If a remake of Persona 3 sounded too good to be true, it kind of might be, depending on which version of the game you remember. Atlus has announced the recently revealed Persona 3 Reload (officially, at least) will be based on the original PS2 release and won't feature content from the FES or Portable incarnations of the game.
This includes the big stuff some fans will likely take for granted, including (but far from limited to) the unique ability to play as a female protagonist and all the associated Social Links and additional content that went along with it in Portable. The dark, edgy predecessor to the life and light that was Persona 4 will instead be based on the first incarnation of the game, ironically the one the least number of players will be most familiar with (ourselves included).
Persona 3 Reload producer Ryota Niitsuma and director Kazuhisa Wada sat down with IGN to explain what players should expect from the project. Niitsuma stated that: "So first, I'd like to mention that since the basic concept of the Persona 3 remake was to remake Persona 3, we don't have the FES and Portable contents included. We wanted to really genuinely work on recreating the Persona 3 experience. So we can't really go into the details at this point yet, but we have remade basically everything from scratch as for Persona 3, the original version."
There are some new additions, however, as Niitsuma outlines: "We have newly recorded voices, we have new scenes and events. We also have both new and arranged music. We'll be kind of releasing that information, following everything. So please look forward to that."
How do you feel about Persona 3 Reload, knowing a little more about its intended scope? Unfortunately for our wallets, Atlus is the purveyor of some of the finest RPGs ever made, and so while disappointing, it won't dissuade us from being there on day one. Do you have more self-control? Unholster your Evoker in the comments section below.
[source ign.com]
Comments 57
Not sure if I'll be there day one (there are so many other Atlus games I need to finish by then, and more will be added to the list) but I'll definitively play it.
I guess not having the female protagonist gives me a reason to, sooner or later, play through the P3P version of the game despite this also coming out... I did buy it after all...
As long as its on PlayStation ill be there day 1
@Rmg0731 The Switch and PS editions leaked, so it will. Probably won’t be official for a day or two.
Atlus being Atlus. Truly odd behaviour. The Portable stuff is disappointing, the FES stuff is baffling given it just… expands on the original.
This sounds insane. Think there's an outside chance of FF7 remake shenanigans where the game plays the same up to a certain point then halfway through the female protagonist will show up from an alternate timeline changing everything... if they are doing a straight remake of the worse version with no new content that would be insane
I will wait for Persona 3 Reload Royal.
So much for the definitive version. Back to begging for FES on Premium as unlikely as it is since, at this point, it's likely they'd prefer to remake the FES and Portable content into a new edition to sell lol
So long as they retain Aigis' social link then I'm fine. One thing that I do want to be added (and hopefully they do) is to spend time with Aigis during the fireworks festival like in the P3 movie.
So no female protagonist playable?
This is quite clearly so they can re-release a “Golden/FES/Royal” edition later and charge full price again. This is just what Altus does. They probably even budget the development accordingly, knowing they will release the game multiple times and get revenue from both releases.
I have FES in my phone and it runs perfectly with upscaled graphics, I don't see the point in downgrading ror shinier grqphics.
@anoyonmus Correct, FeMC will not be playable in Persona 3 Reload.
I was excited about the remake but after no FeMC nor The Answer, I don't think I'll be getting it. I think Atlus fumbled with this one. The people wanted a definitive edition of P3 that combined both P3P and FES elements but that doesn't seem to be happening (at least not right now). I won't be surprised if Atlus decides to release an even better version that includes both some point down the line. Don't think I'll be getting this one.
Worth mentioning that this game has the same producer as Marvel vs Capcom 3, rereleased as Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 only 9 months after launch.
So what are the BIG things this game will be missing from FES and portable? Will this be noticeably worse? Is it worth just playing FES instead?
Unfortunate but not a deal breaker yet. I need to know how improved or not Tartarus is. That's the sticking point for me.
People need to stop letting Atlus get away with this stuff.
Gamefreak gets raked over the coals for being lazy, so it's time that Atlus gets their fair share.
