In any case, here is part 2, after the jump!

Here’s a shout out to all whom I’ve met/caught up with during AFA, Genesis Frontier, and the group of fellow Sasami fans who looked for me on both days :D

Ume, out.

Sorry about the content being all over the place. I’m still half dead, though Sen-chan and shiachan have it worse then me, I’m sure.

I’m here because Sen-chan is in electric fanboy mode and asked me to update.

Tsundere one-liners aside, ZOMGITWASSOGOODINSERTMINDLESSBLABBERHERE-
Now you know why I can’t write a review.

The cinema was pretty much packed with friends of friends and more friends and so the atmosphere was kind of like watching tv with family. In a living room of unspeakable extravagance.

And your family will probably not cheer at fanservice. 10/10 for fun.

From Huke’s blog, pictures of the Black Rock Shooter (and Dead Master-tan :3) plushies, inspired by chanxco’s extremely cute take on BRS/DM. These will not be on sale but will be put up as prizes at game centres sometime this month.

Lots of them.

Also, pictures of the stick poster and sticker set that will go on sale at the Pixiv Market (15th Nov) are up.

Do want.

For everyone else playing Love Plus, check the event schedule! A girl techno unit called Parfume will be playing at the event hall, starting on the second week of November.

Wait, girl techno? Parfume? Wait, what?

Will Love Plus emulate reality to the extent of there not being seats at all (And thus potentially make Rinko angry at me for dragging her to a crowded mosh pit of crazed fans?)? Will there be a PTA?

I… I don’t really understand anymore. I’ll go! I’ll go to this Parfume live!

And sign me up for PTA.

In other news, Fujita Saki (Voice of Hatsune Miku) has gone from voicing bananas to voicing pudding. I am gripped by a sudden urge to get one of those.

Part 5 of Famitsu’s P3P Creator’s Blog series. This entry features Susukida, who designed the event scenarios in P3.

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Hi.

Susukida, in charge of the direction of Persona 3 Portable here.

Till now, I have been working alongside Hashino and Soejima in Persona 3 and 4, designing event scenes, adding bits here and there to pace the story, but this time I will be working with the game system director Kido on the system layout and graphic design!

And here, I will talk about an aspect of Persona 3 Portable which has significantly changed the gameplay, the event scenes.

I believe there are readers who have seen magazine coverages and visited the home page, but in this port of Persona 3, the daily map (Aside from the dungeon, in town and in school) and events will be taking place as 2D character based scenarios. This is to improve the loading speeds and make gameplay a more efficient experience.

In events, character portraits will be displayed to the left and right of the screen, and conversations will take place between these two characters. There will be more variations and expressions in character portraits than those in the PS2 version.

Also, it is possible to fast-forward (Skip) scenarios. In your second playthrough, you can skip scenarios you have already read.

In the day map, focus has been placed on the speed at which movement can be made.
If we kept to the same movement system as the PS2 version, where one had to walk about the map, loading speeds will be slower and movement will be sluggish.

That is where we changed the day map backgrounds to 2D, and you move your characters over this 2D map… Which greatly shortens the load time and is better suited for portable-console gameplay.

In addition, the well-received shortcut button in Persona 4 is implemented, and makes movement more convenient and enjoyable.

To make it even faster, I would recommend a “Data Install”. Upon selection of the “Data Install” option on the title screen, a part of the game data will be installed on the memory stick.
Elements such as events and the day map and other aspects can be loaded without placing stress on the console, so please do try it out!
(The data install option is not needed on the 「PSP-GO」, so please do look out.)

Now that I’ve covered quite a few of the changes, I will introduce some of the new character accessories/equipment and omake screen captures.

It’s less than a month to the release date.
We can finally deliver a new Persona 3 experience to everyone!
On behalf of the staff, we’ve put a lot of effort into creating this, so we have confidence in it!
On 11/1, please enjoy a new one-year!
Thank you for your support!

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Hi, Hashino here.

The release date of Persona 3 Portable is drawing near

Getting into the Top 30 Most Anticipated new game releases on Weekly Famitsu has been something greater than what we had expected.

The readers may have had a chance to experience the game at the Tokyo Game Show last week, too.

How was it?

Right now, on the Persona 3 Portable home page, we’ve been receiving many messages of encouragement and questions. We might have a chance to answer those on the main page, so please do keep them coming!

(At Tokyo Game Show, Persona 4 managed to bag the Japan Game Awards 2009 “Excellent Game Award”!! Many thanks to all the fans and visitors for their encouragement. As a production representative, we thank you!)

Kuma is thankful too!

In Persona 3 Portable, some of the developments in Persona 4 have been implemented as a system improvement. Also, to make the portable version easier to play on the move, there have been some changes to the old system. We aim to set a new standard in portable RPGs in developing the game.

