Dude im loving these reviews. saw your persona 1 review and now this. these stories are really good and i wish i knew about it years ago. but seein as i had to get in the series thru the 5th game. i felt like i couldnt transfer the battle system that p3, 4 and 5 had. thus i never got into the first 2 games. thanks and i cant wait for that next review
Kind of crazy that Innocent Sin is the only Persona game with a bisexual protagonist who can pursue a same-sex romantic option and it released in 1999. Like, come on Atlus, how hard is it to do that again?
One of my favourite moments in this game is when you get to revisit Sumaru Prison and check up on Eikichi's friends over the course of the game. When you first witness how people become Shadowmen, you don't think much of it, because, initially, this is how people without dreams and passion for life would act. However, what elevates this idea further (as opposed to, say, the Apathy Syndrome in Persona 3), is that it shows the regression people experience as their desires and will to live dissipate. Over time, instead of repeating the "what's the point anyway" lines, their condition worsens. First, they start to say select phrases. Then, just one or two words. After that, they just remain silent altogether. But what solidified this concept for me was my last time at Sumaru Prison. After reuniting with the gang at the detective agency, I decided to revisit the Prison one more time. What followed was the moment that made me fall in love with this game, and shed genuine manly tears. Eikichi's friends, whose conditions have been progressively becoming worse... disappeared. *Gone.* *Poof.* Most likely never to be seen again. And then you have to witness everyone's reaction to this moment, Eikichi's obviously being the most heartbreaking (but I also have to mention Shadow Maya's reaction - it has so much spite and venom in it, it made the moment all the more tragic). This is where I want to seriously praise Persona 2 IS for making actions matter. The concept of Shadowmen isn't just some thing that's happening in the background where you never get to fully witness its consequences (looking at you, P3). No, the status quo actively changes throughout the story, and you get to see the effects it has on the setting, its inhabitants and, in turn, the main characters. *Actions have consequences* - and Persona 2 will make damn sure you, the player, remember that. But let's look away from Eikichi's friends and look at the world at large as well. When you interact with various NPC's, you'll see some of them express certain dreams or desires, or being members of the Masked Circle, only to become Shadowmen at some point later. What makes this even sadder is the reaction of other NPC's who were in the same location/interacting with them. When asked about it, they'll just say something along the lines of "Huh? Was I talking to someone? Oh well, doesn't matter". The same thing happens when literally *dozens* of high school students during the Kasugayama High school festival are turned into Shadowmen - so many students, gone, and no one realises that. Recall the poem Maya cites near the end of the game when going through Xibalba, specifically its last line. *"Worse than dead / Forgotten"* This right here truly drives home just how painful it must be to only be seen as mere shadows by the people you know and love, as if you never even existed. Sure, the main cast, who are Persona-users, can see them, but to the world at large? A mere speck of dust in the wind. Moments like this is why I think Persona 2 Innocent Sin is one of the most fascinating video games I've ever played. Its core themes and ideas are so well-put together and expressed throughout the game, it genuinely feels like an experience worth pondering and, well, *remembering.* While I still think Persona 4 is the best game in the series, Innocent Sin comes damn close just for the story and themes alone. Granted, I still haven't played Eternal Punishment (waiting for cj_iwakura to finish his fan translation of the PSP rerelease), so my opinion might change after that. If you haven't played this game, I implore you to check it out - gameplay issues aside, this will probably be one of the most fascinating games you've ever played. And if you have, *please* watch SnicketySlice's analyses of these games - they're incredibly detailed and informative. Thank you for making this video! Having recently beat both Persona 1 and 2 IS, it makes me happy to see more people talking about these games! P.S.: can I also say that the soundtrack of IS is criminally underappreciated? The way the tracks tackle recurring leitmotifs makes the experience even more cohesive: the shops sharing similar motifs depending on what function they serve in the game, the main theme of Sumaru City popping up every once in a while, Joker and Jun's themes being connected, you name it. Oh, and Kimi no Tonari slaps. Fantastic end credits theme.
