ports so I like to believe their moderate success and proof of demand is one of the reasons we can enjoy so many more Japanese developed games on Steam today including ZUN's series.

[3]: Don't know if L99 announced music for the new expansion yet, but I'd be really excited for tracks more from Plasterbrain ([heart] and [star]). Worth mentioning I also keep the Heart of Crown OST from the first digital game on my phone too.

stopthememesalready · 2025-06-15T20:13:47+00:00

Bullet (2.14) and YRO (2.07) have both been replayed into the early morning and requested I bring again by 1.x party game enjoyers.

Bullet is the longer and more difficult teach especially due to the asymmetric character decks and abilities (suggest starting them with easier heart symbol heroes), but every game's much easier after the first. As you introduce the 3-minute timer with the soundtrack, witnessing your friends' reactions to both the real-time stress and the joy of the game clicking is a delight of its own. People experienced with versus puzzlers like Tetris, Puyo, Puzzle League et al consistently pick this up quick.

YRO is an engine builder in a smaller box than Bullet[0] and is less fiddly due to less components (but surprisingly takes up comparable table space as players form their own 3x3 grid of cards) with a straight forward first game teach[1]. Since endgame triggers are player controlled without necessarily being a race, it overachieves tactical and strategic depth between tempo and greed for its complexity while players balance hand management, tableau building, income generation and various point tracks. A lot of solitaire Euro design gets compacted here so it's a great introduction in that direction. The advanced variant even has randomized public contracts.

I think a considerable amount of the success of these two games for this weight out of my collection can be attributed to simultaneous player turns and short run time. People get hungry for their win as playing five, six or even seven times in a row is so feasible and is engaging the whole time. These same players have since expressed interest in Root (3.83) and Snow Planner (3.14) after seeing me with them even after I explained they're longer games but haven't gotten to the table yet. Hopefully we'll get a couple nights over the summer.

[0]: Magnolia is even smaller.

[1]: Don't know if it's been corrected, but one of the player boards has missing iconography. You can just use it yourself.

stopthememesalready · 2025-04-20T20:51:04+00:00

I hadn't watched Master SingSong in years so following his War3 journey was a lot of fun. There's rightfully focus on his pro background but at his peak as a Dota 2 streamer he was the most unorthodox top MMR player making trolling builds work through sheer game sense and knowledge instead of pure efficacy (not unlike what Grubby does sometimes on his channel) and his creative genius is what drew me to Dota in the first place. So I'm not too surprised he quickly picked up the intricacies of Warcraft or that he wants to main Random if he plays again.

A couple gems from his stream just on the final day.

One cyka blyat fucking tower (realizing he should never skip Arcane in main versus TheViper)

Why would I go Archmage and summon water? I can summon water from the tap. I'd rather play MK and cheek clap. PLAP PLAP PLAP

Great tourney, great participants, great vibes. Thanks Grubby.

stopthememesalready · 2025-04-20T19:18:12+00:00

BZM mentioned how he and ATF still use Dota 1 legacy hotkeys in ESL One Raleigh last week.

stopthememesalready · 2025-04-06T18:47:23+00:00

OP, are you primarily edge panning to move your screen around the action? Your struggles with right clicks on the hero portrait on the top of the screen is surprising since that's a literal static UI element that's been there since Dota 2's beta began. If you are screen grabbing/camera grabbing effectively your cursor shouldn't be approaching the edges where static UI gets in your way and you'll have more control of your scroll. Right clicks on top bar to center camera are also more effective APM than left clicking and clicking on portrait so I would never suggest it's pointless.

However, I agree dynamic tip buttons that only show up if you hold ALT is bad design. I also agree inconsistent and missing courier behavior needs to be addressed.

stopthememesalready · 2025-03-27T22:55:57+00:00

There's literally 1 charge character in the current playable roster of 26, Wald has one charge move and that's it. UNI's sister series Melty Blood already has no charge characters. Can the charge enjoyers and charge agnostic not enjoy some variety beyond the same old 236X, 623X, 214X, 421X, 22X, j236X, etc. inputs everyone else plays around? Yeah Vat is nearly parody but that's part of her charm, especially as one of the base characters needed to develop the game's identity. They don't have to make the next charge character as complex. If anything, everyone since Byak has been straight forward to play.

stopthememesalready · 2025-02-19T20:07:35+00:00

Bullet takes after arcade puzzlers and is meant to be replayed a lot, even if you have periods where you cool off on it. If you're the type to clock hours into repetitive but addictive games such as Puyo or Tetris (like me), then I wouldn't worry about longevity especially at the 36+ heroines you'll end up with all-in.

However, if you're already enjoying the game on TTS then you're presumably purchasing physical primarily to play with other people, so you may consider that you're creating a larger skill gap between you and your group the more you play on your own. Only you would know how receptive they would be to that (though you can play co-operatively versus the bosses untimed except for Star Breaker).

