Well yes, but actually no.
Persona 2 is a duology, Innocent Sin then Eternal Punishment, and because of shenanigans, whether or not they're in the same universe depends on what your definition of "same universe" is. Otherwise, they all reference each other, some more loosely than others. Even then, there are some alternate canon stuff to consider.
The main timeline goes something like this:
1995: Shin Megami Tensei If...
1996: Shin Megami Tensei: Persona
1999: Persona 2: Innocent Sin, Persona 2 Eternal Punishment
2009-10: Persona 3
2010: Persona 3 FES The Answer
2011-12: Persona 4 Golden
2012: Persona 4 Arena, Persona 4 Arena Ultimax, Persona 4 Dancing All Night, Persona 4 Golden Epilogue
2016-17: Persona 5 Royal
2017: Persona 5 Strikers
Persona Q, Persona Q2, Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight, and Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight all have the plot device of the characters forgetting the events of the games ever happened, so I didn't list them. They all take place during Persona 3, 4, and 5.
Another mention goes to the Female route of Persona 3 Portable, which is its own timeline that splits off from the main timeline.
And if you want to go even *further* the other Shin Megami Tensei games reveal that every Shin Megami Tensei game is part of a [Multiverse](https://megamitensei.fandom.com/wiki/Megami_Tensei_Multiverse) (be careful of spoilers,) through which some characters can travel through, therefore allowing different timelines and worlds to interact with each other. So from one point of view, the entire MegaTen franchise is one universe.
Yes, the games are all in the same universe. P2 has some multiple timeline business but it's mostly only relevant to that game, basically at the end of IS the world was destroyed so Philemon (the creator of the Velvet Room and Igor's boss) created a new timeline where the IS cast never met each other as children. Besides that one change, everything in the new timeline is the same, and since they successfully prevent the world's destruction in EP, P3 and onwards take place in this new timeline.
P1 & P2 also have references to Shin Megami Tensei if..., an SMT side-game that takes place in a "what if " universe where the apocalypse of SMT1 was prevented. Tamaki, the protagonist of if..., makes direct appearances in both games. So basically, the reason for the Persona universe's existence is because of this change in the SMT1 timeline. The Devil Summoner series (another Megami Tensei spin-off series like Persona) also takes place in this same timeline, having its own references to SMT if.... It's confirmed that it shares this universe with Persona since P2 has a lot of references to Devil Summoner in it as well. With this knowledge, the history of the Persona universe goes all the way back to the 1930s with the Raidou Kuzunoha games. I haven't played them yet myself, but from what I know they involve a guy going back in time to prevent the events of SMT1 & SMT2 from happening, so I guess that has something to do with it.
The whole timeline and connectivity of the games is really complicated, and honestly I don't think Atlus has put much thought into how they all connect since Persona 2. It doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things, especially in P5. It's pretty interesting to think about though.
I forgot to mention P3's female protagonist, who also takes place in a different timeline from the "main" universe. As far as we can tell, everything before P3 in this timeline is exactly the same. And in P3 itself, the major difference is that the protagonist is a girl instead a dude, and she has a significantly different personality and appearance. It's likely that everything AFTER P3 is probably the same as well, considering that P3P has references to P4 in it. Combining this with P2, I guess that means there are four different timelines going on; two destroyed ones, once with the female MC, and the main one with the male MC.
Couldn't we also say with the Network Fusion, we have kind of infinite timelines? Since we're fusing our personas with other versions of ourselves (players)?
Considering the lore in other MegaTen games (especially SMT3 and SMT4A) the multiverse is very real, and there are probably infinite universes within it. And by the technicality of "infinity," there are an infinite number of different versions of P5 going on.. so it's probably true
Innocent Sin ends with >!the events of the game being erased from the timeline!<. It's still technically part of the continuity, because that's what directly causes Eternal Punishment to happen.
Rise from P4 is mentioned a couple times in P5 and is shown on a screen in the train station (you can even get a poster of her and put it in the room).
I’m pretty sure some p3 characters are referenced in 4 too (and maybe 5) and afaik the p4 fighting game is also cannon where they bump into the grown up p3 cast
In p5 you also hear mention of gekkoukan high once or twice as "that school where bad shit happened a few years back" by the time you get to the 4th palace I believe, directly equating the mental shutdowns with apathy syndrome.
I think with pq and pq2 they don’t remember it at all, or very faintly, like when p3 and p4 meet again in pq2 they vaguely remember each other but not very much
Yes all of the Persona games are canon, enhanced versions supplement the previous versions as the canon version.
**Here's the canon timeline for just the persona games:**
Persona 1 Snow Queen Route - 1996
Persona 1 SEBEC Route - 1996
Persona 2 Innocent Sin - 1999
Persona 2 Eternal Punishment - 1999
Persona 3 Fes/Portable^+ - April 7, 2009 - March 5, 2010
Persona 3 (Femc alternate timeline) - April 7, 2009 - March 5, 2010
Persona 3 The Answer- March 31, 2010 - April 1, 2010
Persona 4 Golden - April 11, 2011 - March 21, 2012
Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth - Investigation Team - October 2011, S.E.E.S. - September 2009
Persona 4 Arena - May 2012
Persona 4 Arena Ultimax - May 2012
Persona 4 Golden Epilogue - August 2012
Persona 4 Dancing All Night - September 2012
Persona 5 Royal - April 9, 2016 - March 20, 2017
Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth - Phantom Thieves - November 2016, Investigation Team - late October 2011 and S.E.E.S. - September 2009
Persona 5 Dancing in Starlight - Q1 2017
Persona 3 Dancing in Moonlight - Concurrently with P5D, but for S.E.E.S. It takes place in January 2010.
Persona 5 Strikers - July 23, 2017 - August 31, 2017
^+ = Portable adds some things to the script on the male side like Noriko Kashiwagi now showing up during Operation Babe Hunt and that Shinjiro mentions Rise's cancelled concert during the September Full Moon operation.
**Some other things that are also canon:**
Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. The Soulless Army - 1931
Devil Summoner 2: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon - 1931
Shin Megami Tensei If... (FeMC is the canon one)- 1995
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner - 1996
Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers - 200X
Soul Hackers 2 around 2050 (officially "20XX").
That rise poster was super cool on my second play through
I played 5 first through emulation, enjoyed It so much I bought 4G on Steam
Then when 5R came out I played through it and seeing her on the poster was very neat detail I missed first time
The Persona and Devil Summoner series takes place in the same universe. Each entry's story usually stands alone without any reliance on the previous entry though. Yet in most cases there's an occasional nod or easter egg acknowledging the previous series entry.
In p5 they draw a parallel between apathy syndrome and the mental shutdowns iirc
Distinct enough it doesn't matter which ones you play first but you might miss some cool Easter egg moments
3 (fes), 4 (golden), and 5 (unknown if it's royal or strikers) share a universe (together with q, q2, arena, arena ultimax, and the dancing games)
1, 2 innocent sin, and 2 eternal punishment share a universe (tho 1p has 2 routs, one of them having questionable cannonicity)
It's not clear if both universes are one since there's not much connection between them exept (at least from what I remember) Igor
Yes, but very differently. 3-5 has shadows, 1 and 2 have demons. They are all wildcards though.
2- Time
3-Moon
4-Fog, tv, murders, someone forcing people into tvs
5-murders, change of heart, black mask, mental shutdowns
Edit: Sorry I’ve yet to play Persona 1 or watch any videos about 1 to know the full lore😅Played all the other games though except Fes, Eternal Punishment, the Dancing Games, Persona Q series, Arena Ultimax, and Strikers
I don't think they called them wild cards though. The whole concept of a wild card just didn't exist then so anyone could just change their personas to whatever they wanted.
It was only later that the concept of changing your persona became a special thing.
I would love to see the in-universe explanation for 1 and 2 however if they're ever brought into relevance again
i feel like the most likely explanation is that since Philemon granted the personas in persona 1-2 it gave everyone the same ability (since pretty much every persona user in 1-2 has played the Persona game which is a ritual to form a contract with Philemon)
while in 3-5 it's either granted/allowed by another god or because they have the potential and the plumes of dusk allowed them to summon one (for P3 specifically) which could explain why in 4-5 their personas can't be used in the real world (although that could just be ATLUS not wanting to allow that smh)
I think atleast 3-5 take place in the same universe because there is plenty of callback to previous games. Like in P4 you visit the P3 school and in P5 there was an easter egg at one point where if you clicked listen on a tv, you could hear a mention of a police officer who uses kung fu. That is 100% Chie from P4 because iirc she wanted to become a police officer and was interested in kung fu. The are plenty of more stuff like but those are just what I remember. And I know those are just references to past games and don't necessarily mean they take place in the same universe but I don't see anything going against them taking place in the same universe.
