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During yesterday's Xbox Games Showcase, Atlus officially announced its long-awaited remake of Persona 3, titled Persona 3 Reload. Persona 3 has already been re-released twice; 2008's Persona 3 FES introduced a playable epilogue called "The Answer" and 2010's Persona 3 Portable introduced a female protagonist with different story events. While they both introduced new content, they also lack content the other has. Fans were hoping Reload could finally serve as a definitive version of the landmark JRPG, but some comments from Atlus have dashed those dreams.

First, speaking to IGN, producer Ryota Niitsuma and chief director Kazuhisa Wada announced that the remake was focused on recreating the original 2006 version of Persona 3 and would not feature any content from FES or Portable. "So first I'd like to mention that since the basic concept of the Persona 3 remake was to remake the Persona 3, we don't have the FES and Portable contents included," Niitsuma said. "We wanted to really genuinely work on recreating the Persona 3 experience."

Since then, Famitsu has posted an excerpt of an interview they conducted with the team that clarifies things further (translated by Persona Central). Niitsuma says that while The Answer and the female protagonist won't be included, some story content from FES could be, likely referring to party member Aigis' Social Link introduced in FES.

It also appears some gameplay improvements - both borrowed from previous versions and brand new - will be coming to Reload. One of the team's primary goals is to modernize Persona 3 and bring it more in line with what fans who started with Persona 5 will expect. This includes having both Japanese and English audio, as well as improvements to the graphics and "usability." While we don't know exactly what quality-of-life improvements will be carried over from Persona 5, 38 seconds into the announcement trailer we can see party members other than the protagonist being controlled in battle, a feature not included in any Persona 3 release besides Portable. Niitsuma also mentions in the Famitsu article that more gameplay elements have been added to the infamous Tartarus - a recurring dungeon throughout the game - to "keep [players] from getting bored."

Reload will also feature brand new "side stories" that help you deepen your relationship with certain characters, as a system separate to Social Links. Likely because new dialogue will need to be recorded for these side stories, the voices of the main party have been replaced, with several actors confirming their involvement on Twitter:

• Aleks Le as Protagonist (formerly Yuri Lowenthal)
• Heather Gonzalez as Yukari Takeba (formerly Michelle Ruff)
• Zeno Robinson as Junpei Iori (formerly Vic Mignogna)
• Alejandro Saab as Akihiko Sanada (formerly Liam O'Brien)
• Allegra Clark as Mitsuru Kirijo (formerly Tara Platt)
• Suzie Yeung as Fuuka Yamagishi (formerly Paula Tiso and Wendee Lee)
• Dawn M. Bennet as Aigis (formerly Karen Strassman)
• Justine Lee as Ken Amada (formerly Cindy Robinson)
• Justice Slocum as Shinjiro Aragaki (formerly Grant George)

Persona 3 Reload will launch in Early 2024 for PC, Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One, and will be available on Game Pass day one.

Persona 3 Reload official website

 

[DJPlace]

so this is vanilla Persona 3 on PS2 to get a remake... still i'm not going buy it. i'll be the judge if it's worth it or not.

 

[Ritsuki]

I might wait a bit for this one or just go for FES or Portable, it already hurt me to have bought P5 two times...

 

[0UT51D3R]

Is this game really just going to be on fucking xbox?

 

[Skelletonike]

I wouldn't mind if it had some sort of alternate ending where certain characters don't... end up the way they did.
As for portable, I never liked that version.

 

[Viri]

I'm more butt hurt about the voice actor changes, that bothers the hell out of me in video games, cartoons, etc.

 

[duwen]

I'm honestly kind of okay with this.

Me too. If I'm going to be buying this game again (and I will be buying this, as long as it comes to a platform I own) I'd prefer for it to be as different as possible to the two versions (FES & P3P) I already own.

 

[eriol33]

I am so upset they treat femc like an unwanted step child

 

[k7ra]

primary goals is to modernize Persona 3 and bring it more in line with what fans who started with Persona 5 will expect

NO, PLS NO!
Persona 3 was good, P5 not feet for this!
They want to make P5 style? Or gameplay?
Bcs gp would not look good on it

Post automatically merged: Jun 13, 2023

I am so upset they treat femc like an unwanted step child

Who need not canon mc that was not exist in main series...
She was created as bonus for P3P and you can find her there without any trouble
FMC would not apear in P3, bcs they need create new models, fmv, reactions, animations.
This would skyrocket price on p3 that already many played.

 

[RedColoredStars]

Is this game really just going to be on fucking xbox?

Also PC. A couple other places have listed PS4/PS5 but nothing official has been stated about those platforms. But I mean, you have a PC, right?

 

[Clydefrosch]

what is there even to recreate? upscale the graphics, redo like 20 human models, take all the persona v demon assets and put them in and you're about done. voice acting? please.
like this is an rpg game, the least they could have done was put all the content together in one package already, instead of announcing the answer a year later as 20$ paid dlc

now, what they're doing, just as with the portable remake on console, it's just the cheapest cash grab they could make here.

 

[Skelletonike]

I am so upset they treat femc like an unwanted step child

That's what she is though.

 

[The Catboy]

No no, content the size of FES or the Answer as DLC wouldn't be the Atlus way. I'll bet it will be an entirely separate release. An updated version a la Persona 5 Royal.

Ah, of course - to get the full experience we’ll have to wait for Persona 3 Reload FES Golden Royal Ultimax, coming exclusively to the PS7 as a digital download.

…Atlus, can you just release a complete version of the game? Just once? It’s a remake, this isn’t even new content.

This makes me glad that I won't be paying for this game again

 

[Deleted member 158512]

The Answer was dumb, but as someone who plays Portable solely for the new songs...

Also, just between y'all and I... P3 definitely needed some tightening up, so I'm glad they're remaking it. Make Tartarus less of a slog, speed up the giant lull around the halfway point, etc.

Still one of my favorite soundtracks.. incredible that they were able to make a soundtrack with a completely different feel for all three Persona games.

 

[Foxi4]

This makes me glad that I won't be paying for this game again

I’m afraid that when it comes to Persona games, I might have some kind of mild form of autism. Much like an autistic child, I must own every kind of rock or I’ll scream. This situation is my fault - I acknowledge it, I will take the blame.

 

[The Catboy]

I’m afraid that when it comes to Persona games, I might have some kind of mild form of autism. Much like an autistic child, I must own every kind of rock or I’ll scream. This situation is my fault - I acknowledge it, I will take the blame.

That’s a fucking mood, I am literally autism

 

[DuoForce]

Persona taking notes from the Pokemon remakes I see

 

[Eddypikachu]

As long as I can control each of my party members actions instead of the CPU doing it like in the original then I'll be happy

 

[SunsetFelid2]

Not worth playing if the whole game isn't there.
People been waiting for a while for FES content to be remastered in full

 

[StrayGuitarist]

A historically transphobic company dropping a game missing content? Now I really won't touch it.

 

[Foxi4]

A historically transphobic company dropping a game missing content? Now I really won't touch it.

Historically transphobic? Do I even dare ask what you mean by that?