Which Persona Game is THE BEST?

Which Persona game do you think is the best? Let me know in the comments below!

Now that we've reached the end of the Persona retrospective, I feel as though it's only appropriate that we rank all the games from worst to best. This is the first ranking video I have ever made so feedback would be appreciated!

I have a podcast with That Boy Aqua that you can find here!

0:00 Intro
1:59 #13
5:27 #12
8:16 #11
13:37 #10
16:32 #9
23:57 #8
26:50 #7
31:54 #6
34:48 #5
38:57 #4
44:33 #3
49:06 #2
53:41 #1
59:12 Conclusion
1:01:02 Outro & Supporter Credits!

Over the past few years, I’ve been playing and reviewing every game in the persona series. While a nice chunk of them were revisits, a good majority of these videos were dedicated to my first time experiencing some titles. In total, I've made just over 11 hours worth of content covering this series and what it means to me on a personal level. I’ve said almost all that I think needs to be said about each individual game in this franchise, and now that all my thoughts are out there, I think we gotta answer the obvious question. Which Persona Game is the best?

I don’t just mean mainline titles, I’m talking the entire franchise, spinoffs included. Since I’ve never made a video in this style before, I think I should lay out the basic groundwork so we’re all on the same page. This list is going to be ordered from worst to best and each placement is determined by a few different factors. 1. My personal enjoyment. 2. The likelihood of me doing another playthrough. 3. How well I think the game fulfilled its vision. This last metric is very important. Since the persona series is comprised of multiple genres, I think measuring these games by this standard will be a good way to put them on an even playing field.

Which Persona game is the best? The best Persona game could be anything so in today's video we're going to be ranking the Persona games so we can determine which Persona game is the best. The Persona series ranked has been a video I've wanted to do for a while including the top 5 Persona games and top 10 Persona videos. Since my Persona series retrospective otherwise known as Persona series critique, I have been thinking about which Persona game is the best in terms of gameplay and story. After finishing my ultimate Persona retrospective where I cover every Persona game Persona analysis videos, I think it's time to find out which Persona game is the best.This Persona series analysis and Persona series critique video by Nam's Compendium is the best video I've ever made and is the best Persona retrospective you can find

[TyRendition]

The one thing that put persona 4 above everything else to me is the cast. They genuinely feel like friends who would still be friends outside of the problems they face in the game and that just goes a long way for the immersion of the game.

[driftingsoul]

I felt stronger emotions when playing P4G and I'm more attached to the main cast here than any other game. It was like a summer vacation I wished would never end and I felt sad saying goodbye to them at the end. I agree that it's the best game of the franchise

[jeezycreezy]

In P4, you mentioned that Inaba felt like a character itself, and I really felt that. I grew up in a similar town to Inaba. It is a small, isolated town whos main attractions attractions are the beautiful natural areas around it and a famous hotel that may or may not be haunted. For me, P4's setting felt like home.

[bubbletea_]

i'm liking the top 4 picks. very nice. :)
my favorite is still, five years after first playing it, Persona 3. it's not just about living life to the fullest, but also about finding your *own* meaning in it instead of living aimlessly. the premise of a guy who's kind of distant to everyone thrown into a situation where he has to make friends reminds me of myself. when i started college, i came around and learned to appreciate people more, even the ones that can be a little annoying sometimes. if Persona 4 is a game targeted towards the "lonely", then Persona 3 is made more for the lon-ers.

[LM-ulij]

Persona 4 is the top for me. I felt like i am part of that group of friends. P5 also made me feel that way to some degree while P3 feels the same as coworkers.

[lordzero]

Can already tell this is going to be amazing. Kinda sad to see the end of your Persona content. (Well, until p6 comes out)

[ManuPlays]

Tbh i like that p4 is top 1 tbh

that game helped me on an issue i had with some "friends" and alongside trails in the sky the 3rd. it helped me recover from not accepting myself and be who i am today

[matthew]

I feel similar to P3 as you do towards 4, it had such an immense impact on me that I can overlook the flaws, it just means a lot to me

[edwardsuou]

Putting Eternal Punishment this high is a bold move. But you’re so right damnit there’s no game in the franchise I am so passionate about for a simple reason: it’s the most underrated.

I don’t think it should be lower than top 5 in anyone’s ranking. That game is just brilliant, no game in the series had what EP managed to achieve, easily better than P3 that’s for sure.

EP while being very linked to IS and you can definitely have the most out of it by playing IS first is actually a stand-alone game who explains everything you need to know as you go. So to anyone: just play the damn game. You won’t get a protagonist as good as Tatsuya in any Jrpg from Atlus that’s for sure.

