Persona 3 Reload leads decided against adding Portable's female protagonist to the JRPG because it'd take too long and be too expensive
Mar. 8, 2024Persona 3 Reload’s general producer says there’s no chance of Kotone Shiomi being added to the remake
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It’s bad news for anyone who was holding onto the hope that Persona 3 Reload might add in a female protagonist eventually, as it’s now been confirmed that there’s “no chance” of it happening.
For this same reason, it was especially bittersweet earlier this week when anexpansion pass for Persona 3 Reload was revealed, complete with the epilogue content from FES, but still no Kotone in sight. Speaking toFamitsu in a new interview(translated viaGoogleand DeepL), general producer Kazuhisa Wada states that even though adding the female playable character was considered during Reload’s development, “the hurdles were too high.”
Specifically, he explains, adding Kotone would have had a lengthy development time which would have cost “several times as much” as the epilogue. He adds that the Persona team has “a mission to work on not only remakes but also ‘completely new’” projects, too.
Even though it’s by no means the same as having her added to the game officially, it’s worth noting thatmodders are working on making it possible to play as Kotonein the PC version of Persona 3 Reload, which is better than nothing. As well as using a female character model, the UI has also been changed from Reload’s usual blue palette to a pink one, much like it was in Portable if you chose to play as Kotone. It’s still a work in progress, with contributors making changes to things like gendered dialogue throughout the story, but it’s one way to experience the game differently if you’re not playing on a console.
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I’m one of GamesRadar+’s news writers, who works alongside the rest of the news team to deliver cool gaming stories that we love. After spending more hours than I can count filling The University of Sheffield’s student newspaper with Pokemon and indie game content, and picking up a degree in Journalism Studies, I started my career at GAMINGbible where I worked as a journalist for over a year and a half. I then became TechRadar Gaming’s news writer, where I sourced stories and wrote about all sorts of intriguing topics. In my spare time, you’re sure to find me on my Nintendo Switch or PS5 playing through story-driven RPGs like Xenoblade Chronicles and Persona 5 Royal, nuzlocking old Pokemon games, or going for a Victory Royale in Fortnite.
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