Review code provided by Sega & Atlus. Special thanks to these lovely people for lending their voices to this project! Tony4You: www.youtube.com/@Tony4You Bubbletea: www.youtube.com/@bubbletea_ A Cursed Jessie: www.youtube.com/@ACursedJessie

The long and short of this is “The remake was made in a post P5 world” Which is both fortunate and unfortunate at the same time.

I don't have anything against the in game 3D cutscenes but I think it's really funny how the protagonist's awakening and Shinji's death don't get a 2D animated cutscene but the scene where the team gets new drip does lol

"everything is so fucking green you'd swear it's persona 6" what an epic line

Once we all just agree that Persona 3 Dancing is the definitive way to play, we can all be happy.

This comment section is more full of people saying there "will be a war" than an actual war 😂

While I did enjoy reload it did feel like it existed in a weird limbo. It’s not a completely faithful remake, but it’s also not that different to be it’s own thing. It feels like reload was more of a testing ground for what they want to do with persona 6 first and a faithful remake second. It also deeply bothers me how many versions of persona 3 exist but none of them encapsulate a “complete” experience, so you have play the other versions to truly experience everything (FEMC, og mechanics, and now linked episodes/theurgies/rest of the reload additions).

on one hand, I do agree with your criticisms over the art direction, cutscene direction, storytelling, and gameplay, and I do prefer FES over Reload when it comes to them on the other hand, Shinjiro says fuck in Reload

Time for the comment section to become a minefield!

Persona 3R is a interesting case example of how a lot of iconic media with distinct atomspheres and tones work because of the tech limitations of the time they were made, not in spite of them. It's a shame that the dark, gritty, and melancholic atomsphere of 3 was lost in translation, as that tone was very distinct from both 4 and 5. Also glad you mentioned the usage of the Portable script. One casualty of doing this is how Junpei's father is not mentioned in 3R, which is such a shame as Junpei's father and how he views him is pivotal to understanding Junpei as a character.

Yeah, I'm a veteran of the war in 'Nam The war in Nam's comment section

What I love about the fatigue system is if you go back to the first floor and nobodies tired you get your hp and sp refilled for free.

While I generally think the points of this video are well formed, especially in regards to Reload's presentation, I cannot in good conscience agree with the ending of it, because of one thing; there isn't status quo of Persona 3. P3 as a story is in unique situation, because every adaptation of it, even FES, handles many of its aspects differently. The main core of the story is still the same, but the way of getting through it is always different depending on how you get into Persona 3. Before we even had Reload you already had stuff like the FeMC route in P3P, which gave a completely different perspective on events and characters simply out of the idea that the protag was a woman this time around or the pretty contentious manga which by the end just straight up brings the guy back, but the biggest one is obviously the P3 movies quadrilogy. There are some aspects of it that feel handled weirdly and worse than the original due to obvious limitations of the run time (Strega's presence is even more limited than it was in the original game and second awakenings aside from Junpei being relegated to the last minute power ups isn't really the best either), but on the other hand we have pretty much entire Winter of Rebirth, where tying Elizabeth's dates into the "main" story, while also showcasing S.E.E.S regaining their hope back is a very gorgeous way of handling that portion of the story and Door-kun's solo fight against Ryoji was also a major highlight of the movie. The point is, P4 and P5 don't have this issue (if you can even call it that), because it's generally agreed upon that Golden and Royal are good ways to experience these stories, but with P3, every adaptation of it handles things differently and so does Reload. I cannot call it a replacement of the original, because that's not what it is, it's just yet interpretation of P3 that handles some things worse and better. An interpretation which you can dislike more than FES, which is all fair, but Reload is not the first one to do that. There are people who think the movies are terrible, people who think the FeMC route is THE way to experience P3, people who think that Reload is the best and they cannot look at FES any more, hell, there are probably people who love the manga. I'm 100% certain that if FeMC was included in Reload there would be issues that would arise from it too, people feeling unhappy about how she was handled in here and all of this is making me think that ultimately, there isn't a definitive way of Persona 3 and that's not how Reload, or any adaptation of it, should be viewed as. And as for the future of the series, this team for me personally had already proven that they are great at creating original material, like P5's third semester or in this case, the entire Shinji linked episode, so I'm not really worried about P6, because that's gonna be their first full shot at something from the ground up.

Something I really appreciate here is how you connect your thoughts to other franchises. It’s too easy to just compare P3R to FES and Portable, but adding allusions to series like DMC and Ratchet and Clank go to show you’re looking at this from more than one angle, which helps your points stand even taller than they would otherwise.

Ken Amada og: waste of disk space because of only instakill moves Ken Amada remake: I'M THE HEALING GOD AND NO ONE SHALL DIE ON MY WATCH lmao

While I really enjoyed Reload for what it is, I totally understand your perspective here. Thanks for providing your honest thoughts!

as much as i hate the change in tone it was obviously intentional since persona appeals to a wider audience now. what’s funny is that some parts of SMT V had an “eerie high school” setting that actually reminded me a lot of og persona 3 so atlus is obviously still capable of making something like that

27:53 Fatigue would be basically perfect if the party exp system from 5 was implemented into reload along side fatigue. That one change would add the intended forced party variation and forced experimentation without basically shutting down your Tartarus run due to under leveling/uselessness.

People wanted a persona 3 remake in the first place because it has so many releases with different content. People want the FEMC from Portable, they want the answer from Fes, and they want the cutscenes and over-world from the original. Its really weird how Atlus didn’t get that, they even had to be pushed to make the answer. I liked reload, but I definitely agree it doesn’t really strike that same cord as the original did, I think of it more as a fun little new way to experience the old story. I think some scenes hit harder personally, like October 4th and the very last scene and credits, even the last month at the dorm felt a lot stronger because of the grey lighting, but it definitely feels like they don’t understand the subtle ways the original felt so special. I did enjoy reload for what it was, and I like the fresh take on the original story, but I wish it was more of a complete version. Persona 3 always has this problem of cutting content into every release like portable has the femc and controllable party but loses the 3D overworld and cutscenes, and its the same for reload. I think if anything, im glad Reload will give people a chance to experience these characters and this story when otherwise they never would’ve. I know people personally who never considered playing the original but gave reload a try and loved it, which is kinda sad, but if they can experience this story in some way, rather than never at all, I think thats a good thing.

persona 3 lost its wallet

It's really interesting to hear your perspective. As someone who's only experience with P3 was playing Portable on the PS Vita last year, to me there's a lot of aspects that I didn't even know about. Why has nobody told me that Makoto can wield almost any weapon in the original P3?! In those regards, I felt like you did a great job at expressing why you felt disappointed with what 3R offered. And there's also a lot that I agree with as well when it comes to comparing my experiences between P3P and P3R. Playing on Merciless was tons of fun, especially early on. I still remember how fast I was flying through the menu to defeat the first Full Moon boss on my first try, with only 5 seconds remaining on the timer as she fell, as well as guarding around the Idol boss' attack patterns. But things like the sprinting attack and Twilight Fragments just blow the game open. To me, though, I still feel like 3R is one of the best games to come out this year, even with all of the changes, because to me it's still Persona 3. But maybe my opinion will change if I ever play through the original release. On a side note, I'm surprised that you didn't bring up Episode Aigis (unless my mind just glossed over it), but it's also a kind of whole separate bag of worms and doesn't really fit in what the video is about.

