@gamerboy100: But it is finished. Anyone who gets the international version early just doesn't have access to the online component because they won't get the patch that flips the switch on that until release day. Far as offline single-player content goes, the game's complete.
@freeformrulz: Well, since their current fiscal year ends in March, they could be using the staggered release to boost their revenue projections. Only reason I can think of for why they'd split the release like this. It's annoying, but what can you do.
@Halloll: They haven't released it yet. The patch was applied to the Japanese version, but anyone who's bought the international version via the Xbox Store workaround won't get that patch until April 12 as that's when it's set to deploy. By all accounts, the game is done.
@validifyed: Um... what content? The game's content-complete. They're simply warning accessing the digital version early since it won't apply the day-one patch until April 12. Hardly anything nefarious there.
@quinnd6: The Xbox One is still limited to what's been made available via emulation, though. You can't just pop in any disc and expect it to work. So it's the same thing -- it just has the benefit of using the discs to help unlock those games at no extra charge (I think it's because they can check whether those games' achievements are logged on your account? It uses your account somehow). The PS2 doesn't have those same procedures, so they can't institute something similar for the PS4.
Does it suck? Yeah, definitely. But it's the only solution we've got right now for backward compatibility.
@quinnd6: There was never any way they were going to be able to make PS2 discs playable. That would require they insert the hardware of the PS2 into the PS4 itself, which would be extremely expensive for a feature that few would use enough to justify. Easier to just emulate them and charge for them.
Huh. Cool. Didn't expect to see Dark Cloud of all things get the emulation treatment. Figured they'd be sticking to more well-known games to start. Wouldn't mind giving this another shot. I remember liking it way back when.
c_rakestraw's comments