Another Persona 4 special coverage article has appeared in the June issue of Atlus' Express Newsletter. Just in time for a bit more exposure before the game gets released this week over in Japan. Just like last time, Director Katsura Hashino answers questions that the fans have sent in.

Many of the Personas that appear use the name of gods that appear in Japanese folklore. Does the story's development have anything to do with Japanese folklore? The settings "Inaba City" and "Yasogami High" sounds like they may have something to do with folklore too.

It's hard to answer that question when it's related to the story's development so, it will be best if players just look forward to the game. As they play through the scenarios, some things will become clear but, I think it would be great if it makes players think of various ideas when playing.

It appears both the setting and the Personas are based on Japanese folklore. Will those who aren't familiar with the folklore be able to enjoy the game?

I don't think there's any need to worry about that. However, I think players will be able to enjoy the game more deeply if they did. Also, there will be lessons in the game that teaches about Japanese folklore so those who are interested can take note.

In the previous Persona title, the main character used "Orpheus" and this time he uses "Izanagi" who are both related to myths about the underworld. Will "death" be an important theme in this title too?

P4 is a story which illustrates the way young people grow up so it was created with a different theme from the last game in mind.

This time we see there's a mysterious subject known as "Mayonaka TV" and within the TV there is another world. Is there some kind of meaning to this?

Players will be able to find out by playing... I can't say any more than that. I'm very sorry.

About the detective part of the game, will there be a part of the game where the player will have to work to find out who the murderer is? Or will they just find out who the murderer is without doing so?

It's not a game where the player can just find out the answer as if they were reading through a mystery novel. There are important scenes where the player will have to make a choice regarding the murderer and the story will progress from there. I think this will make it very enjoyable.

Please tell use about the difficulty of the game. Will beginners be able to play it too? Will veterans be able to enjoy it?

There are three difficulties that decide how are the battles are. For beginners, they can choose "Beginners Mode" where the battles will be balanced so that they're easy and even if players get a game over, they can continue up to ten times. There's a substantial amount of help implemented so even those who are new to Atlus' RPGs can play the game without a worry. For those who are used to RPGs I recommend trying "Normal Mode" or higher. I'm sure they will enjoy the team battle aspect much more this way. Again, I can't give the details but there are some interesting elements!

Can you tell us why yellow has become the main image colour here? What does it have to do with the story and world setting?

Our Art Director Soejima had been thinking about the image colour since the beginning of development and because it was set in the countryside, we wanted a nostalgic colour. We thought yellow could represent flowers or the hats that primary school children wear, something one can see as part of the countryside scenery.

Yellow is also a warning colour so we thought it would work well with the idea of pursuing these murder cases. We think a colour that represents both light and dark ideas would best suit P4.

I like the song used in the opening movie. Could you tell us what it's called, the artist's name and have Mr. Meguro give us a comment about it?

The song is called, "Pursuing My True Self" and the singer is Shihoko Hirata. It's a song that was made to portray the mystery suspence feeling of P4 and creates a cool city-like atmosphere that the game doesn't have much of.

We had a hard time during its production. We had to quickly rewrite a draft version of the song which was almost complete for the video which was followed by several months of auditions. We've also made amendments to the song since it was used in Famitsu's DVD... So ever since the start of production to the final version of the song, we've had 10 versions made which took five months. There were many problems but because we went through it all, we ended up with something we are satisfied with.

Q. Please tell us what it is you would recommend to players about Persona 4 and how it compares to Persona 3.

Persona 4 has a well finished mood and a very unique world setting. As the latest title in the series, it was made by a development team that have accumulated experience from previous titles and also reflects the comments that players of P3 and P3FES made so I think those who play it will find it an interesting experience.