Persona will never be this great again.

Persona 2: Eternal Punishment is justifiably hailed as a classic for its gripping story, unique atmosphere, and memorable characters who are not constrained by the typical student roles found in many JRPGs and later entries in the Persona series.

Just like P1 and P2:IS, the vibe and atmosphere presented in this game are immaculate with its gritty urban setting and eerie supernatural elements. Eternal Punishment delves into mature themes the series never really has since, at least not in a way like EP did. As a sucker for old-school and adult characters, the stylized character designs not only reflect the era in which the game was created but also contribute significantly to the overall atmosphere and tone. It's a rarity in JRPGs and anime these days, which is a shame because I believe these mediums could benefit greatly from more variety.

However, one aspect that really disappointed me was Maya's sudden role as a silent protagonist. It's an annoying trope all too common in JRPGs and in a game with such rich character development, Maya's silence felt like a missed opportunity for further exploration of her character. I've never really been a big fan of silent protagonists to begin with, but this trend never fails to annoy me. I get that silent protagonists are popular in JRPGS, but Maya being one in a story and character-driven game like EP felt like a huge mistake.

Despite this, the story of Persona 2: Eternal Punishment hooked me from the very beginning. Just like its predecessor, its intricate plot weaves together supernatural elements with psychological depth, creating a narrative that kept me engaged throughout the whole thing.

P1 and P2 are, without a doubt, the best Persona games Atlus has ever cooked up, despite their clunky and dated gameplay. If you're a Persona fan, you will be doing yourself a disservice by not trying out these amazing games. But what made me really love and appreciate these games, aside from the great characters and stories, are the atmosphere and vibes that only retro games can truly emphasize.

"There are good things even when you become an adult... Just a few..."

Inteligente como sequência, tratando das consequências dos atos do jogo anterior, e brincando com percepções preestabelecidas, como o Joker e seus boatos. Tornando o vilão mais do que um personagem, mas uma "infecção", que reforça a temática apresentada de "Kegare" [穢れ] forma de "poluição" causada por sentimentos negativos, como inveja, angústia e principalmente pecados, focando mais nesse lado do ocultismo e da reação humana a grandes tragédias, se prendendo a superstições e opiniões públicas.

A exploração inusitada de personagens adultos, em interação e temática, é sua principal característica. Uma interação peculiar, os personagens por muito tempo nem se consideram amigos, e nem se esforçam para ser, apenas seguem o mesmo objetivo, cada um com seus problemas. As brigas leves foram trocadas por discussões morais, e mesmo os insultos levam tons diferentes. E claro, há destaque para o texto, se tratando de sentimentos causados pela transição para a vida adulta, incluindo arrependimento pelas escolhas passadas, inveja pelos mais bem-sucedidos, busca por conforto causada pela falta de autossatisfação e responsabilidade inevitável. É impossível não se identificar a personagens tão humanos, ainda mais para mim, que recém me tornei adulto.

É idiota continuarem com a fórmula do protagonista mudo em P2, já que paralelamente os dois são interativos, então nesse jogo a Maya vira silenciosa, enquanto o Tatsuya é explorado. Seu texto trata de seus arrependimentos e seu fardo a eventos passados, junto de sua caracterização trágica mostrado nas suas interações recolhidas com os personagens, e também no "Tatsuya Scenario", em fórmula similar a uma visual novel, com narração em primeira pessoa, explorando seus pensamentos com muita descrição para imersão, mostrando muito de quanto ele exige de si mesmo e se culpa por tudo.

Diferente do Innocent Sin, nesse jogo os inimigos realmente dão dano, mas o balanceamento ainda não é bom. A dificuldade é inconsistente, o dungeon crawler continua fácil pela recuperação frequente de SP, causada pelos passos, level up e até nas interações com demons, além dos fusions spells destruírem grande parte das batalhas aleatórias, mas em certas boss battles se torna problemático, continuando com aquele padrão de "quanto mais inimigos, mais difícil", além de debuffs e HK ainda serem quebrados. E sua principal mudança negativa, tornarem o sistema de combate em presets, diminuindo muito a fluidez e imersão na estratégia, atrapalhando até o charme da ordem dos turnos.

Fico confuso em minha satisfação com a gameplay em comparação ao seu anterior, mas em execução textual cumpriu o esperado como sequência, trabalhando perfeitamente o personagem do Tatsuya e tendo um cast adulto e suas complicações por tal fase, se tornando único na franquia.

