As someone who has considered P3 my favorite game for over a decade and has played FES through about seven times, Reload is difficult to judge.
If you asked me my ideal remake of P3, Reload is about 90% there. It's undoubtedly the best version of P3 both visually and gameplay wise. If you've never played P3 or even didn't like FES, I'd recommend Reload without hesitation.
That said, while Reload is great, it also has no excuse not to be. When looked at through the lens of remaking a PS2 game from 2006, it feels rather lackluster. I understand they wanted to be loyal to the original rather than go all out with an ultimate edition, and honestly, part of me prefers it that way. So this isn't about FeMC or any such.
But, with many times the budget and resources of FES, Reload should blow FES out of the water. In most ways, it does. But in several areas, it just doesn't. So many small touches that added a ton of "show-don't-tell" weight in FES are oddly missing, while some of the new content just feels superfluous. Some parts of Reload feel like a beautiful tribute to the original, while other parts feel distinctly unpolished.
If I'm being generous, they ran out of time, but time wouldn't have been an issue if their priorities had been straight given, again, how much superfluous new content the game has.
Persona 3 is my favorite game of all time and Reload is the best version yet, but given all the advantages Reload has, I find myself nonetheless underwhelmed that there are some parts of the far older FES that still shine brighter.
If you asked me my ideal remake of P3, Reload is about 90% there. It's undoubtedly the best version of P3 both visually and gameplay wise. If you've never played P3 or even didn't like FES, I'd recommend Reload without hesitation.
That said, while Reload is great, it also has no excuse not to be. When looked at through the lens of remaking a PS2 game from 2006, it feels rather lackluster. I understand they wanted to be loyal to the original rather than go all out with an ultimate edition, and honestly, part of me prefers it that way. So this isn't about FeMC or any such.
But, with many times the budget and resources of FES, Reload should blow FES out of the water. In most ways, it does. But in several areas, it just doesn't. So many small touches that added a ton of "show-don't-tell" weight in FES are oddly missing, while some of the new content just feels superfluous. Some parts of Reload feel like a beautiful tribute to the original, while other parts feel distinctly unpolished.
If I'm being generous, they ran out of time, but time wouldn't have been an issue if their priorities had been straight given, again, how much superfluous new content the game has.
Persona 3 is my favorite game of all time and Reload is the best version yet, but given all the advantages Reload has, I find myself nonetheless underwhelmed that there are some parts of the far older FES that still shine brighter.