its like resident evil 4 if you replaced the roundhouse kick with hilariously unintentional racist undertones

dis would be so cracked if it was just entirely centered around one of the better key characters like terra. but it keeps sidelining them and goin "what's that? you wanted to hear more about edgar the child groomer?" no i didnt, man. good game though.

Atlus certainly did not waste the rare opportunity to tell a character focused story where most of the main cast isn’t composed of snot nosed brats. No stupid kids here to spoil the fun of leading a party of nothing but sad, pathetic individuals going through their quarter-life crisis. FUCK you, Persona 5. Adults ROCK!

Joking aside. Within the context of the Persona franchise, Eternal Punishment is definitely among one of the more distinct entries. As opposed to the other games, major character moments don’t consistently act as these scenes of clarity that overtly define a character’s progress as a person. In fact, it’s not uncommon that these moments will raise more questions than they answer, rarely ever making it immediately clear how a scene reflects on someone’s journey in the moment. And it’s through this handling where I think P2EP’s cast shines. At the start of the story, these characters feel genuinely detached from each other. They really struggle to open up, sometimes even lashing out over the simple idea of emotionally connecting. But they don’t strictly develop through opening up about their insecurities and immediately growing past them. It’s more so through their amazing chemistry and challenging each other through their unique perspectives on life that you feel a real bond begin to form. It’s a perfect balance between focusing on the cast members as individuals while also highlighting their importance in how they work as a collective.

I find one of the more under-appreciated aspects of Eternal Punishment are the major, fundamental changes it makes to Persona 2’s core to accommodate for the new, jaded perspective of its characters. The tone is far more subdued. Gone is the goofy, lighthearted bickering between Ginko and Eikichi; replaced now by moral conflicts of ideals between Katsuya and Baofu. The importance of individuality is put into question by the recurring motif of ‘Fate’. Asking what purpose is there to finding one’s self if one’s self can crumble under the power of nihilism, fortune, and higher powers? Its apparent emphasis on challenging gameplay, not only finally forces the player to fully engage with the duology’s battle mechanics, but reinforces the brutality the characters endure throughout the story. The game isn’t some cynical tale that spits in the face of its prequel. Nor is its prequel worse off because of its more outlandish and comedic nature. FAR from all of that. These aspects just allow for Eternal Punishment to act as a wonderful contrast to Innocent Sin, establishing a tone that compliments and builds off the heavy nature of the prequel’s final act.

Where Innocent Sin is remarkable for its effective balancing act of heartfelt character work and the most insane set pieces you could possibly imagine, Eternal Punishment looks to take a bit of a different approach with its priorities. The constantly escalating tension and shocking revelations remain, but the downtime between these moments become just as integral. It’s the short conversations mixed with powerful silence and contemplative penitence that’ll leave just as big of an impact as most of the overarching drama. It’s no surprise one of the lead writer’s favorite scenes is a short, one minute exchange revolving around the nature of adulthood where most of the dialogue boxes are filled with nothing but pauses.

As I further age into early adulthood, it’s easy to get lost in the confusion spurred forth by taxing shit like sin, identity, and especially responsibility. I’m not usually one to see myself reflected somewhere within a story’s world, but I find it’s so easy to attach myself to a cast so… human in their writing and presentation. Whether it be Ulala’s longing for comfort. Katsuya and Baofu’s ever-present battle with their regret. Tatsuya struggling to introspect on his strange, confusing life while dealing with consequence. Or the way everyone is able to find some sort of value in their relationships and provide for each other in their own ways. There’s a resonant aspect to find in every character that hits twice as hard thanks to the narrative’s mature handling of its personal beats.

It’s good, for my sake, that Eternal Punishment is here to affirm that there truly are some good things about being an adult… Just a few.

"Protect your honor as SOLDIER" ima keep it real wit u zack. im not fucking dying for a power plant company.

Despite missing from its title, Soul Hackers 2 is a solid addition to the Devil Summoner series. A series not known for pushing the boundaries of the gameplay or storytelling within Megami Tensei, but rather for holding a unique sense of style and charm that you’d be hard pressed to find replicated within another entry in this wide franchise. As with its predecessor, you can expect an aesthetic akin to cyberpunk anime to ooze through every aspect of the game, but this time through the lens of the current year as opposed to the 1990s. The game makes the most of its apparent low budget through its vibrant and striking art direction, accentuating the many enjoyable character stories held within the game’s world. But as much as I’d love to sit and gush about the concept of a MegaTen subseries entry that comes from neither Mainline or Persona releasing in 2022, this experimental title still comes with a couple major issues.

