So I Finished Persona 2 Innocent Sin

[@rcrude8866]

"Hitler was kinda a weird dude" Fither-2022

[@sbfh014]

I mean, he's not wrong

[@rcrude8866]

@@sbfh014 We meet ones again, in the abyss of the interwebs

[@arlekino0792]

I was the player that talked with EVERY npc after EVERY story event. They always say something diffrent giving hints on what will happen next.

[@Evilriku13]

also great worldbuilding, somewhat even needed. Like Yukino mentions in Mt. Iwata(?) when you are in one of the rooms getting the masks the childs have basically buried there how masks have "again caused trouble like it did some years ago", refering the Persona 1 events including the Snow Queen storyline.

[@MegaBichiX]

Can you imagine a Eikichi and Yusuke spinoff? just imagine, these two blue dudes hanging out and being their own brand of weird together

[@fedechan6325]

Eikichi introduces Yusuke to make up... Because why not

[@MrVariant]

Better chance of eikichi Onizuka and Yusuke urameshi crossover 😂 atlus keeps milking persona 5, and revisited persona 3.

[@justinacosta6212]

Eternal Punishment retroactively makes Tatsuya more interesting.

[@TerminaBroTheFirst]

Kind of sucks that Maya becomes the silent protagonist since she was the emotional backbone of the entire group but oh well

[@sergiosalazar8702]

@@TerminaBroTheFirst A soul for a soul Maya’s character is wasted in exchange for Tatsuya’s growth. If only they weren’t 100% silent protagonists

[@ahmedrahi5404]

@@sergiosalazar8702 word. Why can't they just think about that having the protagonists speak instead of making them mute like every other rpg.

[@sergiosalazar8702]

@@ahmedrahi5404 Japan likes them silent protagonists :/

[@BroMomento69]

@@TerminaBroTheFirst I figured that because we have the context of Maya's character from IS its not a strtetch to imagine what she'd say so imo its not too terrible. still would've loved actual dialogue from her other than choices though

[@NamsCompendium]

Now play Eternal Punishment!

[@RaspyCh]

Wam’s Wompendium

[@Cyrosus]

This guy knows what's up that's all I'm saying

[@bubbletea_]

Eternal Punishment better. Hoes mad.

[@urameshitrev1851]

The Best Classic Persona Game

[@Fitherfith]

You're not my mom!!!

[@2deep5u]

One of my favourite quotes from the entire series comes from Shadow Maya, when you're in the cave atop Mt. Iwato. "Do you know what the most convenient phrase in the world is? It's "I'm sorry." Anyone who hears that is obligated to forgive, no matter how hurt or angry they may be... There's no more disgusting phrase in all the world. It's used to displace your suffering onto others so you can escape your sins... The moment you employ it, your suffering becomes the other person's. A thing can be unforgivable, but oh, if they apologize... I say there's no reason to accept that suffering. You don't have to forgive them. Cast aside the mask of your conscience."

[@TheShamarski]

Good villain lines there... It makes so much sense and it's thought provoking

[@mirzataufikurahman5478]

Satomi dropping them redpill bombs since 1999

[@luishenriquez4171]

That was such an interesting line. And although I don't remember the exact wording, Yukino response to that was pretty intersting too.

[@Mochielite]

As one of those "Persona 1 and 2 doesn't exist" people it's more about just a disappointment that we barely get acknowledged by Atlus. It just sucks that even though P1 and 2 are just as much a part of the Persona series as all the modern games, we don't get any content at all. I would just like to see cast in spinoffs like Arena and Q2 or the dancing games. I don't blame any modern persona fan for not knowing about 1 and 2 or liking it, since it's rarely acknowledged by Atlus, the game being not readily accessible for most people and how outdated the game mechanics and battle system really are. Not trying to be elitist, I just want to see the game I love thrive.

[@noisekeeper]

" it's more about just a disappointment that we barely get acknowledged by Atlus." You can say that again. The whole P2 EP PSP version being skipped over by Atlus USA back then was definitely a low point as a Persona fan. Oh I'm sure that was a reasonable economic decisions why they did it, but to only have half of the duology release officially localized AGAIN was just a disheartening moment.

[@nahte123456]

Just wondering, albeit a month late. Let's say P1 and P2 did get acknowledged and were made accessible, say a remake, how would you want that made? Like just a port, reskin and some rebalances, or like a complete remake to make it more in line with modern Persona?

[@thewingedcheetahwolf2615]

and Jun himself makes playing P2 worth it tbh

[@Evilriku13]

@@thewingedcheetahwolf2615 Maya too. Heck the party itself is one of the reasons one should play that game, be it having been a Persona fan before or not!

