Persona 3 Reload and Dragon's Dogma 2
This is pretty much the year of the Japanese RPG. I played a lot of Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth of course, but I haven’t even touched the new Final Fantasy VII Rebirth yet, and apparently there’s also Granblue Fantasy: Relink, which I know nothing about but is probably cool. I’ve played a little bit of Unicorn Overlord too. But there are two games I’ve played a lot of: Persona 3 Reload and Dragon’s Dogma 2.
Persona 3 Reload
Oh what I fool I was last year. Two Persona games were announced, one of them being a Persona 5 spinoff, and the other a remake of Persona 3. And I thought, “Eh, do I really care? I’ve spent so much time on Persona, but do I really need more? Are the stories really even that good?” (It was part of the general “franchise burnout” I’ve been feeling).
And then I actually played Persona 5 Tactica and had a fantastic time with it.
But Persona 3 Reload? I still wasn’t totally sure if I should get hyped for that one. All I knew about Persona 3’s characters was that there was a robot girl and this other girl whose hair covers one of her eyes (classic). And the main character looks pretty emo. And there’s Elizabeth, who, let me tell ya, has a very different personality than Margaret. (I had played some, but not all, of Persona 4 Arena’s story, and out of the couple Persona 3 characters I encountered there, Elizabeth stuck out the most). Plus, in Persona 3 you gotta climb this tower called Tartarus the whole time, and how fun could that be?
But when Persona 3 Reload was about to release, I encountered some reviews. And hearing about the game, it was like I remembered… It’s a Persona game. I like those. And people really seem to like the story of this one. So yeah, I decided to buy the game on PS5.
However, I let it sit there a while so I could finish Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth first.
But then finally, I started playing Reload. And man. It felt good.
There’s something about Persona games that is so satisfying to me. Maybe it’s how the different systems interconnect? I build social stats so I can go more places and talk to more people. Building relationships with people allows me to fuse stronger personas. Stronger personas make it easier to defeat strong enemies as I progress through the dungeon, climbing higher and higher. Every day you spend in the game, you can see your progress in one or more aspect of the game, and I think that’s just a good feeling.
Quick background on Persona 3: it first released in 2006 on the PlayStation 2. It was the first game in the franchise to introduce the calendar mechanic, where every day you gotta choose how to spend your time. Will you study? Will you hang out with someone? Your choices matter. Persona 4 and 5 built further on this mechanic, but it all started here.
Now, Persona 3 as it existed back then isn’t really available on modern platforms. The closest thing we have is Persona 3 Portable, which was a PlayStation Portable version of the game that got ported to modern consoles and PC last year. The thing about Persona 3 on PS2 is that you can’t actually choose your party members’ exact actions in battle, and modern audiences will probably find that kinda crazy, so I feel like maybe since Portable changed that feature and allowed direct commands, ATLUS decided it would be the version to get ported. But Portable also lacks the anime cutscenes, and exploration is more limited. On the other hand, it has an alternate version of the story with a female main character instead of the original male one if you want, so that’s cool! But to me, Portable just didn’t seem like the best way to experience Persona 3.
And that’s why the idea of a Persona 3 remake, which fans have talked about for years, just seemed reasonable. Persona 5 brought in a larger worldwide audience than any previous Persona game, but ATLUS ain’t gonna make bank selling these people an old game! Gotta make a shiny new version of the old game!
If you couldn’t infer this already, I never played the old game. This remake was made for people like me! Casuals, that is.
Eh, well, I didn’t even have a PS2 as a kid or know this franchise existed at all, so, I don’t feel too bad about not having played the original game.
That said, I have played Persona 4 and 5. So, if you’re in the same boat as I was, you might wonder if I found this story to be quite familiar?
Actually, not really!
There are certainly character types that appear multiple times in the series—especially a guy and girl in the group having a sibling-like antagonism going on. That happens every time somehow (to a much smaller extent in 5, I will say).
