I’ve been driving myself crazy over this game for months. In five days it’s released in Japan for the Vita, a format without region locking. I’ve been starting at Play Asia for an hour. Send help.
I used to import a lot of games from Japan back in the day. Most of the games I owned for the Sega Saturn were Japanese, thanks to a 4mb memory cartridge that disabled region locking, and I’d often scroll through the primitive import websites, buying games based solely on the art on their disc sleeves and what little information the internet would offer.
But those were the days when a lot of games from Japan would never see the light of day in the States. These days we’re enjoying something of a renaissance of Japanese fare, with games once destined to remain in those shiny islands ocean hopping as it it weren’t no thing.
That’s okay if you’re a patient person. In the case of Persona 4: Dancing All Night for the Vita, I’m not sure my patience can hold. I am a rhythm game fanatic. I am a massive Persona 4 fan. Together...well together these two things are making me insane. The game will be mine. It’s just a matter of when.
The game releases in Japan on June 25. It comes to North America this fall. I don’t care about the extras or special editions—I just want to play the game.
If I import I will get the game faster, of course. The song list likely isn’t going to change between the two releases, and while my Japanese is pretty horrible, I should be able to navigate well enough to get to the bits I want to play. The downside is it’ll run me $50-$60 plus shipping for a game I’ll be able to purchase in a few months for $40.
If I wait I won’t have to worry about understanding dialogue or puzzle through menus. I won’t have to connect to Japanese PSN to purchase downloadable content. But it comes out in at some point during the fall, and that’s the busiest time for folks in my profession—time to play will be incredibly sparse.
I am completely stuck between two choices and can;t seem to wriggle in either direction. So I turn to the people whose judgement I trust the most—a whole bunch of you folks rolled together into a massive opinion-giving machine. I’ve set the poll below to run for a single day, after which I will abide by the majority decision.
Update: Thank you all for saving me $60! To make up for it, Richard Eisenbeis has promised to stream the game this weekend. Huzzah!
Well, that’s a massive weight off my shoulders already. I should do this for every major decision I need to make. Might have saved myself a lot on toddler clothes.