Following the completion of the three-day closed beta test for Persona 5: The Phantom X on March 31st, the game’s producer from Perfect World Games—on behalf of the developer Black Wings Game Studio—has released a blog post detailing feedback from the players, and how the developers plan to address it.
The first blog post, detailing the game’s initial development and collaboration between Atlus and Perfect World Games, can be read here.
About Test Qualification
The initial plan was was to give players a taste of P5X as early as possible, to try out ideas and receive feedback. In order to ensure a stable game experience for the players, the test was run on a small scale within a limited amount of time.
As a result, they underestimated the high demand for the test, with applications far outstretching the planned number of available space. For the next test, there will be more places available for old and new players, and they apologize for the oversight.
Problems in Using Resources from Original Game
In order to ensure P5X’s legitimacy as an officially licensed Persona 5 IP mobile game, Atlus and Sega have granted a lot of freedom with using resources. However, because there is a significant difference between P5X’s and the original Persona 5‘s development engine and process, the developers could not apply resources to anything but the audio materials for the development of P5X.
Though many parts of the current build are still unrefined, they will continue to optimize and improve its overall quality, while adding more new elements and designs to satisfy all players in the future. They will also be more careful with ensuring all sound effects and music match the context.
The Plot
Player feedback on the plot included abrupt developments, fast pacing and weak characterization, among other things. The producer acknowledges that these are significant problems with the current script.
Additionally, many key plot points are currently reflected in the game’s 2D and 3D animations, most of which are still in development and therefore were not fully presented to players in the “Infiltration Test,” resulting in the plot feeling fragmented.
Atlus’ Kazuhisa Wada and the original development team attach a lot of importance to the game’s script, and with their supervision, they hope to provide players with a more exciting narrative.
Voice Acting
The producer acknowledges that voice acting is an integral part of character building. In order to make character voices fit the setting, the development team and the original Atlus team carefully developed a casting plan for most of the of characters in P5X, with both teams working together to supervise the dubbing process, and direct the voice actors in their performances.
At the moment, there might be doubts about some of the voice acting in the game, but as the game content is gradually developed and characters are fleshed out, they believe that players will be able to appreciate the charm of each character’s voice. In addition to Japanese, other language dubbing will be available for players to choose. Chinese dubbing is already being prepared, with follow-up information planned in the future.
Mobile Game Design
Adapting a well-known console game into a mobile game is both a fortunate and stressful opportunity for the team. Every member of Black Wings Game Studio is a fan of the Persona series, and the most important development guideline is to “replicate the original game’s style.”
Even so, mobile game elements cannot be avoided. The recent “Infiltration Test” is only the team’s latest design plan, and they will listen to feedback and try to find a solution that will satisfy both old and new fans.
Future Optimization Plans
Although the “Infiltration Test” received an initial approval from some players, the team is also aware that there are many aspects to be optimized and bugs in this version. Presently, the team is focusing on reviewing the opinions of various players based on their first exposure from the test. After an overview is completed, the team will have discussions with the supervisor and come up with a final optimization plan. At that point, a plan will be relayed to players.
The producer asks for people to wait patiently. Simultaneously, as the production of new content is imminent, the team will preserve their current development policy, and continue fine-tuning to prepare higher quality versions of that content. The producer requests that players continue to pay attention to official information regarding this.
Other
The producer would like to briefly explain that, regarding datamining that occurred on March 28th, the app contained a lot of previous development materials that were either waste, temporary material, or reference material, and he asks that players please refer to the official, external materials and versions.
He states that the team will do a good job of material management and encryption work moving forward, and apologizes for the trouble caused by the non-version content.
— Bilibili