Atlus Persona 3 Reload (ex portable thread)

[Maxie]

Were the P3 and P4 actually procedurally created though? I just figured they were just blandly designed dungeons.

It's your own fault for being unattentive, because you revisit those floors quite a number of times for plotline reasons.

 

[Nifft Batuff]

So Atlus actually improved the original. They added denuvo. Lol.

 

[karoliner]

Persona 5 was the worst thing to happen to the franchise.

Persona 5 re-introduced hand-crafted dungeons to the series, which automatically makes it superior to the prior two installments. The boring, bland, repetitive, procedurally generated dungeon crawling in P3 and P4 is like half those games, and it sucks ass

Yeah but at what cost? 5 turned it up to 11 all the worst vices of 3 and 4. Style over substance to the max, total lack of challenge, waifufagotry to the max, storyfagotry to the max.

 

[Maxie]

Persona 5 was the worst thing to happen to the franchise.

Persona 5 re-introduced hand-crafted dungeons to the series, which automatically makes it superior to the prior two installments. The boring, bland, repetitive, procedurally generated dungeon crawling in P3 and P4 is like half those games, and it sucks ass

Yeah but at what cost? 5 turned it up to 11 all the worst vices of 3 and 4. Style over substance to the max, total lack of challenge, waifufagotry to the max, storyfagotry to the max.

You should kiss Atlus on the dick for forgoing that odious camera angle 1 and 2 had

 

[Jinn]

style over substance to the max, total lack of challenge

Gameplay was excellent in the original version on the highest difficulty.

 

[Elttharion]

Speaking on J-Wave radio Persona 3, 4 & 5 Director Katsura Hashino said that at the time of Persona 3 Atlus were about to collapse and he was told it would be their last game. He said they had to broaden the series' appeal with P3 otherwise the company would disappear

Source

For some reason I cant post the tweet directly, it doesnt load.

 

[Valestein]

Speaking on J-Wave radio Persona 3, 4 & 5 Director Katsura Hashino said that at the time of Persona 3 Atlus were about to collapse and he was told it would be their last game. He said they had to broaden the series' appeal with P3 otherwise the company would disappear

Source

For some reason I cant post the tweet directly, it doesnt load.

Persona 2 with the gameplay of its' sequels plz.

 

[Nifft Batuff]

I want the remake of persona 5 Lol.

 

[Anonymous Ranger]

Speaking on J-Wave radio Persona 3, 4 & 5 Director Katsura Hashino said that at the time of Persona 3 Atlus were about to collapse and he was told it would be their last game. He said they had to broaden the series' appeal with P3 otherwise the company would disappear

Source

For some reason I cant post the tweet directly, it doesnt load.

Persona 2 with the gameplay of its' sequels plz.

Just think of the possibilities. A social link with Maya…
No I take that back I have a even better idea a social link with Hitler.

 

[Shinji]

Persona 5 was the worst thing to happen to the franchise.

Persona 5 re-introduced hand-crafted dungeons to the series, which automatically makes it superior to the prior two installments. The boring, bland, repetitive, procedurally generated dungeon crawling in P3 and P4 is like half those games, and it sucks ass

The first hand-crafted dungeon was fine, but things fall apart after that.

If I remember correctly every dungeon has a barrier now that puts a halt into your exploration, forcing you to go back to the real world to break that barrier.
Most of the time this means you have to waste at least one hour watching cutscenes that go on and on for the sole purpose of being able to proceed through the dungeon.

While I understand why some people might not enjoy procedurally generated dungeons, at least they were designed to be pretty straightforward and not take more of your time than required.
It also allowed you to more easily rush through dungeons on future playthroughs.
Not to mention procedurally-generated dungeons adds a little bit of randomness to the mix, making things less predictable.

I'm ok with well developed hand-crafted dungeons, but most of them suck in Persona 5.

 

[Jinn]

I'm ok with well developed hand-crafted dungeons, but most of them suck in Persona 5.

I get where you're coming from, but they are still much superior to the dungeons in P3 and 4. How much that matters to someone varies I suppose, but it made my playthrough much more enjoyable than the prior two games. Just going to have to agree to disagree.

