Ok this is the weirdest review I’ve ever had to write. Funnily enough, the portable version of the original is the first review of a video game I’ve ever done and I loved writing it. What I DIDNT love was the game! The whole reason I wrote the review is because I thought the game was garbage. Reload has changed my outlook on this sub series HARD. So much I thought of playing all of the original versions which if you told me I’d be feeling this way 3 years ago I’d call you a nutcase. Apparently portable is the worst version of the original story though so that could be it also. Anyway! Not a portable review. This remake kicks ass. My main problems with the original were that Tartarus sucked total ass and as such the dungeon crawling felt shitty, the themes were improperly delivered with the exception of junpei (who I hated) and Akihiko, and the characters and their dynamics felt way more shallow. Not only do I feel that these problems are solved but exceed my expectation. First fix, Tartarus looks awesome. There’s an undeniable charm PS2 games have but again, I played portable so that charm just kinda looked bad to me and secondly the overhaul on Tartarus visually is astounding. It nails the creepy human cognitive tower of darkness way better than the original did in my opinion. I felt in the original floors lingered forever and looked virtually the same but the aesthetics and theme are a lot more appealing this time round. It also helps that this is another iteration of persona combat done perfectly, basically just fives but not big stupid baby mode. I also felt the original contained a lot of grinding which I do not think is the case this time around. On the last note of dungeon crawling I’ll just add that characters steeze waaaay harder this time around. Finally p3 characters look tuff. Onto the theme delivery. So my biggest problem by far with the original is all the “death” shit. I HATED the idea of the heroes fighting Nyx, who is supposed to be death incarnate and basically winning. That always just felt like bullshit to me. The other thing is that every characters arcs with someone’s death or departure in some form. In every case except, again, junpei and Aki they just kinda felt like disconnected ass pulls. I don’t care about Yukari or mitsurus dad and their deaths left me with a straight face. Shinjis death in portable is also awful because of its point and click style so it’s just kind of dull. I still am not a fan of the nyx shit however I do understand that Minato (not Makoto I hate you all) did not KILL death and merely sealed it’s overpowering growth. I still think aigis is kinda lame from a writing perspective but I like the other characters a lot more this time around. The deaths related to their arcs hit a lot closer to home and my favourite arc, junpei and chidori stayed goated. Finally, adding male character hangouts is literally all I wanted and even though they aren’t “true S links” I don’t give a shit cuz they were done awesome. I for some reason just feel more attached to all the other characters in the game this time around enjoying all the slinks way more than I did on my first playthrough. Adding so many little instances where the gang does some rando shit makes me want to buy all the bonds they brag about having since besides a couple of duos in the original, I was not believing the shit about them being homies. Also they made me not hate junpei which is huge. Tatsumi port island is an awesome area and they did justice for Strega and the full moons bosses which were the only bright spots of the original for me. Full moon bosses being the opposite of what their arcana represented always gave me a major chub and evil persona users are always awesome. The only semi sour note of this remake is the music which uuuuh. Why can I not play the OG soundtrack hella? I don’t have an extremely strong opinion on it like a lot of people seem to, I like one or two of the nex mixes and think the other ones are pretty shit and I think the new music added isn’t amazing but it’s not bad either. The main thing that makes it so terrible is how hard they fucked up the MAIN battle theme. Actually crazy. Regardless this game and it’s attempt at an emotional ended stick the landing WAY harder for me now, especially with some little hints that come with the last two days of the game. Overall persona 3 reload is such a good remake that it made me like a subseries that I initially fucking hated and that’s not only incredible in and of itself but the fact that it’s just a great game regardless is amazing. I would still say it’s the weakest for me out of the modern trilogy since even tho it’s aesthetics and characters and some of its story are amazing to me I don’t think there’s ONE aspect of it that I prefer from one of the other 3 besides the obvious graphics (not art style, 5 wins that still) with that said if you love or hate the original play this game, I couldn’t put it down and I might fail a class cuz of it!😼👍