Wanting to get into Persona franchise but...

[GeezusCryst]

What games should i get starting out? This game have so many titles i just don't know where to begin.

I have some experience with shin megami tensei 3 nocturne havent beat it yet and going on 30hrs atm i enjoy the dark tone but i notice this game doesn't have it which is fine.

[.]

I'm not going to lie to you: you don't.

There's a ton of better series out there. However, if you really want the only good game in the franchise? Go play 2: Innocent Sin.

[Pyro3000]

Persona 3 and Persona 3 FES definitely have a dark tone. This one SHOULD have a dark tone, but I don't feel like the new art style, interface, and revamped music really sell it the way the PS2 versions, and even P3P (which is worse than this game for entirely other reasons) managed to.

[GeezusCryst]

Originally posted by Garbage:

I'm not going to lie to you: you don't.

There's a ton of better series out there. However, if you really want the only good game in the franchise? Go play 2: Innocent Sin.

I guess i keep doing more digging then i wasn't expecting this answer.

[GeezusCryst]

Originally posted by Pyro3000:

Persona 3 and Persona 3 FES definitely have a dark tone. This one SHOULD have a dark tone, but I don't feel like the new art style, interface, and revamped music really sell it the way the PS2 versions, and even P3P (which is worse than this game for entirely other reasons) managed to.

I look into the older version then.

[Yuuki]

Originally posted by ♥♥♥♡♡♡♡♡♡♡:

What games should i get starting out? This game have so many titles i just don't know where to begin.

I have some experience with shin megami tensei 3 nocturne havent beat it yet and going on 30hrs atm i enjoy the dark tone but i notice this game doesn't have it which is fine.

its a lot like final fantasy in that regards.
The game are losely connected in the sense that the play in the same world/universe but are independent enough that you can start anywhere.
Only exception are the two persona 2 games, those are closer tied together.

Otherwise you will just have some easter eggs.
For example in p5r you have poster of idol who will have a comeback. The idol is a party member in Persona 4 (Rise)

[SeriousSpy]

Ignore him.

I'd suggest 5 Royal, or this. They play very similarly, though I personally prefer 5R.
For what its worth, this is available on Gamepass at them moment, so you can give it a play for cheap.

[Yuuki]

Originally posted by ♥♥♥♡♡♡♡♡♡♡:

Originally posted by Pyro3000:

Persona 3 and Persona 3 FES definitely have a dark tone. This one SHOULD have a dark tone, but I don't feel like the new art style, interface, and revamped music really sell it the way the PS2 versions, and even P3P (which is worse than this game for entirely other reasons) managed to.

I look into the older version then.

mind you p3(fes) is really outdated gameplay wise.
IF you dont hate the art style is best to start with this game if you want to start with p3

[Pyro3000]

Originally posted by Yuuki:

Originally posted by ♥♥♥♡♡♡♡♡♡♡:

I look into the older version then.

mind you p3(fes) is really outdated gameplay wise.
IF you dont hate the art style is best to start with this game if you want to start with p3

FES still stands up strong. The only real issue it has is that, if you want to heal outside of combat, you have to navigate a lot of menus to get the whole party healed up at an efficient SP cost.

[jdulzo]

Originally posted by ♥♥♥♡♡♡♡♡♡♡:

Originally posted by Garbage:

I'm not going to lie to you: you don't.

There's a ton of better series out there. However, if you really want the only good game in the franchise? Go play 2: Innocent Sin.

I guess i keep doing more digging then i wasn't expecting this answer.

Ignore him, 3 is a good place to start, and out of Persona 3, 4, and 5 (each have a similar structure) it also is the darkest, but that doesn't mean the others don't have dark moments.
Just make sure you are fine with a slice of life mixed with dungeon crawling game.

Persona 1 and both persona 2 are both closer to tradition jrpg with some of the dark elements from SMT.

[Dank Sidious]

Originally posted by ♥♥♥♡♡♡♡♡♡♡:

Originally posted by Garbage:

I'm not going to lie to you: you don't.

There's a ton of better series out there. However, if you really want the only good game in the franchise? Go play 2: Innocent Sin.

I guess i keep doing more digging then i wasn't expecting this answer.

innocent sin is aniche gaming nerd answer. It's pretty pretentious to suggest that to someone who's completely new to the series in 2024. The game is old and outdated and if you aren't into what can be considered retro by modern standards you will find it hard to focus on it.

There's also this whole thing with Persona 2 where it's actually a duology and you are better off experiencing both of them. It makes things even more confusing for a newbie.

If you want a more down to earth answer. Persona 5 royal is generally the most approachable and modern game in the series. Persona 5 is what made persona games known, by more mainstream audiences.

