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[Eolz]

As a bunch of people pointed out, an image circulated this weekend of our English build having some unlocalized Japanese text still in it. I’m not gonna link it here because it’s from the battle at the end of the game and could definitely spoil some details for people. Let that also serve as your warning before you go looking for it.
(...)

…Yep, it’s in there, along with one other instance of Japanese text. It’s an oversight on our part, and we’re deeply sorry about it. We’ve discussed internally about the possibility of correcting it, and while fixing it is not off the table yet, if it does happen, it won’t be in a timely manner.

But if the burning question you’ve got is “ATLUS! How did you let this happen?” Let me try to explain.

First, we’re human. This is important, so before you start writing that angry comment down below, please remember this point.

Second, and this is the funny part, it turns out our QA department is actually too good. The two instances of Japanese text left in the game happen during a boss battle near the end of the game. As you may know, SMTIV:A has partners that are permanently with you throughout the game, and you can select the partner based on what abilities they have that complement your play style. (No more worrying about a randomly chosen Walter casting Agi on demons that resist fire. WALTEERRRRRR!)

Anyhow, just like in SMTIV, partners can get attacked and knocked out. In this particular battle, partners will return after 3 turns, and the errant Japanese text only shows up if you get to a point where the boss gives you a dialogue option WHILE your partner is KO’d. Our testers, who have been with the company for quite awhile, and who are well-versed in all things SMT (I think a few of them also were QA for the original SMTIV) were so good, they never ran into the situation of having an unconscious partner during the fight, and henceforth the dialogue in question.

We never realized that there was a specific set of circumstances for the text to appear in-game, and so it never got localized. And unfortunately, it will still be in there by the time the game hits shelves tomorrow. BUT! As our QA testers and reviewers in the media have shown, it’s a relatively rare set of circumstances that will lead players to encounter the aberrant text, and hopefully won’t even be discovered by the vast majority of players. (Of course, now that I told you how to find it, you’re probably all going to go out and test it, aren’t you?)

So where do we go from here? Well, first – a sincere thank you to those who brought it to our attention. While it might be too late for SMTIVA, we’re now poring through the Persona 5 script and other active localization titles to check for any conditional text we may have missed. Second, we’re going to look into being able to fix it, but we don’t know if it’s feasible or if we even have a timetable for it, but as soon as we know something one way or the other, we’ll let you know.

So, bottom line, we’re truly regretful this bit of dialogue slipped through the cracks, and hope it doesn’t impact your gameplay at all!

Source

They're probably not working on it for the European release /s

 

[Asd202]

Hope P5 won't have such problems.

 

[Relaxed Muscle]

EU version, superior version confirmed.

Just gonna wait to 2020.

 

[Shin-chan]

Why can't they just patch it in?

 

[mocolostrocolos]

Why can't they just patch it in?

Lazy ass.

 

[xzeldax3]

Hope P5 won't have such problems.

I bet Atlus will put more effort into reducing the rrisk of that happening after this error. Plus, it should be easier to push out a quick update on PS4 than 3DS.

 

[Linkstrikesback]

Why can't they just patch it in?

Probably costs money they're not willing to pay.

 

[Rymuth]

I'll just consider it flavor text and make up my own lore reasons why it happened.

Seriously, hopefully Persona 5 doesn't suffer such hiccups

 

[Nachos]

Why can't they just patch it in?

Patches cost money, so I'd imagine they'd want to try and fix all of the Japanese text in one go.

 

[Dwayne]

QA being too good is a ridiculous reason.

QA not through enough/not testing all possible situations is the correct reason. That said, I can't blame them - it could well have been that no one at Atlus US knew about this particular cutscene existing, what with the game being developed in Japan and all.

 

[Tizoc]

I'll just consider it flavor text and make up my own lore reasons why it happened.

Seriously, hopefully Persona 5 doesn't suffer such hiccups

This wouldn't be the first Atlus game localized into English you know...

 

[Kouriozan]

Thanks US for beta testing the game for EU.

 

[AssassiN]

The surprising thing to me is that they aren't simply given like a script of all text in the game which to then translate, or am i making it sound too easy?

 

[random25]

If you see the untranslated text, that means you suck.

