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Persona where and how do I even start?
- Thread starter Spyxos
- Start date
killatopak
Member
5 should be the best place to start with all the qol improvements. Time mechanics is fine. There is no rush to get all social link maxed. The only requirement that is a major thing are two or three links for the true ending. They aren’t even needed to be maxed since that’s not possible until you unlock the true ending segment of the game.
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Punished Miku
Gold Member
Step 1: get a silk collar DBZ shirt from Hot Topic
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Calling 911 Melts Beams
Banned
a 50% complete save for persona 5 strikers would be a great place to start
Spyxos
Gold Member
Isn't that a different game?
spons
Gold Member
What?
As for the question... just start with 5 Royale and play Strikers after that.
Captain Toad
Banned
Fixed
TwiztidElf
Member
Like the others, I agree, probably best to start with 5 Royale.
I'm not sure if they changed it in Royale or not, but you do have a time window on palaces, and if you leave closure of the palace to the last minute you can run out of time, and have to re-do the palace (or revert to an earlier save if you stagger saves. (Can't remember if you can stagger saves in P5 or not - it's been a while)).
sloppyjoe_gamer
Gold Member
P5 was my first and i fell in love with the series there! 117hrs i sunk into that one, id recommend that one. I currently just started P4 Golden and i love it already!
Chukhopops
Member
5 is the most accessible even though it’s not my favorite.
I guess doing 5 > 4 > 3 is not a bad idea, that way you’ll go deeper and deeper each time from a gameplay point of view.
Also Strikers is fantastic, even if you don’t like standard Musou gameplay.
I guess doing 5 > 4 > 3 is not a bad idea, that way you’ll go deeper and deeper each time from a gameplay point of view.
Also Strikers is fantastic, even if you don’t like standard Musou gameplay.
Comandr
Member
None of the persona games are related to one another. They’re like final fantasy games in that sense. There is some pressure to achieve your goals because you are playing specific days on a calendar. You typically have less than a school year ish to achieve everything, so you can definitely miss out on things if you planned poorly.
That said, as long as you aren’t deliberately wasting time you shouldn’t have any problems.
Play 5 and never look back.
That said, as long as you aren’t deliberately wasting time you shouldn’t have any problems.
Play 5 and never look back.
NeoIkaruGAF
Gold Member
Just play it. Know that you will make mistakes, that the game will make decisions for you when you least want it, that you won’t max out everything in a single playthrough and you will always be wondering if you screwed up something irreparably (the answer is yes).
Pimpollo818
Member
Here's what I did:
Persona 5 Royal (it is LONG, toward the end I lowered the difficulty to easy and just rushed through the end). The beginning (first dozen hours) was my favorite bit.
Persona 4 Golden: I lowered the difficulty as I realized my fav bit was the social/narrative bits of the game. Having a blast. Much better cast and social link progression than the above.
Both have excellent soundtracks. But yeah my pro-tip is: if you don't enjoy the combat as much as the narrative talky bits, lower the difficulty so you can get to that part faster.
Persona 5 Royal (it is LONG, toward the end I lowered the difficulty to easy and just rushed through the end). The beginning (first dozen hours) was my favorite bit.
Persona 4 Golden: I lowered the difficulty as I realized my fav bit was the social/narrative bits of the game. Having a blast. Much better cast and social link progression than the above.
Both have excellent soundtracks. But yeah my pro-tip is: if you don't enjoy the combat as much as the narrative talky bits, lower the difficulty so you can get to that part faster.
Spyxos
Gold Member
Why ignore the old ones? Poorly aged?
SantaC
Member
Yes exactly
Fbh
Member
The stories are standalone so there's no problem starting with 5 though of course if you go back to 4 later on some aspects will feel a bit dated (specially the visuals and dungeons).
With that said IMO 4 has a better story and cast and isn't quite as unnecessarily long and bloated as 5.
If you want the good parts of Persona without the highschool weeb crap play Nocturne, SMTV and SMTV
With that said IMO 4 has a better story and cast and isn't quite as unnecessarily long and bloated as 5.
If you want the good parts of Persona without the highschool weeb crap play Nocturne, SMTV and SMTV
Fbh
Member
Shin Megami Tensei is basically the combat/demon fusing of Persona but with a darker tone and without all the higschool stuff and social elements.
Though it's older it is way less popular as the social stuff is what people tend to like the most about Persona
But if you find yourself enjoying the combat and dungeons of Persona more than plot it's worth checking it out.
Sleepwalker
Member
I was in the same spot you are a couple months ago, my solution was to play something else and not bother with this series at all.
Rambone
Member
Probably meant to say SMT IV.
nowhat
Member
I maintain that without a guide, especially on a first run, it's practically impossible to max out your personal stats/social links in P5. It's always fucking Morgana getting in your way all the time. With Royal, it's much easier/feasible.
I'm kinda torn WRT the story/characters, but when it comes to bloat and length, so much agreed. I don't think the added "epilogue" in Royal was needed at all. At least there's the consolidation waifu, if you haven't managed to score thus far.
And as a hint for P5 - this is very generic, but spoiler-tagging it just in case: you'll want to get your social link with the doctor up to the level that you'll be able to get the SP Adhesive. Basically you'll receive a little bit of SP back every turn for every character that has that equipped. It will make a world of difference, trust me.
Pejo
Member
If you can stomach the graphics at this point, 4 Golden is a great place to start out. 5 Royal is probably the best Persona game, but you likely won't want to go back and play any of the others because of the QoL improvements and visuals, so if you only have interest in playing 1 game, do 5 Royal.
