Almost perfect, infuriatingly.

This remake ALMOST knocks it out of the park, and it's seriously one of the most impressive remakes I've experienced, the added scenarios with every party member, the streamlined gameplay making it significantly more engaging, let me start there. The original's AI controlled party members is definitely my least favorite part of the game, while not as egregiously broken as detractors say, it is not something I look forward to when I revisit the game or think fondly of when looking back on it. The intention was for it to tie into the themes of the game, but they took too much liberty sacrificing gameplay for the story. Controllable party members with the new rebalances to the party had me switching team layouts all throughout the game until the end. Therugy attacks were initially my biggest concern, they appeared to be single button auto battle wins, however thankfully, MOST of the time they are great ways to tack on extra damage, and I think the game does a good job balancing around it.

I played on hard for reference. I'll go through my qualms about the game first.

Tartarus is significantly improved visually, and has a lot more interactivity with the crystals, chests, monad doors, and few special events, but even then I realize they could have done more, with the many improvements to roguelike video games over the years, Tartarus is still very simplistic in design even with all the added extras, only slightly digging deeper below the surface with it's engagement. I have always been a fan of winding sprawling dungeons in video games, and while Tartarus does somewhat fulfill that role, more could have been done. I also believe many 2nd therugies gained after a party member's 2nd persona awakening outright replace the initial therugy which could have been mitigated by making two therugies fulfill a different purpose, for example like with Yukari. Her initial therugy is a heavily damaging wind pierce attack, and her 2nd therugy is a magic attack boost to all your teammates. Same with Koromaru but with him it’s a dark pierce attack and a physical boost to your teammates. Ironically enough some of the late game issues carried over from the original to this remake, while not as bad, it still isn't fully alleviated. This game makes it easier to level up your social stats which is a pretty good thing, but once I reached the later months, my social stats were maxed out, I completed the only two social links you can do at night which is Tower and Devil.. and after that.. there is very little to do. I'd say around October and beyond is when the game started running out of content. P3R faithfully has the same locations with some very tiny extras like the deep web guy in escapade and some other tiny inclusions, however it keeps it too faithful, some extra locations or additions to the island would have been welcomed, especially during the night time because beyond some party member events, at night, there is almost nothing to do late game. So, when I said I was switching through party members throughout the game due to the rebalances and changes to these characters, there is one that I pretty much never touched beyond their introduction.. What the fuck did they do to Akihiko, all the characters have their niches and roles. Akihiko just has none? Junpei just outclasses him entirely, and his moves and stats are so... mediocre and it sucks so much cause he's one of the best developed characters in this game. Also, Koromaru’s voice.. why? Why did they not just get an actual dog for his voice actor. Instead we have a person making dog noises and it never, ever sounds good throughout the entirety of the game. It's a shame because Koromaru's design is very loveable and cute but the voice just ruins the illusion of a cute dog for me, it sounds like a furry. And finally, the new art style. It offers a different tone and majority of the time it is an upgrade visually, but there are times where I think things are a little too saturated and bright or maybe too clean looking? I somewhat wish Soejima redesigned his characters in this game, don’t get me wrong, the new art style is great. It’s beautiful in it’s very own respect, but seeing his work from P5 and especially Metaphor Re:Fantazio, I think it would have been cool, but this is more of a nitpick, the new art style is gorgeous either way. And with that.

This game is genuinely amazing, these few negatives do not hinder this game from its beautiful retelling of an already great story. EVERYTHING has been improved significantly and I could not really have asked for more from how this game is presented, re-told, and enhanced in every way. From the character scenarios allowing you to study, cook, hangout, and learn about your party members to understand and feel closer to them, to the completely enhanced and redone voice acting. Every voice actor completely recaptured the original and more, some.. (Fuuka and Aigis), are just straight upgrades in performance. The gameplay is streamlined and while on the easier side, still offers a fair challenge with certain mini bosses and enemies, the simple addition of controllable party members adds so much more. The gameplay never got boring for me, even with previously mentioned shortcomings with how satisfying, rewarding, and fast paced the battles and exploring Tartarus is, It gets very addicting even with the very small additions added just due to how quick, rewarding, and flashy the gameplay is. The simple addition of fully voiced social links make even the previously weaker social links breathe new tone, perspective, and engagement into characters that previously might have been missing out on. While it's now, unfortunately probably impossible to max out the social links and social scenarios with your teammates in one run, I feel that helps the themes more, put time into the things that interest you most with the little time you have. I completed the majority of social links and the links I previously thought were on the weaker side (Strength, Temperance, Magician.. and to an extent even Moon) were far more entertaining and gave me rediscovered joy for the characters I didn't personally care for previously. Also astonished on how much VA work there is with these characters, even previously simple dialogue bubbles sometimes have full VA work, it's so great. Finally, the music has been significantly improved, the new renditions of the tracks admittedly needed getting used to, but after comparing the two.. damn, songs like want to be close, changing seasons, deep mentality, are downright upgrades. Only exception being.. mass destruction, I still prefer the original. But the new one is still good, the rest are so great. This game is so great. It really is almost a complete replacement for the original, I wouldn't go as far as saying that is replaces it entirely since I do feel like there will always be merit in playing the original, there are better presentation choices in the original that I do prefer over this remake. Yet, as a complete experience, Persona 3 Reload, irons out the majority of the flaws of the original and gives the the title it's rightful place as one of the best in the series to those who were mixed on the original or just didn't see the appeal before. It's not the definitive edition with FemC and The Answer, but is something extremely special on it's own.

