So Persona 3

[Ryanrulez5]

Damn you internet why were you so right when you said Persona 4 is awesome!?
I'm nearing the end but its now probably in my top RPGs of all time thanks
BTW I have seen alot of people arguing that Persona 3 is better than 4 I would like people's opinion on this on why its better and if its as good as people say it is I might try it if someone could tell me if its available on Vita or PS3 that would be awesome thanks.

 

[ArcadianDrew]

I assume you're talking about Persona 3 original/FES. Persona 4 is better I feel than those versions of Persona 3, you can't control your party members and have to rely on AI in the battles, and unlike the varied levels and tunes in Persona 4, each with their own theme/design, the Tartarus tower in Persona 3 can feel repetitive (it is around 250 floors high). Social Links are a bit different too as you can cock it up and end up unable to progress further with some of the links, for instance say you try to get two girls to max link at the same time one of them gets jealous and refuses to talk to you unless you say the right things. It can be annoying.

Having said that I went from Persona 4 to Persona 3 and I found it really enjoyable and a great RPG, because of the party AI thing battle can be more tense (or frustrating. No don't use that shitty Garu spell, fucking heal me), and the characters are just as varied and interesting as you'd expect. Story is great too.

If, however, you get Persona 3 Portable for the PSP, it eliminates the AI problem because it lets you control all your party members as in Persona 4 and some people say that version is on a par with Persona 4 (haven't played it myself though). So the version you should get depends on what consoles you have (though I might priorities Persona 3 Portable). Any version is great though, I just found Persona 4 to be just a bit more polished and perfected, it improves on Persona 3 in all ways I think. Still, if you have to get the original/FES version and can put up with party AI, you've got one heck of RPG.

Hope this rambling post helps.

 

[Windcaler]

Persona 3 is different from Persona 4 in a few ways. To sum it up IMO P4 has the better gameplay but P3 has the better story and characters. So it really depends on what you personally want to get out of it

 

[Kingjackl]

I'd say 4 is better, but 3 is the one that set the standard for it to follow. It still has great characters and some compelling writing, but the atmosphere is very different. It's much darker and the characters are more like young X-Men or the later Harry Potter books, rather than the jovial bickering Scooby Gang of Persona 4. Whether that's what you want depends on personal preference, but I enjoyed them both. If anything, I think it's better to start with Persona 3 and then play Persona 4, because it almost feels like a release of tension.

You can get Persona 3 Portable on the Vita, and that would be the one to get. A few people might not be a fan of the visual novel storytelling, but it's well-worth the trade-off for being able to control party members in battle and the female protagonist campaign.

 

[balladbird]

have people been saying 3 is better than 4? I'm sure such people exist, the world is a diverse place, but the general consensus is that 4 was the superior game all around.

Both are amazing though. I second that P3P is probably the one you should play, if you can only choose one.

 

[Sosa Star]

I preferred three myself, I enjoyed the characters and the story more, but that's my own opinion. I also prefer the skill level ups more in three then four.

Both are excellent games in most aspects, it tends to come down to personal taste.

 

[mysecondlife]

Did you play Persona 4 or Golden?

Personally, I played P4G more extensively than the original. Then I bought Persona 3 Portable on sale, currently playing on Vita.

I found Persona 3 Portable different enough from P4G to be familiar yet fresh experience. Its not a severe downgrade but there are couple of annoyances in P3P that you wont find in P4G (mainly Persona fusion, skill inheritance, skill cards).

I'm near completion for my first playthrough. After that, I plan on playing as female. Yes you have option to play as both male and female.

Also... if you plan on buying P3P on vita, make sure to set your right analog stick as L and R button because those are the button for 3rd person camera.

 

[Fappy]

They're both great games, but Persona 4 has a much tighter design both thematically and mechanically. That said, I prefer Persona 3's oppressive atmosphere to Persona 4's mostly happy one.

 

[Launcelot111]

Persona 4 is also my all time fave, and P3 Portable is nipping at its heels in terms of quality. The original P3 was great but with a few glaring flaws in my book, but P3P addresses all those flaws- the most key change for me being that the writing is way better for the female route. All in all, if you like P4, P3P is essentially 95% percent the same game, and which one you like more is largely down to taste. P3P is only $20, give it a shot

 

[Meatrod05]

If you enjoyed Persona 4 then you'll most likely enjoy Persona 3 as well. I just recently played through both for the first time starting with 4, and while I was annoyed by some of the things that were clearly a step backward between the two (not being able to control your party members and not having the option for a "just friends" max social link with the female characters for example) none of it was enough to really take away from my enjoyment of the game. Mechanically, 4 just seems like an improved version of 3, but their stories are much more unique.

The atmosphere of Persona 3 is definitely different as well, but it's honestly a nice change of pace from 4's mostly lighthearted approach to everything. It was also really neat to see how the events of Persona 4 actually relate to the larger picture (I'm not really sure how to say that without any spoilers). It almost feels like a natural progression going from 4 to 3 because of how some things get fleshed out.

The way I think of it, Persona 3 is like a hearty steak dinner, while 4 is more like a slice of moist chocolate cake (Yeah, I'm typing this while hungry). Both are equally delicious, but, while one goes down easier than the other, the other is a bit more of a serious meal that will really stick with you.

I'd also recommend playing Persona 3 FES if possible because it has an extra "chapter" (I use that term lightly because it's around 20 hours long) that takes place after the main story that really helped solidify the characters, for me at least. If not, I'd still recommend looking it up afterward. You won't regret it.

