Full spoilers, read with caution.
I initially didn't want to play P3R because I heard it retained the original tower climbing gameplay, but since I had Xbox Game Pass, I decided to give it a try. Surprisingly, I ended up enjoying it. I played through the game and finished it before the deadline, which brings me to this article.
Quick reminder: P3R, as a remake released in 2024, inherits the flaws from the original game that are not suitable for the current era, which only shows the laziness of the new development team. Therefore, this article will not differentiate between the flaws that were present in the original P3 and the flaws that are unique to P3R—I haven't played P3, so I can't tell the difference, especially considering P3 has P3F, P3P, and other enhanced versions.
Outdated Gameplay Mechanics#
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Various Anti-Player Details#
Added this section after playing the second playthrough on March 6th.
The game didn't explain how to inherit attributes when fusing masks, so I ended up wasting a lot of time going back and forth to the arcade to level up my attributes. Later, I found out that the attributes added by incense can be inherited, but the ones gained through other methods cannot. It was a waste of time and resources.
Also, although it's not a problem specific to P3R, I've always wanted to complain about one thing in the P series: why is it so difficult to add a search function to the Persona Compendium?
The cutscenes for chasing after Aigis on Yakushima are exactly the same as the original version, which gives players an authentic experience from over a decade ago. On the other hand, the constant black screen during an all-out attack and when entering and exiting Tartarus is a visual assault on my retinas.
Speaking of Tartarus, I have to mention the special Tartarus doors on each floor. The first floor after entering these doors is completely empty except for the door leading to the next floor. It feels like the only purpose of these doors is to make me open more doors and endure more flashy effects. And when you receive the Tarot card from Fuuka and she suggests going back to the entrance, if you accidentally don't click confirm, you have to walk all the way back and endure the flashy effects again.
The frame rate in this game is strange. When I fast-forwarded during my second playthrough, it felt laggy, which didn't make sense to me—my 1660Ti should be able to handle P3R without any issues. Finally, when I changed the frame rate to 120, it became normal. It's the first time I've seen a game that runs worse at 60 frames per second.
Endless Tower Climbing#
Climbing Tartarus is not difficult, but in the first playthrough, you have to fight enemies to obtain masks, and some maps require detours, which makes it more challenging. The third area, "Thebel Block," is the most frustrating. It's a straight path, but they decided to add a barrier, making it even more annoying. I heard that the remake reduced the size of each floor, and I can't even imagine how the original players managed to complete it. I feel sorry for those who bought P3P last year.
The Arcana Shuffle system only adds to the repetitive grind. Apart from the major Arcana cards that only appear once, you're left with only four cards to shuffle. Later on, when you can draw three cards, it should be a good thing, but most of the time, none of the four cards are what you want, and you have to watch the flipping animation again. If you draw a mask, you have to go to the menu and discard it, which wastes even more time. The fact that you can only draw one additional card instead of being able to choose 1-3 cards is a design flaw that the new development team should take responsibility for.
Speaking of Tartarus, it reminds me of a Greek mythology-themed roguelike game called "Hades." Then it hit me, I found a solution to make this boring tower climbing more enjoyable—increase the drop rate of major Arcana cards and reward players with special abilities related to combat. This would make drawing cards and battling monsters more fun. The current major Arcana cards in the game are useless in combat, and they don't inspire any desire to draw them.
Unreasonable COOP Schedule and Rewards#
There are a total of 19 non-main story COOPs in the game, of which 17 can only be progressed during the day and 11 can only be progressed at school. Three of the female teammates also have a requirement of maxed-out attributes.
This extremely uneven COOP schedule leaves players with nothing to do at night and on holidays during the first playthrough. To address the issue of free time at night, the development team added the option to do chores with your teammates, but with eight teammates and only four opportunities each, the balance between day and night is still heavily skewed. In the later stages of the game, I either went out to walk the dog or went to the arcade to grind for mask attributes during my free time at night. The issue of free time on holidays could easily be solved by allowing COOP activities at school. It doesn't make sense for students to have no activities during their break. I really can't understand why the new development team didn't make such a simple change.
The attribute requirements for maxing out the COOPs of the three female teammates seem to explain this schedule— the original game's planners wanted players to focus on raising their Charm attribute at night to unlock the female teammates' COOPs. However, grinding Charm is really boring, and what's even worse is that the ways to obtain Charm are also unevenly distributed.
COOP levels only affect the level increase of fused masks before reaching max level. Despite the presence of valuable rewards in COOPs, the new development team failed to integrate them properly. Especially the unique abilities of the teammates and the side rewards for male teammates are not integrated into the COOP system. In comparison, some COOPs lack the motivation to progress. Despite being a complete remake using a brand new engine, the new development team treated the COOP mechanics as a pile of messy code and only added new content without making any significant changes.
Patched-up Storyline#
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Strong EVA Vibes#
Let's compare the protagonist of a certain anime:
- Likes to listen to music with a portable music player.
- Transfers to a new city and immediately awakens the power to fight monsters.
- In the first battle, loses control of the power and kills the monster.
- Joins an organization with a four-letter name and has a beautiful female boss.
