@mwng: Eh, I watched a few gameplay videos before it was released anywhere so hopefully I should recall some stuff for the characters I wanted to play as. Of course, the longer the wait, the less I'll remember any of that. August was the perfect window for me to devote myself to the game for a good month or two. As it stands, I just can't do that when it eventually comes out. Not if I want to graduate.

@Petiew: I agree but it is annoying when you check that page for an update and there's something dumb on there. I think that people angrily commenting on there are wasting their time and maybe going a bit far but ultimately I share their sentiment. I know it's not just Zen. As it stands, Atlus USA and, possibly, ASW are the only actors I'm not annoyed at due to this brouhaha. But Zen will get the brunt of the anger cos Atlus makes the games (which we love) and we can't square that with them being a company that likes money (like most companies) and seemingly considers Europe low on their list of priorities.

@Neurotic: I doubt it's ASW's fault. Didn't Zen get the last few BlazBlue games released in Europe really fast?

@EvilKatarn:Continuum Shift had 6 months of pushed back release dates. Calamity Trigger was without a publisher for a good year or so before Zen picked it up if I remember rightly.

@EvilKatarn: Which is why I said I'm not annoyed with them. I used the qualifier since I don't know how much they had to do with region lock or if it's them who have to add the code for PAL regulations and are taking a long time. Also no, they did not.

I was really pumped for this game back in August, following streams and tournaments, had a group of friends all willing to learn characters and play in lobbies. Now I really don't care, the game is dead in the tournament scene already as everyone has moved onto TTT or gone back to Marvel. I'll pick it up for the story mode but I have no plans to play it beyond that anymore.

I find it a little sad that it's looking likely NISA will release P4Golden in Europe before Zen get P4Arena out here. Though I shoudn't be that suprised, Zen are an AWFUL publisher who seem to have some mindless fans who'll put up with any crap they put out. I think I remember them announcing a special "Fans" edition of the last BlazBlue game a week or two before it came out, after a lot of people had already had pre-orders sent. It was also 2 or 3 times the price of the readily available (and still a rip off) collectors edition, and didn't come with anything worth that money. Not to mention said collectors edition included a 6 track CD and a bunch of reprinted art from previous collectors editions.

@DazzHardy: Wow, that does sound like they're a bunch of garbage.

At the moment I do believe that Zen is waiting behind Atlus to send them a build of the game, but if they are also planning to make ripoff "fan" editions then that's just insulting. I figure most huge fans of Persona or ASW games probably have a Japanese console on which to play the imported game.

I don't count myself a hardcore Persona fan, but I still totally want to play Arena. I just hope that whatever overpriced edition they end up putting out isn't overly tempting.

Surprise!Zen finally admit they won't get this out before 2013. And offer no information other than that.

Given that the European release isn't waiting on adding additional languages and apparently there are ways to circumvent the region lock via homebrew, the amount of incompetence on display here is astounding and reflects badly on all parties involved.

Surprise!Zen finally admit they won't get this out before 2013. And offer no information other than that.

Given that the European release isn't waiting on adding additional languages and apparently there are ways to circumvent the region lock via homebrew, the amount of incompetence on display here is astounding and reflects badly on all parties involved.

Every time this thread is bumped I get a bit of hope in my heart but now I'm just fucking pissed. It's seriously an achievement that they haven't been able to put out the game in Europe yet.

@Xeonian: I know I'm sounding like a broken record, but Zen can't give any more information because they literaly don't have any.

They can only say it won't be 2012 because even if they received the game as soon as possible it's take at least a month for certification and another month to print all of the discs.

I agree that the whole thing is ridiculous, though with the way Atlus treats Europe I guess I was prepared for it.

Now they're just teasing us!

http://majornelson.com/2012/10/30/content-coming-soon-to-the-xbox-live-marketplace-18/

P4: Arena will be available on Games On Demand tomorrow. Probably only on the US marketplace :(

@TooWalrus said:

@Xeonian said:

Surprise!Zen finally admit they won't get this out before 2013. And offer no information other than that.

