Japanese Persona Magazine interviews Atlus staff on Persona 5, Dancing All Night [Update]
posted on 03.06.15 at 04:42 AM EDT by (@iiotenki)
Persona 5's picaresque themes, Dancing All Night's scratch mechanics, and plenty more discussed in February issue.

Persona Magazine - February 2015

[Update: I’m bad at proofreading! It turns out I forgot to translate Soejima’s response to the last question on page 2 of the interview. This has been fixed! I apologize for the slip-up and now return you to your regularly scheduled post.]

Last week, Atlus and Dengeki put out another issue of the Persona Magazine in Japan to commemorate February’s Persona 5 and Persona 4: Dancing All Night-related announcements at the Persona Super Live concert. As the publication has previously been home to exclusive interviews with Atlus staffers that aren’t without some intellectual substance —my translation of one such interview around this time last year is how I got a job with this very site, in fact— I had a friend of the site ship me a copy of this new issue and, as expected, it’s home to three new interviews with four prominent members of Atlus’ Persona Team.

These interviews have all been translated in full, as per usual, but given the bulk of the content, we’ve decided to split it up across several pages. This initial introduction constitutes page 1.

Page 2, meanwhile, sees Persona 5 director and producer Katsura Hashino talking with character designer Shigenori Soejima about the production and reception of the recent trailer for that game, as well as some of the game’s overarching thematic inspirations and why the team is going with a thief motif this time around.

Then, on page 3, we have an interview with Kazuhisa Wada, producer and director of Persona 4: Dancing All Night, where he discusses a variety of things about the development of the long-awaited rhythm game spin-off ranging from gameplay philosophies to character and dance designs

Finally, on page 4 is the last interview with Ryota Kozuka, a major internal composer at Atlus who’s also done a lot of work on Dancing All Night. His interview specifically focuses more on the actual music of the game; key points of interest include his inspirations for making the game’s opening theme, “Dance!,” as well as what it’s been like to recruit outside talent for the myriad remixes, among other things.

That’s about the long and short of it. To get started on the interviews themselves, feel free to use either the table of contents immediately below this paragraph or simply click a page number at the very bottom, the latter of which is present throughout the entire article should you wish to read the whole thing from start to finish without coming back here.

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  • http://freelansations.tumblr.com/ Thomas James

    I’m tired. orz

    • BizarreJelly

      You rest now, you’ve earned it.

    • praecipuum

      Thanks for the hard work <3

    • bloodiOS

      Good job, now have a good rest.

    • http://gematsu.com/ Sal Romano

      お疲れ様でした。

  • PrinceHeir

    Thanks for the translated interviews!

    Definitely inspires me to do better in my Japanese class. It’ll be awhile till i can do something like this.

    So i guess i’ll just have to practice some more ^^

  • SliferRed

    How about a release date Atlus.

    • http://freelansations.tumblr.com/ Thomas James

      That would have been the headline if that were the case. Sorry for not delivering.

      ¯_(ツ)_/¯

  • articuzwolf

    as long as the game is progressing well…

  • Dgnfly

    there is only 1 thing i want 2 know about persona 5 will it keep it’s japanese dub, considering it’s ATLUS i doubt it but for me that means buy at cheaper price.

    • articuzwolf

      Well (unlike Tales) the dub in Persona 3 and 4 were excellent so I won’t really losing my mind if they don’t really have Japanese dub

      • PuppetMaster

        Well some people are losing their mind and decided not to support the developer / publisher because it doesn’t have dual dub. I seriously don’t understand their extreme decision that choose voice over over playing the game and enjoying the story, gameplay, and music.

        • Zarathos No Daimaōh

          It’s not that hard to figure out that some people arent able to get into a story heavy game , if in their opinion the voices are unbearable . Hell to this day , while i love the game , i pretty much could stomach arena Ultimax’s story mode by disableing the sound . I’m not yet an extremist , just a weirdo , as i still support western versions of those games on top of the japanese , even stuff i didnt bother playing the dubbed version of Tales games either … but there you go .

          • Kumiko Akimoto

            The only voices that sound odd or bad were teddies and chie’s new voice actor.

