Highlights

  • Persona 3 Reload features breakable objects in its dungeons, similar to Persona 5, but lacks the Third Eye ability to determine if they are worth breaking.
  • Collecting items by breaking objects in Persona 3 Reload can be tedious without a Third Eye equivalent, but it is still important for acquiring valuable items, especially on higher difficulties.
  • Despite this oversight, Persona 3 Reload still provides a well-crafted experience and showcases other improvements compared to Persona 5, but future Persona titles should consider implementing a similar mechanic to Third Eye for breakable objects.

Persona 3 Reload is the most recent release in the much-beloved franchise. The original P3 kicked off the era of modern Persona titles, which culminated in Persona 5 Royal, an enhanced port of P5. Persona 4 Golden and Persona 3 Portable are readily available on modern systems as well, but P3P lacks the definitive status of P5 Royal and P4 Golden. Persona 3 Reload, while lacking some of the content from the Portable and FES releases of P3, seeks to provide fans with the definitive way to play the influential title that eventually gave rise to the Persona series as it is known now, all while updating it with modern features from P5.

Persona 5 was the franchise's most significant leap forward to date. With eight years passing between it and its predecessor, P5 did a lot to modernize the franchise and make itself more accessible. Persona 5 used many anime tropes as well, helping it to capitalize on the medium's growing popularity. The game's meteoric rise into the mainstream can be attributed to a plethora of factors, but its approach to dungeon design and gameplay is no small part of its success. As opposed to the randomized dungeons of P3 and P4, P5 features deliberately crafted areas filled with puzzles to solve, items to find, and a greater emphasis on traversal.

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Persona 4 Golden Party Member Tier List

While Persona 4 Golden has lost its spotlight somewhat in the wake of successful games that followed, the Investigation Team are landmark characters.

How Does Persona 3 Reload Incorporate P5's Breakable Objects?

Persona 3 Reload Tartarus Item

While navigating Persona 5's Palaces, players will come across breakable objects. The form of these objects varies across the different Palaces but they are usually something inconspicuous, like a vase that is placed in the world. Players can use the Third Eye ability to determine whether the object is worth breaking. When using Third Eye, objects that contain items are highlighted. This ability is crucial because it lets players determine if making their way to each object and breaking it is a worthwhile time investment. Breaking objects isn't time-consuming, but Third Eye is still helpful and helps players focus on what matters.

Persona 3 Reload Leaves Third Eye Behind

Retrofitting some of P5's mechanics for its third entry, Persona 3 Reload introduces breakable objects to the landscape of Tartarus. These breakable objects take the form of rock-like spires. P3R's Tartarus is more visually diverse and elaborate but retains the original's randomization, and as such, these objects are scattered somewhat sporadically. Players can swing the protagonist's sword at them, as they would at enemies in the world, to break the object. Sometimes, breaking these structures is rewarded with an item. But unlike Persona 5, which lets players use Third Eye, Persona 3 Reload doesn't provide a way for players to determine if the objects are worth breaking.

Persona 3 Reload's Breakable Objects Have a Downside

Items are a big part of Persona's gameplay, and the breakable objects in P5 and P3R help to provide them for players outside of shops while making the game's environments feel more alive. P3R's lack of a Third Eye equivalent, however, weakens the mechanic. Running around the floors of Tartarus, making sure to break all the objects, is a tedious affair. Still, given the importance of items and their often high cost, it makes sense to do it, especially at higher difficulties. Furthermore, P3R added Theurgy and Shift, known as Baton Pass in P5, so the exclusion of a Third Eye style mechanic is difficult to attribute to P3R's attempts to be faithful to the original.

There are many things Persona 3 Reload does better than Persona 5, but its breakable objects are not one of them. The ability to get more items while exploring Tartarus is great, but the lack of Third Eye makes it tedious to try and collect all the items on each floor, and the addition of a similar mechanic wouldn't take away from P3R's story or presentation.

The game's approach to breakable objects in its dungeons should be better, but ultimately, this one oversight does little to take away from the overall well-crafted experience that is Persona 3 Reload. Hopefully, the next mainline Persona title will include a mechanic like P5's Third Eye so that it can perfect its implementation of breakable objects.