Tatsuya going from a silent MC to a proper, active and talkative character in this works, but Maya going from non-silent to silent from IS to EP is really jarring. Why force that trope?

Anyway, I prefer most things to IS here. The cast is almost all adults, the music is better, and it's got the climax of Persona 2, since it's the second half. I also really like the ED song. The gameplay is better but still nothing crazy for me. My problem with Persona 2, and especially Persona 1 gameplay is that it just looks very bland aesthetically, or even ugly, to me, especially the combat. I also think I was burnt out at this point from IS so I didn't appreciate it as much as I could have, I was definitely forcing myself to finish IS. Oh well. It's pretty good. Also, I didn't play the PSP-exclusive Tatsuya scenario.

the internet was a paradigm shift, wasn't it? since the late 90s we've seen an increasing amount of discussion around fact and fiction becoming muddied, with the distinction seemingly being irrelevant to many. information is as free as it gets, but the direct consequences for misinformation are minimal. of course, there's no end of works focusing on the subject of truth in the information age; in this very medium you have one of the most prescient and unique statements on the matter with MGS2. the persona 2 duology, however, is unique in that a lot of what it has to say feels before it's time. this is certainly an internet-age set of games, but calling them cyberpunk in any way would be a misnomer. persona 2 really is concerned about the broader societal implications that come about from people being willing and able to believe almost anything, and it directs that focus towards the physical world. in a lot of ways, P2 feels responsive towards the increasing prevalence of conspiracy theories in pop culture (a lot of popular conspiracies are even used as inspiration for plot beats in innocent sin), and i think P2 takes a unique stance in that they don't flat out deny that these things are worth believing in or looking into. rumors come to life, but rumors do have to start from somewhere; there's shreds of truth in any lie.
P2, and especially EP, puts a ton of emphasis on allowing the city to feel lived-in and breathing. for anything you do, there's new dialogue everywhere, and the main progression gimmick (rumors coming to life at the player's will) is utilized in a lot of clever ways to achieve that goal. persona games are known for being text-heavy in general, but i wouldn't be surprised if these two games had some of the larger scripts in the franchise, because every story moment basically changes the whole city. in a game all about listening to the pulse of the city, this feels very appropriate, creating a much stronger sense of immersion than you'd expect for a game like this.

now for stuff focused solely on EP:
out of all of the traditional storytelling archetypes, probably the most common for a JRPG to use is the coming of age story. this makes a lot of sense, logistically; most video game consumers are teenaged, most JRPG protagonists are teenaged, and the power fantasy typically inherent to the genre is about starting from a weak position and growing to be strong. eternal punishment doesn't have these sorts of goals, and it's a lot more engaging for it. EP's cast is a group of adults, and you'd be forgiven for thinking at the beginning of the game that this cast doesn't have much room to grow. indeed, EP's characters definitely do not "grow up" in the way typical for JRPG writing; these characters start out pretty divided and uncomfortable with each other, but there isn't a big climax where they confront their fears all at once and become a team. instead, EP uses optional dialogue to subtly paint a portrait of each of it's cast members and has them slowly begin to open up over time. it's rewarding and immersive to have these characters actually gain new contacts due to these little nuggets of development, and it's a much more lifelike approach to party development than you see in more traditional narratives. a key concept this game has about identity is that it's self-determined; people aren't simply on a search to discover how they really are, but are ever-changing and create the path they walk. i think integrating this into the story by making much of the development up to the player is exceptionally clever. it's a fairly common statement among writers attempting subversive character writing to say that human beings don't have arcs. i feel that this is often used to justify uninteresting or directionless character writing, but in EP it feels like a pretty considered thesis for the game's writing. i guess a better way of saying it is that people don't just have arcs, they don't grow up at one specific point. development here is more like a stream, ebbing and flowing.

