Apple took its time to get into mixed reality/spatial computing/putting screens on your face. But finally, the Vision Pro is here. Do you need one? Probably not. Will it change the world in a year? Probably not. Is it meant for developers, wealthy Apple devotees and influencers, hoping it’ll pay dividends in content? Yeah.
It also has incredibly sharp, vivid displays, the best augmented reality experiences we’ve ever tried and that Apple knack for intuitive controls and navigation. It’s early days, and if you bought the first iPhone or Apple Watch, you know how that goes. App selections are limited, and battery life isn’t great, but the bigger question remains: Is this the future of computing? Maybe? You should read Devindra Hardawar’s full review, right here.
— Mat Smith
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Platforms with over 45 million users have to comply with EU stipulations.
TikTok owner ByteDance and Meta are not keen on the idea of paying the European Union to regulate them. The companies have challenged a supervisory fee set by EU moderators, who are now required to monitor Meta, TikTok and other major platforms under the Digital Services Act (DSA).
All designated companies must split the €45.2 million ($48.7 million) EU regulators argue is necessary to properly supervise these companies. However, companies like Amazon and Pinterest, which reported little to no profits, owe nothing. Meta, on the other hand, got a €11 million ($11.9 million) bill under the current arrangement. ByteDance has not publicly announced how much it owes. But a lawsuit might be cheaper.
Just like Microsoft did with Bing to Copilot, Google is trying to simplify its AI chatbot universe — while confusing everyone. Bard and Duet AI are now Gemini, named after Google’s multimodal AI model. Google has also debuted a dedicated Gemini Android app alongside a paid version of the chatbot. Install that app and you can replace Google Assistant as the default on your Android phone. Along with immediate access to Gemini, the overlay will offer contextual suggestions, such as generating a description for a photo you just took or asking for more information about an article.
Once again, Homeworld 3, the much-anticipated sequel to 20-year-old real-time strategy game Homeworld 2, is delayed. The game was originally pegged for a 2022 release, then 2023, then February 2024, then March 8. It’s now set to come out on May 13, 2024.
According to The Information, Apple has created two clamshell-style foldable iPhone prototypes, though they’re all in the early stages of development. If Apple were to move forward with foldable iPhones, they likely wouldn’t come to market until at least 2026.
Companies have so far been unable to address the technical issues of foldables. The first Samsung Galaxy Fold notoriously had a gap between the two halves of the screen, which debris fell into. Second, Apple’s designers have found it tough to create a foldable iPhone compelling enough to exist beyond the iPhone’s current form factor. On top of those challenges, engineers wanted to make each side half as thin as a regular iPhone, so it would be roughly the same thickness when folded. But the tech isn’t there yet, given battery sizes and display constraints.
It seems more likely that Apple’s first foldable device may be an iPad, which it’s reportedly been working on since 2020. The company is trying to avoid the crease that emerges in the center of foldable displays after repeated folds. Apple is also apparently trying to make sure the screen is totally flat when it’s opened, with no bump in the middle.
— Mat Smith
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The company says it’s the ‘highest video quality’ it can offer.
Google is rolling out a new setting called 1080p Enhanced, for YouTube TV and Primetime Channels subscribers. The 1080p Enhanced setting improves on the existing 1080p60 resolution with its upgraded bitrate. While it’s the same resolution, the better bitrate will give better images.
Google confirmed the update after a Reddit user posted about it on the platform. The 1080p Enhanced setting “delivers our highest video quality,” said the response. Reddit users who already have access to 1080p Enhanced report the resolution is available for all of the same channels as 1080p60, such as Paramount and Syfy.
The OnePlus 12 has the same speedy performance and better battery life than the Galaxy S24+, along with solid cameras and a great screen for $200 less. There are few if any AI tricks, but that doesn’t detract much from great battery life, high-res cameras and that $800 price. Check out our full review.
