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How viable is PC gaming for someone that mostly plays Japanese games?

Lucentto

Lucentto

Member
Oct 25, 2017
364
This holiday as a present for myself, I'm thinking about buying a new gaming PC (AMD 3700x and 2080s or 2080ti, would like to play games in 4k 60fps). Though I'm thinking about how viable it is for me to spend a lot on this if I mostly play Japanese games and very rarely a AAA title. I know that the library has gotten better in recent times but it still seems like getting releases the same time as the console versions is an issue. Thought I should get some comments from those already in the PC ecosystem.
 
Rosebud

Rosebud

Two Pieces
Member
Apr 16, 2018
43,989
It's the best time ever. You get new releases, "console exclusives", old games and games that aren't on consoles (mostly VN's)
 
ocha

ocha

Member
Nov 9, 2017
31
It's great now. I've been a long time PS player for Japanese games and now PC is my preferred platform.
 
catpurrcat

catpurrcat

Member
Oct 27, 2017
7,802
Me and you both OP. Best combo is PC + Switch.

Wait till you see Sekiro at locked 60fps, Nier at 4K, playing Yakuza with a Switch Pro controller on Steam, etc etc
 
Man God

Man God

Member
Oct 25, 2017
38,372
Rosebud said:
It's the best time ever. You get new releases, "console exclusives", old games and games that aren't on consoles (mostly VN's)
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I'd say it's both the best time ever and still nowhere near comprehensive. There's plenty of games that don't get a PC version.

With the way the market is going though I'd bet you'd be fine skipping the PS5 next generation and going with Switch/PC to cover almost the entire countries output.
 
NSESN

NSESN

▲ Legend ▲
Member
Oct 25, 2017
25,379
I still recommend Switch. Most PS4 games come to PC nowadays but Switch only games is another story
And that is ignoring Nintendo themselves that is the most prolific Japanese publisher
 
JB2448

JB2448

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,027
Florida
If you go PC/Switch, all you'll miss for your interests is Sony Interactive Entertainment's Japanese first party exclusives and Atlus' arbitrary exclusives.
 

Syril

Member
Oct 26, 2017
5,895
Way more viable than it ever was in the past, but make sure to research games you're interested in, because some companies release mystifyingly terrible PC ports.

If you want a good starting point XSEED's releases of Falcom games are typically better than every other version. For example, their release of Trails in the Sky takes the original PC version from 2004, does high resolutions, adds the monster encyclopedia and option for voices from the PSP version, uses the HD art assets from the PS3 version, and adds a fast forward button.
 
Cordelia

Cordelia

Member
Jan 25, 2019
1,517
You can play basicaly everything but ATLUS' games and some Nintendo exclusives. If you want to emulate (which witth your specs it's perfectly capable) then the only thing that you'll be missed is just PS4 exclusives games.
 
Tuco Benedicto Pacifico

Tuco Benedicto Pacifico

Banned
Oct 31, 2017
8,466
Kade said:
Incredibly viable. Most Japanese games come to PC these days.
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Well, yes.
It gets even more viable if someone is actually willing to try new things.

No matter how competent a PC can be as a replacement to a console, going into it just to stick with console games seems like missing the point of what makes it good, to me.

Syril said:
Way more viable than it ever was in the past, but make sure to research games you're interested in, because some companies release mystifyingly terrible PC ports.
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Like what?
Most of the "worst PC ports ever" are still on par with the console version at their bare minimum and the exceptions can be probably counted on one hand (not to mention chances are there will be a mod somewhere that fix something).
 
Spark

Spark

Member
Dec 6, 2017
2,586
Way viable. I played Yakuza 0, followed by EDF5 with MHW, Atelier Ryza, Nioh and Octopath traveller on my backlog. Even three years ago saying that about PC would have been ludicrous.

