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Persona 3 Reloadremakes a game that kickstarted the Persona series as most players think of it today - Social Links, time management, school life, an extended cast with heaps of development. If there’s one thing, however, that ties it to its series predecessors, it’s a relatively heavier reliance on leveling.
Which isn’t to say this classic RPG staple doesn’t exist in Persona 3’s successors; but this game goes well out of its way to hammer home the need to toughen up your SEES. Thankfully, there are plenty of ways to make leveling less of a hassle. Some are, frankly, pretty rad.
Take Advantage Of Rush And Ambush
Not long after your introduction to Persona 3 Reload’sTartarusdungeon,you will be shown a tutorial on the Rush mechanic. This handy feature serves as afast-forwardduring combat. In literal terms, then, this adds up to becoming atremendous time-saveron the road to leveling up.
Just take care not tooverindulgeon Rush, so to speak. Itlimits your party’s actionssignificantly, after all, and any halfway-powerful foe will be a serious problem. You shoulddisengage from Rush modeat the first sign of trouble.
Far better than Rush, however, isAmbush, which you will be able to utilize fromTartarus' third block onward- aroundmid-Julyper the in-game calendar. Byrunning for a few seconds,you may not only gain the time-saving benefits of a preemptive strike, butinflict Distresson many Shadows as well.
Equip The Proper Persona
Bear with us, here. We’re still centering on some of the more incidental grinding tactics for Persona 3 - we’ll get to the best stuff soon. Honestly, though,keeping an eye on which Persona you head into fights with can shave precious seconds off your grind.
When we say this, we meanfocus on setting the Persona with the most powerful offensive stats in your current stack. In Persona 3 Reload, much like in most games, might can make right.
Of course, deducing enemy weaknesses is critical, butbludgeoning hard with a high Strength or Magic statstraight out the gate eliminates small fry with ease.
Learn To Love Fuuka
Well, perhaps ‘learn to love’ is harsh; Fuuka’s hard not to love. We digress. Fuuka (and early on, Mitsuru instead) isnot only your doorway into analyzing enemies for their weaknesses, but also the game’s portal into one of its finest remake-exclusive features:automatically targeting those weaknesses.
On PlayStation, this is done by pressingR1. On Xbox, it’sLB. On PC, it’s… we’re actually not sure offhand, but we’ll update this with that ASAP.
The point is, once you have sussed out a foe’s weakness,you should use this mechanic more often than not. Not only does it make leveling less frustrating; it makes the entire notion of Tartarus easier to handle. As you’ve no doubt noticed by now, quickness in combat means swiftness in Tartarus.
Seek Out The Great Clock
Now for the grand prize.The Great Clockis thesingle most valuable leveling toolin Persona 3’s remake, and, we suspect, it will be looked upon quite fondly for many years. Once it’s been unlocked, it willallow players to select up to two party members per visitwhose levelscan be boosted to reachMakoto’s.
Unlocking the Great Clockoccurs during the third block of Tartarus as soon as you use aTwilight Fragmentto open one of its associated chests.
Let’s give you a cool example. When we first got a certain late-July party member, we were overleveled, no doubt thanks to all the ways we’ve been going on about.The party member in question was level 27, whereasMakoto was level 35.
In the span of a single subsequent battle,the party member’s level shot up to 35. In a game with so many party members, this isinvaluable.
Beat Bosses And Gatekeepers
It goes without saying that you’ll have to take on all the mandatory battles in order to finish Persona 3 Reload. It’s on the tin, so to speak. What we’re getting at here is thatboss fightsof all sortsprovide a tremendous amount of experience pointsin Persona 3 Reload.
Pound for pound, they cough upfarmore EXPthan they do in, say, Persona 4 and Persona 5. There’s logic in retreading Tartarus' myriad floors when seeking to level up, butdon’t put off those harder fights for too long.
Unless you’requiteoverleveled, they’revirtually guaranteed to get your active squad a level-up.
Keep Picking The Same Personas During Shuffle Time
It’s tempting to rely upon a steady stream ofmoney cards during Shuffle Time, since yen can be so scarce in this game (especially early on). But consider how long it takes for Personas in Makoto’s stack to level up naturally.
It’s far more effective to grant your current Personas a level raise by picking their cardeven though you already have them. The mightier your Personas can become, the hastier your fights become.
Needless to say, it’s important tochoose EXP Gain cards in Shuffle Timeas well, since they, you know, net you more EXP.
Increase The Spawn Rate Of Rare Shadows
Don’t underestimate the power of psychic persuasion.Club Escapade’s fortune-tellercharges a set fee for an increasing number of Tartarus-affecting services, including one whichincreases the odds of encountering a rare Shadowevery time you climb to a higher floor.
Rare Shadows are worth gobs of experience points, not quite as much as bosses, but a heck of a lot more than more mundane clashes have to offer you.Get into the swing of paying the fortune-teller a visitbefore every dungeon-diving evening.
