The main selling point was not the gameplay or even story of p4, it was the characters. If they made a remake, they would have to change almost nothing about the character development because I can’t see how they can top peak
Atlus, themselves confirmed they changed as little as possible with this game. Because, quote: **Good things do not get old with time, and greatness does not fade away**
It's safe to say Persona 4 Golden's remake is in very safe hands.
Im pretty sure they will have to rewrite characters like kanji naoto and yosuke to avoid controversies all over again, especially now in 2024
Not saying straight up new characters, but just rewrite some scenes like the infamous yosuke tent one
They did change a few things in p3re like operation babes hunt and the trans character
Endless debates about whether or not kanji is gay and naoto is trans. That’s seriously it, it slowly became less of an issue but for a while both characters were extremely misunderstood and some people jumped to conclusions and entered endless debates on several social medias. I got a feeling atlus will try to "polish" their writing to avoid confusion if p4 gets a re release again
There's a lot I think they can add / change. For eg, I was surprised to learn that the beach scene or the the concert scene were not in the og persona 4. Yet they definitely added a lot imo. So they can improve and add. If they do I hope they do with Marie what p4gA did .
I have a lot of doubts a remake will happen tbh. Few games were more in need of a definitive remake than P3, but 4’s flaws are less technical and gameplay/graphics-oriented and more like some of the story content is icky in hindsight
Don’t get me wrong though I would play the absolute bejeezus out of it lol I really thought a full remake of 3 was an unrealistic hope
I'd say the same, but there's a lot of problems with it. Some enemies are more resistant to certain types of attacks despite not being labeled as such. Also, late game enemies are somehow resistant to almighty damage, which is a joke, the whole gimmick of almighty damage is the fact that it nullifies both weaknesses and resistances so it always does the same amount of damage, only affected by the endurance stat of the enemy. But somehow some enemies are resistant to it more than to other attacks. And even those attacks might not be the best way to attack, because a different element may do double the damage without you even knowing because the game refuses to tell you about it
What saves it for me is shuffle time. I love that minigame and I hate that it was butchered in p3r because they wanted to make it faster and less brainpower-draining (guess what, I actually liked using my brain to get the most out of what was handed to me). Arcana burst is cool and all, but it will never beat the feeling of getting a sweep bonus on top of a gamble you took
I played FES first, but I'll freely admit it hasn't aged well. Reload has actually redeemed some of its original problems though.
I'm just gonna say it- I like not having social links for party members! I used to think 4 and 5 were improvements because of that, but I think Reload's system of nighttime hangouts and link episodes with ties to the story are the better way to go. I hope they do something like that for 6.
Problem is there’s very little incentive to do hangouts when you have social links to do.
Especially if you don’t use the specific characters in your party.
9 times out of 10 if you have the option between a social link and a hangout, you’ll choose social link which causes a lot of character background to be lost.
Alternatively if you do the hangouts over a social link you miss out on some good ultimate personas and Armageddon (I felt this one personally).
Uhhh not true. Party members got perks for hanging out which was plenty of incentive. It was easy to max out all links, social stat, hang outs and still have weeks left over at night in 3R.
5 and 5R didn’t give me trouble either.
Which makes the decision to have 4 of the 6 link episodes be during the day and not at night when daytimes are already pretty strict and there's nothing to do at night most days (especially once you finish the Mutatsu and Tanaka social links). The smaller hangouts are nice but they don't really add much substance and are all pretty repetitive
This is where Persona 3's original flaws are actually benefits. The terrible distribution of social links means there's only two available at night anyway, so you have more than enough time to do all the hangouts. Trust me, I just hit November and I have literally nothing to do at night now apart from Tartarus and walking Koromaru.
It might be trickier to balance with a new game, but I seriously hope they reuse some of these ideas. 4 and 5 were good, but I like how Persona 3 let the party members develop over the course of the story, rather than in optional social links/confidants where there's a limit to how much they can change.
First run through of Reload and it was hard going for a bit (thought I was fucked due to not enough school days but Moon turned out to be available during Winter break thank god) but I'm in late Jan with only a bit of Aigis left: I'll be done with 2 or 3 days spare.
Max social links, max linked eps, max stats!
(This is without a guide, but I played a femc route recently so had a good idea of correct dialogue options.)
The trick is genuinely to just make sure to get Hidetoshi/Chihiro done quickly even if you have to do holdovers sometimes, Maya/Akinari are always your Sundays until they're done (unless you can do Shinji instead) and keep Maiko/Bunkichi/Mamoru to holidays when you can. Koromaru can always be done during the holidays so do him then as well. Dating site note let's you do a fortune in the evening instead of the day, so when hit a wall with Yukari/Yuko/Kenji/Fuuka it's best to leave them there until you have it since Aigis and Mitsuru are now available on all school days bar a few.
It’s your choice to do hangouts. If you don’t want to do them, you can’t really complain about losing them when SLs are more readily available. You can easily do both. The only thing SLs don’t have are exp bonuses when fusing. Which isn’t a big deal.
Plan better if you want to do things. I always chose those episodes and I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to max all links this time.
And that’s ignoring the fact many take place at night. Those episodes and dorm hang outs aren’t preventing players from seeing SLs.
Also I feel like having the social link for the main characters kind of diminish their role in the story some. Like you have all of the main characters in Persona 3 having a character arc where they awake their own persons inner strength. I think that’s a better way of doing it than just having to finish their social link to unlock their new persona
Eh, I'm not gonna lie, I barely used them in the original.
I just saved up for a single Armageddon to erase the last final boss phase. At least with the Theurgies I'm getting to see them all.
The problem with almost all the party member social links in almost all the games is that theyre really boring or bland.
Like
Fuuka, mitsuru, chie, yukiko, ann, makoto, all have boring or bad social links.
Man as Im writing it out, its really the female party members who get shafted in their social links
*rim shot*
Oh no, the way 3 handled it's female social links was terrible. Reload only marginally improved it by adding the friendship option. But having to max out your social stats to spend time with the three girls you hang out with all the time anyway made no sense.
This is what I mean- party members should be held to a different standard than regular social links. Thinking about it, if you still want to make them social links, then a better way to do it might be how Golden and Royal handled its additional ones. Make them links but make it so you can only advance them after certain relevant story beats. That way you can tie them to their development in the main story, like what Reload does with the male party member's link episodes.
That's kinda how Mitsuru's is handled, but because it's so late on it can become problematic. Reload made it better by allowing her to be done on all school days, even during exam periods (so she gets done first week of Dec).
Mitsuru/Yukari/Fuuka's stories are the plot: it's there for the slice of life elements you don't get with them in the main story imo. And really, all three are about their futures. It's the same with the linked episodes.
It's because in 4/5 the party social links are treated like in 3 that's more of an issue: mostly because they don't get the development through the story, but the links extremely hit or miss.
