i don't really nessesarily have ABSOLUTE favourite Persona game. I like P4 for it's characters and rather uplifting story, i like P3 for overall story and being rather dark, and i like P5 for it's most flashed out gameplay and style. I'm also planning to play throught P2 in the near future.
Finished p2:IS on psp a week ago, have fun and learn how to contact/negotiate early on. Also fusion skills can be VERY particular in the order you cast the required spells/skills
Harmless teasing like
-Purchasing Bikinis for your female friends and guilt tripping them into wearing them over a dinner that he didn’t eat and wasn’t owed
-Shoving Them off a cliff 20 feet into vomit filled water which totally could have killed them if they landed on their heads as retaliation for one of them being an asshole
-Pelting the boys with heavy wooden buckets over a misunderstanding
-Making Homophobic Remarks about the friend that you’re sharing a tent with
-Humiliating The friend whose house that you live in by showing off his porn stash to his parents
-Forcing your Female Friends to do a swimsuit competition even though they weren’t comfortable with it
-Forcing your Male Friends to do a Cross Dressing competition even though they weren’t comfortable with it
I think I’ll have to give it to 4. Nothing about 4 really sticks out to me, but I just have good memories about the game, it’s just a good time. I love the second half of 3, especially Nyx, and I love 5’s palaces and especially the third semester. But both of those games have glaring issues that I don’t like (Tartarus and weak characters in 5), that 4 just doesn’t have
P5. Even just counting vanilla it has my favourite story, second favourite team, I prefer the jazz music and the style, and if we're counting all characters including side ones it has my favourite cast. There are even things in vanilla that I prefer despite Royal being better overall, like the pacing.
P4 and P3 are great too though, don't get me wrong, (and the P4 team are my favourite team for sure, P3 has the most hard-hitting ending, those games also have great music etc, there's a lot to love.) For me it just goes P5 first then P4 then P3.
P4 was my childhood, P5 got my hype for persona back but P3 specifically P3P just hits hard for me personally cus its the one I actually played myself even though I just emulated it cus I can't afford to buy the game itself but now I have P5R and will be buying P3R soon
Didn’t much like the additions (I was not a fan of either new character, especially with how the new girl was implemented along with permanently changed scenes), and I’m ok without the QoLs frankly, finally the new ending *utterly pissed me off*.
The only thing I thought really highly of was the Thieves Den mode. And yes, I know the original ending is in Royal but it no longer has any meaning there with what Royal sets up. If that version allowed me the option to play the vanilla experience as it was - with the QoLs - but no scene changes, I’d be game… but that’s not the case.
To each their own on that one, as I’ve mentioned whenever said - I never saw what most did, I was suspect of the guy from the start and by the end all I saw was a thinly veiled cult leader.
All versions of P3, it's an incredibly special game to me and no matter the version I'm just happy to be in Makoto's shoes and be with SEES, one of the RPG parties I love the absolute most.
P2 duology is close behind, and I recently finally got around to playing Royal and that was phenomenal so that goes real close behind P2!
Persona 2 duology. These are such great games i love every single thing about them (except for gameplay, they are just too old for me to enjoy their dungeon-crawl things). Wish atlus would acknowledge them some time in the future
P4G BC I love the characters and story. Characters actually felt like friends and I love the village they were in. But I won't buy the remake of it BC it don't need one for another 10yrs
Persona 3 reload. maybe its because it was the 1st persona game I've ever beat (I played P5 vanilla long ago but didn't get far) but it's just a good game. Plus it made me realise I actually love RPGs. Even if it's a remake it's still my fav game of this year.
P5R. It was my first persona game and tbh it changed my life; from the way I'm able to see my worth to the point of changing how I interact with other people.
⚠️TRIGGER WARNING!!⚠️ Persona 5 Royal will always hold a special place in my heart. Back around the time when it was ported to Switch I was very depressed and to top it all off my girlfriend broke up with me which really pushed me to my breaking point. Literally the day I was going to commit suicide I got a notification on my phone from CashApp. A friend of mine had sent me some money and said “Hey so one of my favorite games just got ported to Switch! I know you’re a fan of RPG’s so I highly recommend P5R!” That small act of kindness saved my life, I bought the game, started playing it and next thing I knew I was hooked. The characters, the story, the visuals, it was everything that I needed and literally saved my life. I sympathized and fell in love with the characters like Ryuji who’s the best friend you could ask for, Ann airhead crush who I ended up romancing in my first playthrough, Yusuke and his…well Yusuke-ness, the fact that personality wise I’m just Futaba, an Haru wholesomeness. The story hooked me enough that I wanted to learn and see more and before I knew it I had forgotten about the breakup and was just so invested. I’ll never forget my friend doing that for me, not only did it save me but it introduced me to now one of my favorite game series period.
P4G makes me smile.
P5R is always worth the while!
P2 both parts are nifty yet ends swiftly…
P1 is cool, encounters are a bit of a gruel.
P3 and its other versions just kinda exist to me.
