Max Social Link Run

Max Social Link Run

Achieving a Max Social Link run in Persona 4 Golden requires careful planning and efficient use of in-game time. This guide, adapted for the 2020 PC release, provides day-by-day strategies to maximize Social Links, status parameters, and complete all quests. Prioritizing matching Personas during Social Link interactions is crucial for earning bonus points and minimizing the time spent on each link.

To successfully max out all Social Links, several key strategies are employed:

• Matching Personas: Always carry a Persona of the same Arcana as the Social Link you are spending time with. This grants bonus points, making it possible to rank up faster. This is assumed for every rank except Rank 1 and Rank 10, or when enough points are already accumulated for the next rank.
• Status Parameters: Maxing out the five Status Parameters (Courage, Diligence, Knowledge, Expression, Understanding) is essential, as certain ranks are required to initiate or progress specific Social Links and part-time jobs. A normal increase is worth 3 points, while a "greatly increased" action yields 5 points.
• Quest Completion: Some Social Links, like the Hermit, progress through quest completion. For example, reporting to the Fox about a completed quest advances the Hermit Social Link.
• Story Progression: Certain Social Links, such as the Fool and Jester, advance automatically with the story. The Jester Social Link, for instance, will rank up automatically after Rank 6 if you reach that rank by November 1st.
• Blocked Social Links: Be aware that some Social Links are temporarily unavailable due to story events, such as school holidays. The Strength, Sun, Moon, and Hanged Man Social Links cannot be increased during summer break.
• Reversed/Broken Social Links: Female classmate Social Links can reverse or break. A Reversed Social Link requires you to cheer them up to continue, while a Broken Social Link forces you to restart from Rank 1. This can happen with certain choices in the Moon and Fortune Social Links, or if two girls encounter each other during Sunday hangouts.

Examples of Social Link progression and status parameter increases:

• Spent time with Sayoko (Devil Social Link 6, +1 Courage, +5000 yen)
• Courage goes from Brave to Daring.
• Report to the fox about the completed request (Hermit Social Link 6)
• Spent time with Kou (Strength Social Link 7, +1 Diligence)
• Spent time with Ayane (Sun Social Link 5, +2 Expression)
• The Fool Social Link will go to Rank 5 and then Rank 6 today.
• The Lovers Social Link with Rise will start today.
• The Star Social Link goes to Rank 3 after watching the Midnight Channel.

If you couldn't complete Quest 13 on 7/28 due to only having 1 red goldfish, you can still get back on track. The guide assumes you are already in the TV on 7/29 if you are following a specific day-by-day plan. The Hermit Social Link can be advanced by accepting Quest 11 from the Fox, and later Quest 12.

While options in some Social Link conversations may not affect the rank-up itself, they can influence other aspects. For example, the Jester Social Link will not rank up again until later in the game after a certain point, and Adachi will no longer spend time with you if you chat with him afterwards.

The Compendium carries over to New Game Plus, so you don't need to max every Social Link in a single playthrough to obtain their Key Item and unlock their ultimate Persona. However, to achieve the "S maxed and had the final talk in January" goal, all Social Links must be maxed in one playthrough.

Points for Social Links are earned through interactions, ranging from +1 to +3 per action. Bringing a matching Persona can add an additional point, up to a maximum of +3. Yellow music notes appearing over a Social Link's head indicate points gained, with each note representing one point.