Brace yourselves Persona fans, it won't be long before some DLC for Persona 3 Reload comes around the corner. Atlus recently unveiled a new trailer showing off some key aspects from the upcoming continuation to the story, Episode Aigis. If you've read the blog for a while you know that Persona 3 is one of my most beloved games of all time, and THE game that has had the highest impact on me. It was a mix of finding me at the right time in my life to affect me heavily, plus it just contained a great story and fun turn-based combat. However, and it pains me to type this, I'm not really all that excited for this DLC. I've suffered too much with Persona 3 Reload.
Games can be fantastic for different reasons. Some have amazing stories. Some have tight gameplay. Some are infinitely replayable. The Persona games have a ton of commendable and addictive attributes in my book that contribute to why it became such a global success. Replayability is not one of them. I mean, it's sort of by design. The main story for a modern mainline Persona title is probably going to run you around 80-100 hours. Even going through some scenes pretty quickly since I already played (and watched) the original multiple times, my Reload playthrough ended up clocking in around 90 hours. And man oh man did I struggle. Don't get me wrong, it was lovely to see my beloved cast updated with sleek character models, receive fancy combat animations, and witness some fresh social scenes. However, these games just have low replayability by nature. The creators don't expect you to sit there and go through the same long ass narrative over and over. Unfortunately for me I already knew every twist, every turn, and since very little was changed overall in the span of those 90 hours, even basic conversations jogged my memory and left almost nothing to the imagination. I'm not saying this is Reload's fault. If you've never played the original, it pretty much should be the default way to experience Persona 3 in 2024 and beyond. For the veterans though... seeing a 90 hour story playout for the fourth time isn't going to make your day, which brings us to the DLC.
Save me Metis, I'm counting on you.
Again I should be hype because while I have watched and played the original multiple times, I have never watched or played The Answer (what this new DLC is based on). The Answer is an added section of the game for Persona 3: FES that received mixed reviews as many players felt it was too grindy and ruined the concrete, beautiful ending of the main story. That said, other players seemed to appreciate how this addition developed and finalized Aigis' character so I've always still been interested. In my heart, I know I'll probably enjoy it. My brain just can't forget the suffering that Reload inflicted upon me though man. Or I suppose I should say my own self-inflicted suffering. I'm scared I will hop in and experience more of the same turn-based combat, with the same allies (apart from Metis), against the same enemies, with the same Personas that I've been familiar with for over a decade now. Too much of anything, no matter how awesome it is, can hurt your love for it and Reload taught me that it's time to move on from Persona 3 and live with the amazing memories I have, at least for several years.
I still plan to check this out and see what The Answer is. Since it'll all be new content to my eyes I'm hoping that reignites my passion long enough to complete it and make my own judgment about whether or not it's a worthy addition to the game. I'll be glued to the narrative. Crossing my fingers that the devs heard about those "grindy" complaints from back in the day and the combat pacing is better to avoid any burnout. Did you play Persona 3 Reload? Are you going to play this DLC? Do you expect Persona 4 to receive a similar remake? Grab a (fake) pistol, aim at your noggin, and summon your Persona in the comments below!
