The Persona 3 Problem Persists 

No matter what people say about anything regarding reload tonally, music wise, or its presentation which is all subjective, it is going forward the way to play for 99% of people and it will not be a question for them to go back to the older games since these games are like 80 hour experiences and they’ll just stick to the newest most user friendly version since that’s a lot of time to invest. The average fan doesn’t like the old graphics, ai party, clunky ui and such. If anything Reload selling 1 million in five days shows how people would rather play a new version that's updated then FES. Reload trounced the prior versions to an insane extent and probably already sold past 2 maybe 3 million given it’s been 8 months and given there's no real modern way to play FES on modern consoles and people don't exactly like setting up emulation their always gonna head to reload. And now with episode Aigis it now has everything FES had and even more with the link episodes, better vocal direction and consistency in voices, voiced social links, better fusion, compendium transfer to episode Aigis, and night time activities are expanded, more Strega, and plenty more. so there’s no reasons for the majority of fans to play the other versions other then FEMC in portable cause she adds a completely different experience. This is coming from a FES fan who loves the original game but I can be realistic and realize that this is the game 99% of people would enjoy regardless of the critiques and issues it has.

Btw, the Chidori revival event was also in FES and Portable, it was just more obscured back then in terms of unlockability. In fact, her survival is even mentioned in P4 Arena Ultimax.

you can save Chidori in FES. She is literally alive in Persona 4 Arena Ultimax lol

Persona veteran here, I can honestly vouch for playing each version. Play “The Journey” in FES, play as FeMC in Portable, then play both “The Journey” and “Episode Aegis” (The Answer). I think they all bring special elements to the table that aren’t found in the other versions.

I agree with the Chidori thing but I dunno if anyone's pointed out that that's a thing in fes and portable as well tho it's a bit harder to get compared to reload. Defs agree with most of your points tho!

like to see it as a simple, pick whatever you want to play. Are you coming from P5R and want something similar in terms of style and gameplay? Play Persona 3 Reload. Are you a hardcore fan of the older Persona 4 Golden type of style and gameplay, play Persona 3 FES. If you like playing as a female and just want different social links or smth, play P3P. No P3 game is going to be the "perfect" or "definitive" Persona 3, that is most certainly a fact, but I feel like people should really stop complaining about it all and just enjoy it for once.

P3P is beyond the weirdest and probably worse way to experience persona 3, now if you have any other versions play them be it OG P3, P3FES or now P3R they are be far the best ways to experience Persona 3. Especially reload it’s now the most accessible one with portable being just behind it, it makes sense now at least to not have a few character deaths be reversed as Junpei goes into a deep worrying depression while watch chidori die, and he can’t do anything except hope she makes it out alive. Medea is just granting Junpei’s wish (it also could’ve apart of trimagistis’ abilities) of wanting Chidori back his one and only source of hope in this world, where he’s pushed aside by “us” and his ego and self esteem already at a pretty low point must hurt anyone. Is it a cop out…sure but it’s a pretty good one at least in the way personas work, as shown with Medea and while not the same extent Moros and Hypnos (the rest of Strega’s Personas which are ironically also children of Nyx in Greek myth same with Thanatos) but by the personas power it makes at least a bit more sense. As for Shinjiro yeah P3P can keep that nonsense, I’m not fully sure how or why it works but it breaks everything just to keep him alive. Which I kinda get he is pretty popular but come on keeping him alive via the not death but coma thing is a wildly different narrative, causing so many different effects it would break any reality possible. (The thing that did it somewhat good is granblue fantasy versus: rising) oh and also you’re definitely just going off because reload isn’t a challenge, while yes persona games aren’t meant to be as challenging they provide a good first run if you go through with nothing. Or do a challenge on yourself like an Orpheus only run or using specific equipment or even a only boss shadow run y’know stuff to make it challenging that you want.

I was really excited for reload, but I really don't like the new vocals, the new instrumental tracks are great, and the original tracks using the new vocalist are good, but all the recreations of the original ost using the new vocalist is really disappointing. Same goes for the new VAs, I really don't think the quality is nearly as good as the OG, I honestly think even if I hadn't played the original and gotten used to those voices, I'd still think the original VAs were way better. Especially Junpei is really a let down, some lines that are meant to be somewhat sarcastic or faked sounding end up sounding genuine, genuine scenes sound more comical, etc. Not to mention paying $100 for "All the DLC", only for Aigis expansion to release at an extra $40.

i appreciate the thoughtful responses to this video genuinely. I do agree with a sentiment i see in a few comments that its a matter of playing the version you prefer. I think thats a natural reaction to any game that gets a remake. i do think its funny how ther are people who disagree with the chidori thing and their counter argument is "nuh-uh" very helpful.

I personally don't think the message is really undermined just because character A or B that is supposed to be dead is not anymore. Most of the suffering and the trauma of that happening and changed later, or almost happening happens anyways, the message lies to me, in how every character deals with this, not in the Death per se. If anything, my gripe with persona 3 is that... It doesn't solve the main issue presented in the story. The game end with a improvised solution, and it is made clear that it will not work forever. We have even further evidence of that in P4 fighting games. I kinda want a end to this story, even if it is a bad one.

You can save chidori in fes

I would say Reload is the most definitive way to experience Persona 3. However, the thing with having different versions gives reasons to play the other games. Obviously, people playing Portable are only playing for the FeMC. FES has the answer built in to the main story without DLC. The original has the greatest difficulty if that's your thing. Reload is the most polished and the most beginner-friendly to people wanting to experience 3. Also, it makes. a great intro to the Persona series as a whole. I also really enjoyed the color palette, especially the colors in Reload. It makes it feel more retaliating imo.

P3r is by far the best way to play persona 3 better mechanics, better use of ai , better looking graphics (no duh) does have what fes also has cutscenes unlike portable, cutscenes are also really good, have the option to save or don’t save chidori etc.

I first got into the P3 "trilogy" I guess with P3P and it is by far the worst way to experience P3, the VN style really takes all the impact out of any scene. And I don't get why it doesn't use any cutscenes, they should've used the existing ones and even make new ones. I'm also not a huge fan of the female route, it's still the same story and yet people hype her up to be her own protagonist as if she isn't just an offshoot for the sake of marketing. Also P3P is really bright too but no one seems to complain about it Then I tried P3FES and while it's nicer to have models to look at, I was still playing the same story and the battles were even worse with the AI teammates. Everyone bring up how the FES is darker looking but name one PS2 Atlus game that doesn't look dark. I think it was just a limitation and not an artistic style, since the cutscenes are still bright. I'm not a huge fan of the cutscenes either, they just look bad to me Then I played P3R and it's no contest. People say that stuff got removed in Reload but then don't say what, it has everything as FES as far as I've seen. The game looks brighter because it's not meant for old fans, it's meant for everyone, new and old fans. It's not perfect, I think the awakening was more intense in FES than Reload (we don't talk about the P3P awakening), but that's just nitpicks. If you wanna be one of those "new bad old good" people then fine, but if you wanna play a better game, play Reload. In concluson: watch the P3 movies, you'll see that while the characters are depressed, the story is not about depression. Ffs he gets the universe arcana because he has people to care about, so enough of this "too bright" bs

I'm just here for the Female main character! I really don't care about the original game or Reload! >.>

The FES version is so overrated. I played P3P and preferred that way of interacting. The P3 3D graphics are ass, walking is just slower and the scenery is not exactly breathtaking. Being able to just point at what I want to interact on P3P was muuuch better. Anime cutscenes are just ok, didnt miss them at all. I say P3P is the best non-remake version easily lol

Chidor is alive not undermines the theme and message of Persona 3.