Let’s discover together, in this long-winded review dedicated to him, how much the work done by Atlus to create Persona 3 Reload has led to concrete results: the third version of the same 2008 video game, what will have come of it?
When, a few years ago, we told you about our in-depth test of Persona 5 Royal, we defined ourselves as enthusiastic about the Atlus title which had reached heights that, let’s be honest, we hardly thought repeatable. Well, here we can safely tell you that we are proud, happy and happy to have been completely wrong. Not because Persona 5 Royal is a video game with a lower value, looking at the past, compared to what we declared in our dedicated review, which you can find by clicking here, but only because… well, Persona 3 Reload has been released. Let’s talk about it, let’s go.
The voice someone calls
It was way back in 2008 when a timid Persona 3 appeared in the gigantic Italian title park of the giant of the time, PlayStation 2. It was succeeded by two improved and expanded editions, Persona 3 FES, also on PlayStation 2, and Persona 3 Portable (recently remastered, find our review here!) on PSP. As you all know by now, the Persona series was born from a branch of Shin Megami Tensei and offers typically oriental JRPGs that expertly mix elements of dungeon crawlers with others of school life and dating sims. A formula that has gradually proven to be more and more successful over time, culminating in what is, to all intents and purposes, the best chapter of the series released so far. Obviously we’re talking about Persona 5.
What is it, then, that made Persona 3 remain indelibly imprinted in the hearts of many fans? And why has the third revival of a work now considered “old” caused so much talk? First of all, because Persona 3 created a multifaceted universe that went on to include a myriad of other mediums, from animated series, to comics, to light novels. And secondly because this chapter has on its side, almost without a shadow of a doubt, one of the most iconic, recognizable and in-depth supporting casts the franchise has ever known.
Color your night | Review Persona 3 Reload
Persona 3 Reload is set in the fictional town of Tatsumi Port Island, a man-made island that rises around the Gekkoukan high school, which is also the same one that our anonymous protagonist (canonically Makoto Yuki, and that’s what we’ll call him) attends ). Yuki and his supporting characters have a particular ability: that of being able to live an extra hour of the day, the so-called Dark Hour which begins at the stroke of midnight each day. At this juncture, ordinary human beings take on the shape of a coffin in their sleep, while the city is populated by creatures hungry for flesh and who are called Shadows.
As is obvious, our protagonists have the ability to evoke the “other part of themselves”, the Personas, to be able to fight against the army of Shadows inside and outside of Tartarus, a strange tower-shaped structure that rises every night at midnight on the site of the high school we were talking about above. To discover what lies behind the Dark Hour and definitively destroy the threat to mankind, Yuki will have to climb all the floors of Tartarus with his team to finally reach the truth.
Fearful experience | Review Persona 3 Reload
What is striking about the narrative, the aspects of which we do not want to explore in depth to avoid spoilers, is that it manages to interlace scenes of the daily life of banal high school students, dealing with exams, first loves, envy and jealousy typical of adolescence, much more important and profound themes, up to real existentialist themes. In the several dozen hours it will take you to complete Persona 3 Reload you will come across issues such as suicide, depression, the difficulty of relating to others and abandonment. Suffice it to say that to summon the Personas, the protagonists use a gun that they point to their heads. It’s not exactly silly, especially for an oriental audience, to see a teenager shooting himself in the head.
And if the 2008 original had obvious problems with narrative rhythm, which sadly broke down at some moments of the year (especially during the holidays), Reload went to fill these shortcomings adding more character interactions with new activities, especially inside the dormitory, which was originally far too bare and lifeless. Additions that allow you to interact more with the supporting characters, to get to know them better and have some additional bonuses both to social skills (which in this chapter are “only” 3, Charm, Courage and Knowledge) or some objects useful for battles.
So we come to the elephant in the room: yes, the added contents of the FES and Portable versions are missing, but, in our opinion, this cannot be considered a flaw of Reload, nor does it make it a version that is inferior in content to the previous ones. Then yes, it is almost obvious that Atlus will add as much as possible with a paid DLC (or, as is more usual, with a further new version of the title), especially with regards to Episode Aegis (The Answer), but time at the time. Narratively speaking, Persona 3 Reload can be defined as well structured, complete and refined even in the too fragmented rhythms of the original. Well done.
