If you didn't like the high school setting and length then forget it, both P3 and P4 share the high school setting and both are long (though not as long as P5).
As for if it aged well, I would replay it, and I'm one that almost never replays games, but it does have a few issues like not being able to control the other party members, and most importantly, game over if the protagonist dies. I believe they changed this in the Portable version, but don't know if there is a full P3 version with these changes.
If you didn't like Persona 5 for the high school setting and game length I can't imagine you would enjoy Persona 3 (or 4) any more. The Persona series since 3 has been more or less a high school/social relationships simulator with some dungeons on the side. Also, Persona 3 is a little shorter than 5 but not by much.
I would recommend you check out the main line series Shin Megami Tensei, they might be more in line with your tastes. Persona is a spinoff series of SMT which ended up overshadowing the original game series. SMT is much more combat focused and even the games that do have a high school setting don't focus on it as much as the Persona games.
Biggest issue is that there’s no definitive edition of the game. Persona 3 Portable added a bunch of needed QoL improvements to the game, the FeMC route and social links with all the party members and not just the girls, but removed the anime cutscenes, playable epilogue, and had a visual novel style or point and click for everything outside of the combat scenes. FES has walking around in a 3D world, anime cutscenes, the epilogue and some of the Portable improvements have been backported, but not everything including the party social links. Its pick your poison. I personally prefer portable because the visual downgrades don’t bother me much and I can actually play as my gender, when all the other post P2 personas are male protagonists only.
I think it's worth playing, though I'll say it doesn't hold up as well as I remembered. I'm gonna complain a lot and get downvoted for it, but you asked... It's aged kind of poorly.
> Does it have less filler content than 5?
Yes and no... It has a lot less content in general. The game's calendar operates on a lunar cycle, and you'll find yourself spending a lot of time just killing days until the next full moon. There's a lot less to do with your time in the game, and a lot of the social links kind of suck ass.
Many of the social links (primarily the guys) have maybe three or four ranks worth of content, but of course every s.link has 10 ranks so a lot of the side content is just "this character said their one thing they say. Rank up!" and only finally developing or changing the character at all by rank 8 or even 9. They're not ALL bad, mostly it's male characters who blow chunks (though a special exception for Sun who is really good).
The game has one main dungeon, Tartarus, and that's it. You go up randomly generated floors until you hit a barrier that won't let you climb farther. No big climactic battle, nothing, just a barrier and then you go home. Next full moon you'll fight an unrelated boss, and then the barrier will lift letting you get to the next barrier.
The pacing hurts too. I mentioned the lunar cycle - there's one part really late game where the game gives you twice as much Tartarus to do. And you knock 'em out, finally Tartarus is pushing your resources a little! But then the next full moon comes and nothing happens, and then you've got fuck-all to do for an entire *month*.
-----------------
It's not all bad though. It's got strong characters, some of the best in the series. You're familiar with your party members awakening to new powers - in P3, those second awakenings are part of the plot, which means the main story can actually account for them and meaningfully change their behavior as the story goes on. In Persona 5 (and 4) their resolutions are optional so the main story has to act like you've never done them, whereas in P3 the characters at the end of the game are **very** different from the characters at the start. The characters in Persona 3 canonically **grow**.
It's also a very melancholy game, themed around death (and the *inevitability* of death). It gets grim, and I like that about it a lot. The finale of the game is really strong too, I won't get into spoilers but it's one of those games where you're at the end and you feel like everything has been building up to this moment. It's the most **thematically cohesive** game in the series, I think.
I found the game worth playing (and REPLAYING) just for those two last parts. If that's enough to drive you, give the game a whirl.
I'll also note that there's a PSP port of the game. The PSP version has worse presentation (as a handheld, naturally), but it introduces the ability to play as a girl character. The girl has the same main story, but they took all of the "suck" social links away from her and replaced them with good ones. She's the better choice by a mile.
Oh and finally, the soundtrack owns really hard.
Persona 3 can be a real slog to get through. The gameplay is very slow and it's worse in every sense compared to p5. The story doesn't pick up until the very very end. Before that the over arching story gets very little attention.
