I would broadly prioritise like this: guarrantied rank up>school SLs>other daytime SLs>Bunkichi and Mitsuko

I usually do those, that are available on the fewest days, generally. Since school SLs get blocked many times in the story, they aren't available as often as normal SLs. Later when unlocking Empress, she's also a low priority because she's available a lot. Maybe you also should avoid maxing them for some time, so someone is always available in an emergency but I'm not sure, if that's nessasary

I recommend maxing out the Fool Arcana

Get school only ones first and ones that have other locked behind them(chariot, magician, emperor, strength, hanged) on Sundays do hermit or sun

Do the ones you care about

ALWAYS focus on school Social Links. If you can't rank up with someone, choose someone else from school to rank up. You can use your Sundays and days off at this point to gain extra points from Sunday dates and hangouts, or just going to the shrine.

You will have plenty of time to max out non-school links, including Hermit and Sun, so don't be afraid to use Sundays for extra school link points.

Focus on the ones that aren't available often like hermit, also focus on the in school ones, as far as I know there's no deadlines for any of the social links

Not technically a social link, but there will be periods where you get a whole mess of characters all in a short period of time. Only one of them does blunt damage with basic attacks.

Spend time with the blunt damage character, make it your highest priority

Gameplay wise the SLs don't offer anything besides the respective end personas. For school days, focus on the SLs from the school since you can't do those on holidays or weekends (they will text you but those are just hangouts for boosting the relationship). For Sunday, focus on Hermit first, once you unlock Sun through the Hanged Man SL, focus on that one instead. Hermit is available on Sundays and Holidays while Sun is only available on Sundays. There are only 2 evening SLs - Devil and Tower, if you play it right you should be done with Devil by the time you are able to unlock Tower.

Evenings are mostly spent to level social stats, do dorm hangouts.

The ones you like. I dislike half the sl in p3. But i adore the the other half

In general there are less swings than in 5 where confidants give abilities and some are more important than others. That said, there are disparities between how often they're available and difficult to complete, and some stories are way more engaging.

There are NO alternative routes in P3 to worry about, just that it's difficult to see everything and there are a few standout links that are awesome, like The Sun, and a few that are just awful (looking at you, Magician).

The Sun Arcana unlocks fairly late and is only available Sunday and is probably most people's favorite. Another S Link, the Hermit, is from an online game someone gives you and is also only available Sunday, so it's good to finish hers early and prioritize that every Sunday so your Sundays are free when Sun is available.

During the mid game you'll go on Summer break, and the great majority of Social Links are students and will become unavailable during this time: you'll want to prioritize classmates on school days and non-school links you'll be able to catch up over summer (I'd still at least start their first few ranks though).

Your female party members are all social links that stay locked until you max one of your social stats; Intelligence takes WAY more to max than the other two, so I'd invest in all three regularly with special attention paid to intellect. Mitsuru especially unlocks fairly late, so once she unlocks you need to spend time with her sooner rather than later.

One final social link only unlocks in January and you pretty much need to hang out at every possible opportunity once that happens, so you want to wrap anyone important before then. There are only two Social Links at night, so both should be pretty easy to max without stepping on any toes, though one of them needs 40k yen up front to start. Otherwise night is mostly spent leveling social stats.

Those are all the big constraints, I think. Time is very tight in 3 to max everyone, so if you're not vibing a social link I'd deprioritize them to make sure you definitely max the ones you like, as fully maxing everyone essentially requires a guide. Still, several mid-game social links unlock by getting a different link to four, where the first link will introduce you to them, so it's worth mildly investing everywhere.

Its not necessary to do it as the only benefits you get from them are bonus EXP points for fusions of that arcana, as well as the ability to fuse the ultimate persona of that arcana. I believe if yo don't fuse the ultimate persona you will have to max the S-link again in NG+ to be able to fuse it

The only story stuff you get for maxing social link is the conclusion of their story, as well as an ending scene at the end of the game with each individual S-link you max out

Edit: you need to max all of them out in order to get a trophy if you really want to 100% the game

Not maxing out every link in one run gives you a good reason to actually play new game plus (if you have the time for that) all you miss out on is some character specific dialogue at the end of the game and bonus exp/unique personas.

Not required but best practice to do sometime either on your first or multiple runs. In terms of lore and world building.

