After finishing Persona 5 and Persona 5 Royal some time after, I was tempted to call myself a Persona fan. Heck, I may have actually called myself such in a past post or two. But, after having finally picked up Persona 3 Reload, I’ve realized that’s not exactly accurate. Rather, until now, it would have been better to say I was just an Atlus fan.
See, Persona 5 was my very first and, until recently, only Persona game. Before it, I’d only known about Persona in passing, and the only Atlus game I’d ever played was Tokyo Mirage Sessions for the Wii U. After Persona 5, it would be 10 years and several Atlus games before I finally made it back to Persona proper.
Still, I’m kind of glad it’s worked out this way, because I’m not sure I could have properly appreciated Persona 3 Reload without the extra background in Atlus’ catalog. See, my Atlus timeline looks something like this:
Tokyo Mirage Sessions -> Persona 5 -> Persona 3/5: Dancing in Moonlight/Starlight -> Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE -> Persona 5 Royal -> Persona 5 Scramble -> Soul Hackers 2 -> Persona 5 Tactica -> Metaphor ReFantazio -> Persona 3 Reload
Sure, there’s plenty of Persona in there, but it’s almost all Persona 5. Other good (often excellent) Atlus stuff is in there too, but, no, it’s mostly Persona 5. Thank goodness it’s not just Persona 5, though. Because, like I said, it was playing all these other Atlus games that got me into Atlus enough to want to try Persona 3 Reload in the first place, which I’ve finally done as of last week.
Even though this version of Persona 3 greatly resembles Persona 5, it’s still its own game. The story plays out differently, it only has one dungeon that you try to complete in blocks. Time usage is still important, but, at least now in the beginning, it feels like the game is less strict about using it efficiently. Perhaps this is due to having fewer characters and personal stats to juggle?
Seriously, in Persona 5, they spend practically the whole opening act beating you over the head with the idea that you have to make the most of your time. I didn’t mind having to do that, but I would have liked to be able to just enjoy some of the activities and locations more often.
I’m most looking forward to seeing how Persona 3 Reload introduces roadblocks and challenges. In Persona 5, it was done by introducing new adults to menace the Phantom Thieves in one way or another.
Here, I’m really hoping it’s not going to be another “youthful rebellion” story. I mean, we’ve got support from the school and Kirijo’s family from the very beginning, so surely it’s going to be a more cooperative situation, right? It’s funny; Persona 3 came first, yet here I am hoping that it doesn’t copy Persona 5.
It’s also kind of refreshing overall, at least in these beginning portions, to have a bit more freedom. Persona 5 felt very on-rails during its first few hours, so it’s nice to have things open up more almost right from the very beginning here. So, yeah, so far so good for Persona 3 Reload, I guess.
It took altogether too long to get here but, thanks to Persona 5 and Atlus’ consistent making of fun and compelling games, I’ve finally arrived at another Persona game and am quite enjoying both its similarities to and differences from Persona 5. If things go well, maybe I’ll finally be able to call myself a Persona fan in truth and not just in feel.
Would you call yourself a Persona fan? What is about the series that you enjoy most?
Image from the Persona 3 Reload Steam page