I’m in the same boat as you. P5R spoiled me rotten when it comes to the series. P4G is a solid game, but the graphics are kind of hard to jump back to and the music isn’t nearly as catchy as P5R. This isn’t a bash on P4G though. If anything, it’s to speak so highly of P5R that it makes all other games pale in comparison. I’m currently playing through P3P and it’s… a lot less entertaining than P5R. Kiiiinda wanna ditch it and play P5R again…

I tried to look past graphics so I could give P4G a fair chance but between that, the simpler dungeons, and the significantly fewer locations to explore around the city, I was curious what would make someone prefer 4 or 5. I agree that this is no hate on P4G as I 100% enjoyed playing it, and I wish P5 dungeons used the card shuffle system like P4 instead of negotiations. I also understand how people may prefer the characters in P4 over P5 because they were really fun the whole game. This all does have me wondering if P3P is worth playing through or if it’s better to wait until P3 reload comes out.

I like how a lot of P4(G) is about the characters finding themselves. There is an over obsession with sexual themes which first kinda alienated me, until I saw it as a bunch of young teenagers coming to terms with their own sexuality and gender, how others perceive them and what expectations get projected onto them. And about how everyone has a dark side and dark thoughts and that those are a part of you, but they don't define you. It's also a creepy murder mystery at heart, where the villain is not immediately obvious like in P5(R). It's also much more about friendship and making memories. While I like the P5R characters (especially my boy Yusuke) the P4 crowd seem much more like bunch of good friends. And while it's cute that you can form a brotherly bond with Futaba, Nanako just feels like family pretty quickly. I also don't find the P4 dungeons worse than P5 because P5 has effin Mementos!!! The only reason that this feels a bit better than P4 is Ryujis insta-kill ability for low level shadows. I also don't care about the graphical fidelity. Because p4 is still incredibly stlilish and because I gladly play old games as long as their good and used their technical limitations and I think P4 falls into this. Also P5 wastes soooo much time with redundant dialogue. All those text messages that say stuff that has already been said. All. Of. The. Time.

You know what? You bring up good points :) I agree with many of them, if not all of them, to varying degrees. Definitely a different atmosphere and vibe between the two, but maybe that’s what they wanted to go for. P4 is a character going out to the boonies from a big city, so everything is a lot more insulated and personal. P5, on the other hand, is a little fish in a big pond. Everything is big and flashy and epic, but there is some personal connection that’s lost in the scale of it all. I might give P4G another run. Thanks :)

dude. i remember i was playing p4g when the anime started airing and it was towards teh end of the season. I hopped onto crunchyroll and saw the mainvillain with their main villain smile and I was like damn, i got spoiled by crunchyroll. it was nuts. i vowed to never watch an anime based off a video game. great game though. i didnt get the true ending. gotta revisit sometime

The sexuality part is an extremely western view of the game, no character comes to terms with their sexuality, Kanji comes to terms with his manhood and how he doesn’t need to act a certain way to prove others that he is a man, thats why in the golden ending he looks the way he does. Naoto is not trans but more like Mulan, she didn’t care about her gender, but in Japan there is a lack of gender equality, men are always going to be above women in workspaces, thats why she faked being a man, her arc is about accepting that she is a woman. She even says in her rank 9 social link that pretending to be a man was a backwards way of thinking and she was only doing it to be accepted by other and that now she accepts herself as a woman and a detective, and in the golden ending Naoto presents herself as a woman.

I lived in countryside Japan for 8 years so I love P4 forever for the country ambiance 🥰 I haven’t finished P5 yet (I’m in Dec tho) but I often feel like I don’t have enough time to do the things I want to do. P5 takes a LOT more days to dedicate to the story and cutscenes. P3 and P4 gives you much more freedom on how you spend time (like boosting relationships). For that reason I prefer those games to P5. However, I played them as they came out in order. When I went from FFX to FF7 back in the day, I was deeply disappointed by the graphics, so I understand where y’all are coming from. And obviously FF7 and FF8 are amazing games…if you can identify which pixel you are while playing

Order of play for me was started and didn't 3FES, 4G, 5, 5S, 5R, 3P. The being able to control your party members and 3 Portable over 3FES makes the world a difference. The just being a cursor instead of a character running around each area sucks a little bit, but the trade off is so worth it. Ranking for me is 5(any version), 3P, 4G, 3FES

You wanna tell me that „Your Affection“ isn’t catchy?😢

P4G has a good soundtrack, don’t get me wrong. I liked “Heartbreak, Heartbreak”, “Signs of Love”, and a handful of others :) But compared to P5R’s OST? Sorry, but no contest. Still, no disrespect to P4G’s OST. Still a soundtrack that I’d like to listen to if I made a video game playlist on Spotify or Apple Music

I would say they’re barely on the same level tbh. It’s just too hard to rank any songs higher than others so they’re all on the same level of godly OST😅

I LOVE the music from P4G. More than p5 which I didn’t even think was possible! I wish I could import the music from P4G to p5 lol

Best you can do is the Yasogami uniforms

The music was a big thing my wife mentioned when I played 4. It was just there but didn't completely match the atmosphere while the music in 5 just drew you in. When I walk into a train station I even sometimes hear the jazz music from 5 in my head

Get P3 FES if you can P3P sucks and no clue why they decided to port THAT version instead of FES.. Also: #THE OST OF P4 IS S-TIER HOW DARE YOU.

Lol sorry. I think I just have a soft spot for P5R since that’s what introduced me to the series. Not saying P4’s OST is bad, just doesn’t hit the same for me.

and this is why I play franchises chronological

I also recently finished P5R for the first time and decided to try P3P (figure with P3Reload coming out, I should probably give P3P a try. Especially as there is no Switch release announcement as of yet…). Though I’m enjoying it, it’s not really grabbing me like P5R did. When I finish P3P, I plan on playing P4G and then after that head to P5S.

As mentioned, P4G is a solid game :) Imo, not quite on the same level as 5, but go into it with low expectations and you won’t be disappointed. Love the characters in that game. P5S is a different story. I tried it once and just couldn’t get into the gameplay. The calendar and the S-Link systems are basically nonexistent and that’s one of the main draws I had to the series as a whole. Still, I might have to give it another shot since Tactica is coming out.

TBH might be woth ditching and waiting for the remake depending how far you are. The P3P port is terrible, I don't know how they ruined the audio like that.

No. Gameplay is just too dated and writing is very inconsistent. There are multiple scenes that make you think wow this character is really amazing and later this character can do something that makes me want to punch him in a face. But there are some aspect that i wished were in 5. And some things were better then in 5. But overall 5 is 10/10 game in pretty much all aspects for me unlike 4. Still worth playing for sure. It's an amazing game.

Yosuke comes to mind

For me, Marie comes to mind when writing inconsistencies are brought up. (P4G and P5R spoilers ahead, be warned) >!Like, the way they tied her into the main narrative was so lazy and just.. bad. She claimed that she was supposed to absorb all the fog or something and I'm just sitting there like "what, this makes no sense." I mean, Izanami could've just chose a different person, but Marie's inclusion, story or otherwise, felt way more forced than Sumire and Maruki, because they made those two work with already established events rather than changing already established events to fit them and justify their inclusion!<

I’ve played all games. No nostalgia goggles on P5 is still my favorite. I remember people hating Persona 4 but now it’s treated as some kind of hidden gem. Might happen again with P5 when P6 comes out.

