Innocent Sin wackiness

Day 405

Persona 2: Innocent Sin is a great game, but it's significantly more bizarre than other entries in the series I've played. Case in point is the dubious choice to include Hitler in the game's plot. Granted, he's referred to only as "Fuhrer," but the Nazi imagery (including Nazi robots apparently?) is pretty blatant. In the world of Innocent Sin, rumors have a nasty habit of coming true. Who exactly chose to spread a rumor that Hitler and an army of Nazi robots were invading Sumaru City remains to be seen. I can only assume the individual responsible is as unstable as they come.

It's difficult for me to ascertain just how close I am to the end at this point. I've definitely reached a part of the game where shit has started to hit the fan. Like the shift between Final Fantasy VI's World of Balance and World of Ruin, the world has fundamentally changed due to the "rise of Xibalba," whatever that is. The only other time I've heard of Xibalba is from the film, The Fountain, which featured a plot possibly just as incomprehensible as Innocent Sin. I have no idea what it is or what it means, but it seems to signify that some serious stuff is going on and the party needs to kick it into high gear--with the assistance of newcomer Jun, who evidently knew the gang all along.

There's a plot point at about the halfway point of the game (and I'm estimating on that) that reminds me a lot of the oft-maligned orphanage plot from Final Fantasy VIII, complete with an included explanation for why the crew of teenagers' memories weren't intact. VIII's hamfisted approach to storytelling in general soured my appreciation of the game so it's somewhat worrisome to see a similar story in Innocent Sin. For what it's worth though, I think it's handled better here, since there's a pretty concrete reason why things are not happening as they should, even if I don't personally know the root cause. 

Will everything make sense by the end of the game? It's possible. I'm historically pretty terrible at internalizing all of a game's plot points and making sense of them and Innocent Sin is certainly not making it easy on me with its wacky themes. This is part of the reason I really prefer more intimate, character-driven stories, even in video games. This also ties into why I hate silent protagonists so much even when they're used so consistently in a series I greatly enjoy like Persona. I still like a lot of the characters, but we'll have to see how I feel about Jun. It's a big adjustment to make after 30 some odd hours of Yukino being in my party.

A seductive stare

Day 404

Kuzonoha Detective Agency

 I've spent the vast majority of the last two days feverishly playing Persona 2: Innocent Sin. The whole experience has reminded me just how much I love the series as a whole. The first game of the series might have given me a bad impression and made me expect less from Innocent Sin, but I shouldn't have let it color my judgment. It's a great game and has a lot of merits that differentiate it from the games that followed it. Of course, it's not all good, but it's a rare game that entices me to play in extremely long marathon sessions for more than just gameplay purposes. I really enjoy grinding to unlock new personas, abilities, and combo attacks, but I'm also interested in the plot, as strange as it might be.

Persona 3 and Persona 4 are full of fun and interesting characters, but Innocent Sin is no slouch in that regard either. Although a significant portion of the time I've spent on this has been dungeon crawling and leveling up personas, I'm glad there's a thread of plot that keeps me interested in playing just to find out what happens. The dynamic between the party's characters is interesting. It very much makes me wish there existed an enhanced remake of this game that featured Social Links in some way--one of my favorite features of both Persona 3 and 4. Like support conversations from the Fire Emblem series, Social Links go a long way in fleshing out characters and delving into the relationships between these characters and the protagonist. In Innocent Sin, Tatsuya has little to no personality. He's a mute protagonist, as is traditional for the series. I really dislike this JRPG trope and can't discern any particular reason why it should exist. I've been saying the same thing since way before Chrono Trigger came out. I'm hoping Atlus will choose to diverge from this trend with Persona 4. I don't have much confidence this will happen, even if Yu Narukami from Persona 4 has been given a personality in other media like the anime and fighting game spinoffs of the game.

Although Tatsuya is intertwined with the backstory of the other playable characters, his part in it is much less interesting because--of course--he has nothing to say. Maya, Lisa (Ginko), and Eikichi (Michel) are all interesting because of their perspective on the things that have happened to them as well as their personalities in general. There's certainly not as much dialogue as in Persona 3 and Persona 4, but there's definitely still enough for me to get a good idea of what these characters are like and how they interact. No one feels underdeveloped or underused in any way, except of course for Tatsuya himself, who is supposed to be serve as a sort of surrogate for the player. Again, I really don't think it's necessary for a game like this. Leave silent protagonists to first-person western RPGs that allow you to create your character in ridiculous detail, I say. It's far more appropriate there.