[@wariowarecomix]

@@nahte123456 I wouldn't mind full remakes with 3D visuals and reimagined gameplay as long as "reimagined" doesn't just mean "slap the modern soejima style on it, add lyrics to the music, take out all the unique combat mechanics and put the one more system in, and make the menus use the retroactively applied purple and orange theme colors respectively with the protagonist's face in them". If full remakes are respectful of the original art and gameplay intention while making them more modern and bearable (there are other ways to make gameplay feel modern than just ripping it from Persona 5, mind) I'd be overjoyed. But if the option if Persona 3 Reloading them then I'd rather just enhanced ports of the PS1 versions

[@michaelolaf9968]

"I did not enjoy the video game part of this video game" is exactly how I felt by the end too, and it doesn't necessarily get better with Eternal Punishment. That said I respected what the devs were trying to do so much with the game's creative direction that I had to get the clear saves under my belt.

[@phillemon7664]

Top tier story bottom tier gameplay at least as far as Megaten goes, will always have a special place in my heart regardless of the wonky gameplay.

[@RocketSlime]

It's not even bad it's like FINE it just has a high encounter rate and is too easy until near the end with tweak it could be great guess what? EP for psp fixes like ALL of these flaws

[@uhSpike]

The auto battle comment might have stemmed from the original innocent sin, where combat would continue until you manually cancelled it. I also think that because of how clunky navigating the new UI is, it really detracted from combat since everything would take so long lol. Can't wait to see the eternal punishment video in 3 years!

[@Ratta212]

The idea of having a character from Persona 5 or 4 as an adult in Persona 6 as a party member would be perfect. Mild spoilers: The whole "lol Fuhrer" meme is great because you go into the game thinking that that is the wildest part and it goes even more off the rails. And the game still is mostly serious and it has one of my favorite stories in a game

[@starmaker75]

Yeah it like in-context it wasn’t that crazy given how they explain all the batshit insane stuff(basically a god is making rumors and conspiracy theorist real) but man out of context and explaining the plot to a person, you realized how crazy the plot is.

[@BARALover96]

Honstly would love it to be a p2 character that is part of the kirijo group

[@some_guy117]

What made Yukino even better as a party member is that in persona 1 she one of the more easily missed characters, not because people didn’t wanna recruit her but because most people couldn’t because she was a Snow Queen Quest Exclusive party member (which was even more exclusive since we didn’t get the snow queen quest here in the west till the psp remakes) so it really expanded upon a character we didn’t really get to know much of

[@fedechan6325]

Whenever I talk to an uninitiated about Persona 2 I make sure to throw in a seemingly innocent comment, like "oh yeah, I was surprised that the Fuhrer was a boss" Their high pitched "what!?"s are what lulls me to sleep at night

[@Ratta212]

@@fedechan6325 I remember being so confused after you finish a dungeon and the Last Battalion, who had been living in the south pole, just invade the city lmao.

[@miles6777]

As a Kaneko simp, I love the character portraits of the 2 dualology. They’re all great. I love Kaneko’s concept art and demon designs more, but it’s a shame that he wasn’t involved with the character design after Persona 2 on. He’s worked on so much stuff though and is almost my parent’s age; I completely understand taking extended breaks and not being involved in EVERY Atlus work. I can only tolerate the combat because I play a lot of old rpgs, and I really enjoy the writing because it nailed serious and comedic moments. It’s a marked improvement over 1 on all fronts, and both entries of the duology were really strong steps in the right direction for Persona’s unique feel from mainline. This all being said, should I think other people should play it and EP? Not really. I would only recommend these if they’re specifically looking for an older Atlus rpg with straightforward dungeons. I played them between old jrpgs that had overly-complex (or just bullshit) dungeons, and they were greatly-needed times away from games where I was making and referencing online maps until my head spun.

[@hexenvexen]

The in-game character portraits were actually drawn by Soejima, but Kaneko did draw everything else for the game

[@miles6777]

@@hexenvexen Oh shit, that’s right. Completely slipped my mind!

[@alianar.d.8724]

@@hexenvexen Damn now I wish they let Soejima go crazy with the poses and expressions again. I haven't played Persona 2 yet but those portraits are gorgeous and so expressive!

[@hexenvexen]

@@alianar.d.8724 At least they seem to be going in the right direction with Royal's new portraits.

[@El_Wanderer91]

He gave Lisa Silerman the silver medal. I see what you did there. 😏

[@raml3thal]

hoy

[@El_Wanderer91]

@@raml3thal Hoy!

[@sergiosalazar8702]

I’ll end it thus

[@BradMiltonic]

"I didn't like the video game portion of this video game" is a pretty good summary!

[@TheRamblemanWhoSings]

I get why Atlus doesn't do fully unique portraits but it's a charm that's been lost

[@garrettglass586]

I think Persona 2 could benefit from an anime adaptation.

