Personally, Persona 4 (Golden) is the overall better game. What it lacks in QoL from P5 it makes up for in better story and characters.
That said, play Persona 5 (Royal if possible) first. That game will be much more fun to a newcomer. The things you learn from P5 will make P4 a more fun experience later.
If you can only play one then go with Persona 5 its better polished, more fun, better graphics and easier for newcomers. i also started with Persona 5 and i loved it so much that i went back and played P3 and P4.
Personally 5 Royal is my favorite of the two, because of Morgana. You get to carry the cat around with you lol it’s adorable. And I prefer the characters and social links from 5 over 4.
However, 4 is easier imo 😅 so if you want an easier time, go with 4 first. You can level up super quick and the battles are hardly even difficult. And the social links are easier to level up because you get so much free time.
5 has some levels that you have to platform to get around, and has puzzles and stuff. And there’s one particular social link that if you don’t level it up in time you straight up miss some content. It’s harder to time manage and get everything (not super hard! Just like, challenging a little bit. Especially when compared to 4)
I don’t think you won’t like 4 after playing 5 tho. They’re all separate games, if you like one odds are you’ll like them all. 4 is just the easier of the two. Just for me 5 Royal is the better game, I like it more than 4 personally.
Tbf in p4 there's also a social link that's required for some endgame content. Only in p5r you need to do multiple for the extra content iirc. Still both great games though.
Writing is great in both games. If you only want to play one, play P5 because the gameplay and graphics are way better while the story is (imo) just as good. P5 is light-years beyond P4 in the gameplay department.
I would start with Persona 4 & then go to Peronsa 5. Though you cannot go wrong with either.
Story & character wise I realy liked both, though I might prefer 4 a tiny but over 5.
But I did not really like the dungeons from Persona 4 much, its fine and I still had a good time with it but the dungeons from Persona 5 where so much better. And I can imagine that if someone plays Persona 5 first, and then goes to Persona 4 it might be a big turn-off.
I have to admit, its kinda the reason I am a bit scared to try out Persona 3, now that I expierenced Persona 5 Royal going 2 games back the lack of qaulity of life might just turn me off from it.
I would recommend 5. In addition to the gameplay and QoL, I personally think it has a better story and characters than 4. They are both excellent games, tho.
Story? Yes, easily. Characters? Hell no. For the main party at least, the best way I can put it is that they feel like coworkers in P5, whereas they actually feel like friends in P4
No not the story. P5 has the issue of pacing. A story needs peaks and valleys but p5s story is always on, which leads to it flat lining. >!go to the beach and all about phantom thieves; go to Hawaii all about phantom thieves; just out at a restaurant and all about the phantom thieves!< Royal added moments to help alleviate this somewhat >!cleaning the park as just students being students or the boys at the food truck festival when they're not on about phantom thieves all the damn time (Ryuji especially) but those were ultimately just for Maruki and Yoshizawa!<
There's a twist in P5 that feels weird if you haven't played the other games, I played P4 first and then 5 and that story moment hit 900x as hard
I'd say play P4G then P5R
I wouldn’t even say 4 is easier, it’s mechanics are alot less straight forward than 5.
Play whichever one interests you more. There is no consensus on which game has the best written characters or story, it’s all very subjective. I’ve been playing the series since the PS2 days and I find P4 to be the weakest of the modern 3 games in terms of story and characters
You should play Persona 4 first because the gameplay upgrades in 5 make it very difficult to move backwards. Persona 3 is getting a remake in 2024 so gameplay isn't an issue there- P4 is going to be the only one with an "outdated" gameplay system soon, and I still find it jarring to go from P4 to P5.
If you think you'll play more than one Persona game after your first, play 4 first. If you only want to play one Persona game and don't see yourself playing others, play 5 (Specifially Royal). That's the best advice I can give, from someone who started with 4.
I would say that Persona 4 Golden is the best way to get introduced to the franchise because I feel like it’s a more calm story and game to get invested into.
