the only major failure of Reload is its inability to conclusively provide a definitive, objectively best way to experience Persona 3, though not through lack of trying.

ATLUS's dedication to a faithful remake forced me to concede the plausibility of other approaches, such as rewriting and reordering certain social links from the ground up. what truly stops Reload from attaining the same level as the original for me is a simple difference in vibes: in-engine cutscenes, while now plentiful, don't capture the same abstract as their original animated counterparts, and its no secret that a lot of the track remixes are hit or miss, yet the game's new content and its perfect alignment with P3's original thematic writing easily makes up for this.

there's not much else I can say about Reload besides. it's still Persona 3, and I know it to be such because it found new ways to break me; a simple 'Thank you.' was all it took to incapacitate me as I collapsed onto my desk and sobbed my heart out.

cheers, ATLUS. now kindly leave it at that and never make another P3 spinoff ever again.

Since I played the original last year, I will only discuss how I see this game as a remake. For my opinion on the original, check my review on it. As a whole, since it's a pretty faithful remake, I'd say is as good if not better than the original. It's by far the most heartfelt modern Persona game, and its gameplay is made much more accessible than that of the original. It's just really good.

I said it's a very faithful remake, so it picks up both the best and the worst of the original P3. I'll start with the biggest negative.
Tartarus sucks. That's the main thing to take out of this review. It sucked in the original, and it sucks now. P4's dungeons aren't good either, so it's actually P5 which differentiates itself in this aspect in the trilogy. The devs took a look at how much would it cost them to actually update Tartarus compared to the backlash it would get from P3's purists, only to still be labeled as "worse than P5 palaces" by new players. They took the safe option of polishing it up a bit and let it be as is. I think that was the right option, but that leaves it a big stain on how great this game is. I could only get through the original's Tartarus by watching videos on Youtube in the background, a thing that wasn't needed this time around. That's an improvement I guess, but still...it's a chore.

Many of the gameplay systems, from theurgies, improved social activities, etc, are a bit inferior to P5's, but they're still very much appreciated and I'd say they improve the game a lot. I think having the option to switch in party members from the back like in P5 would be nice to actually use and level all of them but I guess it would shake the balancing quite a bit, it just makes me a bit sad. Difficulty wise, I upped my difficulty to Hard since I saw a lot of people saying that it was quite easy and I had experience with the original. Suprisingly, it ended up still being easier than the original. I prefer that over it being hard as balls or outright infuriating like the original was sometimes, but I think it could be a little bit better balanced to make it more of a challenge. If new players want to play P5R baby mode again, they can go back to it, the franchise's difficulty doesn't have to be that.

Graphically it looks great honestly, but I understand very well when people say it "lost personality" or that it was "Persona 5-ied". Some of the portraits are definitely missing something, and the anime cutscenes are pretty ass. The original's were ass too, but there was something about their direction that really fit the mood of the game, the new ones don't make me feel anything. The CGI cutscenes are pretty well made however, despite there not being many.

The new OST is a big mixed bag. Most of the new remixes are outright worse than the originals, while most of the new songs are absolute bangers. I think the latter were made with the new singers' voice in mind, while the originals don't fit her that much/she had a lack of direction during those. I eventually got used to the new versions and love the new songs so I'd say it's still great.

I won't say much about the remake content wise. It's FES without the Answer. Having it as DLC is a scummy move, but I'd say that selling the same game but with updates (FES+Portable, Golden, Royal) has always been scummy, especially in 3 and 5's case, in which the updated version releases in the same console as the original. Losing P3P's female route is a shame, but I think it would be impossible to have in this remake without putting in an insane amount of work into it. I just hope there's a female protag in Persona 6, especially since the female fanbase of SMT is so big.

So, after that much complaining, I'd say that, huh...
I really love this game. Do yourself a favor and go play it.

Essa foi minha primeira experiência com qualquer jogo da série e eu não imaginei que fosse me apegar tanto assim a esses personagens - e isso se dá tanto por o quão bem escritos eles são, cada um de forma muito peculiar, mas também pelo jogo seguir um ano escolar inteiro e tu ir jogando dia após dia, tendo contato com esses personagens a todos os momentos, seja na escola, nos encontros no dormitório ou explorando o Tartarus. Eu realmente me senti parte do SEES e sinto que todos do time se tornaram amigos que vou levar pra sempre na memória.