I've gone shopping in Tokyo

Minerva · Post by **Minerva** » Wed May 10, 2006 6:16 am

Hello, guys.

Yup, I spent a month in Japan and visited many places (as this is the most beautiful time of the year in Japan), soaked up lots of culture (saw Kabuki, Noh, and Kyogen, and went several exhibitions as well), and ate everything I had to.

Then, of course I went shopping. My house is quite close to the Akihabara district -- the gamers must make their pilgrimage there in your lifetime, you know), and, of course, I went there many times.

Here is my shopping list.
-PSP + its necessary accessories

-Softwares
--for PSP: Suikoden 1&2 (RPG), Valkyrie Profile (RPG), and 4 historical SLG games
--for PS2: Suikoden III, Romaning Saga-Minstrel Song, and Dragon Quest VIII (all RPGs)
--for PS: FFVII

Mind you, I don't play all of the above one after the other and I only bought 3 games last year. Honest. And I didn't pay them full price either. Some are second hands or in a bargain bin (I paid £6 for Suikoden III, for example).

I hereby declare I do not buy any more games this year.
Unless it is absolutely necessary.

slade · Post by **slade** » Wed May 10, 2006 6:27 am

IM glad you had fun and got back safely
nice games

they have a final fantasy VII for the PSP cool

Minerva · Post by **Minerva** » Wed May 10, 2006 6:39 am

[QUOTE=slade]IM glad you had fun and got back safely
nice games

they have a final fantasy VII for the PSP cool

[/QUOTE]

No, no, that is for PS1.
I also considered FFXII as that seems to be receiving good reaction from gamers in general, but it still costs £25 for second hands and decided to wait.

Damuna_Nova · Post by **Damuna_Nova** » Wed May 10, 2006 7:04 am

Hello!

I don't know you, but then I haen't been around that long.

Welcome back.

How do you feel about giing yourself an embarrassing Pokémon aatar for fun? :laugh:

(See link in my sig)

Minerva · Post by **Minerva** » Wed May 10, 2006 10:07 am

[QUOTE=Damuna_Nova]
How do you feel about giing yourself an embarrassing Pokémon aatar for fun? :laugh:
[/QUOTE]
I don't think so.

Darzog · Post by **Darzog** » Wed May 10, 2006 10:10 am

[QUOTE=Damuna_Nova]How do you feel about giing yourself an embarrassing Pokémon aatar for fun? :laugh: [/QUOTE]
You leave your Pokémon avatar fetish in your own thread.

Welcome back Minerva. Are all those games in Japanese then? Makes it kinda hard for the general user to use.

Damuna_Nova · Post by **Damuna_Nova** » Wed May 10, 2006 10:14 am

[QUOTE=Darzog]You leave your Pokémon avatar fetish in your own thread.[/QUOTE]

Gie yourself a pokémon aatar and maybe I might.

Alltgear · Post by **Alltgear** » Wed May 10, 2006 12:45 pm

Hey did you see any anime over there or what?

The Balance · Post by **The Balance** » Wed May 10, 2006 1:00 pm

Welcome back to SYM MINERVA !

Why don't you take me with you on your next trip to Japan ??

So I can learn the most beautiful language

rolleyes:

Spoiler

Japanese!!

), visit a lot of splendid places, meet fantastic people, ... !!!

Damuna_Nova · Post by **Damuna_Nova** » Wed May 10, 2006 3:46 pm

[QUOTE=The Balance]meet fantastic people, ... !!!

[/QUOTE]

Racists you mean?

TonyMontana1638 · Post by **TonyMontana1638** » Wed May 10, 2006 3:51 pm

... Can you get me a PSP next time you go?

Glad you had fun Lady Wisdom

Robnark · Post by **Robnark** » Wed May 10, 2006 4:30 pm

no fair, you get rpgs for the psp. I have the choice of, ooh, 4. at least one is a remake of a ps1 game and two of them are deeply mediocre

er, welcome back, anyway

TonyMontana1638 · Post by **TonyMontana1638** » Wed May 10, 2006 5:28 pm

[QUOTE=Damuna_Nova]Racists you mean?

[/QUOTE]

C Elegans · Post by **C Elegans** » Wed May 10, 2006 10:39 pm

Hello Minerva, nice seeing you! Hope you had a good time in Tokyo and that your life is good! I'll try to go to Japan next year, right now I don't have an excuse since the guy I am collaborating with has been at my lab on postdoc for almost a year

He'll go back to Japan next year, then I can visit

dragon wench · Post by **dragon wench** » Wed May 10, 2006 10:47 pm

[QUOTE=Minerva]Hello, guys.

Then, of course I went shopping. My house is quite close to the Akihabara district -- the gamers must make their pilgrimage there in your lifetime, you know), and, of course, I went there many times. [/QUOTE]

Glad to hear you had a good time. I really like Tokyo a lot!

