Yep -- the whole dynamic of 3 is that S.E.E.S. is tied together by duty and not friendship with some of them actively and openly disliking each other. Junpei is scorned by everybody, Mitsuru and Yukari are legitimate enemies, Ken wants to kill Shinji; only Fuuka seems to be liked out of the gate, and that's because she volunteers to join and is a sweetheart. As the world gets drab and goes to shit, more and more of the team's social links open up as you bond closer and closer to them. I used to find it odd that Junpei didn't get one until I realized that him unfucking his life is part of the whole plot and part of that is learning how to like you; a random side plot social link wouldn't have fit, I suppose.
Fuck, I see they even made Maya's portrait look like the fucking teacher, it wasn't hard to figure out it was her but it wasn't blatantly obvious either. I'm glad I'm avoiding Reload. I have a saved beaten version of FES on a memory card and it's been a while since I stumbled through it, I figure I'll try to double leg Elizabeth to the ground instead of drop 60 for Skyblivion-esque Persona 3.
Even without involving the writing, the original did a lot more to flesh characters into feeling like actual living "people" with their own lives and existence outside of you.
They got tired, they got sick even if you pushed them too hard, they made their own decisions in battle that clearly showed their personality through it. All those things removed for "quality of life" ended up turning them into just extensions of the MC and regular JRPG NPCs instead of a team. Yeah it was frustrating and added a lot of difficulty but, as P4/P5 have shown, the game becomes a fucking joke of a cakewalk without it.
And yeah, as you said they had their own lives outside of you to the point where all the guys didn't have Links at all. Which is especially important for Junpei as he needed to be a man without you to get over his insecurity. The new "Links" they added for your guy team are actually pretty cool and fun, but still contribute to taking away from the overall experience.
Its truly hilarious that they've "remade" the game three fucking times now, and only the very first one got it right. Sure Reloaded is more "fun" to play, but it loses the charm and writing that made people love it to begin with in exchange.
Yep -- the whole dynamic of 3 is that S.E.E.S. is tied together by duty and not friendship with some of them actively and openly disliking each other. Junpei is scorned by everybody, Mitsuru and Yukari are legitimate enemies, Ken wants to kill Shinji; only Fuuka seems to be liked out of the gate, and that's because she volunteers to join and is a sweetheart. As the world gets drab and goes to shit, more and more of the team's social links open up as you bond closer and closer to them. I used to find it odd that Junpei didn't get one until I realized that him unfucking his life is part of the whole plot and part of that is learning how to like you; a random side plot social link wouldn't have fit, I suppose.
Fuck, I see they even made Maya's portrait look like the fucking teacher, it wasn't hard to figure out it was her but it wasn't blatantly obvious either. I'm glad I'm avoiding Reload. I have a saved beaten version of FES on a memory card and it's been a while since I stumbled through it, I figure I'll try to double leg Elizabeth to the ground instead of drop 60 for Skyblivion-esque Persona 3.
Even without involving the writing, the original did a lot more to flesh characters into feeling like actual living "people" with their own lives and existence outside of you.
They got tired, they got sick even if you pushed them too hard, they made their own decisions in battle that clearly showed their personality through it. All those things removed for "quality of life" ended up turning them into just extensions of the MC and regular JRPG NPCs instead of a team. Yeah it was frustrating and added a lot of difficulty but, as P4/P5 have shown, the game becomes a fucking joke of a cakewalk without it.
And yeah, as you said they had their own lives outside of you to the point where all the guys didn't have Links at all. Which is especially important for Junpei as he needed to be a man without you to get over his insecurity. The new "Links" they added for your guy team are actually pretty cool and fun, but still contribute to taking away from the overall experience.
Its truly hilarious that they've "remade" the game three fucking times now, and only the very first one got it right. Sure Reloaded is more "fun" to play, but it loses the charm and writing that made people love it to begin with in exchange.
Even FES flew a little too close to the sun with the Chidori situation. I'm glad they kept that non-canon
Its been so long since I played Vanilla I don't even remember what was changed with Chidori, if you'd like to refresh my memory.
You can revive her though she wakes up with no memory of her life while Persona'd