Hey guys! I've never played a Persona game before but I've been considering getting into the series. I'm interested in Persona 5 Strikers for the Switch but am unsure. I know the Switch doesn't run that great sometimes but I don't have any Playstation consoles besides a PS2 so I'm kinda stuck.
What I'm curious about is which are the best games in the franchise, which are the worst and what spinoffs are worth buying? For someone new to the series, which games would you recommend? If I pick any game, am I going to be confused abut characters and story? Do each games continue off each other or can you jump in anywhere?
Thanks in advance!!
I've never personally played a Persona game, but I've watched others play them on YouTube and whatnot. So I can answer some things.
You can jump into most of them and be fine. While there are certain aspects that you won't fully appreciate without having played, say, the Persona 2 games, they aren't interlinked to such a degree for there to be confusion. There are shared aspects like the Velvet Room, but basically, the games are individual experiences with their own stories.
However, while that's true for the most part, I have to tell you that
this does not hold true for Persona 5 Strikers. If you're going to play Persona 5 Strikers, you should play Persona 5 or Persona 5 Royal first. Persona 5 Strikers
is a sequel, it takes place after Persona 5, so you
will be missing context and probably be confused about some things as a result. If you can't buy them, I would at least watch a playthrough of either. Persona 5 Royal is just regular Persona 5 but with some extra characters and new story content, but to my recollection those events from Royal aren't mentioned in Strikers.
As for where to start, it depends. Persona 3 might be a good start because it's good but lacks features that are taken for granted in 4 and 5, specifically the ability to control your other party members. Both Persona 3 and Persona 4 are on the PlayStation 2. Persona and the two Persona 2 games are for the original PlayStation. You can also play all of those on the PlayStation Portable if you have one of those.
Theoretically you could start with the original Persona since, after digging a bit deeper, I noticed that there actually is some carryover from 1 to 2 and at least one character (maybe more of them, Persona 1 is the big blind spot for me) from the original shows up in 2. Most of the other instances of crossover I've seen are like one-off lines referring to somebody from one of the other games that you'll appreciate getting the reference to but that is not necessary for overall enjoyment of the game.
Also they all kind of have their own flavor and appeal. Persona 4 in particular, while certainly having darker aspects, is really upbeat compared to the others in a way that turns some people off.
I can't speak to side games. Side games for most series in general don't appeal to me.