Persona 5

Persona 5 releases today to the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 in the Americas and Europe

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At long last, the much anticipated Atlus title Persona 5 has released in both Americas and Europe. In the Americas, the game is available in three editions: the Persona 5 “Take Your Heart” Premium Edition for the PS4, the Persona 5 SteelBook Edition for the PS4, and the Persona 5 Standard Edition for the PS4 as well as the PS3.

In Europe there is the Persona 5 “Take Your Heart” Collector’s Edition for the PS4, the Persona 5 SteelBook Launch Edition for the PS4, and the Persona 5 Standard Edition for the PS4 as well as the PS3. Whew! Two consoles and three editions, that’s a lot!

As an added incentive, throughout the month Atlus will be releasing a slew of DLC. Available today is the Japanese Audio Track, Healing Item Set, Skill Card Set, and the New Difficulty Level Challenge – all free to download. Free with the digital pre-order, $1.99 otherwise, is the Protagonist Special Theme & Avatar Set (PS4 only). There are also three additional theme & avatar sets for $1.99 each (PS4 only), while on the PS3 there are four special themes priced at .99 cents each.

If you picked the game up, join us in the SEGAbits Discord chat or in the SEGAbits forums to discuss the game and have a happy Persona 5 launch day!

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Persona 5 free and paid English DLC schedule released

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persona5dlcWhile I don’t hate paid DLC, per say, I do miss the days when games came complete for a price instead of having a ton of paid DLC over the course of months. Sadly, Atlus seems to find their DLC practices to be working. They will continue them with Persona 5, which will feature free and paid DLC. Today, Atlus USA published the schedule for the free and paid DLC on the Persona 5‘s official English site. Plot spoiler, only the swimsuit outfits will be free and the rest is paid for DLC:

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New Persona 5 English trailer sizzles with excitement

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“Its not just Japan anymore, the whole world is waiting to see the Phantom Thieve’s next move.” 

Check out the new Persona 5 English trailer above, showing off the voice cast, characters and other aspects to expect from the game when it launches in North America and Europe on April 4, 2017. That’s less than a month away. Get hyped. For SEGA fans that have never played a Persona game, you can play any of the released main series games without having played a prior version, so its like Final Fantasy in that regard. Along with the new Persona 5 English trailer, Atlus USA also sent out this description of the game:

“Persona 5 is a game about the internal and external conflicts of a group of troubled youth who live dual lives. They have the typically ordinary day-to-day of a Tokyo high-schooler – attending class, after school activities and part-time jobs. But they also undertake fantastical adventures by using otherworldly powers to enter the hearts of people. Their power comes from the Persona, the Jungian concept of the “self;” the game’s heroes realize that society forces people to wear masks to protect their inner vulnerabilities, and by literally ripping off their protective mask and confronting their inner selves do the heroes awaken their inner power, and use it to strive to help those in need. Ultimately, the group of Phantom Thieves seeks to change their day-to-day world to match their perception and see through the masks modern-day society wears.”

Put your mask on, question everything as you watch the new Persona 5 English trailer above. Make sure you pick up your copy of Persona 5 when it hits North American and European store shelves on April 4th only on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3.

[Via: Gamatsu]

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New Atlus fantasy RPG to be announced on December 23rd

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Atlus teased that they have a brand new fantasy RPG to reveal, which they confirmed isn’t Persona or Megaten related. They revealed that the new Atlus fantasy RPG will be announced on December 23 at 20:00 JST (3AM PST) via their Niconico live stream.

This new upcoming Atlus fantasy RPG will come from a new production studio within the company called ‘Studio Zero’ which is led by Persona 5 director Katsura Hashino, who will serve as the game’s director and producer. The upcoming Weekly Famitsu issue will have a interview with Katsura Hashino and Atlus consumer software department supervisor Naoto Hiraoka. But seeing that Weekly Famitsu information always leaks early, expect more information later today.

Above is the first artwork shown for the game, illustrated by Persona 5 character designer Shigenori Soejima. You can check out Atlus’ teaser page for the project here. Hit the jump to read the message by Katsura Hashino in English.

[Via Gematsu]

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Persona 5 shows off free “Christmas Costume Set” DLC

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Persona-5-Christmas-Costume-DLC-AnnPersona 5 might have missed Christmas for English speaking consumers, but the game has been out in Japan since September. Its no surprise that Persona 5 would be getting a free “Christmas Costume Set” on December 21st. Atlus Japan also announced that this is a start of a ‘five-day campaign’ where all Persona 5 DLC will be 55% off.

The campaign will run from December 21st to the 25th. That means:

  • All 800 yen (about $7) costumes and BGM sets will be reduced to 360 yen ($3).
  • All Persona 4 special theme and avatar sets that cost 200 yen ($1.69) will now cost 90 yen (75c)
  • All 300 yen ($2.50) Persona sets are reduced to 135 yen ($1.15).

