[10] The player is unable to contact the Navigator (between Mitsuru Kirijo and later Fuuka Yamagishi) in Tartarus to change the dungeon's background music like in the original game, nor is the player able to direct the party to split up and find hidden Treasures and Shadows scattered on the current floor. The party is also able to either walk or fully sprint when traversing the dungeon, but doing the latter also increases the chance that Shadows patrolling the current floor are alerted to the party's presence.[11]

Uncover thousands of points of interests, discover over 20 distinct regions, Interact with diverse characters and engage with numerous authentic activities in a world that teems with life. Play traditional Chinese ancient instruments, solve puzzles from enigmatic cats and so much more!

A second-year who transferred to Gekkoukan High School in the spring, returning to the island he used to live on as a child.

The few unlucky humans who don’t get turned into coffins become prey to horrifying creatures called Shadows, who only appear during the Dark Hour.

The soundtrack is just as incredible to listen to as ever – providing a relaxing atmosphere during calm moments, tension and dread during serious moments, and blood-pumping excitement during boss battles. The soundtrack has even managed to make me feel emotional during the sad and poignant parts of the story.

Quality of life improvements like text messages help keep track of what's available daily during the day and night, and the on-line activity tracker gives you an idea of what other players have prioritized. Both are clutch for quickly deducing what's important and discovering much of the new content that bolsters Persona 3's existing world.

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.

New gameplay additions to the social simulation and role-playing portions of the game were introduced in Reload. The Iwatodai Dorm where the main party resides outside classes has been expanded upon with multiple activities to perform beyond the original game. The protagonist is now able to strike individual conversations with every dorm resident, cook food with resuscitative abilities in the dorm's kitchen, garden persona 3 reload gameplay and tend plants on the dorm's roof by feeding them nutrients periodically, rent out films to watch using a DVD player, as well as borrow and read books provided to the dorm by the school.

Tartarus itself has been revamped to give it a sinister new vibe and a more distinct look for each block of floors. From Giger-like biomechanical labyrinths to shapeshifting industrial halls, Tartarus is at least more visually interesting than before, and the floors themselves are generally laid out less like tedious, sprawling mazes. It's not a drastic overhaul that will completely stave off the repetitive nature of ascending Tartarus, but it's just enough to prevent it from feeling like the weak link it could have been.

You will receive a variety of messages throughout the game. Some of these will be story related, while others will post reminders on when certain Social Links, Linked Episodes and jobs are available. You can use these messages to teleport directly to that location.

Plus, the desktop computer that sits in the lobby is also usable to juice personality stats. Yamaguchi and Niitsuma acknowledged that the dorm was always a special environment for these games, and the effort they put into creating a home-y, social space gives the S.E.E.S. HQ a welcome warmth against the game's largely bleak main narrative.

Reload even makes a concerted effort to address the fact that none of the male party members previously had Social Link routes. While they're not traditionally structured, distinct opportunities to spend time with them now pop up throughout the story and eventually lead to revelatory moments for those characters. Since these are freshly written for Reload, there's a noticeable contrast in quality compared to the original social sim conversations, making me wish the old dialogue had been punched up to match the heights of these new interactions.

While it is sad not to see these aspects return, I have a feeling they will probably be released down the line as DLC or included in a definitive edition release like Persona 5 Royal and Persona 4 Golden’s Em excesso content.

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