The Cult Cured My Apathy Syndrome: P3P Social Links In-Depth!

“Popular opinion” is a relative thing. Many gamers couldn’t tell you what SHIN MEGAMI TENSEI means, much less how to spell or pronounce it. But among hardcore RPG fans, the vote is in and this series, and specifically its cousin series PERSONA, is the best thing since the guy who coined the phrase “the best thing since sliced bread.” I long delayed my foray into the series, much to the chagrin of certain colleagues. In 2010, I jumped in head-first. I started with SHIN MEGAMI TENSEI: PERSONA (P1P), which I enjoyed thoroughly. But I had no idea what I’d be in for when I started P3P.

108 hours of gameplay later, I think I know.

There’s no way I could succinctly “review” this game. There’s too much to say, all of it positive. I’d break the scale and give it 6 out of 5 stars, and then where would we be? Some stupid parallel universe, that’s where.

So instead, I’m going in-depth with my favorite part of P3P. Yes, the combat was great and I loved collecting personas (personae?). But what really made this game great was the Social Link system. Apparently PERSONA 4 keeps this system and perhaps has even more interesting characters. I’ll find out soon. The Social Link system is all about forming relationships with other people. It’s measured out in the game in a simple ten-bar metric. When you “max” a Social Link, you’ve reached rank 10, and you get access to a high-level Persona. You also form “a bond of trust that cannot be broken” with that individual, and depending on who it is and who you are, you may have the option to make the relationship “romantic.” Nothing shown, but plenty implied.

Anyway, what follows is a breakdown of each Social Link in order of Arcana. Yeah, that’s right, the SMT series is all about taboo pagan syncretist blends of religion. So it only makes sense that the 22 Major Arcana takes center stage.

One more note before I begin: P3P was the third of three versions of this groundbreaking Japanese RPG. In this version, they took the adjustments to the main scenario from the P3FES disc, and then added on an alternate scenario where the main character, “you,” is a female instead of a male.

In playing through P3P, I simply had to play the female route first, even though its story and characters made more sense if you had background from the male scenario. But I had to be the girl. She looks so stylish. I always play as the girl. And let’s face it, girls are way cooler than boys: all day, every day. Amirite, ladies? ‘course I am.

The Social Links changed, depending on your gender. The male protagonist, for example, only formed Social Links with the female members of the party (all in a romantic context), whereas the female formed with everyone (some platonic, others romantic). In other cases, the individual with whom the link is formed remains the same, but the particular details of that link change depending on your gender. I’ll get into detail with that as well.

After going through all of the Social Links, I’ll talk about what effect this game had on my own psyche. Because I can tell you now, it was earth-shattering.

A note of thanks to Megami Tensei Wiki for most of these images, and a warning to the reader: this article is nothing but spoiler. Without further ado: The P3P Social Links.

0 FOOL – There is no Roman Numeral for zero, but that’s where the deck starts. This card represents the start of the journey. For you, the Fool Social Link is comprised of a group of people, known as S.E.E.S. (Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad). In other words, it’s your party. And your relationship with the party, as a whole, grows no matter what you do. This one is auto-maxed just by playing through the game.

I MAGICIAN - Apparently, this is the card that represents making friends with douche bags. For the male protagonist, you make friends with a boy named Kenji (right) that has the hots for a teacher, Ms. Kanou. This schoolboy crush advances into a real relationship (!), or so Kenji says. Throughout the course of your conversations, you hear him brag about all the time he spends with Kanou-sensei, talking about his long-term plans to eventually marry her. In the final Social Link scene, you discover that Kanou, flirty though she is, had no idea Kenji even saw this as a “relationship.” She was just tutoring him and trying to help him get good enough grades to go to college. She then runs off and marries some other guy. One her own age. Throughout all this, Kenji learns… well, I’m not sure that he learned much of anything, other than that he has a lot of growing up to do.

The female protagonist forms her Magician Social Link with party member Junpei Iori (below). You actually can’t develop a romantic relationship with Iori, as he already has a specific lady-friend in the course of the main plot (<3 Gothic Lolitas). But, even though Junpei is pegged as the ultimate in douche, I love this Social Link. You learn a lot about Junpei, and you see a side of him that isn’t shown at all in the male protagonist’s path. Junpei discovers that some obsessive pervert has been going around taking photos of you (nothing too dirty, just weird that someone is forming a collection). He vows to find the person and set things right. He has a scuffle with an NPC named Keisuke over the matter (though I don’t think it’s Keisuke who was the culprit…?). In any case, Junpei becomes a really cool big-brother type character in the end. I can respect that.

II PRIESTESS – Male and female protagonists both form their “Priestess” Arcana relationship with party member Fuuka Yamagishi. Well, she’s sort of a party member. She doesn’t fight, but she stays behind and does recon work. Eventually she also offers auxiliary functions in battle. She’s a pale, techy nerd. Just the kind of woman a Gameosaurus can appreciate. And if you’re the male protagonist, you certainly can “appreciate” her by forming a romantic relationship. The female, of course, develops a close friendship. In the case of the female path, you get to know Fuuka through the Home Economics club, which is a club Yamagishi-san forms and consists of… well… just the two of you. It turns out she fits the JRPG cliché of “girl who really wants to cook but always makes terrible food that you are nonetheless required to eat.” Through the course of this relationship, you work her out of this one-dimensional archetype simply by being yourself. You’re a natural cook compared to her. She realizes that it isn’t about “trying harder” or stressing yourself out more. That doesn’t make anything go right. It’s about confidence, making good decisions, following the directions given. And she also learns that she doesn’t have to be great at it. By the end, she’s merely an adequate cook, but she realizes that her true love really is for computers and other electronic hardware. Good for her!

