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Rewarding, but not for beginners

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: July 31, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Persona 2: Eternal Punishment probably has the most apt title of any RPG you'll see. Unless you know what you're doing, you'll be unexpectedly crushed, and it will be disheartening. Fortunately though, the plot is gripping enough to make you want to trudge through. A serial killer called JOKER is killing people by request (if you call your own cell phone #, he kills the person you hate most -- or so the urban myth goes). The heroine, Maya Amano, is busy with a routine day at the magazine publisher she works for when she gets a letter in the mail. In scrawled letters it reads, "YouRE NExT - JOKER". Not good.

This is just scratching the surface of the immense and bizarre plot, especially given that this game is just half of the story; The prequel was never imported. Fortunately, even though there are lots of references to past games, a later dungeon (Mt. Iwato) pretty much spells everything out with a couple of flashbacks. The gameplay itself is orignal: Every character gets a melee weapon, which is largely useless, and a "Persona", a summoned creature that deals magic damage. If you negotiate with enemies (you don't actually have to fight any if you don't want), they give you cards which can be exchanged for more powerful Persona. Your EXP level determines which ones you can summon, but it's not good to recklessly buy the biggest badboy Persona you can find just because he has a high level. You are given a chance to peruse the abilities each Persona will learn as it grows in power -- THIS IS IMPORTANT. Otherwise it's likely that the next boss will mop the floor with you. It's good to have a few Persona that can combine spells to cast a FUSION ATTACK. Fusions occur if you cast a certain order of spells in a row -- two or more Persona appear at the same time and combine their strength. This is the key to your survival. It's also fun to see the multitude of Fusion attack animations, which number in the dozens.

Maya joins up with her friend Ulala, a cop named Katsuya, and a shifty guy named Baofu. In order to progress, you also need to spread RUMORS (which automatically come true in Persona...don't ask). You get rumors by navigating the city and chatting with civilians who call themselves Rumormongers. When they say something important, it's highlighted in RED TEXT, and you can take that rumor to someone else who will spread it for a flat fee. The point of spreading rumors is to open up businesses that sell weapons and armor, basically. It's pretty funny to watch, because in reaction to the serial killings, a designer clothing store starts selling body armor which you can buy. The city is shown from a bird's eye view, and you just pick which district you want to go to and move around a green cursor to enter buildings. Basically, it's just like Persona 1, only without the hideous loading times. Most stores offer the same stuff (healing, buying items, etc), but they have really weird themes for doing so. For example, you can go to a tanning salon to heal your party members in one district, or go to chiropractor to heal them in another. It's pretty weird.

As for battles, things get even stranger. Instead of fighting, you can choose at almost any time to have one or more characters approach a demon and chat them up. Depending on the demon's personality and which characters you use, the demon will either get angry, scared, interested or delighted. If you amuse it enough, it will make deals with you in the future. If not, it predictably gets mad and you get nothing. Maya whips out a microphone and starts interviewing the demon. Katsuya the the cop paces around and accuses the demon of a crime. Baofu and Nate argue about baseball. It's completely insane and utterly hilarious. The only flaws in this are that everybody says the same thing every time, and the battles themselves get pretty tedious. The diffuculty of the game takes a nose-dive during the final dungeons. Very disappointing, but the story is still top-notch. I especially enjoy the detailed anime character portraits, which are also top-quality. This balances out the somewhat primative 2D character sprites and largely bland dungeons. The gigantic city itself is much prettier than the dungeons.

A beauty of the Persona series

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 7
Date: April 11, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I played the original Persona and loved it. When I heard about a second one, I had to get it. Of course, many know there are three Persona games in the Shin Megami Tensei series:

Revelations: Persona
Persona 2 Innocent Sin (Batsu in Japan)
Persona 2 Eternal Punishment

Innocent Sin was never released here due to its very questionable content, but only those who played that one will know fully what's going on in Eternal Punishment. On the other hand, it's not difficult to comprehend what's going on in this story (but it can be if you don't pay attention to every single detail). The plus side is that if you played Revelations, then you'll get a real treat in this game. I know I did.

