I consider myself a beginner in Japanese. My vocabulary is fairly small, I've gone through RTK1 and review it every day, have finished a lot of Tae Kim's (will keep revisiting), and review the Smart.FM Japanese Core 2,000 sentences daily. I have a hard time sitting down and wanting to immerse myself in Japanese, but as a big gamer I think switching to a Japanese system might be my best bet to get me started faster.

That being said, do you think I should get a Japanese system? My options are PS2 and PS3, of course. I was going to order either of these systems from Play-Asia. PS3 has all the new games: FFXIII, White Knight Chronicles, etc., etc. PS2 has all the classic games with a larger library: Fatal Frame, other Final Fantasy games, Kingdom Hearts, etc.

Now besides the system, I'll need to decide the genre. RPG is generally probably better for me, right? Considering I should translate the information to continue my knowledge.

Just looking for some advice, feel free to say what you want. Thanks.

PS3 Games aren't region locked - you can buy a US system (yay warrenty) and still import games. You can also use the Japanese PSN Store worldwide; although you can't purchase things you can still download demo's, videos and use the Japanese HOME.

Also consider PSP or DS; both has be used to play downloaded Japanese games, and are considerably cheaper to purchase from the outset.

Just to note, if you go for the PS3 there is no need to waste a lot of money on importing a Japanese one. PS3 games are region free, so a EU or US one will run them as well.

I myself just recently bought a PS3 of my own (2 weeks ago now ). I ordered FFXIII, Valkyria Chronicles and Tales of Vesperia together with them and am certainly enjoying them a lot. They also help out my reading and listening, plus I learn some new vocab from them every now and then.

My Japanese level will probably be around your level, or lower, since I only finished RTK and am close to finish UBJG. I don't understand too much of the Japanese in the game yet, but certainly more then enough to play it without trouble.

The PS3 can btw also be used to create a Japanese PSN account, where you can download and play all the Japanese demos or buy games like FFVII.

Another recommendation to get off the JPSN is 週刊トロ・ステーション (Weekly Toro Station), its the replacement of Mainichi Issho and is basically a former daily, but now weekly 'news show' hold by two cats. Nowadays it is mostly about manga and games (last week's epp was about Kingdom of Hearts). Its funny and pretty easy to read, so a good practice for your reading .

All in all I am quite satisfied with my PS3 so far, so I can certainly recommend you one as well!

You can buy stuff from the Playstation Store isn't region locked for purchases. I think if you have a Japanese credit card and/or get point cards, you can freely purchase.

At least I think so... I buy stuff from the American store on my Japanese PS3 from Japan, so I'm assuming it's the same the other way around too.

Edit: The video store is region locked.

aphasiac Wrote:You can also use the Japanese PSN Store worldwide; although you can't purchase things you can still download demo's, videos and use the Japanese HOME.

Actually I believe you can, however then you either need a Japanese PSN points card (play-asia sells them, though they are pretty pricy) or a Japanese Credit card.

aphasiac Wrote:Also consider PSP or DS; both has be used to play downloaded Japanese games, and are considerably cheaper to purchase from the outset.

I'll second the DS, also region free and also a great amount of Japanse games for it. What I probably love most about it is the Kanji Sonomama dictionary. When I'm playing on my PS3 I have my DS laying next to me, and when I want to know a word I use the dict to get the kanji readings and then go to JDic to get a few example sentances and put them in Anki.

So nobody thinks PS2 would be a better idea for the game library? I have realized the PS3 isn't region-locked for some time now, so I guess it really comes down to game library.

The PS2 might be better due to the larger game library and cheaper price; I think this question has to come down to what else you might want to do with it -- if you go with the PS2, you will not be able to play any US games or really use it for anything else, whereas a PS3 can let you play English games and watch blue-ray discs (JP or US).

Quote:Now besides the system, I'll need to decide the genre. RPG is generally probably better for me, right?

I think you need to play what you enjoy; otherwise the game becomes more of a chore than fun. If you're thinking of trying to "translate" and understand all the dialogue, it has to be a game you want to play.

