So, the results are in and, believe it or not, they align almost perfectly with my intuitions of what the dominant opinions in the fandom are.
Most people would prefer you play both games. Slightly more people recommend p2 first, but it's pretty close, almost a coin flip. A lot of people believe that you don't even have to bother with p2, not until all three routes are out at least.
But most importantly, the opinion that you can only play p2 and stop at that is in the clear minority. I predicted that but expected it to be higher. No, it's under 10% (mostly people who themselves only played p2, I suspect).
Granted, 300 votes is not very representative. But those are the most active people in the community, people who check the tag and can catch an obscure poll. If you are willing to listen to one or two youtubers because you trust their knowledge of the game based on their videos, you should trust 300 hardcore fans more.
Most of us believe that you don't get most of the story if you don't play p1. You can start with p2 if old games scare you but then you'll better check out p1 for the plot. Use a guide if it's too confusing, nobody cares.
Good luck and don't let people scare you out of good art!