[Comrade_Hee-Ho]

I love Eternal Punishment, that game really means a lot to me and it's unfair in my opinion that not many people played just because the PSX version is "old and bad", when the PSP version is almost identical, but at least now with the fan translation of said version more people will be able to experience it

[Triforce]

Glad I'm not the only one that found P4 Dancing's story bizarrely sensible and non-cringe for being a canon rhythm game spinoff. Dare I say I actually _like_ that games story.

[o-o]

5 is my favourite, in fact I would go so far as to say it's the best JRPG of all time. Can't wait to play it some day

[yoshiglx]

P4g really is a special game. Even after playing the entire franchise its the first game that comes to my mind when i think of persona. Its themes, characters and music never left my mind since i played it. And i think it’s going to bstay like that for a long time.

[Necokeniii]

I started with persona 5, but royal is the best one so far. Persona 1 seems to have the best story and persona 4 has my favorite cast. The characters in persona 4 seem like genuine friends who would hang out even if they lost their personas or didn’t meet in a tragic way. However persona 3 seem to have the best theme from start to finish. What I liked about royal is how the ending tied together the theme and cast with a perfect bow. When I beat persona 5, I got the bad ending but I didn’t think about it afterwards. I just beat p5 royal and that boss fight and ending felt very satisfying. Strikers was a lot of fun, all in all persona is a great franchise that I’m always surprised how people can have varying opinions on the same franchise.

[Tydrix]

I really enjoyed Persona 5 Strikers story because it's a Japan road trip adventure. I was suppose to have a Japan trip in 2020, but we know that didn't happen, so Strikers fulfilled some of that. My makeup trip will be in the summer of 2023, summit to Fuji and exploring Hokkaido.

[RexCrimson_]

For me Persona 3FES, will always be my personal favorite due to how dark/realist the game was. It didn’t sugar coat things and helped as a person understand that life isn’t perfect, but to value the experiences and people we have around. I was a teen when I played this.

My number 2 is Persona 4. It helped take life more lightly and not to be very serious. It felt like the light after darkness after playing P3FES. I was in my early 20s when I played this game.

My number 3 is Persona 5. Since it helped me understand to question authority, but to understand that with change there is a big responsibility. Basically, be proactive but understand that everything has a cause and effect and you will be responsible moving forward. I was in my mid 20s when I played this.

Basically I enjoyed every game for what it was. But each one carried a different message for me.

I played a bit of persona 1 and persona 2. But since I started playing them in my late 20s they don’t seem to make such a large impact on me as if I played them when the first came came out. This is why I don’t rank them, since it would be unfair.

[hello-gxoi]

Story wise the persona 2 duology is the most strongly written persona game

That's what I heard about them so I will be playing them
I'll be finishing IS and I can't wait to get into EP

Edit:
So i finally finished innocent sin
"I cried" 8/10 would not play again (i had mental breakdowns because of gameplay but the story is amazing and the people did not lie about it)

Now i am currently playing eternal punishment and man it is night and day
Thanks to its rebalancing I am much more engaged with the mechanics of the game and i didn't even mind grinding persona ranks to get new spells (strategy reigns supreme than character levels)
With this i began to notice gameplay elements like in modern persona games and that would be managing stuff during downtimes after a dungeon i feel like these are the seeds that would then lead to P3

[Beatjoy]

I only played 3 4 and 5 but honestly the third one made me cry fr. The story was so damn moving, and the movie they made was just as good too.
The 4th one made me feel connected to something bigger while also giving me a mystery to bite my fingernails to. The community meet right from the jump makes you feel at home.
The 5th one was probably the funnest one to play though, with all the towns you can explore and all the confidants being especially important to turn into vows. It made it extra fun

[catplantASMR]

persona 4 goldens soundtrack is such a bop! and the cast meshs so well together :)

[nebula]

I have only played p5r and p4g so i cant make an opinion on the whole series, but i personally found 5 to be a LOT more enjoyable for my personal tastes. Stylization and gameplay are really important for me to be able to enjoyably make it through these games and enjoy their awesome stories, music, etc

P4g dungeon crawling and daily life was REALLY hard for me to get through. It made me feel like i had to just run through the motions because it was all so monotonosu

The writing was as good if not even better than 5, but the actual route to getting through it was much more painful for me. So i'd say its fantastic, but royal is my favorite 100% (also p3r will likely be amazing for me. Very, very excited to play it, and the only reason i didnt play 3 yet is to wait for that)