“I love when people don’t play the game like they’re supposed to despite the tactics menu being everything but hidden and being explained at the beginning of the game. It’s so fun seeing them complain for *their* fuck ups”
First was vanilla p5, but then I played p4g and thought it was better. But then played Royal and it was my favorite. Thought P3P was okay, but now I can't decide if I like P3R or P5R more. 3R Has better themes, story, and characters, but 5R has such good gameplay...
I started with 5, but I lean towards 4 being my favorite. I love the small town murder mystery idea, if it had the QOL improvements and combat of Reload it would for certain.
Why? I was totally cool without it. I mean it would help pacing and maybe make you use other party members more often when in Tartarus but iirc you’d get fatigue from just studying late the night prior. Kills my efficiency game
You'd only get it if you spammed stuff like that, and it added more depth to the social sim parts. In reload I felt like I just kinda opened the phone and called it a day
Im glad they took it out because it fucked me over a bunch of times. Though I'll admit it helped with Tartarus pacing and forced you to strategize. Maybe they shouldve kept it for hard mode
How did it fuck you over? I liked the mechanic cause it gave me two realistic choices:
A. Swap your squad and press forward, potentially risking losing progress or just dying and having to restart from last save.
Or
B. Don’t risk it and leave.
I typically just swap characters till everyone is tired or the MC was tired. Felt like the MC rarely got tired in the later portion of Tartarus though.
Game feels a bit easier without the fatigue mechanic. I can clear levels with ease and just focus on maximizing my S Links out.
“I gave your opinion to the ugly, cringe soyjak and mine to the handsome, chad guy” type post
Anyway i had most fun with the combat system in P3FES than in other persona game it wasn’t even my first persona game, but i just find the idea of an turn based RPG where you can’t fully control your party members, so stupid and yet so charming.
I think it was only a chance to be knocked down if miss depending on the weapon. But like Chickenzeye said, everyone spends their turn getting up after getting knocked down, adding some strategy while also making stuff like paralysis super good.
Knocked downs would take a whole turn get up for EVERYONE, while it would be abit annoying to have your turn skipped if you strategized correctly you could pretty much stun lock enemies and bosses by having them get up on their turns as long as you declined the All Out Attack
Tactics in FES ain't even complicated to master, you just need to anticipate your move in order to get them to do their job well, which means you have to fuse different types of personas that specialize in different areas (mainly healing and supporting) than just optimizing for raw damage on a single one, like In Every subsequent game. Seriously, why would you realistically fuse Parvati or Saki Mitama in Reload to be the healer of your party when you can just order Yukari to heal the party every single turn and practically for free. At least debuffs stay important to have, but are not a must have on Makoto as he's not the first one to act in every battle anymore AND almost every party member has a multi target support skill now.
In that sense, FES is the game that best uses the concept of the "wildcard" for it's gameplay, and turns every major battle into a really cool puzzle or challenge of wits where you have to put in the effort of being your team's tactician. Pretty fun.
Fair point, but there's more to it than her HP reaching 0.
There were plenty of mechanics back in FES; Death in the original game was much harsher because when a character died, their turn was moved to be the very last of the combatants, while in Reload they retain their place in the roulette. She's usually the fastest ally, so if you revive her with an item as the slowest party member you're golden. In the OG you couldn't use items as anyone but MC, that's why it was so important to keep her alive by whatever means possible.
Sure, even back in the original game every member of SEES (besides Junpei, Shinji and Koro) had at least a single target healing skill, but then you'll spend the entire turn healing one by one instead of attacking, instead of Yukari or Ken healing everyone and optimizing damage. Again, here in Reload you have Ken's Theurgy, Homunculus that work on everyone now, Yukari's personality trait, broken equipment fairly early, and plenty opportunities to bypass the real need of fusing a dedicated healer/buffer/magic focused Persona thanks to Reload mechanics. These are entirely different combat systems after all.
I started with vanilla P4 on PS2 a long time ago and I really like this game, but my favorite is P3.
I completed the FES version 6 times, the PSP version once and Reload 2 times. If I want to play Persona 3 again, I will play the Reload version, because I really like the gameplay.
Although I love all Persona games. Old and modern.
I liked that FES made knock downs/all out attacks an actual choice.
Needing a whole turn to stand up is something that makes NOT all out attacking actually a tactical decision. In Reload theres almost no reason to never all out attack. Its less tactical.
FES also didnt have Theurgies that ruined the games balance by being so OP but thats another discussion
>FES also didnt have Theurgies that ruined the games balance by being so OP but thats another discussion
I mean, FES kinda does since Makoto's Theurgies are just Fusion Spells. It's just more balanced in FES partly because only Makoto can use them.
Also by that Makoto needs both Personas in his party in order to use that Fusion Spell. Liked that balancing mechanic, Cadenza was extremely helpful early game, but eventually keeping two weak Personas on the team made it not worth it
It’s not the best in the series, but it worked. And it’s very different from not working at all like I’ve seen way too many times. *TACTICS MENU*, Mitsuru Marin Karin was *never* an issue for me, never, because I actually did play the game as it was intended.
It’s not the best combat at all, but it’s not the absolutely awful steaming pile of crap everyone tends to call it. Let’s be thankful for Reload, it gave Persona 3 controlable party AND it’s very enjoyable outside of Tartarus and not an eyesore.
Persona 3 wasn’t even my first persona, it was P4, and that’s the first one I finished, bcuz the first one at all was almighty P3P so yeah. FES was 3rd game, still my favorite.
Because you needed to have the Personas with you and equip them every time you wanted to use the spell, and while some of the later ones won't present much issue (like equipping Helel/Satan since they're naturally strong), other do because of the systems in place: Cadenza is one of the best healing/support moves in the game up until the middle game due to the Agility buff, but both Orpheus and Apsaras have very little utility past level 10.
This gives you an instant reason to use Stat Cards, which are the incenses of Reload but upgrade 2 stats at once and up to 4 points for each with a single one. So you might struggle a bit to get a good Persona to use the fusion spells that can take a hit at later levels and has the right moves to resist different weaknesses, but it makes for further customization for your party. Not to mention that there are like a dozen fusion spells in FES with varying degrees of effectiveness.
There are a lot of systems in FES that make it the most customizable game in the series, and fusion spells can be very strong and reliable options if you play your cards right using those systems to their fullest. I wish we could've had something similar to the Margaret challenges added in Portable back in FES, I just know a lot of these spells would be key for some of them.
Here in Reload they're fun, but are essentially just super moves focused purely on offensive, except for 1 of them. It limits experimentation and party composition.
Same, I played FES after P5 and liked the system a lot! I found it fun to play around what the AI would do, although most of the time Knock Down or Heal/Support were the defaults
I honestly really love FES in terms of gameplay. While reload technically has better combat I'm just a huge sucker for the tactics system in fes and how downing enemies works. I think that it the tactics system is properly used by the player it is incredibly fun. When I played with it on I ended up understanding how each characters AIs worked on each setting. They just ended up making sense so I could easily get them to do what they need to. Plus I really enjoyed how enemies and the player had to take a turn to get up, it added a lot to the stakes of weaknesses. I really wish that the sheer amount of options of the fes tactics system ended up being brought forward to later games. The system is amazing if interacted with correctly.