"so green that you thought this was Persona 6." 😂

Honestly im disappointed about how the MC can't use multiple weapon types

After watching and mulling over the video I can’t say I agree with the premise of the video for several reasons. You argue the intended vision of Persona 3 but the simple truth of the matter is that Persona 3 is ever changing and ever evolving. The Hashino interviews about the Tactics menu is nice but Persona 3 has been using the Direct Command system since Portable and Hashino also worked on that game. I love the tactics system and I’m glad it’s viewed more favorably nowadays but the truth of the matter is that the Tactics Command was not appreciated upon the original release of the game. If Atlus truly felt that strong about it like you argue then Persona 4 and its sequels wouldn’t even bother bringing back the Direct Command system. Arguing P3’s identity being tied to its combat system is wild since it has been changed before. Atlus took a gamble and it didn’t pay off. I do agree that the Tactics should be better in Reload. It would be nice to have options. You also talk about about how it compares with RE4 when really you should have compared it to how Pokemon remakes their games. Pokémon FireRed for all intents and purposes is a Kanto game on a Gen 3 engine. It removes all of the bugs and gunk and uniqueness that Red and Blue had and instead opts for the gameplay mechanics that were present in Ruby Sapphire and Emerald, all the while staying true and not compromising the identity of the Kanto titles. They did this again with Heartgold and SoulSilver. They took Gold and Silver and remade it with mechanics that were introduced in Diamond Pearl and Platinum(physical special split, evs and IV’s, etc) and add new features while also staying true to the Johto game(even the damn level curve lol) my point is that there is more than one way to remake a video game, and I think Reload does a decent job of capturing what Persona 3 is while using mechanics and gameplay ideas that were introduced in Persona 5. There are multiple ways to experience P3 whether through FES, Portable, and Reload. They each provide a unique experience but all of them tell the same stories and themes that resonated with a large amount of players. I’ll be honest when I say I prefer FES but that doesn’t mean someone’s experience with Reload isn’t any less valid. Same with Portable. I feel like the Megaten community suffers from clinging to this philosophy of there should be only one version of a game you should play. This goes double for Strange Journey. It’s honestly really toxic imo. Overall I agree with your thoughts on Reload but I don’t think the identity is compromised, more so it added on to its identity. Sorry for the long comment

I can see your points and I understand that it's not for everybody. But for me personally, having played both FES and Portable, I can confidently say I prefer Reload over any other version

"God forbid they remake Persona 1 or 2 next" ... About that

I almost 100% agree about the atmospheric issues mostly during the Dark Hour. It is VERY green. What else need be said? There's making something too bright like most modern games do when recreating something, then there's just making it NEON GREEN. GREEN is a whole new standard of bad. It's eerie... kinda, but in no stretch of the imagination is it ominous or filling you with that sense of dread. It's hard to believe the one(s) making that decision felt the same thing from the original as Persona 3 Green. So why is the question when nothing else has been significantly altered outside brightness and quality? I also agree that the cutscene direction took a step backward. The key moments in the original were almost universally better presented in said original, barring perhaps the very last scene with Aigis and the MC (though the too much dialog issue is there as well). Where I differ a fair amount is in the gameplay. I do agree it is poorly balanced especially around Theurgy. Scarlet Havoc is... wtf were they thinking? Siegfried comes with everything you need built in to break that skill as well, no fusion baton passing necessary and therefore no sense of accomplishment. Just fuse him and Mithras and there you go, game over assuming you gave Yuki some of your time. The MC is a solo nuke, so much so it's easier to solo the game then rely only on your party members (I've done both types of runs, though by 2/3 of the way into the game the party does start getting dumb as well but at least that requires effort on the player's part, not just fuse Siegfried). But other then that, I really enjoy the combat and new Tartarus. I am someone who cannot stand not having control of party members and so am willing to lose the intention even narratively. At some point creative direction becomes pretentious or "being creative for creative's sake" aka not adding anything worthwhile and I feel less control in a video game, which is meant to be as controllable as possible in order to separate it from reality (where it feels like nothing is in your control), is always a detriment. I agree though that the option to use an improved AI controlled party should have been something they did. It may be just a novelty for myself in-particular, but those who like that system would get what they want and the spirit would have been kept intact for those players. It would have been nice to have the option of other weapon types for the MC, but it's not a huge deal for me. But I think the biggest disagreement comes in the form of Skill Cards. On the contrary, I think this game took a step back in terms of ease of access. It is entirely RNG now tha determines what you receive rather then just obtaining the card from a Persona and being guaranteed that card. As you can tell, I like Skill Cards in general. It gives you something else to pursue alongside the skills not available as such and so fusion inheritence is still important. Instead of there being only one extremely tedious mechanic to have to deal with, you have two equally important but less stressful mechanics to consider. And yet it still requires preparation and time, ie effort. It's just the right amount rather then hours of figuring out every convoluted fusion outcome just to get that one Skill on a Persona.

As a massive fan of the original, I was really happy with Reload up until the last quarter or so of the game. As you said in the video, the first couple months were done extremely well in terms of difficulty and gameplay balance, and once that started to go away, the new content was able to keep me interested for a while, and overall it was still really solid. My issues started to flood in during the lategame. The new content dried up almost entirely, and the gameplay lost any difficulty as I 1hkoed even the strongest bosses with scarlet havoc. The final boss went from a fight I had to do everything in my power to prepare for to something I breezed through without much thought at all. When the credits rolled, I barely even felt anything. For the longest time, I couldn't really figure out why any of this was. Was I just overexposed to Persona 3? Was Reload bad? Did I just have my expectations too high? I'm still not sure, but I do agree with the vast majority of the points made in this video (even if I think some of them are pretty nitpicky), so that says a lot. I dunno. I'm just frustrated.