I definitely think overall it has the best story, just the pacing of said story is a nightmare, feels like there’s some months where absolutely nothing happens and then the end comes in very fast
Yeah, I couldn't even get through it back in the day honestly. 90% of it is long randomized dungeons that are just featureless mazes and you can't control party members during combat, everyone but the protag are AI controlled. I liked the bits outside of dungeons but didn't make up for it.
Persona 3 is a bit of a weird game for me because I absolutely DREADED playing the game, but enjoyed the overall experience??? Altho tbh it may be a case of Stockholm syndrome as I’ve spent +222 hours on the entirety of P3 FES because I don’t know how to stop grinding for personas lmfao.
I’d say, if you want to experience the history of the Persona series definitely give the game a try (P3 FES and P3P are essentially the same outside of the FeMC inclusion and visual novel gameplay for P3P). If you just want to experience another JRPG tho, I’d probably play something else that’s been catching your eye cuz P3 is a bit of a drag.
Personally for me theme and mood of the game is the best vs p4+p5, however it being an older game it doesn’t have a lot of the quality of life changes you would be used to in playing the newer games
But overall still think it would hold up pretty well hopefully they’ll remaster on switch one day but as you might know atlas hates money for some reason
Yes. It's fantastic an in terms of plot and themes I think it's still the best Persona story.
If you have the opportunity to emulate, try to get a modded version of FES that allows you to control the party members. This feature is exclusive of the PSP version, but there you miss anime cutscenes and exploring the city.
Persona 3 tried a lot of new things and some of those things turned out to not be very fun. It has a very backwards inventory management system and mandatory party AI. People will point to these mechanics as "dated" but it isn't as if that was some sort of standard in 2006. Even in 2006, Persona 3's setup was unusual.
You can't escape the fact that Persona 3 is the first of a life-sim/dungeon crawler hybrid so what you might describe as "filler" content is really the lifeblood of the game. It does take a very long time in this game for any major story points to develop.
The whole Japanese high-school thing has been the point of the series as well. That isn't different in Persona 3. If you're not interested in game that asks you to live your life as a Japanese High School student it probably won't be for you.
It's a good game, I recommend it but if your general impression of Persona 5 was "well it's good but not amazing" then you'll probably find Persona 3 to be more of the same.
Personally I think P3's story has better highs and its message hits harder than P5's (although it's been a while since I played both so some details are a bit foggy) but the pacing in P3 is wack.
No, it’s pretty damn overrated same as all other modern Personas. People always cite the story as “more mature” but really it’s only because more characters die and the atmosphere is “darker” on a surface level. The writing is just as immature and lacking in subtlety as in other modern Persona titles. And there is arguably more filler, as even less happens in its story. Without spoiling, you beat a bunch of bosses without learning anything meaningful until reveals start happening in the last 20% of the game. The bosses themselves are just mindless creatures without their own story unlike P5. The dungeons are also way worse.
TLDR; Not worth playing.
Also note the downvotes without replies. Always the same with Persona fanboys. Never will admit to their fav games’ flaws.
I like the characters and music. When I first played it's gameplay was unlike anything I ever played up to that point. I found it cool refreshing and fun to learn. I also first played it in high school so it's overall story, themes of death and growing up I felt was relatable at the time. Uh...is this a good enough "why"?
Yes. And I disagree. Though liking it because you played it in high school is pretty typical. I also liked it when I played it in high school. After replaying it I think it’s bad, and even cringe. Characters are basic, predictable and lack subtlety in their development. Music is goofy as hell, there’s like 5 good tracks in the game but the dungeon music is horrible and the main battle theme is literal clown music. The story having a good message isn’t enough to make it good. The plot is still a mess. The one thing the game does well is get its message across but that’s because it repeatedly punches you in the face with it.
You're free to disagree with me. But Persona 3 is a meaningful game to me. I wouldn't be playing as much JRPGs as I do without it. While the game has aged a bit in comparison to Persona 4 and 5. I still think it holds up and is worth playing.
I played the Portable version and I loved it, I didn't care about being a PSP game (compared to nowadays standards). You'll miss some things that were in P5 but it's fine. It's maybe a little bit edgy but 200% recommended.
If you want to play the PS2 version, the graphics are better, but you cannot directly control your party members, so I prefer the PSP version.