OpenAI is now including provenance metadata in images generated with ChatGPT on the web and DALL-E 3 API. The metadata follows the C2PA (Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity) open standard, so when an image is uploaded to the Content Credentials Verify tool, you can trace its source. Unfortunately, it’s all rather easily bypassed: It only works when the metadata is intact. It doesn’t work if you upload an AI-generated image sans metadata — like any screenshot or images pulled from social media.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-apple-has-reportedly-made-multiple-foldable-iphone-prototypes-121520008.html?src=rss
Bluesky, the open-source Twitter alternative, is now open to anyone. After being in beta for a little less than a year and with just over three million users, the social media platform is an option if the ruins of X (formerly Twitter) or Threads aren’t doing it for you.
Bluesky began life as an internal project at Jack Dorsey’s Twitter, but it ended its association with the entity now known as X after Elon Musk’s takeover. “We really believe that the future of social is, and should be, open and decentralized,” Bluesky CEO Jay Graber tells Engadget. “This is something that we think is good for the public conversation overall.”
Decentralized status aside, the service is functionally similar to X and Threads. Posts aren’t tweets but ‘skeets.’ There’s a chronological timeline, but you can also follow numerous other algorithmic feeds created by fellow users. (I’m intrigued by the feed for quiet friends — users you follow who don’t post that often.)
You can find me on there @thatmatsmith.bsky.social. I’m probably going to be one of those quiet friends.
The streaming service has reportedly warned US subscribers in an email.
If it worked for Netflix… Disney+ is emailing its subscribers, notifying them about a change in its terms of service. Its service agreement now states users may not share their passwords outside of their household “unless otherwise permitted by [their] service tier,” suggesting new subscription options in the future. It might be time for Mom and Dad to buy their own subscription. I say Mom and Dad, I mean you.
She threatened legal action against the same guy who ran the ElonJet account.
Taylor Swift has threatened legal action against a Florida student who set up multiple social media accounts that release real-time information of her personal aircraft’s whereabouts. The student facing legal action by Swift’s team is the same guy who ran the ElonJet account that tracked Elon Musk’s jet. Facebook and Instagram banned Sweeney’s accounts that track Swift’s air travel late last year, but they’re still live on Bluesky, Mastodon, Telegram and other sites.
At almost seven years old, the Nintendo Switch is proving there’s still life in the hybrid console. Enough life for Nintendo to up its predicted sales figures for its current fiscal year. In its third-quarter earnings release, the company announced it was increasing the Switch’s projected sales from 15 million to 15.5 million. That’s great and all, but where’s the Switch 2?
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-twitter-alternative-bluesky-is-no-longer-invitation-only-121534911.html?src=rss
Just one more hand. Just one more attempt to win at the card game, Queen’s Blood. In my limited preview time with Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, weeks before the game is due to be released, I may have spent a little too long learning the rules of this companion card game, introduced relatively early into the game. And I regret nothing. (For one, because I previewed most of the changes to the battle system a few months ago.)
This early addiction bodes well for the wider game. It’s a sign that the team behind this sequel-of-a-remake is making a world bigger and richer than the occasionally on-the-rails one in Remake. I’m hoping for a more open-world experience, now that the characters have finally escaped Midgar. (See: the plot of Final Fantasy 7 Remake) A change of location, too, shakes up the look of Rebirth. It has plants! Nature, everywhere! At least once you’re out of a satellite town called Kalm in Chapter 2.
Square Enix
First, I played through Chapter 1, which also acts as a tutorial. It’s a flashback to Nibelheim, which explains how protagonist Cloud and antagonist Sephiroth worked together before; well, the latter seemingly lost his mind and slaughtered everyone in town.
It’s a more story-weighted version of my earlier demo, but I could now explore the town that multiple party members grew up in. When Cloud explores his friend Tifa’s house – without her permission – it sets up some entertaining criticisms of his lack of boundaries. Still, it was all predicated on me choosing to be awful and barge into Tifa’s room, play her piano, and just be a bit of a creep.
