Overview

It is hard these days to get around on the world of the internet, without hearing about the Persona series, it is a widely adored series beloved by many, and many much like myself were introduced to this fantastic series, and more broadly the SMT umbrella through the magnificent Persona 5, but before the release of Persona 5 would explode the series to the mainstream success, there was one game that pioneered the game foundations and ideas, that make a modern Persona game, and that game, was Persona 3.

Persona 3, was a hit for the PS2 following up many of the other endeavors of the SMT universe that would hit the console like SMT 3 and the Digital Devil Saga. Persona 3 was also a huge departure from what the previous two Persona entries were with Persona 1 & 2 sharing more in common with SMT, than they do with what we now know as modern Persona, with the third entry introducing the time management, social links, and calendar based structure of the game. Persona 3, is an incredible game not just for the mechanics the change up or the way it helped a struggling Atlus recoup and get back on track, but for the brilliant story about living with purpose and embracing that life is not something that lasts forever and learning to accept that and make the most of the time you have. Persona 3, is a personal story that resonated with many and still does to this day. It is with this long intro, and long awaited remake we’re at the release of Persona 3.

Persona 3 Reload feels like the most accessible and in many ways the definitive way to experience Persona 3's main story. Whilst it may not contain the Female protagonist from Portable or the additional FES story "The Answer", I feel that Reload is one of the better ways to experience the story of Persona 3, particularly those who weren't on board with playing the portable version and aren't big on emulation. Persona 3 Reload isn't perfect, and in some respects feels absent of the atmosphere that the original and FES engendered and it can leave Reload feeling familiar in all of its appearances but a certain feeling and personality that feels absent, leaving it feeling more derivative of Persona 5, than Persona 3. But with that being said, Persona 3 Reload is a fantastic remake of a JRPG classic and I'm here to breakdown why, so let's get into my video for Persona 3 Reload.

Story

Narrative - Overview

Persona 3 Reload follows and faithfully retells the events of Persona 3, where an unknown phenomenon known as The Dark Hour occurs at midnight every night, and in this window of time all matters of being are transformed into a coffins during the duration of the hour, except those who have the power of a "Persona".

Persona 3 follows a cast of character who can operate during The Dark Hour, as a task force known as S.E.E.S who're tasked with climbing a monolithic tower that emerges known as Tartarus. The story follows these the story and relationships of the members of SEES as they aim to destroy 12 significant shadows and erase the dark hour. Persona 3 Reload is probably the most accessible version of Persona 3, with the way it is presented, and the revised cinematics. I think I still have a fondness for the original aesthetic of Persona 3, but I do feel that this modernization of the Persona 3 experience is still a solid approach, and it does follow beat by beat all the story moments of the original.

Themes - Light Summary

Persona 3 explores many different ideas, but at the core was this central theme of death. But not in a macabre sense, more through the perspective of accepting your time is finite, understanding what in this world is worth fighting for, what you'd give your life to protect, and making the most of the time that you have, to make memories with those you love.

It is a game that resonates with many because it explores the concept of making the most of the things we often take for granted, and the time that have to make a change on the people around us, and in turn that impact that those same people have on us.

A major focal point of Persona 3 is how it handles grief, loss and trauma and more importantly how these moments shape mold and crystalize the reasons for living. When I say Persona 3's story is one that is focused around the idea of death, it isn't dying itself, it's the inevitability that death comes for everyone, and how one choses to live their life to the fullest.

In the context of Persona 3, there are many motifs such as the evoker being a gun and the main cast shooting themselves to call their persona, is them wiping away this fear of dying, or burning the dread one might say. Persona 3's themes run deep and even with this Persona, the pact to live a life facing death head-on, the game throughout its story calls into question where do you find your reason to live, and is this Persona your source of power, or where does that sense of purpose derive from?

If you've played the original and even in Reload you'll see the phrase Memento Mori which in Latin translates to "remember you must die". It's significance has has evolved over the years with philosophers like Plato stating that one mastering their fear of death by recognizing the body's mortal reality and pursuing knowledge, which nurtures the immortal soul. The stoics echo sentiments which resemble the more modern meaning of the term, with the notion of death being at the forefront of ones thoughts it is a reminder of nothing being permanent, and is an advocation to live "a complete life".

Persona 3 intentionally has the phrase of Memento Mori at the forefront as this phrase is the very essence of Persona 3's story on and thematic tone.