STORY SPOILERS HERE
all that being said, eternal punishment was greenlit for a very specific reason; to give an alternate perspective to tatsuya. i also felt that this was done quite well. tatsuya was about as well-characterized as a silent protagonist could get in IS, i felt, but getting a voice definitely helps him. his self-imposed suicide mission is a great narrative hook, and the reasoning behind his existential guilt is one of the best reveals of the story. tatsuya commits (yet another) innocent sin by refusing to forget his friends again, and it's not surprising that he'd try to shoulder the burden to protect their reality. tatsuya is ultimately a character whose greatest weakness is his protective instinct, but through the comfort of the main cast he's able to get past that and use his sins as blessings. it's beautiful payoff for a story that's rife with personal loss and seemingly hopeless odds.
in a lot of ways, P2 reminds me of panzer dragoon saga. both are these hugely ambitious games from around the same time that are driven by the urge to do something different. when i played innocent sin, i felt that that game's attempts at novelty wore thin; the character writing didn't feel dense, the combat was far too easy, and the deviations from standards felt poorly justified by the narrative. although there are still things i dislike in EP, the overall package feels more cohesive. rumors are more immersive and offer more variety, character dialogue is more interesting, the combat and character progression is more difficult but offers more interesting decisionmaking. definitely a huge improvement.

Olha sinceramente, eu acho muita sacanagem a desfeita que a Atlus faz dessa duologia, já que esses dois entregaram uma história que eu não imaginava ver na franquia persona.
Eu fico surpreso pq essa continuação é muito perfeita, ela melhora tudo em questão de gameplay do anterior e mesmo tendo um cast totalmente diferente ele ainda desenvolve esses personagens de um jeito maravilhoso, isso me deixou muito ansioso pra ver como podem trabalhar eles num possível remake. A espera pra eu jogar essas pedradas valeram a pena.

it gets everything right
the immediately apparent and very convinient improvements in the ui are a quality of life change that was sorely needed in Innocent Sin, this game can be played at a much faster pace if wanted and it feels so much better, it's also overall harder than the previous installment which is appreciated, and even if the amount of tools you get does eventually limit the ways in which the game can truly challenge you it still feels satisfying to master persona switching strategies, even more so than in Innocent Sin
the themes of the story are built on so well I'm still in awe after finishing it, the adult cast of the game not only allows it to go to darker places but also to feel more sincere in its hopeful messaging, Maya's motto "let's think positive!" is not a hollow encouragement to ignore your problems and indulge in ignorance that's coming from a shallow person, it's about finding a way to be optimistic in spite of tragedy and learning to be the master of your own life, while not succumbing to hatred, and the game plays on it excellently
and it definitely helps that the cast are all fantastic and that the game even finds ways to give more meaning to the journey of Innocent Sin, making both games feel like they matter

No Sinner can go on without a Punishment.
Any word that I can put in this review would not be enough to convey my feelings about this game. Saying that it is a masterpiece is not sufficient, for no language has a word to describe this story.
I simply love this game and the story that it portrays. For me, this is a story of love, how Tatsuya descended to the lowest mental state a person can endure just for Maya's and her world's sake is beautiful. How he tries to atone for his Sin and receive his Punishment for it, how the only thing he wants is to protect her smile, how he pleads that she never stops smiling. That was too personal for me, and I adore this type of story. And the ending of this game... What can I say about it? It's bittersweet. Tatsuya was able to save his lover and protect that wonderful smile, but at the same time, he had to atone for his Sin. He cannot live with her; the only thing he was granted to do is give her a kiss and a promise, and finally, he atoned, asking for his brother and friends to protect her in his place.
As for me, as a spectator of this story, I can only pray... for they are connected by that ocean, they can meet again.

"𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒓𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒆𝒑 𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒔𝒖𝒃𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒄𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔: 𝒔𝒐 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆, 𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒂 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒆𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒉."

I wasn't very into Innocent Sin, but I had respect for it, I understood that me not being very into it was very personal, and I had some general fondness for the plot.

Eternal Punishment has the same issues (poor combat and dungeon design), but everything that was good about Innocent Sin is not present.

The plot is messy in Innocent Sin, but it felt like there were some trough-lines. Even if the plot didn't feel concise, the similar themes tied everything together. On the other hand, Eternal Punishment feels completely all over the place, with no common ground.

Even the rumor system feels much less grounded and part of the world of Eternal Punishment than it did in Innocent Sin, which is a shame since rumors are so essential to the game's identity.

I think at the heart of it Innocent Sin was good since it was the story of Tatsuya, Eikichi, Lisa, and Jun; Eternal Punishment is also that, but wrapped around a bunch of other things that feel pointless.

Maybe it's a bit rude to compare the two so closely, but it is a duology, and Eternal Punishment is at its best when it's just the second half of Innocent Sin— which it is for the last five minutes.