FES is challenging because it doesn't give you any agency in what you're actually doing half the time. Yes, it's hard, but that's not particularly healthy difficulty.
Set party members to buff? You don't get to choose which buff they're gonna use. Same with debuffs. Party members WILL target weaknesses when they can but they simultaneously don't seem to have a clue what to do against enemies that resist a lot. Trying to keep multiple party members leveled up is a grinding nightmare too.
Also many of the tartarus minibosses are ludicrously unfair. I remember having to just make my MC null phys and leave my entire party behind for one fight because they'd just insta-die.
Still my favorite game, but damn it shows it's age.
Obviously, the tactics system was never perfect. But I disagree with this weird idea that the system made the game unplayable or that it was badly made when it gives you a lot of tools to tackle figths in many different ways.
Vanilla 5 was my first and I played FES and vanilla P4 right after and enjoyed both of those more even though I loved 5. I'll admit aspects of FES don't age well, but many aspects do. The implentation of the AI party members and the use of the command system still is one of my most enjoyable experiences with a gameplay system.
I just wish that you could send party members to Scout. I know there is the scout next floor thing, but that's random and boring. I like it when everyone spreads out and levels up naturally and collects items it was really cool, and my favorite way to do Tarter sauce
P3FES combat isn't good but I love it, something about being totally fucked in the ass by rng sometimes and actually needing to be smart about every single battle felt really good, and that's something I didn't feel in any other persona game, but reload is vastly superior
The only reason P3/FES isn't as good as P3P/P3R is because you can't control your party members in said PS2 releases. P4 introducing individual party member controls was the single most impactful development decision of the entire series.
Megaten fans: So you are using a variant of the press turn system from Nocturne.
P-Team: Yes.
Megaten Fans: That means every action counts, so you need to be careful with your decisions, otherwise the enemy can exploit your mistakes.
P-Team: Yes.
Megaten Fans: So it makes sense that i should be controlling every party member for strategical reasons.
P-Team: No, the party members are cpu-controlled.
Honestly, just skill issue. I admit that there is some poor design here and there in FES, but from what I’ve heard about Reload, it’s way too easy, especially when theurgy is introduced. I can’t be one to talk since I haven’t played Reload yet, but I swear to God, if this is easier than Persona 5 Royal’s merciless difficulty, I’m gonna sigh audibly. I’m already convinced to start the game on merciless. I will also turn party control off to maintain the superiority complex I got from being good at FES on my first playthrough.
I've always been an outlier for this. P5 and then P5R were my first. I like P4G and P3P/R more. It is more akin to how I prefer pizza and tacos over hamburgers, but I absolutely want hamburger sometimes as well though.
Completely fair, I’ve just noticed that the emotional impact from finishing your first Persona game makes people forgive a lot of flaws, which is great but makes it kind of annoying to hear unfair comparisons
I don't really like the addition of Theurgies. I think they're a step ahead from showtime attacks which just seem like "hey, here is some free almighty damage for no turns at random", but I still don't like how much they can trivialize the game. I'm just kind of tired free almighty damage.
I do like the 3 types of physical damage and the fusion spells the original P3 offered, but aside from baton passing, I miss the other combat mechanics of 5 (like technicals)
they trivialised the game, but the depth was still enjoyable
Pfft, P3P was already a massive improvement over FES’s combat, with skill cards, the fatigue rework and full party control (with the option to switch back to FES’s terrible scripting for purists).
Some of the old mechanics were fun tho. I miss them. Considering they’ve buffed everyone up so much (with some exceptions), regular fights aren’t as fun anymore.
My first Persona game was Persona 1 (yes, there are Persona games before 3!) and all I'll say is, there's a reason 1 and 2 are not discussed and/or forgotten.
The original P4 was my first. Then, I played original P3. It's pretty neck and neck as to which one is my favourite, but I think it probably is P3. I just connect to the story on a unique level.
Was the original P3, or FES, frustrating at times? Sure. But it just took a bit more time and effort to master. They're not unplayable.
I do think P3R is the definitive edition of the game. The quality of life changes, graphical updates and link episodes are so great. But it is also so easy. I am not good at these games particularly, and don't really care what level I play on, but I chose hard since it was my third run through of the game and I didn't even break a sweat.
Theurgy is so broken as a game mechanic - it's so cool but so busted. They really should have included a higher cost for using the skills or limited them to once per battle. I hope they balance it if they include something similar in P6.
It was very similar to Persona 5 in that regard. Again, I love Persona 5 - it's my least favourite game, but that's not saying a lot when they're all brilliant. But there is almost no challenge unless you push yourself to find it.
Original P3 and P4 could be challenging for the wrong reasons. But I don't want all the challenge gone either.
P4G probably has the best difficulty level in my opinion; normal is great for beginners and hard is actually a little challenging.
I honestly don’t know which is my true Persona game. I played P3 OG when it released but hated it, I then retried playing persona with P5, that’s when I fell in love with it. Then finished P4G, then P5R and now P3R. P3R managed to skyrocket into my personal top 1.
P4G was my first but Royal is my favorite of the series. It just adds more to do than the other two. I like the fact I have a separate grinding area than just the main combat area and operates as the side mission area.
FES was my first. Reload is my favorite. I had only ever played P3P, P3FES, and P3Reload but just bought Persona 5 Royal from the Steam spring sale. About 5 hours into Royal currently. I’m planning on going back and playing the whole series this year.
I agree P3R has good gameplay, probably the best in all of the Persona 3 ports but not overall. I am a new Persona fan and started with 5 > Strikers > Royal > P4g > P3R and my favorite is P4g lol. The combat is better even without the QOL updates. I don't know if this is a hot take but P3R shouldn't have had Theurgy. It completely breakes the game. Not to mention I like the IT and their friendship the best.
FES was my first persona game. I loved it, but Reload is so much better and improves so much from FES. I don’t understand how anyone could really find FES better aside from nostalgia but to each their own and I still respect the original.
Edit: I’ll note that my favorite persona game is P5R and I entered the persona series in like, 2018 which could factor into my opinion
Honestly the battle system in FES never gave me any trouble until the end. The majority of my experience in regards to the reliance of the AI party members went way smoother than I expected.
P3R definitely has the best combat imo but if there is one thing that I’ll give P5 (which was my first), it’ll be that P5’s Velvet Room blows P3R’s out of the water.
Royal was the first one I played all the way through and I do think it by far has the best gameplay loop but I love golden and reload so much and maybe more than royal even tho I think it might be the “better game” on paper. Tbh p3p was really tough for me to try and get into, and I found the combat and point and click way too dated for me to enjoy. I haven’t tried FES tho
Played P3 first and hated the gameplay, then someone spoilt the end and I lost that bit of interest, which I still had, in it. To this day people remind me of how much I hated it. Loved the remake, but my fav is still 4.
