Original Release: Playstation, 2000. Version Reviewed: Playstation, 2000.
THE PLOT:
Maya Amano is suffering from a serious case of deja vu. Ever since her chance encounter with high school senior Tatsuya Suou, she has been unable to shake the sense that she should know him - even though he's a complete stranger to her.
A story about a mysterious being called "the Joker," who will kill on request for anyone who dials their own phone number, brings Maya to Tatsuya's school. She and her friend Ulala corner the Joker in the school's clock tower, along with police detective Katsuya Suou - Tatsuya's older brother. The killer easily overpowers them, however, and they survive only because of the intervention of Tatsuya, who seems far more powerful than should be possible, and who knows far too much.
When Katsuya is removed from the case, the three continue their investigation with the help of some reluctant allies: Baofu, an extortionist with links to organized crime; Nate, the young heir to the Nanjo group, who has a personal connection with the forces supporting Joker; and Ellen, a model with surprising knowledge of rumors, fortunes, and Personas. Arrayed against them is The New World Order, a group of criminals, politicians, and members of the elite who believe they can usher in a utopia - at the cost of ending the world!
CHARACTERS:
This is a direct sequel and counterpart to Persona 2: Innocent Sin, so it should be no surprise that the characters from that game reappear here. Maya is now the player character and Tatsuya a supporting character. Ironically, this flattens Maya's personality, which is a pity as she was arguably the strongest character in the previous game. Tatsuya fares much better; as the one person who remembers the events of Innocent Sin, he is burdened with a secret that must never be shared, which leaves him actively avoiding his former friends while also attempting to protect them by discouraging their investigation.
This is the only Persona game with adults as the main characters. This allows for some interesting dynamics that would be difficult to replicate with high school students. Katsuya and Baofu form an engaging double act. The dutiful cop and the shady criminal initially despise each other, to the point where they sometimes seem ready to come to blows, but they (of course) gradually develop mutual respect and understanding. Katsuya worries about his younger brother, particularly given his recently changed behavior. Meanwhile, Ulala has projected her own insecurities onto her friend, resulting in a seething envy of Maya's beauty and success. As with Innocent Sin, I will say simply that this is an altogether more complex layer of characterization than you would expect in a 20-year-old PS1 game.
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| An early enemy provides hints to a forgotten past... |
THE CHOICE:
Eternal Punishment has stronger links to the original game than Innocent Sin had, with the first game's Nanjo (Nate in this version) and Elly (Ellen) getting major supporting roles. Early in the game, you will receive a choice to create a rumor regarding a meeting with either a man or a woman. Depending on your choice, one of these two will join the party for roughly half the game.
I strongly recommend saving right before making this choice. After saving, select the female option to play through Ellen's first dungeon. You would be doing yourself a grave disservice by missing out on this dungeon, which is the most narratively interesting one of all three PS1 games, and which also stands as a pretty good short story in its own right. After that dungeon is complete, I would recommend re-loading and selecting the male option, then playing the rest of the game through from there. Everything after the first dungeon in each path is roughly the same... but Nate's links to the New World Order mean that his path offers a lot of little story-related details that bring the plot more fully to life.
GAMEPLAY:
Persona 2: Eternal Punishment makes heavy use of the assets from Innocent Sin. The settings are the same, most of the dungeon maps are the same (with plot events deliberately echoing similar ones from the previous game). For whatever reason, the PSP version of Eternal Punishment was never released outside of Japan, leaving me to play the PS1 version of Eternal Punishment. This leads to slightly fuzzier visuals and clunkier in-game menus; but once I adjusted to those, the gameplay itself was effectively identical - plot and characterization advanced mainly in conversations held in quest hubs, shops, and rooms; the rest being dungeon crawling to plot objectives/bosses, with random battles along the way.
Difficulty is definitely higher than in Innocent Sin - I suspect the PSP version of Innocent Sin balanced the difficulty curve of the original. Still, though it's a reasonably hard game in places, it has very few sudden difficulty spikes. Most roadblocks are best solved not by grinding, but by visiting The Velvet Room and fusing higher-level Personas. In short, combat strategy ends up counting for more than mindless grinding does, which I greatly appreciated.
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| A late-game enemy is a reflection of the past. |
THOUGHTS:
Persona 2: Eternal Punishment is by far the best of the PS1 Persona series. It will not surpise me if I end up ranking it as the best of the series, period. It is a retro game - Modern gamers approaching it will have to adjust to less detailed visuals and clunkier mechanics than modern games offer. Within that limitation, however, it is enormously involving, challenging in a way that doesn't involve endless grinding or cheap luck-based mechanics, and ultimately rewards the gamer's patience with both a fine game and a fine story.
It does strike me as odd that, for a very long time, this was the only Persona 2 available in the West. I can only imagine how odd it must have been to play a game that was so clearly the second half of an extended story. Thankfully, the localization here did not repeat the mistakes of the initial Persona translation - The action definitely takes place in Japan, and all references to Innocent Sin are retained (including a few full flashbacks). But it's very clearly the second half of the story - It's by far the better half, but it unquestionably assumes that you've already played the earlier title.
That said, all I have left to offer are superlatives. The Nate/Ellen choice offers intrinsic replay value, as each path offers not only a unique dungeon but significant amounts of unique dialogue. The story itself is well-presented, mysteries building throughout roughly 50 hours of game time. The main characters are all flawed in their own ways, but are ultimately likable people, and the climax carries a startling amount of emotional weight... particularly if you make choices that allow certain characters to recall the events of Innocent Sin, which results in a poignant epilogue.
Don't get me wrong - This is an old game, and it looks and plays like one. If you're able to accept that, though, Persona 2: Eternal Punishment brushes very close to being a masterpiece in its own right... and if you take it together with its predecessor, it actually strengthens Innocent Sin in retrospect.
I flat-out loved this. Given how cheap it is to download from the Playstation Store, there's no question that it offers retro gamers good value for their money.
Overall Rating: 10/10.
Previous Game: Persona 2 - Innocent Sin
Next Game: Persona 3
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