There are gags they’ve recycled a few times. Oh no, we’re at a hot spring and pubescent antics ensue! (Persona 4 did this. Persona 5 avoided this but then stupid Persona 5 Strikers did it). Oh no, we’re at the beach and we gotta hit on girls! (Um actually, it wasn’t at the beach in 4). I know these games are about teenagers but this type of cliche comedy bit reminds me that the games are for teenagers too. Oh well.
I will also say, the final boss of this game does have a decent amount in common with Persona 5’s (not 5 Royal’s true final boss, to be clear). That’s a knock against 5 if anything.
But aside from all that, Persona 3, 4, and 5 all have unique topics. 5 is about righteous phantom thieves rebelling against a corrupt society. 4 is about finding the truth—not just the truth behind the serial murders in Inaba, but also the truth beyond people’s perceptions.
And 3? 3 is about death. Very plainly.
And that’s why it may be the most potent of all these stories.
Every main character has to face the death of someone they know, at one point or another in the story. There is even a social link with a dying young man. The manner of summoning personas is to point a gun-like object at one’s own head and pull the trigger. This game isn’t subtle, nor does it need to be.
Death is a scary, universal fact of life. With this story, all about facing death and finding meaning in life, Persona 3 really hits hard in so many moments. I can’t even think about the ending of the game without tearing up again.
So yes, the story of this game is pretty great.
But now let’s talk about the gaaaameplay.
Actually I pretty much already described the gist of it. It’s an RPG where you have to choose how to spend your days as a high school student (unusual) and also progress through a dungeon and fight monsters (normal RPG stuff) and also summon personas, which look like weird monsters themselves (normal Megami Tensei stuff).
Combat plays very similarly to Persona 5 Royal. But you don’t get to shoot enemies with a gun in this one, nor are there negotiations. There is, however, a system just like the Baton Pass in 5 where any extra turn (called a “1 More”) you get by striking a standing enemy’s weakness or landing a critical hit can be given to an ally.
Of course the enemies are much more like Persona 4 than 5. All those weird-shaped creatures and whatnot.
You and your party members also have special moves called Theurgy. They’ll fill up over time, with certain actions making them fill faster, and then you can save them for a strong enemy or use them whenever you want.
But yeah, overall, if you’ve played 4 or 5, you pretty much know what you’re getting into here.
Only, 5 has unique dungeons where you have to solve puzzles. 4 doesn’t have that, but it does have different areas with different themes and music, even though they’re mostly made up of procedurally generated hallways (don’t get me wrong: procedurally generated hallways can actually be pretty fun, and some of those handcrafted parts of Persona 5 were just a pain). In 3, you just go up a tower called Tartarus most of the game, and like 4, it’s procedurally generated hallways. So what’s that like?
Well I will say, if I have one complaint about the game, it’s that eventually, Tartarus gets old. It’s not as repetitive as it could be, of course. It’s divided up into sections, and different sections change up the look of the place, with the music slightly changing too (similar to how Persona 5 Royal changed up the music in Mementos as you got deeper, which made Mementos significantly more enjoyable to me compared to the original Persona 5). But uh, yup. That’s my complaint. And it’s a pretty mild one. Because for the most part, I enjoyed going through this huge, repetitive dungeon.
Now, you know what else a good RPG needs? A banger soundtrack. Otherwise, what’s even the point? Persona 3 Reload delivers on that. You get new versions of songs from the original game—which I did have some familiarity with—and overall, I think they’re great. Although the old vocals of “Mass Destruction” were a better fit for the song, I think (Yumi Kawamura sang all Persona 3 songs up until this point, but she stepped down, and Azumi Takahashi sings for this game in her place). Some songs are pretty faithful to the old ones, but many others have new twists. For example, the old dorm music used this generic rap sample, but this time, Lotus Juice lays down some new verses that take inspiration from that sample.
There’s a few brand new songs too, including one for exploring the town at night—and wow, that one is perfect. Lotus Juice is just doing this chill rap and then you get Azumi Takahashi singing this absolutely gorgeous chorus.
