The most complete analysis on Persona 3 Reload’s character, narrative, aesthetic, tonal evolution and changes from the original Persona 3 FES (PS2-era games). In-depth analysis of Persona 3 Reload and evolution of every single character (& all their new optional dorm, link episode content), changes from “memento mori” thematic focus to “making memories,” tonal & aesthetic shift from abstract/ambiguity and moody/brooding feeling. A comparison of Persona 3 Reload, Persona 3 FES, and Persona 3 Portable presentation of characters and story thematically and aesthetically.
I always end up loving Persona 3 no matter what iteration it’s in, and I hope this analysis on Persona 3 Reload vs. Persona 3 FES shows what a passion project this was for me!
SOURCES:
ALL MUSIC/OST USED LIST: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jqTDdwX9iyIstIppMG6qiqWab4o5eUnV-VWGHFBNLtk/edit?usp=sharing
MY ENTIRE P3 ANALYSIS PLAYLIST: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKbYRtPzuiWfmYA5aJXm_UCdvvKAXMSD7&si=3BgCzTYcl4UJ2TPh
P3 Reload AI tactics fix mod (including shift mechanic) by MeovvCAT
https://gamebanana.com/mods/496363
JinboiVA’s Unavoidable Battle Reload style with OG FES percussion
https://youtu.be/J4_XV_5Vz_k?si=wOpxPaFG5qhKySve
P3P FemC Fanmade Animated cutscenes compilation video (all credits in video’s description):
https://youtu.be/EW6MNez2bJM?si=zwNSgiuFnY9VTKzk
PersoNO 0 (Complete Fanmade P3 Parody game) by RegretTourmaline
https://gamejolt.com/games/persono-0/187060
Jojo’s Pt 3 7th Stand User (Complete amazing fanmade game) by Clayman
https://www.reddit.com/r/7thjojo/comments/mkw94a/the_7th_stand_user_english_versions_masterpost/
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Timestamps:
0:00 Intro & “Beauty of Art” Preface
5:46 Gameplay (brief thoughts)
7:36 Moving away from the Abstract & Ambiguity (“Clarifying”)
16:15 Awesome optional (NPC) dialogue!~
18:23 Memories vs. Memento Mori (thematic & tonal shift)
21:34 Examining SEES OG Cast dynamic
26:27 Reload’s Evolved Cast dynamic (& promises to MC!)
31:17 Fuuka
36:52 Ikutsuki (genuine questions btw! o_o)
44:27 P3’s Greek tragedian influence (vs. P4 & P5 thematic)
48:43 Junpei
59:03 Yukari
1:04:56 P3RE focus on “the trio”
1:07:41 Ken
1:13:48 PS2-era animations gone… 🙁
1:15:48 Shinji
1:20:05 Akihiko
1:27:57 Mitsuru
1:34:46 P3RE IFFY CHANGE
1:36:28 Strega (Takaya & Jin)
1:42:54 Chidori (& Junpei relationship)
1:50:20 Koromaru
1:52:10 Aigis
2:00:27 Platonic social links!
2:03:16 Ryoji
2:11:33 Music motifs (emotional impact evolution…)
2:16:09 Music & “telling a story”
2:18:18 In-depth look at Velvet Room theme, Nyx final battle track, & Unavoidable Battle
2:28:31 Tracks/Ost I do prefer!
2:30:28 Final Month, Nyx, & Finale
2:35:43 Significance of Sakura/Cherry Blossoms
2:38:21 P3 Reload in a post-2020 time… (Persona team+social commentary)
2:46:43 Wrap-Up thoughts on Persona 3 “multiverse”/discourse
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🎮TWITCH: https://www.twitch.tv/ladyvirgilia
🐤TWITTER: @VirgiliaLady https://twitter.com/VirgiliaLady
🌟PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/LadyVirgilia
GENSHIN CHANNEL~
https://www.youtube.com/c/LadyVirgiliaGenshin
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#Persona3reload #persona3fes #persona3remake
source
This was recorded and edited over the course of ~3 months, so please forgive some shifts in audio at certain points. The most notable being from ~2 hours 11 minute to 2 hr 16 minute mark (it just had to be for the music section lol rip)… also thanks for your patience with some sections seemingly containing "less energy," this is due to my health struggles all year. You can bet every. single. section. in this video was a passion project.