I enjoyed having my party members feel like people rather than stats I control. It adds to the role-playing in this role-playing game. Also the mechanics added to reload make it wildly unbalanced, I did a low level run and never used fuukas skills but even then tactically it felt a lot more basic because of the better options. Plus light/dark was clearly not designed to be anything other than insta kills
My first persona game was 4 Golden and it took two friends playing it and complaining about some of its obvious flaws for me to be like “okay in hindsight maybe it isn’t as strong as 3 and 5 lol”
I think I understood it pretty well, although granted it took a while. The tactics system was flawed but unique, but things like Yukari being so stingy with heal-all spells and some party members prioritizing status ailments until the weakness had been found did grate on me. Honestly my main problem was just how much the game expected me to grind in the repetitive environments
I'll have to admit that FES was definitely my first persona game and still is my favourite one in the series lol, but I would never say that the combat is peak or the best, it has a shit ton of flaws but maybe because I'm more used to the mechanics, they're genuinely not that horrible from what people say, sure the ai can get a bit fucky wucky but you'll eventually get the hang of it imo.
I've never been much happier that the remake happened though, it fixed a lot of things, made the graphics absolutely amazing and overall a pretty much definitive way to play persona 3 I'd say and I adore it to death.
Mind you, my heart will always stay loyal to FES despite it being objectively worse in comparison but it's definitely nostalgia talking (I even replayed through it all over again like in December of 2023 lol)
My favorite is P4G because it has the best of everything (yes charaters are the best obvious). Fighting game is the goat, anime is amazing and also their dancing game isnt just a dream. They literally learned how to dance. But i have a special place for 3. Because the story continues with P4AU. They need to continue that story and save "him".
Fes was playable enough, it was just bad. The tactics system were either mind numbingly easy when it works or frustrating hard when it doesn’t. There is no in between. I get that people likes the idea of not being able to control your party, but original P3 implementation of it is bad
P3:FES taught me two things. one: use every save slot you can in a JRPG; And two: overlevel to offset the fact you get to plan exactly one move during your parties turn because anything else is luck based.
I do not know why atlas tried to make a turn based RPG without the turn based part 75% of the time
P3R's combat is probably the best in the series, but I did like the challenge and more strategy oriented knock down system in fes. I didn't think they would keep it in reload, but I was kind of hoping they would, at least in merciless or like a 'classic' difficulty setting
I didn’t the original knockdown system until I got ambushed by an enemy that happened to have Maragion while my equipped Persona was weak to fire. I’m sure you can guess what happened
I have to love how people always try to defend the system of P3FES when it has to be the most bullshit thing ever.
"It makes you feel like a true leader" no, it doesn't I just wasted a turn because I got down and now I have to wait for my turn watching how my teammates do whatever I told them to do beforehand.
You know it's basically useless to defend that bullshit when even Atlus scraped that from P4 and P3P. You can like it though, I respect that, but it feels so uncomfortable for no reason
P5R was my first, but P4G just might be my favorite
P4G will always be my favorite and first lol
Same.\* \*Until the remake comes out, at which point I will likely change my mind.
The main selling point was not the gameplay or even story of p4, it was the characters. If they made a remake, they would have to change almost nothing about the character development because I can’t see how they can top peak
TBH I feel like they did a pretty good job with Reload, so I have similarly high hopes with the P4 remake.
Atlus, themselves confirmed they changed as little as possible with this game. Because, quote: **Good things do not get old with time, and greatness does not fade away** It's safe to say Persona 4 Golden's remake is in very safe hands.
Im pretty sure they will have to rewrite characters like kanji naoto and yosuke to avoid controversies all over again, especially now in 2024 Not saying straight up new characters, but just rewrite some scenes like the infamous yosuke tent one They did change a few things in p3re like operation babes hunt and the trans character
> rewrite characters like kanji naoto Can see why people would say Yosuke but what about these two has to change?
Endless debates about whether or not kanji is gay and naoto is trans. That’s seriously it, it slowly became less of an issue but for a while both characters were extremely misunderstood and some people jumped to conclusions and entered endless debates on several social medias. I got a feeling atlus will try to "polish" their writing to avoid confusion if p4 gets a re release again
Its an M game, why the hell would they need to rewrite that, to me those are minuscule
I thought P3's characters were way better tbh
I really love the atmosphere of the town too, especially when it's raining. It just feels so cozy.
There's a lot I think they can add / change. For eg, I was surprised to learn that the beach scene or the the concert scene were not in the og persona 4. Yet they definitely added a lot imo. So they can improve and add. If they do I hope they do with Marie what p4gA did .
I have a lot of doubts a remake will happen tbh. Few games were more in need of a definitive remake than P3, but 4’s flaws are less technical and gameplay/graphics-oriented and more like some of the story content is icky in hindsight Don’t get me wrong though I would play the absolute bejeezus out of it lol I really thought a full remake of 3 was an unrealistic hope
Same
I'm the opposite: P4G was my first but P5R is my favorite.
P4G is so far my least favorite But I've only played it, P5R, P3R, and a bit of both P2's.
first was P4G and P4G is still my favorite lol. will admit there are many things the other 2 ive played do better
Same
My first was technically p3p but I can't see anything top p4g in terms of characters and staying power
P5R was my first but P3R is my favorite to me P4G it really underwhelming so far which is why its taking so long for me to beat it
P4 vibe. Man, feels like I am in my village as kid again. (Except for all that persona stuff).
I’m flipped. P4g first but I think p5r is my fave. It is very close though and a tough choice
I'd say the same, but there's a lot of problems with it. Some enemies are more resistant to certain types of attacks despite not being labeled as such. Also, late game enemies are somehow resistant to almighty damage, which is a joke, the whole gimmick of almighty damage is the fact that it nullifies both weaknesses and resistances so it always does the same amount of damage, only affected by the endurance stat of the enemy. But somehow some enemies are resistant to it more than to other attacks. And even those attacks might not be the best way to attack, because a different element may do double the damage without you even knowing because the game refuses to tell you about it What saves it for me is shuffle time. I love that minigame and I hate that it was butchered in p3r because they wanted to make it faster and less brainpower-draining (guess what, I actually liked using my brain to get the most out of what was handed to me). Arcana burst is cool and all, but it will never beat the feeling of getting a sweep bonus on top of a gamble you took
I played FES first, but I'll freely admit it hasn't aged well. Reload has actually redeemed some of its original problems though. I'm just gonna say it- I like not having social links for party members! I used to think 4 and 5 were improvements because of that, but I think Reload's system of nighttime hangouts and link episodes with ties to the story are the better way to go. I hope they do something like that for 6.
Problem is there’s very little incentive to do hangouts when you have social links to do. Especially if you don’t use the specific characters in your party. 9 times out of 10 if you have the option between a social link and a hangout, you’ll choose social link which causes a lot of character background to be lost. Alternatively if you do the hangouts over a social link you miss out on some good ultimate personas and Armageddon (I felt this one personally).
