Persona 3: Reload - Stream Summary So Far...

So you may have noticed that this stream summary article is a bit different from previous ones in that I have titled it with the ambiguous "so far..." - this is because Persona 3: Reload is a big game and I just do not have the time (or, frankly, the willpower) to write a full on summary for every single stream I do, especially as I am streaming more frequently just to keep up with how long it is going to take me to complete this game, so I have opted to instead do a relatively (relatively being the operative word here) brief write up on what has happened so far - I won't be going into full detail of the typical level grinding involved in these types of games either. Grinding is boring to play let alone read about.

But before I continue, I must put the obligatory warning up, so...

*This post contains spoilers for Persona 3: Reload - Read at your own risk!*

Now I must confess, I kind of forgot to take some screenshots to begin with. Can you blame me? As a big Persona fan I was just so eager to get stuck into this one. So, without pictures I'll give a brief run down of the intro to the game in bullet point form.

1. The main protagonist gets a train to the dorm near where he will be attending school.
2. When he gets to the station, the sky turns green and the place is littered with coffins with no-one in sight.
3. When he gets to the dorm, the protagonist is greeted by a creepy kid who requests that he signs a document that merely means that he will "take responsibility for his actions". Weird.
4. He then meets fellow dorm resident Yukari who is pretty freaked out that the protagonist is there. 
5. Protagonist sleeps and starts his  first school day, where he is constantly followed and goaded into hanging out with fellow student Junpei. He came across as a bit of a space invader.
6. We then follow the protagonist back to the dorm with Yukari in tow, who informs him that the school chairman would like to meet him. Whatever could he want...

I think that catches you up until the screenshots start so let's dive into it! Basically when the protagonist reaches the dorm the chairman, Shuji Ikutsuki begins to ask him a few questions and I got some dialogue options to select in response. Despite being told to keep shtum about what I witnessed the previous night by Yukari, one of the dialect options I was given was to at least begin talking about the night in question, and even though I know, in typical JRPG fashion it wouldn't bite me on the backside to mention it, I thought better of it and avoided going down that path.

Being called to meet the chairman on your first day? Scary...

It only took a few nights of being told to go to bed early by literally everyone in the dorm, including by chairman Shuji himself, before I realised something weird was going on at the dorm. For example, Shuji alongside fellow dorm residents Yukari and Mitsuru gathered together every night in what I can only describe as a conspiracy nut's dream room to essentially watch me sleep. Creepy.

Why are you not in bed, young lady?

Anyway, Big Brother continued on for a few nights, rambling on about whether the protagonist had the "potential" or not. To be honest, this particular moment in the game was somewhat dull as it seemed to be a few nights of going to school, coming back to the dorm, being stalked by the dorm mates... you know, typical story set up stuff. At one point the creepy kid that made the protagonist sign the legally-ambiguous contract at the start of the game appeared in the protagonist's bedroom, probably annoying Shuji's gang what with blocking the stalker cam and all. Then, I heard the all too familiar tune of the Velvet Room where series staple Igor made his first appearance alongside his assistant Elizabeth. There, they told the protagonist about how their actions would be important in deciding the fate of the world or something like that...

You wouldn't happen to drum for Slipknot, per chance?

It wasn't long after this meeting that the protagonist would come back to the dorm after school only to be told, once again that they should get an early night, only this time it was going to be different. This time there was going to be an attack on the dorm.

I'm starting to get suspicious of the suggestions of an early night...

The protagonist awakens in the middle of what was known as the Dark Hour to fellow dorm mate, Akihiko returning to the dorm badly injured by creatures known as "Shadows". Yukari guides the protagonist to the rooftop to try and outrun the shadows but they catch up with them on the rooftop. Yukari puts a gun to her head, which I suppose is a perfectly reasonable reaction when you are faced down by mind bending horrors, but fails to pull the trigger. Meanwhile, the protagonist picks up the gun, utters "Persona" and summons their inner power... how the heck did he know to do that?

Yukari struggles to process the horrors before her

After getting a taste of my first battle of the game, Igor appeared yet again to explain to me more about Personas and how they work, as well as the all important social links mechanic. I also found out that I was special and I could contain the power of multiple Personas, which was nice.