[@Evilriku13]

*cries in the promo video that gave us that in a very glimpsy way for when P2 EP came out in the US*

[@aetherwarrior4640]

Maya is literally best girl. No competition

[@starmaker75]

Yeah persona 2 was a great experience, despite some gameplay hiccups and some really dumb cryptic optional stuff. If persona 2 duology had the press turn system like in persona 3-5 the persona 2 duology could have easily been my favorite persona game. If smt if and persona 1 were the kinda clunky starting points then persona 2 duology is when the series “grows the beards” as tv tropes would called it. However there are some problems with persona 2 mainly how cryptic the opinional stuff is and how trial and error the contact system is.

[@FazPersona]

Have been thinking about starting this for over half a year but I still believe they’ll port/hd remaster the game for the anniversary

[@8kuji]

It's literally criminal if they don't because once they shut down the servers to the ps vita store (which I think will happen someday) they're won't be any legit way to play the game, so I'm hoping a remaster/port would have the old soundtracks and feel to it

[@Xenosaga]

Saw the rumor about a remake on 4chan, but again it is 4chan so LMAO

[@keko23]

Copium

[@LumyTheQueen]

I played IS last year and the party dynamics, the characters, the story moments, all of it was amazing. I genuinely did not want to finnish the game just so I could spend more time with this cast of characters, they are that good. This year I will also be diving into EP and like you I know absolutely nothing about it. Good luck to both of us!!! (PS: Jun needs a hug, badly.) EDIT: Surprised you didn't mention the soundtrack. Knights of the Holy Lance now has a permanent spot in my Persona playlist :)

[@-penta-1357]

To be honest, most of the Persona 2 elitists I know are EP stans, because "adult characters good, teenagers dumb". Glad you liked IS though, hope you have a great time with EP. It's edgier and not as schlocky as IS, so don't go in expecting the same kind of tone.

[@sswishbone]

I did a blind let's play of this live earlier in the year... Easily one of the most bonkers experiences I've ever had! I was over the moon when best girl Yukki was back. I had let's played Revelations Persona and was beyond furious when I lost her from my party. Interesting thing about this game is how much the extra semester in Royal seems like a half-remake of it. Not gonna spoil, but think about it.

[@bluemooninthedaylight8073]

I finally got around to Persona 5 Royal, and I definitely can see some Persona 2 influence in the new content. It honestly was my favorite part of Royal, as it had that spark of earlier Persona character moments. The use of Lovecraftian beings was a very welcomed return.

[@sswishbone]

@@bluemooninthedaylight8073 yeah definitely, it was also awesome to see Volu Manah, Hastur and Fafnir back as Personas. Shame we never got Apollo or Artemis but still very cool.

[@Posterchild19]

The characters are top tier, and it's amazing because they have no social links to flesh out their personalities and backstories more

[@Posterchild19]

Btw Eikichi is fucking epic, best bro don't at me

[@Skallva]

It's great precisely because of no SLinks. P4 and P5 are imo the big drops in the writing's quality because they're used as a supplement to developing the cast in the main story, and their limitations lead to much weaker and less impactful arcs overall.

[@TerminaBroTheFirst]

@@Skallva True like Slinks are good for random nobodies or side characters but they are pretty bad for the main characters like for example in my first playthrough of Persona 4, I straight up ignored Yukiko, Chie, Naoto and got Rise maxed up just at the final days because I didn't need their arcanas to be leveled up which results in me not caring about those 4. Also it's weird that Yukiko decides to run away when I'm about to leave in winter since the game didn't expect you to interact Yukiko this late of the game, same for the rest.

[@chibs1235]

At the very least the p4 and p5 cast are written in a way where (most) of them are endearing and entertaining, I'd say characters like Yusuke, Akechi, Teddie, and Kanji are genuinely well written characters.

[@Gael-x999]

@@chibs1235 exactly people like to dog on P4 and P5 stories for dumb reasons tbh those games way of story telling makes the cast much more memorable than P3-P2

[@paximat]

Innocent Sin definitely ranks high for me. Finished it a few months back, absolutely loved the P2 crew

[@willbill6942]

I have a feeling you're gonna like Baofu in EP. Great character

[@wariowarecomix]

9:47 okay to be fair the game's battle system *is* literally based on the auto battles and the PSP just changed the structure so it no longer is which makes it feel slow and cumbersome

[@leninthebeaniesouhacker.2459]

Fither: p2 has all these conspiracy theories it's so awesome! Wendigoon: where are my giants tho?

[@skullcandy14785]

User of culture here

[@misterfuzzyflippers]

I never realized how much Lisa's father looks like Steven Seagal and now I can't unsee it.