Persona 3 Reload is a modern remake of a PS2 era game and while it modernizes it quite a bit some of those older more clunkier design choices that are still present.

Depending on your gaming history P3 might appeal to you just fine, but Persona 5 is the safest recommendation for a newbie, and I would suggest you still start with that.

[Dank Sidious]

Originally posted by Pyro3000:

Originally posted by Yuuki:

mind you p3(fes) is really outdated gameplay wise.
IF you dont hate the art style is best to start with this game if you want to start with p3

FES still stands up strong. The only real issue it has is that, if you want to heal outside of combat, you have to navigate a lot of menus to get the whole party healed up at an efficient SP cost.

If you ask me FES didn't stand up strong even when it was new. I almost skipped the entire SMT franchise because of how much I disliked Persona 3. Thankfully I played Nocturne and Digital Devil saga which were great and Then played Persona 5 and 4 because someone I trust told me that they weren't nearly as awful. Glad I did.

So Persona 3 was so bad it almost ruined the rest of the franchise for me. As I understand P3 Royal fixes a lot of what was wrong with P3 or P3FES just like P4 did.

[Pyro3000]

Originally posted by Dank Sidious:

Originally posted by Pyro3000:

FES still stands up strong. The only real issue it has is that, if you want to heal outside of combat, you have to navigate a lot of menus to get the whole party healed up at an efficient SP cost.

If you ask me FES didn't stand up strong even when it was new. I almost skipped the entire SMT franchise because of how much I disliked Persona 3. Thankfully I played Nocturne and Digital Devil saga which were great and Then played Persona 5 and 4 because someone I trust told me that they weren't nearly as awful. Glad I did.

So Persona 3 was so bad it almost ruined the rest of the franchise for me. As I understand P3 Royal fixes a lot of what was wrong with P3 or P3FES just like P4 did.

What exactly did you hate about Persona 3 that you think is fixed with a significantly easier remake that cuts social links?

[Yuuki]

Originally posted by Pyro3000:

Originally posted by Yuuki:

mind you p3(fes) is really outdated gameplay wise.
IF you dont hate the art style is best to start with this game if you want to start with p3

FES still stands up strong. The only real issue it has is that, if you want to heal outside of combat, you have to navigate a lot of menus to get the whole party healed up at an efficient SP cost.

not really the biggest issues are still there. its relience on the bogus partymember ai.

[Pyro3000]

Originally posted by Yuuki:

Originally posted by Pyro3000:

FES still stands up strong. The only real issue it has is that, if you want to heal outside of combat, you have to navigate a lot of menus to get the whole party healed up at an efficient SP cost.

not really the biggest issues are still there. its relience on the bogus partymember ai.

I greatly preferred not being able to control the party member actions directly, and I actually have issues with the party AI for Reload (mainly that they'll use the recovery items in your inventory to revive characters), but just like in the original, it just takes learning how characters act with each setting. Being able to control party members has made all of the latest Persona games a complete joke because of how easy it is to set up All Out Attacks vs actually needing to reveal enemy weaknesses in order to get your party to do it. The tactics gameplay was interesting enough that I was able to forgive the Marin Karins.

[Dank Sidious]

Originally posted by Pyro3000:

Originally posted by Dank Sidious:

If you ask me FES didn't stand up strong even when it was new. I almost skipped the entire SMT franchise because of how much I disliked Persona 3. Thankfully I played Nocturne and Digital Devil saga which were great and Then played Persona 5 and 4 because someone I trust told me that they weren't nearly as awful. Glad I did.

So Persona 3 was so bad it almost ruined the rest of the franchise for me. As I understand P3 Royal fixes a lot of what was wrong with P3 or P3FES just like P4 did.

What exactly did you hate about Persona 3 that you think is fixed with a significantly easier remake that cuts social links?

Tartarus was a horribly boring dungeon, The combat itself was particularly uninspiring and quite bare bones particularly since you could only control the MC. To me it didn't hold up to other JRPGs i've played. The whole social sim element I didn't like in any persona game, but in P3 it was particularly boring to play. Even to this day I only tolerate it in P4 and P5, but at least dungeoneering and character progression was more fun in P4 and P5 and could hold the game up for me despite the social sim.

The reason why I liked Digital Devil Saga and not P3 despite DDS being pretty simplistic too is that at least I didn't have to suffer the social simulator between the mediocre dungeon crawling and the actual story of the game. DDS was a much more traditional and balanced JRPG experience P3 Felt like an utter mess in comparison.

As I understand the gameplay of P3 Royal is actually closer to P4 and P5 than P3. I know nothing about social links being cut compared to FES. I assumed that wasn't the case?