The guy’s path is more about just getting her to “open up” and be more confident. Score another point for the ladies, because the female path is what really brought Fuuka’s character to life.

III EMPRESS - Another female party member, this Arcana is associated with Mitsuru Kirijo. In both scenarios, your time with Mitsuru is spent helping her get acquainted with blue-collar living. Being the daughter of one of the richest and most powerful men in the country comes with a price. Quick background: the school you go to, and the entire artificial island upon which the school is built, comes from her family’s company. Her family is also the catalyst for basically everything that goes wrong in the world, and she feels responsibility for it. She is the de facto combat leader for S.E.E.S. before you show up. But for all her skill and charm, she’s never been to a fast food restaurant, she’s never “hung out” at the mall, and she doesn’t understand 99% of her classmates because of her high-class upbringing. It’s up to you, whether male or female protagonist, to help her understand the world around her.

Late in her Social Link, she reveals that she’s set to be in an arranged marriage. It’s all for political reasons, to help stabilize the Kirijo Group during uncertain times. Her husband-to-be is just the kind of guy you want to punch in the face, speaking to Mitsuru as though she is a pompous child and trying to set her straight. Well, you get to set him straight. And then you get to make out with Mitsuru (if you’re a guy). And that’s a big win right there. The female protagonist just gets to be nice friends with her (only one pseudo-lesbian encounter in the game, and it’s coming near the end).

IV EMPEROR – Join student council and get to know the emperor. This one really confuses me. “Emperor” seems like such a strong Arcana, and it’s paired next to Empress (Mitsuru). Akihiko’s persona is aligned with this Arcana, so why not him? Instead, this Social Link goes to Hidetoshi (right), the head of the Student Council. If you want to rank up Emperor, you have to join Student Council. I know, it sounds like hell.

The good news is that Hidetoshi’s plot is fairly interesting. The whole scenario involves Hidetoshi finding some cigarette butts in the boys’ bathroom, and he’s on a witch hunt to find the culprit. In doing so, he ostracizes virtually all of his friends and peers. You learn that his lack of compassion or empathy comes from an experience with his uncle. You see, his uncle was a generous and understanding kind of guy who tried to grease the wheels and help people where possible. And through no fault of his own, it landed him in jail. So Hidetoshi is one of these “rigid about the rules” kind of guys. You’d think that would go more with the Justice Arcana, but … we’ll get there.

This plot was the same for the male and female protagonists, though Hidetoshi does admit to having a crush on the female protagonist at the end, he also says he won’t pursue that because he has to focus on becoming a better person. Which is true.

V HIEROPHANT – An old couple run a bookstore by the strip mall. Get to know this old couple and you’ll be on the fast-track to maxing the Hierophant Social Link. Since the store is opened six out of seven days, and it’s somewhere to go when school is closed, it’s one of the easiest Social Links to master.

This Social Link is the story of Bunkichi and Mitsuko, an elderly couple who have ties to your high school. Specifically, their tie is that their son was once a teacher there, before he died in a car accident. A tree was planted in their son’s honor, and the old couple loves to visit the tree and talk with you about the tree. That’s when they get word that the school plans on cutting the tree down. They freak out about it, and so do some graduates of the school. A petition is started, and the old couple believes (erroneously) that you did it. Even if you try to tell them the truth, they won’t hear it. In the end, they call off the petition, however, because they find out the tree is 1) being moved to the top of a hill instead of being cut down and 2) the space where the tree was first planted is becoming an addition to the school, which they see as something their son would have wanted.

The old couple are a humorous bunch. Bunkichi is especially humorous. This is one of my favorite Social Links.

VI LOVERS – Here’s one that made plenty of sense for the male protagonist, but none whatsoever for the female. In both instances, the Lovers Social Link is played out by getting to know party member Yukari Takeba. Takeba also plays a central role in the plot arc, but her Social Link is about her poor relationship with her mom (who sounds like a whore based on Takeba’s description) and her own fear of commitment in a relationship. And her fear of relying on others in general.

The female path was fine, and it’s probably best that I finished the female path first, because the female path is little more than a stripped-down, no-romance version of the male path. I’m surprised they didn’t choose a male character to play out “Lovers” for the female protagonist. I guess Takeba is a lover and a fighter.

VII CHARIOT - The first Social Link I maxed for both male and female characters. To get your Chariot on, you have to join an athletic club at school. Regardless of which one you choose, you’ll end up getting to know the same person. For the male, it’s Kazushi (right), for female it’s Rio (below).

In either case, the stories are great. Some of the best plot concepts and dialogue come from these scenarios.