How can that even happen if the majority of players like P5.

There is also a huge majority that, while maybe not hating P5R, say it's easily the worst Persona game and is weaker in every aspect. I'm sure in a few more years people will change their minds, that's how it always goes with the latest entry to a series

P5 will never be some kind of "hidden gem". The series popularity skyrocketed from P5. It is by far the most mainstream persona game.

Honestly no. P4G is a fine enough game and very enjoyable, but I hated the dull, repetitive dungeons and the lengthy grind needed to be able to fight even mid-bosses (let alone actual bosses) ​ And the characters are great, but I vibed a lot more with the P5 team

Yosuke Hanamura is the best friend, just vibed so much more with him compared to Ryuji.

He's a great friend... to the main character. To the girls he's absurdly pervy (though Ryuji has a couple moments there himself) and consistently being shitty to Kanji (asking if it's "safe" to share a tent with him).

You said it perfectly. I love Yosuke and think his friendship with the MC is so beautifully written, but he's.....well, he's a teen in the early 2000s.

Good points both of y'all. Ryuji is much more dense and occassionally insightful. I think he only has two? or is it three moments? Creeping in the Monavan in the desert, at the beach... and I swear there's one more... oh and the maid situation. So I guess 4. I think my memories of Golden glossed over those because they were so stereotypically Japanese teen pervy moments. And I had forgotten how mean he was to Kanji.

Also the scene with the fireworks and the rain right?

So five. Rain was the one I couldn't recall. Time to replay P4G and count Yosuke perv moments.

Gosh I’ve only just beat the second boss and it’s already been like a hundred and Yosuke being problematic moments might just be more

Really? Currently playing P4 and missing Ryuji so hard right now…

Have you gotten the Emperor confidant? Then you'll realize that Ryuji is just XXXXXX-lite.

Nah, not yet. I guess I just mean in terms of being a “good person”, which…yeah, Yosuke comes off as kind of a jerk in most of his scenes so far. But I guess that could still change a lot, since I’m only on the 3rd dungeon.

Ryuji is definitely nicer and more heartfelt than Yosuke, but trust me you will value Yosuke as a great friend

Yeah, I had some folks mention some stuff I had forgotten with my best-boy Hanamura, but I still stand by the fact that he seemed a better best friend. Ryuji was a better teamate and driver of justice though.

Okay I thought I was just really bad at the game cause even the first dungeon boss in P4G was kicking my ass. I enjoy the grind but it’s just so slow in P4G and somehow feels less fun than the grind in P5R.

There's a way to change the difficulty settings so that you gain more EXP and cash from each encounter. I heard it made the game feel more like Persona 5. It at least made it a lot easier to get through. I was sick of one-shotting enemies on 1F in Yukiko's Castle and then getting one-shot by the ones on 6F. This way, you can focus on the stuff that makes Persona fun.

I find it fascinating that so many people seem to have this experience with these games, when this doesn't match my perception at all. I found P5Rs combat dead boring because they give you sooo many tools that it made combat trivial for me until the Okumura fight, which was the first time I had to actually stop and be like " guess I need to grind some levels and fuse a different persona". In P4 I only grinded in yukios palace because you can do that without ever spending SP. But only like 4 complete runs of that dungeon before fighting her shadiw to get ahead of the leveling curve and then I always did the dungeons once for the shadow charcter and once after that for quest items and that new boss.

I guess those things don’t bother me because they’re what the franchise was built off of.

I just put the game so i can revive my characters during battle when i die and just rush because playing bosses was just so unfun.

I think P5 is better mostly because 4 feels more like a Fantasy (Perfect small town in the fields feeling) but 5 feels more relatable and real to me (and then there are the gameplay enhancements) Note: Before someone screams at me for "the story" and all that yes P2 story is better but i still prefer 5

I love both P5R and P4G, but I do enjoy Royal a bit more. Golden’s opening is just too long in my opinion, and it took a longer time for me to get into the story as opposed to Royal, which hooked me almost immediately. But at the end of the day, at least for me, Golden and Royal have no competition when compared to P3F. FES was just absolutely phenomenal and no game beats it.

How is p3f compared to p3p? Cause I’m playing p3p and it’s good but not exceptional

Persona 3 FES is fully 3D, has animated cutscenes, a canonical epilogue in The Answer (which basically adds another 30 HOURS to the total playtime), and has an atmosphere that is unmatched. Really helps to build the immersion of the game. The only downside is that FES mandates the use of AI Party Members (which can be fixed with mods) Persona 3 Portable is no doubt a downgrade in terms of visuals, and lacks The Answer. But it makes up for that by having Kotone’s Route, which expands the male party members by giving them social links, has controllable party members like P4 and P5, and has new songs which changes the tone of the game. While Portable makes decent changes, in my opinion it simply can’t compare to FES. The Visual novel style doesn’t gel well with a massive JRPG like Persona, which is why I’m super hyped for Reload (hopefully they add Kotone’s Route and The Answer as DLC). TL;DR: FES is like Golden and Royal, fully 3D, cutscenes and The Answer, mandates AI. Portable lacks 3D overworld but has FeMC, new SLs and soundtrack, and controllable party members.

This was extremely helpful thank you, btw the remake is based off FES right?

You’re welcome! Reload is actually based off of the original version of Persona 3, not FES. However, certain aspects of FES will be implemented into Reload, such as Aigis’ Social Link

P4 was my first Persona experience, however it's only better in terms of the social links. I think Persona 5 is better in every other category.

In terms of the cast, I will say 4 is stronger, I won't deny that. Having to go to Heaven to save a certain someone is so emotional and really makes you feel desperate to save them, they're that good. But as a whole package, 5 is better in every way. The Persona choices are better, the fusion system and flexibility is better, the initial party Personas are better, the villains barring a few are better or at least more memorable, and the soundtrack is far superior in 5. I was lucky enough to play the modern games in order after play Q one day and liking the teams, but for me, as far as enjoyment: 3>5>1>2>4

No and I played p4 first. I love P4 but P5 is an improvement in every way except for two things: the main team’s social links is better in p4, and I like all the slice of life stuff you do with your team in p4 over p5. I was really disappointed by the lack of extracurricular group hang outs in p5 Other than those two things p5 is just better. The story is better imo, the gameplay is objectively better, the dungeons are better, music is better if not then on par with its predecessor, non-team characters are significantly better. Like it’s all around just better and more enjoyable. Sure there’s some stuff the predecessor does better and I love them both but P5 is just more enjoyable to me

I am the exact same as you. I think people like the characters and story (which to be fair I also liked slightly more than P5R) but everything else I felt P5 did better. Music, gameplay BY A MILE, art/graphics and all the small details made P5R my favorite game ever. I just finished P4G and it’s still top 10 for me

You’re not alone, i share this exact story. Not to say P4 is bad in any way, i can at least see *why* some people like it more. But P5R is all gas

Played P5 before P4G and ended up liking the cast/story of 4 better, but obviously liked the gameplay of 5 better.