            • Zarathos No Daimaōh

              It’s not really open to debate , and a matter of taste . Even if i were to agree with you , that’s already two characters too many that are screwed . Especially when you’ll hear Teddie a lot . ANd it’s already decided in my mind that the japanese voices are better for the franchise , and already what i’m used to anyway

              No one that hates dubs in general or specific dubs are usually against you guys getting it . We just dont care for it , and just wish for the option . Especially when smaller outfits than Atlus can afford it and do provide it

              • Dinoegg96

                To be honest, I find Teddie’s and Rise’s japanese voices annoying as hell.

                • Zarathos No Daimaōh

                  Well i do find teddie’s voice annoying , but i got used to it … And it’s your regular high pitch and squeaky voice for fairy/pet from japanese games or anime … which is most times worse and more annoying in dubs

                  • Dinoegg96

                    In the end it’s a matter of taste, some people prefer the english dub and some people prefer the original dub. There’s no reason to bash the game (I’ve seen some people calling a game sh*t just because it has only one dub) or to call the next guy stupid, that’s just silly.

                    • Speedo Redempteur

                      I have to agree that it’s a matter of taste. And if some people want Eng dub or japanese dub . Both should be in the damn game.
                      It’s a simple matter of answering to your people/buyers expectations at this point.
                      Everyone would agree that if there are technical limitations ( 3DS games for exemple ), it can’t be helped ..but in all other cases ..it’s only fair to ask…given that the size problem was solved since PS3 disks can carry easily up to 50gb of data ( Last GEN ).

              • Kumiko Akimoto

                For things that don’t have a good dub I agree but for things that have a decent dub I don’t see the point. If someone went “Ah why doesnt xenoblade have dual audio?” Would you be ok with that?

                • Zarathos No Daimaōh

                  For starters , you seem to missing my point that there are rarely good dubs , for people like me . In my own list of those , i gave you a list of like 4 titles from period of 15 years of jrpgs … that’s not a good ratio and output at all . And out of the 4 , DQVIII didnt even have any voices in its original japanese release .

                  And yeah i’d be ok with someone saying why doesnt Xenoblade have dual audio . At no point did i even allude that Xenoblade’s dub is even better than the original VA , just that it’s a good dub . If the option is technically possible , of course it should be there , instead of just ignored , when there is clearly a demand for it .

                  There is no such a thing of “no point of having dual audio” , it’s a point i’ll never agree with you about . And it doesnt make any sense . What’s it to you if someone get japanese audio , even if you’re content with the dub ? With dual audio , it’s one less person that bother complaining about the quality of a dub you clearly enjoy .

                  I may seem aggressive , but it is an aggrating subject and pet peeve . Seeing people defend those publishers on the matter , when it clearly affect them very little either way , if they are content with such localisation , is a bit puzzling … And akin to someone telling me that i shouldnt complain if a dvd or bluray of a Hollywood movie doesnt feature the original english voices , and that i should be happy with the quality of the local dub , because they are happy with it .

                  • Kumiko Akimoto

                    I understand that well since that’s something I say. Atlus’ persona dub or their dub of their main series in the general is not on the list of what I’d call a bad dub. I also have a firm belief that NIS only offers dual audio because of how bad their dubs are.
                    I’d be personally offended if someone wanted dual audio for xenoblade there’s no point if the dub is actually good.

                    We don’t get those cds and people rarely check on japanese va’s if they don’t already watch anime. So there’s no point to any of what you said there.

                    Because it’s a waste of money to keep the original japanese voice track when you have a decent dub. You do know they still have to play the japanese voice actors right?

                    Dubs on movies are never good so I don’t see your point in that.

                    • Speedo Redempteur

                      First , NIS doesn’t offer dual audio because of the quality of their dubs but because their customers have asked for it.This has been confirmed by at least 2 survey they did several years ago. The danganronpa 1&2 dub is excellent and praised by many , yet the option for japanese voices was there.
                      Second, you’re under the belief that anime fans don’t check japanese VA or what anime in japanese dub , really ? Most of the western world considers the Japanese dub to be the first choice. so we do know the big names in the japanimation like norio wakamoto , “The rie”, miyuki sawashiro, jun fukuyama and many others …. they are loved BECAUSE many anime fans have listened to their works across god so many loved animes.
                      Third , it’s not a waste of money to expand your possible sales by offering a complete product that will satisfy everyone. By offering a choice, everyone is happy
                      Fourth , The cost of the japanese voices can be managed by various means.Both Before or during localisation. That’s why many companies do it. It’s not a waste of time when more people than before are doing it. That means that they found a way , a profit. Have you ever thought about europe , and that huge market that don’t care about the english dub ? ( Trust me , in italia, spain , france and god so many other countries , Japanese dub is in serious demand )
                      Why do you think square started by putting the option for japanese dub for FF13LR , FF14 , drakenguard 3 and other titles and now the FF15 demo is dual voices .. They just listenned to the demand. I could say the same about namco, XSEED and so many publishers.

