So, as I expected, the game is what the first one did well but even better. Never have I been so drilled by the gameplay of an ARPG and it's been a WHILE since the last time the physics of a game impressed me that much (since RDR2 to be precise). Being able to make a Cyclop loose his balance and then pushing his feet to make him fall on the ground and sending big swings in his head then grabbing is neck when he gets back up and finishing him off with a slash of greatsword going from the neck to the leg is just epicness itself.

There is a lot of different vocations in the game and the gameplay and up being very diversified when you reach the end. I personnaly spent almost all my playthrough playing the Champion class after unlocking it but I tried some of the other and while yes there is a lot of different gameplays I need to recognise that some like the archer class is particularily dogshit. Maybe because in higher level zones it's difficult to restart from level 1 with archer but DAMN what a horrible time it was hahaha. The classes are really unbalanced, like the Thief is over broken and deals so much damages to the enemy that I decided to ban it completely from my party do have a little more challenge. So, yeah, the gameplay is really diversified and really cool, all the upgrades can make you change completely your playstyle even within the same class.

Moreover, if great gameplay wasn't enough, there is also a great exploration ! The map isn't very big (even though it can be long to go from a capital to another) so you'll don't really need fast travel, you'll use them only when you have to go to the same place 4 or 5 times to complete a special quest. The only thing I missed while exploring is being rewarded with unique weapons, armor or else like you may have in Elden Ring but instead you are rewarded with a special place with a quest serie to do, it's still great though ! And when reaching true ending, being rewarded for spending time in the open world is really cool.

The game is clearly a gigantic upgrade of the first one, keeping the philosophy of the game while making it more fun to play and more casual friendly event though I still think it's not a game for everyone. I don't like those kind of phrases usually but I really mean it, there is a lot of things in the game that is against what the industry has become, it's the kind of game where you have to often guess what you have to do and I love that.

But I didn't note it with a 5/5 but a 4.5/5, why ? To be honest there is a shadow glooming over the game that makes you feel like the game released too early and a lot of content was cut exactly like the first one. The things hinting that are the variety of ennemies that are the same from hour 10 to hour 40 unfortunately. And the other hint in my opinion is the pacing of the story, it really feels like some arcs were cut, you and up with a skeleton with the skull, the spine and the legs but without the limbs and the arms. It surely is once again a story of investors pushing the dev team to release the game early. But thanks to the popularity and the sales, maybe there will be another game in the future ?

So in the end, yeah, I loved this game. I started to doubt halfway through but when I came back to the main story after being done exploring, the game told me how great he was. But yeah, I think when Dragon's Dogma 3 will release, we will finally have the whole experience that Itsuno intended.

Persona 3 Reload is the greatest remake of all time.

I will talk about the story, but briefly as I've already played Persona 3 twice before: FES and Portable. Let me say one thing first, though. This is what remakes should strive to be.

The soundtrack is flawless, the voice acting, while different, is absolutely remarkable, the visuals are everything I'd ever wanted, this game is a Persona 3 fan's wet dream.

As I'm writing this review, I am listening to the soundtrack play over the end credits and just reflecting on my experience with it. Persona 3 takes themes of life and death, the meaning of both of them, mental health, and many other things. I don't wanna go TOO in-depth with it right now, because I can hardly even piece myself together after that ending, but let me just say it is very worth your time.

This game takes just about everything in the original and improves on it. There are, of course, some core gameplay loop stuff that can't be changed for obvious reasons, so I don't fault Reload for it. What matters is this: this game is very special to me. I don't know if I like it more or less than Persona 5 Royal. I genuinely can't decide.

I can't even say for certain if there will be another game that comes out this year that I hold higher than this. Gaming may have just peaked in February of 2024. Thank you, Persona 3 Reload. I promise I don't actually give 10s this often, it's just that lately, the stuff I've been playing have been ridiculously good.

My score - 10/10

Entre a inevitabilidade da morte, entre a certeza de que tudo o que amamos e vivemos é finito, encontramos o sentido de seguir em frente através do medo de um já certo fim.

Há tempos não presenciava conceitos e temas tão complexos acerca da morte em uma mídia, e é surreal o quanto Persona 3 Reload me fez questionar certos dilemas enquanto o jogava.

De início, não nego que me encontrei receoso em relação a identidade própria que o jogo apresentaria. Utilizar praticamente toda a base do maior sucesso da franquia, o Persona 5, que cada vez mais parece uma fonte inesgotável de reaproveitamento pra Atlus, me fez ter medo de comentários como "Persona 5, só que azul" serem verdade.

No entanto, não demorou muito para esse receio cair por terra.

Persona 3 Reload trabalha muito bem com os temas que se propõe a desenvolver, e utiliza muito bem de seus personagens impecáveis para tornar isso possível. É uma história muito mais madura, muito mais densa em significados, que me fez ter boas doses de crises existenciais.

É digno de comparações diretas com seu companheiro de franquia não por suas semelhanças em mecânica, mas sim por sua grandiosidade.

O S.E.E.S brilha tanto quanto os Phantom Thieves, o Tártaro brilha tanto quanto ou até mais do que o Mementos, It's Going Down Now irá brilhar por muito tempo em minha playlist, assim como Last Surprise. Mas o ponto mais importante é que são brilhos distintos, únicos, especiais à sua maneira.

Em termos de "remake", não tenho como me aprofundar por não ter jogado qualquer outra versão de Persona 3, mas digo com tranquilidade que se há uma versão definitiva, essa versão é a Reload.

"Ninguém pode enfrentar a morte sem primeiro encontrar o sentido da vida..."

"Não se apegue ao passado e nem olhe para o futuro. Só viva o presente."

Having finally finished the game, I will say this is the best persona game. Takes all the gameplay innovations of 5 and adds it to the best story.

The story is even better this time around and is improved greatly. So many characters have been expanded upon. Persona 3'd biggest issue used to be pacing and in this game the pacing was rectified to the best they could do.

Theragy is such a great addition to combat I'm shocked at how well implemented it is. It reminds me a lot of the s-crafts in the trails series and those were super fun to use. I'd love to see this concept expanded further because this game showed a useful implementation of the idea.

Moving around has never felt better in the series, and makes traversing tarturus a lot more fun. Congrats Atlus, you finally figured out how to make your characters feel good to move.

This game shows that atlus still has it in them to create genre defining jrpgs and I am very excited for persona 6.

Remember when Naughty Dog used to make games like Jak & Daxter and Uncharted while not being held hostage by a egotistical Zionist who believes he can do no wrong and a bigger company who so desperately wants the same 7 franchises they've relied on heavily since 2017 to be cinematic video game showcases so they can easily translate them into movies and TV shows because said-company's previously existing movie/TV IPs have either underperformed or is forced to have shared custody with the Mouse™?

On a completely unrelated note the Last of Us Part II is a very nothing remaster and they're now announcing the new cast for season 2 of the show.

This is my new favorite game of all time and it's not even close, they fixed EVERY single issue I had with the original Persona 3. The story is fantastic and it's the most emotion any piece of media has ever gotten out of me, the combat and tartarus are SO much more fun then the original and the main issue I had with the story was fixed being strega was extremely underutilized in the original.

To me personally this is the perfect game, I think the only thing that could possibly top this is a Persona 4 remake at this quality.