Persona 3 has always been a game i was kinda sort of maybe a tad little critical of and maybe undeservedly so but, this remake has managed to flip my perceptions of this entry in its head completely. I think the biggest problem with my initial play through was it being p3p, the presentation was not all that it shouldve been nor could it compare to its fes counterpart (or so ive heard), but thats all in the past.
This game is absolutely stunning, the only times ive ever thought it look bad were with very few poorly made characters and some of the rather not very good looking 3d cutscenes, all of the animations just felt off and the mouth movements especially, it was an eye sore truth be told. Tartarus has never looked better and its never felt better to play either, each area of tartarus has been adapted from what were originally very uninspired layouts to each area have its own unique way of laying its floors, whether it be the large rooms filled with pillars of the 4th block, the tight corridors almost resembling that of the inside of a real life building or the twisting and winding paths of the fifth block, although i believe the most beautifully adapted block to be sixth and final block. The sixth block is to be put it simply really good looking, its a treat for your eyes and you traverse its unpredictable corridors, the white and black mix together do well in its layouts is kind of insane.
Tartarus was originally a very very tedious and boring dungeon, atleast to me, i actually dreaded entering it, the dungeons main downfall was how slowly you moved, the ost didnt help much, (although it didn’t change in reload but was somehow more bearable this time around) it was sleep inducing. Reload’s version if the dungeon gives way to a much faster pace to your movement making for a much more enjoyable experiencing, paired with the improved layouts and some additions to the dungeon crawling, like the repurposement of the monad doors, the greedy hands or the even just the breakable object lying around, it makes for a nice(r) experience, although the first couple blocks can be kind of a drag to get through, they kind of killed my hype for the game when i first started playing.
This games third greatest aspect is its combat, it feels fully realized, it feels like this is what persona’s combat (from 3 and onward) was always meant to be, elevating what in 3’s original was just a lesser press turn into in my opinion something truly special, taking features intoduced in five (showtimes, baton pass) taking away what their main flaws (showtimes being unpredictable, baton passes trivializing encounters) and making them better than they were before. My biggest problem with this games combat is how difficulty scales as you go up and i find that if you really put your mind to it you can begin to overpower most of the games greatly, even the games second biggest challenge the reaper could be beaten with just a little bit of forethought and the final boss was a cakewalk, truth be told the game was easier in its beginning than in its end (although it is important to note i spent the entire game doing all that i could to get my setanta and orpheus to the greatest heights possible, spending millions of yen on gems to get incenses to build up their stats and spending several nights at the arcades getting strength/magic up and spending how of grinding just to get some skill cards to output as much damage as i possibly could BUT i was playing in merciless so eh, you’ll have to decide).
This games music is phenomenal and in my opinion a step up from the original, the upbeat tunes if the initial themes give you a nice feeling as you traverse iwatodai before the new year, although i cant forget to mention the amazing nighttime theme, giving an extremely euphoric vibe as you handle your nighttime activities. I think the music of this game shines the most when it sets up some REAL atmosphere, specifically in the new year.
The atmosphere in the new year is amazing, the change in overworld theme from what was originally very upbeat and cheerful to more meloncholic and somber tunes, it makes you feel the weight of whats happening, the increasing amount of the lost, blending into the grayed out environment and new voice lines from vendors, speaking about your final endevour and how far you’ve come, kind of makes you feel rather determined, not to mention the dorm theme, keeping similar notes and sounds at certain points as the ground floor of tartarus, it makes you feel like youre ready for anything. The best part about all that ive mentioned as that it can get better (in my opinion), the music featured during march gives such an immense feeling of tranquility its unreal, it perfectly communicates the feeling of peace felt after so much struggle, this same feeling is given well in the title screen after the games ending (although i feel to an even greater degree, as it shows the classroom normally present at night during the daytime, paired with the final overworld theme and the sees equipment left on the desk, telling you once again the struggle is over). The last thing i want to mention is persona 3 reload’s frequent and great use of motifs, whether it be the many melodies reminisce of memories of you/joy or the dorm theme using notes and sounds from the tartarus ground floor theme it reuses sounds often and i like it a lot.