                      Feel free to ignore all those points above since you think that Dubs are fine and that the people who want the other stuff should just stay silent.

                    • Zarathos No Daimaōh

                      I’ll just further highlight that yeah , Atlus is obviously so absent in europe or using mediocre proxies to release subpar versions sometimes between 1-2 years later , when most of it doesnt care to get an english dub in spanish , german , french , norwegian etc countries … and when they are unlikely to get their own dub , and would actually settle for Japanese VAs that they wont get .

                      And europe is a big Jrpg market , and remained so even during the “dark ages” of the genre , where titles were even released in europe first .

                    • Kumiko Akimoto

                      You know think danganronpa has a good dub so that’s all I need to know.

                    • Speedo Redempteur

                      No i don’t. i play danganronpa in japanese , because a devil doraemon is more attracting to me.
                      but people have praised the english dub.
                      And everyone is happy to have both worlds and the choice to try either dub…in those games.
                      See ? that’s what it means to have a choice .

                    • Zarathos No Daimaōh

                      You dont see my point about movies ? it’s about choice come on …. Even wandering on your weird path , It’s hilarious and ironic , when the movie dub industry use better actors than videogames .
                      Sure there are a few outstanding talents like Baker , Halle , North , but the average game actor is way below movie dubbing level .
                      And the point stands even better , imagine being force fed those dubs on movie , and now transpose it to people feeling exactly the same with games .

                      As for the rest no you dont understand , since you insist on that stance that the dub is good enough for X game . That’s not for you to decide for anyone but yourself , and you’re still not answering about how it impacts you as a dub lover . “Our way” leaves you with your stuff , without the grievance it creates for us . And your way will leave you even more “offended” , as the dubs you enjoy will just deservingly be called bad and not good enough , when not crap .

                      Cost is your answer ? It still doesnt matter to you unless you own stocks in the company . Everything has a cost … your dub cost more and entrail more logistic , planning and work than licensing in house dubs . Even Sega knows that . And people are already stating that they are even willing to push such original va content as dlc .

                      Anyway i’m done , as insulting as i do sounds , no i dont think you get my point across , and we are running in circle stuck in something that is already way off topic , and already in the eye of mods . Good day

    • PuppetMaster

      As long as the game got localize, i could careless if there’s a dual dub or not.

      And to remind you, Atlus under Sega banners and we know Sega was a frickin pain in the ass when comes to localization. So please don’t make ridicilous decision that can impact future localization of Persona games. Thank you.

      • Dgnfly

        i really don’t care if it’s localized if it’s gonna be english dub only really. i care as much for what you want, as you care about what i want nothing.

        and also this game is alrdy confimed 2 get localized.
        anyhow ppl een asking for year for ATLUS 2 adept too the market yet they refuse so i see no point in supporting a company that feel it should treat it’s fans as dirt.

        persona 4 arena ultimate alrdy was a lame scam after releasing the first 1 with japanese dub and then with the 2nd game cutting em out. alrdy regret buying that game.

        and if you think i’m alone i’m not.
        https://www.facebook.com/UndubGamersINT?fref=ts

        • PuppetMaster

          “and also this game is alrdy confimed 2 get localized”

          Read my post again: for future persona games

          “company that feel it should treat it’s fans as dirt”

          Praise the sun people like you are a minority!!!
          99% japanese publishers will stop localizing their games if there’s a gazillion of people like you who refused to buy their games just because it doesn’t have dual dub.

          And people like me who just want to play the damn game with english language will greatly suffer because we must spent hundreds / thousands of bucks just to learn japanese language, which is NOT EASY and could take years of effort to master the language. While we also must import every japanese game we want to play with additional cost that could goes from $70 to 100 bucks for one standard game (japanese games are damn expensive!).

          • Zarathos No Daimaōh

            When even Namco and Square are slowing coming around on the subject of dual audio and actually experimently with what fans want … , and after Catherine it’s a silly argument imo .

