I'm racing through 4 right now because I made a bet with a friend that I could beat it in 2 weeks. I agreed because I beat P3 in 2 weeks. Anyone else this addicted to this great ATLUS series?

I've been a huge fan of the Persona series since the first game, Revelations: Persona. And I cannot wait for the PSP version, especially if it means to finally play through the Snow Queen Quest. [I have played through a bit of it, but it'll be nice to actually understand what's happening. ^^;; ]

Also good luck on your race! =D

Thanks! I'll update on how it goes when it ends on the 15th. Technically, I named this P3 and 4 but I haven't played 1 and 2...so how are they? I know they are in the same series, are they similar? What's different?

PS2 essentials:
Persona 3 FES
Persona 4
Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne
Raidou Kuzonoha vs the soulless army
Raidou Kuzonoha vs King Abaddon

I am trying to snag FES myself. Thanks for the other recommendations. Anyone played Digital Devil Saga (1 or 2?)

Revelations: Persona, Persona 2 Innocent Sin, and Persona 2 Eternal Punishment are very different than Persona 3 and 4. They have completely different layouts, they don't have that "mainstream anime" appeal, their soundtracks are mostly techno and ambient, and it seems to have more of a mature theme than the earlier titles. Also I found P3 and P4 to be quite easy in comparison to the earlier titles. That's just my opinions, but I recommend at least try them out! ^^;;

If you live in North America, go to GameStop because they're having a Game Days sale and you can get yourself Persona 3 FES for $19.99!

Yeah I know about the sale but I am so cheap I don't want to pay $20 for FES since I have P3 (the base game) already. I'm trying to eBay it or borrow it. Sorry, ATLUS...

I beat Persona 3: The Journey, but not the Answer.
I am currently playing Persona 4, yes not as quickly, for I am taking notes of the script for a story I am making.

I beat P4 last night and won the bet with my firend. Now he has to buy me lunch!

Ugh, I'm beginning to find that dungeon crawlers are not my type of game. As of last night I'm about 77 hours into Persona 3, and I only just started the November month. So, about 5 months to go? I reeeaallly hate the "kill or be killed" format for battles, especially new areas where I need to find out what they're weak against so I can utilize that and not get myself killed, and dying a few times beforehand to learn from my mistakes. (Also, the whole "main character dies you all die" realllllly LAME!)

I do love the Social Link stuff and going to school, but grinding is getting old. Simply fighting a boss is almost aggrevating. Strategy is one thing, but I shouldn't have to die once or twice at most every boss to formulate a strategy to barely survive a battle.

...

And to think, I'm forcing myself to finish 3 before I buy 4. Should I even bother opening FES? I'm guessing that I would have to play the whole game again just to get to The Answer. Riiiight.

I haven't played 3 but I'm loving Persona 4 at the moment! Best Japonese RPG I've played since Chrono Trigger!

I own every PS2 SMT game
I'd rate Digital Devil Saga the best of them, followed by Persona 4 then Nocturne. Persona 3 and FES lack something that stops it from being brilliant, but Persona 4 filled in all those holes.

Is Persona 4 easier than Persona 3? If so I might have something to look forward to.

Dezner, P4 is a lot easier in my opinion since you can choose to control all your party members' actions.
And Grr! Ragnor! I've been trying to get DDS (1 and 2) for ages! It always sells for just out of my range on eBay!

I just play Persona 4 on beginner it eliminates a lot of the frustration, while is still challenging enough to compare to your usual RPGs. You'll still get stuck on the bosses, you just wont have to grind over and over

Digital Devil Saga is simplistic compared to everything else, seeing as you dont have demons or Persona to switch around, instead every character turns INTO a demon and learns skills that you can set, kind of like say, FFX and FFXII. The difficulty is very there, as in, the trademark "fight a boss, get busted until you learn its strategy, then reload and counter", and the final dungeon takes HOURS to complete. It also has one of the hardest optional bosses ever made, which im curretly levelling for (I already have the main character at level 99 with 99 in all stats!, something I NEVER thought I'd accomplish in an SMT game) The story is also amazing, so big it was cut into two games (Although to be honest, I havent played DDS 2 yet, thakns to that optional oss, but I did have a quick look and didnt like some of the changes. Oh well, I'll adapt, I hear the story reaches insane levels of awesome eventually)

I'd recommend DDS to any RPG fan

Sweet Zombie Jesus! YES! I can't wait!

...Now if only I could get back into 3 and finish the damn thing.

Just got four, FINALLY! It's pretty good so far. Story is about all I have to judge it on, because that's all they've given me...Three hours in and I haven't even seen the world map, or anything! That's really annoying, Persona 3 wasn't like that at all...

Yeah, P4 has a lengthy intro but one of the things I look for in my RPGs is the story, so I don't mind. The other thing is addictive gameplay because it has to last me dozens of hours.
PS-You're almost through that intro. I think it took me 3.5 and some cite 4 hours.

I loved that intro, gets you in the game mood much more than P3 did, but yeah, I was beginning to wonder when I would get to see a dungeon after a few hours

Well, I made it out of the opening thing. You think with all of that, they would have explained the dungeon system better. It took me forever to figure out that I was not going to find a warp back to the beginning thing like in P3. Then, the mini boss owned me, because I wasn't in the Persona mind set yet. It took me several tries to get it all together, and figure out it wasn't all that different from P3, and I leveled up, formed a strategy, and killed the mini boss and boss with ease. I never even saw it rain once, lol.

Now, I'm in the second dungeon, leveling up a bit before going up to the boss. I like the gameplay a lot more than P3, but it seems to me, that the Social Link part of the game, is lacking. I've found like five, Links, and the story bits are SO small with each of them. The only ones that seem a little bit interesting, are the main character's Links. And even then, they've yet to grip me like P3's cast. I miss Junpei, Yukari, Mizuki...ok, I miss them all.

Anyways, I'm having fun, it just hasn't had the awesome feel that P3 had. I am kind of glad that they have a new way of summoning the Persona. My head no longer hurts from watching them shoot themselves for hours =P

BTW, what are some good Persona? I'm level 20, and I haven't made a single one. The starter one (who's name escapes me) has been treating me fine. But I have a feeling that's going to change soon, such is the way of Persona games...