I'm on my third playthrough, new game+. Maxed Social stats from the beginning. So of course, I try to max the social links.

It goes great, at first. I was ranking up almost daily, with multiple links usually. I'm not wasting time on stat grinding. I'm clearing dungeons in one day and right when they are available. I'm not using a guide for scheduling, but I do consult one for choosing the right dialog options. I'm making use of all secondary ways to raise Relationship Values outside of dates. This will be easy!

I'm at the very end of the game as of this typing. I have maybe 18 days left to raise social links.

I need 21.

GAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!

How do I manage to do that?! I do I mess something so simple up!!?? Damn you, Atlus. DAMN YOU TO THE PITS!!!

...So Yeah.

edited 6th Nov '09 4:29:26 PM by Beforet

....ouch.

One possible thing: you said that you're doing the dungeons right when they're available... those are probably days when you could be raising S.Links. If you do them on a rainy day, you won't lose any time with your peeps.

The reason I cleared the dungeon on the first available day was to maximize the days I could hang out with the party mates and Dojima. The only times I waited for a rainy day was when I wanted to get the rare materials.

You definitely don't want to do any dungeon-ing unless it's raining. There are only a few S-links that you can actually do on rainy days, so you're not really missing anything by dungeon-crawling on those days.

Yeah, better leave dungeon crawling to rainy days. The S-Links you can do on rainy days is probably reporting to the Fox for Hermit.

The Sun link is also available on rainy days, as is Empress. Otherwise, I'm pretty sure the only other ones available are the night Links.

I would really like to think that what killed me wasn't something so...silly. But, if I had waited, I guess I would have finished one or two links much sooner. There was also the month of oct, when I focused on fishing and fox quests to get the +50% armor...Not entirely sure if that was worth it.

The big thing to remember about a Max S-Link playthrough, whether it's on your first playthrough or your fifth, is that everything else has to kind of take a backseat to maxing the Links. Persona 4 has a less stringent time limit than 3 did, but you still don't want to be spending a lot of time on anything but your S-Links. That means going to the TV World and talking to the fox should be done on rainy days or days where there's literally no one else to talk to.

On top of that, if you're going for quests, you want to try to get all of your quest items while you're rescuing the next person to get kidnapped. It kills two birds with one stone, and you don't have to go back in and waste another day to get that one item you missed.

Also, fishing is better done at night. Outside of the Dojimas, the nighttime S-links are a lot more relaxed.

edited 7th Nov '09 7:53:18 PM by Theoneknownasme

I suppose you're right, Theoneknownasme. I'll remember that for next time...which will sure as hell not be soon. This is my third time through, I am not playing this game again for a long time. I'm going to beat it and be kinda happy. I was also going to try for all the quests completed, but I gave up on that as well.

Still, it will be dissapointing to be missing two people at that scene.

I hear you there. I did a Round 1 Max S-Link, Max Compendium, All Quests runthrough, and by the time I had reached the end, I was done. No more, no thank you, had enough.

Eventually I went back and did a second run, but that was a while later.

Though I will play P 3 P when it come out. I don't know how I'll work up the stamina, but I will.

I might also get around to playing Nocture, but that is doubtful. I am no machine!

edited 7th Nov '09 10:20:34 PM by Beforet

Nocturne is totally awesome and you should play it if you enjoy Nintendo Hard dungeon crawlers at all. I find it's a nice way to cleanse the pallet after the Persona games because it's got almost no worrying about relationships or dithering with fetch quests... yeah you talk to demons to recruit them, but it's not like it's a long-term commitment (except with Pixie. I love you, Pixie!).

I remember getting to Matador. I then stopped. It was not a pleasant experience.

Matador is not really That One Boss, he's the Wake Up Call Boss. That's the point you can get to without figuring out the fusion system. Just as frustrating, but serves the necessary purpose of informing you that the rest of the game is going to be just like that (or worse).

No, the oni that you have to beat at maximum katgutsuhi AND by watching for his shadow of all things is Nocturne's That One Boss.

edited 9th Nov '09 5:00:16 PM by Draconis

Ugh, I'll wait till my next long vaciton, which is around christmas, to beat him.

Shin Megami Tensei-like games in general are about mastering whatever Game System they use rather than brute force grinding. I remember how when me and my best friend were playing Persona 4, got stuck on Shadow Naoto and we got curbstomped in our first try. He wanted to go and grind but I told him to man up and just fuse personae until we got one with... that strangely named spell that reflects magic attacks and acts like a Magic Mirror. 5 minutes of fusing and changing our strategy saved us hours, because the boss got refelcted back at her a spell that silences and she's pretty magic-centric. Gotta love it when a plan comes toghether.

I think that spell is Makarakarn.

But yeah, grinding, while still important to level up your personae and get more skills, is far less important than mastering the fusion system in pretty much any SMT game that features one.