That PSP fan translation isn't going to come out anytime soon (or at all maybe), you're better off just playing the PSX version. The translation there is by no means bad, and imo the PSX versions have the better battle system as well.
@@skunthundler Really, it depends on how soon it comes out. From what I've seen on the August 2020 update, the translation is actually progressing at a better pace. But hey, if it doesn't, I'll play the original PS1 version, no biggie! Definitely don't want to miss out on the second half of the duology. Plus, I'm currently taking a short break from Persona anyway (to avoid burnout).
Your comment explains exactly why I love the NPCs in Persona 2 so much. I swear they always have something new and relevant to say and it’s great. Also I remember first being confronted with the shadow men at the beginning of the game and feeling genuinely disturbed. I was going in blind at the time so seeing Eikichi’s friends turn into shadow and slowly become forgotten really hurt. Plus Eikichi’s sad theme was perfect for that scene after they first become shadow men,,
As goofy as it is I love hearing Maya scream out, " It's woop ass time!" At the start of a battle. It's so corny but adds a whole lot more personality to Maya. In a persona game with no social links
I love the idea of 3, 4, and 5 being in an alternate reality where the world wasn't destroyed. I am curious to see what SEES, The Investigation Team, and The Phantom Thieves are like in that other reality....
They could be dead or simply not exist since everyone except the people in Sumaru City straight up dies. Though it’d be interesting to see what life is like in the original timeline ten or so years later.
@@Dalrane Of course. But, i'm meaning in the timeframe of their game's time setting, for example, what would that reality's version of 2016 be like, i wonder?
One thing that surprised me about this game was how it portrayed Jun and Tatsuya as a potential couple. Throughout the whole game we are shown how deeply they care about each other with the gift exchange, all the flashbacks that involve just the two of them, Maya's comments, their Persona designs mimicking each other's gifts, etc. When I got to Taurus dungeon and had the "romance" choice I picked Jun cause I liked him the most and was fully expecting to get a "haha funny" answer from the game, but no, Lisa even aknowledges it in an accepting way and the game never mocks you for it (except when it does if you do the lovers interaction with certain demons). It's especially impressive considering this was made in the 90s and it's a japanese game. Maya fits the overall story of the duology better tho.
@@helloill672 this made me so mad, but I get it. After the aids epidemic, gay people were demonized so horribly, so no company dared even hint it. May be a component of why this wasn't advertised in America either
> and it's a japanese game It's a big and common misconception that Japan is some cruel and outdated backwater. If you go outside the mainstream AAA - into niche genres, mid-budget and indie RPGs, and even eroges, you'll see creators willing to explore non-mainstream concepts.
@@Kammereer I am well aware of that. I'm japanese myself and grew up with a bunch of japanese games lol It pretty much goes for every country now that I think about it. Indie games don't suffer the same restraints when it comes to subject matter like AAA games. Perhaps I should've said mainstream japanese game instead. LGBT representation has gotten better now, but back then especially for mainstream games, it was hard to find a nice actual gay option and not something that felt exploitative.
Sadly u didn't understand the Yukino part, but that is because of what it overall it is about the choices that u haven't gotten, and what the persona games were back then about: Independence, self-reflect, acceptance. In this case, Yukino was asking to be with her dying/died friend Fujii Shunsuke (Fujii named after the rl camera company btw), saying "I can't fight anymore" and "leave me to be with him" which sounds like she was saying "let me die with him" and thus giving herself up, which isn't helping her or anyone in this case, as he wanted to live on for his sake too. Her dream of becoming a professional photographer and her promise from earlier in the game to save Anna would have died too. She wouldn't have overcome, by what she implied, the grief of her friend's death alone and needed to share this moment with others to get back on herself again. Also about Maya and her progression: Maya is the only character in the franchise to not accept her shadow, and since this series is about progression, it would mean that Maya wouldn't have accepted her inner (and as a matter of persective: dark) desires that she kept away from others around her, for Maya cares about spreading positiveness and making others happy, to gain happyness in return. The reason why this is such a bittersweet act has to do with the ideals of jungian psychology (one of the fathers of modern psychology & philosophy along with Friedrich Nietzsche) that not overcoming such bottom moments in life is weakness to your own growth as a human/living being, as to some extend it is apathy, a fate worse then death, which btw was a quote Maya mentioned about a poem at the start of the game, which is also linked about being forgotten and overally tied to persona 2 (both games) thematic.