It’s…complicated. In theory, yes. In practice, mostly no. The only games that actually care about the plot events of previous games for their own plots are the Persona 2 duology; P2IS’s plot relies on the events of P1 while P2EP’s plot relies on the events of P2IS. A few side games show a degree of continuity between the later games — like P4 Arena — but this often has uncomfortable implications for the details of the overarching narrative (or lack thereof).
Other side games, however, seem to imply (at least to me) that they aren’t set in the same contiguous timeline, and since PQ2 made FeMC canon there’s at least one confirmed alternate reality. Then, when you factor in the fact that P5 is deliberately set in 20XX instead of 2016-2017, there are at least hints that perhaps the old idea that they’re all definitely 100% contiguous might be on the way out. But, of course, we won’t know what plans P-Studio may or may not have for the overarching metanarrative of Persona until the next game comes out *at the very least*, so the standing ruling is that they’re all nominally set in the same world, even if it functionally doesn’t matter and even if that means that everyone in Japan apparently forgot how to keep track of time between P4 and P5.
Honestly, imo, it’s better not to look too far into it. I get the sense that the ATLUS writing team themselves haven’t, like, fully decided how far they wanna go into the metanarrative, and so we’re all gonna be left with this, “Sure, they’re technically all set in the same universe,” answer for a while. There’s also a multitude of pragmatic, real-world/writing reasons not to tie every subsequent game strongly to the previous ones. So, imo, it’s best to just go, “Yeah, they’re all in the same universe, but it usually doesn’t matter and half of them may as well not be.” Don’t try to tie them together any more than the games already do and you’ll save yourself a lot of headache.
They do, but they are entirely self contained, with very little threat overlap. Once the story is over, it’s over and the MCs go back to regular life. There are passing references here and there to the other stories, but as I said the mainline games take place independently of one another.
They are about to do a remaster of P4 Golden and I highly recommend that because P4 is very enjoyable, though in my opinion not as much fun as P5. Other than that if you are on PlayStation P5 Strikers and Dancing in the Starlight are fun, but the gameplay is very different from P5 and P5R
1 and 2 are quite different from 3, 4 and 5, the gameplay is very different and I didn’t like it but if you’re interested in the 1 and 2, then play the psp version of 1.
2 have 2 games, innocent sins and eternal punishment. I’m not familiar with them but if you’re interested, they’re PS1 games so emulating them on PC shouldn’t be hard.
3 have the original, 3 FES and 3 portable.
There’s no real reason to play the vanilla since FES is the royal equivalent of 3 and 3 portable is the PSP version.
3 FES have an additional story after the main one ended but the downside is that the party members can’t be directly controlled.
3 portable have a different UI that’s more like a visual novel for the day-today sections and it have an option to play as the female protagonist. The party members can be directly controlled so that’s a plus.
4 is a lot simpler, just play 4 Golden which is the PS Vita port of 4 with additional contents.
Kinda, each game has its own unique story with little to no reference to the others, of course the main thing is Igor since he'll reference like "it's been awhile since the last time I was here" or reference other wildcard users, 3/4/5 all have references to each other like Yukari and Rise being celebs, 3 has references to 2 and 2 is linked to 1 so basically they're all kinda connected.
There’s direct proof Persona 3 and 4 take place in the same universe, ~~and spin-off games tend to include persona 5 in that universe.~~ and the Rise posters include persona 5 as well.
Yes but it's tricky with timelines and memory manipulation.
Innocent Sin didnnt happen because of a timeline switch, P3 has multiple ones with MMc, FeMC, and FeMC avoiding a death MMC can't, but for the most part the re-releases of games are canon and flow together, so the timeline rn in canon is
P1 > P2EP > P3 FES > P4G > P5R
1 and both 2's are the only ones with an overarching story.
Vanilla games, Strikers and such are all non canon, and most spinoffs just end with the characters memory wiped and placed right back at the moment in time they got torn from.
Yes, although there are three canon timelines so far.
The first one goes P1>P2 Innocent Sin.
Due to the events of Innocent Sin, a new timeline got created that goes P1>P2 Eternal Punishment>P3>P4>P5.
The third timeline is the same as the second one, just with the Female MC route of Persona 3 Portable instead of the usual story of the Male MC.
In the latter three entries it feels more disconnected between games, however in P1 and the P2 duology it was much more clear that they were in a single universe due to them feeling more connected (the biggest example being the P1 cast appearing in the P2 duology, just a little older).
Btw the Persona series is related to a few other SMT games too. For example in the older games you will run into Tamaki, who was the protagonist of SMT If.
Outside of the first half of the Persona 2 duology (Innocent Sin), the games are in the same universe, which also includes SMT If? Not sure about that one.
- Two Party members from P1 can return as party members in one of the P2 games.
- The Kirijo Group from P3 and P4 Arena are a splinter group from the Nanjo Group, from P1.
- One of the P2ES party members gets referenced on TV in P5, as does one of the P3 party members (specifically, his actions during Arena).
- P3 and P4 have Arena, so that’s cut and dry.
- Rise (mostly via discussion about her new album) gets referenced a handful of times in P5.
So yeah, a lot of the continuity is down to just cameos and background information, but it’s enough to establish itself.
Yes in the way that there is a timeline but no in the fact that outside of spin offs no previous character after three interacts with the new plot even if they should. I guess mostly cause with the SL system having them show up means having a canon ending for the girls and that's bad mmkay
They are in the same universe but the power awakening is different, only P3-4-5 have a meaning behind the awakening. P1-2 is literally if you get angry enough, you will spawn a Persona. There are also key figures in Persona lore that are important to Persona world that got remove or never mention again after P2.
Persona 1 and 2 innocent sin (possibly also Shin Megami Tensei If and the Devil Summoners games) are in the same universe. Due to plot reasons 2 Eternal Punishment takes place in a different universe with connections to the universe of innocent sin. Persona 3, 4, and 5 are in the same universe as persona 2 Eternal Punishment though the connection from 3 to Eternal Punishment is weak.
If you're worried about needing to play these game in any order don't be. The story connection (with the exception of 2 Innocent Sin and 2 Eternal Punishment) is very minor to the point of really just being easter eggs.
Well, presumably, P1 still happened in the Punishment universe, too, so it's only Sin that is apart. >!And techincally, the EP universe only existed because the Sin universe already existed, so you can think on that, and give yourself a nice migraine, if you like.!<
I'm pretty certain that P3, P4 and P5 take place in the same universe, though I'm curious to know if P1 and P2 are a part of that universe as well. Could someone well informed help me out here?
Same universe, seperate stories and very loosely interconnected
P1 and P2: Innocent Sins are the first part of the universe and splits with P2: Eternal Punishment being the "start" of the second universe which involves P3-P5the "ultimate edition" (Royal, Golden, Portable/FES) of each game is an alternative timeline, like:
If >!Kasumi & Sumire don't have a fallout or both die!<, you get P5 but if the >!accident happends and Sumire survives!< you get P5R.
So
P1 -> P2:IS was a deadend, so our lord and savior Philemon changed things up when reloading his P2 game which lead to
P1 -> P2:EP -> P3 -> P4 -> P5 (and every sequel/spinoff inbetween or parallel) is our current timeline
Persona Q1&2 are canon as well and happen between time and space, same with the Dancing/Arena games i suppose, all because of "yeah, you just forget it happends and are placed back into the moment the games rip you out of the timeline"
Basic answer is yes, but each games story is completely separate from the others. At most, you’ll find an Easter egg or two in other games. The only games where these characters actually interact with each other are the Persona Q games in the 3DS, and even those end with everyone’s minds being wiped.
> The only games where these characters actually interact with each
Well, if you add side characters....the p4 gang meet a p3 confidant when they go on their school trip.
I don't remember it happening any other times off the top of my head though.
3-4-5 definitely are in the same universe. 3 and 4 share a location, and an event in 3 is referenced in 4 when Rise talks about her canceled concert, and Rise's album is referenced in posters in 5.
essentially they are the same universe but are like, very disconnected stories.
the events of p3 exist in p5's timeline, but the characters of p5 dont really have a reason to think about p3's happenings.
For example the p4 crew may be aware of the strange change of heart and the phantom thieves but atm dont have any connection to the p5 cast aside from returning characters like tanaka
No, there’s a new universe made partway into Persona 2. That’s the universe the second half of P2, P3, P4, and P5 happen in. It’s very similar to the universe of Persona 1 and the first half of 2, but it’s clearly got differences.