            Anyway i wont stomp my feet and hold a grudge , but i do want the dual audio option whenever possible . It’s pretty much what motivated me to play P3 and P4 with undub isos , while still supporting and purchasing the legit copies of the game

            • Dgnfly

              ya but let’s be honest they won’t add Dual audio if we don’t take a stand so making an impact in sales makes more off an impact then just buying it english dub.

              just look at Yakuza3 release from Sega why was it cut-up so badly because english dub lovers woulden’t understand the japanese side off hostess or certain aspect off japanese society.

              it only shows how close minded some ppl are.

              • Kumiko Akimoto

                There’s nothing wrong with atlus’ dub for persona though.
                So there’s no reason for dual audio.

                • Speedo Redempteur

                  There is plenty of wrong in atlus dub…
                  Why the heck do you think people ask for the japanese dub? you think they ask because they are satisfied with the Us dub?
                  If namco, square enix, NIS , XSEED, or even CAPCOM can do it , there is no reason why ATLUS can’t.

                  • PrinceHeir

                    I’ve been saying this for years. If companies like the ones above can provide dual audio, why can’t this dumbass company Atlus US do as well?

                    Lol at “there are some contract” BS the JPN version of Ultimax included both ENG and JPN in full scenario and battle scenario while the US version only included JPN Battle scenario.

                    Conception II only had ENG Dub even though it employed the same company that did the VA for Danganronpa and that game is dual audio by NIS America.

                    So how do you explain that? It’s obvious this company wants to push their mediocre dubs and don’t want to spend some money on the original voices.

                    They could make it DLC or even justify their overprice 3DS games.

                    But nope gotta stay stubborn and stupid as usual.

                    • Zarathos No Daimaōh

                      It’s pretty much why i avoid discussing it often in forums … there is always some crowd/defense force , that can’t admit that while their games might be great , even perfect , the publisher itself got a few decisions that are hardly defendable , and a few shady moves recently like what they pulled with both Person Arena games

                  • Kumiko Akimoto

                    To bad there’s not a lot wrong with atlus’ dub. NIS AND Capcom sure, but Atlus as at least doesn’t flake on their main series.
                    I wish they would add dual audio to things like devil survivor.

                    • Speedo Redempteur

                      You should really learn to accept other people point of view before stating “absolutes”.
                      You might be fine with it. but not everyone is.
                      Doesn’t change that refusing to listen like everyone else is , is nothing but stubborness from atlus USA

                    • Kumiko Akimoto

                      Well most people have an objective view of what’s considered good acting.

                    • Speedo Redempteur

                      The point is not about the quality of the dub .
                      The point is that some people want both , have asked for it for years , yet only atlus doesn’t deliver.
                      I’m not going to change your point of view of the dubs , we come from different backgrounds, we have different experiences, thus we have different tastes. That’s fine.

                      Just accept that some people have a valid reason for asking instead of trying to cut our valid argument by “the dubs are fine”. We don’t think so ..Accept it. my opinion is as valid as yours.

              • Zarathos No Daimaōh

                It’s an utopia imo to believe that once we boycott those titles thye’ll just come back with a suitable product the way it’s “intended” and acually demanded .

                History proves that the big publishers and studios dont care , dont think this things through , and just fold and give up then . At least for a while .

                At least as long as some of the Top execs at Square , Namco , Capcom , Sega , Atlus etc , are the same retrograde old man set in their dusty ways .

                You saw with Yakuza how little they understand the market , and how their stubborn nature led them to release the worst possible Yakuza title , a spin off that no one but die hard fans wanted , and used that as a barometer for the whole serie .

                You saw Capcom marvel at the complete flop of Sengoku basara with an outlandish dub and westernized translation that made no sense ( Takeda Shingen aka Red Bull ?) … and then over a decade later , with many begging for a localization , they crap Sengoku Basara 3 dubbed eons later , while even a second version of the game was already out in Japan .

                You saw how Namco almost gave up the Tales series in the west , after skipping all ps2 2d based tales games , fan favorites actually , and wondered why Tales of Legendia , the least favorite at the time bombed with its dub .