I mostly enjoyed my time with Reload as someone who's favorite Persona game is the original P3. But it was the little things that rubbed me the wrong way, For one the atmosphere of the game just isn't as eerie or disturbing as it was in the OG, this is immediately apparent in the first cutscene, there's also things like the gunshot for the evokers not sounding nearly as hard-hitting as the original, the lighting of the dorm and some of the scene changes, one that really stuck out to me which bothers me that more people don't talk about is the scene in the boat when they're heading to Yakushima, in the original it's somber and depressing and it felt so real, that kind of stuff made it stand out from P4 and P5 especially for newer players but in the remake they just make it so they're suddenly all normal and happy despite not much time passing.

Im starting to think im the only one that never had enough twilight fragments

One problem I have with the tactics system reasoning is about the characters “being their own people” is that you can dress them in swimsuit and sexy bikini armor. These are also the only armors that have a cosmetic change that have no thematic purpose only exist for fanservice. So the player can control what they wear but apparently not control them doing an exact skill. The original developer mentioned other JRPGs letting you “customize everything down to their underwear” in the interview but it seems hypocritical.

I'll be the first to admit I was skeptical upon seeing this on Twitter. It's no secret that while popular, Reload has gotten its fair share of both fair and unfair criticism. Combine that with PTSD from Simply Dad's God awful video on Persona 3 and I was just waiting for a moment to pounce. But honestly this just reaffirms what I've always said about Persona games, they all mean different things to different people. None of what you said was really wrong, but I don't feel like it loses its identity for it. To me, Persona's identity has always lied in it's story, characters and themes. It's why in able to confidently say I like Persona 1 more than 4 or say I think the 2 duology is the best of the series even though neither of them have the best gameplay. Reload still has all of that. It just also has a combat system I enjoy much more on top of that. Yeah the characters spell stuff out a lot more but given how last time Atlus wrote a character who didn't do that, Akechi became the most misunderstood character in the series, I can't really fault them. Everything else I can't argue but it simply didn't bother me. Overall, while I disagree with you for the most part, you make a good case. Well worth the 1 hour and 18 minutes

This is a really great video Nam!! Honestly, I agree with mostly everything and especially that in conclusion, Reload is just a very "safe" game in the end. I think that perfectly describes the remake at it's core that cover the driving force for every decision and change made to this game.

The difficulty and Tartarus balancing in reload is so scuffed that starting around September I turned my run into a required battles only one and still ended up over levelled for Nyx

I'm glad you released this video today! Currently have a cold and makes it hard to do anything except watch youtube videos, so great timing!

That whole opening in the original Fes, Was creepy. Before we even meet Yukari we see, the tap running she pressed barefoot up against the sink with a gun to her head. Like until were told what was happening (The evoker, summoning persona etc), after meeting her all I could think was. 'She tried to game over herself is she ok?' it's an unsettling feeling that permeates through a lot of the game, something that Reload fails to capture in my opinion.

i dont like that shuffle time appears before the results and cuts off the music so i cant time my all out attack with the music like P5 :(

Haven’t finished the video yet but 20:05 I think you answered exactly why it was changed in P4 and onward with how you mentioned you like it NOW but originally didn’t. You (and many here in the comments, myself included) have played it multiple times over the years and figured it out. The casual fans likely will not. They’ll play it once, maybe twice, and either love or hate it, which for the original P3 it was a negative comment among most. So the devs likely just decided to scale it back going forward (P4 and onward) and so we’ve gotten what we have now. Would it have been awesome to have that AI rebuilt for Reload, of course. But I doubt Atlus/Sega put a ton of money into developing that (in comparison to the upcoming Metaphor or eventual P6) and didn’t see the point of doing so when a large number of Persona players likely play with direct command ultimately. Reload is meant to be the modern version of the game, but it’s also an easy money grab. Like you pointed out, it’s not a Remake akin to FFVII or RE, and what hurts it the most is - as you rightfully pointed out - the OG P3 and FES ports are not easily available unlike those mentioned remakes. I understand and agree with many of your criticisms, and still prefer FES to Reload. Love the thought and research you always put into all your videos.

Might be your best video to date. Though my personal feeling with Reload mostly don’t align with yours, I greatly appreciate how you painstakingly went out of your way to explain your POV while also realizing that many people aren’t going to have the same opinions as you. Truly an amazing video.

I think this is a thoughtful and well structured video. The title put me a bit on edge, but it's hard to really disagree with most of your points. Also DQ8 is great, glad you liked it 😁

First Dragon Age was a game, where they danced with tactics a bit. You could basically program all the things AI should do in every scenario. Heal in these scenarios, buff in these. Change equipement, stun. All of these things in real time combat. This is actually quite sad games don't explore this idea futher because 1). it made experience much smoother. You focused on roleplaying youself and let AI control other characters 2). a huge dose of reward for correctly setting all the strategies - both from the game and from pleasure rush in brain

If there's one thing i'd also like to mention about Persona 3 Reload's tone shift, it's in it's promotional material. the main key art among other things is a lot brighter and more uhh..."anime" and adventurous than the original game's artwork, which gave off a more dark and dreadful atmosphere. y'know, like that iconic image of Thanatos coming out of the back of Makoto, his form melding with his uniform which was just as dark in color. artwork, color tones and lighting are surprisingly important. the marketing can make a difference since it gives the first impression before you even buy the game in the first place, and that marketing effected the presentation in game which was the part you covered in the video. you can probably tell i agreed wholeheartedly. The final boss fight with Nyx Avatar was the BEST example for me in that regard. cuz man, when i watched my friends play P3 for the first time through Reload, i saw that boss fight's presentation and thought "Damn, when did Hot Topic become a disco fever dream? Where's the dark clouds and soulless greys?" it just felt so...off. which kinda sucks considering i point new people to Reload since it's the easiest version to get into even if Portable is also easy to pick up now. it's Persona 3, but not the same Persona 3 i played in middle school when i probably shouldn't have. lol