Impotaku
Member
5R is an amazing place to start, if you intend to go through it a couple of times you don't have to worry about maxing out all social links but its a LONG game so if you only plan on doing it once then you must max out
these 2 are essential to get the proper ending with the new content if you miss maxing out friendship with these 2 new characters you will only get to go as far as the original ending before royal added more and you'll have to do the whole thing again to see the new ending. All the others characters you can leave if you wanted but all have interesting bonuses for becoming better friends with them all with some having really great social perks.
Personally it sits unchallenged at the top of my best RPG games i have ever played list, the characters are all likeable & by the end i felt genuine sadness that i was going to part ways with them all and the game was going to end. It was the only reason i bought strikers so i could hang out with them on a new story as i didn't like the muso style battle system of strikers.
Yoshizawa & Maruki
Personally it sits unchallenged at the top of my best RPG games i have ever played list, the characters are all likeable & by the end i felt genuine sadness that i was going to part ways with them all and the game was going to end. It was the only reason i bought strikers so i could hang out with them on a new story as i didn't like the muso style battle system of strikers.
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Paltheos
Member
"There are three 'modern' Persona games" is the popular understanding - 3, 4, and 5. I have played all of them (in particular, the enhanced versions of each). A brief rundown of my thoughts:
Persona 3 FES: Does a good job of establishing an ominous feeling of foreboding in the background. Strong intro at the start as a result and the conclusion is the most compelling of the three games, but the second act suffers from meandering and from weak, secondary antagonists. Mechanically the game is the roughest (unsurprisingly) but the restrictions placed on you in combat can make for some fun encounters from time to time.
Persona 4 Golden: Nails the cozy, small town feel perfectly. The scooby gang you assemble to investigate the mystery of the town has great chemistry too and, together with the first point, is the main reason people rightly love this game so much - It's the best 'what if', fantasy high school simulator game.
Persona 5 Royal: It's just Persona 4 again but worse. It's the same scenario at its core but plot developments tend to be dumber, and the cast doesn't have the same chemistry as the last game's to make it all come together (it's tough to summarize without going into a diatribe, but I think the characters, while well-executed, are at odds with the design philosophy that had been ripped from Persona 4). What Persona 5 does have going for it though is that it is ridiculously stylish. So, so stylish. Every visual and mechanical element has been improved from the last entry.
All that said, I think 4 might be the best place to start, as it's the best one imo. Allot of people prefer 5 though (and have said as such here). If you're still interested after playing one of the games, then ask for more and recommendations can be made as to where to go from there (I want to believe the core of Persona 3 stands the test of time).
Persona 3 FES: Does a good job of establishing an ominous feeling of foreboding in the background. Strong intro at the start as a result and the conclusion is the most compelling of the three games, but the second act suffers from meandering and from weak, secondary antagonists. Mechanically the game is the roughest (unsurprisingly) but the restrictions placed on you in combat can make for some fun encounters from time to time.
Persona 4 Golden: Nails the cozy, small town feel perfectly. The scooby gang you assemble to investigate the mystery of the town has great chemistry too and, together with the first point, is the main reason people rightly love this game so much - It's the best 'what if', fantasy high school simulator game.
Persona 5 Royal: It's just Persona 4 again but worse. It's the same scenario at its core but plot developments tend to be dumber, and the cast doesn't have the same chemistry as the last game's to make it all come together (it's tough to summarize without going into a diatribe, but I think the characters, while well-executed, are at odds with the design philosophy that had been ripped from Persona 4). What Persona 5 does have going for it though is that it is ridiculously stylish. So, so stylish. Every visual and mechanical element has been improved from the last entry.
All that said, I think 4 might be the best place to start, as it's the best one imo. Allot of people prefer 5 though (and have said as such here). If you're still interested after playing one of the games, then ask for more and recommendations can be made as to where to go from there (I want to believe the core of Persona 3 stands the test of time).
Kurotri
Member
Start with P5 Royal 100%. It's the best entry point. Reason being is that it is the most modern and accessible out of them. And once you get into the groove and fall in love with it, going back to the older ones will be a piece of cake. That's how I did it. My route was 5 Royal > 3 Fes > 4 Golden.
TheUsual
Gold Member
I'm actually playing a P3Fes right now for the first time. 60 hours in and enjoying it. Playing via emulation on my PC. My only compliant has been Save locations. Save states have been a godsend for me. Was waiting originally for the P3P version on Game pass but decided to go this route. I've had the disc and never played it.
Got into the series with 4 when OG Giant Bomb did the Endurance Run. Glad they did that series because it opened me up to this series.
Got into the series with 4 when OG Giant Bomb did the Endurance Run. Glad they did that series because it opened me up to this series.
Gambit2483
Member
If you start with P5 just realize you're working your way back in terms of visuals/presentation (and even gameplay design).
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Spaceman292
Banned
3, 4, 5
Hard to go back to P3 after playing P5. P3's dark and serious story shouldn't be missed. I'd start with 3 or 4 before 5.
3 and 4 are great palate cleansers, so different. P5 is more of its own thing entirely as well. I also wouldn't ignore P5 Strikers, was much better than it had any right to be.
3 and 4 are great palate cleansers, so different. P5 is more of its own thing entirely as well. I also wouldn't ignore P5 Strikers, was much better than it had any right to be.