mewarmo990

Looking forward to it. CD Projekt is one of the last few game makers that I have no problem paying full price and preordering a game for. Especially since you can buy it directly from them via GoG.com.

Bit late here but I just got the game and am looking for people to play with. Virtually nobody playing at night, and when I do find a game it must be with someone overseas because the lag is terrible. (located in West Coast USA here)

Also, pubs do not care about teamwork, and thus nobody ever finishes a level.

Origin name is the same as this one. If you add me, please let me know via PM on GiantBomb so that I know it's for Syndicate.

@FluxWaveZ said:

Here's the article online.

Would love it if there was a full translation of it, seeing as it apparently goes into more detail than that single scan.

Thanks for the link. When I have some time later tonight I'll get on it.

EDIT: Actually it's not a full version of the scanned article, instead a related feature on the same topic. It's an interview with Yu Namba, our project lead. I'll read it over dinner tonight.

@Eirikr said:

Yay, my scan seems to be making the rounds.

Of course, the SMT IV ones I did with hot new demon reveals don't seem to be generating the same buzz. Figures!

Glad to see it translated! Thanks for sharing!

Yep, we noticed, one of our editors shared it on FB. Thanks for the scan! It made us feel fuzzy inside.

@SpunkyHePanda said:

Pretty cool. Definitely an interesting perspective. Also, do you think the name "Teddie" could be a reference to his bear-like appearance?

It is absolutely a reference to his appearance, name, and speech. This was one of the easier 'clever' word choices for us to make. "Kuma" literally means "bear" in Japanese, and Japanese Teddie ends most sentences with "kuma!".

DISCLAIMER: I worked on this game. This is merely a translation of Famitsu and does not reflect the opinions of Index/Atlus or its staff. I will not be answering questions about Atlus.

So this is an unusual piece of press - Famitsu ran an article on our localization of Persona 4 Golden. Damned proud of everyone who worked on this.

Translation follows:

Software Impressions by Kawashima Kenji, Famitsu editor

I often play the North American localizations of Japanese games, for one reason - to experience the games I love again for the first time. In the case of RPGs, I obviously want to see the characters’ new English lines, but it’s also interesting to discover the little changes in the graphics or cutscenes. This time, I’ll be taking a look at the much-anticipated Persona 4 Golden (henceforth, P4G) for North America.

P4G is an RPG in which the player experiences a high school-like lifestyle while solving mysteries with “Persona”, the power of the heart. Despite being set the rural Japanese countryside, it has been well received by North American gamers. Why is that, you might ask? To me, it could be something like a new experience for this auidence. The story follows a high school student protagonist who has just moved to the countryside from the city. Along the way the player meets new friends and family, lives life with them day by day, experiencing school, the beach, a fireworks festival, a field trip, Halloween, Christmas, Japanese New Year, a ski trip, Valentine’s Day, and more - all once-in-a-lifetime high school experiences that money cannot buy. While even a Japanese player would be hard pressed to find a game that recalls youthful experiences so well, an American player might well learn a lot about the average Japanese high school student’s life, and get just that much more out of the game!

Also of note in the NA version are the use of honorifics such as “-san” and “-kun”, which are used as they are in the Japanese text. This is itself quite rare. Of course, it serves to highlight the Japaneseness of the characters, as well as clarifying their relationships to each other. Allow me to use the protagonist’s friends Hanamura Yousuke and Satonaka Chie as an example. In the Japanese version, Yousuke often calls Chie by her surname “Satonaka.” In the NA version, “Satonaka” is used, but he calls her “Chie” when they face her in the first dungeon. It’s rather interesting that this change was not made in the Japanese version! A few other changes of note are the now translated projector display in dungeons (bottom left of screen), and changes to item names such as the dungeon exit item “kaereeru” (TL: it sounds like “you can go home”) to “Goho-M”. I could really feel the translators’ passion and good humor. Though it’s in a different language, this game is unmistakably P4G.

Those who want to re-experience great Japanese games for the first time have a lot to look forward to!

Sidebar: Can we use it now!? The English of P4G

Chie

This victory line after a battle is a nod to Chie’s passion for all things kung fu. It sounds like something a martial arts star would say.

(TL: If you didn't know, it's a Bruce Lee quote)

Teddie (Kuma)

Kuma’s puns have survived in English. His name was also changed to Teddie in the localization. A bear reference?

Marie

Marie’s response when the protagonist overhears an interesting poem of hers. She throws every insult she can think of into a single word!

@Ace829: Dear god that old freeware engine is hideous. Some really great doujin VNs came out during that time, but ughhhhh what a terrible UI that was

There's nothing inherently bad about the VN genre (unless you don't want to read when playing games), but the stigma comes from the fact that it's usually used as a medium to make inexpensive moe otaku (and sometimes porn) games. And there is a LOT of this trash on the market.

Publishers that work in localization - I work for one myself - understand that to appeal to a Western audience, there has to be other gameplay aside from reading and dialogue trees - the hybrid adventure gameplay has historically done well (Phoenix Wright, 999, etc.) over here. But, on a personal level, I really do think that some Japanese visual novels are worth checking out for the writing (and occasionally art) alone. The problem, of course, is that such things could easily have been released as text novels or audiobooks and still maintained most of the appeal.

I don't think the image of visual novels as a medium for juvenile sexy fanservice and cartoon porn is going to change anytime soon, but there is good stuff out there. Y'all shouldn't write it all off, in the same way one shouldn't write off the whole FPS genre even if the market is flooded with Call of Duty and Gears of War wannabes.

@7Force:

Good stuff. Seems like a good idea for a blog, actually, I might start doing this as well for game-related material I have.

Best wishes to all of the people affected by the bankruptcy. Hopefully the remaining development teams find good publishers (production-wise, I mean).