The chapter also raises some unanswered questions around Cloud and his fuzzy memories of Nibelheim. Anyone who’s played the original knows where this is going, but given how some characters in the first third of the game didn’t die, I’m waiting to see how the developers further shake up the plot for new and old fans. There should be a significant death during this middle chapter of the game: Will they twist the knife?
Let’s go back to the new card game. Queen’s Blood follows on from Triple Triad, Tetra Master and that weird pinball-ish game in Final Fantasy XV that might best be forgotten. You’ll be able to customize your deck of cards, each with a different layout of tiles and occasional special effects. It’s almost Risk-like, aiming to dominate the board and rack up the highest score on three rows. Cards can reclaim territory, lower stats, and all the usual videogame card antics, and yes, I am struggling to explain it in words. But it’s fun. And I should have stopped playing to explore more of the grasslands than I did.
Square Enix
Once you’ve wrapped up your card games and stepped out from Kalm, I could explore in most directions. In the time I had leftover, I saw points of interest packed with treasure, unique monster packs, resources to collect, weapons with skills to master, chocobos to tame and race, chocobo stops to repair (which add fast-travel spots to the map); and the return of the terribly-named Chad with virtual battles and tasks for you to help unlock more materia for extra spells and abilities. I then ate dirt in a battle to unlock the summon spell for Titan.
I liked this pick-and-choose busy-ness, but some diversions felt like they were there for the sake of killing time, a la Assassin’s Creed. I hope the developers remember to pare down travel time where they can, because traversing an area can get boring, even when riding a giant bird.
Fortunately, getting from A to B is interrupted by entertaining, occasionally challenging, battles. One new addition to Rebirth is an enemy detection radar that shows enemies' aggression level, helping you avoid fights when you just want to get going.
Another new dynamic is the party’s bonds with each other, which are now integrated with your movesets and stats. This presented itself in dialogue choices and side quests, adding a popular social mechanic seen in somany JRPGs into this remake sequel. What’s notable is that the more you deepen this friendship, a separate skill tree improves characters’ stats and even unlocks new synergy attacks (which I elaborated on here) to use in battle. Square Enix teased that the level of bonds could affect the story too – but that could just reflect the theme park ‘date’ that Cloud goes on, later, in the original game. We’ll find out in a few weeks.
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth launches on the PS5 on February 29, 2024.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/final-fantasy-7-rebirth-adds-an-addictive-card-game-and-some-familiar-social-mechanics-000156550.html?src=rss
Meta’s Oversight Board wants the company to update its manipulated media policy, calling the current rules “incoherent.” This follows the board’s decision about a misleadingly edited video of President Joe Biden.
The video featured footage from October 2022, when the president accompanied his granddaughter, who was voting in person for the first time. News footage shows him placing an “I voted” sticker on her shirt. A Facebook user later shared an edited version that looped the moment, so it appeared as if he repeatedly touched her chest, adding the caption that Biden was a “sick pedophile.”
The Oversight Board said the video did not violate Meta’s manipulated media policy because it wasn’t edited with AI tools, and because the edits were “obvious and therefore unlikely to mislead.” (Has the board been on Facebook?)
The board said it was concerned about the current manipulated media policy in many ways, including how it was overly focused on how content has been created rather than on which specific harms it prevents (like damaging electoral processes). It wrote Meta should “reconsider this policy quickly, given the number of elections in 2024.”
Microsoft’s gaming division appears to be considering a significant shift in its major-exclusives strategy. Rumors have been swirling for a while about the company bringing Hi-Fi Rush, a well-received game from last year, and Sea of Thieves to Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 5. But the company could add some of its more recent blockbuster Xbox exclusives to the PS5 as well, which would mark a monumental change in policy. Multiple publications suggested several games could make the jump, including the Gears of War series, Indiana Jones and Starfield. “We’re listening and we hear you,” Xbox boss Phil Spencer wrote on X: “We’ve been planning a business update event for next week, where we look forward to sharing more details with you about our vision for the future of Xbox. Stay tuned.”