Who knows if Atlus USA will wait until Christmas 2017 to give us these free costume packs. Persona 5 hits North American and European shops on April 4th.

[Source: Gematsu]

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Persona 5 delayed to April 4th 2017, giving duel audio as free DLC

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Persona 5 has been announced in a recent stream by Atlus to be delayed to April 4th, 2017 in both Europe and America. However, on a brighter note, the game will include duel audio that contains the original Japanese and dubbed English, and will be available as free DLC at launch. Supposedly it was included as a request by people since the reveal of Persona 5, and was made possible through a “herculean effort from just about every division of Atlus”.

In addition, a playable demo for Persona 5 will be at the PlayStation Experience in Anaheim, with attendees receiving a collector’s card. They also state that a PS4 theme of Ryuji Sakamoto will be available on the Playstation Network for free for 24 hours (with a tongue-in-cheek claim that Atlus was breached), and they updated the “premium edition” with the final image, which can be viewed here.

So while Persona 5 being delayed (again) sucks, at least there’s a few things to keep you interested while you wait.

[Source: Playstation Blog]

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Atlus USA/Deep Silver releases Persona 5 “Game Mechanics Daily Life” trailer

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Persona 5 is still slated for a western release (By Atlus USA in America and Deep Silver in European countries) Feburary 2017, while Japan had the game since September. However, the official Youtube channels for Atlus USA and Deep Silver have released a new trailer to help tide over the wait. The trailer is a quick game mechanics overview of the recurring Social Link feature in the Persona series, where the player is tasked with having a normal life on their spare time while interacting with others. As the player bonds with friends and allies, the ranking between them will increase, which will provide the player with bonuses that can aid with combat or get new items. It may also lead to possible romance depending on your actions.

In addition Persona 5 shows off a few minigames, such as a pitching machine game and a fishing game. The pitching machine game involves you hitting a ball into a target to get the best score, and the fishing game trying to reel up the biggest catch.

 

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SEGA establishes SEGA GAMES CS in Taiwan, localizing select games in traditional Chinese

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SEGA Taiwan

SEGA establishes a new division in Taiwan called SEGA GAMES CS. The goal of the division is to push localizations in the Taiwan region in traditional Chinese. During a meeting, many titles have already been announced to be localized by the end of 2016 and the start of 2017, with some having a tentative release date sometime in 2017. Notably, it contains games that have not been announced for a western release as of this writing, for example Puyo Puyo Chronicles and Yakuza 6. This move to push for a Taiwan market with SEGA GAMES CS is likely a result of SEGA (specifically SEGA of Japan) prioritizing the Asian market, with SEGA Taiwan specifically existing since at least 2014.

Click below to see a list of every title.

[Source: GNN.Gamer]

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Atlus reveals Persona 5 English voice cast

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Atlus has now revealed the Persona 5 English voice cast, if you haven’t heard the western release will only be playable in English with the Japanese dub sold separately as DLC. That means that the Persona 5 English voice cast should at least be decent, since its the only option we poor westerners have.

Persona 5 English voice cast is: 

  • Xander Mobus as the protagonist
  • Cassandra Morris as Morgana
  • Max Mittelman as Ryuji Sakamoto
  • Erika Harlacher as Ann Takamaki
  • Matt Mercer as Yusuke Kitagawa
  • Cherami Leigh as Makoto Niijima
  • Erica Lindbeck as Futaba Sakura
  • Xanthe Huynh as Haru Okumura
  • Robbie Daymond as Goro Akechi

Most of the voice actors have been doing JRPG dubs for quite awhile, one of the most noticeable games most of the actors/actresses share in common is that most of them did voice work for Xenoblade Chronicles X. Also Max Mittelman is doing the English voice work for Saitama from One Punch Man, which is one of the best recent anime shows. Above is a interview conducted by Atlus USA with Xander Mobus (recently played the announcer in Super Smash Bros Wii U/3DS) , who is obviously playing the protagonist, aka the lead in Persona 5.

 What are your thoughts on Atlus’ Persona 5 English voice cast and how do you feel about Japanese audio being DLC for the game? Let us know in the comments below!

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Persona 5 ships over 550,000 copies in Japan; new DLC announced

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Persona 5

Persona 5 has been a stunning success for Atlus since it’s launch on September 15th just a couple of weeks ago. The company announced at the end of this week that over 550,000 copies of the game have been shipped between PS3 and PS4 editions in Japan.

Let’s put that in perspective for Atlus. Persona 4: The Golden, the PS Vita re-release of the last mainline Persona game, had reached 350,000 units in Japan only after almost 2 years of being available. Clearly, Persona 5 is going to be a monster hit for the company and seriously fill parent company Sega’s coffers this year.

To celebrate this achievement, Atlus has announced it will be releasing two free sets of DLC costumes for players. Hit the jump to see pictures of the cast in their swimsuits and Morgana dolled up like a ram.

