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Trivia / Persona 3 Reload

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For trivia tropes pertaining to the original game, click here.

  • Acting for Two:
    • Aleks Le provides the voices for the protagonist, Pharos, and Ryoji.
    • In the Japanese dub, Bin Shimada plays both Igor and President Tanaka.
  • Actor-Shared Background:
    • Heather Gonzalez, Yukari's VA for Reload, revealed that she practices archery herself as a hobby.
    • Allegra Clark is fluent in French, much like Mitsuru in the English version.
  • Approval of God: Both Yuri Lowenthal and Vic Mignogna tweeted their explicit support for their respective successors for Reload.
  • Author's Saving Throw: Per a developer interview after the Xbox Showcase reveal of Reload (translation by Midori here), they confirmed some changes to address certain Scrappy Mechanics or otherwise missing features to allow Persona 3 to play like Persona 5. The developers went out of their way to ask the staff who played the original 3 (and half of the production team were not game developers, thus their inputs are more player-focused) to ensure these points are addressed in Reload.
    • Fatigue was meant to be a way for players to plan around or even take advantage of their time in the original 3, but the mechanic in practice was random and limited what could be done in a day. The mechanic also didn't gel well with how dungeon exploring worked in other RPGs, where Fatigue has since been removed in games past its release. The mechanic has been removed entirely with Reload, and the only remnant of this system is the ability to visit Nurse Edogawa to drink his weird concoction and gain some Courage after going to Tartarus.
    • The Kouha and Eiha skills re-introduced in 5 are present, replacing some of Ken and Koromaru's extraneous skills and rounding out their movesets.
    • To retain the original Persona 3 experience, the Social Link roster remains the same (and consequently, the female route is cut). But to make up for it, special side stories are added for all teammates, including the male ones. Their rationale for this new feature is to make sure everybody's backstories are equally told, hopefully averting They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character regarding the main cast.invoked
    • Tartarus, while not overly revamped, is given more things for the player to see or do to prevent boredom, like breakable objects, unique conversations with the party, and more immersive visual details courtesy of the Unreal Engine.
    • The option for either AI-controlled teammates or manual control is present just like in Portable.
    • Maxing out all Social Links is made easier this time around, even in a fresh save. Back then, 3 was not designed with the intention to do so, but many players wanted to try, much to the surprise of producer Kazuhisa Wada, noting if done a certain way in Reload, it's possible. The schedules in Reload are less stringent (especially Mitsuru's), along with new ways to increase Social Link points at night by either walking Koromaru or buying software in Club Escapade are the most evident ways this can be done.
    • Though Social Link reversal (and not breaking) made its return after being absent in 5, the conditions required for that to happen are made far less strict compared to the original. Yamaguchi has specifically noted that leaving a Social Link alone will not cause it to reverse, in accordance with changes to the mechanic for 4. In the game proper, the only Social Links that can reverse are Yukari's and Chihiro's (if you make a blatant sexist remark to the former or blatantly overstep the latter's boundaries) plus the Nozomi fakeout.
    • An interview with producer Kazuhisa Wada says that Atlus doesn't intend to do a "full revision" like it did with Persona 5 and Persona 5 Royal, assuaging fans that Reload is a complete experience and won't end up getting a new version that would make Reload obsolete. Sure enough, instead of a "full revision" Updated Re-release, Persona 3 Reload would be treated with post-launch DLC content, in particular for The Answer epilogue from FES.
  • Bad Export for You: A goof up with distribution resulted in all Southeast Asian physical copies to be entirely in Chinese despite being labeled having English language.
  • Blooper:
    • The English localization somehow recycled the dialogue options from the Portable version's female route in the scene where the main characters (and Ryoji) have just arrived at the Kyoto inn. For those wondering, the Japanese version kept the options from FES or Portable's male route.
    • During the final boss fight against Nyx when it switches to the Hierophant Arcana, there's a slip-up from Fuuka's VA.