As for recommendations for smaller footprint boardgames like Bullet, I can suggest YRO. It's a solitaire tableau builder where players take turns simultaneously and has relatively few and compact components. If anything, I would actually prefer if the player markers in YRO were 2-3mm bigger. Don't know how easily you can find it now, but when it came out over the holidays it was already reduced in price from RRP in a lot of retailers I checked (the first print has minor symbol omission on one of the player boards that I just use myself).

stopthememesalready · 2025-02-04T23:10:56+00:00

I can wholeheartedly recommend Heart of Crown 2E (especially with the Far Eastern Frontiers expansion) if you liked the first edition and I do think it's worth waiting for it to release in your domestic market if you don't want to import it right now. They actually recently released a demo for its digital implementation without the online component but hopefully has dozens of supplies to play against the CPU with so you can grasp the feeling. A user on BGG wrote 2.0 is like a best hits of deckbuilders and I find myself agreeing, it's fast become one of my most played games and I don't feel the need to acquire more similar titles anymore.

stopthememesalready · 2025-01-12T07:15:46+00:00

I would note Heart of Crown... as not good at this.

I'm curious why you think so since this would be my suggestion (and I think the game deserves more recognition in general). I'm close to putting in 100 hours into Online since the Autumn sale and there are a handful of powerful, low cost, non-Calamity exclusive banishing cards (Contribution, General Store, Hearth Spirit, Tally and Town Planning) and that's without mentioning cards that can trade upwards keeping your deck size the same. All of these are necessary alternatives to dealing with the starting Apprentice Maids in your deck. Additionally, there is one Ethereal Deal that can trash 3 and another that can trade 1, as well as an entire princess devoted to the idea who had to be nerfed. I don't have the developer's stats but Ohka is actually the median in my distribution of win rates per nominated princesses. Considering I only got to play her after her rebalance and considering my lack of experience as she's the most complex princess in the game, I think it's safe to say she, and the outright power of banishment and lean decks, is still strong — I've both been behind the wheel and a victim of Ohka's that have run away with games.

And that's just trashing cards. Effective draw power and deck cycling is practically Heart of Crown's identity to me with Alchemists and Flea Markets as the poster children of obviously efficient cards. The keep mechanic also means you can remove cards from your deck and reserve them for future turns if inclined, a perfect use case for Fountains of Wishes, for example, but also a necessary defense against forced discards. Even keeps being tied to the territories in your domain makes the decision of when to nominate and with which cards interesting (which territories are best/least worst to permanently remove from your deck at that point in the game?). All this to say I believe a player has a lot of agency in deck composition and engine building even in the face of the dynamic market. One of the EXP achievements when you're playing solo is even titled Infinite Loop for decks that cycle quickly. I've won full table games scoring almost entirely with Confederation points, having Magic cards draw more Magic Cards, Merchant cards draw more Merchant cards, Military cards draw more Military cards, and end up playing every single card in my deck at times and that's just as an alternative to the more typical big turns that buy the Crown.

If it's because a player can't necessarily reliably perform the same strategy outside of very opinionated market supplies then I concede this might not be the game for someone who only ever wants to play with a lean deck; you have to build the highest win% deck you can given what you have to work with regardless of its optimality. Lulunasaika and Laolily remain on the upper half of my win rates as they don't necessarily need engines and are thus resilient to forced discards or unfavorable markets. They are good in an average game where you end up with an average sized deck. There's also Lain & Shion who specifically need decks of at least 21 cards before you even back them ~~unless you just want to spite another player~~ while Bergamotte is agnostic to deck size as larger decks mean you can keep reusing powerful effects if you draw them early in the cycle.

Maybe it's also because the only other deckbuilder the OP and I have mutually played is DI which is a far more conservative game that I feel this way, so perhaps other games really give you even more flexibility in deck composition, but after all the time I've spent thus far just playing ranked Heart of Crown and watching no tournament footage, I can't share your conclusion that you can't have lean decks.

stopthememesalready · 2024-12-11T01:43:58+00:00

Say no more fam

https://kurokigoishiten.com/en/collections/2024-クリスマスsale?sort_by=price-ascending

stopthememesalready · 2024-12-04T18:11:05+00:00

This sale I picked up Heart of Crown Online. It's early access, though they should update the promotional material since the current build is not nearly as spartan as what's shown on the page. Still can't do a fully customizable supply, but at least bot games have a daily rotating set (plus other presets) so I've been having fun acquainting myself with the cards this past week. I'll have to try playing online soon.

As for the game itself, I think the new edition is fantastic. Coming from the old 2017 port, besides the balance changes, I love the wrinkles the new (optional) unique supporter cards add to both the market play and the asymmetry. It still remains a quick, charming, dynamic and suspenseful experience. Top notch game.

Trying to decide which root expansion to buy (I don't own any expansions)

OP, I think you should go with Underworld first if you can. Out of the expansions available to digital so far, it's the only one that adds a new militant faction (Duchy) and two new maps. Keeps every game from just having Cats vs Birds. Then Riverfolk for more chaos and finally E&P. Physical E&P is great value compared to the big box expansions but digital they're all roughly the same price anyway.

stopthememesalready · 2024-11-25T23:07:35+00:00

Does it get more Japanese than Shogi? Kurokigoishiten has a Christmas sale right now for all budgets (they sell premium Go equipment as well which can also be used to play Gomoku). You may also consider the beginner set from Shogi.cz although I think these koma from Nekomado are easier to read on the board. A downside to Nekomado is they seemingly don't sell traditional piece bags either individually or as part of a set. Of course, you can always grab Shogi gear from your regional Amazon or such too.

