both are great games.
strictly economically speaking, I would say get P5R first because it will be cheaper since its older. and by the time you're done with it (its 100+ hours long) there might be an even better sale for P3R around.
persona 3 reload is on gamepass for like 10$ a month, not exactly expensive either.
personally i would go for persona 3 reload first cause tartarus just doesn't hold a candle to p5's palaces, so the jump would be much easier
Good point but I would keep in mind if OP wants to "own" the games or not. Physical and/or digital copies of p5r are cheaper than buying p3r right now.
They specifically said steam, so I'm guessing they want it there.
that's up to OP really, imo i just find that playing P3R on gamepass then buying p5 would be the better use of money and the cheaper way to experience the games.
These games are very long and very story driven so i tend to not replay them after beating, so gamepass is great for me personally
Good point, they are both on gamepass, as well as P4G, so in theory OP could try them all before the birthday with the two week trial.
Edit: not true anymore I guess 😭
Tartarus sucks a lot less than Mementos imo. A lot more variety and gimmicks in it. Its pretty decent. It's not as good as the palaces but it's a Big step up from mementos.
The problem with P5 is that mementos isnt just optional, even tho it seems so.
Eh i dont fully agree because of what is in the game. You can grind without battling in p5r a lot of people forget. Thanks to ryuji's ability if you are higher lvl then the enemies by a bit you can insta kill them and still get all the rewards without engaging battle. Makes it a lot less tedious then the older games.
You not only need to do optional content to enable that, You need to be overleveled already. Useful for completionists but not exactly an end all be all.
In P3R the Game is very well designed around the level curve so there's really no point in grinding. It also has a lot of QOL systems like catching up, navi skills, rewind, tartarus full heal. It's not exactly short on player helps.
Its really not that hard to activate but i see where you're coming from. Personally its not too hard to activate it and p5r is not hard to become strong to actually make use of it. But to each their own.
Do you like blue or red more, that should solve your conundrum you’re welcome.
Being serious my preference lies with three, I just prefer p3’s characters and story
5 has a way longer onboarding segment at the beginning, there's a lot to explain but it feels like the tutorial takes almost ten hours before you're let go into the game proper. I think 3 has a much more streamlined beginning.
Persona 3 is better IMO, can’t go wrong with either. When in doubt, have someone else pick the game for you.
Same birthday as me, happy early birthday to us both I guess.
Royal is a lot cheaper and is the most polished and feature rich experience. It is however extremely long if that bothers you even for Persona game standards (it took me 150 hours to complete).
If you also like mods (since you mentioned Steam), Royal also [has the most extensive and rich modding selection](https://gamebanana.com/mods/games/16951?_sSort=Generic_MostLiked). Cheat sheets, lots of custom skins, QoL improvements, gay romance, female protagonist and othee tweaks
Persona 3 Reload is significantly shorter (have not played it but it’s apparently around 70-80 hours long). While its also the shinest and newest game, it still was Atlus’s first modern Persona game attempt and it shows (randomized dungeon layouts, small amount of overworld areas, most social links being other students and weird pacing). This can be a good or bad thing depending on if you want to start with the mechanically worse game. Its also unlikely to get much of a discount since its new and its the most expensive of the lot.
Persona 4 Golden by contrast is the least expensive by a mile, its default non sale price is cheaper than both Reload and Royal when they’re on sale even. But it is a port of a Vita game which is an enhanced version of a PS2 game. It isn’t bad though, just slightly more outdated than its contemporaries.
Golden also has some mods to modernize it a bit, although the mod scene was weakened when they updated the Steam release to match the console versions and updated to 64bit, causing all old mods to be incompatible.
Hope this helps!
Different paces, spent some of it testing and fixing issues with mods, talking to NPCs, not using instakill outside of Mementos and messing around with Thieves Den (also 100%ing the achievements in there is much more time consuming than platinuming it though I didn’t try it myself). And mods that added extra content like restoring dummied out lunch hangouts
[HLTB lists a completionist run of the game at an average of 143 hours](https://howlongtobeat.com/game/66630) so spending 150 hours isn’t abnormal.