      Fuuka: Nyx just changed the Hierophant!note 
  • Content Leak:
    • Reload was accidentally revealed on June 8, 2023 via Atlus' Instagram account, ahead of its intended announcement on June 11 during the Xbox Showcase. Official promotional trailers also get this bad, with an IGN overview video being leaked early and an unlisted English language trailer that also mentioned a Nintendo Switch version being discovered◊, though this bit ended up removednote  and further insider research confirmed that Reload will not be released on that console.
    • In April, prior to the June leak, an internal 2021 meeting video leaked in mid-2023 that showed footage of Reload and a brief snippet of Yukari fighting in Tartarus, which was spread around Twitter and lead to speculation that a remake was in the works. It also showed footage of a new Jet Set Radio title (which was later revealed at The Game Awards 2023) and early footage of Sonic Frontiers.
    • Near the end of January, before the release of Reload, leaker Midori confirmed that the game would be getting post-launch content, with one DLC being an adaptation of FES' "The Answer" Playable Epilogue, with it planned to be released in the 2025 fiscal year. Dummied Out files supported this claim, as numerous pieces of data could be found about these plans. On March 6th, 2024, the Persona 3 Reload: Expansion Pass was announced, with "Episode Aigis: The Answer" targeting a September 2024 release.
  • Creator's Favorite: In a developer interview video between producer Ryota Niitsuma and director Takuya Yamaguchi, they were asked who were their favorite characters; Niitsuma's favorite was Fuuka Yamagishi and Yamaguchi's was the protagonist.
  • Cross-Dressing Voices: The female teacher Ms. Miyahara is voiced by a man in both dubs (Kazuki Ogawa in Japanese, Christian La Monte in English).
  • Dueling Works:
    • Even though Granblue Fantasy: Relink has a real-time action gameplay while Persona 3 Reload is turn-based, they are both 3D anime RPGs that released just almost a day apart on February 1 and 2, 2024. It was inevitable that there are comparisons and choices on which game would be focused on first if the gamer can't play both of them at launch.
    • Persona 3: Reload is this to Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, both being remakes of RPG games that were released in February 2024. By coincidence, their "remake" subtitle also alludes to their themes.
  • Dummied Out: Shortly after the game was released, modders got to work and discovered various unused content and dummy files never called by the game. Some of this content referenced Downloadable Content by their file names or text strings, but were not available for download anywhere during its launch.
    • Reload features dungeon and battle themes from various previously-released Persona games that are never called by the game, but a modder can enable them to make them usable, meaning these are on-disk DLC. This X thread lists all of the unused BGM discovered. These all appeared to be a part of a post-launch DLC plan called "P3 Reload Expansion Pass", as discovered in unused text strings meant to be used as notification for new content. This plan also features the Exploration Item Set and "The Answer" content. The Expansion Pass was revealed properly on March 6, 2024, with content that matched what was found to be dummied out.
    • As a further hint towards "The Answer" DLC before its official reveal, an enemy model of a shadowy version of the protagonist can be found in the (base) game's files.
    • For a (possibly) non-Expansion Pass example, Reload features 100+ dummy Persona data. The DLC Personas are listed internally after these dummy Personas, creating a huge gap between base game and DLC.
    • Unused strings mentioning Rio and Saori, who are Social Link characters exclusive to the female route in Persona 3 Portable, were found in the game code of Reload. Notably, both have character IDs far higher up than the S.E.E.S. members, existing Social Links, and villains.
    • Certain animations between the Hero and Aigis, specifically during the 12/2 story event (the former would held the latter's hand) and Rank 9 of the Aeon Social Link where the Hero would hug Aigis like in the FES version, ended up as this. These animations can be restored with a Game Mod.
  • Executive Meddling: If this Twitter thread is to be believed, according to one of the original English voice actors from Persona 3 (who is not named in the thread), the decision to invoke The Other Darrin for the English cast of Reload was made not by Atlus, but by parent company Sega, who wanted to "bring in younger/fresher talent." And the original cast were only informed of this decision via phone call.