There are more themes that Persona 3 explores and a lot of them go into great depth, that I really do at some point want to make a video tackling them in more depth, and the overall Persona 3 experience, but in the case of Reload, I feel the substance and subject matter of Persona 3 remains intact and is mostly done justice here.

Gameplay

Combat

The combat for Persona 3 Reload has seen a major facelift, having heavily embraced many of the learnings from Persona 5. I really do think in many ways from the perspective of combat this is the best that Persona 3 has been. Firstly unlike the base game Persona 3, it allows you to control your party members, making it on par with Portable and FES. But on top of that includes new abilities called Theurgy attacks which work similar to the Showtime Attacks in Persona 5 Royal and operate similarly to a Limit Break in Final Fantasy.

Another feature that has been carried over from Persona 5 is the inclusion of the Baton Pass, which is referred to as shifting here in Reload. Shifting allows you to switch to another party member once you have exploited an enemies weakness, and that follow up attack will do more damage and it works as an extra turn meaning that if you can continue to shift from party member to party member, you'll be maximizing your damage, whilst also getting additional turns, denying the enemy of their turn.

All-out-attacks see a return here in Reload and they are as stylish as ever and work functionally as they do in every other Persona title, but there have been some touch-ups here in Reload with each party member having their own player splash card for initiating the all out attack similarly to Persona 5.

Game Systems

Persona 3 was the first to establish the iconic gameplay loop that the series is broadly known for today. There are two core components that make up the Persona experience and that being the dungeon crawling experience, that is a host to all the combat elements that you've come to expect from an RPG, but Persona also runs on a calendar exploring the daily life experience and what better place to start than with that aspect of the game

The Day-to-Day Experience

So what is the day-to-day experience and how the hell is this engaging, well I'm glad that your asked, for those wanting to dive into this experience for the first time, Persona 3 like I said a moment ago, runs on a calendar having the story unfold day by day over various months throughout the year. But once the experience opens up to you, the days will operate on a day and night rotation making the player choose wisely about what activities the player can engage with to which there are a lot and by the time I've explained the two facets of Persona's loop and how they intertwine you'll see how expansive the experience truly is. Firstly it is important to establish some key systems, and what better place to start than with Social Links.

Social Links

Social Links in Persona 3 Reload are sub-stories that lay host to a colorful cast of characters who further explore and evaluate the underlying themes of Persona 3's thematic tone and message. But outside of the narrative threading Social links provide a satisfying gameplay loop that slowly unfolds a characters story and in turn provides in-game benefits to the types of Persona's that you acquire in The Velvet Room, which believe me, we'll get to...

There are over 20 Social Links that you can spend time with throughout the year and each of these Social-Links have a rank of 1 through to 10 that is the progression of their story and now in Persona 3 Reload these characters are fully voiced and it's an absolutely awesome addition to the experience.

Social Links play a important role, in how you level your personas, and this is where the in-game benefits kick in because each Social Link has an arcana tied to their story, and likewise the various personas you collect will be divided into groups which are tied to this arcana, meaning progressing your relationships with different characters equates to better boons when fusing and collecting different persona's in P3's other side of the gameplay loop.

Similarly to how things worked in the original Persona 3, your party members besides the female ones aren't Social Links here in Reload, however, there is a new additional event included called Social events where you can study together, read together, or do some gardening on the roof. It's a great alternative to not adding a social link that allows the player to still get quality time with the main cast, and is a welcomed addition to the experience. These can also take form in hangout moments which are great too, there's study sessions which happen before exams, which give you more time with the main cast AND boost your stats too.

These Social Link events do come with a reward on combat side of the experience providing each SEES member you spend time a permanent stat benefit called a Combat characteristics. Each party member will have two of these and they're unlocked through completing a particular activity with each member.

To add to the equation as well SEES members now have also added special interactions called Linked Episodes, which tie into the current events of the story, and allow you to connect with many of these characters, and it is a good middle ground that satisfies the camps who wanted a social link, and those who want Reload to remain faithful to the source material and it works really well here, fleshing out and providing more little moments for many of your favorite characters. They also reward the player with specific Personas that they can fusion too.

Social Stats

Persona 3 Reload see's the return of the same social stats that were found in the original, those being Courage, Charm, and Academics. These stats can all be maxed out to level 6, and are useful in opening more pathways in the open world, such as being courageous enough to talk to someone, or smart enough to decipher a sign. These social stats and you links are the primary focus you'll be juggling with your time in the day-to-day component of Persona 3's loop, and P3 Reload only introduces more activities and methods to spend your time effectively.