*LINK TO ALL THE MUSIC/OSTS I USED IN THIS VIDEO CAN BE FOUND IN VID DESCRIPTION!*
Regarding the focus section on Unavoidable Battle, I actually think there still is rim shot technique, it just seems that it's not always played on snare drum but tenor/tom drums (?), that's what it sounds like to me, but if you're a drummer or in percussion section, please feel free to correct & explain!
Headphones recommended for the music breakdown section in particular btw!
Also lol I kept referring to party member overworld optional dialogue & NPC dialogue as the same thing whoops lol. You get what I mean though haha (technically the dorm dialogue isn't from "NPCs," but extra/optional lines adding to worldbuilding)
Huge thanks to my patrons & channel members in particular for supporting & sticking with me as I went ~4 months without a video!~ Thanks everyone for your patience in general and I hope this video is worth the wait
🌟PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/LadyVirgilia
🎮TWITCH: https://www.twitch.tv/ladyvirgilia
🐤TWITTER: @VirgiliaLady https://twitter.com/VirgiliaLady
I gotta say, you're one of, if not, the only few fans that truly went to extensive lengths as to explain why you don't like some of Reload's ost arrangements.
Because to me, saying things like "it's not the same", "doesn't fit" or "it got destroyed" is… basically saying nothing.
So thank you for actually elaborating on it by using comparison with applied musical theory, composition and instrumentation. Now I can finally see where the criticisms come from without getting a meaningless "IT SUCKS ASS" thrown into my face.
My only problem with the og soundtrack in general was some pretty jarring volume mixing issues to the point of noise saturation in the more rock-centric pieces, but I can respect the original composition for what it is.
Thank you for making this. I've seen a Lot of breakdowns of Reload's changes discussing how it can't serve as a definitive version for all the conflicting changes compared to much more meaningful beats from the original down to single lines of dialogue — which I still believe is true corroborating with your statement at the start — but your highlighting of all the subtleties in the changes that Reload makes so additively and upliftingly were refreshing to see presented in such a balanced way alongside the more questionable choices. I walked away from this feeling a lot more positive and accepting of the game I still enjoyed a lot rather than conflicted over the details (though I have been using mods to correct some of the most unfortunate losses lol). Makes me want to play FES again with a goal of fine comparison rather than spurred by frustration.
To be honest even if I didnt play reload (I watched my younger brother play it instead) I liked a lot of the changes but soemthing that I didnt understand that put me off was the velvet room music. At the time I wasnt sure why I felt so put off by it since genuinely my favorite track to listen to is the velvet room music since I always felt so calm listening too it. I usually could sit for hours just listening to the music and not be bothered but Reload's felt….weird to me. It wasnt till I watched this video that I finally understand why. Thanks for helping me find out why it was so off putting.
As far as the music, I can't really claim to be completely fresh to the P3 soundscape (and the Living with Determination motif), but I never got to January in my old attempt to play P3P, so getting Living with Determination as dorm music was indeed a gut punch, one that actually hit pretty hard due to another change in Reload.
A lot of content creators talk about how the dorm used to be gloomier in the early months and how Reload makes it a more welcoming and safe space when it maybe shouldn't be. Well, the music flip in January hits all the harder because of it. We've had a chill Lotus Juice track this whole time, but in January that's no longer there. The dorm ceases to be a refuge. You're not relaxing, you're preparing. You're not enjoying the chill vibes, you're Living with Determination. It still pops up enough beforehand to be set up as The Sad Music. Its reappearance in an aggressive arrangement is disturbing, making you question just how genuine all the upbeat statements made by SEES members during the month really are.
