Can you control your party members in Persona 3 Reload?

A staple of turn-based RPGs is being able to control your party members. When a playable character’s turn comes up, the player chooses what they do based on their skills. This might seem unnecessary to explain, but the original Persona 3 was an exception to this rule.

Assuming Direct Control

In Persona 3 Reload, you can control your entire party or allow them to make their own decisions.

Although previous installments allowed direct control, the franchise’s soft reboot instead relied on giving CPU-controlled team members basic tactics. Direct control over party members were introduced again in Persona 4 and then Persona 3 Portable on the PSP. With a remake of the base Persona 3 called Persona 3 Reload coming out, this raises the unusual question of whether it allows players direct control over party members.

Thankfully, this is the case, being a nice carryover from the original’s sequels. Automating party members is still possible, but most players will likely be most comfortable with direct control.

So, what else is new?

There’s quite a bit different, but it’s a toss-up of what the remake is changing from the original. While direct party member control and some gameplay features from Persona 5 carry over alongside some new mechanics, Persona 3 Reload leaves some head-scratching details alone.

Most content from Persona 3 re-releases is absent from the remake. This is largely swathes of story content including the female protagonist route and The Answer epilogue. As far as combat is concerned, it’s more in line with later Persona titles, offering a snappiness that many turn-based titles don’t share.