In an interview between 4Gamer and the main developers of Persona 3 Reload, Atlus revealed it will remove the Fatigue system from the game. This will help to make Persona 3 feel like a more modern Persona game. There will also be some QOL changes to mechanics like Tartarus exploration to improve the player experience. [Thanks, 4Gamer!]
The original Persona 3 had a Condition system. Fighting or exploring Tartarus for too long could fatigue your characters. This lead to a chance of them getting sick the next day. Tired and sick characters had lower stats. It would also be easier for enemies to knock them down or inflict them with status effects. Conversely, if you rested up the night before a Tartarus day, you had a chance of being in Great condition. Characters would have higher stats, such as a higher Crit Rate.
Organizing your schedule to prevent your characters getting Sick, or to work around them, was part of Persona 3‘s time management system. However, this system does not mesh well with the series’s current calendar system. Getting Sick was random. So it could stress out players who planned their schedule days in advance. Since the Fatigue system actively affected how much fun players had, Atlus chose to remove it for Persona 3 Reload.
There are some minor QOL changes in Tartarus as well. Because the development team wanted to preserve Persona 3’s atmosphere while making it easier to play (like Persona 5), it struggled on how to make Tartarus exploration a better experience. For example, the feeling of emptiness while climbing up the shadowy corridors of Tartarus during the Dark Hour was something the dev team wanted to retain. Tartarus will still be randomly generated. But the team added things like party member conversations to keep it from becoming stale.
Persona 3 Reload will come out on the PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X, Xbox One, Xbox Game Pass, and Windows PC via Steam some time in early 2024.
