GamesJRPGPersona 3 ReloadPersona 3 Reload is my first JRPG and I’m fast-forwarding through all the RPG bits to get to the combatWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
GamesJRPGPersona 3 ReloadPersona 3 Reload is my first JRPG and I’m fast-forwarding through all the RPG bits to get to the combatWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Atlus)
My eyes glaze over as I hit the X button on my controller. I’ve been lovingPersona 3 Reloadso far, having already enjoyed what little I played of its stylish Persona 5-infused reimagining inmy previewlast year, but boy do these teenagers love totalk. Social RPG elements are integral to the game, suffused between the dungeon-crawler segments I’m itching to get back to, so I suffer through them in bored silence and wait for night to fall.
I’m aware that this unique genetic makeup is exactly what makes Persona 3 Reload a Persona game at all. Having played a solid 10 hours of Persona 3 Portable, I thought it would be easy for me to jump back into Gekkoukan High in this fully-animated, non-visual novel-style remake. Try as I might to get into the story, though, the pace is just lacking for me right now; I’m struggling to find my protagonist’s day-to-day school life more interesting than his far more action-packed 25th-hour shenanigans, and it’s taking everything I’ve got to not just fast-forward through all the dialogue.
Persona non-gratifying
(Image credit: Atlus)
Slick and stylish(Image credit: Atlus)No matter which version you like best,Persona 3 Reload might have the best menus in the history of JRPGs.
Slick and stylish
(Image credit: Atlus)No matter which version you like best,Persona 3 Reload might have the best menus in the history of JRPGs.
(Image credit: Atlus)
No matter which version you like best,Persona 3 Reload might have the best menus in the history of JRPGs.
Let me get one thing straight: I thoroughly enjoy RPGs and story-driven games. So much so, I can usually often overlook weaker or repetitive combat if the storyline is good enough –Far Cry 5, I’m looking at you. But when it comes to Persona 3 Reload and the whole schoolyard fantasy, I’m having the opposite problem. This is one of the best-loved JRPGs out there, a gothic melodrama told across multiple in-game months. It’s supposed to have captured legions of hearts across its myriad remakes and remasters over the years, yet here I am, underappreciating it.
(Image credit: Atlus)
Perhaps I have a touch of RPG fatigue, but I’m determined to find a way into Persona 3 Reload.
Perhaps I have a touch of RPG fatigue, but I’m determined to find a way into Persona 3 Reload.
Being so intrinsic to the crafting of personas, I’m definitely more incentivized to grab ramen with Kenji after class if it means I’ll be a better fighter in Tartarus later. However, the fact of the matter still stands: if I weren’t so keenly aware of my current persona-of-choice and its associated arcana class, I would have very little reason to explore relationships with my classmates at all – especially this early in the game.
Perhaps I have a touch of RPG fatigue, following the belter of a year that was 2023, but I’m determined to find a way into Persona 3 Reload. Having played up to a certain point already back in P3P, I know therealstory has barely been established for me yet even though I’ve powered through so much of Tartarus. Am I just frustrated with having to retread old ground? Is this my lack of JRPG experience getting in the way of my own enjoyment? I have no idea yet, to be honest with you, but I’m happy to keep my fun confined to fits and starts until the true magic of Persona 3 Reload makes itself known to me.
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