One area where they have added some flourishes is in the side the social side of P3’s experience, here in Reload they have added a few more places to explore and being able to go out to the Iwatodi Strip Mall at night is something that I think definitely is a nice touch. They have also borrowed a feature from Persona 5’s book with CD’s that can be purchased and watched at the dorm to increase your social stats among other skills, which operate in a similar fashion to how the various books you can read in Persona 5 increase different stats.

The Towering Terror Tartarus

Then there is the other side of the gameplay loop, Tartarus, a sprawling tower that arises when the clock strikes midnight, and the Dark Hour begins. This aspect of Persona 3, has seen a major changes, and honestly, despite what purists may say, I think the changes to Tartarus are for the better. Where exploration in the original games would become tedious the more you progressed through the game, I feel here in Reload, Tartarus still does feel like this unpredictable labyrinth that you can get lost in, but at the same time, I feel that there is a lot more going on on each floor to change up the exploration and making each journey into Tartarus feel worthwhile and obtaining all of these arcana cards will provide a boost incrementing the level of the cards you receive and it makes the more the acquisition of personas, equipment more fun, and levelling feel more streamlined and enjoyable.

It is evident that Persona 3 Reload continually works to build and refine the foundations of Tartarus whilst still ascertaining the structure and integrity or the source material with the same range of floors that have the same mini-bosses for each of the major floors.

By comparison the original Tartarus would have suitcases that would reward players with weapons, armour and different items that would aid them in combat. This has been reworked in Reload in favour of chests scattered across the various different floors. But one difference here, is how Reload has multiple different chests that will require a new currency called Twilight Fragments, which can be obtained by exploring the open world and completing request which we’ll get into later in the video. But what these Twilight Fragments allow the player to open these special chests that will reward the player with weapons and armour. While these chests provide substantial rewards, there are more minor chests which provide items to aid you along your journey.

Shuffle Time also sees a return in P3 Reload and works in a familiar fashion to how it did in the original entries rewarding the player with various boons from new Personas, EXP boosts, and different equipment. There are now new arcana cards that can be collected as buffs during shuffle time making each venture into Tartarus feel more worthwhile and are also a temptation to continue exploring all the more enticing offer this time of limited boost that makes exploring Tartarus feel different and rewarding each time you step foot inside.

It isn’t just the inclusion of chests that have reshaped Tartarus but also the inclusion of new obstacles and mechanisms that will bend the layout of the floors, like stairs that will spring out and block your path.

There are also the reworks to the Monad Depths, to those who aren’t familiar the Monad Depths are rooms locked behind a door that offer a particular challenge rooms and would appear as you explore Tartarus. They originally would appear a lot later in the prior entries of P3. However, here in Reload, the Monad doors make an appearance much earlier on into the experience and are now comprised of two different variants that provide a challenge to the player. These are comprised of Monad Doors, and Monad Passages. Where the difference lies between these two is one is temporary, and the other is permanent. Monad Doors, will randomly appear whilst exploring Tartarus and completing them will provide you the ability to level up members both in and out of your party. On the flipside, Monad Passages, and a mini-descending dungeon, that has much more powerful enemies, and are static in terms of the floors that they appear on and unlike Monad Doors, they won’t disappear when choosing to move to another floor.

One core system that was found in the original entries for Persona 3, was this wellness system which would tell you if a party member is fatigued or not, and that would dictate going into Tartarus, or decided to rest. This system has been removed from Reload, and honestly whilst I didn't mind this system, I didn't really feel its absence in this experience, nor did I feel that it diminished the challenge of the game in any way.

All of this is to say that whilst Tartarus, is this one ever-evolving and sprawling dungeon that in some respects doesn’t have the same distinct dungeon variety that later entries have, Atlus have taken every attempt here, to make each block of Tartarus feel like a different dungeon in its atmosphere, presentation, and minor quirks and I do feel in this regard, I do believe they’ve done a good job of managing the feeling of the original, and revitalizing it in a new way.

The Culmination - World's Collide

Persona 3 ultimately results in two individual loops intertwining into one overarching gameplay loop that make everything in Persona feel useful.

Welcome to...The Velvet Room.

