This is for anyone who saw the Persona 5 trailer and/or wishes to know more about the series

 

So the games are insanely long- Persona 2 was even split into two seperate games due to its length. If you're looking to get into the series know it's veeeeeery time-consuming, each game from my experience takes at least 60 hours to complete (and that's being generous)

 

The series is like Final Fantasy where the games all have their own seperate plot, the main difference being they all take place in the same world. So although they're not necessarily tied together plot-wise, 3 takes place before 4 with canon references/locations from 3 actually appearing in 4

 

The gameplay is turn-based like the Final Fantasy games of yore, but the enemies actually sit around and wait for you to make your turn before attacking. In 3 you can only control the Protagonist's actions directly while you plan strategies for the other party members, while in 4 you can control everyone in the party or set your partners to act on their own

 

Personas are sort of like Pokémon, sometimes at the end of battles you get a chance to obtain one via a card. When you get one the Protagonist's abilities and weaknesses alone depend on the Persona you have equipped. So as an example you could have a Persona that grants you Lightning-based attacks/skills but is weak to Wind attacks. You can change your Persona via the menu or on the fly in-battle, with there being a storage system where all your Persona are located while you can bring up to 12 Personas into the field with you (originally 6, you unlock more slots as you go)

 

If you wanna be a mainstream fan like I am all you really have to do is play Persona 3 and Persona 4, the first games have very different gameplay from these newer titles

 

In chronological order the series goes like this:

1. Megami Ibunroku Persona / Megami Tensei: Persona

2. Persona 2: Innocent Sin

3. Persona 2: Eternal Punishment

4. Persona 3 / Persona 3 Portable

5. Persona 3 FES (it's Persona 3, the only difference being a new Epilogue to wrap the story up)

6. Persona 4 / Persona 4 GOLDEN

7. Persona 4 Arena

8. Persona 4 Arena Ultimax

9. Persona 5 (?)

 

So if you have the time and the patience I suggest you try getting on board, I've only played Persona 4, Persona 3 FES, Persona 4 Arena, and Persona 4 GOLDEN in that order and I've been able to follow everything very well, so it's not a difficult series to get into

Isn't Persona 4 Golden a remake but with added stuff like Persona 3 FES?

I only played Persona 4 Golden on PS Vita and thought it was one of the best game I ever played! The story, the characters, the setting and everything was amazing! Because of that Persona 5 is one of the top games I am waiting for. 

Thanks cause all I know is Ahikiko from the fighting game

I haven't played any Persona games but I really do want to get into them.  The only problem is, like you said, the length of them.  I don't have a lot of time for video games right now so I'll have to binge game for a week and try to beat them during winter break or something.

If you should know anything about Persona,all you need to know is that if you are ever in trouble in any kind of interaction,dance.

Isn't Persona 4 Golden a remake but with added stuff like Persona 3 FES?

Pretty much, except FES actually ended a playable epilogue with 20+ hours of gameplay. Most of it is grinding/battling from my understanding, though. Persona 3 Portable made many more changes than FES did, but neither can be considered a "definitive" version like Persona 4 Golden can.

 

I'd like to add that you can fuse your personas in order to get new ones. In general, fused personas will always be better because they inherit skills and gain bonus EXP from social links. Most of the personas that you find after battle are essentially fusion fodder. The turn based system also deviates a little from the standard(note, talking about P3 and P4 here). If you hit an enemy weakness they get knocked down. If you knock down all the enemies, you get to do an all out attack which does massive damage to all enemies on the field. Pulling these off are a major key to survival. Enemies can knock you down as well, though they do not have their own all-out attacks.

...Or instead of playing that Silly 'ol Spin off, we can all begin playing the real Shin Megami Tensei Franchise.

 

Btw you forgot to add Persona Q on the list.