#got a lot of nickel in that stuff and oof

[dustylovelyrun]

Imagine running on minimal sleep because your cat insists on shrieking out-of-tune soprano's each night, every night, being completely capable of getting sunburned through sunscreen, and realizing six cubic meters of firewood have just arrived in your front yard 🙃 Couldn't be me, no. Anyway, not planning on an inadvertent year long hiatus again BUT if it takes me a little to interact, or my queue empties itself out without notice again, you know why. That wood needs to come in. It'll absolutely be because of heatstroke. Again. Pray for my soul. My soul is quite fragile and holding on by frayed threads.

[cuban-feminist-that-gives-a-hoot]

Persona 3 Reload *SPOILERS*

So, I've let this sit for two weeks now and I think it's time for me to finally dish my thoughts. There will be spoilers for those that either haven't finished Reload or those who haven't played any version of Persona 3 at all. If you haven't done either one, I highly recommend you stop reading and go finish it *now*. This is your only warning at this point.

Have you finished it? OK, good. Let's get started.

Persona 3 Reload is a really, really good game. It makes what was once old new again and playing through P3R gave me the same strong feelings I had back when I first played Persona 3 FES. It was like meeting an old friend again after they got themselves both a makeover and nearly 20 years passed between the last time you saw them in person.

Let me get my nitpicky stuff out of the way before I heap the praise it deserves.

I straight-up did not like them taking away school club choice from us. How dare they?! I wanted to do Kendo and Photography like I did in FES, yet I was stuck with Track and Art? If I had to be stuck with a culture club, music should've been the canon club of choice. Our protagonist literally wears headphones all the time! You can't show me the music room at least thrice and tease me with us seeing it, yet not joining the club.

I hate the name change for Operation Babe Hunt. What's wrong with calling it Operation Babe Hunt? The name was fine! It was the creepy behavior of the boys and the transmisogyny that was the problem in it in the original, not the name!

The AI programming is shit. Look, a majority of folks bitching about not being able to control the characters in the original game and FES are being whiny babies that don't know how to use the tactics menu. It's a nitpick because I know that the game has decidedly gone for direct control, but honestly? I would've loved the sophisticated AI that Persona 3 and 3 FES used to be utilized.

Folks bitching about the High-Cut Bikini honestly just need to calm the fuck down. You don't have to use it if you don't want to. Whatever happened to the "Don't like? Don't use!" mindset? You're not being forced by evoker-point to use it.

The music is a downgrade. Lotus Juice is fine as always, but the new singer had a tough job to take over for Yumi Kawamura and fucking failed. The new songs that Yumi never sang are fine, but the new versions of the original songs? Oof. It is bad. Mass Destruction was whack and the less said about her version of Kimi no Kioku, the better.

So, yeah, those are my main nitpicks. Now onto the praise.

The voice acting is top-tier. And I need to put it in a second post because it would be too long. Just know that the English dub is fantastic and no one misses in it at all.

The extra scenes and hangouts we get with the boys are perfect. It fleshes out the guys in ways I wouldn't have expected. For example, I never knew Akihiko was adopted and has parents until Reload put that in there. Do you want to know where that information was originally known? In an artbook and a drama CD! Thank you, Reload, for giving us this vital information I never knew about.

The animation where there's a fusion accident is the funniest fucking thing they've added to the game. I love it, it's hilarious.

They made Shinjiro's death even sadder than the original. For those who have not played the original/FES, Shinjiro has enough strength to walk off before dropping dead under a streetlight. It was a more surreal, trippy moment for his death than anything else because of the art direction in the original/FES. In Reload? They went with what was shown in the movies, with Shinjiro dying in Akihiko's arms. If I had a nickel for every time the edgier of the two men in the ship die in the other's arms, it'd be two nickels. It's not a lot, but it's weird that it's happened twice now. Not to mention the link episodes with Shinjiro are killer. You actually get to see how Shinjiro would look in his school uniform and, fuck, seeing baby Shinjiro, Mitsuru, and Akihiko together is just... it breaks the heart. And that conversation with Mitsuru the day after when you go in Shinjiro's room? Fucking ow! Way to break my heart, Shinjiro.

I'm glad that you *can* save Chidori's life. My Junpei/Chidori heart is so happy about that. And Junpei's second theurgy? Heartbreakingly beautiful, whether Chidori lives or dies.

I am so glad the game allows us to ask why Takaya doesn't wear a shirt. Strega's motivations have always been clear to me from day one. But Takaya, why the fuck do you not wear a shirt?

But yeah, those are my thoughts. It's a good remake. If you're not certain it's for you, try it out on GamePass. Otherwise? Buy it, you won't regret it.