For the male path, you get to know Kazushi. He’s got a something wrong with his knee, but he continues to push himself anyway. He wants to make it to nationals, because he has a nephew with some physical injury of his own, and said nephew refuses the therapy because it’s “too hard” on him. Kazushi makes a deal with the young boy, saying that if he makes it to nationals, the nephew will have the courage to do what is right.

Unfortunately for Kazushi, his own situation is going to hold him back. And though you gain in the short-term by agreeing with Kazushi to “hide” his condition during practice, you know it can only turn out poorly. I think of the South Park ice hockey episode. You can’t always be a hero, and you can’t always inspire others to do the right thing. Sometimes you have to use your head and be reasonable. That’s what I love about this story.

Rio takes on the role of student leader/coach. In my path as the female, we worked together in volleyball. Rio’s story is about taking her role as a leader less seriously, acknowledging that the “social” aspect of the sports club is just as important as training hard. You also help her open up to the idea that she, too, can love someone. In this case, it’s her childhood friend Kenji (see Magician Arcana above). The dialogue references Kenji’s relationship to Ms. Kanou, even though the female protagonist never gets to know Kenji well. The resolution of Rio’s plot is great, and Rio is definitely one of the best NPCs in the game. Pretty, too!

VIII JUSTICE - Depending on which path you took, this Social Link comes out wildly different, though with one common thread: Manga. To your right is exhibit A: Chihiro (right), another member of student council, and a young lady with whom you have the chance to become romantically involved. Should you play as a female, this Social Link takes place between you and a young boy named Ken (below), who joins your party later in the game.

Chihiro is socially awkward. That’s an understatement. Chihiro is deathly afraid of all males, to the point where she literally cannot speak when she’s around them. Someone must help adjust her to the wonderful world of men. Who better than you?

To do this, you basically spend time with her all around town. She gets clingy and weird, and then you have to work through that issue too. Meanwhile, you also find out she really likes Manga and wants to buy some rare $200 set of Manga. Being the treasurer for the Student Council, suspicion falls on her when some money goes missing. Defending her is the right decision, though. Eventually she works up the never and goes ballistic on one of the faculty, whom she believes to be at fault. It turns out she’s completely right, and the teacher apologizes and gets the funding situation back in order. Chihiro 1, teachers 0.

Ken’s whole problem is that he desperately wants to be an adult, but he’s like, 10 years old. He tries to act far more mature than he should be at that age. The fact that he enjoys Manga and superhero Anime is a dark, embarrassing part of his life. Teaching him to embrace that, and letting him know that doesn’t make him an immature little child, is key to this part. However, I never actually maxed the female Social Link with Ken. Let me assure you, things don’t get romantic, though Ken definitely has a boyhood crush on you by the end.

IX HERMIT – One of the best Social Links, regardless of gender. We’ll talk this one in order that I played. If you’re a female character, your Hermit Social Link is with an older transfer student named Saori (right). You end up with her depending on which duty-based club you picked (I chose Library). Like Chihiro for the males, Saori is a little shy. But she has something particular special to overcome: a nasty rumor. Saori’s picture is put in a “news” story about how wild teenagers are today. Basically, she’s declared by the local press to be the prototypical super-slut. All the kids in school are whispering about how easy she is, how she’ll get together with any guy at any time. Even the faculty believe it to be true. The rumor goes on for far longer than it should, and it’s because Saori doesn’t know how to stand up for herself. In the end, the two of you get the hare-brained idea to break into the PA room and Saori makes an announcement basically saying “I’m not a slut, the article was a lie, and you all are jerks for saying stuff about me.” Then she transfers to another school.

The male character develops the Hermit Social Link over an MMORPG called “Innocent Sin Online” (based on PERSONA 2 INNOCENT SIN, a game that will finally come to the US thanks to an upcoming PSP remake). You can log in on Sundays or other no-school holidays, and it takes up your entire day and night to play. But it’s worth it, because Social Link is with a player named Maya, who by the 3rd or 4th event is very clearly revealed to be your teacher Ms. Toriumi (left). Toriumi-sensei gets drunk before she plays and says all sorts of crazy stuff. She even reveals she has a crush on one of her students (you, actually; but she doesn’t know that you are you). One of the best scenes in the game happens during the epilogue if you maxed our her Social Link. Basically, you walk in on Toriumi talking to another teacher, and you pull out a picture on your cell phone. It’s a screen shot of a message that “Maya” wrote in the MMORPG. Everything comes together in one moment and Toriumi freaks out. She doesn’t ever come to accept what she did. She doesn’t apologize to you or try to bring resolution to the matter. She just goes nuts. Probably because she knows she told you (Tatsuya) that she likes you (main character), and that could get her into a whole mess of trouble. It’s the Ms. Kanou / Kenji situation, but reversed and obfuscated.

X FORTUNE – I never did see the end of this one for the female character. In fact, I think I was only about rank 3 when the cut-off came. The female Fortune Social Link is with Ryoji (right), and it’s a “limited-time only” kind of offer. You have about 3 weeks to really get to know him. More about Ryoji in XIII “Death.”

