
World of Final Fantasy is getting a reasonably robust collector's edition on PlayStation 4. The $119.99 set comes with an art book, the game's soundtrack, the game itself, and cute little figurines of past Final Fantasy protagonists Cloud, Squall, and Lightning. Also included is a slew of bonus in-game content, including a Sephiroth summon, a few allied monsters and... Japanese voice-overs? Eh?
That's right, according to the official Square Enix online store - the only place where you can pre-order the collector's edition - the Japanese voice track comes as a part of all three special edition packages: the Collector's Edition, the Day One Edition, and the Limited Edition. Stated at the bottom of each product listing alongside the rest of the bonus content: "Japanese VO DLC: play the game with the Japanese voice-over".
The inclusion of the Japanese voice track as premium DLC seems a little sketchy to us. While past Final Fantasy titles have rarely - if ever - provided the option to play with Japanese voices here in the West, we can't think of a good reason as to why this can't just be a simple in-game choice. Well, other than it being a potentially effective way to coax people into pre-ordering the release. Hmmmm.
So what do you make of this? Is it something of a shady move by Square Enix, or do Japanese voice-overs make for suitable bonus DLC? Don't stay silent in the comments section below.
[source store.na.square-enix.com]
Comments 31
Umm...this isn't new or exclusive to Square as plenty of games before have done it.
You get them with every edition of the game at launch anyway!
Personally, I like everything in the collector's edition and it's worth the asking price in my eyes.
But, I don't understand why the japanese voices aren't a standard option within the game. Heck, they should be an unlockable for beating the game.
Square game usually has good english voice so this doesn't matter to me.
Hmmm don't know whether to get the North American Limited Vita version for the mini art book or the Day 1 EU Vita version to make any DLC easier.
Of course I'm not surprised only PS4 players get the full whack; common across all but the most niche publishers.
doesn't bother me because i use the English voices anyway
and before i get any crap for it, yes a prefer to listen to something in MY native language plus being basically blind in one eye make it hard to watch something and read sub titles at the same time, in older FF games this isn't an issue because you control the speed at which the text flows but in voiced games it's quite different
One of the scummiest things I've ever seen.
Someone in marketing thought they didn't have quite enough in the collectors edition, so they said throw in some Japanese voice overs to finish out the list! lames
It's not shady at all. They are just delightfully bonkers
Gotta keeps the weebs and japanophiles happy
This is incredibly annoying. I want the Japanese voice option. I don't want to preorder the game as I have enough games coming out that month already... Hopefully it'll still be available some how when I do purchase the game
@FullbringIchigo I usually go with English myself unless it's really bad voice acting overall, it's annoying to read subtitles while trying to watch cutscenes.
Is it exclusive to the Collector's edition? That would be a bummer. I am positively surprised by how SE is actually giving us the Japanese voice track lately - too bad Atlus isn't following suit for P5.
@FullbringIchigo @Pamela SE's English dub is usually pretty well done anyway, especially for JRPG standards...
@Feena @Pamela yeah even FFX while it had it's moments was pretty good over all
there has definitely been a lot worse out there even from western made games, anyone remember Two Worlds voice work?
Pretty sure lightning returns on ps3 had japanese vo as a download on the store. I remember it being pretty hefty - 5 gb or something - but it was a free download
I suppose for a game that square claims is 100 hours long doesn't have the space on the disc/vita cart to include an additional language at an acceptable quality - hence the dl option - will be interesting to see what they do for non ce owners when it inevitably gets uploaded onto psn
I prefer English voices nowadays. I'm not a smart enough multi-tasker to read subtitles and watch cool graphics at the same time! Japanese voice overs were preferable in my early youth cos the English acting was so bad in the 32-bit days! You hear me Sega's House of the Dead!
Well that's a questionable choice for DLC if I ever saw one. I generally prefer english VAs on my RPGs, but I'm sure this is something that would quite annoy some people.
dont koei tecmo do the same with some of the warriors titles. & 1million dlc in all there bloody stuff. See dave in his licra shorts only $1.50
@Rob_230 It was free for ps+ users.
My guess is they'll use it to entice pre orders, then after release it'll be a free download on PSN.
I know how they operate all too well.
@Napples You mean everyone older than 12.
Meh, it's not that big of a deal.
I hope they don't do this for FFXV :/
Quite like the contents in the CE. Too bad I can't order it.
Though I generally don't personally care for or about Japanese voice tracks, I can respect that they make a real difference for some people's immersion in the game, and dangling them like some piece of frivolous tat is a terribly scummy and disrespectful move.
Imagine if it was the other way around, and only the first-print editions came with an English dub. It'd be - no, wait, forget you saw that; I don't want to give SE any ideas here, because I'm honestly not sure if there's any line they won't cross with this kind of exploitative BS.
@FullbringIchigo You raise an interesting point. All games should do their best to include all possible sub/dubs for people who may not be able to fully enjoy the game without them.
Although most of us will be fine with English voiceovers, we should never say no to more accessibility.
But the voice work is a commodity. They can charge for it if they wish. And you can choose to not pay for it, or wait in the future when they will likely release another edition or have a sale on the dlc.
I'm not too upset about it, I'm glad theyre offering the choice! Even as paid DLC. Usually when switching to Japanese, its more than the audio that changes. The animation and lip sync needs to be installed as well. For a game with mostly chibi characters however, it may not matter much...
@Rob_230 yes it was huge because the facial animation of the cutscenes were altered to better match the English dub...my ps3 HDD almost cried.
@starman292 it's on the disc, already confirmed. There's also a French and German dub...
I just want to chime in and say it has been confirmed to be with every day one copy, not just the collector's...
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