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[Dantis]

Great picture, Arue!

Also, that Soejima poster of Narukami is badass. They should release it as a standard poster. I'd buy it for sure.


Also also, I've just been reading the credits for the PQ OST (so that I could listen to the Yuzo Koshiro song. Not much of a fan of it, by the by), and Azusa Kido did the lyrics to Changing Me. Which is super cool, even if the song isn't great. It's cool and hilarious how many people get involved in the OSTs for Atlus games.

 

[Sophia]

Also also, I've just been reading the credits for the PQ OST (so that I could listen to the Yuzo Koshiro song. Not much of a fan of it, by the by), and Azusa Kido did the lyrics to Changing Me. Which is super cool, even if the song isn't great. It's cool and hilarious how many people get involved in the OSTs for Atlus games.

GET OUT. :|

Although, the more I hear of the PQ soundtrack, the more I feel it has a Falcom (Ys/Trails in the Sky) esque feel to it. The non vocal tracks at least.

 

[Dantis]

You like Changing Me a lot? It's pretty standard compared to Memories of You and Brand New Days.

It's less P3 and P4 and more Trinity Soul.

 

[Sophia]

That's why I like it, actually. It's different from the style of ending songs in P3 and P4. I wouldn't want a repeat of those songs, especially with the rest of the soundtrack's style.

Plus the lyrics are pretty.

 

[Red The Hunter]

Also also, I've just been reading the credits for the PQ OST (so that I could listen to the Yuzo Koshiro song. Not much of a fan of it, by the by), and Azusa Kido did the lyrics to Changing Me. Which is super cool, even if the song isn't great. It's cool and hilarious how many people get involved in the OSTs for Atlus games.

I have to agree with Sophia on this one, I actually like that's it different from the other ending themes we have had. Yeah Memories of You, Brand New Days, and Never More are good and all, but it is nice hearing something completely different.
And that's what I want for P5 really, be familiar with having that unique Persona sound that the series is known for, but different at the same time.

 

[Sallokin]

Finally got this back from the frame shop. I put it under preservation glass because why not.

 

[wmlk]

 

[Dantis]

Finally got this back from the frame shop. I put it under preservation glass because why not.

That's awesome! How much did it cost you to frame?

That's why I like it, actually. It's different from the style of ending songs in P3 and P4. I wouldn't want a repeat of those songs, especially with the rest of the soundtrack's style.

Plus the lyrics are pretty.

I dunno. I mean, it's fine, but it just feels like a really standard ballad you could hear anyway. It's a lot less catchy, and doesn't feel as final as Meguro's ending songs.

 

[Sallokin]

That's awesome! How much did it cost you to frame?

A little over 115 dollars with the exchange rate. Most of the price came from the glass. The frame itself was pretty cheap because I didn't choose anything too fancy.

 

[Dantis]

I've only just seen this:

Interesting image to use as a cover, even if it does look a little janky.

A little over 115 dollars with the exchange rate. Most of the price came from the glass. The frame itself was pretty cheap because I didn't choose anything too fancy.

Bloody hell, not cheap then.

 

[Meia]

I dunno. I mean, it's fine, but it just feels like a really standard ballad you could hear anyway. It's a lot less catchy, and doesn't feel as final as Meguro's ending songs.

This is the first time I've actually listened to an OST without having played the game before, so all this music I've listened to is also out of context. I kind of have a hard time saying much about the OST because of it, particularly the ending song. I don't like it as much as the others they've done, but I really don't know if it's the song's fault itself. Will agree on it not being as catchy though.



I know we've had a few people who've played through PQ around, and I was wondering if this game features any sort of "end-game" like other EO games have, or if the story itself is just it?

 

[Lollipop Dave]

I've only just seen this:

Interesting image to use as a cover, even if it does look a little janky..

Rise or Yu? Yu was kinda expected, but I've not seen that Rise one before.

I don't like either of them.

