I might have beloved Persona 3 Reload once I was 14. Round there, I’d say I used to be most in love with the sequence, and Persona 3 stood on the prime. I’d go so far as saying that with the primary NieR and Steel Gear Strong 3, Persona helped form what I assumed tales in video games may very well be.

It’s not 2013, and extra tales have come alongside that additional formed my tastes. I’ve admittedly fallen out of affection with Atlus resulting from being comparatively dissatisfied by more moderen releases. 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim may rank amongst my favourite video games ever, but it surely solely printed that title with Vanillaware growing. Whereas I regard a few of Atlus’ RPGs amongst my favorites, revisiting Persona 3 got here with a fear I didn’t really feel with another remake I’ve performed.

When seeing Persona 3 Reload‘s inclusions, it made me fear that it’d simply be a cleaner launch with a couple of of my points from prior variations resolved. Now that I’ve lastly performed it, my prevailing thought is that I’m enjoying the very best launch of Persona 3‘s worst model. There are real enhancements right here, however there’s all the time this sense that one thing’s lacking, stopping it from feeling near its definitive model.

Persona 3 Reload (PlayStation 5 [reviewed], Xbox Collection X|S, Steam)
Developer: Atlus
Writer: Sega
Launched: February 2, 2024
MSRP: $69.99

The unending climb

One thing I can genuinely reward Persona 3 Reload for is how enjoyable fight is. It took its successors’ enhancements and constructed upon them much more. Because of this whereas it lacks some components launched in Persona 5, Reload recontextualizes others in a significant method.

Baton Cross is now Shift and functionally stays the identical, however is as slick as ever to make use of. Nothing’s extra satisfying than hanging an enemy’s weak spot after which utilizing Shift to assault with one other social gathering member who has one other foe’s weak spot.

Showtime additionally returns as Theurgy and is considerably higher right here. As a substitute of activating considerably randomly, every character has a Theurgy gauge that fills when conducting particular actions that relate to that character’s character. One character may need theirs stuffed from aiding social gathering members, whereas one other may must strike weaknesses.

One other enchancment I’ve seen is how boss encounters are dealt with. I revisited Persona 3 Transportable at some extent the place my playthrough overlapped with the one in Reload. I ended up combating the identical boss in each variations, getting a direct have a look at how the variations evaluate. Whereas I cheesed the boss in Transportable resulting from its shocking lack of resistances and having an overpowered persona, the identical boss in Reload had some rigidity. There have been extra resistances to account for, and I needed to reinvent my technique! It was actually a second Reload shined for me even when it was an incidental second.

It’s not as simple to farm stat-boosting playing cards in Reload, and fights that wanted updating received simply that. Balancing fight is a selected space it actually appears the builders made important efforts to enhance upon the unique.

The largest enchancment for me in Persona 3 Reload‘s fight is having the Kouha and Eiha spells from Persona 5. It’s small, but it surely makes the sunshine and darkish components constantly helpful, and I really like them.

I might say Reload is an general simpler time than FES and about the identical as Transportable. This comes all the way down to having the direct social gathering management missing within the unique Persona 3 and FES whereas remaining a extra balanced expertise than Transportable.

What I’m much less in love with is how different components of Reload deal with its supply materials. It doesn’t introduce new points, however some outdated ones persist.

An excessive amount of time on my fingers

Exploration and free time in Persona 3 Reload stay essentially unchanged from the earlier variations. It’s round right here the place I discover the remake missing a few of its potential.

In comparison with Persona 5‘s Tokyo or Persona 4‘s Inaba, Tatsumi Port Island doesn’t have a lot to do. Reload improves it by increasing the actions, however solely within the dorm.

These new dorm actions are good and provides further alternatives for gamers to hang around with social gathering members. They vary from cooking and gardening to watching TV and studying and provide something from boosting social stats to gaining new objects, that are small however good rewards.

If finished sufficient instances with particular social gathering members, they even provide a brand new passive buff similar to the character. Yukari, as an illustration, could have therapeutic spells that value much less MP whereas Aigis’ bodily talents strengthen.

There’s additionally a communal pc, but it surely’s virtually a non-factor since applications and on-line hyperlinks unlock at a snail’s tempo. I just like the potential for one thing like this returning in a future entry with extra of a concentrate on unlocking new objects in shops and fight maneuvers.

Gamers even have entry to the Iwatodi Strip Mall at night time, giving extra alternatives to spice up social stats. That is with beforehand accessible actions equivalent to working in Changall Cafe and hanging out with particular characters.

Whereas having nighttime actions is useful, it makes it simpler to max out all social stats comparatively early. It’s an ironic disadvantage that giving extra choices makes most of them redundant sooner, but it surely’s an inclusion I nonetheless admire.

The place my points with exploration begin arising is with how Tartarus was dealt with. In Reload and the earlier releases, this huge tower works as a mega-dungeon that gamers spend your entire sport working by means of.

