Persona 3 vs Persona 4

I heard they are both amazing rpgs but sequels are not always better, so i want to know, which one is better , longer and overall more enjoyable. i can only get one and they both cost 30dollars.

they both seemed pretty similar in length to me. persona 3 hasthe betterstory and characters, while 4 has a touched up battle system.

They are both liked on many levels, it's up to you. I just finished P4 as my fist SMT and will be getting into P3 soon. Although I hear theP4 battle system is more updated and easier to grind if that'll help :P

havent played P4 yet but P3 is by far one of the best games i have ever played - no complaints about any aspect of it at all.

they both seemed pretty similar in length to me. persona 3 hasthe betterstory and characters, while 4 has a touched up battle system.

LoG-Sacrament

Completed P4, currently playing P3.:D

I have to say I prefer P3 based mainly on storyline (I also actually prefer the game battle system; they shouldn't have taken out certain components in P4). I didn't really buy the whole murder-sleuth/mystery story in P4 cos it was too predictable. Characters - there were some I liked better in P4 and P3 (individually), but as a whole, the P4 team rocked a little more in terms of likability and just general... light-hearted, adolescent fun-ness. More interesting people/animals in P3 though.

But! Both games are epic, so play both!

Skip them both and get smt: nocturne or digital devil saga instead.

Skip them both and get smt: nocturne or digital devil saga instead.

bad_fur_day

I agree with this one, assuming the OP hasn't played DDS or Nocturne yet. Persona is good times and I probably prefer P3 over P4 solely on the strength of P3's story, but overall Persona is the weaker link in theMegaten chain in my book. I prefer the darker, more serious SMT titles like Nocturn and DDS.

More than that, I see Persona's combat system, as of the last two entries, as a sort of watered down versionofwhat can be found in other SMT games. Both DDS and Nocturne let you customize your entire party, and they don't let you get away with tripping a drain or absorb during an all-cast/attack just because you also managed to trigger a weakness. Your turn would be over in DDS or Nocturne.

In general there's less detail to the strategy in Persona and less control over your party build...which is a shame, because strategy in combat and strategy in fusion/mantra selection constitute half of what makes this franchise so stand-out among JRPGs. Persona's still great, but it's sort of the black sheep for me in that while I play them and love them, I'd rather see more Avatar Tuner and the like.