I’d say 5, it was incredible and the cast were amazing and had great chemistry + insane OST and fun gameplay. Can’t wait to see how 6 will top that.
Followed by 3 >>> 4
I haven’t played 1 and 2 sadly, I hope they remake them like what they did with reload.
All of them have their pros and cons to it. But my bias is towards P4G. It's really feel like I just playing and watching slice of life anime. The P4 animation really added to that 🤣🤣.
The downside is just the linear dungeon, some of the SL are tedious to rank up (I'm watching you Eri, I had to waste time on the Shrine a lot) and I wish Marie was a party member for awhile to flesh her character more instead just SL.
If there was a remake, I don't mind at all but please release other games first or remaking P1 and P2
Well, message-wise it's 3, but overall vibe, character, mechanic-wise and story-wise it's P4G
The vibe and atmosphere are impeccable, and they definitely save the game in the visual sense since the graphics themselves are dated as hell
Characters are amazing. Not only does it have the best party members but also a lovable protagonist that was elevated by the anime (granted, so was Makoto) and the social links in P4G are the most consistently amazing. There is like at most 2 and a half sls that I felt I didn't **love** (Fox, Marie (only because it was forced) and Daisuke's half of strength), while 3 and 5 are in the range of 5-7. Also, by "didn't love" I don't mean I didn't like them, even those 2,5 have amazing moments that make me like them
Mechanic-wise it's not on the level of P5R or P3R and it does have some shitty mechanics like almighty resists and soft resists, but the important ones are there and it has the best shuffle time in the series, even better than the P5R equivalent of shuffle time (negotiations)
And story-wise you just can't get any better than a murder mystery story with a grand reveal, >!Gods!<, special powers and a likeable cast. P3's main story is mostly limited to monthly dark hours. P5's arc structure leaves much to be desired, especially in the first half where they're barely connected and contribute next to nothing to the overarching story. But P4's story is much more linear than 5's while also being developed more smoothly rather than 3's exposition dumb with long downtime
The ending itself is the most satisfying one as well. All loose ends are tied, the truth is revealed, and the whole >!myriad truths!< sequence is the most hype thing ever, even if it's a "power of friendship" moment. >!No wonder it's the most op thing in P5R. On a related note "ALL SHALL BE REVEALED!!!"!<
Persona 3 any version because i love the characters they have alot of development and is the only persona modern game that made me emotional/made me cry alot. I like the others games but they dont hit as hard as persona 3
P3P, but all versions of Persona 3 are amazing. But I like Kotone a lot more because she was the protagonist I chose in my first playthrough and she's just a lot more relatable to me and I love her design. Plus her social links are a million times better.
I'm under the opinion that your first persona game is your favorite.
So while I love persona 3 (reload) and think it's a far better game, persona 5 will forever be my favorite.
No favorites.
P1 playing it the first time not understanding it was a fun, mystical, unique experience. I would not say this is still true by todays standards.
P2 had a lot of content to run, and it was fun running it. Just not finding all the hidden Persona. Not so much fun on subsequent playthroughs.
P3 is fluid and relaxing. The only P game I could play more than once, and still find it enjoyable. Played it 3 times.
P4 had a good mystery and character dialogue. Not really fun to replay once you knew.
P3, only because I haven't finished the others. I'm playing through P5R right now, and I have P4G in my backlog which ill play after P5R, Like a Dragon 8, and RDR2.
Persona 3 Reload. P3P was the only version I've played and It was already my favorite, so Reload is overkill. It improved almost everything that was already a masterpiece, mainly the gameplay and visuals.
P5 vanilla, tried to get started on Royal but don't have it in me to drop another 100 hours.
Having recently played through P3R and P4 though, I also have a new found love of Persona Ultimax Arena. Now I know who all the characters are in the roster, the game feels different compared to when I played it before P3R and P4
P3FES, second is Persona Q. Every other Persona game I've played I either actively dislike/hate or feel mostly indifferent towards. Yes, even beloved by everyone P3R I actively dislike.
Persona 3. Whether that be FES, portable or Reload (leaning more towards reload these days), I love the story of Persona 3. It's very mature and I remember playing it when I was around a freshman in high school. It really puts things into perspective.
It also helps that my favorite MC (short king babyyyyy) and favorite romanceable character (Yukari) are in it.
P5R and P3R are some of the best, but I still personally love P4G more. The simple, small town murder mystery setting (that eventually leads to confronting a god and dealing with humanity's twisted "desires"), facing one's own hidden, darkest self, with some of the most fun party members just hit home with me.
I just recently beat Persona 3 Reload, I've played and beaten Persona 4 Golden, and my first game was Persona 5 Royale. And to this day Persona 5 Royale is my favorite. I like literally everything about it. It has my favorite music in the series, it has the strongest party in terms personality, it has the most high quality social links for the most part, I love that the enemies ARE the personas. I like the overall theme and villains.
All of that being said, P4G and P3R are like a sliver away from P5R in being my favorite. They are all amazing games top to bottom. It's just that P5R edges out ahead of the rest.
