Social Link

Social Links, also known as S. Links and known as Community in the Japanese versions and often abbreviated as "Commu", are an important gameplay mechanic that appears in Persona 3 and Persona 4. They were renamed Confidants in Persona 5.

Each Social Link represents a single Arcana, and raising a particular Social Link increases the experience bonus the protagonists receive when they fuse Personas of that Arcana. By completing a Social Link, it unlocks the ultimate Persona of that Arcana.

In Persona 3, Social Links can be reversed if the protagonists do not spend time with the respective people holding the Link, end up booking two holiday invitations on one day, or give an improper answer during their conversations. The reverse effect will also continue to last until the protagonist reconciles with them. At some point a Social Link can even be broken, prohibiting the protagonist from fusing Personas from the respective Arcana. In Persona 3 Portable and Persona 4 however, only Chihiro Fushimi, Akihiko Sanada, Ai Ebihara and Naoto Shirogane's Social Link can be reversed or broken through very specific and sometimes obvious dialogue choices, and Links can no longer be broken or reversed by not spending time with their respective characters.

Appearances

 * Persona 3 / FES / Portable / Em
 * Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight
 * Persona 4 / Golden
 * Persona 4 The Animation
 * Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight

Persona 3
The Social Link system was first introduced in Persona 3. The whole purpose of the Social Link at this point was to give considerable amounts of experience to newly-fused Personas and unlock new ones. Persona 3 FES introduces a new Social Link Arcana, Aeon represented by Aigis.

Persona 3 Portable
Social Links in Portable function in the same manner as Persona 3 with some new additions based on the system in Persona 4. Like Persona 4, the protagonist's team members can gain special abilities, such as taking a mortal blow, follow-up attacks and a chance to survive a fatal attack once per fight. However, unlike Persona 4, these abilities are automatically earned for all members when the player ranks up the Fool Social Link (which is automatic throughout the game), rather than from each individual party member's Social Link events. Another similarity is the female protagonist can choose who to date similarly to Persona 4 Social Links.

If the protagonist completes a romanceable S.E.E.S. Social Link before January 31, the protagonist can choose on a New Game Plus who to spend their final moments with on March 5 besides Aigis.

Persona 3 Em
Social Links return in the mobile game, Persona 3 Em. With a total of six Social Links, the protagonist can rank the first six SEES members and Elizabeth for the first time. Unlike the original game, Social Links can only be ranked up during dialogue and free-time events. Since Personas do not level up in this game, maxing Social Links will grant the player unique items.

Persona 4
"Bonds of people is the true power."

- Persona 4 The Animation ending (Beauty of Destiny)

Social Links play a larger role in Persona 4, where the protagonist's Social Links with his friends are directly related to their battle factor. For example, a level one Magician Arcana Social Link allows Yosuke Hanamura to take a mortal blow for the protagonist that would normally kill him. Maxing out the Magician Arcana Social Link evolves Yosuke's initial Persona, Jiraiya to Susano-O, granting improved elemental resistances.

Margaret advises the protagonist to balance his time of venturing into the Midnight Channel with his spending time with his friends, as Social Links are what create the protagonist's "World." Later, the Social Links created by the protagonist with others play an important role in the "True Ending" route.

Persona 4 Golden
In Golden, S.Links with teammates also give new skills to the Persona of that teammate when the link reaches some certain level (2, 4, 6, etc.), and some functions of the S.Link are moved to higher levels (e.g., taking a mortal blow is moved to level 7; doing so for the protagonist is moved to level 9). Golden also introduces two new Social Links: Jester Social Link and the return of the Aeon Social Link.

Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight / Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight
A similar feature based on Social Links appear in both Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight and Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight, here called simply "Social," exist. Both Makoto Yuki and Ren Amamiya can talk to their party members and velvet room attendants, to learn more about them.

Social Link Points
Generally, to be able to rank up a Social Links, the protagonist will first need to spend time with them or perform certain activities to bond with them. Upon meeting the criteria to rank up a Social Link, the points will be reset (even if they exceed the number). Excluding auto Social Links, some may not require any points to rank up such as Akinari Kamiki, Ryoji Mochizuki, and Shinjiro Aragaki in Persona 3 and Hisano Kuroda and Margaret in Persona 4.

