should I play 3 and 4 before this one? never tried a persona

>>385200014
I just beat it yesterday after playing it for 7 days straight and you don't need to. I personally am about to start P3FES as I am typing this then plan to play 4 vanilla cause I really liked it. So just enjoy it there isn't any real huge connection to 3 and 4 besides some things you can hear if you decide to listen to the TV which may tease some characters or characters being used as posters in the subway. So it's nothing like how Persona 1 was kinda tied in Persona 2 so you should be fine.

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persona 3 is a little more different than 4 and 5. 4 and 5 are very similar; 5 really being an expansion of the ideas in 4. all the games are very similar though.

just play the one you think looks neat. i must say, however, that the dungeons in 3 and 4 are pretty damn dull. the persona 5 dungeons are really neat and fun to play. people make fun of the series as being a weeb's wet dream because you're in a jap high school, but for the the appeal has always been the battle system and fusing of personas. the art style is also great in all three games.

if you dont have a vita or ps2, you could emulate the older ones. i'd recommend 5 if you've never touched a persona game. it's the newest and nicest to look at. btw, i hope you like reading.

The gameplay is mostly the same but keep in mind that P5's button based commands and fast paced animations make battles flow really smoothly as opposed to the older games' menu based commands which might feel a bit sluggish.

Also Persona 3 has AI controlled Party members (the PSP port gives you the option to control them manually)

Don't bother with this franchise, they all suck.
If you do try then only play 5, it's the only one with salvageable gameplay

>>385200014

You can hop into 5 if you want, though its true 3 and 4 are going to feel weird to play afterwards, since 5 is a huge leap between those two. If you want to work your way up to 5 from 3 the order goes:

Persona 3 FES, then P4 Golden if you're up to getting a PSTV, otherwise Vanilla P4, then Persona 5.

That's the way I did it, but again its not necessary.

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>>385200014
They're all basically the same game, set up and payoff. The QoL improvements aren't that massive in the sequels, though you'll definitely notice them it's no big deal.
You should have no trouble playing them in any order.

I don't agree that the Palaces are any better than randomly generated dungeons, they're about the same. And battle AI can be annoying, however it's not even remotely as bad as people say it is.

They're all worth playing regardless of which you choose first, but Persona Q is the best of them all.

Emulation is easy enough for the other games. P3FES is supposedly the best version and P4G just adds some little extra bits that you can go without, so consider trying them even regardless.

As for starting with P5, I Think it may be best to start with 3. It stands out because you can't control your party, which would probably get on your nerves if you've played the other games with full party control.

If you were just planning to play the best one, I would say go with 5 because I think it is arguably the best one.(A highly contended opinion around here)

>>385200157
How you managed to beat it in a week? It took me like 160 hours in game time

Only 3 will feel outdated, 4 is very similar with the only big thing missing being baton pass.

>>385200496
>baby's first EO gameplay
>fucking awful dungeon pacing because we need those wacky SoL cutscenes constantly
>butcher every single character from both games
>add in the most fucking annoying OC donutsteel and have the game revolve entirely around her
>the entire inaba pride festival
No.

>>385200535
It's not my favorite, but I can agree it's the best

>>385200014
Play 3 first. It's the best one. Then,play 5 and after that play 4 if you feel like it.

Persona 3 overall has better plot and characters,but Persona 5 has better gameplay and stylish features. You can explore more in Persona 5's world as well

>>385200583
I played it two days on release week then I play for two days the end of April the in the middle of May I play for a day and a half. And by this point I had logged 33 hours and I started the Kaneshiro arc but didnt even enter his palace yet. So since Sunday of last week up until the morning of yesterday I played it to completion. I finished with 120-122 hours, I was level 84 since the only time I grinded was in the true final palace because I wanted to get certain personas like Alice and Vishnu amongst others before going to NG+.

>>385200641
>baby's first EO gameplay
Which only serves to add more options for the player.

>fucking awful dungeon pacing because we need those wacky SoL cutscenes constantly
"Fucking awful" dungeons world's above anything Persona has, with far better pacing than the nightmare that is Persona plot pacing.

>butcher every single character from both games
"Butcher" some already fairly shallow characters, while making others a great deal more likeable.

>add in the most fucking annoying OC donutsteel and have the game revolve entirely around her
Fair enough, but I'll also point out Aigis and Marie's existence in mainline Persona.