I say this as a huge Persona fan.
@BranJ0
Basically FES had an epilogue chapter called "The Answer" and Portable had the female protagonist route which had a few different characters and interactions. I wouldn't say it will be too noticeably worse as many fans didn't like The Answer much anyway.
If you've never played P3 I still can't imagine this not being the best way to play it even without the extra content.
Seems the leaker was right again.
@Leonhart at least they released P3P already.
Give it a year and that stuff will be included on a newer version, going by Persona 5 rereleases.
I recently started P3P on Xbox but stopped playing after the remake was announced. I think I'll get back to it seeing as though it won't be anything from this version.
Atlus at it again to squeeze money out of the fans. First they rerelease with P5R then don’t do a upgrade path for P5R PS4 to PS5 and now not adding P3P and FES content to probably sell it as another edition in like a year or two to have people buy 2-3 copies of the game.
I hate that they did this with one of my favorite JRPGs of all time. I still remember staying up all night playing the P3. Only other game I've ever done that with was Fallout 3, both offering such unique experiences for me at the time I just couldn't stop playing. Maybe I'll finally buy a series S on the cheap along with gamepass on the cheap and play all these games that way. I ain't paying the atlus tax.
Shades of Game Freak, remaking Ruby/Sapphire rather than Emerald so they could cut more corners. Despite FR/LG and HG/SS already existing.
Do the vast majority of people prefer to play the original over FES/Portable? Then why remake the inferior title? Disappointing.
@DualWielding But they literally said that there will be new content.
FES & Portable DLC incoming.
@BranJ0 This are some of the main things that you will miss out on,if they purely only remade Persona 3 with FES or portable:
1.No Answer epilogue
2. No femc(portable)
3.No Aigis(the blond robot girl) social link
4. No Elizabeth(the velvet room attended) "dates".
5. No additional new persona's that was introduced later on.
6.No walking the dog
7. Loss of some new calender scenes
8.No weapon synthesis
9. No controllable party members(portable)
As we see in the trailer, point 7-9 are carely present, so it's obvious that reload isn't a 1 to 1 remake of the original Persona 3. I would also bet that there is a 96% chance that point 3-6 also appears in reload.
Point 1 and 2 will most likely not be in reload. I am going to be honest with you,there is a reason why majority of Persona 3 fans hate the anwser epilogue,so I am hoping Atlus gives us a more satisfactory amd less tedious alternative.
The female protagonists imo, doesn't really add much to warrant any fear of losing content, and I bet my money that Atlus will take her qwerks that she had over male mc and give it to him,like being able to form platonic social links with both your male and female team members.
So yeah,if you add all this with the new content being added,unless my points are proven wrong(which I doubt),Persona 3 reload will be the definitive edition to play Persona 3.
Tempted to wait for the inevitable “remixed” version as Atlus usually doesn’t offer upgrade paths.
I can't really see there being another release of this game, I mean, with this it's got 2 more different versions than any other in the series. With that being said, though, I don't doubt that some of the things people are complaining about the lack of will probably just be DLC. It's Atlus after all. This is just my 2 cents on the matter, though, which will probably be proven wrong. Also, this title seems a little confusing at first glance, but that could just be me.
I am not that a fan of Persona, I hate silent protagonists. That said I have played persona 1 up to 4 and I don't get why fans don't like The Answer that much. In any case, as others mentioned, Atlus will re re release P3 FES Remake to get more money from the fanbase.
Edit: In P3 if you go to have 2 girlfriends the one may catch you with the other in the mall and you can simply lie without any consequence! Not messed up at all!! In P4 you can have a harem without anyone noticing or caring and without any consequence. I think they should change this in the Remake
I played most of but never finished og 3 on PS2, but never tried FES or Portable. It's a bummer it's not FES, as I always wanted to experience that content but was not about to restart and rebuy a 100 hour JRPG back then.
I'm not sure whether I'll get this or not. I have limited time and budget for gaming anyway so I might just pass entirely. I'm way more excited about Metaphor anyway.
