Social Link
|
This Persona series mechanics page is a stub. You can help Megami Tensei Wiki by expanding it. |
| No reason provided. |
Social Links, known as Community (コミュニティ, Komyuniti) in the Japanese version, shortly S. Links (コミュ, Komyu), are a gameplay mechanic in Persona 3, Persona 4, and Persona 5, where they are called Confidants (コープ, Koopu).
Each Social Link represents a single Arcana. Leveling up a particular Social Link raises the experience bonus received when fusing Persona of that Arcana. Completing a Social Link generally grants access to fusing the highest level Persona of that Arcana. In Persona 4 and Persona 5, maxing a party member's Social Link will also evolve their Persona into their Ultimate Persona.
Mechanics by Game
Persona 3
Social Links make their first appearance in Persona 3. Unlike later games there are no social links for male party members, and there is no option to stay platonic when progressing past a certain point in a romanceable character's social link. The player can also "Reverse" any social link by not talking to social links in some time, jealousy, or by picking a bad dialogue option.
Automatic Social Links
While the majority of the Social Link rank ups must be initiated by the player, there are 3 that rank up based on story progression:
- Fool
- Death
- Judgement
Persona 3 Portable
|
This section is a stub. You can help Megami Tensei Wiki by expanding it. |
| No reason provided. |
Reversing social links by jealousy or neglect was removed in Persona 3 Portable. Although no platonic routes were added to the male protagonist route, the female protagonist has the option to be romantic or platonic with potential partners.
Social Link point multipliers:[1]
- Matching Arcana: x1.51
- Charm Rank 6: x1.51
Both stack multiplicatively. With Charm rank 6 and while holding a Persona of the Social Link's matching arcana, there will be a x2.28 multiplier on Social Link point gains.
Persona 3 Reload
- Main article: Link Episode
The game introduces a new daily life mechanic similar to Social Links known as Linked Episodes were the protagonist can hang out with male characters, specifically male SEES members, Takaya and Ryoji to compensate their absence as Social Links in previous Persona 3 releases and give more development to these characters.
Social Link point multipliers (multiplicative):[2]
- Matching Arcana: x1.51
- Charm Rank 6: x1.51
- Rank 1 on recent school exam: x1.51
- Rank 2~9 on recent school exam: x1.21
Linked Episodes
Persona 4
Social Links return in this game and play a larger role. The protagonist can form Social Links with all party members, and developing them gives them more combat capabilities. For example, Yosuke's Social Link will give him the ability to take a mortal blow for the protagonist at level one, and at level ten his Persona will evolve from Jiraiya to Susano-O, improving his elemental resistance and stats. Social Links with non-party members increases the amount of EXP gained when fusing Personas of the Social Link's Arcana.
After establishing a Social Link with a character, the protagonist needs to interact with them and build points from selecting dialogue options. Giving favorable responses will result in more points. After a certain point threshold is met, that character will have a rank up event, indicated by a "!" icon over their head. During this event, any points gained will be applied towards their next rank up. This process repeats until the protagonist has reached rank 10 with that character.
When reacting with responses, the protagonist can choose from 2-4 answers that may or may not give points towards the next rank up. The exact amount of points given is hidden in-game and instead expressed visually through the game's UI with musical note icons. The visual musical notes represent a range of points; two responses might both show 3 music notes, but give totally different amounts of points. The base amount of points given by responses, before bonus multipliers, are listed on each characters' Gameplay page under their Social Link information.
In addition to rank up events, the protagonist can obtain Social Link points from some main story and school dialogue choices, praying at Tatsuhime Shrine after reaching Hermit rank 10 for +10 points, and also very rarely from sleeping early and dreaming about a random Social Link at the Dojima Residence. If a Social Link does not have enough points yet for rank up but they are available, the protagonist can choose to spend time with them and gain 10 Social Link points.
Upon reaching max rank, the protagonist will gain key items that allow him to fuse a certain Persona of that Arcana. The protagonist can form romances with some Social Links which leads to special events such as spending Christmas together. Christmas will also result in a girlfriend giving an accessory as a gift.
Note that not all Social Links follow the point and rank up structure:
- Fool, Judgement, and Star will all rank up automatically as the story progresses
- Death, while it is a non-story Social Link, will always advance when the protagonist meets with Hisano regardless of his dialogue choices
- Empress ranks up when the protagonist shows Margaret her requested Persona
- Hermit ranks up by doing side quests then reporting back to the Fox
Broken and Reverse
When giving an extremely unfavorable response during a rank up event, this can cause the Social Link to reverse. This can only happen during the Moon and Fortune Social Links. Giving an extremely unfavorable response when dating causes the Social Link to brea, which can only occur with the Moon.