I gotta say I disagree with most of the points made in this video. For me, this is easily the definitive way to experience Persona 3. That's coming from someone who enjoyed FES, Portable, the movies, and the manga too. This is exactly what I wanted from a Remake, and honestly, I see this as a good standard for Remakes. Like RE1 Remake. For me, it captured the soul of the original while only adding to the experience. It's sad to hear it didn't do the same for you. That being said, I watched this video to the end and gave it a fair shake. I appreciate your honesty feelings, and your points / perspective are definitely valid. It's just, at least for me, mostly everything you brought up was of minor impact compared to everything I feel this game does right. No, it's not perfect, but at the end of the day, it hits every point it needs to for me. I love modern Persona gameplay, and I wanted to explore one of my favorite stories in gaming with that style. Ultimately, not many people liked what they did with the original. It is unique, and I had fun with it, but I vastly prefer the gameplay of 4 and 5. In my mind, why remake Persona 3 the exact same way? This provides a gameplay experience unique from the original. And I know you said you don't like this argument, but I feel it's apt. The original is still there to experience as it was. I personally don't have much reason to anymore. I was worried about it being too similar to 5, but I think they did a good job of taking advantage of quality of life improvements in the newer entries while still making this game feel unique from P5 in presentation and style. I really like the limit breaks too, and I love how thematically relevant to the characters they are. The linked episodes and personality traits tell me the makers of Reload worked hard to understand these characters. There's plenty of other ways the gameplay subtly conveys the game's message I feel you didn't really talk about. It's not totally simplistic, at least in my view. Anyway, this game stayed addictive and fun for me the whole way through. I think it appeals to a lot of people, and that's not a bad thing. I don't want to take away from that experience if that's what people want. And yes, if you so choose, you can restrict yourself and essentially do challenge runs off you like. I prefer to let people who want these mechanics to have them, rather than the sentiment "why should I have to adjust for 'better balance'". Why? Because that's the experience you're looking for. Don't deprive others of the experience they're looking for. P3R does a great job at making this stuff optional, better than P5R, where you can't stop Futaba from giving you buffs. Or you can't stop the social link perks of you wanna experience the SLs. Now those perks come from optional night stuff. Fuuka's buffs are an optional theurgy. I'm not saying the gameplay experience you're looking for is invalid, I'm just saying it's undeniable that this holds more appeal for more people. This game's story is too good not to reach as many people as it can. Hell, the voice acting alone makes this experience all worth it. And it holds pretty much all of the content from various versions of P3 I wanted. Minus FeMC, that is. I'm really excited for The Answer. I think the gameplay improvements will make that a lot more bearable for people to play. If you happen to read all this, thanks for hearing me out, too. I really like your content, even if we don't see eye to eye here. Great video 😄

I really wish someone would decompile the FES version so we can get a PC port to both have it on modern systems and potentially mod it into its definitive version.

Amazing video. Really highlights how fundamentally different the original and Reload are and does a great job on explaining why you personally didn’t agree with the changes and differences. While I didn’t agree with every point this video was a very well done analysis.

As for the voice acting, there was one where I felt it missed the mark, and that was with the final boss. Rather than sounding smug with a hint of sadness, this new one just sounds bored out of his mind.

I want to preface what I say with this; you have very good points and I think you are certainly right about the game losing some of its identity in the remake. But something I noticed is that you said you had a lot of problems with P3 that you only came to appreciate after playing the game more and more... Most people are only gonna play it once, and that's if they even finish it. Fire Emblem 5 is the same way, a game that is fantastic but is gonna be rough on your first play through. I don't blame Atlus at all for the approach they took for this game. I never played the original P3 but I loved P3R, maybe more than I liked Persona 5. I am going back to play the original P3 Fes because of your videos on it, but in the past P3 always seemed a bit unapproachable. I have friends playing P3R, loving it like hell, who I know would not touch the original P3. Hell, you say P3R is really easy but I actually found it to be decently more difficult than P5, and my friends who are not as RPG experienced are certainly finding it a bit difficult even on normal. Even some Persona vets that I know This aint at all trying to invalidate your points, and there's certainly things they could have done that make no sense even when trying to appeal to a wider audience, like the changes to cut-scenes, story beats, and overall visual design. I'm talking strictly from a gameplay standpoint. A lot of this reminds me of Fire Emblem which I brought up earlier, FE: Awakening was kinda like P5; it brought a lot of new people into the series at the cost of making things more casual and losing a bit of its identity. A lot of people say that the series should have died but y'know... I hate that mentality; I'm happy to see new games and new people getting into them, especially when there is a chance they may go back and play some of the older games. I do hope that P6 takes some of the good things that P5 did but ultimately is its own game. As for Persona 3 Fes, I'm gonna give it a shot and see if I can learn to appreciate it like you have.

I'm gonna repeat myself from my response to the community post, but I 100% agree on the cutscenes. Like you pointed out at 1:02:28, the Orpheus awakening hits no where NEAR hits as hard due to the change in animation and direction. But yeah, you really summed up by my thoughts on Reload. I managed to get it cheap from a GameStop, so I'm not too upset about pricing, though I understand those who are, but it does feel like it could've been more. Little improvements all around for sure (Especially with Shinjiro's story), but overall I doubt it'll be given the same fondness the original did. It's not bad, but still a step down. Regardless, great vid, looking forward to the next, my dude.

Great video as always, Nam. Always love hearing what you have to say on games whether I have interest in them or not, and as Reload was one of my most anticipated games of this year, I was eagerly awaiting your thoughts especially given your familiarity with the source material. P3R was my first time with this legendary game, and while I deeply enjoyed it, much of that was in no small part due to the strong foundation of the original. It was fascinating to hear your detailed gameplay/story analysis of what did and didn't work in comparison, and it makes me excited to possibly play P3 FES in the future. I absolutely agree with you on the final boss arena being a downgrade. When I finished Reload, I watched footage of the Nyx fight on PS2 and was in awe at how much more epic (and how much less radioactive green) it looked. I would also have loved to have the option to play the game with the tactics system of the original. It's such a unique way of contextualizing how the SEES team learn to cooperate while retaining their individuality, and while the option for direct commands was a great quality of life change in P4 and future games, it's a shame that the party AI had to be so drastically dumbed down as a result. Another +1 to how great the finale to the Shinjiro linked episode was. I stumbled upon it completely by accident on 10/5 just by interacting with his room without being prompted, and got genuinely choked up. Seeing his bond with Mitsuru was a real treat and it's crazy that it wasn't fleshed out in the original game.

neat video nam, i didn't find myself agreeing with every part of the video but i think you brought up really valid points when it came to things i didn't agree, which brought some fun brainstorming :D out of curiosity. what were your thoughts on the remixes to P3's music, as well as the new song, it's something I enjoy hearing about and was curious on your views, especially since i heard your praise for the original games soundtrack

It’d be cool if thergy or showtime attacks going forwards get changed to something similar to phantasy star 4 where certain skills if done at the same time can create a unique animated combo attack like maybe through a baton pass

I've only played Portable, cause that's what they released a year ago, and so can't really comment on a lot of the specific changes, but this video highlights a lot of my issues with remakes in general. This new flashy thing that follows the same general narrative, but abandons all the unique quirks of the game it's adapting and instead adopts current industry trends to make it more 'modern', which consequentially makes everything feel the same. A Persona 5 reskin does not capture the spirit of Persona 3 because, as you say, a game is more than it's characters and story. Gameplay, presentation and narrative all work together to create a singular experience that you simply won't have if you play a version that drastically changes any one of these elements. And the issue isn't that the remake is different; there can be a place for different interpretations of the same material. The issue is that the original will be forgotten. People act like it's the same thing, just better, so no one has any reason to check out the original. And Atlus certainly doesn't have any incentive to release it again, either. They will say, you can experience the entire Persona series, so why complain? But art pieces are always products of their time. And this Persona 3 simply isn't that Persona 3.

