To me, this game serves as the polar opposite to another remake I'm somewhat "mixed" on, being Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition. In that instance, the original was refined and improved to present the best possible way to experience it, while it's new additions to warrant it's existence fell fairly flat in most areas, while here all of the new content is absolutely fantastic, but the original experience is so far disconnected it can hardly be considered fairthful.

Social links being voiced has turned what I initially believed to be a fairly mixed bag of characters into a fucking fantastic roster that I can't get enough of (except for Nozomi he still sucks ass). Finally having direct commands in a version that isn't locked behind a light novel is great, all the new evening activities expand positively on the established characters while giving the player things to do that aren't going to sleep every night, the Shinjiro buff is AMAZING, and the new presentation of tartarus is fantastic. The new dub cast are FANTASTIC, and while some of the mid 2000s charm is lost, I feel fairly confident in saying that almost every major characters voice matches the original, if not IMPROVES it due to better direction and delivery. Pretty much every brand new feature lands the mark, HOWEVER there are unfortunately a handful of warped, if not flat out REMOVED, pieces of content that impact the game pretty severely.

The option to choose clubs for the Chariot and Fortune social links, the tiredness system which encouraged smarter routing for Tartarus trips, The Answer, pretty much everything new in Portable, multiple weapons for the protagonist, Monad block, the mp3 player featuring P1 and P2 tracks for tartarus, several of the party control options for commands, most of the protagonists fusion spells, tonnes of features and gameplay elements which were ESSENTIAL to making P3 FEEL like P3 are just... completely absent from this """faithful""" remake.

Despite all the new editions, there's still a lack of nighttime activities, the answer being delegated to DLC is disappointing though understanding given the games development struggles, which are mainly notable through all the P5 asset reuse as well as certain backgrounds in the life sim world looking like complete shit, mainly in the school, the surrounding environment on the roof and in the middle courtyard is horrendous, and the PS1 hedge outside of the school which is on full display during the games ending is downright embarrassing.

Even with the clear development (and probably also budget) struggles it is still downright APPAULING to make the answer DLC over $50 aud, since if this epilogue was AS IMPORTANT to the core P3 experience as the director CLAIMED it is, they should've just held back the game and worked to get the content added. This isn't even mentioning the complete removal of the female protagonist and all the unique content relating to their own route.

At the end of the day I don't know why I even bother complaining about all these things, ultimately Reload is still the most readily available, user friendly and inviting way to play through the best story the Persona series has to offer, and despite FES and Portable having their own issues that made me hold off from finally beating this game until Reload, I still think it's extremely unfair to hold back content that fans of the original love, in the name of a """faithful""" remake, which completely changes the flow and feeling of the game. It's also a huge shame that I know of all these cool options and pieces of content from prior versions, that I won't get to experience because said versions of the game aren't readily available, or in a state in which I find them fun.

It's a huge shame that, rather than being the MAJOR release that finally brings together all persona fans in unison, this game is just gonna spark several more decades of dipshit fighting over which version of P3 is the best, and as much as I want to rank this game higher, I cannot in good faith give it higher than an 8, since I know for a fact that, had I actually had the patience to get through FES or Portable first, I wouldn't like this game anywhere near as much. If ATLUS doesn't learn from these development struggles, and tries to pull this same shit with P4Gs extra content, I am going to lose my shit.

Very tricky to discuss this one, on the one hand the story is fantastic and serves as a good (albeit very short) sendoff for Kiryu, and it has some of the best minigame variety and execution in the series. Onomichi is a very fun area to explore, the ocean setting is very nice and makes up for Okinawa somewhat lacking it, and it stands out a lot compared to the others as a result.

HOWEVER, there is one key fault that holds this game back from being among Yakuza's best, and it's its progression system. Most people would usually jump straight to the Yakuza engine and it's poor combat and physics, however the occasional jank keeps it somewhat entertaining. On the other hand, the games progression is fucking awful, easily one of the worst of any game I've ever played. Most games that provide upgrades that simply increase EXP are already somewhat flawed as a result, but the fact that even after maxing this you still get barely ANY exp for doing anything is extremely unfun, and makes the game way grindier than it should have been.

Overall, like the other Yakuza games, it's story alone is worth playing through for, and it's side content and map are spot on, but the games progression and combat is unfortunately too fundamentally flawed to keep it from being truly fantastic.

Highest quality combat variety and minigames in the series, progression in the other games feels nowhere NEAR close to this satisfying and it's honestly SHOCKING how they went from this games progression to 6s which is HORRIFIC. Kind of unfortunate that it's the modern starting point, it definitely sets standards WAY too high, especially for Majima who yeah, is great, but REALLY isn't used to the extent that this game may give off. Notable difficulty spike as well which can easily catch new players off guard and cause a lot of frustration, encouraging techniques such as weapon and item spam which, while fun and viable within 0, REALLY sets up the wrong idea for the other entries.