566 reviews liked by KyuuMetis


Cool game that didn't deserve the redditification it got on the public eye

Heartbreaking: Adorable rotund kiwi mascot is stuck in a platformer I don't likeπŸ’”πŸ’”πŸ’”πŸ’”.

Hey there reference to the first game did you like reference to the first game here's 10 minutes of dialogue abstracting reference to the first game.

Bored of reading in a vn? Don't worry, here's an anime AMV depressed lofi beats to study and reference to the first game.

Hello fellow avid Baldi fans, Baldigirl_87 here, how old were you when you realized he's called Baldi because he's bald(i)?

Me: 38

"These bitches gay"
- Repetitive and obvious
- Spoils the normal ending
- Pushes casuals away from the game

"If you 1cc they kiss I think..."
- Creative and unexpected
- Gives a possible hint of what's to come from the true ending
- Incentivize casuals to attempt a 1cc

Curse

1989

now I know how all the other guys named john wayne gacy must've felt

I was trying to get this asshole to guess meiko and I got pomni rule 34

just got "Is your character from Skibidi Toilet 16?" as a question

Memento mori -- remember, you will not have enough time to complete all your Social Links if you focus on the old couple and their stupid persimmon tree the second you start the game. Do any of these kids even go to school!?

Apologies to FES devotees, but the "Persona 5-fication" of Persona 3 has, in my eyes, been nothing but a net gain. Sure, it's upsetting that the only other legally accessible version of Persona 3 is a ho-hum port of a compromised portable release, but I'm no stranger to the base game, and when stacking it up side-by-side with Reload, it's hard to not internalize the remake as being the superior way to play the game.

Pretty much every facet of the original is improved or otherwise preserved, and nothing has been downscaled or infringed upon in a manner I would view as harmful. That extends to giving the player direct control over their party, a choice that was originally made to suit Persona 3's themes of communication and bonding by treating each member of SEES as their own individual with their own will. You could largely avoid Mitsuru's habitual casting of Marin Karin by engaging with command presets, my issue is not with the AI. I just think having input over 25% of my team in battle makes the game a little too passive and boring. Well, not anymore. Now I have total control, me, and I'm using my newfound agency to... habitually cast Marin Karin-- wait what the hell

An expanded list of spells and abilities adds a lot more variety to combat, and having more input over how your Personas are built permits more strategic planning over the original's randomized inheritance. All quality-of-life changes that are more or less standard parts of the modern SMT experience, effectively bringing Persona 3 on par with Persona 5 and Shin Megami Tensei V. It is likewise as easy as those games, but being accessible to new audiences isn't necessarily a bad thing. I opted to play through Reload on hard and found the difficulty curve to be more enjoyable this way, though by the time you reach the end game you'll still likely be overpowered. Armageddon is basically the "bully The Reaper" button, and I feel a little bad about it, but that's free EXP so what're you gonna do?

Even the individual blocks of Tartarus, Persona 3's massive procedurally generated labyrinth, are fleshed out in a way that makes navigating less rote and tiresome... though it doesn't completely alleviate some of the tedium. This is perhaps one area where Reload is a bit too slavish to the original game. Enemy designs are turned over and recycled constantly, and the limited number of blocks ensures that even though the geometry is more varied, you'll still probably get sick of exploring before reaching a border floor.

Though I've seen people upset that Reload recasts everyone (except Tara Platt, who apparently had the one unassailable performance), I do think the new cast is excellent, and emotional beats that I found affecting when I played the original game were even more impactful despite anticipating them thanks in large part to better voice direction, more emotive character models, and more dynamic cinematography. I've seen mixed opinions on the soundtrack and changes to Persona 3's aesthetic, but I'm way into all of it. These are my favorite versions of familiar songs, I think the character portraits are a clear step up and I adore the hard lines segmenting areas of shading, I am 1,000% down with the water theming in the menus, and I think the new SEES uniforms are great and actually make the party feel like a well-backed force.

I also have nothing but praise for the new Not S. Links Reload adds, which provides the male members of SEES additional screentime for their individual stories to develop. I think this helps bond the player with each member of the core party even more than the original did, something that Persona 3's two sequels got right by giving each member their own dedicated Social Links. Strega and their ideology are also given a greater amount of time to develop, which helps build them as a credible threat and enhances their presence in the story. However, I must dock points for not being able to date Takaya, I can fix him

Reload might be me at my most defensive of remakes, and at my most insistent that changing material is not inherently bad. The few ways in which Reload does lack is still a noted step up from the original, and the content which is outright excluded is material I didn't care about anyway (I think The Answer is the closest any expanded content has come to essentially being an IGN "ending explained!" article, and unfathomably boring besides.) That said, I think it's possible to feel this way about Reload and still lament the fact that the original game is only accessible through piracy or by overpaying on the aftermarket, and that even more Persona 3 media is outright lost to time.

Momentum-focused 3D platformer that feels like a 3D Sonic Team game from the Saturn era. Kind of a NiGHTS aesthetic going on as well. This game is about chaining special movement techniques back to back to move around quickly. Basic walking is a bad way to speed up or switch directions. Air dashing, using a grappling-hook type move and riding across terrain to keep your speed up is basically the core gameplay here.

The platforming levels get fairly challenging to clear later on. Mainly the optional Star levels but fully unlocking these requires completionist item collection which may not be for everyone.

The games boss fights seem very weak compared to the main platforming parts. I wish the Busker Bonus minigame wasn't in the game at all, being a trivial quick-time event at the end of every stage. It breaks the pace between levels a bit too much, including the minigame music not being stage specific.
Time Attack mode gets rid of this but that's essentially post-game. Speedrunning through levels does seem like the core appeal and most fun to have in the game.

Levels and especially boss fights have some dead air with auto scrolling rail grab, etc. sequences where you wait around for the next scene. The campaign feels a tiny bit bloated personally. I really started enjoying the level design around World 6-7.

When there isn't dead air the movement does feel very fast paced. Being a momentum based game messing up is just heavily punished. Even in optional levels you're often able to skip sections by fully using all your movement abilities.

The game at launch is a little buggy and also doesn't allow remapping your controls which is strange. The default 'pro' layout has many duplicate buttons and wants you to dash by double flicking the right stick which felt awkward. I had a much better experience after using Steam Input to change R1/RB to be a yo-yo throw button allowing dash by flicking the right stick once and pressing a button.

I had trouble perceiving depth visually on a few levels, especially if the ground is lava or something else that doesn't show the players shadow. Generally seems good though and I can imagine this being polished later.