Much like its predecessor, Soul Hackers 2 has a very basic combat system; retaining the baseline weakness/resistances aspect, but not adding much more in terms of core mechanics. But unlike its predecessor, Soul Hackers 2 doesn’t have the leeway of building upon and perfecting the simple row system of Classic Mainline. The new Sabbath mechanic can’t help but feel like a more dumbed down take on the other weakness exploit systems with how little it adds in terms of the tactical decision making process. Essentially, every time a party member hits an enemy’s weakness, the party begins to build a stack. At the end of the turn, Ringo deals AoE damage to every enemy, with the strength of the attack dependent on the number of stacks. Party members can gain personal skills to increase the number of stacks added per specific weakness exploit, but it comes with the downside of feeling as if party members are being funneled into specific builds. It’s unfortunately a pretty large drawback for a game with otherwise very strong and flexible character customization, as the sheer usefulness of the increased damage dealt with a high stack count is hard to ignore.

Physical skills aren’t as useful when it comes to dealing damage, as without a skill unlocked in the endgame, critical hits don’t count towards a stack for whatever reason. And they still use MP instead of HP, AKA the worst change ever made in the history of MegaTen. But I do love how they’re more utility based as a way to balance them out. They often come with secondary effects, such as single target debuffs, ailments, or some other quirky that keeps them valuable in spite of their rare use in contributing to Sabbaths.

Hama and Mudo skills have been wiped from the game completely. Kind of a shame, since I think SMTV perfected them by greatly restricting their ability to blindside the player. But in their place, Ailment inflicting skills have now taken on a similar role. They now deal damage on top of having a chance of inflicting an ailment. I’m fine with the change as I think it finally gives good incentive for the player to actually utilize them now. And there’s enough counterplay to keep enemies who use them from feeling too obnoxious, like armor that negates their passive effects.

Buffs and debuffs go back to being universally partywide instead of single target. But instead of being stackable, they keep the three turn limit first implemented in Persona. They also got a bit more creative in terms of upgrades. In the later half of the game, you gain access to skills that can buff/debuff two different stats at a time. And to keep those from quickly becoming irrelevant, Debilitate has been downgraded to being single target. All things considered, this game creates my favorite buff system in all of MegaTen. Each change makes sure they’re not too over centralized (especially since physical skills with debuff side effects exist), but still retain their incredible utility from the very start of the game.

I feel where this game shines the most in gameplay is in its boss battles because bosses can finally strategize again! Battles with Devil Summoners force you to overcome some sort of gimmick with their demon party, as their synergy can typically leave you with very little opportunities to attack. They’re also where my favorite addition to combat comes the most into play: Ringo’s Commander Skills. They allow Ringo to perform an action without consuming a turn, which aids the party with some sort of extra effect or action. All of them are useful and can completely change the way you approach an encounter, but the most integral one, in my opinion, is the ability to swap out any party member’s demon. If you ever wondered what Modern Persona would play like if the Wildcard wasn’t restricted to just the protagonist, this is the game. With this, bosses can become fun juggling matches where you’re constantly swapping out party members’ demons for the sake of reducing damage taken through resistances or optimizing damage dealt through skillset changes. They also encourage you not to only focus on building one strong demon for a respective party member, but to have an entire repertoire of demons that can be used at any time.

The most recurring complaint this game receives is its dungeon design and yeah, the shit is BLAND. I’m a psychopath who’s played Persona 3 like five times in a year and I’ve generally played MegaTen games with WAY worse dungeon design, so I got through it just fine. But if you’re normal and actually like your brain to be stimulated, dungeons will be rough. Aside from the couple basic puzzles sprinkled throughout in the second half, you’ll typically be roaming around empty hallways for 30 minutes to an hour until you get to the boss. This kind of design would lend well to the old 2D dungeon crawler gameplay of Classic Mainline and other such entries, but really have no place in a game with 3D traversal.

