Persona 3 Reload, from a P3FES player:

A great way for new and old players to experience the game, if the general themes of the persona series vibe with you, this is the game that'll get you staring at the ceiling feeling empty once it's over. I.e. It's good

The same phenomenal story, brought out vividly in full HD graphics for a modern era.

A persona 3 remake is something I really wanted for a while, but certain decisions did have me skeptical going in- the new EN voice cast, rearranged soundtrack, and some big changes to the gameplay loop.
Most of my doubts were satisfied. This is going to be the version of P3 I recommend to most people. The original definitely has its own flavour to it, which will always have my heart. But this did a great job at recapturing that feeling, and fully bringing out the warmth that people sometimes forget is a massive part of Persona 3's themes of death. The original game taught me once that death is all the more reason to celebrate life, and this arrived at the perfect time to remind me that. A must play.


Pros:
- Full voiced social links make a world of difference in relatability of some characters
- Extra social events also help flesh them out where they may have been lacking
- Inspiration from some of the arcs in the movies, regarding the last character to join the cast
- Modern graphics- beautiful HD models
- Combat is very accessible to new players
- Tartarus gimmicks are quite fun, breaking items is surprisingly all you need to do. But Monad doors are cool too.

Neutral
- New soundtrack- as a fan of the original I initially played modded with the original soundtrack. But it's just a different take, which new players will see no issues with. Towards the end I did give the new soundtrack a chance, and some of the arrangements are beautiful in their own right, and new players are sure to remember some of these arrangements for decades to come.
- In English, some of the new voice actors- up to you if it's an issue. Again, not a problem for new players

Cons:
- Quite easy by persona standards imo, even on max difficulty. A lot of the deliberate handicaps in the original game gave that its own flavour- namely the tiredness mechanic which forces you to pace your tartarus exploration (and therefore doesn't give you too much free time without knowing what to do with it). SP refills are extremely easily to come by, so there's no real cap to how long you can spend in the dungeons.
- Not very challenging on highest difficulty. I'm hardly a pro, but there are so many game breaking systems
- If you're coming from Persona 5, the lack of options for things to do becomes apparent once you start optimising your time spent in tartarus to not take up too many days
- The Answer DLC being sold separately is criminal.