In order to fix a reversed or broken Social Link, the protagonist needs to speak to these characters and give them a favorable response to repair the relationship. The correct options require a great deal of Expression.
Bonus Multipliers
- Hold a Persona of the matching Arcana: 1.5x points
- Make plans during lunch: 1.2x points during that interaction
- If a school friend is ready to rank up, they might come see the protagonist during lunch and try to make plans. Committing on the spot forces the protagonist to do their Social Link after school, but increases the point gains by 1.2x during that rank up event. This does not happen for all lunch invites as some of them are just reminders to come to a club after school. Ranks where school friends will approach the protagonist during lunch, and accepting gives the 1.2x multiplier, will be noted on their gameplay pages. Note that this cannot happen on days where there is a story mandated event after school.[3]
- Score rank 1 on exams: 1.5x points until the next exam (school friends only)
- Score rank 2-10 on exams: 1.2x points until the next exam (school friends only)
The protagonist can have multiple point bonuses at once and the bonuses are presumed to stack multiplicatively.
Fusion EXP Bonus
When fusing Personas of a Social Link's Arcana, the fused Persona gains an EXP bonus based on what rank the Social Link is. This applies to all Social Links, whether they are party members or not. Fusion Forecast can increase this bonus by 1.1x to 1.5x.
| Rank | Effect |
|---|---|
| 1 | 1 level + 10% of next level's EXP |
| 2 | 1 level + 50% of next level's EXP |
| 3 | 2 levels |
| 4 | 2 levels + 50% of next level's EXP |
| 5 | 3 levels |
| 6 | 3 levels + 50% of next level's EXP |
| 7 | 4 levels |
| 8 | 4 levels + 50% of next level's EXP |
| 9 | 4 levels + 80% of next level's EXP |
| 10 | 5 levels + 10% of next level's EXP |
Party Member Social Links
Party members gain various battle effects on some rank ups, listed below. Upon reaching rank 10 with a party member, their Persona will transfigure into a new form.
| Rank | Effect |
|---|---|
| 1 | Can take a lethal blow for the protagonist once per battle |
| 3 | Chance that a party member will ask if they can do a Follow-Up attack if they're in the party |
| 5 | Chance to cure a party member of Down |
| 7 | Chance to cure a party member of Rage, Panic, or Fear |
| 9 | Survive a fatal blow once per battle |
| 10 | The party member's Persona transfigures |
Persona 4 Golden
Golden adds various changes for Social Links.
New Arcana
Golden adds two new Social Links that weren't originally in Persona 4, Jester and Aeon. The same bonus multipliers with matching arcana and fusion bonus EXP from Persona 4 also apply to these characters.
Shrine Fortunes
Fortunes can be drawn at Tatsuhime Shrine starting at Hermit rank 1 (down from rank 10). However, instead of giving +10 points, they now give +3/+4/+7 points depending on which fortune the protagonist draws.
Evening Hangouts
At night time, the protagonist can find daytime school Social Links in the Central Shopping District on set days each month. He cannot rank up with them at night, but he can spend time with them and do evening hangouts that might help with ranking up during the daytime. Each Social Link has 1-3 special chats per month, some of which are time sensitive and can only occur on specific days. After the player has seen all of these, they will start getting the generic hangout. During a generic evening hangout, that Social Link gains +5 points and the protagonist receives a random consumable item from a pool of 5. During the special hangouts, the protagonist get dialogue choices which can increase points further, and the pool of items changes to 5 different items. When the Social Link is maxed or if they are dating, the items he can obtain during these special events changes again to 5 different items.
New Party Member Abilities
Party member Social Links now have extra effects. Upon reaching rank 10 with a party member, their Persona will transfigure into a new form, plus gain a new Evasion skill (with the exception of Rise). During the new Social Link events that take place during winter, they gain a 2nd transfiguration for their Personas and a new unique active skill. For example, Yosuke's Susano-o will become Takehaya Susano-o and he gains a unique active ability called Youthful Wind.
