obligatory persona thread!!!!!!!!

it's hard for me to pick a favorite persona game out of the four i've played since they all are very well made and amazing in their own right. people tend to exacerbate the flaws of each one, when really none of them are really "bad" at all

that said, i think persona 5 royal and persona 3 reload will always have a stronger emotional impact on me. the royal was my first persona game, and i recently replayed it. the ending and especially the credits are amazing and beautiful. i finished persona 3 reload in january, and it really lived up to the hype i had been hearing about since 2020. though royal was my first, reload almost brought me to tears. i already knew how it ended, but it is a completely difference experience when you go through it for yourself

my favorites from each game (without naming protagonists) would be junpei, chidori, shinjiro, and ryoji ; ai, adachi, and naoto ; akechi, maruki, haru, and yusuke

My favourite is easily Persona 2: Eternal Punishment. Tatsuya is just... He's my boy!! I honestly never managed to get myself invested in Persona 3: FES, though, so I've only played the classic games. I think I got to... April? It was when they introduced Aegis, I think. Does the game generally get better after that point (i.e. having Tartarus not be the worst video game dungeon I've ever experienced, having better sociL link interactions) or is it just like that for the rest of the game? I really want to like it because I see how much others do, but I feel like there's something I'm missing. Is there another Nu-sona game I should try instead of 3 or are they all generally of a similar tone?

The best Persona game is Shin Megami Tensei if... and I'm not kidding. But if I were to kid I'd say it's P3FES because the story is beautiful and because I actually like the battle commands system.

re: pedanticbiomasochist
Sadly Tartarus is a bit of a love it or hate it thing (though I'm not sure if there are many who love it) but I think it could be more tolerable if you were to play Reload because of how easier the game is. Not everyone has the patience for it and that's fine. As for the other games, I'm sad to tell you that P4 isn't much better in that regard. The dungeons aren't as lengthy as Tartarus can be but they also have the same repetitive feel gameplay wise, and the times it tries to shake things up are disappointing to say the least. On the other hand, Persona 5's dungeons rock since they're all uniquely designed and have actual puzzles in them.

When it comes to social links, I think all of the games are kind of on the same level, in the sense that there's going to be some you dislike and some you like and that's fine. Personally I'm not a big fan of P4's social links but I know some people love many of those so it really depends on the player. I really like P3's social links and some of them do get a lot better towards the end of each storyline, so I think it might be worth pushing forward. The game also has a stellar ending unlike anything I've seen in other games so I think it's worth sticking until the end for that too.

re:ignoblepalm

Damn... Thanks for the info! I think that maybe new Persona isn't for me, I don't know. Am I right in my understanding that none of the new games allow you to change your party member's Personas? I thought it was such a bad change in 3 (as it removes one of my favourite strategical elements) and I think I've heard it remains that way. If so, I might just try out some other SMT games — they might be more my speed.

No sorry the whole thing in the newer games is that the mc is a special chosen baby boy that no other party members come close too, the trade off is that u can do deeper startergy and stuff than in the older games, as you have so many more options for the mc, also the dungeons suck even in reload but i could deal with p4 cause as said before, they are smaller. Either way the social aspect is the make or break if you don't love that aspect u probably wont like modern persona as much

re:awesomeloser

Damn... That really sucks to hear, since the strategy involved in changing party member's Personas and the dungeon designs were some of my favourite parts of the classic Persona games. As long as they don't force any of the new gameplay systems like Social Links or the date system onto a potential Persona 1 and/or 2 remake, then I'll be happy. (I also hope they don't butcher the music like they did with the OG Persona PSP port, but I somehow doubt they won't.) On a more positive note (“let's positive thinking!”, as Maya would say) — what are some of your guys' favourite Personas? My all-time favourite is probably Robin Goodfellow from Persona 2 just because he's so silly, but Gabriel and Nike from Eternal Punishment are also so, so cool and attached to such a fantastic character. (Elly is my GOAT!!!) Callisto is also a great one — I think it's so fun how much they leaned into the BDSM element of a lot of Persona designs in Eternal Punishment and... I would say I wish they would do that more, but they don't do adult playable characters so I guess it wouldn't be possible. Hastur from Eternal Punishment is also incredibly cool and the method used to obtain him is so, so creative. Seriously, look it up. Joker from Eternal Punishment is really cool as well — the idea of an almost virus-like Persona that's intentionally designed to mock Tatsuya is incredible, and the different stages of it are all horrific. The Ancestor Personas are similarly fun in the idea that Nyarlathotep created them just to piss Tatsuya off specifically. What a dick. Yamaoka being Nanjo's Ultimate Persona is so heartwarming and yet so sad — the idea that he left such an impression on his charge that he manidested as a Persona through the Sea of Souls is just perfect. Some other favourites designs of mine are: Alice (P2:EP), Durga (P2:IS), Eros (P2:IS), Gaia (P2:IS), Hades (P2:IS), Maia Custom (P2:EP), Nyarlathotep (P1), Nodens (P2:EP), Philemon (P2:EP), Venus (P2:IS), and Vesta (P2:IS).

YES tartarus in all games sucks LOL. they made it slightly more bearable in reload but then it just felt TOO easy to me.. i dunno maybe im a die hard fan bc i started thru the p3 movies and theyre super aigis centric and aikoto centric but omg.... The one thing i do like about reload's existence is more merch of my girl <3 she deserves the world and everything more..
i've been meaning to play p2 at a friends request and she raves and rants about tatsuya and maya so i am so sooo excited to meet them for myselves and get to know them XD

love hearing everybodys thoughts!!!!!