                I feel it is still better to support the western release as well , even if aggravating and a slow process , while pestering them with demands .
                After all , it might be the end of the world , but even Namco (and Square of all things) finally gets it for it’s Musou games , and a few odd jrpgs like the Symphonia collection . And they have a few open minded people there like Harada and Baba whom gets it . Something that wouldnt be possible before

                • Dgnfly

                  well square most likely did it cause Fans were pissed off about all their blunders seriously square screwed over their fans real hard with FFXIII a game nobody want with DLC that was more story related. also first release off FF14 was copy paste game and broken.

                  bandai namco in general doesen’t care but does do some japanese audio only mostly cause it would save em some cost with certain heavy anime titles that if ppl wanted english dub would only sell at a loss. i do think bandai namco is wasting more money on westernizing the Tales series cause let’s be honest does europe really need multiple text translation while english text would be enough haven’t bought a Tales game since Tales of Graces horrible english dub. that money would have been better spend getting the japanese audio track.

                  and let’s be honest capcom is all about money they doing it like square did ignore everybody and that cost them a lot both square and capcom nearly hit bankrupt. they pump more sequels with westernized settings instead off the old ps2 days when it was more original and more japanese styled more story than action.

                  Sega is the biggest joke in the industry they have so little faith in their product if they just made the 2nd valkyria chronicles ps3 instead off PSP it probably sold pretty good.

                  everytime i pester them with questions about japanese dub i get flamed by idiots like puppetmaster who feels their needs have 2 be served before the ppl like us who want japanese dub yet we cost em less money.

                  take the U.K anime industry for example it’s so small that basicly you need 2 import everything from U.S if you just wanna see nearly any series price would be cheaper for just sub only but that won’t do cause they feel entiteld for english dub meanng more licensing cost they even demand full english dub for series never dubbed before.

                  even sentai filmworks release off zero no tsukaime had english dub first release then ppl complained why 2nd season was sub only simple cause it’s cheaper and that would be the only real way for a release with making some profit.

                  • Dgnfly

                    srry for the long read

          • Dgnfly

            you must be stupid cause english dub is the reason most games aren’t getting localized english dub voice actors are way more expensive then their japanese counterparts. there is a reason sentai filmworks is releasing more anime Sub only cause else they would never get a release if they added english dub cause it’s more expensive there aren’t that many voice actors in U.S so they get paid more than their japanese counterpart.

            for a small game like As with cartoons, narration and character acting both come into play for
            video game voice-overs. The suggested rate for this type of voice-over
            work is $100 per minute, or $1000 for a 45-minute recording. and could end up towards 50k-60k
            of extra cost considering japanese dub is always required for an anime game cause it’s a japanese game.

            ppl who want english dub are the reason we can’t get most off the anime stuff from games 2 series cause they are sadly a majority they are costing the industry a whole lot more unnecessary cost.

            • PuppetMaster

              “you must be stupid cause english dub is the reason most games aren’t getting localized english dub voice”

              In many case english dub is more cheap than paying a license for japanese dub, except the publisher trying to grab popular english VA like Troy Baker, Nolan North, or even hollywood actor that demands a lot of money.

              “there is a reason sentai filmworks is releasing more anime Sub”

              You’re talking about movie / anime that had very short duration, unlike video games. Stupid comparassion btw.

              “ppl who want english dub are the reason we can’t get most off the anime stuff”

              Wrong. People like you who demands a dual dub and threatening not to buy the game are the one who costing the industry!

              • Dgnfly

                there is no difference between dubbing a game or a series only cost is a bit different. also you say ppl like me is the reason howcome games like Yakuza that Sega did release with japanese dub only failed because ppl like you are 2 close minded 2 see that english dub cost a lot more or else like you suggest japanese dub are more expensive.

                can you show me some factuality that japanese voice actors cost more i can show you the cost off english voice actors yet you back your claims up with nothing.

                English subtitle:
                + You can hear the japanese dub and understand the storyline at the same time
                + Take less time to localize (lets say 3 months)
                + Cost less, and if the game flops, Namco doesn’t really lose much, thus more localization is possible in the future
                + Gets the same near the japanese release
                – No english dub

                English dub
                + You get to hear english dub duhh
                – Takes pretty long to localize (lets say one year)
                – No japanese audio
                – Cost a lot, so Namco could lose a lot if the game flops causing lesser localization in the future

                • Dgnfly

                  also it doesen’t have 2 be dual audio they can just cut out the english for all i care. saves a whole lot off cost.