Signals will be written entirely by journalists, using Microsoft’s chatbot as a research tool.
Microsoft is teaming up with media website Semafor on a new project that uses ChatGPT to aid the creation of news stories, called signals. It’s one of several journalism collaborations Microsoft is announcing, conveniently following that New York Times lawsuit filed against the company and OpenAI for copyright infringement.
Google reportedly plans to develop a YouTube app for the Apple Vision Pro. A YouTube spokesperson confirmed to The Verge that the company plans to make a native Vision Pro app while optimizing YouTube for Safari as a stopgap solution. Despite Vision Pro launching with over 600 native apps, YouTube said on January 19 it had no plans for a Vision Pro app. Netflix is another high-profile holdout, while Disney+ went all in.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-meta-oversight-board-says-manipulated-biden-video-can-stay-on-facebook-121507105.html?src=rss
The biggest podcast in the world makes many people furious, but it’s still the biggest podcast in the world. Now, the man behind The Joe Rogan Experience has signed another deal with Spotify, worth an estimated $250 million. The deal allows the streamer to distribute Rogan’s podcasts on additional platforms, including a video version for YouTube, but it also includes a revenue-sharing agreement based on ad sales, in case Rogan burns through those hundreds of millions too quickly.
Rogan has been a regular source of controversy since signing up, in particular with uninformed COVID opinions, which prompted doctors and scientists to demand Spotify update its misinformation policy. Spotify claimed it wasn’t responsible for Rogan, that it was a platform, not a publisher. Now Spotify will be publishing Rogan’s projects elsewhere, what will be its defense next time?
Apple uses a stereoscopic 3D effect to make your virtual eyes look more lifelike on the Vision Pro’s EyeSight outer display. It has a widening optical layer and a lenticular lens layer over the OLED screen, so exposing the panel shows “some very oddly pinched eyes.” The optical nature of the added layers also explains the EyeSight display’s dim output. iFixit is unraveling the headset to figure out how Apple does it all.
According to a leak, Google may change the name of its AI chatbot from Bard to Gemini. It would make sense for Google to do so — the company introduced its new multimodal AI model, Gemini, at the end of 2023. The changelog, shared by Android app developer Dylan Roussel and dated February 7, notes a paid Gemini Advanced tier will be available. It also mentions a Gemini app for Android.
Japan’s SLIM lander managed to turn back on more than a week after it plopped upside down onto the surface of the Moon — but now, it’s gone dormant for the duration of the lunar night, and it may not wake up again. Lunar night lasts the equivalent of two Earth weeks and can get colder than -200 degrees Fahrenheit. Its chances of resuming operations aren’t great, but then again, it’s already surprised us once.
Following failed negotiations with TikTok, Universal music has come good on its threat to pull music from the social media platform. That means no more TayTay, no more Drake and no more... all the other artists that fall under its corporate umbrella. Elsewhere, the CEOs of the world's most influential social media platforms got an (at times) genuine grilling from the US Senate. While a few senators managed to come across as, once again, out of touch and out of their depth. X boss Linda Yaccarino might have said the most bizarre thing, stating that the once-Twitter social network was a "brand new company," and that it was looking into parental controls. Twitter was founded in 2006, Linda.
As mentioned, the CEOs of Meta, Snap, Discord, X and TikTok testified at a high-stakes Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on child exploitation online. Mark Zuckerberg, Evan Spiegel, Jason Citron, Linda Yaccarino, and Shou Chew spent nearly four hours being grilled by lawmakers, but we've managed to condense the main points and the social media executives' responses to them.
