Summary
One of the best parts ofPersona 3 Reloadis getting to know the game’s characters and building bonds with them through its Social Link mechanic. There are a total of 22 Social Links players can access inPersona 3 Reload, each based on one of the tarot’s major arcana that corresponds to the arcanas available to Personas. It can be difficult to max out all Social Links in the game’s limited time frame, and doing so is made even more difficult by the imbalance between Social Links available during the day and those available at night.
Social mechanics have become a staple of thePersonafranchise, with games likePersona 3andPersona 4featuring Social Links, andPersona 5featuring the Confidant system. With this pattern established, it’s very likelyPersona 6will include Social Linksor a similar mechanic as a core feature of the title. However, it needs to avoid the same missteps asPersona 3 Reloadand give players access to more Social Links at night in order to make finishing all Social Links a more attainable goal.
Persona 3 Reloadoddly only features two Social Links that players can access at night, and both are not available until a fair way into the game. To access Tanaka’s Devil Social Link, players must reach a Charm level of 4 and be at rank 4 or higher with the Hermit Social Link, which allows them to pay 40,000 yen over a few nights to finally begin this Social Link. Similarly,Mutatsu’s Tower Social Linkisn’t available until players reach rank 4 or higher with the Strength Social Link and have a Courage level of 2.
While it may take some time for players to unlock these Social Links, given the hoops they have to jump through to get there, they will likely be some of the first Social Links players will reach max rank with. Without any other nighttime Social Links available, spending time withTanaka and Mutatsuwill likely be the activity of choice for many players during the evening free time of the game. There are a host of other activities available at night for players to participate in, including new dorm activities added inPersona 3 Reload, but for players intent on focusing their time on Social Links, having only two available at night is disappointing.
Persona 5 Royal Confidants Available at Night
Compared toPersona 3 Reload,Persona 5 Royalhas a much more balanced split between daytime and nighttime Confidants. With 23 in total,Persona 5 Royalfeatures 9 nighttime Confidants, nearly half of the available roster of characters that can become Confidants. This makes it far easier for the player to balance their time between daytime and nighttime activities, as they have more options when it comes to determining when to level up social stats versus when to spend time with Confidants.
Part of the reasonPersona 3 Reloadsuffers this issue could be due to its adherence to the originalPersona 3’s Social Link breakdown, which also followed this imbalance.Persona 5 Royalmight also feature more nighttime Confidants because so many of them are adults, like Sojiro,Kawakami, and Ohya, who would have more free time at night. Hopefully, Atlus takes its cues fromPersona 5 Royaland notPersona 3 Reloadwhen designing the social mechanics forPersona 6, so this imbalance won’t be an issue.