[@cujohjosefumi1252]

That's the point his father is a paros of Seagal

[@hexenvexen]

Would definitely recommend playing EP when you feel ready for it, it has a ton of improvements over IS in the gameplay department. While the gameplay is very similar, it has small differences from IS that make it way more fun for me personally. The combat is actually pretty fun and often requires actual strategy (specifically with boss fights), the combat menus are a lot more snappier and selecting actions takes a lot less time, and it probably has the best negotiation system in the series. It does have its downsides though; the card grinding isn't much better, and for some reason they made it so that your party order is shuffled after every turn, so you have to manually readjust it. The story is also an improvement imo, not quite as wacky as IS but it's overall better written and has really great new and returning characters. Its focus on adult main characters really helps it feel unqiue from the other Persona stories. It's my personal favorite Persona game

[@caellanmurphy4751]

one thing that always stuck out to me was they kinda NERFED alot of monsters in the PSP version for some reason i dont get

[@TGAM2005]

The reason EP combat feels a lot faster than IS is probably because IS PSP made it slower, it's not really just an IS thing, the PS1 version of IS is about just as fast as EP. Don't wanna sound like an elitist but it's kinda dumb how most fans aren't even aware of the actual version differences.

[@Blarglesnarfe]

Please watch SnicketySlice's analysis of Innocent Sin. It's BATSHIT how much detail and thought went into the script!!

[@phantommaster4923]

I think it's safe to say, P2 has the best story of the 5 persona games

[@TGAM2005]

*6 *stories

[@Gael-x999]

Maybe , I'd 100% agree if P2 ever receives a proper remake with more voice acting

[@SwedishDuckey]

I got this game years ago and I haven't finished it yet... Maybe it's time now that Fither has done it

[@fedechan6325]

Eikichi is my favourite bro character, I'm glad someone gets it

[@nanie_czka123]

The tediousness of choosing each skill for everybody each turn and the bonuses from performing/finishing with a fusion spell personally made me a fusion spell fanatic and I maxed out probably much more personas than the average player, hah. Once you set up the fusion spells as 3/2 (everyone covered), with cursor memory on, of course and hit auto, you can just sit back honestly.

[@Updoggo1]

I started this game a while ago, but what you said about how the game gets even more wild despite what is widely known about it is just so true. It genuinely feels like I'm playing a South Park episode and I love it

[@benmcgiggles7655]

Devil Survivor 2 was the first megaten game I ever played back in like 2014, but I didn't actually beat it until last year, so I totally get that feeling of being happy to get to that thing thats been in your backlog forever

[@boredchoco4917]

I’m really glad to see you enjoyed Innocent Sin

[@PlanScare]

Holy shit I never expected you to finish it. As someone who also has had a problem finish it kinda gives me hope I might also be able to finish it

[@xmaswolf8733]

Average Yosuke consumer vs Average Eikichi and DA MAN enjoyer

[@Chase-uy9lv]

Fither, imma just let you know, but use a contact guide in Eternal Punishment. You will actually need to make personas in that game and it’s is probably one of the hardest games in the series. The challenge and conclusion to the story of Persona 2 make it my favorite. The best thing about it is that the bunker can spawn all enemies so you can go through it, look up the contact guide, and then grind cards easily. I love Eternal Punishment so much and I hope you enjoy it too

[@thanatosdv4369]

Glad you finally give it a chance to complete it

[@ultrapyrusbrawler]

Finally, Fither can see the greatness of Innocent Sin. Should've used the HD texture pack while playing, though. It makes everything look so much nicer.

[@ultrapyrusbrawler]

Yeah, I totally get your opinion on the battle system. I managed to jive well enough with it, but I do prefer how the modern games do it. Also, the spell card system is my big sticking point for both of the Person 2 games, especially when Persona 1 already had the fusion system.

[@Cheesepuff44]

Eternal Punishment is pretty damn tough at some parts so you may like the gameplay more.

[@kairynnru]

