Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth recently released in Japan, and to commemorate the occasion, chief producer Katsura Hashino, director Daisuke Kaneda, and scenario writer Azusa Kido spoke with Famitsu about working on the game, and how it all started.
Famitsu starts out the interview by asking them to share a little bit about their feelings for the game, now that it’s been released.
“The development of this game featured staff members who have a strong sense of pride and love for the Persona series, along with staff members who I personally worked alongside in making Etrian Odyssey IV: Legends of the Titan,” starts Kaneda. “We were able to finish it all in a great shape, which brings us a great sense of fulfillment.”
“Thanks to everyone, including those who showed up for the demo session prior to the release, the voice actresses who were favorably received, I feel a great sense of relief,” says Kido. “For now, I’m just praying for all the players to have fun with it!”
Hashino also mentions that it made him really happy to see the results from the questionnaires, and how most fans still consider Persona Q to be a “Persona game” regardless of its different looks and system.
Famitsu then asks how the whole planning for Persona Q came to be.
“We were able to make the series’ first fighting game with Persona 4 Arena in collaboration with the folks at Arc System Works, and we also felt the desire to work on another fun collaboration,” responds Hashino.
He continues, “while we were making Etrian Odyssey games and many other Atlus games for the 3DS, [we were reminded about] all the voices from fans who’ve been wanting to see a new game from the Persona series for the 3DS, and we felt the need to respond to that, and that’s how the plans of a collaboration within Atlus came to be.”
Famitsu points out that Kaneda, who has experience in working on both series, worked alongside Azusa Kido, who worked on all of the games in the series apart from Persona 3.
“Both series are content that are very important to Atlus, and I was very happy to be able to participate in Persona Q,” says Kaneda. “I also felt some pressure for it, but that was the reason I was prepared to give everything I had for it.”
“The characters from Persona 3 and Persona 4 are really precious to the fans, and since they were costarring this time, I really felt a lot of pressure as a scenario writer,” shares Kido. “However, I felt that their new story would make fans happy, so I also went in, filled with joyful expectations, to make the game.”
Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth is headed to North America this Fall for Nintendo 3DS.
Published: Jun 25, 2014 06:07 pm