Persona 2: Innocent Sin (2025)

Persona 2: Innocent Sin is a 1999 role-playing game for the PlayStation, and the second entry in the Persona series. It was developed and published by Atlus and released on June 24, 1999 in Japan. A remaster of the game was released for the PlayStation Portable on April 14, 2011 in Japan, and subsequently on September 20 in North America and November 4 in Europe that same year, where it was titled Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 2: Innocent Sin. In Australia, this version released the following year on February 29, 2012.

A sequel, Persona 2: Eternal Punishment, was released for the PlayStation in 2000. Despite being chronologically the first in the duology, the PlayStation version of Innocent Sin was skipped in North America and Eternal Punishment was released instead. This would later be rectified with the overseas release of the PlayStation Portable remaster. Eternal Punishment also received a remaster for the PlayStation Portable in 2012; however, that version did not see a release outside of Japan.

The PlayStation version received a fan translation by the group Devil Hackers and was released on October 15, 2008.

Blurb

Japanese

English

Synopsis

It's 1999 in the seaside city of Sumaru City, and 3 years have passed since the S.E.B.E.C incident. Here, rumors seem to become true, including that of the enigmatic Joker, whom the rumor claims can grant anyone's wish if they call him on their cellphone. However, he appears to be linked to recent supernatural phenomenons, and some people become lifeless husks after calling him. A tragedy from the past resurfaces as Tatsuya Suou and his allies get thrust into a mystery far bigger than they could ever imagine...

See full plot...

Gameplay

While Persona 2 is still a dungeon crawler JRPG, in the field it follows Tatsuya as a 2D sprite on a 3D background from a top-down perspective. He can walk in 8 directions using either the d-pad or analog stick, with the player being able to freely turn the camera clockwise or counterclockwise with the shoulder buttons and triggers. Holding Circle while moving with the d-pad makes Tatsuya run; additionally, he can walk by slightly tilting the left analog stick, and fully tilting it makes him run. There is a rotating compass in the top right corner of the screen, and pressing Square brings up the automap. Navigation in the city is done on a pre-rendered 2D map, with fixed screens the player can move between.

Combat has been made simpler and more dynamic from Persona. The number of elements has been halved and attack animations are much faster. The grid system has been removed, and character positioning is not taken into account. As such, attacks target either one enemy, all instances of the same enemy, or every enemy on the field. Party members now only have one dedicated physical weapon instead of a melee weapon and a firearm.

Fusion spells are introduced, which are unique attacks triggered by two or more alive party members each doing a specific spell in immediate succession. They can be magic/physical attacks, healing spells, or group buffs. To compensate the fact they need to be set up, Fusion spells are much more powerful than regular spells.

Demon negotiation is still present and very similar to its predecessor, with party members having 4 possible actions and demons having 4 different emotions: Eagerness, Happiness, Fear and Anger. Eager demons may give out an item, money, and fusion material. However, instead of demons giving a specific card representing that demon, instead they give multiple cards depending on that demon's Arcana. From there, Tatsuya can go to the Velvet Room and exchange Personas for a given number of Arcana cards. For example, if he wants to summon an Emperor Persona, he may need 30 Emperor cards. Some Personas also require special materials to be summoned. Additionally, Skill cards and/or Incense cards may be used to boost a summoned Persona. Tatsuya may acquire Blank cards that can be exchanged at the Demon Painter for cards of all major Arcanas, with the exception of Fool cards, which require a separate method to gain.

Personas have a fixed SP cost usage, and using them in battle will eventually make them rank up, unlocking more skills. Affinity now has 5 levels: Best, Good, Normal, Bad and Worst. These affect SP cost and mutation chance.

Instead of each party member carrying 3 Personas each, the group shares a collective Persona stock. In battle, each character can change Persona and act in the same turn; changing Persona does not use up a turn anymore.

If the party ends a fight with a Fusion spell, then the Personas involved in that spell may Mutate, which has a few possible results: either a Stat boost, the Persona gains 2 ranks at rank 1-6, and at rank 6 and above the Persona can learn its hidden skill or change form into a new Persona of either one of the Minor Arcanas, or of the same major Arcana. For a Persona to evolve, it must be taken to the Velvet Room, upon which it will reset back to rank one. An evolved Persona of the Major Arcanas cannot be 10 levels above Tatsuya's.