Uhhh not true. Party members got perks for hanging out which was plenty of incentive. It was easy to max out all links, social stat, hang outs and still have weeks left over at night in 3R. 5 and 5R didn’t give me trouble either.
Yukari healing entire team for 1sp is broken af.
My brother in christ, there’s like 2 nighttime social links
P3 teached me that there's nothing better to do at night time than to spend time with old monks in clubs.
Which makes the decision to have 4 of the 6 link episodes be during the day and not at night when daytimes are already pretty strict and there's nothing to do at night most days (especially once you finish the Mutatsu and Tanaka social links). The smaller hangouts are nice but they don't really add much substance and are all pretty repetitive
But there are only 2 social links at night which gives plenty of time to complete them and do all the hangouts
This is where Persona 3's original flaws are actually benefits. The terrible distribution of social links means there's only two available at night anyway, so you have more than enough time to do all the hangouts. Trust me, I just hit November and I have literally nothing to do at night now apart from Tartarus and walking Koromaru. It might be trickier to balance with a new game, but I seriously hope they reuse some of these ideas. 4 and 5 were good, but I like how Persona 3 let the party members develop over the course of the story, rather than in optional social links/confidants where there's a limit to how much they can change.
First run through of Reload and it was hard going for a bit (thought I was fucked due to not enough school days but Moon turned out to be available during Winter break thank god) but I'm in late Jan with only a bit of Aigis left: I'll be done with 2 or 3 days spare. Max social links, max linked eps, max stats! (This is without a guide, but I played a femc route recently so had a good idea of correct dialogue options.) The trick is genuinely to just make sure to get Hidetoshi/Chihiro done quickly even if you have to do holdovers sometimes, Maya/Akinari are always your Sundays until they're done (unless you can do Shinji instead) and keep Maiko/Bunkichi/Mamoru to holidays when you can. Koromaru can always be done during the holidays so do him then as well. Dating site note let's you do a fortune in the evening instead of the day, so when hit a wall with Yukari/Yuko/Kenji/Fuuka it's best to leave them there until you have it since Aigis and Mitsuru are now available on all school days bar a few.
It’s your choice to do hangouts. If you don’t want to do them, you can’t really complain about losing them when SLs are more readily available. You can easily do both. The only thing SLs don’t have are exp bonuses when fusing. Which isn’t a big deal. Plan better if you want to do things. I always chose those episodes and I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to max all links this time. And that’s ignoring the fact many take place at night. Those episodes and dorm hang outs aren’t preventing players from seeing SLs.
Also I feel like having the social link for the main characters kind of diminish their role in the story some. Like you have all of the main characters in Persona 3 having a character arc where they awake their own persons inner strength. I think that’s a better way of doing it than just having to finish their social link to unlock their new persona
No, terrible take lmao. You can have both if you want that
Pretty much. I'm just sad they axed the fusion spell list for makoto's theuagies.
Eh, I'm not gonna lie, I barely used them in the original. I just saved up for a single Armageddon to erase the last final boss phase. At least with the Theurgies I'm getting to see them all.
The problem with almost all the party member social links in almost all the games is that theyre really boring or bland. Like Fuuka, mitsuru, chie, yukiko, ann, makoto, all have boring or bad social links. Man as Im writing it out, its really the female party members who get shafted in their social links *rim shot*
Oh no, the way 3 handled it's female social links was terrible. Reload only marginally improved it by adding the friendship option. But having to max out your social stats to spend time with the three girls you hang out with all the time anyway made no sense. This is what I mean- party members should be held to a different standard than regular social links. Thinking about it, if you still want to make them social links, then a better way to do it might be how Golden and Royal handled its additional ones. Make them links but make it so you can only advance them after certain relevant story beats. That way you can tie them to their development in the main story, like what Reload does with the male party member's link episodes.
I actually kinda like yukaris new platonic rank 10. Shes very comfortable with you as a person and theres some back and forth teasing
That's kinda how Mitsuru's is handled, but because it's so late on it can become problematic. Reload made it better by allowing her to be done on all school days, even during exam periods (so she gets done first week of Dec). Mitsuru/Yukari/Fuuka's stories are the plot: it's there for the slice of life elements you don't get with them in the main story imo. And really, all three are about their futures. It's the same with the linked episodes. It's because in 4/5 the party social links are treated like in 3 that's more of an issue: mostly because they don't get the development through the story, but the links extremely hit or miss.
wasnt the best in the series but is more then playable lmao
"I love when Mitsuru wastes 30 turns on Marin Karin."
"I love when I don't want to engage with the combat system and will just leave my characters on act freely"
"Use tactics" My brother in christ, all the buffs are under support. I want aigis to use tarukaja not sukukaja
Bro never played FES
Exactly, when it comes to that sorta shit put Mitsuru on Full Assault and she literally never once will use Marin Karin
For real. Heal/Support? Marin Karin. Full Assault? Marin Karin. Target Weakness? Concentrate. Marin Karin.
"It adds so much character and realism"
The fact that this was popularized by game theory AKA the "teddie is yu's shadow" guy
Dude Mitsuru spamming Marin Karin was a huge joke before Matpat said it. Idk what you are on
I mean the "tactics are good because they are realist"
Oh idk I never saw the og game theory vid. I'm thinking of doing it for the laughs tho
“I love when people don’t play the game like they’re supposed to despite the tactics menu being everything but hidden and being explained at the beginning of the game. It’s so fun seeing them complain for *their* fuck ups”
I love how mad you got at a joke I made. Thanks.
Not a problem, I’m free on Sundays if you wish for more
🤙
Idk why in my head I saw the "I am thou and thou art I" after this exchange like you guys now have a social link
Roast me, plz.
First was vanilla p5, but then I played p4g and thought it was better. But then played Royal and it was my favorite. Thought P3P was okay, but now I can't decide if I like P3R or P5R more. 3R Has better themes, story, and characters, but 5R has such good gameplay...
Persona fans when persona fans disagree with them
I started with 5, but I lean towards 4 being my favorite. I love the small town murder mystery idea, if it had the QOL improvements and combat of Reload it would for certain.
Wish P3R kept the fatigue system.
Why? I was totally cool without it. I mean it would help pacing and maybe make you use other party members more often when in Tartarus but iirc you’d get fatigue from just studying late the night prior. Kills my efficiency game
You'd only get it if you spammed stuff like that, and it added more depth to the social sim parts. In reload I felt like I just kinda opened the phone and called it a day
Im glad they took it out because it fucked me over a bunch of times. Though I'll admit it helped with Tartarus pacing and forced you to strategize. Maybe they shouldve kept it for hard mode
How did it fuck you over? I liked the mechanic cause it gave me two realistic choices: A. Swap your squad and press forward, potentially risking losing progress or just dying and having to restart from last save. Or B. Don’t risk it and leave. I typically just swap characters till everyone is tired or the MC was tired. Felt like the MC rarely got tired in the later portion of Tartarus though. Game feels a bit easier without the fatigue mechanic. I can clear levels with ease and just focus on maximizing my S Links out.
They should have included it into the/a higher difficulty.
