Of all the remakes that have come out in recent years,Persona 3 Reloadstands out by keeping things as close to the original as possible, while adding new quality-of-life improvements that only add to the revamped JRPG experience. Playing it so close to the original PS2 game does come with its limitations to both gameplay and narrative plot points.
Whether it’s due to being a product of the times, or an active creative decision, there are moments in the story that make you scratch your head and wonder why they didn’t change this instead. This list is going to take a look at things that still don’t make sense to this day. Which one of these moments left you scratching your head?
7The Dancers In Escapade
Where’s The Party Vibes?
Taking into consideration the graphical limitations ofthe older Persona 3 games, both the PS2 and PSP versions, it was more than understandable that some corners had to be cut to make all the other content fit. Ergo, the dancers of the nightclub Escapade are pretty much left up to your imagination while looking at an empty floor.
In Persona 3 Reload, they’ve made some changes by adding more people, yet have made the bewildering choice to have them stand completely still outside the same two or three people that were dancing in the older versions. Not only that, the dancers aren’t as lively as they were before, giving the players a little two-step instead of the hyped fist-pumping we got in the original. A slight step back.
6Officer Kurosawa’s Willingness To Sell You Weapons
Isn’t He Technically Breaking The Law?
Despite not having the potential and not knowing anything about the Dark Hour or shadows,Officer Kurosawa knows that there’s something odd going onin the town of Iwatodai. Maybe he has a sixth sense, or maybe the increasing number of victims of Apathy Syndrome dotted around town tipped him off, but he’s decided to help the SEES crew.
How? By letting teenagers buy and sell dangerous weapons of course! But seriously, what made him figure that the best way to help both the civilians and SEES is by selling weapons? Weapons are illegal and strictly regulated in Japan, so seeing him just selling said dangerous weapons just seems off.
5Shinji Ikutsuki’s Jokes
Why Didn’t Anyone Tell Him They Were Terrible?
The art of making puns is a fine art that many can learn, but few can master. Shinji Ikutsuki has not managed to master it in the slightest. Anytime you walk into your dorm after school and see the man in the brown suit sitting down in the living room, you know you’re in for a bad time.
None of the other SEES members enjoys any of his failed word plays, but none of them manage to broach the subject outside of snide comments under their breath or audible groans. Maybe if they told him outright to either step his game up or just stop altogether. Despite what you found out what he’s done, this is still the most egregious crime he committed in the game.
4The Lack Of FemC
She Would Have Been A Whole New Experience
Narratively speaking, Persona 3 Reload is nearly identical to both the original PS2 version and the later released FES (short for Festival). There have been things that have been fleshed out, such as the relationships between main character Makoto and fellow members Akihiko and Junpei, as well as interactions with Strega.
But for all of that,it came at a great cost: the female main character, canonically named Kotone Shiomi. It doesn’t sound like a huge loss at first, but not having her locks you out of getting several social links from your male SEES members, most notably the aforementioned Akihiko and Junpei.
3Fuuka In Tartarus During The Day
What Happened To Her While She Was There?
Tartarus and The Dark Hour holds many secrets inside of its distorted walls, and none that you will find on your first entry. The mystery slowly unravels with each floor, but no matter how far you go, some questions simply won’t be answered. For example,what happens to the shadows and the tower during the day?
Navigator Fuuka is lost within Tartarus after being locked away by bullies, then proceeds to disappear as the school returns to normal. It’s theorized that the time she’s spent in there hasn’t passed like it has in the real world, so instead of missing for days, she’s technically only been inside Tartarus for a few hours. What happens to her while the day persists is never explained.
2The Teacher Who Faced No Consequences
How Did He Get Away With Losing A Whole Student?
Though not directly responsible for Fuuka’s disappearance, Mr. Ekoda didn’t feel the need to press much about Fuuka’s mysterious disappearance in June. First, he lies and tells the school that she is sick and at home for weeks, then once the truth comes out, he does nothing but shrugs his shoulders. The level of not caring he had for her well-being is appalling.
Once Mitsuru comes and asserts her power over him, she lets him know that there are going to be some serious repercussions for his inactions. Yet, throughout the rest of the game, nothing is being done, and he’s still a pretty prominent teacher. It’s not known how he was able to get away with his callous neglect, but it’s a shame that he does.
1The True Purpose Of Strega
Are They Only For Personal Gain?
After being experimented on by the Kirijo Group, the members of Strega seem to be lost and buying time with their murderous side business. They don’t seem to have a true purpose other than to continue to live and thrive off the Dark Hour and their personas. They wander and say they live in the moment, but there’s easily something else under the surface.
Death is coming quickly for them, so whether or not Nyx shows up (it does of course), they are destined to die, so why not attempt to bring everyone with them? Though we get slightly more insight into said motives, as well as get a glimpse of the abandoned warehouse they reside in, there is still the least fleshed-out narrative of the game and lacks the clarity of a true goal, making them a larger enigma than Nyx.
