Summary
Persona 3 Reloadis the series' first remake, and soP3Roccupies a strange place in the franchise.Persona 3is coming up on its 20th anniversary in two years, but it has also been approximately eight years sinceP5was originally released. As a result,Persona 3 Reloadis both a return to the series' past and a first look into the developer’s approach to the franchise’s future. In spite of featuring some of the simplified systems found in the original,P3Ris also the most advanced game in thePersonaseries in terms of presentation. Given the franchise’s iterative nature, many elements ofPersona 3 Reloadare likely to return in the upcomingPersona 6.
Since the originalP3,Personaprotagonistshave been designed to be vessels for the player. Rather than strongly characterizing each main character, Atlus has made them somewhat empty, with the hope that players will be able to insert themselves into the game. Atlus' approach to its silent protagonists is far from unique to thePersonafranchise, but it has still become an important part of the series' identity. Certain elements, such asP5’s dialogue choices, which seldom alter the overarching story of the game outside of Social Links, function solely to immerse the player in the narrative.Persona 3 Reloadmay indicate that Atlus is moving away from this approach with future entries, however.
LikePersona 5’s Joker,P3R’s protagonist uses first-person pronouns while narrating his thoughts. The use of the word “I” immediately sets these protagonists apart from those of older entries who generally avoided it. Even more than Joker, the protagonist ofPersona 3 Reload, is strongly defined. During the game’s opening minutes, he walks through town during Dark Hour and is unphased by the blood and coffins that fill the streets. The game also features far fewer dialogue choices thanP5, meaning that its protagonist is more rigid. While he is still silent,P3R’s main character is more concretely characterized than other modernPersonaprotagonists.
On top of fewer dialogue options and a more defined personality,P3R’s protagonist, portrayed in English byAleks Le, has more voiced lines in combat than previous player characters in the franchise. It seems that Atlus is slowly removing the silence from the series' traditionally silent protagonists. This flies directly in the face of one of the franchise’s defining traits thus far, but it continues to build on the trend established by the use of first-person pronouns inP5, and it could be an indicator of what is to come in future entries. Switching to more strongly characterized protagonists would allow forPersonagames to have more voice acting and forP6to take on a different approach to storytelling.
What Will Persona 6’s Protagonist Be Like?
Little has been said aboutPersona 6by developers at Atlus, but changes to the series made inPersona 5andPersona 3 Reloadcould hint at what is to come. Atlus has begun to craft more rigid main characters and, withP3R, has started to make them decreasingly silent. This shift gives some credence to the idea thatPersona 6could be fully voicedand finally buck the tradition of having a silent protagonist. Switching to a fully voiced player character would allow forP6to be the series' most cinematic and immersive story to date.
Changes made inP5andP3 Reloadindicate thatthe tradition of silent protagonists inPersonacould be coming to an end inP6. Even ifPersona 6’s hero is still mostly quiet, the series' move toward more strongly defined protagonists seems unlikely to stop. The success ofP5andP3Rshows that fans and critics alike are accepting of this shift in the franchise. Giving the main characters of each game a stronger personality could allow Atlus to lean further into the series' themes and allow for them to create more interesting inter-character conflicts.
