Since it was announced for North America, and as new assets and details are rolled out to eager fans worldwide, excitement for Soul Sacrifice has only increased. No other title for PlayStation Vita combines the same frantic real-time combat, thrilling sense of scale, smartly interwoven cooperative multiplayer, or meaningful character customization… Not to mention the contributions of legends of gaming like designer Keiji Inafune or composer Yasunori Mitsuda and Wataru Hokoyama.
For weeks, fans have asked for more info about the game’s North American release, wanting a final date and box art, and details about possible pre-order extras. Finally, those questions can be answered!
Soul Sacrifice for PS Vita launches in stores and via PlayStation Network on April 30th, 2013. As for the box art, it is essentially the same as that which Japanese fans will proudly display on their shelves (or pedestals, if you’re a pedestal kind of person):
Fans who pre-order Soul Sacrifice will receive an exclusive pack of in-game content — it will not be sold anywhere else!
- Two (2) Unique Costumes with which players can customize their character
- Three (3) Magic Items to aid players in battle:
- Spirits’ Flamepike – Shards of the spear provided by Fire spirits, unleashing a five hit combo attack with heat effects
- Spirits’ Blightstone – Explosive stones with poison effects provided by the spirits
- Spirits’ Fulgurwood – Root provided by the Thunder spirits. Tracks enemies on the ground and attacks with thunder spell
There’s more! Do you prefer to play with Japanese audio tracks whenever possible? You might want to pre-order…
Reserve Soul Sacrifice and, in addition to the in-game costume & item bundle, you’ll also receive the Japanese voice-over pack for free. This pack will be sold separately, but the only way to get it right at launch for no added cost is to pre-order!
Thrilled to finally be able to reveal a release date to his North American fans, Project Lead Keiji Inafune had this to say:
The game has become nothing like any other game with an original and deep world settings which could only be possible in a dark fantasy environment. I’m looking forward to you being able to experience the unique adventure of real heroism in Soul Sacrifice. Immerse yourself in the world of Soul Sacrifice and have fun playing it!
There’s plenty left to share and reveal for Soul Sacrifice… Keep coming back to PS.Blog for more updates!
It’s amusing the confusion about why there would be a negative reaction towards DLC for an audio option. I wonder when captioning will become DLC? Or maybe, “if you want this game in stereo, you’d better preorder!”.
But really, DLC already has a bad reputation, and for whatever reason this just feels like a new low.
@97 it would be hard to imagine the game wouldnt support online trophies with online co-op already in place…im sure there will be one for defeating a boss in co-op ..but yes. its online.
Awesome box art too! will the game be up for preorder on the PS Store? :)
@97 in fact if you look at the boxart you can see 4 people fighting against whatever that thing is in the middle…ill say a dragon.
This is THE BEST Geek Culture news I’ve read all day! I’ve been waiting and waiting for this announcement for so long! It’s a blessing to see Japanese games getting faster releases in North American following their original Japan releases.
I’m a little surprised at how busy the box art is but that’s all forgiven. The ingame pre-order exclusives are nice but I’m a little surprised that there aren’t any physical goodies such as tarot cards or a PS Vita Soul Sacrifice case. I hope that a demo will go up soon in the PlayStation Network store because I am EAGER to play some of this! It looks far better than Monster Hunter.
@104
It’s a Cerberus, and he’s a pretty damn badass during the fight against him.
I’ve played the Japanese demo for over 20 hours, nope I’m not crazy, it’s a pretty damn huge demo.
Best part of the demo? It comes with Wifi multiplayer for you to enjoy co-op with Japanese players.
From what I’ve experienced, they sure loves sacrificing their lives for you, so don’t be shy to snatch their soul if they fall dead during battle.
For me it the monetizing of elements that should already be included in the game (if not pre-ordering in this case). I’m a person who happens to abhor English voice overs in Japanese-originating games, so I fully believe if a game came from Japan, and had Japanese voices to begin with, the original vocal track should be included in the game when it hits America.
What ticks me off about this pre-order offer is that it says to me that Japanese voice-overs are just an expendable feature, when for myself, I’ll completely ignore a game if it should have a Japanese vocal option but doesn’t (see: Atelier Ayesha: The Alchemist of Dusk).