The Velvet Room, here in Persona 3, makes a return and operates the same as it did in the original entries, allowing players to fuse the Persona's that they've collected exploring Tartarus and the boons and benefits of these fusions are influenced by the Social Links you've been engaging with, and how far you have progressed with a particular link. As your player level increases you'll be able to fuse stronger Persona's and as you increase your Social Links you'll be able to further enhance your Personas.

The Velvet Room in P3 Reload has adopted the ability inheritance system from Persona 5, allowing the player to select abilities from the two Persona's being fused that they'd want to carry over to the new persona. I know some may not like this change, but personally I've always liked this system as I feel it provides a neat sense of flexibility in customizing the different persona's that you acquire.

But this isn't the only function The Velvet Room serves, there are also Myriad Fusions which require more than two personas to fuse, there is also the registry where you can purchase previously acquired persona's that you may want to use, and finally requests.

Requests are micro-tasks you can complete for Elizabeth, your handler in The world between dream and reality and it operates similarly to the original, but feels more organised with modern UI's and some nice additional activities that tie into rewarding and facilitating the new Twilight Fragment currency, along with skill cards, weapons and the like. These are more fetch quest style activities, but they're nice little side activities and milestones, that provide incremental rewards as you go.

Episode Aigis: The Answer Expansion

So now before we get to the conclusion and bring this video to a close I would like to talk about Episode Aigis, the one and only expansion that will be releasing for Persona 3 Reload. Episode Aigis is a retelling of the events included in Persona 3's extended story add-on The Answer and begins a few weeks shortly after the conclusion of Persona 3's main campaign. The game is focused around grief and moving forward, and has you controlling Aigis and the former party, exploring a new dungeon known as the Abyss of Time.

The Abyss of Time operates similar to Tartarus in its structure but is dividing into smaller isolated blocks that explore the backstories of the Persona 3 cast, and slowly peel back the layers of mystery that is found in the expansions story.

From a gameplay perspective, the expansion operates almost identically to that of the base game, with all the same mechanics, and some new features, to help you get an advantage attack as Aigis. If you're playing this after the base game, which you should be, then your Persona's will carry across in the velvet room, but Theurgy's and player levels are reset to around the level 20 mark.

One thing that Episode Aigis nails, that Reload did well was introducing new tracks into this experience, with the new battle theme Don't being a standout for me.

The big question and biggest piece of drama surrounding the whole Persona 3 Reload package is Episode Aigis, and for two reasons. The first being that this wasn't included in the base product to begin with, given that this content was already sold to us once through Persona 3 FES, and the second or more difficult pill to swallow being the price point of this expansion.

Now as much as I love Persona, and for how much I loved my time with Reload, the price of Episode Aigis simply doesn't feel worth it. The expansion is good, it is more Persona 3 and I did enjoy my time with this expansion, but for an expansion that will run you 15 hours, to be priced in the same relative ballpark as the base game is horrendous. I can understand why this would leave a sour taste in ones mouth. I think if you can get the DLC bundled or are wanting more Persona 3, then the expansion is worth it, as it is the conclusion to the story of Reload and is a great experience, but had this expansion been more reasonably priced, I do think that the perception surrounding this expansion would be more favorable.

Visual & Sound Presentation

Visuals

If there is one area that Atlus are industry leading in, it is there UI design, and how they create satisfying and comprehensive menus, whether it is SMT 4’s Digital-esque menu, Persona 5’s newspaper cut-outs fonts that would make Jim Carry’s Riddler smile, all the way to the shifting perspectives and effects for each screen. It’s insane to see the upcoming stylistic overload of Metaphor Refantazio, and here with Persona 3 Reload it is much more subtle, but stylistically sound to the overall mood and feeling of Persona 3.

P3 Reload’s visual presentation overall is something that will be debatable as I feel the sprites, models, and overall visual style of the original in some respects is what gave Persona 3, the atmosphere that many associate with the experience. As for the UI I feel it is a nice upgrade and a testament to what Atlus absolutely nail. The new visual style and presentation, from the fonts, symbols, and models used all derive from Persona 5 in some respects, and it makes sense given the engines that these games run on and the windows between each of these games development. I’m not saying this pejoratively either, or to debase remake, more to shed light on the over the changes that have been made to the overall presentation of this game, and honestly, I think in 2024 this works more to the games favour and does bring the world to life in a way that I feel is better to the alternative which is available on modern platforms, that being P3 Portable.