 

[Tavar]

I'm with Jinn here: I've only played P4 and P5 and I was bored to tears by the terrible dungeon design in P4. Not every dungeon is perfect in P5, but it is an incredibly improvement. Also, I think that baton passes greatly improved the combat as well.

 

[Tigranes]

P4 and P5 are also very similar, riffing off a lot of the same themes and character traits and tropes - and then P5 is more Hollywood and has improved combat/dungeons. It's hard to imagine rating one game vastly differently than the other. If anything, the problem Persona has now is that there's nowhere to go from here. You either milk this for all it's worth and progressively dilute the charm, or you have to do another big shift in design.

 

[Leafcleaner]

This title has a lot of historical value. This is the origin of the decline in JRPG.

I never played it but seems like a fun game

Man, this really made me bust a gut, one of the few times a game made me show much emotion.

 

[cruel]

I'm all for hand-crafted dungeons if they are done right (Kamoshida Palace, Casino). But if hand-crafted dungeon means shitty puzzles (Okumura / Space Port) - I would much prefer to go back to regular (random) dungeons to be honest.

 

[Jinn]

Or they could just stop being shit. Incredibly difficult for Atlus, I know. And no, even the shittiest parts of the handcrafted dungeons are better than the bland randomized garbage in P3 and 4.

Sometimes I feel like I'm going insane talking to people here, I swear.

 

[Tavar]

Some Tartarus gameplay:

I haven't played P3, but from what I can see combat looks very similar to P4G, so not very interesting. However, you can really tell how much more stylized the game is now, the P5 influence is very strong in that regard.

 

[Terra]

They're still drip feeding out extra bits on P3 reloaded. Can't quite put my finger on it, but I'm getting a kind of... sterile vibe from what's been shown on reloaded so far. Like the models are obviously improved, but the whole thing seems a bit more subdued, even the menus and UI seem to lack a bit of the modern Persona pizzazz you've come to expect. And I don't think it's a concious effort given the slightly more morose / sombre tone of P3, it kind of has a feel of a B team working on it failing to capture aspects of the original. I think the UI especially is failing to step up to the level of P5 from what's been shown so far.

 

[Vorark]

I'm so out of the loop that only recently I learnt of the remake.


When I saw the Persona 3 models of that dancing game, I thought a remake unifying both FES and Portable content would be a no-brainer, but it is a shame Atlus works in mysterious and retarded ways. However, after watching gameplay footage it looks very sterile, by the numbers indeed. Soejima's artstyle is also very different from what I remember; it used to be more reminiscent of SMT and Kaneko's design.

 

[scytheavatar]

I'm so out of the loop that only recently I learnt of the remake.


When I saw the Persona 3 models of that dancing game, I thought a remake unifying both FES and Portable content would be a no-brainer, but it is a shame Atlus works in mysterious and retarded ways. However, after watching gameplay footage it looks very sterile, by the numbers indeed. Soejima's artstyle is also very different from what I remember; it used to be more reminiscent of SMT and Kaneko's design.

It's not mysterious, a lot of people don't seem to understand that the female protag was added to P3P because it was a super dumbed down and butchered version of P3. Adding a female protag into the visual novel is way easier than doing so to a full P3. Which would require doing stuff like making twice the amount of anime cutscences. The whole point of the P3 remake is to teach P-studios how to use Unreal engine so that development of P6 wouldn't be a clusterfuck like P5 was. That's why its scope is modest.

As for those complaining about The Answer not being in the remake, yeah it's trash anyway so Atlus is doing us a favor by not adding it. No way it is worth a remake without the whole up and down dungeon gameplay being scrapped.

 

[TheSoul]

Atlus decides to market to Netflix bingers and pedophiles. Truly disgusting
Is umbrella academy even that famous?

 

[teenage honved fan]

Just finished Portable 3a few days ago.

It was fine, a little clunkier than the PS2 version I originally had, but I got my worth out of it. Now playing it again with the female MC, slightly more difference than I expected despite no major changes. I far prefer her weapon to the male MC's, and her critical strike.

