As someone who's never played, how should I approach this series? Can I jump in with the latest (4)? Should I play a Persona first to ease myself in?
Just play 4. Persona is a spin off series and very different from SMT. SMT 4 is really easy to understand entrypoint. The stories are not connected in the sense that you need to play other games to keep up.
Ignore everything else but this post and go for it already.
>>341881189
Persona 3 and 4, and SMT 3 and 4 are generally the way to go (not necessarily in that order)
>>341881189
IV's a pretty good game to start with. Most SMT games are pretty self-contained and different, so there's not a whole lot of bad options to start with.
Persona 3 is a great entry title, I started with it. It will teach you the basics of the gameplay, Persona (demon) fusion and spell names.
If you want a little bit of challenge (especially in the beginning) try SMTIV
Persona 3 FES is probably the best start off point after that give Nocturne and 4 a go and proceed from there.
Check out the guide somewhere. Also Persona is almost a totally different beast. Many spinoffs don't even use the SMT title in Japan, but some good main ones include 3, 4, and strange journey.
Some notable spinoffs include:
>Devil Survivor
>Soul Hackers
>Person 3-4 and soon to be 5
> The RK spinoffs
not him, but I just couldn't enjoy Persona, the life sim stuff was boring to me and I didn't like the dungeons
I would advise trying both Persona and mainline though to see which resonates with ya more
Just play SMT4
Persona is shit
Go ham and play Nocturne lel.
>>341881189
>Can I jump in with the latest (4)?
Yes. That's probably best in fact. That will also set you up for the superior Apocalypse, in the process of being localized.
Don't be put off by the intense difficulty at first.
>Should I play a Persona first to ease myself in?
You may if you like; but it's not necessary. Persona will simply introduce you to a handful of concepts like a basic press-turn system and fusion.
Best way to ease into the series is the Digital Devil Saga games. They have a very similar tone and battle system to many mainline games but forgoes having to learn demon fusion, and has a standard JRPG party
That being said, there's nothing wrong with jumping into somethong like 4 or Nocturne
>>341883693
DDS is fucking boring
Go with SMTIV. You might as well get ready for SMTIV: Apocalypse come September.
Start with Nocturne and then play any other
Play IV or Nocturne.
>>341884509
I'm so ready, man
Go play Nocturne
>>341883937
And you're a gay
>>341881189
Jump straight into the deep end, Nocturne on hard mode.
>>341885594
DDS is the 2nd worse megaten
>>341885951
>nocturne
>hard
lmao
>>341886085
Harder than anything else in the series fuckboy.
>>341886150
>he never played ronde
>>341886150
Second hardest in the series
Strange Journey is the hardest
>RPG
>hard
>>341886583
>says the faggot who post a weeb ikaruga rip off
>>341886747
>Ikaruga is characteristic of all bullet hells
You're a faggot.
>>341886747
Ikaruga is not Danmaku, you retard
>>341881189
Persona is a spin-off, the only real similarities you're going to get from something like 3 or 4 is the names of spells, the demons/personas themselves, and fusion. SMT4 and Nocturne are probably your best bets for jumping into mainline SMT. Persona is fine, it's just very different from SMT.
>>341886747
Ikaruga is not a bullet hell
>>341881189
Don't listen to shitposting faggots, play whatever you want. Picrelated, probably not the latest version of the guide, but it's good enough.
>>341886583
>implying
P3FES or Nocturne, finish whichever one you like more first and go from there.
>>341885994
What's the worst?
>>341887820
DDS2
SMT is garbage anon.
P3 is best game, and P4 is a nice side dish.
>>341888773
Persona is for little faggot fuck babies and it shouldn't exist.
>>341887967
Incorrect, the worst is either Eternal Punishment or Demikids
