Hidden between all the Persona fusion, shadow fighting, and Social Linking are a plethora of winks and nods that might go unnoticed by the average player. This is nothing new though. Atlus is known to insert and hide little details or references in their games, andPersona 3 Reloadis no different from any of their other titles, likePersona 5.
Sound cues, UI designs, and easily missable events and scenes are par for course for an Easter Egg hunter. If you are an eagle-eyed player, however, you might have been lucky enough to notice some of these hidden details during your playthrough.
9Using Your Closet
Space Is Always Available
Upon your first visit to the Iwatodai Dorms, you are quickly shuffled off to your room to drop off your belongings before you fall straight to sleep after your long trek. The game even prompts you to go check your closet, so you can put your bag away, refusing to let you do anything else until you have done so.
It’s easily missable, but you continue to interact with your dorm room closet every time you come home from school for the evening before going out again. If you are carrying your bag from school, once you enter your room, you will drop it off in the closet and can then walk around town without your bag slung over your shoulder. A neat little detail Atlus made sure to include, to truly give you the school simulation experience.
8Reference To The Fatigue System
Enter All You Sick And Tired
A feature from the originalPersona 3that was removed from the remake was the fatigue system. This system kept track of your general health throughout your week, changing from good or OK to tired or sick if you spent too long exploring and fighting in Tartarus. While the removal of the system has been seen as a net positive for the remake, there is one holdover left from it.
The day after you explore Tartarus, on a school day only, you can visit the nurse’s office to receive a drink that promises to restore your vitality and energy. The nurse mentions how tired you look and offers you the same suspicious medicine he could give in the first game when your condition was either tired or sick. The drink now gives afree point of Couragein the remake instead.
7Crane Game Music
Fishing For Secrets
Persona 3 Reload offers many different things and activities you can do on your way home from school or on the weekends. While visiting Paulownia Mall, you can choose to spend a little (or a lot) of your hard-earned money on the crane game just outside the arcade. You can win a few gifts as prizes if you’re lucky.
The music that plays during the crane game is actually an Easter Egg that only long-time fans of the series might recognize. The song is actually a sped-up version of Shin Megami Tensei: Persona’s Satomi Tadashi Pharmacy Theme. People who played the first game in the series might recognize it, but otherwise, it’s an easy reference to miss.
6All Out Attack Finishers
Modern And Classic Looks Available
When fighting the shadows in Tartarus, you will find yourself using All Out Attacks often as a way to quickly deal with enemies. After getting your new uniforms, however, the screens are updated to show off the characters' new looks as opposed to their original design with the armband from the original game.
An interesting thing to note is that after the equipment upgrade, you receive costumes for every character that sports their original S.E.E.S uniforms in battle, and the All Out Attack Finishers even show this depending on what costume they have equipped. you may even do this for characters you recruit after the uniform upgrade, like Aigis, Ken, and Shinjiro.
5Different Looks In Menus
Shopping In Style
While on the subject of costumes and clothes for the party, another neat detail that might be glossed over is when you open a shop menu, the silhouette of the protagonist will change depending on what he is wearing at that given time. Whether you are wearing your school uniform, winter outfit, or summer outfit, the game will represent that.
There are a number of different clothing options you’re able to wear throughout the game, so the list can be quite varied. There is even a menu silhouette of the protagonist in a yukata from the hot springs trip towards the latter portion of the game.
4Emperor And Empress Boss Tease
Hiding In Plain Sight
During your second full moon operation, the team must infiltrate the school during the Dark Hour in order to rescue Fuuka. After saving her, you’re greeted with a boss fight in the lobby of Tartarus with the Emperor and Empress. You might recognize the weapons that they use during the battle as well.
You can initially see the sword and the staff the shadows will wield in the main entrance of the school sitting on pedestals as symbols of the institution. A nice touch of foreshadowing and a very subtle hint that those weapons will be used against you one day.
3Hermit Social Link
Eternal Punishment For This Innocent Sin
One day when returning home from school, you’re met by Junpei, who decides to give you his copy of an old MMO that he no longer plays, called Innocent Sin Online. Through this game, you are introduced to Maya, who becomes yourHermit Social Link. The entire Link itself contains a multitude of references to previous games in the series.
The character names Tatsuya and Maya are the names of the protagonists from the Persona 2 duology and Innocent Sin Online is a clear reference to the title Persona 2: Innocent Sin. Spell names used throughout the series are also found in this fictional MMO like Traesto, which Maya sometimes uses to log off with.
2Elizabeth’s Younger Brother
Lost But Not Forgotten
During your playthrough, you will find yourself taking on a multitude of requests for Elizabeth, Igor’s attendant in the Velvet Room. As you complete her requests, not only will she reward you with powerful items, equipment, and money, but she will also start to slowly open up to you and tell you more things about herself.
If you idle in her request menu, she can bring up a number of different topics to talk with you about, but the most interesting one is where she mentions that she has a “useless younger brother” and that maybe one day she will introduce us to him. Fans of Persona 3 Portable will remember Elizabeth’s brother, Theodore, as the attendant of the Velvet Room if you choose to play as the female protagonist.
1Tanaka’s Amazing Commodities
Bringing Goods To You Throughout The Series
While not necessarily an Easter Egg or reference in Persona 3 Reload specifically, Tanaka’s Amazing Commodities goes on to become a running reference in all future Persona games going forward. Our favorite businessman has continued his endeavors far into the future, starting from this point in the timeline.
Tanaka can still be seen inPersona 4and Persona 5 selling his wares on the TV on Sundays, most likely spurred on by his Social Link and your interactions with him in Persona 3.