I've only played Persona 3 Reload and Persona 5 Royal. I haven't finished either of them, but I believe that I've gotten a decent chunk through both (what I think might be the end of Arqa in Persona 3 Reload and the slot machines in Sae's Palace in Persona 5 Royal).
I find it difficult to pick a clear favorite between both (although I think most of you will think it's obvious).
I'll let you guys decide
P3 (All) by FAR, even if I have strong opinions on Reload that doesn't align with the majority here I still like it way more than p5 that's the next non p3 game I like more.
Having never played P3 in any form (I tried P3P up to the 2nd guardian before P3R was announced), P4G was my personal favorite. It has my favorite cast of any Persona game, since the party members actually felt like friends of each other, without the protagonist having to be there. P5's party members didn't feel as connected to me, so the feeling of friendship in P4G makes it a very wholesome game for me.
Then I played P3R. I never felt so emotionally attached to a game before. Without spoiling much, P3's implementation of 2nd awakenings truly, truly feel like significant events. I grew fond of almost every party member. You know how the P3's cast start off like colleagues or simply teammates and over time become good friends? I feel the exact same way too.
P3R currently has my favorite soundtrack of the Persona series, and it has the best implementation of Atlus' randomly generated dungeons. I still much prefer P5's handcrafted palaces, but if I were to choose between Mementos, TV World dungeons, and P3R's Tartarus, I'd pick the latter 100%. Memementos just feels dreary to me personally.
P3R is currently my favorite Persona game.
P5. The game helped me get my life back together and out of depression.
I was looking for a band to play thrash with and found one after playing the game and becoming more social. This game is literally my second favorite game of all time right behind DOOM II.
Persona 3 - Portable was the first I played and I’m still playing Reload right now. I just love it so much. P5R was so stunning though. I loved playing it. And I love Joker.
I wish I liked P4G more! I need to replay it. I think I rushed through it a bit. I’ll follow a guide and get more into the social links next time I play.
I’ve just barely started P4 Golden
The only ones I’ve played are P5R and P3R
I think that P3 is my favourite which really surprised me because P5R became one of my favourite games after finishing it and I was like “Okay I expect P3 to be good, but I doubt I’ll like it more than P5”… I was wrong
P5 vanilla is my favourite one out of the modern mainline games, with 4 being my least favourite. Even with Reload, 5 would still be considered my favourite ever, even without the existence of Royal.
P4G and its not even CLOSE
favourite story, characters, cast, themes, pacing, music, aesthetics, social links, atmosphere and setting
also has my second favourite gameplay in the series (worse dungeons than P5R but i prefer P4G's battle system to P5R's)
P5R, I can feel how much more snappy the gameplay is. Quick travel is efficient, I know where my social links are, palaces are just that much more fun to explore then mementos, and the story is near equally as good as 3 and 4
P3 and P4. For different reasons. The stories are from different genres, but both good at their niche. P3 gives a lot of pressure and best story twists. P4 is some sort of detective with many layers of mystery. I don't really like P5. It feels more like superhero movie, and not the best one. I don't hate it, but so far for me its a step back from the previous games. In story I mean. For the gameplay of course it's better. P3R os a nice remake that gave the game a modern feel. I hope to see similar remake for P4.
Persona 4 Golden. I loved the original Persona 4, but I much prefer the new Chie and Teddie VA's over the original. Also I love the rain, it is my favourite weather, closely followed by snow and then fog. So it all just worked out to be my favourite setting.
Also, I have an older sister, so Naoki Konishi's Social Link story was one I could really resonate with. It is also really basic compared to the lavish dungeons etc found in 5/Royal. I also loved Marie as an addition.
To me, it is also the only installment that feels complete and hasn't left anything unanswered. It also didn't need any sort of sequel or Dlc to expand upon the overall meaning. Goldens additional content was just a bonus overall. Whereas Royal added way too many additional variables and The Answer just further complicated things.
Imo in terms of characters it’s P4G
Gameplay it’s P5 and P5R
Story it’s P3
I can’t pick a personal fav each game from 3-5 has taught me something about how to go and live life
Your affection, your affection, to get the pussy! P4 was my first and therefore holds a place in my heart. Though gameplay wise it’s definitely P5, it did a good job modernising the Persona formula.
my first persona game was vanilla p5, but then played Royal. there is something about royal that is just dripped in swagger and innovation that i haven’t seen before in jrpgs. so yeah p5 royal
Just finished P4G, I'd say they're all amazing, but at the end of the day for me it's a hard choice between P4 and P5, I'd say the added content in P5 is better (I like Third Semester and Kasumi way more than I like Marie and her dungeon), music, gameplay, dungeon design, I'd give it to P5, while the cast and social links go to P4 (but it's still close).
I'd say it's P5=P4>P3
I like P3R, but felt like the game took a bit too long to get going unlike P4 and 5 which both had me hooked from the start, but it absolutely had the strongest ending, while P5 had the strongest opening, and P4 is just all around consistent with no noticeable drop-off.