The hearing was the first time Spiegel, Citron and Yaccarino testified to Congress. Notably, according to lawmakers, all three were subpoenaed by the committee after refusing to appear voluntarily. Judiciary Committee Chair Senator Dick Durbin noted that Citron “only accepted services of his subpoena after US Marshals were sent to Discord’s headquarters at taxpayers’ expense.”
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This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-tiktok-loses-taylor-swifts-songs-and-the-verdict-on-the-galaxy-s24-ultra-140001783.html?src=rss
AI-generated voices mimicking celebrities and politicians are making it harder for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to fight robocalls. FCC chair Jessica Rosenworcel wants the commission to recognize calls that use AI-generated voices as artificial, making the use of voice cloning technologies in robocalls illegal.
Under the FCC’s Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), artificial voice or recording calls to residences are against the law. If AI-generated voice calls are recognized as illegal under the existing law, it’ll give state attorneys general offices nationwide “new tools” to crack down on scammers.
The FCC’s proposal comes shortly after some New Hampshire residents received a call impersonating President Joe Biden, telling them not to vote in their state’s primary. A security firm performed a thorough analysis of the call and determined it was created using AI tools by a startup called ElevenLabs. The company subsequently banned the account responsible for the message.
— Mat Smith
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Because Comcast’s internet isn’t that much faster than rivals.
Comcast is discontinuing its Xfinity 10G Network branding to describe its internet service after a National Advertising Review Board (NARB) panel found the term could mislead consumers into thinking that Comcast’s cellular and broadband services would offer much faster speeds than current-generation networks.
Google is adding generative AI to Maps. The feature’s in early access and only available in certain areas and for select Local Guides members. It allows you to speak to the app using natural language to discover new places. Ask the app what you’re looking for, like a specific kind of restaurant, and the company’s large-language models will analyze information from all of its listings, along with insights from community members.
The recommendation engine will also recall what you’ve asked in the past, hopefully honing future suggestions.
After threatening to do so earlier this week, Universal Music Group (UMG) is pulling the catalogs of performers it represents, including Taylor Swift, Drake, Billie Eilish, The Weeknd and others. There are no longer tracks listed in the profiles of some of the world’s most notable artists, and any UMG music featured in TikTok videos will be muted going forward. Universal had previously said TikTok wanted to pay a “fraction” of the rate paid by other social media sites.
This is the perfect picture for this story. Reality Labs, Meta’s division for AR, VR and the metaverse, generated more than $1 billion in revenue during the final quarter of 2023, thanks to its Quest headsets and the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses. The division, however, still lost $4.6 billion in the quarter and more than $16 billion in 2023. Legs are expensive.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-the-fcc-wants-to-make-ai-voiced-robocalls-illegal-121559520.html?src=rss
The CEOs of Meta, Snap, Discord, X and TikTok testified at a high-stakes Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on child exploitation online. During the hearing, Mark Zuckerberg, Evan Spiegel, Jason Citron, Linda Yaccarino and Shou Chew spent nearly four hours being grilled by lawmakers about their records on child safety.
Judiciary Committee Chair, Senator Dick Durbin, noted Discord’s Citron “only accepted services of his subpoena” after US Marshals went to the company’s headquarters. Compared to previous hearings with tech CEOs, it was a heavier setting. The room was filled with parents of children who had been victims of online exploitation.
“Discord has been used to groom, abduct and abuse children,” Durbin said. “Meta’s Instagram helped connect and promote a network of pedophiles. Snapchat’s disappearing messages have been co-opted by criminals who financially extort young victims. TikTok has become a, quote, platform of choice for predators to access, engage and groom children for abuse. And the prevalence of CSAM (child sexual abuse material) on X has grown as the company has gutted its trust and safety workforce.”
Of course, it wouldn’t be a US Senate hearing without politicians also embarrassing themselves: Senator John Kennedy asked Snap’s Evan Spiegel if he knew the meaning of “yada yada yada” (Spiegel claimed he was “not familiar” with the phrase). “Can we agree… what you do is what you believe and everything else is just cottage cheese,” Kennedy asked. (… What?)
