Should I play this before Persona 5? Are they connected in any

Yes but only if you can play the Vita version. There are only small references back to P4 in P5, nothing major but fun nods.

>>383931804
>Should I play this before Persona 5?
Not really

>playing weeb trash

>>383931804
Both are fun games. You would only do good by playing this as well.

3 is more serious
4 is gay weebshit
5 has fun gameplay

>>383932427
>3 is more serious
And has the worst gameplay

whoever told you that 3 is shit and should be avoided is a pleb

>>383932737

>le gameplay meme

there's no real connections, they're all in their own universes story-wise, they just share common themes of the demons you can make your persona being the same (by and large, anyway.) and things like similar themes of gameplay. persona 4 is generally regarded as the best because 3 is so wildly different from 1 and 2 it might as well be a new series, and 4 steps up 3's mediocrity at literally every single turn (except the soundtrack. nothing will beat baby baby baby). 4 has a really good "redux" on vita, if you have one. easily the definitive version of the game.

If you're interested in a VN with some dungeon crawling, try them out. If you're not, I would say skip the series, if you don't like VN stuff and social life management you won't like persona.

They're self contained. You'll notice repeated plot beats and motifs if you play one before the other, but there are not sequels in the traditional sense.

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>>383932427
it had the weakest social links but the gameplay was combat was way more challenging than p4 and p5 combined.

>>383933576
you my dude know what you're talking about, good shit

>>383933576
solely because in the the ps2 version/FES you had to gamble on your teammates not being retarded. on the PSP version you could literally pay your way out of being sick to grind forever and could with the p4 system control teammates, absolutely shit all over every single enemy because they were all pretty well balanced on the premise you couldn't control your teammates.

>>383932737
t. brainlet who actually is too retarded to efficiently control characters using the tactics menu

P3 is miles better than P4.

There are only a few text references to 4.

>>383931804
P3 is good but there's 2 versions you need to care about: FES, the "full" version of the game where you control your party members indirectly through tactics commands (except for the protag, you control him normally); Portable, the version of the game for the PSP that had to cut a lot of the game's 3D elements and the anime cutscenes so the game could run by basically turning the social sections and cutscenes into a VN, but it also added an alternate route as the female protag for people who want to replay the game a second time. There's no "true" version of the game. People give FES shit for its choice for party control, but if you'd rather play that don't forget that there's always easy mode.
From P4 forward the games have direct party control.

It really depends on how much you can stomach stupid Saved by the Bell teen sitcom bullshit

I cannot.

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>>383933576
>weakest links
about that...

>>383931804
just play all of them
3 is a great starting point into the series as being a bit more serious than 4 or 5
you wont want to play 3 or 4 after playing 5
its worth playing them in order because of tone changes over the years.

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>>383933736
>It's the easier one because you don't have to control your team
>Calls me brainlet

>>383933940
>cougar hunter
>old couple
>fat boy
>frenchie exchange student
>Keiji "Con-Man"Inafune

there were good ones too, but the bad ones are just bad.

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>>383933940

you don't have to they aren't related, there are small references to P4 but they are very minor
Persona 5 is more refined and modern so playing 5 first might make the older ones feel outdated

>>383931804
>Persona 3
>Worst one
this series has officially been hijacked by 18 year old newfags

>playing P3
>focus too much on social links a d studying
>underleved for the third full moon boss
>stuck in Tartarus because of bad save
Do I just grind to level 25 from 17 or am I fucked.

>>383938109
The armored tank boss right? How the fuck are you level 17 still? Did you literally never go to Tartarus between the last boss?

>>383938309
I'm in the hotel and fighting that boss. I went and followed /v/s advice from another thread and went 3-4 times a week and I'm still underleved. Maybe I'm just bad.

>>383938109
Oh wait Im dumb the third full moon boss is the Lovers. You're a little underleveled but thats probably the easiest Full Moon boss in the game. just heal a lot

>>383931804
Adachi is the killer.

>>383938581
What level should I grind too. I'm on the night before the boss so noone will get tired so I have all the time in the world.

>>383938864
Level 22 is probably enough. Your Personas and party members are more important than level desu. Debuffs work on bosses in this series so always use rakunda to lower it's defense, it'll die in like half as many rounds

>>383939068
Alright thanks man.

You should play it, because it's unlikely that you will return to it after playing 5.