Highlights
- Haru Okumura's story arc in Persona 5 Royal provides a lesson on how to tease latecomers to the party, which can help fix similar issues in Persona 3 Reload .
- Persona 3 Reload can benefit from giving more foreshadowing and buildup to its late party members, as seen in Haru's subtle appearances in Persona 5 before she joins the party.
- Including earlier introductions or cameo moments for characters like Ken and Koromaru in Persona 3 Reload can make their entrance into the playable cast more natural and impactful, similar to how Haru's presence was established.
Persona 5 Royal can take an important lesson from Haru Okumura, one of the party members from Persona 5. While Haru may not be a member of the party for the majority of the game, she benefits from an approach that many other characters in her position do not receive. In fact, taking some inspiration from her storyline could assist in fixing some of the story problems that Persona 3 Reload encountered in its original incarnation. While Persona 3 was great, and a big boost for the series, the remake can still improve in some areas.
Haru is a strong member of Persona 5 Royal's party, wielding battleaxes and grenade launchers that make her intimidating even before using her Persona. The heir to a large corporation in the culinary world, Haru ends up joining the Phantom Thieves after the discovery that her father is in line with the game's primary villains. Although she is a latecomer to the party, being the last permanent member to join, she fits in well with the group, having a sweet personality accented by an unexpectedly excited approach to battle. She makes the most of the screentime that she gets, being memorable despite her late addition.
Persona 3 Reload Could Mimic a Part of Haru's Presentation in Persona 5 Royal
Even though her place in the story meant that Haru didn't get enough development in Persona 5, the game does manage to make her relevant before her appearance. She makes a few appearances in the game before properly joining, being sighted during a couple of school events before her arc properly begins. Royal takes this even further by having her appear as soon as Joker joins his new school, and make occasional background appearances until her chapter came properly. None of her previous appearances are important, but they establish her as a presence rather than having her enter the plot out of nowhere.
Unfortunately, Persona 3 didn't do as good a job of foreshadowing some party members. Although Persona 3's party of playable characters was interesting, a couple more or less came out of nowhere. Ken and Koromaru show up pretty much right before the player recruits them with little or no buildup. The fact that they are two of the least involved in the overall plot doesn't help their case either. Even Aigis, despite being important to the plot and the star of The Answer, doesn't have much buildup before she gets inducted into the party either, somewhat diluting her impact.
Alleviating the issue by doing more to introduce these characters before inducting them into the playable cast would be an excellent change for Persona 3 Reload. Shinjiro is a good example of such, since even in the base game he had a good amount of buildup and character focus before joining the team. Reload could establish Koromaru as a dog who lives nearby early on, or move Ken into the dorm earlier to set up his subplot. Ken's case is especially notable due to how his plot intertwines with Shinjiro's. A mild rewrite of the game's events could ease them in more naturally.
While Haru might not be Persona 5's biggest presence, she still gets some respectable foreshadowing before her story arc's debut. Even though it looks like Persona 3 Reload will stick to the original in terms of story, a few adjustments to help things along wouldn't be a bad move. By including some earlier introductions or cameo moments, some of the game's later additions to the party can fit more naturally into the story. Through her early cameos in Persona 5, Haru could be a blueprint for how Persona 3 Reload should treat that game's party members.
Persona 3 Reload will be released in 2024 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