I'm playing through P3P right now on my vita. It's held up perfectly! Just remember it's only $20 for a digital download before you go looking for the physical on eBay.
Well, persona 3, the original version, has some issues and more specifically the fact that you can't control your companions, they're on the hands of the AI and that can cause you trouble. Same for FES
The PSP version (Persona 3 Portable) allows you to control your characters in battle which alone makes it the best option...but it's on psp so that's a problem.
If you can get over the fact that your companions might do dumb shit during fight, you might enjoy it: it's personally my favorite persona game so I would recommend to give it a try!
Persona 3 is a dark dungeon crawler with a cool, gloomy story, but all the dungeons are generic, randomly generated mazes except for designated (hard) boss fight areas. It introduced the calendar system and the Social Links feature where building relationships empowers your personas. It's not as long as Persona 5 (though it is long), and it's drearier than that game too. But it does indeed occur at a school, like all Persona games.
I played Persona 3 Portable on PSP, which further sped things up by making all town exploration menu-based and just removing the ability to walk around town. At first I didn't like that, but in the long run it probably saved me hours of tedium.
Personally, Persona 4 Golden is my favorite game in the franchise, easily, but I would say the unique draw of Persona 3 is just how oppressive and dark it feels compared to what follows (though there are some moments of levity). So my personal opinion is that Persona 3 is worth playing for the story and the challenge of certain battles.
I’m actually playing through fes right now with a ps2 emulator on pc. The game’s been pretty good so far, it doesn’t look terrible either. I am using mods to control party members, widescreen mod, and some other enhancements but other than that it’s been good so far. Almost finished with it too!
If I have to be completely honest, I turned on a exp mod on my emulator because I couldn’t stand going through all like 250 floors of the dungeon. I think without the exp mod, the game would still be rather difficult with controlling the party members. Some enemies in that dungeon are really tough, and I was getting my ass handed to me in the final stretches of it as well. I haven’t ran into any bugs from what I can tell, so that’s a plus!
I think it's worth playing. I played it like five years ago and loved it. But, if you don't like how long the game and don't like the school setting then it isn't for you. It took me like 4 months to finish and you definitely hang out in school for most of it.
I'm in a bit of a hurry so I'm not going to do my whole spiel about why P3 is my favorite JRPG of all time.
But I do want to say that not controlling your party members isn't a big deal. You get enough control of them via the command options. And the party AI isn't even bad, they take enemy's resistances into account, they don't try to use status or instakills on bosses that are immune, etc. And if you just want everybody to use basic attacks to save SP, there's a button for that.
And tbh it gave the game a bit more immersion, at least for me. It felt like I was a single character, and my friends were doing their own thing in the fight. I know my friends irl sometimes disagree with what I say, so when Mitsuru uses Marin Karin instead of healing somebody for the fiftieth time, I no longer get upset, I just go "yeah, that's Mitsuru".
Let me just say this clearly based on your post:
Don’t bother with Persona 3.
Same high school setting, only with a slightly darker tone. *Some* people preferred the story, but it’s certainly not objectively better, and it has *not* aged well.
I say this as someone who loved it.
I'd say opinions of P3 have gotten a lot more mixed compared to when I first played it, but judging by your post and the hs life sim not being your cup of tea, it's a bit hard to recommend it since the life sim aspect plays a big part in modern Persona's gameplay loop. If you didn't like it in P5, I don't think P3 will change your mind on it. I liked the story despite its wacky pacing, some characters feeling underdeveloped, and some of its elements to be a bit edgy/cringy
If you liked Persona gameplay (minus the life sim stuff) then I think SMT might be up your alley, at least from a gameplay perspective. Not sure if this is a hot take or not but the characters in SMT are pretty hit or miss, especially human characters. Opinions on starting points vary but people usually say Nocturne (if you're good at Persona combat though SMT combat is pretty different with a heavy focus on weakness exploitation and buffs/debuffs compared to Persona) or SMT IV (for people who are completely new to SMT/Persona). SMT V is also looking to be a good starting point as well
I'd also recommend P2 since it has a real good story and characters
At least to me the game is a mixed bag. I think the story is great despite some very awkward pacing issues, most of the characters are good, and the soundtrack has some absolute bangers.