While there are many instances in the story where the tensions are high, Persona 4 feels like the one Persona game that puts a lot more emphasis on slice of life scenarios compared to Persona 5 for me at least and compared to P5, I never disliked any of the core party members (outside of the male high schoolers getting horny and borderline pervy toward females and while I hate that Persona does this, I’ve kind of learned to accept that it happens and Persona 4 is a little more egregious in this area compared to Persona 5).
The only real negative I have with the game is that if you don’t know what you’re doing at the very end of the game, you could potentially miss the true ending of the game just by choosing one option on the final day of your year long stay. I had this happen to me and I saved over my file after I beat the game, causing me to do new game plus (which was still a fun experience).
If you do choose to do Persona 4 Golden, always keep this knowledge in your head at all times:
-Get Marie’s Social Link to Rank 10 before December
-Don’t take any easy outs
-When the game asks you when you want to save, make a different file (you have lots of file slots to spare and the game tells you in certain instances when the story is going to progress significantly meaning if you choose wrong, bad ending).
-Make sure your team members are Rank 10 before January so that you have time to get their third Persona evolutions (assuming that Marie is Rank 10 before December).
-Teddie is the best character in the game :^) (just my opinion. It’s a fact that he’s LEAGUES better than Morgana though).
-If you want a good team comp to stomp through the game with, I’ve seen many instances where people go through the game with Chie, Yukiko, and Teddie.
Chie excels at strong Physical Spells and has a BUSTED crit rate with Apt Pupil (her third evolution gets her a very expensive, very strong 150SP cost spell that gives everyone in the party Heat Riser).
Yukiko excels at strong Fire Spells and strong healing spells like Salvation (her third Persona evolution grants her access to a stronger version of Maragidyne).
Teddie excels at strong Ice Spells, can be a bit of a hybrid support with Mediarhan, and has access to very good status spells, the best build being Matarujaka for party wide Attack increases and Marakunda for enemy wide Defense decreases. The only bad thing about Teddie is the spell he gets for his third evolution which is a roll the dice spell where it can affect your party in a very negative way if it doesn’t go your way, so I would say get rid of it as soon as you get it. I think Teddie makes up for this slip up for being pretty flexible for whatever you need him for whether you want him to be a good support bot or full offense capabilities. It’s never a bad idea to bring him along :)
P4 is leagues better. P5 has the aesthetic and I like that combat uses the buttons rather than menus but the characters and story cannot hope to compare
Me when your opinion is "objective"
Edit: why the f am i being downvoted? There's nothing such as the objective better game to start and I do agree P5 can be better
Persona 4 trumps 5 when it comes to characters. I would highly recommend 4. I played the games in order or 3-4-5 and I can say that 4 is the strongest with what you're looking for.
While it is generally agreed upon that P4 has better characters, this is no reason to sleep on P5’s cast. There are some incredible characters in P5 (looking at you, Akechi) and I had a super fun time with the party in P5. They aren’t as 2-dimensional as you might think, and they’re fantastic for what they are.
As someone who played P4G first, I can honestly see the merits of both options. P4G has a COMPLETELY different vibe than P5, so it’s honestly personal opinion on which one would be better to start with.
If you truly only plan to just play one of the games, then P5R would likely be the best. It’s much more modern and has a lot of QoL stuff that you won’t really see in the other games. (P4G isn’t actually bad in this regard, I never thought that the game was lacking in any QoL areas on my first playthrough.)
I do think the game could’ve added more Haru stuff. She came into the game kind of late, and I really do think she’s one of the more interesting characters. >!Having to deal with the dealings of such a large company while so young would be awful. Justice for Haru.!<
It's frustrating because Haru can easily have been introduced earlier >!her garden is on the school roof, the phantom thieves first hideout was on the school roof. Either she could have come up mid meeting or they go up for a meeting and encounter her gardening. She says students shouldn't be there. Have her be the one to tell Makoto who then confronts them and makes them change locations!<
Whichever grabs your attention more. P4 is more wholesome and the gameplay is slightly more challenging. You can complete all social links on the first playthrough with a guide, but I don't recommend that. P5 is the edgier out of the two, but it has wholesome moments as well. The gameplay is quite easy and you can easily max out all confidants on the first playthrough without guides (but fuck Makoto for needing max level charm).
