The good news is that Persona 3 Reload is a faithful remake of a fairly landmark game, retaining what's great about the original while adding smart quality-of-life features that streamline the experience, making it much more enjoyable to play. The bad news is that Persona 3 Reload is a faithful remake of Persona 3 original, meaning much of the later P3 content has been largely ignored, and aspects of the game's design feel trapped in the era in which it was conceived.
To the credit of Atlus, they've done an admirable job of trying to fill in some gaps created by the dissonance of what Persona games were in 2006 and what they are now. Combat, in particular, is where most of the QOL features can be found, with full party control and baton passing now standard, along with the addition of super attacks called Theurgy (which can kinda trivialize battles at times but at least they're fun). Pulling up your item menu in battle also defaults to the item you most likely need in that situation, which blew my mind; if your ally is poisoned, the curing item goes to the top of the list, or if the enemy is weak to fire, then here's the fire gem. Why don't more games do this?
P3 was also very limited in scope in terms of its world and activities, but there are some new ones here sprinkled in, and engaging in them with your party members can also unlock new passive abilities in combat. Anything that reinforces the core theme of these games that the bonds you form with people are your strength goes a long way with me. Still, much like the originals, you'll probably find yourself lacking in things to do toward the end of the game, defaulting to a lot of the same activities and locations over and over.
That feeling carries over into the core gameplay loop of Tartarus, which has also seen changes - but ones I don't think go far enough. Sometimes random little events would spawn on a floor to keep things interesting, and they've spliced in new ones like giant rare hands to chase down or side paths you wander in to fight harder enemies for shiny loot. They even gave every block of Tartarus a facelift, and your party regularly engages in conversations to help distract from what is largely the same tedious grind of the original P3. It's not that I don't enjoy a good dungeon crawler, and Persona's excellent combat system goes a long way in mitigating the monotony, but Tartarus still comes up well short of the standard set in Persona 5 with its bespoke, handcrafted dungeons. And there are still too many damn floors.
I know perhaps it was unrealistic to expect a full overhaul to bring Persona 3 closer in line with what Persona 5 offered, as their goal was rather to present the experience largely as-is, just with a modern coat of paint. There's value in that, but it's frustrating to think that even with Reload, you still cannot say with absolute certainty this is the definitive version of Persona 3. You're always going to have to qualify that with "Yeah, you should play this one, but..." I know it would have been a lot of effort but the Portable campaign with the female protagonist should have been here. Hell, that arguably has the better social links, and while Reload does offer a replacement in terms of its Linked Episodes (featuring new storylines for the party members who don't have social links), it's still absolutely baffling that half your party is missing from what is the core conceit of these games.
All this is to say that yes, Persona 3 is still a great game, with a strong story featuring an extremely well-developed cast and the continued gold standard for turn-based combat. Reload does an excellent job of capturing what you enjoyed about the original and presenting it in a more accessible form. However, it's still a shame this era of Persona remains as convoluted as ever, and if someone ever asks me what version of 3 they should play, I'm likely to throw my hands up in the air and walk away.
To the credit of Atlus, they've done an admirable job of trying to fill in some gaps created by the dissonance of what Persona games were in 2006 and what they are now. Combat, in particular, is where most of the QOL features can be found, with full party control and baton passing now standard, along with the addition of super attacks called Theurgy (which can kinda trivialize battles at times but at least they're fun). Pulling up your item menu in battle also defaults to the item you most likely need in that situation, which blew my mind; if your ally is poisoned, the curing item goes to the top of the list, or if the enemy is weak to fire, then here's the fire gem. Why don't more games do this?
P3 was also very limited in scope in terms of its world and activities, but there are some new ones here sprinkled in, and engaging in them with your party members can also unlock new passive abilities in combat. Anything that reinforces the core theme of these games that the bonds you form with people are your strength goes a long way with me. Still, much like the originals, you'll probably find yourself lacking in things to do toward the end of the game, defaulting to a lot of the same activities and locations over and over.
That feeling carries over into the core gameplay loop of Tartarus, which has also seen changes - but ones I don't think go far enough. Sometimes random little events would spawn on a floor to keep things interesting, and they've spliced in new ones like giant rare hands to chase down or side paths you wander in to fight harder enemies for shiny loot. They even gave every block of Tartarus a facelift, and your party regularly engages in conversations to help distract from what is largely the same tedious grind of the original P3. It's not that I don't enjoy a good dungeon crawler, and Persona's excellent combat system goes a long way in mitigating the monotony, but Tartarus still comes up well short of the standard set in Persona 5 with its bespoke, handcrafted dungeons. And there are still too many damn floors.
I know perhaps it was unrealistic to expect a full overhaul to bring Persona 3 closer in line with what Persona 5 offered, as their goal was rather to present the experience largely as-is, just with a modern coat of paint. There's value in that, but it's frustrating to think that even with Reload, you still cannot say with absolute certainty this is the definitive version of Persona 3. You're always going to have to qualify that with "Yeah, you should play this one, but..." I know it would have been a lot of effort but the Portable campaign with the female protagonist should have been here. Hell, that arguably has the better social links, and while Reload does offer a replacement in terms of its Linked Episodes (featuring new storylines for the party members who don't have social links), it's still absolutely baffling that half your party is missing from what is the core conceit of these games.
All this is to say that yes, Persona 3 is still a great game, with a strong story featuring an extremely well-developed cast and the continued gold standard for turn-based combat. Reload does an excellent job of capturing what you enjoyed about the original and presenting it in a more accessible form. However, it's still a shame this era of Persona remains as convoluted as ever, and if someone ever asks me what version of 3 they should play, I'm likely to throw my hands up in the air and walk away.