Skip to main content

A Persona 3 mod that was popular in the RPG’s PSP days is back, and it lets you remove the Ken romance option for the female protagonist (thanks, RPG Site). The Simple No Ken Romance mod does what the label says and cuts out the “lovers” route for Ken’s social link entirely in the new Persona 3 Portable remaster, leaving you with just the “friends” route.

Normally, the later stages of the relationship see Ken, age 10 or 11, confess a crush on the protagonist, who’s 17 or thereabouts. Rather than guiding his feelings away, the heroine says she doesn’t have a problem with it and will wait for him to grow up.

Many fans consider the relationship unhealthy, as if the heroine is grooming Ken, an emotionally vulnerable child with few friends and no parents. The mod's banner image is a nod to that as well, showing the female protagonist in jail with a red "no" circle around Ken.

The concern isn’t helped by another conversation branch between the two, where the protagonist says they’ll keep the relationship a secret, since other people might think it’s strange. (She's not wrong, we do think it's strange.)

You can download the mod from GameBanana thanks to creator MadMax1960. They said the eventual plan is to create a mod that changes Ken’s social link so it mirrors his behavior in the Persona 3 movies instead, where the protagonist treats him like a little brother. For now, though, the mod only removes the romance option without adding anything new.

If you're looking for some school help in Persona 3, check out our class answers guide for all pop quiz and exam answers, no studying required.