>the entire inaba pride festival
That's just a complaint of difficulty.

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>>385200496
>I don't agree that the Palaces are any better than randomly generated dungeons

Oh, come on! In P3 and P4, the dungeons are just wandering around a randomly generated maze until you find the way to the next floor. And every floor looks exactly the same (save for a few exceptions). In P5, you actually feel like you're moving through a large, cohesive area so you get a nicer sense of progression. Also, each palace has its own gimmick that's fun to figure out.

All three games are basically the same, but P5 feels more modern because of the dungeon design and the interface. It's still menu based, turn based pokemon-style strategy, but it's much slicker in both design and presentation than the older games.

The Persona games have kind of a cult following because they cater to the kind of player who likes very very old school console rpgs, with a bit of social sim stuff thrown in for good measure. The older games look very, very old by today's standards. Don't play them just because /v/ told you to. If your first console was an Xbox 360 or PS3, I don't think you'll like them. And these games are fucking long as fuck. My Persona 5 play time was 92 hours. Persona 4 ran about 72. I don't remember P3. About 70 as well, I think.

>>385200970
I bought Persona 1 and 2 for PSP will I like them if my first consoles were the PS1 and Xbox?

>>385200928
I never quite got the love for Aigis, I personally couldn't stand her from beginning to end.

>>385200928
>more options
>half the cast is bad to the point of being unusable
>naoto is absolutely necessary if you don't want to blow your brains out for every random encounter

>>385201037
Not that guy, but I dunno.
It depends more on your liking to dungeon crawling and turn based rpg.

>>385200970
>Oh, come on! In P3 and P4, the dungeons are just wandering around a randomly generated maze until you find the way to the next floor. And every floor looks exactly the same (save for a few exceptions). In P5, you actually feel like you're moving through a large, cohesive area so you get a nicer sense of progression. Also, each palace has its own gimmick that's fun to figure out.

Not really. Each new floor in P5 had little change. And personally I found this gimmicks extremely annoying for each dungeon because they weren't actually challenging or fun,they were incredibly easy and linear. Like solving those stupid puzzles in Futabas dungeon. A 5 year old could've done that.

The dungeons are pretty much the same in each game but I thought the atmosphere in Tartarus was fantastic. Made grinding their a lot easier. But P4 and P5 dungeons are extremely similar.

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>>385200970
They might've felt cohesive and give you a nice sense of progression, but they were also tutorials almost 90% of the time with boring "stealth" that basically amounts the exact same situation as back hitting a Shadow and the puzzles have no purpose beyond wasting more time.
Hence I think they're about the same quality. That being said, I love what they attempted to do.

>>385201041
She's no better or worse than any of the game's main cast.

>>385201101
>more options
You've got tons of options for skills, persona and items man. Far more than regular Persona games, excepting maybe Persona 1 and 2.

>half the cast is bad to the point of being unusable
You can beat the game with even bottom barrel characters anon. No one is unusable, some are just objectively better choices.

>naoto is absolutely necessary
Only if you want to breeze through random encounters, again it's perfectly manageable without her.

>>385201253
I found doing the dungeons pretty comfy in 5, the only one that I found trouble with was the spaceport

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>>385201037
Are you having a go at me? Like I was trying to say that you're too young and dont have super-nerd cred like me or something? I didn't mean to sound like that. It's just that everyone I know that didn't grow up with a Master System or Super Nintendo utterly hates everything about Persona. It has everything they hate about jrpgs, with extra weeby social sim and character design stuff.

If you were being genuine, and just asking me... that's a weird question. I think Persona 1 has aged HORRIBLY and is even more old school oriented than any of the other games. It's a fucking DRPG for fuck's sake. I'm amazed that the genre still exists. I mean, I like them, but they're basically just playing pen 'n' paper D&D. Really surprised to hear that anyone under thirty would play these games.

Before P5 I had only played P4.
I am so impressed by P5 I don't think I can go back to the older titles :/

>>385201253
Not that anon, but I will say the puzzles weren't exactly headscratchers. However the designed areas felt better to me because they seemed like proper dungeons, rather than a series of hallways. The castle has dinning halls and a dungeon, that sort of thing. While mechanically they functioned the same as the P3/4 corridor dungeons, they at least tried to hide it a little. Add some spice and all that.