                • PuppetMaster

                  “Yakuza that Sega did release with japanese dub only failed”

                  ROTFL, it failed because Sega didn’t market it you dumbass! They only put big / good marketing only for Sonic. Just look when they released Resonance of Fate close to FF XIII and they didn’t bother to market it which is a very stupid decisions. FYI, Resonance of Fate had dual dub unlike Yakuza and for Sega the sales are bad even it reach 1 million copies worldwide!

                  Another FYI for you, Valkyria Chronicles, also a Sega game had dual dub. But Sega didn’t bother to market it. They just…sit there and watched it flop before the anime and fans save the game.

                  And for the note, Yakuza 1 had a good sales in the US/EU. But Sega made stupid decision by took almost two years to localize Yakuza 2 and at that time there were a lot of good games for PS3. So how the fuck Yakuza 2 can have a good sales if Sega made stupid decisions like that?!

                  After a lot of petition, Sega localized Yakuza 3 and 4 and both had a good sales in US/EU. But again, Sega made a stupid decision when they skip localizing Yakuza Kenzan and straight to Dead Souls which is the weakest spin-off game in the series. Obviously it doesn’t sell as good as the main series. But Sega made Dead Souls as the main gauge that western gamers didn’t want Yakuza series and that’s a fuckin stupid decisions!

                  So it’s pretty stupid of you to tell people like me are the reason why Yakuza series failed. Because FYI i’m a big fuckin Yakuza fans. I bought every copy of Yakuza game. Hell, i signed the petition for Yakuza 3 and 5 many time. I even imported Yakuza Ishin with full price when i almost didn’t have a single clue about japanese language.

                  “can you show me some factuality that japanese voice actors cost more”

                  Read this from Xseed
                  http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=525009

                  I’m done here

                  • Dgnfly

                    your post showed nothing it’s just another debate on why sometimes it woulden’t be included and it even says I think most publishers would prefer to leave EVERY game in its original
                    Japanese — dubbing a game’s voices is a time-consuming and costly
                    process.

                    proving my point my point not yours.

                    also marketing isen’t everything and also Valkyria chronicles was a new I.P same for Resonance of Fate and that game in general wasen’t all that good.

                    Yakuza 4 sold half that yakuza 3 did and why cause they cut-up yakuza 3 for westernization so ppl were turned off by yakuza 4.

                    i also own all yakuza games even the first and that voice acting sucked even mark hamil’s majima sucked. would rather have the HD collection re-release so i can enjoy the first they way it was meant 2 be.

                  • http://twitter.com/kazumalynx Zero

                    Yeah. I think that might be best. Just agree to disagree. I’m sorry if it got a bit heated. The insult he posted was uncalled for and I posted that above.

            • http://twitter.com/kazumalynx Zero

              No need for the insults. It’s fine to have a passionate discussion but keep it civil. Thanks.

              • Dgnfly

                Srry for the insult just tired off educating the same ppl over and over again that feel we have 2 bown down to their will.

  • باندي

    thank you guys
    i just wanna know how many playable character is in the game? i will be pissed if its only 3 and a cat

    • articuzwolf

      The silhouettes in previous trailer indicate at least one more member is yet to be revealed…I won’t be surprised they have 2-3 more characters ready to be revealed.

    • Hachiman

      Probably they will add 3 more

  • SliferRed

    I like that Persona’s are a mask again. The power of heart was dumb.

  • Bart Fatima

    Great interview translation, good job guys

  • http://mark115.tumblr.com King of Nowhere

    Oh man! Persona 5 is gonna be awesome. Can’t wait for a release date.

  • vileBrenman

    I still can’t fathom how people thought Catherine was a hard game. It’s a fun mind teaser for me not some rage quit game like some people seem to make it out as.
    P.s. I’m talking about this because it was mentioned in the dancing all night interview

    • Dgnfly

      if i recall Catherine japanese version was a hard game after fans complained they lowered the difficulty for the game.

      the one that was shipped too the U.S and E.U is the one with easier difficulty

    • http://freelansations.tumblr.com/ Thomas James

      Dgnfly is correct; the original Japanese version is harder than what international markets got. It was eventually patched, but if I’m not mistaken, additional changes were made for the localized edition.

      As someone who imported that Japanese version day 1, I can assure you, it was one of the hardest games I’d played in quite some time, even on normal difficulty. Days 6 and 7 are REAL MESSED UP, especially when the game is too new to have any Japanese guides to check. c:

      • kurosan9712

        Oh come on, it was easy. Just harder than your average game of present time. And it made it awesome. Just to say, I imported JPN ver day one.

