Atlus has confirmed that Persona 3 Reload will not have the female protagonist or the FES content from the game’s PS2 re-release. Fans are especially angry, especially since the game’s female lead, affectionately called feMC by the fandom, changed the game in countless ways.
Ryota Nitisuma, the remake’s producer, told IGN that this remake would mostly focus on the original content from the PS2 release. While there are quality-of-life improvements, like being able to control your party members, there’s no extra story from FES or feMC from P3P.
However, a recent Famitsu interview (via @ScrambledFaz) teases that fan-favorite character Aegis will have her social link. As fans know, the character didn’t have a social link storyline until the FES game was made, already showing the hypocrisy in this remake.
Fans on social media are pretty mad at the lack of feMC in Persona 3 Reload and here is some of that anger:
“Last time I QRT something with this, but it is priceless for Atlus to make femc's entire arc in PQ2 about ‘your existence wasn't a mistake, you're just as important and canon’ and then cut her for the remake,” says @HntroftheHntrs. “Just total tone deafness to your own stories.”
“Atlus went ahead to remake Persona 3 and still couldn't make it the definitive package with everything,” said @TropicalMaku. “Unfortunately, this is Atlus and I expected that.”
“Gee, how DARE people be upset that a fan favorite character that DEFINES Persona 3 to a large group of people won't be playable in the upcoming new version of the game,” angrily chimed in @Exellocks.
It’s clear that fans want the extra content in the remake, especially since enough time has passed to include them all. This would have made Reload the definitive version of this Atlus classic but that isn’t the case. At the least, P3P Remastered still has value, for better or worse.
Read More: Persona 3 Reload and Persona 5 Tactica leak before the Xbox Showcase
Persona 3 Reload will be coming to Xbox Series, Xbox One, and PC. The game will likely come to PS4, PS5, and Nintendo Switch as well.