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Persona 5 delayed to April 4, JP voices available as free DLC at launch

When will Persona 5 actually be released in the west?


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Deleted member 518609

Unconfirmed Member
I'm curious, why are the voices DLC and not on the disc? Did they give a reason?

Nah. There are a couple of possibilities though. They could've planned to sell them and decided to make it free as compensation for the delay, they could be making it DLC so they can see how many people actually download it and determine whether it's a trend worth continuing in future titles, or maybe they're just following in the footsteps of IFI who decided to make dual audio optional so people who didn't want it could save space.

They are obviously going to sell it after the first month of release.

Hardin asserted multiple times during the stream and in the official blog post that they would stay free forever.
 
Nah. There are a couple of possibilities though. They could've planned to sell them and decided to make it free as compensation for the delay, they could be making it DLC so they can see how many people actually download it and determine whether it's a trend worth continuing in future titles, or maybe they're just following in the footsteps of IFI who decided to make dual audio optional so people who didn't want it could save space.

yeah seeing the actual numbers would be useful. Good point

2. Maybe they have to pay for each "personal license" of the Japanese voices. It is free for us, but not for them. Because not everybody will want the Japanese voices, they won't have to pay one license per game unit.

This was my first thought, but I'm not sure it can actually work that way
 

Fluxdyne

Member
I'm curious, why are the voices DLC and not on the disc? Did they give a reason?

I think it is either:

1. To give them more time to properly integrate the Japanese voices in the game. If it is true that they are recording additional voices for the English version, maybe they are also doing the same for the Japanese ones. Is there any unsubtitled voice sequences on the game? If there is, they have to add subtitles to those.

2. Maybe they have to pay for each "personal license" of the Japanese voices. It is free for us, but not for them. Because not everybody will want the Japanese voices, they won't have to pay one license per game unit.
 

Zafir

Member
Sounds like a stategic decision to me. They can stick their dual audio high between their buttocks :(
Don't mind, plenty otrher games to play ;P

More annoying is I predordered the CE and I honestly can't remember where from, can't find a confirmation email and I already checked Amazon.. My debit card expires in March...

I'm fortunate in that my Debit card expires in April. I sure hope it doesn't get delayed past that in Europe though.
 

jrush64

Banned
Thank you to everyone who voiced your opinon anywhere that you wanted the Japanese voice option and that it was important to you. Especially in the face of everyone who tried to shout down your opinion as "bitching" or "whining" or presenting this "well you'd have to be an asshole to listen to a language you can't understand" fallacy. You are all the best and those "whining complaints" AKA requests for a perfectly reasonable feature for Japanese voices in a game
Set in Japan, about life in Japan, and starring fucking Japanese characters. Those are the reason we all have the option to listen to the original voice cast. Never listen to anyone who tells you to shut up.

This was a dealbreaker for me. There are other games to play, so why should I put down my money for a game that didn't meet my expectations? Thank you Atlus for listening to the fans this feature is important to. It's awesome living in a reality where P5 will steal my heart instead of being a missed opportunity.

All due respect to the English cast, I hope to hear all those actors someday, in other games

Edit: Also I don't care about the delay. With the Japanese language track now being available this game became a priority for me. Release it whenever you want I will play it over any other game in that release window.

lol. ok. You can just go and play the Japanese version of the game you know.
 
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Deleted member 518609

Unconfirmed Member
Is there any unsubtitled voice sequences on the game? If there is, they have to add subtitles to those.

Not necessarily, quite a few localizations that have dual audio don't add subtitles where they didn't exist before. #FE for example didn't even have a dub, but there were no subtitles during battles, and that was done in conjunction with Atlus USA.
That said, off the top of my head, almost all of the game is subbed. Anime cutscenes have toggleable subs, and in battles the dialogue is (almost always) displayed in a text box in the top right. Some occasional taunts that characters do on places like the results screen or at the start of a turn don't have subs, but half of them are in Engrish anyway.
 
lol. ok. You can just go and play the Japanese version of the game you know.
60268879.jpg
 

dan2026

Member
I am so happy that Atlus listened to us about wanting the dual audio.

Thank you everyone who emailed, tweeted them and made our voice heard.

Thank you.
 
I think it is either:

1. To give them more time to properly integrate the Japanese voices in the game. If it is true that they are recording additional voices for the English version, maybe they are also doing the same for the Japanese ones. Is there any unsubtitled voice sequences on the game? If there is, they have to add subtitles to those.

Nope @ the bolded , Unless you consider the FMVs
 

Spman2099

Member
This news is amazing. I almost purchased the Japanese version, but despite speaking the language conversationally I fear that it would have been a tremendously painful process working through the entire game. I will purchase one of the expensive versions of the game to show my support.

lol. ok. You can just go and play the Japanese version of the game you know.

Stop for a moment and think through what you are implying here. You are either intentionally being an antagonistic jackass or you are being brutally dimwitted. Not a good look either way.
 

