Promathia release date (JP)

[Alontier]

The JP release of Promathia was announced today!

発売日　2004年9月16日(木) "PlayStation 2"版・Windows版�時発売
Release : 2004/09/16 (thursday) PS2 and PC simultaiously.

source:
http://www.playonline.com/ff11/index.shtml

edit:
They also advice to upgrade your ATI and NVIDIA drivers that supposedly were developed in cooperation with â–Ÿe.
Download your new drivers at resp product homepage.

NVIDIA社
　GeForce シリーズ
　ドライ�ソフトウェア　　NVIDIA FORCEWARE(TM) Ver.56.64
　URL: http://www.nvidia.com

・ATIテクノミジーズ社　
　RADEON 9000シリーズ以上

　ドライ�ソフトウェア　　CATALYST Windows 4.3
　URL: http://www.ati.com/jp/index.html JP!
　URL: http://www.ati.com/index.html

source:
http://www.playonline.com/ff11/polnews/news2223.shtml

[Tomoh]

The site also mentions that Promathia expansion disc will contain data for Jiraad as well. Not that this affects most of us.

[{Pug}]

*Looks around for NA release date*

Oh wait, there isn't one. /shocked

[Thelps]

It seems totally wrong that they're even releasing the expansion to JPs first. I mean, with the original game they had an excuse (testing servers with a smaller load of people, meaning safer testing and better anticipation of server-load come NA release) but now they KNOW what the server load is already, so basically they're just favouring JP players.

It makes me sad that the developers have a need to make JP players better. Are they trying some kind of socio-cultural engineering or something to make NAs automatically look up to their Japanese cousins, or what? :(

[Yarr]

god people on this forum are so quick to make stupid assumptions.

Its a japanese site, for japanese people. Why would they post a NA release date?

[Geo]

Thats so true.
Also, if it comes out in Japan first, I won't blame them. Translation take time.

[Vasailo]

they already said that they will be releasing it at the same time. don't get your panties in a bunch.

[Cadois]

On ps2.ign.com they said that Square-Enix announced the date for the Japanese version, but not for North American or European version. They however did say that they are hoping to release all of the versions simutaniously. Let's just hope this is the case!

[Macht]

So far if any of have payed attentioned to the Release dates on the expansion for the PS2 and PC it does say 9/16/2004 for NA release. The PC version even has pre-order option now and even though the PS2 doesn't have a pre-order option (thinking it was more of marketing stragedy then anything) it still being shown to have a 9/16/2004 release as well.

So from a person that has first hand experience with Marketing in the Corporate end I'd say everything still points to it going as they planned still. So not much you should be worrying about yet.

[bside]

well, since many of u seem to be either missing or misunderstanding what that news says, here's a full, free-translation;


We are proud to announce the release date of the newest expansion disc, Chains of Promathia, along with the package choice available and MSRP for each.


Release DateSeptember 16, 2004

Both Playstation 2 and Windows versions will be released on the same day.


Packages:

1) "Final Fantasy XI: Chains of Promathia" Expansion disc

Playstation 2: MSRP 3,980 JPY (4,179 JPY inc tax)
Windows: MSRP not set

This package only contains Chains of Promathia expansion data, and is intented for those users who already have copies of PlayOnline and Final Fantasy XI.

Note: You may not play Final Fantasy XI with this package alone.

2) "PlayOnline/Final Fantasy XI: Chains of Promathia" All-in-one pack 2004

Playstation 2: MSRP 7,800 JPY (8,190 JPY inc tax)
Windows: MSRP not set

This package includes everything you need to sign up for PlayOnline and play Final Fantasy XI. In addition to Chains of Promathia expansion, it also includes Rise of the Zilart expansion data, allowing you to enjoy everything that Final Fantasy XI has to offer.


Note: "Chains of Promathia" expansion only requires copies of "PlayOnline" and "Final Fantasy XI" to work, and does not require "Rise of the Zilart" expansion.


We are planning on the near-simultaneous release for both Japan and NA markets. Furthermore, service in EU region is planned to begin about the same time.

(End of translation)
Source: http://www.playonline.com/ff11/polnews/news2226.shtml


now, a couple of things to point out.

1. what Tomoh said is wrong. COP is completely separate from ROZ expansion, which even works without Zilart, and thus the COP-only package does not include Zilart expansion; ROZ must still be purchased separately if u currently don't own a copy of it.

2. while they didn't use the word "simultaneous" as to the NA release date, the best translation i felt was the one i used above. thus, NA users won't be left out, at least not for long as u might be thinking. it does NOT say it'll be released in Japan first, either. yet, the official date has to come from s-e, and we should wait till then before we make any assumptions.

3. finally, the service officially begins in EU. but w/ so many importers playing already, i don't expect this to boost the players base. yet, this will obviously attract those don't-wanna-pay-extra-for-import players, if there r any. also, for those ppl who don't carry a credit card and consequently gave up on importing one can expect to see more payment options, as from what i've understood, debit transactions occur more often than those of cc in EU, and s-e can't leave those debit users out.


hope this helps.

[sun2mid]

Well, i posted this elsewhere also...but i'll do it again. This is from the official english S-E page

LOS ANGELES, Calif., (July 6, 2004) - Square Enix, Inc. (“Square Enix�), the publisher of Square Enix™ interactive products in North America, today announced announced that Chains of Promathia™, the newest expansion pack for the award-winning massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) FINAL FANTASY® XI, will ship to retailers on September 21, 2004. With a community of 500,000 players and 1.2 million active characters in Japan and North America combined, the world of FINAL FANTASY XI will expand even further with the added content of Chains of Promathia. This expansion pack is scheduled for a simultaneous launch in Japan, North America and Europe.

Looks like we get it the next tuesday, but i guess that makes sense considering everything comes out here on Tuesday. Still, 5 days isn't TOO terrible is it? O.o

[Macht]

There you go, Offical release from Square Enix themselves. They are being released simultaneously. Release date for NA is 9/21/2004. Don't believe me then look at : http://www.playonline.com/ff11us/polnews/news2236.shtml.

Yeah, this means we get it 5 days latter then JP but if I see people complaining about that I would really consider them very pathetic.

[Axiom]

http://www.bluesnews.com/cgi-bin/board.pl?action=viewthread&threadid=49890

[Hitsujiko]

Now, I know that there has yet to be an expansion released in the US as an expansion alone, but I have a question:

For those with the Imported version of FFXI, would you think we have to purchase an imported version of Promathia, or could we buy a domestic version?

From what I recall, I could not register the Japanese PlayOnline and (I think) FFXI using the English version of POL, for the registration code was wrong or something according to Eng. POL.

Thank you for your input,
Jimmy G.