Also, to end on an incredibly petty note, making Maya a silent protagonist is terrible. Tatsuya as a silent protagonist was also terrible, so they made the smart move and made him an actual character—at the cost of Maya's character.

I very desperately wanted to like Persona 2 as a whole— I am a pretentious person, honestly— but I just do not see anything interesting in the story of Eternal Punishment until the literal last moments. I do respect that the game was willing to end on an imperfect and somber note.

An enhanced port of what was already the best Persona game, this is definitely the version to play if you haven't played before. Unlike the Innocent Sin PSP port, this version actually made sure to kept atmospheric elements like the UI sounds from the PS1 version of the game. There's numerous other quality of life improvements, including not hiding the nature of the combat being based on repetition. One of the biggest QoL improvements is actually being able to view each characters Persona compatibility without having to either do it by trial and error or looking it up on the internet.

Most of all, the game includes the new Tatsuya scenario. I personally think the scenario was quite good. The only issue I really had with it was the third part being a new dungeon, but that dungeon was really just a reskin of a dungeon already in the game, and a lot of the explanation for navigating it wasn't really necessary. However I liked that the bosses were cool, and many of them even involved a philosophical question that didn't have "OBVIOUS RIGHT ANSWER" and "OBVIOUS WRONG ANSWER", you were supposed to think about it and think about what mythological figure you were talking to. If you could answer correctly, you could potentially skip the boss entirely.

Eternal Punishment was already the best Persona, and this version served only to make it better. If you're going to play it, I recommend this version for sure. I will say some minor atmospheric things from the PSX version are missing from this version, but that pales in comparison to what it gained.

The game has a fan translated English patch out there on the internet, so be sure to use that if you can't read Japanese.

Imaginate Persona pero con personajes adultos, un deleite. Es una continuación obligatoria de jugar si ya jugaste el Innocent Sin. Eso si, acarrea los mismos problemas que su antecesor, y ahora hay que agregarle que la dificultad se fue a la mierda, es el polo opuesto a lo que pasaba en Innocent Sin (encima tengo la sensación de que aumentó mucho el encounter rate, haciendo que tengas el doble de combates que antes (ojo esto puede deberse a mi esquizofrenia)). Por suerte agilizaron un poco mas el combate, se pueden saltar las animaciones y la navegacion en los menus es un tanto mas rapida.
Fuera de eso, si sos capaz de aguantarte las mierditas que menciono, te vas a llevar una historia hermosa con unos personajes que vas a amar para siempre.
Ojala que Atlus se ponga la 10 y haga un remake tanto del Innocent Sin como de este juego (me encantaría que los fusione en uno solo). No hace falta ponerle el sistema de calendario o social links como los modernos, de hecho quedaría bastante para el orto, con tal de que funcione como cualquiera de los últimos Shin Megami Tensei estaría más que bien.

Nota final: 60/100.

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.

Persona 2: Eternal Punishment.
An amazing game that works perfectly with Innocent Sin to achieve a phenomenal duology of games. The stories and ties between them are extremely interesting to see, both Main Character's stories across both games are incredible to watch. The casts of both games work well for their respective stories and MCs. For EP specifically I love Maya and Tatsuya of course, Katsuya and Ulala were great but Baofu is definitely my favorite of the new additions. Tatsuya's scenario was great too. Always love side stories like that.

Gameplay wise it's much better than P2IS in that I actually had to think for a majority of the time. Dungeons I felt were better here as well, especially love the last worlds in the final act. Actually having reason to mess around with Personas here unlike in P2IS made me appreciate how much I like this game's mechanics. Though Card grinding can be tedious if you need a certain Arcana, but overall it's some great gameplay. Rumors continue to be a very fun element I like a lot in these games as well, using them both in big story stuff and smaller gameplay aspects that benefit the player and reward talking around and exploring.

Love the world design of these games as well, when a big event happens you're able to feel its weight and see the effect it has on the world map around you physically.

There's also plenty of smaller charming bits, the game has great funny moments, I like the P1 cast being involved.

OST is excellent.

Love a lot of the demon designs and animations in this game.

Overall this was an amazing experience of, I guess all of P1, P2IS, and P2EP, though I'm not praising P1 much here it's good but I'm more-so praising its involvement in the P2 duology.

Tatsuya and Maya my beloveds.

Um dos jogos mais interessantes da série na minha visão, e que conseguiu atender a maioria das minhas expectativas.

