Which Persona should I play first?

[Scraper]

I'm a Persona noob. And since 1,2,and 3 are all $9 on the PSN right now I was thinking about getting one for my trip this weekend. So is it ok to start with part 3 and is part 3 better than part 2? Which one should I get?

[Autistic Angel]

Persona 1 and 2 are very different games from those that followed.  I won't tell you not to play them, but I will say that they were not for me.  There is also no connecting story arc to worry about.

There's a reason the series exploded in popularity with Persona 3.  Unfortunately, the PSP version had to make some important compromises to fit on a handheld system.  The biggest, which has you maneuvering around town with a mouse cursor rather than moving your character through 3D environments, really pulls you out of the game and makes it much harder to connect with your character.  It isn't bad...just less good.

I would highly recommend Persona 3: FES which was the definitive PS2 version, or Persona 4 for the PS2 or Vita.

-Autistic Angel

[kadnod]

Here's another vote for 3.   I played 1 and put it down after a few hours.  Just couldn't get into it.  Reluctantly tried 3 recently, a few years after abandoning 1.  It got its hooks into me very quickly. 

[Harpua3]

I was recently thinking of trying out the series as well, so you answered my questions too. Thx!