Basically I've never played any of the Persona games but I did watch the Endurance Run and so I fell in love with the story and characters of 4 and I'm super excited for Arena.

However I know nothing of any of the other games and Arena has me interested in Persona 3, only problem is, I have no way to play it. It's not on the European PSN store (at least for PS3), my PS3 doesn't play PS2 games, and my psp stopped working a while ago for some reason.

Is it integral to play Persona 3 before Arena?

Also If anyone knows any other ways I could play 3 I'd appreciate a point in the right direction. I could get an american psn card off of ebay but most sellers of cards will not sell to new users or the postage would take 15+ days and they refuse to email me the code instead.

Any help is appreciated duders!

Well not really tho u would get more out of it if u did just by knowing the characters. Regardless tho i feel like anyone who likes rpgs should play p3 it's a really good game, but you will still be able to enjoy p4u just fine if u don't

@tallTuck94: All you really need to know is that Mitsuru is like Yukiko, and Akihiko is like Kanji (except Akihiko doesn't really have any funny moments). If you are going to go into Persona 3 you should probably try to find a cheap PSP to play it, unless you want to go into FES mode on the PS2 version.

How do you feel about watching a play-through on YouTube instead of actually going through the trouble to play it? I looked one up for you.

Otherwise, I would recommend playing Persona 3 if you can, while the P3 characters give hints in P4A, you never quite get the full picture. You do however get an accurate representation of who Mitsuru, Akihiko and Aigis are and what they're all about. Though I haven't seen the ending of P4A, so you should ask someone who's seen it if it completely spoils P3.

Is it still relatively easy to find either game? I've never played Persona or Shin Megami Tensei, and I'm hesitant to watch a playthrough because I'd rather leave the story unspoiled.

No, not really. You'll get more out of it, but P3 is 80 hours and if you're not up for the task, you'll enjoy P4A plenty. I
 

@Xtrminatr

@tallTuck94: All you really need to know is that Mitsuru is like Yukiko, and Akihiko is like Kanji (except Akihiko doesn't really have any funny moments).

@FLStyle: Thanks for the idea about watching it on youtube, I think if I can't play it that's what i'll end up doing. Although I'm not sure if i'd prefer one with commentary. Though that might be weird without Jeff and Vinny as the voices.

@Xtrminatr said:

@tallTuck94: All you really need to know is that Mitsuru is like Yukiko, and Akihiko is like Kanji (except Akihiko doesn't really have any funny moments). If you are going to go into Persona 3 you should probably try to find a cheap PSP to play it, unless you want to go into FES mode on the PS2 version.

This, except for the character stuff.

@tallTuck94 said:

@FLStyle: Thanks for the idea about watching it on youtube, I think if I can't play it that's what i'll end up doing. Although I'm not sure if i'd prefer one with commentary. Though that might be weird without Jeff and Vinny as the voices.

I believe if you swap Let's Play with play-through in the search field you should find some with commentary.

@medacris: Should be relatively easy to find any Persona game by this point. The first two are on PSP, 3 is on the PS2 and PSP, and 4 is on the PS2 and coming the Vita later this year.

@medacris said:

Is it still relatively easy to find either game? I've never played Persona or Shin Megami Tensei, and I'm hesitant to watch a playthrough because I'd rather leave the story unspoiled.

If you are in the US, yes. P3 is playable on the PS3 via download as well as P3P for the PSP/Vita.. P4 can be ordered from Amazon and P4 Golden arrives Oct 30 for the Vita.

I wish they would just bloody release the PS2 Classic on the Europe store. What's stopping them? It's only a bloody file they have to release! Maybe it's got something to do with Koei? I have no idea.

@mutha3 said:

No, not really. You'll get more out of it, but P3 is 80 hours and if you're not up for the task, you'll enjoy P4A plenty. I

@Xtrminatr

said:

@tallTuck94: All you really need to know is that Mitsuru is like Yukiko, and Akihiko is like Kanji (except Akihiko doesn't really have any funny moments).

Mitsuru is confident and competent. How insulting! And Akihiko resembles Chie way more than Kanji, character-wise. His similarities with Kanji begin and end at their hair colors and being able to use electricity, imo.

I said Yukiko when I should have probably said Naoto in the fact that they are both extremely serious and intelligent characters. I also find Akihiko more like Kanji in the fact that he is also a pretty serious character, and isn't the uplifting character type that Chie is.

@mutha3 said:

No, not really. You'll get more out of it, but P3 is 80 hours and if you're not up for the task, you'll enjoy P4A plenty. I

@Xtrminatr

said:

@tallTuck94: All you really need to know is that Mitsuru is like Yukiko, and Akihiko is like Kanji (except Akihiko doesn't really have any funny moments).

Mitsuru is confident and competent. How insulting! And Akihiko resembles Chie way more than Kanji, character-wise. His similarities with Kanji begin and end at their hair colors and being able to use electricity, imo.

Chie's joke ending in story mode makes it very clear she and Aki are two birds of a feather.

@Turambar said:

@mutha3 said:

No, not really. You'll get more out of it, but P3 is 80 hours and if you're not up for the task, you'll enjoy P4A plenty. I

@Xtrminatr

said:

@tallTuck94: All you really need to know is that Mitsuru is like Yukiko, and Akihiko is like Kanji (except Akihiko doesn't really have any funny moments).

Mitsuru is confident and competent. How insulting! And Akihiko resembles Chie way more than Kanji, character-wise. His similarities with Kanji begin and end at their hair colors and being able to use electricity, imo.

Chie's joke ending in story mode makes it very clear she and Aki are two birds of a feather.

I haven't beaten story mode, just going based on what I felt playing through the main games. I never really found Akihiko to be much of a joker other than the very few jokes he says in the game. He seems more like the take no prisoners and get it done character from what I remember, but it's also been a few years. Either way, the game is super easy to get, and the OP should probably just play it in general. I'm sure you could probably find someone to sell you a code from the US if that's your only choice.