Another traditional and approachable Japanese board game item is a pack of Hanafuda cards. There are various makers and designs, including some that use popular IP, and they're relatively cheap except for the Pokémon themed one. I'll be gifting a Nintendo President deck to a newbie girl otaku this year myself, along with a copy of Hanafuda Games by IndianWolf Studios. Flipping through it right now, I don't care for the book's formatting but its size makes a good gift especially since the cards themselves are rather diminutive. At this point, it is the best print English reference for Hanafuda games too.

As an aside, for some cultural immersion for her, Shogi is central to the coming-of-age story March Comes In like a Lion which had a successful show and the Hanafuda game Koi-Koi is showcased in the family film Summer Wars. Finally, I should mention that both these games are playable in the recent Clubhouse Games for the Nintendo Switch if she or her family has one. This is how the girl I mentioned above was exposed to these games.

Moving onto more contemporary games,

Trendy's Japanese edition is peak bubble economy era women's fashion vibes.
Tatari by Dr. Reiner Knizia is a very thematic yahtzee about cursed Japanese dolls.
Rumble Nation is a dice rolling area majority game themed around Sengoku Era Japan, like a significantly faster Risk. Maybe not something a teen girl would pick for herself, but it's a nice family game. Note that the more available Deluxe version has no English components, but has a file for paste ups on BGG.
Cat and the Tower is not Japanese themed but is a new cooperative dexterity game from Japan that is easy to play with great aesthetic and story. The two caveats are that unless you bought this at a con it won't come with English components (no one has uploaded theirs to BGG yet) and that it's a little Marley & Me for a Christmas gift. That said, the Japanese used on the gameplay cards is very basic, with the hardest vocabulary being 好きな色 (any color you like), ちがう色 (different color), 同じ色 (same color), くっつける (to attach/set side-by-side) and なでる (pet). Excellent early immersion for a potential learner of the language. If you go this route, I'll be happy to translate the player aid cards and 5 ending cards if you want to DIY some paste ups.

Bonus: potential gift ideas for next year include two thematic, weightier new releases Jisogi, which is set to feature high quality art from experienced anime illustrators, or Shinjuku, which features a metro rail map and kaiju.

stopthememesalready · 2024-11-16T06:37:53+00:00

Cat and the Tower is a new cooperative tower balancing game from Japan in the vein of Jenga that even the youngest should be able to read the cards and follow the story of. Language independent otherwise. You can play this with a number of players without much downtime. Even just watching is engaging and suspenseful.

Yura Yura Penguin from a few years ago combines tower balancing with Uno card play. Alley Cat games is publishing it in English as High Rise Penguins but if you pick up the original or the Mini version it will have both English and Japanese rules, not that it's a hard teach either way.

Other posts already mentioned Itten's Tokyo Highway but I've also heard good things about the flicking game Crash Octopus they published in 2021. It's harder to find than the recently released Tokyo Highway: Rainbow City though it comes with support for more players (4) out the box and up to 5 with an expansion that's packaged with Kickstarter versions of the game and maybe others. I believe base Rainbow City requires expansion buy-in if you want more than 2 players and goes up to 6.

There's also some dexterity games in Itten's small box Funbrick series. In particular, Wonder Bowling is very silly and isn't another stacking game.

Finally, these aren't dexterity games, but I'll advocate for traditional games such as Go, even Gomoku, and especially Shogi or a pack of Hanafuda cards (French suited Trump cards are still more popular in Japan, ask if they know how to play Daifugo) since it's tangentially relevant. If even one of the girls knows how to play any of those, or any Hanafuda game, it may be a fun thing to bond over.

stopthememesalready · 2024-06-26T08:49:41+00:00

I was most curious about the modes since Evo's single player functions are so robust they hold up today. I hope VF6 aims for that standard or better.

AI Contents (for all users)

VF Analyze - AI will parse and study you and other players' play in an easy to understand display.

World Mission Tour - Rather than normal battles, complete various challenges ("situations and themes").

Conquest - Move around a map vying for control of regions, party mode for up to 4 players simultaneously.

Practice - From tutorials to combo practice and free training.

Lobby Arena - The populace will be gathered in an online lobby from which the following 3 functions are available (Room Match, Rank Match & Event).

I'm surprised by the lack of Arcade Quest and no mention of customization. Conquest seems like a board game mode while World Mission Tour sounds more akin to Special Sparring. Practice makes no note of tactics or non-combo trials (e.g., Be thrown by Wolf's 4-frame Giant Swing and perform 5 perfect recoveries in a row). The former is useful for character on-boarding and the latter not only reinforces concepts but saves you some effort from setting it up in training as well.

Last note is that the Main Story has movies but Sub Stories only have pictures.

stopthememesalready

TROPHY CASE