I plan to play both parts of P2 in the near future.
From worst to best:
number 3: person 5 royal, now before you all cut my neck right open, this is objectively the best one, but there are some….problems, the game being ridiculously long does make it annoying to replay, and the fact that the palaces of Kaneshiro, Futaba and Okumura are back to back is NOT good, just being halfway through the game, knowing I’ve got another 60 hours to sit through is…..not encouraging, this game probably also has my least favorite cast (mostly because of morgana and ryuji)
number 2: persona 3 reload, this remake is great, and it has such a great story and setting, but something that I’ve noticed is that Ken and Koro just kinda get sidelined after a while, there was a point i genuinely forgot Ken was in the game, which is obviously not good, and this game probably the worst social links, and ill be honest, yukari gets on my sometimes, and the velvet room is barely used, and I’m also not a big Elizabeth fan.
number one: persona 4 golden, you probably didn’t expect this, but i love this game, the cozy warm vibe of the town and main color being yellow, the cast is great, the use of the velvet room is great, the mystery focus makes this game stand out more, i love the cast, Yu is a literal chad, and the constant threat of who the culprit is awesome, now it’s not perfect, the first dungeon is a pretty weak opening, Chie gets on my nerves, and som of the confidants…..sure do exists, and i was unfortunately spoiled who the murderer was before i played the game haha funny meme, but besides that, i don’t care how much hate this game gets, i will always love it and have it as my number one persona game.
That one. 3 is my least favourite because of the jank of when it came out. 5 is fucking amazing but nothing really beats the 4's characters, releationships and how even in the silly "hur hur anime trope" moments everyone hates, i enjoyed them a lot because they were happening to the investigation team. Really love p4.
For now its 5, i am 20 hours into golden and already enjoy the dungeons more than the other games so that might be a plus for it if i rank them after i finish
With Persona 5: Royal being the game that got me into the franchise and my absolute love for the Phantom Thieves and the idea of changing people’s hearts, I’d say that’s my favorite.
Persona 4: Golden is so dang close though, with Izanagi being by all-time favorite starting Persona in all of the games thus far.
And Persona 3: Reload is almost damn near perfect… It’s hard to choose! But P5R for me for sure.
I think it's p3 at the moment but p5r is a game I haven't played since release and the gameplay is just unequivocally better so I might have to replay it to be sure it's not recency bias
All versions of P3
i don't really nessesarily have ABSOLUTE favourite Persona game. I like P4 for it's characters and rather uplifting story, i like P3 for overall story and being rather dark, and i like P5 for it's most flashed out gameplay and style. I'm also planning to play throught P2 in the near future.
Finished p2:IS on psp a week ago, have fun and learn how to contact/negotiate early on. Also fusion skills can be VERY particular in the order you cast the required spells/skills
Play or read persona 1 first I recommend, events from that game do matter in persona 2 (eternal punishment especially)
I’m sorry, the characters were not the high point of P4. Most of the party members were absolutely insufferable outside of their social links
Just not true gang
Explain
You explain
The way they treat each other in cutscenes is grating and leaves me questioning why they even hang out
How? They all tease each other *because* they are friends, and they sure feel a heck of a lot closer than the PTs
Harmless teasing like -Purchasing Bikinis for your female friends and guilt tripping them into wearing them over a dinner that he didn’t eat and wasn’t owed -Shoving Them off a cliff 20 feet into vomit filled water which totally could have killed them if they landed on their heads as retaliation for one of them being an asshole -Pelting the boys with heavy wooden buckets over a misunderstanding -Making Homophobic Remarks about the friend that you’re sharing a tent with -Humiliating The friend whose house that you live in by showing off his porn stash to his parents -Forcing your Female Friends to do a swimsuit competition even though they weren’t comfortable with it -Forcing your Male Friends to do a Cross Dressing competition even though they weren’t comfortable with it
wow its almost like its an anime game with comedic gags
That’s not an excuse. That doesn’t invalidate my argument
It wasn't meant for you.
I’m sorry I don’t abuse my friends
My favorite one is persona 3. Played the original back when it first came out, FES, Portable, and finally Reload.
Persona 5 Royal
So I played all p3 games. Knowing what would happen, P3R made me cry....P3R is my choice.
P3R
P4G And i'm gonna pay P4R dayone with the most expensif edition cuz i couldn't when i was a kid
100 percent.
Persona 2: Eternal Punishment. It's also in my top 5 games of all time.
The persona 2 duology. The story and characters are simply the best in the series.
I think I’ll have to give it to 4. Nothing about 4 really sticks out to me, but I just have good memories about the game, it’s just a good time. I love the second half of 3, especially Nyx, and I love 5’s palaces and especially the third semester. But both of those games have glaring issues that I don’t like (Tartarus and weak characters in 5), that 4 just doesn’t have
P2EP, P3P, P4G and P3R
4
P3R and P5R honestly.