Every Persona title seems to have some kind of underlying theme on which the plot is based. In Shin Megami Tensei: Persona, the plot centered around the Persona Game, a supernatural game said to have the capability to reveal the players' futures. In the original game and in Innocent Sin, a being known as Philemon grants the characters the ability to summon persona. His existence is only alluded to in future Persona titles, where other explanations are given for the phenomenon. It's hard to say whether all the game exist in the same canon or of it's more of a Final Fantasy kind of situation. It's worth noting that Innocent Sin features many characters from the original Persona title--and Persona 4 features at least one cameo of a Persona 3 character. In spin-offs, Persona 3 and 4 characters coexist, but it's doubtful these games can be considered canonical additions to the series.

Demonic beatdown

Day 403

I'ts interesting to take a look at the mechanics in Persona 2: Innocent Sin and compare them to those in Persona 3 and Persona 4. I have to wonder why the combination attacks from Persona 2 were abandoned for future titles. I personally felt it was a really fun mechanic. Granted, the Press Turn combat system introduced in later Shin Megami Tensei is one of the better mechanics I've seen in RPGs. Still, I imagine it could have coexisted with combo attacks. Persona 3 and 4 don't feature five-person parties either, which might make combo attacks more difficult to implement. That's another thing I wonder about--why did Atlus decide to cut the party roster from five to four? This is something that JRPGs over the past 10-15 years have been doing and I'm not sure why. Larger parties are really fun, as games like Final Fantasy IV, Persona 2, and Lunar 2 can attest.

I'm not sure it can be boiled down to an issue of too much micromanagement. Persona 3 and 4 both feature robust and complex persona fusion systems and more than enough characters to support a party of five. In fact, I would have loved to be able to use more of these games' characters. Naoto and Kanji were frequently left out of my party in Persona 4, whereas characters like Koromaru and Ken rarely entered my roster in Persona 3. These are some of my absolute favorite JRPGs, but that doesn't mean I can't recognize areas where they could be improved. Both titles delivered admirably on increased levels of difficulty and graphical fidelity.

I suppose it's good though, that these earlier Persona titles feature traits that set them apart. It gives me more of a reason to play them and enjoy them in different ways. Although I'm ambivalent about the demon negotiation system, I have to admit there are some things I like about it--and it's fun to read through all the silly dialogue choices the demons offer to you. At first I found it pretty strange that such a mechanic was so ingrained with the gameplay, but I'm certainly getting used to it. In fact, I will generally bypass most battles with negotiation rather than fighting. 

I was pretty disappointed to learn that the PSP remake of Persona 2: Eternal Punishment was unavailable in English, but I'm definitely considering giving the PS1 version a try all the same. It looks to be a passable version of the game, even if the interface is jarringly plain--especially for a Persona title. I'm sure it's something I could become accustomed to--and I'm sure I'd enjoy it just for the gameplay and storyline, even if the polish I'd prefer is not quite there. 

Going through the motions

Day 400

This is day 400 on Everything  All of the Time but I don't have anything special planned. Honestly, I probably won't do another themed entry until the end of the year or the beginning of the next. If I was in higher spirits, I might do them more frequently. As it is, I haven't felt much in the mood for this project. I don't dislike writing these entries but I find I don't have as much passion for it. I'd very much like to reclaim that passion. I'm not certain what I'm doing differently than before.

I really enjoy a lot of aspects of Persona 2: Innocent Sin, but I don't care for others. The demon negotiation system is interesting, but the most irritating aspect of it is that it doesn't save what techniques were successful in the past when negotiating with certain demons. I either have to make some note of it or consult a walkthrough online. This would be fine if demon negotiation was a puzzling optional diversion, but it's actually quite important for progression in the game. Unlike Persona 3 and Persona 4 where new personas can be collected from cards randomly obtained after battles (and then subsequently fusing said personas), personas in this particular entry must be created from tarot cards belonging to certain types. These cards are collected through demon negotation. As far as I know, there's no other way to get them.

Creating and fusion personas is a big part of any Persona game and that's a big part of the reason they're fun. Although both the original title and this sequel feature persona fusion (in which multiple personas can be combined to create something new), Persona 3 and Persona 4 expanded on the mechanic greatly and made it a primary focus. For the most part, I prefer that system--although I would take much less issue with the mechanic on display in Innocent Sin if the process involved in collecting them wasn't so tedious. On the other hand, creating new personas with the cards you've collected is still fun and interesting.

I'm also a fan of the fact that each of your five person party is capable of adopting any persona--although they'll have varying compatibilities with them. This does require more micromanagement on the part of the player, but I can't say that's something I mind. It would have been interesting if I could have completely switched out which personas my party members had access to in the later games in the series--although I did enjoy being able to cycle through a whole list of different beasts on my main character.

I get the feeling it's going to take me a long time to trek through Persona 2 which is not in and of itself a bad thing--but I've played a lot of long games recently. I wouldn't mind tackling a few shorter ones before I move onto the PS2 as my primary backlog eradication console. Games like Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne and Digital Devil Saga are likely even longer than this game. It might not be a bad idea for me to consider finishing up my Steam library next. That shouldn't be too tough, since there's only two games left unfinished for me on that front, both of which wouldn't take me very long. I think I might do just that.