Also the final ultimate persona you get after maxing everyone is kinda the key to beat the secret bosses. Not needed again but saves your sanity a little

I didn’t the first run (I was close but missed two by like 2 ranks each lol). It is much easier to do it on the new game+ run. So honestly just play it how you want then get the achievement on the second run (can always use a guide to make sure you get it)

There's only bonuses to maxing social links, there's no notable story changes and it's definitely not necessary

A few general tips for efficiency:

• On Sundays always do the Sun SL (or Star if Sun is maxed)

• On school days, always prioritize the remaining school social links (Priestess, Emperor, Lovers, Justivce, Fortune, Temperance, Empress, Aeon)

• In November a new shady URL unlocks that allows you to get extra social link points (no rank up) on the computer in the evening.

• In December there are 6 days where Empress is the only school social link available. It's recommended to save 6 ranks of Empress for this period.

• Save Star and Moon for the end of December/early January. At the end of December and early January there are several days of no school, which allows you to focus on them.

When comparing P3 to P4 and P5, it’s insanely apparent the devs never expected the players to go for all SLs in one playthrough - hell, in vanilla P3, Orpheus Telos, the reward you unlock for maxing out all SLs, wasn’t even a thing. It was only added in FES.

So no shame if you can’t max them all out in one playthrough. It’s a common sentiment that, even when using a guide, it’s still really hard to max everyone out.

Definitely focus more on school links.There are times where you’re off from school and can’t level up your classmates. So maybe maxing hierophant and hanged wasn’t the best call but you’re still making good progress. Leave Star and moon on the backburner as they’re available when you’re off from school. Use Sunday for sun obviously.

In November, a method to gain points for your SL will unlock in the club. Use this to avoid wasting a day where you don’t level up since you completed night links already. Use persona that matches for max points and try to avoid hanging out if you’re not going to level up, if you can help it.

I'd say it's as generous as the other two modern games' remasters. There are just different general rules you have to follow. Royal was definitely the most generous, but you had to plan around rainy days in P4G. In P3R you have to prioritize schoolmates on school days.

Even if P3R has the least free days leftover (not sure on that), it is definitely the least demanding planning-wise. Multi-day sidequests are not tied to social links, and the best option is almost always apparent (study sessions > social links > shared computer > arcade > everything else).

I was able to get 65 free time slots by the end of P3R, which is in the same ballpark as P4G with the one month of free time you get if you finished everything by December.

It's actually as generous as P5R, which was in-line with P5's NG+. It's just that P3's SLs have a strict timetable you need to follow. Plus you basically have a free week to speed run Mitsuru's, as she's available every school day and in the week before exams.

On NG+ I had everyone except Aigis completed by school starting in January.

I'm playing P4G again right now, and everyone always says maxing all the links on a fresh save is impossible? I admit I never did it but it's been years, so that's what I'm trying for this time. Any tips? Like, who or what to prioritize?

Def agree with P5 tho lol but I appreciate the opportunity to just enjoy it without needing new game plus or a guide.

The point wasn't to meta gamer optimize, it was to hang out with who you wanted to and say what you wanted no matter if they didn't like what you had to say. That's why social links could break or reverse, it's about being true to yourself over getting game points.

Did you do the linked episodes? I tried to max with all the linked episodes but ended up with no days left and everyone maxed except Temperance who was at 4.

I used a guide for answers and only advanced sls with the matching persona so the only thing I could have done better was to A) use the Sunday hangouts (i didnt use any and had like 2 months of free Sundays after Sun and Hermit and Star were all maxed) B) time the Shinjiro linked episodes better so I was only hanging out with him on non-school days.

First time I played a Persona. I think I only got like... 5 social links maxed back then.

It’s tough since you need to hang out with the old couple a few times early on to unlock Bebe. I probably spent only 1-2 extra school days with them so I might be fine but it’s going to be tight. I’m just past fall midterms in October and have Emperor and Strength maxed with every other available school friend between 5-7 right now, so I think it may be doable but it will come down to the wire.

I followed a guide and messed up one day. Which resulted in a reversed social link.

I was able to fix it and I had them ALL maxed except justice.

The very last day I could have finished Justice was also Chidori's optional scene.

It fucking took up my afternoon.

THE AFTERNOON THAT COULD HAVE MAXED JUSTICE.

I ended the game with max everything except Justice.

It was so fucking stupid.

You don't even realize how tight the schedule is in vanilla at first. There were a lot more days than I expected where I couldn't hang with school friends the first time I played, and the friendship degrading mechanic made it easy to go backwards with links you don't see for a while. Maxing each friendship also took longer since they required more "spent time with" days in between the encounters that got you to the next level. Skipping February was the real kicker, I thought I'd be able to wrap up my SLs then.

