The biggest vibe shift was wandering the tower of Tartarus, which is now the creepiest of all the Persona dungeons. The aura is truly unsettling in the chunk of floors that I played, with the intent to closely emulate the themes of death in the game, producer Ryota Niitsuma and director Takuya Yamaguchi told me after the demo. Reworking Tartarus was a high priority for the team and it shows.

I fully appreciate this improvement to the presentation, as the well-done voice acting made the Social Link interactions much more enjoyable to sit through and had me more invested in their stories than in the original version, where they were mostly unvoiced.

The plot can be difficult to grasp at first due to its strange premise and the fact that it spends the first several hours setting the stage and the characters you will frequently interact with.

They are well-written and honestly touching at times, finally allowing your bros to be fully realized characters. And some scenes get other party members involved to showcase a better group dynamic that feels like a natural extension of Persona 3's ethos.

All those additions become part of the daily routine and add a genuine texture to characters I thought I knew so well already. But the tangible reward comes in the form of combat perks like permanent stat buffs and status effects, and more substantially, Em excesso Theurgy attacks – basically new Limit Break-style moves that each party member can unleash. It's one convincing way for the power of friendship to be made manifest.

My biggest and most personal gripe with Persona 3 Reload is that if the main character falls in battle, it's game over, and you have to begin again from your last save point or restart the battle you died in from the beginning. This ‘game over’ condition has been a mainstay in the Persona series (and its big brother franchise, Shin Megami Tensei) and I’m disappointed to see it is still here as it’s a nonsensical and cheap way to artificially increase the difficulty. It goes against the ‘power of friendship’ message the Persona series is based on.

, you choose who you are, how you fight and what you do to write a tale of your own, through and through.

Above all, Persona 3 Reload has new social events and activities that truly elevate its central characters. These create a stronger sense of togetherness within the party, showing them persona 3 reload gameplay really forming natural bonds with each other and having lives outside the confines of their duties with SEES (the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad, which is an afterschool club for persona users, mind you).

Some sources suggest that Max Charm gives a 1.51 multiplier to Social Link points. Unfortunately I haven't been able to confirm this, but this mechanic has been confirmed to exist in Portable which makes it likely this mechanic exists in this game as well.

Yamaguchi spoke on elements of the game shown in the game's second trailer, confirming that party members Koromaru and Shinjiro Aragaki would have dedicated side-stories outside the main narrative in Reload, with the former's side-story focusing on expanding Koromaru's backstory, while Shinjiro's content would highlight his charm amongst the party members. The developers also confirmed that the "Aeon" social link with Aigis from Persona 3 FES would be retained in the game. By this time, Persona 3 Reload had entered its final stages of development.[15] Presentation[edit]

In my playthrough that ran more than an hour, though, I didn't feel at all like Reload was covering the same ground, even if it basically is. The added gameplay elements, updated graphics, tweaked areas and social links compel me to sink another handful of months into getting to the bottom of Apathy Syndrome with the S.E.E.S. crew.

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On a side note, if you grew up playing the original Persona 3’s English dub version, you may recognize some familiar voices making nostalgic cameos in the remake amidst the NPCs.

Its social life mechanics were the new unique hook, providing a palette-cleanser from its relentless turn-based RPG fights and procedurally generated dungeons.