Persona series director Kazuhisa Wada has highlighted the integral role of the localisation team in addressing criticisms surrounding the original Persona 4, ahead of the release of Persona 4 Revival.
Questions have long surrounded the 2008 JRPG, with particular focus on characters like Yosuke, whose dialogue has been described as reflecting a "teenage pervert" stereotype, and the handling of LGBTQ+ storylines, which some players felt were inelegantly portrayed. Wada acknowledged these concerns, explaining that while the core of the characters remains unchanged, the remake has seen efforts to refine dialogue for greater clarity and impact.
"When it comes down to it, we didn't really change the core of any character," Wada stated in an interview. "The characters are still who they are, saying what they're saying. One thing that we did realise, though, was that when we originally wrote the game, some of the lines weren't very clear, lacked information, or the way that we phrased them wasn't very effective at portraying the character in the way that we wanted to portray. So we did go and revisit that, and we tweaked little bits and bobs to make sure it's clear what the character's intention was. In terms of Yosuke specifically, everything he's saying is the same, but we just made a couple parts a little bit more gentle."
This approach to refinement is part of Atlus's evolving localisation process. Following the global success of Persona 5, the company shifted towards simultaneous worldwide releases for its titles, a strategy that began with Persona 3 Reload. This change has allowed for closer collaboration with localisation teams from the early stages of development.
"With Persona 3 Reload, it was our first time doing a simultaneous release – and from that game, we learned a lot about the overall process," Wada explained. "So this time, when we were creating the game from the beginning, we put a lot of effort into ensuring we could get the best-quality localisations as quickly as we could. Once we had a scenario finished or completed a part of a script – as soon as we could – we'd pass it to the localisation teams, let them work their magic, and make it so that everyone was on the same page and working in unison. We made sure to have them in the room when you're having discussions very early so that we could very quickly and very effectively work closely with them."
Wada hopes this integrated approach will result in a more cohesive narrative that better reflects the developer's intent across all languages. He also noted that the characters themselves have gained additional depth through subsequent spin-off titles, such as Persona 4: Dancing All Night and the Persona 4 Arena fighting games. These earlier works provided opportunities to further explore character personalities, information that has informed their portrayal in Persona 4 Revival.
"In a lot of ways, there has been something more we could explore with every character," Wada said. "Since Persona 4 came out, there have been a number of spin-off games that have been released, where we developed the characters and their personalities. So when we were making Revival, we took aspects of that and helped it to inform our characters and add detail and depth. For the team, it was Yosuke and Kanji that they really wanted to explore and go more in-depth with."
Art director Akane Kabayashi also commented on character development, noting Chie's multifaceted role in the original game, stating, "You can see that Chie and Yukiko are like 'double heroines', but Chie is given a lot more stuff to do than Yukiko is, and it made me really respect that aspect of her."
While the success of Persona 3 Reload in correcting previous issues offers optimism, the potential for similar narrative missteps in Persona 4 Revival remains a point of discussion. However, Wada's emphasis on collaborative localisation and the richer characterisation stemming from spin-offs suggests a dedicated effort to deliver an improved experience.