Concerned about Persona 5 after reading this

There certainly seems to be a difference in the sort of things localizers feel is acceptable to have in western versions now compared to, say, sixth gen (which isn't to say some games didn't still get butchered, but I can't imagine stuff like Shadow Hearts coming over intact in the current climate). I've also heard tales that even at companies like XSEED, some of the employees question why they aren't censoring or changing stuff, since apparently a lot of other companies doing so means they should too. Thankfully Tom has enough clout there to the point it hasn't been happening.

Still, I would hope that Atlus realizes that changing shit around too much is only going to anger their customers. Not sure they want an SMTxFE (whatever the fuck that game is going by now here) tier censorship shitstorm in regards to one of their highly anticipated games in a flagship series (given I'm not sure Atlus has been given much say in how intact SMTxFE is for the west, given NoA and Treehouse's current bullshit). If it's just jokes and cultural specific phrases that aren't liable to be in the western fans vocabulary, that's not too bad, provided the substitutions carry a similar meaning.

Admittedly localization does have a purpose, but it needs to be done in moderation. Just as a literal translation can either be way too dry or have flow issues to how it reads, an overly localized game risks changing things too much (the way NISA has butchered entire characters/plots for stuff).

That said, for stuff like cultural specific jokes and such, substitution for something more familiar for a western audience has merit, particularly if there's no way to toss a "translator's note" sort of thing on the screen (which in the case of a game would likely need to be hard coded or have a glossary coded in, or something). Still, there needs to be a balance in that the game isn't overly changed up, especially with Persona not only having a real world setting, but a Japanese specific one (as opposed to the general fantasy worlds a lot of JRPGs have), where leaving them in can also have a fair amount of weight since it might add to the atmosphere of playing a game set elsewhere in our actual world.

I'm more concerned about Jap audio being DLC.

You can preorder PS3 english version already.

I seriously hope none of you preordered this game

If it's like DoAX3, I wouldn't mind importing it, but other than that, I guess there's no excuse but to learn moon now.

I was just pointing out that its possible so the notion of there not being a PS3 version for westerners is mistaken.

If they manage to do it freely, that's one thing (and probably the best way to handle it if they can't put it natively on-disc). I mean, while it annoys me it wasn't on the cart itself, TK was willing to do free Japanese audio DLC for Escha and Logy Plus on the Vita, and I think Atlus did something like that for Dragon's Crown here as well (though that might have been free for a limited time).

However, if they're trying to test out whether they can push the cost onto the customers and ask them to pay for it as paid DLC, that's another issue. Even Namco's started including dual audio natively for Tales and as greedy a company as Namco is, they're not making the customer pay extra for it.

Pretty sure Atlus confirmed a while back that they were going to be localizing on both systems. Does beg the quest though of what exactly has been prompting various PS3/PS4 (and occasionally Vita games) to be sold as PS4 exclusive in the west, when XSEED and Atlus localize across all the consoles certain games are for, but some companies like Square-Enix, Namco, and TK have been jumping over to the PS4 for localization instead of the PS3.

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I heard once that the devs had said that one of the major motifs in the game would be the streets, on account of every character in the party having been homeless at some point in their life. Am I imagining this?

My friend is already buying me the Japanese special edition version so whatever man

That was SE who did it for Lightning Return until after a certain time has passed then charged people to buy the Japanese audio

Sames goes for Drakengard 3. Pay extra for the Japanese audio.

I know I'm going to get bitched at for this but I can kind of understand the reasoning for them. I mean their VAs have very different contracts from what I understand and get more money if their performance is used in the western version so it makes sense they'd want to offset that cost.

But user, those are very legitimate concerns that localization teams face when bringing a game to a foreign audience.
It demonstrates that they want to keep the material intact and properly convey the meaning and feeling of the original script as best they can, and I'd be more concerned if they DIDN'T find it challenging to get just right.

Did you actually read the article? They were just saying that translating that that require cultural knowledge is hard, and it is. We're not talking changing onigiri to hot dogs or something, but things like… Youtou (妖刀). In Dark Souls 2 it was translated as Bewitched Sword or something, which doesn't quite get the nuance down. It's a sword that has attained sentience, and thirsts for blood of its own accord. Usually they possess wielders, driving them mad with its own bloodlust. Those that can control a youtou and remain their own masters are unbelievable badasses and become even stronger.

"Bewitched" can't convey all of that, and you can't change the title of a weapon into a mini-explanation like that. You just need to be familiar with Japanese culture to get it.

That's not the best of examples, but it should convey the right idea. Some shit just can't be translated, some would require translator notes. As the type of translator who avoids TL notes as much as I possibly can myself, I understand Persona 5's translator's desire to try to translate things in such a way as to make them understandable to the target audience. And with games which target large demographics, they don't really have a choice, they HAVE to keep the amount of things that will keep people running to Wikipedia low, their bosses demand it.

Sure, there's the possibility that they are trying to "Americanize" or censor things, but after Persona 3 and 4, there's very, very little reason to believe it though.

Hopefully this will be better than p4 though.
Found it boring to the point where I didn't bother playing past the bath houses.

"Jokes focused on tokyo will be altered"

OP why are you always the fag?

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That is a shit example. Its fiction make shit make sense make shit up its not real and doesn't need a real world explanation.

I'm guessing from what your post is implying is that stories don't need good writing or solid lore. Anyway fuck your illiterate ass.

EAT YOUR HAMBURGERS APOLLO

JELLY-FILLED DONUTS ARE MY FAVORITE

Why not just keep the jokes in?

The kind of people that would even be capable of understanding them would have to be well-versed enough in Japanese that they could just import the JP version fine at that point. Not to mention that in English many of them aren't even funny.

It would be like expecting nips from 2ch to laugh jokes here on 8ch, especially relevant because one of the characters in P5 literally browses 2ch. Would you even understand half the stupid shit they laugh at?

I would both be impressed and horrified if Atlus actually lurked 8ch for inspiration on localizing 2ch humor

Okay but consider this: what if they didn't care if people got it and left it unchanged?

Then it'd be a shitty localization

Then it wouldn't be a very good localization. As much as censorship and le may may script rewrites are currently a huge problem, there are in fact things that can and should be changed in a localization. For example, a puzzle in a dungeon crawler that requires knowledge of the Japanese train routes wouldn't be even remotely reasonable in a game released for westerners, so they would have to change the puzzle to make sense for them.