I never got that and just thought that Maya was in denial. Thanks for the insight, it makes me appreciate the classic Persona games more, especially how it treats Shadows and a human's personality.
Damn this game sounds amazing. I thought I wanted to play P3 but this actually sounds like an incredible experience to undertake if my computer can handle an emulater. I kind of feel guilty for all those times I made those "Persona 1 and 2 don't exist" jokes
P2 IS was my second game in the series after P4 original and I got sucked into this game just as easily as P4. The soundtrack is phenomenal and the characters are great. Luckily the PSP is fairly easy to emulate from with I've heard(I don't have a PC and I only emulated GBA games on my mom's computer back in the day), so as long as you grab PPSSPP and the game, you should be good to go.
The ps1 emulator is very easy to run so you should be able to play the fan translation of P2 IS and play Persona 2 eternal punishment after. Like the comments before said, the psp emulator is also a good option if you want to go for that route but i recommend the ps1 emulator more
I feel the logic behind the Yukino choice is that by leaving her behind to mourn, you're not having faith in the strength she has, instead letting her dwell and collapse under the weight You're not trusting her to be able to handle her now and present responsibilities
Tatsuya will forever be my favorite protagonist of the series. Also shout out to him for being the only canon bisexual who can have a boyfriend. Good for you, Tacchi.
At this point, he’s just my favorite male character from the franchise period. He’s just so fascinating and different from any other Persona protagonist and it’s great. Wish he was as popular as, say, Joker, but I just want Persona 2 to be more noticed in general.
@@wutduck1763 He needs to be more popular than Joker because Tatsuya is peak fiction level protagonist unlike Joker who's just a self insert Empowerment bitch.
@@greggaygayakutami1402 I mean 1 & 2 did focus more on the mc’s the most and p3 protag was slightly at best, p4 was a genuine self insert but joker was something similar with 2 and 3 and a mix with 4 I can’t English cuz I’m hella high rn
@@dx5gaming715 there was nothing about his history, there was no older brother like Katsuya who prevents the self inserts from doing shit, he was just sent to a new place just like Yu Nakamura and he's a bland self insert, also the Persona 1 Protagonist was also a bland self insert so he is not an indicator that the original is the best, it was only when Tadashi handled the story when Persona became close to Peak fiction, there wasn't any bland character archetypes, there wasn't any random cosmic villain that came out of nowhere, there wasn't any self inserts, there wasn't any chunnis who think they got stands, Nope they made the situation worse because of how immature they are and the conflict just continuous to get better and better. This is why Persona 2 is INFINITELY better than all Persona Games and is one of the best games in video game history and is also one of the most well written fantasy operas ever made.
I feel like in the ending when we see eikichi and miyabi together, I was honestly hoping she'd be shown as chubby in the end to really hammer in that it doesn't matter what weight you are, what you look like etc etc, the love will always be there. but I'm happy they're together regardless, their arc is too cute (づ ̄ ³ ̄)づ
2:13 Actually, the reason has been stated. They just didn't have the money to export it. Atlus West only had enough money to localise one of the Persona 2 games, and chose Eternal Punishment because it had a more complete ending.
Nyarlathotep is the best boss in the entire persona series since he actually won and for my experience in the series (I have played 1,2,3,5) he was the only final boss that was a challenge for me.
@@daviemerim3002 Nyarlathotep was the main villain of 3 Persona games, he is anything but forgettable. Also Maruki is not the only one with honest desires, we have Adachi and we have Strega and in Persona 2 we have Joker, who also wanted to only help humanity.
@@daviemerim3002 Well most of the villians are not really gods but shadows of the human psyche so it depends on what you view as a human. Maruki might be the most human, but the others are in my view also very human, especially Nyarlathotep.
