Megami Tensei Topic

[kyuusei]

How do we know that Atlus USA wasn't trying all those months to get the right to localize EP? How do you know they were doing nothing? You don't. It is complete BS to call Atlus condescending BASED ON YOUR OWN ASSUMPTIONS.

Do they really owe us an explanation? If they can't say, they can't say. Nothing we can do about that - we don't and might never know the whole story. It's never as simple as 'oh they just didnt do it period.' I would have LOVED the PSP version, the PSone Classic is better than nothing.

I mean hell it's more than Square's been saying about Type-0...

[Taelus]

Well, P4A honestly had a good reason: Atlus Japan didn't want the U.S. version cutting into their sales. I don't like it, especially since I have a Japanese PS3 and paid through the nose for P4A, but I can understand it.

I'm sure there's some bizarre circumstances in regards to P2 that they can't talk about due to corporate politics and BS though, Atlus doesn't normally get all vague about things.

I gotta agree with Ashton here, they were pretty clear with the region lock. It's not like each individual said "hey, we're excited to fuck over our customer base!" It's a business, and the reality is that they have to protect their interests and possibly also please shareholders and investors who do not give a fuck whether or not we can play P4A on our imported PS3s. That is the unfortunate reality that had to exist here.

I really don't see any condescension here-- and don't you think it's possible that the REASON they were mum on it until now is because they were attempting to work through the 'unusual circumstances' and only recently realized it wasn't going to go through? They could have been trying to pitch different ways to make it happen, but found out just recently that it wasn't going to happen. This is just as likely as them saying "haha, fuck them we'll just sell the PSOne version," and backed up with just as much evidence.

EDIT:

Liz said what I was thinking.

[Eusis]

Don't forget part of it is "localized as we would've liked." This could've been anything from being hamstrung on a tight budget and being unable to do new dubbing while also being unable to recycle the old, forcing cuts due to technical reasons or whatever that would've made it useless to release. There's companies I'd sooner accuse of laziness than Atlus at any rate, and even those are likely issues of either not doing anything we can publically see or just not hiring enough people for PR roles (Tecmo Koei USA's twitter has been dead for well over a year IIRC and most of their news seems to come from Europe instead. Makes me wonder if the brains for international release are there and TK USA's just staffed by the people who get the game printed and sold.)

[Ashton]

Like some have said, I don't think they wanted to jump the gun on a confirmation or denial of the game, and the months since then have been fruitless attempts to get the game okayed for localization.

If they had said "Oh, we're not releasing it" months ago, then ended up releasing it, it would've hurt their sales - and I'm sure you see the problem if they said they were going to release it only to have to backpedal later.

All in all, I don't doubt there's some corporate shenanigans screwing things up for us - we just don't know WHAT corporate shenanigans they may be.

[Embryon]

They could've said, "fuck you guys, you get nothing," but at least they're making the other half of Persona 2 more accessible to fans. It's better than no release whatsoever.

On another note, I really should try to play P2 one of these days. I only made it a couple of hours into IS, but found it kind of archaic. At least it isn't P1, though... I honestly can't stand that game, as much as I want to love it. Cool music, at least.

[cj_iwakura]

I'm as ecstatic as anyone(more so probably) that people who missed the first shot get another try, but I kind of side with Lard in this being a shifty move.
(Even if he is exaggerating a little.)

"Nah, but I'm happy this is at least known now. I wrote a PSBlog article about it that will probably go up in a couple weeks, which touches on why the PSP version couldn't happen--and that's a "couldn't," not a "didn't," which is sadly all I'll ever really be able to say. It didn't have anything to do with fears of low sales. "

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=47798823&postcount=130

'Unusual circumstances' doesn't touch on a damn thing.

That said, it is nice they finally fessed up, but it wouldn't do harm to at least say why. Not that it really matters, I promise someone will have EP PSP fan translated within the year.

My honest guess is programming/coding issues.


Also, locking the thread at their MB wasn't a nice move either.


Wait, scratch that, that thread turned into a cesspool.

But I found this interesting tidbit.

Yeah, that is kind of weird. I'm guessing a third party got involved and redacted potentially embarrassing stuff from his draft before it got to the PSBlog. Those of us wasting our time on the forums aren't in marketing

Hmm. The plot thickens. SCEA?

[Lard]

If they had said "Oh, we're not releasing it" months ago, then ended up releasing it, it would've hurt their sales - and I'm sure you see the problem if they said they were going to release it only to have to backpedal later.

I see the problem with the second, but if the first had happened, I don't see how it would have hurt sales. I think people would have been happy it was coming after all.

I mean hell it's more than Square's been saying about Type-0...

Up until they announced the PSN release, they were both saying the same thing. Nothing.

[Eusis]

If they had said "Oh, we're not releasing it" months ago, then ended up releasing it, it would've hurt their sales - and I'm sure you see the problem if they said they were going to release it only to have to backpedal later.

I see the problem with the second, but if the first had happened, I don't see how it would have hurt sales. I think people would have been happy it was coming after all.

They hunt down a PS1 copy, or pirate, or whatever, and then by the time it comes out they've already burned through it. Nevermind it'd cast a shadow of doubt over how honest they're ever being, or at least makes people think they can forever beg for a game.

[Ashton]

If they had said "Oh, we're not releasing it" months ago, then ended up releasing it, it would've hurt their sales - and I'm sure you see the problem if they said they were going to release it only to have to backpedal later.

I see the problem with the second, but if the first had happened, I don't see how it would have hurt sales. I think people would have been happy it was coming after all.

I suppose the fans would have been, but this whole I MUST HAVE IT NAO culture would have had people going "Meh, the moment's passed, don't care anymore" or "TOO LITTLE TOO LATE ATLUS FUCK YOU FOR PLAYING AROUND WITH US." At least that's how I think it would've gone down.

[Bleaker]

Um...yeah didn't get the psp version and all but...I'm just happy I CAN PLAY THE GAME! I'm really not aching to know the why of the lack of localization, its not happening, it sucks, we move on. Just be happy that Atlus thought about us at all.

[Fadedsun]

I can't say I'm not disappointed. I was really looking forward to the PSP version of Eternal Punishment since it's one of my favorite games. It's great that the people who haven't had a chance to play EP now have that chance at an affordable price, but it's not so great for people like me who have had the PSX game for years. I guess I shouldn't complain;I've played the original game already, but it would have been nice to play this stylized, handheld version of it. Oh well, at the very least I can say I've completed the series.

[Monsoon]

I'm not optimistic, but it's *possible* that they'll use this PS1 release (which is undoubtedly cheaper and easier to put on PSN than a fully localized edition of the PSP remake) as a barometer.  If it sells well, then maybe they'll be encouraged to put the PSP version up on PSN in the future. 

...all of that's probably a pipe dream, but game companies have done similar before. 

[Eusis]

If sales weren't an issue then it IS a pipe dream, they would've just gotten the PSP version done with and called it a day.

[kyuusei]

I mean hell it's more than Square's been saying about Type-0...

Up until they announced the PSN release, they were both saying the same thing. Nothing.
[/quote]

That was kind of my point. The other part being that at least Atlus sort-of addresses it now, whereas Square still has nothing.

Whatever the case, Atlus couldn't or didn't share, and I'm sure as fuck not going to lose sleep over it.

[Aeolus]

Derailing the What Atlus did or did not do derail with something that should surprise literally nobody.

http://www.siliconera.com/2013/02/26/shin-megami-tensei-iv-has-multi-story-and-multi-ending-system/

I can haz neutral ending.