Is it worth buying this game if I want to learn Japanese?

[ryan94]

I'm thinking of learning Japanese. Would you recommend New Loveplus+ as a good game, and a game to learn Japanese? I only know hiragana, katakana and a few kanji (as much as many people playing this game i'm sure). I'm considering buying a Japanese 3DS (I haven't got a 3DS) and a Japanese version of the game New LovePlus+.

Also, it seems as though this game will be the last in the series. Haven't heard of any rumours of a new game to wait around for instead

[teru]

Since most of the game is voiced, that will help tremendously if you have a broader hearing vocab than a reading one. If you really want to make the most of it, you'll have to look up a LOT of words at first I'd imagine. The girls talk about a lot of different things when walking to and from school or place to place on dates, and while you don't need to understand any of it to really continue playing or scoring points, it is a communication based game so I can't see really enjoying it if you skip it.

It's probably *playable*, as in you can navigate through everything and continue to gradually raise your relationship with her, go on dates, etc., with 50-100 Kanji, and you'll learn any you need but might not know fairly quickly.

It might not really be enjoyable unless you're at the level where you can watch a slice-of-life anime raw, or pick up a light novel or a manga without furigana and enjoy it. That means if you've either got the vocabulary OR are the type who can still enjoy something while needing to dictionary it, it'll be golden. The game doesn't have too many parts where you need to read quickly or where it demands an immediate response, so you have that in your favor.

When you get your 3DS, assuming it doesn't come with 10.6+ firmware, I would recommend getting Browserhax before upgrading. It's the easiest to install. You'll want the custom firmware to be able to apply translation patches and to play non-Japanese games too, to really get the most out of your 3DS. None of this inherently involves piracy and is not a danger to bricking your console. (Alternately, you could get a 3DS for whatever region you're in, homebrew it, and play LovePLus on a non-JP system.)

I bought my JP 3DS just for LovePlus so I won't say it's not worth it on its own, but I played the DS rom for over a year and knew what I was getting into.