I will be buying the remaster because I am an idiot.

 

[TheImplodingVoice]

Atlus decides to market to Netflix bingers and pedophiles. Truly disgusting
Is umbrella academy even that famous?

 

[Maxie]

Changes from the original Persona 3[]​

Aesthetic Changes[]​

Gekkoukan High School in Persona 3 Reload.

• The game's aesthetics have been overhauled, including character designs and sprites, the GUI, the map models and their contents.
  • Specific additions include a minimap, an objectives bar below the date and moon phase, and NPCs that fill the halls of Gekkoukan High School.
• The game includes newly arranged music and original compositions, with Atsushi Kitajoh as main composer.[3]
  • Rapper Lotus Juice returned as a male vocalist, and Azumi Takahashi was introduced as a new female vocalist.
  • A new player advantage battle theme "It's Going Down Now" was composed. A rearranged version of the original theme, "Mass Destruction," is used for regular battles.
• The game features new animated cutscenes, but some original scenes have been remade in 3D.

The protagonist's finisher in Reload, tagged "DONE AND DUSTED."

• Combat aesthetics have been improved:
  • Cut-ins are animated and dynamic.
  • The protagonist and the party have different victory poses.
  • Every party member has their own Finishing Touch by ending a battle via All-out Attack.
    • Shuffle Time interrupts finishing touches mid-way.
• All members of S.E.E.S can wear customized equipment, available some time after the third Full Moon Operation on June 8th, which includes new numbered armband designs. Although the gear is applied in animated and cinematic cutscenes, it is optional in combat.

Story and Gameplay Changes[]​

The protagonist spending time with Yukari Takeba.

• New side stories in the form of "Link Episodes" have been added for certain characters, separate from the Social Link mechanic.[1] These events are held not only with members of SEES, but also miscellaneous characters, such as members of Strega and Ryoji Mochizuki.[4] They are only available during certain periods in the story, and watching specific Link Episodes will reward with stat boosts and unlock special fusion recipes.[5][4]
• New activities have been added:
  • The protagonist can use a computer to take a quiz series consisting of two options.
  • The protagonist can perform certain activities at the dormitory together with his friends. They can cook, read and watch DVDs. Partaking will reward the protagonist with Social Stat boosts depending on the activity.[6]
  • The protagonist can spend time gardening with allies, unlocking combat-based characteristics that comprise of passive and unique abilities.[6]
  • Visiting Chagall Café allows to have party members remember old skills.[7]
  • Consulting a fortune teller at Club Escapade can allow the protagonist to affect Tartarus in certain ways for a fee.[7]
• Pre-existing social mechanics have been tweaked:
  • Class questions have been changed.
    • Additionally, class events where the protagonist instead becomes sleepy have been changed so that closing his eyes will increase his Courage stat.
  • Social Links can no longer be Broken, and criteria for Reversing them have been mellowed.[8]
  • Any available Social Links will now message the protagonist an invitation to hang out, rather than approach him during lunchtime at school.
• An online network feature has been added, where the correct answers of class questions can be reviewed and statistics of players' actions for the day can be seen.

Junpei Iori summoning his Persona to perform a Theurgy skill.