I think that people are being a little too petty in regards to the Japanese Audio bonus for pre-ordering. I actually am thankful and excited for it. I know a lot of people were clamoring for Nintendo to include the Japanese Audio in Fire Emblem Awakening and so I don’t get why people are decrying the Japanese Audio DLC bonus for Soul Sacrifice from Sony and Atlus. It’s werid to see folks complaining about this. After all, I bet these same folks are the ones who beg for the original Japanese voices in their anime over English dubs.
Sweetness I have been waiting for this. Gonna preorder ASAP. Also hope to see a demo on PSN soon
I have to say it’s kind of disingenuous to do something unprecedented — treating Japanese audio as a pre-order bonus, and not just something available to anyone that buys the game — and plead confusion when your supporters raise objection.
This smacks of on the disc DLC and DLC in general that used to be included in the purchase price of the game, like additional costume colors.
I object to it because it seems like just another way to nickel and dime consumers as a means to combat used sales or later discounts. You treat it like an actual bonus, but it has never been that.
I do not see it as a value added. I see it as something that was nice to have (or, in the case of the Yakuza games, probably as a way to save money on English language voice actors) yet you now want to cateorize it as a bonus players will have to pay to enjoy.
I think that is what people are objecting to, and I think it’s a fine reason. Not that much of a head-scratcher.
As I think others have already stated – the original Japanese audio as a “perk” or a paid DLC is counter-intuitive in that there’s no additional cost to the Japanese recording (aside from subtitling). On the other hand, there *is* added cost for dubbing the game in English.
What this is essentially doing is making people who prefer the original recording pay for the costs of the dubbing that they will never listen to.
As others have said, this is kind of a bad (and bizarre) precedent.
I want english voices to be pre-order bonuses… =))))… And why can’t I buy pre-order bonuses on PSN if I want… Those guys really have no respect for consumers. Treat us like ***t =)
great news! it made my day!
by the way.. what about the Red PSVita Special edition that’s gonna release in japan.. and the dual pack games? I already have a Vita.. but I wouldn’t mind buying another to play wiith my brother… if it’s that red psvita or there’s that dualpack!
Count me amongst those that need a demo of this. Honestly, I’m not a fan of the way the whole sacrificing thing sounds. I’d need to actually get my hands on the game and play it for myself before I decide to put money on it. I was not a fan of Demon’s Souls, but gave Dragon’s Dogma a try, and was extremely disappointed in that as well. Not gonna fall for it again.
…
…
So yeah, demo please.
PS> Someone light a fire under whoever is developing Dragon’s Crown and Warrior’s Lair! We need more RPGs on the Vita!
I kinda agree that it is a big negative to have people pay extra for an audio language. And if it were Spanish or French, this would be a big issue and probably widely reported in the press. However, this is Japanese, and probably 1 in a million will naively understand Japanese better than English for the North America release.
This feature is more for people who prefer Japanese voices. I myself typically prefers Japanese audio when watching something from Studio Ghibli, but on a game, I need to concentrate. Therefore, Japanese voices is not a big issue….. unless the English voice-overs are terrible.
So from the studios point of view, Japanese voices are probably not something that would offer much benefit to many. But it is a cool feature. If it is going to take up a lot of space DLC is the way to go, and a small fee will probably allow the developer to afford a cool feature, on such a tight release date.
So from this logic, not many will appreciate paying for a Japanese audio track, however most people also probably don’t realize that without the DLC, the developer probably would not have bothered with an option for Japanese audio at all.
I guess more important is maybe you could explain why it is being monetized. As it is an asset you already have available. People see this as a way to nickel and dime them, for something that is part of the original game. That usually does not go over well. But if there were a legitimate reason (not just a pre order ploy), then they would understand.
Oh my god, that’s exactly the day I celebrate with my gf our 2nd anniversary. I think I know now what to ask for…
I guess I’m a little late on the conversation, but will this require an online pass or will there be future DLC? I live in Japan and I want to use my US account for this game, but if I buy the game here, I’ll have to restore my Vita again to do it -something I really hate to do.
