Persona 3 may look like a JRPG that handles heavy topics like bullying, suicide, and depression, but in reality, it’s a dating sim. And here’s whether you can date multiple people in Persona 3 Reload (P3R).
Can You Date Multiple People in Persona 3 Reload?
Persona 3 is a game with depth. There’s an intricate combat system, side quests, a garden, and final exams. But there’s also one very important component: dating. In Persona 3, you are very capable of dating your female peers. But can you date multiple of them at the same time?
The answer is yes. You can date multiple girls at the same time. But there can be consequences.
Your potential love interests are:
- Chihiro (Justice).
- Fuuka (Priestess).
- Mitsuru (Empress).
- Yukari (Lovers).
- Yuko (Strength).
And as you go through their social links, you’ll reach a point where they’ll subtly confess they have feelings for you. If you reciprocate, you’ll lock yourself into a romance route. And while this is all well and good, if you do this with multiple girls, the rest of your harem will get jealous. This will cause their card to reverse and prevent you from progressing with their social link. To fix this, you’ll need to go to Naganaki Shrine and pay for a Fortune, which may repair the broken bond.
But there’s a way to avoid this entirely. You just need to completely max out the girl you’re dating’s social bond. So, for example, I got Yuko to Rank 10 before I started dating Mitsuru. Because Yuko couldn’t hate me at Rank 10, I was free to flirt as much as I liked.
You will get a notification saying you’re already locked into a romance with another girl when you start a second romance, but that can be ignored. Once that’s done, you can choose who you want to share Christmas with from a dropdown menu. And all with zero consequences!
The only exception to all of this is Elizabeth. You can technically romance her, however briefly, by taking her around town each time she requests it. But once you’ve had your moment of intimacy, she cuts the relationship off. And she really doesn’t care about anyone else you’re seeing.
Persona 3 Reload’s Unique Harem Dialogue
If you’ve played the original Persona 3, you may remember that the game would acknowledge any ulterior motives when forming an all-female party, or a “harem” as Aigis so delicately describes it. With Persona 3 Reload being quite the faithful remake, this unique harem dialogue absolutely makes a return in Reload. Bring three female party members with you into Tartarus, and Yukari will note that you, playing as a male protagonist, are the only guy on the team. Aigis will respond by describing it as a harem and that it’s “every man’s fantasy.” The dialogue is a bit dated, but the remake does take some notable strides forward to acknowledge not every gamer is a straight man…or at least acknowledges that not everyone wants to be in a harem.
In the original Persona 3, if you wanted to max out your Social Links, you were forced into a harem since maxing out your bond with a female party member meant having to romance them. In Reload, you’re now given the option to reciprocate a female party member’s affections instead of being forced into it. This lets you avoid the oddity of managing a harem and juggling some social faux pas should you choose. Additionally, you can now spend some time with your male party members during “Linked Episodes” for some special plutonic moments that were suspiciously absent in the original game—hooray for male bonding.