That said sometimes the ports take longer than you'd like, but if you have a backlog it's not a big issue.
 
texhnolyze

texhnolyze

Shinra Employee
Member
Oct 25, 2017
23,297
Indonesia
Lots of Japanese games are PC/PS4 only or PC/Switch only. You can argue that PC gets even more Japanese games than either console. However, it's always best to go for PC + console combo, preferably Switch. PS4 used to have a bunch of Japanese games exclusives, but not anymore. They're all coming to PC except a few like Persona and Sony Japan studio games.

We know nothing about next gen though.
 

Syril

Member
Oct 26, 2017
5,895
Tuco Benedicto Pacifico said:
Like what?
Most of the "worst PC ports ever" are still on par with the console version at their bare minimum and the exceptions can be probably counted on one hand (not to mention chances are there will be a mod somewhere that fix something).
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Like the Koei Tecmo ports of PS4 games that are based on the PS3 version with the graphics stuck on low.
 

ZSJ

Alt-Account
Banned
Jul 21, 2019
607
Mass Effect said:
Extremely viable. Does it get everything? No, but there's plenty of Japanese titles that hit PC, especially if they also come to PS4.



there are IPS high-framerate monitors you know. I have one.
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IPS lol. As I said, a nice TV will beat out these trash monitors with greys for blacks from a picture quality standpoint.

Not saying 144hz sucks or anything, I just don't see it as such a clear cut winner when you factor in all the displays you can connect to a TV. Forza Horizon 4 @ 4K/60/HDR on an OLED will probably change your mind a bit if picture quality means anything to you.
 
copelandmaster

copelandmaster

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,950
Running down my personal gripes list:

Square Enix takes forever with FF games, but they do show up. Cross your fingers to play FFVII:RE in 2021 on PC.

Waiting for new Yakuza/old Yakuza is an ongoing process (+Judgement), but they'll all be on PC one day.

Anime fighters made by ArcSys and French Bread take too long to come over after launching on console, and launch in a confusing state with a split playerbase (Xrd Sign, Xrd Rev, Rev 2 being DLC for REV). Under Night has done this song and dance bullshit like 3 times now, who knows if the newest console UNI game will come to Steam. New GG is currently uncomfirmed for PC.

ATLUS sucks and gives no fucks, period. Don't count on anything Persona. It's so bad that the two PS3/360 persona fighters are actually PC based in arcades but haven't come to Steam - now some of the sprites only live on in Cross Tag Battle.


Otherwise, you're golden. Loads of smaller titles are abundant, and probably don't even need such a high spec PC (of course that may change over the next year or two). Namco Bandai is usually excellent, CAPCOM is also usually excellent. Tecmo Koei ports their titles to mixed-positive results. SE is much better with anything not FF. There's a billion Nep games. All the Souls and souls likes are here. Killer 7 HD is only on steam currently. Travis Strikes Again just came out.

Depends on what games you like, but you'll most likely be satisfied.
 
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predprey

Banned
Sep 20, 2019
165
ZSJ said:
IPS lol. As I said, a nice TV will beat out these trash monitors with greys for blacks from a picture quality standpoint.

Not saying 144hz sucks or anything, I just don't see it as such a clear cut winner when you factor in all the displays you can connect to a TV. Forza Horizon 4 @ 4K/60/HDR on an OLED will probably change your mind a bit if picture quality means anything to you.
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Add in a Atmos home theater or soundbar and a comfy leather couch, and I will give 144hz a pass any day. 144 fps is not as easily achievable as 4k 60 fps in AAA games and even with 2080Tis can still be bottlenecked by engine limitations.

Have to admit though OLED may not be as beneficial for people who play in the living room with lights on, so IPS/Quantum Dot technology may not be as worse off for them. TN though.... yea those are for competitive gaming at high refresh rates and not targeted at high fidelity gaming.
 
Drakhyrr

Drakhyrr

Member
Oct 27, 2017
686
Brazil
It's getting better. Pretty good for most big Japanese games.

