A transfer student moving to Gekkoukan High School in Tatsumi Port Island discovers his potential to enter the Dark Hour and use Personas, joining forces with the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad (S.E.E.S) to delve into Tartarus and investigate the recent outbreak of the Apathy Syndrome among the populace.
I'm sitting here trying to formulate my thoughts on this after the credits roll, and I'm honestly at a loss for words. Persona 3 FES is so special to me, and I'm overjoyed to say that Reload lived up to my expectations.
Persona 3 is a special, harmonious production intertwined with its narrative and theming at every junction. All I wanted from Reload was a refresh of gameplay and an adherence to its emotional core. Suffice to say, Reload surpassed my expectations and then some.
Whether it's the increased use of the "Memories of You" leitmotif, or the stellar thematic change in the third half, Persona 3 Reload is everything I could've asked for. I wanted so badly for the same emotional core to resonate with a new audience, as it genuinely took me aback when I played FES. I felt as though Persona 3 was a work of pure luck, as every aspect down to the minute detail seemed so intentionally placed by the developers. I hope that the same emotional chords were struck within everyone else who got to experience this masterpiece as either a new or old fan. Experiencing this story for the second time was an emotional trip, and it made many of the larger story bits hit me even harder. Albeit, I cried harder at the ending of FES than I did at Reload, but perhaps it was because I knew what was to come.
With regards to the gameplay, I am enthralled by the changes made to Tartarus. While I enjoyed the more basic grindy dungeon-crawling of the original I can understand why a lot of players hated it. To me, Tartarus feels like a fully realized concept in Reload and is so incredibly exciting to explore. Never once did I get bored of exploring its ever-changing labyrinth, and new additions such as Monad Doors kept gameplay always interesting. I do agree that the gameplay is far too easy, especially in comparison to how difficult FES was, but that's more of a symptom of ATLUS's game design post-Persona 5. Despite that, the quality of life changes made this a negligible tradeoff for me, and there are still some challenging fights to be had.
I haven't stopped thinking about Persona 3 since the day I finished it, and I certainly won't after completing Reload. I love its world, characters, story, music, theming, and the emotional core that ties it all together. I'll never forget it, and I think that's quite potent considering how it ends.
5/5. A true masterpiece that will forever stand the test of time
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Shoutout to the new dub cast btw! They killed it. Special shoutout to Dawn Bennett who stole the show as Aigis. Her performance and growth over time were incredible. Also, Zeno Robinson deserves WAY more flowers for how funny Junpei was. I mean all of them killed it though! I haven't heard a dub this good in a long while.
Bring on The Answer! I am ready for it to emotionally destroy me again
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what an insane year for JRPGs so far and what's crazy is it's gonna get even better with Visions of Mana, SMTV:Vengence and Metaphor ReFantazio coming out later this year. JRPGs are back in a big way.
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Note: Unlike reviews, comments are considered temporary and may be deleted/purged without notice.The last fight was really anticlimactic imo
the ending was super emotional, in fact, I just wish it was animated like the original