This review contains spoilers
Persona 2 Innocent Sin is amazing Persona game that really is a travesty that it's never been rereleased for modern gamers.
This game features one of the wackiest, depressing, and serious stories in the whole franchise, YES MORE THAN PERSONA 3!
The characters in this game are absolutely amazing in their own respective ways, and the story is actually intertwined with their existences being the cause of everything that happens in the game unlike Persona 1 where the central focus is on Maki, or 3 where the Protagonist happens to have the mark of death.
The characters you play as are as follows:
Tatsuya Suou - Persona 2 Innocent Sin's Protagonist, very mature for his age being 17, treats all of his friends like family and is famous for his motorcycle noises. Has the timestop ability when he unlocks his ultimate Persona: Apollo. Suffers the most out of any other Persona protag. Arcana: Sun
Lisa "Ginko" Silverman - mixed race Japanese girl, is apart of an trio idol pop group. She is in love and infatuated with Tatsuya. Feels guilty for her past with Eikichi, Jun, and Tatsuya for what happens with Maya.
Arcana: Lovers
Eikichi "Michel" Mishina - Japanese Rockstar Teenager. Has a rivalry and bromance with Tatsuya. He gets into a lot of arguments with Ginko/Lisa. He's afraid of his fathers wrath and disapproval of him being a rockstar. He has a girlfriend named Miyabi Hanakouji who starts off fat and later gets skinny, but Eikichi tells her he'd love her no matter what.
Like Lisa, Eikichi feels guilty after what happened in the past with Tatsuya, Maya, Jun, Lisa, and himself
Masao Inaba/Mark (Persona 1) and Eikichi are the reasons for why characters like: Junpei, Yosuke, and Ryuji are so beloved in terms of bros in the Persona franchise.
Arcana: Death
Maya Amano: Reporter who has a connection to the other members of the Masked Circle. She's essentially the "big sister" of the group who always remains confident and positive. She motivates everyone to be the best they can be and stand up for what's right. She tells everyone the truth about their pasts, and what really happened during the Ayala Shrine fire with her and Tatsuya and everyone else.
Yukino Mayuzumi: Returning member from Persona 1, she is now older sporting a new appearance with her having longer bluish green curly hair, a grey jacket, yellow pants, and beanie. She is Maya Amano's reporting partner who has the most experience with using Personas after the "SEBEC" incident. She acts very tomboy and feminine and loves this photographer reporter Shunsuke Fujii. She suffers from loss towards the end of the game and she relieves her Persona to Jun Kurosa.
Arcana: Empress
Jun Kursoa: Member of the masked circle is controlled by the true villain of the game. Starts off as the masked villain "THE JOKER" and hates Tatsuya for what happened to Maya in the past. When the truth is revealed to him he apologies and cries and feels sorry for what happens. To make it up to Tatsuya, Maya, and co he requests to join them on their journey to destroy the Masked Circle, and defeat Nyarlathotep to stop the end of the world. He's implied/confirmed to be Gay since he interacts with Tatsuya in a particular way in a very, romantic way. He also refuses to interact with female demons/personas.
Arcana: Fortune
The story has the members investigating the separate rumors that happens throughout the city of Sumaru. You meet previous characters from Persona 1 like: Kei Nanjo, Eriko Kirishima, Maki Sonomura, Reiji Kido, and Hidehiko "Brown" Uesugi in cameo appearances.
The characters find out the Mask Circle and the revived Nazi's plan to unleash Nyarlathotep and destroy the world except Sumaru City which is underneath Xaliba (Holy Alien Space ship).
The characters go through so much pain and torment and finally after Yukino gives her persona ability to Jun, the original 5 members of the Masked Circle head to Xilaba/The End to finish the fight.
The members later require to fight against the Furher/Hitler, and the other members of the Nazi Batallion in order to obtain the 5 skulls. After defeating the Fire Skulls boss, Tatsuya has the decision to choose who he loves in a romantic way (players choice) after Lisa asks:
1. Reciprocate Lisa's feelings (Canon in terms of Persona 2 Eternal Punishment, and realistically the only choice that can work in context to the rest of the series.)