If you're looking for less famous games, though, it's variable. Lots of bad, buggy ports out there, like almost anything by Koei Tecmo. I still find myself buying on PS4 a lot of Japanese games available on PC because I can't deal with that shit anymore.

A quick check on the negative Steam reviews is usually enough, but sometimes things are a little more buried, like finding out the ally AI in God Eater 1 and 2 is broken on pc, despite the good reviews.
 
Spark

Spark

Member
Dec 6, 2017
2,586
predprey said:
Add in a Atmos home theater or soundbar and a comfy leather couch, and I will give 144hz a pass any day. 144 fps is not as easily achievable as 4k 60 fps in AAA games and even with 2080Tis can still be bottlenecked by engine limitations.
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You don't have to maintain a 144fps. Pretty much all 144hz IPS monitors have GSync or Freesync, and fluctuating anywhere between ~65-140fps looks smooth as butter. Fluctuating between 40-60 on a 4K TV while playing native content feels insanely worse, especially as a ton of them don't have freesync (freesync also feels worse at 40-60fps).
 
GhostTrick

GhostTrick

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,417
Syril said:
Like the Koei Tecmo ports of PS4 games that are based on the PS3 version with the graphics stuck on low.
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That was the case years ago. In fact, the only one that had "PS3 version with graphics stuck on low" was One Piece Pirate Warriors 3. All the new ports are based on PS4 versions with better res and framerate. And also visuals.
 
MidnightWatcher

MidnightWatcher

Member
Oct 26, 2017
47
Lucentto said:
This holiday as a present for myself, I'm thinking about buying a new gaming PC (AMD 3700x and 2080s or 2080ti, would like to play games in 4k 60fps). Though I'm thinking about how viable it is for me to spend a lot on this if I mostly play Japanese games and very rarely a AAA title. I know that the library has gotten better in recent times but it still seems like getting releases the same time as the console versions is an issue. Thought I should get some comments from those already in the PC ecosystem.
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Why would you limit yourself just to Japanese games?
 

predprey

Banned
Sep 20, 2019
165
Spark said:
You don't have to maintain a 144fps. Pretty much all 144hz IPS monitors have GSync or Freesync, and fluctuating anywhere between ~65-140fps looks smooth as butter. Fluctuating between 40-60 on a 4K TV while playing native content feels insanely worse, especially as a ton of them don't have freesync (freesync also feels worse at 40-60fps).
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Well... if Nvidia would release an OLED version of their BFGD that would be the best of both worlds. But given the same specs of 2080Ti and having to make a compromise between a fluctuating 65-140 GSync gameplay on a desktop setup vs a stable 4K 60fps (with DLSS if needed) gameplay from the couch, I'm saying I would choose the latter. Might have to do with the type of games I play too, since they are mostly singleplayer RPGs like Witcher, Assassin's Creed etc, where fast sync is sufficient for my needs. But if one were to actively play more competitive games like PUBG, Fortnite, Apex, LoL, Battlefield etc, then the desktop GSync setup would definitely be better.
 

predprey

Banned
Sep 20, 2019
165
GhostTrick said:
That was the case years ago. In fact, the only one that had "PS3 version with graphics stuck on low" was One Piece Pirate Warriors 3. All the new ports are based on PS4 versions with better res and framerate. And also visuals.
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Actually the Dead or Alive 5 port on Steam was also based on the lesser PS3 version without particle effects. But those are all "old" games, newer Koei ports aren't plagued by these issues.
 
Jazzem

Jazzem

Member
Feb 2, 2018
2,694
Honestly, part of why I finally got a gaming PC in 2016 was the increasing Japanese support :D I still mostly play console style games on the PC, has been lovely to see more of those games hit the platform
 
GhostTrick

GhostTrick

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,417
predprey said:
Actually the Dead or Alive 5 port on Steam was also based on the lesser PS3 version without particle effects. But those are all "old" games, newer Koei ports aren't plagued by these issues.
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Yes, but not "the PS3 version stuck on low". Dead or Alive 5 PC port, while worse on some aspects, was better on others: Higher resolution and shadows. One Piece on the other hand was really bad on every aspects.
 