I remembered that someone once summarised the whole story of Tatsuya in IS and EP in a sentence. Cant remember the exact words but it goes like this: "What he did was an Innocent Sin, what he got was an Eternal PUnishment..."
Yeah about the gameplay, I have only played the PS1 translation, so seeing your PSP gameplay left me speechless. The tiny amount of damage you were taking is not something I'm used to seeing. I understand the idea of sticking with official versions and ways to play, and I respect that. But I think you should still check the PS1 version out if you ever get the chance. It's very affordable to get an actual copy of it to apply the patch, and it is actually compatible with real hardware too
If I go back to Innocent Sin, it'll be the PS1 version just to see if it is much better. People also suggested to me to go through Persona 1 again but make sure to get Reiji because he adds a lot to Kandori in that game. So I'll probably do a stream if people are interested. I'll see if I can snag a copy of the PS1 version of Innocent Sin at some point.
@@chroe4729 Yes. I’ve streamed a few times in the past and they’re currently in a playlist on my channel. They’re unlisted videos so you have to watch them through the playlist.
In Philemon's defense, I think he didn't really have any choice in the matter of putting together this scenario. Really, honestly, neither does Nyarlathotep. They're both beings who were created from humanity's collective unconscious, and they both represent different facets of humanity. Philemon is our hope and optimism, Nyarlahotep is cynicism and nihilism. The latter will always try to destroy the world or cause pure chaos because it's the part of us that want it, and the former will always choose heroes to fight against that because it's the part of us that don't. That's how I see it, at least.
Maya is actually an incredibly important character and holds one of the greatest forms of symbolism throughout both games. The amount of depth this game has into the collective unconscious and Hinduism is absolutely insane. Loved IS and EP.
This is a great video and review! I'm so happy to see more people talk about Persona 1 and 2, I really love those games and I hope that more people can appreciate it by watching your content. Persona 2 IS and EP really changed me and I fully think that they are some of the most underappreciated games ever made. The story telling, characters, atmosphere, music, settings and so much more is really memorable and made for some great experiences.
I'd argue the thng with Yukino's choice is worded different from the past choices, and doesn't imply "trusting her to handle something herself" and more "leaving her alone to focus on the quest", while the good chocie is "helping her push aside her grief for the sake of others", and the overal situation is very different in context from what I can tell. PLus somestimes you kinda HAVE to help someone through a problem, such as their grief at the loss of a loved one, and not just leave them alone to it. Sure, they could've given you more choices like that so you avoid tackling everything in the same way, but I don't think it's as bad as you're making it out to be.
Two entities betting on mankind's fate, a super sentai knock off called feather man, a character named Joker there's a lot of Persona 2 references in 5
6:49 Not if you choose Reiji Kido for the 5th party member, giving him slight character development for his hate towards Takahisa Kandori. It’s not much, but it’s enough.
Innocent Sin is my favorite game of all time and I just love the well fleshed our characters, the mature storyline, and the superb voice acting in the Japanese version. Takehito Koyasu is one of my favorite Japanese voice actors and he really nails Tatsuya in both Persona 2 games. I just hope that since 2021 is the 25th anniversary of the Persona sh series that we can get a port of Persona 1, Innocent Sin, Eternal Punsihment, to modern systems and PCs for easier accessibility for newcomers. I also really like how Innocent Sin has great LGBT representation with Jun and Tatsuya. They are the best pairing in the game in my opinion. I also really love the soundtrack and artwork for the game, especially on PS1 with that signature sound the PS1 has and Kazuma Kaneko’s amazing artwork in the manual and the box art. Also originally Jun was going to be the protagonist of Eternal Punishment instead of Maya
The PS1 version is a lot harder, the developers probably thought what you did about whether a game should be hard or not and decided to make it on the easier side, they probably got scared of re-releasing a game that was too hard, and made the PSP version a lot easier.