Definitely one of the other big reasons you’re gonna play this game or any Persona is for the characters. And let me tell you. I love these characters. Admittedly, a couple of the social links, you might hate. Others you’ll love. But the main cast? Aw man. These guys are great.
And I’m happy to announce Yukari Takeba is now my favorite. Sorry, other Persona girls. I am now Yukari’s fan for life. Well I still like Haru also.
Anyway. Should you play Persona 3 Reload? Yes. But what if you’ve never played any Persona game before? Definitely yes.
Dragon's Dogma 2
Dragon’s Dogma, created by Capcom, is a unique game. It first released in 2012, and I don’t know if any game has really tried to imitate it.
It’s an open-world fantasy action-RPG—and I know what you’re thinking. There are plenty of those out there. But what makes Dragon’s Dogma unique is its core idea of being a singleplayer game with an unprecedented multiplayer element—it’s a similar concept to the messages players leave in Dark Souls, but taken further. Basically, every player creates both their own character and another character called a pawn who will fight alongside them. A pawn will travel to other players’ games. Your pawn can learn things in other players’ worlds and share their learnings upon their return, and likewise, players that summon your pawn will benefit from whatever info and abilities it has to offer. So, if you don’t know how to do a quest (and you often won’t, be design) find a pawn who does know, and they’ll guide you. It’s a brilliant idea.
Also, the combat is more fun than most action-RPGs and you can climb onto big monsters.
Many of the game’s quests offer choices that will lead to different outcomes. I remember in one quest I was supposed to help soldiers win a battle. But I failed. That didn’t cause a Game Over screen, though. The game proceeded, with the result of the battle reflected in the quest log.
For whatever reason, Dragon’s Dogma didn’t take over the world in 2012. I first saw a glimpse of the game in 2018 on a roommate’s PS3, and I didn’t know what it was. Probably the main reason I ended up eventually playing it was because by that point I had gained a deep admiration for Capcom (I was late, for sure).
I guess you can’t expect a new IP to have the same cultural omnipresence as Skyrim (released just about seven months earlier than Dragon’s Dogma). Skyrim itself was and still is a game with a lot of bugs, but you might say Dragon’s Dogma has a different kind of jankiness. The characters speak in awkward-sounding old English, the story isn’t particularly good, pawns can be pretty stupid, an enemy knocked me right off a cliff which was very funny, fast travel is limited, and there was this part where I was supposed to catch this guy and didn’t realize I needed to actually press the grab button because maybe I’m just too dumb for this game
All that said, I really love Dragon’s Dogma. And I didn’t play it until 2022. (Technically that was the enhanced version Dark Arisen of course).
The surprising thing about the game is how it kind of gives me that Breath of the Wild feeling where I’ll set off on a journey into the wilderness, having no idea what’s out there, and end up encountering surprise after surprise. Most open-world games don’t manage to do that, for whatever reason (I guess that’s a topic for another day).
That said, the world of Dragon’s Dogma is not nearly as big as I hoped it might be. The director, Hideaki Itsuno, did envision it being bigger, but you know how it goes.
But that game was over ten years ago. The gaming landscape was different then. I mean, Capcom released Resident Evil 6 that year, a game overflowing with over-the-top action and explosions, and hardly anyone liked that game. But since then, Capcom has regained its swagger, to say the least, releasing hit after hit. Perhaps that’s why they now have the confidence to return to a game that I would classify as just a moderate sales success.
What’s crazy about Dragon’s Dogma 2 is that all the great ideas I loved from the first game are back and, in most cases, more fully realized. On the other hand, a lot of the jank is back too.
But would it really be Dragon’s Dogma without the jank? I kinda have a fondness for it, anyway.
Dragon’s Dogma 2 is built on Capcom’s RE Engine, like nearly all their recent games. They’ve created some absolutely gorgeous games using this tech. For this game, it’s the first time they’re attempting to use it for a huge open-world game. And the results are, well, not the smoothest. Hopefully they can keep improving that over time.