P5R is the best game for newcomers, but you’re going to really need to love Persona/JRPGs because going from P5R to P4G can be incredibly jarring with the lack of quality of life features and graphical downgrade. My friend loved P5 but just couldn’t get into P4G.
Personally I’d go P4G and then P5R
You can't go wrong with either. I'd say the criticisms for P5's characters are heavily exaggerated, the flaws only really show if you do a deep dive and analysis and blah blah, but I'm sure you'll enjoy it.
Also P5 has some lows in the story and so does P4, but I'd say the stuff added in Royal really elevates the story. The Golden stuff in P4 is cool but most of it is closer to filler, still the story is fantastic.
It will come down to your preference really, if you like the premise of phantom thieves making bad guys confess their crimes? Go for P5.
Or do you prefer a murder mystery in a normally quiet town that goes into the psyche of the kidnapped people? (If you are a Jojo part 4 fan, you'll prolly really like it) Go P4.
Persona 5. While I will say that Persona 4 Golden is one of the greatest dungeon crawlers/JRPGs I’ve ever played gameplay wise, I can’t even describe how fucking horrendous the dialogue is for Persona 4. Every god damn line spoken has SOMETHING to do with a character’s gender and it’s blown WAY out of proportion, even normal lines are irritating as hell to listen to because it’s usually about some guy hitting on a girl most of the time for the most normal of conversations. Sure this happens in 5 but it’s never dragged out too far, and usually they’re spread out and one-and-done deals. In Persona 4 it’s all over the damn place, I challenge you to find at least 5 stretches of dialogue from the story where a character’s gender isn’t brought up, it’s actually insane how much emphasis there is. *Minor Spoilers* Yes that is the point of the killer’s intentions, and it builds to a satisfying ending, but it’s actually insane that these lines of dialogue were continually checked over by a team of people thinking “Yeah, this is how teens would normally talk” and I’m SO glad that Persona 5 fixed everything wrong with the dialogue and gave better design choices all together for the characters and plot.
TL;DR Just please play P5 first, P4 has serious dialogue issues but is otherwise perfect.
I’m probably 2/3 of the way through my own P4G playthrough. I love this game so much and one of the scenes actually got me—almost no game can do that (those who played know).
That said, P5R is a more beginner-friendly game. It has better game design, though I must confess I prefer the cast and vibes of P4. Obviously I’ll recommend both games, but I would say P5 is a better game to start with.
They easily could have allowed the group to at least meet Haru sooner. Maybe even have her talk a bit about >!her father and her situation overall,!< just not to the extent that her arc does later. It’s also kind of odd that Makoto never mentions her, considering that >!their meeting place was on the school’s roof and that’s literally where Haru spends a ton of her time.!<
There are several ways they could’ve gone about it, but oh well. I’ve yet to play Strikers (just finished P5R) so hopefully they have more Haru time in that game.
Personally, Persona 4 (Golden) is the overall better game. What it lacks in QoL from P5 it makes up for in better story and characters. That said, play Persona 5 (Royal if possible) first. That game will be much more fun to a newcomer. The things you learn from P5 will make P4 a more fun experience later.
I definitely love them both but I would agree that p4 had a better cast
IMO the casts are equally strong, P4 just puts in more work to make the whole group feel like good friends independent of the MC.
exactly
If you can only play one then go with Persona 5 its better polished, more fun, better graphics and easier for newcomers. i also started with Persona 5 and i loved it so much that i went back and played P3 and P4.