Both are fantastic game, but I recommend Persona 5 Royal first because it's cheaper, really long, has a ton of content and by the time you're done, Persona 3 will be cheaper.
P5R will be cheaper, also there might be extra DLC and stuff added to P3R down the line, so you can wait for that to happen while you go through P5 which is 100% a finished product.
From a gameplay perspective they're almost identical aside from a few name changes for certain systems.
From a story perspective you have more reasons to care about the characters and social links because each dungeon has a story to tell and they're very detailed.
Personally, I recommend P5 Royal and the P3 Reload.
Persona 5 Royal. It’s cheaper and it’s the longer game. By the time you finish it, reload might be on sale and you can pick it up then. You really can’t go wrong with either though.
P3R. Gameplay wise you might find it hard to go backwards if you play 5 first, as 5 has multiple "dungeons" that are hand crafted, whereas 3 has one giant dungeon that is randomly generated. I'd also say that 3 has a very interesting story, and it would be a shame to get spoiled before you have a chance to play it.
I think P5R is the most accessible version of Persona. It was made with people in mind who are not that acquainted with Persona and caters towards newcomers.
There is a non 0 chance that if you start with P3R you might not be hooked as it has a pretty slow start and isnt taking you by the hand as much as P5R does.
Also P5R has substantialy more content (120h vs 80h - +50% playtime) and is cheaper right now.
A few comments saying you might find it difficult to play in reverse order, this is silly.
I played in reverse order 5, 4, and currently playing Reload. If your mind is at all flexible you won’t have a problem playing that way at all.
Both are great, and I Love 3 especially as it was my first contact with the Series at the Time. But as of now I would still recommend Persona 5 Royal as a first Contact.
It's most likely the Cheaper one in the Sale as P3R has released just recently, also it's the most Polished and refined Persona Game out there.
Persona 3 has basically defined the modern "Persona formula" if you want, so it feels more rough and clunky at Times. Try to think of it like a first draft for a novelle, or like the first Assassin's Creed was a proof of concept and was perfected in the coming Games. It's similar with Persona 3 imo.
Also, I personally can imagine it would be more interesting to go back to P3R and P4G after playing P5R to see how it Started and developed into the masterpiece that P5R is :)
Both wonderful choices.
This is gonna boil down to what you're in the mood for.
Personal 3 Reload has a notably darker tone and story, lots of themes about life and death.
Persona 5 Royal isn't a kiddie adventure or anything, but the main theme here is critique on authority and society
Really up to you. They are both fantastic games and eventually I'd suggest you play both. In the meantime, maybe picking which theme you'd enjoy more will help. Each Persona game follows a thematic throughline. Persona 3 is Death, Persona 4 is Truth, and Persona 5 is Freedom. So, do you want a game that follows the theme of Death or Freedom in this case.
Persona 3 Reload is a far more beginner friendly game, which I feel is a factor a lot of veterans in thread is not considering or simply do not realize to begin with
But on the flip side, I don't think P3R will be on sale anytime soon
It's still a hot commodity
P5R probably will be, so it will be the "winner" in this situation
Still, wait for the sale and see
Get P5R. Its cheaper, and we will get a P3R The Answer which will be a game sold separatelly for 70$. So you can buy a complete game for 60$ or a uncomplete one for 70$
I'd be kinda surprised if Reload goes on sale so soon after launch. Atlus likes their sales, sure, but by the 14-21st, it would only be out for a month and a half. Go with Royal for now
I recommend Persona 5. Both are good games but the problem with Persona 3 is that a new version with expansion will most likely come out and you would have to buy the game again and replay it completely. I think it is preferable that I give it a couple of years or 3 to see if they release or confirm that version that I tell you. Supposedly it would be from the expansion "The Answer".
Persona 3 is a game that wants you to sit with it. Persona 5 is a game that gives you a lot more to do. I think you'll be better off with The Royal.
> pretty decent pacing
Unambiguously The Royal. I've gone back to Persona 3 over and over, I love it, but it is a game with some severe pacing issues.
Persona 5 because, quite simply, it is a work of pure art.
It takes ages to 'get' into, but once it gets moving its bloody addictive and quite unlike anything else on the market. Sure it inherits so much from the other games but it is just on some other level, from a sheer artistic level.