X’s Yaccarino, who repeatedly claimed X was a “brand new company” (and not Twitter with a poorly received rebrand), said the platform was considering adding parental controls. “Being a 14-month-old company, we have reprioritized child protection and safety measures,” she said. “And we have just begun to talk about and discuss how we can enhance those with parental controls.”
Twitter launched in 2006.
— Mat Smith
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Universal Music Group is threatening to pull all of its music from TikTok today following a breakdown in negotiations over royalties. The company wrote in an open letter that TikTok wanted to pay a “fraction” of the rate paid by other social media sites. “As our negotiations continued, TikTok attempted to bully us into accepting a deal worth less than the previous deal, far less than fair market value and not reflective of their exponential growth.”
The sides have reportedly been in negotiations for the past year. Such deals are worth billions annually to music publishing companies – and Universal is the world’s largest record label. If a deal isn’t struck, TikTok creators would lose access to songs from stars including Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, the Weeknd, Drake and others.
With Persona 3 Reload, developer Altus chose the most confusing (and influential) entry in the series to remake. There are some big changes you may not even notice if you haven’t played the 2006 original recently, with new English language voice actors (all the Japanese VAs return from the original) and, interestingly, the most voiced scenes from any game in the Persona series. Oh, it’s also incredibly gorgeous at times. But damn, it makes me feel old.
Hideo Kojima appeared on PlayStation’s State of Play not only to give Death Stranding 2 another nudge but also to say he’s developing a brand-new game for PlayStation. It’ll be an action-espionage title codenamed PHYSINT — so nothing to do with the Metal Gear Solid series that made his name. Kojima Productions has started early work on the project, but it won’t go into full production until the team finishes Death Stranding 2. Which is looking bonkers.
The Xbox Design Lab is neat. You can customize the colors of your controller pretty much however you like, with more options for the Vapor series. The six top case options have swirling color patterns more typically seen at your local bowling alley. If that still exists.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-senate-tells-social-media-ceos-they-have-blood-on-their-hands-133101841.html?src=rss
If you have a popular gaming franchise, now is the time to decide if you can repackage it, upgrade some textures, or completely reimagine the title for the 2020s. Atlus’ Persona games are one of those enduring series, and the company has already relaunched the last three entries across current-gen consoles, almost entirely unchanged from the original releases.
But with Persona 3 Reload, the company chose the most confusing (and influential) entry to remake. There are some big changes you may not even notice if you haven’t played the 2006 original recently, with new English language voice actors (all the Japanese VAs return from the original) and, interestingly, the most voiced scenes from any game in the Persona series.
Mostly, the only way you can tell this is a remade game are the anachronistic gadgets featured within. Flip-phones sure, wired headphones everywhere, standalone MP3 players, DVD players, internet cafes, desktop PCs as standard. Is 2006 retro now? If it is, I’ll throw up.
Atlus
Truly, it’s just a gorgeous version of itself. Reload isn’t a total remake like Final Fantasy 7 Remake, so environments are limited to the ones found in the original, including a world map to fast-travel between them all. There’s some Unreal Engine gloss, and while nothing is utterly stunning outside of battles, some parts, like the sun-dappled classroom, look better than anything in Persona 5’s real-world environments.
Reload has the graphical fidelity to do justice to Shigenori Soejima’s original character designs – no more almost chibi-styled character models. The difference between 2D art and 3D models is often imperceptible.
The graphical upgrade is the biggest change; the remaster takes advantage of technological advancements across the three generations of consoles that have launched since the original game debuted on the PlayStation 2. The original Persona 3 was criticized for repetitive environments and battles and while Reload doesn’t try to address the former, battles are improved.
Atlus
Visually, even compared to Persona 5 Royal, the characters are more detailed and more fluid, especially during their anime-styled attacks. The personas – the magical spirits you use to wield magic, defy fate and all things Atlus – look and move better, too.