I feel like... It's just not that that hard in P3R? You just need to not do outside of school social links on school days, and I guess also try have one of the social links with the exact same schedule finished before starting the other. Like, you don't want to be in a situation where your only options are Keisuke and Bebe

I don't think mistakes are that punishing since that's what the rewind feature is for. So you can go to the next day to see if you're ranking up with a person, and if not, rewind to use the dating site instead of idk cooking with Ken or something

It might be tight but I don't think it's difficult to plan

Persona 4 Golden fucking sucks to max

P5R is much easier to max out than P3, mainly because the confidants are not mostly locked to daytime only and the calendar randomly skipping a week.

Take advantage of activities that give you bonus social stats because because there are some you will need to max.

Max out Temperance and Star arcana as fast as you can because they will help you save time

It is very difficult to max all your links on a first playthrough without a guide.

This is why New Game + exists, since your social stats carry over and thus you can more easily do social stuff since you don't need to devote any time to social stat upgrades.

There's a lot of time but a lot of things to do, so it's easy if you follow some basic guidelines but hard to do completely blind.

To avoid a detailed guide, you just need to prioritize:

1. Hang out with a time limited or critically important confidant: Chihaya, Kawakami, Yoshida, Maruki
2. Hang out with anyone else who will level up today (check the map)
3. You need to take at least one trip to Mementos between palaces, this might be a good day for it
4. Raise a social stat the best way you know how
5. Do something fun or hang out with a confidant who won't level up

You just need to find time to do darts and billiards to level up technicals and baton pass, and hang out with the Twins if you count that in addition to their social link (not all their hangouts can be done at night as some of the places they want to go are only open during daytime).

Just use a guide. I found a spoiler free one by just searching online. It just gives you a set schedule to follow each day without telling you any spoilers.

Buy this item after school, spend time with Ann, feed the plant, etc.

Helped me 100% all stats and confidants in one playthrough

Always have a matching persona with you and brute force Fortune (Chihaya, you unlock her around arc 3) as fast as possible since you can pay yen to see what a confidant's best answers are or spend yen instead of hanging out with them. Since you played P3R, you should know how good it is to save a time slot in exchange for yen. And on top she also gives more social stats. She's just overall OP for a full confidant playthrough.

Also, Yoshida, Akechi, Yoshizawa and Maruki are all time sensitive so also prioritize them.

When you talk to someone and start a rank up scene, you are at zero points. You have already earned the points to see that scene (or it required zero points).

Any points you earn in that scene go toward the next rank. If you don't have enough points to make the next rank, you have to do a "Spend Time" scene or find some other way to earn those points (pray at the shrine, online dating site, etc).

I did a complete SLink playthrough and finished my last link on the very last day, but I missed a few days toward the end due to poor planning. In general, you want to make sure you're working on an SLink every single day (even Sundays) and avoid doing any dates on Sunday that aren't absolutely required.

I recently did a comment with all of my tips and suggestions that you can check out if you're interested:

https://www.reddit.com/r/PERSoNA/comments/1b1lkef/comment/ksfs0e9/

If you want to start over from the beginning just use the 100% guide

SL points get you to the next rank, then resets, so there is no carry over. My tip is to follow a general priority outline where school social links go above non-school social links, social links that unlock others above social links that do not, then within each category, social links with the least opportunities per week above those with the most. Never hang out with someone not ready to rank up unless they are your only choice.

Using this outline for example, Yuko who is a school social link with only two opportunities takes top priority unless she is not ready to rank up and someone else.

Just for other google searchers like me who found this post. I think The dating site note just unlocked for me, its now 11/15 in game. Not sure the exact date its available, but I feel like I was just here not too long ago and it wasn't available

edit: lol I just checked my messages in phone and you'll get a text from the shady guy! So yeah its 11/15 when the dating site note is available for purchase and you can get as many as you want. its 3k yen each purchase

At the shrine you can draw a fortune for your SLs during the day and later on in November you can buy one of the urls from the shady guy in the club that increases the relationship at night. It's unlimited stock as well

Should be possible.

Clear Hayase (Star) before the school start.

Focus in Hiraaga (Fortune) first. Then Aigis (Aeon) next.

Save either Fuuka or Odagiri for Monday 1/25 since Aigis not available that time.

Use Dating Site Note at night.