The protagonist can receive points from hanging out with Social Link, responding with the correct dialogue options that gives the most points or giving gifts. However, there are other ways Social Link points can be received after initiating at least one level such as drawing a shrine, performing well in exams or responding with the correct option during a storyline event (e.g. eating the Mystery Food X during the school camp). Carrying a Persona with a matching Arcana will also increase the Social Link points gained when answering correctly. However, in certain cases and events, (such as when Nanako and Ryotaro Dojima are home and they and the protagonist can spend time Gardening together) point gains cannot be influenced by these multipliers. Additionally, in Persona 3 FES and Portable, the protagonists can walk Koromaru at night, which can reward you with Social Link points if a party member accompanies you or you encounter other Social Links when walking Koromaru.

The number of notes displayed when receiving points can imply how many points have been received. The protagonist can get at least one point to a maximum of 3 points if the player picks the correct option. If the protagonist reverses a Social Link, all points gained previously will reset. To undo a Reverse Social Link, the protagonist must reach a certain number of points before the link is fixed or visit the Shrine and draw fortunes.

List of Social Links

 * Italics indicate a Social Link that upgrades automatically via story progression.
 * Bold indicates a Social Link with a party member.

Persona 3 Portable
The male protagonist's Social Links are still the same as to the PS2 versions of the game; only the female protagonist's Social Links are listed here:

Persona 4
If a Social Link is maxed out, they will cheer the protagonist up for defeating Izanami.
 * In Persona 4, all party bonuses are as follows, with varied rank requirements:
 * Protects the protagonist before getting hit by a lethal attack (single target only).
 * Assist: Can now wake up a knocked-down ally during battle.
 * Unlocks Follow-Up Attack.
 * Recover: Chance to cure other party members of their ailments.
 * Endure: Survive with 1 HP once in a battle when hit by a lethal or instant kill attack.
 * Unlocks ally's ultimate Persona with additional skills and new elemental attributes.

Persona 4 Golden
The Social Links in Golden remain the same, except for the addition of 2 new Links:

Persona 3 / FES / Portable
The following pages contain comprehensive guides for each individual Social Link’s dialogue options. Persona 3= Persona 3 Portable=

Persona 4 / Golden
The following pages contain comprehensive guides for each individual Social Link dialogue options and skills.

Social Links' Availability
This is the general weekly schedule of the Social Links. Sometimes the availability of each Social Link can change due to certain circumstances separate from their schedule, such as the requirement to level up certain Social Stats, or having to complete the current dungeon. Party Social Links will not be available if the dungeon is not yet completed.

Persona 3 / FES / Portable
Persona 3= Persona 3 FES= Persona 3 Portable=

Persona 4 / Golden
Availability of party members will vary randomly until the current Midnight Channel dungeon is cleared. Persona 4= Persona 4 Golden=

Trophies & Awards

 * -|P3P (2023)=
 * -|P4G=

Trivia

 * Some Social Links in the Persona series can be viewed as a romance mechanic for some players.
 * The PS2 versions of Persona 3 are the only games with Social Links or Confidants in the series where the protagonist cannot hang out with male party members. This was later added to Persona 3 Portable's female route where the female protagonist can now hang out with every party member.
 * In Persona 3, unused files in the game indicate that it was intended to be possible for the protagonist to marry a Social Link character that they are having a relationship with using a marriage certificate. This feature is removed in the final game.
 * In Tarot readings, the Death card is seen as a turning point in the deck, because all Arcana that appear after it feature celestial symbols. This superiority of the other Arcana, starting with Temperance, appears in Persona 3 most of them focusing on the male protagonist, where every Social Link of these Arcana can be initiated after a "flag" given by another Social Link character or by a special event revolving around another Social Link:
 * This trend is also continued in the female route present in Persona 3 Portable. Rio Iwasaki, the new social link of the Chariot arcana, tells the female protagonist about "A Buddhist monk who gets hammered on sake," which she learns from Yuko. Saori Hasegawa, the substitute Social Link of the Hermit Arcana, is the one who tells the protagonist about the rumor of a "celebrity who shows up in Paulownia mall at night." The Star and The Moon Social Links don't follow this trend since they instead represent the male party members of SEES, Akihiko and Shinjiro respectively:
 * Persona 3 Em is the only game that features Social Links between Persona 3's male protagonist and his male teammates.
 * In Persona 4 The Animation, every Social Link (aside from Yumi Ozawa) has at least one episode that completely focused on or had a major involvement with Yu Narukami as he strengthens his bonds.


 * In Persona 4 The Animation, Yu Narukami's Social Links also support him while fighting his Shadow Self with Margaret, their Personas representing his bonds with Social Link Arcana.
 * While not directly referenced as a Social Link unlike Persona 4: The Animation, almost the entirety of Persona 4 The Golden Animation is loosely based of Marie's Social Link events.