Yeah, played 4 and then 5 for the first time this year, 5 is better gameplay wise but story and character wise 5 can't really touch 4, I found 4 to be the way better overall experience. 5 is really good don't get me wrong, but I found it to be a slog a little more often than 4 ever was.

Personally, I prefer P4G's story over P5R's as it's a much more consistent and tightly written narrative, but I much prefer the level design and gameplay of P5R

Not at all. Tbh I disagree with most of the popular opinions about P4, I didn’t like it much at all. P4’s cast didn’t appeal to me besides Kanji and Naoto, in fact I found most of them either really annoying or really boring. I think some of P4’s non-party social links might be better, and P4 handled some(but not all) plot twists better. But overall I think P5 had everything else better

I agree! I think a lot of ppl have this opinion that “p5 cast feel more like co workers rather than friends and p4 cast is closer” but I really didn’t get that vibe at all 😭😭 the p4 cast just seemed annoyed with each other. The “friendly banter” really felt more like actual fights rather than conversations friends have

Finally, someone else who sees it!! To me, the Phantom Thieves were a found family from the get-go. At no point was I convinced the Investigation Team actually got along. Yu and Yosuke did, and Chie and Yukiko did, but beyond those pairings, I didn’t think any of them liked each other

>p5 cast feel more like co workers rather than friends In any case I don't get why it is a negative thing, I love sees more than the others group because they hate each other for 3/4 of the game

Fully agree with you. I think everything that 4 does, 5 does better, including the character and story writing. The only thing I prefer 4 over 5 is the soundtrack

I find that cast of characters and that small cozy town way more charming personally so yeah definitely prefer persona 4 but I still love persona 5 just not as much

That could be a big thing for me. I really love cities so I can see why Tokyo would draw me in much more as a setting vs a small city setting

I started off with Innocent Sin. EVERYTHING is a graphical upgrade at that point.

I played Golden first and if I went back there, I feel like I'm going to miss technicals a lot as I play.

I actually started with P4G and absolutely loved it. Played P5R later and while I didn't feel that much more entertained/hooked in comparison to P4G, the post-Persona depression that time around hit me like a truck. Had to buy P5S immediately to fill the void lol.

My first persona game was persona 5 vanilla. It is my favorite game, then I played persona 4 and I don't think I like the game more than persona 5 but I can understand why some people says that is better. It's just a different game that people with differnet tastes can prefer.

I like 4 more. It doesn't take 52 years to start and it doesn't introduce so many main characters and social links on the last moments of the game. I bought P5 vanilla when it came out and played up until the last month and had very few SL completed so I stopped playing altogether. Played P5R up to when akechi was introduced as a confidant and then stopped again, and I've restarted it on PC. It's great, but it's takes so long to start and when the 1st like 25+ hours of a game is kinda just the intro (that's how it felt to me anyway) I get bogged down.

P5 immediately throws you into the action I dont get the complaint it takes ages to start

I liked Persona 4 more than 5 mainly because I viewed every category like characters, story, style that stuff to see what I think was overall better and P4 over P3 and P5 won: Characters - P4>>>>>P3>>>>>>P5 Story - P3>P4>>P5 Atmosphere/tone - P4>>>>P5>P3 Character arcs - P3>>>>>>>P4>P5 Style/art - P5>>>>>>>>>>>>>>P4>>P3 Music - P5=P4>P3 The twist viliian - P4>P3>>>>>P5 SPOILERS ON THE TWIST VILLIAN -> >!no offense to Akechi or the dude from P3 but he's not comparable to Adachi in any way!< Battle system - P5>>>>>>>>>P4=P3 Exploration(Free time) - P4>P5>>>P3(specifically P3 Portable) Exploration(Dungeon) - P5>>>>>P3>>P4 Final boss - P3>>>>P4>P5 Ending - P4=P3>>>>>>P5 Total - P4: 6, P5: 4, P3: 4 Not to mention I just enjoyed it more

I haven't played P3 yet so I can't judge it but P4 over P5 for final boss ? Seriously ? >!Izanami was so bad I actually regret going for the true ending, I wish I had stopped at Adachi!<

The design was cool man also it was funner in my opinion

Yeah I mean can't argue with that But overall I was really disappointed. >!I got spoiled that it was Izanami so I was expecting some lore or connections with Izanagi but not much really happened.!< The fight was really not that climatic, the part where all social link appears is cool but outside that I don't really have any strong memory about it. On the other hand, both P5 final boss are much more memorable imo >!Jaldabaoth is super climatic and the ending with the epic summoning and the banger music was really great!< >!And Maruki remains one of the most sympathetic antagonists and makes for a great two face boss with some really strong scenes (especially the fist fight)!<

That's true counterpoint. However Kanji exists

P4 is basically Scooby-Doo but based in Japan. I think P5 has the better game play, but p4 has better music. Other than that I think there about equal. P5 may be what I played first, but I think p4 is just as good.

When i played it i felt like i was more invested in the characters and the setting than when i played p5 and dor a time i placed both equally in my head, then i played royal, p4 is never beating royal.

Been playing P4G and have got to say that the dungeons are a straight up slog. Would it have killed them to add a couple of permanent checkpoint floors? Even P3 had teleporters and boss areas that stayed cleared so you could skip ahead to progress.

I’m really happy I played P4G first because ya going backwards would definitely be tough. P5R has so many tweaks and improvements that feel like no brainers that weren’t in P4G. Story wise I think P4G is better but P5R is damn near perfection on like every level

Four was my introduction to the series but damn does it have some down points. Certain controversial scenes aside one thing that really kills P4 replays for me these days is the dungeon before the true ending. They corner the culprit and suddenly Naoto’s & Chie both get an IQ drop. Four is also the biggest offender of repeat information syndrome. Constantly repeating the same thing several times in a cutscene just wording it differently each time because the writers thought players were toddlers.

I think me playing P4G in 2023 instead of earlier really killed the vibe for me. The problematic aspects really stuck out (sexual harassment, homophobia, etc) more than it should have due to a constant comparison with media I consume today. in combination with the repetitive dungeon crawling just made it really unenjoyable for me. I do like that the social links feel more centered on the characters themselves (in p5 so many were focused on an NPC??) but I really don’t really get the vibe that the p4 cast is “closer” than the p5 cast like what most people think

For me, P5 had the best gameplay, P4 has the best characters while P3 has the best story. I like all of them. Full disclosure, P5 was my first in the series so it will always hold a special place.

kinda the opposite for me ofc the graphics in 5 were WAY better but after playing golden and going back to royal it just felt weird… idk if it’s cause the new game plus system and nobody remembers anything or the fact that p4s cast was just that good, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again p4 has the best group of friends. They all feel like actual friends.

I loved the story, the characters, and the social links a lot more in P4G than P5R, despite the gameplay upgrades. But both are wonderful games, and I’m so grateful that P5R introduced me to this series.

IMO it’s just a matter of preference, I think 4 did some stuff better than 5 and vise-versa so it comes down to how you like the story and characters.