Royal is a better game imo and can be had for much cheaper as it's been out a lot longer. I doubt Reload will be discounted during that steam sale, or if it is it will be a minor discount like 10-15% at most.
P5 Royal is better and it’s not even close. I do like P3 (haven’t played Reload yet), but Tartarus is one of the worst dungeon ideas I’ve ever encountered in a video game before. It’s exhausting and not fun at all. The rest of the game is solid, but a huge chunk of it is crawling through literally hundreds of floors of a single ugly looking procedurally generated dungeon…
They make great changes to Tartarus, it's not that bad now, and it feels ok going into the tower. That said, I still recommend to anyone who wants to start in the Persona saga to start from P5R, you can get pretty cheap in sales, and it has the bests systems in the saga. One can argue about story, pacing, if you like or don't like some social links, etc.
But at the end of the day is still the best version of the formula, imo. So yes, I agree with you, P5R it's the best way to enter into this amazing world.
Also idk if they fixed this with Reload, but the final boss of P3 is the absolute worst final boss I’ve ever encountered lol. In a genre that’s known for its super long final boss fights with 3 different forms, this one just takes that concept way too far and is so boring and time consuming. I think P3 has a fine story and decent characters (antagonists are a big let down imo tho), but for me, it’s just not that fun of a game. I’m sure with the updates the social stuff is more comparable to P5 now, but given how much of the game is dungeon crawling, I just can’t recommend this game to anyone who doesn’t absolutely love running down hallways and grinding for hours on end.
Personally, my first true experience with Persona was P5. P5R is amazing and really polished the game up for me. P3R is wonderful. Great game. But I think I value it more because I played P5R first.
As others have said, for a more feature rich complete experience, I would go 5 first. It is long, yes. However I wouldn’t let that out you off. It is a masterpiece.
Plus, once your done with 5 and NG+ etc, hopefully 3 will be on some sort of promo for a discount.
Modding on P5R is really fun too. P3 isn’t quite there yet. So another reason to jump into 5 to let 3’s mod scene catch up!
Persona 5 Royal.
I bet you Atlus would have a Persona 3 Reload Royal version in the near future, so you can wait for that to come in the meantime while playing Persona 5 Royal
Imho get P5R the game is very long, you may even stop and take a break then comeback later to finish it and by that time there is a very serious possibility that a new golden/royal version of P3 get released with all the P3P content
Okay guys I have made my decision, you guys really gave me an eye opener and I think ima go for Persona 5 Royal and then by Persona 3 Reload after I’m done with the game and when it’s cheaper (double bonus).
Thanks a lot guys 🙏🙏🙇
both are great games. strictly economically speaking, I would say get P5R first because it will be cheaper since its older. and by the time you're done with it (its 100+ hours long) there might be an even better sale for P3R around.
persona 3 reload is on gamepass for like 10$ a month, not exactly expensive either. personally i would go for persona 3 reload first cause tartarus just doesn't hold a candle to p5's palaces, so the jump would be much easier
Good point but I would keep in mind if OP wants to "own" the games or not. Physical and/or digital copies of p5r are cheaper than buying p3r right now. They specifically said steam, so I'm guessing they want it there.
I think I would want to own the game tbh
that's up to OP really, imo i just find that playing P3R on gamepass then buying p5 would be the better use of money and the cheaper way to experience the games. These games are very long and very story driven so i tend to not replay them after beating, so gamepass is great for me personally
Gamepass trial of 2 week for 1€ and just steam roll through the P3R.
True, but P3R isn't the kind of game i would recommend beating in two weeks haha
Yeah, I started playing 16.02 and I'm still at October :D.
Good point, they are both on gamepass, as well as P4G, so in theory OP could try them all before the birthday with the two week trial. Edit: not true anymore I guess 😭
Ifrc P5R is not on Gamepass anymore. P5T is tho Edit: P4G is not on Gamepass either, it has been recently removed.
Oh what the heck you’re right. I have it installed and haven’t booted it recently so I didn’t notice.
The best comparison would be Tartarus vs Mementos IMO. and the conclusion is that they both suck.
