Xenosaga II receives PAL release

Am I the only one who's less than impressed by Namco's actions here? I mean, I've waited for this series for over a year now, on the basis that it was going to tell one of the best stories in videogame history - not because the PS2's exactly suffering from a dearth of turn-based RPGs - and suddenly Namco decides that I have to start reading from page 500?

I take the point about XBox Shenmue II and its pack-in DVD, but the situation here's hardly the same - Shenmue was originally a Dreamcast game, and it surely would have been time-consuming to port it to XBox, but Xenosaga episode one is already available on PS2 in the States, in English - the NTSC/PAL conversion process would surely not be expensive enough to outweigh the undoubted financial gains that Monolith/Namco would see if they released both games, in order.
The whole thing just smacks of a genuine dislike for the gamer here, as I can see no genuine justification for Namco not to release the first game in the series as the first game in the series to the PAL gamer.

Of course, I'll still go out and get it, though.

Wow, dude. It's nothing to do with waiting, Xenosaga Episode 1 has existed for over two years now in the States, it's out on budget and it simply does not make sense that Namco would not see the possible financial gain involved in porting the first game over before the second - I'd pay £25 for Der Wille zur Macht if I could be sure that it worked - this isn't really the place for a "Why don't PAL territories get Growlanser or Digital Devil Saga or 50% of the Japanese RPGs released in America" rant, but having owned a PS2 for over 18 months and still being 14 years old with no sustainable income, I simply cannot afford to import another PS2 just to play an extra five or six games, however much I may want them. It shouldn't be the case that companies can mistreat the hardcore gamer audience (because that's who this game will appeal to, pop psychology and all) for seemingly no reason, considering that there's so many people in PAL territories who've waited for this game.

I'm not really in a situation where I can mod my PS2, as my dad is kind of a police dude - I did try something called Swap Magic with an NTSC copy of Xenosaga Episode 1, but that failed spectacularly (or, actually, it just, uh, failed), which only served to make me desperate for a PAL version.
Still, if that bonus DVD is any good (i.e. at least 20x better than 'Shenmue: The Movie'), the anger will be lessened a little, although I'll still be dying inside as I see the things I was meant to be doing acted out for me on screen, while Namco execs no doubt laugh at my ilk (yes, all 109 of us) and the anguish they've caused. Or something.

I'm both and . But more of the .