This is also why I think this change belongs in January, after the party makes their choice. Ryoji's offer being on the table still offered a possibility of escape, of life continuing "as it is". Not so once he departs for Tartarus. The die is cast, and there's no running away from it anymore. As Takaya's cult ramps up around the same time, spreading garbage and signs all over the streets, the music and color change to reflect the full weight of what's now (fully acknowledged as) truly inevitable.
As for the issue of versions, the real problem is availability. Of the three versions of P3 out there now, only one of them is playable in a good state on modern hardware. P3P's port is terrible and requires extensive modding (PC-only) to get to a reasonable standard, and FES is outright inaccessible. Given what recently happened to the OG SMT V, the preservation concern is real.
As someone who had P3R as their first real experience with not just P3 but Persona in general, I’m really happy to see such an excellent video going into detail on the changes (and one that isn’t entirely negative). Great job!
Honestly, I was disappointed even in Reload by Strega being imo underdeveloped/underutilized, which seems to be a common take. Their handling felt sort of bizarre to me in a way I can’t articulate very well. I guess we agree on them being unconventional but have different feelings about that. Personally I think if reload hadn’t hinted at their backstory throughout and just dumped it all on us at the end right before they die I would’ve been frustrated… And to my understanding Protag is the “true messiah” as opposed to Takaya being the “false messiah/antichrist” so them having more one-on-one scenes makes some sense. I experienced the game through a let’s-play over the course of like 4 months and the let’s-player acknowledged that certain scenes with Takaya were new additions so I went in pretty early on with the understanding that Strega hadn’t gotten that much screentime in the original, but I wonder if I would’ve been even more disappointed by them in the original without the additional scenes or if I would’ve accepted them as more intentionally mysterious than lacking (“less is more” with strega, as you said). Probably the former though, I think part of my disappointment was that I just got too attached to them and their jarring aesthetics…
When I talk about them being underdeveloped I moreso mean Jin and Takaya than Chidori, though I still would’ve loved to see more of her. I really think that if revived she should’ve briefly appeared during the cutscene with all the non-party members reacting to Nyx and there should’ve been some sort of update on her during the segment at the end following up on all your completed social links, so it would feel like she actually came back to life outside of that one scene.
Also, weird note about Takaya’s changed final line wishing for Jin to be there – that actually made me confused as to whether or not he died? Maybe it’s just that I wasn’t paying enough attention but since he calls attention to Jin not living to see the end rather than himself not living to see the end as he apparently says in the original, I wasn’t sure if he was dying. I mean, he managed to crawl up there, and I found it strange they would just have him succumb to his wounds after SEES explicitly left him alive even mentioning that he should live to see his goal fail and he just… didn’t. So I was wondering during the epilogue “it’d be weird if he didn’t die, but I don’t feel like we really saw him die, so…?”
Sorry, really scatterbrained comment. Loved the video, you got a sub, excited to go back and watch your other stuff!
(Also, I did not suspect Ikutsuki and found him funny but didn’t find his betrayal too impactful either. He died too quickly I think. His irrelevance pre-betrayal didn’t stick out too much to me because I also felt Fuuka wasn’t very relevant to the main story after her introduction)
I'm with you on mixed feelings. There's a lot of additions (especially the linked episodes) that I love in Reload, and some changes that were just objectively good. But at the same time, some changes kinda missed the mark. Overall, I enjoy Reload, but I'm glad that my first P3 experience was with FES instead. I'm not sure I'd love it quite as much if Reload was where I started.
To further explore Akihiko's differences between FES and Reload, I'd like to talk about something not many point out: Akihiko's fighting style.
FES:
– Idle animation is the Southpaw boxing stance (right fist and foot up front), fist positioned for close/middle range fight.
– Critical consists of 2 quick right straights, middle left hook, left uppercut and low left hook.
