#game-review # Persona 3 Reload  [Console:: PC] [Status:: Played] [Approximate Start Date:: 2024-02-29] [Finish Date:: 2024-04-18] [Clear Time:: ] [Total Play Time:: 15.3h] [nReplays:: 0] ## [Rating:: 80] # Playthrough Notes - Playing on stream! - stopped at 11:10pm, 2h 30m ## Class Notes - Toriumi - Zenzou Kasai, Tota Kaneko - Mystical Mirage and Rain of Flowers are expressions for Spring - Tasty Bamboo Shoots, Vivid Carp Streamers are expressions for Summer - Ekoda - Ise Monogatari is "da bomb" - Ono - Waste in the Jomon period is known as "Midden" - Scandanavian in origin, means "dung hole". # My Thoughts ## General Thoughts - Did I live my life through high school and college subconsciously trying to be Mitsuru Kirijo somehow? - I just wanted to be smart and respected and to lead where necessary and know where to raise up others. ## Updates from Persona 3 to Persona 3 Reload Because this game is a remake of a Playstation 2 game from 2006, there are always going to be comparisons to be made between the two versions. ### The updated music feels distinct but also familiar to the original game - I enjoy the new renditions of all the original songs with the new vocal samples for the most part. Overall the updates to the soundtrack are awesome and really fun. Even though the original's soundtrack is great, this one is great on its own merits. The new vocalist really helps with this differentiation. - I DO miss the original canned vocal samples from "Iwatodai Dorm", but I have a feeling the Lotus Juice rap will grow on me. - "Want to be Close" with updated samples sounds incredible and I was blown away the first time I heard it in context after having listened to the original track so many times. ### Persona 3 takes the stylized visuals of Persona 5 and makes them its own thing - it's clear that they wanted to have the Persona series be defined by hyper-stylistic visuals following the success of Persona 5. We can see this by how they adapted the UI and menus to reflect a more stylistic "immersed in water" appearance in the pause menu, calendar dates, and other relevant selections. - Some of the aspects feel like it's a little too much of Persona 5's influence, like the ending screens following an all-out attack - "Done and Dusted" feels little out of place initially because I never thought the protagonist of Persona 3 to be saying cool catch phrases in the way that the Phantom thieves would, y'know? - The visuals are a LOT more vibrant in this game compared to the original Persona 3. I think the reason a lot of the visuals in Persona 3 were more dingy, down-trodden, depressing even was to reflect the over-arching theme of "memento mori", and to make these more vibrant feels like the other side of the coin regarding nihilism. If we're al going to die in the end, then maybe we had ought to appreciate the world around us a little more - I DO think the original's drab visuals did give it an identity, especially when compared to Persona 4's REALLY bright yellows, and Persona 5's hyper-stylistic, almost comic-like design. The dreary visuals of the original Persona 3 made it feel like every day you fight to reach the next day. - "the original had such a dingy dark look to it and now everything's bright and colourful and pretty and it's just less appealing aesthetically to me. the art direction is solid otherwise, but it really feels like an integral part of the experience has been stripped away." [^1] [^1]: https://smudgebap.com/media/2024-02 ## Gameplay Notes - It seems like fusing Personas doesn't make sense to do until you have at least some kind of social links. It's good to go and collect the Personas in Tartarus - Yes, this is accurate. The Persona fusion aspect gets legs the deeper I get into the game. - It makes sense to repeatedly go to Tartarus rather than marathon it. Like with notes and studying, repeated practice is critical, and it allows me to boost my courage every single day after I'm there thanks to Edogawa. ### Burning Your Dread While Playing the Game - Who cares if you don't get every social link on your first playthrough, especially fi you're playing honestly? What matters is that you're living honestly even if you're living with a time limit. That's the whole point of the story, and it's reflected in the gameplay. - Maybe you should take notes to remember what happens when so you can spend time with the friends you like. So you don't forget where everyone is. - Hey that's kind of like [[Linda Cube Again]] - #gaming/note-taking-game - Persona 3 was the one that started it, Persona 4 and Persona 5 carry over the gameplay beyond the story themes later # Favorite Moments / Memories - THE MF MUSIC - They added new music to some social links that's Sad_piano.wav Persona 4 but with Persona 3's "Memories of You" motifs. # What were you doing when not playing this? # Relevant Links