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Persona 5’s first week sales break franchise records in Japan

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2858333-p3While we have to wait until February of next year to play Persona 5, the title has already launched in Japan on September 15 and we already have the first week sales. According to media create, Persona 5 sold a total of 337,767 units on the games first week of release. Breaking it down by consoles it was released on, that means it did 264, 793 units on PlayStation 4 and only 72,974 units on PlayStation 3. Which is funny, considering that Atlus said the only reason Persona 5 appeared on PlayStation 4 was because of the SEGA buyout. Very good decision.

Here are the first week sales of all the other past Persona titles:

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You can see how it stacks with the lifetime sales of the franchise over at Persona Central’s post. It will be interesting to see if Persona 5 outsells Yakuza 6, anything can happen. For example Yakuza 0 did 236,329 units the first week, while the main entry Yakuza 5 did 356,757 copies its first week (only on PlayStation 3). Do you think Yakuza 6 will do more than 337,767 units in Japan the first week? What do you think about the growing popularity of Persona series? Let us know in the comments below.

[Via Persona Central]

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Persona 5 collaborating with Phantasy Star Online 2

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Atlus has revealed during their latest NicoNico Livestream that their upcoming JRPG Persona 5 will be collaborating with not only Phantasy Star Online 2 but also Dragon’s Dogma and Lord of Vermilion Re:3.

The collaboration with Dragon’s Dogma Online seems to be the big collaboration since it will be part of the campaign. This tie-in will be released sometime during the fall, where players will get Persona 5 equipment and limited-time collaboration event. Vermilion Re:3‘s collaboration will take place during this winter, details on that will be arriving at a later date. As far as SEGA’s Phantasy Star Online 2 tie-in, that will be out this winter and is set to feature character costumes, hairstyles, accessories and even more Persona 5 collaboration items. For now you can see the nifty trailer, but sadly not much footage is shown on the Phantasy Star Online 2 tie-in.

Persona 5 hits Japan on September 15, 2016 for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3. The game will release in North America and Europe on February 14, 2017.

[Source: Siliconera]

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Extensive Famitsu interview with Persona 5 art and audio leads

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persona 5 famitsu interview

Play Asia has posted the entire exhaustive interview Famitsu ran with some of Persona 5’s art and audio leads.

First up is Art Director Sudou Masayoshi. He discusses the usage of color for the last few Persona games, the wild UI that Persona 5 boasts, his sources of inspiration, and more.

From the first full Persona 5 trailer we saw a lot of the Game User Interface (GUI) that you created for the game, it really is a splendid piece of work. Your chance to create such work began with Persona 3, correct?

Sudou: Yes, whilst working on Persona 3, Mr. Soejima (the games character designer; Soejima Shigenori ) we got together a lot to throw ideas and see if we could confirm how to create the games GUI. Not just the GUI but also the game’s website design. Speaking of design, we really wanted to create a GUI that didn’t just stand out in a game related magazine but also something that would look interesting and stand out in magazines aimed primarily at females as well, it was an idea that I never thought of before. I always like using traditional methods, I tend to not add gradations, but prefer filling in each and every graphic. When I’m designing, I will continue to create my best work through trial and error until I feel 100% satisfied.

Is there something that you’ve put your entire heart and soul into when it comes to your designs?

Sudou: The biggest thing I put my all into was regarding the color of the interface compared to the game’s main color scheme. For example, the main color for Persona 3 was teal, Persona 4’s a vivid yellow color and so I had to decide the right colors for the menus etc. Of course Persona 5’s main color scheme is a crimson red and therefore after much deliberation I sat down and after trying out black and white text I was confident with it.

Lead Sound Designer Tsuchiya Kenichi and Sound Composer Mr Meguro Shouji are also featured. You can read the entire piece here.

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Persona 5 screens let you compare PS4 and PS3 versions

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Atlus has now opened up Persona 5 digital pre-orders for the game on both the PlayStation 4 and the PlayStation 3 systems. That means that we get to see what Persona 5 looks like running on a PlayStation 3 and a PlayStation 4. You can see the Persona 5 screenshots below this article.

Atlus has also put up a Persona 5 20th Anniversary PlayStation Store edition for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3. This version comes with the following items:

  • Persona 4 Costume & BGM Special Set
  • Persona 3 Costume & BGM Special Set
  • Orpheus & Orpheus Zokujin Set
  • Izanagi & Izanagi Zokujin Set
  • Persona 20th Anniversary All-Time Best Soundtrack
  • 20th Anniversary Special Edition Limited Theme & Avatar Sets

Of course Persona 5 launches in Japan on September 15, 2016 for both the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3. The rest of the world has to wait all the way till February 14, 2017 to get our hands on this highly anticipated JRPG. As you can see from the screenshots after the jump, the game doesn’t look much different on either system. What do you think?

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