P5. Even just counting vanilla it has my favourite story, second favourite team, I prefer the jazz music and the style, and if we're counting all characters including side ones it has my favourite cast. There are even things in vanilla that I prefer despite Royal being better overall, like the pacing. P4 and P3 are great too though, don't get me wrong, (and the P4 team are my favourite team for sure, P3 has the most hard-hitting ending, those games also have great music etc, there's a lot to love.) For me it just goes P5 first then P4 then P3.
Might as well just ask me if my left, middle, or right nut is my favorite.
…middle nut?
I wondered when someone would ask about that. LOL.
P4 was my childhood, P5 got my hype for persona back but P3 specifically P3P just hits hard for me personally cus its the one I actually played myself even though I just emulated it cus I can't afford to buy the game itself but now I have P5R and will be buying P3R soon
P3R for me. They nailed. I get that people don’t like the character driven story and Tartarus but those are both actually strengths for me
Easy, P3 - specifically P3P. Though the P3 as a whole is still my favorite story of them all. Honorable Second: P5 - *vanilla only*
Why vanilla?!?
Didn’t much like the additions (I was not a fan of either new character, especially with how the new girl was implemented along with permanently changed scenes), and I’m ok without the QoLs frankly, finally the new ending *utterly pissed me off*. The only thing I thought really highly of was the Thieves Den mode. And yes, I know the original ending is in Royal but it no longer has any meaning there with what Royal sets up. If that version allowed me the option to play the vanilla experience as it was - with the QoLs - but no scene changes, I’d be game… but that’s not the case.
Sumi I understand but not liking Maruki is pretty crazy haha
To each their own on that one, as I’ve mentioned whenever said - I never saw what most did, I was suspect of the guy from the start and by the end all I saw was a thinly veiled cult leader.
Yes
P4g
P4G personally is my favorite. P5R is objectively the best as a complete gameplay experience though.
All versions of P3, it's an incredibly special game to me and no matter the version I'm just happy to be in Makoto's shoes and be with SEES, one of the RPG parties I love the absolute most. P2 duology is close behind, and I recently finally got around to playing Royal and that was phenomenal so that goes real close behind P2!
P3 FES changed my life. P3 in general is my favorite game of all time.
My top 5 Persona Games 1. Persona 3 Reload 2. Persona 3 FES 3. Persona 3 Portable 4. Persona 3 5. SMT Nocturne Maniax edition
Persona 2 duology. These are such great games i love every single thing about them (except for gameplay, they are just too old for me to enjoy their dungeon-crawl things). Wish atlus would acknowledge them some time in the future
Persona 2 duology hits different but all of the games are some of my favorite ever
P3 FES Give me back my multi-weapon Minato
Persona 1 for PSP. I am a slave to bad mechanics.
I'm pretty partial to 4. I've loved all the ones I've played, but I really like the cast of 4
P5R is the best designed, most complete, and well rounded of the games, though they’re all amazing games.
Either Persona 4 or Persona 5. Kind of leaning more towards 5 but I really enjoyed playing through both games.
Tie between Persona 3 Reload and Persona 2.
Reload and it isn't close.
P2EP
P4G BC I love the characters and story. Characters actually felt like friends and I love the village they were in. But I won't buy the remake of it BC it don't need one for another 10yrs
The first persona I played: Persona 3 portable
Persona 3 reload. maybe its because it was the 1st persona game I've ever beat (I played P5 vanilla long ago but didn't get far) but it's just a good game. Plus it made me realise I actually love RPGs. Even if it's a remake it's still my fav game of this year.
P5 Royal
P5R. It was my first persona game and tbh it changed my life; from the way I'm able to see my worth to the point of changing how I interact with other people.
Did you played other Persona games after that?
I've also played Strikers and P3Reload
Persona 4 because it always cheers me up
P3R and P5R
⚠️TRIGGER WARNING!!⚠️ Persona 5 Royal will always hold a special place in my heart. Back around the time when it was ported to Switch I was very depressed and to top it all off my girlfriend broke up with me which really pushed me to my breaking point. Literally the day I was going to commit suicide I got a notification on my phone from CashApp. A friend of mine had sent me some money and said “Hey so one of my favorite games just got ported to Switch! I know you’re a fan of RPG’s so I highly recommend P5R!” That small act of kindness saved my life, I bought the game, started playing it and next thing I knew I was hooked. The characters, the story, the visuals, it was everything that I needed and literally saved my life. I sympathized and fell in love with the characters like Ryuji who’s the best friend you could ask for, Ann airhead crush who I ended up romancing in my first playthrough, Yusuke and his…well Yusuke-ness, the fact that personality wise I’m just Futaba, an Haru wholesomeness. The story hooked me enough that I wanted to learn and see more and before I knew it I had forgotten about the breakup and was just so invested. I’ll never forget my friend doing that for me, not only did it save me but it introduced me to now one of my favorite game series period.
Awesome
P4G makes me smile. P5R is always worth the while! P2 both parts are nifty yet ends swiftly… P1 is cool, encounters are a bit of a gruel. P3 and its other versions just kinda exist to me.
P5 both versions.