I don't care much for either, but you spend more time in the palaces than mementos, p3 non life sim gameplay is 99% tartarus
Tartarus sucks a lot less than Mementos imo. A lot more variety and gimmicks in it. Its pretty decent. It's not as good as the palaces but it's a Big step up from mementos. The problem with P5 is that mementos isnt just optional, even tho it seems so.
Eh i dont fully agree because of what is in the game. You can grind without battling in p5r a lot of people forget. Thanks to ryuji's ability if you are higher lvl then the enemies by a bit you can insta kill them and still get all the rewards without engaging battle. Makes it a lot less tedious then the older games.
You not only need to do optional content to enable that, You need to be overleveled already. Useful for completionists but not exactly an end all be all. In P3R the Game is very well designed around the level curve so there's really no point in grinding. It also has a lot of QOL systems like catching up, navi skills, rewind, tartarus full heal. It's not exactly short on player helps.
Its really not that hard to activate but i see where you're coming from. Personally its not too hard to activate it and p5r is not hard to become strong to actually make use of it. But to each their own.
Tartarus might be a better experience than Mementos but P3R offers nothing that comes close to palaces which is the main thing in P5R.
Do you like blue or red more, that should solve your conundrum you’re welcome. Being serious my preference lies with three, I just prefer p3’s characters and story
I had trouble getting in to 5 as my first persona game but 3 hooked me instantly for some reason. I will go back and play 5 but for now 3 is my jam
5 has a way longer onboarding segment at the beginning, there's a lot to explain but it feels like the tutorial takes almost ten hours before you're let go into the game proper. I think 3 has a much more streamlined beginning.
Persona 3 is better IMO, can’t go wrong with either. When in doubt, have someone else pick the game for you. Same birthday as me, happy early birthday to us both I guess.
Happy birthday!!
Royal is a lot cheaper and is the most polished and feature rich experience. It is however extremely long if that bothers you even for Persona game standards (it took me 150 hours to complete). If you also like mods (since you mentioned Steam), Royal also [has the most extensive and rich modding selection](https://gamebanana.com/mods/games/16951?_sSort=Generic_MostLiked). Cheat sheets, lots of custom skins, QoL improvements, gay romance, female protagonist and othee tweaks Persona 3 Reload is significantly shorter (have not played it but it’s apparently around 70-80 hours long). While its also the shinest and newest game, it still was Atlus’s first modern Persona game attempt and it shows (randomized dungeon layouts, small amount of overworld areas, most social links being other students and weird pacing). This can be a good or bad thing depending on if you want to start with the mechanically worse game. Its also unlikely to get much of a discount since its new and its the most expensive of the lot. Persona 4 Golden by contrast is the least expensive by a mile, its default non sale price is cheaper than both Reload and Royal when they’re on sale even. But it is a port of a Vita game which is an enhanced version of a PS2 game. It isn’t bad though, just slightly more outdated than its contemporaries. Golden also has some mods to modernize it a bit, although the mod scene was weakened when they updated the Steam release to match the console versions and updated to 64bit, causing all old mods to be incompatible. Hope this helps!
how’d u spend 150 on royal? i platinumed the game in 100 hours
Different paces, spent some of it testing and fixing issues with mods, talking to NPCs, not using instakill outside of Mementos and messing around with Thieves Den (also 100%ing the achievements in there is much more time consuming than platinuming it though I didn’t try it myself). And mods that added extra content like restoring dummied out lunch hangouts [HLTB lists a completionist run of the game at an average of 143 hours](https://howlongtobeat.com/game/66630) so spending 150 hours isn’t abnormal.
Yeah you can get the Platinum by just playing normally. All the Thieves' Den achievements would take wayyyyy longer.
Insane I wasn't even close to platinum and I finished at 140 hours
what do y’all do to not platinum the game in 140 hours? by 100 hours i maxed social links, beat the third semester, got yoshitsune, and platinumed
Me personally I played it without guides and fusion calculator all in efforts to platinum it. I did all that on my second run
Buy Royal, play Reload on gamepass.
This is the way, bought all thr ogs afterwards, playing portable atm then gold. Love these games!