I remember once making a joke about this game saying that even though this is persona 3, Atlus still can't help but milk person 5. And visually it's all I can think of with this game.

I honestly feel when it all boils down to everything it’s an inherit difference in Philosophy. Here’s the way I kinda look at it: for me to genuinely care about how gameplay integrates into themes it needs to make a strong impression from the start. If it fails to do that then honestly I couldn’t care less about why something is “supposed to drive home the themes of the game”. For me it completely speaks volumes that I even needed to step away from the game and literally turn on cheats because I just couldn’t be bothered with the gameplay. As stated by you in the beginning of the video the original PS2 release of P3 isn’t what you could consider very beginner friendly. You COULD say “persona 3 is more then just it’s story and characters” but honestly that’s what most really care about especially if mechanically it’s not clicking. What difference does it make if all I want to do is just blitz through the dungeon just so I don’t half to see that thing ever again. At that point I’m not thinking “wow it’s so crazy how this meshes well with the themes of the game” instead it’s “get me the fuck out of here *bashes head on desk”. It’s very much so a game of its time. I can respect the intent behind most creative liberty's the devs took with the quirks and mechanics of the original game however I’m just gonna keep it a buck 50: the series is more mainstream then ever and with that you will no doubt have a bit more of a casual audience. Unapologetically I will always say yes we needed a remake. I’m not going to sit here and say that reload is completely perfect and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with it. There are aspects where atlus no doubt over corrected where they didn’t need to or the fact the game could have been balanced a bit better or that the tone feels slightly off. Nor am I saying that things like them properly importing the AI as an option couldn’t have been done ether. I’m not opposed to being challenged or having to actually think or be thrown a curve ball but once again it needs to work because if not I could honestly care jack shit about it. To me the main goal was always to have a more casual accessible version of P3 and that’s what reload is. It’s a version made for people who just Finished playing P5R and needed a way to play that’s more beginner friendly and not just a watered down PSP port. Overall I heavily disagree especially with your sentiment towards the end. It makes it sound like “god forbid the series becomes easier for a bunch of casuals” like I know your actual point was to drive home the fact of each game being unique and having its own identity but it needs to properly sell those ideas for people to care on that deep analytical level because If not nobody’s gonna really give a shit (a majority obviously not all. There will obviously be those who care and more power to you). Again obviously your not some high all authority but man it really sounds like god forbid most players just want a casual experience. Again I don’t disagree with that we can’t have best of both worlds when it comes to having both a casual experience as well as retaining what makes the original so good but overall just having it be easy to pick up and play is something I will always stand by. If more remakes are like reload then yeah anything to make the experience all the easier and enjoyable. Not everyone needs to appreciate the experience on that deep of a level so long as the intended take away is still intact. Edit: it seems like some on the other side of the debate didn’t quite get the memo so I will reiterate what I mean by casual. When I’m taking about accessibility I’m taking about basic QOL and just making the game easier to simply pick up and get into. Things like removing the forced AI, the tired mechanic, forced romance and just basic stuff most people would genuinely complain about. The challenge in the original PS2 release felt artificial ether because of limitations or how it was intentionally designed. A version of the game that plays like portable without it also being limited is what me and a lot of people really wanted. Again referring to what I specifically said (seriously come on I literally stated this as clear as ever) I’m not opposed to being challenged or having to actually think or be thrown a curve ball. You know a game can be hard without having the bullshit that made it artificially so in the first place right? And even then I was also suggesting at least some of those mechanics could have still been included as maybe a small side option. Now as far as in the context of what we got (while no doubt easy and different in art direction) I don’t personally have too much a problem with. Overall while it’s flawed in a few aspects Reload is a damn polished work that definitely oozes passion which is why I took issue with Nams sentiment towards the end. More games like reload that are instead probably more balanced and serve a unique experience shouldn’t be a bad thing. We aren’t in that classic PS2 era anymore and yeah that’s perfectly fine. You can have your preferences as well but please don’t be a dickhead about it (you know EXACTLY who you are. Seriously fuck you nobody cares)

one little adjustment that has been bothering me hard ever since i decided to try the game is the scene where strega hands off the pills, in the original they didn't feel the need to bloat it with needless dialogue, they just make the hand-off and leave, the new version has a bunch of useless words that deflate the pacing and tone of the scene, it's profoundly insecure of itself

Around 27:30 you make the argument that "Tartarus is meant to be tackled at your own pace." Well, what if my pace is hyper quick? What if I *want* to get through all the content Tartarus has in one in-game night? I wouldn't be able to get through it at "my own pace", then. Tartarus was meant to be tackled in multiple sittings in the original P3. Say what you mean.

I prefer to have full control over Party members with Direct Commands because I have specific strategies for certain characters and certain skills I like to spam

Can't say i agree with this video as a whole, Reload made me like Persona 3 again, before, FES and especially Portable left a bad tatse in my mouth compared to 4 and 5. However i respect your opinon and will give your video its due respects. Its very well made You also make some good points, like the protag being stuck with swords. That was one of the few things in Persona 3 i wish stayed in the franchise

50:00 actually this same problem i think i have with the enemies of Tartarus, in the original there is a decision factor considering how narrow the design of the original was when there is shadow in front of a chest and you have to decide if you make that battle and take the risk of whether the reward is worth it, this help with the idea that you are the lider of your group and make the better decisions for the team but now is like i can evade the enemies easier just running around them, take the chest and go to another place.

It's sad that SnicketySlice had the same points as you, but with the recent persona fanbase, he got shunned so hard by them. Even getting threats and telling him to kill himself.