Not Slipknot then? Maybe related to Pinocchio?

The next day was back to school life as normal and would remain so for another week or so. Maybe the chairman needed some more time to spy on me in my sleep, I don't  know. At least that gave me time to attend such riveting classes such as the one about mammoths...

Err, I think you'll find that's incorrect actually. And you call yourself a teacher...

Anyway, eventually the protagonist gets called into yet another one of the dorm's special post-sleep watching meetings where they actually decided to explain the Dark Hour to him. Basically the Dark Hour is a "hidden" hour at the end of the day that most people are not aware of as they are mysteriously interred into their coffins for the duration, which would explain the coffins we saw at the start of the game. The protagonist and those in the dorm however have "the potential", which means they remain awake during this hidden period and are able to summon personas through a gun like device called an "Evoker". They also talk about a giant tower that stands where the school usually stands called Tartarus, and how they believe that it is somehow responsible for the Dark Hour. Shuji then suggests, using a dad pun that I would generally appreciate, that the team meets at the end of the week to scope it out.

Stop. My sides are splitting.

That was just the introduction to the meat of the game. Took a full two to three hours just to get to this point, I felt I was entering the Dark Hour myself!

So now we get to Tartarus. It is worth pointing out that by this point it is discovered Junpei also has the potential (conveniently) and would be tagging along (*sigh*). Junpei constantly whined about wanting to be leader, but as the protagonist was the only one who was capable of fighting that already had experience fighting with their persona, he was elected as leader instead. This was just a scouting mission by the way, so that meant more tutorials (*groan*).

Tartarus was rather ominous, but the reception area was nice and safe

One thing that did become very clear to me was that Tartarus very much had the same role as the TV world in Persona 4, but it played more like Mementos in Persona 5. What I mean by this is that Tartarus, like Mementos is a multi-layered dungeon that escalates in difficulty with checkpoints that only open up at certain points in the story, but acts more like the focal point dungeon with specific levels dedicated to boss battles just like the TV world (and, to a lesser extent, the Palaces in Persona 5). Boss shadows in Tartarus were known as "Gatekeepers" and I got to fight one in my second visit there as the team were told "not to exert" themselves on their first mission. Boo.

Exactly the same advice I give to first time Twitter/X users

Not my first Gatekeeper, but the only one I got a picture of

What followed all this was an entire stream of me grinding. Sadly it was pretty much the only stream no-one joined me on, so all that I could focus on was the mind numbing repetition of twatting shadows and feeling a mild twinge of excitement when I finally leveled up. It did help that I pulled the Fool Arcana during Shuffle Time early on though which upped my experience earnings until I left Tartarus, that motivated me to push on without a break. I was also introduced to the Rush mechanic which allowed me to fast forward a battle and defaulting to auto attack for each character every turn on top of getting to see some interesting little inter-team dialogue which kept the interest from dropping too far down during the grind.

Rush mode is great for grinding, bad for tactics

Oh Junpei... you aren't ever becoming leader mate

Eventually I came to a "Border Floor", which are very much the same as the blocked floors in Persona 5's Mementos, as in they only open up once a significant event has happened during the main storyline. That kind of put a halt on my grind, but I reran a few levels just to squeeze the most out of that Fool Arcana and to use up the last of my SP before exiting Tartarus.

I forgot my passport as well!

Through plot armour, of course

That's almost where I left off the last stream, but I thought I had a little time left before I had to stop and so I managed to squeeze a little school life cliffhanger into the end, earning another social link whilst doing so.

During the last in game week or so, I forgot to mention that Kirijo had become the head of the student council, and she had asked to speak to the protagonist privately about helping her to run it due to his leadership experience. Well, we weren't about to turn that down! So on the next stream it seems like we shall be sorting out some student finances instead of killing shadows! Well, not really, but could you imagine?

Cliffhanger!

And you're all caught up! I know I have forgotten to mention some things but I'm sure I'll get the chance to mention them in future summaries. This took me a good few hours to write already and it has had a slight knock on effect for the blog so I'll just call it a day for now. Be sure to come join me in my next stream which should be on tonight at around 10:30pm (so long as plans don't suddenly change). See you then!

- D J Driver