A história, como era de se esperar, está muito boa, e com uma pegada um pouco diferente, não tão absurda/cheia de surpresas, mas igualmente bonita, focando nos problemas e dificuldades de quando se torna adulto, como o medo e a incerteza do futuro, ou o apego excessivo ao passado.

O cast de personagens principais é excelente, com vários personagens já conhecidos e com outros novos e muito bem feitos. Destaco em especial o Baofu e a Ulala, que são boas representações da fase adulta, cada um do seu jeito e com seu carisma. Também vale destacar a "inversão de papeis" entre o Tatsuya e a Maya, o personagem que era mudo ganha destaque, enquanto o outro perde em troca do storytelling. Não vejo como um problema, mas é uma mudança considerável pra quem gostava muito da Maya do IS.

A trilha sonora mantém a alta qualidade da série, com destaque pro tema dos créditos "Change Your Way". Música linda e que toca no mapa em uma versão bem bonitinha.

A jogabilidade é ok, as dungeons são bem legais, mas problemas como a necessidade de grinding e os MUITOS encontros aleatórios realmente tiram meu apreço pelo combate.

No mais, Eternal Punishment é um ótimo jogo, bem único dentro da série Persona, visto que muitos dos seus temas focam na vida adulta, (escolhi não falar muito para não dar spoiler) e com certeza vale a pena ser jogado, mesmo com o problema do combate datado.

Persona 2 Eternal Punishment is the continuation of the story of Persona 2 Innocent Sin. This game works as the Part 2 of the 2 Part Persona 2 story (however technically there are Parts 1.5 [Persona 2 Tsumi: Lost Memories) and 2.5 [Persona 2 Batsu: Infinity Mask]) and concludes the story in a somewhat positive and beautiful, yet tragic way.

Persona 2 Eternal Punishment picks up sometime after Persona 2 Innocent Sin however this time, instead of controlling Tatsuya, you control Maya instead.

In this situation, Maya becomes a silent protagonist that occasionally has player choice dialogue, however her own voice takes a backseat and instead we are now able to hear Tatsuya's thoughts and voice.

The characters in this game who you play as are as follows:

Maya Amano - Reporter who investigates the rumors, she has memories of the OTHER SIDE but can seem to remember properly. She has a connection to Tatsuya Suou but she doesn't know the reason. She gives hope and positivity to the group and is the leader.
Arcana: The Moon

Ulala Serizawa: Maya's best friend who is amazing at boxing, she's very girly considering her appearance but can also be hotheaded. She struggles due to being conned by a conartist boyfriend, and is jealous of Maya's life style. She still loves and cares for Maya, and gets along well with Katsuya and Baofu. She wants to be as strong as Maya mentally and pushes herself to do that.
Arcana: The Star

Katsuya Suou: Katsuya is a detective/police officer in Sumaru City, and is the older brother of Tatsuya. He's very serious and is attempting to find out the truth of his fathers death. He is motivated in solving the Rumors case, and also is attempting to help his brother who appears to be getting involved with the rumors, Tatsuzou Sudou, and other events. He wears a grey suit with a red suit shirt and a black tie. Katsuya secretly loves Maya.
Arcana: Justice

Baofu (Kaoru Saga): An extortionist and tap buster who claims to be Taiwanese. He has a hatred for the Tien Tao Lien (Chinese Mafia), and has a regrets over something that happen in his past with his partner Miki. He is very techsavy and great at wire tapping conversations. He butt heads a lot with Katsuya due to them sharing opposite ideologies when it comes to justice however both come to respect eachother. He gets along well with Maya, however is always chastised and gets beat up by Ulala. He wears a yellow detective style jacket, with Bluish sun glasses and has really long black hair.
Arcana: The Hanged Man

Kei Nanjo: Returning member of Persona 1. He is now the owner/leader of the Nanjo group and is attempting to stop the New World Order in order to stop the rumor incidents from happening in Sumaru City. He still loves all his friends from Saint Hermelins, and has Eriko as his assistant. He always cherishes the moments from Persona 1, and he also respects Naoya Toudou and always remembers him for how he motivated everyone. Nanjo is so happy to see Maki and Reiji alive and well and willing to help him out, Nanjo cherishes all his friends. He sports a motorcycle outfit and wears a helmet in this game.
Arcana: The Hierophant

