Fans of video game collecting have quite a handful of releases to be aware of for the month of June. One in particular that I am excited about is Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness. Like all recent collector’s editions from Square Enix – with the exception of Bravely Second - the Star Ocean CE was available exclusively on Square Enix’s store.

Even though the game doesn’t come out until June 28th, Square started charging on the 3rd. This is strangely early and perhaps inconveniencing for someone who was trying to save up for the game because I don’t think any of the major retailers pre-charge this early. If you did pre-order though and you want the set, you definitely want to pay it off since the game has sold out at Square’s website. The set has a sticker price of $109.99 but comes out to around $126 with the cheapest shipping option and taxes: some resellers even have marked it up to over $200 on eBay.

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The page allows you to sign up for the waiting list, but I honestly can’t remember the Square store restocking a collectible like this. I’ve personally been waiting for a chance to get the Final Fantasy Explorers CE for less than $100 and had no luck as of yet. I found the Star Ocean CE appealing due to always loving the series and the extras are nice too. It includes a Steelbook case, a hardcover art book and art cards – I’m thinking similar to the ones in the European Blazblue: Continuum Shift CE – a cool looking outer box, a “Songs of Star Ocean” CD and a Panagalactic Federation ID card. It’s still unclear to me what the ID card is for, but there’s also some DLC.

A massive announcement in JRPG news was the February 2017 release window for Persona 5 and just as big was the reveal of the “Take Your Heart” Edition. The inclusion of a proper Steelbook and a hardcover art book alone sell me on the set, not to mention a soundtrack you know is going to be amazing thanks to genius Shoji Meguro returning to the composer’s helm (though the soundtrack included features "a selection of tracks" versus a complete collection). It's a small thing, but I also find the plaid outer box to be quite striking. The plush could be a great shelf piece, but we probably could have got a price point lower than $89.99 without the bag, which I’ll be afraid to use anyway for fear of breaking it.

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As far as availability goes, I’m assuming that the Persona set will be readily available up to and after the game’s launch. Outside of the occasional 3DS exclusive, Atlus collectibles haven’t been very scarce as of late, with the Persona 4 Golden: Solid Gold Premium Edition being a noteworthy exception. So if you’re the type that likes to see unboxing videos and whatnot before making a purchase, I think you’ll have time.

Speaking of unboxing, the Storybook Edition of Odin Sphere: Leifthrasir is out and I snapped a few pictures. The metal case has wonderful artwork on both sides, but I wish it could have been a Steelbook. It’s a lovely piece though and the way it houses the standard game case is neat. The outer box itself comes in a sleeve. The sleeve has the same artwork as the standard edition, but the outer box has lovely artwork too. The shirt features a rather minimalist design, but does feature cool colors in red and black. The hardcover art book features 64 pages and I would say has about half original or promotional artwork and half sprites or visual assets used in the actual game.

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I’d have liked to see more original stuff, but it is a beautiful piece nonetheless. My favorite extra though might be the Alice and Socrates art print. It’s eye catching, subtle and lovely, and it should fit in perfectly in any collection of JRPGs, anime or such fare. The price was definitely reasonable too, coming out to around $69, shipping included, via Amazon pre-order. All in all I’d say it’s worth it, if not only for the splendid game also included. Nothing in it is quite as cool as that glowing multicolored crystal that was included in the Japanese Collector's Edition for this game (video via MissNekopon). Yet, when are our sets ever as nice as their Japanese counterparts?

While you're in the mood to answer questions, are you picking up any gaming collectibles in June? How about Mighty No.9's Signature Edition? What do you think of the Persona 5 CE?