In any case, this Persona outclasses Revelations in quite a few things. The mighty Persona return to supply your characters with magical attacks against demons. However, they have improved on a few things. First, you don't have to have the Persona's exact level to equip it like in Revelations. You just have to be in range of the Persona's level. Second, the fusion spell system, the game's biggest battle highlight, makes combat a little less painful. By combining certain spells and elements to form powerful big magic, you can clear the screen of enemies in nothing flat. An even nicer bonus is that when you defeat monsters using fusion spells, there's a chance your Persona may mutate, giving it some kind of bonus such as two learning levels gained, a parameter boost, its hidden spell gets unlocked or the chance of turning into a completely new Persona. You can further customize Persona in the infamous Velvet Room, a place familiar to all Persona fans. You can add specific spells and even increase the parameters of a Persona upon its creation using magic cards before the process. Third, the battles are a bit more smooth flowing since range does not matter anymore. In the original, your members were limited to only certain actions depending on where they stood. Now, your party and the monsters jump all over a seemingly endless terrain. You can fight monsters with weapons or Persona, as well as negotiate with them using not only one person but as many as three people, making for entertaining compromises. Also, you can switch Persona if you're carrying extra ones without wasting turns, thereby allowing you access to several fusion spells at any given time. And even better, you can set the game to auto battle with specific orders so they can build Persona levels without you having to cycle through the commands over and over again (in the meantime, you can go read a book or get a snack).

Now on to what makes this Persona much greater in difficulty than Revelations. First, the dungeons. The many dungeons in this Persona become exceedingly huge and confusing after the first dungeon. Twists and turns galore (along with time limits in some of them and constant combat) can drive many RPG veterans crazy. Many dungeons take patience to finish, and there's even a feature where an Arab gentleman asks you to map the current dungeon on your list. If you can bearably map it all out, bring him the finished product and he'll reward you with items that can help you out in the Velvet Room. Second, many boss battles get very tough and sometimes impossible if you don't prepare properly. You need levels, lots of items, decent weapons and Persona with a variety of magic to win most of the boss battles with everyone intact. Since you have five people to prep, this gets time-consuming and expensive.

A nice side feature of this Persona is the rumor system. Spreading rumors to get certain monsters to appear, alter a dungeon's appearance or get a store to sell certain things it never did before are just some of the neat rumors you can spread. You can even make new Persona available when no other way is possible to get them.

The characters, story and music are excellent. Persona 2 stars the older characters from Innocent Sin as the heroes. Also, two of the many high school heroes from the first Persona can join your team, bringing back fond memories of that game. Many of them are actually seen and mentioned in this one, so it's a real treat for Persona fans. The story is only complex if you haven't played Batsu (which many of us haven't) but you don't need to play Batsu to comprehend it. There are lot of main points to keep an eye on, so watch for them. The music rules in every Shin Megami game. It mostly draws on the pool of techno, heavy metal and rock, mostly due to the fact that the game takes place in present day Japan, not a fantasy realm. This keeps the feeling that you're playing a "real world" game.

All and all, yet another great PS1 RPG and a reason to keep your fondness for the series strong. The game includes a very difficult extra dungeon that I myself have never finished because of the extreme length and monster madness. Don't let that stop you from trying. The end is a real surprise.

Very fun and challenging...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: April 11, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Persona 2 is another rare collectible rpg for playstation. A deep expansive battle summoning system is the core to this game. The setting is the modern day which is a nice change from the normal villages, blacksmiths, and potions of most rpgs. Solid graphics, great storyline, and challenging enemies makes this a well put together game. I would love to see a part three but its been awhile so perhaps we are out of luck. I reccomend this game for any rpg fan cause its just plan fun and interesting and thats what rpgs are all about, right?

Quite possibly, my favorite RPG.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: January 06, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This is truly on of the greatest RPG's on a console. It has a modern setting, dark story, and truly challenging combat. Although the 'monster collection' aspect may turn off some. The endless mazes (although automapping is some help) do make the game a little tedious, as do the endless character voicings. But the beautiful interactions between characters (even at the end, I was stumped with regards as to who would pair up), the difficult combat that really requires strategy, and the huge amount of 'essential' items to collect make this one a must have.

Fantastic!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: August 27, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This game is absolutely excellent - it really leaves nothing to be desired. The story and characters are all very drawing. You will really find yourself wanting to know more about the deep history and pasts of all characters. The artwork is lovely, and the battles are truly innovative. Talk to demons and tell them to leave the battle, or give you cards to summon new personas! The only complaint I might have is that this game is very, very difficult. Right from the bginning, battles will be a challenge, but if you can get over that (gameshark), then you'll be very very satisfied with this game... a must-own piece of Japanese pop-culture phenomena.