        • http://freelansations.tumblr.com/ Thomas James

          I’m not saying it was BAD for being difficult. Just that I was personally caught by surprise knowing how Japanese games have trended the last decade. It definitely prepped me for the metagame in the coliseum mode afterwards, that’s for sure.

          Anyway, the main point of the post was just me confirming there were difficulty discrepancies between versions. Everything else should be taken as subjective opinion. c:

          • kurosan9712

            There were. They even made a patch for JPN one, but I never DL it. Well, I was done with the game long before. Besides, for me easier=boring.

        • Zarathos No Daimaōh

          It wasnt that easy … nor was it that hard either … the gameplay phases were pretty much in the vein of puzzles games like IQ . it just surprised people that never play those .

  • Demacian Scout

    I take it none of these people have any hand in SMT X FE then. Phooey.

    • César H. Sandoval

      You actually believe that game is in development? lol

      • Demacian Scout

        I NEED TO HAVE HOOOOOOPE

        • Max Leo

          It will be fine.

          I waited forever for Final Fantasy Versus and Yakuza 5. Yakuza 5 is coming this summer, and FFXV’s demo is in this month!

          There is always hope.

          • Solomon_Kano

            You waited for Yakuza’s localization though, not an indication that it even exists. Not exactly the same thing.

            • Max Leo

              To me it was the same thing. SEGA gave us no indication that it would exist in the west, In fact even some of the most hopeful fans had given up and were leaving “lol” type of comments to anyone thinking it was still coming to the west.

              There is always hope until they officially say it’s canceled. (even for the Last Guardian)

          • kthanxyousuck

            I think there’s hope. I mean who the hell expected to hear anything about Rodea the Sky Soldier again? And now it’ll be coming out in about 4 weeks.

            Same thing sorta happened with the Phoenix Wright/Ace Attorney crossover game that was announced, never mentioned for about a year or two (with both series getting brand new individual games during that time) and then it just popped back up out of the blue.

    • Davorbasic

      That game is dead or it’ll be the new duke nukem forever.

    • Mintos

      P team isn’t really in charge of SMT so yes you are right

    • ayanami-chan

      That game won’t ever come, besides cross overs mostly suck anyway

      • Demacian Scout

        But I like Persona Q :(

      • DukeMagus

        The King of Fighters, marvel vs capcom 2 and super robot taisen makers would like to have a talk with you

    • ThatGuy3190_7

      You do realize that this is P-Studios, as in Persona Studios? The Persona team still works for Atlus but they are their individual group now when it comes to making games.

  • Shippoyasha

    Hearing how they intend to use character personality for dancing styles is pretty cool for Dancing All Night.

  • https://www.behance.net/cobaltcomet KOKAYI5

    Still not sold on the stealing thing. As long as they steal from bad people ok. But ive never really wanted to be the bad guy. That’s why don’t play games like gta.

    • PuppetMaster

      I think what they steal isn’t stuff like money, but more stuff like memories, souls, or even freedom to do something.

      • Mr.Sammich

        Oh yes, because stealing money is so much worse than stealing souls XD
        Seriously though, if you were trying to make them sound better with that line… you didn’t XD
        But yeah, seeing as there’s the whole “TAKE YOUR HEART” thing, I’m gonna say they steal more immaterial things.

        • PuppetMaster

          No no, sorry if i didn’t make it clear. What i mean is the bad guys captured things like souls, memories, or immaterial things from ordinary people and makes them lost control of themself, like we seen a conductor crashing a subway in the trailer. Our main character with his friends just steal back those stuff from the bad guys, hence the Robin Hood or Lupin theme. Of course this is just pure speculation from my side :D

          • Mr.Sammich

            Yeah, that is more likely. And speculation is the only fun part of waiting, so speculate all you want! :D

    • Solomon_Kano

      Except they aren’t just any thieves. They’re like Lupin, Robin Hood, Kaitou Kid — gentleman thieves, who aren’t at all bad people. Theft isn’t inherently evil.

      • https://www.behance.net/cobaltcomet KOKAYI5

        Then they should only rob cruel or evil people. I hope that’s how it goes.

