Where to begin...
Persona 3 FES is one of my favorite games, a game that made me think about it every day for months after finishing it, a game that I started not liking so much (in fact, I only really enjoyed it after about 20 hours of gameplay) and ended up loving it, considering it one of the best experiences in media.
When the remake was announced, I was quite hopeful that they would fix everything I considered problematic in the original while keeping the same content, the same story beats, not removing what makes the original game so important to me.
And I must say that Atlus succeeded. Not only did they succeed, but they gave me much more than I asked for, and for that, I am eternally grateful for this release. Precisely because they focused more on changes in form than on altering the soul of the work.
Of course, not everything is truly perfect. For starters, the new OST is not always better than the old one, and it's strange in the first few hours playing Persona 3 and not hearing Yumi's voice. However, the game has incredible new songs, and the new opening is great too.
Another thing is that the lighting sometimes falls short compared to the old one. Far from being a dealbreaker or something horrible, but the old lighting matched the scenarios better.
Some things matter less to me, such as The Answer and FeMC. I don't like the first in the original and think it should undergo a complete revamp (so I understand them releasing it later as DLC), and FeMC I just find somewhat redundant.
That said, I can say that even though they changed the form a bit, modernizing the visuals and shifting from the edgy and dark look to a cleaner and milder one, the content, especially the emotional content of Persona 3, which is a rollercoaster, remains intact. And this new look not only is very well executed, pleasant to the eyes, and consistent, but it also makes sense. After all, we don't use CRTs anymore; technology has changed, and the number of pixels has too.
Beyond that, there is so much to praise, so much that makes this version by far superior to all the others. From small things like changing the beach scene to bigger things like localization in my native language (Portuguese), which is by far the best localization work I've seen, in Portuguese or not.
And I love that everything expected to be changed has changed for the better. The gameplay is even more fluid; we no longer have the fatigue system; the calendar is better; Tartarus looks beautiful, and each block is visually quite different from the others; and the new balance of the game supports all the improvements and QoLs like Baton Pass and Theurgy Attacks (which, by the way, have beautiful animations. I love the idea of limit breaks in Atlus games). And yet it remains a dungeon crawler, a formula that I enjoy, that makes me lose track of time, that makes me forget about problems while climbing those floors.
But for me, the best addition is not in the gameplay itself, even though these improvements are massive. The best addition is undoubtedly the Linked Episodes, which greatly enrich certain characters who didn't shine as much in the original. Sanada and Shinjiro have become two of my favorite characters, and Ken has improved a lot in my eyes because of these new moments with them. And I can say that the Persona 3 party is my favorite not only in Persona but in any JRPG I've played.
Persona 3 Reload is beautiful. I have no other word that describes it better. What wonderful moments these characters gave me, how cool a character Aigis is, what a message this game constantly hammers into your head. What interesting contexts are behind many Social Links (special mention to Sun, Tower, and Hanged-Man). And how good it is to see stories of overcoming challenges, even if they are of fictional characters. When you are there in the eye of the storm, that doesn't matter so much.
Remember that you are mortal. Remember that things come to an end. Remember that nothing lasts forever. Celebrate life and moments while you can. When the credits rolled, and I couldn't control my tears, I thought about the experience and the gratitude of being able to relive everything that Persona 3 has to offer anew. And everything I've experienced in my life since I played Persona 3. Few works, whether videogames or not, have had this weight in my life. I'm not ready to say that I prefer Persona 3 to Persona 4, but I certainly see that day coming. That said, I'm prepared to say this is probably the most meaningful Atlus work.
Persona 3 FES is one of my favorite games, a game that made me think about it every day for months after finishing it, a game that I started not liking so much (in fact, I only really enjoyed it after about 20 hours of gameplay) and ended up loving it, considering it one of the best experiences in media.
When the remake was announced, I was quite hopeful that they would fix everything I considered problematic in the original while keeping the same content, the same story beats, not removing what makes the original game so important to me.
And I must say that Atlus succeeded. Not only did they succeed, but they gave me much more than I asked for, and for that, I am eternally grateful for this release. Precisely because they focused more on changes in form than on altering the soul of the work.
Of course, not everything is truly perfect. For starters, the new OST is not always better than the old one, and it's strange in the first few hours playing Persona 3 and not hearing Yumi's voice. However, the game has incredible new songs, and the new opening is great too.
Another thing is that the lighting sometimes falls short compared to the old one. Far from being a dealbreaker or something horrible, but the old lighting matched the scenarios better.
Some things matter less to me, such as The Answer and FeMC. I don't like the first in the original and think it should undergo a complete revamp (so I understand them releasing it later as DLC), and FeMC I just find somewhat redundant.
That said, I can say that even though they changed the form a bit, modernizing the visuals and shifting from the edgy and dark look to a cleaner and milder one, the content, especially the emotional content of Persona 3, which is a rollercoaster, remains intact. And this new look not only is very well executed, pleasant to the eyes, and consistent, but it also makes sense. After all, we don't use CRTs anymore; technology has changed, and the number of pixels has too.
Beyond that, there is so much to praise, so much that makes this version by far superior to all the others. From small things like changing the beach scene to bigger things like localization in my native language (Portuguese), which is by far the best localization work I've seen, in Portuguese or not.
And I love that everything expected to be changed has changed for the better. The gameplay is even more fluid; we no longer have the fatigue system; the calendar is better; Tartarus looks beautiful, and each block is visually quite different from the others; and the new balance of the game supports all the improvements and QoLs like Baton Pass and Theurgy Attacks (which, by the way, have beautiful animations. I love the idea of limit breaks in Atlus games). And yet it remains a dungeon crawler, a formula that I enjoy, that makes me lose track of time, that makes me forget about problems while climbing those floors.
But for me, the best addition is not in the gameplay itself, even though these improvements are massive. The best addition is undoubtedly the Linked Episodes, which greatly enrich certain characters who didn't shine as much in the original. Sanada and Shinjiro have become two of my favorite characters, and Ken has improved a lot in my eyes because of these new moments with them. And I can say that the Persona 3 party is my favorite not only in Persona but in any JRPG I've played.
Persona 3 Reload is beautiful. I have no other word that describes it better. What wonderful moments these characters gave me, how cool a character Aigis is, what a message this game constantly hammers into your head. What interesting contexts are behind many Social Links (special mention to Sun, Tower, and Hanged-Man). And how good it is to see stories of overcoming challenges, even if they are of fictional characters. When you are there in the eye of the storm, that doesn't matter so much.
Remember that you are mortal. Remember that things come to an end. Remember that nothing lasts forever. Celebrate life and moments while you can. When the credits rolled, and I couldn't control my tears, I thought about the experience and the gratitude of being able to relive everything that Persona 3 has to offer anew. And everything I've experienced in my life since I played Persona 3. Few works, whether videogames or not, have had this weight in my life. I'm not ready to say that I prefer Persona 3 to Persona 4, but I certainly see that day coming. That said, I'm prepared to say this is probably the most meaningful Atlus work.