Note: Played the PSP port. Also, spoilers in the story section.
I've heard Persona 2: Innocent Sin praised as one of Atlus' absolute best games for quite a while, and a few weeks ago, interested in getting back into the SMT franchise, I finally decided I should give it a try. Bottom line is, I see where its fans are coming from, but I can't really say I felt the same way about it.
What is most commonly brought up as Innocent Sin's biggest flaw is the combat, and with that comes an asterisk- the PS1 version is apparently a bit better in this regard, but by the time I found that out, I was deep enough into the PSP port to not want to switch over. As far as the version I did play... yeah, kinda? Mechanically it works, it's just simple and slow as shit. I think I didn't suffer as much as you would on a PSP cause I just held fast forward on every fight (including the final boss- oops), but I can't say that makes it less bad, it just makes it less annoying. On the positive side of things I think this is my favorite demon conversation system in the entire series? I know it's from Persona 1 but there's a proper amount of strategy (well, of trial and error, but close enough) in it without sacrificing personality, not to mention there's a fuckton of unique dialogue you can get. I like the card system for fusing Personas but with the combat being what it is it doesn't really come together as necessary, especially with a lot of high tier Personas actually having pretty mediocre skillsets.
On the flip side, Persona 2's greatest strength is definitely its main cast- each of them is incredibly endearing and they play off each other amazingly in both comedic and serious scenes. Tatsuya, the MC, is inevitably the weakest link due to Atlus' obsession with silent protagonists, but even then there's some neat stuff to dig into rather than a complete blank slate. Eikichi, the "bro" character, has a good amount of depth to him and is actually pretty funny, though he does run into the issue of sometimes being treated as a joke when he shouldn't by the rest of the cast- Lisa Silverman is maybe the most interesting character in the cast, "openly has a crush on the MC and their entire relationship is built around neither knowing what to do about it" is bizarre but simultaneously relatable, and she's overall usually very neat. Maya is probably my least favorite of the proper characters but I appreciate this utter force of positivity that she is in every circumstance, that can very easily be done wrong but it never comes off as irritating in her case. Finally there's Yukino, apparently a returning character from Persona 1- she's really fucking cool, though with every other character sharing a really deep bond you slowly unravel through the game, she feels a bit out of place in that regard. Still there's a really genuine sense of friendship in the cast's scenes together, and I think that when Persona 2 works, it's usually because of them.
When it doesn't work, is in its greater themes and grander scope storytelling- first off capping off the game with an ultimate climax of "is humanity bad or good? beat the shit out of god to find out" is such a fucking trite cliche in JRPGs that I couldn't believe this otherwise pretty original plot was heading in that direction. I'm oversimplifying, there's more to it, I think the overarching villain is a good one, though his actual actions are pretty poorly explained in the game proper (am loathe to admit it but just looking shit up on the wiki helped a lot) and I appreciate the themes of fatherhood and trying to find a purpose tied into it but I dunno, it never clicked. I think the reason why it didn't, and the biggest writing issue with P2, is that it just goes too fast in its second half. Suddenly Hitler and his magic mecha army are attacking the town and we find out who Joker is and we fight him and we find out what the link between the characters is and a bunch of characters have arcs and we learn that like 30 different conspiracy theories are true and we find out that- it's a lot of stuff and none of it has the time to sink in, especially with so many concepts being thrown at you that you're not sure if they matter of you're supposed to understand them. I can see that the things being done here are good, but they, just don't have any emotional impact. Me being stupid might also play a role, though- I missed a few connections that enhance my opinion of the story a lot, and I don't know if it's because IS doesn't highlight them properly or if it's because I just missed them. So I dunno, not the biggest fan I suppose. Definitely interested in Eternal Punishment though.
I've heard Persona 2: Innocent Sin praised as one of Atlus' absolute best games for quite a while, and a few weeks ago, interested in getting back into the SMT franchise, I finally decided I should give it a try. Bottom line is, I see where its fans are coming from, but I can't really say I felt the same way about it.
What is most commonly brought up as Innocent Sin's biggest flaw is the combat, and with that comes an asterisk- the PS1 version is apparently a bit better in this regard, but by the time I found that out, I was deep enough into the PSP port to not want to switch over. As far as the version I did play... yeah, kinda? Mechanically it works, it's just simple and slow as shit. I think I didn't suffer as much as you would on a PSP cause I just held fast forward on every fight (including the final boss- oops), but I can't say that makes it less bad, it just makes it less annoying. On the positive side of things I think this is my favorite demon conversation system in the entire series? I know it's from Persona 1 but there's a proper amount of strategy (well, of trial and error, but close enough) in it without sacrificing personality, not to mention there's a fuckton of unique dialogue you can get. I like the card system for fusing Personas but with the combat being what it is it doesn't really come together as necessary, especially with a lot of high tier Personas actually having pretty mediocre skillsets.