For the male character, you get Fortune Social Link from a guy named Keisuke. Keisuke is your partner in a club you join in the Fall. The female doesn’t get access to any of these clubs, but the male can join art, music, or photography. Regardless of which club you choose, you’ll be in there with Keisuke.

Keisuke’s father runs a hospital, and it’s clear that Keisuke himself is both a genius and concerned for the health and welfare of the student body. In many of the early Social Link events, you find Keisuke treating small wounds or performing CPR. Yet, he claims he doesn’t want to follow in his father’s footsteps. He wants to excel at whichever club you choose (in my case, art). In the end, you might say his father wins through reverse psychology. But it isn’t about who wins.

You see, Keisuke gets an offer to study abroad and hone his talent as artist/musician/photographer. Everyone assumes Keisuke will pursue this opportunity, but he begins to have second thoughts the moment his father says “that sounds great, go for it!” Ultimately, Keisuke comes to terms with the fact that he loves helping people and he’d better get his act together and start studying for med school. Were I in Keisuke’s shoes, I’d still do a semester-long program in whatever artsy club I was involved in (isn’t there a link between surgeons and pianists because of the finger dexterity?). But Keisuke throws out the whole study-abroad opportunity, instead diving head-first into med school junk. His conflict is hard to relate to unless you too were ultra-talented in high school. But I think we all know guys like Keisuke.

XI STRENGTH – The Tarot card illustration here is perfect for the female character. If you’re playing as the girl, your Strength Social Link is developed with a dog. Yup, it’s a non-human Social Link, and it’s totally awesome. The dog in question is actually a party member. Koromaru can summon Persona like a pro, and he’s dangerous as hell for all the demons out there. Koro-chan’s back story is as follows: for years Koromaru lived with a kindly old priest at the Naganaki Shrine. After the priest died, Koro no longer had an owner, but he stayed at the shrine to “protect” it. This may sound silly to the public, but your party knows of the existence of “The Dark Hour,” and the demons are attracted to the spiritual force of the Shrine. Your party discovers Koromaru one night after he fends off some demons, and then he’s in the party.

Building your relationship with Koromaru involves walking him around town, playing fetch, grooming him: normal dog-and-owner activities. But the whole time, you have to cope with his loss. He doesn’t see you as his new owners. You cannot replace the priest. Instead, you have to develop a new relationship: one as equals, even though you do all the same activities with him that an owner would do with a pet. It helps when Aigis joins the party, because Aigis is able to interpret his feelings and translate them into words.

For the male, your “Strength” partner is a girl named Yuko. In the female path, Yuko is romantically interested in Kazushi and only Kazushi (see Chariot above). But for the male path, Yuko may well become interested in you. Her story is that of the athletic trainer, and the emotional turmoil that comes from seeing others succeed when you yourself cannot be as strong as them. Yuko has self-image issues, including some eating issues. The latter half of your Social Link time is spent training some 4th graders in track events so they can beat 6th graders and earn enough respect to be able to use the Jr. High track for their own purposes. All those cute little kids refer to you as “Yuko’s boyfriend.” Much blushing ensues.

XII HANGED MAN – The “hanged man” Arcana represents inaction, submission, tragedy, and sacrifice. This is the same S-Link for both genders, though the ending is slightly different, for obvious reasons. Your Social Link develops with a young girl you meet after school at the playground near Naganaki Shrine. Her name is Maiko (below), and she’s a bit of a brat. But she really takes to you. Not long into your budding relationship, you find out that her parents are getting divorced. So, yes, this is a story about a girl put in a situation that she simply can’t do anything about. She’s stuck, and there’s nothing she can do to make it better.

So she relies on you for strength and comfort. She also decides to run away at one point, and that’s the time you get to meet her absolutely bat-shit insane parents. Her mom is a nervous wreck, and her dad is just a jerk. In the end, Maiko decides to live with her mom, because she’s mature enough to see that her mom needs company more than her dad. If you’re a guy, she declares that some day she’ll grow up and marry you and never get divorced. If you’re a girl, she sees you as the big sister she’s always wanted.

XIII DEATH - Like the Fool Arcana, Death is another auto-max Social Link. As long as you’re playing the game to completion, you will “finish” this relationship. It’s with a little ghost boy named Pharos. Check him out! What do those doe-eyes say to you? “I’m vulnerable,” “I’m your friend,” or “I’m the harbinger of death!” …? If you picked door number three, you’re right on! The main plot of this game is as follows: in 1999 the Kirijo Group discovered Shadows, The Dark Hour, and all sorts of crazy demonic stuff. The head of Kirijo Group at the time (Mitsuru’s grandfather) wanted to harness that power for his own gain, including the possibility of time travel. Takeba, a lead scientist in the group (and Yukari’s father), discovers that they’re about to let loose a power that could bring an end to the world as they know it. Takeba does what he can before he dies in a huge explosion, and that included a message letting the people of the future know that the harbinger of death is loose, but his soul is split into twelve pieces and they must never be re-assembled. Your team inadvertently re-assembles them, however, because your leader (Ikutsuki, another member of Kirijo Group) lies to you and tells you that you can end the dark hour by defeating these twelve special Shadows. With each defeat, they’re being absorbed into your soul. Pharos is a youthful incarnation of Ryoji (see “Fortune” S-Link above), who will usher in the end of the world. At night, you wake up and speak with Pharos, who speaks to you cryptically about “the end” but still seems like an honest and caring child. Indeed, it’s Pharos’ “humanity” (developed within you) that gives your group a shot at saving the day. By the way, Pharos ended up inside you because you were a by-stander at the Kirijo Group explosion/incident thing. Aigis sealed Ryoji away inside your soul. Pharos “incubates” there for a decade, and then leaves you once all the pieces are re-assembled. Death, indeed.

