well, what do i know i think the social link thing started with persona 3. which i also didn't play :edgeworth-shrug:

i won't judge people for indulging themselves with 'east asian isekai/time travel success at life porn' since i'd be lying if i pretended to be above that sort of thing. but my impression is that persona 2 is old enough where the people you play as just have the informed trait of being cool. its not a game built from its foundations as a way of saying, look at this person, he's you, he's so cool and here's all the things you can do / people you can be friends with if only you were cool and stuff. the latter is more depressing when you think about it.