I'm making my way through this game as well for the first time, and I'm having a blast. I love what you had to say about this, and I would often see these comments as well when perusing the Persona boards. [Following is all my opinion] What I think differs between the earlier personas and 3 is where the emphasis of the story lies, with Persona 1 & P2:IS (from what I am aware of thus far), (haven't played EP) has a focus on an overarching story with the character arcs being self contained inside of it rather than an additional part in the social links. I think this difference in approach is where some of the discontent lies. Rather than "forcing" you to sit through arcs, you can chose to pursue them on your own, leading to some level of disconnect. There is a heavier influence of Jungellion philosophy as well. But I think the real kicker as you mentioned around ~ 18:51, is I would say is the lack of expression and ways to express themselves. In the "age of merch" as I like to call it, very few things have come out via Atlus for these games, there's no easy way to acknowledge your love for these first few games (especially in english, everything is super exclusive to Japan and out of print)*. i.e. Persona 3-5 all have mangas/anime adaptions, figures, shirts, limited edition and physical edition merch etc, and are being ported/emulated over all the time, it is in one word, accessible. There is no new news about these older games, so I would say this discontentment is more so the lack of ability to get excited for spin-offs or other content because it is seen as a favorite child, and fans just feeling left out and wanting aknowledgment, like "hey, this game is good and we think so too!" This "favorite child syndrome" is imo leading to people becoming jaded due to the isolation (lack of aknowledgement in general) caused indirectly by Atlus. If Atlus were to say, "We are making a manga for P1 and P2 (or even TRANSLATING the P1 manga)", I'm sure a lot of the frustration would clear up, at least until "remaster when" questions start popping up. Like they don't even have to make a full new remake/remaster of these games. There's no easy way to even enjoy and learn about these games except buying a psp/ps vita/ or ~emulating~ and putting yourself through it. While it probably is the most ideal, I am sure there's others who just wanna know a bit about it rather than play through these "dated" rpgs, and dig in another 200 hours into P5. I think the community just needs some TLC when it comes to these games cause the biggest (oldest) fans always are on the defensive, cause they think they are the only defenders of the title - even over Atlus itself. ALTHOUGH - it still doesn't justify that one thing SUCKS over another. The series is similar to FF in terms of it switching it up every once in awhile, the tones and characters are changing to fit different taste, and yuck 'ing someone's else's yum is really not good for anyone. *A lot of the merch being artbooks and cds are exclusive to Japan and its difficult to find unless you bring in a proxy and know what you're getting into. I even want to mention the 25th anniversary merch - and while I am aware its difficult to buy outside of Japan its still important imo. This is the year that these games have had a majority of their merch released, and its not even as much in comparison. I.e. if we were to look at Persona 2 versus Persona 3/4/5 even in terms of figures, its obvious that the others are more pronounced. Persona 2 is getting their first figures outside of Lisa's 2011 one iirc, while Persona 3/4/5 are getting alternates in several different styles and even reprints.

[@Dreadnautilus]

IIRC all the conspiracy theories in Persona 2 is based off a single real life dude's beliefs. Its not a mish-mash of random conspiracies, one guy legimitately believed all of this in real life.

[@some_guy117]

Persona 2s story is so wild and that’s what makes it unique to the other games after them. Like persona 3-5 are crazy in there own right but the stories are so grounded with a theme, rarely making a unexpected right turn spare the occasional betrayal or reveal that they add into the update rerelease. Persona 2 starts off with some boy trying to figure what he wants to do after highschool, go’s into a story about a magical wish granting and soul taking joker they need to stop, into a whole existential crisis ending with a universe reset/split in order for a better world. And that’s only part 1 of the story of persona 2 Edit:forgot about the rumors which do affect the world

[@nutelasaur9453]

mmmm, yes, eikichi supremacy I think what struck me most about Persona 2 was definitely the characters and the life they're given in the game. I've always been a sucker for pixel games, and the sprites are so damn expressive! I almost wish a new persona game would be made in a similar visual style, but there's also a lot of potential in the 3D models with the animation scenes.

[@TatsuHaven]

Nice to hear your thoughts, hope you enjoy Eternal Punishment!

[@ClvrBstrd]

Where's all my Ekichi Enjoyers?

[@VeyVox]

The Fight Theme in this game is just my favorite. Nothing tops the synth-solo

[@itskazzyd]

My favourite Persona!! Glad to hear you finally got a chance to play it 🤗

[@jacksonbrickmedia939]

Adult Kanji or Makoto as a party member would be epic

[@Bocahj4]

I just got into persona and found this channel by having the video about the Game Theory episode on persona 4 recommended to me. This is the third or fourth video from this channel that I've ever clicked on and was dozing off. Let's just say that 13:21 snapped me back to reality. XD

[@majikalmcmuffin6258]

honestly: no press turn, no deal for me.

[@starmaker75]

Yeah playing older megmai tensei game, you realized just how press turn was best thing to happen to megmai tensei.

[@Gael-x999]

@@starmaker75 the all out attacks make the combat much more enjoyable and quicker too in modern persona

[@zeropointer125]

I've never played Persona 2, but I've watch SnicketySlice's god tier Persona 2 Analysis as part of his Series Analyzing the whole series. I was genuinely impressed with how all of this seemingly random aspects of mayans, hitler, astrology, and christianity and the characters are woven so beautifully together. If you at all enjoy video essays, I really recommend his videos on the persona series

[@Nirwanda001]

Eikichi's so wholesome.

[@Rarno_]

I literally just finished Innocent Sin yesterday- That is a crazy little coincidence

[@Wellfire-tu3nm]

Dang. I downloaded Persona 2 the day this video came out. It's a sign.