Veggy

Member
As far as we know, it's not. And Europe is getting the game on the same day so no need to import for us this time.

I hope its true, not holding my breath though since EU has been shafted so many times in the past when it comes to Atlus games
 

Arizato

Member
This was a dealbreaker for me. There are other games to play, so why should I put down my money for a game that didn't meet my expectations? Thank you Atlus for listening to the fans this feature is important to. It's awesome living in a reality where P5 will steal my heart instead of being a missed opportunity.

I think this right here is why some people became annoyed of the comments about including the Japanese VO. I find it so weird that voices are such a big deal that they won't buy the game if the japanese voices are not included. And no, this isn't me trying to tell people they are "weaboos" for wanting the japanese voices. Because I found people not wanting to buy Tokyo Mirage Sessions because there was no English VO equally ridiculous.
 
Thank you to everyone who voiced your opinon anywhere that you wanted the Japanese voice option and that it was important to you. Especially in the face of everyone who tried to shout down your opinion as "bitching" or "whining" or presenting this "well you'd have to be an asshole to listen to a language you can't understand" fallacy. You are all the best and those "whining complaints" AKA requests for a perfectly reasonable feature for Japanese voices in a game
Set in Japan, about life in Japan, and starring fucking Japanese characters. Those are the reason we all have the option to listen to the original voice cast. Never listen to anyone who tells you to shut up.

This was a dealbreaker for me. There are other games to play, so why should I put down my money for a game that didn't meet my expectations? Thank you Atlus for listening to the fans this feature is important to. It's awesome living in a reality where P5 will steal my heart instead of being a missed opportunity.

All due respect to the English cast, I hope to hear all those actors someday, in other games

Edit: Also I don't care about the delay. With the Japanese language track now being available this game became a priority for me. Release it whenever you want I will play it over any other game in that release window.

Hear hear. Well said.

"Why are you so hellbent on playing with Japanese audio ya weeb."

Uhhh, because it's a Japanese game made by Japanese people and it's set in Japan starring a Japanese cast. For the sake of authenticity and immersion, it kinda helps to have the characters actually speaking in Japanese. Do the majority of people like watching foreign movies with the dub on? Exactly.
 

kromeo

Member
Hear hear. Well said.

"Why are you so hellbent on playing with Japanese audio ya weeb."

Uhhh, because it's a Japanese game made by Japanese people and it's set in Japan starring a Japanese cast. For the sake of authenticity and immersion, it kinda helps to have the characters actually speaking in Japanese. Do the majority of people like watching foreign movies with the dub on? Exactly.

I don't disagree with your point but I don't think the dubbing argument for movies with real actors has ever been a good comparison
 

Khoryos

Member
Hear hear. Well said.

"Why are you so hellbent on playing with Japanese audio ya weeb."

Uhhh, because it's a Japanese game made by Japanese people and it's set in Japan starring a Japanese cast. For the sake of authenticity and immersion, it kinda helps to have the characters actually speaking in Japanese. Do the majority of people like watching foreign movies with the dub on? Exactly.

Personally, I find my immersion is strengthened by being able to understand the emotional cues and emphases of the characters, though - isn't that a factor for you?
 

Venfayth

Member
Personally, I find my immersion is strengthened by being able to understand the emotional cues and emphases of the characters, though - isn't that a factor for you?

I personally agree with you, but that's how opinions work. It's just not that important to all people. The JP VA cast in this game is a lineup of rockstars. It feels more authentic. Some people don't like English dubs period.

There's plenty of reasons someone might want the JP VA - or at least be able to try it to see if they like it more than the Eng VA. The people laughing at others for it are bullies and pricks - no exceptions.

I'll be playing with English VA unless something horrible happens, and I'm not going to be a dick or jerk to anyone who will only play with the JP VA. There's just no reason to be an asshole.
 
About the DLC being delisted. It's a silly worry at this point.

The game isn't even out yet lol.

It's rather baseless right now.

You replied to the wrong post then. And it's not a silly worry, it literally happened on EU PSN this year with NISA/Atlus games because their relationship ended

And I'm not worried, I will get it while it's up, but it's inevitable that it will happen at some point.
 
This a problem that didn't need to be happen if they would start with the english voices and translations from the get go. I mean, it's not like the people don't care about Persona at all. Why is this delay even a thing. It makes me upset. You can't even stream the japanese version for 2 months more. Seriously?
 
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Deleted member 518609

Unconfirmed Member
Personally, I find my immersion is strengthened by being able to understand the emotional cues and emphases of the characters, though - isn't that a factor for you?

I don't find intonations and emphases are hard to pick up on when subtitles are present, and in an English dub you'll always be getting a reinterpretation on the original voice direction, and staying true to the original product is always important to me. But of course everyone is free to play with the audio track they please, and I can understand how not having to read subtitles can increase immersion for someone too - it's just not worth the authenticity tradeoff for me, and I do simply tend to believe anime-esque games don't generally dub very well. For a second playthrough though, I'm all for trying the dub.

