Browsing Category

PSP

Review: Persona 2: Innocent Sin (PSP)

Innocent Sin (PSP) -- 4
December 13, 2011 By In PSP, Reviews

It’s common knowledge that JRPG localization can be a controversial topic. Many games, especially of this genre, don’t get published in all regions of the world. When this happens, gamers usually step in, demand it comes to their region, and wait eagerly for the decision of the game’s publisher. The times when don’t get localized can be very disappointing. But alas, there is hope in remakes. Such is the case with Persona 2: Innocent sin. Back in November of 2000, JRPG fans in North America received a sequel to Revelations: Persona on the Playstation One titled Persona 2: Eternal Punishment. Unfortunately, what they received was the second in a pair of games that make up Persona 2. The first part in the pair, Persona 2: Innocent Sin, was left in Japan and out of reach of North American gamers. But earlier this year, Atlus finally took action and released Persona 2: Innocent Sin on the PSP. After eleven years, this game is definitely worth the wait, but you will have to be able to see past some classic JRPG pitfalls in order to get full enjoyment.

Taking place in Samarua City, a fictional location in the Persona universe, Innocent Sin tells the story of a delinquent highschool student named Tatsuyo Suou. The game starts with Tatsuyo going on a mission to infiltrate the base of a rival highschool to retrieve a kidnapped student. After a series of odd events, the retrieval mission results in Tatusyo and some other key characters summoning the spirit Joker. After a near-death experience surrounding the summoning of Joker, Tatsuyo is transported to the realm of Philemon, where he is granted the power of Persona. Eventually, the city of Samarua becomes cursed and any rumor spread turns to fact. It is up to Tatsuyo and friends to chase down Joker and lift the curse on Samarua City.

Overall the story in Persona: Innocent Sin is great, but not quite up to the high standards set by later entries in the series. While Persona 3 and 4 tend to focus on important facts and plot elements, Innocent Sin likes to glaze over these important aspects. For example, their explanation of the Persona powers, the basis of the game, is very limited and rushed.

Despite this oversight, Innocent Sin easily has some of the best characters in the series. Delinquent loner Tatsuyo Suou is the perfect protagonist and some of the supporting characters such as the Japanese obsessed Amerixan Lisa Silverman and flamboyent bully Eikichi Mishina help to make Innocent Sin a very enjoyable experience. One of the best features of Innocent Sin is when you walk into some establishments the characters will play out a special dialog sequence. This helps the player familiarize themselves with the characters and the majority of these sequences are quite entertaining as well.

You will be spending a lot of time with all these characters with all of the gameplay offered in Innocent Sin. The big draw to the gameplay back in 2000 was that for the first time in a Shin Megami Tensei game, the dungeon portions were third-person opposed to first-person. To this day, the third-person exploration still works wonderfully. Apart from dungeon exploration, the gameplay in Innocent Sin is nearly identical to the of the original game in the series, Revelations: Persona. The battles are standard turn-based JRPG battles that are fought in the third-person perspective. Traveling across the world map involves moving a cursor from a top-down-perspective, as does traveling across local district maps. Item shops are once again disguised as what could be real-world stores. By this I mean that you can go to a pharmacy or diner for medicine and a tanning salon acts as an inn. These shops are always interesting and full of vibrant, and often odd, NPCs.

As for the graphics, Innocent Sin on the PSP adds a new coat of paint to everything from the character sprites to the text boxes. Environments are nearly the same as the PS1 original, but there is a noticeable difference in the menu screens. The graphics look great on the PSP’s relatively small screen. They aren’t as great as what we saw from Persona 3 Portable, but they are an improvement over the remake of the original Persona. However, if you are eager to play an older JRPG such as Innocent Sin, the quality of the graphics definitely won’t be a deciding factor.

It may have taken eleven years for North America to receive a proper translation and release of Persona 2: Innocent Sin, but for JRPG fans, it was more than worth the wait. From the classic gameplay to the great story, Innocent Sin will keep JRPG fans hungry for hours. There are classic JRPG problems to overcome when playing through Innocent Sin and annoyances are sure to come frequently. But for your money, Innocent Sin is another shining example of what favor the Persona series has done to the JRPG genre.

Score: 8/10

Review: Persona 3 Portable

Persona 3 Portable -- 1
July 31, 2010 By In Images, PSP, Reviews, Videos

In this current generation of consoles, quality JRPGs are few and far between. Instead of taking a risk, Atlus went with a rerelease of a classic JRPG from last generation, this time for the PSP. While it may be an obvious choice to bring such a great game to this underappreciated portable system, was it a wise choice? They already ported the original Persona to the PSP with mostly positive reviews, but can they capture the magic of Persona 3 on the little screen?

Persona 3 Portable tells the story of a teenager who discovers that he can awaken a beast inside of him known as a Persona. This rare ability puts him in with a group known as SEES in a dormitory at his highschool. As he spends his days going to school, he soon becomes acquanited with enemies known as “shadows”. These shadows come out every night at 12:00am, which is known as “The Dark Hour”. The Dark Hour is a special hour that takes place at 12:00am. However, only those who can unleash Persona’s can experience the dark hour. The rest of the world suddenly stops where ever they are and become coffins, making them completely oblivious to what is happening. Once the Dark Hour is over, the world continues as it was at 12:00am. It then becomes your character’s — and the rest of SEES’ — goal to life a normal life, while also defeating all of the shadows and ending the Dark Hour.