The game has also gone through a Persona 5 filter of sorts, too. The menus and battle results screens are now dynamic and snappy, with an aqua-blue color scheme suiting the third game’s theme. So yes, Atlus did it again: It made menus cool. There are also new animated scenes, while some old scenes have been recomposed with the latest game engine.
Fights look better, too, and they also play better. It’s still a turn-based RPG, where enemies and allies take turns attacking each other. In Persona games, the battle dynamic hinges on striking an enemy’s weak spot, allowing for extra attacks and interrupting their turn. P3R has integrated some of the series’ quality-of-life improvements, including the ability to ‘pass’ your turn to another player (if you hit an enemy’s weak point), who can perhaps hit harder or topple one of the other enemies.
Also, more often than before, when your character achieves a critical hit or topples an enemy, you’ll get an anime-style close-up cut of the character’s face and a more dynamic Persona summoning flourish. I love it. Critical attacks have also been made more cinematic and these improvements help make what can be repetitive fights seem a little more entertaining. Finishing attacks (all-out attacks that feature the whole party) result in a slick victory screen like Persona 5.
Theurgy is the new battle dynamic introduced in Reload. It’s best to consider them like ultimate attacks (or limit breaks, perhaps): high-powered attacks that take time to build up before you can unleash them. Why call them Theurgy? The word means the “effect of a supernatural or divine agency in human affairs,” which is the Persona series’ jam.
While these attacks will charge through typical battle behaviors, each character has a particular characteristic that, if leaned on, will charge the gauge substantially faster. For one it might be landing a status effect on an enemy. For another, it might be buffing party characters. Regardless, it’s often worth doing these specific actions instead of what you planned to do, if only to tap into a powerful attack quicker. I was pleasantly surprised at how frequently I could unleash these special attacks. The protagonist is unique, so he gets a selection of different Thuergy attacks based on multiple Personas he unlocks through the game.
Atlus
Social links form the game's backbone and how your character spends time between supernatural fights. Unlike recent Persona games, improving your relationships with NPCs in Persona 3’s world doesn’t offer you many boons during your fights. However, enhancing your connection can also happen through new "Link Episodes" available to some party members and NPCs. Participating in these can lead to new Persona creations and even stat boosts. Oh, and a deeper story.
Most fights occur in Tartarus, a vertiginous tower split into different sections but typically offering more of the same, whatever level you’re on. This component of the Persona experience is equally familiar (you’ve likely played Hades or any roguelike in the last five years) and frustrating. It can get boring fast, especially if you’ve played the original game, which I’m sure many have. It’s also where the least effort’s been made to improve this game. It is repeated corridor mazes, with treasure, enemies and other distractions scattered around. Sometimes there are treasure monsters – high stakes, high reward enemies that will often run away unless you beat them quickly – and the Reaper, a high-powered enemy that will steamroll you until you’re wielding end-game weapons and a high enough level.
It’s a shame. With Persona 5, exploration and battle areas were themed around that chapter’s antagonist. There were puzzles to solve, parts of the level would change, and even resting spots were factored into the level design. Then there was Mementos, built around the randomly generated levels you’d expect from a Persona title. In this remade Persona 3, you’re running around the same very repetitive environments (with light cosmetic changes) spread across over 250 sets of stairs.
Atlus
That won’t put off Persona fans; they know what a Persona game is like. There are enough quality-of-life improvements to make this worth replaying if you’ve played the original over the last… two decades. I’m delighted that those improvements include a “network connection,” also plucked from Persona 5, which shows you what other players are up to each calendar day, helping inform how you spend your time/help with the tricky school tests.
I hoped for some new, more complex level design combined with turn-based RPG battles and friendship sim frivolity, but that would have resulted in an entirely new game. I’ll have to wait for Persona 6 – or possibly look elsewhere.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/persona-3-reload-review-2000s-nostalgia-160022715.html?src=rss
