Persona 2: Eternal Punishment

Persona 2: Eternal Punishment is the sequel to the currently Japan-only Persona 2: Innocent Sin (and the earlier Revelations: Persona). My biggest gripe with the game is that constant references are made to the world of Innocent Sin -- however, by watching the included trailer and through the events of Eternal Punishment, you'll get a good idea of what happened in the earlier game.

With a somewhat contemporary setting, Eternal Punishment is an oddball in the world of RPGs. That doesn't mean, however, that it's bad! On the contrary, it's a superb game with deep gameplay. In battles, you can kill the demons, like in ordinary RPGs, or you can negotiate with them for money/items/information/tarot cards (the last of which is used to summon more Personae, facets of the user's personality which can be summoned to fight for them).

The characters are interesting and more adult than your typical spiky-haired teen heroes. They range from reporter Maya and policeman Katsuya to computer hacker/wiretapper Baofu and fashion model Ellen (from the first Persona). The innovative rumor system allows you to change the face of Sumaru City by spreading rumors. Want to buy weapons at your local bar? Spread the rumor that they are, and you can get a gun along with your martini.

My only other gripe, and it's small, is with the localization. Some of the text is a little stilted (Ulala's "The goodness of a woman isn't in her bra!" is a prime example). But considering the vast amount of text in this game -- and I mean VAST -- it's a very good localization overall, and in no way hinders your enjoyment of the game.

Atlus has hinted that they may release Innocent Sin if Eternal Punishment does well enough. If it's even half as good as its sequel, RPG fans around the world should rejoice.

I played the original Persona and loved it. When I heard about a second one, I had to get it. Of course, many know there are three Persona games in the Shin Megami Tensei series:

Revelations: Persona
Persona 2 Innocent Sin (Batsu in Japan)
Persona 2 Eternal Punishment

Innocent Sin was never released here due to its very questionable content, but only those who played that one will know fully what's going on in Eternal Punishment. On the other hand, it's not difficult to comprehend what's going on in this story (but it can be if you don't pay attention to every single detail). The plus side is that if you played Revelations, then you'll get a real treat in this game. I know I did.

In any case, this Persona outclasses Revelations in quite a few things. The mighty Persona return to supply your characters with magical attacks against demons. However, they have improved on a few things. First, you don't have to have the Persona's exact level to equip it like in Revelations. You just have to be in range of the Persona's level. Second, the fusion spell system, the game's biggest battle highlight, makes combat a little less painful. By combining certain spells and elements to form powerful big magic, you can clear the screen of enemies in nothing flat. An even nicer bonus is that when you defeat monsters using fusion spells, there's a chance your Persona may mutate, giving it some kind of bonus such as two learning levels gained, a parameter boost, its hidden spell gets unlocked or the chance of turning into a completely new Persona. You can further customize Persona in the infamous Velvet Room, a place familiar to all Persona fans. You can add specific spells and even increase the parameters of a Persona upon its creation using magic cards before the process. Third, the battles are a bit more smooth flowing since range does not matter anymore. In the original, your members were limited to only certain actions depending on where they stood. Now, your party and the monsters jump all over a seemingly endless terrain. You can fight monsters with weapons or Persona, as well as negotiate with them using not only one person but as many as three people, making for entertaining compromises. Also, you can switch Persona if you're carrying extra ones without wasting turns, thereby allowing you access to several fusion spells at any given time. And even better, you can set the game to auto battle with specific orders so they can build Persona levels without you having to cycle through the commands over and over again (in the meantime, you can go read a book or get a snack).

Now on to what makes this Persona much greater in difficulty than Revelations. First, the dungeons. The many dungeons in this Persona become exceedingly huge and confusing after the first dungeon. Twists and turns galore (along with time limits in some of them and constant combat) can drive many RPG veterans crazy. Many dungeons take patience to finish, and there's even a feature where an Arab gentleman asks you to map the current dungeon on your list. If you can bearably map it all out, bring him the finished product and he'll reward you with items that can help you out in the Velvet Room. Second, many boss battles get very tough and sometimes impossible if you don't prepare properly. You need levels, lots of items, decent weapons and Persona with a variety of magic to win most of the boss battles with everyone intact. Since you have five people to prep, this gets time-consuming and expensive.