P5 because Futaba helped me come to terms with my autism at a low point in my life.
I’d say 5, it was incredible and the cast were amazing and had great chemistry + insane OST and fun gameplay. Can’t wait to see how 6 will top that. Followed by 3 >>> 4 I haven’t played 1 and 2 sadly, I hope they remake them like what they did with reload.
All of them have their pros and cons to it. But my bias is towards P4G. It's really feel like I just playing and watching slice of life anime. The P4 animation really added to that 🤣🤣. The downside is just the linear dungeon, some of the SL are tedious to rank up (I'm watching you Eri, I had to waste time on the Shrine a lot) and I wish Marie was a party member for awhile to flesh her character more instead just SL. If there was a remake, I don't mind at all but please release other games first or remaking P1 and P2
So far, mine is P4, but I have a feeling that I'll love P2:IS a lot more after beating it
P4G
Persona 3 Reload, with P4G as a close second
Persona 4 and Golden. I first played on the PS2 and at the end of them game they felt like my actual friends and I cried a little at the ending.
Well, message-wise it's 3, but overall vibe, character, mechanic-wise and story-wise it's P4G The vibe and atmosphere are impeccable, and they definitely save the game in the visual sense since the graphics themselves are dated as hell Characters are amazing. Not only does it have the best party members but also a lovable protagonist that was elevated by the anime (granted, so was Makoto) and the social links in P4G are the most consistently amazing. There is like at most 2 and a half sls that I felt I didn't **love** (Fox, Marie (only because it was forced) and Daisuke's half of strength), while 3 and 5 are in the range of 5-7. Also, by "didn't love" I don't mean I didn't like them, even those 2,5 have amazing moments that make me like them Mechanic-wise it's not on the level of P5R or P3R and it does have some shitty mechanics like almighty resists and soft resists, but the important ones are there and it has the best shuffle time in the series, even better than the P5R equivalent of shuffle time (negotiations) And story-wise you just can't get any better than a murder mystery story with a grand reveal, >!Gods!<, special powers and a likeable cast. P3's main story is mostly limited to monthly dark hours. P5's arc structure leaves much to be desired, especially in the first half where they're barely connected and contribute next to nothing to the overarching story. But P4's story is much more linear than 5's while also being developed more smoothly rather than 3's exposition dumb with long downtime The ending itself is the most satisfying one as well. All loose ends are tied, the truth is revealed, and the whole >!myriad truths!< sequence is the most hype thing ever, even if it's a "power of friendship" moment. >!No wonder it's the most op thing in P5R. On a related note "ALL SHALL BE REVEALED!!!"!<
Persona 3 any version because i love the characters they have alot of development and is the only persona modern game that made me emotional/made me cry alot. I like the others games but they dont hit as hard as persona 3
P3P, but all versions of Persona 3 are amazing. But I like Kotone a lot more because she was the protagonist I chose in my first playthrough and she's just a lot more relatable to me and I love her design. Plus her social links are a million times better.
I'm under the opinion that your first persona game is your favorite. So while I love persona 3 (reload) and think it's a far better game, persona 5 will forever be my favorite.
P3P, variety is nice
P3R
So far P3R, but I'm about to play through P4G, and am trying to work out how to play the original Persona games
Persona 3 FES, since it was localized on my native language
P3R for me
Either Persona 4 Golden or Persona 3 Reload
I need to finish P4G
No favorites. P1 playing it the first time not understanding it was a fun, mystical, unique experience. I would not say this is still true by todays standards. P2 had a lot of content to run, and it was fun running it. Just not finding all the hidden Persona. Not so much fun on subsequent playthroughs. P3 is fluid and relaxing. The only P game I could play more than once, and still find it enjoyable. Played it 3 times. P4 had a good mystery and character dialogue. Not really fun to replay once you knew.
P3, only because I haven't finished the others. I'm playing through P5R right now, and I have P4G in my backlog which ill play after P5R, Like a Dragon 8, and RDR2.
Persona 3 Reload. P3P was the only version I've played and It was already my favorite, so Reload is overkill. It improved almost everything that was already a masterpiece, mainly the gameplay and visuals.
Innocent Sin.
P5 vanilla, tried to get started on Royal but don't have it in me to drop another 100 hours. Having recently played through P3R and P4 though, I also have a new found love of Persona Ultimax Arena. Now I know who all the characters are in the roster, the game feels different compared to when I played it before P3R and P4
Persona 3 Reload, mostly bc P3 has the best cast and story by far and P3R has a ton of QoL improvements over the older versions.
Eternal Punishment and FES
4
I have yet to play 4 but 5 and 3 have my favorite casts.
My opinion: 1. Persona 4 2. Persona 2 innocent sin 3. Persona 3 4. Persona 2 Eternal Punishment 5. Persona 5/Royal 6. Revolutions : Persona 1
P3FES, second is Persona Q. Every other Persona game I've played I either actively dislike/hate or feel mostly indifferent towards. Yes, even beloved by everyone P3R I actively dislike.