Growing pains.

The story and characters of this game are done very well even with subpar performances and presentation that's dated. I loved learning about the characters and world, and the development of the plot was something I was genuinely impressed by throughout the game. There are decent twists and the music accompanying these tense cutscenes are really, really great. Now the gameplay... Man, this had me worn the hell out after each playthrough. It's so fucking slow, and consistently too. It's almost snails pace when it reaches the mid game point, and the bosses. Bro, these bosses are just ass honestly. Most of them are damage sponges with a party wide attack that wipes out your entire party or leaves you in a severely precarious position. Just not fun, grinding for money is also just non-existent so if you aren't sticking to an AGWS run from the jump then you can't get in anytime after. Finally, the masterfully done music in the cutscenes are completely and utterly non-existent in gameplay, not a single overworld theme other than and area or two in the final stretch of the game. There are settings and moments where it fits, but in a friendly and or safe area the lack of a theme just creates dread everywhere, which I'm sure was probably maybe the intent? But man, a simple ambient soundtrack would've done wonders. It's so many flaws that drag this game that I would honestly give a 4 or 4.5 to this current score. I'm anticipating to see what's next in Xenosaga since the story, characters, and narrative are genuinely so intriguing but at the same time I'm very burnt out from the gameplay.

Re-writing for PSP version that just got added onto the website.

One of my favorite social commentaries on various topic related to trauma, misinformation, and self worth of the early 2000s in a video game. I wish future Persona games delved into more topics rather than a single message like the future Persona games. Supported by a great cast, Persona 2 has my favorite characters in a RPG. All loveable and relatable with constant character developments. It's biggest flaw is it's gameplay. the P2 duology has one of the most different combat systems I've played with a different take on what was done during it's time on the PS1 with how you can stop mid turn to re-set your attacks. Yet, the PSP port of the game is way.. way.. WAY, and I'm really trying not to be hyperbolic, too easy. Probably the one of the easiest games of all time. It's a glaring flaw that hinders revisits to the game, though it's not the worst flaw a game can inherit, just one that makes it too smooth of a ride. Even with this glaring flaw, there's nothing here that I would consider even remotely close to bad other than the contact system, that's just a crapchute, it didn't hinder my battle performance significantly since either way, I was adequately prepared for every battle, but I was just guessing the entire game hoping to be right. The music is also extremely memorable and great to me, not my favorite in the Persona series, but I really enjoy it. Overall the complete package is a very unique experience, hindered by it's difficulty, gameplay choices, and intentional plot holes that are there for the sequel to expand upon. I really love this game for it's messaging the most, all of these characters have so much impact for me that's reinvigorated by Eternal Punishment.

Pretty good, it has mechanics and gameplay that makes it identifiable amongst the crowd of doomer shooters, though nothing other than the amazing shooting gameplay and memorable locations really wowed me. Bosses are tough as hell and have their own ways of exploiting them which I always appreciate in game design. I had a lot of moments in this game where I did have a blast, especially getting that rank from SSS to ULTRAKILL. Though, it doesn't feel fully fleshed out as DUSK, obviously this game is in early access and even with it's currently playable levels and gameplay I feel like things ended too quickly, really short levels that are designed to be replayed over and over again to get a perfect score, tempting but.. not an appeal for me personally, it's a whole 3 hours of a full experience, the rest is just meant for replay and replay. The experience feels like constant desserts after desserts never really getting to the main meal. Super short levels, usually extended by deaths or getting lost for an extra minute, they were filled with a bunch of exhilaratingly good to great shooting and killing. The HP restoring mechanic is satisfying as hell when you shoot them with a shotgun then immediately punch them, I also loved parrying in this game, genuinely one of those most satisfying experiences I've had in a little bit. Overall a good game that I do look forward to being completed.