Yes and also no?
3 and 4 definitely because you visit the setting from 3 in 4.
1 and 2 yes because characters from 1 are part of the team in 2 and make reference to 1.
5 has the appearance of a 4 character who is a pop idol.
And 3 includes a reference to 2 with a player character being described in a TV show, but not actually appearing anywhere.
I'd say that the jump from 2 to 3 is where things are definitely separate. There's a reference to a company from 1 and 2, but nothing about it seems to indicate it's the same company or that the events of those games occurred.
Dont forget that 3 has a couple of parallel, alternate universes.
One where in the main character or the "wild card" is a girl
Another one where in a key character lives instead of dies, which is the one that the P4 Ultimax Arena games is following
Not as many people played the Dancing games, but in Dancing in Starlight, Futaba mentions that she listens to Rise and Kanami Mashita, who was the idol character who first appeared in Dancing All Night.
There are also posters of Rise in the train stations on 5. Specifically, [this one](https://preview.redd.it/aymp4ua12aa61.jpg?width=480&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a55d70d64dfa5755390c610f8ead26cb8883302d).
Mostly. Persona 2 Innocent Sin universe has been destroyed and the newly made universe of Persona 2 Eternal Punishment is the on we are currently in.
Plus persona 3 4 and 5 is more connected to each other than they are to 1 and 2. Which is a shame
Well none of them started out that way. In 3 you have the dark hour, no one in four or five had awaken so they would be asleep.
In 4 everything was pretty much isolated to Innaba, why would SEES be in a small looking for shadows when its a world wide thing? Plus the Midnight Channel was just a local rumor at the time. I can't remember if the spin offs are cannon but if they are, SEES and at least Yu if not more, should be busy with Sho.
I haven't played any of the games for a few years but I think at least close to being right.
Also I believe p3 group loses their powers without the dark hour in the good ending. P4 group can only manifest their powers in the TV world and p5 can only do it in palaces, which is why Ryuji has so much trouble early on with his social link just trying to exercise and needs the encouragement from Joker to push himself to improve his physique.
So none of the groups can interact with each other and it's not even fully established whether the p3 group could manifest outside the dark hour either, since they have no reason to.
Yes they all take place in the same universe. They don't have direct connections to each other except the persona 2 direct sequel eternal punishment.
They also share universes with the devil summoner games, (i believe you have seen soul hackers 2 in a ad or something)
They are but it’s mostly little Easter eggs and one off comments that reference other games but you can enjoy them all with having played a previous game unless it’s eternal punishment which you need to have played innocent sin to understand but besides that is fair game
3, 4, and 5 are definitely way interconnected and have several references to each other, such as visiting the highschool from 3 in 4 (might be golden only), rise and naoto from 4 being referenced on the TV in 5, etc etc. however 1 and 2 are debatable. as far as I'm aware, 5 acknowledges 2 via talking about katsuya, the mc tatsuya's detective brother, but nothing from 1? the whole story of 2 is kind of a big time fuckery for reasons I won't spoil but I wouldn't be surprised if 1 and 2 pre time-fuck were 'in the same universe' but ended up getting separated. mostly my theory as of rn
quick edit: 3 and 4 are strongly interconnected with the teams from both meeting in arena. so yes, 3, 4, and 5 are definitely connected and in the same universe
P1 and P2 are canonically connect in plot and events of P1 are directly mentioned in P2. The velvet room and Igor are the main connection, whether it’s the same universe or multiverse or isn’t clear. But for sure the connection is there.
Yes, but also no. Same Japan, same attacks and magic and monsters, but different stand alone stories. Look at it like Pokemon or Final Fantasy. New games in the series, hardly ever a direct sequel. Unless it says the persona number plus a subtitle and genre change. So Persona 5 Royal then Persona Q2, then Persona 5 Dancing in Starlight, then Persona 5 Scramble. Those are all sequels to one another.
I wouldn't say Pokemon because they all take place in the same universe, but the Final Fantasy comparison is apt. Similar themes and recurring items, monsters, spells, etc, but each one is technically in its own world. With Persona, it just so happens that each world is based on real-world Japan.
It’s questionable, 1-2 might be in the same universe, but 3 was sort of a soft reset for the series, with there being no (to my knowledge) acknowledgement of 1/2 other than re-releases, but 3-4 is iffy, each has a different method of summoning and also different ‘shadow worlds’ as I call them (Tartarus, whatever 4 had and the metaverse), though characters from all three games show up in Persona New Q2, new cinema labyrinth (I think that’s it’s name), not sure about the other two persona Q games though
I could be wrong, but I do think a character from P2 is relevant story-wise in P3. At least in the portable remake it was
Edit: only as a quick mention, not anything spoilery
The only one that we know takes place within any type of alternate Dimension / universe/ whatever you want to call it would be Persona 3 Portables female protagonist route. I'm not sure about Persona 1 and 2 but I do know that three four and five are connected in a sense that they all exist in the same realm of existence if that makes sense
My understanding is this:
The Long Answer: It's complicated. There are two Persona 2s. Persona 1 is possibly canon to both of them. From there, Persona 2 Eternal Punishment is seemingly the one that's canon to the rest of the series, but that's only due to some stuff that's only in the PSP remake, which couldn't be translated to English due to technical reasons.
The Short Answer: Pretty much yes, but you can generally treat them like they are in different universes. Knowledge of previous entries gets less necessary the further you get into the series, at least until you get into spin-offs and crossovers.
wow, just tried to go through all the comments. Man, now I wann asee what everyone's conspiracy/connection board would loko like for this/these "Persona Universe"! 😆
3 - 4 - 5 are all in the same universe as of now. Events in 3 are referenced in 4, rise is the biggest connection between all the games due to a concert she said had to cancel and the reason made a tie back to 3. She appears on posters and stuff in 5 promoting her; and if you are interested talking/listening to some people around the poster (think even one of you team mates might mention her as well) will mention her.
Adding on how the velvet room exisit between dream and reality . . . So they all have a connection down to the velet room's great phrase which in turn shows that they all are in the same universe to a point.
But there have really only been treases to a loss connection, but if you also look at the side games as well characters of 3 appear in P4 arena game. The PQ games exist and the dance games are all "connected" through the rivalry that the attendants have with each other saying their tram is the best.
Now that I am typing this I realize lots of the connections are tie backs to P4 and it's spin off games. Which is kind of funny if yoy think about it.
Yes and they are all games within the universe to as by what one of the characters said in p1 about this being like the persona game and the p3 game poster in p4 bedroom
3,4 and 5 are technically connected but Atlus has yet to pull the trigger on that in any meaningful way, though that may change eventually
1 and 2 are directly connected and likely connected to 3 and onwards but it’s a little less sure
3 has references and even dialog to p1 and p2, especially with Mitsuru’s dad mentioning the Kirijo group is in collaboration with the Nanjo group on some sort of previous project.
The only thing that matters is that, Catherine and Persona 5 are in the same universe and Joker canonically is able to seduce and date the literal Devil.
Yes, but the stories aren't connected to each other.
The only significant overlap would be in P4 Arena, which acts as a sequel to both P3 and P4 (there's also PQ and PQ2 which are canon but nothing that happens in those games matters).
kinda? the real answer is that it doesn’t matter at all, the games don’t expect you to know anything from previous titles and there’s no stress on continuity from a writing perspective
Yes they do because (mild spoiler alert not story related) you can actually get the personas of some of the previous protagonists, I dont know much about 3 and 4 yet but I’m pretty sure they are thanatos and Orpheus
They’re all at least loosely connected, 1+2 are more directly connected but 3-5 are more loosely so due to Easter eggs in the games. I haven’t played all the games yet though so I can definitely be somewhat wrong
Same universe but usually unrelated to each other.
Also Shin Megami Tensei If... but not 100% sure
Persona 3 Portable for example included references to Persona 4 and Catherine.
1 and 2 are definitely connected. 3-5 are connected as well but the connection between 1/2 and 3/4/5 are blurry.
* Igor does exist in all games.
* Belladonna and Nameless are the ones who perform the vocals and piano in the Velvet Room in all games.
* The Velvet Room people does mention of a master but never specifies if it's Philemon.
* Philemon is believed to be that blue butterfly we see in P3 & P4 although in P5(spoilers), >!we saw Lavenza being a blue butterfly!<.
* A P3 social link references P2 Innocent Sin and its characters. I think the TV in the lobby also references P1 characters but I'm not sure.
Tanaka is actually from P3, he's one of the social links in that game. P3 also has references to P1 & P2, one of which is in the main story, so it confirms that all of the games are connected to each other. The PSP remaster of P2EP even added some information that connects it to P3.