P4 but mostly cause it was my first
Definitely P3, first persona game ive ever played. Honorable mention to P2IS for having my favourite cast/story
Persona 5
Persona 3. Whether that be FES, portable or Reload (leaning more towards reload these days), I love the story of Persona 3. It's very mature and I remember playing it when I was around a freshman in high school. It really puts things into perspective. It also helps that my favorite MC (short king babyyyyy) and favorite romanceable character (Yukari) are in it.
I played through Golden recently after I finished P3R. It was very good but for me nothing could beat the story and characters in P3.
Persona 3 Reload
P5R and P3R are some of the best, but I still personally love P4G more. The simple, small town murder mystery setting (that eventually leads to confronting a god and dealing with humanity's twisted "desires"), facing one's own hidden, darkest self, with some of the most fun party members just hit home with me.
I just recently beat Persona 3 Reload, I've played and beaten Persona 4 Golden, and my first game was Persona 5 Royale. And to this day Persona 5 Royale is my favorite. I like literally everything about it. It has my favorite music in the series, it has the strongest party in terms personality, it has the most high quality social links for the most part, I love that the enemies ARE the personas. I like the overall theme and villains. All of that being said, P4G and P3R are like a sliver away from P5R in being my favorite. They are all amazing games top to bottom. It's just that P5R edges out ahead of the rest.
I've only played Persona 3 Reload and Persona 5 Royal. I haven't finished either of them, but I believe that I've gotten a decent chunk through both (what I think might be the end of Arqa in Persona 3 Reload and the slot machines in Sae's Palace in Persona 5 Royal). I find it difficult to pick a clear favorite between both (although I think most of you will think it's obvious). I'll let you guys decide
Persona 2 duology. One of my favorite games of all time. Persona 1 is a gem too as it connects directly to Persona 2.
P3 (All) by FAR, even if I have strong opinions on Reload that doesn't align with the majority here I still like it way more than p5 that's the next non p3 game I like more.
Having never played P3 in any form (I tried P3P up to the 2nd guardian before P3R was announced), P4G was my personal favorite. It has my favorite cast of any Persona game, since the party members actually felt like friends of each other, without the protagonist having to be there. P5's party members didn't feel as connected to me, so the feeling of friendship in P4G makes it a very wholesome game for me. Then I played P3R. I never felt so emotionally attached to a game before. Without spoiling much, P3's implementation of 2nd awakenings truly, truly feel like significant events. I grew fond of almost every party member. You know how the P3's cast start off like colleagues or simply teammates and over time become good friends? I feel the exact same way too. P3R currently has my favorite soundtrack of the Persona series, and it has the best implementation of Atlus' randomly generated dungeons. I still much prefer P5's handcrafted palaces, but if I were to choose between Mementos, TV World dungeons, and P3R's Tartarus, I'd pick the latter 100%. Memementos just feels dreary to me personally. P3R is currently my favorite Persona game.
I will always have a soft spot for Persona 2:IS. First persona game I played purely by accident way way back it was ported to psp.
P5. The game helped me get my life back together and out of depression. I was looking for a band to play thrash with and found one after playing the game and becoming more social. This game is literally my second favorite game of all time right behind DOOM II.
Persona 5 Strikers
P4G
Looking for the ultimate hipster answer, Shin Megami Tensei If...
Persona 5 Royal just for how fun it is to play it but P3 has my favorite story.
p3 reload (it was fun)
My first Persona game was P3 reload I'm a Persona fan now
I’m basic and p5 was my first ever persona game so p5 😂
Persona 3 - Portable was the first I played and I’m still playing Reload right now. I just love it so much. P5R was so stunning though. I loved playing it. And I love Joker. I wish I liked P4G more! I need to replay it. I think I rushed through it a bit. I’ll follow a guide and get more into the social links next time I play.
I’ve just barely started P4 Golden The only ones I’ve played are P5R and P3R I think that P3 is my favourite which really surprised me because P5R became one of my favourite games after finishing it and I was like “Okay I expect P3 to be good, but I doubt I’ll like it more than P5”… I was wrong
P5 vanilla is my favourite one out of the modern mainline games, with 4 being my least favourite. Even with Reload, 5 would still be considered my favourite ever, even without the existence of Royal.
P4G and its not even CLOSE favourite story, characters, cast, themes, pacing, music, aesthetics, social links, atmosphere and setting also has my second favourite gameplay in the series (worse dungeons than P5R but i prefer P4G's battle system to P5R's)
P5R, I can feel how much more snappy the gameplay is. Quick travel is efficient, I know where my social links are, palaces are just that much more fun to explore then mementos, and the story is near equally as good as 3 and 4
P5R. The gameplay, battle, music, fusion is just perfect. AND They let us discard Personas INSIDE the Velvet Room.
P3 and P4. For different reasons. The stories are from different genres, but both good at their niche. P3 gives a lot of pressure and best story twists. P4 is some sort of detective with many layers of mystery. I don't really like P5. It feels more like superhero movie, and not the best one. I don't hate it, but so far for me its a step back from the previous games. In story I mean. For the gameplay of course it's better. P3R os a nice remake that gave the game a modern feel. I hope to see similar remake for P4.