There are also some awesome new inclusions like the new SEES outfits which I think look mad and spruce up the experience.

There have also been touch-ups and changes to Tatsumi Port Island and what is available as well as the major glow-up to Tartarus we touch on earlier. Tatsumi Island now has many of its different alleyways and halls come to life from a different perspective, and the game overall shows a much more vibrant color palette. That’s something that I’d like to touch on here as well, Persona 3 Reload is a much brighter game than it’s original and the color choices, especially in some particular moments of the story will invoke a different sense of emotion compared to the original and I believe that this change in emotion, and feeling will not click with some who’re familiar with the original. It doesn’t ruin or break the experience, but it is something that I can’t help but feel hits different.

Sound

Now onto the sound presentation for P3 Reload, kicking things off lets discuss the soundtrack, and man the new tracks in this game go so hard, I talked about how they’ve expanded upon the night exploration in the day-to-day component of the experience, but “Color your Night” is the perfect cherry on top. The rearranged versions of some of the original tracks feel a bit hit or miss for me though, I feel like new version of Mass Destruction or Iwatodai Dorm’s themes feel like they don’t hit the same, and kinda can be annoying at the same time. I feel like they aren’t offensively bad, but they aren’t the best versions of these songs.

I touched on this earlier, but here in Reload the Social Links are voiced, and the main characters also have been voiced with new voice actors compared to their counterparts in the original. However, many of the original cast have returned to voice more minor roles here in the remake. I overall do feel like the voice performances are really good, and it does take a few hours to get used to the new cast, especially for some characters like Akihiko but by the 10 to 15 hour mark I had completely forgotten about it, and was onboard with all the new performances.

Another thing that makes a reappearance here in Persona 3 Reload, is the reoccurring leitmotif in Persona 3's soundtrack which takes a melody from the games credits theme which reoccurs in many different tracks in the game. Honestly Shoji Meguro's music and compositions are to this game are as incredible as the story, the visual presentation or the unique flow of gameplay, and it is this attention to detail even within the score which makes Persona 3's soundtrack feel so powerful and intentional in its design.

The iconic sound effects, that are found in the original do resurface here in the remake and are a fantastic welcome, and do add into the overall vibe and atmosphere. I overall feel like the presentation of Persona 3 Reload does do what it sets out to accomplish in most regards, it does in some respects miss the mark in recapturing the mood and tone of the original, but does in its own weird way make a mutated version that original, which some will love and others will really dislike.

Conclusion

To bring everything together I feel that Persona 3 Reload, is for the most part the definitive way to experience Persona 3. It encompasses all the key features, that previously would have been a trade-off between deciding what version to play. It offers new flourishes and additions that I feel will appeal to the majority, and I feel like it mostly sustains the narrative substance and overall flow, whilst in the process of overhauling trades off aspects of the atmosphere and energy the original had. But with that being said, I do still believe that Persona 3 Reload matters, and it is a great video game, and if you haven't played Persona 3 before, this is a great place to jump on and experience the game.

If you're a long time fan of the series, this is in many ways a feature complete refreshed version of the base Persona 3, with all the learnings from Persona 5 incorporated, some may delight in that news, and others may be turned off by it. But Persona 3 is a game of making the most and living life to the fullest, and their is no better way to be living it to the fullest than at least experiencing this game once, and Persona 3 Reload is an absolutely excellent way to do that, and one I highly recommend.

Resources

Articles

https://personacentral.com/p3r-interview/ https://megamitensei.fandom.com/wiki/Persona_3_Reload https://personacentral.com/persona-3-reload-in-depth-development-interview/ https://www.oneesports.gg/gaming/persona-3-reload-wada-producer-interview/ https://gamerant.com/persona-3-reload-game-origins-remake-explained/ https://80.lv/articles/persona-3-reload-s-dev-on-creating-the-game-making-it-feel-nostalgic-yet-new/ https://gamerant.com/persona-3-reload-expansion-pass-cut-content-development-time-leak/ https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/we-were-in-such-dire-need-of-talentpersona-3-reload-director-explains-why-episode-aigis-was-removed-from-the-main-game-amid-a-tough-development/ https://www.thegamer.com/persona-3-reload-developers-takuya-yamaguchi-ryota-niitsuma-interview/ https://www.inverse.com/gaming/persona-3-reload-review https://questdaily.com.au/feature/why-persona-3-reload-should-be-your-first-jrpg/