Game content will be introduced in various other places, so this entry will focus on the load speeds of scenes in the game.

…That being said, the video from the previous entry featured a PSP-GO, and so the load speeds were not UMD based, and was faster… That should be something to look forward to, but I think that there were some who were wondering “What would the load speeds be like with a normal UMD?”.

The scenes have been made for fast loading even on an UMD.
The team has developed it for portable play, so actions can be completed faster and more efficiently than on the PS2 system.
During tests, truth be told, there wasn’t much confidence in this part of the development, but with the staff’s hard work, there should be quite a significant improvement.

(Videos of gameplay can be viewed at the original post here)

…How is it?

Also, we have a function to install data on the console itself.
Using this, loading and reading speeds should be greatly shortened.

The fastests speeds will be on the full-install on the PSP-GO, but even on the UMD, players should be able to get decent loading speeds.

(This was taken on a development console, but the gameplay should feel something like this. The cache wasn’t used in gameplay. Load speeds vary on several factors, so please just use this as a rough gauge.)

Now, for the next entries, the two directors will bring you more detailed information about the game straight from the development office.

Since they spent a lot of effort on creating this game, I’m sure they have many interesting things to share!

(If its only about how much they’ve suffered, I’m sorry ^^;)

Please look forward to it!

An update of translations of the entries on the Famitsu Persona 3 Portable Creator’s blog. Meguro Shoji probably needs no introduction, and I’m really looking forward to the new tracks.

On to the translation of his first entry!

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Hi, This is Meguro, in charge of the music of Persona 3 Portable

It’s been a month since the announcement of Persona 3 Portable, and some game screencaps have been released, so I’ll continue with an update on the music side.

If you choose the female main character in Persona 3 Portable, there is a selection of music tracks just for her route

There probably aren’t as many songs as you would expect… The music will be changed for the town, school, battles, etc.

Of course, if you select the male main character you will hear the Persona 3 BGM as it originally was, and even on the female main character’s path, if there aren’t any new tracks the music will be the same as the PS2 version, and this would have been so.

Now, on the new tracks created for the female main character, the sound direction will maintain the atmosphere of Persona 3 while adding a little feminine vibe to it, so I tried composing with a soft and melodious mood to the music.

There will be vocal tracks too, and for this, a new vocalist Fujita Mayumi has been put in charge of these tracks.

The Persona Series has been blessed with great vocalists, and Fujita-san was perfect for the female main character’s BGM with her beautiful voice.

Also, during the battle scenes, Lotus Juice (A Japanese person), who contributed his rapping to the PS2 version, will be collaborating with Fujita-san!

And the opening theme (A game’s signature) for the female character’s route will be done by Kita Shuuhei.

That’s right, Kita-san who sang the OP for the Persona Trinity Soul anime.

To match the female main character’s story, the direction of the music is different from the PS2 opening 『Burn My Dread』

The song is entitled 『Soul Phrase』

The day after the publication of this blog entry will mark the opening of Persona Music Live 2009.

It was held at Akasaka Blitz last year but this year it will be at Wel City Tokyo, which is also known as that Kouseinenkin Kaikan.

We somehow managed to arrange for the use of this awesome hall for the concert, but thanks to this, ticket sales were brisk.

This is also thanks to all Persona fans.

Kawamura Yumi-san, Lotus Juice-san (A Japanese person), Hirata Shihoco-san, Kita Shuuhei-san and Fujita Mayumi-san will be performing, and there will be songs from Persona 3 Portable as well.

Kita Shuuhei-san might sing the new opening 『Soul Phrase』!?

-Amagi Yukiko cameo in P3P

Only in the female main character’s route, P4 party character Amagi Yukiko will cameo in the PSP remake of P3.

Speaking of which, there are plenty of updates to the P3P Creators Blog, which I will translate and put up within this week.

And more updates after the jump.

-Taiko no Tatsujin 2 for Wii announced

Slimes have appeared.

More reason to buy a Wii (orz)

-Huke drew My Melody

I lol’ed at the Silent Hill comment. Also, Huke signed/doodled on an Xbox360. It’s pretty cute, but not very, uh, Huke.

-Lucky Star Idol Meister Store Specials

Extremely. Cute. (Though Konata as Kud is very strange, I admit)

-Windows 777

Awesome OS by an equally awesome guy. Where do I preorder? lol.

And since I did nothing to celebrate, I decided to sing this song that came out of the Family Mart boom on Nicodou recently. It sorts of grows on you after a while, and you start humming it when doing homework, things like that.

And then the uncontrollable urge to sing it hits you. Brain worms, tsk.

Forgive my (fail) voice and forgive my (fail) microphone. Happy moe day!

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