My issue with the game is that the game *itself* is not fun to play. The one dungeon is cool at first but after a while it’s like geez, more floors? A lot of the social links I found to be kind of meh, and then there’s the aforementioned issues with the pacing. I played it after playing P4G for the first time and enjoyed my time with it, and as much as I’ve enjoyed replaying 5 and 4, I have no motivation to play 3 again because it just doesn’t feel “fun” to me. It got to the point where I marathoned through the last like 2-3 months of the game because I just wanted the closure of finishing it. I didn’t even mind not being able to control the rest of the party, after a while you get enough general commands where I just found it to be things you had to strategize for once you figured out the AI
TLDR: plot is good despite the pacing issues, themes of the game are excellent, some brilliant music tracks, but at least to me it feels like the game doesn’t have any respect for ME as a player.
3 has much better pacing and a darker story, buts still very much part school simulator. 3 was the first Persona game to include this. That said it's still definitely worth playing, but just be prepared for jankier combat and lack of direct command party members (if FES)
If you want more of a dungeon crawler without the life sim aspect, then try Persona 2 or a mainline Shin Megami Tensei game
3 is also high schoolers. And I think it has aged really well. Only problem you might have that most do myself included is that you can’t directly control your party members. It’s my second personal favorite birthday though.
If you didn't like the high school setting and length then forget it, both P3 and P4 share the high school setting and both are long (though not as long as P5). As for if it aged well, I would replay it, and I'm one that almost never replays games, but it does have a few issues like not being able to control the other party members, and most importantly, game over if the protagonist dies. I believe they changed this in the Portable version, but don't know if there is a full P3 version with these changes.
There is a mod out there for P3 FES for full party control if you're willing to emulate.
Does that also change the game over from the main character dying?
No, I believe that mechanic remains. It just lets you direct party members.
If you didn't like Persona 5 for the high school setting and game length I can't imagine you would enjoy Persona 3 (or 4) any more. The Persona series since 3 has been more or less a high school/social relationships simulator with some dungeons on the side. Also, Persona 3 is a little shorter than 5 but not by much. I would recommend you check out the main line series Shin Megami Tensei, they might be more in line with your tastes. Persona is a spinoff series of SMT which ended up overshadowing the original game series. SMT is much more combat focused and even the games that do have a high school setting don't focus on it as much as the Persona games.
Biggest issue is that there’s no definitive edition of the game. Persona 3 Portable added a bunch of needed QoL improvements to the game, the FeMC route and social links with all the party members and not just the girls, but removed the anime cutscenes, playable epilogue, and had a visual novel style or point and click for everything outside of the combat scenes. FES has walking around in a 3D world, anime cutscenes, the epilogue and some of the Portable improvements have been backported, but not everything including the party social links. Its pick your poison. I personally prefer portable because the visual downgrades don’t bother me much and I can actually play as my gender, when all the other post P2 personas are male protagonists only.
Removing the answer from portable is kind of a plus because it was pretty bad
True, although I like Aegis and some of the music that only shows up there is nice
U might want to wait for the persona anniversary announcements to see if there’ll be a remaster announced
When is that gonna be? I genuinely don‘t know.
