Persona 4’sSocial Links are some of the best in the entire franchise. With interesting character arcs and all-around good writing it isn’t hard to see how this game became a cult classic and permanently changed the course of the Persona franchise. The excellent quality of all the Social Links does raise a natural question though. Which one is the best?
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While this may seem like an impossible question to answer due to the large amount of Social Links present in Persona 4 (with the Golden ports adding several more) and the amazing quality of all of them, if one analyzes them via their writing, how unique they are, and fan reception, then it becomes possible to form the following list of the best Persona 4 Social Links.
14Shu Nakajima
Placing at the bottom of this list is Shu Nakajima, the Social Link representative of theTower Arcana. Shu is one of the harder Social Links to unlock in Persona 4 as the player must first raise their intelligence stat to a high level and then accept a tutoring job, unaware that there is a Social Link hidden behind it.
Sadly, Shu’s Social Link doesn’t have much interesting about it other than its unlocked method. It’s one of the most standard Social Links in the franchise and in a game like Persona 4 where nearly every character is special in their own way, that sadly dooms him to placing last on this list.
13Naoki Konishi
The Hanged Man
The plot of Persona 4 is kicked off with the murder of local high schooler Saki Konishi, with the early game focusing on how this death affected a certainparty member. With a game starting like that, it was only natural that one of the game’s many Social Links be focused around one of Saki’s family members: her brother.
Naoki’s Social Link naturally deals with the weight he feels on his shoulders as everyone expects him to live up to his sister’s memory, with the player helping him through this trauma and to a brighter future. It’s a great concept for a Social Link, which sadly ranks low on this list as not many players have actually completed it, due to Naoki’s first interaction with the player being a hostile one, which pushed many away.
12Kou Ichijou
The Strength
Next up on the list is the Social Link representing the Strength Arcana and the town of Inaba’s biggest lover of basketball: Kou Ichijo. The player can start Ichijo’s Social Link very early in the game by joining the school’s basketball team, and bonding with Kou over the course of a few weeks about his love for the sport.
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Kou sadly falls low on this list, as the more interesting aspects of his character and effect on Persona 4 come not from his Social Link but rather from other people’s. The love triangle between him, Chie, and Ai is never brought up in his own link. Bonding with Kou will only tell the player that he loves basketball and nothing more.
11Eri Minami
The Temperance
The next Social Link on the list is Eri Minami of theTemperance Arcana. Similar to Shu higher up in the list, Eri’s Social Link has a very unique unlock method where the player must first raise a certain stat and then take on a part-time job at a daycare. There, the player will meet Eri and begin to bond with her.
Eri’s story of being an all-but single mother who must raise a stepson she doesn’t relate to while her husband is perpetually out of town is an incredibly engaging story. While the protagonist doesn’t participate much in her journey, being an observer of it allows the player to feel for Eri more. Her Social Link only falls low on this list as Persona 4 is filled to the brim with excellent characters and stories like hers that shine a little brighter.
10Margaret
The Empress
Margaret’s Social Link is incredibly unique in that it doesn’t rank up via spending time with her, but rather by engaging with the game’s Persona fusion system enough to create specific Personas with the right skills to present to her. While many players just fuse whatever is in front of them on the fusion screen, this Social Link is great at training the player to truly think about what they’re fusing.
While this unique method of ranking up the Social Link places Margaret up quite a few ranks, she still must fall to the middle of the list as the actual bond conversations the player has with her aren’t too interesting compared to other characters high on this list.
9Sayako Uehara
Sayako, the Social Link of the Devil Arcana, is a very interesting Social Link in the context of the Persona franchise as a whole. Whereas a later game in the franchise would fully allow the player to date an adult nurse, Persona 4 starts this Social Link ominously to make the player fear what will happen before transitioning to a different story direction.
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Sayako’s journey of feeling the guilt of a patient dying and burying herself at work, as a result, is truly heartbreaking and something the player will feel proud of helping her through. While she isn’t the best Social Link in the game or the most unique in the franchise as a whole, she more than earns a placement in the middle of this list.
8Hisano Kuroda
Hisano Kuroda’s Social Link of the Death Arcana is one that almost feels out of place in the bright atmosphere of Persona 4 with how tragic it is. Watching an old woman deal with the reality of her husband being dead and helping her through that tragedy is the type of experience one would expect from the Persona 3 Social Links.
Despite this tonal dissonance, Hisano’s Social Link is one of the best written in Persona 4 and ranks in the upper half of this list. It may be a heavy experience, but it’s one more than worth checking out. Plus, the bonus fusion EXP that the players receive from the Death Arcana will be excellent for creating theAlice Persona.
7Ai Ebihara
Ai Ebihara’s Social Link doesn’t start out the strongest, as she is initially very rude to the protagonist and encourages them to skip school with her. However, as her Social Link unfolds, the player soon encounters hidden depth to her character beyond her initial vanity and the persona she wears in school.
While she may not be one of the most popular Social Links in the fanbase, Ai’s expertly written Social Link at the very least earns her a placement in the middle of this list. It was also one of the very few Social Links to get an entire episode dedicated to it in the Persona 4 anime adaptation, which must count for something.
6Ayane Matsunaga
The next entry on the list is the Social Link representing the Sun Arcana: Ayane Matsunaga. This Social Link can only be started if the player chooses to join the Music Club instead of the Drama Club, meaning that many players could have potentially missed this Social Link.
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Ayane’s Social Link may not be one of the most memorable in Persona 4, but it’s just as expertly written as the others. Helping a girl through her personal anxiety and helping her perform will make the player feel great for helping her through her personal issues. She may not be the best Social Link in the game, but she more than earns a placement in the middle of this list.
I romance Ayane in every playthrough, which may have slightly helped her placement on this list.
5Ryotaro Dojima
The Hierophant
Next up on the list is Ryotaro Dojima, Social Link representative of theHierophant Arcanaand the caretaker whose home the protagonist will be staying at throughout the course of Persona 4. Dojima’s Social Link is very unique in that it is directly linked with another character’s, with both of their bond conversations mirroring each other throughout the game.
Another factor that makes Dojima stand out among the other Social Links is his involvement in the main plot of the game. His bond with the protagonist feels much more personal than other characters, as the two interact all the time, even when you aren’t participating in his bond conversations. For that reason, Dojima places very high on this list. Just make sure you don’t tell him you like the wrong type of coffee.