[@dimensionalnemesis8636]

I think its because of that Flair's Persona Power Chart video but ever since i watched it way back it somehow made me think you had basically finished all Persona games since you guys were talking about em. But again yes i replay basically every Persona (besides Eternal Punishment) game every so often, and Persona 2 Innocent Sin is always a bit of a drag to go through, the combat is pretty bad, and this comes from the guy who never speeds up battles almost under any circumstance in any games aside from just mashing the confirm button obviously, so i go through all of it everytime, since i love JRPG combat, especially Persona summoning animations in P1 and P2, my problem really comes from how slow the animations for the actual attacks are, like wiping out an enemy group with Magaru in P1 for example will just take 1 second and the enemies are gone, while if you did that in P2 every enemy will die separately, you'll have to first see the game confirm the damage, then the enemy will slowly vanish, then the next enemy and repeat, with like 5 enemies that takes a good 10-20 seconds, its a massive pain, now imagine multi hit attacks... The final boss has this attack that hits like a million times, you might have to stare at the attack calculate damage for 30 seconds its horrible.

[@lafbkhope5391]

As someone whose interest was never caught by Persona games outside of Persona 2. I gotta say I love the heck out of Persona 2. From sprite works to music to story to characters to gameplay. Chef's kiss. The only thing I disliked was the museum section. That was very stressful.

[@DylanYoshi]

The combat system in Persona 2: Innocent Sin is great, provided you're playing the PS1 version and not the PSP version where the menus take ten years to get through (which appears to be the version Fither is on, rip). However, just because the combat system is great doesn't mean the combat is great. The combat in IS totally sucks because they never provide you with any situation where you have to do any kind of strategy. Every single battle in IS is brainless and boring, and that kills the actually good combat system. So why am I bringing this up? Because Eternal Punishment uses the exact same combat system and it's insanely fun. EP is probably the hardest Persona game to date, and it is GREAT. It takes IS's combat system and makes it consistently engaging by increasing the difficulty, forcing you to think through each encounter. Play EP, it's awesome and fixes the vast majority of IS's problems.

[@stonalisa3729]

a review over 10 years later. Thanks. i left a like

[@ritikvibhani5557]

I feel like this is one of those let's play channels that says guys I see everyone dropping this I'm not going to drop this game not going to drop this let's play every single episode and then drops the game except he played the game and now writing or a few on how much he loves ot

[@major_havok7854]

It took you like 5 years, but you finally did it. Congratulations Fither

[@dachking6657]

This was my second persona game personally! I loved this one, although I do actually prefer Eternal Punishment by just a tiny bit. I loved the story and characters a lot, and the gameplay itself is also really awesome (albeit slow, as you mentioned).

[@PTM_97]

It probably has my favorite characters from the entire series, I think the fact that they have their arcs during the normal game instead of optional social links gives them an advantage. I played on a PSP emulator and the speed up was very useful for the random encounters, even on hard difficulty the game was super easy. I liked some stuff they did with the gameplay, like the combo moves and the cards. The conversations are cool since you can even combine two characters but saying the right stuff to get the demon is super random, I had to use a guide. Overall it's a game that's aged well, at least the PSP version.

[@TGAM2005]

PS1 version honestly aged even better, it's 3 times faster and doesn't even need speedup. Also, it's harder than PSP Hard mode.

[@cryobot6641]

I'm not very far into this but your comments about battles really caught my attention In my experience, both versions of Innocent Sin *sorta* suffer in the combat field for a couple of different reasons; the psp version (played through emulator or my vita) has a weird semi-delay when selecting commands that I just can't get used to, and the ps1 version doesn't have some of the QoL changes brought over from EP, like being able to automatically input fusion spells, you have to manually select and order each spell in the fusion yourself, but the menus feel better Both cause a lot of delay and correction in my runs, but that said, I still love the combat in the p2 duology, sometimes much more than later games just because fusions are really neat, I think As far as difficulty goes, p2:IS is definitely an easy game to breeze through, up until just about the last few dungeons imo It doesn't help that, at least from what I've heard, the psp version is generally regarded as easier, though I couldn't exactly tell you why as I haven't gotten too too far in the psp version but anyways, persona 2 is great, I'm glad you liked it, I hope you enjoy EP just as much, if not more!

[@earthboundman5]

This is awesome timing, I finished Innocent Sin about a week ago

[@jarnegi]

Eternal Punishment: Prepare to Cry time! Glad to hear more people enjoy the one of best persona games.

[@projectmessiah]

Honestly as much as I love the story and cast of the p2 duolgy, both it and p1 feel so outdated to me even when I love the gameplay of Jrpgs that came out before and at the same time as them. Its gonna take some hardcore motivation if I ever feel like replaying them again.