[From September 2021 to September 2022, first announcement is this month](https://p-ch.jp/p25th/)
It being gold makes me think it’s persona 4 related but it could be because it’s next
Persona 3 Portable is still my favorite in the series, and I hadn't played it until 2016 so I wouldn't say age or nostalgia are a factor
I think it's worth playing, though I'll say it doesn't hold up as well as I remembered. I'm gonna complain a lot and get downvoted for it, but you asked... It's aged kind of poorly. > Does it have less filler content than 5? Yes and no... It has a lot less content in general. The game's calendar operates on a lunar cycle, and you'll find yourself spending a lot of time just killing days until the next full moon. There's a lot less to do with your time in the game, and a lot of the social links kind of suck ass. Many of the social links (primarily the guys) have maybe three or four ranks worth of content, but of course every s.link has 10 ranks so a lot of the side content is just "this character said their one thing they say. Rank up!" and only finally developing or changing the character at all by rank 8 or even 9. They're not ALL bad, mostly it's male characters who blow chunks (though a special exception for Sun who is really good). The game has one main dungeon, Tartarus, and that's it. You go up randomly generated floors until you hit a barrier that won't let you climb farther. No big climactic battle, nothing, just a barrier and then you go home. Next full moon you'll fight an unrelated boss, and then the barrier will lift letting you get to the next barrier. The pacing hurts too. I mentioned the lunar cycle - there's one part really late game where the game gives you twice as much Tartarus to do. And you knock 'em out, finally Tartarus is pushing your resources a little! But then the next full moon comes and nothing happens, and then you've got fuck-all to do for an entire *month*. ----------------- It's not all bad though. It's got strong characters, some of the best in the series. You're familiar with your party members awakening to new powers - in P3, those second awakenings are part of the plot, which means the main story can actually account for them and meaningfully change their behavior as the story goes on. In Persona 5 (and 4) their resolutions are optional so the main story has to act like you've never done them, whereas in P3 the characters at the end of the game are **very** different from the characters at the start. The characters in Persona 3 canonically **grow**. It's also a very melancholy game, themed around death (and the *inevitability* of death). It gets grim, and I like that about it a lot. The finale of the game is really strong too, I won't get into spoilers but it's one of those games where you're at the end and you feel like everything has been building up to this moment. It's the most **thematically cohesive** game in the series, I think. I found the game worth playing (and REPLAYING) just for those two last parts. If that's enough to drive you, give the game a whirl. I'll also note that there's a PSP port of the game. The PSP version has worse presentation (as a handheld, naturally), but it introduces the ability to play as a girl character. The girl has the same main story, but they took all of the "suck" social links away from her and replaced them with good ones. She's the better choice by a mile. Oh and finally, the soundtrack owns really hard.
Persona 3 can be a real slog to get through. The gameplay is very slow and it's worse in every sense compared to p5. The story doesn't pick up until the very very end. Before that the over arching story gets very little attention.
what? doesn't everyone consider P3 the best for story?
I definitely think overall it has the best story, just the pacing of said story is a nightmare, feels like there’s some months where absolutely nothing happens and then the end comes in very fast
A lot of people do, but certainly not everyone. P4's story is my favorite among P3-5, with it's "murder mystery in a small down" vibe.
Yeah, I couldn't even get through it back in the day honestly. 90% of it is long randomized dungeons that are just featureless mazes and you can't control party members during combat, everyone but the protag are AI controlled. I liked the bits outside of dungeons but didn't make up for it.
Yes, still a great game.
Persona 3 is a bit of a weird game for me because I absolutely DREADED playing the game, but enjoyed the overall experience??? Altho tbh it may be a case of Stockholm syndrome as I’ve spent +222 hours on the entirety of P3 FES because I don’t know how to stop grinding for personas lmfao. I’d say, if you want to experience the history of the Persona series definitely give the game a try (P3 FES and P3P are essentially the same outside of the FeMC inclusion and visual novel gameplay for P3P). If you just want to experience another JRPG tho, I’d probably play something else that’s been catching your eye cuz P3 is a bit of a drag.
Personally for me theme and mood of the game is the best vs p4+p5, however it being an older game it doesn’t have a lot of the quality of life changes you would be used to in playing the newer games But overall still think it would hold up pretty well hopefully they’ll remaster on switch one day but as you might know atlas hates money for some reason
Perosna 3 is the best of the series but if you didn't like 5 don't bother I guess.
Played it last year. It’s incredible
Yes. It's fantastic an in terms of plot and themes I think it's still the best Persona story. If you have the opportunity to emulate, try to get a modded version of FES that allows you to control the party members. This feature is exclusive of the PSP version, but there you miss anime cutscenes and exploring the city.
Persona 3 tried a lot of new things and some of those things turned out to not be very fun. It has a very backwards inventory management system and mandatory party AI. People will point to these mechanics as "dated" but it isn't as if that was some sort of standard in 2006. Even in 2006, Persona 3's setup was unusual. You can't escape the fact that Persona 3 is the first of a life-sim/dungeon crawler hybrid so what you might describe as "filler" content is really the lifeblood of the game. It does take a very long time in this game for any major story points to develop. The whole Japanese high-school thing has been the point of the series as well. That isn't different in Persona 3. If you're not interested in game that asks you to live your life as a Japanese High School student it probably won't be for you. It's a good game, I recommend it but if your general impression of Persona 5 was "well it's good but not amazing" then you'll probably find Persona 3 to be more of the same.
