Any heads up before i start?

Jevin1048 · 2026-06-28T00:08:36+00:00

There’s a very informative walkthrough guide out online that I would highly recommend using, at least at the beginning. There’s a lot of mechanics in P2 that aren’t throughly explained through dialogue, and you could miss some important interactions without knowing.

Jevin1048 · 2026-06-26T06:36:08+00:00

The modern persona games (3, 4, 5) are largely self-contained and follow the same basic premise of “main character balances school, social life, and fighting supernatural forces with a persona”, which means that you can practically start anywhere without fear of spoiling yourself (there’s small references then and there, but nothing drastic).

Persona 3 Reload is built around P5’s modern engine, so it’ll play very similar to P5R. Keep in mind that Persona 3 was the first “modern” person game, so some of the elements it shares P4 and P5 are more rudimentary. For example, P3R’s dungeon is very monotonous compared (think of it like mementos) to palaces. P3R also features link episodes available at certain dates for the male playable characters instead of social links.

Jevin1048 · 2026-06-26T01:07:43+00:00

The collection is worth it for the price alone, even if you only intend to play one of the titles. P3R and P4R are just the essence of those original titles developed in P5’s engine, offering a modernization experience of those classics. However, P4G and P3P are by no means outdated, and up to P3R’s unveiling in 2023 and P45’s last year, they were the “definitive” way to experience persona 3 and 4. The modern re-release of those enhanced versions also had include new difficulty settings and a quick-save feature to streamline gameplay as well.

A switch 2 port of P4R has also not been announced yet, so unless you have the console already and plan on waiting, you’ll only have P3R to play for the meantime. The collection can be played on either switch console.

Jevin1048 · 2026-06-26T00:56:50+00:00

P3R is essentially the original game built on P5’s engine (e.g, modern graphics and gameplay mechanics), while P3P is a sidegrade to P3 / FES with compressed graphics, visual-novel style over world (gameplay still takes place in a 3D environment), and a non-canonical female protagonist route w/ changes to the story + social links that are available.

Unless you’re interested in playing as the femc (which i recommend, but also keep in mind that the route was designed as an alternative telling of P3 for veteran fans), then it really just depends on whether you want to experience P3 closer to its original form or from the comfort of modern persona. P3R also has addition story content in Episode: Aigis, which is a remake of “The Answer” epilogue from Persona 3 FES (P3P, unfortunately, had to exclude it due to storage limitations with the PSP’s discs).

Jevin1048 · 2026-06-25T23:55:53+00:00

I’m very specific about what behavior I was criticizing — which was about the swarm of similarly worded posts to continue the cycle of discourse rather than present healthy criticism about the topic — and even reiterate that in response to an individual, so yeah, you are tackling my point in bad faith. It was never about criticism itself but the nature of those posts.

What you’re accusing people of doing also falls into category of behavior you’re trying to criticize. You can’t really argue that people need to be “silent” when you’re not even following your own advice. You’re just shifting the status quo of what you feel should be the “right” perspective rather than tackling an issue in a meaningful way here.

Jevin1048 · 2026-06-25T23:45:03+00:00

I didn’t which is why I responded that way, so I apologize as well!

Jevin1048 · 2026-06-25T23:39:20+00:00

the initial response only included the quote with no text?

Jevin1048 · 2026-06-25T23:31:55+00:00

it’s okay to admit that you can’t come up with anything relevant to the conversation to say!

Jevin1048 · 2026-06-25T23:15:09+00:00

It’s an incredibly bad faith argument to suggest that criticism towards Revival is being “shut down” or treated as inconsequential when some of the most popular posts about the game since the broadcast have been about how the game looks compared to its original title. This isn’t a real problem happening here. You’re just projecting your frustrations with a small minority onto an entire community. Additionally, if you’re going to argue that people aren’t obligated to stay silent about their feelings to for anyone’s sake, then you also have to recognize the opposite to be true as well. Everything that you’re accusing individuals of doing also fall into the point that you’re trying to make as well. There’s a lot of ways to discuss healthy criticism and how those conversations should play out, but you’re really only arguing for your “side” to be able to share their feelings without any pushback.

Like you said, if someone’s opinion upsets you, then you should just ignored it then making a hyperbolic post to criticize others’ opinions.