Ps, about the preorder voice track thing, I would assume its a mean to compensate the talent of the original voice actors. At least I hope so.
Yes!!! That’s what I’m talking about! Honestly wasn’t expecting to see us get it only about a month after Japan. Now one question remains; What to get, digital or physical?
haha i wish to know where i pre-order it! i wan’t buwahaha
this game il be the new monster hunter for psvita 100%
This announcement just made my week. This game alone justified my purchase of the Vita. I was afraid the release date here would be much later so this is definitely great news to me! Can’t wait to sink my teeth into this!
First game I’ve been truly excited for on the Vita. :}
Inafune<3
The majority of the Japanese PS games I play come with the original audio track, and I don’t have to pay extra, or pre-order to get it. I think this was a real scum bag move and I don’t mind saying that not only will I not pre-order the game, I won’t buy it at any point if this remains the same. To have bonus costumes as a pre-order bonus is one thing, but to lock off the original game audio is another.
Imagine buying a foreign film at Best Buy and having to pay extra to download its original language instead of the dub. RIDICULOUS!
Welcome to the future of gaming!
A world filled with restrictions, regulations and anti-consumer ethics: A world filled with micro transactions even for the so called AAA single player games. A world filled with disc-locked content. A world where cheat codes became DLC, audio tracks became DLC, unlockables became DLC.
What’s next you ask? Subtitles DLC! Controller configuration DLC! Oh you want to save your game? Sorry u can only do it 5 times, next time we need to charge you a dollar.
A world of corporate excuses like : “We had to lock content because of compatibility reasons” or “You can unlock everything by playing normally (but we will make that process so long and tedious that you will want to pay real money)”
What, did you think your purchase would entitle you to have a full experience? Did you think it would entitle you to have some fun? Think again!
Welcome to the next generation of gaming. It sure sounds exciting.
Gotta love how Aram is playing dumb, acting like he has no idea why people would be upset over the situation with the JP audio. You are trying to make people pay for something that has always been a feature that comes out of the box free or not included. It sickens me that as time goes by we lose more and more from our games so you can nickel and dime us later on for them when they should have been there to begin with. Hell, even manuals in game cases are pretty much gone along with the cases themselves becoming cheaper and flimsier (a different issue i know, but one nonetheless). What next? Gonna charge us every time a disc is ejected from our systems?
Fans who pre-order Soul Sacrifice will receive an exclusive pack of in-game content — it will not be sold anywhere else! One question, how long is that “exclusivity” good for? I’ve noticed that with a lot of pre-order bonus content that are supposed to only be obtainable by people who choose to preorder the title, time pretty much makes most of those bonuses pointless as the publisher usually ends up putting the stuff for sale on PSN. Take Twisted Metal. Axel was only supposed to be a character that people who pre-ordered the game were able to use it and SCEA swore up and down that the content would only be usable to preorder users and then not much later SCEA went back on it’s word and made it purchasable in the PS store.
The logo looks sweet, the cover looks like a mess out of Monster Hunter, I don’t have any idea what’s going on there.
Alternate VOs have been in certain games for a few years now, and plucking out cool, albeit unnecessary extras like that and pricing them like silly alternate skins won’t ruin the game, but it seems to make the product appear gutted and less complete wihout it.
It makes me think, “If I can’t make the preorder then I’ll just wait for it to drop to $15-$20 to compensate for the missing parts”, Which is why I never buy Capcom games day one, they’ve earned my distrust by triple dipping(SF4) and selling castrated games(Asura’s Wrath).
I’m glad you’re here Aram, you’re a straight shooter and you always do a fantastic job in relating to your customers and selling a game to people who love games.
Also, I don’t know if this is already been done but I feel it would be an awesome idea to sell a game’s ost alongside the game on psn, maybe as a preorder bonus? Perhaps it would go into your vita’s music folder or maybe OSTs could get their own proprietary app? I know I’d buy the hell out of a P4G OST.
@127: I give it less than a month. Please correct me if I’m wrong, but I personally have never seen a pre-order DLC not end up on PSN later on.
Forgot to mention I’m preordering @ amazon, this game looks like it’ll be a blast!
