I made the mistake of playing Persona 3 Portable when it came out on modern consoles last year in preparation for Reload. Reload is a very faithful remake and while this is the version of Persona 3 that I would recommend over FES (now that we are about to get the answer) and over Portable due to quality life and graphics It is all the same game. I enjoyed replaying Persona 3 again with reload but I think it is the weakest of 3 4 and 5 for me. I enjoy the story and think that it definitely has more of a message and more to say when it comes to persona stories in general, I think the charachter building (while still top notch compared to everything else) is just okay comparatively.

The real problem with Reload is Tarturus. It is 256 floors of the same damn thing. It definitely feels like a slog. It took me about 80 hours to get through reload this time and I would say a bit over half of that time was doing the same exact thing over and over. I am not sure if it is just the nature of the way it is presented, because something like persona 4 while being very same-ie when it comes to the combat areas at least feels like it is broken up a bit more than just hitting floor after floor.

I still enjoyed it, but if you are looking to play (or if i'm reading this in the future) be ready for some major slog.