A prevalent focus in Devil Summoner games is their emphasis on demon personalities within gameplay and their connection to the Protagonist. Instead of implementing a friendship system, Soul Hackers 2 highlights this with benefits for maxing out a demon’s skillset and, more importantly, Demon Recon. At the start of each dungeon, Ringo will send out demons to scout the area. While exploring, you can interact with them, to which they’ll provide a different benefit indicated by an icon. It’s a fine system. Even though it tries, I don’t think it does much to make your demons feel like natural extensions of your party. But their dialogue can be fun and seeing them call Ringo nicknames like Rin-Rin is cute. My only big issue with the system is that dungeons can be far too reliant on it. Oftentimes the solution to a “””puzzle””” amounts to simply talking to one of your demons to collect an item necessary for progression. I’ve seen other people complain about how sidequest items and demon recruitment are tied to this system and I don’t get it personally. I never had to spend more than a couple minutes running in circles looking for what I needed, as playing the game naturally will most likely net whatever’s necessary. Also prefer this way of collecting demons, as Demon Negotiation is a dated system rendered mostly redundant by fusion in almost every game and serves no further purpose than an annoying RNG based way to gather fodder

The story is nice. It’s missing the batshit insanity that’s become a staple of Devil Summoner narratives and definitely does tend to play things safe. But its more down to earth focus on its cast is refreshing, especially since they’re not the most conventional group. The strength of the cast lies in their small talk. These guys are capable of striking up conversation over anything, whether it be after learning a new personal skill, completing some random side quest, finding a miscellaneous item in a dungeon, or eating a new dish. You’ll be constantly learning new things about not only them, but the dystopia they live in and the people they’ve connected with, all through an endless amount of fun banter. What makes it especially fun is Ringo herself. She’s an amazing protagonist that breaks new ground for MegaTen. Not only in the fact that she can speak, but her bright personality is able to bring the best out of each party member. She contrasts very well with their underlying melancholy and the occasional unrest within the group. I often found myself being disappointed by the fact that I had to choose from one of her usual three dialogue choices because I wanted to hear them all. I love when MegaTen effectively uses silent protagonists to enhance a game’s narrative and theming and whatnot, but I definitely think this game proved the franchise could stand to use more speaking protagonists like Ringo.

The game doesn’t tread many themes foreign to Megami Tensei. Government corruption, the strength of human connection, cultivating hope through despair, etc; you’ve likely seen it all already, if not in MegaTen then in some other JRPG. Not unsurprising, seeing as the original Soul Hackers was similar in this regard (granted, it was a story that took itself considerably less seriously). But I do find the way the game explores the importance of a second chance to be a great extension of the original’s messages and its motif regarding regret. It’s a good way to tie the games together thematically, considering there’s not much direct relation in general beyond that.

Soul Hackers 2 leaves me with caution filled hope. Hope that this game is a sign that Atlus is willing to adopt the sense of inspiration and experimentation that defined their days in the 2000s. It’s the era that birthed some of their most influential titles, like P3 and Nocturne, alongside beloved fan favorites, like DDS and Raidou. Each subseries acts as a reminder to me that Megami Tensei is FAR too broad of a franchise to be restricted to just Persona and the occasional Mainline entry and I would genuinely love to see more titles like Soul Hackers 2, just with a bit more polish. I just gotta hope this game’s inevitable mediocre sales don’t deter them from broadening their horizons indefinitely.

(this whole ass paragraph was just a slightly more composed way of me asking where the FUCK is the next Raidou Kuzunoha game, you FRAUDULENT company)

better call saul season 6 will be a cultural reset.

Horrifying confession. I might be European. I keep spelling it “Judgement” as opposed to “Judgment”... I just think it looks better. Anyways.

Judgment was a game I had my (judge) eye on for the longest time. I’ve been longing for a good detective story/murder mystery in a video game for a while. I’ve played a couple that came close to giving me what I was looking for, but none of them quite did it for me in the manner I was hoping. Then there was Judgment, with a premise that fit the bill to a tee.