Sony please do not follow Capcom’s paid Japanese VO paid DLC deal.(which they’ll be offering for RE6) I can tell you that no one, yes NO ONE, appreciates the idea at all.
Yes! something to pull my head outta Ragnarok Odyssey and P4 GOLDEN!
Very excited for this!
To people complaining about the pre-order bonus:
If a Japanese Dub option is that important to you, pre-order. If not, then don’t. For the amount of work and resources that are involved in these upscale games, business models must be formulated. If the business plan included not localizing or cutting corners on production, you would complain either way. For the cost of producing this game, the returns are risky given the user base. The pre-order bonus has nothing to do with “nickle and diming you.” No one is forcing you to purchase anything. The company offers said product. You either purchase or do not purchase that product. They own the product and the terms of sale.
This title is a huge boost for the Vita. A possible turn-around for the console. There are risks involved and this requires some caution.
If you were looking forward to this AAA title, be happy the risk of localization was taken.
@Falaut,,
I do agree that the Industry is moving to a DLC “money grubbing” state. I don’t like it, but I just vote with my $$$ by not buying it.
@the Blog
As for Japanese audio being a “DLC”, I like that feature. Often on this blog and other boards (gaf) there are diehards there that state they only want the Japanese audio and subtitles. I suspect you are not the majority of US gamers, if you want the Japanese audio support the costs of providing that option to the US by buying it. I don’t think they will make the money back by doing this, but I think it shows the industry the true amount of people who want that option and are willing to pay for it.
I hope this game goes a long way in turning around the fortunes of the Vita all over the world. Personally I’m hoping for a demo to help me determine if it’s a game for me.
@134
I will tell you true reason behind the exclusion of Japanese audio track.
The reason for the exclusion is a difference of sales price in Japan and other countries. We know that this game will be $40 at retail shop in the USA. In Japan, the sales price of this game is roughly $67. So if they publish the game simultaneously with Japanese track, a lot of Japanese would buy this game through Amazon.com instead of Amazon.co.jp. As far as I know, most of Japanese have no trouble understanding English in game menu and online shopping site, but have serious trouble with spoken dialogues. So if they exclude Japanese audio track, they can successfully block most of Japanese customers. That is the business strategy to protect domestic economy for Japanese game industry.
As some of you have noticed already that this is pretty common business practice for Japanese games in this generation. If they need to release game simultaneously or in very short time period around the world, they exclude Japanese track to block Japanese customers for cheap international version. MGS4, FF13, RE, P4G…. they don’t have Japanese audio tracks. But if they release a Japanese game a year later, they include Japanese track, because the sales price in the country is already at discount price.
With Soul Sacrifice, they have found new strategy to satisfy international customers without bankrupting Japanese retail stores. Japanese track will be a paid DLC in US-PSN store, which means Japanese customers have to create separate account and register their credit card information that must be issued in the US billing address in order to get the audio track. The most of Japanese wouldn’t go that far to save $30.
I know this is ugly reality of international business, and blaming to American side of Sony is not fair.
So let’s attack Japan to open their market!. That sounds like conservative republicans……
@+ Aeryn_James
that’s cool ‘cept I’m in Asia and does not have the luxury of pre-ordering, my local game store normally accepts reservations but that’s it. Also in my opinion VO should not qualify as DLC.
Soul Sacrifice will definately be the killer game the PS Vita’s been lacking, all i have to say is Monster Hunter who?
Sooooo excited. I have friends buying a vita for this game. I’m excited to try the work of these obviously passionate developers!
@138 gabriel_nica :Sony can’t be everything to everyone. Not trying to be mean.
@136 sagohichi : Your competitive market position is true for more expensive items in the globalized marketplace, but does not quite hold water when considering less expensive products and here’s why.
The cost of importing the retail product would offset the savings of a less expensive western marketplace.
Also of note, there would be months of delay in receiving the product as it has a later release window in the west. Why would someone wait months to pay the same or more for a product they could already have.
Notice there was no announcement for dual audio for the digital release? This is where your assertion gains merit.
