Some people write this game off for not being FES, call it soulless, etc. I think that's stupid.
Don't get me wrong, Persona 3 Reload does glaringly show the problems with the series post persona 5, the biggest is that it is mind numbingly EASY to anyone that is not new to the persona series. I unironically modded this game to be harder (and to fix the tactics AI, which ill get to later) just so it didn't feel like the main game was treating me like a child.
Outside of that, I say this as someone that has beaten FES, twice, that I genuinely believe this is a BETTER game, while FES still has its place as a more DIFFICULT game. There are some things I wish carried over or were at least compromised, for example I'm disappointed there are only like three instances of a social link being able to be reversed, but I guess ill take that over the absurdity of how FES handles its social links. I do wish there was a middle ground though. Also as someone that enjoyed FES, I decided to play this game with no party control just to capture that feeling a bit.. before I realized that I would have to install mods to fix the god awful excuse of "tactics ai" this game haphazardly threw together. They cant even shift for gods sake, I'm surprised they even throw this option into the games still.
There's also an argument to be made about how much of a "cleaner" direction this game took with its tone and atmosphere. This is one I agree with, with many cutscenes not feeling as impactful as they were in the original, such as the protagonist awakening scene. It was cool and hype in Reload, but it almost made you feel a little uneasy in FES, and this kind of carries over with most of Reload. A lot of scenes, dialogue, and just atmosphere and lighting just makes the game feel a lot less "grim" like it did in FES. Its not particularly a bad thing but it does feel like it undermines the vision for Persona 3 as a whole, and is pretty jarring to sense on a whole playthrough if you played FES first.
However, I don't think most players will care about this, and that's okay. It's not exactly the way this game was intended to be played, so I can't completely knock it for being "too easy" or "doesn't let me roleplay that I'm using FES mechanics without mods", but they are knocks for me nonetheless.
That's all the negatives I really have with this game, which in a vacuum, isn't a lot. There is a TON to like with this remake. The biggest one for me was the linked episodes, which were fantastic all the way through. With no social links for the male party members (and other characters), these were honestly really memorable and made me feel more connected with the cast. Along with that, a majority of cutscenes in this game are fully voiced, like social links, a first for Atlus that seems to be carrying forward with persona 4 revival, which hopefully means persona 6 will be the same. Considering I'm one of the seemingly few people who prefer reloads party VA's to FES, I am very happy with this part of the game.
Modernsona combat is definitely better than how it was with FES, even if I am a bit salty about the bad tactics AI, I can live with that because I can actually now use koromaru in my party and he's actually worth a damn in this game.
And of course, the game just has great characters that I and many others cant help but love, and even greater storytelling that is probably the best and most consistent start-to-finish of the "modern" persona games. I'm not going to talk about it because if you haven't played persona 3 you need to experience it for yourself.
If you're looking to play FES, this isnt for you. If you're even just looking for a hard game, this isnt for you. But if you like persona as a franchise and want another excuse to replay persona 3, or a newcomer just looking to play persona 3 for the first time? This is for you, and its excellent. A lot of my qualms with this game is nit-pickings of how I PERSONALLY want to experience playing these games, which a majority of people aren't going to align with.
Seriously, get this game. It's still persona 3, and persona 3 is great.