A difficulty that continued all through each Persona 3 model is that Tartarus simply plain sucked. Every block current didn’t have a person theme a lot as they supplied completely different coloured randomized corridors to trudge by means of.

Reload provides the blocks their very own theme, however this upgrades them to be barely higher than Persona 4‘s themed corridors since rooms right here generally have extra shapes. Coming from Thebel to Arqa is a cool expertise at first because the latter carries this unusual bio-mechanical environment. As soon as the phantasm fades, nevertheless, dungeon-crawling in Persona 3 Reload returns to being one thing to hurry by means of.

It makes it excellent to play with a podcast within the background, however that’s not an important praise. The Monad Doorways are a enjoyable inclusion that breaks up pacing with difficult fights, however Tartarus’ construction remains to be dated.

Persona 5 additionally noticed a randomized dungeon return with Mementos, however that felt much less repetitive resulting from spending most time in hand-crafted dungeons. Even Shin Megami Tensei V, which additionally lacks many distinctive dungeons, had some that broke up normal exploration.

I’ll credit score the precise artwork design as a result of the blocks all look unimaginable. I discussed Arqa’s pulsing bio-mechanical design, however Thebel’s corridors acquired a considerable facelift. The final I’ll point out is Yabbashah’s mixture of futuristic magnificence and industrial pipes.

Persona‘s important enchantment isn’t with the dungeon-crawling, nevertheless. What I used to be most excited by seeing was how Atlus’ first try at a social-sim hybrid is translated right into a remake made virtually 20 years later.

It’s Persona 3, for higher and worse

Some of the disheartening emotions is returning to a sport you really liked and realizing you don’t prefer it as a lot anymore. That is general how I felt enjoying Persona 3 Reload, and it doesn’t really feel good.

A lot of this comes all the way down to the story being trustworthy to its supply materials to a fault. This is applicable to the core plot and Social Hyperlinks, and whereas Reload shares its predecessors’ highs, it shares their lows, and the brand new content material looks like a bandage over a bigger wound.

To get it out of the best way, the brand new scenes are nice! I really like having extra time with Strega even when not rather more is realized in regards to the group, and the dorm actions with social gathering members are full scenes that reap the benefits of the gifted new solid. The Linked Episodes with male social gathering members additionally considerably make up for his or her lacking Social Hyperlinks. I might have fairly have had these, however I nonetheless notably loved Akihiko and Shinjiro’s new scenes.

These nonetheless don’t repair most points I already had with Persona 3‘s story. As sturdy as somebody like Junpei’s character arc is, was it essential to nonetheless have him be a creep within the first couple dozen hours? He works effectively as a goofball character, however any probably early endearment tanks when he considers trying up Yukari’s skirt.

Different scenes that happen later additionally lack the influence they might have had if there was extra build-up. There’s one which does simply that because of the new content material, and it will have been nice to see that care utilized in every single place.

My greatest difficulty with Persona 3 Reload‘s narrative comes from its Social Hyperlinks. The unique Persona 3 was Atlus’ first try at a system prefer it, and it reveals. Whereas a number of maintain up splendidly, those that suck nonetheless actually suck. It’s a problem punctuated by Reload remaking the bottom sport and never together with most content material from Persona 3‘s rereleases.

Whereas the Justice Social Hyperlink for Persona 3‘s male protagonist is much better and method much less problematic than the feminine protagonist’s, the others unique to her had been general far stronger. I figured her exclusion would have been felt in Reload, however I didn’t notice how unhealthy it was. Kazushi’s, as an illustration, is ok as a Chariot Social Hyperlink. He’s simply not as attention-grabbing as Akihiko. In the meantime, Maya’s story because the Hermit is off-putting, whereas Saori Hasegawa’s is extremely touching.

Revisiting Persona 3 Transportable whereas enjoying Reload widens this disparity. This ground-up remake offered Atlus with an ideal alternative to strengthen each Persona 3‘s core story and Social Hyperlinks. As flawed as the previous is, the additional actions and scenes assist spherical out its solid. The latter doesn’t get that, and it makes this remake come off as a missed alternative to make up for the whole lot it excludes.

There’s additionally the closing hours, which I all the time discovered to be Persona 3‘s finest, they usually’re higher right here. The combo of recent scenes with the unique’s glorious ones mesh collectively the very best right here, and it jogged my memory why I thought-about Persona 3 my favourite within the franchise. I simply solely want that reminder got here earlier than I dumped 50 hours into this remake.

Persona 3 Reload is an efficient sport. Its gameplay modifications assist make it accessible to a more recent viewers. The fight’s genuinely a blast and helps dungeon-crawling be much less of a slog. It simply comes with the bags of forsaking unimaginable inclusions and never updating sure areas that wanted it most or not going far sufficient with updates.

It’s odd to say, however I felt unhappy enjoying Reload. Not for something occurring inside it. Relatively, it jogged my memory that I had fallen out of affection with Atlus. If something, it’s becoming that Persona 3 Reload helped me notice that. A lot of it’s about studying to maneuver on, and I’m going to just do that.