Whereas we had a whole lot of like to share in our Persona 3 Reload evaluation, we could not assist however observe one obtrusive omission within the remade slice of life dungeon crawler: Kotone Shiomi, the feminine protagonist added in Persona 3’s PSP port, Persona 3 Moveable. Regardless of her absence, Gamers have held out hopes that Moveable’s feminine protag choice may return as different content material from earlier variations of P3 arrives as DLC for Reload. Sadly, Persona collection producer Kazuhisa Wada as soon as once more says it is to not be.
In an interview from Recreation Informer difficulty 368—which, as a result of GameStop obliterated the archive for its recently-shuttered journal, is just obtainable in print—an apologetic Wada stated Atlus had thought-about including Kotone to P3R whereas planning the upcoming epilogue DLC, Episode Aigis – The Reply. Sadly, the quantity of labor would show unimaginable within the growth time Atlus had obtainable.
“The extra we mentioned it, the extra unlikely it turned,” Wada stated. “The event time and prices wouldn’t have been manageable.” Even when Atlus signed off on an eventual feminine protagonist DLC, Wada says it might launch up to now sooner or later that it would be financially unviable.
“P3R has simply launched, and there’s at the moment a whole lot of participant curiosity, so if we’re to do an extra launch, it must be now. However since it isn’t doable for us to launch P3R with the feminine protagonist on this window, we simply cannot do it,” Wada stated. “I am actually sorry to the entire followers who have been holding out hope, however it’s doubtless by no means going to occur.”
It is the second time Wada’s publicly apologized for Kotone’s absence, following an earlier mea culpa again in March. I do not envy his place; I can not think about a passionate fanbase is at all times keen to just accept the financial constraints on recreation growth with persistence and beauty.
Nonetheless, even with Episode Aigis – The Reply restoring the lacking epilogue content material from Persona 3 FES to P3R in September, the exclusion of a feminine protagonist will at all times sting. Fortunately for us on PC, modders are working to revive Kotone when studio budgets cannot.