  • God Never Said That: Following the game's proper announcement at the Xbox Showcase in June 2023, various news outlets such as IGN reported that Reload is strictly a remake of the original Persona 3 game and will not include content from either FES or Portable, leading several fans to be severely disgruntled. Said article was mistranslated, as Reload does include content from both of those previous releases, but it will not have certain story arcs such as the Female Protagonist's route or The Answer on launch. About a month after the game's launch, The Answer was announced to be be incorporated as post-launch DLC, but the female protagonist continues to remain locked to the original Portable release.
  • Limited Special Collector's Ultimate Edition: Reload has two similar special editions that come with a soundtrack CD, an artbook, and all DLC. The main difference depends on the region: The Japanese "Limited Box" includes a replica of the new S.E.E.S. armband, whereas the English "Aigis Edition" has a statue of Aigis.
  • Meaningful Release Date:
    • A trailer for Reload was posted on July 3rd, 2023, which was the night of a full moon. Pre-release material about the game was released on nights that had full moons.
    • To celebrate the franchise selling 22 million units post-Reload's release, Atlus released a "Promise" trailer, that was not only a recreation of the first trailer of the game, but it was released on March 5th in most regions, the date that S.E.E.S. made a promise to see the Cherry Blossoms on graduation day, and the last day of Persona 3's in-game calendar.
    • An expansion pass for the game, which included additional battle music from Persona 4 Golden and Persona 5 Royal, Velvet Room outfits, and an Episode Aigis: The Answer DLC, was announced on March 6th. The trailer was released after March 5th, the last day covered in Persona 3, and the day after the protagonist died after falling into a coma on graduation day, which is integral to the events of "The Answer".
  • Meme Acknowledgement:
    • There's quite a few references to the "I've been waiting for this!" meme.
      • Atlus released a trailer for Reload during Anime Expo 2023, which they said “We’ve been waiting for this”. Alejandro Saab also read the line during the Reload panel at the expo.
      • Akihiko says the line in the "Battle Strategy Trailer", and he still says it in the remake.
      • Atlus made a post on their social media pages that celebrated the launch of this game which said "you’ve been waiting for this."
      • During a study session, one of the options in the protagonist's Dialogue Tree is "I've been waiting for this!" If chosen, Junpei will respond with "Not you, too."
    • While playing Innocent Sin Online, the protagonist comments that Maya's avatar "danced crazy". This is a reference to the "Mark danced crazy!" meme that originated from the PS1 version of Revelations: Persona.
    • One of Junpei's lines while exploring Tartarus has him expressing how he misses when Mitsuru was the Mission Control before Fuuka joined, likening it to being "stepped on". This refers to how some fans see Mitsuru as a dominatrix of sorts, especially with how she "executes" people, and her future appearance in Arena where she looks the part.
  • Meme Role Reprise: Aleks Le made meme roleplay videos within the context of Persona 3 Reload, as seen in his official YouTube channel. Sometimes he did them by himself, like "makoto yuki at your door telling you to play P3R (asmr roleplay)" where he voices the Protagonist and Pharos. However, some of his meme clips may also feature his fellow Reload voice actors; "Milkshakes at midnight in Tartarus (GONE WRONG) (HELP!!!)" was made via a collab with Zeno Robinson (Junpei), while "Fuuka completely Fuuked up the cake" was voiced by Suzie Yeung (Fuuka).
    Suzie Yeung: Dear Leader, Do NOT come to the dorm. I've baked an absolute poopoo cake. Just completely fuuked it up. I'm so sorry—
  • Method Acting: At Anime Expo 2023, Zeno Robinson shared that he wore a baseball cap when recording lines for Junpei to help get into character. Heather Gonzalez revealed that she went even further by dressing up like Yukari for all of her recording sessions.
  • No Export for You: Certain countries do not get any official releases of Persona 3 Reload despite interested players being able to see it on digital distribution platforms (where the platform will say the game is not available in their country), an example being Saudi Arabia.