2. Jun Kurosa (technically also canon considering the Persona 2 Innocent Punishments timeline, however in the Eternal Punishment timeline, Jun has no clue who Tatsuya is nor shares a connection apart from blind memories from THE OTHER SIDE)
3. Maya Amano (technically canon considering the end of Persona 2 Eternal Punishment, however considering what happens to "Other Side Tatsuya" it's merely a kiss)
4. Eikichi Mishina - Joke Choice (Eikichi ain't into that and is shocked, and Lisa calls you out on your funny choice.)
[Sadly no Yukino choice : ( ]
After all the members fight their fears in Xaliba, they face against the Furher and defeat him/kill him. The members are then transported to the end where they fight the true villian Nyarlathotep.
He explains that he is essentially the other side of the coin of Philemon, where instead of being a god of creation, love, hope, and purity, Nyarlathotep is about destruction, chaos, hatred, taintedness, and evilness. He challenges the 5 members of the Masked Circle and once he's defeated he uses 1 last trick up his sleeve. He uses a member of the of the Batallion Maya Okamura to pierce Maya Amano with the Spear of Destiny (the spear used to kill Jesus Christ where it's stated that blood spewed out regardless if you tried to heal it) and Maya tells everyone to forget her, and she'll always be in Tatsuya, Lisa, Jun, and Eikichi's heart.
Nyarlathotep laughs and says "the process is complete" and proceeds to destroy the world apart from the floating city of Sumaru City.
The Masked Circle are shocked, and sadden that they failed. However Philemon tells them there is a way to right the wrongs of what happened on THIS SIDE. He tells them he can create a new universe where the characters have the opportunity to stop all that happens, however in exchange the members of the Masked Circle... apart from Tatsuya would have to have their memories wiped and will never be able to learn what happens in this timeline. They all agree as Tatsuya takes the sin into his souls and sees Eikichi, Jun, and Maya disappear into their new universe with their minds erase. Lisa being the last to see Tatsuya of "The Other Side" planting a kiss on him and telling him she'll never forget him or the love she has for him. She then disappears as then Philemon tells Tatsuya he must take the sin and burden and help contribute to fixing the new world.
Tatsuya can then decide to thank or punch Philemon. If you choose to Punch him, it reveals Philemon's face is just a reflection of the human soul. As Philemon represent humans purity, while Nyarlathotep represents humans evilness.
The game ends in the new universe where Maya, Jun, Lisa, Eikichi, and a new version of Tatsuya meet as a connection point. The game ends with a depressingly beautiful song.
The story will later be resolved in Persona 2 Eternal Punishment, but the torment Tatsuya goes through will always remain. Such an amazing story.
The game has greatly improved in terms of the gameplay featuring more 3d traversal with the camera now following Tatsuya in birds eye view as opposed to how in Persona 1 you were in 1st person bumping into walls. The random encounters have been lowered to more reasonable encounters as opposed to Persona 1 (PSP) random encounter being constant every 10 to 20 steps.
The battles however do take a bit longer however they're still fun for the most part. The style of collecting Personas is similar to that of the first game however has been improved upon in the process taking quicker and easier to obtain. The game also has an easier way of obtaining the Ultimate Personas in a specifc way in Mount. Iwato by collecting the masks of Tatsuya, Lisa, and Eikichi while Jun and Maya automatically obtain theres.
The game was an amazing experience and it along with 2 Eternal Punishment are amazing games that it's a true crime they have never been remastered. It's the only Persona game to have a morbid depressing ending where the characters... fail. Like everything they did ended up being for nothing because it was fate and the world against them even though they tried their hardest. Tatsuya is the most tragic protagonist since now he must take the sins of his world, and attempt to fix the alternate timeline in the new world. However regardless if he does or doesn't fix the other sides fate, his world is already destroyed, apart from Sumaru City, he literally can't go anywhere else as the only remnants of remaining life are on Sumaru City in the floating Holy Space ship of Xaliba. However Tatsuya knows the sacrifice he must make, in order for the new timeline to be able to continue to exist happily, away from the awful fate that befell his world.
The only reason why Persona 3 (Original/FES/Portable), Persona 3 Dancing, Persona 4 (Original/Golden), Persona 4 Arena, Persona 4 Arena Ultimax, Persona 4 Dancing All Night, Persona 5 (Original/Royal), and Persona 5 Strikers happen is because of Tatsuyas sacrifice and influence in Persona 2 Innocent Sin and Eternal Punishment.
Persona 2 Innocent Sin is a tragic story that ends in a hopeful and heroic way.
I hope in the future Atlus does remakes of Persona 1, Persona 2 Innocent Sin, and 2 Eternal Punishment to give newer Persona fans the opportunity to see the amazingness of these 3 games. If not remakes than a collection remaster. These games are amazing.