 

[Eolz]

The surprising thing to me is that they aren't simply given like a script of all text in the game which to then translate, or am i making it sound too easy?

Well they say they're looking over the Persona 5 script, so I wonder why there wouldn't be one for SMTIVA...
You don't just discover text by letting QA play, but you discover mistakes like that.

 

[Kowashitai]

We never realized that there was a specific set of circumstances for the text to appear in-game, and so it never got localized

This is really surprising to me. Shouldn't there be some kind of tool or at the very least a spreadsheet with the lines and the corresponding translation? Did they think it was just unused text because they didn't know the triggers?

 

[wrowa]

Well they say they're looking over the Persona 5 script, so I wonder why there wouldn't be one for SMTIVA...
You don't just discover text by letting QA play, but you discover mistakes like that.

I think these scripts are just an Excel text dump without a lot of context. So, you still have to go through the game in order to see where each line appears in-game.

In this case, I assume it's possible that they thought these were unused lines that cut for the final release, but were still left in the code.

 

[Paz]

The surprising thing to me is that they aren't simply given like a script of all text in the game which to then translate, or am i making it sound too easy?

That is how it works, but some times individual lines are missed for various reasons (Keeping track of text heavy games with lots of languages is hard) and it's up to localization QA to find those and other errors, seems like a few slipped through here.

I find these kind of bugs endearing in a way, a remnant of what games were like 10-15 years ago, surprised they aren't patching it though.

 

[MoogPaul]

This is really surprising to me. Shouldn't there be some kind of tool or at the very least a spreadsheet with the lines and the corresponding translation? Did they think it was just unused text because they didn't know the triggers?

There is a ton of unused text floating around in games. I imagine it becomes pretty hard to tell what actually get used or not, esp on some of these rpgs now that have a different scene for every party make up.

 

[oneida]

 

[transience]

Sounds like they are really crunching to localize P5 and can't spare the resources.

 

[stan423321]

Why can't they just patch it in?

maybe they can but if they "just" do it patch will be ginormous

also, cert

 

[Dee Dee]

The surprising thing to me is that they aren't simply given like a script of all text in the game which to then translate, or am i making it sound too easy?

I only worked for smaller scale games, with much smaller developers, but our text files had a bunch of stuff that was created only for testing, lots of internal names players never see (relating to elements of the battle mechanics) and even lines that had to be intentionally left blank for something to work.
Some stuff was even abandoned elements that ended up not making it into the game, with item names and descriptions already in the text files.
Too work efficiently, we usually try to filter for stuff that actually exists in the game by testing, and prioritize that content.

I guess it just depends on the way the text files are structured and how separate they are from other code or documentation.
Not translating some stuff can be due to an oversight in testing, yes, but it thought bigger games like that would have better documentation going into the localisation process. Good to know it doesn't just happen to crappy small companies like mine.

 

[Rymuth]

This wouldn't be the first Atlus game localized into English you know...

I'm not sure what you're implying here

 

[Eolz]

Sounds like they are really crunching to localize P5 and can't spare the resources.

Basically. Which is a shame since it's only 3 lines and is a process that can be done on the side. Guess Atlus japan doesn't care as usual though.
+ Usual issue with EU copies being released months later, but still in english only.

 

[BY2K]

Finally censorship nuts will be happy! You get the original text!

 

[pizzacat]

Atlus tax too hold dat L

 

[cireza]

This is honestly not a pretty big problem.

 

[toastyToast]

Dang mystic script

 

[Recall]

Basically. Which is a shame since it's only 3 lines and is a process that can be done on the side. Guess Atlus japan doesn't care as usual though.
+ Usual issue with EU copies being released months later, but still in english only.

Has there ever been a reasoning behind why EU gets fucked over?

We get the EXACT same translation as the US version but it takes 3-12 months to get released here. It's not like they are then spending time putting in French or German etc subtitles,it's the same localisation yet it delays the release.

 

[JimPanzer]

I gather Persona series fans are more likely to encounter it.

 

[Tizoc]

I'm not sure what you're implying here

Namely that I wouldn't be too worried about P5's localization having text that they missed out on translating.

 

[Li Kao]

As benign as the mistake is, you fuck it, you own it. In the age of patching, it would seem the respectful way to do it. Guess I'm naive.

