Many Persona fans are familiar with the Social Link system present in the last game. There, "Fusions" were allotted bonus experience and maxing out one's Social Links enabled players to unlock powerful Personas. As you've likely heard, the system is back in Persona 4, but this time there are significant enhancements, so let's go through them.

Firstly, this time around the system isn't a sexist, patriarchal ruiner of life (sardonic, that): you can build relationships with all of your teammates, not just the ladies. The stronger your relationships are, the more events you will experience. Loyalty also plays a part: teammates may take hits for you or perform support attacks in battle, depending on their rank. Some conversations will occur in the dungeons according to the events which took place the last time you hung out with a given character, giving a stronger incentive for forming close bonds with party members.

Another improvement is the Protaganist's relationships with the women of the game. This time, just maxing out your Social Link with them won't automatically make them swoon (unlike in real life). As the ranks of your relationships increase, P4 gives you the options to become friends or lovers (it can't be both?), which will then change the course of events and conversations later on in the plot. No word on whether or not you can make it with dudes, which I know will dissapoint at least a few.

Finally, there are changes to how and how quickly you level up your Social Links, due to some new factors. For example, going to sleep early means you may dream about the characters you have a relationship with, making you closer to them (sexual Jungian philosophy, I suppose), and certain days will give you the option to make your lunch to take to school with you the next day, and then share it with a character of your choosing. These two features will accelerate how fast your relationships grow, but they "come at the expense of another activity, which of course makes time management all the more important." Oh dear.

It is said that overall, a lot more depth and complexity is added to the Social Link system, and it is better integrated with the rest of the game. Excited? Yay or nay?