As for the game itself, though. I don’t even really need to describe it because what I said about the first game and the pawn system applies to this one too. Some might be disappointed that the game is so similar. But I found it exciting that the director, Hideaki Itsuno, got another opportunity to execute on his vision with fewer compromises this time.
You know one new thing? You can ride in oxcarts and take a nap in them to make the travel time go by instantly. Except sometimes the carts get attacked. If a big ogre or cyclops shows up, then there’s a possibility that the cart can just get totally destroyed. I love the unpredictability of it.
When I step outside a city to explore in Dragon’s Dogma 2, I am wowed by the size and beauty of this world. I do think there are moments where the haze in the distance doesn’t look good, and NPCs have a tendency to pop in out of nowhere. Also the framerate isn’t good. That said. I look at the mountains (I always love looking at mountains) in this game and I’m like DANG. Or the way light shines through the trees. It’s GORGEOUS.
It caught me off guard how there are no loading screens after the initial one when you load up the game or restart after dying. Entering a cave, you just enter it seamlessly. I know that should be pretty normal to me by now, but still.
The main story still isn’t really a draw. The voice acting is overall better, though there are some pawn lines that are read in kind of an odd way (one pawn sounded far too happy-go-lucky about a destroyed oxcart). Pawns have a greater variety of lines and have little conversations with each other, but this can still get repetitive fairly quickly.
Like the first game, your choices can affect how quests play out. Some have time limits. In one quest I was trying to help an artist sketch a griffin. But we killed the griffin too quickly. When the artist unveiled the sculpture based on the sketch, the rich guy who commissioned it was angry. I don’t get what was so bad about it though! Stupid guy. But uhh yeah I guess my pawns were just too good at fighting at that point. Should’ve left them behind, apparently.
In another quest, I was helping one NPC who wanted to kill this guy after exposing his crimes. I gathered evidence of the crime, and then I asked this other NPC for help. This other guy didn’t want to condone an assassination, however, and said he wouldn’t help me do that. I didn’t want to lose an ally, even though the NPC I was helping in the first place seemed pretty cool too.
I think romance in these games is funny because dialogue choices are almost never a game mechanic, so you can do a quest and end up romantically involved with someone even if you were just trying to be nice. I mean I could tell that’s where things were going with Ulrika. But still. It’s funny that there’s no way to say “No I don’t want to kiss.” Like, that would be pretty easy for them to just add!
When it comes to challenge, I remember the first game kicking my butt a lot, so I’m definitely at an advantage this time. There’s so much stuff I learned in painful ways back then, like trying to avoid going out at night. Nice thing about this game is that there’s a lot of auto-saving going on, so if I die, it’s not like I have to repeat much. I’m not a fan of repeating lots of stuff. I crossed the border into a new country and the road was full of monsters, and they were strong. This game does not seem like a nice walk in the park, but summon strong pawns and learn to retreat when things are clearly going bad, and you’ll be fine.
The soundtrack? Excellent. I love how, just like the first one, you’ll be fighting a giant monster, and then they get down a couple health bars and that theme kicks in. It always gets me hyped.
The pawn command system is definitely not perfect. I try to tell them to open a chest and sometimes they just don’t get what I mean because all I can actually do is tell them “Go!” Still, pawns are very helpful—especially when they want to take you to a quest destination. They’re a little too eager.
All in all, I’m loving Dragon’s Dogma 2. It’s that same magic I found in the first game, returning for a very similar but more impressive game. The people who made this game knew that had great ideas back with the first game, and they doubled down on them instead of trying to imitate other games and find more mainstream appeal. I just hope they can work out more of the technical issues in due time.
Well there you go, my thoughts on two games I’ve been playing. All the stuff I’ve already bought should keep me busy the rest of the year, right? There is one other thing coming out, though: Metaphor: ReFantazio. It looks like the gameplay of Persona but in a high fantasy setting. Made by the same people who made Persona, too.
Oh yeah, and Animal Well looks really good too.
Man, there are so many indies on my wishlist…. Will I get around to playing them? Maybe I can do that the rest of this year.