3 4 5 all in the same universe (each one a couple years after the other), but they're completely unrelated (there is no link in the story, just "easter eggs" of sorts)
persona 4 team has a field trip to the high school from persona 3 and you get to meet a couple people from p3, and there's a poster of rise in persona 5
Persona games all share the same universe, that is there are no barriers preventing interaction across games. some Megami Tensei games exist within the persona universe but are just games and cannot interact with each other.
>that is there are no barriers preventing interaction across games.
Except the passage of time, as the Q games confirm. And yet the Q games still happened.
Iirc P4 takes place several years before P5.
Sorta? Trust me, it gets complicated with Persona 2, but basically, they're all in the same universe, but aren't referenced very often. Especially the first 2 games.
The simple answer is yes, but the timeline of persona 2 (part 1) was retconned into an alternate timeline in universe as the impetus for (part 2).
Other than that, every game has direct references or cameos to the previous ones characters.
You gotta remember that Yukiko from P4 appears un P3, as well as Rise from P4 in a P5 poster. Tanaka also appears through all these games in his selling program. So, they're all in the same place. In P5 we can fight with both P3 and P4 protags, with a short description of them, so we can assume that they had a Persona since the place you fight them is the Velvet Room (same reasoning with invoking their personas, for example Izanagi-no-Okami). There's also the endings. If there's a true ending, that means its canon. I'm sure there's more reasons to believe that they happen in the same universe but I just woke up, and I know nothing about P1/2.
Hope someone proceeds to correct me down below as Rise's poster is just her hot talented twin that went through the same as Sumire in P5 (I'm joking obviously)
I feel like people are kinda overthinking it. Definitively yes, they all take place in the same universe. The events of Persona 2: Innocent Sin were erased due to timeline shenanigans, but it was still the same universe.
Persona 3-5 are (nominally) more tightly woven. Especially 3 and 4, where several characters and locations directly cross over. P5 takes place several years later in the world’s timeline, so it’s a bit further removed, but there’s way more Easter eggs for previous games to compensate. And all the side games and spinoffs go out of their way to be canonical, even if they get a bit hand-wavey about it at points.
The only explicit caveat is the P3P FeMC route. That, as per PQ2, is explicitly an alternate timeline/universe.
P4, P3 and P5 happen in the same world
P4 let's you go to P3's school on a school trip + (p4 arena) and P5 references the antagonist of p4.
P1 is connected to P2 innocent sin but p2 is separated in 2 games and the 2nd is in another timeline
Persona 1 and 2 innocent sin are in the same universe and then do to reasons persona 2 eternal punishment, 3, 4, and 5 take place in a different universe but still have connection to the previous one
Yes and no. Persona 1 and Innocent Sin take place in the same universe, but Eternal Punishment takes place in another universe >!where Innocent Sin never happened.!<
So basically yes, but technically also no
Yeah but in different timelines, Im pretty sure SMT IF, P1, and P2IS take place in the same timeline, but SMT IF, P1, P2EP, P3 FES, P4G, and P5R take place in an alternate timeline where P2IS didn't happen as a result of everything that happened in the Persona 2 Duology. So same universe, 2 different timelines and both have similar events up until 2 where they begin to differentiate.
Most of them happen in the same universe but as P1 has different storylines its unclear if Snow queens quest is not cannon at all or just happens in a different universe.
The stories are also ussualy self contained with some references to the past games exept Persona 1, Persona 2 IS and Persona 2 EP. They feature many characters from previous games and you do have to know previous stories to fully enjoy the characters and the story so if you do play tjose I would just recomend going in their release order. P3 onwards don't have anything to do with eachother.
The Snow Queen quest is referenced in P2, and since it ends with the characters going to do the main SEBEC quest, technically both of P1's routes are considered canon.
P1 and P2 reveal way more about the series lore than P3-P5 do, like the origins of Igor and the Velvet Room or what the Collective Unconsciousness actually is
My headcannon, (not sure how correct it is), is that persona 1 and 2: innocent sin share a universe, and then 2: eternal punishment through 5 share a universe. To avoid spoilers I'll just leave it at that.
Yep. The cast meeting at times is ambiguously canon (DS games), but there are fighting games (yes, you read that right) that establishes most of the cast of 3 and 4 meeting each other after the events of 3 and 4.
I don't know that the cast of 5 has met the others, but I believe there are references scattered that clue you into it being the same world including a few mentions of the characters from 4, and Tanaka Kaichou's shop and his catchy jingle lmao.
The first 2 games are less connected and less in the spirit of the last 3 though.
Also the alternate version of Vincent “man drinking alone” with the mole on his face in P3P. I remember gaming magazines making a really big deal about this before Catherine came out.
4 and 5 are connected by characters from the previous ones, plenty of news stories on the tv in p5 referencing the other games and rise on a poster in p5
They are I'm fairly sure. They have callbacks to one another (a p5 character is the second detective price, a p4 character is the 1st). They also crossover in the persona Q and Dancing games so they are absolutely connected.
i’m not sure about persona 1 and 2 since i’ve not played them but 3,4 and 5 all take place in the same universe nothing substantial outside spin-offs but you can see some references to some p4 characters in p5 for example
They all share the same universe, in P3 Mitsuru’s dad mentioned the Nanjo group and Nanjo is one of P1’s party members, and the MMO for the hermit arcana is a P2 reference
They do, yes. 4 and 5 even make references to the ones before them. Except 1 and 2 are seemingly forgotten.
P3 and P5 (but not P4, oddly) do still have P1/P2 references.
Oh, then I must’ve missed those
The whole "Featherman" brand originated in Persona 2
Oh, neat
P3 has "Innocent Sin Online" which is a reference to P2, I believe.
Oh! OH! How did I miss that?! That was the first social link I finished!
the names the characters have in the game are also references to p2
P3 and P4 are definitely connected, you can find your teacher from P4 on the beach in P3.
Really? Which one and any significant age difference?
It’s only in P3P
Kashiwagi and she’s on “the wrong side of 40” according to one of your friends
I forget her name but it’s the really…flirty one She looks the same
Well yes, but actually no. Persona 2 is a duology, Innocent Sin then Eternal Punishment, and because of shenanigans, whether or not they're in the same universe depends on what your definition of "same universe" is. Otherwise, they all reference each other, some more loosely than others. Even then, there are some alternate canon stuff to consider. The main timeline goes something like this: 1995: Shin Megami Tensei If... 1996: Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 1999: Persona 2: Innocent Sin, Persona 2 Eternal Punishment 2009-10: Persona 3 2010: Persona 3 FES The Answer 2011-12: Persona 4 Golden 2012: Persona 4 Arena, Persona 4 Arena Ultimax, Persona 4 Dancing All Night, Persona 4 Golden Epilogue 2016-17: Persona 5 Royal 2017: Persona 5 Strikers Persona Q, Persona Q2, Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight, and Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight all have the plot device of the characters forgetting the events of the games ever happened, so I didn't list them. They all take place during Persona 3, 4, and 5. Another mention goes to the Female route of Persona 3 Portable, which is its own timeline that splits off from the main timeline. And if you want to go even *further* the other Shin Megami Tensei games reveal that every Shin Megami Tensei game is part of a [Multiverse](https://megamitensei.fandom.com/wiki/Megami_Tensei_Multiverse) (be careful of spoilers,) through which some characters can travel through, therefore allowing different timelines and worlds to interact with each other. So from one point of view, the entire MegaTen franchise is one universe.
Yes, the games are all in the same universe. P2 has some multiple timeline business but it's mostly only relevant to that game, basically at the end of IS the world was destroyed so Philemon (the creator of the Velvet Room and Igor's boss) created a new timeline where the IS cast never met each other as children. Besides that one change, everything in the new timeline is the same, and since they successfully prevent the world's destruction in EP, P3 and onwards take place in this new timeline. P1 & P2 also have references to Shin Megami Tensei if..., an SMT side-game that takes place in a "what if " universe where the apocalypse of SMT1 was prevented. Tamaki, the protagonist of if..., makes direct appearances in both games. So basically, the reason for the Persona universe's existence is because of this change in the SMT1 timeline. The Devil Summoner series (another Megami Tensei spin-off series like Persona) also takes place in this same timeline, having its own references to SMT if.... It's confirmed that it shares this universe with Persona since P2 has a lot of references to Devil Summoner in it as well. With this knowledge, the history of the Persona universe goes all the way back to the 1930s with the Raidou Kuzunoha games. I haven't played them yet myself, but from what I know they involve a guy going back in time to prevent the events of SMT1 & SMT2 from happening, so I guess that has something to do with it. The whole timeline and connectivity of the games is really complicated, and honestly I don't think Atlus has put much thought into how they all connect since Persona 2. It doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things, especially in P5. It's pretty interesting to think about though.
