What is the best Persona game?

The best Persona game is...

  • Persona 3 (including FES, Portable, and Reload)

  • Persona 4 (including Golden)

  • Persona 5 (including Royal)

Results are only viewable after voting.
My preference is P4G. I like its characters and their interaction the best out of the series. While dungeons aren't the best, they are short and sweet so to speak and theme music is generally great.

P2 duology has the best story but gameplay is too clunky.

P3 FES / P3R characters feel like coworkers and story drags in the middle. Tartarus gets boring.

P5/P5R has best graphics, combat system and style but characters just don't do it for me, everything drags on including repetition in conversations. And dungeons while great in theory, overstay their welcome as they keep dragging on and on without enough save points to take a damn break.

So yeah, P4/P4G is the best one in the series.

Edit: P1 - lol.
 
kunonabi said:
4 has some rancid pacing, especially the beginning and the stuff with the "true mastermind" was lame and felt tacked on. Not as egregious as the ending of 5 but still. It still has the best cast and premise of the new persona games though.
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It doesn't compare to either 3 or 5. Like I said, 3 takes like half a game to get going, while 5 starts with a motherfucking bang and falls off a cliff after the first palace and takes forever to recover.

A lot of 4's flaws and pacing issues are hidden very well because the characters are a joy to be around and the game is "short" compared to something like 5 and 5 Royal. Those can take from 100 up to 150 hours to finish, which is just insane.
 
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Persona 4 is the only one I've liked. I'm just a sucker for the Scooby Doo murder mystery vibes. I've never made it more than a few hours into any other title in the series.
 
P4. P5 surpasses it in so many areas, visuals, music, battle system, etc, but ultimately P5 fails with characters and story. The localization is bad so its hard to tell how much this problem is in the original script or the translation.
 
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I've only played 4 and 5, both in their Vanilla version.

Overall I liked 5 better. While the story is slightly better in 4, I found 5 more fun to play due to the superior combat and dungeons. It's also visually and stylistically superior.

I like SMT 3 and 4 better than any Persona game though. (SMT5 I'd put around the level of enjoyment of Persona 5)
 
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I keep hearing people say 4 is the best and I'm currently torn between continuing my playthough of the recent Remaster or waiting for the New Remake...😕

Any suggestions?
 
Touch fuzZy. get BizZay said:
P4. P5 surpasses it in so many areas, visuals, music, battle system, etc, but ultimately P5 fails with characters and story. The localization is bad so its hard to tell how much this problem is in the original script or the translation.
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I played it in Japanese and thought the story was bad, so probably not just the fault of the localisation.
Gambit2483 said:
I keep hearing people say 4 is the best and I'm currently torn between continuing my playthough of the recent Remaster or waiting for the New Remake...😕

Any suggestions?
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Finish playing it, and then play it again when the remake comes out.
 
4>3>5 is pretty clear imo.

4 captures a joy from simulating some idealized form of high school. It's such a fun, comfortable experience from beginning to end. The murder mystery plot lazes along almost in the background but it's never really a problem (and then Naoto comes and supercharges the plot into high gear which is... eh). New Golden content is generally solid, except for Marie who didn't really need to exist?

3 is a game with a central theme and message, which is more than can be said for the sequels which are thrill rides all the way. There are a good number of magical scenes, but the game is also janky af, especially the original technically and even the remake due to some crap scenes and a chunk of the cast (some of the villains in particular). Tartarus is a lot of fun to climb though, more than 4's RNG dungeons, even if those have their own aesthetics. Reload content fills a lot of holes in the game; FES was notably empty in the second act which is still not paced great; P3 is best at the beginning and end.

5 is just 4 again, but worse. The game's an artistic achievement but in every other regard, especially the writing, it's just worse than 4. Both literally, at least for vanilla which was localized like shit although Royal fixed and even rerecorded a bunch of lines to improve the script, and overall: The Phantom Thieves are kind of bumbling idiots, painted by the game's style to be edgy and rebellious but really just doing whatever for most of the runtime, when they're not being blackmailed. The bond between the cast the game tries shoving in your face doesn't really resonate. In 4, you're in a gang brought together in a small, backwater village into something feeling special. P5 takes place in an enormous city, and the gang's mostly doing their own thing when they're not down to business.

Touch fuzZy. get BizZay said:
P4. P5 surpasses it in so many areas, visuals, music, battle system, etc, but ultimately P5 fails with characters and story. The localization is bad so its hard to tell how much this problem is in the original script or the translation.
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Both. The scenario doesn't make the most of itself at all, but the original script at its worst is dogwater, a huge disappointment coming off P4's pristine localization (bar-setting for me at the time). To Atlus' credit, they reworked much of the worst stuff in Royal. Even revoiced lines. They know they screwed up. (I haven't personally forgiven them for the vanilla P5 screw-up. It was so bad I actually dropped the game past the intro, and P5 had been the game I'd most been looking forward to that year)
 
Paltheos said:
Both. The scenario doesn't make the most of itself at all, but the original script at its worst is dogwater, a huge disappointment coming off P4's pristine localization (bar-setting for me at the time). To Atlus' credit, they reworked much of the worst stuff in Royal. Even revoiced lines. They know they screwed up. (I haven't personally forgiven them for the vanilla P5 screw-up. It was so bad I actually dropped the game past the intro, and P5 had been the game I'd most been looking forward to that year)
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The intro? I also dropped it without completing it but I still got past half way. I had been dying for that game to come out for 9 frickin' years. It lived it up to my high expectations in all areas except the most important ones. Went back and played through the whole thing to the end when royal came out.

