Persona 3 fans feel like Atlus has made a big mistake leaving Persona 3 Portable heroine Kotone Shiomi out of Persona 3 Reload, with many disappointed that the surprise Female Protagonist exclusion means the game won’t be “definitive” anymore.
Atlus’ decision to leave Kotone out of the Persona 3 Reload release stings even more, players declared today, because the developers actually decided to bring Joker from the franchise’s fifth entry into the Reloaded title as a challenge boss—a change that makes little sense for the story the game’s were originally telling.
As PC Gamer put it, “The dream is dead.” This was only compounded after Reloaded producer Kazuhisa Wada confirmed in a Game Informer interview the likelihood of Persona 3 Portable’s female protagonist showing up in Persona 3 Reload was “close to zero.” His reasoning, which fans didn’t love, leaned into the idea that it just wasn’t financially advisable and that the development team didn’t have much time to spend on the task.
These are solid reasons: Adding the female protagonist is no small feat. The character, nicknamed ‘FeMC’ by fans, is a complete reinterpretation of the main story. On top of that, FeMC’s route even comes with changes to the story’s outcome, depending on the Social Links players fulfill.
This hasn’t stopped fans being mad though, especially when many feel adding Joker to the game as a challenge boss feels unnecessary. There’s plenty of fans wondering how this is justifiable when Kotone isn’t (especially because Joker’s existence in Persona 3‘s canon implies a time paradox, but the Velvet Room has gotten away with weirder). What stings the most is that if Joker got a challenge boss, she easily could have received the same treatment. Some players would have been pleased with a cameo, if nothing else.
It doesn’t seem like there’s a clear answer outside financial incentives, which doesn’t necessarily make sense. Atlus likes to conduct polls for character popularity, so there’s numbers to backup the FeMC calls. Back when the series crossover game Persona Q2 was released, poll results showed FeMC dominating in comparison to Joker. These results were from six years ago, and that was for that game specifically, but even now, Persona 3 reigns supreme. The same results show that Persona 5 has become one of the series’ most popular titles, but even just limited to Persona 3’s cast, Kotone remains popular.
It seems fans have made their peace with Kotone’s absence, and Joker showing up does have plenty excited, but some wish everyone could get what they wanted.
