How many of you will use it?
I’ve talked about dual audio many times before in Dtoid, but this is a perfect opportunity to have a larger discussion about it, given Persona 5‘s delay. Yes, it’s no longer coming on Valentine’s day in February in the west — instead, it’s been moved to April, and will come with dual English and Japanese vocal tracks.
That’s a big thing for a lot of people. Some of you out there won’t even play a game unless it has Japanese audio. Now, that’s a little extreme for me. I grew up with anime and watching both dubs and subs, back when the former industry was just budding, and had growing pains, so I get it. Having the original cast that essentially satisfies the creator’s intentions can be key to enjoying a show more, and some projects simply have a night and day difference.
But the gap has lessened in recent years, and now, a lot of producers work closely with the English cast to the point where in several cases, the dubs are actually better. I wouldn’t necessarily say that’s the case for Persona (or most JRPGs), but I’m more than willing to give something a shot if it only has one voice track — including if it’s the opposite case of not having a dub, like the recent BlazBlue entry.
I play so many games that I actually like delays. For example take mid-February — I’d still be playing Nioh and would want to start Berserk and the Band of the Hawk, Nier: Automata, and Horizon Zero Dawn by the time Persona 5 was out. More releases will come, but for now Persona is just sitting basically by itself in April.