That's an issue for me. I went with the male protagonist route for P3P, so I really wanted to do the female protag route next time around. It'll certainly make me more hesitant on whether or not to get this remake.
Welp that’s a no buy from me.
Sensible stance with any Persona game is wait for the inevitable Golden/Royal/Complete version...
Not sure what Atlus has against playing as women in their game about role playing a character and building relationships with other characters. It's not 2008 anymore. Girls play video games too, especially rpgs.
I still want to know if the combat will be like portable. From what i know, in the original P3 you didn't have control over the other characters. They would auto-battle.
People being really arsey here about the golden/royal versions and calling them complete and that is not true. The original persona games are complete. The extra versions add extra side stories. They do not change the main story. It's just extra tid bits for completionists.
Pretty freaking sexist to leave out a female protagonist. This is a NO GO for any human being.
@rachetmarvel @Korgon Thanks, that's really helpful! Looks like this will be my way of experiencing persona 3 then!
It's atlus and persona. Day one for me. This one and P5T are in the top of my list.
I’m mostly excited for Metaphor. I just finished playing P3P and this sounds like that but less content. Not that interested in Tactica. Hmm.
So then I have to ask, as someone who already has P3P on PS4, if they’re gutting half of the content what’s the point in this? Adding some small improvements isn’t going to make up for that.
Knowing Atlus they are going to milk the sh*t out of the remake, expect a royal-like re-release aprox. two years after the vanilla version.
@rachetmarvel This is a good take.
Hoping and expecting Atlus to more or less so what you think
@belmont You don't get off that easy in Persona 5 though
@NoFaceBigFoot I’d agree if she were in the original version of the game, but the female protagonist was only added in the second re-release of the game. So if the goal is to remake the original, it kind of makes sense. Still unfortunate though.
woah, people are jumping to conclusions prematurely... just because this is not 100% based off the FES version of the game doesn't mean the remake won't have its own quality of life enhancements and other NEW content not found in the old releases. the epilogue was terrible in its own right and doesn't need to be included. i have a feeling they will include the social links from FES and more because why would they go through all the trouble of doing a remake and not include anything NEW to entice people to triple or quadruple dip on persona 3? also, they likely didn't want to confuse the narrative by confirming this was FES+ as that would be disingenuous (since it won't be exactly that but rather a "remix" of sorts). all that being said, i wouldn't be surprised if extra content is paywalled since that seems to be atlus' business model for quite some time now.
the real dealbreaker will be if they don't include the option to control the entire party like the original ps2 releases...
I am okay with remakes actually being remakes and not just prettier versions of the exact same story. I loved what Square did with FF7R.
Well this is disappointing, I just hope the ending is changed.
If the new events are fun and not just 4 or so pieces than I might actually buy the game on sale.
That or if they updated the dungeons to not be just recolors of the previous floor.
Don't worry. They'll rerelease it a year later with all the additional content for 60 bucks with no upgrade path
Gamepass then.
Watch them sell the missing content as DLC. Atlus are such a disgusting company. Stop supporting them.
Looks really good but not happy it's missing extra content. Come on Atlus.
No FES is a big loss. It's the definitive version.
Would always prefer more content, but if the directors vision is for mostly new players like myself to see the game in it's original format then I respect their choice to do that.
I don't imagine they will make the game again given the various other projects they are working on but DLC could be something that happens.
Surprised there has not been a PS4/5 update yet.
@Rmg0731 Its now official, Atlus have just announced both new Persona games for PS4 and PS5.
@Master_Rid They could also name it Persona 3: Fully Loaded...or Persona 3: Reloaded
So many convoluted name choices for a greedy as hell decision that will be inevitable.
I know they choose to go with the original P3 but could have shown the FES version. They’ve already shown that we can control party members ourselves. It’s full from the ground up Remake to be more like P5. With all the people complaining I do wonder if they’ll add the extra content into the game at some point
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