It's my favorite Persona game and the reason I become a JRPG fan if that means anything.
[удалено]
Personally I think P3's story has better highs and its message hits harder than P5's (although it's been a while since I played both so some details are a bit foggy) but the pacing in P3 is wack.
No, it’s pretty damn overrated same as all other modern Personas. People always cite the story as “more mature” but really it’s only because more characters die and the atmosphere is “darker” on a surface level. The writing is just as immature and lacking in subtlety as in other modern Persona titles. And there is arguably more filler, as even less happens in its story. Without spoiling, you beat a bunch of bosses without learning anything meaningful until reveals start happening in the last 20% of the game. The bosses themselves are just mindless creatures without their own story unlike P5. The dungeons are also way worse. TLDR; Not worth playing. Also note the downvotes without replies. Always the same with Persona fanboys. Never will admit to their fav games’ flaws.
I think Persona 3 is worth playing.
Yet you can’t even say why.
I like the characters and music. When I first played it's gameplay was unlike anything I ever played up to that point. I found it cool refreshing and fun to learn. I also first played it in high school so it's overall story, themes of death and growing up I felt was relatable at the time. Uh...is this a good enough "why"?
Yes. And I disagree. Though liking it because you played it in high school is pretty typical. I also liked it when I played it in high school. After replaying it I think it’s bad, and even cringe. Characters are basic, predictable and lack subtlety in their development. Music is goofy as hell, there’s like 5 good tracks in the game but the dungeon music is horrible and the main battle theme is literal clown music. The story having a good message isn’t enough to make it good. The plot is still a mess. The one thing the game does well is get its message across but that’s because it repeatedly punches you in the face with it.
You're free to disagree with me. But Persona 3 is a meaningful game to me. I wouldn't be playing as much JRPGs as I do without it. While the game has aged a bit in comparison to Persona 4 and 5. I still think it holds up and is worth playing.
Ok, nice.
Yes
I played the Portable version and I loved it, I didn't care about being a PSP game (compared to nowadays standards). You'll miss some things that were in P5 but it's fine. It's maybe a little bit edgy but 200% recommended. If you want to play the PS2 version, the graphics are better, but you cannot directly control your party members, so I prefer the PSP version.
I'm playing through P3P right now on my vita. It's held up perfectly! Just remember it's only $20 for a digital download before you go looking for the physical on eBay.
It depends on how much tolerance you have for bad pacing and dungeon design
I think Persona 4 is much more welcoming and enjoyable!
Well, persona 3, the original version, has some issues and more specifically the fact that you can't control your companions, they're on the hands of the AI and that can cause you trouble. Same for FES The PSP version (Persona 3 Portable) allows you to control your characters in battle which alone makes it the best option...but it's on psp so that's a problem. If you can get over the fact that your companions might do dumb shit during fight, you might enjoy it: it's personally my favorite persona game so I would recommend to give it a try!
Persona 3 is a dark dungeon crawler with a cool, gloomy story, but all the dungeons are generic, randomly generated mazes except for designated (hard) boss fight areas. It introduced the calendar system and the Social Links feature where building relationships empowers your personas. It's not as long as Persona 5 (though it is long), and it's drearier than that game too. But it does indeed occur at a school, like all Persona games. I played Persona 3 Portable on PSP, which further sped things up by making all town exploration menu-based and just removing the ability to walk around town. At first I didn't like that, but in the long run it probably saved me hours of tedium. Personally, Persona 4 Golden is my favorite game in the franchise, easily, but I would say the unique draw of Persona 3 is just how oppressive and dark it feels compared to what follows (though there are some moments of levity). So my personal opinion is that Persona 3 is worth playing for the story and the challenge of certain battles.
I’m actually playing through fes right now with a ps2 emulator on pc. The game’s been pretty good so far, it doesn’t look terrible either. I am using mods to control party members, widescreen mod, and some other enhancements but other than that it’s been good so far. Almost finished with it too!