I personally agree with you, but that's how opinions work. It's just not that important to all people. The JP VA cast in this game is a lineup of rockstars. It feels more authentic. Some people don't like English dubs period.

There's plenty of reasons someone might want the JP VA - or at least be able to try it to see if they like it more than the Eng VA. The people laughing at others for it are bullies and pricks - no exceptions.

I'll be playing with English VA unless something horrible happens, and I'm not going to be a dick or jerk to anyone who will only play with the JP VA. There's just no reason to be an asshole.

Completely agree, and it's worth pointing out that there are assholes on both sides. Unfortunately there are plenty of sub elitists who'll hurl abuse at those who choose to play with a dub as well.
 

cofias

Member
Would not have purchased this game if there was no way to play with original VO, so Atlus gained at least one sale from this. It will also put me over the edge towards finally getting a PS4, so I'm very pleased overall. Will probably pick up a premium edition too. DGAF about the delay even though I'm very hyped for this game, I can wait.
 

Gbraga

Member
I don't disagree with your point but I don't think the dubbing argument for movies with real actors has ever been a good comparison

This is less and less true the more games evolve, though. It might still be true for a game like Persona, outside of the anime scenes, but it's no longer true for games in general. To use my native language as an example, I've seen people who say they're not really losing anything by playing The Last of Us with the brazilian dubs, which is really just not true. The original actors were an integral part of the process, the devs filmed their faces so they could use that as base for their hand-made adjustments to the animations. There's some improvising and changes made to the script in order to better fit the actors. What is arguably one of the most iconic lines in the game was only written because the actress used that line a lot behind the scenes, and the devs started to associate it with the character.

Now, I don't really think Persona 5 or Final Fantasy XV were even near that level of performance capture and symbiotic relationship between the actors and writers, but you did have Tabata promoting the game along with Noctis' actor in Japan, and you have an all-star cast of actors in Persona 5. These things aren't just chosen at random for no reason, clearly there's a lot of care put into it, and they're important to the game. It's the original acting, the way it was intended to be and approved by the top BOYZ working on the game. That's not always the case for localization. I doubt Druckmann can speak fluent portuguese and even has the time to review the entire localization to see if it's something he approves 100%, but he spent countless hours with the original acting.

All of that being said, I've been really liking the english localization of Persona 5, and I think Atlus does an amazing job with that. With the announcement that there will be more lines in english, I'm actually somewhat divided in my decision, but I still think there's a lot of weight to being the original, even if it's not the same as a live-action movie. It's still a japanese game set in Japan with japanese characters. You have for example Ryuji Sakamoto, that a lot of people criticized the way the actor pronounced Sakamoto, but even Ryuji, that was apparently pronounced well enough, is just not the way a japanese person would speak that name. I love the Persona 4 dub, for example, I actually prefer it to the original, but I'd be lying if I said it didn't take me quite a while to get used to japanese kids who can't speak their own names without american accents.

I'm sorry if this is all nonsense, I had to stop writing to take care of some stuff at least three times, so it probably sounds like a crazy rant.

Personally, I find my immersion is strengthened by being able to understand the emotional cues and emphases of the characters, though - isn't that a factor for you?

But you don't need to be fluent in a language to understand that.

If I played something in, say, German, then yeah, it would probably be moonspeak to me, and I wouldn't know where words begin and end, but that's not the case with japanese for most people who want the original audio, even if they can't properly understand it.

Especially if you grow up in a country that doesn't have english as its native language, you get used from very early on to consume media in a foreign language, and noticing these things with subtitles become natural.

I would never choose to play an american game with portuguese dubs either. And I don't think I've ever seen people resisting that option, at most they disagree and play in portuguese, but it seems like people only have an issue with that when it's someone choosing not to play in english, specifically.

Let me show you a short clip from FFXV:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hi9vy74pn6E

Can you really not understand the emotions being transmitted here, and how it's different in tone to the english version (which is not bad at all, btw, I'm not bashing the english version here)? You don't need to fluently speak a language to be able to follow it. And see how the cutscene direction and animation were obviously made with that acting in mind.
 
I don't disagree with your point but I don't think the dubbing argument for movies with real actors has ever been a good comparison

They're interchangeable to me in regards to dubs/subs. Live-action movies, animated movies, video games - they're all forms of entertainment that require actors to deliver their dialogue in a convincing manner.

Personally, I find my immersion is strengthened by being able to understand the emotional cues and emphases of the characters, though - isn't that a factor for you?

I've been watching subtitled movies since I was a kid and I've had no trouble being emotionally invested in the events on screen despite not being able to understand what is being spoken. I don't think you need to understand a language in order to pick up on the emotional cues. You can still feel it in the context, in the delivery and in what's actually being said. That's how it goes for me anyway.
 
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