With the addition of Scooters, party members also gain a new Social Link ability where they ride in and assist even if they aren't in the active party. On certain days, you'll see a party member sitting on their scooter at Moel Gas Station. You can go on a ride with them and they can relearn an old skill by remembering the past, or learn a new skill by thinking towards the future. Which skills are learned from Social Links and which skills are learned from scooter rides are listed on their individual gameplay pages.
| Rank | Effect |
|---|---|
| 1 | Chance to cure a party member of Down or Dizzy |
| 3 | Chance that a party member will ask if they can do a Follow-Up attack if they're in the party, a Scooter Follow-Up attack if they're not in the party, and a combo attack with another party member if an All-Out Attack fails to kill enemy Shadows |
| 5 | Chance to cure a party member of Rage, Panic, or Fear |
| 7 | Survive a fatal blow once per battle |
| 9 | Take a lethal blow in place of the protagonist |
| 10 | The party member's Persona transfigures and gains an Evade skill |
| 10 | During winter semester, your party members who are rank 10 can have their Personas transfigure yet again and gain a unique skill |
Persona 5
The protagonist creates Confidants with all party members and with various citizens he meets around Tokyo for a total of 21 Confidants. Cultivating a Confidant will increase the experience bonus upon fusion of any Persona from their associated Arcana. Maximizing a Confidant will unlock the fusion of a specific high-level Persona of that Arcana, and in the case of party members will evolve their Person a new form, which also provides an passive skill boosting evasion to their respective elemental weakness. For example, Ryuji Sakamoto's Persona Captain Kidd will evolve into Seiten Taisei when the his Confidant is completed.
As a Confidant relationship increases in Ranks from 1 to 10, it will periodically provide various benefits that can improve daily life, Metaverse exploration, or combat. Perks include discounts at Confidant-run stores, improved experience points from battles, improved negotiation opportunities with Shadows, the ability to swap party members during combat, reduced security levels in Palaces, increased free time in daily life, and others. Spending time with Confidants can also improve the protagonist's Social Stats.
Persona 5 Royal
Confidant progression no longer unlocks the Baton Pass ability for party members, as it is available by default. Some Confidants have revised abilities, or the rank at which certain abilities are unlocked is adjusted.
The Justice Confidant is no longer tied to plot progression, and the Faith Confidant and Councillor Confidant are both added as new relationships.
If Joker is carrying a Persona of the Confidant's matching arcana, then any Confidant points gained will be multiplied by x1.5. Occasionally, Confidants will text Joker and invite him out on a day off school. If Joker accepts these invites, then he will get an additional x1.2 bonus point multiplier. These two bonuses stack multiplicatively, rounding to the 6th decimal.[4]
Persona 3 Em
Social Links are also present in the mobile game Persona 3 Em. The game features six Social Links, consisting of first six S.E.E.S. members and Elizabeth. They can be ranked up only during dialogue or free-time events. Since Personas do not level up in this game, maxing Social Links grants the player unique items.
Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight / Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight
A similar mechanic to Social Libks appear under the name Social in which both protagonists talk to their respective teammates and Velvet Room attendants. Similar to Social Links, the protagonists can select the dialogue option and rank each Social Link. In Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight the Socials are numbered by their respective Arcana unlike Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight were they go simply by their names instead of being numbered with their Arcanas.
Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight marks the second time Makoto Yuki can hang out with male party members and Elizabeth as Socials.
List of Social Links
Trophies and Awards
|
|
This section is a stub. You can help Megami Tensei Wiki by expanding it. |
| No reason provided. |
Gallery
-
Social Link menu in Persona 3
-
Social Link menu in Persona 3 Portable
-
Social Link menu in Persona 4 Golden
-
Confidant menu in Persona 5 Royal
References
- General
- "Chapter 1: Systems: Community", Persona 4 The Golden: The Complete Guide, Dengeki Playstation Editorial Staff. Published by Kadokawa (2012). Japanese. p. 50-51. ISBN-13: 978-4048866637.
- Cited
- ↑ "Block 6: Commu", Persona 3 Portable Official Perfect Guide, Famitsu. Published by Enterbrain (2010). Japanese. p. 302-382. ISBN-13: 978-4047262935.
- ↑ "Chapter 1: System: Community", Persona 3 Reload Official Complete Guide, Dengeki. Published by Kadokawa (2024). Japanese. p. 54. ISBN-13: 978-4047337176.
- ↑ "Chapter 3: Community", Persona 4 The Golden: The Complete Guide, Dengeki Playstation Editorial Staff. Published by Kadokawa (2012). Japanese. p. 129. ISBN-13: 978-4048866637.
- ↑ "Chapter 1: Systems: Cooperation", Persona 5 The Royal: Official Complete Guide, Dengeki. Published by Kadokawa. Japanese. p. 39. ISBN-13: 978-4049128871.