Aeferis

Aeferis

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,626
Italy
Unless you're deeply in love with Atlus/Vanillaware games, it's very viable. The vast majority of Japanese games are now out on PC on the same day of console release or a few months later.
 

Deleted member 679

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
14,741
Exclusively PC gaming will have you missing on some good stuff you'll want to play, but if you're still willing to get at least one console per generation, you'll have a good time. Just not having to deal with console performance in any From game that isn't Bloodborne or Demon's Souls is already worth it, to me.

But at least this gen, the games I'd want to play that I'd miss if I didn't have a console weren't just "not on PC", they were exclusive to that particular console, or console family. Like Persona 5 and Bloodborne. So it's not the kind of stuff you'd expect on PC in the first place.

Japanese games are usually not the most demanding, though, so I'm not sure if you actually need all that power for the currently released games. Maybe wait for next gen to come out and go all in to make sure you can run next gen games as well?
 
skLaFarebear

skLaFarebear

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,174
Significantly better than any modern console if you count emulation. Sony/Nintendo aren't really interested in letting you buy and play their older games on modern platforms.

At this point PS4 is only a Bloodborne/Spider-man/Uta box.
 
hersheyfan

hersheyfan

Powered by Friendship™
Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,758
Manila, Philippines
I jumped back into PC gaming in 2015 because of the rising presence of Japanese games on the platform, and havent looked back.

I still maintain a PS4 and NSW for the exclusives I can't live without, but my PC is far and away my main platform for gaming, Japanese or otherwise. The prices are better, and so is the performance. Jump in OP, you won't regret it.
 

NeroPaige

Member
Jan 8, 2018
1,711
I play Musou games so it's a plus, the downside is they still haven't released a musou without a 60fps cap. Which is ridiculous, hopefully Pirate Warriors 3 has an open framerate. Muh g-sync.
 
lightning16

lightning16

Member
May 17, 2019
1,763
Yeah it's gotten very good over the past several years. Personally thinking about just skipping the PS5 and going Switch/PC for next gen since it'll cover the grand majority of Japanese titles of note.
 

Deleted member 2620

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
4,491
as someone who is extremely into Japanese action games throughout arcade and console history, a PC is the best platform for exploring these libraries

copelandmaster said:
Running down my personal gripes list:

Square Enix takes forever with FF games, but they do show up. Cross your fingers to play FFVII:RE in 2021 on PC.

Waiting for new Yakuza/old Yakuza is an ongoing process (+Judgement), but they'll all be on PC one day.

Anime fighters made by ArcSys and French Bread take too long to come over after launching on console, and launch in a confusing state with a split playerbase (Xrd Sign, Xrd Rev, Rev 2 being DLC for REV). Under Night has done this song and dance bullshit like 3 times now, who knows if the newest console UNI game will come to Steam. New GG is currently uncomfirmed for PC.

ATLUS sucks and gives no fucks, period. Don't count on anything Persona. It's so bad that the two PS3/360 persona fighters are actually PC based in arcades but haven't come to Steam - now some of the sprites only live on in Cross Tag Battle.


Otherwise, you're golden. Loads of smaller titles are abundant, and probably don't even need such a high spec PC (of course that may change over the next year or two). Namco Bandai is usually excellent, CAPCOM is also usually excellent. Tecmo Koei ports their titles to mixed-positive results. SE is much better with anything not FF. There's a billion Nep games. All the Souls and souls likes are here. Killer 7 HD is only on steam currently. Travis Strikes Again just came out.

Depends on what games you like, but you'll most likely be satisfied.
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This is a pretty good overview of the downsides, I think.
 
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