>>385200014

You could play them in order, or in order of 4, 3, 5. Persona 3 is a fucking pain and won't let you control your characters in battle unless you play Portable. All of them are excellent games though. Pick whichever one appeals to you the most between 3 and 4. Chances are if you start with 5, the legitimately good dungeons in it will ruin you for 3 and 4's shitty ones.

>>385201253
I also found the palace puzzles extremely easy but I'm guessing they can't be too difficult for the pussies who play on "safe" mode and want the VN experience

>>385201467
Just asked to see if you thought someone like me would like it, sorry.

>>385201886
Well if you played a lot of jrpgs on the PS1 then, sure, you might like them. Persona 1 playes like a game made in the 80s, though. It is very, very old style. Persona 2 is more palatable.

>>385201467
>Really surprised to hear that anyone under thirty would play these games.
Persona 1 was really fun, I'd recommend it to anyone that enjoys the Persona series in general. It's not world's away from the newer Persona games, it's just a little different.
Granted I played the PSP remake though, that might've been a bit more user friendly.

Start with P5. The playthroughs are so long you'll be satisfied after your first one. Guaranteed

>>385201528
I do agree with you that the dungeons are better in 5 but a lot of people act like they are far superior in every way but they essentially have the same formula as the previous games just with updated graphics.

>>385202069
It's not that P1 isn't user friendly, it's just so unusual for a younger person to enjoy walking around, one space at a time, in first person, in a maze (or in the dark) getting into random battles. It's very unusual. There's a lot of reasons why they don't make games like this anymore.

But, sure, you could find it fun if you're really into the series, I guess.

>>385200014

If you want to play the same game 3 times sure

>>385200970
P5 can "feel" as modern as it wants to, but it ultimately fails because it fucks up simple things that P3/4 got right and results in the game dragging on much longer than it needs to.

>>385200014
3 and 4 really aren't all that outdated. They look static by comparison to 5, but that applies to almost every other game in existence.

3FES is by far the best Persona game since it does everything the best, its story is on point and wraps itself up whilst being poignant. 5 added a lot of really great stuff to spice it up, and 4 was a re-skin of Persona 3 with a worse story and a lot of handholding babby shit.

>>385202290
It's the same premise as a 3D character walking around a regular 3D dungeon though. It's not like you have to write down a map in the PSP version, and the game only gets stupid hard once you reach the final boss.

It's still got similar sort of themes that make Persona unique, though it'd probably appeal more to SMT orientated fans of the series.
If you like the side of Persona that isn't related to social links, it's a safe bet.

>>385202398
I agree that the begining dragged on as hell and the writing is debatable but why the gameplay mechanics? It's the same but improved.

>>385202609
Three button presses to get through the result screen is ABSOLUTELY retarded. Like Goddamn, whoever decided to make it look "cool" instead of functional needs to be shot. It's either that or sitting through the same canned animation/cut-in over and over and over.

>>385202165
Technically, they're right.

>>385203015
>complaining about padding in a jrpg game

>>385200014
Start off with P3, since it was THE turning point for the Persona series, with the introduction of the Social Link system, Calendar system, removing random encounters, inclusion of the "1 more" mechanic & other gameplay refinements.

Play the P3 Portable version if you don't care about "The Answer" epilogue from the FES version. P3P allows you to directly control your party members, FES uses AI.

Next play P4 or P4G.

>>385203526
That's right, good RPGs don't waste your time.

Don't play any, persona is garbage with cringy writing and pokemon gameplay

>>385203608
P5 battle done that better than the rest of the series.

>>385203752
No it didn't.

>>385203608
then don't act like p3 and 4 doesn't do the same thing. the general agreement is that p5 improves on a lot of things over it's predecessors.

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>>385203572
>Play the P3 Portable version if you don't care about "The Answer" epilogue from the FES version. P3P allows you to directly control your party members, FES uses AI.
p3p removes all cutscenes and 3D rendered scenes, it's a fucking horrendous alternative.

>>385204004
It doesn't improve on this. In fact, it makes it much worse.

>>385204027
P3P removes the chaff.

>>385203908
I'm saying this factually, thanks to button mapping, the battle can go fast.

>>385204146
fuck off faggot

>>385204174
Nope. The extended results screen and All Out Attack cut-ins form a net loss.