Not finished yet, but this is one of the most thoughtful critiques I've seen of Reload. As someone who really loves P3 and was concerned for this game going in... I wound up really liking P3R. However, I agree so hard with what you have to say about the gameplay. Tactics was such an amazing feature that tied into the narrative and evolving dynamic of SEES in the story. Sure, most people will just use direct commands, but Reload set out to be a "faithful" remake and most P3 fans (myself included) got the importance of the tactics system. Reload was the perfect opportunity to round out the edges that exists in the original tactics menu, most notably improving how the AI acts on Heal/Support, instead of completely gutting it. And I was really sad to see them outright remove the fatigue mechanic. P3 from the jump establishes how taxing it is to summon a persona, so it'd make sense that Tartarus trips are tough in the beginning, but as you get stronger in game, it becomes less of an issue. I'm not suggesting that the original Tartarus was perfect, but there was a lot of purpose behind the way it was built and instead of expanding on that, they decided to scrap these aspects of the game play for a more streamlined experience. I don't think it detracts from what the games does to successfully. And I genuinely feel like they improved on the SLs. Also, characters like Shinji, Ken, Fuuka, and Koro who didn't get as much screen time in the og got new additions (even if they were really small like in Fuuka's case) that added more depth... but unfortunately, with how much they changed (and frankly how easy they made) the gameplay, plus some other issues, like how they decided to base the script off P3P which detracts from a lot of the visual story telling present in the FMVs, I cannot say this is the "definitive" P3 experience. Doesn't make Reload bad, but it could've been so much more.

While I do like P3R, I do wish we got a remake of persona 1 in the modern style instead. Would’ve been far more of a significant remake, since P3 already plays in the modern style and is already quite popular.

Love how he just doesn't acknowledge emulating the original p3 p3f or p3p as an option. It is logical that the game is going to feel completely different because 17 years have passed since the original. Most of the original developers would have probably quit by now. Trying to make it feel more like persona 5 is what killed the mood.

Amazing work as always, Nam. I don't habve reload yet so I still have to make an opinion myself, but your videos are so well made and your arguments and insight so solid that it's just bliss to be a follower.

The fact that a mod existed very shortly after release that made the AI controlled team members in reload bareable/much better really shows how easy it would have been to have both options.

54:41 so true Xeno was perfect at it. A lot of people didn’t like him, but he felt like the pubescent teen who was insecure and fragile that Junpei was

I have watched about 2 minutes of this video and this looks extremely identical to "How Ratchet lost its edge" by TheGamingBritShow. The opening, title, thumbnail (well, the old thumbnail for THAT video) are all identical.

honestly the worst part of the new english voicecast for me is that people who grew up with the ben 10 series reaching the end of the game wont experience the tonal whiplash of ryoji sounding EXACTLY like teenage ben from alien force haha

The "Persona 5 Effect"

To me, reload is just more fun, and in a video game, that’s all that really matters.

I agree with just about all the points brought up here, but not the severity behind the emotion they carry. Persona 3 in any format is one of the most impactful games ever made. If you've been to stubborn to play the earlier builds, this version is probably for you. It may not have the same edge, but it does have the same heart.

Great video! Keep up the good work!

Hot take: As long as the persona devs continue to fail to design combat at least as challenging & engaging as FES, custom skill inheritance combined with the consistant increase in player power level through the series, will consistently break every persona game by itself. There's just too much sauce that allows for far too much optimization that undermines all challenge. Also pretty much all of the EN previous voice cast was invited back in some way. You only get 1 chance to guess the biggest name that wasn't.

I'm so glad you pointed out the rubbish excuse of 'Persona was always easy' by using only the newer rereleases to dismiss terrible game balancing. Comparative dificulties exist, a game can be approachable to newcomers without being completely braindead. If the next Fromsoft game required you to handstand while playing it isn't okay just because 'they were always hard' - there are limits

While I do understand the criticisms of how Reload handled its mechanics and its failure to be a proper "remake" in the sense of capturing the feel of the original game, I do think that it should be considered as to how the game would be recieved had it made these changes. For instance: the tactics menu. While it's fair to say that direct commands and the tactics menu can coexist, in practice the amount of players who would use it when direct commands are an option is too small to justify the development time. Why risk a party member making a wrong move when you have the option to make them do exactly as you want them to? And while you always could remove the option for direct commands, I think that the example given for a system like this "done right" (Dragon Quest VIII) isn't the best choice since it too released around the early 2000s, just like Persona 3. Difficulty I think is a fair point, since people choosing merciless implicity understand that the game will (or in this case, should) be difficult. However, I think a comprimise in regards to the difficulty of the bosses would be to have the bosses have different movesets on different difficulties. Balance I think is just wholly broken, I can't disagree with that in any meaningful way. This is already an extremely long comment, so a general summary of it would be that gamers, in general, have a much lower tolerance for what was acceptable design wise in 2006. Am I saying that playing to the lowest common denominator is a good thing? No, but it's the preferable option for Atlus to putting in more work and money for less return from the people expecting a game more similar to persona 5 royal. But still, the video is a work of quality, so keep up the good work.

One thing I gotta say I love about reload so far is the way it approaches Shuffle Time and how you get experience for the Arcana of the the Persona you landed on. Among that and other game changes, I hope some mechanics like this one come back in later entries.

I will watch the video later, but I will ask since the topic is hot: For someone who never played P3 before: FES - pure or with mod-, Reload or wait for the eventual Reload Complete Edition with a new Jack Frost?

I get the temptation of giving players more (and stronger) options to tackle what the game throws at you from a dev perspective, but good lord - restrictions and player weaknesses are what ultimately makes a turn-based combat system engaging. If you have no direct answer to an issue, you have to come up with workarounds, which has always struck me as the whole point of having customizeable movesets in such a system. But I guess blowing up all opposition with ginormous fanfare and no problem gets you a cheap, easy endorphin rush.

So, what's next Nam?