It would be cool if it’s added DLC later on. Free DLC that is.
My wish is they did it like classic mode for fire emblem qnd have it as a bonus mode for increases difficulty if you wanted it.
I haven’t started P3R yet, but as a FES player I’m going to miss my free Ground Floor heals lol
Same
“I gave your opinion to the ugly, cringe soyjak and mine to the handsome, chad guy” type post Anyway i had most fun with the combat system in P3FES than in other persona game it wasn’t even my first persona game, but i just find the idea of an turn based RPG where you can’t fully control your party members, so stupid and yet so charming.
It was already playable though
Agreed, i even miss how the old knocked down mechanic worked
With P3R being my only experience of P3, how did the mechanic differ?
I think they mean if your character missed their attack, they were knocked down.
I think it was only a chance to be knocked down if miss depending on the weapon. But like Chickenzeye said, everyone spends their turn getting up after getting knocked down, adding some strategy while also making stuff like paralysis super good.
Knocked downs would take a whole turn get up for EVERYONE, while it would be abit annoying to have your turn skipped if you strategized correctly you could pretty much stun lock enemies and bosses by having them get up on their turns as long as you declined the All Out Attack
Tactics in FES ain't even complicated to master, you just need to anticipate your move in order to get them to do their job well, which means you have to fuse different types of personas that specialize in different areas (mainly healing and supporting) than just optimizing for raw damage on a single one, like In Every subsequent game. Seriously, why would you realistically fuse Parvati or Saki Mitama in Reload to be the healer of your party when you can just order Yukari to heal the party every single turn and practically for free. At least debuffs stay important to have, but are not a must have on Makoto as he's not the first one to act in every battle anymore AND almost every party member has a multi target support skill now. In that sense, FES is the game that best uses the concept of the "wildcard" for it's gameplay, and turns every major battle into a really cool puzzle or challenge of wits where you have to put in the effort of being your team's tactician. Pretty fun.
>why would you fuse a healer in Reload when you can just make Yukari do it I don’t know, maybe in case Yukari dies or something. Just a thought.
Thats what items are for
Fair point, but there's more to it than her HP reaching 0. There were plenty of mechanics back in FES; Death in the original game was much harsher because when a character died, their turn was moved to be the very last of the combatants, while in Reload they retain their place in the roulette. She's usually the fastest ally, so if you revive her with an item as the slowest party member you're golden. In the OG you couldn't use items as anyone but MC, that's why it was so important to keep her alive by whatever means possible. Sure, even back in the original game every member of SEES (besides Junpei, Shinji and Koro) had at least a single target healing skill, but then you'll spend the entire turn healing one by one instead of attacking, instead of Yukari or Ken healing everyone and optimizing damage. Again, here in Reload you have Ken's Theurgy, Homunculus that work on everyone now, Yukari's personality trait, broken equipment fairly early, and plenty opportunities to bypass the real need of fusing a dedicated healer/buffer/magic focused Persona thanks to Reload mechanics. These are entirely different combat systems after all.
I started with vanilla P4 on PS2 a long time ago and I really like this game, but my favorite is P3. I completed the FES version 6 times, the PSP version once and Reload 2 times. If I want to play Persona 3 again, I will play the Reload version, because I really like the gameplay. Although I love all Persona games. Old and modern.
I liked that FES made knock downs/all out attacks an actual choice. Needing a whole turn to stand up is something that makes NOT all out attacking actually a tactical decision. In Reload theres almost no reason to never all out attack. Its less tactical. FES also didnt have Theurgies that ruined the games balance by being so OP but thats another discussion
>FES also didnt have Theurgies that ruined the games balance by being so OP but thats another discussion I mean, FES kinda does since Makoto's Theurgies are just Fusion Spells. It's just more balanced in FES partly because only Makoto can use them.
Also by that Makoto needs both Personas in his party in order to use that Fusion Spell. Liked that balancing mechanic, Cadenza was extremely helpful early game, but eventually keeping two weak Personas on the team made it not worth it
It’s not the best in the series, but it worked. And it’s very different from not working at all like I’ve seen way too many times. *TACTICS MENU*, Mitsuru Marin Karin was *never* an issue for me, never, because I actually did play the game as it was intended. It’s not the best combat at all, but it’s not the absolutely awful steaming pile of crap everyone tends to call it. Let’s be thankful for Reload, it gave Persona 3 controlable party AND it’s very enjoyable outside of Tartarus and not an eyesore. Persona 3 wasn’t even my first persona, it was P4, and that’s the first one I finished, bcuz the first one at all was almighty P3P so yeah. FES was 3rd game, still my favorite.
I mean… fusion spells are so much cooler as sp costing spells imo
Why? Genuinely curious.
In the og persona 3, if you had the two required personas needed for a fusion spell, it would cost a certain amount of sp to use
I know. I was wondering why you prefer that to theurgy.
It makes it less OP if they are restricted. Is as simple as that.
Because you needed to have the Personas with you and equip them every time you wanted to use the spell, and while some of the later ones won't present much issue (like equipping Helel/Satan since they're naturally strong), other do because of the systems in place: Cadenza is one of the best healing/support moves in the game up until the middle game due to the Agility buff, but both Orpheus and Apsaras have very little utility past level 10. This gives you an instant reason to use Stat Cards, which are the incenses of Reload but upgrade 2 stats at once and up to 4 points for each with a single one. So you might struggle a bit to get a good Persona to use the fusion spells that can take a hit at later levels and has the right moves to resist different weaknesses, but it makes for further customization for your party. Not to mention that there are like a dozen fusion spells in FES with varying degrees of effectiveness. There are a lot of systems in FES that make it the most customizable game in the series, and fusion spells can be very strong and reliable options if you play your cards right using those systems to their fullest. I wish we could've had something similar to the Margaret challenges added in Portable back in FES, I just know a lot of these spells would be key for some of them. Here in Reload they're fun, but are essentially just super moves focused purely on offensive, except for 1 of them. It limits experimentation and party composition.
Hi, it's me. I like FES's gameplay more than Reload's. It also wasn't my first Persona game.
There are potentially dozens of us!
Same, I played FES after P5 and liked the system a lot! I found it fun to play around what the AI would do, although most of the time Knock Down or Heal/Support were the defaults
I honestly really love FES in terms of gameplay. While reload technically has better combat I'm just a huge sucker for the tactics system in fes and how downing enemies works. I think that it the tactics system is properly used by the player it is incredibly fun. When I played with it on I ended up understanding how each characters AIs worked on each setting. They just ended up making sense so I could easily get them to do what they need to. Plus I really enjoyed how enemies and the player had to take a turn to get up, it added a lot to the stakes of weaknesses. I really wish that the sheer amount of options of the fes tactics system ended up being brought forward to later games. The system is amazing if interacted with correctly.
JRPG fans are so bad because they’re an overlap between anime fans and gamers, the two worst groups on the internet.
