Great Japanese RPGs have long had a spotty track record with regards to receiving localizations for the
Sadly, despite receiving Eternal Punishment in
The main character, reporter Maya Amano, is sent to investigate a string of killings pertaining to a childish rumor about ''The Joker.'' Word is among High School students that if you call your own phone number and hang up, a serial-killer will answer the phone and murder whoever the caller wishes. Soon enough, the little rumor turns into reality and it is Maya's job to find out what is going on. Upon reaching the school, Maya finds the principal murdered. Soon after, Maya, her friend Ulala, and a police officer Katsuya find the joker and confront him. The meeting causes hidden powers within the characters to awaken, called Personas. Some people are able to tap into the collective subconscious of all humanity and call forth Personas to help them with their powers, and this notion of a universal consciousness is the key to both Persona's story and battle system.
The story of Persona quickly branches away from the Joker and into a massive conspiracy. This is where the previous idea of a collective subconscious comes into play. The world exists as a culmination of the thoughts of those that live in it, so if one changes what people think, then reality will change accordingly. If enough people believe in the Joker rumor, then it will become true. If you spread a rumor that a local bartender is also an arms dealer, then you can order a magnum with your beer. Naturally, the story line uses this gimmick to make the storyline twist and turn as the characters realize that both they and the people that they are fighting are manipulating the will of the masses into furthering their own ambitions. From the very beginning, the story had me completely captivated until the very end. Very few games set out to create a story this original, and even less succeed, but Persona 2 manages the feat and creates an unforgettable story.
Further enhancing the storyline are the frequent opportunities to talk to your party members. In every shop location, you can talk to your party members, revealing new plot aspects and helping to give the characters much more depth. Your members will say unique things for nearly every location for every point in the game. I often found myself visiting old locations just so I could talk to my party members to see what interesting things would come up. This sort of detail solidifies Persona’s story as one of the best in RPG history.
The gameplay hinges heavily upon the game's story. Each character can equip one Persona at a time, with the Persona's leveling up much like a normal RPG character would. While your character's gain levels and stats the same way that characters do in nearly every other RPG, their growth is overshadowed by the use of the Personas. Frequent updating of your Personas, as well as having a strong backup supply of Personas is extremely important to doing well in the game, because it sure isn't easy. In order to get new Personas, your characters need to be at a high enough level, and you need to have enough Tarot cards to summon them. In order to get cards, you are expected to talk to and become come friends with the Demons that inhabit every dungeon.
During combat, you can choose for characters to converse with the enemies. Depending on which characters you choose, the Demons will respond with one of 4 different emotions. Once the demon experiences the same emotion three times in a single conversation, the talking will end and the Demon will take an appropriate response. Scare them, and they will flee. Intrigue them, and receive tarot cards. Befriend them, and earn valuable items. Scare them, and watch as they enter a homicidal rage of non-stop attacks. The game gives you a decent introduction to these systems, but doesn't stress their importance nearly enough, as most bosses will absolutely destroy you if you are not prepared. The game is significantly more difficult than the average RPG, partially due to the complex battle and spell systems.
The battle system is, for the most part, automated. People will continue doing the same given command over and over whenever their turn comes up unless you hit X to cancel back to the menu and change their commands. You can also force people to wait until another member has cast their spell to take action. This may seem only useful for healing spells, but it is in fact integral to the gameplay. The game has a very unique combo system where certain spells or elements can be cast in specific orders to unleash one of several hundred spell combinations contained within the game. While some of the combos are straightforward, such as Water + Earth = Waterfall Crusher, some are really difficult to pull off, but are significantly more powerful. These combos require specific Personas to use specific moves, and considering there are over 100 personas in the game, figuring some of the combos out on your own may be impossible.
The Personas are taken from Mythologies from all over the world, and their combo attacks fit into the mythologies as well. Combine Heimdall, Surt, Loki, Fenrir, and Odin to unleash Ragnarok on your opponents. Likewise, combining Apollo, Prometheus, Astria, Artemis, and Hyperion gives a Greek Panthenon inspired attack. The game is filled with tons of these little references to worldwide mythology, and also gives the player a brief description of the Persona’s origins. It also gets many, many props for recognizing the difference between Satan and Lucifer.
The game itself will take RPG veterans nearly 50 hours to complete, and there are plenty of extras that may cause you to max out the clock at 99 hours. Halfway through the game, you choose who the 5th character in your party will be. The character will stay with you for the next 15-25 hours of the game, and you will experience a separate dungeon and several different bosses depending on who you choose. Complete the game on both paths and you will unlock an extra dungeon after you beat the game using the same characters and from when you beat the final boss. This bonus dungeon can take nearly 20 hours to beat, and depending on how fast and how complete your playthrough is, the more bonuses you can unlock. If you truly get hooked on the game, expect to spend nearly 150 hours getting everything, if not more.
Persona's graphics are solid except for the character portraits. The character portraits are very large and detailed, helping in the presentation of the story. Aside from the high quality portraits, very little is exceptional. The maps are 3 dimensional can be rotated with the shoulder buttons, while the characters are sprite based. The designers have done an excellent job creating a realistic and detailed modern Japanese city, from the colorful convenience stores to an abandoned mental institution. While not the best graphics on PSX, they are detailed enough to realistically create the world that you will inhabit for the next 50 hours.
The music is a mix of outstanding and mediocre. The game's battle music is lackluster, but most of the environmental music is exceptional. The numerous shops throughout the game have very fitting and atmospheric music, while the dungeons have tense and pressing tunes. Notable pieces include the Toa Armory music and the “Super Happy Convenience Store Music” which is guaranteed to either make you smile in delight or cringe in fear of the bizarre Japanese lyrics. The voice acting on the other hand, does not fair as well. While it does lend to the important parts in the story, it could have been better, and the battle voices are much more annoying than they should be, including the enemy battle voices, which have been kept in the original Japanese.
Persona 2: Eternal Punishment is long and complex, both in its story and its gameplay. While the game may be a large commitment, and may turn people away with its bizarre nature, it is simply one of the best and deepest RPG's you can find.
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