In 2006, Atlus released a small JRPG on the PlayStation 2 called Persona 3. It was a strange title where you had to balance life as a high school student, building friendships while protecting humanity from disturbing monsters during a hidden hour of the day known as the Dark Hour.

The Reload naming was conceived as a result of the developers wanting to use another moniker with the letter "R" to convey its status as a definitive edition of Persona 3 as Persona 5 Royal was to Persona 5, feeling as if simply calling it "Persona 3 Remake" was not fitting for the naming conventions of the series. The Reload name was also used to reflect the pistol-like Evokers used by the party to summon their Personas during battle.[13]

By registering Personas, you can recall them at any time for a price. You must re-register as the Persona levels up and gains more Skills to keep what it has learned, but doing so increases the price.

If you’ve played the original Persona 3, you’re going to love how much this game pays homage to the source material while standing on its own merits. On the other hand, if you’re a relatively new Persona fan who discovered the series through Persona 5 Royal but were too hesitant to try Persona 3, Persona 3 Reload is now your best option to experience it.

Also, the Fatigue system from the original game is now completely gone in Persona 3 Reload. Fatigue was a mechanic from the original Persona 3, which inflicted debilitating status effects that severely weakened party members in battle.

Step into the shoes of a transfer student thrust into an unexpected fate when entering the hour "hidden" between one day and the next. Awaken an incredible power and chase the mysteries of the Dark Hour, fight for your friends, and leave a mark on their memories forever. Persona 3 Reload is a captivating reimagining of the genre-defining RPG, reborn for the modern era. Key Features Experience the pivotal game of the Persona series faithfully remade with cutting-edge graphics, modernized quality-of-life features, and signature stylish UI.

Though it's based on Persona 5's Showtime, Theurgy attacks require heightened emotional states and have special conditions personalized to each character to activate, so it takes more strategy to pull off. I didn't spend enough time grinding in Tartarus to get to everyone's moves, but from what I did see, the results are devastating for the enemy.

When all enemies on the battle screen are knocked Down as with the original game, the party is given the persona 3 reload gameplay option to initiate an "All-Out Attack" that involves all active members performing a joint assault on any remaining enemies for significant damage. Depending on who in the party starts the command, the character will have a personalized outro and unique animation, in a similar vein to the finisher screens in Persona 5. Additional Personas and resuscitative effects for the party are still obtained primarily through the post-battle minigame Shuffle Time, but Reload instead allows the player to manually choose what specific card they want out of the randomized selection as opposed to blindly selecting one after they are shuffled, similar to Persona 4 Golden's version of the minigame.[8][11] Plot[edit]

And yet it's all so familiar at the same time; the normal attack animations are true to form, the battle portraits are identical, and how your crew blast themselves in the head with an Evoker remains the sickest and best in-lore way to summon a persona. The fresh aesthetics and stylings more akin to Persona 5 also make these characters cooler than I could've ever imagined them to be.

Fans of the Persona series will already be familiar with the style of gameplay that this title helped pioneer, including time management with your duties in the day, and turn-based combat that is influenced by those day-to-day social interactions.

In the input field, type a question that could be answered with "yes" or "no." You can ask up to 20 questions before the game is over

The game's official box art drawn by Shimada is an intentional recreation of Persona 3's Japanese PlayStation 2 key art, featuring the protagonist alongside the Persona Thanatos. Multiple revisions were made to update the homage, as Soejima and Yamaguchi discussed whether to just feature the protagonist and his Persona, or alongside the other main characters in the game.

Azusa Shimada serves as Persona 3 Reload's main character designer, with original artist Shigenori Soejima taking on a supervisory role. The two collaborated to refine the existing designs, as well as update the S.E.E.S. equipment when entering Tartarus. This includes a new armband, which was teased by game director Takuya Yamaguchi to have ties to a new mechanic during Shadow encounters, and a combat attire unique to every party member.

As is tradition for Shin Megami Tensei games, the turn-based RPG combat revolves around accounting for elemental affinities, knocking down enemies to earn extra turns, and setting up those iconic All-Out Attacks. Persona 3 Reload uses the same foundation as the original but builds upon it in ways that mitigate the monotony of churning through battle after battle. The aforementioned Theurgy attacks are relegated to a meter that fills during fights, each serving a strategic purpose given their limited use and character-specific effects, be that massive damage or major stat buffs – and they all come with some fantastic animations, too.