• New combat mechanics have been added:
  • A new system called Theurgy, has been introduced, where combatants can perform special attacks, requiring a gauge that can be filled by performing actions depending on the party member's personality.[4]
    • Each party member has personality traits that determine how they can fill their Theurgy gauge faster.[4]
  • A new mechanic called "Shift," similar to Baton Passes of Persona 5, has been introduced.[9] The mechanic does not power up party members when used.
• Combat details have been tweaked:
  • Some skills' properties have been changed.[2]
  • Damage-dealing Light and Dark skills, such as Kouha and Eiha, are introduced in the game.[9]
  • The condition system where party members can become tired over time has been removed.[2]
  • When party members learn new skills, it is possible to choose which skills can be forgotten.[7]
  • Costumes are now a separate cosmetic option from armor customization.[10]
• The learn pools of party members have been fleshed out and rebalanced.
  • Fuuka now has her own SP bar and can perform special Navigator skills such as rendering the party undetectable by Shadows on the current floor. [11]
  • Certain signature abilities to certain party members have become substitutes for their Theurgy skills. These include the protagonist's ability to perform Fusion Spells, Fuuka's Oracle skill (which can no longer fail or grant negative effects,) as well as Aigis' Orgia Mode tactic.[4][10]
  • Characters' melee attacks have been customized to have variety in amount of hits and the power each blow can deal. All melee attacks are divided in 3 stages, and the final attack in the final stage always deals a Critical hit.
• Tartarus has a new map and significantly more details and parts.
  • Tartarus has breakable objects.[2]
  • Certain Treasure Chests in Tartarus are locked.[12] They require "Twilight Fragments" to be unlocked.[13]
  • In addition to regular rare Shadows, huge rare Shadows may be found.[10]
  • The Entrance Clock, which fully recovers the party's HP and SP, requires 7 Twilight Fragments to use.[10]
  • Tartarus has character events that occur on regular intervals.[2]
• Roaming has been enhanced:
  • The protagonist can dash while exploring dungeons.[1]
  • An auto-recovery feature is included.[12]
  • The ability to order party members to split up to search the current floor has been removed. Instead, there's now a chance for a party member to request to search the next floor up alone. If accepted, they will temporarily leave the party to search that floor. The party member will return to the party with any items they found upon traversing the next floor.
• The Monad Depths have been repurposed:[10]
  • The "Monad Door" can appear sporadically. It contains a Treasure Chest with valuable items and a powerful Shadow that protects it. Winning will also reward with a special Shuffle Time that gives the opportunity to get Major Arcana cards.
  • The "Monad Passage" is instead a long hallway with several Shadows, and defeating them will reward with weapons, costumes, and exclusive items.
• New Personas have been added.
  • Additionally, the required Personas for certain Fusion Spells have been changed.
• Velvet Room mechanics have been modernized, and quality of life changes, such as the ability to select inherited skills, have been added.[14]
• Shuffle Time's cards are manually selected.[9]
  • In addition, accumulating Major Arcana cards will give the party lingering effects that last until the end of the day. Reaching the maximum number of Major Arcana cards will result in an "Arcana Burst," causing the Minor Arcana cards to rank up and have its effects strengthened.[10]

Voice Direction[]​

Reloaded- The Voices of Persona 3 - Behind the Scenes - Episode One

The first episode of Reloaded - The Voices of Persona 3.

• The voices of the Japanese dub were recorded from scratch.
• The English version features a mostly entirely new voice cast:[15]
  • The protagonist, Pharos, Ryoji Mochizuki, and the Nyx Avatar are now voiced by Aleks Le.
  • Yukari Takeba is now voiced by Heather Gonzalez.
  • Junpei Iori is now voiced by Zeno Robinson.
  • Mitsuru Kirijo is now voiced by Allegra Clark.
  • Akihiko Sanada is now voiced by Alejandro Saab.
  • Fuuka Yamagishi is now voiced by Suzie Yeung.
  • Aigis is now voiced by Dawn M. Bennett.
  • Ken Amada is now voiced by Justine Lee.
  • Shinjiro Aragaki is now voiced by Justice Slocum.
  • Shuji Ikutsuki is now voiced by Jake Green.
  • Takaya Sakaki is now voiced by Daman Mills.
  • Jin Shirato is now voiced by Chris Hackney.
  • Chidori Yoshino is now voiced by Merit Leighton.
  • Igor is now voiced by Kirk Thornton, reprising his role from Persona 5.
  • Isako Toriumi is now voiced by Katelyn Gault.
  • Natsuki Moriyama is now voiced by Kayli Mills.
• With the exceptions of Vic Mignogna, the original voice of Junpei, as well as unknown voice actors from the original game, the orignal English voice actors for S.E.E.S now voice other characters in the game:[16]
  • Yuri Lowenthal, the original voice of the protagonist, voices Eiichiro Takeba.
  • Michelle Ruff, the original voice of Yukari, voices the owner of Mayoido Antiques.
  • Liam O'Brien, the original voice of Akihiko, voices Kurosawa.
  • Tara Platt, the original voice of Mitsuru, reprises her role as Elizabeth from the original game, making her the only character whose English voice actor from the original game reprises their role.
  • Wendee Lee, the second voice actress for Fuuka, voices Mrs. Terauchi.
  • Grant George, the original voice of Shinjiro, voices Takeharu Kirijo.
  • Karen Strassman, the original voice of Aigis, and Cindy Robinson, the second voice actress for Ken, provide additional voices.