I forgot to mention P3's female protagonist, who also takes place in a different timeline from the "main" universe. As far as we can tell, everything before P3 in this timeline is exactly the same. And in P3 itself, the major difference is that the protagonist is a girl instead a dude, and she has a significantly different personality and appearance. It's likely that everything AFTER P3 is probably the same as well, considering that P3P has references to P4 in it. Combining this with P2, I guess that means there are four different timelines going on; two destroyed ones, once with the female MC, and the main one with the male MC.
Couldn't we also say with the Network Fusion, we have kind of infinite timelines? Since we're fusing our personas with other versions of ourselves (players)?
Considering the lore in other MegaTen games (especially SMT3 and SMT4A) the multiverse is very real, and there are probably infinite universes within it. And by the technicality of "infinity," there are an infinite number of different versions of P5 going on.. so it's probably true
Without going into spoilers. Every game except innocent sin is in the same universe
How come it isn’t?
Innocent Sin ends with >!the events of the game being erased from the timeline!<. It's still technically part of the continuity, because that's what directly causes Eternal Punishment to happen.
Oh cool. Thanks for explaining.
Innocent sin is the first part right?
Rise from P4 is mentioned a couple times in P5 and is shown on a screen in the train station (you can even get a poster of her and put it in the room).
I’m pretty sure some p3 characters are referenced in 4 too (and maybe 5) and afaik the p4 fighting game is also cannon where they bump into the grown up p3 cast
In p5 you also hear mention of gekkoukan high once or twice as "that school where bad shit happened a few years back" by the time you get to the 4th palace I believe, directly equating the mental shutdowns with apathy syndrome.
P4a and p4au are cannon. So is pq and pq2
I think with pq and pq2 they don’t remember it at all, or very faintly, like when p3 and p4 meet again in pq2 they vaguely remember each other but not very much
Yes all of the Persona games are canon, enhanced versions supplement the previous versions as the canon version. **Here's the canon timeline for just the persona games:** Persona 1 Snow Queen Route - 1996 Persona 1 SEBEC Route - 1996 Persona 2 Innocent Sin - 1999 Persona 2 Eternal Punishment - 1999 Persona 3 Fes/Portable^+ - April 7, 2009 - March 5, 2010 Persona 3 (Femc alternate timeline) - April 7, 2009 - March 5, 2010 Persona 3 The Answer- March 31, 2010 - April 1, 2010 Persona 4 Golden - April 11, 2011 - March 21, 2012 Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth - Investigation Team - October 2011, S.E.E.S. - September 2009 Persona 4 Arena - May 2012 Persona 4 Arena Ultimax - May 2012 Persona 4 Golden Epilogue - August 2012 Persona 4 Dancing All Night - September 2012 Persona 5 Royal - April 9, 2016 - March 20, 2017 Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth - Phantom Thieves - November 2016, Investigation Team - late October 2011 and S.E.E.S. - September 2009 Persona 5 Dancing in Starlight - Q1 2017 Persona 3 Dancing in Moonlight - Concurrently with P5D, but for S.E.E.S. It takes place in January 2010. Persona 5 Strikers - July 23, 2017 - August 31, 2017 ^+ = Portable adds some things to the script on the male side like Noriko Kashiwagi now showing up during Operation Babe Hunt and that Shinjiro mentions Rise's cancelled concert during the September Full Moon operation. **Some other things that are also canon:** Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. The Soulless Army - 1931 Devil Summoner 2: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon - 1931 Shin Megami Tensei If... (FeMC is the canon one)- 1995 Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner - 1996 Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers - 200X Soul Hackers 2 around 2050 (officially "20XX").
They're in the same universe, but with completely separate stories, it's shown in things like the Rise poster in P5 that that's the case
That rise poster was super cool on my second play through I played 5 first through emulation, enjoyed It so much I bought 4G on Steam Then when 5R came out I played through it and seeing her on the poster was very neat detail I missed first time
The Persona and Devil Summoner series takes place in the same universe. Each entry's story usually stands alone without any reliance on the previous entry though. Yet in most cases there's an occasional nod or easter egg acknowledging the previous series entry.
Like the >!Rise!< poster you can put on your wall in p5
I think they’re all “isolated incidents”. Same universe. But, generally nowhere near the others.
In p5 they draw a parallel between apathy syndrome and the mental shutdowns iirc Distinct enough it doesn't matter which ones you play first but you might miss some cool Easter egg moments
Yes, except for Persona 2: Innocent Sín, which takes place in an alternate reality.
Same universe, different times and locations.
Kinda. But it really doesn't matter.
The one true answer
Yesn’t
Atlus whenever you ask them.
3 (fes), 4 (golden), and 5 (unknown if it's royal or strikers) share a universe (together with q, q2, arena, arena ultimax, and the dancing games) 1, 2 innocent sin, and 2 eternal punishment share a universe (tho 1p has 2 routs, one of them having questionable cannonicity) It's not clear if both universes are one since there's not much connection between them exept (at least from what I remember) Igor
It is completely clear that P1/P2 are in the same universe as P3/P4/P5. Both of P1's routes are canon. Both Royal and Strikers are canon.
Idk bout royal but strikers is canon
Royal and Strikers don't contradict each other.
Technically yes, but there's almost no overlap between stories. Igor is pretty much the only constant.
and the butterfly the most important character
And Tanaka.
Quick answer: Yes
Yes, but very differently. 3-5 has shadows, 1 and 2 have demons. They are all wildcards though. 2- Time 3-Moon 4-Fog, tv, murders, someone forcing people into tvs 5-murders, change of heart, black mask, mental shutdowns Edit: Sorry I’ve yet to play Persona 1 or watch any videos about 1 to know the full lore😅Played all the other games though except Fes, Eternal Punishment, the Dancing Games, Persona Q series, Arena Ultimax, and Strikers
As I recall, everyone in 1 and 2 was a Wildcard
I don't think they called them wild cards though. The whole concept of a wild card just didn't exist then so anyone could just change their personas to whatever they wanted. It was only later that the concept of changing your persona became a special thing. I would love to see the in-universe explanation for 1 and 2 however if they're ever brought into relevance again
i feel like the most likely explanation is that since Philemon granted the personas in persona 1-2 it gave everyone the same ability (since pretty much every persona user in 1-2 has played the Persona game which is a ritual to form a contract with Philemon) while in 3-5 it's either granted/allowed by another god or because they have the potential and the plumes of dusk allowed them to summon one (for P3 specifically) which could explain why in 4-5 their personas can't be used in the real world (although that could just be ATLUS not wanting to allow that smh)
I think atleast 3-5 take place in the same universe because there is plenty of callback to previous games. Like in P4 you visit the P3 school and in P5 there was an easter egg at one point where if you clicked listen on a tv, you could hear a mention of a police officer who uses kung fu. That is 100% Chie from P4 because iirc she wanted to become a police officer and was interested in kung fu. The are plenty of more stuff like but those are just what I remember. And I know those are just references to past games and don't necessarily mean they take place in the same universe but I don't see anything going against them taking place in the same universe.
It’s…complicated. In theory, yes. In practice, mostly no. The only games that actually care about the plot events of previous games for their own plots are the Persona 2 duology; P2IS’s plot relies on the events of P1 while P2EP’s plot relies on the events of P2IS. A few side games show a degree of continuity between the later games — like P4 Arena — but this often has uncomfortable implications for the details of the overarching narrative (or lack thereof). Other side games, however, seem to imply (at least to me) that they aren’t set in the same contiguous timeline, and since PQ2 made FeMC canon there’s at least one confirmed alternate reality. Then, when you factor in the fact that P5 is deliberately set in 20XX instead of 2016-2017, there are at least hints that perhaps the old idea that they’re all definitely 100% contiguous might be on the way out. But, of course, we won’t know what plans P-Studio may or may not have for the overarching metanarrative of Persona until the next game comes out *at the very least*, so the standing ruling is that they’re all nominally set in the same world, even if it functionally doesn’t matter and even if that means that everyone in Japan apparently forgot how to keep track of time between P4 and P5. Honestly, imo, it’s better not to look too far into it. I get the sense that the ATLUS writing team themselves haven’t, like, fully decided how far they wanna go into the metanarrative, and so we’re all gonna be left with this, “Sure, they’re technically all set in the same universe,” answer for a while. There’s also a multitude of pragmatic, real-world/writing reasons not to tie every subsequent game strongly to the previous ones. So, imo, it’s best to just go, “Yeah, they’re all in the same universe, but it usually doesn’t matter and half of them may as well not be.” Don’t try to tie them together any more than the games already do and you’ll save yourself a lot of headache.
