There's a few characters that I feel could've been given more. In particular, I think Ken, Ryoji, and the other human antagonists embody incredibly intriguing thematic ideas and perform actions that hold such a great impact on the narrative and the various characters they form a dynamic with, BUT they have such a weak presence within the story. Hell, Strega is basically meme'd to death within the Persona fandom for how lame their boss fights are and how lazy their plans come across as. It sucks, because again, these characters are amazing on paper. It's created situations where I feel not many people are even willing to entertain the substance they provide to the overall narrative solely because of how forgettable their surface level impact is.
And despite being flawed in their own right, I think it's cool how the movies reinterpreted the characters I mentioned, pretty much completely fixing the issues listed. If P3 does ever get remade, this is the one area I think they should take inspiration from the movies for.

P3's gameplay is admittedly not great. It's something I personally can enjoy a whole lot (putting a video or music on the background while going through Tartarus is peak vibes), but it's definitely on the weaker side of MegaTen combat. I really like the addition of non-controllable party and the way it serves P3's themes, but I think it's simplistic implementation caused some pretty big sacrifices. Mainly with how bosses are designed to be extremely straightforward due to the limitations of the game's AI party control. And there's just some bosses where I can only go "what the hell were they thinking?" Like you're telling me it's ok for bosses to have heavy elemental spells with mind charge and I'm only on the THIRD month of the game? Fuck you, dude.

The presentation is ASS. The loss of the game's surreal cutscenes that were filled to the brim with creative imagery isn't even the worst part. There's several moments within the story where I got SUPER invested, only to go "😐" after seeing how a scene was adapted. I think Portable is an amazing way to go through P3 after finishing FES, but I would definitely be let down to some degree if this was my first experience with the game.

Starting this by saying FeMC my beloved. She's one of my favorite characters in the franchise alongside the male MC and I feel she's more than worth playing through the game again to see how she adds to P3's narrative and changes various dynamics within the cast. Butttt there's a lot of areas where the game fails to deliver with her implementation. The structure of Persona 3, in its narrative and gameplay loop, is so intrinsically tied to the melancholic portrayal of the male protagonist and his journey of self discovery. The way characters in the main story interact with him, the way social links are written, and the ending of the game are so connected to him, that replacing him with a character that's supposed to act as his direct contrast WITHOUT a major overhaul to the main story is obviously not going to be perfect. There's social links that FeMC shares with MC where it's so jarringly out of character for her to act so passively. There's a whole character's existence that's based on MC that isn't changed in the slightest for FeMC. And while the game does very heavily hint at her flaws regarding her lack of self care, I don't feel it's explored as well as it could've been and it causes the ending to not feel as fitting. It'd be a HUGE undertaking to fix all of these issues and I think FeMC route still works super well when taking into account what they were going for. But ultimately, these flaws do contribute to why I think MC route/FES is the superior way to play through the game first.

This game's localization was frustrating to deal with. Emotionally connecting with a story that couldn't be more relevant with my current situation in life was HARD to do when most of the script reads like it's been ran through google translate. And it led to me underrating the game for months after finishing it. I will never forget the sheer misfortune of witnessing one of the most shocking and heartbreaking revelations I've ever experienced in the series, only for it to be followed up with a cutscene featuring some of the worst voice acting I have ever heard. PLEASE play this game with the undub patch if you're going to. It won't fix the script issues, but at least the boss fights and cutscenes won't sound horrible.

It's so confusing why they decided to make Maya a silent protagonist. It's the only Persona game where I'm just actively taken aback by the choice to have one. Mostly because she's already an established character that spoke in the previous game. I still think she works quite well while silent though. They use her very similarly to the Persona 1 Protagonist, where the player is given choices to test whether or not they acknowledge the game's themes, with the correct choices symbolically reflecting Maya's growth from Innocent Sin. But I think the already stellar cast dynamic could've been made even better if she wasn't mute.
It also just doesn't help that the bad choices don't even lead to a bad ending like in the case of Persona 1. With the only punishment being the final boss is harder. So if the player decided, Maya could've learned literally nothing over the course of the story.

The R in Replicant stands for 'Repetition'.
Many side quest add a ton to Replicant's world in a small scale manner. Providing absolutely wonderful interactions between the entire cast, featuring some of my favorite casual banter in a video game. But it does suck how a good majority of them are pretty boring to play.
Route C is really lame. It's such a huge waste of potential, especially considering that this is basically a remake, regardless of how faithful it is. In Ver 1.22, the only difference between it and route B is added stories from Grimoire Nier (a guidebook that contains original stories that was published after Replicant/Gestalt's original release) and slightly changing a newly added subplot in the main narrative. They could've let you play as another character. They could've added more content that you could actually play, aside from changing the phase of a boss. Hell, they could've just started you towards the end of Part 2 to keep it simple. It just adds to the frustration of Replicant's ever present issue of repetition.
The gameplay also gets more simple and mind numbing as you go through the routes, but being honest, I don't really care.

