Unlike Persona 4, all of the requests are done through the Velvet room, so there really isn't much to do to figure them out -- there are a few you might need to look up, but I'd try playing blind.

Also, unlike P4, it's possible to do a very quick New Game + (about 40 hours) in Persona 3 if you meet some conditions towards the end of your first play-through, so if you think you might play it more than once, I'd definitely just play however you want to play the first time through and then try to max everything on a second play-through.

It is a lot more difficult to max everything in Persona 3 than it is in 4, so following the Max S.link FAQ is generally not a lot of fun -- it's arduous and you can't deviate from it at all.

as said by cathryn all side quest come from the velvet room so there is nood need for a guide as its pretty explisite.

for s.links i did pretty good maxing most of them out but i liked being able to decided which ones to take on rather than follow a guide

Are you playing through it right now cause it just came out PSN? Cause I'm starting it right now on my PS3 and I love it. So much fun. First got introduced to the world of Persona through the Endurance Run, so it can be a little weird playing P3 after watching Jeff and Vinny play P4. Lot of things that I'm used to seeing aren't there, so I have to realize P3 came before P4. Still having a lot of fun though.

Aw man. I've been wondering this, too, myself. It feels so overwhelming compared to Persona 4 somehow. Must be because I prefaced my personal playthrough of Persona 4 with the Endurance Run. I still want to play it though despite being spoiled about some things about certain characters.

You probably need guide to max out all the social links in one playthgough - I would not say this is the way to go for the "best experience". far too restrictive, might as well be watching a Lets Play.

I'd say don't bother following a guide to max out S Ranks and all that. Just hang out with the people you want to hang out with and those who will be a direct benefit to you and your party. No sense in being forced to do something because a guide says so. The only time I used a guide for Persona 3 (and 4) was for specific boss fights and I had a great time.

No, that would take most of the fun out of the game.

That kind of playthrought sounds like the opposite of fun.

guides are for chumps!

The only reason to use a guide is that some of the links *cough* Mitsuru *cough* have unique prerequisites so you may want to look at those but a day to day guide is playing a spreadsheet.

Thanks for the advice. I'm not going to use a guide unless i get stuck at some point @wumbo3000 yah im playing it on PS3 and i agree that it feels weird not having the additions from 4.