Persona 2: Innocent Sin

Persona 2: Innocent Sin (ペルソナ2 罪 Perusona Tsū: Tsumi^?) is a Japanese role-playing video game developed and released by Atlus for the PlayStation in 1999. It is the second entry in the Persona series, itself a subseries of the Megami Tensei franchise, and acts as a sequel to the original Persona. The game was re-released in 2011 for the PlayStation Portable. The original version was not localized for western territories, but the PSP version was released in North America and Europe under the title Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 2: Innocent Sin.

Innocent Sin takes place in the fictional Sumaru City, focusing on a group of high school students from Seven Sisters High School. The protagonist, Tatsuya Suou, and a group of friends must confront a villainous figure called the Joker, who is causing the spread of reality-warping rumors through the city. The group are aided in their quest by their Personas, personified aspects of their personalities. The gameplay features turn-based battle gameplay, where characters use their Personas in battle against demons, and a separate Rumor system, where rumors spread around the city can influence events in the characters' favor.

Development on Innocent Sin began after the release of the original Persona, and retained most of the original's staff. The game carried over the story themes and basic gameplay mechanics of Persona, while changing and improving on some of the mechanics. The characters were designed by Kazuma Kaneko and Shigenori Soejima. The original release was not localized due to staff shortages and concerns over its content. Reception to the game was generally positive for its original release, but reviews were more mixed for its remake due to its age. A direct sequel to Innocent Sin, Persona 2: Eternal Punishment, was released in 2000 in Japan and North America.

Contents

• 1 Gameplay
• 2 Synopsis
  • 2.1 Setting and characters
  • 2.2 Plot
   

1 . Gameplay

Persona 2: Innocent Sin is a role-playing game where the player takes control of a group of High School students as they explore the fictional city of Sumaru. The camera follows the party from an adjustable angled overhead perspective. The city in general is navigated using an overworld map. The game's main party holds up to five characters. Whenever the party is in a "safe" area (i.e. a room with no demon encounters), each party member can be conversed with. The party's route through dungeons can be traced using the Auto-Map, a basic floor plan of the current dungeon. As the main character moves around, the map will automatically mark new areas. A key gameplay and story element is the Rumor system: if the party hears a rumor from an NPC, they can spread that rumor using the Kuzunoha detective agency, making the rumor become real and creating effects on the environment. These effects can range from making an accessory or character-specific weapon appear, to triggering the appearance of new shops for the party's use.

Battles include both story-triggered encounters and random encounters inside dungeons: during these encounters, the party is assigned a set of commands and performs them within a turn, then is given the option to change their strategy during the next turn. During battle, characters fight using melee attacks, use items purchased from shops outside battle, and cast a variety of spells using their Personas. Each character has a starting Persona, and each Persona has different elemental strengths and weaknesses. Different Personas can be used for defense, healing or elemental attacks. While a Persona is originally quite weak, if it is used enough, it will achieve a higher rank. In addition to individual actions, the player can align characters to trigger a Fusion Spell: when two or more party members use a certain sequence of spells, they will automatically summon multiple Personas to generate a powerful attack. The party can be manually controlled or act using an Auto-battle option.

During battles, players can converse with most enemies: depending on which character talks with which enemy, they will trigger a different response. If the enemy is talked with in the right way, they will leave either items or spell cards (tarot cards linked to a certain Arcanum or Persona family group), items used to summon new Personas: certain cards give access to different Persona family groups. After a Persona is summoned and assigned to a character, that character's stats and abilities change. Active Personas can also be fused with spell cards to create more powerful versions. These Persona summonings and fusions take place in the Velvet Room, a special location separate from the rest of the game's environments. In addition to pre-set spell cards, the player can also obtain blank skill cards by forming contracts with enemies through the right conversation. These blank skill cards can be tailored to fit a chosen Persona family^.

2 . Synopsis

 

     2.1 Setting and characters

           

            Innocent Sin takes place in 1999 in Sumaru (珠閒瑠^?), a fictional seaside city in Japan with a population over 1.28 million. Most of the protagonists come from two high schools in Sumaru: Seven Sisters (七姉妹学園^?), a prestigious school which the protagonist attends, and the less-prestigious Kasugayama (春日山^?). During the course of the game, popular rumors of various kinds around the city begin to come true, sometimes with dire consequences. The party wields the power to summon Personas: they are defined in the game's instruction manual as "another side of [the protagonists]". The power of Persona is granted to the party by Philemon (フィレモン Firemon^?), a being from the collective unconscious who acts as a spiritual guide and helper. A key element of the story is the Oracle of Maia, a prophecy foretelling of a series of events which will lead to the world's end during a planetary conjunction called the Grand Cross.

