Back in February of 2020, a viral social media campaign was trending on Twitter among fans of thePersonaseries. Mainly, fans were asking for and/or throwing around the idea of a #Persona3Remake, which is an understandable reaction in a world whereFinal Fantasy 7 Remakeactually exists. Being thatPersona 3was a very formative game for the franchise, many feel that the modern conveniences and innovations fromPersona 5could reinvigorate thePersona 3story with a modern interpretation. Obviously a full remake of aPersonagame is a lot, especially with the huge jump fromPersona 4toPersona 5. A remaster is more likely, but has very different obstacles.
Similar toPersona 4 Golden, the more likely scenario for the third entry in the series would be a high-res remaster or port to newer consoles.Goldenin particular was at an advantage for a modern port, mostly because the PS Vita edition ofPersona 4overhauled and modernized many of the visuals, among new features as well. Unfortunately forPersona 3, it’s not that easy. While futurePersonagames received clear and distinct definitive editions, releases that surpassed and arguably supplanted the original releases,Persona 3’s different versions make things a bit more complicated.
Differences Between All Versions of Persona 3
The biggest obstacle for aPersona3remaster stems from the differences between its vastly different versions. Currently, there’s three ways to play the thirdPersonagame:Persona 3proper on PS2, a director’s cut-esque inPersona 3 FES, and an “enhanced” port to PSP withPersona 3 Portable. ObviouslyPersona 3was the initial release back in 2006/2007, butPersona 3 FESexpanded upon the base game with new features in the base game, as well as added an epilogue entitled “The Answer.” Without thePortableport,Persona 3 FESwould’ve easily been the game’s definitive edition, but the PSP release has its own pros and cons with its many changes.
Persona 3 Portablemakes a ton of quality of life changes in terms of gameplay, but the drawbacks lie in some of the compromises made to bringPersona 3to PSP. Battle gameplay was expanded to allow for direct control of all party members,a huge change compared to the AI-only party members inPersona 3andFES.Persona 3 Portablealso featured two additional difficulty levels, as well as the ability to guard on battle turn instead of wait. However, many of the 3D environments outside of Tartarus were removed in favor of pre-rendered backgrounds, visual novel-style scenes, removed the anime cutscenes from key story moments, and doesn’t feature the epilogue as well.
Remastering Persona 3 Is Not as Cut and Dry
RemasteringPersona 3presents a conundrum mainly stemming from which version of the game would make the most sense being ported to modern platforms. ObviouslyPersona 3 FESwould be ported over the base game, considering only things were added between each PS2 release. However, remastering/portingPersona 3 FESinstead ofPersona 3 Portablemeans missing out on the things added inPortable. RemasteringPersona 3 Portablemeans gameplay supremacy over a ton of visual compromises because of the original PSP’s technical restrictions. There’s no clear superior version,unlike future examples ofPersona 4 GoldenandPersona 5 Royal.
There is the potential reality where a sort-of hybrid port could be released, melding the changes betweenPersona 3 FESandPersona 3 Portableinto one definitive edition. Obviously that’s a far more intensive development process compared to remastering one edition of the game, especially on an older game engine. That’s also likely where the allure of remakingPersona 3stems from, as creating a modernized definitive edition of the game would avoid these problems entirely. That being said, the likelihood of a full remake is a far less realistic luxury to expect.UnlikeFinal Fantasy 7 Remake, which modernizes a 23-year-old game,Persona 3is comparatively still modern.
Persona 3reaches its 15th anniversary this year, and consideringPersona 4 Goldenwas ported on a much less impactful anniversary, it’s not unreasonable to expectsomethingPersona 3-related coming this summer. There’s no hardcore evidence to support this, butPersona 4 Goldenwas essentially shadow-dropped on Steam last summer for the game’s eighth anniversary, so it’s not impossible. Unless Atlus and Sega do the unthinkable and commit to a modernPersona 3remake, aPersona 3 FESremaster would probably the next best option. FeMC fans ofPersona 3 Portablewould be disappointed, but to some, it may be better than noPersona 3re-release at all.
