The announcement of Persona 3 Reload, as great as it may be, isn’t without its own controversies. For one, it looks as if the long-awaited Persona 3 remake won’t be featuring any inclusions from the highly-acclaimed FES and Portable editions of the main game. Atlus recently confirmed that the remake will be based on the original PS2 release. It will not incorporate any additional content from the two other editions of the game.
This means that significant features, such as the added story bits from FES and the option to play as a female protagonist from Portable, won’t be in the remake. This also includes any associated Social Links and additional content present in the two versions. The remake of the dark and edgy predecessor to Persona 4 will focus on the initial incarnation of the game. This feels very ironic, seeing that the original may be the least familiar version to many players, including ourselves.
This led many to believe that Atlus may not be looking to make a definitive version of the beloved game. Perhaps they just want to take the game to the modern systems or maybe they just want to be faithful as much as possible to the original.
Persona 3 Reload Focuses On The Orginal Version Alone
In an interview with IGN, Persona 3 Reload producer Ryota Niitsuma and director Kazuhisa Wada shed light on what players can anticipate from the project. Niitsuma clarified that their aim was to faithfully recreate the Persona 3 experience. And, as a result, the absence of the FES and Portable contents. He mentioned that while specific details cannot be disclosed at this stage, they have essentially rebuilt everything from scratch to recreate the original version of Persona 3.
Nevertheless, there are some new additions to look forward to, as outlined by Niitsuma. These include newly recorded voices, new scenes and events, and a combination of new and arranged music. Further information will be gradually released, so stay tuned for more exciting updates. All in all, Atlus seemingly intends to make Persona 3 Reload as modern and as playable as the ever-lucrative Persona 5 property.
In retrospect, excluding these popular features just seems so odd on Atlus’ part. Since they are making a remake already, why not just include everything the property has to offer, right? This is made even more odd due to the fact that the full-featured Persona 3 Portable game was only recently re-released on modern systems as well. They simply have no excuse to not include such features in the remake. Maybe apart from them trying to make a faithful recreation of the original game. And that may just be the precise reason why.
Final Thoughts
As disheartening as this piece of news may be for Persona 3 lovers just like us, we still cannot wait to get our hands on Persona 3 Reload. At the end of the day, we just know it will be amazing despite the lack of possible content. That said, the game is still in development. There might still be a chance that Atlus would change its mind and just add them right on. Well, one can only wish.
So, how do you feel about Persona 3 Reload knowing all this? Did the exclusion of the features present from FES and Portable discourage you from trying it out? Or are you just like us and are eager to play it just the same? Let us know your thoughts using the comments section below!