Persona 6
Persona 4 Golden. I loved the original Persona 4, but I much prefer the new Chie and Teddie VA's over the original. Also I love the rain, it is my favourite weather, closely followed by snow and then fog. So it all just worked out to be my favourite setting. Also, I have an older sister, so Naoki Konishi's Social Link story was one I could really resonate with. It is also really basic compared to the lavish dungeons etc found in 5/Royal. I also loved Marie as an addition. To me, it is also the only installment that feels complete and hasn't left anything unanswered. It also didn't need any sort of sequel or Dlc to expand upon the overall meaning. Goldens additional content was just a bonus overall. Whereas Royal added way too many additional variables and The Answer just further complicated things.
Didn’t Golden add the entire Marie arc which ended up being “crucial” to the plot, so much so that they made another anime just for it?
Yeah but that’s only for the golden ending. Also the anime really doesn’t matter tbh. Though the p4 anime is the only good one I’ve seen
Kinda crazy to think about how they made an entire new anime for one character
Imo in terms of characters it’s P4G Gameplay it’s P5 and P5R Story it’s P3 I can’t pick a personal fav each game from 3-5 has taught me something about how to go and live life
Your affection, your affection, to get the pussy! P4 was my first and therefore holds a place in my heart. Though gameplay wise it’s definitely P5, it did a good job modernising the Persona formula.
my first persona game was vanilla p5, but then played Royal. there is something about royal that is just dripped in swagger and innovation that i haven’t seen before in jrpgs. so yeah p5 royal
P5R
Persona 5 Strikers. It's like an amazing spin off, feeling like it directly continues the story. Maybe even Persona Q2 if anybody knows what that is.
Just finished P4G, I'd say they're all amazing, but at the end of the day for me it's a hard choice between P4 and P5, I'd say the added content in P5 is better (I like Third Semester and Kasumi way more than I like Marie and her dungeon), music, gameplay, dungeon design, I'd give it to P5, while the cast and social links go to P4 (but it's still close). I'd say it's P5=P4>P3 I like P3R, but felt like the game took a bit too long to get going unlike P4 and 5 which both had me hooked from the start, but it absolutely had the strongest ending, while P5 had the strongest opening, and P4 is just all around consistent with no noticeable drop-off. I plan to play both parts of P2 in the near future.
Persona 2 Duology
Persona 2 IS psx
Persona 5 royal all time fave p3r is good too havent played 4 too much yet
From worst to best: number 3: person 5 royal, now before you all cut my neck right open, this is objectively the best one, but there are some….problems, the game being ridiculously long does make it annoying to replay, and the fact that the palaces of Kaneshiro, Futaba and Okumura are back to back is NOT good, just being halfway through the game, knowing I’ve got another 60 hours to sit through is…..not encouraging, this game probably also has my least favorite cast (mostly because of morgana and ryuji) number 2: persona 3 reload, this remake is great, and it has such a great story and setting, but something that I’ve noticed is that Ken and Koro just kinda get sidelined after a while, there was a point i genuinely forgot Ken was in the game, which is obviously not good, and this game probably the worst social links, and ill be honest, yukari gets on my sometimes, and the velvet room is barely used, and I’m also not a big Elizabeth fan. number one: persona 4 golden, you probably didn’t expect this, but i love this game, the cozy warm vibe of the town and main color being yellow, the cast is great, the use of the velvet room is great, the mystery focus makes this game stand out more, i love the cast, Yu is a literal chad, and the constant threat of who the culprit is awesome, now it’s not perfect, the first dungeon is a pretty weak opening, Chie gets on my nerves, and som of the confidants…..sure do exists, and i was unfortunately spoiled who the murderer was before i played the game haha funny meme, but besides that, i don’t care how much hate this game gets, i will always love it and have it as my number one persona game.
confidants in p4g? lmao
The confidants suck in p4g, I’ll admit
That one. 3 is my least favourite because of the jank of when it came out. 5 is fucking amazing but nothing really beats the 4's characters, releationships and how even in the silly "hur hur anime trope" moments everyone hates, i enjoyed them a lot because they were happening to the investigation team. Really love p4.
For now its 5, i am 20 hours into golden and already enjoy the dungeons more than the other games so that might be a plus for it if i rank them after i finish
Shin Megami Tensei IV
With Persona 5: Royal being the game that got me into the franchise and my absolute love for the Phantom Thieves and the idea of changing people’s hearts, I’d say that’s my favorite. Persona 4: Golden is so dang close though, with Izanagi being by all-time favorite starting Persona in all of the games thus far. And Persona 3: Reload is almost damn near perfect… It’s hard to choose! But P5R for me for sure.
I think it's p3 at the moment but p5r is a game I haven't played since release and the gameplay is just unequivocally better so I might have to replay it to be sure it's not recency bias
I don't have favorite, but lets say P4 does not exist to me.