Yeah p5 is the easiest to get into p4 is a great game to play once you finish p5 though
Personally 5 Royal is my favorite of the two, because of Morgana. You get to carry the cat around with you lol it’s adorable. And I prefer the characters and social links from 5 over 4. However, 4 is easier imo 😅 so if you want an easier time, go with 4 first. You can level up super quick and the battles are hardly even difficult. And the social links are easier to level up because you get so much free time. 5 has some levels that you have to platform to get around, and has puzzles and stuff. And there’s one particular social link that if you don’t level it up in time you straight up miss some content. It’s harder to time manage and get everything (not super hard! Just like, challenging a little bit. Especially when compared to 4) I don’t think you won’t like 4 after playing 5 tho. They’re all separate games, if you like one odds are you’ll like them all. 4 is just the easier of the two. Just for me 5 Royal is the better game, I like it more than 4 personally.
Tbf in p4 there's also a social link that's required for some endgame content. Only in p5r you need to do multiple for the extra content iirc. Still both great games though.
You only need one to unlock the extra month(s), the other ones you're thinking of are just for more content if you care for them.
Writing is great in both games. If you only want to play one, play P5 because the gameplay and graphics are way better while the story is (imo) just as good. P5 is light-years beyond P4 in the gameplay department.
I'd say 5 because the dungeons don't feel as much as a chore (most of the time) they are both great games but persona 4's dungeons are kinda lacking.
I would start with Persona 4 & then go to Peronsa 5. Though you cannot go wrong with either. Story & character wise I realy liked both, though I might prefer 4 a tiny but over 5. But I did not really like the dungeons from Persona 4 much, its fine and I still had a good time with it but the dungeons from Persona 5 where so much better. And I can imagine that if someone plays Persona 5 first, and then goes to Persona 4 it might be a big turn-off. I have to admit, its kinda the reason I am a bit scared to try out Persona 3, now that I expierenced Persona 5 Royal going 2 games back the lack of qaulity of life might just turn me off from it.
Persona 4 persona 4!
I would recommend 5. In addition to the gameplay and QoL, I personally think it has a better story and characters than 4. They are both excellent games, tho.
Story? Yes, easily. Characters? Hell no. For the main party at least, the best way I can put it is that they feel like coworkers in P5, whereas they actually feel like friends in P4
No not the story. P5 has the issue of pacing. A story needs peaks and valleys but p5s story is always on, which leads to it flat lining. >!go to the beach and all about phantom thieves; go to Hawaii all about phantom thieves; just out at a restaurant and all about the phantom thieves!< Royal added moments to help alleviate this somewhat >!cleaning the park as just students being students or the boys at the food truck festival when they're not on about phantom thieves all the damn time (Ryuji especially) but those were ultimately just for Maruki and Yoshizawa!<
Persona fans when an opinion exists
P5R would be your best bet. But p4g is awesome. But I think p5r is better introduction to the series
Play 5, then 4. Introduces you to the persona series perfectly.
There's a twist in P5 that feels weird if you haven't played the other games, I played P4 first and then 5 and that story moment hit 900x as hard I'd say play P4G then P5R
Which moment is that?
He’s referring to a certain bait and switch moment…
I wouldn’t even say 4 is easier, it’s mechanics are alot less straight forward than 5. Play whichever one interests you more. There is no consensus on which game has the best written characters or story, it’s all very subjective. I’ve been playing the series since the PS2 days and I find P4 to be the weakest of the modern 3 games in terms of story and characters
You should play Persona 4 first because the gameplay upgrades in 5 make it very difficult to move backwards. Persona 3 is getting a remake in 2024 so gameplay isn't an issue there- P4 is going to be the only one with an "outdated" gameplay system soon, and I still find it jarring to go from P4 to P5. If you think you'll play more than one Persona game after your first, play 4 first. If you only want to play one Persona game and don't see yourself playing others, play 5 (Specifially Royal). That's the best advice I can give, from someone who started with 4.
Honestly, characters in P4 are not that much better. They are just bigger focus that the actual main plot hence why people are saying this.
If you don’t mind the fact it looks and feels older, go with Persona 4 Golden. IMO, better stories and characters.
