Persona 2: Innocent Sin was a difficult game to get into I'll admit. I tried one playthrough before but I got extremely annoyed with the dated gameplay and awful dungeon design, on top of how rapid random encounters were. I decided to give it another go this year as part of my Persona/SMT binge, and I will say that it did not disappoint. This game has some lows, but there are some unbelievable highs that make it a solid game for me.
I'll start by saying that I still prefer the P3/P4/P5 formula, those games just feel much more fun in a gameplay sense and a story sense, whereas this game only feels fun in a story sense. I'm sure people enjoyed the gameplay of this game but it isn't my cup of tea.
The story is great. I will say the mid-game where they drop a bunch of random words on you did confuse me, it didn't really take away any enjoyment I had for the game. I love the game conceptually about how rumours come true, and some dungeons and their gimmicks reflecting that. The characters are probably the strongest aspect of this game because I don't dislike any of them, though it feels like they did throw one specific character aside during the endgame. The characters just all have such distinct personalities and each have great development over the course of the story. The dynamics between the party is also fantastic and I love the bickering between Eikichi and Lisa, it's great. Solid story and great characters make this a game worth playing.
The gameplay.. There's just something that doesn't do it for me. Yeah, there's persona negotiations, but most of the time you make them angry and you get nothing for it. The amount of arcana cards you need to create personas was a huge turn off from me, so I avoided that aspect entirely. Now my major flaws with the game, the encounter rate and dungeon design. The dungeon design is held back by the encounter rate being so damn high. I'm just trying to make my way through arguably the most annoying dungeon in game aka the forest, and I get stopped every five steps due to an encounter. To top it all of, that dungeon is also way too confusing with the layout and me having to whip out a guide because that dungeon itself is the one that started to burn me out of the game. Not all dungeons were terrible, the one in the museum where you're timed to get to the rooftop is great, and I enjoyed exploring the schools and the big plot-twist dungeon too. I do think the dungeon design was severely lacking in this game, and resulted in me only caring about the story and the characters.
The music is great. I think I might have the battle music stuck in my head because of how boppy it is. Lisa and Maya's themes slap so hard and live rent free in my head.
Overall, this game is great overall, but I feel kind of let down. People have been hyping up this game, and yeah I get it, but it just doesn't have that much of an impact on me than the other three persona games after this (excluding Eternal Punishment). However, I am fully invested in Persona 2 and can't wait to begin Eternal Punishment to see where the story goes from here!
I'll start by saying that I still prefer the P3/P4/P5 formula, those games just feel much more fun in a gameplay sense and a story sense, whereas this game only feels fun in a story sense. I'm sure people enjoyed the gameplay of this game but it isn't my cup of tea.
The story is great. I will say the mid-game where they drop a bunch of random words on you did confuse me, it didn't really take away any enjoyment I had for the game. I love the game conceptually about how rumours come true, and some dungeons and their gimmicks reflecting that. The characters are probably the strongest aspect of this game because I don't dislike any of them, though it feels like they did throw one specific character aside during the endgame. The characters just all have such distinct personalities and each have great development over the course of the story. The dynamics between the party is also fantastic and I love the bickering between Eikichi and Lisa, it's great. Solid story and great characters make this a game worth playing.
The gameplay.. There's just something that doesn't do it for me. Yeah, there's persona negotiations, but most of the time you make them angry and you get nothing for it. The amount of arcana cards you need to create personas was a huge turn off from me, so I avoided that aspect entirely. Now my major flaws with the game, the encounter rate and dungeon design. The dungeon design is held back by the encounter rate being so damn high. I'm just trying to make my way through arguably the most annoying dungeon in game aka the forest, and I get stopped every five steps due to an encounter. To top it all of, that dungeon is also way too confusing with the layout and me having to whip out a guide because that dungeon itself is the one that started to burn me out of the game. Not all dungeons were terrible, the one in the museum where you're timed to get to the rooftop is great, and I enjoyed exploring the schools and the big plot-twist dungeon too. I do think the dungeon design was severely lacking in this game, and resulted in me only caring about the story and the characters.
The music is great. I think I might have the battle music stuck in my head because of how boppy it is. Lisa and Maya's themes slap so hard and live rent free in my head.
Overall, this game is great overall, but I feel kind of let down. People have been hyping up this game, and yeah I get it, but it just doesn't have that much of an impact on me than the other three persona games after this (excluding Eternal Punishment). However, I am fully invested in Persona 2 and can't wait to begin Eternal Punishment to see where the story goes from here!