– Running animation features no guard.
Reload:
– Idle animation is the Hitman boxing stance (crossed arms with front fist in an L position), special for long range fighting.
– Critical is mostly the same as FES except hooks are changed into straights.
– Running animation features a peek-a-boo style guard (ideal for close range, in-fighting style).
So, we could say FES!Akihiko's fighting style is aggresive and ready for a middle/close range clash, while Reload!Akihiko's feels more calculated by keeping the opponent at a distance. The former plays into charging in without measuring the risk ("Let's f*cking go!"), while the latter plays more into creating an opportunity to strike at the risk of leaving yourself wide open ("Come at me, bro").
It's fascinating to me how much those little things give off a completely different demeanor between versions.
If i could put my stuff for Ikutsuki, I spoiled myself on his betrayal so I never got any feeling that he was cool or obviously the twist villian when playing p3p.
This video is pretty good btw. Love how it respects both the original and the remake equally and talks about what reload did better or worse.
Good to see you back
Great thing about this drop is that we finally get merch of P3 characters, and It was worth it
So glad they change Yukari voice direction, her sounding like a mean girl made no sense. Reload voice actually sounds like she’s triggered when she’s upset- I mean it was funny, but god the aggressive voice got annoying fast, and probably reason why she got so much hate.
My favorite part in the game is when we spend time with Aigis, since I am a huge fan of "Blade Runner" and "Ghost in the Shell" I give this social link a 128 out of 10
Having finally experienced P3 through Reload, I can say it is my favorite one (of the 3 games that exist anyway 😉)
Little question: is the person who makes the PT-BR subtitles for the video a real person or just an AI? She's a little buggy. Ps: Google translate here. love your videos
2:20:34 While I agree with a lot of points so far in the video, i genuinely think the difference you’re hearing in the velvet room theme is just the result of this games audio being uncompressed and re-recorded with better/higher bitrate equipment. The old audio sounds fuller because it was so compressed. So much detail would get squeezed out of audio to fit onto a ps2 disc that mixes were often crushed down so a lot of detail of loudness and softness gets lost. Meanwhile the new version is allowed to be much more detailed like the P5 velvet room track and they took advantage of that. Same thing with the rest of the songs sounding cleaner. There’s better equipment going into a now AAA game and not a then reinvention of a spinoff. Source: I make music.
Heck yea Reload tactics gang represent
What is going on at 1:03:57?
I’ve been waiting for this!!
Hello Virgillia, I loved your phenomenal videos about the history and nuances of Persona 3. The game's iterations and its influence/building blocks from Japanese society or Japan's many eras, and I want to also send some money to hopefully encourage you to make that Jojo-Persona super video someday! Keep up the great work and see you in the next video!
To provide an honest answer to a genuine question, and also go over some spoiler-y stuff:
I didn't really suspect Ikutsuki when I played FES. Sure I thought he was probably going to be involved in a more significant plot point later on, but I genuinely didn't really see it coming. My only inclination to it is that I'm used to these types of RPGs having some kind of twist villain or emergence of an unseen threat, and I knew that the story wasn't quite done yet by November and there really wasn't any new characters to pull from that could be involved with something like that so Ikutsuki naturally fit the bill. But honestly, I found his original English voice more disarming than his new one. In the old version, I found his more deadpan demeanor to fit in more with the idea that he's just a really awkward goofy guy. And his higher and more nasally pitch I thought added to that misdirection. in the new one his voice direction has this deeper, smoother, cooler vibe. In FES, I thought that the English voice of Ikutsuki trying to be menacing didn't really add-up. Something about it was just a little ill-fitting, like being in a villainous role didn't factor into the casting almost. The first time I played Reload, I assumed that his new voice had quite a different direction specifically because his new voice is more suited to hitting those more menacing tones during his heel turn. And I feel as though my assumption was right, at least.
