Persona 3 Reload
MSRP $69.99
“Persona 3 Reload is a win-win of a remake for old and new Persona fans alike.”
Pros
Slick presentation
Clever, fashionable gameplay upgrades
Stays trustworthy to the unique
Great high quality of life adjustments
With Persona 3 Reload, developer Atlus had a troublesome activity on its fingers. The remake would wish to introduce a foundational RPG to new audiences, ones who’re conversant in two refined sequels that efficiently construct on every little thing it established. But that’s solely half the battle; it will additionally want to remain trustworthy sufficient to the unique that it wouldn’t rile up longtime followers. It’s a troublesome balancing act, however Atlus walks that tightrope to create a win-win scenario.
As a remake, Reload’s best energy is that it resists the urge to steer a style basic too far off target. There’s a cause why the day-to-day and nightly dungeon crawling construction first seen in Persona 3 carried over to Persona 4 and 5: The flexibility to find out the way you spend your days gives an natural sense of freedom that many different franchises have tried to duplicate. There was no cause to dramatically overhaul that gameplay loop with Reload. Instead, Atlus doubled down on it whereas including new actions, high quality of life options, and fight programs to carry a contact of modernity to Persona 3.
Even if it’s not fairly the absolute best model of itself attributable to some lacking content material from its previous variations, Reload is the definitive approach to expertise Persona 3. It’s a remake that may preserve followers of the unique completely satisfied, whereas bringing sequence’ newcomers a smoother RPG expertise constructed on the bones of one of many style’s greatest video games.
Things are fantastic the way in which they’re
What makes Reload shockingly trustworthy is that it doesn’t attempt to overhaul each single side of Persona 3. It’s nonetheless a turn-based RPG combined with the social simulator components which have all the time been an vital a part of the sequence — Persona 5’s Confidants even built-in them extra into its fight and dungeon-crawling mechanics. Persona 3 Reload’s Social Links don’t have as direct an impression on battles, and are extra about deepening its forged of characters. It’s a easy method, however one which retains the narrative-focused nature of the unique launch somewhat than retrofitting it into Persona 5’s format.
It’s an incremental, however highly effective subsequent step in constructing upon Persona 5’s fashionable gameplay programs.
While the overall day-to-day construction of Reload doesn’t differ a lot from the unique, Atlus cleverly provides new nightly actions gamers can do and high quality of life options that make Reload really feel a contact extra fashionable. When the solar units and I’m again in my dorm, I can hang around with my teammates outdoors of Social Links. Rewards make socializing worthwhile. Reading sci-fi books with Fuuka lets me increase my very own information stat, as an illustration. If gamers hang around with their teammates sufficient, they will unlock their Characteristic. These are newly added distinctive skills that cater to every teammate’s strengths and are an incremental, however highly effective subsequent step in constructing upon Persona 5’s fashionable gameplay programs.
After-hour hangouts are new to Reload and a welcome approach to circumvent considered one of this remake’s greatest omissions: its lacking protagonist. One of Persona 3 Portable’s promoting factors was the choice to play as a feminine hero, who got here with utterly totally different Social Links from the unique’s male protagonist. The male character solely had Social Links with feminine teammates, whereas the feminine lead solely had them with the fellows on the squad. Reload’s nightly hangouts let gamers chill with the boys (and canine), which at the very least captures a part of the expertise that’s been misplaced by slicing the feminine lead.
Atlus
To handle the massive elephant within the room: Reload doesn’t embody Persona 3’s playable epilogue story known as The Answer, which was launched in Persona 3 FES. Combine that with the shortage of the feminine protagonist, and the package deal does wind up feeling a contact incomplete as a remake.
One small high quality of life addition I actually admire is a brand new rewind function. If you’re not pleased with a few of your choices, you possibly can rewind as much as about two days on the calendar and redo your actions. With this, I didn’t should rely as closely on a number of save recordsdata simply in case I screwed up or if I simply needed to experiment with my schedule. It’s a small, however impactful change that’ll be a lifesaver for anybody going for an ideal playthrough of an extended recreation.
Teaching an outdated canine new methods
Reload is precisely what I anticipated getting into: Persona 3, however with Persona 5’s gameplay upgrades. When participating with the remake’s turn-based battle system, Reload is far smoother than ever. When placing an enemy’s weak spot, gamers achieve an additional flip. In the unique, an additional flip can solely be utilized by the character who activated it, which restricted what number of weaknesses they may strike. However, Reload takes notes from Persona 5’s Baton Pass system, now known as Shift. Players can move off an additional flip to a teammate, which permits for rather more strategic planning than the unique did.
Real thought went into how Theurgies may give the heroes extra life.
