Warning: The following article about Persona 3 Reload contains spoilers.
For well over a decade, I’ve been a diehard Persona fan. I’ve played every game as they’ve released, and I’ve made sure to own all versions of each game, including the butchered localized PS1 games. Persona 3 was actually the last numbered entry I played. I enjoyed Persona 3 immensely, and I can say the same for its remake. Yet, for as much as I’m enjoying Persona 3 Reload, no matter what I do, I can’t help but feel that the game is incomplete.
Keep in mind that the core Persona 3 experience is still there, and it’s been remade in loving detail. I actually think that in some areas, this is probably the most efficient Persona game in a long time. One of the reasons why Persona 5 lost me a bit was because of how bloated it was. Yes, Persona games are incredibly long, and Persona 5 is no different, but there are moments in Persona 5’s narrative that I can look at and say that it needs trimming, like all of Okumura’s Palace. From a gameplay and narrative perspective, Persona 3 Reload and all other versions of Persona 3 don’t waste any time getting to the meat of things.
That being said, there isn’t a whole lot of meat to chew on, and I mean that in all areas of the game. For $70, which is not only more than the original MSRP of Persona 3 but also the recent Persone 5 Royal, I feel like this should be a more comprehensive remake that makes it the definitive version of the game. Now, we have four different versions of the same story, each with its own strengths and weaknesses, making it hard for me to say which version of the game is my favorite.
Yes, from a narrative perspective, Persona 3 gets to the point a lot faster than its sequels. It has one of the shorter intros in the series, but the early game hours are easily its worst. The game quickly establishes its cycle of exploring Tartarus and engaging in Social Links while waiting for the next full moon, but while you’re waiting for that single day of the month when the plot will occur, there’s not a whole lot to do narratively. There isn’t even an overarching motivation for the events occurring, and the reason they give isn’t exactly a fulfilling one, something that future entries in the series would fix. In Persona 4, you’re motivated by trying to save the victims of the killer who’s throwing people into the Midnight Channel and getting to the bottom of the case. Persona 3 just doesn’t have as consistent of a presence.
And that’s something that the remake could have addressed. All of the remakes, or at the very least expanded editions, of past Persona games have included extra content. Some of this content is just to offer a more in-depth post-game or fix combat mechanics, but sometimes, it’s to add more details to the greater story. Persona 3 Reload does a weird half-step. Strega, an antagonistic group, got a couple of extra scenes to flesh them out since they weren’t fully developed in the base version, as well as some extra scenes to flesh out your party members. That’s all well and good, but they’re introduced after a few dozen hours into the game, and it does little to change the lack of narrative incentive in those early hours. Even if the game adds in a completely new character, that would be preferable to having a game where you feel like nothing is happening.
But that lack of meaningful progression also extends to the gameplay and the game’s sole dungeon, Tartarus. Tartarus, in simple terms, sucks. It’s a massive dungeon with very little personality, and the only thing that changes in between floors is the number that you’re on. If anything could have been fixed or improved about Persona 3 Reload, it’s this. The funny thing is that you could still keep the same central concept of having a central dungeon you constantly go back to. Just have some of the floors be authored and designed and maybe add some new plot scenes involving Strega, lore about the tower and its creation, or even a new character who interacts with the party only in Tartarus. There can still be randomly generated floors, but adding some variety to the one gameplay location could have been a great fix.
I say could because, clearly, that didn’t happen. Every time I explore Tartarus, it all becomes a mindless blur of battles, resource management, and exploiting enemy weaknesses. It’s still a satisfying cycle, and it plays better than ever before, thanks to taking a lot of the gameplay enhancements from Persona 5, but it just feels so mindless. At points, the game doesn’t even address some of the faults in the game’s combat. I’m happy that fatigue is no longer a thing, but retaining the three physical types of attacks feels unnecessary when it was simplified so well in later games. It’s almost as if Atlus intentionally kept some flawed mechanics from Persona 3 intact in Persona 3 Reload, not because it was to make a better gameplay experience but because those traits were identifiable and associated with Persona 3.
You could handwave all of those reasons away, though, by saying it’s staying true to the original version, but then that opens up a whole can of worms about staying true to an original release. This is a remake, so it shouldn’t be 100% beholden to how the original game handled its story or gameplay. Just look at how remakes of games like Resident Evil 4 and Final Fantasy VII played with expectations to deliver a similar yet different experience. If Persona 3 Reload was completely faithful to its original release, then everyone would still hate Mitsuru for casting Marin Karin every turn since you couldn’t control party members in the original Persona 3. But even if you were going to make an argument for keeping in questionable gameplay decisions, the omission of content from later releases is almost impossible to justify.
While the additional content of Persona 3 FES, which was primarily just a post-game dungeon and scenario that is very hit-or-miss, Persona 3 Portable, the PSP demake/remake of the original game, had a lot of extra content that justified its existence. While there were new gameplay features that have become standard for the series, like being able to control your party members, the most notable addition was the inclusion of a female protagonist. While this may not seem like much at first, it has numerous significant changes to the game. The aesthetics of the game are different, the soundtrack has plenty of new tracks, dialogue and romance options have changed, and there is an entirely new set of Social Links to explore. No joke, for an RPG that took me 60 hours to beat on my first playthrough, I was tempted to dive in a second time immediately after defeating the final boss, if only to see the other scenario.
I know I’m not the first to criticize this omission, and I certainly won’t be the last, but I can’t stress enough how much this decision impacted my perception of the game. Persona 3 Portable was my introduction to the Persona 3 cast, and while others may mock it for being a graphically inferior version to its console predecessors, I look at the content that Persona 3 Reload left out, and I just become frustrated. If you’re going to charge $70 for a game that has less content than a 2010 PSP game, then what’s the point? What’s even more baffling is that Atlus only just recently released Person 3 Portable on modern consoles. Now, if you just played Persona 3 Portable and are diving into Reload, it’s hard not to look at how a game that was originally released for $40, which is now being sold for $20, has more content than a $70 game. It’s because of this that I still think that Persona 3 Portable is the definitive way to play this entry.
Make no mistake, I still really like Persona 3 Reload. It’s built upon the foundation of a solid game and originated a formula that is still one of the most satisfying gameplay loops I’ve ever played. But the solid HD visuals and minor gameplay adjustments can’t overshadow how, after over 15 years, Atlus didn’t bother addressing the flaws of the original game. Worse, they’ve arguably taken several steps back by not implementing changes that only improved the core game. If the rumors I’m hearing about a Persona 4 remake are true, then Atlus should learn from some of the criticism when crafting their next entry. Then again, since Persona 3 Reload is now the fastest-selling entry in the series, I somehow find that doubtful.
Persona 3 Reload is available on PlayStation, PC, and Xbox.