Some screenshots breaking up walls of text

Day 398

My blog has been lacking severely in the picture department lately--not because I haven't been taking screenshots, but because I've been too lazy or busy to upload them! Here are a few to tide you (me) over.

I've been playing Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals in 30-45 minute sessions during lunch breaks at work, but I think I do like it a lot. It is positively chock full of well-trod RPG tropes, but it does distinguish itself from the pack by featuring a wide variety of different puzzles, some of which are quite challenging. This kind of thing isn't normally my forte, but I do enjoy experiencing something a little different from the norm. It reminds me of Golden Sun in some ways, although Lufia II thankfully does not feature its pages and pages of tedious dialogue.

Of course I also finished up Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions after becoming fed up with how much time I was spending grinding out level after level and unlocking every single class and special item in the game. I should know from experience that his kind of thing will quickly burn me out on a game unless it features ridiculous amounts of content to explore. The War of the Lions does feature a decent amount of content, but much of it I've seen many times before. For that reason, I just ended up rushing it there at the end.

Next on the agenda is Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 2: Innocent Sin, a game of many subtitles. I think it's safe to say I prefer it to its immediate predecessor, but I'll be the first to admit that I miss being always accompanied by a Shoji Meguro soundtrack. The game's opening theme was a composition of his (unless I very much miss my guess) but the remainder of the soundtrack seems to be a remixed variant of the original PlayStation version. There's nothing particularly wrong with it, but Shoji Meguro has a flare that really distinguishes him from other video game composers.

Like Shin Megami Tensei: Persona before it, this game allows you to assume control of a five person party of youngsters capable of communing with demons and unleashing their powers on unsuspecting enemy high school students--as well as a whole host of other demons. It is a formula I'm very familiar with by now, having played and finished three of the games in the series, but there's a vocal minority among SMT fans that hail Innocent Sin as the best Persona game. I liked Persona 3 and Persona 4 a lot, so it has some pretty high expectations to live up to. I'll say right away that I don't necessarily dig the demon negotiation system. It is largely unchanged from the first game in the series except for the fact that this game features new characters and therefore new negotiation options.

Very true.

Out with a whimper

Day 397

Well, War of the Lions is finished, but now that I'm done with it I don't have a great deal to say about it. I feel pretty strongly that I ruined my reaction to the game by grinding excessively. My intent was to unlock as much content as possible and I was relatively successful on that front--but because the new content was relatively minor, it felt like quite extensively retreading old footsteps. I still think it's a great game and War of the Lions is undoubtedly the superior version, but I can't say I enjoyed myself a great deal after about halfway through the chapter 4. My lack of enjoyment is definitely my fault, but I wanted to unlock the Dark Knight class and that takes a lot of effort to do.

I think I would have had a lot more tolerance for that level of grinding if all of the enemies in the game continued to scale with me. This already happens for random encounters, but story missions feature enemies with preset levels. By the time I reached the final encounters, my characters were pushing level 60, probably 7-10 levels higher than the enemy's average. I was able to defeat the final boss before she could execute a single action. There was some level of satisfaction gained from being so ridiculously powerful, but I definitely think I overdid it. I wish there had been a way to unlock all of those abilities I had without also leveling up much higher than my foes. I know there are ways to delevel to get around these things, but it seems like a really unnecessary process to have to go through.

I'm glad that it's done now, but I definitely rushed it once I reached the end of the game. I was originally planning to conquer the Midlight's Deep optional dungeon with my super powerful characters but I found that I just didn't have it in me. I didn't even end up unlocking the rest of the Dark Knight's skills--because it was unnecessary and because I was quickly becoming bored with the game. I was not becoming bored with it because it's a bad game, but I was becoming bored with the way I was playing it. I think I'd have infinitely more fun if I had chosen to put some kind of restriction on myself during the game--Straight Character Class Challenges or even maybe a solo run. I wanted to experience all the content the new version of the game had to offer, though, and I guess I'm glad I did. If I ever play the game again, I'll have to do some kind of themed playthrough for it to keep my interest.

Next on the agenda is Persona 2: Innocent Sin. This will be the final PSP game on my backlog, after which I may tackle the PS2 since there are a quite of few games there left to complete, including no less than three Shin Megami Tensei titles. I started Innocent Sin shortly after completing the PSP version of the original Persona title but quickly stalled out due primarily to emulation issues. Those don't seem to be a problem anymore so I should hopefully have no issues completing it. I'd also like to eventually play Persona 2: Eternal Punishment, but that is a game that will have to wait until I've gone through everything else! I should start making a list of all the games I'd like to play to make my backlog even longer. . .