Given that the European release isn't waiting on adding additional languages and apparently there are ways to circumvent the region lock via homebrew, the amount of incompetence on display here is astounding and reflects badly on all parties involved.

Holy shit, guys, you have my sympathy. On the bright side, I look forward to seeing P4: Arena on all of your 2013 top-ten lists.

Just like Catherine is on most of our 2012 top ten lists? :P Also, a fighting game being on a top 10 list is somewhat contingent on being able to play online. I find it unlikely that P4A will continue to have a big online presence into 2013.

Whatever, I was expecting this. At least when I check that godamned Facebook page I won't have 'Coming in 2012' on the cover photo lying to me. Anyways, I'll have The Golden in two weeks or so and won't give a shit about Arena.

@Neurotic: I keep forgetting Catherine even exists, and I was really looking forward to it when I thought we were getting it at the same time as NA.

How many of the guys here ended up playing it?

Just a thought: Could you buy the Games on Demand Version with a US Account on an European Xbox? Is it the Disc that is Region-Locked or the Software?

Just a thought: Could you buy the Games on Demand Version with a US Account on an European Xbox? Is it the Disc that is Region-Locked or the Software?

@Neurotic:

How many of the guys here ended up playing it?

@Petiew: I did. By the time we got it though, a lot of the talking about it had died down. Of course unlike Arena, Europeans with a PS3 could import it so they could join in with the Americans. By the time I became aware of it, it was coming out in 2 months here and I only had an Xbox so the wait wasn't as bad as this has been/will continue to be.

Shit like this needs more publicity. Atlus shouldn't get away treating their fans/customers like dirt.

Amazing, I can probably get an import copy of the upcoming BlazBlue game before this PAL release happens. Hilaaaarious.

There was a point that I really wanted this game but that has passed with them taking so long to get it out.

Meh, at least I've got time to finish P4 again now.

Have Atlus ever said why they don't go for a European publishing branch?

@Petiew: I picked up Catherine when it came out here. Had been looking forward to that for a whiiiile.

@FluxWaveZ said:

Have Atlus ever said why they don't go for a European publishing branch?

Not to my knowledge, but if the 8-4 Play podcast is anything to go by we're only interested in soccer and Plok.

Devil Summoner 2 and Strange Journey have been the only recent high profile (i.e. SMT) games that someone else wasn't willing to roll the dice with so I guess you can't blame 'em.

@ervonymous: I'd think that releasing games like Catherine, Persona 4 Golden, Persona 4 Arena, Strange Journey and future stuff like Shin Megami Tensei IV and Persona 5 in Europe at the same time as the rest of the world would only benefit them in the long run.

2013 April Release, calling it.

@FluxWaveZ: Sure, not that I wouldn't like to hear their justification for completely ignoring Europe. I can't imagine SMT being less popular than Disgaea and the lot but someone's always been there to publish them.

@TobbRobb: @Neurotic:

Well hopefully others feel the same way towards P4A as you guys did for Catherine! It'd be nice to have a few people playing this when it eventually comes out.

@ervonymous said:

@FluxWaveZ said:

Have Atlus ever said why they don't go for a European publishing branch?

Not to my knowledge, but if the 8-4 Play podcast is anything to go by we're only interested in soccer and Plok.

Do they actually say that? There goes my chances of ever listening to that podcast.

Chances are that sales are lower here but I wonder if Atlus ever considered that that's because the situation at the moment causes people to import, lowering the sales of the eventual EU release? They seem to know that importing from America to Japan happens.

@Petiew: Yeah, I'll buy it (if Zen/Atlus/ASW will let me, they seem loath to at the moment). Cos I'm an idiot. Won't be taking it online too much though.

Do they actually say that? There goes my chances of ever listening to that podcast.

@Neurotic said:

Do they actually say that? There goes my chances of ever listening to that podcast.

I've only listened to the episodes after the GB migration, but apparently in the past before they got told by some angry listeners. They still draw attention to it in a joking and apologetic manner on the off chance that Europe gets mentioned and it's still annoying.