A little over 115 dollars with the exchange rate. Most of the price came from the glass. The frame itself was pretty cheap because I didn't choose anything too fancy.

Wow, that's more than I would of expected, and it's relatively small. Makes me wonder how much it costs to frame movie posters with that glass.

 

[Dantis]

Rise or Yu? Yu was kinda expected, but I've not seen that Rise one before.

I don't like either of them.

Rise. The Narukami picture was expected, yeah.

The Rise one is a still from the original P4 opening though, which is why it's interesting.

 

[Squire]

Interesting image to use as a cover, even if it does look a little janky.

At this point, I just chalk that up to it being Soejima art. His stuff is very stylish and he clearly puts thought into it, based on statements made in interviews, but consistency isn't really a strength I'd attribute to him.

 

[Dantis]

At this point, I just chalk that up to it being Soejima art. His stuff is very stylish and he clearly puts thought into it, based on statements made in interviews, but consistency isn't really a strength I'd attribute to him.

It's not Soejima art.

It's from the original P4 opening. I agree that his work has been somewhat inconsistent lately though. I think he's just overworked, probably. When he does actual factual illustrations, they still look tremendous.

 

[Squire]

It's not Soejima art.

It's from the original P4 opening. I agree that his work has been somewhat inconsistent lately though. I think he's just overworked, probably. When he does actual factual illustrations, they still look tremendous.

That art of Yu is?

But yeah, either way, you could like a bunch of stuff his up and it wouldn't all fit together all that well.

 

[Dantis]

Oh, I was talking about the Rise art.

I think the picture of Narukami is amazing.

 

[Sallokin]

Wow, that's more than I would of expected, and it's relatively small. Makes me wonder how much it costs to frame movie posters with that glass.

Yeah, it was more than I was expecting. The print itself is small, but I did opt for a 4.5cm matboard as well which increased the area a good deal. If I was just framing the print, it probably would have been sub 100 dollars easily (smaller glass + no double matboard).

 

[Squire]

Oh, I was talking about the Rise art.

I think the picture of Narukami is amazing.

It's nice. Stands apart from most of his other stuff though. Not necessarily a bad thing, just a thing.

When I'm looking at art by Nomura or Yoshida I know it's them and they each have a couple defined styles applied to different projects. Soejima's merky.

 

[Lollipop Dave]

You know what I don't like about it, those ink/paint splatter. It's just there. Looks kinda better on the CD cover as it could be apart of the title/logo, but on the Yu version they're just dumped in the middle.

 

[Setsu00]

It's nice. Stands apart from most of his other stuff though. Not necessarily a bad thing, just a thing.

When I'm looking at art by Nomura or Yoshida I know it's them and they each have a couple defined styles applied to different projects. Soejima's merky.

Soejima uses the technique from that illustration more often recently. I think it has something to do with the fact that he prefers painting to drawing, and this style emulates the process of oil painting. The painting technique in some of his earlier P3 illustrations as well as all of his Stella Deus stuff look like predecessors of this method to me.

 

[Dantis]

Soejima uses the technique from that illustration more often recently. I think it has something to do with the fact that he prefers painting to drawing, and this style emulates the process of oil painting. The painting technique in some of his earlier P3 illustrations as well as all of his Stella Deus stuff look like predecessors of this method to me.

I think that's partly it, but I think it's largely just that he likes to try new styles of colouring. His Catherine illustrations had some really interesting stuff in that regard.

There's always identifiable characteristics in his art though, wouldn't you agree?

 

[Lollipop Dave]

There's always identifiable characteristics in his art though, wouldn't you agree?

for better or worse, yes, you can always tell a Soejima piece. Usually the eyes/face.

 

[Dantis]

for better or worse, yes, you can always tell a Soejima piece. Usually the eyes/face.

Your Soejima fatigue makes me sad.

 

[Dragon1893]

I love Changing Me.
Maybe not as catchy as Nevermore and Memories of you (or even The Way of Memories which is my favorite out of the bunch) but it's damn beautiful.
I was hoping for the ending theme to have a strong focus on the violin and I'm happy with how it turned out.
It also uses both their voices beautifuly.