On the flip side, Persona 2's greatest strength is definitely its main cast- each of them is incredibly endearing and they play off each other amazingly in both comedic and serious scenes. Tatsuya, the MC, is inevitably the weakest link due to Atlus' obsession with silent protagonists, but even then there's some neat stuff to dig into rather than a complete blank slate. Eikichi, the "bro" character, has a good amount of depth to him and is actually pretty funny, though he does run into the issue of sometimes being treated as a joke when he shouldn't by the rest of the cast- Lisa Silverman is maybe the most interesting character in the cast, "openly has a crush on the MC and their entire relationship is built around neither knowing what to do about it" is bizarre but simultaneously relatable, and she's overall usually very neat. Maya is probably my least favorite of the proper characters but I appreciate this utter force of positivity that she is in every circumstance, that can very easily be done wrong but it never comes off as irritating in her case. Finally there's Yukino, apparently a returning character from Persona 1- she's really fucking cool, though with every other character sharing a really deep bond you slowly unravel through the game, she feels a bit out of place in that regard. Still there's a really genuine sense of friendship in the cast's scenes together, and I think that when Persona 2 works, it's usually because of them.
When it doesn't work, is in its greater themes and grander scope storytelling- first off capping off the game with an ultimate climax of "is humanity bad or good? beat the shit out of god to find out" is such a fucking trite cliche in JRPGs that I couldn't believe this otherwise pretty original plot was heading in that direction. I'm oversimplifying, there's more to it, I think the overarching villain is a good one, though his actual actions are pretty poorly explained in the game proper (am loathe to admit it but just looking shit up on the wiki helped a lot) and I appreciate the themes of fatherhood and trying to find a purpose tied into it but I dunno, it never clicked. I think the reason why it didn't, and the biggest writing issue with P2, is that it just goes too fast in its second half. Suddenly Hitler and his magic mecha army are attacking the town and we find out who Joker is and we fight him and we find out what the link between the characters is and a bunch of characters have arcs and we learn that like 30 different conspiracy theories are true and we find out that- it's a lot of stuff and none of it has the time to sink in, especially with so many concepts being thrown at you that you're not sure if they matter of you're supposed to understand them. I can see that the things being done here are good, but they, just don't have any emotional impact. Me being stupid might also play a role, though- I missed a few connections that enhance my opinion of the story a lot, and I don't know if it's because IS doesn't highlight them properly or if it's because I just missed them. So I dunno, not the biggest fan I suppose. Definitely interested in Eternal Punishment though.
I love everyone in the friend group and will die for them. They are all so well written, each with their own personalities and traits. Combat is much better than the first Persona game. Dungeon design was hit or miss, especially the floor traps were annoying. The rumor system is neat but wasn't for me, seems a bit tedious in my opinion. But I adore this game and cried like a wee lil bitch baby at the end <3
I like the customization for the HUD and shit
Everytime someone says Persona 2 is great "despite the bad combat" an angel loses its wings
hope everyone knows ive been staring at this page for 10 minutes trying to see through a crying fit ive been suppressing since the credits rolled but They All Werent Fucking Lying About P2.
remember when a rainbow doesnt mean lgbt t t ah fuck ah ca ca aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh ta ta aaaaaaah
This review contains spoilers
People often say this is the best Persona game, and when I was a teenager, I shared that contrarian view (despite not even finsihing it) because I thought edgy=mature=good. The cast is great, possibly the best in the series, but everything else falls flat. You don't get time to become attached to the characters because 70% of the game is spent in mind-numbing dungeons. The gameplay is the worst of any Megaten game. Removing fusion system we all know and adore and replacing it with some tedious card grinding system is a baffling decision. The plot is also a confusing mess: "Oh, they didn't actually burn Maya it was just a rooomor! But wait they did, but she got away, and Tatsuya did it, but it's all okay because Maya forgives everyone because Tatsuya's hot or something." The story touches on interesting themes like the sins of the father, racism, lookism, forgiveness, but themes alone don't make a good story, let alone a good game.
meh. not very good compared to the later entries
Eikichi my beloved (real review in the PSP version)
Gave it an hour and a half, and couldn't get into it. I dunno whether it's the fan translation or just the story itself, but I found no hook to pull me through the mundane early random encounters and the relatively ugly, stale world. I'm giving it 2.5 because I know it would get better, and maybe even be really good eventually (if not story-wise, at least in terms of combat), but I'm not interested in putting more time into it right now.
Looking past the clearly slapped on gameplay loop, Innocent Sin has a very enjoyable cast and exists as a really interesting period piece as a work dealing with the flow of information and the need for direction and guidance throughout adolescence. Maya changed my life.
I knew what I was getting into with playing an older game but I cant excuse the fact that for the most part of the game, I was playing with my brain off playing with auto or farming for cards, which takes ages even with higher level enemies and using pacts.
About the story, though, knowing this was a duology, I really like the cast and despite them still being high schoolers, they were a lot more enjoyable than the typical persona cast. Eikichi and Lisa were very enjoyable and having Yukino return from Persona 1 and how Jun still struggled after being rescued.
This game is in dire need of a remake but it's okay
About the story, though, knowing this was a duology, I really like the cast and despite them still being high schoolers, they were a lot more enjoyable than the typical persona cast. Eikichi and Lisa were very enjoyable and having Yukino return from Persona 1 and how Jun still struggled after being rescued.
This game is in dire need of a remake but it's okay
My favorite persona out of all the series even tho the combat is really tedious, the characters and the story make it up
Crazy to think a series that had a gay romance option now has some sort of queerphobia present in every other title since.
estou jogando ainda, a historia me prendeu, a gameplay nem tanto.......