NOW VITA OWNERS! GO AND BUY THIS GAME WHEN IT COMES OUT! SUPPORT THE AAA CALIBER GAMES LIKE THIS AND SHOW DEVELOPERS THAT THE VITA ITS CAPABLE OF SELLING GOOD GAMES!!!!
IF U ALL DECIDE NOT TO BUY THIS…. THEN DONT COME FU#$%@ING CRYING THAT VITA HAS NO GAMES BC IT WILL BE UR FAULT!!!
Has my copy pre ordered b4 I knew it had bonuses! this is just the cream over the cake :) Aram u are great.
BTW: I think ppl are mad about the JP track bc its something that ALWAYS has been on Jgames except when obviously it cant be done (for some reason)…. but seen that it could be done on this game meaning that it could be just an option on the game like every other Jgame that has language on it…. well ppl are seen it as a greedy move on that part…. while i partially agree with them at some point…. I think its a great way for fans of the JP voicing to get them and pre order. then it would be free meaning its not greed just an incentive to get pre orders :)
so GET THE F@#$k UP OF UR CHAIRS AND PRE ORDER IF U R INTERESTED! If not the SHUT THE F#$k UP!
Can’t wait for this game! The boxart is badass!
Wow, dangling the original voices over people’s heads as a pre-order content hostage? Seriously? Dual-audio should be an industry STANDARD, not some perk, or something we have to stick our feet in the door for, much less pay extra for. Honestly, the state of this industry is disgusting nowadays, and it’s getting worse and worse.
I’d be more interested in importing the game now as it stands, but of course, as a Vita owner I CANNOT, because some suit at Sony HQ decided we shouldn’t be able to access foreign PSN stores, and that the Vita should be locked to one account, instead of locking accounts to a single system. So what do we have now? We’re stuck paying bloated release-day prices (which honestly, I wouldn’t MIND paying if I didn’t feel like I was being gouged for content) just so we don’t have to listen to the cheapest, most wooden, awkward, phoned-in VA’s the localization budget can buy.
Vita owners need to come together and demand access to multiple regional PSN stores on a single account, so that shenanigans like this can be countered with import purchases and localizing publishers will learn to treat their customers with respect.
I would pre order this game in a instant if it was on the PS3.
@Aram Jabbari:
The reason fans disapprove of making the Japanese voice track Pre-order/DLC is that many games offer this feature as part of the base game. Or look at Dynasty Warriors 7; Koei even went to the trouble to offer a Japanese voice option as free DLC! (*)
As with most paid DLC, it’s easy to appear as if you’re removing features in order to sell them (mainly because that slippery slope was a mudslide — fans are already abused and jaded). Failure to include dual audio already makes fans think you’re stingy, then offering to sell it confirms that perspective. And, to be fair, your actual rationale is just a more positive spin.
Having said this, I am personally willing to pay extra to enjoy a game how I want to play it. Being nickel-and-dimed for it is far better than not having the option at all.
(*) Coincidentally, would such a free-DLC strategy benefit your royalties concern? You would not pay royalties to the Japanese VA per disc, only for customers who actually prefer it. Sounds like it could be a low-cost compromise that makes you look benevolent instead of evil.
The fact that you plead head scratching as to why people would be upset by Dual Audio being DLC Mr. Aram Jabbari, has just taken you down a notch in my book. All I have to say is look at posts like #110, which is moot because YOU KNOW why. I’ve been gaming for over 24 years, and things just keep looking worse. Worse yet, people try and justify these moves.
Cheers.
I really excited about Soul Sacrifice. I don’t know whats up with all the negitivity on the the Japanese voice over pack tho. I’m really stoked for it along with everything else we get! Can’t wait to get my hands on my copy of it!
Oh Awesome :D! I’ve been watching news for this game ever since I heard of its existence and has remained my biggest draw to the vita. Now that I actually have enough money to get the system I gotta know: Has there been any news if we will get a Vita bundle of some sort for this beauty? I know I’m not alone when I say that people are itching to buy a Vita as soon as there’s an awesome deal available (and they have the money of course).
I know there is a special Red Soul Sacrifice Vita coming out for Japan; what do you think our chances are getting at least some sort of Vita + game + Memory Card bundle?
So, are we getting that Red special edition Vita?