I just found you today since I started my new game + of persona 4 and I am binging your videos while playing. Thank you for for awesome content. I subscribed 👍
Speaking of Persona 2 IS and forshadowing (this covers some spoilers, so be warned): If you start the original PS1 intro (featured in the PSP version mind you) you will also be heavily forshadowed for multiple reasons: For one the dialogue of "der Doppelgaenger" is present there, a german poem (and also a song by the same name by Schubert) which the game also refers to and is also partway key to the story and even one of the conclusion you will draw at the end of the game, even if you have to think symbolic or directly about what has been mentioned there. And the imo way more maliciously forshadowing is the music itself (that also goes heavily for the game with its leitmotifs and parallels in itself, such a high video game standard) which reappears quite some during the story later on, and even after the finale (you know which part of it!), which to my interpretation leads to that everything that happened was a rigged game, that the moment u start playing/watching this.. drama/tragedy unfold that you have already lost the game. The game is so ahead of its time writingwise that it spoilers you basically through music and that the stakes are so rigged that in this game there is no chance you can ultimately win. It is truely a vae victis!
Glad to see people like you and Marsh are talking about these SMT or Persona games. Getting people like me more into this series and just making these games more talked about. Great video.
Holy shit! I just finished my 4th Innocent Sin playthrough last weekend and i have never gotten Yukino killed XD, straight up didn't know that was a thing, like maybe i ever so faintly remember reading a random thread years ago saying she can die but i thought the guy was high since it just never happened, i have no trouble choosing the wrong dialogue choices intentionally, but its a heavy scene for me and her loved one just died so i just never even consider leaving her behind, its an empty option in my opinion and doesn't really do anything for her and she's already gone through hell in P1 and now this, so i decide to be cruel and reasonable with "You'd deny his last request?", because i know Yukino would want to follow the request and it would give her the reason to keep living, kinda how Nanjo decides to become the number 1 man in Japan in P1 after hearing Yamaoka's last words. *cough* but yeah you took away the only reason keeping her going in her worst moment so she ends up dying it makes perfect sense, not looking forward to trying that out... Really shows the beauty of how different players can see the narrative through experiences though, if you still remember me im still on Nocturne playing it again but im nearing close to the end, and i'll be joining you playing Eternal Punishment blind because for some retarded reason for 6-7 years as a Persona fan i only now found the time to play it past the intro despite finishing all the other mainline games in months originally, also i still absolutely love P1 combat yet Innocent Sin is so slow for me, so im not a big fan of it either even though i clearly love old school games, plus the easy difficulty (did struggle a lot more this playthrough), but anywho in Eternal Punisment im at the Sanitarium currently, beat its boss and i can see we're both enjoying the increased difficulty. Before i forget this is easy to miss probably but Nyarly can somehow switch his damage to doing SP damage instead of HP damage, so if you look at your footage you can see your SP actually going down instead, though your point about damage might still stand not sure, hard to gauge different levels of easy. Also i know not everyone has all the time in the world like me but besides Persona and SMT there's also the Etrian Odyssey series made by Atlus, its hardcore old school JRPGs playing them myself, might not be your cup of tea but im sure the newer games in the series target wider audiences and you might like those, give them a look as well if you ever find the time.
Very well put together video, man! I had played this for the first time recently and was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. I thought this was the best of the classic Persona games, still a little rough around the edges, but I really enjoyed the characterization here.
I think Tatsuya has a lot of personality in the game aside from the stuff that you stares in your video I'd also add that he has a temper and is sort of aggressive, I mean when you run away from battle one of his lines is " You better watch your back!"
This video was on my recommend and I clicked so fast and subscribed,, it does an amazing job analyzing persona 2 IS. Personally the duology became my favorite persona game because of the story and how it made me care so much for the characters. Can’t wait for Eternal Punishment video and all the feels it’s plot has,,
The choice you made with Yukino was wrong and it does make sense. The choices in having faith in the other characters is about showing their individual strength, leaving her alone lets her get crushed by her emotional weight while "Are you going to ignore his last request...?" is about showing her that she has to get up and keep fighting because it is the right thing to do, the world is in danger and Yukino is strong enough to stand up and keep moving forward because due to the situation it's the right thing to do. It's basically about having faith in that she isn't weak instead of leaving her in her misery... not to mention that the scene is built up to show that she isn't in her right mind due to the emotional shock... so yeah... I do get your logic, though.
