The year is 2018. I just started playing Persona 3 FES on my Playstation 2 and I like the game. Sure, no direct party control is weird but it's not hard as long as you know how to use the AI command functions. However, fusion mechanics are god awful as I had to sit there for almost 30 minutes, maybe even almost an hour, trying to get the right passives and skills I want on my persona. Regardless, I soldiered on through and enjoyed what it had to offer until past a certain point in Feburary 2019 my PS2 suddenly cannot read the disc! How? I don't know! Probably internal problems or the disc is scratched to all hell, but this made me unmotivated to continue it since it was hours of progress down the drain that was left at in September. For 5 to 6 years I avoided this game with emulation or the official portable port since I heard they even fucked up that port somehow until this year when the remake was announced so it got me pretty excited. This was also the first time I've decided to play a Persona game on the hardest difficulty setting (Merciless) cause I craved a challenge. I was excited because I'm practically getting to experience that classic RPG that was considered the best in its franchise. However, is this game superior or inferior to the others versions? Well...
Persona 3 Reload improves much upon on the original obviously with QoL. The stuff I didn't like about it that I mentioned in FES was replaced such as being able to have manual persona skill selection, more refined controls, and other changes. In addition, there are more game mechanics that are added and/or borrowed like 'Shift' which is just baton pass from Persona 5 but doesn't have the attack and heal boost. Theurgy, characteristics, monad doors, and greedy hands are said added game mechanics that I'm not sure how to feel about. Theurgy is strategic especially in late game, sure, but they just made the game too easy even on the hardest difficulty. A prime example is Fuuka's Theurgy that has a chance to give the party heat riser, charge + focus, or a full heal for both HP and SP. This ruins the dungeon crawling vibe as you don't feel really pressured on using valuable SP recovery items as her theurgy will mostly do the work for you if it activates. Of course even outside of it if you know what you're doing, like with most SMT games, the game is hard at first but becomes easy. I died several times, but that count lowered till late game and I had fun. Monad doors are just defeating a mini boss, getting gems and models, and being rewarded with 2 floors of a fully charted map. Greedy hands are just RNG based, but late game you can spend MP to trivialize this for a ton of rewards. One thing I do appreciate about the remake's features however is the great clock that allows standby or active party members to catch up quickly in levels for that slice of party synchronization that is also included in shuffle time; speaking of, shuffle time got a massive overhaul in the remake I like. Much like Persona Golden, it involves the major arcanas that add passives and persona stat increases that affects future shuffle times, dungeon crawling, xp, etc. to make your dungeon crawling efforts fruitful. The culmination of these mechanics has some good, some questionable, and some not-good at most. Well, at least I'm not going into the fucking velvet room persona skill roulette mines in FES so I'm glad.
The story I have a lot to talk about. Yeah, I'm told it's just the same as the original, but maybe having this remake harbor the original's story is fine because this is actually a (modern) persona game with a good story. The cast is great and I love the theming of [ we're all going to die some day because we're mortal, but that's ok because as long as we enjoy life, experiences, and rely on friends then everything is all right ]. The voice acting on top of socials links and story beats gave those moments the oomphs it deserved and genuinely made me cry for how much game's story is a timeless classic among one of the icons of the Playstation 2 era's game library.
Other gripes I have with the game is the expansion pass that includes FES's The Answer (which I have not experienced through) for $35 totaling this game to a $105 USD cost. Like I said in my Yakuza 8: Infinite Wealth review, if you think that the it should be rated lower because of this then that is 100% fair. I think it is kinda unfair too. At least, I don't want to buy an expansion pass for it.
Now then, should you play the other versions of Persona 3 over this one? Well, it depends. Do you prefer the clunky, old-school style that has AI-controlled party members that grow to add the narrative they trust you more (side note: they get more commands after defeating major bosses)? Then play FES. Portable recommendation feels disingenuous as that game doesn't have as much as a budget than FES that are presenting like it's some visual novel. If you want to play it though then go ahead; it's got a female protagonist option. If you were discouraged by the either FES or Portable, then Reload is just right for you excluding price. Overall, I really enjoyed Reload despite some of the issues mainly for the story that I haven't got to experience with the original.
Persona 3 Reload improves much upon on the original obviously with QoL. The stuff I didn't like about it that I mentioned in FES was replaced such as being able to have manual persona skill selection, more refined controls, and other changes. In addition, there are more game mechanics that are added and/or borrowed like 'Shift' which is just baton pass from Persona 5 but doesn't have the attack and heal boost. Theurgy, characteristics, monad doors, and greedy hands are said added game mechanics that I'm not sure how to feel about. Theurgy is strategic especially in late game, sure, but they just made the game too easy even on the hardest difficulty. A prime example is Fuuka's Theurgy that has a chance to give the party heat riser, charge + focus, or a full heal for both HP and SP. This ruins the dungeon crawling vibe as you don't feel really pressured on using valuable SP recovery items as her theurgy will mostly do the work for you if it activates. Of course even outside of it if you know what you're doing, like with most SMT games, the game is hard at first but becomes easy. I died several times, but that count lowered till late game and I had fun. Monad doors are just defeating a mini boss, getting gems and models, and being rewarded with 2 floors of a fully charted map. Greedy hands are just RNG based, but late game you can spend MP to trivialize this for a ton of rewards. One thing I do appreciate about the remake's features however is the great clock that allows standby or active party members to catch up quickly in levels for that slice of party synchronization that is also included in shuffle time; speaking of, shuffle time got a massive overhaul in the remake I like. Much like Persona Golden, it involves the major arcanas that add passives and persona stat increases that affects future shuffle times, dungeon crawling, xp, etc. to make your dungeon crawling efforts fruitful. The culmination of these mechanics has some good, some questionable, and some not-good at most. Well, at least I'm not going into the fucking velvet room persona skill roulette mines in FES so I'm glad.
The story I have a lot to talk about. Yeah, I'm told it's just the same as the original, but maybe having this remake harbor the original's story is fine because this is actually a (modern) persona game with a good story. The cast is great and I love the theming of [ we're all going to die some day because we're mortal, but that's ok because as long as we enjoy life, experiences, and rely on friends then everything is all right ]. The voice acting on top of socials links and story beats gave those moments the oomphs it deserved and genuinely made me cry for how much game's story is a timeless classic among one of the icons of the Playstation 2 era's game library.
Other gripes I have with the game is the expansion pass that includes FES's The Answer (which I have not experienced through) for $35 totaling this game to a $105 USD cost. Like I said in my Yakuza 8: Infinite Wealth review, if you think that the it should be rated lower because of this then that is 100% fair. I think it is kinda unfair too. At least, I don't want to buy an expansion pass for it.
Now then, should you play the other versions of Persona 3 over this one? Well, it depends. Do you prefer the clunky, old-school style that has AI-controlled party members that grow to add the narrative they trust you more (side note: they get more commands after defeating major bosses)? Then play FES. Portable recommendation feels disingenuous as that game doesn't have as much as a budget than FES that are presenting like it's some visual novel. If you want to play it though then go ahead; it's got a female protagonist option. If you were discouraged by the either FES or Portable, then Reload is just right for you excluding price. Overall, I really enjoyed Reload despite some of the issues mainly for the story that I haven't got to experience with the original.