Eriko Kirishima: Returning member from Persona 1. Eriko is now working as a model and actress. Depending on whether you choose for her or Nanjo to appear is based upon what rumor you spread. Her personality is mature yet still girly for the most part. Like Nanjo she cherishes the memories from her past at Saint Hermelins and remembers Naoya. She still loves him very much so much so she shares a rivalry with Maki over who loves Naoya more.
She is now wearing a badge outfit with long sleeves and short shorts, she now also has a short hair.
Arcana: Judgement

Tatsuya Suou: Herald of the Sin, he's from the OTHER SIDE who's taken control of Tatsuya Suou of THIS SIDE's body inorder to prevent the world from ending in this universe. He tries to keep Maya and the group away from him and doesn't want Maya, Lisa, Eikichi, and Jun to regain their memories of the other side. He makes the ultimate sacrifice to allow for the new universe to live happily, while his world is doomed for eternity. He loves and cares about Maya, Lisa, Eikichi, and Jun that he bares the sin of the other world. He wears a red jacket with a black X. He has a mark of sin on him that's like a black tattoo.
Arcana: The Sun

The game's story has to do with the spread of Rumors and how rumors are becoming reality and getting worse, similar to the first game however in this situation the rumors are specifically about Jokers. Throughout the game you'll meet several familiar faces from the previous entries, like previous Persona 1 characters, and appearances of Eikichi, Lisa, and Jun who take a back seat in terms of the story.
However the good reason as to why they take a backseat in the story is due to them playing a big part in the overarching story in Persona 2 Eternal Punishment, with the need of having their memories be forever locked away in order to make sure that the fate that befell the world in Innocent Sin, not to happen in this new time.

The Innocent Sin world is called "THE OTHER SIDE" (Aka the original side)

In Persona 2: Eternal Punishment it's explained to us that Jokers are corrupted Personas that sap the energy of negativity, hatred, and malice thoughts of those who it's infecting. The reason being is because in this universe Tatsuzou Sudou, leader of the New World Order wants to unleash Kiyotada Sumaru/Gozen to destroy the world with the 12 dragons. His son Tatsuya Sudou in this timeline has become a pawn and a joker of Nyarlathotep trolling Tatsuya in his endeavor to save this timeline.

The story starts at Seven Sisters High with Maya Amano, her friend Ulala Serizawa, and Tatsuya's older brother detective, Katsuya Suou, investigating a recent murder that was pinned on Anna Yoshizaka (returning from Innocent Sin, however in this timeline she's a regular student, as a opposed to a member of the Masked Circle).
We find out Tatsuya Sudou pinned the murder on Anna and attempts to kill her, on the way Maya, Ulala, and Tatsuya unlock their respective Personas, and Tatsuya saves Anna and tells Maya not to interfere nor remember the memories of her past.

Maya, Ulala, and Katsuya travel throughout Sumaru city and meet with another Persona user, Baofu (also known as Kaoru Saga) who is a techsavy who claims to be Taiwanese, and he wants to take out the leader of the Taiwanese Mafia of Tien Tao Lien, Yung Pao for something that happened in Baofu's past.

They go through similar situations as the Masked Circle in Innocent Sin, like for example, the burning of the Museum where Maya, Ulala, Katsuya, and Baofu save children from the burning Museum, and Tatsuya appears again to save them against Tatsuya Sudou, where a similar boss fight like in Innocent Sin happens against him, where he meets the same fate.

The game continues with antics like Ulala getting infected by the Joker virus, due to what happens with her Ex-conman boyfriend. She is saved and the parasite is removed by having her being taken to the Velvet Room.

After being left stuck without any clues, Katsuya gets info from "SNEAK" a police officer giving information about the corrupt police who are actually apart of the NEW WORLD ORDER. He gives them photos of 2 persona users (Eriko and Nanjo from Persona 1) the group gets the idea to contact 2 Persona users associated with the SEBEC Incident in Persona 1. [Here the choice is up to you as to whole will appear. If you spread a rumor that it's a man, Nanjo will appear. If you spread a rumor that it's a woman Eriko will appear.]
They all head to the bar in Parabellum, and theres a chance of Kei Nanjo or Eriko Kirishima to appear and have the situation explained to them. Here they become your 5th member throughout most of the game.
In Nanjos situation they head to Nanjo's facility because he heard how they were doing experiments on people.
The group infiltrates a Nanjo facility, and we see the return of Maki and Reiji who want to help as much as they can, as Nanjo is so happy to see them. In the facility they see that Eikichi was captured since one of his friends was taken and experimented on. Eikichi doesn't recognize Maya but asks the group to save his friend and to have him tag along.
The group find out the true intention of the New World Order and that is to unleash Gozen by sucking out the evilness and sin of the humans. That and attempting to fuse their bodies with that of Personas, which angers Nanjo when they find out what they're doing at one of his facilities.
Here we see the return of Persona 1's villain, Kandori who has also become a pawn of Nyarlathotep however he goes by his own volition, with Nanjo attempting to save him in a later part of the game during the boat sequence.