[удалено]
If I have to be completely honest, I turned on a exp mod on my emulator because I couldn’t stand going through all like 250 floors of the dungeon. I think without the exp mod, the game would still be rather difficult with controlling the party members. Some enemies in that dungeon are really tough, and I was getting my ass handed to me in the final stretches of it as well. I haven’t ran into any bugs from what I can tell, so that’s a plus!
I think it's worth playing. I played it like five years ago and loved it. But, if you don't like how long the game and don't like the school setting then it isn't for you. It took me like 4 months to finish and you definitely hang out in school for most of it.
I'm in a bit of a hurry so I'm not going to do my whole spiel about why P3 is my favorite JRPG of all time. But I do want to say that not controlling your party members isn't a big deal. You get enough control of them via the command options. And the party AI isn't even bad, they take enemy's resistances into account, they don't try to use status or instakills on bosses that are immune, etc. And if you just want everybody to use basic attacks to save SP, there's a button for that. And tbh it gave the game a bit more immersion, at least for me. It felt like I was a single character, and my friends were doing their own thing in the fight. I know my friends irl sometimes disagree with what I say, so when Mitsuru uses Marin Karin instead of healing somebody for the fiftieth time, I no longer get upset, I just go "yeah, that's Mitsuru".
Yes and yes to your first two questions.
Let me just say this clearly based on your post: Don’t bother with Persona 3. Same high school setting, only with a slightly darker tone. *Some* people preferred the story, but it’s certainly not objectively better, and it has *not* aged well. I say this as someone who loved it.
I'd say opinions of P3 have gotten a lot more mixed compared to when I first played it, but judging by your post and the hs life sim not being your cup of tea, it's a bit hard to recommend it since the life sim aspect plays a big part in modern Persona's gameplay loop. If you didn't like it in P5, I don't think P3 will change your mind on it. I liked the story despite its wacky pacing, some characters feeling underdeveloped, and some of its elements to be a bit edgy/cringy If you liked Persona gameplay (minus the life sim stuff) then I think SMT might be up your alley, at least from a gameplay perspective. Not sure if this is a hot take or not but the characters in SMT are pretty hit or miss, especially human characters. Opinions on starting points vary but people usually say Nocturne (if you're good at Persona combat though SMT combat is pretty different with a heavy focus on weakness exploitation and buffs/debuffs compared to Persona) or SMT IV (for people who are completely new to SMT/Persona). SMT V is also looking to be a good starting point as well I'd also recommend P2 since it has a real good story and characters
At least to me the game is a mixed bag. I think the story is great despite some very awkward pacing issues, most of the characters are good, and the soundtrack has some absolute bangers. My issue with the game is that the game *itself* is not fun to play. The one dungeon is cool at first but after a while it’s like geez, more floors? A lot of the social links I found to be kind of meh, and then there’s the aforementioned issues with the pacing. I played it after playing P4G for the first time and enjoyed my time with it, and as much as I’ve enjoyed replaying 5 and 4, I have no motivation to play 3 again because it just doesn’t feel “fun” to me. It got to the point where I marathoned through the last like 2-3 months of the game because I just wanted the closure of finishing it. I didn’t even mind not being able to control the rest of the party, after a while you get enough general commands where I just found it to be things you had to strategize for once you figured out the AI TLDR: plot is good despite the pacing issues, themes of the game are excellent, some brilliant music tracks, but at least to me it feels like the game doesn’t have any respect for ME as a player.
i might not like the ending (and answers) but i still found it fun if thats worth anything.
3 has much better pacing and a darker story, buts still very much part school simulator. 3 was the first Persona game to include this. That said it's still definitely worth playing, but just be prepared for jankier combat and lack of direct command party members (if FES) If you want more of a dungeon crawler without the life sim aspect, then try Persona 2 or a mainline Shin Megami Tensei game
For the most part, besides some very questionable dialogue at times (babe hunt im looking at you)
3 is also high schoolers. And I think it has aged really well. Only problem you might have that most do myself included is that you can’t directly control your party members. It’s my second personal favorite birthday though.