A nice side feature of this Persona is the rumor system. Spreading rumors to get certain monsters to appear, alter a dungeon's appearance or get a store to sell certain things it never did before are just some of the neat rumors you can spread. You can even make new Persona available when no other way is possible to get them.

The characters, story and music are excellent. Persona 2 stars the older characters from Innocent Sin as the heroes. Also, two of the many high school heroes from the first Persona can join your team, bringing back fond memories of that game. Many of them are actually seen and mentioned in this one, so it's a real treat for Persona fans. The story is only complex if you haven't played Batsu (which many of us haven't) but you don't need to play Batsu to comprehend it. There are lot of main points to keep an eye on, so watch for them. The music rules in every Shin Megami game. It mostly draws on the pool of techno, heavy metal and rock, mostly due to the fact that the game takes place in present day Japan, not a fantasy realm. This keeps the feeling that you're playing a "real world" game.

All and all, yet another great PS1 RPG and a reason to keep your fondness for the series strong. The game includes a very difficult extra dungeon that I myself have never finished because of the extreme length and monster madness. Don't let that stop you from trying. The end is a real surprise.

This is the most edgy, original, addictive, and worthwhile RPG to come along in a long time. Everything in this game sets it apart from and above the other RPGs on Playstation, including the Final Fantasies and Chrono Cross; I'd say only Xenogears is better. The familiar, real-world elements of Persona 2, such as sushi bars, chiropractic clinics, therapists, and aromatherapy really give it a modern flavor, and the game does a good job of combining them with the mystical elements. There are so many things to do in this game that even with the relatively small number of dungeons you have to do to advance the story, I've only gotten halfway through at 35 hours...Manipulating the rumors, playing the man-searching minigame, slots at the casino, doing the map-making quest, and exploring the optional dungeons sucks away so much time. The battle system, however, can be pretty hard to understand at first: though it's easy to blast through enemies, boss battles can be extremely tough unless you know exactly which Persona and fusion spells to use. There is a lot of depth to it. Each Persona (something like 80 or a 100, maybe more?) has its own stats, immunities, and weaknesses which affect the character equipping the Persona, and different combinations of Persona yield different fusion spells to use during battle. There's a lot to keep track of, which can be confusing. All this is redeemed, however, by the unique and twisted story line, the ultracool character designs, the great character development, and the incredible variety. You can do about a million things to alter your battle experience. Contacting demons, of course, and some of them are pretty funny; getting your fortune told before heading to battle to double your experience points earned, get more money, have more luck contacting, and many other effects; having aromatherapy effects put on to change what kinds of demons you'll meet; and eating and drinking to temporarily raise your stats are just a few of the things I can think of. Though the game starts off a bit slowly, in the second half it really gets fascinating.

The greatest thing about Persona 2 is how much the story line comes into play. Your characters' relationships will affect the different things they say during contacts. For instance, at first Ulala's and Baofu's contact combo is relatively straightforward ("Ulala, a realist, and Baofu, a skeptic"), but after a certain point you'll get something like "Friends Who Get Closer the More they Fight," or "Friends Bonded by Drinking," something like that. There's the 100 Stories contact combo, which has 100 different ghost stories which can be told to the demons, all of which have their own preferences and personality traits. Some of the contact combos are downright hilarious, notably the ones involving Maya, Ulala, and Tatsuya. All of the characters are quirky and interesting, and you can even visit most of their homes around Sumaru City! One of the things I really liked was how your party would split up inside stores and other non-dungeon places, so you could talk to the different characters. They usually have something funny or revealing to say, and they have different things to say in every single shop, restaurant, or apartment after every single development in the game. My personal favorite characters were Big Suou (Katsuya) and Tatsuya--though I could've done without Ulala.

The level of detail in this game is so great you can even buy CDs and listen to them in Maya's apartment. The music in the game is great, often quite eerie and always atmospheric--and the Satomi Tadashi song is back!

If you're looking for something simple, this is probably not the game for you, but if you want something truly different, in-depth, and with a strong anime feeling, this is one of the greats.