Summary
InPersonagames, time has always been of the essence in some way, but that’s never been truer than it is inPersona 3 Reload. A game that already introduced the daily life mechanics into the Persona series that brought a wealth of ways to spend time between dungeons now has evenmorethings to do.
Because of this, it’s helpful to know early into your playthrough how best to manage your time in Persona 3 Reload. Thankfully, the remake has an emphasis on time management and story flow, but we’ve still got some tips to keep you on pace.
8Bring Matching Personas When Spending Time With Social Links
They Earn More Points For Each Answer
It’s fairly obvious how your stock of varying Personas can help you out in battle, but what’s also important to keep in mind when selecting which Personas you keep on hand is which ofyour social linksyou’ll be spending time with soon – you’ll want a Persona whose arcana matches your friend’s.
you may’t show them the Persona during the hangout scene, and they’ll never know you have it, but keeping a Persona of the same arcana as a social link you’re progressing rewards you with an additional affinity point for every answer. The same response that yields two music notes alone could be worth three music notes instead, just for having the right Persona in your stock at the right time.
7Get Through Each New Section Of Tartarus In One Night
Save Time Later When You Need To Climb Higher
We know it can be a pretty big ask, especially during the earliest days of the game when your level is low and yourHP/SP rangeis lower, critically, even lower. With anew section of Tartarusopening after each Full Moon operation and spanning between 20-50 floors, powering through every one of the floors in a section to reach the next blockade or border floor will take some work, not to mention a couple hours.
But if you do manage to make it all the way through in one night, you’ll be on track to push ahead the second the next Full Moon opens the next section, which leaves countless free time slots open at night to work on your social stats or spend time with a few social links.
It also helps to open the teleporters for easier traversal later on.
6Save All The Missing Persons For Just Before The Full Moon
Get Them All In One Go
Throughout the month or so you’ll have between each Full Moon that brings its colossal Shadows your way, you’ll occasionally receivephone calls from Elizabethto tell you that civilians incapable of summoning Personas have wandered into Tartarus and gone missing someplace inside the tower.
This begins as soon as Fuuka joins your team and you learnhowpeople wander in, and it continues through the end of the game.
You’ll typically have between two and fiveMissing Personscalls between Full Moons, but the deadline will be the same no matter when you receive the call – it’ll be set before the night of the next Full Moon. Since there’s no penalty for leaving the Missing inside Tartarus for a few weeks, as long as you manage to rescue them before the next Full Moon empowers the Shadows and leaves them for dead, you’re able to easily clear through all the Missing Persons request in a single night.
5Take Advantage Of Shuffle Time
Any Boost Is A Good Boost
When you end your battles in Tartarus with an All-Out Attack (or randomly on occasion during following regular battles, too), you’ll trigger Shuffle Time. This is how you choose the reward you’ll receive for winning the fight, in addition to the EXP you’ll gain by default. In the list of options, you’ll find extra EXP, cash, healing and support, skill cards, free Personas, and Major Arcana cards.
And each of these is massively beneficial to your gameplay, so it’s best to pick cards that help save time. If you’re there to level up, choosing the EXP cards is a good choice, while yen-farming missions are better served by choosing the coin cards. Meanwhile, the game features a new mechanic with Major Arcana cards triggering an Arcana Burst, which super-powers your Shuffle Time options for the remainder of the night. The more extra stuff you earn for zero extra effort, the better.
4Do Well In Class For Extra Boosts
They’re Small, But They’re Free
Is it weird thatanswering a question correctlywhen you’re occasionally called on in class boosts yourCharm social statinstead of your Academics, since – you know – you’re at school? Either way, we’ll take it! By answering a question correctly when called on in class, you’ll earn one Charm point just for being right.
Even if you’re not using our guide to your class and exam answers, thenetwork functionalityalso provides a look at how other players answered the same question, kind of like an Ask the Audience mechanic of sorts.
But when your teachers aren’t calling on you during their lectures to make sure you’re awake and alert, you may find your protagonist begins to doze off in class. Earlier versions of P3 included a fatigue mechanic that’s (thankfully) been removed in Reload, and sleeping in class could help power you up for an expedition through Tartarus that night. Now, choose to stay awake instead each time – you’ll earn a free Academics point for the effort of clicking through the lecture.
3Pay To Build Your Stats Whenever Possible
You Earn More Points Than The Free Options
Those free stat boosts you’ll earn in school are pretty sweet, and we’re suckers for all the neat new ways you can spend time with your SEES teammates while also boosting one of your social stats, but should you choose to pay for the day’s effort to build any of your social skills, you’ll find your protagonist earning an extra music note of progress for doing so.
Paying to build a skill almost always grants this boost, and while it costs in yen to do so, it’s a fast way to build your social stats. Check out the restaurants at Iwatodai Strip Mall for a selection of menus offering different stat boosts, loiter at Paulownia Mall’s arcade playing a rotating selection of games that boost your stats (or your Personas), or take in a movie at Screen Shot at Port Island Station. If you need to spend yen to get in, the boost you’ll receive from the activity will be that much bigger.
2Make Use Of The Rewind Function
It’s New And It’s Helpful
New in Persona 3 Reload is a rewind function in the System tab of your pause menu, and this handy little addition allows you to back up a couple time slots if you need to correct a minor mistake. Maybe you answered a question in class wrong, or you hung out with someone but realized you forgot a Persona and missed the boost for having one – no worries, just rewind a day or two and course-correct.
You can’t go backtoofar, though – only a few days at a time, with the largest rewind we found ourselves being the jump back to the start of exams on the last day of the testing period. Either way, for smaller mistakes and minor hiccups, if you truly don’t want to move on without the boost you’re missing, rewind has you covered in P3R.
1Keep Multiple Save Files
You Never Know When You’ll Want To Go Back Further
As with most Persona titles, Persona 3 Reload offers you not only 15 root save files, left completely open for you to fill at your discretion, but also a network save option with the network functionality turned on in your game. In total, even outside the rewind option, this gives you 16 total chances to make a new save at a pivotal moment throughout the game.
If you reach the next Full Moon operation and find yourself unhappy with the progress you’ve made, or you’ve overwritten a few critical Personas in your Compendium and didn’t realize until weeks later when you went to withdraw, there’s no need to panic. Keeping several saves across these 16 save slots helps give you anchor points to return to if you need. We usually have two save files in each month – it’s always better to be safe than sorry!