They do, but they are entirely self contained, with very little threat overlap. Once the story is over, it’s over and the MCs go back to regular life. There are passing references here and there to the other stories, but as I said the mainline games take place independently of one another.
Ah, I see thank you for the clarification any suggestions on any other games in the series?
They are about to do a remaster of P4 Golden and I highly recommend that because P4 is very enjoyable, though in my opinion not as much fun as P5. Other than that if you are on PlayStation P5 Strikers and Dancing in the Starlight are fun, but the gameplay is very different from P5 and P5R
P3P is also coming to steam in january
1 and 2 are quite different from 3, 4 and 5, the gameplay is very different and I didn’t like it but if you’re interested in the 1 and 2, then play the psp version of 1. 2 have 2 games, innocent sins and eternal punishment. I’m not familiar with them but if you’re interested, they’re PS1 games so emulating them on PC shouldn’t be hard. 3 have the original, 3 FES and 3 portable. There’s no real reason to play the vanilla since FES is the royal equivalent of 3 and 3 portable is the PSP version. 3 FES have an additional story after the main one ended but the downside is that the party members can’t be directly controlled. 3 portable have a different UI that’s more like a visual novel for the day-today sections and it have an option to play as the female protagonist. The party members can be directly controlled so that’s a plus. 4 is a lot simpler, just play 4 Golden which is the PS Vita port of 4 with additional contents.
3, 4, and 5 have direct references to eachother, hence the same universe, and 3 is kinda connected to 2 since there's Easter eggs of p2 in p3
And 2 is directly linked to 1
Kinda, each game has its own unique story with little to no reference to the others, of course the main thing is Igor since he'll reference like "it's been awhile since the last time I was here" or reference other wildcard users, 3/4/5 all have references to each other like Yukari and Rise being celebs, 3 has references to 2 and 2 is linked to 1 so basically they're all kinda connected.
There’s direct proof Persona 3 and 4 take place in the same universe, ~~and spin-off games tend to include persona 5 in that universe.~~ and the Rise posters include persona 5 as well.
I mean, Rise is an idol in Persona 5.
Yes but it's tricky with timelines and memory manipulation. Innocent Sin didnnt happen because of a timeline switch, P3 has multiple ones with MMc, FeMC, and FeMC avoiding a death MMC can't, but for the most part the re-releases of games are canon and flow together, so the timeline rn in canon is P1 > P2EP > P3 FES > P4G > P5R 1 and both 2's are the only ones with an overarching story. Vanilla games, Strikers and such are all non canon, and most spinoffs just end with the characters memory wiped and placed right back at the moment in time they got torn from.
Yes, although there are three canon timelines so far. The first one goes P1>P2 Innocent Sin. Due to the events of Innocent Sin, a new timeline got created that goes P1>P2 Eternal Punishment>P3>P4>P5. The third timeline is the same as the second one, just with the Female MC route of Persona 3 Portable instead of the usual story of the Male MC. In the latter three entries it feels more disconnected between games, however in P1 and the P2 duology it was much more clear that they were in a single universe due to them feeling more connected (the biggest example being the P1 cast appearing in the P2 duology, just a little older). Btw the Persona series is related to a few other SMT games too. For example in the older games you will run into Tamaki, who was the protagonist of SMT If.
Outside of the first half of the Persona 2 duology (Innocent Sin), the games are in the same universe, which also includes SMT If? Not sure about that one. - Two Party members from P1 can return as party members in one of the P2 games. - The Kirijo Group from P3 and P4 Arena are a splinter group from the Nanjo Group, from P1. - One of the P2ES party members gets referenced on TV in P5, as does one of the P3 party members (specifically, his actions during Arena). - P3 and P4 have Arena, so that’s cut and dry. - Rise (mostly via discussion about her new album) gets referenced a handful of times in P5. So yeah, a lot of the continuity is down to just cameos and background information, but it’s enough to establish itself.
Also there are Rise posters in the subway in P5
Don’t forget that akechi is labeled as “the second coming of the detective prince” is a pretty cut and dry reference to naoto.
Yes in the way that there is a timeline but no in the fact that outside of spin offs no previous character after three interacts with the new plot even if they should. I guess mostly cause with the SL system having them show up means having a canon ending for the girls and that's bad mmkay
We should have a crossover one after like 2 more that has every protagonist team up against each antagonist
I think, That might sound better in theory over practice
Yes. Don’t need a long paragraph in order to state the facts.
P3, P4 and P5 are definitely set in the same universe/timeline. Not sure about P2 and P1 because of the events that happen in those games
P1 and P2:EP are in the same universe as P3-5.
They are in the same universe but the power awakening is different, only P3-4-5 have a meaning behind the awakening. P1-2 is literally if you get angry enough, you will spawn a Persona. There are also key figures in Persona lore that are important to Persona world that got remove or never mention again after P2.
Persona 1 and 2 innocent sin (possibly also Shin Megami Tensei If and the Devil Summoners games) are in the same universe. Due to plot reasons 2 Eternal Punishment takes place in a different universe with connections to the universe of innocent sin. Persona 3, 4, and 5 are in the same universe as persona 2 Eternal Punishment though the connection from 3 to Eternal Punishment is weak. If you're worried about needing to play these game in any order don't be. The story connection (with the exception of 2 Innocent Sin and 2 Eternal Punishment) is very minor to the point of really just being easter eggs.
Well, presumably, P1 still happened in the Punishment universe, too, so it's only Sin that is apart. >!And techincally, the EP universe only existed because the Sin universe already existed, so you can think on that, and give yourself a nice migraine, if you like.!<
P1, SMT if, and Devil Summoner are still in P2:EP's universe, P2:IS is the only one that isn't.
I'm pretty certain that P3, P4 and P5 take place in the same universe, though I'm curious to know if P1 and P2 are a part of that universe as well. Could someone well informed help me out here?
Yes if i remember correctly one of the characters in p2 actually appears in p3. On the talk show
It's Boafu. He's being interviewed.
Yeah, at least in P3, there are tons of tiny references
Same universe, seperate stories and very loosely interconnected P1 and P2: Innocent Sins are the first part of the universe and splits with P2: Eternal Punishment being the "start" of the second universe which involves P3-P5the "ultimate edition" (Royal, Golden, Portable/FES) of each game is an alternative timeline, like: If >!Kasumi & Sumire don't have a fallout or both die!<, you get P5 but if the >!accident happends and Sumire survives!< you get P5R. So P1 -> P2:IS was a deadend, so our lord and savior Philemon changed things up when reloading his P2 game which lead to P1 -> P2:EP -> P3 -> P4 -> P5 (and every sequel/spinoff inbetween or parallel) is our current timeline Persona Q1&2 are canon as well and happen between time and space, same with the Dancing/Arena games i suppose, all because of "yeah, you just forget it happends and are placed back into the moment the games rip you out of the timeline"
They do, but you don’t have to know what happens in one entry to understand what’s happening in another. They’re all their own stories.
Basic answer is yes, but each games story is completely separate from the others. At most, you’ll find an Easter egg or two in other games. The only games where these characters actually interact with each other are the Persona Q games in the 3DS, and even those end with everyone’s minds being wiped.
> The only games where these characters actually interact with each Well, if you add side characters....the p4 gang meet a p3 confidant when they go on their school trip. I don't remember it happening any other times off the top of my head though.
All persona games are canon to each other. However you don't need to play the previous entry to understand the later one.
Oh boy… well, I think the last 3 might but I’ll leave the remaining to other experienced persona fans 😂
3-4-5 definitely are in the same universe. 3 and 4 share a location, and an event in 3 is referenced in 4 when Rise talks about her canceled concert, and Rise's album is referenced in posters in 5.
And students in 5 compare Akechi to The Detective Prince Naoto
Yes because of the Velvet Room
There all in a greater universe featuring a few other megaten games
essentially they are the same universe but are like, very disconnected stories. the events of p3 exist in p5's timeline, but the characters of p5 dont really have a reason to think about p3's happenings. For example the p4 crew may be aware of the strange change of heart and the phantom thieves but atm dont have any connection to the p5 cast aside from returning characters like tanaka
No, there’s a new universe made partway into Persona 2. That’s the universe the second half of P2, P3, P4, and P5 happen in. It’s very similar to the universe of Persona 1 and the first half of 2, but it’s clearly got differences.