Awesome analysis! I agree with a lot of your takes but i do have a few disagreements regarding Strega
1:35:14 i agree that this dialogue option wasn't necessary but i don't see how asking Jin to come along (and not stay behind to die) undermines their resolve. They're still about to fight Nyx.
1:36:05 in Portable this felt like a generic power of friendship speech but with the added Reload scenes i actually appreciated it more. Takaya especially tries to sever all attachments so at any time he's ready to die at the blink of an eye. This is portrayed positively by Takaya not needing an Evoker but Mitsuru argues that it also limits his power. This can also be taken literally if you contrast Takaya's lack of attachments with MC + social links and SEES second awakenings
1:38:20 Takaya mentioned Jin at the end of FES too. I think their dynamic was always meant to be one-sided (which Reload reinforces with the 10/31 scene) but deep down Takaya probably has some attachment to him
1:39:40 I'd say Junpei is jealous about MC having the wild card, not Takaya. Takaya wants to coexist with SEES and feels that they're showing ingratitude (to the Kirijo group orphans that didn't make it through the experiments) by erasing the Dark Hour and throwing away their power
Overall the new scenes made me appreciate Takaya's role a lot more as the MC's foil and false prophet that they were probably going for in FES. And like you said it also emphasized Jin as Strega's emotional glue which also aligns with their og characterization
I’ve admittedly always been a big Ikutsuki fan and actually prefer his old voice, as it helped him stand out as a slightly quirky and weird but ultimately harmless school chairman who cares about the students (before he was revealed as the villain). And as a Neurodivergent, he probably really resonated with me because of that slightly unemotional spoken delivery which can be a common autistic trait.
So even though I can accept that the new voice may be better, I feel that the original Ikutsuki and all his new scenes and lines from Reload including his enjoyable chemistry with Junpei specifically would’ve worked just as well.
He’s one character I would’ve loved to have had a change of heart in Reload as a different ending, as he always amused me, being the rookie PunGentleman that he was.
As others have said elsewhere, along with "making memories", Reload is no longer just about "Memento Mori", but also "Memento Vivere", or "remember you must live", which is definitely a good sentiment after the age of the big C-virus.
On the gameplay differences between FES and Reload, particularly the Nyx fight, i've heard about how the party member RNG and Nyx having two actions per turn in FES made it too long, unfair, and unenjoyable, while the party control, Theurgies, amd Nyx only having one action per turn in Reload made it too easy, like some have said about P5 Royal…
And it's been years since i've studied music theory, so i never would have noticed the subtle changes between the rearranged music tracks if they hadn't been shown one after the other.
Oh shit. We eating good when Lady posts. How come I didn’t see this in my sub feed????
Idk if I’m alone on this, but I’d be so down for a JJBA/Persona cross analysis. I’ve been a Jojo’s fan for a while and I’ve been recently getting into Persona, and both series have a lot of fascinating similarities besides stands/Persona comparisons, that I’d like to see covered.
Ikursuki was, from a new P3 player, was sus. He gives off heavy Maruki vibes.
JoJo's comparison/contrast analysis pls
All I’m sayin is that if persona 6 is about a female mc that has to break away from the fate they’re given and is set in Florida then it’s no longer a coincidence.
I have to agree with you on the music, a few good tracks but a lot of them have some weird decisions behind them that make them sound lesser compared to the originals. I think it might be best to look at Reload as a completely different game rather than a remake.
My older sister went into P3R almost completely blind, only knowing that the MC dies at the end, and she hated Ikutsuki from the moment she saw him. She was suspicious of him but part of her hate came from the fact that she couldn't tell if the game wanted her to like him or not, while from her perspective he was participating in some major child neglect (Her knowledge that the game ends with at least one character dying made her scrutinize Ikutsuki's every move a lot more). Like my sister is a very principled and opinionated person, and she straight up refuses to use Ken in her party because she completely disagrees with allowing someone so young to participate in something So dangerous, as well as her refusing to date any of the girls because she doesn't want to traumatize them when the MC dies LMAO.