In Eriko's sequence of events the group head to Sumaru TV to stop Chizuru Ishigami, who is also apart of the new world order. In this situation, Eriko gets help from Hidehiko "Brown" Usegi (from Persona 1) whos always happy to help a fellow friend from the past.

The group after finding out the truth of the New World Orders plan attempt to stop and save Tatsuya from the robots, since Tatsuya is attempting to stop Tatsuzou from escaping and to try to change his fate (which he doesn't).

The group escape with Tatsuya and Tatsuya tells them what's going on by heading to Mount Iwato, where everyone's past is revealed, as well as Maya's past memories of the other side are unlocked. Tatsuya also explains that he is from The Other Side and is merely using This Sides Tatsuya's body in order to save everyone. Tatsuya feeling remorseful and sad because he's afraid of what might happen to Maya and his friends again. Tatsuya explaining that it's his sin to bare. Maya cheers Tatsuya up and so does his brother Katsuya, Ulala, and Baofu. Eriko/Nanjo take their leave saying, they'll protect what they need to in order to have a better future, and leave.

The group now consists of Maya, Ulala, Katsuya, Baofu, and Tatsuya who head to Xaliba in order to stop the Masked circle. Fighting against soldiers and grotesque mutants. The later fight at the top of the newly formed Sumaru Castle where the group fight against a mutated Tatsuzou, and later against Gozen to stop the destruction of the world.

Nyarlathotep [now appearing as Tatsuya with his Innocent Sin School Uniform outfit with glowing yellow eyes] says he's seen enough and taunts Tatsuya, Maya and co by making fun of the fact that Tatsuya is attempting to change the fate of the world, and challenges him to one final game. He reveals he's captured Eikichi, Lisa, and Jun, and that rule of the game is to not have their memories be revealed or else the world will become the same as the Innocent Sin world.

In my playthough I decided realistically the only one who should never remember their memories is Jun since regardless of what you do, his memories will never be restored, but I decided to have Lisa and Eikichi remember since it's realistic, heartwarming, and sad when they find out.

Nyarlathotep attempts to cause Eikichi and Lisa's memories to be restored by taunting Katsuya, Ulala, Baofu, and Maya with Shadow versions of themselves and their true inner feelings. Depending on your choices here, it can cause Eikichia and Lisa to regain their memories, depending on the right and wrong choices.
I purposefully chose the wrong choices since I wanted them to make sure they remember and to mourn for the loss of their friend/ Lisa's Other side lover.

At the end the 5 fight against Nyarlathotep who is defeated and can't believe that he actually lost, he disappears yet tells him that if Jun were to remember, everything would revert back to the world where he won. As Jun falls and Philemon catches him, Jun's memories will never be restored.

Here is where Tatsuya of the Other Side states his purpose is done and that he's happy he was able to save everyone in this timeline, he plants a kiss on Maya, and tells everyone to live their lives, as his souls is transfer back to his body in the Innocent Sin world. As everyone sadly watches.

The epilogue of the game has Maya finishing up a personal report as she is later told by a fellow employee that she has a a new assignment and has a positive outlook on it. We then cut to Baofu and Ulala now working as detectives, as Baofu visits the grave of his dead partner, as Ulala hurries him up for another mission but also tells Miki, "I'll take care of Baofu for you", it then shows the Persona 1 gang meeting at Parabellum, as Nanjo, Eriko, Maki, Reiji, Hidehiko, and Yukino all meet up together to reminisce and meet up, we then hear the door open and Eriko and Maki welcome their past crush of Naoya Toudou (Boy with Earring). [He is seen on screen in terms of a flashback with Nanjo and Eriko as a teenager in his Saint Hermelins, however as an adult we never see him, we only see Maki and Eriko greeting him as romance rivals].