  • One-Take Wonder: According to Aleks Le, the protagonist's scream when summoning his Persona for the first time was done in one take.
  • Orphaned Reference:
    • Characters still talk about how dozing off during lectures makes them feel refreshed as if it's a gameplay hint, but without the Fatigue system this doesn't help at all (sleeping now slightly increases your Courage).
    • There's still an ability to take a quick tour of the clubs before joining, but this is entirely pointless as you can no longer choose between different clubs, being limited to Track and Art.
    • On her date in Paulownia Mall, Elizabeth references you bringing her items dropped by enemies; she doesn't give that kind of quest anymore.
  • The Other Darrin: Persona 3 Reload recasts a lot of characters in both the English and Japanese dubs, though many of the main characters' original Japanese voice actors reprise their roles:
  • Preorder Bonus: The Persona 4 Golden soundtrack was given to those who pre-ordered the game or got it around release day.
  • Promoted Fanboy:
    • Zeno Robinson mentioned upon announcing his role as Junpei that he's a huge fan of Persona 3, citing it as his favorite game in the Persona series. He was one of the people that voted for Atlus to do a remake when the publisher was doing those surveys.
    • Chris Hackney was a fan of the Persona series since the original game, and was very excited that he was the voice of Jin Shirato for Reload.
  • Real-Life Relative: The elderly Kitamura couple are voiced by Naoki Tatsuta and Sanae Takagi, who are married to each other.
  • Recast as a Regular: Dawn M. Bennett, Alejandro Saab, and Joe Zieja all did additional voices in Persona 5 Strikers. Here, Bennett and Saab voice party members Aigis and Akihiko Sanada respectively, while Zieja voices supporting character and Social Link Kenji Tomochika.
  • Role Reprise:
    • Most of the original Japanese cast who first played the characters in the original game (and subsequent spin-off media) reprise their roles for Reload.
    • President Tanaka is once again played by Patrick Seitz, after first taking up the role in Persona 4: Dancing All Night in the English dub.
    • Kirk Thornton reprises as Igor from Persona 5.
  • Saved from Development Hell: According to the Developer Message video released shortly after the Persona 3 Expansion Pass announcement, The Answer managed to be developed to completion thanks to heavy fan demand, despite that fact that Atlus was seriously considering scrapping the project due to numerous development hurdles. Dataminers have revealed that assets for The Answer were already present in Reload, meaning that if The Answer had been scrapped, it'd have happened fairly late in development.
  • Spoiled by the Merchandise: Reload introduces numbered armbands for each S.E.E.S. member. If you talk to Yukari in Tartarus on June 13, she wonders why there's no number 2, a foreshadowing that will be uncovered later in the game. The Persona 3 Reload Profile Backgrounds that can be bought online in the Steam Points Shop feature the S.E.E.S. members with their assigned number, revealing Shinjiro is assigned to the number 2, and spoiling that he's one of the first S.E.E.S. members alongside Mitsuru (0) and Akihiko (1).
  • Technology Marches On: Reload is still set in 2009, and as such, features technology that's pretty dated by modern standards:
    • When Junpei brings the protagonist to Paulownia Mall for the first time, he tells him that CDs can be rented from the music store. While that was a pretty common thing to do in 2009, it's certainly something dated today thanks to music streaming services. The protagonist also listens to music on a dedicated MP3 player, which aren't very common anymore due to smartphones. He also uses wired headphones, which are far less common nowadays due to the rise of AirPods and other wireless headphones.
    • Characters can watch movies together at the dorm. Said movies are played on a DVD player as opposed to a Blu-ray player or on a streaming service. The DVD player is also hooked up to a CRT television via RCA cable, which both fell out of use with the rise of high definition TV's and HDMI cables.
    • All cellphones the characters use are flip phones, which were common in the late 2000's.
    • Junpei will occasionally be seen playing a dedicated portable gaming device in the dorm. The last of these were the Nintendo 3DS and the Play Station Vita, which were both discontinued towards the end of the 2010's.
