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[Game] Chapter 351: The Game Is Complete
🕑 Added 2025-08-12 16:01:18 +0000 UTCIchin spent two full days and a night reading through every single review submitted by the team. Once he finished, he compiled all the feedback and sent it off to Nintendo.
Shortly after, Nintendo’s point of contact called Ichin directly and told him they would be inviting Game Freak’s developers to go over everything together.
After all, even though Game Freak held the development rights to the world’s biggest IP, when it came to actual development capability—compared to top global studios—well, GF still had some catching up to do.
And since Nintendo had built a solid working relationship with Ichin and his team, they also wanted to use this opportunity to give GF a clearer sense of what true technical excellence looked like.
Having handled that, Ichin felt much more at ease and dove straight back into the final development sprint for Persona.
While the core game development progressed, voice recording for both the Japanese and Chinese versions had also reached the final stages.
Thanks to hiring professional voice actors for both languages, everything went smoothly once the casting was finalized.
Finally, on March 15th, the office was packed—especially in the programming department. Ichin was right there with them.
Under the expectant gazes of everyone, Umiko finished the final check, let out a huge sigh of relief, stood up, and announced:
“It’s done! The game runs smoothly. Next step—send it to Nintendo for cartridge production!”
“Woohoo!!”
“That’s amazing!!”
“We finally finished!!!!!”
The room erupted with cheers as the team celebrated the completion of their game.
Standing beside Ichin, Utaha gently tugged on his sleeve.
Ichin turned to her and, smiling, pulled her into a hug. The two of them grinned happily.
The game was finished. Everyone at the company could finally breathe a little easier.
Well—only a little easier. There was still a lot of testing, bug hunting, and Day 1 patch work to do.
If the release date had been set further out, they could have finished testing and fixed everything before shipping. But with the current schedule, that wasn’t possible.
As long as the Day 1 patch was ready in time, everything would be fine.
Outside of the dev team, Ichin spoke to Hazuki, and she cheerfully grabbed her phone to book a restaurant for the launch celebration that evening.
Ten minutes later, Hazuki arrived at Ichin’s office.
“Ichin-kun, reservation’s done. I booked the entire place—it’s a big crowd, after all.”
Ichin nodded and smiled. “Perfect. That way everyone can really enjoy themselves. Hazuki, let everyone know we’re ending early today. Let’s leave around five. Also, there are hotels near the restaurant, right? If anyone drinks too much, don’t let them go home. Book them a room for the night—on the company’s dime.”
Ichin knew tonight would definitely involve a lot of drinking, so he wanted to be well-prepared.
Hazuki gave him an OK gesture.
“Don’t worry—I already considered that. There are several hotels nearby. Oh, by the way—Ichin-kun, Utaha—your school’s graduation ceremony is soon, right?”
“Yeah, it’s next week. Just a few more days.”
So in a way, it was a double celebration: the game was complete, and he was about to graduate high school.
Leaning against his desk, Hazuki smiled and said,
“On your graduation day, how about us company veterans throw you two a party to celebrate?”
Ichin laughed. “Hazuki, sounds like you just want an excuse for a party. But sure—why not. What do you think, Utaha?”
“I’m in,” Utaha replied, taking her eyes off her Switch.
“There’ll be a decent break after graduation. Having everyone over for a party sounds nice.”
Seeing Utaha agree, Ichin had no objections.
“Alright then, it’s settled. After the ceremony, we’ll throw a party. But before that—today’s celebration comes first.”
At 5 PM, the company clocked out early. Some took the train, others drove, and they all made their way to the reserved restaurant.
It was an izakaya Hazuki and Kō had been to several times before. Great food, great vibes—and just the right size to fit the entire team.
The celebration began around 5:30 PM and went on until past 10 PM. It was lively, festive, and filled with laughter.
Naturally, people like Hazuki, Umiko, and others drank quite a bit.
Ichin, as the boss, also drank his fair share, but thankfully he didn’t get drunk enough to collapse. Together with Utaha, he made sure the more inebriated staff were safely checked into nearby hotels, and he booked a room for themselves as well to stay the night.
As they stepped into the suite with Utaha holding onto his arm, she flipped on the lights and looked at him with concern.
“You really okay? I asked the front desk—there’s hangover tea in the room. I’ll make you some.”
“Thanks, Utaha.”
While she went to make the tea, Ichin stretched and sank into the suite’s living room sofa, exhaling deeply.
Thankfully, most of the team were women, and they all handled their alcohol well. Even those who drank too much just zoned out and giggled a bit—no one made a scene. Plus, after a half hour or so, most recovered quickly.
Looking up at the hotel ceiling, Ichin murmured to himself,
“Another game, finished. Time to move on to the next project… Or not. There’s still a whole month of testing and patchwork left before we officially start something new.”
“You should be relaxing right now. Why are you thinking about your next project already?”
Carrying a cup of hot hangover tea, Utaha sat down next to him and gave him an exasperated look.
“Can’t you just chill for once?”
“Sorry, sorry—force of habit.”
Ichin sat up, took the cup, and sipped it slowly.
“It’s just... there are still so many games I want to make. I don’t want to slow down. Besides, I really enjoy this—creating games together with everyone.”
Seeing the bright smile on his face, Utaha couldn’t help but smile herself.
“I know you love making games, Ichin. But for tonight—take a break, okay?”
She gave his head a light tap.
“Drink your tea. I’m going to take a shower. Don’t you dare fall asleep here—I’m not dragging you to bed.”
“Got it, got it,” Ichin replied with a grin.
***
