How should/Should I play Persona?

So hearing about Persona 5 from GB has piqued my interest. I had a PS2 growing up but never really was into the anime thing. Now that my tastes are a little more open, I feel like I might enjoy the Persona series. But to be honest I don't know where to start. Do I need to start at the first one? I feel like I don't know much and was wondering if you duders could point me int he right direction.

Skip 1, play 2 all the way through 4.

Go

I'd say just jump into Persona 4 Golden. Don't wanna burn out on the series before 5, right?

If you're interested in Persona 3 at all I would say to play that one before you play Persona 4 The Golden. The QOL improvements in P4G may make it hard to go back to earlier games.

Persona 3 FES then Persona 4 Golden.

You don't need to play them from 1, apart from a few background characters and winks and nods each game is entirely stand alone. P4G is the best one, though it's only on the Vita. You could get it and a Vita TV cheap and play it on a big tv. It'll probably be the cheapest way to actually play it. Then you can get P3P if you like.

Getting actual copies of things like P3FES and P4 might be expensive now.

If you're confused about the editions, then here's a quick recap

• P4G is "Golden" and is the most feature complete version of Persona 4. It's only on Vita.
• Persona 3/P3P/P3FES - all versions of Persona 3 with FES being the most feature complete. P3P is on the Vita/PSP and has a few things scaled back, but it also added in a new main character that lets you play as a girl instead of a boy which has some impact on the story and how other characters talk to you.

So many suggestions! But for the most part the consensus seems to be play P3, then P4G. But I think I'm gonna have a hard time trying to find a way to play Golden.

Never played 1 or 2, but you should play 3 and definitely finish 4. 3 has a lot more bs in it, such as not being able to control party members who get you killed every 5 minutes, and it requires a lot of grinding for levels. 4 and golden are a must play

@z3wpk: It might be a bit of a bum investment, but you can get a PlayStation TV for cheap if you want to play Persona 4 Golden without buying a Vita.

I agree with those saying 3 and 4. But I also see why you might just want to play 4, then 5. It's a lot to do all three. 3 is a great game but less friendly than 4 for sure. If you want to jump into 5 that might make more sense.

I actually watched the P4 ER, then played 3 after. I am not really an anime fan either (with some exceptions) but I really love the school based schedule, social links, and RPG mix. With a great sense of style. I saw what I was getting into with the differences from 4, and didn't want to grind through combat, so I played on Easy and enjoyed doing it that way (let me spend more time out of dungeon as a benefit). I would love to play 4 Golden but just haven't had a way to. Maybe I will do that PS TV suggestion but it is definitely a bum investment for me so I don't know if I go that route.

Also highly recommend the P4 Eundrance Run on the site. It's a good way to see what the game is like as well as probably the best content on the site itself. It's great.

Yes start with Persona 3 FES or portable, then 4 (Golden if possible).

I played the original persona on ps1 waaay back in the day and HATED it lol. I was young and had no idea why the hell this was a school sim and not a monster killing RPG.

I played a good deal of 3 and it's a real good game, I only watched the Endurance Run of 4 but that got me into it. Besides the weird crossover games that have tried to tie the universes of 3 and 4 together they are pretty much stand alone games.

I tried playing Persona 1 a while back. This was on a PSTV, so it was the rereleased PSP version that had a few alterations from the original, including some QoL improvements and, from what I know, a completely redone OST. Even with those changes, it's an incredibly obtuse game to play, and it has aged very poorly. If you really want to play some of the OG Persona games, just play 2.

I know this may be a controversial statement, but I actually prefer Vanilla P4. Objectively, P4G's additions to the gameplay make it better, even though the redone Chance Time makes it stupid easy to just have gold and exp vomited on you. There's just an association with P4G that I can't shake at this point, as it was also around this time that Atlus was clearly showing that P4 is going to be milked for a while. In short, ignore my opinion and get Persona 4 Golden if you have a Vita or PSTV.

I'm now also just going to dump some SMT recommendations, in the case that playing Persona gets you into the franchise as a whole. SMT3: Nocturne is a great JRPG on the PS2, along with the Digital Devil Saga games. If you still want more, there's also the Devil Summoner games with Raidou Kuzunoha. All are readily available on the PS3 PSN in NA.

I'd wait for #5. The other are great but you will burn yourself out on it.