Of course. It's not that I don't like RPGs, I think maybe I should focus on them at first? Otherwise I definitely want Zone of the Enders, Fatal Frame, and so on. I just want to absorb knowledge as well, and I'm not sure if I can do that in a normal game without constant dialogue that allows you time to read.

I never had a PS2 myself, so I can't really judge about the PS2's lineup vs the PS3's. The PS3 slim unfortunately doesn't have backwards compatibility to the PS2 any more, though I believe some of the older regular models do. You could opt for buying one of those and be able to enjoy both PS2 and PS3 games. However I'm not sure which versions were backwards compatible, plus I also fear that you do need to get a Japanese one if you want to play Japanese PS2 games on it. Again I am not sure on this, so you'll have to check it out to be sure.

Nah, those go for a lot of money because they stopped production. I'll just choose one or the other. I have some time. I wanted to go on a trip to Japan but it might not happen, so I'll use some money to buy myself a Japanese system that will help me immerse.

I won't be buying U.S. games from now on. At least the American versions, anyway.

TheVinster Wrote:So nobody thinks PS2 would be a better idea for the game library? I have realized the PS3 isn't region-locked for some time now, so I guess it really comes down to game library.

PS2 is where it is at. There are countless good games for it campared to the PS3. Now yeah PS3 is region free but the games are not that great IMHO. I have a Japanese PS2 and I play the hell out of it. It is true that imported games are more expensive but if you look hard enough on ebay you will find some awesome deals on them. Unless you are the kind of gamer who prefers graphics over gameplay then PS3 is for you. I personally don't like the PS3 and will never buy it ( hence a slight bias post ).
Now if the PS3 you are looking at can play PS2 games then go for it. They are making most PS3 not play PS2 games due to marketing issues.

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6136677.html

Just buy a PS2 on Ebay. I bought my for $80 + $10 shipping and it came with 5 games.

Now, one thing you might want to be careful about when buying RPGs is that ideally you probably want an RPG that pauses after each line of dialogue (Tales of..., Star Ocean, etc.) rather than one that automatically advances the dialogue in real time (Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasies) so that you have a chance to look things up.

yudantaiteki Wrote:Now, one thing you might want to be careful about when buying RPGs is that ideally you probably want an RPG that pauses after each line of dialogue (Tales of..., Star Ocean, etc.) rather than one that automatically advances the dialogue in real time (Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasies) so that you have a chance to look things up.

For FFXIII you can press the PS button which will pause the game but still allow you to see the text.
However I personally don't 100% agree that not being able to pause is a flaw in general. Not being able to forces you to train your reading and or listening speed.
I also think that it is a bad idea to look up absolutely everything you don't know while playing. Go work through a textbook then, playing games should mainly be about entertaining yourself in your target language while passively training skills. Words you do look up are either words you need to know to play the game (like, what does 魔法＋３ do) or the words you hear frequently (i.e. in valkyria you will hear this every split second: 敵発見！)

While sometimes it is nice to be able to sit down and thoroughly read the text I think it is just as important to train your reading and listening speed. My opinion is that both ways have its ups and downs, so just play both types of games to train yourself in all aspects.

Of course Rekkusu, that makes sense. It wouldn't be much fun looking up everything.

Legion, did you buy your PS2 new? I'm kind of obsessive when it comes to my systems being unplayed and unopen. I always want the new product, especially when it's a system.

I sold my PS2 about the time I finished playing Kingdom Hearts II, so I definitely have a lot of games that I can play to make the system worth it, but the PS3 has the expanded possibilities that come with newer technology. I'll have to think it over, but I am leaning towards PS2 as a starter and PS3 as a possible upgrade in the unforseeable future.

What is "UBJG"? I keep seeing this on the forum.

Acronyms confuse me

i am about where you are at lol. I finished RTK in november and I'm review it and going through Tae Kim. I have a ps3 with 三國無双 and Resistance in Japanese. I haven't played them yet however because I want to increase my vocabulary and learn more basically. I am a pretty big gamer as well but I want to try and go through KO2001 first and maybe Smart.fm and then start gaming. Because that will be a lot of fun to learn and play and stuff.