I have fond memories of Akihabara. There used to be a music shop there that was about six floors high, and each level had huge reclined lounge chairs with headphones so that you could sit back and really listen to any music you wanted to buy. It was an awesome place!

slade · Post by **slade** » Wed May 10, 2006 11:17 pm

[QUOTE=Minerva]No, no, that is for PS1.
I also considered FFXII as that seems to be receiving good reaction from gamers in general, but it still costs £25 for second hands and decided to wait.[/QUOTE]
yeah you should hold off on that one....until you finish VII.....you'll be putting around 70-100 hours on VII

...have you played FFX yet.....you really cant enjoy it if you havent.......too bad you dont live closer I would let you borrow it

Minerva · Post by **Minerva** » Thu May 11, 2006 4:50 am

Thanks everyone.

[QUOTE=Darzog]Welcome back Minerva. Are all those games in Japanese then? Makes it kinda hard for the general user to use.

[/QUOTE]
Not necessarily all of them. I believe PSP remake of Valkyrie Profile will be released in US in September (just checked Gamespot), and all three PS2 RPGs are already released at least in North America.
As for Suikoden 1&2, I don't understand why not in near future, considering demands for them outside of Japan and Konami has just released Suikoden V in both America and Europe.

I've been playing Suikoden 1&2, and they are great fun. As I have played 5 just before going to Japan, I have a lot to comment on the series (not necessarily everything's good, though). But I probably should do so in RPG forum rather than here, if there's interests in GB.

Minerva · Post by **Minerva** » Thu May 11, 2006 5:20 am

[QUOTE=Alltgear]Hey did you see any anime over there or what?[/QUOTE]
I have seen only a few. For some reason, Japanese TV companies have allocated Anime to strange time, like weekday after midnight or Saturday morning for no apparent reason.
The one to watch is Nana. Not my kind of Anime, but I suspect that series will be shown outside of Japan soon.
One Piece was good fun, as was xxxHolic (a touch of horror, this one). I liked Ouran Highschool Host Club a lot (a good comedy), but this is definitely for girls.

[QUOTE=Robnark]no fair, you get rpgs for the psp. I have the choice of, ooh, 4. at least one is a remake of a ps1 game and two of them are deeply mediocre

er, welcome back, anyway

[/QUOTE]
You can play Japanese RPGs on your PSP, you know. Of course they are in Japanese, still you can try with a dictionary.

Actually, many of PSP games are remake of ps1 games. Some has additional movies or sounds, and changed screensize to fit the wide screen of PSP.
For example, Suikoden 1&2 (because this is the only game I played through so far) did only screensize adjustment, fixed some bugs, and added a feature to see in game movies and scenes. That's about it. Konami fit two games into one software, so they couldn't do much else.
I thought playing RPG on PSP is good idea, because I can stop anytime I like with suspension mode.

Minerva · Post by **Minerva** » Thu May 11, 2006 6:54 am

@CE: Well, when (not if

) you will go to Japan, don't go in summer. It's horrendously hot and humid, just like being in sauna. Even winter is better than summer.
Let me know when you go.

@DW: I'm glad to hear you like the place, because Tokyo can be tricky and too busy (even for me) sometimes.

Akihabara has been changed a lot, yet as crazy as ever! There are lots of new buildings and brought new competition among shops (with better eating choices). I know the shop you mentioned, but I suspect they are rebuilding it after caughting major fire last year.

[QUOTE=slade]yeah you should hold off on that one....until you finish VII.....you'll be putting around 70-100 hours on VII

...have you played FFX yet.....you really cant enjoy it if you havent.......too bad you dont live closer I would let you borrow it

[/QUOTE]
Well, I will leave it until I finish all the Suikoden series at least.

After all, those are the games I bought for whole of this year, so I have to stretch the enjoyment instead of playing them one after the other.
Also, Suikoden II was as great as I've heard so many times, I just can't bring myself to go somewhere else just yet.

KidD01 · Post by **KidD01** » Sat Jun 03, 2006 10:42 am

[QUOTE=Minerva]I have seen only a few. For some reason, Japanese TV companies have allocated Anime to strange time, like weekday after midnight or Saturday morning for no apparent reason.
The one to watch is Nana. Not my kind of Anime, but I suspect that series will be shown outside of Japan soon.
One Piece was good fun, as was xxxHolic (a touch of horror, this one). I liked Ouran Highschool Host Club a lot (a good comedy), but this is definitely for girls.
<SNIP>[/QUOTE]

My oh my.....Minnie-chan watches anime? Sound kewl....KITAAA!! [^o^]V

BTW Ohisashiburi, Minerva-san. Anatawa o genki desuka? Watashiwa heki desu.