You remember playing this game back in the ‘90s? No? That’s because you didn’t. Here’s Persona 2: Innocent Sin, the one Persona game that wasn’t released in America until the PSP remake.
One must be wondering why wasn’t Innocent Sin released in the States or in Europe. There has been speculation. Two theories are the suggested homosexual relationship between the main character and Jun and the appearance of Adolf Hitler. No one knows for sure as to why this title didn’t come overseas in the late ‘90s, but it’s here now and in handheld format.
The story in Innocent Sin is this: you spread rumors, they come true and you can summon this Joker fellow and he’ll turn you into shadow people to get power. The story is heavy on rumors coming true and you’ll be spreading rumors in the game to lower weapon/armor prices and fighting optional bosses.
Combat is different than the first Persona game. They took out the secondary gun weapon for the characters and you are only allowed one weapon. Instead of guessing when your character is going to attack, the battles are turn based which makes it easier to plan attacks and healing. Also, you can cancel attacks during battle by hitting the circle button. I ended up doing this during the final battle to make it easier on myself.
Another thing that has changed in combat from Persona 1 to Persona 2 IS is the lack of targetting. In Persona 1, your weapons and Persona attack were limited to where you were positioned in battle but in Persona 2 IS, that has been taken out and you are free to attack whatever enemy you want with whatever character you want. This made battles much easier.
Getting cards from enemies was proven more difficult here than it was in the first Persona. Instead of getting their Persona card based on your level and their level, you can get TAROT cards at any level despite the fact that the enemies can be a higher level than you. Tarot cards. Yes, you heard me right. You do not get Persona cards, you get Tarot cards. You use Tarot cards to make Persona. I found this purely frustrating and I never fused any new Personas.
Speaking of Personas, don’t get too attached to the Personas you first get. They constantly get upgraded and not for the best. The spells end up costing more SP than I would like which made me not want to use them. An added feature in Innocent Sin was Fusion Spells. You are to combine two Persona Spells together to make an attack. I used Fusion Spells earlier in the game more than later in the game. I found it to be a neat feature but I didn’t care for it much.
The map has been completely changed from the first person view in Persona to a third person view in Innocent Sin. This was a good move on Altus’ part. I only occasionally looked at the mini-map but the compass was in a different corner of the screen which made it hard to figure out which direction I was going.
Saving the game is the most amazing thing in the game. You can save ANYWHERE you want. Opposed to the first Persona where you have a typical save point, Innocent Sin allows you to save anywhere and everywhere. This makes it better when you want to save in front of a boss door without having to walk a few rooms to get to it.
My biggest complaint with the game was the fact that you didn’t get enough money to buy weapons and armor, which were completely overpriced. It made it hard to be prepared for battle knowing that enemies would completely destroy you cause you have crappy armor and no-good weapons. You can lower the price of them but you have to pay 3k to start a rumor about it from talking to the rumormongers. A bit unneeded but it plays along with the plot of the story.
Other than that, I had fun with Persona 2: Innocent Sin. The soundtrack was good and so were the graphics. Just be prepared for farming tarot cards and a crap ton of cash.
Persona 2: Innocent Sin PSP
4/5
