Radiant Historia (Atlus, DS) was released in the U.S. on 2/22/11.  It got good reviews, and looks like it's already out of print and rising in price.  Amazon has it for $55 and GameStop says it's unavailable.  I got it for $30 just two weeks ago from Amazon.  Wow.

http://www.amazon.com/Radiant-Historia- … 901&sr=8-1

http://www.gamestop.com/ds/games/radiant-historia/88489

http://video-games.shop.ebay.com/?_from … sacat=1249

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What the hell, humanity?

Good gravy. I'm kind of glad now I got it when I did.
The short supply might be because Atlus is funneling their resources into Catherine instead of a second run, now that I think about it.

Actually, if I recall correctly, Catherine has a fairly limited run as well.
Apparently the first week already reached the target number of sales, so I wouldn't be surprised if Catherine would turn out to be a fairly rare game as well.

The game just didn't strike me as being something I particularly want to play. That's not saying it's a bad game in any way, just didn't strike me. Catherine however is indeed something I do want to play. I hope the US release also includes a pre-order bonus soundtrack!

Crap - I need to somehow find a copy so I can get that CD that comes with it...

Wow, is this real? Alright, it's an Atlus game, and an RPG on the DS... oh shoot.

If I was Nintendo, I would've figured out how to make at least all DS games digitally downloadable now...Sony's done it with the PSP, right?

Just make sure the DS is still backwards compatible with all the old cartridges...unlike the PSP Go.

I'm rather confuzzled with how slow it's taking for digital distribution to take off...still better than it's been, but come on...

I wouldn't buy a digital copy of Radiant Historia unless it was really cheap. And if it was only available as an expensive digital release, I simply wouldn't buy it. Not a big fan of the current DD models.

Well, Virtual Console and WiiWare downloads are cheap enough, even for me...I don't see why DS games wouldn't be, as well...

There's a limit to how much consumers will pay for things; producers will eventually wisen up to that.

I've read various places that Nintendo is down on the idea of retail games on DSiware (and likely 3DSware), although I've never seen in substantiated this quotes or article references. It's quite believable, though - it's a very Nintendo thing to do, conservative to the point of being stubborn. A few cart games have actually ended up on the service in modified/stripped down form, but I'm not sure any of these actually came out in the US/EU/Australia.

I can kind of understand why they would be reluctant. For one thing, cart games are larger (Radiant Historia, for example, is 50mb even as a compressed archive and would balloon out to 128mb if not modified). Secondly, as noted, it's difficult to price DD versions of games with a contemporary physical release - people will rarely bite at the prices the games warrant*. Thirdly, DSiware games have - to my knowledge - yet to be "cracked"....you can't emulate them or play them on any retail DS. If there were both a retail and DSiware version of a given DS game and the two were functionally identical, interested parties might have an opportunity to make certain advances in that area.

*note that when I say "warrant", I am referring to the current state of how video games are commercially valued and the costs involved in their creation, marketing and distribution. I am not referring to what the prices would be if the overall economic model of video games was shifted towards something more favorable to consumers, or for that matter what the games might be considered to be worth from an objective or subjective point of view.

I have to admit, I'm somewhat pleasantly surprised - and a bit confused - at the positive reception this game has received in the USA. Near the start and in early previews, it seemed a very....well, C-grade title. And regardless of it's quality (which I have no particular reason to question at this time), I have my doubts over whether it would have been localized by Atlus (or anyone else) if it hadn't been developed at their Japanese parent.

Those services like the PSP downloads and Xbox direct demand are overcharging by a lot. You can usually get the retail copy discounted for much less than the downloadable version!

That's how it in with music too, especially for lossless discs -- they often charge $15 for a lossless album when you can easily often get used for $10-$11 /after/ shipping.
The worst part is the reason for the 'best' part -- if something doesn't sell on DL, it's not a big deal. There's basically no cost to keeping something "in the catalog" as there's no manufacturing, distribution, etc...so they can charge higher prices and think they are making more money but....

Well, me, I've been paying about $9 USD per album downloaded from Amazon MP3. That's about $6 USD cheaper, or more, than if I bought a physical release ($15 USD or more).

As for actual WiiWare and Virtual Console, they don't involve retail products, because you buy them off of Nintendo's own network; granted, there ARE other places selling virtual titles - check Amazon.com for WiiWare and virtual console titles! - where they might actually be cheaper (by a few cents) - since you're paying direct money, instead of buying Wii points - but you have to figure out how to transfer from your computer to your Wii.

With regards to digital distribution - and all products in general - consumers eventually wisen up, and there's a limit to how much they'll pay for a certain product.

The blogosphere is lit up about recent games that turned out to be monumental disappointments. When a half-finished game is put to market, and at a $60 price tag, there's going to be a point at which the industry in general is going to have to re-evaluate itself, if it doesn't want to completely collapse - consumers will eventually wisen up and stop buying, until producers actually want to release quality product. If you don't want to create quality product, there's always someone else who is - your competitor.

I look at the American auto industry - GM, Ford, Chrysler, they basically collapsed because they refused to innovate, and keep making the same crap cars, even when faced with foreign competition. Now American automakers are trying to play catch-up, and it just isn't working.