Right now I'm worried about how bad they are gonna screw up the remake of 4.
 
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P2 Eternal Punishment was amazing. P1 had a certain charm when I played it on PS1 back in the day. Tried to play Innocent in recently on the PSTV but it seems to be bugged.
The difference going into P3, I felt was drastic, so I cannot comment on the series from there onward.
 
Sorcerer said:
P2 Eternal Punishment was amazing. P1 had a certain charm when I played it on PS1 back in the day. Tried to play Innocent in recently on the PSTV but it seems to be bugged.
The difference going into P3, I felt was drastic, so I cannot comment on the series from there onward.
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I tried to get into innocent sin but the PSP release is so damn easy I lost interest in like the first dungeon. I really should try powering through it.
 
GateofD said:
3 - best story
4 - best characters
5 - best gameplay
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This pretty much sums it up however I would add that I think that.
Persona 4 also has the best music.

I like Persona 5 but I don't see how anybody could think it's their favorite unless it was their first Persona game which I know for a lot of people it was.
 
I think 4 Golden has the best overall characters and soundtrack and the best cozy environment. But I fear that a remake of 4 could not do justice to the feeling of playing it ages ago on a Vita (and probably me being younger.....).
Surely 5 as other suggests has the best gameplay and is the best overall modern game.
3... Played p3p (on Vita) and p3r but both did not resonated with me like 4 and 5.... I think because the cast is maybe way too cold ?!?
 
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4 is my personal favorite but I can concede to the others if they're yours.

They all have their own strength and weaknesses that your ranking depends on what you prefer.
 
Started Persona games with P4G on Vita. So that game is my GOAT with Dragon Age: Origins. Everything about P4G is flawless for me.

Played P3FES after P4G. Nearly same experience with P4G. And I'm admitting that if I were to play P3FES first, that would have been my GOAT of all time. That's how good 3 and 4 games are.

At the same time I love P5 also. But P5 became too mainstream after the popularity of Persona games. Story became too predictable. Nevertheless at its core it is a very very solid Persona game.
 
My play order was: P4 > P5 > P4G > P5R > P3R

Funny enough, Persona 3 Reload resonated with me the most, even though it was the last one I got around to. I felt it had the most to say about real day-to-day life with the memento mori stuff. The art style was great, the combat as good as ever and flashy, and I liked the Tartarus grind.

So my ranking is P3>P4>P5, but honestly, I love em all.
 
what did everyone think of P5 Strikers. I thought it was pretty good, and kind of surprised they actually pumped out an actual continuation out. Felt more than just a big DLC.
 
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executor said:
I think 4 Golden has the best overall characters and soundtrack and the best cozy environment. But I fear that a remake of 4 could not do justice to the feeling of playing it ages ago on a Vita (and probably me being younger.....).
Surely 5 as other suggests has the best gameplay and is the best overall modern game.
3... Played p3p (on Vita) and p3r but both did not resonated with me like 4 and 5.... I think because the cast is maybe way too cold ?!?
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P3P FMC route is a lot better, IMO, because the crew feels closer together (except for Ken, WTF).

It's a shame Atlus didn't bother with FMC route even as a paid expansion. I was hoping for P3 R Super Blue or something that would include that option, but no cigar.
 
hououinkyouma00 said:
This pretty much sums it up however I would add that I think that.
Persona 4 also has the best music.

I like Persona 5 but I don't see how anybody could think it's their favorite unless it was their first Persona game which I know for a lot of people it was.
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Guilty :pie_gsquint:

I really enjoyed 5, it got my vote and was the first one I played lol
 
Innocent Sin on PSP hit harder for me. Would be nice to see a remake of it. The original PS2 release of Persona 4 is a close second but I never played Eternal Punishment and the original.
 
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GateofD said:
what did everyone think of P5 Strikers. I thought it was pretty good, and kind of surprised they actually pumped out an actual continuation out. Felt more than just a big DLC.
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It took me a minute to remember I played through it. I love Personas 3-5, but the characters in 5 feel the most cartoony of those to me. So between the characters and gameplay being different, I wasn't a big fan of Strikers, and would rather have had something similar with the 3 or 4 cast.
 
Persona 2 (both parts) are probably the best, but the translation isn't great, and combat has aged poorly. Honestly, Persona 1 & 2 deserved remasters well before P4 did and hopefully they will get them one day.

Of the new Persona games, P4 is probably the better game but I personally like the cast and story of P3 the best. P5 was fine but it suffered from being way too long. I mean, P3 and P4 were already long games and P5 just turned it up to 11, especially with the Royal expansion.
 
I didn't grow up with the series, I played all of them through gamepass. I played them in this order: 5>4>3.

My personal enjoyment rankings: 4>3>5.

5 has the best presentation/soundtrack but the worst story, pacing, and worst companions.
4 is my favorite b/c of the personal connection to the story.
 
Poppinfresh said:
Persona 2 (both parts) are probably the best, but the translation isn't great, and combat has aged poorly. Honestly, Persona 1 & 2 deserved remasters well before P4 did and hopefully they will get them one day.

Of the new Persona games, P4 is probably the better game but I personally like the cast and story of P3 the best. P5 was fine but it suffered from being way too long. I mean, P3 and P4 were already long games and P5 just turned it up to 11, especially with the Royal expansion.
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I dont get the aged poorly. EP had the best combat in the series and was incredibly forward thinking for the time to the point where it still feels ahead of a lot of modern rpgs.
 
Will always be 4 for me. 3 and 5 are good, but I like the smaller town vibe more. Each game has parts that are more of a slog, but I liked the story and social link interactions more in 4, but 5 did improve dungeons.
 
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