XIV TEMPERANCE - When PERSONA 3 FES was announced in 2007, I assumed that FES stood for “Foreign Exchange Student.” I was totally wrong (I think it was short for “festival” or something). But there is a foreign exchange student in P3. His full name is Andre Laurent Jean Geraux, but everyone just calls him “Bebe.” Bebe runs a sewing club, of which you and he are the only two members (this is another “same story regardless of gender” Social Link). In the 3rd or 4th event, Bebe informs you in his confused French accent that his aunt has died, and now his uncle wants him to return home. But Bebe hates home. Bebe loves Nippon, oui? To prevent him from having to say Sayonara for good, you help Bebe sew a kimono. Bebe convinces himself that after he shows the Kimono to his uncle when he returns home, said uncle will see the light of all things good and let Bebe return to the Holy Land of the Far East. If you max this Social Link, the epilogue scenario includes a letter from Bebe, where he tells you that he’s decided to remain in France to support his family now that his aunt is gone. The innocence and charm exuding from Bebe makes this another of my favorite S-Links.

XV DEVIL – One of two Social Links that take place in the evening at the Paulownia Mall, this one is with the salesman/TV personality “Tanaka” of “Tanaka’s Amazing Commodities!” On Sunday afternoons you can order stuff from his show. And while the stuff you order in-game is actually pretty good stuff for a decent price, it turns out that the rest of his products are indeed junk. He’s a snake-oil salesman. To initiate this Social Link, you have to hand over 40,000 yen (about $400) in different installments, with which he promises to help you “make a fortune.” After he admits to ripping you off, you can then start getting to know him. He gives you various “tips” on how to make money and be successful in life. This “devil” of a man quickly reveals himself to be as self-centered, hollow, and disingenuous as you’d expect him to be. If you’re playing as a male, he tries to recruit you to work for his company as a salesman (and also gives some pervy suggestive glares, as though he wants you for his own). Playing as a female, he suggests you become the newest model for his company.

In your conversations, he teaches you about the placebo effect and how he uses it to sell products. He tells you about a class reunion he plans to attend so he can demonstrate to those stupid classmates that in the end he got the upper hand out of life. Finally, he confides in you that he’s been getting calls from a charity organization, and he hates charities and only gives money to help keep a good image with the public. But he redeems himself in the end. He ultimately decides to give money out of his private account to an international charity. He claims he sees it as an “investment,” because someday those children can grow up better and they will look to him as a figure of admiration. In the epilogue, you catch a news clip on TV where people are freaking out because a reporter learned Tanaka had transferred all this money. Everyone assumes it’s part of some sort of under-the-table nefarious scandal, but only you and Tanaka know the truth: the money is going to charity.

XVI TOWER – The other Paulownia Mall night-time Social Link is with Mutatsu, the unusual monk. Unusual in the sense that, at night, he goes to the dance club to get drunk, smoke cigars, and watch the fine ladies on the dance floor. Whether male or female, this S-Link is virtually the same. Mutatsu is a bitter, jaded old man whose family left him. In the daytime he’s a respectable monk, accepting peoples’ prayer requests and reciting the Sutras. But at night he gets drunk, and when he gets drunk, he generally gets angry.

One of the things I most appreciated about Mutatsu’s Social Link events is that, unlike virtually everyone else, Mutatsu doesn’t respond favorably to pandering. You “deepen” your relationship with almost everyone else by saying the things they want to hear. But if Mutatsu is bullshitting you, saying things that ought not be said, you can only improve your relationship with him by calling him out. If you agree with him or hesitate in your responses, he gets pissed. But if you just flat out say “you’re wrong,” he respects that.

In one of the last Social Link events with Mutatsu, he is so drunk at the time you show up that he thinks you’re his son and he’s back at home, ready to lecture you for coming home so late (regardless of your gender, he’s convinced you’re his son for most of this event). This is a great scene, because you’re not given the option of saying “snap out of it!” Instead you play along, and to win him over, you basically have to act like his real son would have acted. And if you paid attention up to that point, you have enough clues to respond properly. Eventually Mutatsu realizes where he is, and is embarrassed. Through this experience, he realizes he needs to make up with his wife and son, and that’s exactly what he does. His epilogue scene is another “here’s a letter” event.