I didn’t want to hop straight into Judgment, seeing how it was (kind of) part of a wider game franchise, a la Yakuza. Personally, whenever it feels best, I like to have a bit of context when going into a piece of media that’s rooted in such deep history. With my online friend group getting swept by a nanomachine that forced them to go through Yakuza games like it was crack cocaine, it gave me the motivation to play through Yakuza 0 first. And I greatly enjoyed it! It was a lot of what I’d expected from general talk and seeing out of context clips around the internet and that was by no means a bad thing. It’s a master at interweaving heartfelt and compelling character driven storylines with over the top, meathead action bullshit. But a good portion of the absurdity comes from the premise of the games themselves. For 0 alone, you focus on two protagonists with DEEP ties to the biggest criminal organization in Japan and their goals are far from small. A big worry I had going into Judgment was wondering how the game was gonna go about meshing Yakuza’s absurdity with the more lowkey tone you’d come to expect from a detective story.

I am happy to say that after finishing, I feel Judgment did a wonderful job at doing so, even if there are some hiccups here and there. You still have the insane action set pieces, which I love a lot, but a bit to my surprise, Judgment is very much of a slow burn narrative. After coming off of Yakuza 0, where each chapter did its best to either hype you the fuck up or tug at your heart strings, it was interesting to see how much more slow paced Judgment’s story was in comparison. And I actually think it befits the overall tone much more. There’s a lot of room for intrigue and tension when uncovering the many truths of the story in such a gradual manner. It all culminates in the final few chapters, where it certainly hits the dramatic tension you’d expect from a Yakuza game, but in such an unbelievably satisfying manner due to sheer amount of build up leading up to that point.

I also think it works to highlight the disposition of the protagonist, Takayuki Yagami, and his role as a freelance detective in a small city. You get the sense that you’re actively fighting for your mere position as a detective in the story, as you’re mostly powerless in the eyes of the many antagonistic forces. Any outside help feels earned and there’s many points in the main story where your allies go off to collect more information on their own. This gives Yagami downtime that either leads to mandatory side cases or the freedom to do whatever you want. The mandatory side cases are the worst part of the story, as I’m sure many people would agree. They pretty much never coincide with the grander narrative, and while they’re, a lot of the time, very cute (Captain Cop Kaito my beloved), the fact that you’re actively forced to do them takes a lot away from their charm. What goes from what could’ve been a fun story the player happened to stumble upon starts feeling almost like a pace breaking detour.

But speaking of side cases, GOD I love Kamurocho as a setting in this game, it’s so incredibly lively. From the friendships you can develop with over 50+ NPCs that grow as you actively check in on them and hear their stories. To the dating sim quests with well developed characters that hit the game’s themes in a surprisingly mature sense (#Nanami’sStrongestSoldier). To the side cases that act as Yagami’s source of income and connection to the general population of the city. And just the overall visual beauty of Kamurocho and shit like being able to go in and out of buildings in real time. It’s just peak video game immersion.

The cast generally embodies tropes you’d expect from a TV show of this story’s genre. From Yagami’s headstrong, partner-in-crime Kaito or the endearing underdog Hoshino, they’re a lovable group that, while not the deepest bunch around, had me smiling by the end of their arcs. Yagami himself, however, is on another level. Probably up there with my favorite video game protagonists already. There’s such a profound sense of realistic, down-to-earth charm in his character. He has the inspiring perseverance and soft nature you’d expect from most protagonists, but his unique personality and flaws are what make him so captivating. His laid back, snarky demeanor mixed with his unabashedly blunt way with words creates such intense interactions in drama heavy scenes. He has dense character dynamics with every cast member, pushing them forward by adapting to play the role of mentor, rival, or friend and over the course of the story, you’ll begin to see how his connections affect him. His own personal journey of coming to terms with the truth of his past and how the situation unfolds over the course of the narrative is intriguing and resonated with me hard, especially in the way his arc concludes.

Judgment utilizes Yakuza’s core theme of how our past comes to define who we are in the present to push the general idea of learning to pursue the truth, no matter the cost. Yagami reflects this perfectly, but it permeates well, subtly or not, through most characters in the game. Also here, the corrupted aspects of society largely extend past Kamurocho to perfectly depict how government facilities are able to abuse their power for the sake of personal agendas and the fear that comes with opposing these injustices as an everyday citizen. Self destruction is another core theme of Judgment. How the prospect of glory or the idea of the “greater good” can lead one to corruption. On this topic, I think, in a way, the game also serves to critique Yakuza culture and how it can contribute to self destruction. Just as one example, there’s characters who reflect how a strict sense of loyalty can lead us astray from our personal ideals and I think it works particularly great in this story, because it’s presented from the perspective of someone largely uninvolved with the Yakuza’s business.

