Persona 3 Reload and the Persona franchise writ large are gems amongst RPGs. Not only is the combat system of each game fast paced, engaging, and incredibly entertaining, the games do well to integrate character development with combat. The games’ Social Link and Confidant systems are the key to this.
Social Links are the relationships that the player character builds with a specific subset of NPCs in the game. These include the other characters that fight alongside the player/protagonist, classmates at school, teachers, and people across whatever town a game takes place within.
Rather than solely function as story elements that a combat-oriented player might ignore, Social Links are integral toward maximizing the strength of the player and their team. Teammates get stronger when you advance their Links in most games, and reaching the final of a Social Link’s 10 stages is the only way to unlock certain powerful Personas.
Of course, not all Social Links are created equal, and there are a lot of different ways to compare them. How compelling a character is, how pleasant the storyline the Link follows is, and how available the Link is within the game are all factors. For this article, I want to focus less on the gameplay/convenience side of the Social Link and focus more on the stories each Link advances and how strong it is in the broader context of the story.
This is incredibly subjective, and that’s very much the point; there are objective ways to figure out the most valuable Social Link in terms of what Persona they unlock or how much they aid an optimal playthrough of the game. That’s been done to death. What I want to do here is rank the Social Links and Link Episodes (which are similar narrative arcs but for the boys on the protagonist’s team) in the way that I know for a fact will make at least someone think I’m an absolute fool and don’t understand the game. Feel free to flame me. (Spoilers ahead for Persona 3 Reload)
The comments are temporarily unavailable for maintenance.