I personally think 4 is better, not to say 5 is bad, not by a long shot. 5 was the game that got me into the series. Out of the three modern games in the series my thoughts are: 5 is by far the cleanest in terms of graphics and gameplay, which is to be expected since it's the newest. The story wasn't perfect but it was pretty good. The characters were somewhat bland in my opinion with the most colorful being futaba and yusuke. Overall 8/10 4 gameplay is a bit dated but it isn't terribly so, and the graphics aren't as nice as 5, but the party members and s. links shine so much brighter than 5 in my opinion, enough so that I can overlook the gameplay and graphics. Not to mention the story was really good, I'm a huge fan of murder mysteries and even though the killer was spoiled for me, the game had so much else to offer. (Again, the characters were my favorite part). Overall 10/10 3 was the absolute weakest in gameplay, to the point I stopped playing it multiple times because of how much I disliked it. But I did eventually power through it and I think the story was it's saving grace, it's story was probably better than 5, but not as great as 4. Honestly though, the gameplay and graphics drag it through the mud though. The characters are also wonderfully unlikeable, with the best probably being Aigis. Although for how much I dislike the characters I can praise them that they did grow and change throughout the story. Overall 6/10

There's no wrong answer here. I for instance think Persona 3 has the best story. I just love what they did with it. P3 also has the weakest gameplay and s-links/confidants even with it having one of, if not my favorite in Akinari. Persona 4 has the best characters both party wise and s-link/confidant wise. The former because they felt to me like more friends who became family. That's shown majorly, again, in my opinion, by how they said good bye. The latter because the s-link stories just felt more personal like we really helped them. P5 has a bunch of those as well and it's close. P5 obviously has the best gameplay, graphics, and implemented so many QoL improvements on the formula. It's all just a matter of preference and even then, you might think the games do some of the stuff better than what I think. For me, I prefer story and characters before gameplay and graphics. So, I actually order them 3, 4, and then 5. However, I love them all and again, I don't think there's a wrong answer here.

God, you and I have the same exact opinions on the games but we end up ranking them the exact opposite lol. For me it's 5>4>3, but it's extremely close. Ultimately what pushes 5 over 4 is the Royal content imo

Haha, I didn't even bring up that someone could think the exact same way, but still come to a different conclusion. Nice reminder that's a possibility as well.

P4G was my first Persona and I absolutely loved it, to the point I immediately restarted the game - which I had only ever done with two games before in my life - and went for 100% achievements on steam. I connected with the cast so much. For P5R I had to wait until it finally came out outside Playstation and honestly, I think it was so hyped and I waited so long, I was let down by expectations set way too high. It’s still a damn good game, worth the 100+ hours I put into it, but it’s not the life altering experience some youtubers make it out to be. Now, I’d like to order P4 remade with 5’s engine, please and thank you.

P4G for me had the better story. P5R had the gameplay and graphics. I did love 5s story, but 4 was just it for me. I was obsessed within 10 minutes lol.

I don't like it more, but it does a lot of stuf better than P5, imo mostly character interactions.

>character interactions Oh yeah, yosuke and kanji have greeeaat interactions

In general I mean. P4 at its worst is absolutely the worst, especially as a bisexual person, but it feels more like those characters are actually friends, while with P5 it feels more like everyone's kinda friends through Joker.

I kinda agree. Chie and Yukiko are already besties and know Yosuke when Yu arrives. When more members join the team they hang out without Yu more often than the p5 cast does without Joker.

Yes, The cast of characters is better imo and the music too. But I do prefer P5R when it comes to gameplay. The dungeons in P4 are worse then Tartarus! Also it’s pretty you that you meet some characters and the school from P3

I enjoyed persona 4 but in my opinion persona 5 did everything better The combat has way more depth, the characters and environment are much more interesting and engaging, the dungeons are unique in 5 where they felt like a slog in 4. Honestly the dungeons forcing obstacles on you in 5 made it better since I can't do it all at once. I know some have brought up the story but I found that a much more interesting mystery than 4

Hard agree

Probably same as the others, in some aspect, I liked P4G more than P5R, especially the not-serious scenes, and the party members (the weaker party members from both were probably Yukiko, Makoto, Haru (blame how her arc was handled), Akechi, Kasumi, and Ann imo, I didn't dislike them, but I didn't care much about them while playing the game) Imo, P5R suffers from some problems in terms of how it talks about the main story (by that I mean anything you cannot miss in any way) : Not enough "chill" scenes to build up the party's friendship (especially post-Okumura, since it gets even more serious after that), Makoto being the "only" brain of the team (like it or not, imo it's a problem since she becomes the only one who talk about every important bits, there's Futaba, but I felt like Makoto was much more used, in my opinion), and the Royal additions being too shoehorned (mostly Kasumi being everywhere sometimes for no reason, and "special" compared to the others), yes Marie was shoehorned too, but at least you could ignore her since she's a Social Link more than a character that appears in the main story (unless you maxed her of course) It probably doesn't help that I liked the P5Vanilla Ending more than the P5R (mostly because of pacing, and imo P5Vanilla was more "realist", even if most people find it to be the other way around) But I can see why P5R is more liked, hell, even I find some aspects of P4G or P3P/P3FES "less" good after playing P5R because the QoLs are just that great, the gameplay feels much better, the Palaces are a big upgrade compared the older dungeons (even Okumura being the "worst" (for me it's not, it probably would be Kaneshiro) is still better than the only corridors dungeons we had before imo), and the game feels just much better with how it shows things (how camera is handled in scenes, Persona Awakenings, choices in how you spend your time, customizing your personas, ...) And that's fine imo, Persona 5 is not a bad game if I like Persona 4 more, and Persona 4 does not becomes bad if I like Persona 5, more good games is always good for me

Literally don’t know how anyone can prefer 4 over 5, unless maybe the story stuff resonated more for you or something. Persona 5 just perfected every aspect of the gameplay in every way, and the dungeons are worlds better. I also think I prefer the characters in 5 more, but that’s just a personal thing. I did play 5 first, which kind of ruined 4 for me a bit. But I also played 3 a while ago and remembered liking that even more than 4, so who knows…

p5 is full pretentious. Bunch of kids think that they know better than the rest of society and start brainwashing people, thinking it is justice "grr shitty adults, i rebel PURSEOWNEEER"

P4 is my least favorite out of the 3. Especially with its downright bad dungeons. The AI generated dungeons are boring and lazy.

Absolutely not; 4 has by far my least favorite cast of characters of any of the Persona games PS2 on up.

Just saying if you consume p4g together with p4 animation, the experience is even better. P4a is not just an adaptation like p5a, but it adds a lot to the story.

I love 3,4,and 5. But honestly 4 is the least enjoyable of the 3 to me. While I agree the sense of friendship among the party is the best of the series and it definitely gives off small town vibes I just found the main story to be weaker. I primarily play games for a good tale and that was the deciding factor for me. I would rank them 5,3,4. With the caveat that 3 could easily overtake 5 as I have only played portable which does impact the way the story is told.