Or maybe it's just me!

As for the importing, I'd have to guess they know but they're stuck in a rut / don't give a shit.

You guys think that the next Persona game will be connected to P3 and P4? This game seems to tie those together (I'm not sure how since I'm also a european with a 360) and I thought that it might be because they're setting something up for P5.

Seeing this thread pop up just makes me sad. Really wanted to play this over here in Sweden and Atlus makes it the only region-locked PS3 game preventing import and then proceeds to not give a shit about releasing it here? Just sucks

Yeah, I saw this thread pop up on the front page and thought FINALLY INFO ON A DATE!? but nope.

I did enjoy Jeff's apology in the GOTY stuff though.

I remember when they said that they were actually gonna get it out this year. Maybe it'll be released as a surprise att new years eve? :D

Hahahehe... Hehe.... Heh....

This game is dead to me, I wanted it.. I would have gotten it day one.. if they let me, but I won't take being treated like this. 

@Atwa: If you don't support it when it does come out though, they'll continue not giving a shit :(

It seems that we are cursed as European Atlus fans to be 6 months to a year behind everything. I mean, Catherine is in my top 10 games of 2012 and, god willing, Arena will probably be in my top 10 of 2013. And SMT IV will be in my top 10 in 2014 and so on until the Sun goes nova and wipes us all out.

I swear if I hadn't imported Persona 4: Golden I would've exploded over this by now.

@Herk: I hope they're not setting up P5 in a fighting game which not all the RPG players would play. Also, that would imply that P3 and P4 characters will be in P5 and have major roles. Do not want.

Not a lot Atlus can do. They sold the euro publishing rights. Maybe they should have had a clause stipulating a time frame for release but that could have killed the deal for all we know. They were not to know - not sure anyone knows - it was going to turn in to a clusterfuck.

My pure speculation is that it was never intended to compete this Christmas. Once they realized they were not going to get it out before September they decided all along to push it in to next year.

@Neurotic: I remember Jeff talking about how much interesting stuff they were setting up storywise so I just assumed

Woooo for Atlus being greedy! Who would've thought?

EDIT: But yeah, as other people have said in here: I don't care about this game anymore and they as hell aren't getting my money. Better luck next time, Atlus.

@Cloudenvy said:

Woooo for Atlus being greedy! Who would've thought?

EDIT: But yeah, as other people have said in here: I don't care about this game anymore and they as hell aren't getting my money. Better luck next time, Atlus.

I'm not sure what being greedy has to do with this. Atlus doesn't have a European office. They just ended up selling the European publishing rights to a company that is absolutely terrible.

@Hailinel said:

@Cloudenvy said:

Woooo for Atlus being greedy! Who would've thought?

EDIT: But yeah, as other people have said in here: I don't care about this game anymore and they as hell aren't getting my money. Better luck next time, Atlus.

I'm not sure what being greedy has to do with this. Atlus doesn't have a European office. They just ended up selling the European publishing rights to a company that is absolutely terrible.

I'm quite convinced that the region locking has nothing to do with the European publishing rights. More with the fact that putting both language tracks on there would allow Japan to import that game for cheaper than actually buying it in Japan.

Therefore, region locking.

@hermes said:

@Commisar123 unfortunately, you can't. Atlus games are among the few PS3 games that are region locked.

Only Persona 4 Arena.

The stories about this game is very confusing, what exactly is happening? Is it that Zen haven't recieved the code they are gonna work on from Atlus? Is it that Zen just take their sweet time? Cause they're really not famous for getting things out super-fast. It's pretty confusing and to this day I'm kind of astonished how much this is being ignored and withheld from the fans. They're not saying ANYTHING about the progress, or if there are any, and I think that is what makes this even more frustrating. Persona europe keeps updating on facebook with little pictures and such, recieving cynical messages every time, and well, they just ignore it.

Well, they actually took the questions they got one time some time ago and answered it all, but it's hard to belive that they've gotten no updates about it at all since then.