        • Mr.Sammich

          Pure speculation here: At the beginning of the trailer, “The Phantom” (our protagonist’s thief “persona” *wink-wink-nudge-nudge*) appears to be stealing something from a casino (one where nobody is actually doing any gambling, but still), and casinos are currently *illegal* in Japan, so anybody running one would be a criminal. My guess would be Yakuza, so yeah, they deserve it.
          I too dislike playing the bad guy, but I generally draw the line of “bad” at “killing innocents” instead of “stealing shit”, even my most paragon characters will just nab anything that’s not nailed down. Anyway, I think the party in this game will be more vigilantes than anything.

          • https://www.behance.net/cobaltcomet KOKAYI5

            That makes sense. Cops will likely chase them when they’re not dealing with mobsters, and they might taunt them, but maybe it’ll be more of a mischief thing.

  • https://www.behance.net/cobaltcomet KOKAYI5

    Hashino message at the end of 2nd page. Thats what I like to hear. dont give up on rpgs or systems like ps4 and dont forget about turn-based RPGs. Action is good. But I like both.

  • Niko of Death

    I’d like to see what they have to say about connections to Persona 1/2. The return of “true” demons and the (apparently?) darker tone, as well as sharing color theme with Persona 2, make me amazed that they haven’t referenced either yet.

    • Mr.Sammich

      Don’t you remember? We’ve all crossed over into an alternate reality wherein those games never existed, Atlus rightfully doesn’t remember them at all, it’s just us that don’t belong.

      • MrFinalgamer

        So…you’re saying we’re living on “this side” and the memories of P2 are from the “other side”???

        • Mr.Sammich

          Yup, pretty much. We gotta atone for our sin of… I dunno what we did, but we gotta atone for it.

  • Ace

    Thank you for the translation, Gematsu. However, the person who did the interview is absolutely horrendous at asking good questions for the Persona 5 part. I really believe that any good fan of Atlus would have asked way better questions than this.

    • https://www.behance.net/cobaltcomet KOKAYI5

      Maybe they told them not to asking certain subjects.

  • http://twitter.com/kazumalynx Zero

    Thanks for the hard work, Thomas. I plan to read all of this asap.

    Moving on… Do we really have to turn this into another dual audio discussion? … meh.

    • PuppetMaster

      Sorry Zero. It’s not my intention to turn that discussion into a heated debate. You can delete my post if you think it’s necessary. Next time i will be carefull with dual audio topics.

      • http://twitter.com/kazumalynx Zero

        It’s fine. I allow most off topic discussiona but it seems like all the Atlus articles are becoming it. Which gets old. That’s all I was saying. =)

    • Mr.Sammich

      Personally, I don’t care if the game has no audio besides the music, so long as it’s localized sooner. I don’t know how throwing out the already done Japanese voicing and all the sound-effects would help the translation process, but if it could, I wouldn’t mind at all!

  • SOLOmio

    Kay! that wasn’t much info on P5 but thanks for translating for us! Now Atlus give me Raidou vs ….something

    • Mr.Sammich

      Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner 3: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. The Really Hard Sudoku Puzzle!
      Really, I think the fact that a new engine has been made in-house for Atlus to use on PS3 & PS4, and the fact that they’ve redone all of Kaneko’s Demon designs in glorious HD means that there’s more likely than not gonna be more new MegaTen games in the future ;D
      Just a guess, but we can hope.

  • http://freelansations.tumblr.com/ Thomas James

    Hey guys!

    A Twitter friend pointed out that I forgot to translate Soejima’s answer to the last question! This has been fixed! Jump to the bottom of page 2 to see what’s up!

    (Spoiler: It’s just him saying expect to see more party members down the line.)

    Sorry about that and thanks for your kind words about my work! :D!

  • kthanxyousuck

    P4D isn’t due out in Japan until June right? It’s making me wonder when we’ll see P5 in the West. I can’t see them releasing it in Japan until August or September. P4D might come out here in September. How quickly are persona games normally localized? I know it took PQ about six months.

    • Mr.Sammich

      I think (hope) they’ll probably try to keep it in 2015, maybe a holiday release. I’ve little to no doubt that there’s already someone working on the translation in some capacity. I’m torn between wanting this game in my hands (and, more importantly, in my PS4) as soon as possible and not wanting a rushed translation.

  • DrForbidden

    Fantastic job as usual, Thomas!

  • jaggery

    LOL!!! there were people who said to not put nanako out, but they said “screw it” and did it anyway! haha

  • youngsexynerd

    YES! I never bought a Rhythm game but I am going to buy this one and Final Fantasy Theatrthym some day!