The protagonist of Innocent Sin is Tatsuya Suou, a senior student at Seven Sisters: popular with most students, he keeps himself isolated from the rest of the school. He later joins with other students to investigate the happenings around Sumaru: Lisa "Ginko" Silverman, whose parents were originally from overseas before becoming Japanese nationals; Eikichi "Michel" Mishina, a second-year from Kasugayama High who is the leader of a band; Maya Amano, a reporter for a teen magazine; and Yukino "Yukki" Mayuzumi, a former student of St. Hermelin High and Maya's photographer. They are later joined by Jun Kurosu, a former childhood friend of Tatsuya's. Other important characters include members of the Masked Circle, a group influencing the rumors around Sumaru; and Nyarlathotep, a representative of the collective unconscious who acts as Philemon's opposite.

       2.2 Plot

        Innocent Sin begins with Tatsuya and Lisa being lured by Eikichi to where his band his rehearsing in an effort to get Tatsuya to join his band. During the ensuing argument, their Personae reveal themselves and Philemon contacts them, warning them that rumors are becoming reality in Sumaru. The group then act out a game where a figure called the Joker is summoned to grant a wish. When Eikichi and his band do this, the Joker is summoned, then drains all the players but Lisa of their "Ideal Energy" (the essence of hopes and dreams) using a crystal skull. The Joker then attacks Tatsuya, Lisa and Eikichi, accusing them of some unspecified "sin", but leaves when they cannot remember that sin. As the group attempt to learn the Joker's identity, they are joined by Maya and Yukino, the latter of whom is able to explain their Persona abilities. They are eventually brought into conflict with the executives of the Masked Circle, a cult led by the Joker who are gathering Ideal Energy using assigned crystal skills. They are King Leo (Tatsuya Sudou), a deranged man whose eye was burnt out; Prince Taurus (Ginji Sasaki), a record producer who manipulates Lisa's budding girl group for his own ends; and Lady Scorpio (Anna Yoshizaka), a former student at Seven Sisters who is brainwashed by the group. The group are gradually fulfilling the Oracle of Maia, recorded by Akinari Kashihara (Jun's father) under the influence of Nyarlathotep.

After defeating Sasaki and Sudou, the group are contacted by Philemon, who directs them into caverns beneath the city's Alaya Shrine, where the group are gradually told about their "sin". Ten years prior, Tatsuya, Eikichi, Lisa, and Jun were part of a group named the Masked Circle, where many of them sought solace from their awkward home lives. After Maya announced that she needed to leave, Eikichi and Lisa locked her in the town's Alaya Shrine in an attempt to force her to stay. In a tragic twist of fate, the deranged Tatsuya Sudou set fire to the shrine, and it was only Maya awakening to her Persona that saved her from death. Sudou attempted to kill Maya in his madness, and Tatsuya burnt out his eye with his own Persona. These events were so traumatic that everyone but Sudou willingly forgot them. Jun, manipulated by Nyarlathotep into believing Maya had died in the fire, took on the mantle of the Joker to punish his former friends and make people's wishes come true. Confronting the Joker and the final member of the Circle, Jun's estranged mother Junko, they and the Circle are attacked by group of rumor-generated Nazis called the Last Battalion, led by a resurrected "Fuhrer". Junko, realizing what she and Jun have done, dies protecting Jun from an attack by the Fuhrer using the Spear of Destiny. After battling him, Jun repents, causing his "Ideal Father" to remove his Persona ability and take control of the Masked Circle. Sumaru City is then raised into the sky as part of Xibalba, a spacecraft manifested through rumors surrounding Kashihara's writings, fulfilling part of the Masked Circle's plans.

After being rescued, Yukino grants Jun her Persona powers with Philemon's help. With the Masked Circle and the Last Battalion waging war with each other, the party decide to return the city to normal by removing the five elemental crystal skulls being fought over by the two factions, then confront the Ideal Father. As they collect the crystal skulls, the party confront Shadow Selves, manifestations of their suppressed insecurities. On the way to collect the final skull from the heart of Xibalba, they are forced to stop Maya Okamura, a former colleague of Kashihara who has been driven insane by events, from fulfilling the Oracle. Upon reaching the heart of Xibalba, they battle the Fuhrer, who turns out to be Nyarlathotep in disguise. After their fight, Philemon appears and explains their status as manifestations of humanity's opposing feelings, and that they have been competing over whether humans can find a higher purpose while holding contradictory feelings. Maya is then fatally wounded by Okamura using the Spear of Destiny, the Oracle is fulfilled, and all the world but Sumaru City is decimated. After Nyarlathotep and Okamura leave, Philemon tells the remaining group that they can reverse Nyarlathotep's work by willing the night of Alaya Shrine fire from existence: in exchange, they must give up their shared memories. The group agree, and a new timeline is created where each character's life has been improved, though their friendship is forgotten.