[@elgranhermano8872]

I played all persona games but persona 5 P2 duology still remains my favorite! I hope p5 is as good tho

[@sergiosalazar8702]

As someone who enjoyed P5, I’d tell you to keep your expectations in check since P5 uses many aspects of P3 and P4 and the writing isn’t as consistent as P2. Royal is better btw, so hopefully you get to play that one

[@elgranhermano8872]

@@sergiosalazar8702 thanks for your answer 👍🏼i'll play royal then

[@sergiosalazar8702]

@@elgranhermano8872 No problem 🤝

[@bbcraz1226]

This same thing happened to me with smt 4. I was like 90 percent done and just never finished it. Now I'm debating a replay haha

[@bubbletea_]

My experience with the game is pretty similar to yours. I tried playing this game 3 times and couldn't get myself to finish it until the 3rd. Although, I was a little more disappointed by the story because of how "schlocky" it is like you said. People kept telling me this game was way more mature than the other games and I just did not get that vibe at all. Something worth noting is that the PS1 version is more focused around "automation" which is probably what those compliments to the combat are referring to. You'll see when you get to Eternal Punishment. Be careful when emulating that shit though, a certain boss using Eclipse Mirror froze my game. I'd say RetroArch is your safest bet.

[@faebees5793]

Playing through innocent sin right now and while the combat is def pretty mind numbing and collecting cards is. A process(good lord eager is such a finicky thing) its really cool to see the skeleton of p5's negotiation system in the contact system.

[@pikraft84]

13:30 you mention liking rumors being the story focus, so I'd like you to recommend touhou 14.5, Urban Legend in Limbo, because as the title suggests, urban legends/rumors are kinda pivotal to the plot. Also with it being one of fighting games, you don't really need to know any of the series overarching plot because they make sure to give you a decent introduction and grasp of everyone who shows up in it. and then maybe I can try to convince you to check out one of the official manga of the series, because they're great.

[@radupon]

Yeah I'm pretty much with you on the gameplay man. That's one of the main reasons I haven't finished 1 and the 2 duology yet.

[@miles6777]

I don’t blame you. For their time, they were steps in the right direction. There’s been so much progress since the late 90s in taking the bloat away from everything, so they are just relics now.

[@wl4316]

Yeah, I completed the duology and I didnt want to play P1. I fell asleep pressing auto battle in P2 IS. Altho P2 EP gets actually challenging in the bosses, the battles there were actually interesting.

[@starmaker75]

Yeah the gameplay while does have it fun things like acrana affinity and fusion, there was alot of time I was going “man I wished this game had the press turn/one more system for later games". Their also the fact contact is one of worse cases of trial and error in a video game I’ve seen. It best just to look at a guide for it.

[@TGAM2005]

If you wanna make the gameplay faster in P2, just play the PS1 version, you're missing practically nothing

[@Cyrosus]

I'm in the "finally" category but also love what you do man

[@yasahana4447]

Part of the issue I see is that you played the PSP version which had issues like making the enemies way easier. though IS has always had an issue with badly designed boss fights and enemy designs. Eternal punishment, I feel fixed this problem alot, the bosses and enemy teams actually feel like they use the battle system to it's fullest and is much more engaging. Though I feel like even though it still has skip animations it can be slow. I hope you do play it and like it as much as I do :)

[@sbfh014]

0:15 "Depending on your reaction it's either 'You never finished p2?' or 'its about time'" Me: Both, both is good

[@TheEcoolarg]

I literally had the same experience with dark souls 2...like is ok? Persona 2 is my favorite soildy for the duology aspect and beacuse Maya, in general, is still my favorite persona character and is hard to really have fun with getting to know her character if you get people still harping about it. Edgy pokemon atracts edgy people man, though luck, I´ll put up with it for experiences like playing this alone and getting lost with those infinite random encounters(for real is megaman battlenetwork levels of encounter rates)

[@a.kzockt4546]

I really want to start playing both Persona 2 games...but I am still playing 4, and after 4, I´ll play 3... soooo this might take a while before I can start

[@Gael-x999]

Yea that's gunna take u an eternity

[@peste4592]

if you will do it play the ps1 version of those, innocent sin is faster on ps1

[@jovif.spemudaindonesia1841]

Persona 2 duology is a masterpiece

[@Gael-x999]

Eeehhhhhhh story wise perhaps

[@RocketSlime]

​@@Gael-x999ep for psp fixes like most of the major flaws of persona 2

[@chrysome4540]

hope you end up enjoying eternal punishment if you do play it since its my favorite persona game with some of my favorite megaten characters excluding maybe devil survivor 1

[@therealdude707]

Yeah Persona 2 innocent sin is hard to pick back up. I remember starting a game getting too busy to play it and having a hard to picking it back. (Plus the gameplay isn't helping) Is a shame since it has the best plot hook in the series.

[@sergiosalazar8702]

It’s a shame the Press turn wasn’t implemented yet. Hopefully Atlus try to fix that if they remaster/remake the game

[@therealdude707]

@@sergiosalazar8702 It would be awesome if Atlus reworked the combat or at the very least made P2 Innocent sin a visual novel.