Part 2 could've done a way better job at exploring its cast. I don't want to get into deep spoilers, but they greatly misuse Kaine in Route A solely for the sake of giving her added scenes in Route B. And yeah, those scenes are fucking great, but it doesn't really detract from the main issue. Especially with how the core story of Route B is the same as Route A.

The game could've been a bit longer and used that time to further explore some of the mainstays within the cast. I get part of the comedy behind characters like Dana and Gillian are the mystery surrounding them, but man. I think it'd be cool we saw more from them. It also just doesn't help that the final few days aren't really too eventful. In fact, I think they're some of the weakest days in the game. I still feel the game sticks its landing incredibly well when taking into account the secret, individual character endings and the conclusion to Jill's story.

I wish the bar sim gameplay was just a tiny bit more engaging. This is not a serious complaint at ALL, since it's a mfing visual novel. And there's some complaints and comparisons I've seen online aimed at the gameplay that are just silly. BUT as someone who's replayed the game like four times trying to 100% it (you can do it in 1 or 2 playthroughs with a guide, i just fucked up a lot), I feel the game could've used more systems to encourage attentive play. Hopefully, that'll be the case whenever N1RV ANN-A drops

Metal Gear's heavy handed presentation of its central themes can act as both a wonderful benefit to its wacky, unforgettable narratives or a huge detriment that hamper emotional attachment to said narrative. On the negative side, I feel MGS1 and MGS2 suffer quite a bit more than MGS3 in this regard. There's times where it feels blatantly obvious that Kojima didn't know how to naturally implement a key idea that he wanted to communicate, so he has the characters almost blatantly state it in a dialogue sequence that can range from 5 to 20 minutes. Personally, I'm not taken too far aback by it. It can definitely come off as overbearing, but I think the journeys of the characters themselves are masterfully written on their own to where it's not too big of an issue for me.
I feel MGS3 suffers the least from this problem, as the game is far more subtle when it comes to communicating its thematic ideas. However, that comes with the caveat of its finale. Through discussion with my friend that extended from his own take on this list, I've come to realize that the game's finale falls victim to the issue I previously stated, which also causes MGS3's numerous ideas to be overshadowed by the overarching motif of "the changing times." It's one of the biggest reasons why I'd like to revisit this game so badly, as... yeah, "the changing times" and the ending are my first thoughts when it comes to thinking about MGS3's story. And that's pretty unfair, as the way MGS3 builds off the ideas of its predecessors to tell its own story is so damn impressive. I think a replay would help me appreciate this aspect of the story a lot more.

My primary issue with MGS can be summed up in this one topic, so I refrained from including MGS2. Don't have much more to say for that game other than the Big Shell is the lamest setting of the trilogy. Easily the least visually impressive and backtracking can kiss my ass!!!

Story wise, my only issue is that the middle act feels weak compared to its beginning and finale. The game has such a masterful opening with how it slowly introduces the world of Tellius through Ike's perspective. As the player, you get acquainted with new cultures and come to understand the continent's societal conflict alongside him, while also learning more about his past and other relationships. And the final few chapters wrap up the story beautifully while leaving a large amount of unanswered questions for Radiant Dawn's sake. It leaves the middle act feeling pretty standard in comparison. Not at all to say there still isn't greatness to be found. Ike's initial confrontation with the Apostle and her deciding to further her understanding of Tellius' history are both some of the most powerful plot beats in the game for me. I just wish this portion of the narrative felt more dense, as it's the only thing holding the game back as being among my favorite stories.

And I guess I should bring it up, seeing as it's one of the biggest criticisms of the game, but the gameplay's pacing is pretty bad. But I don't really see it as too big of an issue. Mostly because one of the only ways to play this game is through an emulator, which has speed up.

The gameplay is punishing, but not in a good way. It's notoriously known for how unwelcoming it is for blind or guideless players. And while I could pretty easily play the game without one now, I still feel it's a pretty silly way to design the game.
This also isn't made any better by how bullshit the later maps can be. Something must've hurt Kaga on an emotional level the day he thought of teleport tiles that warp units into an enclosed room filled with enemies in a fog of war map.