I loved Reload. It is not perfect, far from it, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it.
I think they purposely made Shift be a Manual thing because the Idea is the game is meant to be played the Modern/Remake version way and not the Original AI only gameplay of the Original
Dawn M Bennet made Aigis sound like she evolved
And the Cadence of her voice is Pretty
Fantastic video! ^_^ Your in-depth of the themes, plot elements and characters of P3R was so compelling! Your observations and takes on the characters especially – including how they've changed from P3 FES- gave me a lot of food for thought!
As to your mid-vid question, my favorite character in Reload was undoubtedly Fuuka! I didn't pay much attention to her in FES/Portable, but here, I felt very drawn to her i because I could relate to so much of her character's struggles. Like her I have been self-conscious about my interests and have often been so focused on what others do well or better than me that I can ignore or diminish the value of my own strengths. So seeing her growth – both in the story, dorm scenes and her S. Link – into someone who both continues to lift others up while finding value in herself was inspiring to me ^_^
My favorite moment of hers from Reload is probably in her third reading session with the protagonist. Her realization that it's better to communicate what you love about something when recommending a piece of media rather than forewarning a person about all the things they might not like about it genuinely taught me something about sharing my interests with others.
For me, when January hit and the dorm got the new living with determination song, it gave me chills. Like just as you said it, it was a real emotional gut punch for me, and by the way this was my first time playing P3
Man I just really loved this game, honestly
Hey, I’m one of the artists and audio engineers who worked on the Kotone Cutscenes Project, and I just wanted to say thank you so much for the small shout-out! Funny enough, I had this video playing in the back while I was working on some clean-up animation.
That last bit about how COVID-19 affected High School and College for the younger generation, really hit close to home. My generation entered High School right before the pandemic hit. So, while we did get to kinda experience what normal High School life was like, everyone kinda took it for granted since nobody could predict what would happen next year.
Thankfully, we did go back to school in September 2020, but it was extremely restrictive, as one would expect — one-half of the students only being there for half of the day and the others a full day, with it being rotated for both sides every day. Thankfully, it did start to revert to normal around 12th Grade with events, prom (albeit a bit different), and even a normal graduation. There are still a lot of missed opportunities we couldn’t experience in-between our first and final years. Such as the new friendships we might've made, after-school clubs, theatre plays, or the trips the seniors and freshmen got to go on. Our Japanese class was supposed to have a student exchange, which my best friend was looking forward to before it got canceled.
This is why Persona 3 connected with me when I first played it last year. It gave me a glimpse into what a normal High School life was like pre-COVID, or what it could’ve possibly been like to visit our sister school. And this video helped me appreciate the added hangouts and study sessions in Reload. So thank you for that:)
By the way sorry if this was worded awkwardly or the punctuation was off. Dyslexia sucks lol
I have been working through this video over a few days. I just wanted to take some time to thank you.
I was worried as I heard you had a flare and went radio silent on YT/Twitter. I am genuinely glad you got to enjoy reload and make this passion project.
Your og P3 Arcana series is when I discovered your channel. It was like randomly finding a kindred spirit who loved P3 like I did.
We both wanted this remake to let the new fans experience this fantastic narrative. I am so happy we and they got to experience Reload.
Here is hoping that episode Aigis is awesome. I look forward to your analysis. My one gripe? Give me more Burn my Dread.
1:04:32 I feel the fact that shes more kinder in reload is the fact that, like you said, the Japanese direction for her VA was way more sweet and less brash. I’ve also heard that reload is more in-line with the original script, and her more rash moments were part of the U.S translation.
Also I LOVE that you mentioned the dynamic between Junpei, Yukari and P3mc in reload. It really does give them the vibe of being great friends and low key makes them probably my favorite OG 3 out of modern trilogy.
