The missing content in Persona 3 Reload is really bumming me out
When Persona 3 made its debut in 2006, it definitely didn’t feel like an incomplete game. The main story was around eighty hours long, and if you dug into its side content, you could easily play for a hundred hours or more. Then came FES, an extended edition of the game with thirty-plus hours of additional content, including a brand-new ending. Later on came Persona 3 Portable, an abridged, handheld version with a brand-new female protagonist.
The latest iteration, Persona 3 Reload, is a full-scale remake of the original game that launched for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X and S a little over a week ago. It’s an improvement over the original in nearly every way: The new visuals and cutscenes are stunning, and the combat feels better than ever. It’s an amazing way to experience Persona 3, but as someone who’s been playing since the beginning, I can’t help but think about everything that’s missing.
The team behind Persona 3 Reload left out that content for a reason. “The basic concept of the Persona 3 remake was to remake Persona 3, [so] we don’t have the FES and Portable contents included,” said Ryota Niitsuma, the game’s producer, in an interview with IGN. “We wanted to really genuinely work on recreating the Persona 3 experience.”
I might not agree with that decision, but I can at least understand the rationale behind it. Atlus has basically rebuilt Persona 3 from the ground up. The original menus have been replaced with a sleek, stylish UI that looks like it came straight out of Persona 5. The dungeons have gotten a complete overhaul. There’s even an all-new English voice cast. If they’re redoing everything, why wouldn’t they start from the beginning?
But every time I sit down to play, I find myself obsessing over the content that isn’t there. Persona 3 FES contains some of my favorite moments in the entire Persona series, including a few scenes that make the ending hit much, much harder. Being able to play as a female protagonist in Persona 3 Portable felt like a breath of fresh air. I want to appreciate Persona 3 Reload for what it is, but I can’t overlook the content that was left out.
Of course, some of that content might eventually make its way into the game. Reload has already sold more than a million copies, so Atlus has plenty of reasons to release additional content. There are rumors that a DLC containing the FES epilogue, The Answer, is already in the works.
Still, the whole thing feels like a missed opportunity. A remastered version of Persona 3 Portable was released just last year. Why not skip that and combine every version of Persona 3 into one definitive edition? Persona 3 is a massive game, and I’ve already played through so many versions of it. I wish that Reload had finally given me the chance to enjoy the entire game in one place.
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