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Persona 3 Reload is a from-the-ground-up remake, faithfully retelling the story of the original game while making big changes to the combat and gameplay. While the structure of dungeon crawling through Tartarus is fundamentally the same, Atlus has added tons of new features. These new additions, especially the combat ones, brings Persona 3 Reload more on par with Persona 5 Royal and even improves upon it in a few ways. That makes Persona 3 Reload an exciting new adventure for both fans and newcomers.
Persona 3 Reload Tartarus Changes
Some of the biggest changes in Persona 3 Reload come to light in Tartarus, which serves as the single, gigantic dungeon. While the basic loop of going floor-to-floor, trying to reach the top is the same, there are new additions. There are new locked chests, which have to be opened using Twilight Fragments. Twilight Fragments are a special item that can be found as a random drop or obtained for advancing your social links.
There are also new mechanics that offer more dynamic ways to interact with Tartarus. A new clock appears on Tartarus floors randomly that offers the opportunity to quickly boost party members to the protagonist’s level, lessening the amount of grinding you might have to do. There are also Monad Doors and Passages, which contain powerful shadows and special rewards for winning.
Lastly, there are the Major Arcana cards. These cards sometimes appear in Shuffle Time, offering bigger boosts than other traditional cards. These can be additional XP for the rest of your current Tartarus run, or give you some rare items. More of these cards can be unlocked through Persona 3 Reload.
Combat Changes and Additions
Combat got a massive overhaul in Persona 3 Reload, changing the gameplay for the better. One of the nicest changes is the addition of Shifting, which is a version of Persona 5 Royal’s Baton Pass. Whenever an attack hits an enemy weakness or critically hits, they get One More, which allows them to attack again. That was present in the original, but now you can Shift to a different party member, allowing you to swap to someone else who might be able to attack another enemy’s weakness. It doesn’t offer SP and HP like the Baton Pass, but it does let you put together some pretty impressive combos.
Another big addition are the Theurgy abilities. These are special moves that are unique to each character that do big damage and ignore enemy resistances. Each Theurgy ability has its own flashy animation too. While the meter builds by just using Persona abilities and with time, in order to use them frequently you need to fulfill each character’s different personality trait. For example, Yukari builds her meter much faster by using healing abilities.
Fuuka, who becomes the team’s navigator fairly early on in Persona 3 Reload, has abilities for both in and out of combat. She still can scan enemies and identify weaknesses, but she can also provide buffs and abilities for exploring Tartarus. Fuuka can buff you for the next fight or make you invisible to enemies on the floor, so long as you have the SP. She even has her own Theurgy ability.
Persona 3 Reload Social Changes
Most of the activities outside of Tartarus are largely unchanged, but there are a few small additions. All Social Link scenes are now fully voice acted in Persona 3 Reload, but that change is expected with a full remake. There are also now dorm hangout activities, which you can partake in with your party members. These small hangouts, which include watching TV, cooking, reading, and gardening, provide small bonuses. Some are items while others are social stat boosts, and if you’ve started the Social Link with that party member (if they have one) you get a small boost to that too. You also eventually unlock personality traits, which provide small boosts in combat.
There are also small hangouts and scenes you can enjoy with your male party members, since they don’t have Social Links in Persona 3 Reload. These hangouts typically provide you with some insight to who they are and their backstory, while giving small social stat rewards.
Persona 3 Reload is available on Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and PC.