XVII STAR - For the male protagonist, your Star Social Link is an extension of your athletic club. At the regional championship of whatever sport you’re in (in my case, Swim Club), you go up against a student from another school named Mamoru (right). Mamoru totally creams you and is set to go on to nationals. Fortunately, he’s not a douche bag about it. He’s actually a really nice guy, if a little over-competitive, and he wants to be your friend. As you get to know him, you find out that his father passed away years ago, he comes from a poor family, and he basically takes care of all his siblings. His issue is one of time commitment: he wants to invest all his time in personal training so he can go to the Olympics or some such awesome thing. But when his mom is rushed to the hospital due to her own medical problems, he has to do some re-evaluating. In the end, Mamoru resolves to get a job and use all his free time to earn money for the family. He still finds time to train, forming a Swim club (or whatever sport you first met him in) with his coworkers. Cheers to Mamoru for being such a swell guy.

The female Social Link for Star is party member Akihiko. He’s a boxer by trade. Very quiet, very serious, and very bad with the ladies. He’s almost always confident, but when it comes to girls, this guy has no idea what to say or what to do. You can choose to take this relationship in a romantic direction, but I didn’t get that choice because I didn’t max his Social Link with the female. Whoops!

XVIII MOON - Without question the weirdest Social Link, at least for the male path, is “Moon.” In this path, you get to know some fat kid who hangs out at the mall named Nozomi (right). He calls himself “The Gourmet King.” But really, he’s just a ridiculous face-stuffing fat kid.

Okay, that’s not all he is. He’s also a member of a cult. Not the story-centric “Nyx cult” from the game’s end scenario. Just some random cult that demands you give them money so that your salvation can be assured. Nozomi doesn’t reveal this about himself until the 6th or 7th rank in the Social Link. Up until then, you instead learn about his eating habits (sometimes has to go throw up so he can eat more), his attitude towards other people (no one is better than him because he is “Gourmet King”), and the root of his problems (he had a brother, whom everyone liked more than Nozomi, but died a few years ago).

The father of a kid who got scammed by Nozomi and Nozomi’s cult seeks revenge by hiring some punk kids to beat the snot out of Nozomi. You get wise to the situation, though, and spare Nozomi the brunt of the beating by showing up in time to stop the back-alley madness. However, in the heated exchange of words pre-beating, Nozomi is convinced that he too has been duped by the cult. He comes to terms with the fact that he’ll never be as awesome as his brother was, but he can be a decent food critic. But maybe he should eat less and stop being a jerk.

Seriously, this was a weird Social Link. I’ve never had a relationship with anyone quite as different as Nozomi. But I really enjoyed having it in the game.

The female Moon Social Link is with Shinjiro Aragaki. This one really pissed me off. It was the first of two “limited-time” Social Links (the other being Ryoji). Shinjiro joins your party, and is there for about a month, and then one of the bad guys shoots him with a gun (a real gun, not an Evoker). I got about half-way through this Social Link, choosing to spend time with others as I also got to know Shinjiro, and then he died. If you max the Social Link before the shooting, you basically pull a “Stranger Than Fiction” and save him with a pocket watch he keeps by his chest. With this watch, one of the bullets is deflected, and instead of dying, he goes into a coma at the hospital (and wakes from it during the game’s epilogue). The “canon” story is the male path, so he’s supposed to die. But I wish I had known going into the game that I could have helped him live. Balancing one’s social life can be a mess. Another lesson learned.

XIX SUN – The S-Link is the same for both genders. The relationship itself is dark and depressing, and also a little challenging to max (only available on Sundays, and only after you reach rank 3 with Maiko in Hanged Man S-Link, and only after Koromaru joins the party). But the epilogue for this S-Link is probably the best part of the entire game.

This is the Social Link of the “dying young man,” Akinari. Akinari has been diagnosed with a terminal illness. He’s currently 19 years old, and he spends his Sundays sitting on a park bench at Naganaki Shrine, soaking in the sun and coughing up his lungs. As you sit on the park bench with him, you discuss heady topics like the meaning of life, and try to relate it to Akinari’s hopeless situation. Dark and depressing? Yes.

Akinari admits that his only hobby left in life is reading. Reading allows him to escape from his current situation and live someone else’s life. As a result, he resolves to write a story before he dies so that he can leave something for others to read. In the final Social Link event, he tells you the story’s ending and gives you the notebook that contains the story. Then he “fades into the sunlight” and that’s the last you see of him.

Then, in the epilogue (March 3rd 2010), you return to the park bench and find, not Akinari, but Akinari’s mother. She tells you that today would have been Akinari’s 20th birthday, but he passed away recently. She’s never met you before, but guesses at your identity since you were one of Akinari’s last, and closest, friends.

When I first played through the female path, this scene made me cry. It made me cry very real tears, in copious amounts. I read in a walkthrough (when trying, and failing, to max all S-Links in first playthrough) that the walkthrough author’s opinion was that this was the best of the Social Link epilogues. So I had high expectations. I just didn’t know it would make me cry.

When I beat the game a second time (this time the male path), I had maxed Akinari’s S-Link again. When I reached this scene, I explained the bare-bones version of Akinari’s story to my wife and then read the mom’s statements aloud. This time, two people were crying.

Some people might think the message is being pounded over your head, so it’s too saccharine to be considered good. Put up against the dark and quirky mood of the rest of the game, I found it to be a surprising bit of contrast in the SMT universe. The message is something virtually everyone can embrace, regardless of religious or cultural upbringing. And though it strikes me particularly hard as a parent, I don’t think you have to be a parent to enjoy this message.