Regarding gameplay, with 0 being my only experience with Yakuza at the moment, this is my only exposure to the Dragon Engine, so I unfortunately can’t comment on how it builds off its predecessors. But god fuckin damn, I ADORE this game’s combat. There’s a realistic sense of weight behind each attack and it’s balanced wonderfully with the water-like fluidity of Yagami’s kung fu. On top of that, his athleticism allows him to perform endlessly fun tech, like wall jumping or leapfrogging, that both act as great crowd dispersers and just look super cool. In most fights, there’s this great dichotomy in picking between the two stances; one focused on wide, area clearing kicks and the other specializing in 1v1 focused attacks with huge damage. From what I’ve read, the detective gameplay is somewhat contentious, mainly regarding the tailing missions. I’m fine with everything present, as I think all the mechanics do a good job at selling Yagami’s role as a detective, despite their brain dead simplicity and they never really felt too intrusive. Tailing missions are lame, but only one in the endgame actively annoyed me.

To conclude, Judgment was everything I wanted out of it and I’m really happy about that fact. It’s a traditional detective story that’s packed to the brim with love and care from the creators of a now iconic game franchise and I’m happy they were able to expand their horizons to create a game like this. I’m very glad I played Yakuza 0 beforehand because, while I don’t think it’s required at all to enjoy Judgment, it still gave me a sense of appreciation for this game that I wouldn’t have had otherwise. And I’m also just super interested in delving further into the Yakuza series at some point in the future. Who knows, I might replay Y0 and Judgment after I’m done with them all for the sake of the full picture.

Regardless, absolutely can’t wait to hop into Lost Judgment. Excited to see both the combat changes and how it builds onto the story of Takayuki Yagami.

Persona 4 was probably the most miserable I have ever been while going through a main storyline in a video game in recent memory. Coming fresh off Persona 3, a game that I adored greatly for just how character focused its main story was (it wasn’t even my favorite video game at the time of starting P4), and hearing the sheer amount of praise this one received on Twitter during its re-release on Steam, I was shocked at how mind numbing this was as an experience.

Despite the intriguing premise, the main narrative is something I could only describe as factory produced. It quickly establishes a basic formula, that greatly detracts from both the emotional depth of the themes the story attempts to portray and the intricacy of the murder mystery, to create a predictable, repetitive slog of a campaign. Outside of an incident towards the end of the game, there’s little to no tension as you go through arcs with the exact same structure ad nauseam. Once the cast decide to devote themselves to catching the killer after the first arc, the “mystery” element quickly devolves into basic, deductive reasoning with no creative input required.

P4 decided to change from P3 how it would handle the time between each major event within the story. In P3, this time was filled with the cast’s introspection regarding their current circumstances and the further development of their characters arcs. In P4, this is replaced with wacky, anime high schooler hijinks that dwells more on the overall vibe between the cast rather than the individual journeys of each character. And this approach isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I can respect the greater focus on an upbeat tone, as I actually think it works pretty well and distinguishes this game from any other in this regard. And I can see why this is something that’s endeared countless people to this game. To its credit, I can say a lot of these moments do help the Investigation Team feel like a genuine group of friends. My biggest issue would lie in the fact that many of these scenes are unfunny at best and blatantly problematic at worst.

Whether it be the camping trip, where we see Yosuke blatantly accuse a sexually confused Kanji of planning to “do things” to him in his sleep solely because he’s potentially interested in men. Or in the next scene, where Yosuke pressures his female friends into wearing swimsuits so he can gawk at them. Or the cultural festival, where Yosuke signs them up for a swimsuit competition without their consent, despite the fact that one of them has made it very clear that they are extremely conscious about their feminine body... ᴵ’ᵐ ⁿᵒᵗᶦᶜᶦⁿᵍ ᵃ ᵗʳᵉⁿᵈ ʰᵉʳᵉ...

In conjunction with my lack of care for the goofy antics and the narrative’s lack of focus on organic characterization, it leaves the main story itself feeling incredibly vapid. You may be thinking “god fucking damn, he hates this game. 3/5 stars? Stop lying 😭” and yeah, I think that myself sometimes too. But I do have to remind myself that the underlying qualities of Persona 4 are really fucking good.