2 is better but just as dated as the first. WAY too many random battles and grinding. playing that without a nostalgia for it in 2016 seems rough.

just play 3 and see what you think and go from there

I'd wait for 5 since they are all so different and you'd be better of getting into that with everyone. In general though play both Persona 2 games, but it's very different than what the series became. P3FES is the best version of P3. P3P is fine, but it's presentation definitely feels scaled down for the PSP and there are some odd story changes. P4G is the best way to go for Golden. No reason I can think of to play the orignal. All of these work with the PSTV believe so if you don't have a Vita those go for pretty cheap now.

with your heart

Piggybacking this thread- what about SMT IV on 3DS? I know it doesn't have the school-system, but is that recommended / a good primer on the SMT systems?

I would pick up P4G.

@dhutch: SMT 4 is a great place to start for SMT games.

@atwa: Agreed, although be warned that the first part of the game will absolutely kick your ass. The difficulty calms down a bit after that but that opening level is pretty brutal.

Just watch the anime for Persona 4, then Golden, then the movies for 3. It will save you a lot of time

@stillrorshak: Do not do this. It's a much worse experience. Play the games at your pace, you're playing games for fun right? It isn't a special obligation you feel you have to fulfill.

2 is skippable, 3 and 4 are more consistent with each other, and from the looks of things, 5 inherits more from them than 1 and 2. That said, 2 is still a great game with a lot of personality and worth checking out. Just less indicative of what that series would become.

Persona 4 golden all the way. I went back to Persona 3 recently and I did not enjoy my time with it at all. Either watch the endurance run, or play P4 or Golden.

If you have a Vita then you should pick up P4Golden at some point, but maybe you should just wait for 5 to come out. There aren't any story ties between games aside from a quick cameo or so, and each game in the franchise improve general playability without sacrificing its unique qualities. The improvements in gameplay from 3 to 4 to Golden feel this way to me anyways.

1 and 2 are very traditional, first person dungeon crawling JRPGs. So while they're great games in their own right, they may not be the most accessible.

Or just say fuck it and get Dancing All Night. It's as good a place as any to start.

@z3wpk: Depends on your time and capacity to burn out. If you you have a lot and a little respectively, then I would say play 3 then 4. Three is very good, but perhaps a bit dated a this point. Four is one of my favorite games of all time. If you don't have the time or think you could burn out, I would just go with the Endurance run for Persona 4. They miss some good Social Link stuff, but get enough that 10 minutes on the internet can't fill in the gaps. Either way, I would check out the endurance run when you can, Vinny and Jeff are fantastic.

Also, I'm gonna be in the minority that says don't play Golden if you have the option. I haven't played it, but aside from the gameplay optimization everything I've seen from it sucks. All the scenarios/writing/cutscenes that I've been exposed to from golden are terrible. And Marie is lame. The "worst" end is pretty cool though.

If you think you might burn out on 70+ hour JRPGs, just wait for five(Endurance Run 4 though). That game looks stronger every time I see it.

As has been mentioned, these games are long and when you finish even one you might not be ready to play another one for a while, so it's worth considering just waiting for 5,

If you play P3, there's a serious consideration to be made between FES and P3P. I played like 10+hours of FES and the lack of control over my other party members was driving me insane, at which point I discovered that in P3P you can control them so I started that instead. This made the combat way easier (and it's probably actually too easy as I stopped playing towards the end due to how often I was in the dungeon just stomping everything but still better than the AI fucking you over constantly which is even more annoying when you're in the dungeon all the time). It's also very visual novel-style in presentation, which some people don't like, but it makes navigation way quicker and easier and when the game is so damn long and requires so much time management and constant going back and forth from different places I very much appreciate just selecting locations instead of actually running around (it gets extremely tedious in the dorm, for example).

@z3wpk: If you don't own a PS vita, I recommend getting a Playstation TV for Persona games. P3P and P4G both work for it, and you can play the other games in the series if you want to go back after. Also, play Catherine if you can; that game is worth your time.

Both Persona 2 games (first Innocent Sin, then Eternal Punishment) are awesome stories, but definitely hard to go back to after playing the later games' gameplay improvements. If classic JRPGs don't appeal to you however, 3 FES is still a good place to start. Persona 4 Golden, if you have a Vita or PSTV (which also lend themselves well for playing the Persona 2 Innocent Sin PSP remake), is the best version of Persona 4, but I would definitely recommend trying Persona 3 first. Perhaps because the combat systems are more similar, I'd imagine it'd be really hard to go back to P3 after playing 4, which improved on the gameplay mechanics in basically every way. Playing 3 first is also important because 3 and 4 have story connections, and nods to 3 will make a lot more sense.1 and 2 admittedly don't have that much to do with the later games.

I can't really speak much to Persona 1, but all of the others I mentioned are really good, and I'll recommend any/all of them. However, as mentioned earlier, P2 plays like a classic JRPG, random encounters and all, so that aspect alone might understandably turn you off of those games.