Now, the place where this game shines its brightest is without doubt its storytelling, it manages to keep you very engaged in the story of your party, their troubles and how they feel the game handles all of this very well, the main highlights being at yakushima and in kyoto(?), i forget the name, mainly between mitsuru and yukari. The games home to some of the best emotional moments in the series, whether it be the transpirings of events either during the full moon or a random night in november, or even the new link episodes given to party members, the stories given to you by this games are phenomenal and it only gets better with how well voice acted these scenes can be and just how good the dialogue can get. Takaya Sakaki has quickly become one of my favourite antagonists in all of persona not only thanks to his immaculately written dialogue and his stellar voice acting from Daman Mills but hes a great character at his core, his hypocrisy in criticizing makotos “saviour complex” just develop his own, the way he and makoto stand as two opposites a true and false messiah, his charisma and how deep he is into his delusions, hes such an entertaining character, Jin and chidori also have great voice work by Chris Hackney and Merit Leighton but it kind of pales in comparison to Takaya’s. Another great point of this games story is how party members conflict with each other, its something present in just about every game but i think it was executed especially well here.
The social links of this game are great and do well to not only make it feel as if you are building a bond with a character but making you invested in that characters story, or it can be really funny like Tanaka. Although, my favourite social links are probably the ones where once you finish them you dont get to see those characters anymore, all youve really got left of them is your memories of them, a lot of if not most people that you meet dont really stick around, theyre there for small parts of your life and once theyre gone, all you really have left of them is your memories with them and you should cherish those memories, i think thats beautiful and p3 manages to reflect this aspect of life well. This also applies to applies to any experience, say you go to one place a lot then one day something happens and you cant or wont go there anymore, its pretty much the same thing. Truth be told though i think the whole cherishing memories things applies to everything, whether its still present in your life or not. My favourite social links this applies to are probably Maiko, Mutatsu and Tanaka, two very heartwarming links and one very very fun social link.
Lastly, i want to speak about this games ending, this games ending was beautiful on all regards, the music, the visuals, the dialogue, the emotions it was all amazing and its not only what makes it my second favourite persona game but it’s what makes me feel like this game is oh so special, even among its own franchise its something truly amazing and it stands out for good reason. This game is amazing.
This game is absolutely stunning, the only times ive ever thought it look bad were with very few poorly made characters and some of the rather not very good looking 3d cutscenes, all of the animations just felt off and the mouth movements especially, it was an eye sore truth be told. Tartarus has never looked better and its never felt better to play either, each area of tartarus has been adapted from what were originally very uninspired layouts to each area have its own unique way of laying its floors, whether it be the large rooms filled with pillars of the 4th block, the tight corridors almost resembling that of the inside of a real life building or the twisting and winding paths of the fifth block, although i believe the most beautifully adapted block to be sixth and final block. The sixth block is to be put it simply really good looking, its a treat for your eyes and you traverse its unpredictable corridors, the white and black mix together do well in its layouts is kind of insane.
Tartarus was originally a very very tedious and boring dungeon, atleast to me, i actually dreaded entering it, the dungeons main downfall was how slowly you moved, the ost didnt help much, (although it didn’t change in reload but was somehow more bearable this time around) it was sleep inducing. Reload’s version if the dungeon gives way to a much faster pace to your movement making for a much more enjoyable experiencing, paired with the improved layouts and some additions to the dungeon crawling, like the repurposement of the monad doors, the greedy hands or the even just the breakable object lying around, it makes for a nice(r) experience, although the first couple blocks can be kind of a drag to get through, they kind of killed my hype for the game when i first started playing.
This games third greatest aspect is its combat, it feels fully realized, it feels like this is what persona’s combat (from 3 and onward) was always meant to be, elevating what in 3’s original was just a lesser press turn into in my opinion something truly special, taking features intoduced in five (showtimes, baton pass) taking away what their main flaws (showtimes being unpredictable, baton passes trivializing encounters) and making them better than they were before. My biggest problem with this games combat is how difficulty scales as you go up and i find that if you really put your mind to it you can begin to overpower most of the games greatly, even the games second biggest challenge the reaper could be beaten with just a little bit of forethought and the final boss was a cakewalk, truth be told the game was easier in its beginning than in its end (although it is important to note i spent the entire game doing all that i could to get my setanta and orpheus to the greatest heights possible, spending millions of yen on gems to get incenses to build up their stats and spending several nights at the arcades getting strength/magic up and spending how of grinding just to get some skill cards to output as much damage as i possibly could BUT i was playing in merciless so eh, you’ll have to decide).