Below are the relevant snippets of Mrs. Kamiki’s dialogue. If you want the whole thing, check out this YouTube video (PS2 version, so full 3D graphics, unlike the simple P3P stuff).

The doctors detected it at birth… They knew he wouldn’t live to see adulthood. Every day, I wondered if he’d wake up the next morning… I blamed myself for what he inherited… But… He said something to me near the end.

“I’m sorry to have brought so much pain into your life, Mother. I’m glad to have been given life. I’m glad to have been your son. Thank you so much for the life you have given me…”

He was the one who suffered so much, and yet he said that to me…

But my son brought me a lot of joy too. Holding his warm body in my arms just after he was born… Those tiny hands… That first smile… Hearing him breathe easily at night… Every day, I gave thanks for him being alive… Every day, I found new joy in him. And now… I’m so lonely, and there’s nothing I can do…

[...]

I’ll have so many stories to tell him about the things I’ve done. On that day… when we meet again, on the other side. If I didn’t have that to look forward to… I don’t know how I could go on.

[...]

There is one piece of advice I’d like to give you, as an old lady to a young man (/girl)…

Take good care of the ones dearest to you. If you wait until their time has come, and you’re clinging to their cold bodies… then it’s too late. Everyone who’s born will die someday. Not just Akinari, or me, or you. It happens to everyone… So before that happens… It doesn’t take a grand gesture. You don’t have to make a big production of it, but…

If you love someone, let them know it.

The same game that some of my conservative friends (and relatives) refuse to play due to its demonic elements and fake-head-shooting had that bit of text in it. Tear-jerker to the max.

XX JUDGEMENT - Cheers to Atlus for the less-common spelling. Anyway, the Judgement Arcana is another “mandatory for completion” Social Link… sort of. Let’s start by talking more about Pharos/Ryoji.

The Kirijo Group incident that caused the ridiculous explosion and started the “Dark Hour” also spawned an incomplete harbinger of death. This being was sealed into your body by Aigis in an epic battle. Aigis goes offline for ten years. You get older for ten years. You inadvertently end up joining S.E.E.S., battling Shadows during the Dark Hour. Harbinger of death thing becomes “complete,” leaves your soul (completing Death S-Link), and reincarnates as a teenage boy at your school. He identifies himself as a “transfer student.” That’s Ryoji (female Fortune S-Link). Ryoji seems like a totally normally dude, and he makes friends with Junpei. But Aigis doesn’t trust him for some reason.

During a full moon in early December, Aigis suddenly remembers everything. She heads out during the Dark Hour and faces Ryoji. Ryoji suddenly remembers everything as well. He doesn’t want to fight; he is resigned to fate and sad about the coming apocalypse. But he knows it’s his role to bring Nyx to the world. The result will be that everyone dies… eventually. First they’ll all suffer from Apathy Syndrome (the loss of the will to live… basically, harmless zombies). Then eventually humanity dies of exhaustion. What a way to go.

Ryoji tells your party over and over that there’s simply no way to defeat Nyx. As such, he’d like to give you an option. He gives you the “Eternal Sunshine” way out. If you kill him on New Year’s Eve, the Dark Hour will disappear and you’ll all forget everything that happened up to that time. Then when Nyx does come, you won’t know what’s coming. He’s convinced that the fear of impending death between December 31, 2009 and January 31, 2010 will be absolute torture.

If you choose to kill him, you get the “bad” ending, where you just see life go on as normal. The game doesn’t show the big apocalypse ending, it just shows that you’ve all forgotten about the events of the past. Bum deal.

If you make the right choice and let him live, Ryoji disappears on New Year’s Eve and tells you that you have a month before the end. In that last month, the final 50 floors of the 250-floor tower Tartarus are opened. In climbing the final 50 floors, your Judgement Social Link increases. You’re facing your fears head-on! Go team!

The Social Link is assigned to the “Nyx Annihilation Squad,” which is basically S.E.E.S part deux. There’s no fancy photo for that, so let me give you a basic idea of what it’s all about.

XX AEON - This is the last Arcana. Wait, what? First of all, what happened to XXI WORLD card? Second, why are there two 20s? This is ridiculous.

So here’s the deal. The “WORLD” card is in the possession of the Avatar of Power who serves as an assistant to Igor in the Velvet Room. For the male character, that’s Elizabeth. For the female character, you can choose for it to be either Elizabeth or Theodore. In either case, the only time you’ll see the “WORLD” card appear in P3 is if you try the optional quest to fight Elizabeth/Theodore. And unless you’re insane(ly good), you will lose. You’ll see the card flash up on the screen, then you’ll die. The end.

Some people think card XXI is what you get during the scripted “final final” battle. But that explicitly is stated as the UNIVERSE Arcana. And it doesn’t have a Roman numeral on it. It’s some absurd newfangled thing.

So, too, is the Aeon card. There are variations of the standard Tarot deck out there, with alternate titles and/or images. Some newer decks replace “Judgement” with “Aeon.” It’s a new thing. Fitting, as it’s a Social Link with a robot. That’s right, this is your Social Link with Aigis. It didn’t appear in the original P3, but it was offered in FES and again in P3P. The male and female paths are the same here, and interestingly, they both have romantic endings.