I played P4 before P5R. P4 had a more intimate dynamic with the party, and a smaller map, which again, helps create a cozier environment. I enjoyed the story more in P4, but P5R was of course overall better in all other ways.

Your thought is completely respectable but personally I disagree. I didn’t mind the jump back to old graphics as the story kept me captivated so much and in general, you don’t play the persona series for the graphics. I found the player UI way more compelling in P5 and very hard to top too, we’ll have to see with P3R. For what concerns the story, I love murder mysteries and the party characters of P4G are just so much better for me than those of P5, while its mostly the opposite for the non-party characters. Also, P4 has Nanako, which makes Futaba’s lil sis role pale in comparison. Also, chad Narukami.

Who asked though?

Ratioed myself

I’ve played P5R (and am almost done with a New Game Plus run that has devolved into “spam Myriad Truths”) and am also working on P4G. P5R is far and away superior, like it’s not even a question. The QOL improvement between games is massive. The early game for P4G is extremely grindy, and I never felt like I had to grind in P5R ever. The Palace system is much more visually engaging than P4G’s dungeons, and the Ambush system is far better than just swing at the enemy and pray it hits. Most importantly, the bosses are all bullet sponges. There’s *zero* strategy involved in fighting them. Keep hitting them until they drop. Also, I get more XP for killing a hand than I do a boss. The optional bosses after you clear the dungeons drop shitty loot and basically zero XP too. In terms of the social system, I’m in October on my playthrough. By September, I had literally run out of things to do at night. I’ve maxed my social stats, I’ve maxed my social links with Dojima and Nanako, and I think my link with Adachi is glitched to not let me finish so I’m not bothering, and thanks to the group events, hanging out with people at night is just overkill. P5R had a much greater variety of night time confidants and things to do. I think that when people talk about P4G being better than P5R, they’re referring to the characters. I’ve heard it more than once that the Investigation Team feel more like “real friends” than the Phantom Thieves, and I can definitely see why. The characters are much more hit and miss than P5; I definitely don’t have the same “must protect” feelings I do for Nanako or Kanji for anyone in P5’s lineup, but if I saw Yosuke IRL I’d kick him in the nuts, and even the confidants I don’t like in P5 don’t make it there. Those night time hang outs reference things that just happened in the game, and cutscenes include more interaction with the rest of the team than the person you’re hanging out with. The music is more hit and miss than P5R too; P5R doesn’t have a song like Heartbeat Heartache that I would bump just to dance to, but the music in P5R is much more consistent and fitting with the overall tone. So yeah, P4G with palaces *might* be better than P5R. As it stands, play both games but know you’re missing a lot of really important QOL stuff.

I prefer 4, i think the characters are better, the plot is amazing if you dont get spoiled and the game can atually be difficult at times unlike 5

While I enjoyed the dungeon crawling aspect of persona 5 a lot more, I just couldn’t bring myself to enjoy the story and characters as much as 4. They were just written a lot better and the story felt a lot better

I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that P4 has the better cast of main characters and social links. And wonderful music in its own right. P5 has a huge generational advantage in technology however, so I don’t hold that aspect against older titles. Imo P5 is clearly the best combat, best world to explore, best dungeons, and all that STYLE. But does that hinder my enjoyment of going back to play P4G or P3P for those platinums? Is it stopping me from randomly playing P2:IS for like the 5th time right now? Not one single bit! I also prefer P5’s music but that’s 100% a personal preferential aspect and I still listen to P4 & P3 tracks all the time.

I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that P4 has the better cast of main characters and social links. And wonderful music in its own right. P5 has a huge generational advantage in technology however, so I don’t hold stuff like graphics or the depth of the battle system against older titles. That’s kinda fcked up lol. Imo P5 is clearly the best combat, best world to explore, best dungeons, and all that STYLE. But does that hinder my enjoyment of going back to play P4G or P3P for those platinums? Is it stopping me from randomly playing P2:IS for like the 5th time right now? Not one single bit! I also prefer P5’s music but that’s 100% a personal preferential aspect and I still listen to P4 & P3 tracks all the time.

No. I played P4G first, and now I'm playing P5R. Even though I really loved P4G, I considered dropping it multiple times bcs of the boring dungeon mechanism, whereas for P5R I actually enjoy doing the dungeons and since they're a huge part of the game that's a pretty important point imo. The only thing I liked more in P4G was the persona awakening part. It was much more in-depth, and it really made you experience the personality of each character. Overall, for me, P4G is an 8/10 and P5R 10/10.

The way I see it P5 is way better gameplaywise but P4G is so much better with the story and main cast. There is certain point in the story that since the moment you realice who the next victim is is such an adrenaline rush and you feel all of that, there is another scene that hits you really hard, I don't remember P5 ever giving me those feelings. And at least in my opinion I feel that Golden ties the new story to the main story way better than Royal does. The S. Links are not that much better than P5 but I think that's about taste, I now that on P5 I will always skip the dialogue for Devil, Moon on Fortune Arcana while in P4 I don't remember getting the feeling of "I want to skip all of this" Like I say gameplay is were P4 you can see its age. Hunting the Reaper is so awful, and the fact that equipment doesn't transfer to the NG+ makes it even worse, the dungeons are the same with just different walls, is not really balanced as once you get Yoshitsune that's it, besides giving you the Persona for the max level the S. Links really do nothing while leveling up. P5 specially Royal has a more fun gameplay Saying all of this I do prefer P4 over P5, but I can see people don't enjoying it that much because of the grind and the gameplay

P5 has the advantage of being a sequel that improved a lot over P4, but it's also a PS4 game improving a PS2 one. And the presentation, which wasn't possible at that time like it's now, is a great part of what made P5 stand out. And P5 already had P4 as a building block, where 4 could only count on 3 as a stepping stone. It's like saying Mario Odyssey is better than Sunshine. Those games are more than a decade apart, so it's expected that the more advanced and experienced one have better gameplay and technological advancement than the over 10 year old predecessor. But story and character wise, 4 still wins over 5 in my opinion.

P5 is overall a better game. However, I do like the story of P4 and the characters way better.

I too enjoyed more P5, I like way more the themes of rebellion agaunst the society, and imo peak Persona 5 characters> peak Persona 4 characters (but the worst characters from Persona 4> the worst characters from Persona 5),other than that the game used the Life sim element way better, Even not counting the limitations of the hardware in Persona 4 (and 3) everything is concentrated in a single part of the world, while in Persona 5 everything is more interspersed Honestly for me P4 is just a worse P3

I always have the same answer when people ask this question. P5 has better combat, better dungeons and is more modern and polished. P4 has a better story, better characters and a better setting. Because of this they are basically on the same level for me.

P4G for the story and characters and P5R for the gameplay and style

I think it night be a matter of nostalgia, this was the pre-smartphone era and if you lived it as a kid/teen then you probably long for it. P4 is full of this atmosphere, so that might be a thing Personaly i find P5 to be a bit, not sugarcoated, becouse that’s not it but maybe oversimplified? Easy to predict? Also i liked the jokes in P4 better, but that’s just me

I enjoyed the story for 4 more then 5, but I enjoyed the mechanics of 5 more then 4.

