From story elements that weren’t included in the original game to a completely new voice cast for the core characters, Persona 3 Reload is looking to change things up in a number of ways, with Atlus looking to update the experience to bring it more in line with more recent Persona releases. Another aspect of the experience that will be seeing some significant changes and improvements are the Social Links, which should be no surprise, given how crucial of a component they are in the Persona gameplay loop.
In particular, Social Links in Persona 3 Reload won’t use the “Broken” system that was used in the original. Though certain situations – which won’t be as strict in the original Persona 3 – might still cause “Reversals” for your Social Links, lowering their rank, they won’t ever be broken beyond repair, which was a state they could reach in the original game due to various factors, like neglecting a Social Link that’s in progress for too long, or picking the wrong dialogue choice during a key conversation.
The same was revealed by Persona 3 Reload director Takuya Yamaguchi in a recent interview with Famitsu.
“In [Persona 3 Reload], the ‘Broken’ system has been removed,” Yamaguchi said (translation via Noisy Pixel). “However, ‘Reverse’ can still happen, though the conditions have been made severely less strict, so simply leaving a Social Link character alone will not cause it to Reverse, as it did in the original version.
“The ‘Broken’ state itself would only occur if something was already wrong in the original version, and I thought it would be too bad if a ‘Broken’ outcome happened and the Social Link could no longer progress. Therefore, after much thought, I decided we should remove it entirely.”
Previously, it was confirmed that Persona 3 Reload’s Social Links will also be easier to max out than they were in the original, party in thanks to players having more time to spend with each character.
Persona 3 Reload is due out in early 2024 for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, Xbox One, and PC, and will release on Game Pass day one. Make sure to check out its newest gameplay trailer, which reveals its new English voice cast.
