Take aquick lookthrough reactionsto developer Atlus’ announcement for the trialon Twitter, and you’ll see many fans argue that three hours is not enough time for something likePersona 3 Reload. The game has a pretty slow start and is front-loaded with a lot of cutscenes and story set-up. You likely won’t reach your first instance of combat and dungeon exploring until you’re over an hour in, and that’s if you don’t spend too much time wandering around the school area beforehand. you may save a lot of time by skipping cutscenes, but then how are you supposed to tell if you’ll like its cast of characters and story? This also doesn’t leave much room to get to grips with other important mechanics, like the Social Links and fusing Personas.
Yet to jump into Persona 3 Reload? 🤔PlayStation Plus Premium members can now discover the mysteries of the Dark Hour with a free 3-hour game trial! Progress and trophies carry over to the full game.Try now:https://t.co/O08n991Tylpic.twitter.com/RTM6mWUDnZ
Plenty have also drawn direct comparisons with Microsoft’s offer on Xbox Game Pass, which lets you playPersona 3 Reloadin its entirety. It’s not even as if Sony’s offer is distinctly cheaper. In fact, it’s ever so slightly more expensive; one month of Game Pass is $16.99, while one month of PS Plus Premium is $17.99. If you’re curious about trying outPersona 3 Reload, you may as well do so via Xbox.
Perhaps an ideal compromise would be to limit the demos to a certain number of days. I imagine Sony doesn’t already do this out of fear of players speeding through an entire game so they don’t have to buy it; remember, these trials grant access to the full game, not a small portion of it. This obviously wouldn’t be great for shorter games, but maybe there could be an exception for the longer ones, likePersona 3 Reload. Even if it was only a two or three-day limit, that’s more than enough time for someone to get a proper understanding of the game and decide if they want to keep going. Or maybe just make it a normal demo that has an exact cut-off point; one that still lets you continue your progress into the full game.
Sony probably won’t be changing its approach to handling PS Plus trials any time soon, but it’s offers like this that frankly don’t make them feel like much of a bonus for paying for a Premium subscription. Admittedly, the biggest selling point for the Premium tier is thecatalog of retro PlayStation games, but that’s not an especially impressive line-up either.