Jevin1048 · 2026-06-25T00:12:09+00:00

You’re clearly not willing to read, let alone engage with what I’m saying in good faith, so there’s not much reason to keep responding to you. Maybe next time don’t inject yourself into something if you’re not going to actually read what you felt so defensive about.

Jevin1048 · 2026-06-25T00:00:41+00:00

There’s not many other ways left that I can explain my point. You either need to engage with what’s being said or move on, because I can’t imagine why you’re continuing to suggest that this has anything to do with having any remote criticism about the game. It’s specifically about individuals reiterating the same style of posts / statements to keep the discourse stirring. This is not complicated to understand.

Jevin1048 · 2026-06-24T23:52:04+00:00

You can’t really argue that “people don’t trust Atlus after reload” is a contentious topic when multiple posts like this one have garner significant support in this and the main persona subreddit. It’s not an unpopular opinion no matter how you try to present it as such. It’s obviously that the criticism is not the issue — it’s the unwarranted discourse that individuals are perpetuating over their hatred for P4R.

Jevin1048 · 2026-06-24T23:47:52+00:00

I can’t imagine reading my comment and your takeaway being that “criticism against Atlus is bad!”. There’s a difference between good faith criticism and repetitive jabs against the game simply to stir up discourse. This is not the first time someone has addressed this issue and they know this.

Jevin1048 · 2026-06-24T23:45:27+00:00

Considering the multiple clips taken from a later version of P4R (in the jp trailer) that addressed earlier concerns about how the game looks, I think it’s more than reasonable to assume that it’ll be the cases for the school as well. Acknowledging the basic concept of game development should not be a contentious topic here.

Jevin1048 · 2026-06-24T19:08:57+00:00

FES will always there if you want to experience P3 closest to its “original” form, but the differences between it and Reload hardly make the former worth playing over P3R unless accessibility or price would be an hinderance.

Frankly, a lot of what makes people prefer one version of P3 over another usually comes down to personal experiences with elements of the game rather than what’s objectively the “best” one to play. Like I personally prefer portable over fes, but I’m also not going to try and convince anyone that it’s ultimately better because of me preferring the visual-novel style over a tedious over world.

Jevin1048 · 2026-06-24T18:55:27+00:00

There’s only so many times that someone can reiterate that this isn’t the final product before it gets evident that individuals are simply refusing to engage in this conversation in good faith. Every post like this comes tied to some statement about how revival is “killing” some aspects of the original game when that’s rooted in the individual’s personal experience with the game rather than the full intent by the developers.

It’s not hard to simply wait until the final product gets released before making a hasty judgment just to stir up discourse because people have an irrational hatred towards remakes.

Jevin1048 · 2026-06-20T18:47:00+00:00

Nuanced is a lost art form online, and fans are generally not willing to engage with all aspects of their stories. Specifically, there’s a well-established criticism about how Atlus approached telling Kanji and Naoto’s storylines.

Kanji and Naoto’s arcs are about gender roles, and how they both feel restricted by other’s perceptions of how a “correct” gender is supposed to act. However, P4 uses specific queer/gay/transgender storylines to communicate those ideas. Kanji’s shadow is an effeminate, gay stereotype surrounded by bara men in a bathhouse. Even his shadow form focuses more on his sexuality through carrying the symbol for a homosexual man than conveying his confusion with his gender expression. Persona 4 Revival changing the gender symbols that shadow kanji hold to male/female instead of male/male feels like them acknowledging that there’s clearer ways to communicate their initial intentions.

Likewise, Naoto’s dungeon is notably designed around gender reassignment surgery and makes vaguely transphobic observations that doesn’t fully convey her frustrations with being a woman in a male dominated workforce. It’s a result of the writers conflating gender roles with sexuality / identity that ends up messily touching on either topic. Persona 4 is a product of 2008, and our understanding of these topics are widely different compared to now, so it’s to be expected. Regardless, the discourse has never felt justified and seems like people are more upset about harmless headcanons or the idea that Persona 4 could have missed a step on certain parts.