Watching this in between my session of smt 5 after I rage quit
I'm gonna be honest, I've played P3 FES and P3P so many times, so I know this story inside and out. Despite that, I cried way harder than I ever have when Shinji, Mitsuru's dad, and Chidori died in P3R. I didn't even cry that much when I first played FES and everything was still fresh to me. I personally think this is a testament to how well P3R executes it's story telling
I know Persona 3 Reload changed some aspects of the original but never expected it to be this much! I liked most changes not all of them of course but overall they still kept the original vision and story telling structure of P3FES. Like you I am also very interested to see if they will keep the answer (Episode Aigis) 1 to 1 the same or change it for the Remake.
To answer your question, as someone whose first P3 experience is reload, I strongly found Ikutsuki sus right away. But I am an older school gamer, so a meek, long-haired guy with glasses from a mid 00s JRPG instantly put up so many red flags.
The other thing that was a massive red flag was how similar he looked to Takaya in appearnace. I had a suspicion that they might have even been the same person who just shifts into different forms/personalities.
Basically, the only thing Ikutsuki had going for him was that I was mindful that his presence could have just been a red herring. But I was not shocked in the slightest when he was the primary antagonist.
I can not wait the Persona/Jojo video. It's gonna be epic
Started playing reload as soon as it came out and have 100+ hours, but I still can’t bring myself to play through the last month because it’s so sad 😢
I think you're the only one I've seen so far where you can describe why the music so lacking in such detail that most people complaining about it can't do.
I really wanna see you deep dive on the persona soundtracks ngl, it's more interesting to hear from people like you that actually has more experience with playing music.
One thing I have not seen anyone do that you briefly touch upon is how the individual bonding moments between party members and the MC recontextualize everything introduced in The Answer, for the considerably better imo. One of that scenario's biggest issues was how seemingly devastated they all were over the MC's death to the point of barely being able to function. While this is hardly something that can't happen irl, narratively speaking it felt very forced and unnatural. I could not buy them being that distraught, especially Akihiko and Mitsuru, compared to Kenji's death. It made The Answer start off on a very awkward foot that I wasn't able to get passed in order to complete it (the insane difficulty didn't help either).
Reload makes me appreciate the beginning of The Answer so much more. These additions almost feel like they were made specifically with The Answer in mind, even. It's yet to be determined how, if at all, they change that scenario with Episode Aigis but I suspect it will be with the Reload additions in mind as you say. I hope it isn't changed TOO much because, as I've said, the Reload additions do enough on their own to make the original telling of The Answer feel genuine. I even buy more into Yukari's decision near the end and Mitsuru coming to her defense. The Answer just WORKS now with the added context from Reload without needing much in the way of overtly addressing its initial issues.
Here's to hoping they don't panic too hard about the Answer's reception back in the day and try to make it way too overtly referential to Reload specifically or try to spell everything out that's easily inferred like they do on occasion in Reload itself.
Also the greenness of the Dark Hour in Reload really should be a meme. Idk what happened there even if there was a very subtle green tint to the original depiction. It just comes across very unintentionally comical as opposed to the dread the original made you feel.
Wow. Your analysis resonates so well with me, it's like you explained stuff I couldn't put my finger on, especially on the music. I could only say that the most iconic end game music lacked an "oomph", and that Memory of the City lacked a kind of lo-fi the OG had that enhanced it so well. Yet like, 90% of the remade tracks I prefer in Reload. It's just that the last 10% are kind of the most important, especially Battle for Everyone's Soul 🙁
This is a FANTASTIC video and it 1000% deserves more attention. It covers an area of Reload that is very important but seemingly absent from the recent discourse (since it mostly surrounds the gameplay). It’s crazy how these small changes culminated in me falling in love with the cast of P3 all over again. Your analysis is very insightful as always!
My only critique is I think the games are getting too easy the first 2 bosses in reload are perfect but once you unlock theurgy the game becomes to easy imo it’s a beautiful game still but I’m just worried about that trend since I though P5 and P5R were to easy too