 

[Maintenance]

What a mess, paying that Atlus tax for nothing.

 

[dan2026]

Maybe if they started the Persona 5 localisation in a timely manner, instead of waiting til the game was done they would have more free time.

 

[RurouniZel]

I just hope it's not particularly important text. I remember encountering that in Ar Tonelico 2 and thankfully it was just Cloche's name for one text box. It was actually kind of amusing. XD

 

[Venfayth]

While the "QA too good" thing is a cute story, it's irrelevant. It's not QA's job to be good at the game. It's QA's job to do... quality assurance. That means going through grid testing - not trying to beat a boss as best you can. This displays a weird level of ineptitude on the part of the people making the statement and presumably the people in charge of QA.

I almost don't believe it - because if that's how the QA testers do their job then you'd actually expect a lot more problems than just two lines of untranslated dialogue.

 

[Millsington]

This sounds like a tools issue not a localization issue. Are localization teams expected to develop their own tools to sort used and unused dialog? Expecting QA testers working on a 50+ hour campaign to catch missed lines sounds optimistic to say the least.

 

[wrowa]

Maybe if they started the Persona 5 localisation in a timely manner, instead of waiting til the game was done they would have more free time.

Not much they can do about that if the Japanese side doesn't utilize the kind of development environment necessary to make a simultanous localization possible.

You might also be severly underestimating how long
it takes to localize a game of P5's size.

 

[diaspora]

Finally censorship nuts will be happy! You get the original text!

.

 

[Dragon1893]

Hardly worth making a fuss over this.
It's an unfortunate mistake that is very minor in the grand scheme of things.

 

[Hot Coldman]

Huh. I figured localisation like this mostly just ripping out the script out of the code and translating it like that (referring to the game for context, of course). I didn't realise a scenario like this was even possible!

That's pretty funny. I hope they fix it for EU release, but I'm guessing it won't happen.

 

[Recall]

Huh. I figured localisation like this mostly just ripping out the script out of the code and translating it like that (referring to the game for context, of course). I didn't realise a scenario like this was even possible!

That's pretty funny. I hope they fix it for EU release, but I'm guessing it won't happen.

Yeah in my head I just imagined a giant database where they can see what line was translated and to what. And then they would see which lines of text would still need translating.

The thing is we know nothing of the process. He can only assume how it all works and assumption is a bad thing.

 

[thelooseteeth]

So if you don't suck at the game you'll never see it? Phew!

 

[zelas]

Nah, this sounds like the opposite of good QA. It's not the job of QA to casually go through the game the way they want to. They're supposed to put themselves into as many scenarios as they can. Surely the only test case wasn't "beat the game."

 

[Hot Coldman]

Yeah in my head I just imagined a giant database where they can see what line was translated and to what. And then they would see which lines of text would still need translating.

The thing is we know nothing of the process. He can only assume how it all works and assumption is a bad thing.

I've read enough of TCRF that I know Nintendo games usually have tons of localised dialogue that isn't used in the game itself - as in unused dialogue in, say, Super Mario 3D World got translated even though no version of the game uses it.

But I guess being thorough requires manpower.

 

[Relaxed Muscle]

Hardly worth making a fuss over this.
It's an unfortunate mistake that is very minor in the grand scheme of things.

Considering that Atlus decides to price their games higher than any other publisher, just because, I find this more than a minor mistake.

I would expect this of games that cost a fraction of this, not of a 50$ game.

 

[DrunkShogun]

Seems the fault is on QA. They should be looking at every possible outcome I player may face and from this news it seems they didn't. Not a issue for me personally but the fault clearly lies with them.

 

[deadfolk]

Have they actually confirmed an EU release?

 

[Venfayth]

I know from experience that at LEAST P3P also had this problem in just a couple places. I ran into a line of untranslated dialogue while speaking with someone in the lobby of your dorm on a specific date, although I can't remember exactly how it happened.

It was actually super interesting and funny to me when it happened.

I seem to recall there might have been a few bits of untranslated dialogue in 4 or golden somewhere also, but I could be mistaken. Just a general impression in my head.

It's not a big deal, just as I said above, It's really weird that this "too good" story is being shared at all given how non sequitur it is.