Do you need to play Persona 1 and 2 to understand and enjoy Persona 3?

[(ESP)RomaImpera]

I ask because the game is not cheap

[slipped]

No, each game is separate.

[chomskysfavefive]

Nope, this is its own contained story with only small references to the prior entries.

[Colinz]

Not at all.

[Null Winter]

Originally posted by Apparition:

No, each game is separate.

Not wholly true. P1 and P2 pretty much do their own things because they were made as experimental spin-offs without a sure future; it's vaguely implied that Shin Megami Tensei, 1, and 2 all share a universe.

P3, P4, and P5 (and their spin-offs/remakes) all definitely share a canon continuity with constant references (and direct plot involvement in the Arena games) to each other.

@OP: This means P3 is P1/the starting point for the universe the team is currently working within, so it's the best place to start. You can skip the prior games, but you might miss some references and/or metaplot points in P4 and P5 if you skip P3.

[Yürei]

Originally posted by Null Winter:

Originally posted by Apparition:

No, each game is separate.

Not wholly true. P1 and P2 pretty much do their own things because they were made as experimental spin-offs without a sure future; it's vaguely implied that Shin Megami Tensei, 1, and 2 all share a universe.

P3, P4, and P5 (and their spin-offs/remakes) all definitely share a canon continuity with constant references (and direct plot involvement in the Arena games) to each other.

@OP: This means P3 is P1/the starting point for the universe the team is currently working within, so it's the best place to start.

There were hints in P3 that P1/P2 is also connected to P3/P4/P5. Its just that they were never fully connected like Arena and Q1/Q2.

[Someone]

Like the others said you can start with each one, so just to give you some of my advice

If you are not hurting for money you can start with this game without a problem

Otherwise Persona 5 royal is another great starting point and is still a very modern game it is also slightly cheaper and will probably go on sale sometime soon,

However, If you don't have much cash and don't mind PS2 graphics you can also buy Persona 4 golden

[Yürei]

Originally posted by Someone:

Like the others said you can start with each one, so just to give you some of my advice

If you are not hurting for money you can start with this game without a problem

Otherwise Persona 5 royal is another great starting point and is still a very modern game it is also slightly cheaper and will probably go on sale sometime soon,

However, If you don't have much cash and don't mind PS2 graphics you can also buy Persona 4 golden

If we're talking about purely enjoyment for games. I would always recommend playing the older games first if they can already stomach the aging gameplay. P1/P2 are really hard to go back to after playing the modern persona games let alone P5R.

[fender178]

Originally posted by Yürei:

Originally posted by Null Winter:

Not wholly true. P1 and P2 pretty much do their own things because they were made as experimental spin-offs without a sure future; it's vaguely implied that Shin Megami Tensei, 1, and 2 all share a universe.

P3, P4, and P5 (and their spin-offs/remakes) all definitely share a canon continuity with constant references (and direct plot involvement in the Arena games) to each other.

@OP: This means P3 is P1/the starting point for the universe the team is currently working within, so it's the best place to start.

There were hints in P3 that P1/P2 is also connected to P3/P4/P5. Its just that they were never fully connected like Arena and Q1/Q2.

Yup in a certain part in Persona 3 they mention one of the Groups from Persona 1 which one of the characters from P1 is a member of.

Originally posted by Yürei:

Originally posted by Someone:

Like the others said you can start with each one, so just to give you some of my advice

If you are not hurting for money you can start with this game without a problem

Otherwise Persona 5 royal is another great starting point and is still a very modern game it is also slightly cheaper and will probably go on sale sometime soon,

However, If you don't have much cash and don't mind PS2 graphics you can also buy Persona 4 golden

If we're talking about purely enjoyment for games. I would always recommend playing the older games first if they can already stomach the aging gameplay. P1/P2 are really hard to go back to after playing the modern persona games let alone P5R.

Yeah I had a hard time Playing the PSP versions of P1 and P2 after playing P3 but I got into it though for serval hours of game play.

[(ESP)RomaImpera]

Originally posted by Someone:

Like the others said you can start with each one, so just to give you some of my advice

If you are not hurting for money you can start with this game without a problem

Otherwise Persona 5 royal is another great starting point and is still a very modern game it is also slightly cheaper and will probably go on sale sometime soon,

However, If you don't have much cash and don't mind PS2 graphics you can also buy Persona 4 golden

I only finish shin megami tensei V and i like it, I know that the saga persona born of the shin megami, this year by chance they released a remake of a persona game and i decided to give it a try, i hope i like it too

[mutantbeth]

theres like 1% reference of p2 in p3 and then never again after that