I wonder how many people on persona twitter actually finished this video

Hey Nam, I don’t want to keep your time especially after watching this video so I’ll keep this a bit brief. While I disagree with some complaints such as the Fatigue system, the voice cast (except Akihiko though he did grew on me the more I played throughout the opening week the game launched, and I guess Yukari was a bit toned down too), and in some areas the overall lighting, I do get what you are mainly coming from. Persona 3 back on the PS2 was a byproduct of Atlus trying in earnest anyway because of the limitations of the PS2 and the fact that Persona 3 was their “Magnum Opus” or else they would’ve been bankrupted by now. I do agree that from my point of view as someone who played Portable back in 2018-2019 that some of the tone and atmosphere was lost (like the show don’t tell type of writing as apparent as the opening cutscene), cutscenes are a hit or miss as some are better composed in FES, soundtrack in reload is a hit or miss, GAMEPLAY WITH THEURGY IS A FUCKING JOKE, I do feel like trying to talk about Persona 3 now is like trying to poke a hornet’s nest which leads into my one worry the more I grow up with this series having watched the P4 anime and played P4 Arena Ultimax in 2016, beat P5 back in 2017, P3P in 2018-2019 and beat P4G just a month before Reload came out. And that worry is… The current persona community. Now i currently respect your wishes and opinions while disagreeing with some of them, however there are motherfuckers out there going on Salem Witch Trials for people who didn’t like the remake as much or it didn’t meet the type of expectations that they wanted since FES, responding with “oh this guy is just a boomer, he’s fuckin blinded with nostalgia” or “oh this SMT elitist cocksucker.”, and it honestly disheartens me as I can see FES has a lot of bright spots even though that game was pretty damned flawed. Especially in today’s landscape where suddenly opinions are viewed as “THE LORDS WORDS” in their own eyes. Which is why while i loved this remake (especially I cried so hard again at the end like i did with Portable), I mainly just keep to myself out of the discourse because there’s no winning with those types of people. All that being said, fantastic work on your video, Nam. Really informative about your takes on what Persona 3 means to you. Cant wait for what comes next on your channel.

I still understand why people dont like reload and there are something of FES i like other than reload, but i will say that reload does what it needs to do; your criticism is valid.

Actually just beat this game last night! My first persona and I’m definitely going to give OG 3 and the others a playthrough now. Been binging your vids the past couple hours keep it up man.

Great video Nam! I really enjoyed it and understand why you didn't like it over the original but overall I loved the remake. I do have a question? Why didn't you mention the soundtrack?? 🤔 💬 jw

In short this game is Persona 5: Persona 3

it takes guts, good job man.

One thing to note about tactics and direct commands is that yeah Dragon Quest does manage to have both pretty well but there's a more fundamental difference that makes it way easier to do in that series compared to modern Persona. In DQ you chose all your moves at the beginning of the turn which makes all the difference because the way modern Persona does it is way more reactive. I kinda wish they would have tried that approach instead when implementing direct commands into P3.

Sup Nam. While I did enjoy my time with Reload, I also mostly agree with this video. I could deal with the lack of overall difficulty, the overpowered Theurgies or the broken Persona customization, but what hurt me badly to see gone was the decisive step backwards in regards to the AI setting. They were so much of an afterthought that they didn't even program AIs to use the Shift mechanic. I've always had an issue with how modern audiences sneered at the original P3 daring to go in this direction and nothing has changed even after Reload; if anything, it's worse than before. I think your video could've leaned a bit more on the positives that Reload offers. One particular thing you could've mentioned is how Reload did manage to transmit a lot of the original themes and messages to the newer fans. I've seen an uptick in people admitting P3R even managed to make them like P3 more than it's younger siblings. Overall, you're probably getting a lot of shit for this one but I appreciate you had the guts to so thoroughly explain your views and opinions in a landscape that's probably going to throw them out.

While I agree with a lot of things said in the gameplay section, there's one mechanic that I do believe shouldn't come back in the way that it was, one that had its design goals already accomplished on paper by other systems introduced in Persona 3 itself: fatigue. Yes, one-day crawls have become standard after fatigue went away, but that is an issue of balancing rather than systems. In keeping with the topic of gameplay representing the story experience, fatigue is already represented by the gradual depletion of SP during a crawl. In most RPGs, healing is a no-brainer. Whenever you reach a checkpoint of some sort, you can fully restore yourself for a nominal cost. Resources are balanced to get you to the next checkpoint, where you can once again easily heal. Persona 3's calendar changed that and introduced a risk-reward balance to this. You can clock out after reaching a new teleporter, or you can try to press on to get more done in a night. You're encouraged to be mindful of your SP use and presented with a meaningful risk if you try to continue while low. SP draining moves are also made particularly punishing because of this, as a bad encounter can shut you out of further progress even without killing you directly. You may even consider popping your SP restorative items during normal dungeon crawling just to squeeze out a bit of extra progress. It is, all told, an experience only Persona can provide. And it has been consistently underutilized. Any healing mechanics break this entirely, be it the Cups cards of P4G or Maruki's perks of P5R. P5 also makes it easier to rotate your party due to Mishima's Exp sharing, giving you a deeper SP pool with no downsides of grinding. Unfortunately, P3R misses the mark on this, badly. The Great Clock means that the size of your "bench" is unpredictable, but even without it the Twilight Fragments and SP restoratives are subject to random drops and farming and are generally far too abundant. At least P5 on paper had no way of fast SP recovery (for non-Joker party members) that wasn't in some way limited by calendar time.

I disagree with almost every point. Amazing video!

Seeing this review reminds me of how Nintendo handled paper Mario the thousand year door remake where it like how you wanted being very faithful to the remake in terms of gameplay and story while adding additions that add onto the story. The additions in TTYD are there and add so much life to the game while not making it a different game keeping it faithful.

This was an awesome and well done video! Although I didn’t agree with much, as I’m super obsessed with everything about this game, the lighting issue was truly something i think should have been worked on a bit more. I really love the new portraits and ui because it allows us to really appreciate the evolution of Shigenori Soejima’s art style from them to now. I found it super interesting how each of the portraits also synced with the voice acting too :)) Carl Jung’s collective consciousness represented as the sea was very well done within the UI, but the lighting in the dorm and dark hour as well as the less abstract boss and battle background did kind of make me a little sad. I remember having to mess around a lot with background brightness because of how saturated the game was and the lighting just didn’t fit the tone of the game as well. I personally wish the atmosphere and color grading in the engine was more flushed out. I super agree with the charm of the dorm being lost, as the darker lighting really allowed the Triadic color palette of the dorms walls carpet and furniture to really shine and give that mature and dark tone. Thank you for sharing this video! It was incredibly well made and I look forward to seeing your work in the future! :D