I absolutely recommend playing Persona 2 Innocent Sin.
This game features one of the wackiest, depressing, and serious stories in the whole franchise, YES MORE THAN PERSONA 3!
The characters in this game are absolutely amazing in their own respective ways, and the story is actually intertwined with their existences being the cause of everything that happens in the game unlike Persona 1 where the central focus is on Maki, or 3 where the Protagonist happens to have the mark of death.
The characters you play as are as follows:
Tatsuya Suou - Persona 2 Innocent Sin's Protagonist, very mature for his age being 17, treats all of his friends like family and is famous for his motorcycle noises. Has the timestop ability when he unlocks his ultimate Persona: Apollo. Suffers the most out of any other Persona protag. Arcana: Sun
Lisa "Ginko" Silverman - mixed race Japanese girl, is apart of an trio idol pop group. She is in love and infatuated with Tatsuya. Feels guilty for her past with Eikichi, Jun, and Tatsuya for what happens with Maya.
Arcana: Lovers
Eikichi "Michel" Mishina - Japanese Rockstar Teenager. Has a rivalry and bromance with Tatsuya. He gets into a lot of arguments with Ginko/Lisa. He's afraid of his fathers wrath and disapproval of him being a rockstar. He has a girlfriend named Miyabi Hanakouji who starts off fat and later gets skinny, but Eikichi tells her he'd love her no matter what.
Like Lisa, Eikichi feels guilty after what happened in the past with Tatsuya, Maya, Jun, Lisa, and himself
Masao Inaba/Mark (Persona 1) and Eikichi are the reasons for why characters like: Junpei, Yosuke, and Ryuji are so beloved in terms of bros in the Persona franchise.
Arcana: Death
Maya Amano: Reporter who has a connection to the other members of the Masked Circle. She's essentially the "big sister" of the group who always remains confident and positive. She motivates everyone to be the best they can be and stand up for what's right. She tells everyone the truth about their pasts, and what really happened during the Ayala Shrine fire with her and Tatsuya and everyone else.
Yukino Mayuzumi: Returning member from Persona 1, she is now older sporting a new appearance with her having longer bluish green curly hair, a grey jacket, yellow pants, and beanie. She is Maya Amano's reporting partner who has the most experience with using Personas after the "SEBEC" incident. She acts very tomboy and feminine and loves this photographer reporter Shunsuke Fujii. She suffers from loss towards the end of the game and she relieves her Persona to Jun Kurosa.
Arcana: Empress
Jun Kursoa: Member of the masked circle is controlled by the true villain of the game. Starts off as the masked villain "THE JOKER" and hates Tatsuya for what happened to Maya in the past. When the truth is revealed to him he apologies and cries and feels sorry for what happens. To make it up to Tatsuya, Maya, and co he requests to join them on their journey to destroy the Masked Circle, and defeat Nyarlathotep to stop the end of the world. He's implied/confirmed to be Gay since he interacts with Tatsuya in a particular way in a very, romantic way. He also refuses to interact with female demons/personas.
Arcana: Fortune
The story has the members investigating the separate rumors that happens throughout the city of Sumaru. You meet previous characters from Persona 1 like: Kei Nanjo, Eriko Kirishima, Maki Sonomura, Reiji Kido, and Hidehiko "Brown" Uesugi in cameo appearances.
The characters find out the Mask Circle and the revived Nazi's plan to unleash Nyarlathotep and destroy the world except Sumaru City which is underneath Xaliba (Holy Alien Space ship).
The characters go through so much pain and torment and finally after Yukino gives her persona ability to Jun, the original 5 members of the Masked Circle head to Xilaba/The End to finish the fight.
The members later require to fight against the Furher/Hitler, and the other members of the Nazi Batallion in order to obtain the 5 skulls. After defeating the Fire Skulls boss, Tatsuya has the decision to choose who he loves in a romantic way (players choice) after Lisa asks:
1. Reciprocate Lisa's feelings (Canon in terms of Persona 2 Eternal Punishment, and realistically the only choice that can work in context to the rest of the series.)
2. Jun Kurosa (technically also canon considering the Persona 2 Innocent Punishments timeline, however in the Eternal Punishment timeline, Jun has no clue who Tatsuya is nor shares a connection apart from blind memories from THE OTHER SIDE)
3. Maya Amano (technically canon considering the end of Persona 2 Eternal Punishment, however considering what happens to "Other Side Tatsuya" it's merely a kiss)
4. Eikichi Mishina - Joke Choice (Eikichi ain't into that and is shocked, and Lisa calls you out on your funny choice.)
[Sadly no Yukino choice : ( ]
After all the members fight their fears in Xaliba, they face against the Furher and defeat him/kill him. The members are then transported to the end where they fight the true villian Nyarlathotep.