[@Synochrina]

It was fun playing Persona 2.

[@tree4124]

This is a thoughtful comment with insight on the videos topic

[@RyzaLoves]

I played this on a rom and just got the flower weilding party member (cause no spoilers) and then my computer crashed so I'm not sure if I lost my saves or not. Idk y I put this here, I just needed to vent cuz this happened this week and I'm still upset about it Also yes, Eikichi is the best

[@VXMasterson]

I don’t know if this is a hot take but I didn’t hate the combat, my biggest problem was the encounter rate. I stopped playing for months because the Dungeon crawling became so tedious. Aside from that, I adored this game. Probably my second favorite Persona game after Persona 5 Royal. The story was such a mindfuck and I’m always so conflicted on which character I liked the most. Fun times

[@jamescarrotcsl8]

Thank you for the lack of spoilers, what to play p2 after I finish p3

[@bluskye7899]

I really can't be fucked going into why I think P2's combat is good but it does involve utilising the auto battle effectively. I will say that the PSP version is baby game, basically more visual novel than rpg. I beat it without fusing, just getting the ultimate personas. A great way to play if you're solely interested in the story but not if you want to see the systems as they're intended. I pretty much had the same opinion before playing EP.

[@LOLquendoTV]

Im commenting before watching, but I have tried really hard to get into this game. But 3 separate times now I've tried to get into it and just haven't been able to. It's the combat I think, it's tedious and unchallenging mostly. All the bosses are jokes and every major dungeon just feels like a chore. Persona games aren't exactly famed for their difficulty but at least the other games kept the pace up. The story is ok but I really don't see why everybody praises it so much, admittedly I only got to when (SPOILERS) Jun joins your party and Hitler invades so maybe it becomes more interesting later. It also feels weird cause I played persona 1 and I found that to be okay for the most part

[@censoredterminalautism4073]

I went back and watched all of your videos, and yeah, it really did take a while, didn't it?

[@Namingway248]

the best way to handle combat is indeed to set your commands, set triangle to memory as opposed to all physical, and let the game play itself. So I really don't think any normal person will blame you for using emulator speed up, I played innocent sin on real hardware so i couldn't, but the time i finished eternal punishment was on emulator and had the same reasoning for eventually just speeding through shit. If you forged a contract with a demon by filling their green gauge (i cant remember the emotion names off the top of my head), next time you negotiate into yellow for cards you get more. The main thing I'd do is contract with the first three demons I see in a dungeon and then anytime they come up after that I'd go yellow for extra cards and not negotiate with anything else at all. I can't fully remember whether that just gives you more of their arcana cards or gives you a wild card material you can use for anything, but either way it was all I needed to allow me to beat the game with no problems. I do love that persona 2's rumor mechanic allows the story to become whatever crazy thing it wants and yet still make sense. And about recurring characters, I really like how persona 1 and 2 kind of let you track Tamaki's life after the somewhat foreboding ending of smt if, which stated everyone who made it out feared the day they knew demons would come back. It shows she grew up not in fear, but rather with a desire to take a role where she directly uses what she learned from her experiences to make a better world, even if she doesn't have access to the same amount of power she had then (the idea that she was unable to take down sudou by herself is kind of unfathomable to me considering how difficult hazama was in comparison).

[@rogercheetoofficial]

the way the PSP version mangles the battle interface is kind of hilarious since the original was balanced around autobattle, you could hop in and change tactics in the middle of the autobattle running, the change in presentation is its own downfall

[@chironthecuddley6144]

P2 IS is probably one of my favorite games ever made. I wish it could just get one more remake. Give it more voiced dialouge, maybe add a remixed version of the sound track and bring back the unused Eikichi theme with the option to use the PSP or PS1 OST, make it more difficult obviously and updated pixel graphics or 3D graphics would be fine.

[@Vohaul86]

The battles were nerfed from the original, so the game feels really easy most of the time. For example, against the Longinus mechs multiple target spells like Maragi hits only one of them in the PSone version (a fan traslation version), because each Longinus is on its own "a different group" as their names are different. That means that when facing three Longinus meches you need to test every one of them for their weaknesses instead of blasting with a multi-target spell. And speaking of Longinuses, they spammed Geistig Blitz that had much higher chance to stun with electricity, and that being also a spiritual attack electricity resistance didn't help against it. I got so many party wipes even with over-leveled party members you can't believe...

[@AdamK-o7]

eternal punishment is sooo good! im near endgame content and the cast is much more enjoyable for me

[@yuneir8078]

Hope you enjoy P2 EP :)

[@dumbledoresnape656]

If Atlus re releases the p2 games this year, i will pay any price to play them

[@Dslick9]

YES YES YES YES! TATSUYA! P2 Love makes it all worth it