There are a few points I disagree with you on that I feel like talking about, so here goes. NOTE: If you disagree with me, that’s fine. I simply enjoy discourse on game design. Different people value different things, and that’s the way it should be. 1. The tactics system is bad. The vast majority of people who I’ve heard enjoy it only did so after multiple play throughs, which is unreasonable for most people. I agree that the AI should be better, but I don’t think that it needs to be as deep as FES for the incredibly small amount of players who will actually end up using. I am in the middle of playing through FES (played reload first), and it just feels clunky. The difficulty doesn’t feel good because it mostly comes from the AI being jank. 2. I don’t really know why but no one mentions how good the rewind system is. It made me feel more open to experiment with other options myself instead of just looking it up online. And while similar things could technically be accomplished by saving constantly, that is tedious and breaks the flow of gameplay. While not perfect, it is a massive step in the right direction. 3. The bright color palette actually works more in the games favor. Everything is much brighter so when the final months hit, the colors become more desaturated to fit the music change. It does a better job at showing how much the people have grown apathetic towards life compared to when they were more hopeful before they defeated the 12 shadows. The green also does a good job at contrasting with the blues of the menus and persona summons. It is a little much, and I think it can be a bit too green, but it’s better than FES where I can hardly notice the green. I haven’t gotten to the Nyx fight in FES yet, but based on the images I’ve seen, it looks very dull visually. Some of the changes in reload such as the colored veins on nyx’s model make the fight much more visually appealing to me. Overall, the dark hour in FES just made me say “yep, it sure is night” while reload felt more ethereal. 4. Tired is a mechanic that has no place in any sort of modern game design. The game basically locks you out of progressing which doesn’t feel good. Now, reload doesn’t handle this greatly with the clocks and twilight fragments, but those mechanics can be more easily ignored than tiredness. The best system I believe is portable (haven’t played yet, so take this with a grain of salt) where you don’t get tired in Tartarus but you can only restore SP with items. This makes it where you can invest a lot of resources to clearing Tartarus in one night knowing you could be under equipped for the next excursion, or play it safe but lose out on valuable free time. It still has the tired after you leave Tartarus, but this could be easily removed. 5. Random encounters are a lot less grating. I don’t want to hear the same rap verse looped 16 times when I’m fighting a tough encounter. This is a small criticism, but it heavily affects my enjoyment of Tartarus in FES. 6. Reload has “Full Moon, Full Life”, “It’s Going Down Now”, “Color Your Night”, better versions of “Changing Seasons” and “Deep Breath, Deep Breath”, and some great lyric changes in “Burn My Dread -Last Battle-“ to better reflects Makoto’s sacrifice. These tracks existing is enough of a reason to validate reload’s existence. Once again, if you disagree that’s fine. But I feel like Nam didn’t fully remove his nostalgia goggles when comparing a game he’s played several times with a game he’s only played once. With that being said, thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

Ok, but if they didn't make characters sprites so stupid, especially Makoto's 😭 in the reload I would definitely rate this game 11/10

I like your use of the word "Considered" for describing the old game vs the new. The original was VERY deliberate in what it had included. Other characters did things that you wouldn't want them to do all the time (leave when tired, wrong attack, MARIN KARIN), but that was because they were MEANT to. They weren't You, so of course they did different things. Of course the atmosphere is depressing and a little bit off sometimes- you're confronting the concept and consequences of Death at every turn. People didn't always look very appealing, the mood wasn't always happy, the combat wasn't forgiving. It was all intentional, considered. It wanted to be a very specific piece of art. And then Reload decided floor bosses needed to die to spammable super attacks. That lights needed to be bright and shiny. That consequences and decisions weren't worth stressing over. That five Social stats was two too many, and customizing physical loadouts wasn't cool anymore. It didn't consider what those changes would do to the game, because it didn't trust people to like, or at least respect, them anymore.

The design to make this remake very casual friendly doesn’t really surprise me given Persona is Atlas’s most accessible series now. I’ve put in over 100 hours each for FES, Portable, and now Reload and found good times with all of them. FES certainly has the style and charm that got me into all of SMT though I can’t deny the amount of fun I had with the new mechanics and optional story beats of linked episodes almost as an homage to FEMC’s routes. Maybe the nostalgia is giving me a pass for things that seem more like downgrades and I’m just mindlessly filling in the blanks. Maybe I’m just not as big a fan of Persona as I was when I played it as a high schooler (go figure) so the changes don’t bother me as much. I’m just glad to still have some fun with it while waiting for V Vengeance.

A lot of surface level stuff is better - but at its core it feels watered down

You're gonna get treated like Slickety got, as a monster for DARING to criticize Reload.

one thing I feel you missed comparing Reload's combat with original/FES's combat had to do with the particular style of the Once More system; Original Persona 3 and FES are the only two games in the entire series that punish group-attack spamming in any meaningful way; you could not get a One More from group attacks unless you very specifically knocked down all opponents at once and then deliberately chose not to All Out Attack, thus if you missed an enemy, the enemy wasn't weak to your attack, or anything, then no One More, and the same was true for enemies. What's more, downed combatants took a turn to get back on their feet unless another attack was attempted on that particular individual - Hit, Miss, Weak, Crit, Drain... - it didn't matter the result so long as the combatant was still living, they'd get up again. This in turn meant Original Persona 3 and FES could get away with what other games all throughout Persona and SMT would consider as being astronomically high critical rates without disrupting the game's balance nearly as drastically, where as now in Reload physicals quickly become free One More fodder just for existing in the player's tool belt. I also strongly appreciate just how raw and powerful items such as Attack Mirrors and Magic Mirrors were in Original Persona 3 and FES, being able to give party-wide Tetrakarn or Makarakarn and EVERY reflected hit bouncing back and damaging the enemy. It wasn't a winner in every case, but it opened up unique and interesting strategies, such as allowing me to use Mitsuru as Maragion bait against the Lovers Full Moon boss since it prioritizes hitting weaknesses over brainwashing my allies, and it's neutral to fire. In Reload, it's almost identical to Persona 4 Golden or P3P combat, just with the inclusion of Shift, Traits, and dollar-store Show Times; knocking down any enemy earns a One More regardless of what the rest of your attack is doing, high critical rates are still free, hitting downed enemies has a chance to stun-lock them, the list goes on. I do wish some mechanics were better communicated in Persona 3/FES such as certain Arqa guardian shadows where apparently the intended strategy is to inflict certain ailments on them when I have no way to know what ailment I need outside of trial and error (or looking it up on the internet for a Minecraft datapack aiming to faithfully recreate the gameplay of Persona 3 FES) but yes, they were very core to the creative identity of Persona 3 and now we're just supposed to accept a P5R in P3 clothing as "the new ideal"? Not worth the $80 and high performance strain on my very dated computer I have no immediate hope of replacing.

Really good video. While I disagree with a lot of the criticism it was nice to hear a different perspective. It also gave me some new perspective and thoughts on the games as a whole. I am curious, what is your opinion on the new extended ending scene with Aigis? I personally really loved it and made it all hit even more