Persona 2: Innocent Sin



Shin Megami Tensei Persona 2: Innocent Sin is the second installment in the Persona series. It is proceeded by Megami Ibunroku Persona and is succeeded by Persona 2: Eternal Punishment. Tatsuya Suou is the main protagonist and Joker is the main antagonist. The Masked Circle is the villainous faction in this game.

Innocent Sin is the first in the Persona 2 duology, followed by Eternal Punishment. It follows Tatsuya and his friends in their efforts to stop the Masked Circle from destroying the world, and uncovering the plot perpetrated by the Crawling Chaos, Nyarlathotep. It is one of the few Persona games that acts as a direct sequel to a previous game.

Originally titled Persona 2: Sin in Japan, Innocent Sin first released on the PlayStation in 1999. It is one of the only Persona games not to release in the United States.

An enhanced port for the PSP was released in 2011. It featured enhanced music tracks and a revamped UI. This version released in the US.

Official Description
''Persona 2: Innocent Sin begins three years after the events of the first Persona, in 1999. The location is Sumaru City, a large fictional metropolitan area set in modern day Japan. Sumaru City becomes cursed after events during the beginning of the game that cause any rumor that spreads enough to become true.''

Summary
The silent protagonist of the game is Tatsuya Suou. Tatsuya is dragged into the plot by Lisa Silverman, a fellow student who idolizes Tatsuya, when conflict between Seven Sisters High School (Sevens) and Kasugayama High School (Cuss High) begins. The two come across Eikichi Mishina, the self-proclaimed boss of Cuss High. After getting into a fight, the three play a game summoning the Joker, a mysterious antagonist rumored to appear before anyone that calls him. Anyone who fails to tell Joker their wishes, either because they lack one or refuse to tell him, has their "ideal energy" stolen, reducing them to ambition-less shells called Shadow Selves. Once summoned, Joker claims that the three students had done something terrible to him in the past, and is angered when they do not recognize him. Swearing revenge and wielding an odd Crystal Skull, he departs, leaving the trio confused and eager to learn more about him. Later on they make a point of saying that Tatsuya and the Joker look alike.

Eventually, the three students are joined by Maya Amano and her friend, Yukino Mayuzumi, who returns from the first game and is already familiar with demons and capable of using her Persona. The five then search for Joker, the source of all rumors that spread becoming reality. Their search leads the group to clash with a cult-like following known as the Masked Circle. It is later revealed that the original Masked Circle was the group of friends including Tatsuya, Maya, Lisa, Eikichi, and Jun when they were all kids. After debunking numerous rumors and defeating several members of the Masked Circle, the group meets with Joker, who then reveals himself to be Jun Kurosu, the fifth childhood friend and member of the original Masked Circle. Eventually, the widely spread rumor that the Fuhrer had survived World War II with his secret forces, the Last Battalion, surfaces and his forces invade Sumaru City. Tatsuya and the others fight off both remaining Masked Circle members and the Last Battalion soldiers to obtain the crystal skulls, defeating their own Shadows in the process.

Towards the end of Innocent Sin, Tatsuya and the others board an alien spaceship known as the Xibalba, another rumor that had spawned into reality. In the deepest parts of Xibalba, the group finds the Fuhrer, wielding the Spear of Destiny (the spear that pierced Jesus Christ that is said to leave a mortal wound the second it strikes flesh) and defeats him.

At the conclusion of the game, it is revealed that all of the events had been orchestrated by Nyarlathotep in an attempt to show that the negatives of humanity would outshine the positives, contrary to Philemon's beliefs. Nyarlathotep then takes his true form and fights Tatsuya and the others. After the fight, Nyarlathotep manipulates Maya Okamura into striking Maya Amano with the Spear of Destiny, killing her quickly. With the prophecy fulfilled, the Earth's rotation suddenly stops, destroying everything on the surface of the planet, save for Sumaru City. Philemon tells Tatsuya that there is a way to prevent Maya's death and stop Nyarlathotep from destroying the world. Tatsuya agrees to create a new timeline in which Nyarlathotep is not successful, in exchange for everyone's memories.

Media
Persona 2: Innocent Sin never received an official English port on the original PlayStation.

Persona 2 Tsumi: Lost Memories
RPG developed by Atlus and BBMF for mobile phones. Everyone has a "Shadow Self," the part of themselves they don't want to be. They also have an "Ideal Self," the person they aspire to be. Tatsuya, Jun, Lisa, and Eikichi's Shadow Selves objected and tried to convince them that resetting the world was the wrong thing to do, and that they needed to accept reality. They had to kill their Shadow Selves before they could advance to the spirit of Longinus, kill him, and reset the world. They were able to defeat their Shadow Selves and defeat the spirit of Longinus only with the help of their Ideal Selves.

