Cognition Dissemination: How to Make Persona 3 Reload Ultimate

Atlus and Sega revealed more information about Persona 3 Reload, the remake of Persona 3 announced during E3 2023, as part of their Gamescom 2023 showcase. They focused on outlining and showing more gameplay features and cast members, including just how much more stylish the game looks in action. The development team appears to have accomplished the mission of bringing the game up to Persona 5’s spec, with its slick battle and menu transitions. On the topic of battles: The game will have a new main battle theme, “It’s Going Down Now,” which the developers are comparing to “Time to Make History” and “Take Over” from the updated Persona 4 Golden and Persona 5 Royal versions, respectively. A remixed version of “Mass Destruction” will still play during certain battles, likely when the party doesn’t surprise an enemy or is ambushed.

Those themes, notably, are performed by Azumi Takahashi in conjunction with Lotus Juice. The former has taken Yumi Kawamura’s role as the lead singer, though the question of whether Kawamura could still be involved remains open. Atsushi Kitajoh is now the lead composer, with Shoji Meguro joining artist Shigenori Soejima by not being on the development team. Metaphor Re Fantazio must have demanded all their attention.

The debate over whether this version can be called “definitive” rages on. Reload is lacking “The Answer” quest from Persona 3 Fes and the female protagonist’s route from Persona 3 Portable. Persona series general producer Kazuhisa Wada claimed that this will be “the ultimate way of experiencing Persona 3” in an interview with Famitsu. It will certainly be the easiest way to play it, particularly for the many who became Persona fans after Persona 5. To claim this is the “ultimate” version is untrue. It’s far from that.

But there’s good news: There’s time for this to become that ultimate version.

Atlus is no stranger to downloadable content offerings. They’ve already detailed some plans for Reload, including battle themes, outfits, and Personas from Persona 4 and 5. It’s boring and rudimentary stuff comparable to DLC released for previous Persona titles. They could provide a true expansion through releasing a modified version of Fes’ The Answer content. The quest itself could be given updates to ensure that it’s nowhere near the level of a repetitive grind as the original version. Providing this as an eventual option would bring it closer to becoming the “ultimate” Persona 3.

The other idea: Release the female protagonist’s route as DLC, complete with new and modified versions of her themes from P3P, and all the adjustments to the main game that came with her. This would also add new features like extra conversations inside and outside Social Links, similar to what’s already being done for the male protagonist’s quest in Reload. It would be even better if the also-figurative The Answer expansion could have adjustments with her in mind.

None of these scenarios are as likely as they should be. There’s a better chance of Atlus releasing an updated version down the line. Ryota Niitsuma, previously known for directing the Marvel vs. Capcom 3 titles, is working on the game as producer. This, according to my stunning logic, means there’s a high chance that Ultimate Persona 3 Reload will be released nine months after this version arrives, including the above features. I chose the word “ultimate” for a reason here.

When Reload was still rumored before E3 2023, it was my hope that Atlus would release two versions of the game, with the male and female protagonists. They could have been the “Blue” and “Pink” versions with their own unique content for a game that largely follows the same story. This would have been similar to the Pokémon game approach, though those games don’t lock protagonists to particular versions. Doing this might have demanded too many resources from the development team. It also makes more business sense to get the intensely dedicated fanbase to purchase one version, only to subsequently goad them into buying a second one with more features in another fully-priced package later on. Atlus has never passed on making such decisions, and may not do so this time.

The key word there is “may.” Whether Reload is supported with significant content following its February 2nd worldwide release will depend on how well it sells, and future plans Atlus has for this development team. Persona 6, a game I’m certain will one day exist, will be a larger priority if Atlus plans to use that team for this game. The chance of them simply releasing Reload for its eye-popping $69.99 price and leaving it there are too high. And they can’t even give us a mini-art book and soundtrack to try and justify that price better these days. We didn’t know how good we had it during the PlayStation 2 days, and during part of the DS and PSP era.

Anyway: I’ll keep my fingers crossed for one of these above-proposed scenarios playing out.