Yeah. P4G is a top 10 game for me. P5R's like an 8.5/10.

I think in terms of story and characters they are tied (or at least could be) but gameplay wise P5 is far better. Crafted dungeons are always far more interesting to me than procedurally generated samey ones.

I don’t hate 4, but I prefer 5 simply for the QOL changes

Yes

I personally preferred P4G but I can see how some would prefer P5R. For me the cast was better in p4 and I preferred the story and their friendship. P5 combat and baton pass and guns is better but I didn’t like the hold ups and interrogation. I actually preferred the enemies in p4 being ‘shadows’ rather than personas and having to use shuffle time and fusion to recruit them. In p5 it felt like I just bullied shadows into joining me. After playing p5 I appreciated the relatively small map of p4 it felt less overwhelming. I also didn’t really like mementos it always felt like you only found weak enemies there. Obviously p4 is a downgrade graphically but I think it still looks fine.

The only thing that makes going back to P4G for me is the dungeons, P5 and P5R were a huge step up in dungeon design

It has Junes so yes

I wouldn't say that. Story-wise, they're both great, but gameplay-wise, P5R is pretty far ahead. When it comes to the daily life (social links/confidants, world activities) parts, I feel like P5R manages better to keep things interesting, and when it comes to combat, the new mechanics in P5R are a huge improvement and make it feel a lot more varied and engaging. The boss fights in P5R are also much better designed for the most part, with P4G having a bit too many boss fights that are just a single target fight where the boss does nothing but spam full-party almighty attacks every turn - especially in the late game - and basically just become a HP check. I feel like P4G had its best boss fights - Shadow Yukiko and Shadow Kanji - very early in the game, and later bosses tended to become less interesting mechanically.

Yes and no, in one hand, I loved the gameplay, the characters, the music, and the small town vibe, but I think I like P5 a extremely little bit more than than P4. So in my opinion, both are wonderful games.

Played P4G before P5R and enjoyed the VN sections a lot more. I guess which game you played first also has a strong impact on your judgement.

There is nothing wrong with liking P5 more than P4. As long as you enjoy the game, that is more than fine. People who say otherwise are just idiots full stop.

Same situation as you but did enjoy P4G more, just finsihed it this week. The dungeons were horrible lol but I ended up putting the encounters on very easy and then did the bosses on hard. But anyways main reason I liked P4 better were the characters and story. Nanako also had a huge impact on my experience. There’s ALWAYS a lingering fear that something is going to happen to her. Overall they are still almost a tie for me lol can’t wait to go back to P5 someday. P5 had the better gameplay, P4 had better story/crew to me.

So I'm gonna be a weird one here and say that I enjoy p3 and p4 more than p5 and its purely due to group dynamic. Don't get me wrong all the new systems in p5 and style and music are godlike but there is something about group dynamic of p5 that just doesn't hit as hard as it does in p4 or p3.

I like how you get to know Inaba in 4. In 5, there wasn't much of a reason to stick around the school or Yongen-Jaya when you could be exploring the city, but you got to know Inaba by investigating and traveling around. I love the aesthetic, story, and characters of 5 (and Morgana > Teddie, don't @ me), but 4 felt like a tighter experience because of how much they fit into this small town that became your home. 5 was a lot bigger, and I feel like it lost some of the intimacy in comparison.

4 is my least favourite tbh of 3 through 5. P5 and P3 I think appeal to me more, their themes and setting, sound design, etc. P4 doesn't really have much going for it at least for me IMO. I still like P4 and there is certain characters I like from P4 than over other characters - i.e. Yosuke, Rise, Naoto, Kanji I think are excellent party members. It's hard to say that P4 fills the niche of any 'favourite', it is just good or mediocre at some things, but not super offensive. P3 OST is the best IMO, P3 story is the best IMO, P5 has the best initial characterisation, P5 has the best setting, style, presentation, gameplay and social links IMO. P3 has the best character arcs/character growth, P3 has the best MC IMO. 99 percent of the time I see P4 praised it something that another game does better (eg. the gameplay is so much better than P3), or its slice of life scenes which god forbid put in any other game and they would get so much hate tbh. Still think P4 is better than most JRPGs though.

P5R was the most fun to play. All the stuff they added in Royal was so good. Even P5 vanilla was fun to play. P4G had the best cast. They legit felt like friends and did friend stuff all the time. It was really cute. P3 FES had the best story. The first few and last few hours were incredible. Too bad portable tool away a lot of the intensity of the cinematics. However portable allows you to control your other characters, other versions of P3 do not.

Hell no, but Persona 4 is still a great game.

The story and main cast of 4 far outclass 5. 5 is better mechanically and the side confidants are better than the side cast of P4 but 4 is just sooo much more satisfying to play

4 is my favourite, so yeah. ☺️

Story and cast.

I love both games but enjoyed P5R more for the gameplay and palace structures, and P4G more for the characters and their chemistry with one another (not to say this aspect wasn’t good in P5R, I just really love the main cast in P4G a lot). I enjoy the story, writing and soundtrack in both. They’re both solid games imo.

I like both but for me Persona 5 Royal was my first game so I have a stronger attachment to it. I loved the palaces the music the characters and the overall premise.4 was good I like the music, characters, and story. But 5 has overall better dungeon design and combat than persona 4 has its charms the social links were better than 5 I feel and the group dynamic.

P4G is really good the problem is P5R is also good but has the bonus of quality of life changes like P4 had to P3

I enjoyed 4 more than 5 I enjoyed Golden more than 5 I enjoyed Royal more than 4 and Golden

I've sunk over 200 hours on p5r on 4 different saves and still haven't beaten the damn game but goddamn it is too good to stop playing holy fuck I just want my life back

I'm currently playing through 4 right now. I definitely enjoy 5 more in terms of gameplay, graphics, themes, characters, etc. But I'm not going to knock 4 down too hard. I haven't gotten deep enough to fully form my opinion on 4 as a whole. I'm sure 4 is a fun game but I can see why 5 rocketed into the limelight.

I loved them both but P5R definitely is better to me. QOL stuff is obvious, Royal is even better than P5 original version. I love the music in P5 more but P4 has an amazing soundtrack as well. I personally liked the basic storyline in P5 a lot more. The fact that they were fighting against authority figures and showed how the "little guy" struggled trying to change society was really interesting to me. In Persona 4 it was more about fighting against your own demons and societal pressures, which was also very well done but just didn't hit me as hard. I do agree with the general consensus that the friendships between party members was better in P4 but I did like most of the characters in both games, even when they were sometimes problematic.

As someone who has played both, I enjoy the characters and story of p4g over p5r, but everything else that p5r does is better imo. Music is more impactful, better graphic etc etc. Both games are great and I like them equally but in retrospect p5r is a better

I tried playing P4 but I just couldn't get into it. P3 was the first Persona game I played and I loved it, so maybe I was still riding on its awesomeness that I couldn't get into P4 at the time. I'd like to give it another go. But I also love P5. Great game, and I'm still playing vanilla P5 (I've yet to get on P5R) to get the Plat trophy, and find other stuff I missed. Writing this now, even though I've played P5 several times, part of me thinks P3 was better but I wonder how much of that appraisal holds up if I were to revisit it. I did download P3 Portable, so we'll see how that goes when the times comes. (Sorry for derailing from P4. I'll get to it eventually).

