Final replay of Gens 1 to 3.
Yeah, it's not really good. Despite its quirks, I think the Gen 1 games are pretty good and cool considering the context of its development and release. The game systems are broken but they work well within its own gameplay logic. When you change those systems and leave the game as is, it suddenly stops feeling right.
I have a lot of nostalgia for the Kanto games, Yellow being my first game ever and being a kid during Gen 3. Having an updated version of RBY that looks more modern, feels thousands better to play than the original (everything is faster, modern boxes, etc) and having the new Pokémon in it is great. However, the game's balance is barely altered from the originals while implementing Gen 3 moves and mechanics. This results in, for example, boss battles with a 10 level difference that were winnable in the original suddenly requiring grinding due to more optimized enemy AI and movesets. The amount of trainer battles and samey teams are also unchanged despite it being fixed in GSC/RSE, and you also can't avoid them either because you can end up very underleveled. I feel the laziness to fix these issues and defend them as "fidelity to the originals" would appear again and much more strongly in HGSS, leading to the famous level curve discourse. I think that no definitive version in any main game of a generation needs any grinding at all, it just comes with bad remake balancing, the difficulty of gen 3-5 being the highest in the series and a misconception that you're supposed to be at the same level as the gym leaders when you fight them.

The new postgame content is ok I'd say, nothing special but appreciated. I can't tell why but I feel like the design of the Sevii routes come straight from a hackrom.

Since I played the original last year, I will only discuss how I see this game as a remake. For my opinion on the original, check my review on it. As a whole, since it's a pretty faithful remake, I'd say is as good if not better than the original. It's by far the most heartfelt modern Persona game, and its gameplay is made much more accessible than that of the original. It's just really good.

I said it's a very faithful remake, so it picks up both the best and the worst of the original P3. I'll start with the biggest negative.
Tartarus sucks. That's the main thing to take out of this review. It sucked in the original, and it sucks now. P4's dungeons aren't good either, so it's actually P5 which differentiates itself in this aspect in the trilogy. The devs took a look at how much would it cost them to actually update Tartarus compared to the backlash it would get from P3's purists, only to still be labeled as "worse than P5 palaces" by new players. They took the safe option of polishing it up a bit and let it be as is. I think that was the right option, but that leaves it a big stain on how great this game is. I could only get through the original's Tartarus by watching videos on Youtube in the background, a thing that wasn't needed this time around. That's an improvement I guess, but still...it's a chore.

Many of the gameplay systems, from theurgies, improved social activities, etc, are a bit inferior to P5's, but they're still very much appreciated and I'd say they improve the game a lot. I think having the option to switch in party members from the back like in P5 would be nice to actually use and level all of them but I guess it would shake the balancing quite a bit, it just makes me a bit sad. Difficulty wise, I upped my difficulty to Hard since I saw a lot of people saying that it was quite easy and I had experience with the original. Suprisingly, it ended up still being easier than the original. I prefer that over it being hard as balls or outright infuriating like the original was sometimes, but I think it could be a little bit better balanced to make it more of a challenge. If new players want to play P5R baby mode again, they can go back to it, the franchise's difficulty doesn't have to be that.

Graphically it looks great honestly, but I understand very well when people say it "lost personality" or that it was "Persona 5-ied". Some of the portraits are definitely missing something, and the anime cutscenes are pretty ass. The original's were ass too, but there was something about their direction that really fit the mood of the game, the new ones don't make me feel anything. The CGI cutscenes are pretty well made however, despite there not being many.

The new OST is a big mixed bag. Most of the new remixes are outright worse than the originals, while most of the new songs are absolute bangers. I think the latter were made with the new singers' voice in mind, while the originals don't fit her that much/she had a lack of direction during those. I eventually got used to the new versions and love the new songs so I'd say it's still great.

I won't say much about the remake content wise. It's FES without the Answer. Having it as DLC is a scummy move, but I'd say that selling the same game but with updates (FES+Portable, Golden, Royal) has always been scummy, especially in 3 and 5's case, in which the updated version releases in the same console as the original. Losing P3P's female route is a shame, but I think it would be impossible to have in this remake without putting in an insane amount of work into it. I just hope there's a female protag in Persona 6, especially since the female fanbase of SMT is so big.

So, after that much complaining, I'd say that, huh...
I really love this game. Do yourself a favor and go play it.

Replay after 100% Yellow and Crystal. Will try to play LG, Colosseum and XD to complete the Dex in all games.

Gen 3 is what I consider the start of "modern" Pokémon. The games feel SO much nicer to play, menus and battles are really fast (maybe the fastest the series have ever been), and the introduction of the modern box system is a godsend. Pokémon distribution is much nicer this time, with most of them being new but having some of the old ones, mainly from Gen 1. I don't think it's a particularly interesting selection, mainly because I'm not a big fan of Hoenn designs, but it's still more "standard" and enjoyable than what we had in Gen 2.

Story is a bit silly but it's ok, this entry really solidifies what would become the formula from here onwards. Hoenn is also really good, even though the path is really linear, you end up looping around the region as the game advances. I also think it has a lot of personality and character Kanto and Johto lack. Regarding the "too much water" issue, I don't think the problem is actually that there's a lot of water routes, but that they suck HARD. They are short, stuck together, have almost nothing in them and they have a terrible Pokémon selection (Wingull, Tentacool and some of their evolutions or Wailmer if you're lucky). They are also all in the last 10% of the game, aside from Dewford's adjacent routes, which are ok. In Kanto there's 2 water routes at the end, one of which is optional, and Johto only has one iirc. Having like 6 or 7 wouldn't be so bad if they were more interesting.

The introduction of abilities, natures, more held items, berries and modern EVs and IVs really show how this is the start of what Pokémon would actually become. They are really good mechanics and they have endured the test of time. Abilities especially help to differentiate Pokémon a lot more, they are cool and allow for a lot of creativity (GF showed it immediately with Shedinja).

I've yet to really try the Battle Frontier, and this will be my first time, when I assemble a team and a Ribbon Master candidate from other games. I think it's really cool and gives a lot to play around for people that are willing to put in the time. Me personally, I just don't like long chains of battles, but I'll try eventually anyways. I particularly like the Battle Factory.

Music feels REALLY different, but it manages to stick the landing, there's a lot of really good themes in this. Sadly, I can't say the same about the art. Sprites are much smaller and look more standardized. It's not the end of the world, but they do certainly lose a lot of dynamism, an issue that only gets worse in future games. The overworld sprites look really middling for a GBA game, and I'd dare to say this is probably the worst looking 2D Pokémon game.

The last problem this game has is that Game Freak sadly couldn't find a way to connect it to Gen 1 and 2. This makes Gen 3 a soft reset regarding Pokémon collecting. It was the first and only one to happen, since you can transfer from RSE to SV at the moment. It's a matter of time that Pokémon Bank closes and we get a much more terrible soft reset.
It's pretty sad to lose on your Pokémon from RBY and GSC, specially legendaries that are now really hard to find, mostly Gen 2 ones. The regional Pokédex can be completed with just Emerald and a bit of connection with other games, but it's harder than in previous gens since you could trade backwards with them. The National Dex is a whole other matter, and I think is the hardest Dex to complete in all the franchise, you need multiple playthroughs of multiple games to achieve it. I'm still in the middle of it, so we'll see if I manage to do it.

Overall a really nice game, most of what I enjoy and dislike from it are ways in which it diverges from previous games. The best is how clean, fast and easy it is to play, and how modern the new mechanics feel. The bad is a loss of personality overall and a formulaic approach which would only grow in future entries.

Next up I'll play LG, Colosseum and XD, where this replay journey will probably end.