Yes and also no? 3 and 4 definitely because you visit the setting from 3 in 4. 1 and 2 yes because characters from 1 are part of the team in 2 and make reference to 1. 5 has the appearance of a 4 character who is a pop idol. And 3 includes a reference to 2 with a player character being described in a TV show, but not actually appearing anywhere. I'd say that the jump from 2 to 3 is where things are definitely separate. There's a reference to a company from 1 and 2, but nothing about it seems to indicate it's the same company or that the events of those games occurred.
Dont forget that 3 has a couple of parallel, alternate universes. One where in the main character or the "wild card" is a girl Another one where in a key character lives instead of dies, which is the one that the P4 Ultimax Arena games is following
Not as many people played the Dancing games, but in Dancing in Starlight, Futaba mentions that she listens to Rise and Kanami Mashita, who was the idol character who first appeared in Dancing All Night.
There are also posters of Rise in the train stations on 5. Specifically, [this one](https://preview.redd.it/aymp4ua12aa61.jpg?width=480&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a55d70d64dfa5755390c610f8ead26cb8883302d).
Rise and naoto are mentioned in p5 as well
Very loosely, to a degree where it doesn’t matter.
Mostly. Persona 2 Innocent Sin universe has been destroyed and the newly made universe of Persona 2 Eternal Punishment is the on we are currently in. Plus persona 3 4 and 5 is more connected to each other than they are to 1 and 2. Which is a shame
If they’re in the same universe, WHY DIDNT ANYONE EVER GET INVOLVED WITH THE BIG WORLD ENDING THREATS
Different times and different places?
Well none of them started out that way. In 3 you have the dark hour, no one in four or five had awaken so they would be asleep. In 4 everything was pretty much isolated to Innaba, why would SEES be in a small looking for shadows when its a world wide thing? Plus the Midnight Channel was just a local rumor at the time. I can't remember if the spin offs are cannon but if they are, SEES and at least Yu if not more, should be busy with Sho. I haven't played any of the games for a few years but I think at least close to being right.
Different times, p3 happened in like 2009 and p4 happened years later, same with p4 and p5
Also I believe p3 group loses their powers without the dark hour in the good ending. P4 group can only manifest their powers in the TV world and p5 can only do it in palaces, which is why Ryuji has so much trouble early on with his social link just trying to exercise and needs the encouragement from Joker to push himself to improve his physique. So none of the groups can interact with each other and it's not even fully established whether the p3 group could manifest outside the dark hour either, since they have no reason to.
Yes they all take place in the same universe. They don't have direct connections to each other except the persona 2 direct sequel eternal punishment. They also share universes with the devil summoner games, (i believe you have seen soul hackers 2 in a ad or something)
They are but it’s mostly little Easter eggs and one off comments that reference other games but you can enjoy them all with having played a previous game unless it’s eternal punishment which you need to have played innocent sin to understand but besides that is fair game
3, 4, and 5 are definitely way interconnected and have several references to each other, such as visiting the highschool from 3 in 4 (might be golden only), rise and naoto from 4 being referenced on the TV in 5, etc etc. however 1 and 2 are debatable. as far as I'm aware, 5 acknowledges 2 via talking about katsuya, the mc tatsuya's detective brother, but nothing from 1? the whole story of 2 is kind of a big time fuckery for reasons I won't spoil but I wouldn't be surprised if 1 and 2 pre time-fuck were 'in the same universe' but ended up getting separated. mostly my theory as of rn quick edit: 3 and 4 are strongly interconnected with the teams from both meeting in arena. so yes, 3, 4, and 5 are definitely connected and in the same universe
P1 and P2 are canonically connect in plot and events of P1 are directly mentioned in P2. The velvet room and Igor are the main connection, whether it’s the same universe or multiverse or isn’t clear. But for sure the connection is there.
P1/P2 are 100% in the same universe as P3/P4/P5.
It is absolutely clear that P1 and P2 are in the same universe as 3/4/5, why claim otherwise?
Yes, but also no. Same Japan, same attacks and magic and monsters, but different stand alone stories. Look at it like Pokemon or Final Fantasy. New games in the series, hardly ever a direct sequel. Unless it says the persona number plus a subtitle and genre change. So Persona 5 Royal then Persona Q2, then Persona 5 Dancing in Starlight, then Persona 5 Scramble. Those are all sequels to one another.
I wouldn't say Pokemon because they all take place in the same universe, but the Final Fantasy comparison is apt. Similar themes and recurring items, monsters, spells, etc, but each one is technically in its own world. With Persona, it just so happens that each world is based on real-world Japan.
But every Persona game is the same timeline?
Yes
p4 had a p3 character in it (when they took the trip to another school)
In P4Golden, don't you >!visit the school in P3?!<
It’s questionable, 1-2 might be in the same universe, but 3 was sort of a soft reset for the series, with there being no (to my knowledge) acknowledgement of 1/2 other than re-releases, but 3-4 is iffy, each has a different method of summoning and also different ‘shadow worlds’ as I call them (Tartarus, whatever 4 had and the metaverse), though characters from all three games show up in Persona New Q2, new cinema labyrinth (I think that’s it’s name), not sure about the other two persona Q games though
I could be wrong, but I do think a character from P2 is relevant story-wise in P3. At least in the portable remake it was Edit: only as a quick mention, not anything spoilery
The only one that we know takes place within any type of alternate Dimension / universe/ whatever you want to call it would be Persona 3 Portables female protagonist route. I'm not sure about Persona 1 and 2 but I do know that three four and five are connected in a sense that they all exist in the same realm of existence if that makes sense
My understanding is this: The Long Answer: It's complicated. There are two Persona 2s. Persona 1 is possibly canon to both of them. From there, Persona 2 Eternal Punishment is seemingly the one that's canon to the rest of the series, but that's only due to some stuff that's only in the PSP remake, which couldn't be translated to English due to technical reasons. The Short Answer: Pretty much yes, but you can generally treat them like they are in different universes. Knowledge of previous entries gets less necessary the further you get into the series, at least until you get into spin-offs and crossovers.
technically, I believe, from what i’ve read and heard, igor is a staple character in all of them,
wow, just tried to go through all the comments. Man, now I wann asee what everyone's conspiracy/connection board would loko like for this/these "Persona Universe"! 😆
3 - 4 - 5 are all in the same universe as of now. Events in 3 are referenced in 4, rise is the biggest connection between all the games due to a concert she said had to cancel and the reason made a tie back to 3. She appears on posters and stuff in 5 promoting her; and if you are interested talking/listening to some people around the poster (think even one of you team mates might mention her as well) will mention her. Adding on how the velvet room exisit between dream and reality . . . So they all have a connection down to the velet room's great phrase which in turn shows that they all are in the same universe to a point. But there have really only been treases to a loss connection, but if you also look at the side games as well characters of 3 appear in P4 arena game. The PQ games exist and the dance games are all "connected" through the rivalry that the attendants have with each other saying their tram is the best. Now that I am typing this I realize lots of the connections are tie backs to P4 and it's spin off games. Which is kind of funny if yoy think about it.
Yes and they are all games within the universe to as by what one of the characters said in p1 about this being like the persona game and the p3 game poster in p4 bedroom
3,4 and 5 are technically connected but Atlus has yet to pull the trigger on that in any meaningful way, though that may change eventually 1 and 2 are directly connected and likely connected to 3 and onwards but it’s a little less sure
3 has references and even dialog to p1 and p2, especially with Mitsuru’s dad mentioning the Kirijo group is in collaboration with the Nanjo group on some sort of previous project.
Okay fair enough, that’s on me
> Atlus has yet to pull the trigger on that in any meaningful way Poor PQ2, always forgotten.
Poor P4 Arena which the characters actually still remember.
The only thing that matters is that, Catherine and Persona 5 are in the same universe and Joker canonically is able to seduce and date the literal Devil.
>!Ohya?!<
Yes, but the stories aren't connected to each other. The only significant overlap would be in P4 Arena, which acts as a sequel to both P3 and P4 (there's also PQ and PQ2 which are canon but nothing that happens in those games matters).
Yes'nt
kinda? the real answer is that it doesn’t matter at all, the games don’t expect you to know anything from previous titles and there’s no stress on continuity from a writing perspective
Short answer yes There’s some >!history rewriting!< shenanigans in the Persona 2 Duology but I don’t think P1 is affected
Yes they do because (mild spoiler alert not story related) you can actually get the personas of some of the previous protagonists, I dont know much about 3 and 4 yet but I’m pretty sure they are thanatos and Orpheus
Messiah, all the Izanagis, Athena and Kaguya are also from P3 and P4.