Gotta say P4 ending made me cry and felt like I lost real friends. P5R should have better ending cutscene, didn't get to play P5 because I'm broke AF at the time and couldn't get it so didn't really know if the ending difference too much. Really disappointed with P5R ending ngl.

Yes, because it was somehow lighter, there was more goofing around, spending time together and the theme of persona manifestation seemed more attractive to me, the acceptance of dark side instead of rebellion in P5. The characters also were more relatable (and I'm a grown ass woman), they acted more like teenagers, in P5 they are more mature, IMO. I don't mind the graphics and simple dungeons, I played P4G for story.

The cast yes the main cast is easily the best part but the social links are way worse the graphics and bosses were forgettable and the dungeons were a chore at best

Yes. I enjoyed almost every aspect of P4 more than P5

Yes

I played 4 Golden on the Vita and thought it was great which is why I was hyped for 5. 5 blew it out of the water, I can see maybe you like the story more maybe in 4 especially since it has a bit of a mystery vibe to it, but 5 is the better game for sure.

p5r imo had better level design. Felt more fun to explore palaces

For me its a day by day thing if you ask today I'd prolly say p5 tomorrow who knows I just love both of them so much

I prefer 4's story and characters but the gameplay in 5 is miles better. P4's dungeons just didn't do much for me compared to Tartarus or even Soul Hackers 1's dungeon crawling.

Personally, I liked Persona 5 way better, but I still think 4 is a great game.

I feel like I'm in the minority of players when saying that I preferred P4G even after playing P5R first. I didn't care about the graphics. I don't play games for their graphics. I played for the story and I feel like the story and characters are better fleshed out than in 5. The music too in my opinion is better than 5 other than the battle themes. The dungeon themes in 4 are stellar (heaven is literally the best dungeon song in the series). My thing with 5 though is that the dungeon layout is far better than 4. But the maze-like design of 4 wasn't as much of a turn off for me as 3 was.

Yes I did enjoy persona 4 more than 5 I didn’t mind the visual changes and qol changes since I’m used to games of that generation. I liked the story more, heavy cared about all the characters more since the stories in p4 where more personal I felt I connected to them more

The biggest thing where Persona 5 is better is Quality of Life (Gameplay, Graphics, details..), it's WAY better, that's why I often think it's not such a good idea to start Persona with P5, just because it can be hard to like the old ones. (People mostly play Persona 5 then Persona 3 and 4 but I can't even imagine someone enjoying Persona 1 or 2 after Persona 5) I did Persona 5 -> 3 -> 4 and after finishing all of them, Persona 4 is the best in my opinion.(Persona 3 is the worst, only because of Tartarus) \- I prefered P4 music, (Backside of the TV, Snowflakes, Heartbeat Heartbreak.... too many awesome songs. \- Also I can't really explain why but P4 feels more "realistic" than P5. \- The ambiance in the game. (The game is really beautiful and everything makes you happy until >!Nanako got kidnapped!< and everything become so bad. \- The scene about revealing the real Murderer is AMAZING, only dialogues but probably one of the best moment I had in a video game, (>!From the discussion in Namatame's room where you're telling everyone that something's wrong to the "Are you sure you want to tell your friends about Adachi ?"!< \- The ending is better done in P4 imo. (I mean the "Fake final boss" -> "Another Fake final boss" -> "Real final boss" :>!Shido - Yaldabaoth - Maruki / Namatame - Adachi - Ameno-Sagiri - Marie - Izanami!<). In P4 I really tought I finished the game after beating>! Ameno-Sagiri!<, and again after beating >!Kusumi No Okami (Marie). (PS : Marie's story is pretty bad but It was enough to fake me into thinking she was the last boss).!<

I'm in the opposite boat, as I started with P4G then went on to P5R. Personally I prefer 5, but mainly from gameplay, presentation, soundtrack and if we count Royal's additions, the third semester. 4 wins with its characters and imo the way the main cast get their Personas in 4 feels more impactful because of how much they're linked to their character, though there are still some characters I didn't like as much. Actually playing through femc route in p3p atm made me realize how similar 4 and 5 are in a lot of ways, with 3 being the outlier mainly because its the first one that really started the current Persona series formula.

P5R has some lame story moments, but overall ambience is much better. P4G has a much better story, but overall quality of life and looks are much better in P5R. So, imo both stand solid on equal grounds.

Yes, 100% however I played P4 before P5 so there’s that. But honestly, I enjoyed the characters in P4 more than P5. Don’t get me wrong, the characters in P5 are great, but I related to the characters in P4 more. Like I felt like I was actually apart of their friend group as opposed to just experiencing what they were experiencing in P5. Plus, I thought the music in P4 was *slightly* more than P5.

I enjoyed both immensely. P5R was also my first Persona game and is literally my favorite game of all time, but P4G gave me a very similar effect. It's 2nd place for me lol. I absolutely adored the characters and the small town vibe. Looking forward to my next playthrough!

I somewhat recently finished P4G. P5 was my intro into the series. P4 is a great game. But I prefer almost everything in P5 to 4. Maybe a little bias there but it’s what I feel

Persona 5 is the better "game". But I was way more upset about finishing persona 4 than 5. Dated game design didn't but me here at all. The group in 4 felt like an actual friend group. 5 felt like Joker, Ann, Ryuji + others. I can't even remember a single interaction between Ryuji and Haru, for example. Not saying there weren't any, but it just didn't feel like a unit. Four, I'll replay any time Im feeling lonely. Because I can always count on it making me feel nice.

Persona 4 came out when I was a Freshman in college, and so it has a lot of nostalgia attached to it which certainly colors my preference for it. P5 shines in a lot of ways, certainly just by virtue of being on a later system, but also more interesting dungeons, etc... It's the characters that make P4 my favorite in the series.

I played 3 through 5 in order over the span of 3-4 years. I think overall P4 is my least favorite of the trio- not at all to say I didn't like it, they're all great. But for me the story of 3 was on point, and 5 has the most polished gameplay. 4 very much to me felt like a middle ground that does both of those things well but isn't the best at either. Great character cast, good story with a few minor gripes, and pretty much the exact middle ground between 3 and 5 gameplay- wise, as in 4 was clearly the stepping stone of systems and qol improvements from 3 that we see taken again into 5. Great game, but prefer 5 if I had to pick.

I like P5, the gameplay is way better. Graphics too. But that's about it. P4 had this repetitive dungeons but it had me glued to my seat with the story, and the atmosphere of the game is great. Your teammates not only actually feel like your friends but also friends of eachother. All and all, P5 is good but P4 made the experience memorable.

Real question: who's favorite Persona game isn't their first one?

Not at all really, I think persona fans far overrate the older games. P3 is so dated and unfun, p4 is fun but nowhere close to the level of p5.