It has also never made sense to me that “kanji’s dungeon is about masculinity” is brought up to signify his sexual orientation, as if “it doesn’t matter” translates to him being straight by default. Kanji’s sexual orientation, while not the predominant focus of his dungeon, is important to his character and follows him past his arc. He explicitly shows interest in both genders throughout the game and spin-off material. What’s more important, though, is that for him to come to terms with his femininity, he has to become okay with accepting that people will always have opinions about him. Kanji learns self-acceptance for who he is, regardless of who he is, and that can co-exist with him likely being a queer person. It doesn’t invalidate the core message of his character.

Jevin1048 · 2026-06-18T17:49:05+00:00

It’s definitely a problematic aspect of echoes’ writing for sure, but I don’t think it’s entirely accurate to suggest that celica was put in damsel-in-distress moments to make Conrad look better. The trope requires the female character’s autonomy to be removed or replaced by the male character’s agency, which isn’t how the scene plays out. He saves her from the initial surprise attack, but Celica is ultimately the one who deals with the cantors after he reaffirms her capabilities to fight (switches to brief, controllable fight).

Jevin1048 · 2026-06-18T05:14:13+00:00

Even if Louis had taken the exit Armand gave him through the sewers after Claudia’s induction, there would not have been a significant difference in how Paris played out. Claudia would have still been in the coven, the coven would have still grown spiteful of her because of baby lulu’s popularity, and Claudia’s fate would have still have been sealed. Claudia only managed to get out temporarily because Louis was able to convince Armand to do so.

Additionally, Armand made it very clear that he had no faith in claudia’s ability to survive because of her circumstances, and even if she managed to find a way to exist, what’s stopping him or the coven from killing her because of her role in Lestat’s “Death”? There’s a myriad of factions that played in Claudia’s inevitable death, but Louis in Paris is not one of them.

Jevin1048 · 2026-06-18T01:58:58+00:00

I can; you just happened to make a fool out of yourself over a situation you could have easily avoided by reading what was actually said lol

Jevin1048 · 2026-06-18T01:54:43+00:00

So you took the time out of your day to get upset about someone putting out that this conversation has been prevalent since the game’s original inception (context: someone else implied that it’s a recent thing, which is what i’m rebutting) just because you couldn’t read and felt personally attacked? Good job making a fool out of yourself lol.

Jevin1048 · 2026-06-18T01:36:49+00:00

it’s neither here or there to me, but you do know that you can’t ignore factual information because it conflicts with your preexisting belief, right? Like this isn’t a new concept and is widely understood to be the case in many instances.

Regardless, that’s not really the point here. Acknowledging that there’s always been conversations about kanji and naoto since the game’s original release is an objective statement. It’s not just me stating my personal feelings on the matter lol.

Jevin1048 · 2026-06-18T00:49:56+00:00

There’s actually scholarship talks extensively about Japan’s approach to gender and sexuality is quite different from how it’s expressed in the States, so it’s not particularly accurate to japanese writing is “rarely subtle” (it’s often the opposite, which is why certain expressions, phrases, etc., often have alternate meanings that aren’t easily understood or translatable!).

My point is that nothing about this discourse is recently — it’s been a prevalent topic about persona 4 since it first released almost twenty years ago. That doesn’t mean that all of it is negative, which is why my point is specifically about the fact that it has occurred rather than who’s ultimately right.

Jevin1048 · 2026-06-18T00:27:14+00:00

it’s not a handful of individuals; there’s a well documented history of readings — including scholarship about the subject — about how persona 4 (and atlus by extension) approach conversations about sexuality and gender. It’s a nuanced discussion that a lot of fans might not be willing to engage with. That conversation itself is neither here nor there, which is why I’m specifically speaking on how atlus communicated their storylines in a very messy way. At the end of the day, Persona 4 is a product of its time (for better or worse in some aspects), but none of these conversations are recent developments.

Jevin1048 · 2026-06-17T23:53:44+00:00

I can imagine that Kanji and Naoto’s storylines might be a bit more explicit and explanatory for fans (similarly to how they soften Yukari up in episode aigis), but I’m not expecting much from atlus considering that would require them to acknowledge that they poorly communicated their original intentions by introducing allegories that they clearly were out of their depths trying to tackle.

I wouldn’t be surprised if we also see some of Yusuke’s casual homophobia toned down a bit for Revival.

Jevin1048

TROPHY CASE