- The organization fights against monsters that attack at regular intervals and follow certain mysterious rules.
- The monster attacks are actually part of the organization's plan, which will lead to the extinction of humanity.
- The leader of the organization wears glasses and wants to be the center of the plan but ultimately fails.
- The final enemy appears in human form and integrates into the protagonist's group. His voice actor is Akira Ishida, and his name hints at his true identity. He can play the piano and has a special affection for the protagonist. He can fly and hopes the protagonist will kill him after his true identity is revealed.
- The protagonist's power is the result of an incident that happened many years ago.
- The entity that causes the extinction of humanity is a female deity from mythology, related to the moon.
Riddles, Bento, and Answers#
During the period from April to July, players are left in the dark, just like Shinji Ikari from Evangelion, not knowing anything and only focusing on fighting. If the battles were enjoyable, it would be fine, but your teammates are all enigmatic individuals: the chairman and the student council president are clearly hiding something, Yukari carries the mystery of her father, and Junpei is always off looking for Chidori. The arrival of Fuuka doesn't change the tormenting atmosphere, and you continue climbing Tartarus and fighting monsters day after day...
The revelations about the Kirijo Group's experiments at the end of July, the addition of Aigis, and the confrontation with the Full Moon Shadows in August finally give players a new perspective on the main storyline. Then, the addition of Ken and Koromaru in September, who are not happy about joining the team, signals that something big is about to happen. However, Shinji's sudden appearance in September and his gunshot—by the way, isn't it strange that the police don't do anything about the gun he carries around his waist?—and the disappearance of Ken and Koromaru while Shinji is taken away...
Then in October, Ken and Shinji are no longer enigmatic, and the truth about their blood feud is revealed. At this point, it feels like the storm is about to break—then, on November 9th, Shinji is taken away, leaving behind a bunch of riddles. Mitsuru seems to know what summoning a Shadow will bring, but she doesn't explain why. The chairman, who was thought to have some grand plan, turns out to be the leader of a cult who didn't even know the true meaning of Nyx.
Finally, the appearance of Ryoji Mochizuki explains the mysteries, and the main storyline actually concludes on New Year's Eve. What follows is just the "Great Seal" drawn by the protagonist.
Various Interpretations of the Theme of Death#
In my opinion, the main theme of P3 is "how to face death." It is mainly represented by the protagonist, main characters, COOPs, and NPCs. I didn't pay much attention to the conversations with NPCs, so I won't discuss them in detail, but I will talk about the other three.
Let's start with the COOPs. The following COOPs out of the 15 non-main story COOPs are related to the theme:
- "The Hierophant" - An old couple who run a used bookstore. They are obsessed with the death of their son, who was a teacher. They see the persimmon tree their son planted as his embodiment and finally let go of their obsession.
It's a common story of "the white-haired person sending off the black-haired person." - "The Moon" - The Gourmet King, who caused his younger brother to get food poisoning from a meat bun when they were young. He feels nauseous whenever his brother is mentioned. He tries to live on by becoming his brother but ends up overeating to escape reality. In the end, he realizes that he can't become his brother and decides to live as himself.
The Gourmet King's story has nothing to do with being a food connoisseur or being involved in a cult pyramid scheme. - "The Sun" - A terminally ill boy who loves reading and writing. He has a terminal illness and wants to create a story about a pink crocodile in his last year of life. He finds the meaning of life in the process.
This character can be considered one of the most successful social link characters in P3. The pink crocodile represents both Shinji and the time spent with him.
Of course, if we extend the theme of P3 to "the meaning of life," most of the social link characters have their own answers. However, that would be too broad of a topic to discuss here.
Now let's talk about the main characters.
Within the protagonist's group, the revenge of Akihiko and Shinji, Shinji sacrificing himself to protect Ken, Yukari's researcher father, Junpei and Chidori's love story, and Toriumi protecting the shrine—all these different death scenarios converge into the endpoint of "turning grief and anger into motivation." It can only be said that it's for the sake of the plot. The post-story content in P3F reflects their attitudes better, but unfortunately, it's not available at the moment.
The attitudes of Ryoji and Aigis are also worth mentioning. Chidori is used to self-harm because her persona can heal any wound, and she sacrifices herself for Junpei. Initially, Ryoji wants to live his last days to the fullest, but after jumping off the bridge, he changes his mind and wants the whole world to join him in embracing the end. The transformation of these two characters' attitudes is not well-developed, and in the end, they are reduced to being mentally ill and terminally ill. Aigis, on the other hand, is more like end-of-life care. She believes that before the predetermined end of life arrives, people have the right to live a happier life and cherish every moment.
Lastly, let's talk about the protagonist. Unfortunately, we can only discuss their attitude towards "death" based on their final actions, which is sacrificing themselves for others. Fortunately, the events on March 4th and 5th successfully elevate their sacrifice, and the ending leaves enough time for players to reflect.
Conclusion#
Persona 3 Reload reheats the leftovers of the original game without fully cooking them, but it also doesn't burn them. However, I hope the upcoming DLC for the epilogue will polish the script and deliver a proper conclusion to this work.
Do you want to close your eyes?
... Close your eyes