I think the characters are way better portrayed then how they were in the original games. This is mainly due to the voice acting in my opinion. I love Shinjiro way more in reload than I did in persona 3 FES. I've heard from people that fes's version of Shinjiro was charming but in my opinion it doesnt really fit with his character. it makes me take his character and his death not as seriously. in terms of gameplay it was really fluid. I played it on hard mode and the difficulty was alright. I might do a new game plus playthrough to get all the social links and try to beat the Elizabeth boss fight. I think I really resonated with the story playing this version of the game because I could relate to the characters more. it helped me immerse myself into the story. plus this game kinda came into my life when I needed it. so yeah it was p good