Deep mentality | Review Persona 3 Reload
Unlike Persona 4 Golden (here is our review of the remastered version) and the more recent Persona 5, Tartarus is a set of procedural maps that vary in aesthetics, but not in substance. Perhaps, all things considered, this is precisely the point that works less than Persona 3 Reload: Tartarus nowadays. Having become accustomed to the wonderful dungeons of the subsequent chapters, all different in theme and setting, exploring dozens and dozens of similar floors can, in the long run, be annoying. Compared to the original, however, the exploration of Tartarus in Persona 3 Reload has been improved and updated in many aspects.
The most banal is the presence of destructible objects that provide treasures to resell or materials to be used to create new weapons. Furthermore, a new type of chest has been added that can only be opened using rare fragments of light found during exploration or donated by Elizabeth, the Shards of Twilight, which contains more powerful equipment than normal. Furthermore, the ability to jump directly to the next floor, once you find the stairs, through fast travel gives an additional freshness that was absent in the original.
Alternative routes to the normal exploration of Tartarus have also been added, of greater difficulty than normal, of which we do not want to reveal many details because they are particularly interesting to discover. Interesting too the missions given by Elizabeth which, if on the one hand require you to zap enemy after enemy (or fusion after fusion, it depends) or find particular objects by solving simple riddles, on the other, in addition to particularly interesting prizes, they give an additional sense of challenge to the exploration of the Tartar.
The power of the heart | Review Persona 3 Reload
As for the gameplay, the turn-based combat in Persona 3 Reload has been greatly streamlined by the addition of some mechanics from the subsequent chapters, in particular the Relay race of Persona 5 Royal. If, in fact, you hit the enemy weakness (identifiable through attempts or thanks to Fuuka), you will be rewarded with an additional turn that can be exploited by the same character or passed on to one of your companions or, finally, in a Assault (a particularly powerful attack performed by all the standing characters in the party) if all the enemies on the field are knocked down.
Furthermore, unlike the original, it is possible to control all the members of the party, which eliminates that eternal sense of frustration given by an Artificial Intelligence which at the time wasn’t all that powerful. A new, powerful, special attack has also been added to Persona 3 Reload Theurgy. A new colored section has been added above the HP bar of each Party member, which is filled differently based on the reference character. Once completed, you can unleash a powerful Persona-based attack that ignores all elemental resistance and which inflicts a lot of damage. Obviously, the protagonist will have multiple Theurgies available based on how many and which Personas have been unlocked in the Compendium.
Net of all these improvements, it is undeniable to say that the exploration of Tartarus has been made much more accessible and satisfying in Persona 3 Reload, while remaining very far from the glories of the dungeons of the subsequent chapters. On the other hand, however, this remake turns out to be definitely much simpler than the original, especially in the more advanced stages where, thanks to Fuuka’s powers and a greater availability of resources, it is almost practically impossible to lose inside Tartarus. Oh, and you can explore from one Border level to another without having to interrupt the daily session: you just need to know how to organize yourself a little, and possibly change the party members.
That which comes from darkness | Review Persona 3 Reload
The rewards system has also been reworked Arcane Hand, which in the original game had to be “drawn” from different cards that moved on the screen, while now it can be calmly selected from those available (randomly assigned) at the end of some fights. Many other quality of life options have also been integrated into the School Life part of the title, starting with the possibility of teleport from one area to another right from the start of the game. The menus have been updated and are now full of new information, both about the characters and the places to explore.
Persona Fusions have also been improved, which carry over heavily from Persona 5 ed it is therefore possible to visualize the final result immediately, without having to start the Fusion to find yourself with something you didn’t want. Additionally, you can also select skills to transfer from the two sacrificed Personas, especially useful if you’re aiming to complete all of Elizabeth’s missions (good luck).
Enduring bonds | Review Persona 3 Reload
We tested Persona 3 Reload for this review on both Xbox Series S and PlayStation 5. In both versions, the frame rate remained firm and stable at 60 fps, but while on Series S the game ran at 1080p, It’s on Sony consoles that we were finally able to feast our eyes on Atlus quality, which brought back the shine to a title that had already, back in 2008, made our souls shine. The new character models have been smoothed and rendered with a softer and more attractive design, the play of light is excellent and, despite some…
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