[This next epilogue is dependent on whether or not you revealed Eikichi and Lisa's memories] We cut to Ayala Shrine where Eikichi and Lisa are crying, saying "You always had to do it by yourself Tatsuya, you didn't have to bare all that pain and sin on your own!"
They cry as they mourn the loss of the original world and of Tatsuya of the other side, as he is the only one who's stuck their to bare the sin.
Jun walks up and asks why they're crying, and says he feels a pain, sadness, and sorrow but he doesn't know why. Eikichi and Lisa know not to tell him, and both state they won't cry anymore for Tatsuya's sake. However this proceeded by Lisa continuing to cry with Eikichi.

We finally cut to Tatsuya of this new world with Katsuya who talk about what Tatsuya want's to do in the future. Tatsuya ask what it's like to be a detective and asks if their deceased father would approve. The 2 talk about it and Katsuya says he'll teach Tatsuya all about being a detective, finally answering Tatsuya's question from Innocent Sin if he's decided what he wants to do in his future.

Tatsuya rides off in his motorcycle as Maya walks by in the crosswalk and sees him, she remembers the Other Side Tatsuya, and her memories, but also sees the New Tatsuya and the new world and has a positive outlook of the future. As the screen zooms in on her face and she smiles. The game cuts to white and the credits role.


The story of the game is an amazing way of finishing up the Persona 2 Story, the story is one about having hope and changing fate. The characters here are superb by having pervious characters from Persona 1 show up as well as revealing everything from 2 Innocent Sin.
Maya, Ulala, Baofu, and Katsuya are amazing characters who have their own struggles and pains to deal with however come together to bring out the best in themselves.
Tatsuya Suou is the best protagonist in all of Persona, as he is both the strongest with Time Manipulation as well as being able to cross dimensions with Apollo, but he's the most tragic as even though he was able to allow the follow of time to continue in the alternate Eternal Punishment time, he's still stuck in the Innocent Sin world on Sumaru City.

The gameplay of the game is similar to that of Innocent Sin but in terms of the battle system has a downgrade.
As instead of how Persona 1 and 2 Innocent Sin have you select what abilities you want each user you want to do one after another, here you HAVE to select them all at the same time, which can ruin the flow of combat since there isn't an auto attack this time. However combat still for the most part is faster than in 2 Innocent Sin.
The usage of Personas and obtaining them is lifted straight from Innocent Sin so it's just as easy. The rumors in this game are just as easy to use. The game does not feature a theater mode that has more content but instead you can unlock these memories of Tatsuya and what he was doing before the events of Eternal Punishment.
The soundtrack for this game is equally as amazing as in Innocent Sin and is a great addition to the franchise and the duology that is Persona 2.

Persona 2 Innocent Sin and Eternal Punishment must be experienced together as they are both amazing titles.

If you want to experience the PSP version of this game, I recommend downloading the rom and playing it on PPSSPP as there is no other way of playing the PSP version since it was originally never released on PSP in the West.

It truly is a crime that Persona 1, Persona 2 Innocent Sin, and Persona 2 Eternal Punishment have never been rereleased again, as all 3 of these games are absolute masterpieces.
All Persona games have something amazing in each of them, but it's truly a shame Atlus doesn't feel remasters for these 3 are needed.

I hope one day we can get proper remasters of these 3 games. If not remasters then certainly remakes, I would love to finally see Persona 1, 2 Innocent Sin, and 2 Eternal Punishment for modern audiences to experience.

I absolutely recommend Persona 2 Eternal Punishment

En general, el videojuego se siente más completo que IS, con alguno personajes que se repiten de esa entrega y se vuelve principales, dándoles más desarollo y caracterización siendo en general de gran calidad para todos los protagonistas, quienes fueron los protagonistas de IS vuelven y con menos protagonismo todavía se sienten gratos. La historia es muy buena y en general mejor que la pasada, musicalmente es de igual calidad y jugablemente no sentí tanto cambio en sus bases. Aunque en general no es tan pesado de jugar, se siente en varias ocasiones ciertos trucos como huecos que te envían pisos abajos o ciertos jefes bastante tediosos, aunque sean problemas bastante casinos no manchan necesariamente todo el juego. Aún con sus virtudes que pesan mucho más que sus falencias, es de esa clase de videojuegos de los que lo unico que me alegra de haberlo completado es no tener que jugarlo de nuevo. Una experiencia grata solo recomendable para los fanes de la saga y amantes de los clásicos JRPG.