Persona 3 Reload Is My Personal “When We Were Young Festival”
Last January when Persona 3 Portable hit PC and consoles I took the plunge and picked it up on day one. I hadn’t played the game in 13 years so I figured I would let nearly 30 year old me experience what 16 year old me fawned over. After a few hours I decided that I should let the past stay where it’s at and shelved the game, only to be smacked a few months later with the announcement of Persona 3 Reload- a full on remake of Atlus’ life sim/dungeon crawler hybrid.
Cut to February of this year and P3R is upon us. I only have a few hours logged as of writing, but I can say with my chest that this game’s new systems and features are exactly what I was craving. I’ve been waiting for this.
Now let’s dance around the main topic for a moment. If you’re currently over the age of 30 and you played Persona 3 or 4 as a teenager then you’ll absolutely understand where I’m going with this.
Who’s your favorite Happy Tree Friend? Do you have your old Skullcandy earbuds? What did you think of that new My Chemical Romance song that came out a couple years back?
Persona 3 Reload is like walking out of the GNC pharmacy and walking into a Hot Topic fresh out of 2006. Your watch as your New Balance shoes turn into Vans and your cargo shorts morph into Tripp Jeans. No matter what gender you are, you suddenly find yourself wearing black eyeliner.
If one or more of these things has you waxing nostalgic then you may have heard of the When We Were Young Festival- where 40 something year old emo artists perform their greatest hits to a bunch of 30 something year old fans. It’s nostalgic fun, something that a lot of people take for granted. Some people never leave the Gamestop and find themselves wearing snap-backs with Mario question blocks on them, and some people like to play an old game from their childhood from time to time. Both paths are harmless, but I like to think that I subscribe to the latter ideology these days. Persona 3 Reload is a wonderful trip back to adolescence.
-PA
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