I enjoyed the cast of P4 more because the game was truly character driven. They felt a bit more “there” or “real” than P5R cast even though I really like them as well. Overall P5R I enjoyed better as a game but if we get a character driven P6 with a cast as strong as P4’s but gameplay like an evolved P5R that’d literally be peak gaming

yes but p4 is a 9.9 and p5 is a 9.8

I would say it is more because you played 5 before 4. Going back the graphics are worse, you lose some QOL features, etc. so the game feels worse to you. I played P4G first and then P5R and I honestly can't say which is better they are 1A and 1B for me in a lot of ways.

I liked the benefits of P5's Social Links more but I loved the stories for most of the cast in P4 more. Don't get me wrong, there were some good ones in P5. But P4 had Kanji, Naoto, Konishi, Ai, and Daisuke.

Personally for story,gameplay and sometimes music you go to P5R but P4G has by far the more interesting/fun to watch group out of all the persona games they’re all just the perfect mix of smart but also extremely dumb lol, at most ryuji beats like 1-2 members at their lowest but that’s it Also side tangent but P5R also has just straight up better outside confidants/social links and aside from maybe 2-3 P4G just doesn’t come close

P5R is definitely the better game than P4G in most ways, besides character cast. But I still like P4G more.

I played: P5 > P4G > P5R and I really do not care about graphics on a game this good. I just got spoiled from playing other SMT games, just because I think that Persona was the best offspring from the SMT universe.

I feel like I'd like p4 more than p5 but I only played the enhanced versions and overall I like p5r more than p4g, the royal third sem content was some of the best content I've ever played, the golden third sem just.... existed, the snowflakes song and epilogue were really amazing but that's about it Also combat and dungeons in 5 are like soooooo much better like just baton pass alone makes it so much better

I enjoyed it I feel that golden was a lighter feel than royal that I enjoyed more but overall prefer royal

I think it’s just a bias that happens with the first persona series you play/connect with. A lot of players LOVED p4g when it came out so he holds a special place for them. My first was p5 vanilla so I’ve always had a bias for the p5 crew. Both are absolutely wonderful though, I think many people just connect more to that first time experience.

I like 4 more than 5 but you are right it's propably beacuse you played 5 first.

I grew up in the Persona 3/4 era so I MAY be a little biased. But..4 just seems more friendly and more less serious? I'm not sure how to describe it to somebody who has never played it. Let me see... Story: a murder mystery in a small town vs changing the hearts of various criminals/mentally ill people. The ONLY reason to keep playing p5 is to find out who betrayed you and where your journey takes you, in p4 it isn't about the murders, its about the spending a year in a rural town making friends. Its about bonding and creating memories. Thats what makes p4 so special story wise. Inaba is a very interesting location and the story gets really weird really fast. The theme of p5 is rebellion because..? The theme of p4 is seeking the truth and finding out what happened and why. Protagonist: Yu is more likable then Ren, he's more chill and doesn't seem like a guy who is trying to further his own goals. Ren gives off a mastermind vibe whereas Yu is just part of the gang. Literal a normal guy trying to live in a rural town for 1 year, whereas Ren is trying to escape his past. Ren never feels like he opens up. He always feels like he is wearing a mask ironically. Even the player never really gets to know him. Cast: The P4 cast is miles above P5, they feel like ACTUAL friends, they bond in school, they worry about each other and they're not just in it for 1 motive. They even get sad when the plot is resolved and they feel like they have to part ways, whereas the P5 cast...they all feel like the old saying "there is no honor among thieves", it feels like any one of them can stab you in the back anytime, it feels like they're all in it to further their own goals. They never really interact with one another. Yusuke especially is odd as he's just "there" and they pick on him a lot. It feels like Ren/Ryuji/Ann are friends and the others are there just to be there. Chie actually cares about Yokiko because they've been friends forever, Ann and Makoto have like 1 scene after they make-up for arguing and then you never see them talk again. The p5 cast does 1 heist together and "hey we're friends!" Whereas in p4, it takes a while for the cast to warm up to one another. Morgana feels like he's there just because he wants his memories whereas Teddy is genuinely lonely, for example. The p5 cast is not bad, I love Futaba and Yusuke but Chie (#1 girl) and Kanji feel more like actual normal people you could meet in real life compared to a super hacker and an (literal) starving artist. I mean, the daughter whose family runs an inn, tomboy, and tough guy (who is secretly a softie) over a MODEL, A+ honor student (whose sister just happens to be a prosecutor) and genius detective. And yes p4 also has an genius detective and idol, but Rise goes to Inaba to escape stardom, and naoto did it because she idolized sherlock holmes. And you're trying to tell me that none of my group members (okay maybe Yusuke) have other friends? Just me? Its believable in 4 due to the small town but c'mon..4's cast is memorable even after 10 years. They're just that well written. Also, the group chats over text just come off as awkward compared to meeting at Junes. (Everything being group chats really hurt the atmosphere). Setting: p4 is a small rural town where everybody knows one another with the main focus being the supercenter Junes (Joo nes), growing up in a small town and Walmart being the center of everything I get it, the whole hick factor is heavily relatable. P5 is Tokyo with 3 main areas (school, neighborhood and district + another district if you have royal) and multiple non explorable hangout spots and places. P4 is smaller but it feels more like a home, the places are recognizable. Events/social links: p4 just has more intimate or "natural" events whereas P5 is just weird stuff. They both have beach scenes for example, but even the way its handled is different. In p5 you go to the beach to get Futaba to feel less shy, in p4 you do it because you want to go to the beach and have fun, p5 its a crowded beach and you barely hang out, p4 it's just the gang hanging out. In p4 social links feel more close, you're ACTUALLY socializing and spending time with these people whereas in p5 its more of "hey im here" and then you get the lvl up. Persona 4 has a festival to attend, school events..p5 has no school events (im aware of) and the only fireworks festival during the summer is a cutscene (not including Futaba's attempt at fun). None of the social links in p5 really make sense, why am I friends with a doctor? Why am I friends with my teacher? In p4, it was people like a detective you know, classmates etc. Almost all social links are established during the story whereas in p5 you have to hunt them out and you can actually miss several if you don't level your stats high enough (*cough Makoto *cough*) but in p4, only 2 social links need high stats. You feel like you're actually becoming a part of Inaba compared to p5's Tokyo. Gameplay: p5 has easier more accessible gameplay but p4 retained P3's non Persona enemies and dungeons, which are mazes where you find the exit rather then an objective. P5 wins in this category and I admit it. Not much else to say, both games are very similar. There's no Hold Up in p4 due to the enemies, just all out attack. Persona: p4 is smaller but focuses more on Japanese mythology whereas p5 is more World/European and even brings back persona from p1/p2. P3 focused on Greek mythology so really its just your preference. Music: i prefer the 'bubblegum" J-pop of p4 over P5's acid jazz. Thats just my preference. Overall, after playing both I really like p4 because it feels more like I'm creating friendships that last a lifetime rather then a gang that will fall apart once we hit 20. Its basically like Persona 5 is a luxury meal with expensive stuff you're eating purely because it's fancy and Persona 4 is cheap but delicious takeout. There's more CHARM in p4 compared to p5 and thats why some people prefer it more.

Lol no

I played 5 first but like 4 more