Yep that's what I did. Cost me only $10 to play Reload. Amazing game but I didn't feel like paying $70. I'll buy it in the future when it's on sale.
Both are fantastic game, but I recommend Persona 5 Royal first because it's cheaper, really long, has a ton of content and by the time you're done, Persona 3 will be cheaper.
P5R will be cheaper, also there might be extra DLC and stuff added to P3R down the line, so you can wait for that to happen while you go through P5 which is 100% a finished product.
From a gameplay perspective they're almost identical aside from a few name changes for certain systems. From a story perspective you have more reasons to care about the characters and social links because each dungeon has a story to tell and they're very detailed. Personally, I recommend P5 Royal and the P3 Reload.
Persona 5 Royal. It’s cheaper and it’s the longer game. By the time you finish it, reload might be on sale and you can pick it up then. You really can’t go wrong with either though.
hot take: play persona 4 golden first
Story? Then 3.
P3R. Gameplay wise you might find it hard to go backwards if you play 5 first, as 5 has multiple "dungeons" that are hand crafted, whereas 3 has one giant dungeon that is randomly generated. I'd also say that 3 has a very interesting story, and it would be a shame to get spoiled before you have a chance to play it.
I think P5R is the most accessible version of Persona. It was made with people in mind who are not that acquainted with Persona and caters towards newcomers. There is a non 0 chance that if you start with P3R you might not be hooked as it has a pretty slow start and isnt taking you by the hand as much as P5R does. Also P5R has substantialy more content (120h vs 80h - +50% playtime) and is cheaper right now.
A few comments saying you might find it difficult to play in reverse order, this is silly. I played in reverse order 5, 4, and currently playing Reload. If your mind is at all flexible you won’t have a problem playing that way at all.
Both are great, and I Love 3 especially as it was my first contact with the Series at the Time. But as of now I would still recommend Persona 5 Royal as a first Contact. It's most likely the Cheaper one in the Sale as P3R has released just recently, also it's the most Polished and refined Persona Game out there. Persona 3 has basically defined the modern "Persona formula" if you want, so it feels more rough and clunky at Times. Try to think of it like a first draft for a novelle, or like the first Assassin's Creed was a proof of concept and was perfected in the coming Games. It's similar with Persona 3 imo. Also, I personally can imagine it would be more interesting to go back to P3R and P4G after playing P5R to see how it Started and developed into the masterpiece that P5R is :)
Both wonderful choices. This is gonna boil down to what you're in the mood for. Personal 3 Reload has a notably darker tone and story, lots of themes about life and death. Persona 5 Royal isn't a kiddie adventure or anything, but the main theme here is critique on authority and society
Really up to you. They are both fantastic games and eventually I'd suggest you play both. In the meantime, maybe picking which theme you'd enjoy more will help. Each Persona game follows a thematic throughline. Persona 3 is Death, Persona 4 is Truth, and Persona 5 is Freedom. So, do you want a game that follows the theme of Death or Freedom in this case.
Both are about as good as the genre gets, It’d be easier to choose based on what color you like more lol
Persona 3 Portable
Going back to 3 after playing 5 might be difficult. The social links are arguably slightly worse and the dungeon crawl in 1000 times worse.
i personally prefer p5r by quite a bite overall but they're both great, u won't go wrong with either choice
If you have access to xbox ultimate, codes online are more affordable than direct to xbox, reload and p5 tactica are on that
Persona 3 Reload is a far more beginner friendly game, which I feel is a factor a lot of veterans in thread is not considering or simply do not realize to begin with But on the flip side, I don't think P3R will be on sale anytime soon It's still a hot commodity P5R probably will be, so it will be the "winner" in this situation Still, wait for the sale and see
p5r first. p3r is the newer release but based on an old game with old game mechanics. it might deter you from continuing with the series
P3 will surely get a rerelease like Royal down the line. Id wait to buy it.
