Looking at the gameplay footage for Reload, I love all the cool stylish transitions and UI elements they've brought over from Persona 5, but then I hear the gunshot sound from the evokers and it's just a deal-breaker. High school students summoning monsters by shooting themselves in the head was what pushed Persona way more into the mainstream, and now the summoning effect just has the glass shattering sound effect like all the other games. What's the point? "RELOAD" IS IN THE DAMN TITLE! We're drowned in a sea of remakes and overwhelmingly the spirit of the original seems to die by a thousand cuts with little changes like this, the Demon's Souls remake being one of the worst offenders. I like a lot of what they added in Reload so I might check it out when it falls way down in price, but if I never play it, I'm done feeling FOMO for all these forgettable reiterations.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spJh6nmZr0E

I had a hunch that Atlus was about to remake this game. Kinda wish that they didn't bother digging up the crappy portable version from a dank back alley last year. But hey--the cat's finally out of the bag, baby!
https://youtu.be/MhePWZ1CxbU

I love this game. I love it so much. When I first played it several years back this was the only game that ever even came close to making me reconsider whether FF8 was still my favourite game, and I can't overstate how crazy that was at the time. I consider FF8 and P3 to be join-favourites for different reasons, but I guess if I had to order then I'd put this second, though that's not to understate how much I love this game... it's just perfect, it's like it was made for me.
Characters have always been my favourite part of games, and Persona 3 has probably my favourite cast of characters from any game, but P3 also gave you the ability to form personal connections with them via social links and make you feel as though you as the player were forming closer and closer friendships with the characters - I LOVED that, so much. Aigis is my favourite character from anything too. I really prefer the chemistry they had in P3 more than P4 and P5's too, and living together with them in the dorms made you feel closer with them which was nice, I wish 4 and 5 did something like that too. On top of that P3 has an amazing story, and my all-time favourite ending from anything, it makes my eyes feel heavy just thinking about it. At first the music really put me off but it grew on me and now it's one of my favourite game soundtracks, my favourite in the Persona series for sure. I love the dark feel it has too, like it's not overly gritty like the other SMT games tend to be IMO, but it's on just that perfect sweet spot between gritty and vibrant for me. The newer Persona games lean more towards vibrant, and I love their feels too don't get me wrong, but P3 got the feel just perfect for me.
This is getting too long and people are gonna get annoyed at me so imma cut myself off here but I could honestly go on all day, I get so riled up talking about how much I love this game. 10/10 doesn't do it justice. It's just something really special.

Glancing at the varied opinions on this game. Emos. EEEEEMOOOOOOOS
(Raises lighter in the air)

One thing I like about the randomized floors in these games is that it makes grinding feel less like grinding. I'm still technically exploring areas I hadn't explored before, and collecting items. Plus, since I'm collecting Personas, there's more to it than just getting my stats higher. Plus, since the gap between how difficult the regular enemies are and how difficult the bosses are isn't huge (which is something other RPGs should take note of), I still have to focus and be aware of what I'm doing. It's more than just running in circles fighting the same easy enemies. I like that in 3 the floors are smaller and more densely packed than in 4, so the pacing feels quicker. Tartarus is the best.

Dammit, right after I accept that I'm tired of this game, nostalgia sets in!

Persona 3 is clearly designed as a way to disturbed teens a pat on the back rather than help them figure out they're messed up and need help. It stars a teen boy with emo hair who shoots himself in the head over and over. Even ignoring that, the design is archaic, giving us turn based battles in 2006 (where you can't even control your teammates, leading to frustrating moments, as the AI is far from perfect). I'm actually stunned they didn't just go with random battles, a lazy, dated mechanic that should've been tossed in the rubbish 20 years ago. Persona 3 is part dating sim, the most sad and pathetic genre to ever exist, so that neckbeards with acne who can't get a date can feel a sense of self worth because they managed to have a decent conversation with a pretty girl by pressing X a few times. Visually, it's just the same old anime bullshit. Does the entire country of Japan have one fucking art style? And get this. The game has ONE dungeon, with ONE visual style, and ONE piece of music that hardly changes. I'm stunned that people managed to finish this, let alone that it's actually 47 on the ATF games list, ABOVE DEUS EX HUMAN REVOLUTION. My God, people.
1/10, when can we get a All Time Least Favorite games list?

Persona 3 is clearly designed as a way to disturbed teens a pat on the back rather than help them figure out they're messed up and need help. It stars a teen boy with emo hair who shoots himself in the head over and over. Even ignoring that, the design is archaic, giving us turn based battles in 2006 (where you can't even control your teammates, leading to frustrating moments, as the AI is far from perfect). I'm actually stunned they didn't just go with random battles, a lazy, dated mechanic that should've been tossed in the rubbish 20 years ago. Persona 3 is part dating sim, the most sad and pathetic genre to ever exist, so that neckbeards with acne who can't get a date can feel a sense of self worth because they managed to have a decent conversation with a pretty girl by pressing X a few times. Visually, it's just the same old anime bullshit. Does the entire country of Japan have one fucking art style? And get this. The game has ONE dungeon, with ONE visual style, and ONE piece of music that hardly changes. I'm stunned that people managed to finish this, let alone that it's actually 47 on the ATF games list, ABOVE DEUS EX HUMAN REVOLUTION. My God, people.

1/10, when can we get a All Time Least Favorite games list?

I might drop this game. I've completed the Bunkichi/Mitsuko path, and that was really the most interesting part of the game. The main story's pretty terrible, actually.
Most of the characters are either too boring to be interesting, unlikable, or downright annoying.
It's now 7/12. Does the game get better?

I've disabled voice acting. Maybe now I can enjoy this game again.