Wonderfully different

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: December 03, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This game is not that hard. I guess if the only RPGs you've ever played are on the Playstation, it might seem difficult. But if I were to criticize its challenge level, I would say it's not hard enough.

There are a few quirks; if you want some of the extras, you have to walk on every step of certain dungeons. But since you can get out of random battles by talking to monsters, this is much less frustrating than in could be. This game also shows some of Japan's less savory aspects; one of the adult female characters is slightly obsessed with getting a boyfriend. But since she's a strong, foul-mouthed kickboxer, this isn't quite as irritating as it could be. And the characters are generally likeable, interesting, and believable -- and you'll learn something about modern Japan from their interactions. Plus, you can shape their growth by equipping them with a Persona that will increase a certain stat that they need help with, or that is their most important aspect.

The voice acting is very good, the graphics are nice, the monster designs are delightfully kooky, and the anime sequences are great. This is a game for teenagers and adults; not because it's especially violent or sexual, but because it's mature. It takes patience to unlock all the extras and grow your Personas, which allow you to use magic and do necessary combos with others. It also takes judgement to decide which Personas to use. Remember when all RPGs required those things? If you wish they still did, or if you're just looking for something different, try this game.

Deep But Ultimately Frustrating!

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 4 / 9
Date: June 25, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Persona2 has all the qualities of a good rpg. The characters have such a history that you actually care about their well being. I have been playing Persona2 off and on for about a year often taking a break from it when I encounter a particularly hard boss, like the Weng Long fortune teller Ms. Shishawa (I think that was her name) in the underwater maze. Uala is my favorite character since I would most react like she would to the weird plot that makes up the drama of the game.
It has to do with a evil cult basically wanting to cleanse the world of all corruption by destroying it and creating it over again (you would think) this cult has very prominent and powerful members, heads of state, government officials, the local police, the military...celebrity fortune tellers...etc. Well you play a reporter for a small "zine" put out by the Kismet Publishing Company and you first get involved in the Joker murders...Well I could tell you the whole story but it's very long and if you don't pay attention it gets complicated. You end up fighting Narlethotep, a creature straight out of the Cthulhu mythos for those of you who are familiar with Lovecraft. There are quite a few Lovecraft inspired monsters you end up fighting. This is a very wierd and difficult rpg. The mazes and dungeons, though looking like ultra-postmodern dance clubs, buildings etc, will give you migraines and you have the bosses for whom you'll have to level up as much as possible and devise somekind of strategy because in Persona2, strength is nothing without some brains and even then you'll still get a headache. This game is hard and not for the average gamer. I recommend renting it first.

when work really pays off

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: December 23, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Persona 2: Eternal Punishment is perhaps the most deep, engrossing...and (...) hard game ever! This is the only RPG I've ever played where ten hours of gameplay really IS ten hours of gameplay. So much work is put into the battles; tweaking your spells and stragegies to unlock combination(fusion) spells, or contacting the demons in the midst of battle to negotiate for items, money, and information. Ridiculously challenging bosses are the main problems in this game, but the amount of work you put into fighting them (and the really damn-cool story and story-sequences) make it worth your considerable effort. A must-buy for gamers looking for something macabre and new, but definately not for the faint of heart and courage.

A Flawed Masterpiece

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: October 29, 2001
Author: Amazon User

This is an RPG that tells a n entertaining story of murder set in the present time.It's based on a girl named Maya,a reporter, who works for a popular teen mag.You start game following leads on the Joker,a serial killer.The "rumor" is that one can contact this murderer for hire by simply calling there own celluar phone.The game takes place in Japan I believe and has
some nice backgrounds and atmosphere.The in-game graphics are good and the CG is beatiful,using anime style drawing.The voice acting was great and the music had strong techno and jazz tones,which is all great.In fact this whole is very differant from tradition RPG's.It's set in a gothic world where everything
is dark. It's strong occult themes and deep characters are very
off the beaten path.what I didn't like about this game is it's battle system.You start a fight with a set of questions from your enemy,if you please him' he'll give you an item.That's cool.
But fights are preset meaning you give the members (ALL members)
tasks to do in a fight.I, personally, don't like games that use
systems like this. If you are into stragy RPG's then you might like this, because story is great,but rent first.

Megami Tensei Suki Desu!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: October 10, 2001
Author: Amazon User

The Megami Tensei line has done it again: another great game with interesting characters, a gripping storyline, and a very innovative gameplay and battle system. A must-have for RPG fans!

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