This games music is phenomenal and in my opinion a step up from the original, the upbeat tunes if the initial themes give you a nice feeling as you traverse iwatodai before the new year, although i cant forget to mention the amazing nighttime theme, giving an extremely euphoric vibe as you handle your nighttime activities. I think the music of this game shines the most when it sets up some REAL atmosphere, specifically in the new year.
The atmosphere in the new year is amazing, the change in overworld theme from what was originally very upbeat and cheerful to more meloncholic and somber tunes, it makes you feel the weight of whats happening, the increasing amount of the lost, blending into the grayed out environment and new voice lines from vendors, speaking about your final endevour and how far you’ve come, kind of makes you feel rather determined, not to mention the dorm theme, keeping similar notes and sounds at certain points as the ground floor of tartarus, it makes you feel like youre ready for anything. The best part about all that ive mentioned as that it can get better (in my opinion), the music featured during march gives such an immense feeling of tranquility its unreal, it perfectly communicates the feeling of peace felt after so much struggle, this same feeling is given well in the title screen after the games ending (although i feel to an even greater degree, as it shows the classroom normally present at night during the daytime, paired with the final overworld theme and the sees equipment left on the desk, telling you once again the struggle is over). The last thing i want to mention is persona 3 reload’s frequent and great use of motifs, whether it be the many melodies reminisce of memories of you/joy or the dorm theme using notes and sounds from the tartarus ground floor theme it reuses sounds often and i like it a lot.
Now, the place where this game shines its brightest is without doubt its storytelling, it manages to keep you very engaged in the story of your party, their troubles and how they feel the game handles all of this very well, the main highlights being at yakushima and in kyoto(?), i forget the name, mainly between mitsuru and yukari. The games home to some of the best emotional moments in the series, whether it be the transpirings of events either during the full moon or a random night in november, or even the new link episodes given to party members, the stories given to you by this games are phenomenal and it only gets better with how well voice acted these scenes can be and just how good the dialogue can get. Takaya Sakaki has quickly become one of my favourite antagonists in all of persona not only thanks to his immaculately written dialogue and his stellar voice acting from Daman Mills but hes a great character at his core, his hypocrisy in criticizing makotos “saviour complex” just develop his own, the way he and makoto stand as two opposites a true and false messiah, his charisma and how deep he is into his delusions, hes such an entertaining character, Jin and chidori also have great voice work by Chris Hackney and Merit Leighton but it kind of pales in comparison to Takaya’s. Another great point of this games story is how party members conflict with each other, its something present in just about every game but i think it was executed especially well here.
The social links of this game are great and do well to not only make it feel as if you are building a bond with a character but making you invested in that characters story, or it can be really funny like Tanaka. Although, my favourite social links are probably the ones where once you finish them you dont get to see those characters anymore, all youve really got left of them is your memories of them, a lot of if not most people that you meet dont really stick around, theyre there for small parts of your life and once theyre gone, all you really have left of them is your memories with them and you should cherish those memories, i think thats beautiful and p3 manages to reflect this aspect of life well. This also applies to applies to any experience, say you go to one place a lot then one day something happens and you cant or wont go there anymore, its pretty much the same thing. Truth be told though i think the whole cherishing memories things applies to everything, whether its still present in your life or not. My favourite social links this applies to are probably Maiko, Mutatsu and Tanaka, two very heartwarming links and one very very fun social link.
Lastly, i want to speak about this games ending, this games ending was beautiful on all regards, the music, the visuals, the dialogue, the emotions it was all amazing and its not only what makes it my second favourite persona game but it’s what makes me feel like this game is oh so special, even among its own franchise its something truly amazing and it stands out for good reason. This game is amazing.