Cheapest price for the FES 2013 dvd seems to be Amiami but PlayAsia still isn't showing it.

 

[Lollipop Dave]

Your Soejima fatigue makes me sad.

Time to let some new talent take lead!

 

[Dantis]

Time to let some new talent take lead!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOPE.

 

[Setsu00]

There's always identifiable characteristics in his art though, wouldn't you agree?

Absolutely!

Time to let some new talent take lead!

Arena and the PSP remakes of P1 and P2 made me realize that Persona loses a lot of its magic for me when Soejima is not the art director. Arena's art direction is all over the place, really. This starts at the recycled portrait art that clashes badly with the newer protraits (even though I can understand why they didn't give every character new portraits). Then there are those horrible menus that lack any of the polish that I expect from a Persona game.

Q has those problems from what I've seen so far as well, but it's not as bad there.

 

[Lollipop Dave]

Arena and the PSP remakes of P1 and P2 made me realize that Persona loses a lot of its magic for me when Soejima is not the art director. Arena's art direction is all over the place, really. This starts at the recycled portrait art that clashes badly with the newer protraits (even though I can understand why they didn't give every character new portraits). Then there are those horrible menus that lack any of the polish that I expect from a Persona game.

Q has those problems from what I've seen so far as well, but it's not as bad there.

I love his work, don't get me wrong but the recent exposure and boom has been too much of a good thing. Whenever I see Soejima's work I tend to associate it with P3+P4. Same goes for the music. I just want P5 to be as separate from the previous games as much as possible. Of course this is all just premature judgement as we haven't actually seen any character designs yet.

Call me crazy if you want, it's just what I would like to see happen.

 

[Sallokin]

I love his work, don't get me wrong but the recent exposure and boom has been too much of a good thing. Whenever I see Soejima's work I tend to associate it with P3+P4. Same goes for the music. I just want P5 to be as separate from the previous games as much as possible. Of course this is all just premature judgement as we haven't actually seen any character designs yet.

Call me crazy if you want, it's just what I would like to see happen.

I wouldn't call you crazy at all. I'm kind of in the same camp. I think they've retread the P3/P4 stuff so much that fatigue with the art/music is inevitable. Especially when new media from those games is almost required to follow the same motif.

I would imagine that there's absolutely some carefully crafted formula that P5 is going to follow in order to ensure maximum ROI, but I sincerely hope that the specifics are as divorced as possible from the P3/P4 stuff we've been beaten over the head with over the last few years (not that I don't seriously love that stuff).

 

[Dragon1893]

I wouldn't call you crazy at all. I'm kind of in the same camp. I think they've retread the P3/P4 stuff so much that fatigue with the art/music is inevitable. Especially when new media from those games is almost required to follow the same motif.

I would imagine that there's absolutely some carefully crafted formula that P5 is going to follow in order to ensure maximum ROI, but I sincerely hope that the specifics are as divorced as possible from the P3/P4 stuff we've been beaten over the head with over the last few years (not that I don't seriously love that stuff).

I agree completely.

 

[names2hard4you]

Atlus is so good at keeping their lips tight. I don't think I've ever been so hyped and excited for just a bunch of chairs aha. I mean we all are excited for something that we haven't seen anything of, I mention this because we are talking about Soejima's work. All this hype is there thanks to the previous games which are great RPGs and we simply just expect this one to be the same, or even better. Let's start a speculative conversation here (hehe we all love those right?)

Now just imagine, what if Persona 5 took a completely different route from the previous games, in order to, just like you said, have an identity of it's own. I mean what if it had something akin to Catherine's gameplay? Going up a tower by solving puzzles, while kicking shadows butts aha. Just an example.

My point is, and this is something that I started asking myself after playing the Destiny beta, how can I be this excited for something that I haven't even seen or played, and that could potentially be so different that I won't even like it. Sure the previous games were awesome, but this a fresh new take (I would hope) on the series that probably won't be seeing any of the characters from the previous titles.