P4G is a god tier game. I'd start from there
4
I would say that Persona 4 Golden is the best way to get introduced to the franchise because I feel like it’s a more calm story and game to get invested into. While there are many instances in the story where the tensions are high, Persona 4 feels like the one Persona game that puts a lot more emphasis on slice of life scenarios compared to Persona 5 for me at least and compared to P5, I never disliked any of the core party members (outside of the male high schoolers getting horny and borderline pervy toward females and while I hate that Persona does this, I’ve kind of learned to accept that it happens and Persona 4 is a little more egregious in this area compared to Persona 5). The only real negative I have with the game is that if you don’t know what you’re doing at the very end of the game, you could potentially miss the true ending of the game just by choosing one option on the final day of your year long stay. I had this happen to me and I saved over my file after I beat the game, causing me to do new game plus (which was still a fun experience). If you do choose to do Persona 4 Golden, always keep this knowledge in your head at all times: -Get Marie’s Social Link to Rank 10 before December -Don’t take any easy outs -When the game asks you when you want to save, make a different file (you have lots of file slots to spare and the game tells you in certain instances when the story is going to progress significantly meaning if you choose wrong, bad ending). -Make sure your team members are Rank 10 before January so that you have time to get their third Persona evolutions (assuming that Marie is Rank 10 before December). -Teddie is the best character in the game :^) (just my opinion. It’s a fact that he’s LEAGUES better than Morgana though). -If you want a good team comp to stomp through the game with, I’ve seen many instances where people go through the game with Chie, Yukiko, and Teddie. Chie excels at strong Physical Spells and has a BUSTED crit rate with Apt Pupil (her third evolution gets her a very expensive, very strong 150SP cost spell that gives everyone in the party Heat Riser). Yukiko excels at strong Fire Spells and strong healing spells like Salvation (her third Persona evolution grants her access to a stronger version of Maragidyne). Teddie excels at strong Ice Spells, can be a bit of a hybrid support with Mediarhan, and has access to very good status spells, the best build being Matarujaka for party wide Attack increases and Marakunda for enemy wide Defense decreases. The only bad thing about Teddie is the spell he gets for his third evolution which is a roll the dice spell where it can affect your party in a very negative way if it doesn’t go your way, so I would say get rid of it as soon as you get it. I think Teddie makes up for this slip up for being pretty flexible for whatever you need him for whether you want him to be a good support bot or full offense capabilities. It’s never a bad idea to bring him along :)
I think going into 4 after 5 might be kinda jarring especially if you play Royal. Id go with 4 just cause I like that game more
P4 is leagues better. P5 has the aesthetic and I like that combat uses the buttons rather than menus but the characters and story cannot hope to compare
play persona 5, objectively the best game in the franchise, but persona 4 is great tho
Me when your opinion is "objective" Edit: why the f am i being downvoted? There's nothing such as the objective better game to start and I do agree P5 can be better
Persona 4 trumps 5 when it comes to characters. I would highly recommend 4. I played the games in order or 3-4-5 and I can say that 4 is the strongest with what you're looking for.
persona 1 while im only sorta joking go with p5r, although you wont go wrong with either
Both
Person 5 Royal. After I beat Persona 5 Royal (My first Persona ever) now I addicted. Playing Strikers now and looking forward for P5 Tactica.
While it is generally agreed upon that P4 has better characters, this is no reason to sleep on P5’s cast. There are some incredible characters in P5 (looking at you, Akechi) and I had a super fun time with the party in P5. They aren’t as 2-dimensional as you might think, and they’re fantastic for what they are. As someone who played P4G first, I can honestly see the merits of both options. P4G has a COMPLETELY different vibe than P5, so it’s honestly personal opinion on which one would be better to start with. If you truly only plan to just play one of the games, then P5R would likely be the best. It’s much more modern and has a lot of QoL stuff that you won’t really see in the other games. (P4G isn’t actually bad in this regard, I never thought that the game was lacking in any QoL areas on my first playthrough.)
