In 2006, Atlus released a small JRPG on the PlayStation 2 called Persona 3. It was a strange title where you had to balance life as a high school student, building friendships while protecting humanity from disturbing monsters during a hidden hour of the day known as the Dark Hour.

As stated by developer Atlus, Persona 3 Reload is intended to be a remake of its original version, which means the post-game campaign called "The Answer" from Persona 3 FES is not included. That’s disappointing considering the important story context it provided. It also means the optional female protagonist from Persona 3 Portable isn’t included either, which is also a shame since I consider her the best lead in the series thanks to her fun and distinct personality.

See your favorite moments beautifully remade from scratch, along with an all-new opening music video.

The first Persona that awakens within him is Orpheus, but he turns out to be a special case who can swap between multiple Personas at will, giving the player great flexibility in battle strategy.

That often has to be balanced with managing a slew of devastating status ailments and hard-hitting attacks, so things can spiral out of control if you don't play it smart. The best examples of this come from Monad doors, which are all-new rooms within the Tartarus floors – specifically, the boss gauntlets found at progress checkpoints. These fights throw somewhat unconventional combat scenarios at you that bring out the best of these satisfying turn-based battles whether you line up a sequence of attacks perfectly or barely make it by the skin of your teeth.

The next major gameplay component of Persona 3 that Persona 3 Reload revamped was the dungeon crawling. I remember Tartarus in Persona 3 FES being a repetitive slog as every floor from top to bottom was a never-ending series of samey corridors with different colored wallpaper.

Also, thanks to all the quality-of-life improvements and new combat mechanics, Persona 3 Reload’s difficulty is much more lenient than the original game, even when played on the harder difficulty modes. While old-school fans of Persona 3 may be disappointed by this, I didn’t mind it as Persona 3 was only as difficult as it was because of the aforementioned Fatigue system and that you couldn’t control your AI-driven party, which tended to do inane things like waste healing items or attack enemies resistant to their special moves.

Here's some brand new Persona 3 Reload gameplay. The latest trailer also features our first look at Persona 3 Reload's English VO cast, persona 3 reload gameplay announced at Anime Expo. Get another look at the upcoming reimagining of the popular RPG and prepare to step into the shoes of a transfer student thrust who unexpectedly manages to enter the hour "hidden" between one day and the next.

Something as simple as study sessions at the dorm help you upgrade your academic stat quickly, but more importantly, come with endearing scenes of the crew interacting with each other in believable ways, helping out with math formulas or just venting about the mundane.

In addition, the original Persona 3’s turn-based combat system and dungeon crawling have been massively enhanced in the remake to be faster-paced and have new mechanics to make them more engaging.

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.

That makes it easy for me to get caught up in the hype of Persona 3 Reload, but it also sets the bar as high as Tartarus as this remake tries to recapture the magic of its original versions. But after spending 70 hours playing through it, I can no longer imagine Persona 3 without Reload. It's a shining example of seemingly small changes adding up to make a significant impact, uplifting its greatest qualities while staying true to the source material. And it more than proves why the darkest and boldest Persona yet deserved this new lease on life.

Assuma este papel do um estudante transferido qual acaba vivendo 1 destino inesperado ao ingressar na hora "oculta" entre um dia e outro. Desperte 1 poder incrível, investigue a misteriosa Hora Sombria, lute em nome dos seus amigos e deixe tua marca de modo a a todos os momentos nas memórias deles.

They also discussed the intent and overall importance behind producing Persona 3 Reload at this time, asserting that while they didn't want to change the plot or characters that form the original game's foundation, they were keen on players being able to enjoy Persona 3 at a functional and graphical fidelity equivalent to recent entries in the series such as Persona 5 and Persona 5 Royal, which was the stance they assumed at the start of development. Yamaguchi elaborated on the effort it took to remake all the game's original environments and artwork, exemplifying that the field had not just been expanded to be more proportionate with characters populating the playable areas, but also to "increase the density of game elements and scenery". Yamaguchi further discussed the addition of new scenarios beyond reproducing the original game's narrative, feeling it fitting for the game's nature as an "ensemble drama" so they may explore characters who weren't as prominent in the original game.[oito]