The protagonist hanging out with Kenji.

• Social Link events (except for Maya's) are fully voiced and almost all of them have been given new voice actors:[2][17][18][10][19]
  • Kenji Tomochika is voiced by Wataru Hatano & Joe Zieja.
  • Nozomi Suemitsu is voiced by Fukushi Ochiai & Paul Castro Jr.
  • Kazushi Miyamoto is voiced by Eiji Miyashita & Mark Whitten.
  • Yuko Nishiwaki is voiced by Emiri Kato & Shelby Young.
  • Hidetoshi Odagiri is voiced by Masaya Matsukaze & Austin Lee Matthews.
  • Chihiro Fushimi is voiced by Aya Endo & Kelly Baskin.
  • Keisuke Hiraga is voiced by Yuichi Iguchi & Griffin Burns.
  • Bebe is voiced by Mitsuhiro Ichiki & Jeff Berg.
  • President Tanaka is voiced by Bin Shimada & Patrick Seitz, the former of whom reprises his role from appearances as early as Persona 3's 1st Drama CD.
  • Mutatsu is voiced by Shin Aomori & Aaron LaPlante.
  • Mamoru Hayase is voiced by Yūichirō Umehara & Yong Yea.
  • Maiko Oohashi is voiced by Hiyori Kono & Grace Lu.
  • Akinari Kamiki is voiced by Hirofumi Nojima & Lucien Dodge.
  • Bunkichi Kitamura is voiced by Naoki Tatsuta & Andre Sogliuzzo.
  • Mitsuko Kitamura is voiced by Sanae Takagi & Susanne Blakeslee.
  • Maya communicates purely through text and has no voice actor.
• Several Japanese voice actors from Persona 3 The Moviereprise their role, replacing the original game's voice actors:
  • Koromaru is now voiced by Shinya Takahashi, who was uncredited in the films.[3]
  • Natsuki Moriyama is now voiced by Atsumi Tanezaki.[20]
  • Eiichiro Takeba is now voiced by Kanehira Yamamoto.[citation needed]
• Igor is now voiced by Bin Shimada in Japanese, making this the first instance of archived recordings by the late Isamu Tanonaka from the original game not being used for Igor's Japanese voice.

Other Changes[]​

• The remaster's dialogue is specifically based on the revised version of Persona 3 Portable.[21]
• The English version's dialogue was slightly changed.[22]
  • However, the English version preserves the original game's naming conventions: for example, the name of the skill Bash is kept as is instead of being changed to "Lunge."
• The protagonist's narration is now in first-person, rather than second-person.
• Barring the members of Strega, as well as characters without a surname, the English version refers to the characters by their full name in their dialogue boxes, like in the Japanese version, instead of just their first name.
• The game has been localized in 13 languages, only in subtitle form. New languages include Brazilian Portuguese, Polish, Russian and Turkish.
• The frame rate has been improved from the original's 30FPS to a stable 60FPS, and the resolution has been increased to support 4K.

 

[Jermu]

some reviews (89/100 so far)

Gameplay Improved for Convenience at the Cost of Consequence and Difficulty

Still, Theurgies and other design decisions make Persona 3 Reload far too easy. As another example, the Fatigue mechanic from previous versions of Persona 3 is entirely absent.

The game is also a smidge easier this time around too, with the Hard difficulty setting matching the Normal setting compared to the PS2 original

Experience (EXP) is reduced on higher difficulty modes​