I discovered how much this game means to me after learning about some of the changes made with Persona 3 Reload and becoming very nervous about how the final product is going to turn out. At the time of writing this Persona 3 Reload is a little more than a month away, and I have to be honest and say I'm more worried than I am excited.
To me, so many elements of Persona 3 are near perfect, so I don't want to see them changed at all. Like everyone else I think the battle system and dungeon crawling aren't flawless, but I appreciate this game for what it DOES do extremely well rather than hold what it doesn't do perfectly against it. So while I'm open to seeing battle system improvements in Persona 3 Reload, I just don't want the remake to subtract the other elements that made this game so special.
The atmosphere, the music, the characters, the story, the art, and the themes all work together so well to create something that is more than the sum of its parts. The simple and haunting way the cutscenes are animated... The leitmotifs that can be found everywhere in the soundtrack... Shigenori Soejima's iconic artwork... I don't want them to change any of it. Maybe Persona 3 didn't need a remake after all. Just an enhanced port with party control would have been fine. But I can't make a judgement about this remake yet. We'll see.
However, even though I haven't played Reload yet, I've already heard a bit of the music in Reload and I don't like what they've done with some of the remixes. Mass Destruction is the main battle theme, which is obviously very important, and they really didn't do a good job with the remix. Hearing that remix just made me realize how special the original soundtrack is and how nothing about it needs to be changed. Just give me the original soundtrack. When they set out to remake a soundtrack of this caliber they had nowhere to go but down.
Also, the animated cutscenes in Persona 3 are incredible to the point that I prefer them over the Persona 3 Movie's cutscenes. Something about the simplicity is very chilling. Reload replaces the original's cutscenes with a mix of animated and in-game cutscenes, but I really can't see in-game cutscenes being an upgrade when the originals were already so good.
The story in Persona 3 is more focused on characters than events for the beginning chapters. This may bore some people who are expecting major events frequently like in a number of the other Persona games, but the character drama is much, much stronger here than in Persona 4 or 5. I really like Persona 2's story but I think there's no beating Persona 3's story and characters. The game's messaging and themes are too strong.
It's easy to be cynical about a Persona game like Persona 3, but can you think of that many other games that impacted people's lives with such potent messaging and themes? I have seen lot of people saying something along the lines of "Persona 3 saved my life". It's easy to understand why people say this - the game's messaging is all about living your life to the fullest and seeing it through to the end. Although there are people who prefer SMT because they think Persona is cheesy or cringeworthy, I can't help but see something like Shin Megami Tensei V as extremely shallow and meaningless in comparison. I rarely ever hear of someone impacted by Shin Megami Tensei V's messaging. Usually fans of SMT V only say that they like the design of the protagonist and say Nuwa is hot. Despite my criticism here, I like the SMT franchise so I wish Shin Megami Tensei V was a game that was capable of deeply impacting people's lives the way that Persona 3 has.
While I acknowledge that Persona 5 is the future of the franchise gameplay-wise, Persona 3 has a sort of legendary status for me. All of the games elements culminated in an absolutely unforgettable experience, which is why I'm nervous about these elements being changed. But no matter how the remake affects future generations' perceptions of Persona 3, I'll always know that the original was an incredible game. It remains to be seen whether or not I can recommend Reload to newcomers, but any changes they make - even for the better - will just make me more attached to the original game.
To me, so many elements of Persona 3 are near perfect, so I don't want to see them changed at all. Like everyone else I think the battle system and dungeon crawling aren't flawless, but I appreciate this game for what it DOES do extremely well rather than hold what it doesn't do perfectly against it. So while I'm open to seeing battle system improvements in Persona 3 Reload, I just don't want the remake to subtract the other elements that made this game so special.
The atmosphere, the music, the characters, the story, the art, and the themes all work together so well to create something that is more than the sum of its parts. The simple and haunting way the cutscenes are animated... The leitmotifs that can be found everywhere in the soundtrack... Shigenori Soejima's iconic artwork... I don't want them to change any of it. Maybe Persona 3 didn't need a remake after all. Just an enhanced port with party control would have been fine. But I can't make a judgement about this remake yet. We'll see.
However, even though I haven't played Reload yet, I've already heard a bit of the music in Reload and I don't like what they've done with some of the remixes. Mass Destruction is the main battle theme, which is obviously very important, and they really didn't do a good job with the remix. Hearing that remix just made me realize how special the original soundtrack is and how nothing about it needs to be changed. Just give me the original soundtrack. When they set out to remake a soundtrack of this caliber they had nowhere to go but down.
Also, the animated cutscenes in Persona 3 are incredible to the point that I prefer them over the Persona 3 Movie's cutscenes. Something about the simplicity is very chilling. Reload replaces the original's cutscenes with a mix of animated and in-game cutscenes, but I really can't see in-game cutscenes being an upgrade when the originals were already so good.
The story in Persona 3 is more focused on characters than events for the beginning chapters. This may bore some people who are expecting major events frequently like in a number of the other Persona games, but the character drama is much, much stronger here than in Persona 4 or 5. I really like Persona 2's story but I think there's no beating Persona 3's story and characters. The game's messaging and themes are too strong.
It's easy to be cynical about a Persona game like Persona 3, but can you think of that many other games that impacted people's lives with such potent messaging and themes? I have seen lot of people saying something along the lines of "Persona 3 saved my life". It's easy to understand why people say this - the game's messaging is all about living your life to the fullest and seeing it through to the end. Although there are people who prefer SMT because they think Persona is cheesy or cringeworthy, I can't help but see something like Shin Megami Tensei V as extremely shallow and meaningless in comparison. I rarely ever hear of someone impacted by Shin Megami Tensei V's messaging. Usually fans of SMT V only say that they like the design of the protagonist and say Nuwa is hot. Despite my criticism here, I like the SMT franchise so I wish Shin Megami Tensei V was a game that was capable of deeply impacting people's lives the way that Persona 3 has.
While I acknowledge that Persona 5 is the future of the franchise gameplay-wise, Persona 3 has a sort of legendary status for me. All of the games elements culminated in an absolutely unforgettable experience, which is why I'm nervous about these elements being changed. But no matter how the remake affects future generations' perceptions of Persona 3, I'll always know that the original was an incredible game. It remains to be seen whether or not I can recommend Reload to newcomers, but any changes they make - even for the better - will just make me more attached to the original game.