After finishing both Persona 5 Royal, and Persona 4 Golden, and consuming probably every bit of content from those 2 entries as possible, I got a copy of Persona 3 FES to run on my laptop. This was back 2 or 3 years ago now, and I managed to get all the way up to mid-October before my computer decided to delete all of my save files. Hours of progress gone, I genuinely thought I'd never be able to see the end of Persona 3 until this beauty arrived at my doorstep.
Persona 3 Reload is, as of writing, the defacto way to experience Persona 3. While it may not include the Answer just yet, the sheer amount of quality-of-life improvements does more than enough, in both quelling all frustrations with the outdated design of FES, and the hardware limitations that plague Portable.
To start off with some minor, but vital changes. The ability to fast travel to each area, without having to return to the entrance shaves genuine hours off of game time. Similarly, the ability to visibly see on the map which social links are available, and where they are located, even when you haven't started said link is an excellent addition. The ability to stumble across things by yourself is more controlled, yet fairer to those who only want one playthrough. To top off the quality changes: controllable party members. THANK GOD ATLUS. FES became hell to play at points, when more than half of your battle decisions were left up to complete luck and the hope that the game's AI was able to recognize weaknesses and resistances. No RPG with multiple party members should ever lock the ability to something as basic as controlling characters.
The combat in Reload is also so much better, even beyond just the idea of controllable party members. Theurgy and combat characteristics are excellent additions, not only for the narrative's sake, but also for the sake of fleshing out the character's quirks and personalities. The second awakenings in general are so much better implemented in 3, than 4 or 5. Because of the simple reason that the awakenings occur because of the actions of the awakener. Rather than force the player/protagonist to trigger these, separate from the story, it is the character's individual resolve that forces the change to happen. Making for more impactful story beats, and consistency with the idea that a person's persona is their true self. Only when confrontative of that idea, can the character change for the better.
There was a lot of talk around the voicecast for Reload. Particularly around Akihiko. Having experienced the whole thing, i think it's fair to say that some voice actors do so much better than the original, while others fall short of what made that character who they are. I'm not going to go into detail, with each voice member, because they can only do as well as the direction they're given, but I did want to give special acknowledgment to the most noticeable improvement. Fuuka.
My issues with Persona 3 Reload are quite minor and some may have been present in the other versions. I think the thing i noticed the most, is how off-balance the social link availability is. To put it plainly, the game does not give you much time in school. And, of the 19 social links in the game, 11 of them are tied to your school days. The disparity in this is that by the last 3 months, I had started to completely run out of things to do in the evenings while wanting more time within the school to increase my links. I finished P3R with 3 unfinished social links, all of whom were a part of the school. Thankfully, it seems as if Atlus learned a lot from this aspect in particular, as Persona 4 and 5 both have way more balanced social links.
There are some other very very minor issues with Reload, such as the inability to check requests or your current party of Persona while in the Velvet Room, But besides the social links, I genuinely didn't have any major bothers going through Reload.
Persona 3 Reload is, as of writing, the defacto way to experience Persona 3. While it may not include the Answer just yet, the sheer amount of quality-of-life improvements does more than enough, in both quelling all frustrations with the outdated design of FES, and the hardware limitations that plague Portable.
To start off with some minor, but vital changes. The ability to fast travel to each area, without having to return to the entrance shaves genuine hours off of game time. Similarly, the ability to visibly see on the map which social links are available, and where they are located, even when you haven't started said link is an excellent addition. The ability to stumble across things by yourself is more controlled, yet fairer to those who only want one playthrough. To top off the quality changes: controllable party members. THANK GOD ATLUS. FES became hell to play at points, when more than half of your battle decisions were left up to complete luck and the hope that the game's AI was able to recognize weaknesses and resistances. No RPG with multiple party members should ever lock the ability to something as basic as controlling characters.
The combat in Reload is also so much better, even beyond just the idea of controllable party members. Theurgy and combat characteristics are excellent additions, not only for the narrative's sake, but also for the sake of fleshing out the character's quirks and personalities. The second awakenings in general are so much better implemented in 3, than 4 or 5. Because of the simple reason that the awakenings occur because of the actions of the awakener. Rather than force the player/protagonist to trigger these, separate from the story, it is the character's individual resolve that forces the change to happen. Making for more impactful story beats, and consistency with the idea that a person's persona is their true self. Only when confrontative of that idea, can the character change for the better.
There was a lot of talk around the voicecast for Reload. Particularly around Akihiko. Having experienced the whole thing, i think it's fair to say that some voice actors do so much better than the original, while others fall short of what made that character who they are. I'm not going to go into detail, with each voice member, because they can only do as well as the direction they're given, but I did want to give special acknowledgment to the most noticeable improvement. Fuuka.
My issues with Persona 3 Reload are quite minor and some may have been present in the other versions. I think the thing i noticed the most, is how off-balance the social link availability is. To put it plainly, the game does not give you much time in school. And, of the 19 social links in the game, 11 of them are tied to your school days. The disparity in this is that by the last 3 months, I had started to completely run out of things to do in the evenings while wanting more time within the school to increase my links. I finished P3R with 3 unfinished social links, all of whom were a part of the school. Thankfully, it seems as if Atlus learned a lot from this aspect in particular, as Persona 4 and 5 both have way more balanced social links.
There are some other very very minor issues with Reload, such as the inability to check requests or your current party of Persona while in the Velvet Room, But besides the social links, I genuinely didn't have any major bothers going through Reload.