For the people mad I didn't give this a "high enough score", I'd say this game is like an 8.5/10. I was looking forward to this game since I first saw gameplay of it way back in 2021 when I was 16. Now that I'm almost 19 and the game has come out, I can safely say that in a lot of ways, I think this game exceeded my expectations in terms of gameplay.

When I first played the demo, I thought the combat was good, but a little slow and clunky at times. That demo portion did not do this game the justice it deserves, because after the 2nd boss fight in the first hour or so, the game really starts to kick into high gear. The combat takes a more Soulslite direction in contrast to the Bayo-Nier sort of style we thought it would have, but it still feels like a wonderful mesh of both.

The game feels more like Star Wars Jedi or Nioh than FromSoft's Souls, which I think makes the game feel more approachable for people who aren't into the Souls genre. There are still hack n slash sensibilities in this Soul-esque mode. The Soulslite parts come more from little things like the lock-on, the healing and items, and the resting spots. However, this is a pure true-blue Capcom/Platinum Games style action game at heart.

There are so many set pieces and action moments that had me locked in and hooked. The boss fights were so much fun and provided a shit ton of challenge. I especially appreciate the high difficulty, even on the Story Mode difficulty, which I would personally recommend to the people that want to play this game but want a more fun laidback experience. The game is still challenging on Story Mode difficulty, which is pretty nice.

The biggest sticking point with gameplay is the platforming, because holy Christ is it janky. It's hard to describe, but it feels incompatible with your jumping for some reason. I don't know why this is the case, but it's there and it's annoying, but the platforming isn't there often, as the game has pretty linear missions, despite the open world, which I will talk about in my review video for the game.

The real thing that put this came below 4.5 stars and below a 9/10 was the story. I thought the story was just too derivative of Nier. There's copying your friend's homework and there's copying your friend's homework while trying to replicate the handwriting and writing their name on top. I'll go more in depth in my video, but I did feel like there weren't any surprises because I had played Nier. I also didn't find the characters all too interesting either, but that's just me. Maybe for the ones who didn't play Nier really love this story, but as someone who has played Nier, it felt too familiar, narratively.

Despite the unoriginal feeling story, I still enjoyed the hell out of this game, and it is my personal favorite game I've played this year so far. The combat's great, the bosses are fun and challenging, the set pieces are cool, and I really loved the visuals. I would definitely recommend this game to fans of Capcom or Platinum's action games

Persona 3 Reload is probably the best way to experience P3 for the first time, but there are plenty of reasons it's not perfect. I love that they kept the story pretty much the same with maybe a few additions to add onto the development of Strega, but that also means it has the same issues as the original. The gameplay is more fun, but it's also not that challenging after a while. The boss fights suffer most because they were so easy that I had to purposely underlevel myself at a certain point to feel challenged. The social links are really damn good this time around, and they have fun stories. Overall, this game is probably the best way to be introduced to P3 and a good companion piece, but even as far as remakes go, it's not the best out there.