I initially had low expectations of P3R. The trailers didn't really appeal to me at all and I was generally not the biggest fan of persona after revisiting Persona 4 Golden.
I will say, if you played P3FES or P3P, there's not a lot here on offer that you might find worthwhile enough to warrant buying and playing through Reload, this is a low effort remake, and I feel guilty ranking it so high.
However, as someone who never got far into P3FES, I love this game a lot. It's definitely my favourite of the Nusona games (P3/P/FES, P4/G, P5/R).
The cast in this blow Persona 4 out of the water, and are treated with much more respect than P5. Junpei is probably my favourite party member in the series, and Yosuke from P4 can't even begin to compare (Ryuji would be just as good if they used him well in P5).
The social links are also some of the best in the series too, they feel grounded and are generally really heartwarming. There are exceptions like the Devil S.Link (which is the funniest S.Link in the series imo.) and the Moon S.Link, which is by far the worst S.Link the series has ever seen.
Gameplay-wise, it's definitely less interesting than P5R. Tartarus is much less interesting than the palaces, and arguably mementos too. Although if you enjoyed the dungeon crawling style of mementos you'll definitely enjoy tartarus.
I would say my main issue with the game is the cutscenes, and the very strange placement of 2D animated cutscenes and 3D in-engine ones. Very unimportant and menial scenes will have their own 2D animation, while some of the biggest story beats are made in-engine. Which are generally quite unexpressive, and are carried more by the story events and voice acting within them. Even the 2D animated scenes lack the iconic moody, dark feeling of the original P3's stylized animation.
Even despite these issues, I still really adored this game, the writing especially. I would say it's worth playing even if you don't care for JRPG combat at all just because the story is so interesting and moving. It has its missteps but they don't drag the story down.
I would highly recommend playing this if you've never experienced P3 at all, and if you're a fan of the original, it might be fun to check out to see what's new.
I will say, if you played P3FES or P3P, there's not a lot here on offer that you might find worthwhile enough to warrant buying and playing through Reload, this is a low effort remake, and I feel guilty ranking it so high.
However, as someone who never got far into P3FES, I love this game a lot. It's definitely my favourite of the Nusona games (P3/P/FES, P4/G, P5/R).
The cast in this blow Persona 4 out of the water, and are treated with much more respect than P5. Junpei is probably my favourite party member in the series, and Yosuke from P4 can't even begin to compare (Ryuji would be just as good if they used him well in P5).
The social links are also some of the best in the series too, they feel grounded and are generally really heartwarming. There are exceptions like the Devil S.Link (which is the funniest S.Link in the series imo.) and the Moon S.Link, which is by far the worst S.Link the series has ever seen.
Gameplay-wise, it's definitely less interesting than P5R. Tartarus is much less interesting than the palaces, and arguably mementos too. Although if you enjoyed the dungeon crawling style of mementos you'll definitely enjoy tartarus.
I would say my main issue with the game is the cutscenes, and the very strange placement of 2D animated cutscenes and 3D in-engine ones. Very unimportant and menial scenes will have their own 2D animation, while some of the biggest story beats are made in-engine. Which are generally quite unexpressive, and are carried more by the story events and voice acting within them. Even the 2D animated scenes lack the iconic moody, dark feeling of the original P3's stylized animation.
Even despite these issues, I still really adored this game, the writing especially. I would say it's worth playing even if you don't care for JRPG combat at all just because the story is so interesting and moving. It has its missteps but they don't drag the story down.
I would highly recommend playing this if you've never experienced P3 at all, and if you're a fan of the original, it might be fun to check out to see what's new.