He explains that he is essentially the other side of the coin of Philemon, where instead of being a god of creation, love, hope, and purity, Nyarlathotep is about destruction, chaos, hatred, taintedness, and evilness. He challenges the 5 members of the Masked Circle and once he's defeated he uses 1 last trick up his sleeve. He uses a member of the of the Batallion Maya Okamura to pierce Maya Amano with the Spear of Destiny (the spear used to kill Jesus Christ where it's stated that blood spewed out regardless if you tried to heal it) and Maya tells everyone to forget her, and she'll always be in Tatsuya, Lisa, Jun, and Eikichi's heart.
Nyarlathotep laughs and says "the process is complete" and proceeds to destroy the world apart from the floating city of Sumaru City.
The Masked Circle are shocked, and sadden that they failed. However Philemon tells them there is a way to right the wrongs of what happened on THIS SIDE. He tells them he can create a new universe where the characters have the opportunity to stop all that happens, however in exchange the members of the Masked Circle... apart from Tatsuya would have to have their memories wiped and will never be able to learn what happens in this timeline. They all agree as Tatsuya takes the sin into his souls and sees Eikichi, Jun, and Maya disappear into their new universe with their minds erase. Lisa being the last to see Tatsuya of "The Other Side" planting a kiss on him and telling him she'll never forget him or the love she has for him. She then disappears as then Philemon tells Tatsuya he must take the sin and burden and help contribute to fixing the new world.
Tatsuya can then decide to thank or punch Philemon. If you choose to Punch him, it reveals Philemon's face is just a reflection of the human soul. As Philemon represent humans purity, while Nyarlathotep represents humans evilness.
The game ends in the new universe where Maya, Jun, Lisa, Eikichi, and a new version of Tatsuya meet as a connection point. The game ends with a depressingly beautiful song.
The story will later be resolved in Persona 2 Eternal Punishment, but the torment Tatsuya goes through will always remain. Such an amazing story.
The game has greatly improved in terms of the gameplay featuring more 3d traversal with the camera now following Tatsuya in birds eye view as opposed to how in Persona 1 you were in 1st person bumping into walls. The random encounters have been lowered to more reasonable encounters as opposed to Persona 1 (PSP) random encounter being constant every 10 to 20 steps.
The battles however do take a bit longer however they're still fun for the most part. The style of collecting Personas is similar to that of the first game however has been improved upon in the process taking quicker and easier to obtain. The game also has an easier way of obtaining the Ultimate Personas in a specifc way in Mount. Iwato by collecting the masks of Tatsuya, Lisa, and Eikichi while Jun and Maya automatically obtain theres.
The game was an amazing experience and it along with 2 Eternal Punishment are amazing games that it's a true crime they have never been remastered. It's the only Persona game to have a morbid depressing ending where the characters... fail. Like everything they did ended up being for nothing because it was fate and the world against them even though they tried their hardest. Tatsuya is the most tragic protagonist since now he must take the sins of his world, and attempt to fix the alternate timeline in the new world. However regardless if he does or doesn't fix the other sides fate, his world is already destroyed, apart from Sumaru City, he literally can't go anywhere else as the only remnants of remaining life are on Sumaru City in the floating Holy Space ship of Xaliba. However Tatsuya knows the sacrifice he must make, in order for the new timeline to be able to continue to exist happily, away from the awful fate that befell his world.
The only reason why Persona 3 (Original/FES/Portable), Persona 3 Dancing, Persona 4 (Original/Golden), Persona 4 Arena, Persona 4 Arena Ultimax, Persona 4 Dancing All Night, Persona 5 (Original/Royal), and Persona 5 Strikers happen is because of Tatsuyas sacrifice and influence in Persona 2 Innocent Sin and Eternal Punishment.
Persona 2 Innocent Sin is a tragic story that ends in a hopeful and heroic way.
I hope in the future Atlus does remakes of Persona 1, Persona 2 Innocent Sin, and 2 Eternal Punishment to give newer Persona fans the opportunity to see the amazingness of these 3 games. If not remakes than a collection remaster. These games are amazing.
I absolutely recommend playing Persona 2 Innocent Sin.