  • Throw It In!: In a behind-the-scenes video released by Atlus, there's a bit near the end where Aleks Le says "it's epic, and that's why everybody loves" which is followed by Le, Zeno Robinson, and Heather Gonzalez yelling "PERSONA" in sequence. However, according to Aleks Le, he recorded a portion for the video that had him discuss the themes and what they mean, but the editors decided to use his segment of him calling the game epic. There's also the part where Le does a call to action and asks fans to pre-order the game at "pre-order stores" around the world, along with him audibly corpsing at the end when he asks the production crew about the game's release date.
    Aleks Le: NO WAY THEY KEPT THIS IN 😭
  • What Could Have Been:
    • According to a developer interview, the subtitle of Reload was initially going to be Reloaded, but it was changed a bit because it focused too much on the action of the gun and not the Evoker as a Persona summoning device.
    • According to producer Kazuhisa Wada in the "Persona 3 Reload: Expansion Pass — Developer Message" video, they were almost forced to abandon remaking Episode Aigis, citing "challenging reasons". He also said the project "faced many setbacks" before it was officially moved into development.
    • Atlus was also considering adding the Portable-exclusive FeMC route in the game, but Sega told them not to because making this route would be way costlier than the base game and the Episode Aigis DLC combined.
  • You Sound Familiar: Some members of Reload's English dub previously appeared in prior Persona or Shin Megami Tensei games.
    • Shin Megami Tensei V:
      • Takaya Sakaki's new actor, Daman Mills, played Aogami.
      • Chris Hackney, who previously played Fionn Mac Cumhaill, voices Jin Shirato.
      • Allegra Clark previously voiced Artemis and Titania in SMT V before playing Mitsuru Kirijo in Reload.
    • Patrick Seitz voiced a lot of characters in past Atlus works, such as Gozu-Tennoh in Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne HD Remaster and Metatron in V. In the Persona series, he's voiced Persona 2: Innocent Sin's Big Bad Nyarlathotep (in the 2011 PlayStation Portable remake), as well as the Announcer/Malevolent Voice/the true villain, Hi-no-Kagutsuchi for both Persona 4: Arena and its sequel. For Reload, he is playing President Tanaka of Tanaka's Amazing Commodities, reprising from Persona 4: Dancing All Night, as well as other background characters.
    • Reload sees the return of some veterans of the Persona series.
      • Xander Mobus, the voice of Joker, voices Mr. Edogawa, the student who asks the protagonist about Yukari on the first day of school, and other Social Link/Background extra characters.
      • Cassandra Lee Morris, Erica Lindbeck, Erika Harlacher, and Cherami Leigh each voiced a member of the Phantom Thieves from P5. In this game, they all voice additional characters. Zach Aguilar, the voice of Ango Natsume in Persona 5 Strikers, also appears as an additional voice actor.
      • Sean Chiplock, who previously played Mishima Yuki in Persona 5, voices Mr. Ono, the Sengoku Era obsessed teacher at Gekkoukan High.
      • Alongside reprising as Igor, Kirk Thornton previously played Kinshiro "King Moron" Morooka in P4 and the SIU director in P5.
      • Grant George, who previously played Shinjiro, Jin, and Officer Kurosawa in the original Persona 3, also voiced the protagonist in the PSP version of Persona. In Reload, George plays Takeharu Kirijo.
      • Laura Post, who voiced Kasumi and Sumire Yoshizawa in Persona 5 Royal, voices an employee of Wilduck Burger, as well as one of the teachers at the school, Ms. Ounishi.
      • Yuri Lowenthal, who previously voiced the protagonist, Ryoji and Pharos in the original Persona 3, as well as Yosuke Hanamura in Persona 4, voices Eiichiro Takeba in Reload.
      • Susanne Blakeslee and Grace Lu, after voicing Jerri and Luca in Persona 5 Tactica's "Repaint Your Heart" DLC campaign, voice Mitsuko Kitamura and Maiko Oohashi of the Hierophant and Hanged Man Social Links respectively.

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