Taking the GOAT & making it even better, this was a great remake of Atlus' best. There is not an entry in this series with stronger themes & tighter writing than P3. From the cast, the social links, there is growth among everyone, as the game reflects bittersweetly on life, death, grief, and the purpose of life. It is a beautiful narrative, that I don't feel they'll ever be able to match that again. Some QoL upgrades to combat & other things make this an incredible journey. There is some really great VA work here, Junpei went crazy. I'm not really bothered with the re-working of the VA's, or the soundtrack changes, tbh. They are good interpretations in their own right.
The art style is incredible, visually stunning. Tartarus looks so good, with its interesting floor designs. The game in general benefits so much from the strong sense of dread, permeated by the ever present, small sparks of hope. There is a deep mystery and ominous feeling throughout that 5 utterly abandoned. All of the social links share deep connections to life, death, grief, and the tarot. I think the Sun link of P3 is one of the best & most interesting the series has had. The sun typically is a new life, rebirth, a dawn. However, we see a man who is terminally ill and trying to come to terms of what the purpose of his life was. It is truly a beautiful reflection, and an interesting subversion of the card's meaning. I think what I admire so much about this game's links is the fact that many aren't just the people you'd expect to befriend. You become friends with an alcoholic monk, a deeply flawed gourmet, and a really greedy & sketchy salesman. In life, we sometimes cross path with people & befriend, or at least connect and learn from people we don't expect. I think Persona 3's links feel less contrived, because there is some element of "ok I'm really just going to deal with this person's super odd flaw / problem right now I guess." The link involving the MMO is also so funny, and emblematic of the time.
I first experienced P3 with P3P 10 years ago, almost exactly, and it blew me away. I hadn't played anything like it, and it really revitalized my love for RPGs and greatly invigorated my interest in visual novels. It was immediately one of my fave games of all time, and this has re-solidified that feeling.
For my petty moment of the year: P5 could never. Replaying Persona at its best has made me infinitely more disappointed with how bloated, redundant, obvious, and impersonal P5 is. I can see where P5 tried to re-spin some of the ideas that were present in P3, to much lesser effect. I can only hope Atlus will surprise me with the next entry, because while P5R did improve, I cannot deal with another slog of playing the same mediocre 100+hr game twice in a row again.
Also P3's soundtrack is just better, I do not care. Yea, production, dumb lyrics, whatever, you clearly are not a 00's jrock/jpop person. I will take nonsense lyrics over on the nose cringe any day.
The art style is incredible, visually stunning. Tartarus looks so good, with its interesting floor designs. The game in general benefits so much from the strong sense of dread, permeated by the ever present, small sparks of hope. There is a deep mystery and ominous feeling throughout that 5 utterly abandoned. All of the social links share deep connections to life, death, grief, and the tarot. I think the Sun link of P3 is one of the best & most interesting the series has had. The sun typically is a new life, rebirth, a dawn. However, we see a man who is terminally ill and trying to come to terms of what the purpose of his life was. It is truly a beautiful reflection, and an interesting subversion of the card's meaning. I think what I admire so much about this game's links is the fact that many aren't just the people you'd expect to befriend. You become friends with an alcoholic monk, a deeply flawed gourmet, and a really greedy & sketchy salesman. In life, we sometimes cross path with people & befriend, or at least connect and learn from people we don't expect. I think Persona 3's links feel less contrived, because there is some element of "ok I'm really just going to deal with this person's super odd flaw / problem right now I guess." The link involving the MMO is also so funny, and emblematic of the time.
I first experienced P3 with P3P 10 years ago, almost exactly, and it blew me away. I hadn't played anything like it, and it really revitalized my love for RPGs and greatly invigorated my interest in visual novels. It was immediately one of my fave games of all time, and this has re-solidified that feeling.
For my petty moment of the year: P5 could never. Replaying Persona at its best has made me infinitely more disappointed with how bloated, redundant, obvious, and impersonal P5 is. I can see where P5 tried to re-spin some of the ideas that were present in P3, to much lesser effect. I can only hope Atlus will surprise me with the next entry, because while P5R did improve, I cannot deal with another slog of playing the same mediocre 100+hr game twice in a row again.
Also P3's soundtrack is just better, I do not care. Yea, production, dumb lyrics, whatever, you clearly are not a 00's jrock/jpop person. I will take nonsense lyrics over on the nose cringe any day.