weird to think this game is real and out. kinda struggling right now to write out my thoughts in full, but for now, i will say what i can.

i think this game did a lot of really great things, especially as it pertains to characters. characters i already loved, my appreciation for them deepened immensely and other characters who i didnt really have the same attachment? to in og, ive grown to enjoy a lot more here.

the game is so fucking big, it was almost a little daunting, especially with how the game opens up similarly to OG, with you slowly gaining newer ways to treverse the world, eventually ending with just, being able to get anywhere almost via the tiny bronco, which was cool. furthermore, theres just, so much to do in game. theres so many minigames and whilst i did enjoy most of them, sometimes it felt a bit poorly paced, especially the corel section from costa del sol to gold saucer and sometimes some of them were just, not good. (they ruined the fort condor minigame from the intermission dlc lmao)

the story, i think for the most part, was also done mostly well for the parts that cover the originals plot points, although i do feel some parts are kinda done really poorly and take away elements that gave the originals scenes its strengths (the way the barret and dyne stuff was changed + dunno how to feel how nibelheim was done)

for the remake trilogy stuff? i still dunno whats going on but i do, for the most part think its done Far better here than it was in remake, which was my least favourite thing about it for a lot of things. i did groan when the whispers showed up again, even if i know what theyre doing with them, but other stuff i did enjoy, like the presentation of the zack timeline stuff being sparsely spaced between different moments of the story was really neat, with it too climaxing alongside the main plot.

theres a lot more i could say? but i hate being nitpicky, am bad with words too so i just wouldnt know how to write out said thoughts, but maybe one day.

when the first leaks for persona 3 reload initially popped up, i was incredibly sceptical at first, aside from the obvious recent (at the time) less than stellar port of persona 3 portable, for more persona 3 to come so soon? had to be for the p5 gacha game that was also circulating at the time. but i was also sceptical for other reasons. could atlus really pull off a remake of this caliber? i wouldnt go so far as to say it could be the most ambitious thing atlus couldve done at that point in time, but they hadnt really dabbled in remakes of their games to this degree, only really releasing far upscaled in quality ports of older games to newer consoles or the smt3 hd remaster. but most of all, i was sceptical that they would be able to capture again, what makes persona 3 special to myself and many others. could they pull it off? i promised myself not to get too excited, as to not set myself up for potential disappointment. fast forward the year and the first persona 3 reload trailer came out and i held this same ground, but as more of the game was shown off, i did begin to have some confidence in what atlus was doing. even if didnt end up beating out FES in terms of my favourite version of the game, it would be a new take with a potentially wider perspective to take in and for that i was hopeful.

and i think i was right in that assertion. reload ended up being exactly what i thought it would be before launch and im genuinely happy its ended up this way. im glad that this version of the game exists to be able to introduce new people into the world of persona 3 in a way that doesnt feel too unapproachable, as i do admit FES can be that to many. im glad this game exists so i had the excuse to play a game that means so much to me again. hard to believe its already been almost 3 years since i first did play it.

i dont think it was perfect though, i do think it does some things worse that og/fes did, although worse does feel to harsh of a word to use here, because for the most part, i still enjoyed these changes to some degree, just less so though than my experiences with the same things originally.

(spoilers for persona 3 and persona 3 reload start here)

getting to actual 'critques' i have of the game, (a lot of them are nitpicky, but i do think thats to be expected when something you love gets changed in some ways) my biggest issue is that i feel that many of the cutscenes that were based on the original animated cutscenes are a downgrade to them in comparison. people in persona focused spaces have already spoken about makotos awakening not evoking the same feeling it did originally, and i feel the same, but im still fine with it, i think it does what does well. i do, however have one of these changed cutscenes that i didnt end up liking, that being the one of tartarus and the dark hour ending. i feel the originals was far more poignant and seeing aigis cry over makotos return is a moment that will stay with for a long time, but here in reload, they removed it entirely and replaced it with another scene that, just doesnt evoke the same feeling. its really the only 'major' change to any of these cutscenes that didnt sit right with me. as a result, i do think some of the presentation doesnt live up to the original, but its not to the degree overall where i feel its actively detrimental. in fact, some of the newly added cutscenes to the game i found myself really liking, especially the cutscene chidoris death and hers and junpeis personas fusing for his awakening.

some of the newly recorded tracks of the originals tracks took a long time to get used to, although some of them immediately clicked (like all the memories of ______ songs, or the different versions of living with determination) and are up there among their original counterparts for me, but for others, like mass destruction, they took a bit to get used to. i like them now, but i dont know if ill ever revisit them much outside playing the game again.

my last major critque, ill call it, is that the game was far too easy. i played on hard, as i was expecting merciless to be like p5rs' (where if you play right and know what youre doing you, it ends up being one of the easier difficultlys but i digress) but even hard was far too easy. could be that im just, used to these games by now and now how to prepare and what to expect, but it was a little disappointing. theurgy is way too busted. i do have smaller nitpicks but i really dont want to get into them because i dont wanna sound like im complaining at nothing.

ultimately, though, depsite writing so much about my least favourite parts of the game and being so negative, i do it out of my deep love for persona 3, and everything else here that i loved, is still apart of persona 3, so i feel id be repeating myself from what i wrote in my FES review of 3 and so i wont, but just know there is far more positives in the game i could write about, like the addition of the linked episodes for the male party members, just having more interactions with the party in general was really nice to see and im glad these exist.

persona 3 reload is really cool. i loved it a lot. im glad i was able to experience p3 again as close to anew of an experience you can get playing a game again.