The gamer fond of obscure Japanese role-playing games has likely long awaited Persona 2: Innocent Sin since the second half of it came out in 1999. This second half was called Persona 2: Eternal Punishment and was actually pretty unrelated to the first game that North American audiences missed out on. Most of the main characters from this game are actually in the second game, although they do not remember the events (save for the player character). It is a good thing that these games carry loose ties to each other because gamers like myself who played Eternal Punishment first would have likely have been confused.
Enough about the second game. Atlus finally got around to releasing Innocent Sin on the PlayStation Portable, and the closet fan base of Persona fans were likely very excited. Persona 2 is a series within a larger series of games under the name Shin Megami Tensei. There have been many other games such as Devil Survivor and Nocturne that have come to be under this name. There have been two more Persona games after the two parts of part two, both on the PlayStation 2. This is important, because if you have played both of these Innocent Sin will likely feel quite dated. I do not feel it should have been changed but I will not lie and say that it was easy to play this game after playing those.
Innocent Sin centers around the Seven Sisters High School and the mysterious curse that appears to center around its emblem. You control Tatsuya, a quiet but popular student who becomes embroiled in the most of the mystery. There are other playable characters in the game, but only in the sense that they are part of your party. Tatsuya is very popular in his school among his peers, especially the ladies. Unfortunately, there will be a shortage of dates for prom because a lot of the students have been deformed (in the facial area) by the aforementioned curse. You can not see this but it is implied by the bandages around their faces and their dialogue.
Crazy kids around the school have also been playing “the joker game” which is kind of like reciting “Bloody Mary” into a mirror, only it’s a bunch of kids reciting a chant into their cell phones. Then the mysterious Joker appears and either leaves them alone or steals their souls. Why any person would willingly do this, I have no idea. I blame the schools. People who get their souls stolen become empty shells. The Joker appears to hold some grudge against the students who are seen in this game playing the game, and gets angry at them for not remembering him. This all sounds very confusing, I know. While some things always remain hazy, keep in mind that Eternal Punishment was supposed to be taking place in an alternate dimension with some of the same characters. One of these characters remembers the first game’s events, and it is our title character. Knowing this going in, things made more sense when playing.
Innocent Sin takes the perils of high school (and life in general) and turns them into a world where you get what you ask for. Rumors are a large part of this game. In real life, a rumor is spread until it can be disproved. If it is not, then many may believe that it is actually true. In this game, the characters are finding that rumors are becoming true. This game is like many other games in the series in that it demands personal choice to influence character reactions and new character encounters. Basically, expect a lot of conversation.
Characters look pretty tiny, and even tinier on the PlayStation Portable’s screen. They look similar to character sprites from the PlayStation One version of Eternal Punishment. There is a bit of improvement with the update, but that appears to be lost in the small screen. Like I said before, this game will feel incredibly dated when you play it. This is especially so if you adored the later installments in the series. If you look closely, there is a little bit of censored material adapted from the original version of the game. If BloodRayne got Nazis, why not Persona too?
Battling in the game is turn-based, and is based on random encounters. Each playable character has a “persona” which is your main source of fighting in the game. These personas are reflections of the inner character’s self. In the world of the Persona games, people have many different personalities and usually only one of them is seen by other people. Personas are other versions of one’s self, and they can do a lot of the things that normal people can not. The have special abilities. In layman’s terms, they work a little like Pokemon only they float above your head. You also have melee attacks which are useful.
Personas can be enhanced and changed via tarot cards which are obtained by negotiating with monsters. That is right, you can choose to negotiate with monsters instead of fighting them. Each monster has three different emotions or “sides” that have to be dealt with. How a monster will ultimately react will depend on how they feel about answers to questions they ask. They can react by giving you tarot cards (best case scenario), starting a rumor about you, or attacking you. This system can be very forgiving if you devote time into thinking about your answers, but it also can depend on how the monster feels which is can be unpredictable.
The game is really in-depth both in story and in battle. Anyone who has played Eternal Punishment or any of the other Persona should check this one out. Fair warning: this game looks like it is from 1999 (maybe a tiny bit better). The story is worth the graphical flaws though, but do not expect any sort of closure for any of the games here. This game feels like a separate game with loose connections to the series, just like any other Persona game. Fans of the series will appreciate the charm that this game has, most gamers will be confused by it.