What is you guys' take on this. What is keeping excited? Is it the hope that they stick to formula, and build up on what they have done so far? What are your expectations?

 

[FluxWaveZ]

One month left until the P4AU release. Wonder if the reason we still don't have an NA release date is related to the region locking (or lack thereof). Maybe something to do with preventing reverse importing as much as they can? Or not, whatever.

Now just imagine, what if Persona 5 took a completely different route from the previous games, in order to, just like you said, have an identity of it's own. I mean what if it had something akin to Catherine's gameplay? Going up a tower by solving puzzles, while kicking shadows butts aha. Just an example.

Pretty sure there would be significant outrage if P5 was anything but an RPG.

 

[Reanimatoin]

I could be pulling this out of thin air here, but didnt someone say in an interview that P5 would be as far detatched to P3/P4 as they were to P1/P2?

Either way, I would want the story to be completely different to P3/P4, but keep the same mechanics (ie S.Links, time based gameplay, turn based battles etc etc).

Also, the thing I'm most curious about with P5 is how they are going to handle the Velvet Room. Since Igor's Japanese VA died, I have a feeling that Igor will no longer be involved in the games. That begs the question of who will take over (probably Margaret), or if they will even have a Velvet Room at all.

 

[FluxWaveZ]

I could be pulling this out of thin air here, but didnt someone say in an interview that P5 would be as far detatched to P3/P4 as they were to P1/P2?

Yeah, my site has a pretty comprehensive list of all P5 related news until June 2013. What you're speaking of is P5 mention #5 from an August 2011 Famitsu interview, where Hashino stated that the staff wanted to challenge even more things for P5 than they did for P3 (implying the transition from P2 to P3).

Also, the thing I'm most curious about with P5 is how they are going to handle the Velvet Room. Since Igor's Japanese VA died, I have a feeling that Igor will no longer be involved in the games. That begs the question of who will take over (probably Margaret), or if they will even have a Velvet Room at all.

I have a slight feeling that the Velvet Room will be having a dramatic shift in P5, possibly not even being there anymore. I don't know about the PQ story, but it seems that the Velvet Room members are particularly involved and it seems something crazy is going on with them in P4AU, too.

 

[Lollipop Dave]

One month left until the P4AU release. Wonder if the reason we still don't have an NA release date is related to the region locking (or lack thereof). Maybe something to do with preventing reverse importing as much as they can? Or not, whatever.

To prevent import copies is what I thought, also makes me think that the date will be a fair bit away from the JP release.

Also, the thing I'm most curious about with P5 is how they are going to handle the Velvet Room. Since Igor's Japanese VA died, I have a feeling that Igor will no longer be involved in the games. That begs the question of who will take over (probably Margaret), or if they will even have a Velvet Room at all.

The Velvet Room is just a forum that the players access on their mobiles, the new igor is the admin the other members are mods.

 

[FluxWaveZ]

To prevent import copies is what I thought, also makes me think that the date will be a fair bit away from the JP release.

I can't really see the P4AU release date actually being in October given the two September placeholder dates until now, but I guess we won't know for sure until, well, we know. I just really care about whether or not the JPN version is region locked, even though it's most likely not given the circumstances.

 

[Lollipop Dave]

I just really care about whether or not the JPN version is region locked, even though it's most likely not given the circumstances.

If it helps, sites like play-asia took off the region lock tag about a week before the Atlus Faithful email was sent out.

 

[Tamanon]

One thing I hope is improved in Persona 5 is the dungeons. I want more puzzles/unique dungeons.

I would LOVE if they could translate Personas into actual dungeon tools/uses, but I think that's a different game.

 

[LelouchViBritannia]

Flux you importing the Japanese version?

 

[FluxWaveZ]

If it helps, sites like play-asia took off the region lock tag about a week before the Atlus Faithful email was sent out.