One of my favorite elements of this game is the way the town dialogue changes every time the story progresses. It's pretty incredible attention to detail.
Honestly this game’s story looks *insane* and really cool, but I don’t think I could bring myself to actually play it just because of the random encounters.
Use a fast foward button on emulator or get estoma. The random encounter is maybe the only thing that can get to your nerves, really, but I think is totally worth it.
The PS1 version isn't much harder. It's still very easy. Very detailed video. There were some things about the plot that didn't hit me until I watched this.
I hope that Persona 6 is about the P2IS cast when they've grown up and stuff and have to reawaken to their personas by confronting their shadows but in this version their shadows aren't like P4's shadows where it's a manifestation of your darkest thoughts and stuff but instead is a manifestation of how people look at you and then they awaken by telling their shadow who they really are etc. and then they fight Nyarlathotep again but it's his actual form and he's huge. yk the Persona thing. Ofc i think they'd have to fix the nazi thing. I think the rumors would be a lot more normal in the start and then get darker as the game goes on.
I think I have a theory on why forcing Yukino to come with you is the right answer it's because if she with you the shadow can't pull a switch with her or ambush her
I've never played 1 or 2 but I really like the style of these older persona games and the darker tone. Yeah I love the stylish and bright style of persona 5 but I would love to see a real modern remaster of these games .
This is a really good review. I've always been a little interested in the P2 characters cause their designs are cool, but I was never sure if I'd play the older games cause of their age, but the game doesn't actually look that bad, so I'll have to try it out. Thanks for the awesome review and making me want to play
The day persona 1 and 2 get remakes and persona 3 fes and 4 golden are ported/get remakes for the ps4, ps5 and switch. I'll be finally be able to die happy....😭🙌🏿
Omg I’m so glad you made a vid on this. My (2nd) favourite persona game, it’s so good. The atmosphere, the story, the subtle progression like eikichi’s friends, the unlikable characters who are developed to be the best in the series (for me anyway). I genuinely think this is the best megaten game.... other than p4g...
So that is what this game is all about. Thanks for the video. I would play this game to better experienced it, but since I don't have free time for it, this video helps a lot. Looking forward for Eternal Punishment vídeo. =)
This is my Favorite Persona game and I look forward to seeing your perspective on it it and how much you do/don’t enjoy it. I’ve really been looking forward to this review
There is a full play through of the ps1 innocent sin translation and it marks the gameplay and difficulty SO much better. That’s why playing Eternal Punishment (PS1 version) next already seems infinitely better. The PSP version gutted any point of gameplay. I tried to not get armor, I only fuse a persona or two, but in Eternal Punishment (PS1), I had to plan everything out and it made me enjoy every minute of it, it was amazing
To be honest, those blank cards felt like a MASSIVE improvement after P1 to me. Considering that talking to demons felt waaaaay easier than in P1 (at least I thought so), I could spend a good amount of time just farming these cards with demon I KNEW for certain I could pursuade, get several hundred of these, then have some fun in velvet room.
The story and characters are pretty good, but what saved this game for me was the "zio + tackle" combo. It didn`t work every time, but it was a good enough shortcut through most battles, specially near the ending.
i know this is an old video and people have mentioned their own takeaways but i wanted to mention my own take on yukki’s choice with durga; in all the previous cases you’re not dealing with the problems at hand for them, right? you’re not taking the risks for them. eikichi has to get his ass kicked. et cetera. and in yukki’s case instead of solving the problem of the masked circle at the caracol and avenging fujii/saving anna for yukki you have to drag her along instead of letting her sit there while you do all the work for her. idk i wanted to write that thought process down somewhere
I LOVE this game. Played the hell out of it when it came out. Funnily enough because of the SP usage correlating to the Affinity of the Persona and the scarcity of SP items, I played the entire game almost exclusively using the partie's starting, prime and ultimate personas lol.