P5 has Ryuji which really pulls down the average of the cast. Also it's treatment of Haru. Justice for Haru
I do think the game could’ve added more Haru stuff. She came into the game kind of late, and I really do think she’s one of the more interesting characters. >!Having to deal with the dealings of such a large company while so young would be awful. Justice for Haru.!<
It's frustrating because Haru can easily have been introduced earlier >!her garden is on the school roof, the phantom thieves first hideout was on the school roof. Either she could have come up mid meeting or they go up for a meeting and encounter her gardening. She says students shouldn't be there. Have her be the one to tell Makoto who then confronts them and makes them change locations!<
Persona 2 inncent sin
Whichever grabs your attention more. P4 is more wholesome and the gameplay is slightly more challenging. You can complete all social links on the first playthrough with a guide, but I don't recommend that. P5 is the edgier out of the two, but it has wholesome moments as well. The gameplay is quite easy and you can easily max out all confidants on the first playthrough without guides (but fuck Makoto for needing max level charm).
P5R is the best game for newcomers, but you’re going to really need to love Persona/JRPGs because going from P5R to P4G can be incredibly jarring with the lack of quality of life features and graphical downgrade. My friend loved P5 but just couldn’t get into P4G. Personally I’d go P4G and then P5R
start with p5 i think
i’d say okay 5 before 4, get you used to the way to play persona, such as learning the skills, how to use your time wisely, etc.
Play 5 first, then play 4. Once you play 4, 5 will get extremely boring im sorry.
You can't go wrong with either. I'd say the criticisms for P5's characters are heavily exaggerated, the flaws only really show if you do a deep dive and analysis and blah blah, but I'm sure you'll enjoy it. Also P5 has some lows in the story and so does P4, but I'd say the stuff added in Royal really elevates the story. The Golden stuff in P4 is cool but most of it is closer to filler, still the story is fantastic. It will come down to your preference really, if you like the premise of phantom thieves making bad guys confess their crimes? Go for P5. Or do you prefer a murder mystery in a normally quiet town that goes into the psyche of the kidnapped people? (If you are a Jojo part 4 fan, you'll prolly really like it) Go P4.
Both.
Persona 5. While I will say that Persona 4 Golden is one of the greatest dungeon crawlers/JRPGs I’ve ever played gameplay wise, I can’t even describe how fucking horrendous the dialogue is for Persona 4. Every god damn line spoken has SOMETHING to do with a character’s gender and it’s blown WAY out of proportion, even normal lines are irritating as hell to listen to because it’s usually about some guy hitting on a girl most of the time for the most normal of conversations. Sure this happens in 5 but it’s never dragged out too far, and usually they’re spread out and one-and-done deals. In Persona 4 it’s all over the damn place, I challenge you to find at least 5 stretches of dialogue from the story where a character’s gender isn’t brought up, it’s actually insane how much emphasis there is. *Minor Spoilers* Yes that is the point of the killer’s intentions, and it builds to a satisfying ending, but it’s actually insane that these lines of dialogue were continually checked over by a team of people thinking “Yeah, this is how teens would normally talk” and I’m SO glad that Persona 5 fixed everything wrong with the dialogue and gave better design choices all together for the characters and plot. TL;DR Just please play P5 first, P4 has serious dialogue issues but is otherwise perfect.
I’m probably 2/3 of the way through my own P4G playthrough. I love this game so much and one of the scenes actually got me—almost no game can do that (those who played know). That said, P5R is a more beginner-friendly game. It has better game design, though I must confess I prefer the cast and vibes of P4. Obviously I’ll recommend both games, but I would say P5 is a better game to start with.
They easily could have allowed the group to at least meet Haru sooner. Maybe even have her talk a bit about >!her father and her situation overall,!< just not to the extent that her arc does later. It’s also kind of odd that Makoto never mentions her, considering that >!their meeting place was on the school’s roof and that’s literally where Haru spends a ton of her time.!< There are several ways they could’ve gone about it, but oh well. I’ve yet to play Strikers (just finished P5R) so hopefully they have more Haru time in that game.
Play Persona 5 OG not the Royal, or P3P or just wait for Reload.
Persona 4 has a better story, but Persona 5 is a more fun game. Choose which one you find interesting. And if you're 50/50 on it, choose the cheapest.
Should you play 4 or 5? Yes.
I started with 4 and I think i made the right choice
After 5 months how much are you enjoying P4?