pongoo
2024
love this game. I didn't even realise how empty FES is until I booted it up on pcsx2 for comparison - it's impossible to understate how much more alive Iwatodai feels now. It's crazy to think I used to praise this game for its overbearing sense of dread in the last quarter, with its empty streets and foreboding music, even though the streets were chronically empty the entire time I was playing.
Alongside the newly vibrant environments, the day-life mechanics have also vastly improved. When arriving to the dorm at night, there's more to do than just run straight to the arcade - a new computer near the reception desk allows you to run 'software' (equivalent to books in other persona games) and there's also some new nightly events involving your party members, which are so, so fun to read.
Combat has been completely rebalanced, with it no longer taking a full turn to stand up after being knocked (which makes it much harder to cheese bosses), but with this great change, they've also added theurgy moves which I found can completely obliterate most midbosses. I played on hard difficulty, by the way. To me it felt extremely cheap when I could just spam 4 theurgies on a supposedly tough demon and obliterate 1,000 health. Two steps forward, one step back… but at least it’s not as game-breaking as FES's weakness system.
Tartarus has been given a huge necessary boost in visuals. Each blocks’ layout has been completely redesigned from the sameish square rooms to more elaborate rooms for each block’s unique design. It’s great stuff that helps keep Tartarus fresh beginning to end. They've also removed the sickness mechanic - Going into this game, I was really sad to see it gone. I always felt as though it added an extra layer of agency when entering Tartarus, but I barely even noticed. I wouldn't mind if it was kept in the game, but I also don't mind its removal.
On the technical side of things, this game has barely any graphic settings on PC. There’s a hideously bad excuse of antialiasing coating the entire game without option to change quality at all. The game has also shipped without the option to change back to the original music (which I mostly prefer), and I’m scared they’re going to paywall it behind a DLC. The game also shipped without FEMC or The Answer, which, if released, will most likely be paywalled behind more DLC.
From the perspective of a remake, it makes you wonder what the point of it all was. Fans have been asking for one united version of P3 forever – one including The Answer and FEMC, eliminating the need to play two separate versions of the game – when we’re now instead being given three versions to contest between. Do you want improved graphics and combat, or do you want to play as the female protagonist? Or do you instead want to play the 30-hour post-game campaign, following the events of the main story? No one should need to play three separate games (one requiring an emulator!) if they want to experience all that Persona 3 can offer. From this perspective, Persona 3 Reload barely offers anything that was not already available for the average consumer. If The Answer and FEMC do end up being released as paid DLC, it will just hammer home how when purchasing a modern-day game, you’re not buying the full product that the company is capable of unless you pay that little bit extra.
I’m doing lots of complaining but only because I love P3, and P3R is still a very good remake of the original. But it could have been even better, outshining any need to play the previous two games. Only time will tell if we'll be able to play as FEMC in a 3D environment or not.
Alongside the newly vibrant environments, the day-life mechanics have also vastly improved. When arriving to the dorm at night, there's more to do than just run straight to the arcade - a new computer near the reception desk allows you to run 'software' (equivalent to books in other persona games) and there's also some new nightly events involving your party members, which are so, so fun to read.
Combat has been completely rebalanced, with it no longer taking a full turn to stand up after being knocked (which makes it much harder to cheese bosses), but with this great change, they've also added theurgy moves which I found can completely obliterate most midbosses. I played on hard difficulty, by the way. To me it felt extremely cheap when I could just spam 4 theurgies on a supposedly tough demon and obliterate 1,000 health. Two steps forward, one step back… but at least it’s not as game-breaking as FES's weakness system.
Tartarus has been given a huge necessary boost in visuals. Each blocks’ layout has been completely redesigned from the sameish square rooms to more elaborate rooms for each block’s unique design. It’s great stuff that helps keep Tartarus fresh beginning to end. They've also removed the sickness mechanic - Going into this game, I was really sad to see it gone. I always felt as though it added an extra layer of agency when entering Tartarus, but I barely even noticed. I wouldn't mind if it was kept in the game, but I also don't mind its removal.
On the technical side of things, this game has barely any graphic settings on PC. There’s a hideously bad excuse of antialiasing coating the entire game without option to change quality at all. The game has also shipped without the option to change back to the original music (which I mostly prefer), and I’m scared they’re going to paywall it behind a DLC. The game also shipped without FEMC or The Answer, which, if released, will most likely be paywalled behind more DLC.
From the perspective of a remake, it makes you wonder what the point of it all was. Fans have been asking for one united version of P3 forever – one including The Answer and FEMC, eliminating the need to play two separate versions of the game – when we’re now instead being given three versions to contest between. Do you want improved graphics and combat, or do you want to play as the female protagonist? Or do you instead want to play the 30-hour post-game campaign, following the events of the main story? No one should need to play three separate games (one requiring an emulator!) if they want to experience all that Persona 3 can offer. From this perspective, Persona 3 Reload barely offers anything that was not already available for the average consumer. If The Answer and FEMC do end up being released as paid DLC, it will just hammer home how when purchasing a modern-day game, you’re not buying the full product that the company is capable of unless you pay that little bit extra.
I’m doing lots of complaining but only because I love P3, and P3R is still a very good remake of the original. But it could have been even better, outshining any need to play the previous two games. Only time will tell if we'll be able to play as FEMC in a 3D environment or not.
2013
3,500 wasted hours