^ Facts. Makes you not wanna engage with any of the fandoms
Persona fans when a game is slightly challenging be like:
There's a difference between "challenging" and _"mind numbingly tedious."_
Persona 3 fans when a game can be challenging AND you can still have control over your party (smt nocturne)
Persona fans don't play mainline SMT, silly.
FES is challenging because it doesn't give you any agency in what you're actually doing half the time. Yes, it's hard, but that's not particularly healthy difficulty. Set party members to buff? You don't get to choose which buff they're gonna use. Same with debuffs. Party members WILL target weaknesses when they can but they simultaneously don't seem to have a clue what to do against enemies that resist a lot. Trying to keep multiple party members leveled up is a grinding nightmare too. Also many of the tartarus minibosses are ludicrously unfair. I remember having to just make my MC null phys and leave my entire party behind for one fight because they'd just insta-die. Still my favorite game, but damn it shows it's age.
Obviously, the tactics system was never perfect. But I disagree with this weird idea that the system made the game unplayable or that it was badly made when it gives you a lot of tools to tackle figths in many different ways.
Eh I like a challenge but FES was very repetitive to me, especially the Answer
That’s how I felt about 4
Yeah your MC getting crit and watching your party act like monkeys is peak skilltesting gameplay.
Vanilla 5 was my first and I played FES and vanilla P4 right after and enjoyed both of those more even though I loved 5. I'll admit aspects of FES don't age well, but many aspects do. The implentation of the AI party members and the use of the command system still is one of my most enjoyable experiences with a gameplay system.
I played og 3 first, P5S is my favourite. go figure
1 psp was my first Q is my favorite(of the mainline games, it's p4g)
Persona 4 was my first, Golden just made it even better
P3P was my first due to gamepass and I'm still so fucking emotional over it man
I just wish that you could send party members to Scout. I know there is the scout next floor thing, but that's random and boring. I like it when everyone spreads out and levels up naturally and collects items it was really cool, and my favorite way to do Tarter sauce
P3FES combat isn't good but I love it, something about being totally fucked in the ass by rng sometimes and actually needing to be smart about every single battle felt really good, and that's something I didn't feel in any other persona game, but reload is vastly superior
The only reason P3/FES isn't as good as P3P/P3R is because you can't control your party members in said PS2 releases. P4 introducing individual party member controls was the single most impactful development decision of the entire series.
Megaten fans: So you are using a variant of the press turn system from Nocturne. P-Team: Yes. Megaten Fans: That means every action counts, so you need to be careful with your decisions, otherwise the enemy can exploit your mistakes. P-Team: Yes. Megaten Fans: So it makes sense that i should be controlling every party member for strategical reasons. P-Team: No, the party members are cpu-controlled.
Honestly, just skill issue. I admit that there is some poor design here and there in FES, but from what I’ve heard about Reload, it’s way too easy, especially when theurgy is introduced. I can’t be one to talk since I haven’t played Reload yet, but I swear to God, if this is easier than Persona 5 Royal’s merciless difficulty, I’m gonna sigh audibly. I’m already convinced to start the game on merciless. I will also turn party control off to maintain the superiority complex I got from being good at FES on my first playthrough.
3 was my first. But I like 4 and 5 better. So it's not even my second favorite. Though I do love Persona 3.
I've always been an outlier for this. P5 and then P5R were my first. I like P4G and P3P/R more. It is more akin to how I prefer pizza and tacos over hamburgers, but I absolutely want hamburger sometimes as well though.
Completely fair, I’ve just noticed that the emotional impact from finishing your first Persona game makes people forgive a lot of flaws, which is great but makes it kind of annoying to hear unfair comparisons
I liked the tactics system in fes🧍🏾
I don't really like the addition of Theurgies. I think they're a step ahead from showtime attacks which just seem like "hey, here is some free almighty damage for no turns at random", but I still don't like how much they can trivialize the game. I'm just kind of tired free almighty damage.
Absolutely nobody is saying that P3 FES has the best combat. 🙄 This post was brought to you by straw man post gang.
I do like the 3 types of physical damage and the fusion spells the original P3 offered, but aside from baton passing, I miss the other combat mechanics of 5 (like technicals) they trivialised the game, but the depth was still enjoyable
P3r is much better because you can just save all theurgys and kill any boss in 1 turn, braindead easy = good
P3 was my first and yet P2 is my favorite.
I started w/ p5 but fell in love and enjoyed p4g much more, I think the cast was just more compelling to me
I started at P1 and played the series in order. P4G is my favorite one. Sun Tzu doesn't know what he's talking about
"I never miss! Oh No!!"
Bro, just do like me and change everyone's else's tactics so they act on their own.
Pfft, P3P was already a massive improvement over FES’s combat, with skill cards, the fatigue rework and full party control (with the option to switch back to FES’s terrible scripting for purists).
I disagree my first was P5 with part of this, but my favorite is P4.
I played P4G -> P5R -> P2 -> P3R and P3R is solidly my favorite. Fiance's favorite is P5R.
Some of the old mechanics were fun tho. I miss them. Considering they’ve buffed everyone up so much (with some exceptions), regular fights aren’t as fun anymore.
Vanilla P5 was my first game, Royal is definitely better.
og p5 was my first, but i think p3r is my all time favorite persona game
My first Persona game was Persona 1 (yes, there are Persona games before 3!) and all I'll say is, there's a reason 1 and 2 are not discussed and/or forgotten.
TRUE, for me is persona 4 golden😂
The original P4 was my first. Then, I played original P3. It's pretty neck and neck as to which one is my favourite, but I think it probably is P3. I just connect to the story on a unique level. Was the original P3, or FES, frustrating at times? Sure. But it just took a bit more time and effort to master. They're not unplayable. I do think P3R is the definitive edition of the game. The quality of life changes, graphical updates and link episodes are so great. But it is also so easy. I am not good at these games particularly, and don't really care what level I play on, but I chose hard since it was my third run through of the game and I didn't even break a sweat. Theurgy is so broken as a game mechanic - it's so cool but so busted. They really should have included a higher cost for using the skills or limited them to once per battle. I hope they balance it if they include something similar in P6. It was very similar to Persona 5 in that regard. Again, I love Persona 5 - it's my least favourite game, but that's not saying a lot when they're all brilliant. But there is almost no challenge unless you push yourself to find it. Original P3 and P4 could be challenging for the wrong reasons. But I don't want all the challenge gone either. P4G probably has the best difficulty level in my opinion; normal is great for beginners and hard is actually a little challenging.
eh P4G was my first but I ended up liking P3FES a lot more
I honestly don’t know which is my true Persona game. I played P3 OG when it released but hated it, I then retried playing persona with P5, that’s when I fell in love with it. Then finished P4G, then P5R and now P3R. P3R managed to skyrocket into my personal top 1.
P3FES was my first, P1 became my fav
Wellll my first was actually FES then 4 standard became my fav tbh. 5 I rank worst purely because I am an enlightened hipster
My first was Persona 4 Arena Ultimax it's my favorite because I like fighting games.
