Which Persona game should I start from?

[RevengeR]

I haven't played any of the games before. Should I play Persona 4 before playing Persona 5?

[Le Rat]

start with 5 and then 4 since you always save the best for last

[Moose]

😂 start with 4 so you get a discount on 5

[Shinigami Miroku]

You don't need to story-wise, because while there are references to several P4 characters they're just momentary blurbs that have absolutely no impact on the story of P5.

With that said, P4 is a great entry point to learning and exploring the mechanics of the Persona series. Which of the two groups you jibe with the most depends, I think, on the sort of experiences you had growing up.

[D]

If you can, I'd go with this:
1) Persona 3 Portable (if not, Persona 3 FES)
2) Persona 4 Golden (PS Vita or PC version, the PS2 version has... less content and other voice actors that... I personally like way less)
3) Persona 4 Dancing all night (continues the story of Golden)
4) Persona 4 Ultimax (there are two fighting games and this one has both included -> they continue the story of 3 and Dancing all night)
5) Persona 5 Royal (it doesn't continue the story of Ultimax and it's its own thing)

At this point, you could go with Persona Q, but nothing that happens in any of the Persona Q or the dancing games for Persona 3 and 5 counts for canon..

If you don't care about canon, this would be the order I'd go for:
5) Persona Q1
6) Persona 5 (it's canon, but for now it doesn't cross with 3 or 4 continuing the story)
7) Persona Q2
8) Persona Dancing in moonlight/starlight
9) Persona Q3

[Loudnt]

Every game has its own self cointained story so you can start with any of them.
With that being said...
Start with Persona 4, it's an amazing and charming game by itself but it might feel akward to go from 5 back to 4 gameplay wise, 5 also has a couple minor references to 4 so yeah... also Persona 3 is quite a rough game so I wouldn't recommend it unless you already like the Persona formula, besides it'll take a while for it to launch on steam anyways.

So yeah, Persona 4 is the best entry point in my opinion.

...although in the rare case you don't like it enough you can jump straight to 5 and it'll be alright.

[Clancy McFancy]

Play them in ORDER.
Start with P1 PSP.

[D]

Originally posted by Clancy McFancy:

Play them in ORDER.
Start with P1 PSP.

[Arifufu]

start from Persona 4 Golden because if u jump directly to Persona 5 Royal u won't appreciate battle system on Persona 4 Golden. Persona 4 Golden and Persona 3 Portable has almost similar battle system, but in general Persona 4 Golden has better battle system than Persona 3 Portable including choose-able skills when fusion. But story wise Persona 3 Portable has the best story, then Persona 4 Golden, then Persona 5 Royal. The best thing is they have separated story, so no matter u try first doesn't even matter. In the end it's your choice and taste, Persona 4 Golden has chibi-like atmosphere while Persona 5 Royal has real person atmosphere.

[TheGeoshark]

Start with Persona 2 and stop after you finish Persona 2. It's the only good Persona Game. After that, play the Shin Megami Tensei games which are better than every Persona game put together.

[Freekill]

Originally posted by RevengeR:

I haven't played any of the games before. Should I play Persona 4 before playing Persona 5?

You need to play in this order and no other order than that.

1- Any mainline you like.

The only way to mess this up is if you play a P2 game on the wrong order, that's a 50% chance, or if you pick an inferior version of said game (P4 instead of P4 Golden, for example, but a quick google will save you).

You could go in order, going backwards will be sightly stressful because each game in the series get more dynamic, faster, and pleasing on the eyes, making jumping in easier, playing P5 then going back into P3 is very annoying to get used to because it's way slower.

Also, spin off games are there if you need that fix.

[Boaboa]

Originally posted by null:

If you can, I'd go with this:
9) Persona Q3

Persona Q3 lol?

[MrDark086]

Persona 1 and 2 are a bit dated by modern standards so they may not be your cup of tea. Otherwise Persona 3 FES or P3P (FES probably has the most content overall but is not as accessible for modern game mechanics compared against P3P), 4 is solid overall and 5 is solid as well. The exact order doesn't really matter but I'd say 3 is a decent starting point and prevents you from trying to deal with the loss of mechanics by playing from 5 backwards.
Sort of like Halo 1 vs Halo 3. Both games are excellent on their own but going from 3 to 1 is going to feel very weird because of some differences in functions and mechanics

[Valimar]

Originally posted by null:

3) Persona 4 Dancing all night (continues the story of Golden)

never heard about this, now I want this one on pc too

[Sweagen]

Originally posted by MoOse:

😂 start with 4 so you get a discount on 5

I have Persona 4 Golden how do I get the discount? o.o

[Burdpal]

Originally posted by Sweagen:

Originally posted by MoOse:

😂 start with 4 so you get a discount on 5

I have Persona 4 Golden how do I get the discount? o.o

There was no discount for P5 for existing owners of P4.