And I see a similar case with the gaming industry - producers think they can keep pushing out the same crap, think people will still buy it, and not only that, but overcharge for it.

You ask me, there's eventually going to be a big collapse in the gaming industry, and what will remain are the hardcore producers and consumers who really believe in the medium. I look at indie games, and I can't help thinking it's those producers who will be the future of gaming.

I do think there will be a point at which the mainstream, fratboy gamer will become extinct, because the over-hyped, Hollywood-style producers that appeal to said demographic, will eventually disappoint the expectations of said demographic.

Another problem with most console releases these days, is, they're expensive because they cost so much to make - they behemoth-sized projects, that pretty much become impossible to maintain, as the bugs, glitches, and flaws that appear in them would attest to.

Much like how society in general is beginning to scale down, as people realize that their consumptuous, spend-happy behavior is unsustainable, I think gaming will become a lot more scaled down, too, as people realize they don't need to spend $60 just to get a quality game, and really, most of the time, the more expensive stuff is disappointing, anyway.

You say that, despite digital distribution making things cheaper for producers, producers will still charge the same for their products - if not more.

I'm saying, that the consumer will eventually wisen up, and say, "Either make your product cheaper, or I'm not buying." Because me, that's where I am now. There are plenty of people smarter than me; and if I'm saying that, I can only imagine that plenty more are as well.

Is the CD any different from the Japanese OST (which is also one disc)?  I'm saving my copy as a gift, so I haven't opened it.

It's supposed to be the piano arranged CD that was a preorder bonus in Japan.

Looks like Radiant got favorable reviews (about 8.0/10). However, it just didn't really interest me. On the other hand, I think (correct me if I'm wrong) but DS users have been fairly starved as of recent for a decent rpg. While on the other hand, the PSP is getting inundated by great rpgs (many classic) thanks to Aksys.

Aksys? Classic RPGs? PSP? Are you sure that's who you mean?

Err, Golden Sun? Dragon Quest VI? Okamiden?

Haven't seen much of interest on PSP besides Tactics Ogre. Is there something else?

Ys I & II
Ys III
YS VII
The Legend of Heroes Trails in the Sky

and as you said, Tactics Ogre. That makes it 5 excellent games.

Also, I'm not terribly interested in these, but I know others are:

FFIV Complete
The Third Birthday
Dissidia 012

So 8 in total. As for the DS, I admit that DQ VI looks great. The others I will personally pass on.

few more:

3rd birthday/Parasite Eve soon.

FF IV remake + sidestories soon.
FF Type-0 soon
Patapon 3 soon

Valkyria Chronicles 3 hopefully soon

the PSP has been number one if you're into all kinds of RPGs quite for a while now.

I don't know much about LoH, but isn't that an old game?
So 4 out of these 5 are ports/slight remasters.

If that is what you mean by "classic" then you are certainly right, but I prefer something new.

Port
Not an RPG (and not very good)
Update (but a very good one!)

I'm a total Dissidia whore, so I won't say anything against it, but looking at things objectively, the DS is a FAR better platform if you're looking for NEW "classic" RPGs.

It's the first game in the most recent trilogy, originally released for PC in 2004.  It got ported to the PSP in 2006, and is now coming to the U.S. for the first time.  While it's taken a long time to get localized, I'd hardly call it old.  Can't wait to check it out.  The PSP continues to be a wonderful little Falcom player for me, while the majority of the OTHER stuff I want comes to the DS.  Totally subjective, though - the PSP has been surprisingly awesome in recent times so I understand those who'd prefer it.

I understood the discussion as being about games recently available ("as of recent"). And I really wouldn't count Patapon 3 as any sort of an RPG.

The silly thing about Radiant Historia going rare so quickly is that I already have a backlog of DS RPGs like 4 Heroes of Light and Glory of Heracles even without the recent releases, so if I want to play RH at some point, I have to add it to the pile now.

i only listed the upcoming games because it's pretty clear what we got in the last 12 months i consider patapon a musical/tactical rpg. you have stats, weapon and armor cutomization and you need to manage a party to fell large bosses.

I really wish the Patapon games were just Rhythm Action games and did away with all the RPG stuff (especially the tedious resource mining needed to get better equipment).

I actually know better about those upcoming games than I do about what came in the past 12 months, or even the past 3 months (the timespan I consider "recent"). But still, I'm not really seeing the PSP with Dissidia or Third Birthday as the place for traditional RPG goodness.

there will be a reprint of the game (like expected). check your favorite online store.

Atlus recently reprinted this. It's temporarily sold out. It looks it's sold out at least in part, because people are purchasing the game and then turning around and trying to sell it for huge profits. All this is somewhat amusing, and most certainly asinine. I wonder if the genuises that are trying to sell it for huge profits later plan to work for Wall-Street?

Anyway, if anyone is really looking for a copy, amazon claims new shipments should be in soon.

Actually not yet.  The reprint is allegedly coming in late March and will not include the CD.

yeah, the guy at the gamestore was telling me this... crazy

For those looking, it's back in stock at Amazon for 34.99.

I'm curious why it was selling for $80+ for so long? Was the game that good? From what I read of reviews, it was a good game, but did not strike me as anything special. Has anyone played it and can they comment?

Actually, yeah, I'm up for some feedback on the game as well.

I wrote some lines here:
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