 

[SmallHatLogan]

To me Persona 4 was the first game in the series to get everything right. There are aspect of Persona 2 and 3 that I like better (story and characters in P2, atmosphere in P3) and there are some things about them that I really don't like. I like pretty much everything about Persona 4. Overall I think it's the best package.

 

[blackdwarf]

I also first played Persona 4 and am currently playing P3 again. I think Persona 3 is a step back in all aspects, with maybe the exception of the music.

Persona 3 has some serious pacing and story issues and I feel that the Social Links in P4 were much better, because there were mostly with your team and not random people in the city. I still feel I have barely a connection with the people in my team and other characters.

My biggest gripe with P3 imo is that I tries to present itself as dark, but besides the color pallet of the game, it mostly comes of as 'edgy'. I my opinion P4 was telling darker story, even though the game itself looks way more joyful.

Don't get me wrong, P3 is a good game, but it is a much lesser game than P4.

 

[Deceptive_Trixter]

I prefer the P3 crew over the Investigation team but that's in terms of characters. There are a lot of things in Persona 3 that I really did not like mostly the tediousness of exploring Tartar sauce. I loved the improvements in P4 and I'm cursing the fact that the CD broke on me.

 

[klaynexas3]

I like P3's story better, which is why I prefer FES over Portable, because FES executes the story better while Portable executes gameplay better. If I want a good game, I'll play 4, if I want a good story, I'll play 3. And that's not to say 3 isn't a good game, it's just not AS good.

 

[Leemaster777]

I've said it before, and I'll say it again:

Persona 4 is (in my opinion), superior to Persona 3 in almost every regard. Better level design, better characters, better story, better social links, better (arguably) music, better boss fights, and better gameplay. The ONLY way that 3 trumps 4 is the final boss fight. Persona 3's final boss is a thing of beauty... and 4's is just kinda okay. Not bad, but not really as good as 3.

That being said, Persona 3 is absolutely worth a play. Really, saying that Persona 3 isn't as good as Persona 4 is like saying that a gourmet burger isn't as good as filet mignon. Yeah, the steak is better, but that's a damn good burger, too. And Persona 3 is still better than at least 90% of JRPGs nowadays anyways.

 

[Snotnarok]

I have both and haven't gotten to 4 yet, I've actually ignored posts in here to try to not spoil anything on it ..as I've literally seen nothing on the game.

I've been going through P3P (the portable version of P3 on PSP) and it's been fun but the game really is moving at a snails pace and I just don't know if I dig it or see what everyone sees in it. You do some stuff in school, go into a tower that would be panned by reviewers for being bland and same-y. Randomly generated and whatever sure has a hand in making some things a bit more bland but it's like 6 parts of map were made and the game kinda slaps them together.
So, I'm finding the characters fascinating and I want to know what's going on in the town but I feel like I'm playing a dating sim which I've 0 interest in. Sorta feel like I just can't win with it.

 

[Ikasury]

Persona 3 = taking the Persona franchise into the psychologically loved though we all totally 'deny' we play them form of 'Dating sim... plus dungeon crawler!' with all the fun depressing things from all other SMT games... woo, death!

Persona 4 = the upgrade of Persona 3... its shinier!!

that is seriously all the difference i notice between them XD

there's a definite evolution if you want to get technical, story flows smoother in 4, characters are the expected deviation and explore other things 3 wasn't confident enough at the time to do, and Yellow/Black color is shinier as opposed to Blue/White :3 personally, yea, i like 4 better then 3 (it has Naoto and Kanji in it... OTP WOO!!) but i do love 3 like i love all the other SMT games... woo~

Suppose that is one thing i like about all SMT games, there's a distinct evolution in all their story-telling elements and visuals... make playing what amounts to basically the same skeletal story great fifty-bajillion-times over XD

<3 SMT

 

[Tanis]

I liked Persona 3:FES more than P4.

P4 had some better game play, and a slightly better story.

P3:FES had the better atheistic, characters, and OST.

They were both mixed on the social links.
Some of P3's were better than P4's and some of P4's were better than some of P3s'.

 

[Boogie Knight]

I think Persona 3 is a great JRPG and very worthwhile. Persona 4 builds on the previous game for something even better.

People like the tone and plot of Persona 3 more, but the more I think about the plot the more glaring some of the plot holes get (at least to me). They're both great games and will resonate with different people for different reasons. Frankly, I love everything SMT related, even the first Raidou game which was barebones as hell.

Try Persona 3, but a console version (the original or FES). I tried the PSP version but I couldn't stand to see the game pared down due to the technical limitations of the platform.

 

[Mahorfeus]

I always have trouble voicing my opinion on this issue, and I always seem to go back and forth on it, but here's my take right now:

Honestly, I loved Persona 3's story, characters, music, and overall tone above those of Persona 4. It was dark, it was oppressive, and at times it was just downright depressing. The characters are central to the plot, and most are in some way directly connected to it.

Persona 4 was great in all those regards as well, but it had the very, very important aspect of vastly improving on Persona 3's mechanics in just about every way possible. This alone makes it the superior game for me - I cannot emphasize enough how huge of an impact the upgraded gameplay had on my enjoyment of the game.

If Persona 3 had Persona 4's gameplay improvements, it would be the better game for sure. Persona 3 Portable kind of leans in that direction, but I feel like it had to sacrifice far too much to reach that point, largely due to technical limitations. Compare to Persona 4 Golden, which is essentially Persona 4 on steroids. On a portable console no less. I know people are probably sick of Persona 3 by now (Persona 5 can't come soon enough), but I would personally love another portable remake of Persona 3 FES.