The lion masked "joker" was alarming. Is this like how the resonance guitar old man said if you had a "lion" familiar it was a huge honor? Is it like the Naeberieus pact of wearing a "persona" carved mask that makes the familiar awaken so others have a "familiar"? The Naeberieus pact I think was a disrespect for the living from Middle East to Egypt and after the mask wearer died the liked familiar was kept alive with the mask. I think this started with Middle Eastern "concencration sphinxes" to a lot of beings in Egypt at one time. Thank you for reading my comment and thank you for letting me comment in your posted video.
I've never finished any persona games before. The major problem for me to keep playing persona is when I get to the less interesting part of the story or just when I just simply don't know what to do. I stopped playing persona 3 portable when i reached the beach part because i didn't know where to click. I stopped playing persona 4 after Kanji's ark when you have to wait for him to recover. I've recently finished smt iii and iv, and I think I need a lighter game for a break from the frustration of playing the main line. Would persona 2 be a suitable game for me?
holy fuucking POG (i hope that stays a twitter thing and doesn't actually become racist) thisis the most excited i've been for anything since mark rober's devil's toothpaste video. amazing how such small creators can have so much quality. keep at it.
Is "SP" like a ren, ryu, reiu type "Spirit Point" word? Aren't teal life abilities once awakened like "excercise"? If you use the ability awakened (like with the tarots personas here) then it only usually is used when needed unless you use it and test it like exercise to where you use it so much willingly for yourself. Thank you for reading my comment, thank you for letting me post a comment on your posted video.
Ah yes Persona 2: Innocent Sin- the only game in Persona/SMT franchise where protag can be gay! Jokes aside I wish more Persona/SMT games took examples from P2IS. To this day I remember how grossed out I felt in P3 when I had to date almost EVERY woman in the game to max out SLs. Honestly, I don't expect some epic Gay/Lesbian romance, but either let me opt out early on or give me that one symbolic option like Jun. It's frigging 2022 Atlus, why can't you do that one simple thing when you did it quite nicely in *90s*. Persona 5 even winks to you by letting Akira to declare his love for Ryuji in front of the crowd or going "Honey, I'm home" with Goro. It's so frustrating :/ But aside from accidental (or not so much) representation story wise IS is one of my favourites. In a way, the game is one of the best Lovecraftian games I ever played. IS somehow managed to sneakily embrace the most important elements that make Lovecraftian story and weave them into the plot. Because something that a LOT of Lovecraft-inspired games don't get is that what makes Lovecraft great isn't Cthulhu or the amount of slime and tentacles you pack into the game. It's about existential horror. It is about people trying to conquer forces they have no means to do so. It's about seeing people folding down when pressured and following these perverted religious figures/"deities" when confronted with unrelenting force. And finally, it's about those few people who against all common sense, decide that they need to do something about the situation and even if they are going to die, they are going to take down "the monster". For all grim-darkness in those stories, I always felt it made for way more motivational/educational stories than those Instagram motivational memes. Granted I didn't get around playing PSP version of EP so I can't comment of additional content, but considering revs and the duology I have high hopes for EP
Hugely enjoyed this video :) And yeah, the first hour is borderline cruel with the amount of info it throws at you. The first time playing this and trying to pay attention still went with "Whut?!". 😅😂
In my case, i didnt even noticed how to properly use the combined attack mecanic, so the game got overall callenging in the end. Its not like a complaing neither, i thing my autodifficulty increasement made the game more fun
Your complaints about the final boss are redundant if you watch what "damage" he does to you, as the final boss has a spell that if he casts that will not do HP but SP damage to you for multiple turns ahead, hindering itself of being an actual threat to you (be it on purpose in terms of story or not), so if he does single point digits to you, also shown in your video, then it is because he used that spell on you (I dont remember the name of it, its been some years since I played that game, but I remember him having this issue, the spell also exists in the original PS1 version).
There’s this theory that the raido devil summoner games takes place in the world that you leave behind at the end of the game and that persona 3, 4, and 5 take place in the world where eternal punishment takes place