Persona 2: Innocent Sin (novel)
A novel centered around Anna Yoshizaka's perspective of the events that transpired in Persona 2: Innocent Sin. The story begins with Anna Yoshizaka reminiscing on her aspirations of being a star track runner, explaining her spiral into depression and apathy after her accident. She is then woken from her daydreaming as we are introduced to a new character, Mitsuo Shimazaki. Mitsuo is a friend of Anna's and a student at Seven Sisters High School. He informs her of the Joker game that everyone is talking about. Uninterested in rumors, Anna brushes him off, only to attempt it herself when she finds herself alone in a back alley near Club Zodiac. Anna summons Joker, not having considered the possibility that the rumor might be true, she did not have an ideal to have granted by Joker, who readies himself to steal her dreams. She however interrupts him, simply stating that she no longer dreams, she has no ideals nor aspirations she yearns to achieve. Feeling sympathy for Anna, Joker makes an exception for her and offers her to join the Masked Circle.

Persona: Tsumi to Batsu
A spinoff manga of Persona 2 written by Naotsugu Matsueda. This manga takes place in the same school as the Persona 2 games. The manga begins as Kazumi Kiba, the protagonist, has a dream where he encounters Philemon. The next day, reminded of his dream, he suggests a masquerade ball for his class' contribution to the Seven Sisters High School school festival. Because of this, he and his long-time friend Rihito Shimizu are tasked with finding masks for the ball and in searching for them, encounter Igor acting as the proprietor of a mask shop. However, as they return from the shop, Rihito suddenly vanishes.

After a few days with no word, Kazumi is led to a purportedly haunted abandoned factory where Rihito is said to have been seen. There he comes into contact with not only Rihito, but demons under his control as well. Rihito attacks him, claiming to have always hated him. Kazumi's Persona Yama appears at this time to protect him before he is knocked unconscious.

When he awakens he encounters the persona-bearing family that supposedly haunts the abandoned factory and is introduced to the Velvet Room. From this point on, he is drawn into a conflict with Rihito and his companions from Nymphéa as more is revealed about his history with Rihito and the incident ten years prior to this surrounding their mutual friend, Mana.

Trivia

 * The PS1 version of Persona 2: Innocent Sin has never been officially released for North America or Europe for unknown reasons, though it is widely speculated that the appearance of Adolf Hitler as an antagonist, the use of Nazi iconography, and the potential homosexual relationship between protagonist Tatsuya Suou and fellow party member Jun Kurosu prevented the game from being greenlit for localization upon the game's initial release.
 * In an interview with GameInformer, Gail Salamanca, a member of Atlus USA's localization team, mentions another possible reason for a lack of localization was simply due to the developers not having the resources, manpower, or being able to schedule the time to localize the game for an American audience, with the team already having been underway with development of Eternal Punishment, and adds that "...We pretty much had to let it go. Though it wasn't for the lack of b--ching and moaning by the US staff", likely referring to the aforementioned issues.
 * Despite this, the game received a fan translation patch for use with PS1 emulators, giving the game English text, but leaving the Japanese voice acting intact. Atlus became aware of the fan patch early on in its creation and has made no attempts to halt its development or distribution.
 * In both Innocent Sin and Eternal Punishment, the game's developers make frequent cameos.
 * The PSP remake of Innocent Sin is the first Megami Tensei game to have its European release announced before the North American release.
 * Persona 2 is the only game in the Persona franchise that does not have an official manga adaptation. However there is a spin off manga and several fan-made manga anthologies (Only one of these anthologies ‘Persona 2: Tsumi Comic Anthology’ at this time has been fully fan translated but the rest remain unscanned/untranslated)
 * Released alongside the sequel Eternal Punishment, a bonus CD revealed a trailer for an anime called Persona 2: Another Self. It was planned to be an ova/anime series retelling both Innocent Sin and Eternal Punishment, but the production was cancelled for unknown reasons.

Continuity

 * Many characters return from the previous game including Yukino Mayuzumi, who becomes a major party member. The rest of the Megami Ibunroku Persona cast also appears in this game, save for Mark, Ayase, and Naoya, however Naoya would make a cameo in Eternal Punishment.
 * Other characters from Megami Ibunroku Persona also appear, including Ms. Saeko and Principle Hanya, who both transferred to Seven Sister's High School from St. Hermelin's.
 * At some point in the game, Yukino references the Snow Queen Quest which involved Ms. Saeko.
 * Nyarlathotep and Philemon also make their return, both of them being much more prominent characters this time around. Their origins are revealed, as they are both beings that formed at the beginning of human consciousness. During the beginning, they made a bet with each other on whether or not the human race was inherently good or bad. Nyarlathotep defied the rules by interfering in the afairs of man, but even so was ultimately proven wrong by the forces of Tatsuya and his friends.
 * There is a stone monument in the courtyard at Sevens that has the same name as the one at St. Hermelin's.
 * Persona 2: Innocent Sin was referenced in Persona 3. The game's subtitle serves as the title for a popular fictional MMORPG in the the English version of Persona 3, "Innocent Sin Online". During the course of the game, the protagonist has the opportunity to play the game on Sundays and on holidays as a requirement for the Hermit Social Link. In Persona 3 Portable the MMORPG "Innocent Sin Online" and consequently the Social Link from it can only be initiated if the male protagonist is chosen. In addition, the protagonist's character in "Innocent Sin Online" is called Tatsuya and the person representing the Hermit Social Link (who the protagonist interacts with in the MMORPG) uses the handle Maya.