I thought about getting FFXIII but i think i'll just hold back and wait until the summer or something.

Aijin Wrote:What is "UBJG"? I keep seeing this on the forum.

Acronyms confuse me

I think it's understanding basic japanese grammar. http://www.thejapanshop.com/product.php?productid=16188


Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

Oh, haven't heard of that before. Same level/material as Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar?

Aijin Wrote:Oh, haven't heard of that before. Same level/material as Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar?

I'm not really sure actually. I'm not too familiar with UBJG. However just browsing around the forums people have said it is basically:

Tae Kim = UBJG... or so. They said it's about the same. I'm doing Tae Kim now and it's pretty good for me so I don't really want to spend the money on UBJG. ^_^v

Does anyone know if its possible to play JP PS1 games downloaded from the Playstation Store on a US PS3?

PS3 is a better option. Almost every game has voiceovers, so you get audio as well as written Japanese to practice with. Plus the region-free thing and the ability to buy PSN stuff in Japanese (I use JP PSN cards that I buy online) makes it awesome.

I am really leaning towards PS2, because I missed out on a few awesome games. I already have an Xbox 360 for my current-gen games (albeit not Japanese).

yeah i can see that. you can get a lot of japanese ps2 games for pretty cheap. there are quite a few on ebay every once in awhile. you will have to mod the ps2 if i'm correct to be able to play the ps2 unless you get a japanese ps2 that is.

PS3 is just a better option and definitely worth its price:

1. Access to latest current generation titles.
2. No region lock so you can buy hardware in Americas/Europe/Anywhere and import games from Japan.
3. Japanese PSN & system menu.
4. Access to selected (usually the best) PS1 titles through Japanese PSN.
5. PS3 is vastly superior than PS2 in terms of functionality: best Blu-ray player on the market (thanks to upgrades & so far being compatible with everything Sony has decided to do with this format), decent movie player (external discs, usb sticks etc.), movie/video streamer, media viewer (photos, music), movie rental and DVR (with addons). It has WiFi and HDMI so less cables, looks great and has exchangeable hdd so you can download everything you've ever wanted.

Actually its hard to justify not buying it even if you're not learning Japanese

If you have an X360 do what I did: sell it. By now you've finished all exclusives and the ones that are coming out are not so thrilling (maybe Alan Wake when it arrives but PS3 has Heavy Rain and its coming out soon).

thurd Wrote:PS3 is just a better option and definitely worth its price:

1. Access to latest current generation titles.
2. No region lock so you can buy hardware in Americas/Europe/Anywhere and import games from Japan.
3. Japanese PSN & system menu.
4. Access to selected (usually the best) PS1 titles through Japanese PSN.
5. PS3 is vastly superior than PS2 in terms of functionality: best Blu-ray player on the market (thanks to upgrades & so far being compatible with everything Sony has decided to do with this format), decent movie player (external discs, usb sticks etc.), movie/video streamer, media viewer (photos, music), movie rental and DVR (with addons). It has WiFi and HDMI so less cables, looks great and has exchangeable hdd so you can download everything you've ever wanted.

Actually its hard to justify not buying it even if you're not learning Japanese

1. I have an Xbox 360.
2. This is a good idea, but I don't think it'll be a big deal. Just need a memory card, everything else will be in the box for the PS2.
3. PSN is not so much of a big factor, but it's definitely worth thinking about.
4. Yea, like FFVII. Although maybe an emulator might be a counter-argument here.
5. I don't like Blu-ray. The movie player might be good for the media I downloaded, though. WiFi is a plus, but I don't use HDMI either.

That's my defense towards getting a PS2. The next argument is the price. Importing a PS2 from Play-Asia (I want a new one, but will check eBay) is about $200, whereas buying a PS3 locally is $300 off of Amazon (free shipping, no tax). That's where it gets difficult.