Want to prepare myself for the next game I play. I really like the idea of maxing as many social links as I can. There are guides for this but I like to navigate these waters on my own.

Between doing the story dungeons, cultivating stats and advancing social links, is there a general advice on how to go about it?

For example, one thing I get really anxious about is trying to complete a dungeon if it is available in one day, since in the games I have seen it takes up both the day and evening activity slots.

Any advice for this? Thanks.

  • peppersky [he/him, any]
    ·
    15 hours ago

    When I played Persona 5 vanilla I easily maxed out every social link I cared about and could have probably maxed out a few other ones too without too much effort if I wanted to, but I instead just did hangouts with already maxed out confidants instead because I couldn't be bothered.

  • drinkinglakewater [he/him]
    ·
    2 days ago

    It's easier to do the more recent the game is, I think Persona 5 Royal is possible to max everyone without planning on a first playthrough.

    General advice:

    • Get to the end of a dungeon as soon as possible to maximize your free time before the deadline. It sounds challenging but it's pretty easy. Conserve your SP where you can and stock up on SP restoring items and you can finish most dungeons in one day
    • Your character's social stats will roadblock you during social link progression if you they're not high enough level, so make sure not to neglect them
    • Pay attention to your choices during dialogue scenes, there's a hidden progression meter for each social link that needs to hit a certain threshold for the next rank to unlock and certain dialogue choices or actions can get you to rank up faster. There's little music notes that appear on screen (I think 3 is the most?) and a sound effect that plays
    • LaGG_3 [he/him, comrade/them]
      ·
      2 days ago

      I think Persona 5 Royal is possible to max everyone without planning on a first playthrough

      There's a few that you might need to plan around since the character isn't available too often. One of them is specifically a character to get into the Royal ending track - I think the game plays better doing the original ending first then the Royal ending on NG+

      • drinkinglakewater [he/him]
        ·
        2 days ago

        Yeah I think the Sun confidant in P5 was my lowest ranked because of his schedule. But it's still definitely possible to do on your own since Royal has ways to multitask better. Base P3 and P4 were next to impossible without the guides.

  • LaGG_3 [he/him, comrade/them]
    ·
    2 days ago

    It's more of a thing for New Game + runs, to be honest. You'll probably drive yourself up the wall trying to do it (with or without a guide) on your first playthrough.

  • Infamousblt [any]
    ·
    2 days ago

    In my experience all the characters are very one dimensional, so you find that dimension and you pander to it and that usually gets you close.

    But realistically in a game with a clock if you don't intend to play it multiple times find a spoiler free guide and follow that.

  • DragonBallZinn [he/him]
    ·
    2 days ago

    You probably won't do it on your first playthrough, but that's ok. I'm doing a second playthrough of persona 4 myself but here's my general advice.

    • Get dungeons done ASAP, do a good bit of training if you can so you can do all you need in one day and just chill.
    • Do not skip through the dialogue, the story's pretty good and you want to make sure that you pick the polite option. Especially in persona 3 where the protagonist can sometimes be brutal.
    • This includes class as well. There's no shame in looking up the answers and doing well on tests makes you more popular.
    • If this is your first playthrough, I'd recommend finding what social links you want to prioritize. In persona 4 it's going to be obvious with the party members.