Some of the extra substantial gameplay additions contain its dungeon-crawling side. As was the case within the authentic, gamers are tasked with exploring a large tower known as Tartarus. Fuuka, because the workforce’s navigator, learns a number of new skills that make that course of circulate extra easily. She can jam enemies in order that they don’t detect the workforce’s presence, making it a lot simpler to gather treasure. She may even scan the present ground and reveal your entire format on the mini map. Fuuka’s new skills let her be extra straight concerned with the gameplay than she ever was within the authentic, the place she felt like slightly greater than a commentary monitor.
Reload additionally introduces the brand new Theurgy system, which provides every character an final assault. As I made my means up by means of Tartarus, I might typically maintain on to my Theurgy gauge till I reached a mini-boss. It’s a small, however impactful change that provides gamers a pleasant energy rush and might help flip the tide in robust fights. I might unleash all 4 of these assaults onto a mini-boss straight away to realize an enormous head begin within the battle. Sometimes, that was sufficient to only utterly wipe out the mini-boss within the first flip. That’s how highly effective they’re.
Atlus
Theurgy assaults additionally enable every character’s personalities to shine, displaying off Reload’s new camerawork. Junpei journeys in the course of his Hack n’ Blast assault, reflecting his function because the group’s comedian aid throughout battle. It could also be a system that’s commonplace in RPGs these days, however some actual thought went into how Theurgies may give the heroes extra life. I hope that they develop into commonplace mechanics within the sequence going ahead, which might give the remake its personal signature innovation.
More than a contemporary coat of paint
Along with fashionable gameplay additions, Reload provides the sport a whole makeover. Everything from person interface to music has been revamped. Tartarus’ randomly generated flooring really feel extra imposing than ever earlier than due to sinister visible twists. Even at its backside ranges, its plain brick wall retains the claustrophobia of the unique intact regardless of giving gamers extra room to maneuver round. Also, the black feathers that softly fall round your celebration as you traverse the tower is a pleasant, but foreboding contact that foreshadows future story occasions. The greater I climb, the wilder my environment are. The high flooring are psychedelic, with black-and-white vectors that swirl round and made me really feel like I used to be being consumed by some natural being inside Tartarus.
Atlus
The remake brings in a brand new visible motif too, utilizing water as a repeated image. It provides Reload one other dimension of character, meshing nicely with the pitch black themes that the unique is known for. When I pull up the primary menu, the protagonist’s head splashes onto the display screen seamlessly. I by no means get bored with seeing it. The theme cleverly spills into gameplay too. Fuuka’s Theurgy summons an enormous orb of water that splashes on her teammates and buffs their stats. It’s one other small, efficient means that Reload reinvents Fuuka.
On the audio aspect, Reload is as a lot of a deal with as any entry within the sequence. Persona 3’s soundtrack has a particular hip-hop taste that separates it from different entries and comes courtesy of Japanese rapper Lotus Juice. For Reload, the soundtrack has been rerecorded with largely optimistic outcomes. While the brand new variations sound nice, they do lack the tough edges the unique variations had. The vocals don’t sound as uncooked, which takes a little bit of the music’s chunk away. I want there was an possibility within the settings menu to change to their authentic variations, which latest remakes like Super Mario RPG have applied.
Reload stands by itself deserves to ship an unimaginable RPG for newcomers and longtime followers alike.
While the outdated music is lacking a little bit of its edge, the brand new authentic tracks composed for Reload are implausible. Lotus Juice returned to spit some bars for the brand new tunes like Color Your Night and It’s Going Down Now. The former is another monitor that performs whereas exploring the sport’s central location, Tatsumi Port Island, at night time. It options an upbeat piano melody interlaced with Azumi Takahashi’s stunning vocals and Lotus Juice’s nostalgic lyrics of youngsters wishing for fun-filled nights to by no means finish. The latter performs every time gamers set off a bonus on enemies. It mirrors the conventional battle theme, Mass Destruction, together with its explosive trumpets and “baby, baby, baby” lyric. It sounds prefer it may slot in Persona 5’s extra jazz-infused soundtrack, additional bridging the hole between the 2 titles.
Persona 3 Reload was Atlus’ probability to drag each single previous incarnation of Persona 3 into one final package deal. Atlus largely succeeds right here by updating a lot of Persona 3’s gameplay programs whereas staying surprisingly trustworthy to the originals. The overhauled graphics, artwork fashion, and rearranged soundtrack are all welcome additions that largely match proper in with the unique’s perspective. Even with some lacking options that cease it from being the definitive approach to expertise Persona 3, Reload stands by itself deserves to ship an unimaginable RPG for newcomers and longtime followers alike.
Persona 3 Reload was reviewed on PlayStation 5.
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