I think most social links do an amazing job at genuinely pushing the messages the game wants to communicate. In particular, I think they fantastically highlight the importance of self confrontation; the difficulties of acknowledging our own faults, the pain that comes with, and the betterment that we attain as a result. These stories contain the exact heartfelt writing I look for in this franchise, some of them still being among my favorites to this day. Shoutout to Dojima and Kanji in particular. My fuckin beloveds.

And I find the atmosphere, while not being something I personally clicked with, is still something I greatly respect. It’s what you’ll hear literally everyone praise this game for and for a damn good reason. A comfy small town is a genius idea that heavily contrasts with the typical big city environments we see from this franchise. The game does a good job at occasionally meshing the setting of Inaba with the motivation of individual characters and other elements within the story. And the upbeat J-Pop tracks of the overworlds sell the feel-good nature of the game’s tone perfectly.

Talking about Persona 4 makes me realize that it’s just… hard for me to talk about this game without comparing it to other entries within the series. It's hard to look back in retrospect without thinking about how this game represents everything I dislike about the series and its current direction. Not made anymore easy when recognizing that this is still technically a follow up to my favorite game ever. It turns many of Persona 3’s captivating ideas that were used to push its unique themes (The Fool’s Journey, the calendar system, the overall gameplay loop) into formulaic elements to craft a narrative that has little in common with Persona 3. And this is something that I find continues to plague the series, as Persona 5 occasionally falls into the same trappings. But at the end of the day, it’s still important for me to recognize the strengths of Persona 4. With the charming atmosphere of Inaba and consistent character writing, I still find it to be a competent, standalone game. And regardless of my faults with what I think is a flawed approach, I can still see why this could be someone’s favorite game ever.

I plan on revisiting Persona 4 some day, but through the original PS2 version. I’ve seen many discussions online regarding how Golden’s added scenes heavily detract from the atmosphere of the game. Mostly through how Inaba is now seemingly only an hour drive away from the biggest attractions in Japan. And the added padding in general is something I never really cared for. It’s important to me, as like I said earlier in the review, Persona 4’s atmosphere is something that I didn’t really click with, despite how much I respect the approach. I hope that playthrough helps me focus on this game’s strengths, as this is something that I want to like, despite the constant complaining I direct at it.

This game deserves some amount of respect for how it consistently maintains Fire Emblem's popularity. Not just in the sense that it keeps the brand alive, but for how it shows care for every entry in the series, including the ones lesser known in the eyes of the west. It serves as an amazing gateway into the older games for newer fans just coming off the modern titles. Hell, it definently served as inspiration for me to go through and play almost every major entry in the franchise. And I adore how there's genuine passion shared amongst the infinitely talented artists who participate, some of who take it upon themselves to draw fan art for various FE characters. Too bad its a gacha game, so its going to hell when its servers shut down, but I am ultimately glad for its existence.

Most reviews of Persona 1 start and end at "wow, this gameplay fucking sucks" and… yeah that's so true. It’s overly convoluted and can be either extremely trivial or downright frustrating. But if you found yourself in a situation like me where Atlus executives unlawfully broke into your home and started injecting Megami Tensei loving juice into your water supply or thinking about checking out the Persona 2 duology, I'd recommend trying to bear it for the sake of experiencing this game's unique story and atmosphere.

The franchise is well known for using broad topics, like the importance of aspirations, the inevitability of death, the strength in truth, or resistance in the face of injustice, almost like a backdrop to push the overarching themes of emotional connection and self discovery that thematically connects the rest of the series together. For me, seeing these two ideas in their most pure state within Persona 1’s narrative was a very intriguing experience, in addition to its focus on what it means to “be your true mind.” Being the first game in the series, yeah, it’s pretty obvious that this is where you’d find where the franchise’s roots came from. But while this game does a great job in highlighting those ideas, it brings many of its own unique concepts that the series has yet to try and replicate again, most notably in its atmosphere. The much heavier focus, relative to the other games, on philosophical concepts is perfectly portrayed through dungeons with a sense of atmosphere that could only be described as “dream-like.” Hell, at times, the game goes for an approach that you’d only find within horror titles. Whether it be an apocalyptic city, a zombie infested hospital, or a forest straight out of a fairy tale, the game has many vibrant set pieces that kept me enjoying the experience.