This is a surprisingly fantastic plot. When I first found out that it was centered around a highschool, I wasn’t too excited. Most of these games end up having cheesey love-story plots, but Persona 3 Portable is completely different. There are some slight love themes, but they aren’t a center piece. Another great thing about the story is that it was easy to follow in the game. Persona 3 Portable has a nice intro that keeps you entertained and informed at the same time. The game also does a good job of providing you with back story. Opposed to having certain details hidden in books or another form in the game, the main story directs you right to it. If you don’t want to know, you can speed through the conversation. However if you are interested, it is easy to read through and know more about what is happening.

Persona 3 Portable is a JRPG at heart, but is made of a few genres. Half of the game is a social simulator where you must fill the role of your character as a high-school student. As a high-school student you must attend school, pay attention to raise your academics, study, socialize with others, and join school clubs. Doing this improves your the strength of your character in the other half of the game. The other half of the game is a Dungeon crawling-JRPG hybrid. You have the option to spend your nights inside the dark tower of Tartarus, which is basically a series of over 200 dungeon floors. As you “climb” up the tower, each floor provides a great dungoen-crawling experience. You move your character around the 3D environment while opening treasure chests and walking into enemies to initiate battles. Battles are classic, turn-based RPG affairs, and not much else, which turns out to be a good thing.

This gameplay is done extremely well, and is both difficult and satisfying. The only problem is that the gameplay may be a little too overwhelming for newer players. Unfortunately, this will likely turn away a lot of people who showed slight interest in this game. There is a “beginner” mode in the game where you get 30 “Plumes of Darkness”, which revive you if your character dies in battle, thus preventing a game over. This will help newer players, but still doesn’t solve the problem of how overwhelming going to school, attending clubs, spending time with friends, studying, exploring Tartarus, and defeating shadows is.

One brand new section of the game that seems to be drawing in a lot of Persona 3 veterans is the inclusion of a female protagonist. In Persona 3 on the PS2, you were only able to play the game as a male protagonist. Now you are able to choose to play as a female, which for the most part is very similar to choosing a male protagonist. There are some slight changes in gameplay, presentation, and audio, but for the most part it is fairly similar. This is however definitely another reason for people to pick up this portable version of Persona 3.

While Persona 3 Portable keeps some of the great graphics from the originally Persona 3 on PS2, it is missing a lot. While it is understandable that in order to port to the PSP from the PS2 cuts must be made, it still seems a bit unfortunate that things aren’t as pretty as you may have remembered them to be. To start, Persona 3 Portable is missing all of the anime cutscenes from the original Persona 3. This is an unfortunate set back, but doesn’t ruin the story that much.

Next, you cannot control your character when in a building. Opposed to walking around the building, you simply move a curser with the analog stick and select things with the cross button. All characters and interactive objects have icons which you must select. This unfortunately makes it feel like the lot of the game is spent just scrolling through menus and is of course likely the most unfortunate graphical cut.

Finally, while running through the floors of Tartarus your character is a full 3D model. This is just like the PS2 version of the game, but the models are considerably worse looking compared to the PS2. While these cuts were necessary for the most part, I feel that they could have made some cuts in other areas of the game and at least kept the cutscenes. Overall, the graphics aren’t bad, but could have been better.

The audio in Persona 3 Portable is fantastic. The sound track, voice-overs, and various other sounds are all great. For the most part, all of the central characters in the plot have their dialog voiced in full English. Persona 3 Portable can be quite dialog heavy, so the voices can be a nice break. The soundtrack is also fantastic. Full of JPop, hip-hop, and other pop songs, the soundtrack is fun to listen to while scrolling through menus and moving your cursor around. One big problem however is that there is a very limited amount of songs. You will likely here the same song playing over-and-over again, which can get a bit annoying when playing the game in marathon sittings. However if you can get past this slight annoyance, you are sure to find a pleasant and fun soundtrack within.

Compared to the original Persona 3, Persona 3 Portable is filled to the brim with replay value. Most prominent in Persona 3 Portable for replay value is of course the female protagonist. While most of the game is nearly identical between the male and female protagonist, there is enough of a difference to warrant a playthrough with both. Just like the original Persona 3, there are a ton of decisions that influence the story in various ways. With various outcomes available — for both male and female — you can easily get in a few playthroughs of this epic 60 – 100 hour RPG, while also staying interested.

Overall, Persona 3 Portable is a fantastic game. While it does have a bit of a slow pace, and downgraded graphics from the original, it is still a solid package. The ability to take this with you anywhere is a huge plus. If you are a fan of JRPGs or dungeon crawlers, this is a must. However if you are only playing it for the social simulation aspects, I would recommend waiting for a price drop. It should also be noted that the gameplay can be a bit over whelming for new players, but that doesn’t mean they should shy away from the game. Its a great experience that I think any JRPG fan should experience at least once, and the addition of the female protagonists is enough for Persona 3 veterans to come back and play through it again.

PROS

  • Fantastic story
  • Great gameplay
  • Interesting and fun soundtrack
  • Huge amount of replay value
  • Added female antagonist

CONS

  • Graphics have taken a huge hit
  • May be overwhelming for new players
  • Soundtrack can get repetitive

Score: 9.5/10