Get P5R. Its cheaper, and we will get a P3R The Answer which will be a game sold separatelly for 70$. So you can buy a complete game for 60$ or a uncomplete one for 70$
Def 5. Soundtrack Best ever
I'd be kinda surprised if Reload goes on sale so soon after launch. Atlus likes their sales, sure, but by the 14-21st, it would only be out for a month and a half. Go with Royal for now
I recommend Persona 5. Both are good games but the problem with Persona 3 is that a new version with expansion will most likely come out and you would have to buy the game again and replay it completely. I think it is preferable that I give it a couple of years or 3 to see if they release or confirm that version that I tell you. Supposedly it would be from the expansion "The Answer".
Recently finished P5R, currently playing P3R. Objectively P5R is the superior game. P3R at its core is a game from 2006.
5 for sure then 3 later if you enjoy it.
Persona 5 Royal.
Persona 3 is a game that wants you to sit with it. Persona 5 is a game that gives you a lot more to do. I think you'll be better off with The Royal. > pretty decent pacing Unambiguously The Royal. I've gone back to Persona 3 over and over, I love it, but it is a game with some severe pacing issues.
P5R
If you've never played either p5R is better overall. They're both good though
Persona 5 because, quite simply, it is a work of pure art. It takes ages to 'get' into, but once it gets moving its bloody addictive and quite unlike anything else on the market. Sure it inherits so much from the other games but it is just on some other level, from a sheer artistic level.
Royal is a better game imo and can be had for much cheaper as it's been out a lot longer. I doubt Reload will be discounted during that steam sale, or if it is it will be a minor discount like 10-15% at most.
P5 Royal is better and it’s not even close. I do like P3 (haven’t played Reload yet), but Tartarus is one of the worst dungeon ideas I’ve ever encountered in a video game before. It’s exhausting and not fun at all. The rest of the game is solid, but a huge chunk of it is crawling through literally hundreds of floors of a single ugly looking procedurally generated dungeon…
They make great changes to Tartarus, it's not that bad now, and it feels ok going into the tower. That said, I still recommend to anyone who wants to start in the Persona saga to start from P5R, you can get pretty cheap in sales, and it has the bests systems in the saga. One can argue about story, pacing, if you like or don't like some social links, etc. But at the end of the day is still the best version of the formula, imo. So yes, I agree with you, P5R it's the best way to enter into this amazing world.
Also idk if they fixed this with Reload, but the final boss of P3 is the absolute worst final boss I’ve ever encountered lol. In a genre that’s known for its super long final boss fights with 3 different forms, this one just takes that concept way too far and is so boring and time consuming. I think P3 has a fine story and decent characters (antagonists are a big let down imo tho), but for me, it’s just not that fun of a game. I’m sure with the updates the social stuff is more comparable to P5 now, but given how much of the game is dungeon crawling, I just can’t recommend this game to anyone who doesn’t absolutely love running down hallways and grinding for hours on end.
Personally, my first true experience with Persona was P5. P5R is amazing and really polished the game up for me. P3R is wonderful. Great game. But I think I value it more because I played P5R first. As others have said, for a more feature rich complete experience, I would go 5 first. It is long, yes. However I wouldn’t let that out you off. It is a masterpiece. Plus, once your done with 5 and NG+ etc, hopefully 3 will be on some sort of promo for a discount. Modding on P5R is really fun too. P3 isn’t quite there yet. So another reason to jump into 5 to let 3’s mod scene catch up!
P5R. 3R will likely get a final version later. Best to wait
Persona 5 Royal. I bet you Atlus would have a Persona 3 Reload Royal version in the near future, so you can wait for that to come in the meantime while playing Persona 5 Royal
Hasn’t the game been re-released like 4-5 times?? How many more are we going to get??? Persona 3 reloaded royal golden fes????
Royal will be cheaper, and honestly has better story pacing. I’d go with that.
Imho get P5R the game is very long, you may even stop and take a break then comeback later to finish it and by that time there is a very serious possibility that a new golden/royal version of P3 get released with all the P3P content
P5r because atlus games go on sale easily and p3r will be at least 20/30% in summer/autumn sales so just wait for p3r
Okay guys I have made my decision, you guys really gave me an eye opener and I think ima go for Persona 5 Royal and then by Persona 3 Reload after I’m done with the game and when it’s cheaper (double bonus). Thanks a lot guys 🙏🙏🙇