The main storyline, while not my favorite in the series, still goes for something I wish the franchise did more often. It features a cast of characters who initially reluctantly fight together for the sake of getting down to the bottom of the shitty situation they found themselves in, but learn they must find their true selves and confront their differences as the narrative progresses. It’s a concept that I feel only Persona 2 Eternal Punishment and Persona 3 went for and I am an actual sucker for that type of writing in a piece of fiction’s cast. It makes it such a gratifying experience when you see them all come together. I also really love its use of the self-insert, silent protagonist trope. The game actively tests whether or not you’re picking up on the game’s themes through choices presented to the protagonist as a way to showcase his/your world views. It’s to the degree where it’s possible to fail the game and get a bad ending. But by picking the options that lead the cast in a better direction, from a mental standpoint, it reflects on your intuition as a player and the protagonist’s growing role as a leader.

I will admit, with regards to the side route, the Snow Queen Quest, I was absolutely not a fan. While still relatively short compared to the main route, it’s an RPG side quest story stretched to the length of a campaign and the cast isn’t engaging enough to justify it. Yukino is cool, but I feel learning the basics of her character in this route is enough to understand her arc in Innocent Sin. And I have many words to say to Ayase. None of them are nice. I’d definitely only recommend going through this if you’re one of the 18 people on the planet who completely fell in love with the game.

I’ve said in the opening that I’d recommend this game if you’re planning on checking out Persona 2 Innocent Sin and its sequel, Eternal Punishment. This is entirely because some plot beats in the duology act as a direct continuation of arcs belonging to various Persona 1 cast members. It’s definitely possible to play the duology while only knowing a vague outline of this game’s story, or even no knowledge at all, but I’d imagine those storylines would hit harder with the full experience in mind. I played Persona 1 after the duology and it made me realize in retrospect just how well Nanjo’s arc in Eternal Punishment worked, with how it combined Persona 1’s theme of learning to find direction in life with Eternal Punishment’s theme of the responsibility that comes with adulthood.

As I’ve already alluded to, I don’t find much enjoyment in the game’s actual gameplay. It’s not hard, it can just be very irritating to deal with. Regarding the battle system, it can be easily trivialized once you start finding Nuclear spells, which is what the “Megido” class of skills fall under. Earliest you can get one is level 18 on a Persona called Gozu-Tennoh. Some braindead ape at Atlus decided that nuclear spells should have absolutely insane damage scaling in comparison to other spells, which means it two shots most enemies on normal who don’t resist it. Even ignoring the battle system, a lot of dungeons can just be frustrating to go through, especially if you don’t have any experience with first person dungeon crawler RPGs. Regardless, I’d imagine the game not being very fun is an immediate deal breaker for many. And while it ultimately does restrict my enjoyment of the game in the long run, I still recommend trying it for those who hold a great deal of interest in Persona as a franchise.

Regardless of if you come out hating the game, loving it, or just simply casually enjoying and respecting it, as I do, I hope you're able to take something away from Persona as a franchise. Whether it be how far it's come, how hard it fell off, or how shitty it's always been, I feel this game deserves a lot more attention with regard to discussion of the series as a whole.

Also play Persona 2.

Side Note: If you do plan on checking out the game, try to play with the PSX music patch. Despite enjoying modern Persona’s soundtracks, I personally can’t stand the PSP port’s OST. It was changed for the sake of marketing the game to players just coming off Persona 3 and while many are divided on its quality, I’m firmly in the camp who feels it destroys a lot of what the game was trying to go for. But most importantly, it’s a great disrespect to the original composer and sound director, Hidehito Aoki, who passed away prior to this version’s release. While the patch is far from perfect, as it's a simple replacement mod and the PSP port cuts out MANY songs from the original soundtrack, I still feel that it does a decent job of retaining the original game’s vision.

The only other alternative is learning Japanese to play the original. Or playing the US PSX port, Revelations, which features a horribly sloppy localization and a whitewashed cast, so... you do you.

its insanity how VR games peaked this early fr

this happened to my buddy rick

it's 3:35 am, i just got done playing sonic boom rise of lyric and i feel... sick? is that dramatic?