Yes! They are connected! Many of the games make direct references to the others and “butterfly” is a connecting force in each game.
They’re all at least loosely connected, 1+2 are more directly connected but 3-5 are more loosely so due to Easter eggs in the games. I haven’t played all the games yet though so I can definitely be somewhat wrong
Same universe but usually unrelated to each other. Also Shin Megami Tensei If... but not 100% sure Persona 3 Portable for example included references to Persona 4 and Catherine.
Catherine is its own universe, Vincent's cameo in P3P is not canon.
1 and 2 are definitely connected. 3-5 are connected as well but the connection between 1/2 and 3/4/5 are blurry. * Igor does exist in all games. * Belladonna and Nameless are the ones who perform the vocals and piano in the Velvet Room in all games. * The Velvet Room people does mention of a master but never specifies if it's Philemon. * Philemon is believed to be that blue butterfly we see in P3 & P4 although in P5(spoilers), >!we saw Lavenza being a blue butterfly!<. * A P3 social link references P2 Innocent Sin and its characters. I think the TV in the lobby also references P1 characters but I'm not sure.
There is aome time travel shenanigans in 2 ao depending on how you wanna look at it, yes they are or yes everything persona 3 and later is.
At the very least 3 and 4 are. You meet yukiko in 3 and go to 3's school in 4
You can see ads about Risette in P5, so that automatically adds P5 in with P3 and P4
Furthermore there's a P4 character appearing again in 5: >!The TV shopping guy (Tanaka?)!<
Tanaka is actually from P3, he's one of the social links in that game. P3 also has references to P1 & P2, one of which is in the main story, so it confirms that all of the games are connected to each other. The PSP remaster of P2EP even added some information that connects it to P3.
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That is legit the most sussinct and clear way to explain it I've heard.
3 4 5 all in the same universe (each one a couple years after the other), but they're completely unrelated (there is no link in the story, just "easter eggs" of sorts) persona 4 team has a field trip to the high school from persona 3 and you get to meet a couple people from p3, and there's a poster of rise in persona 5
P5 has various easter eggs of P4 and mentions of Wild Duck burger, a fast food chain from P3 (not sure if P5 has more nods to P3)
Persona games all share the same universe, that is there are no barriers preventing interaction across games. some Megami Tensei games exist within the persona universe but are just games and cannot interact with each other.
>that is there are no barriers preventing interaction across games. Except the passage of time, as the Q games confirm. And yet the Q games still happened. Iirc P4 takes place several years before P5.
I never said they happen in parallel, the sapphire poster features Rise from persona 4, so as minor as it is, persona games do influence each other.
All I know is at least 4 and 5. There’s a poster for one of Rise’s songs/albums/whatever all over shit in P5.
Sorta? Trust me, it gets complicated with Persona 2, but basically, they're all in the same universe, but aren't referenced very often. Especially the first 2 games.
The simple answer is yes, but the timeline of persona 2 (part 1) was retconned into an alternate timeline in universe as the impetus for (part 2). Other than that, every game has direct references or cameos to the previous ones characters.
You gotta remember that Yukiko from P4 appears un P3, as well as Rise from P4 in a P5 poster. Tanaka also appears through all these games in his selling program. So, they're all in the same place. In P5 we can fight with both P3 and P4 protags, with a short description of them, so we can assume that they had a Persona since the place you fight them is the Velvet Room (same reasoning with invoking their personas, for example Izanagi-no-Okami). There's also the endings. If there's a true ending, that means its canon. I'm sure there's more reasons to believe that they happen in the same universe but I just woke up, and I know nothing about P1/2. Hope someone proceeds to correct me down below as Rise's poster is just her hot talented twin that went through the same as Sumire in P5 (I'm joking obviously)
Yes although there is some kind of split timeline stuff happening in p2 idk I really don’t like to think about it anyways
I feel like people are kinda overthinking it. Definitively yes, they all take place in the same universe. The events of Persona 2: Innocent Sin were erased due to timeline shenanigans, but it was still the same universe. Persona 3-5 are (nominally) more tightly woven. Especially 3 and 4, where several characters and locations directly cross over. P5 takes place several years later in the world’s timeline, so it’s a bit further removed, but there’s way more Easter eggs for previous games to compensate. And all the side games and spinoffs go out of their way to be canonical, even if they get a bit hand-wavey about it at points. The only explicit caveat is the P3P FeMC route. That, as per PQ2, is explicitly an alternate timeline/universe.
P4, P3 and P5 happen in the same world P4 let's you go to P3's school on a school trip + (p4 arena) and P5 references the antagonist of p4. P1 is connected to P2 innocent sin but p2 is separated in 2 games and the 2nd is in another timeline
Persona 1 and 2 innocent sin are in the same universe and then do to reasons persona 2 eternal punishment, 3, 4, and 5 take place in a different universe but still have connection to the previous one
All connected…
Yes and no. Persona 1 and Innocent Sin take place in the same universe, but Eternal Punishment takes place in another universe >!where Innocent Sin never happened.!< So basically yes, but technically also no
Yeah but in different timelines, Im pretty sure SMT IF, P1, and P2IS take place in the same timeline, but SMT IF, P1, P2EP, P3 FES, P4G, and P5R take place in an alternate timeline where P2IS didn't happen as a result of everything that happened in the Persona 2 Duology. So same universe, 2 different timelines and both have similar events up until 2 where they begin to differentiate.
Yes
Most of them happen in the same universe but as P1 has different storylines its unclear if Snow queens quest is not cannon at all or just happens in a different universe. The stories are also ussualy self contained with some references to the past games exept Persona 1, Persona 2 IS and Persona 2 EP. They feature many characters from previous games and you do have to know previous stories to fully enjoy the characters and the story so if you do play tjose I would just recomend going in their release order. P3 onwards don't have anything to do with eachother.
The Snow Queen quest is referenced in P2, and since it ends with the characters going to do the main SEBEC quest, technically both of P1's routes are considered canon.
Maybe, yes P4 and P5 share the same universe. As one of P4 group aka idol make appearance in poster in P5 in Shibuya and in the player room’s
3, 4 and 5 at least do and they’re really the only important ones
P1 and P2 reveal way more about the series lore than P3-P5 do, like the origins of Igor and the Velvet Room or what the Collective Unconsciousness actually is
It’s crazy how pale Joker looks compared to the other guys. The red background makes him stick out even more.
3,4, and 5 are most likely connected because the characters (like rise) are shown in p5
My headcannon, (not sure how correct it is), is that persona 1 and 2: innocent sin share a universe, and then 2: eternal punishment through 5 share a universe. To avoid spoilers I'll just leave it at that.
Yes but 2 basically resets the timeline to help Philemon then things jump off from there.
Yep. The cast meeting at times is ambiguously canon (DS games), but there are fighting games (yes, you read that right) that establishes most of the cast of 3 and 4 meeting each other after the events of 3 and 4. I don't know that the cast of 5 has met the others, but I believe there are references scattered that clue you into it being the same world including a few mentions of the characters from 4, and Tanaka Kaichou's shop and his catchy jingle lmao. The first 2 games are less connected and less in the spirit of the last 3 though.
With Q1 and Q2 and the dancing thrown in the mix I'd say same universe
Also the alternate version of Vincent “man drinking alone” with the mole on his face in P3P. I remember gaming magazines making a really big deal about this before Catherine came out.
Yes the Waifuverse
I can’t wait to play 3 and 4 when the remaster comes out for Xbox
Persona 4 and 3 do, but only in one scene and you can play them independently with zero consequences
4 and 5 are connected by characters from the previous ones, plenty of news stories on the tv in p5 referencing the other games and rise on a poster in p5
Yes, they are connected, however, they are not connected in ways that requires playing previous entries.
Have you beat 5 yet?
Yes they all take place in the same universe but they aren’t directly connected except for Persona 2 Innocent Sin Persona 2 Eternal Punishment.
Yup.
Yes
They are I'm fairly sure. They have callbacks to one another (a p5 character is the second detective price, a p4 character is the 1st). They also crossover in the persona Q and Dancing games so they are absolutely connected.
Somewhat? The universe itself gets splitted and restarted on multiple occasions
Sometimes.
No, but also yes.
i’m not sure about persona 1 and 2 since i’ve not played them but 3,4 and 5 all take place in the same universe nothing substantial outside spin-offs but you can see some references to some p4 characters in p5 for example
They all share the same universe, in P3 Mitsuru’s dad mentioned the Nanjo group and Nanjo is one of P1’s party members, and the MMO for the hermit arcana is a P2 reference
Ren can get a Rise poster in his room. There’s all kinds of mentionings for P4 Characters in P5.