>>385204260
It is still by far faster than the rest of the series.
You can even try counting it on youtube for proof.

>>385204119
then elaborate. what exactly besides pacing does p5 does worse?

>>385204296
P2 is the fastest in the series you fucking casual. Battles resolve in under 3 seconds.

>>385200014
Play 1 and 2, fucking causal weeb faggots

>>385204348
Which is why it isn't fun.

>>385204521
No one cares what you think is fun. P5 isn't the fastest.

>>385204593
Then it's second fastest while actually having gamplay instead "pick fusion spells and set it to auto battle"

>>385204593
No he's right. Is that why P2 counted as the worst gameplay in the franchise?

>>385204735
It's still slower than P1 and P4. Also P2 counts as two games, you ignorant piece of shit.

>>385204849
>P4
What? In exact same situation, p5 would be faster as there's less scrolling through menus

>>385205423
>one extra button press to access the skill menu
>two extra button presses at the end of every fight in addition to longer All Out Attack animations

Nope.

>>385204593
> Hearing an opinion you don't agree with
N-n-no one cares! Shut up!

>>385205716
>ignoring card shuffle
Also what about pre battle conditions. If you want to ambush in p4 and shadow happen to look your way you need wait like 2 min before he turns around while in p5 you just flash step from cover to cover and do it in seconds.

>>385205716
Why do you counting P5 all out attack but not the P3 and P4 all out attack?

>>385206101
Card shuffle is optional, as is ambushing.

>>385206390
Because it lasts longer. Fucking duh.

>>385206421
So you're agree that P5 is faster then?

>>385206421
>Card shuffle is optional
It's still slow you down
>as is ambushing
In p5 you can easily start every fight with ambush and ambushing makes battle end faster. So on average p5 is faster.

>>385206471
No.

>>385206654
You said it yourself amigo, P3 and P4 all out attack last longer.

>>385206732
Where?

Autism about speedrunning aside, watching those hot debates about P3 vs P5 in story made me realized that the MCs in nu-Persona are all based on a specific Jungian archetype.

P3 is the messiah archetype, exactly what it says on the tin
P4 is the seeker archetype, with the MC searching for the truth instead of seeing what they want to see.
P5 is the trickster archetype, with the MC screwing with society with tricks, wits and sometimes magic.

A side note, it should be very obvious why people tend to shit on P5's premise while praising P3's ending although the trickster archetype is actually more widespread and popular than the messiah archetype in narratives.

So it is actually quite hard to predict what archetype P6 MC will have, since there are not much that can be used a protagonist. Maybe a storyteller where the MC tells a story to summon a persona? Or a faustian archetype?

>>385206771
See>>385206421

>>385206856
Funny to see Persona keep some of it's occultist themes despite shedding off it's "Shin Megami Tensei" title.

>>385208143
Nah this is actually very basic storytelling themes. Not to say P5 isn't the most occult in the series, but that is a different topic altogether.

>>385209462
I'm probably a literature brainlet but your post was great. You mind delving into P5's occultism? Autism aside.

>>385200014
Gameplay wise and romance wise, P5 is an improvement over P3/4, so it might be hard going back to the earlier games if you play P5 first. If you think you can deal with that, then do whatever.

>>385208143
Persona has always been and will always be megaten.

>>385210552
Any occultism P5 had is probably taken from the Mainline what with the final boss being the Dermuige by another name. The trickster archetype is also most suited to the gnostic undertones both Mainline and P5 have since gnostics are rebelling against a shit creator

P5 did talk about a lot of facts about cognition in the teacher's question that seems to paint the picture that matter is a playground of the mind. So much so that the scene of Morganna's ascension, he talked about how matter is subservient to the mind. Hell watching that speech unfold, I genuinely won't be surprised if he suddenly said "The divine spark is within you."

Will have to wait to see if P5 Crimson will reveal a 'hidden character' like Izanami was for P4 or Erebus for P3. If that character is Sophia, that would really tie up P5's occultism and its link to the Mainline

>>385214773
>If that character is Sophia
I'm sorry what?

>>385215057
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophia_(Gnosticism)

I assume that she will be written as the refree of the game between Igor and Ylady, and the reason behind Joker's 'coincidences' (that Sae mentioned) and intertwined fate with Shido and Akechi