Even as Personal lovers are eagerly awaiting the fifth version of the game, the role-playing Persona 5 is scheduled for a delayed release in April 2017.
This delayed date was mentioned in a Tech Times report by the publisher and developer of the Atlus team. The English version of the game was originally planned for a Valentine’s Day release but the latest reports confirm that this is not possible. However, American fans will be able to lay their hands on a playable demo version towards the end of 2016 for a couple of days at Sony’s PlayStation Experience event. It is worth noting that the original Japanese version made its debut a couple of months back in September. The upcoming English version will be compatible with both PS3 and PS4 gaming consoles.
What is causing the delay?
There are two main reasons that are being cited as the cause for delaying the release of the English version worldwide. One explanation is that the English version is being developed to support dual audio. This reason is however less convincing to many people who love the game as all that is needed is a DLC (downloadable content) or a simple update to the existing Japanese game. According to a post by PR manager John Hardin from the Atlus team on their official PlayStation Blog, the Japanese audio support will be offered as a downloadable format. As a result, the game can be played with either the original Japanese dialogues or English voiceover. The team in charge of the development indicates that the delay is because they want to set the same standards for both English and Japanese games. They want the version to offer the same satisfactory and memorable game experience that the original Japanese version currently offers.
Another cause for the delay that is more likely to be the actual fact is that the team is facing localization issues. While the team wants to ensure that this meets the gold standard as in the original version, the person who made this announcement admitted that at present they do not have a team large enough to translate the entire text in the original game.
What is almost certain at this point of time is that if the game gets delayed once again beyond the slated date, there is sure to be a huge outburst of anger. This is because this delay marks the third delay of Persona 5 given that the prior decided date in February itself was a delayed date after the announcement of a 2015 release.
How Persona 5 is different from the earlier version
Like earlier versions, Persona 5 focuses on the trekking activities of high-school students and their encounter with dangerous creatures. They can also work on creating better relationships with other players, open up new abilities and strategies to help them during a battle and earn passive bonuses. According to director Katsura Hashino, the game reflects the happenings in a juvenile school setting and includes a picaresque romance.
The game is full of dialogs and a lot of narratives incorporated into it. This tends to remind the player of a present day anime in action. There are talks that the game when released will depict five characters that have thus far not made their presence in any of the earlier versions. There will be quite a few high school students, each of whom leads a secondary life as a rebellious phantom thief at night. The students wear phantom masks for identity protection and to use the Personas power.
Two of the above five characters are Yusuke Kitagawa and Makoto Niijima. The former is an honor art student and is a disciple of a renowned Japanese painter because of his profound artistic abilities. He is also shown to have been orphaned at a very young age. The latter is a very responsible person and a perfectionist for her age, but does not believe in her age. There are hints that she will be seen riding a motorcycle. She has an elder sister called Sae Niijima. Interestingly, the trailer of Persona 5 shows these two characters along with a sneak peek into their back history and the weapons that they use to fight the phantoms. Another new character revealed in the game play trailer in May showed a gun-toting woman dressed in classical attire that enjoys celebrating each of her victories with a cup of tea.
An Atlus announcement mentioned that the soundtrack CD of the premium edition of the game entitled Take Your Heart will showcase the two personas Caroline and Justine who the gamers know as the twin wardens in charge of the Velvet Room. ArtBook and SteelBook were also updated. To account for the additional delay of two months, Atlus promises some extra benefits that have not been revealed so far to the public.