One of the coolest features of Atlus' RPG Persona 3 was the Social Link system. Through this, you were able to hang out with friends or flirt with girls to build your strength and abilities. In fact, the only way to max out your abilities and get special Personas was to use this system to its fullest. Social Links are back with Persona 4, but several new features have been added.
Let's just be friends: Gone are the days where you would be stuck with the girl you maxxed out your Social Links with. Now you have the option of being "friends" or "lovers" with each of the lovely ladies in Persona 4. Your choices will trigger different events or conversations later in the game.
They got your back: The stronger your relationship are with other characters, the more that will happen in Persona 4. When you're in good with a friend, they might jump in front of you to defend you when you're low on health. They also may perform a support attack to finish off an enemy you were just short of taking down. You'll find that even during dungeon crawls you'll be chatting with friends about the last time you hung out together.
Dreams and Lunch: In Persona 4, there are new ways in which you can level up your Social Links. If you opt to sleep early, you'll actually have dreams about your friends, making you closer to them. On certain days you'll be able to bring your lunch to school and dine with those you have relationships with. You can even share food with a friend to become closer.
All of this sounds much better than going to the same old ramen shop all of the time. Or going to lame band practice.
Persona 4 is still set to launch on December 9th. I can't wait to mack on girls that don't really exist again!
LAUNCH GALLERY (3 IMAGES)
Dale North is Destructoid's Editor-In-Chief, a founding editor, and specialist in Japanese gaming. An accomplished musician, Dale was reporting from Japan during the earthquakes of 2011. Luckily, he got the fuck out alive and is home in America now with his wife and beloved corgi, Einstein. Dale is also a co-founder of Destructoid's sister anime site
Japanator. Likes Corgis, Sega Saturn, PSP, iPhone, Photographic tools.
Meet the rest of the team
| BBcode help |
| [b]Bold text[/b] |
Bold text |
| [i]Italic text[/i] |
Italic text |
| [url]http://www.dtoid.com/[/url] |
http://www.dtoid.com |
| [url=http://www.dtoid.com/]Web link[/url] |
Web link |
|
| [img]http://www.example.com/robot.jpg[/img] |
 |
Post a comment! You can also post a photo below:
Comment with Facebook
Click connect and comment instantly!
|
Comment with Dtoid
New? SIGN UP - it takes 5 seconds
|
23 comments | showing # 1 to 23
|
Comment with Facebook
Click connect and comment instantly!
|
Comment with Dtoid
New? SIGN UP - it takes 5 seconds
|
Comments policy
Destructoid is an open discussion community. You don't need to "audition" to post a comment - just speak your mind. We respect differing opinions on the site, so have at it. Be smart, funny, insightful, clueless, or cute -- but back it up with substance. Keep your cool, keep it fun. We only ask that you act respectfully and above all: don't be a troll and ruin it for everyone else. Don't bring down gamers or we'll, you know, gently shoot you in the face and stuff you into a flaming mailbox. Each comment is your opportuntity to make this community awesomer. Is that even a word?
Avoiding the banhammer only requires common sense: spamming, trolling, racism, NSFW stuff, and other forms of sucking will not be tolerated. If anyone is griefing please report abuse. Be good. Don't suck!
Contest:
3:22 PM on 10.15.2008
| 
*Assuming the writers have any skill beyond expositional dialogue.
I have mixed feelings about pouring another 100+ hours into another rpg so soon, but I'll probably pick up P4 anyway.
Holy hell I wish I had that in Persona 3 right now. I want this NOW >.<
That's why I never made it very far in the Social Link system of the last game.