" Persona 2 duology.  You're not a Persona fan if you haven't played the first Persona as well as Innocent Sin and Eternal Punishment

  It's not shitty in the slightest, it's actually pretty damn good as far as fan translations go - you've obviously not even played it. Also, it's hardly damaging to Atlus to play an emulated PSX game - especially if it's the only way to play it outside of importing a Japanese copy that probably doesn't even exist. " 

Didn't the P2: IS translation strum up a lot interest to Atlus, though?

P3s ending is just... 
 
Yeah, I gotta go with P3.

" @Shinri:  If your not happy at all then why did you bother to do so? You could have waited instead of basically pirating a copy. Or even imported one, which do exist. And I was just giving you back the attitude that you gave out when you posted as if Persona 3 and persona 4 fans were less ATLUS/Persona fans because they didn't have access to games you pirated. As you said:
 

" Persona 2 duology.  You're not a Persona fan if you haven't played the first Persona as well as Innocent Sin and Eternal Punishment

 
Not to mention this post.
 

  It's not shitty in the slightest, it's actually pretty damn good as far as fan translations go - you've obviously not even played it. Also, it's hardly damaging to Atlus to play an emulated PSX game - especially if it's the only way to play it outside of importing a Japanese copy that probably doesn't even exist. " 

 Obviously not because it wasn't legit.  They are a small company and every but of money counts.  And they do, but I don't think they are cheap, but they are there, I was considering buying of Persona 2 wasn't brought over. It's great you've played them. But a lot of fans waited for the legit versions rather than DLing them to their computer to get a fantranslation, no matter how good, it was wrong, and ripping off ATLUS. Nice that your buying the copies now.. XP "

persona 4

I refuse to pick one over the other. Both games have very different characters and styles and go together perfectly as one experience in my opinion. 
 I can totally understand why someone would pick one game over the other though. It really all comes down to personal preference. 

I am still kind of mad that Jeff refuses to even consider Persona 3 though. I know Jeff, Chie is amazing, but you know what? so is Yukari. 
Nah I'll get over it, I still love you Jeff.

" I know Jeff, Chie is amazing, but you know what? so is Yukari."

Both. If had to choose only one, then 4 it is.

" @wasteguru: I'm also in the minority when I say I didn't quite like Chie either, so my opinion on the matter may be rare. But Yukari came off as a bitch for most of the game, especially in The Answer part of P3 FES. "

3P3 - It's the best of both worlds: 3's story and characters and 4's battle system and overall slickness

Well I'm playing Persona 3 on the PSP, and it's really really cool. But I think I kinda like the tone of Persona 4 better. Also more variation in the dungeons is nice. 

" 3P3 - It's the best of both worlds: 3's story and characters and 4's battle system and overall slickness "

4: Much better cast and I enjoyed the small town setting more.

I searched for my feelings...Persona 3 is better in everything.

Persona 4 was the same, shitty boring dungeons. The characters were shit and boring. The story has too many plot holes. The Main Character is boring. I haven't seen anything where Persona 4 improved.

Persona 3 doesn't pace itself as well as Persona 4. There's a good 20 hours where nothing really happens in it.

They are both great games. I think Persona 4 is a bit better but that might have to do with the Endurance Run making it extra funny. I played Persona 3: FES before Persona 4 but going to P3P after playing Persona 4 felt like a step back.

Looking forward to Persona 5. Hope it will be great. It has been a long time since Persona 4. I am glad it is coming to PS3 and not PS4. Persona 4 was good enough for people to dust of their PS2s and this will be no different. Also I am not planning on buying a PS4 until most RPG's come there instead of PS3. It took years for the PS3 to get good RPG's and for several years the PS2 still got several. Especially in EU where we got the games late. I mean Persona 4 came out in 2009 here. Rouge Galaxy and Mana Khemia are some other examples of games coming out after the PS3 was out. It seems the same thing is happening again so I will stick with the PS3 for the time being. At least through 2015 RPG's will come out there. Especially since PS4 is not selling so well in Japan.

You can play either, or both. And also like either, or both. Whatever you want, really.

1. This is a 3 and a half year old thread.

2. Rogue not Rouge

I ask myself this question a lot and every time the answer is the same: I can't choose. I like each game for different reasons. Persona 3 was the game that not only introduced me to the SMT franchise but also cemented my love for JRPGs. Persona 4 however introduced me to Giantbomb and the wonder that is the Persona 4 Endurance Run.

Persona 4 feels more polished then Persona 3, doing things like telling you what the spells do while fusing and while outside of battle. I also feel that P4 has the better characters and better story. However there is just something inside of me that keeps telling me P3 is the better game for some reason. There isn't anything P3 did that P4 didn't do better or improve on but I still want to like P3 more the P4 and visa versa.

I don't know which one I like more. All I know is that I like them both a lot.

I think they are both amazing, I think your favourite one will most likely be the one you play first. Just like Mario Kart.

For me it will be P3.

I know this thread is 3 and a half years old, but screw it, I'll use it as an excuse to share my thoughts on the two games. I played through P4 all the way for the first time very recently, got hooked, and am currently playing P3 FES that I bought on the PSN Store.

Story-wise, I'd say the two are on par when it comes to quality. Writing in both is pretty sharp for the most part, and it's keeping me interested. Two very different tones though, and I suspect that's the point at which people pick which one is their particular favourite. I think that Aigis is a bit dumb though.

However, in the turn-based gameplay itself, P4 is better. Persona 3's system of only controlling MC AND standing up taking up a turn makes for an occasional very frustrating experience. Have a Persona equipped that's weak to a certain spell that the enemy keeps spamming? Guess what, can't do anything about it. Furthermore, certain party members can be rendered useless for at least a good 5 turns this way. It can get incredibly frustrating. I'm all for difficulty, but punishing the player by keeping them trapped in an endless chain of attacks is too much. I suspect some of this might alleviated when I finally learn Me Patra.

The game also has issues when it comes to the Persona balancing itself. Because P3 was the first to introduce the concept of S. Links, the balance of MCs Personas all had to be changed to accommodate this and encourage the player to build the S. Links. Because of this, it takes quite a while for an individual Persona of the MC to level up, particularly in comparison to party members. This is to encourage fusion, which is where the S. Links come into play. Get an S. Link high enough, and you can unlock almost all the abilities of a Persona immediately post-fusion. On top of this, unlike his party members' Personas, MCs Personas run out of abilities to learn pretty quickly. HOWEVER, the game then has all these mechanics which seem to be dragging the player in the exact opposite direction, encouraging you instead to keep all Personas. Among these are the Fusion Skills (or whatever they are called), which require two Personas to perform. The first fusion skill you learn, Cadenza, is insanely powerful (50% HP regain and evasion up for all party members). However, to still be able to use this skill, you have to keep the two Personas that do it, and these guys fall behind in level very quickly. On top of that, you also have tons of weird ways to increase the stats of one particular Persona, as well as Personas that occasionally come with an item that only give it when you level them up enough. It makes for a game that isn't 100% sure if it wants the player to keep Personas or fuse them.

Anyway, the two points above you can attribute to P3 being a very different game then what was done previously, and to the credit of Atlus, both of the points were addressed and fixed for 4.

Locked, necro.