After months of rumors, a remake ofPersona 3titledPersona 3 Reloadhas been confirmed to exist.Evidence of aPersona 3remakehas been growing for months, but now thanks to a leaked trailer from Atlus, any doubt in its existence has dissipated.
That being said, allthe leakedPersona 3 Reloadtrailerdefinitively shows is that the game exists, only including about a minute of gameplay. Not only that, but the only party members revealed so far are Junpei, Yukari, and Aigis, which likely is due to the trailer only being a minute, but considering that the clips shown come from various points in the game, it is odd different party configurations were not shown off. The decision making behind this point is debatable, but if those three were specifically chosen for the trailer, it could foretell several surprising changes for SEES.
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Why Atlus Might Be Holding Off on Showing the Other SEES Members
A fun way to interpret the lack of many SEES members in the trailer is that Atlus is saving them for a more involved reveal because of drastic alterations to the character designs. This could come down to a change in outfit and hairstyle or an overhaul of how someone looks based on unused designs from the originalPersona 3’s development that the developers feel might suit the characters better. In the case of a party member like Koromaru, his fur might be a different shade, or he could even be a different breed of dog.
Unfortunately, this is unlikely as the party members that have been seen look almost identical to their original designs.Atluslikely wouldn’t keep some character designs identical and make massive changes to others, but there could be reasons that they have not been shown off. Any changes could have been done for artistic reasons, as any artists might have felt several designs from the original game hold up well in the remake’s style while others have room for improvement.
Some fans might have hoped that Atlus might want to have another trailer show off the other party members but with the female protagonist as the focus. Unfortunately, Atlus' comments onPersona 3 Reloadhave confirmed it will only remake the base game, meaning that extra content from re-releases and ports such as The Answer story expansion and the female protagonist will probably not be present. This would makeReloadamissed opportunity to have a definitive version ofPersona 3even if it still might become the most accessible way to experience the story.
The most likely and realistic answer for not showing many SEES members is that the trailer was simply a minute-long series of clips lasting a couple of moments each. A reason Junpei and Yukari take up most of the trailer could be that they are the first party members available in the game. Since Aigis is one ofPersona3’s most iconic characters, it would also make sense to reveal her early on, but if the remake is only for the base game, this early focus on her might ring a bit hollow since hersocial link was only introduced inPersona 3FES.
Outside of combat, any glimpses into the social sim elements show early sections of the game and characters players meet around the start of the game, meaning that while there is more room to show dungeon-crawling at various points, details on the story are lighter right now. Regardless, thePersona 3remake finally being real will no doubt be incredibly exciting for many, even if it ends up only being a remake of the base game.
Persona 3 Reloadwill come out early 2024 for PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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