Wait, did Play-Asia not always have it as "region free"? I don't recall, but if they actually changed it from "region locked" to "region free", that would be a neat indication. Play-Asia's been saying that the game will be region free when contacted, specifically citing the P4A incident. I remember back then, I had contacted them to make sure and they were saying "All PS3 games are region free" until I linked them the news saying P4A wasn't, in which case they changed what they were saying.

There's no reason for them to specifically region lock the JPN version of the game now, so I'm not too worried about it.

Flux you importing the Japanese version?

Yes. Same with P4D.

 

[LelouchViBritannia]

Yes. Same with P4D.

I would be doing the same, but i cnt justify buying the game 3 times with import charges. (jap/us copy for me and a us copy for my brother)

 

[kewlmyc]

Did the Japanese version of Arena contain English text for story mode? I know it was dual audio, but I don't know if it was dual-text.

 

[Sallokin]

I can't really see the P4AU release date actually being in October given the two September placeholder dates until now, but I guess we won't know for sure until, well, we know. I just really care about whether or not the JPN version is region locked, even though it's most likely not given the circumstances.

JP region lock info would be welcome sooner rather than later. Part of me thinks we won't know one way or another until launch day which would be disappointing

 

[Lollipop Dave]

Wait, did Play-Asia not always have it as "region free"? I don't recall, but if they actually changed it from "region locked" to "region free", that would be a neat indication. Play-Asia's been saying that the game will be region free when contacted, specifically citing the P4A incident. I remember back then, I had contacted them to make sure and they were saying "All PS3 games are region free" until I linked them the news saying P4A wasn't, in which case they changed what they were saying.

On second thought, it must of been another site. I think Play Asia just had some odd flavour text about regions. Someone made a post in the thread when stores started dropping the the locked region tag but I can't find it.

 

[Meia]

Considering the Velvet Room is the one constant the series has had in every Persona game(even in Arena), I'd be shocked if Persona 5 had no actual Velvet Room to speak of. Can easily see a change with it though. I mean, it changed from early persona to modern persona(only one person able to access it at all, radical change in how personas are created), so there could be another drastic change going to P5.


I'd probably believe more that Igor gets replaced with someone like Marie over no Velvet Room at all.



And I really wish I knew if P4AU was region free, and had the same full english thing going on. Would love to import, but really don't want to waste money if it won't work like Arena did without the region lock...

 

[Setsu00]

Did the Japanese version of Arena contain English text for story mode? I know it was dual audio, but I don't know if it was dual-text.

It was dual-text, yes.

 

[FluxWaveZ]

It was dual-text, yes.

...Huh. Wonder if that's going to be the case this time, too. I wasn't planning to import to play the story, but if it was going to be dual-text again I might as well. Would still buy an NA version copy, though.

Also, it was pointed out a while back in P4A discussions, but it's funny to me how the P4A announcer VA is the same as the Malevolvent Entity VA (via GameFAQs):

JPN Version

The Announcer: Fumihiko Tachiki
Malevolent Entity: Fumihiko Tachiki

ENG Version

The Announcer: Patrick Seitz
Malevolent Entity: Patrick Seitz

 

[Setsu00]

...Huh. Wonder if that's going to be the case this time, too. I wasn't planning to import to play the story, but if it was going to be dual-text again I might as well. Would still buy an NA version copy, though.

Wasn't the fact that it was both dual-text and dual-audio the reason why it was region locked in the first place? You could get the same game at two radically different price points with next to no delay.

 

[Lollipop Dave]

...Huh. Wonder if that's going to be the case this time, too. I wasn't planning to import to play the story, but if it was going to be dual-text again I might as well. Would still buy an NA version copy, though.

Also, it was pointed out a while back in P4A discussions, but it's funny to me how the P4A announcer VA is the same as the Malevolvent Entity VA (via GameFAQs):

Every time I see something like this about ME it just goes straight to my heart.


Oh how I want this to play out like it does in my head.