You’re told throughout the entire game, whenever you try to talk to Aigis, that you could form a link with her if only she became a little more human, a little more emotional. And though she already has her clingy “I want to be with you” attitude (she apparently feels like she must protect you, since she was the one who put Pharos inside you), she has some maturing to do. After her fight with Ryoji in early December, she spends the rest of the month back at Kirijo headquarters getting repaired. When she comes back in January, she’s a new lady, and she’s ready to really take on a human-like lifestyle. Even though the world might be ending in 30 days.

Unless you’ve already maxed, or near-maxed, all Social Links up to this point, you’ll have to sacrifice time with others to max Aigis’ Social Link in January. In her Social Link events, she goes around town and asks questions with you. You find a lost cat and return it to an old lady who seems to be lonely. Then you meet the old lady’s grand-daughter (or some other relative) that treats her like trash. This upsets Aigis. So she’s starting to understand relationships, and how relationships can be abused.

In the final S-Link scene with Aigis, if you choose to make things “romantic,” you go to robot 3rd-base. I’m serious. Aigis informs you that on her neck, behind the red ribbon, is a little spherical button that is her core. She says that if you touch it with your finger, your fingerprint will be recorded in her, AND some of your skin cells will be recorded and she’ll have your DNA. In other words, you’ll become “one” with her. If you agree to touch it, she lays down on the floor. She then informs you that it’s “very sensitive” and she’ll shut down function to her arms and legs so she doesn’t flail wildly when you touch her.

In other words, it’s a robot-clit. And regardless of your gender, you have the option to touch it. Awwwwwkward!

–

So those are all the Social Links. I had a ton of fun playing this game, and getting to know the characters of this world was a huge part of the experience.

My father perennially drives home this message to his children over the holidays: everyone has two basic emotional/social needs. One is to be loved — to know that there are people in the world who care about you. The other is to be respected — to feel that you have done something significant or worthy of praise, and that people recognize those achievements in your life. And when people start “going down the wrong path,” it’s because one or both of those needs aren’t being met. That, or, the person believes those needs aren’t being met, even when in fact there are people who care and who think they are “good, worthwhile” individuals.

You can see these basic needs play out in the scenarios of the Persona 3 Social Links. Specific to love, Yukari’s father is dead and her mother has chosen to chase men rather than raise her daughter. No wonder she has “hang-ups” about love and seems so cold with men. Specific to respect, Junpei’s “devil may care” attitude leaves him with a lot of acquaintances but no close friends, since he hasn’t invested his life into making a positive change for anyone. When this finally happens, the change in Junpei is palpable. And though the female’s Social Link with Junpei isn’t what brings that about, you can witness his affection for another (Chidori) shaping his own attitude.

The search for identity and acceptance is one that many psychologists argue happens primarily in one’s 20s. But I suspect it’s more like a cycle. Every year, every few years, people search out the things that make them feel like they’re worth something, like life has, or at least can have, some meaning. The Social Links in P3P, essentially character studies, show that you clearly don’t have short-term fixes for all of life. Even though you “max” Social Links, all that comes of it (besides powerful Persona for the fantasy/combat stuff) is the statement that you’ve “formed a bond that cannot be broken.” The emphasis on relationships as the key to a healthy life is a popular one, especially in our era. But it’s no myth.

“Apathy Syndrome,” I suspect, was invented by the P3 devs as a way of decrying the vapid state of relationship-building in modern Japanese society. Anyone who is familiar with Durkheim’s authoritative work on Suicide will see Apathy Syndrome as a fictional way of expressing the end result of having no “Social Links” in one’s own life: egoistic suicide. No identity for self, because there’s nothing and no one with which the person can relate. Since Durkheim’s work in 1897, sociologists and psychologists have further pointed to a variety of modern trends as an explanation for increased suicide rates. Key among them are urban life, delay in marriage, the workforce, estrangement from parents and family, lack of community-based activities (usually, but not necessarily, related to religious upbringing). Japan, America, Europe, and other “developed, Westernized” countries are all struggling with this.

The modern/postmodern alternative, of course, is “Friends.” As in, the TV show. You choose to ascribe meaning to certain relationships in adulthood and stick with them because you can’t identify with your parents and you’re not interested in (or can’t sustain) a monogamous relationship. This is the alternative offered in Persona 3 as well. Romance is optional, but building friendship literally makes you stronger and is key to “the good life.”

That I had such a great time building false relationships in this scripted environment might make you think that I have something wrong with me. And certainly I do. But I didn’t enjoy it because I was pretending that I was actually dating Yukari or befriending the dying young man. It was the act of story-telling, which I find to be more compelling in the interactive environment of videogames, that made it so great. It was also in acknowledging that people in Japan made this game and developed these stories.

I’m now approaching the 9000 word mark. Before this article goes “OVER 9000!!!” I think I’ll stop. I offer this article both to fans of the game as one man’s take on the 22 Social Links, as well as a summary of the game’s events for those people who won’t ever get around to playing the game.