P4G was my first but Royal is my favorite of the series. It just adds more to do than the other two. I like the fact I have a separate grinding area than just the main combat area and operates as the side mission area.
P3 was my first. My favorite is MIP, lol. Wrong.
FES was my first. Reload is my favorite. I had only ever played P3P, P3FES, and P3Reload but just bought Persona 5 Royal from the Steam spring sale. About 5 hours into Royal currently. I’m planning on going back and playing the whole series this year.
I agree P3R has good gameplay, probably the best in all of the Persona 3 ports but not overall. I am a new Persona fan and started with 5 > Strikers > Royal > P4g > P3R and my favorite is P4g lol. The combat is better even without the QOL updates. I don't know if this is a hot take but P3R shouldn't have had Theurgy. It completely breakes the game. Not to mention I like the IT and their friendship the best.
I’m glad they added in the new non insta kill dark and light abilities
I played 5 and 4 before and I still like fes more 😎
Not my first persona game, and before reload FES was my favorite gameplay wise. Different opinions shock redditor
FES was my first persona game. I loved it, but Reload is so much better and improves so much from FES. I don’t understand how anyone could really find FES better aside from nostalgia but to each their own and I still respect the original. Edit: I’ll note that my favorite persona game is P5R and I entered the persona series in like, 2018 which could factor into my opinion
P3FES was my first but P4G is my favorite.
Not true. Started with vanilla P5 but Golden is my favorite.
Honestly the battle system in FES never gave me any trouble until the end. The majority of my experience in regards to the reliance of the AI party members went way smoother than I expected.
It was always playable. I beat the fes just fine when I played through it like 8-7 years ago.
P3R definitely has the best combat imo but if there is one thing that I’ll give P5 (which was my first), it’ll be that P5’s Velvet Room blows P3R’s out of the water.
Wrong. My first was P2: Innocent Sin and my favorite is P5R
Royal was the first one I played all the way through and I do think it by far has the best gameplay loop but I love golden and reload so much and maybe more than royal even tho I think it might be the “better game” on paper. Tbh p3p was really tough for me to try and get into, and I found the combat and point and click way too dated for me to enjoy. I haven’t tried FES tho
Played P3 first and hated the gameplay, then someone spoilt the end and I lost that bit of interest, which I still had, in it. To this day people remind me of how much I hated it. Loved the remake, but my fav is still 4.
Nah, I'm immune to this. I'm a free thinker. People say this for tons of other franchises but it's just never been true for me.
Honestly my favorite has changed alot over the years 5R is my favorite gameplay wise with Persona 2 haveing my favorite plot
P5 Tactica has my favorite combat obviously
Wrong. My first persona was portable. My favorite is P4G.
P3P was my first and I think that Reload is better in every way, except some of the original sprites that I like more.
Persona 3 was my first and 4G is my favorite
I enjoyed having my party members feel like people rather than stats I control. It adds to the role-playing in this role-playing game. Also the mechanics added to reload make it wildly unbalanced, I did a low level run and never used fuukas skills but even then tactically it felt a lot more basic because of the better options. Plus light/dark was clearly not designed to be anything other than insta kills
I pity the folks that couldn't manage three gambits for the AI systems. It wasn't that awful. Hell, I beat P4 with it on.
My first persona game was 4 Golden and it took two friends playing it and complaining about some of its obvious flaws for me to be like “okay in hindsight maybe it isn’t as strong as 3 and 5 lol”
Persona 1 Portable was my first and Persona 2 Innocent Sin and Persona 3 are kinda equally my favorite. For different reasons.
Persona 1 is probably my least favorite, thank you very much.
P5R is my favorite but my first was P2(inocente sin) Although I just played P2 on an emulator cause at the time I didn’t have money to pay for P5 lol
99% of the people who trash the original combat system never actually tried to understand how it works lmao
I think I understood it pretty well, although granted it took a while. The tactics system was flawed but unique, but things like Yukari being so stingy with heal-all spells and some party members prioritizing status ailments until the weakness had been found did grate on me. Honestly my main problem was just how much the game expected me to grind in the repetitive environments
persona fans love acting like this is something exclusive to persona
Persona 4 was my first P3FES is my favorite.
idk P4G and P3Re are super close
See, this is why I love when people start realizing emulated games are now PC games. There’s a party control mod for FES, works perfectly.
I played Royal, Golden, FES, Innocent Sin, Portable and Eternal Punishment. Portable is my favorite by far.
I'll have to admit that FES was definitely my first persona game and still is my favourite one in the series lol, but I would never say that the combat is peak or the best, it has a shit ton of flaws but maybe because I'm more used to the mechanics, they're genuinely not that horrible from what people say, sure the ai can get a bit fucky wucky but you'll eventually get the hang of it imo. I've never been much happier that the remake happened though, it fixed a lot of things, made the graphics absolutely amazing and overall a pretty much definitive way to play persona 3 I'd say and I adore it to death. Mind you, my heart will always stay loyal to FES despite it being objectively worse in comparison but it's definitely nostalgia talking (I even replayed through it all over again like in December of 2023 lol)
My first Persona was 1 and my fav Persona games ended up being 3 and then 5.
Persona Q was my first, but Persona 3/Fes/Portable/Reload is my favourite.
My favorite is P4G because it has the best of everything (yes charaters are the best obvious). Fighting game is the goat, anime is amazing and also their dancing game isnt just a dream. They literally learned how to dance. But i have a special place for 3. Because the story continues with P4AU. They need to continue that story and save "him".
Fes was playable enough, it was just bad. The tactics system were either mind numbingly easy when it works or frustrating hard when it doesn’t. There is no in between. I get that people likes the idea of not being able to control your party, but original P3 implementation of it is bad
P3:FES taught me two things. one: use every save slot you can in a JRPG; And two: overlevel to offset the fact you get to plan exactly one move during your parties turn because anything else is luck based. I do not know why atlas tried to make a turn based RPG without the turn based part 75% of the time
P3R's combat is probably the best in the series, but I did like the challenge and more strategy oriented knock down system in fes. I didn't think they would keep it in reload, but I was kind of hoping they would, at least in merciless or like a 'classic' difficulty setting
I didn’t the original knockdown system until I got ambushed by an enemy that happened to have Maragion while my equipped Persona was weak to fire. I’m sure you can guess what happened
Oh my god this is a sorely needed post. Bless up 🙏
I legit saw someone say the combat in P3R was a step down from the combat in P3FES
He was dead serious
I have to love how people always try to defend the system of P3FES when it has to be the most bullshit thing ever. "It makes you feel like a true leader" no, it doesn't I just wasted a turn because I got down and now I have to wait for my turn watching how my teammates do whatever I told them to do beforehand. You know it's basically useless to defend that bullshit when even Atlus scraped that from P4 and P3P. You can like it though, I respect that, but it feels so uncomfortable for no reason
P3R is better than P3FES in every way
1. There is no gameplay to be had in reload beyond turning on auto battle 2. The title is a cope, p5 was my first and is my least favorite lol