Unlike in Persona, experience points are now distributed equally to all party members instead of depending on how much each character contributed to the fight, unless a party member is knocked out by the end of battle, where they will gain less EXP than the alive party members.

At the Kuzunoha Detective Agency, Tatsuya can spread rumors in order to make them reality. These rumors can unlock new features around the city like new shops and expanding their inventories. Rumors also serve as a source of side quests since they can summon demons of the Rumor race, which offer unique items and gear when defeated. Rumors can be heard from dedicated rumormongers or from NPCs around Sumaru City.

Version Differences

PlayStation Portable

• A new opening movie animated by Studio Statelight with music by Lotus Juice has been added, called "Unbreakable Tie".
• Several enemies and bosses have had all of their stats lowered, making the game significantly easier. "Easy" and "Hard" difficulties have also been added.
• The max number of Personas available in stock has been greatly expanded from 10 to 24.
• The battle system has been slightly tweaked, with the Strategy Menu being removed and characters having to pick every action each turn, with the addition of an auto-battle option that repeats the last action performed.
• The player can speed up attack animations, either in the options menu or by pressing Start in combat.
• It is directly shown how compatible a Persona is with each party member in the Velvet Room and in the Persona selection menu.
• A mini-map has been added in the bottom left corner of the screen when on the field.
• The turn order of everyone on the field is shown at all times, enemies included.
• Fusion spells trigger a cut-in portrait for the party members involved, though it can be disabled in the options menu.
• The player can now directly choose which fusion spell to use and can change the turn order of all characters involved in a specific spell as a group instead of individually.
• If the Prime Personas are not obtained through the correct story choices, they can now be obtained through Mutation at any point after they would be gained in the story.
• UI was completely changed; it now has a red color scheme.
• Character portraits have been extended by Shigenori Soejima and Masayuki Doi to show more of the characters.
• The entire soundtrack has been remixed, and not completely redone like with Persona (PSP). Additionally, the player can choose between the original and remixed soundtrack at any time in the options menu.
  • The results screen at the end of each fight now has a dedicated music track, whereas in the original the battle music kept playing and had a dedicated ending segment during the fadeout. This song plays no matter which soundtrack the player has selected.
• While the English localization is brand new, featuring English voice acting, the Japanese voice tracks have simply been remastered and no lines have been re-recorded.
• All explicit Nazi imagery and terminology have been replaced by generic fascist symbols and terms. Furthermore, Adolf Hitler has been renamed to Fuhrer, and given sunglasses and a jacket. It is unknown why this change was made, and it is present in both Japanese and English versions of the game.
• A new side mode has been added called Sumaru Climax Theatre, which features playable side-stories with a boss fight at the end. Japanese players can make their own quests using existing assets, but that feature was omitted from the English release.

Listings

Characters

Bosses

Personas

Demons

Resistance Types

Skills

Items

Equipment

Locations

Rumors

Credits

Development

Reception

PlayStation

Upon release, Persona 2: Innocent Sin was received better than its predecessor, though it sold a lot less. The sold 170,577 copies in its first week, and 274,798 in its lifetime, with an additional 3,470 copies coming from the PlayStation: The Best re-release, for a total of 278,268 copies sold.^[1]

Famitsu awarded the game a 33/40.^[2] Peter Bartholow wrote a review for GameSpot off an imported copy, where he gave the game a 9.2/10 out of 10 and called it a "nearly flawless excursion off the beaten path" and a "rare gem" compared to its "cookie-cutter" contemporaries. He praised the characterization, in particular Mishina and Maya, but also Tatsuya as he differentiated himself from other RPG protagonists. Bartholow loved the game's detailed setting, which he thought blended "realism and nightmarish psychedelia". He complimented Kaneko's artwork and the animated sprites, though he wished the game was on a more powerful console since the PlayStation's low resolution made some sprites hard to discern. Lastly, he classified the music as "top-notch", and welcomed the addition of voice acting in key moments, which he felt added more depth to the characters.^[3]

Trivia

A trial version was included in the PlayStation release of Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers.

Nomenclature

Names in Other Languages

Language	Name	Meaning
Japanese	ペルソナ2 罪 Perusona Tsū Tsumi	Persona 2: Sin

Gallery

See Gallery

External Links

• Old Website Archive (PSP, Japanese)
• New Website (Japanese)