Thracia has an amazing Lord and a few amazing reoccurring side characters, like August, Finn, and Eyvel. But everyone else fr just be existing. It's an ever present issue of the older Fire Emblem games, to where the side characters get little to no focus, some of them going the entire game with two lines of dialogue at most. FE4 manages to mitigate this with inheritance as a gameplay mechanic, giving pretty much every unit their own unique identity. But since Thracia obviously doesn't have that, along with it's theme of how anyone can become a hero manifesting in gameplay through its freeform units and low stat caps, there's a lot of characters who feel like they exist solely to take up space.

Genealogy does a great job at subtly teaching you how to properly allocate units over its gigantic maps, but no matter how well you perform, you're always going to have that moment where infantry units are forced to play catch up.

Gen 2 map design can blow. There's an overbearing focus of status effect inflicting mages that makes me wonder if anyone actually thought that shit was fun.

Gen 1 serves as an amazing deconstruction of a Fire Emblem story. Where it explores the faults of the standard Fire Emblem Lord in a unique and tragic manner. Which is why it's shocking to me how Gen 2 just kinda falls back in line with a standard Fire Emblem story. I still like the story of Gen 2 a good bit, as Seliph is a pretty dang good lord and Jugdral remains as a captivating political setting. But come the second half of Gen 2, I feel FE4 loses some of what made it so unique compared to other Fire Emblem stories.

The game could've used a better balance of Dream World to Real World sequences. There's some Dream World segments where I feel they went on a bit too long and the exact opposite for some of the Real World one. This is a pretty generic complaint, but god damn, the Real World content is just too damn good. Still gotta replay the game, due to how certain events recontextualize major aspects of the story, so I'll leave it at that.

@TheBigBurger
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FOAE2fAUcAAxof9?format=png&name=small

Don't got much to say for this, other than I think combat can get sliightly repetitive in the middle portion of the game. Though it's novelty of being a VR mitigates that a good bit.

Also fuck this game for being so difficult to play in the first place. I'm lucky my interest in Half Life kicked in around the time I got a VR headset.

This being the first game on the source engine really shows with how bland it looks. I mostly only consider this an issue because Black Mesa exist, which I personally find to be a suitable replacement to HL1 and it's easily the prettiest source game.

The parts where the game has to load the next level is some of the most immersion breaking shit ever.

There's a couple really cool concepts from HL1 that had to be thrown out the window for HL2 to work. The player losing the freedom to shape Gordon through his actions is probably the biggest loss imo. It had to happen, as HL2 has way less of a focus on environmental story telling, along with having characters that actually matter to the grander narrative. But it still sucks regardless. Will forever miss sociopathic Gordon Freeman. Oh, and the way the characters praise him as a messiah and a savior is the most textbook example of pandering you could find in a video game.

Story had really great promise, but it falls flat. It has some of the most intriguing characters in the series, along with my favorite incarnation of Link and Zelda, but that's large in part due to things like journal entries, some found in the Champions Ballad DLC. There should've been more memories that visually depicted these moments and it's insane how laughable of a job the DLC did with that.

Combat in the game gets noticeably worse as it progresses. Playing like a scavenger, finding and using literally anything you can find, is endless fun and peak Zelda combat. But you begin to lose that feeling as you discover stronger weapons and armor, which does expose the simplicity of the core combat system.

I hate the fact that there will probably never be a definitive version for this game. There's tons of really annoying inconveniences in the original that's fixed by the 3DS version. Like, for example, god bless the bomber's notebook ACTUALLY being a useful way to manage sidequest without having to refer to an online guide. BUT the 3DS largely ruins the amazing bosses of the original by turning them into more generic "smash the weakpoint" fights. And the more smooth and vibrant presentation, while really nice to look at, doesn't suit the grimey and unsettling atmosphere the original game was going for. I'd say I'm more likely to go with the 3DS version when it comes to replaying it casually, but I will forever be annoyed with its shortcomings.

This game had the almost unfair task at building off an incredibly underwhelming predecessor. In the end, I'm absolutely amazed how it managed to get me to care about the cast, but starting off, I think it's connection to DDS1's weak narrative held it back a bit. In particular, there's a moment from DDS1 for Gale that majorly affected his character and is consistently called back to, but I couldn't really give a shit any time it was mentioned in DDS2 because I found the original moment was so rushed.

The tonal shift that occurs in the final act of the game was incredibly jarring. I think it befits the main overarching theme of the game very well, but I was taken aback by it at first. I definitely think they could've gone about presenting it better.