I bout to start my first Persona should I begin with this or 5?

[rcketbnny]

any suggest? I know its the same game, but I want to know which one is more immersive for first timer?

[Necrofitz]

Persona 5 is the bigger and more involved game. Persona 3 Reload is a little more straightforward overall. Would honestly pick up P5R at sale price and wishlist this one for later if you end up liking P5.

[Jay]

Either is fine because they're all self-contained stories (with a small amount of references to previous games). Like Necrosis said, P5R is on sale right now so probably a better idea to get that one cheaper, see if you like it, then pick up P4 or P3R after.


My timeline of playing the games was P5 -> P4G -> a couple of hours of P3P - > like 20% of P5R -> P3R, with strikers in there somewhere

[Yürei]

Originally posted by Necrofitz:

Persona 5 is the bigger and more involved game. Persona 3 Reload is a little more straightforward overall. Would honestly pick up P5R at sale price and wishlist this one for later if you end up liking P5.

^
Honestly would just recommend P5R cause its more bang for your buck. Cheaper and better experience for newer players. Not a lot of people like Tartarus and how its basically a tower full of randomly generated floors.

[lilac]

5

[Necrofitz]

Tartarus is just a kind of eh dungeon structure. P3 tends to shine the most outside of the dungeon, while P5 does a much better job making both feel equally engaging and relevant.

[<̴]

5 is 50% off. the choice is easy knowing that.

[TimurSokol]

Both are good but 5 is on sale right now so..

[Scyris]

Originally posted by Yürei:

Originally posted by Necrofitz:

Persona 5 is the bigger and more involved game. Persona 3 Reload is a little more straightforward overall. Would honestly pick up P5R at sale price and wishlist this one for later if you end up liking P5.

^
Honestly would just recommend P5R cause its more bang for your buck. Cheaper and better experience for newer players. Not a lot of people like Tartarus and how its basically a tower full of randomly generated floors.

Yeah I'll admit I never cared for Tartarus much, the stuff in P4 was a bit better as every dungeon had a clear theme and its own song, P5 did this the best though, with how vastly different and unique each dungeon was.

[Necrofitz]

I give Tartarus a pass only because it was their first time trying to make a game in the style that would continue evolving with P4 and P5. I think it does serve its purpose well enough, and while some lament that the lack of the fatigue system makes Tartarus a little too straightforward to explore one session at a time, it isn't that different from how you may approach dungeons in P4 and P5, where generally doing them in only one or two visits is ideal time usage.

[Hauntings]

Originally posted by Jay:

Either is fine because they're all self-contained stories (with a small amount of references to previous games). Like Necrosis said, P5R is on sale right now so probably a better idea to get that one cheaper, see if you like it, then pick up P4 or P3R after.


My timeline of playing the games was P5 -> P4G -> a couple of hours of P3P - > like 20% of P5R -> P3R, with strikers in there somewhere

Yet we are still getting lore connections and some reoccurring lore characters from P1. Granted a lot less in 5.
Like as an example

In the Persona 1 endings you fight a boss who is also the final boss of Persona 3, and the boss mentions that they will return as part of a cycle which is part of Persona 3s plot.

Philemon is also present in every persona game (as a butterfly) and so is Igor.

[SevenNights]

Originally posted by rcketbnny:

any suggest? I know its the same game, but I want to know which one is more immersive for first timer?

Persona 3 Reload is a perfect starting point if you are new to the series. Though, I would recommend playing Persona 4 Golden first if you are not the type who only pick game for it graphic and feel discourage by P4G old graphic. If you prefer beautiful graphic as well as peak story then P3R is absolutely perfect.
Persona 5 Royal is the worst starting point. It has worst characters and reaaaaaaally long bad story which is sugarcoated by edgy graphic. It's overhyped due to being the best-looking Persona game until Persona 3 Reload appears.

[archonsod]

Originally posted by SevenNights:

Persona 5 Royal is the worst starting point. It has worst characters and long-ass bad story which is sugarcoated by edgy graphic.

As opposed to P3, which I can only assume gets a pass on it's story due to at least half the audience being of the age where they thought the average Dragonball Z episode was complicated when they played it. Though on the plus side, the new character models and awkward animation in Reloaded make some of the scenes an unintentionally hilarious mashup between Monty Python and Gerry Anderson.

[crimson]

persona 5 is pretty good, has some generic anime tropes there but still pretty good; Its also on sale too so you can get it for pretty cheap rn. Probably the best to start with but its up to you really. I personally think 3 is the better game so it all comes down to what you're comfortable starting with first

[iriyap]

The biggest difference between the two games is the dungeons.

In Persona 5 you have completely unique dungeons, each with its own theme, enemies and music, various set pieces and puzzles. And at the end of each dungeon you fight a shadow (monster) version of one of the story characters.

Persona 3 on the other hand is much more simplistic. There's only 1 dungeon in the game, and it's just randomized hallways, around 250 floors total. And the chapter bosses are just generic monsters without any story connection (the concept of people having shadows didn't exist yet). The game is much more similar to old dungeon crawlers in this regard.

Apart from this, Persona 5 just has much more content in general. More social links, more stuff to do outside of dungeons, such as various mini-games (darts, baseball, fishing etc), bigger city districts to explore etc.

The story is completely subjective, although it's worth noting that 3's is much more sparse, you can go months in-game without much happening. Themes wise, Persona 3 is darker, although not by a huge amount.

If you've played neither, I'd probably recommend 5 first if you want to be impressed, or 3 first if you want to start with a simpler game.

[Tyreen]

Go with what story you like more. personaly i started with p5R and at some point kinda dropped it. i loved it dont get me wrong and ill go back to it some day for sure. but at some point i didnt really care for the story all that much anymore. its a great game just not my cup of tea. yet im over here eating up anything p3 related. I have fallen in love with its story and characters. both games came into my life at a time where i really needed them. right now im going through some ♥♥♥♥ that is exactly what P3R touches so i currently preffer its story. both are mature masterpieces but P3 is more about accepting death, the dread of life and is overall slightly more mature IN MY PERSONAL OPINION. P5 is also VERY mature touching some more off-putting topics. and its mostly about standing up for yourself and rebelling against what opresses you. to not look away but act. which is a very important message. gameplay wise i havent gotten to the new S.E.E.S wristband yet so i cant tell you anything here. just know that P5s tends to make you just a little mad with some enemies and bosses. though the gun mechanic is something i really would have liked in reload. its fun.
One small tip i have for you is you may wanna give the mangas a read first. Maybe see what story you like most. Protagonists are both great too. i hope this helped lemme know if it did. have a good one