Yeah, a bit more than late actually...
My very first Persona game was 4 Golden on Vita, I had barely bought the system and wanted some cool JRPGs to play, and this one caught my attention. It had really nice art and turn based combat so I went for it. I ended up falling in love with the series and wanting to play them all.
My next one was Persona 3, then I played 5, and then it was finally time for Persona 2 to shine.
And my non-native English vocabulary fails me when I try to express how much I loved this journey. It has become my favourite Persona game. Granted, I still have to play the first one, but I don't think anything can top Innocent Sin right now for me.
Story & Characters –
I really love that compared to newer Persona games it's much more focused, and while I like the social links system, I find the overall story in P2 to be much more mature and darker, which appeals to me more on a personal storytelling preference level. The characters are very likeable, well thought-out and I love to see how they progress throughout the story. Their interactions are one of the things that make this game great for me.
While the story is not necessarily groundbreaking per se, it is very coherent and well presented, and I very much appreciate the overall atmosphere.
Tatsuya is the least silent of silent protagonists in the series so far, and I very much enjoyed the fact that he's better established as a character both in regards to his personal history and relationships as well as his personality.
Gameplay –
Imagine how surprised I was when I discovered that I can negotiate with demons! Not only that, the system is in my opinion more complex and better implemented than what's in Persona 5. I love the "feelings square" and the fact that based on a demon's type and personality you need to figure out which person from your party is best suited to contact it, and what they should say depending on what you want to achieve.
I had a lot of fun trying out different contact options to see how I can get the demons to react.
It was very refreshing to use the Arcana cards as currency for summoning personas (and I think it's great that you can change any party member's persona, makes for better control over your strategies, if you also take fusion spells into account).
While you can't do persona fusions, they can mutate under certain conditions, and you can equip personas that are higher level than you!
I thoroughly enjoyed the Velvet Room system in this game, and as for combat, being able to define the turn order is a godsend. It was very fun discovering all the fusions spells that my party can do and while the combat itself wasn't very challenging, I still had fun because of these mechanisms.
Music –
I only have one thing to say – it is excellent. Top notch soundtrack, not unlike all other Persona games I have played. I love the upbeat 90s techno vibes that it has. I never got tired of the battle theme no matter how many random encounters I stumbled upon.
Overall –
Near perfect experience for me. The only slightly annoying thing was the high rate of random encounters, but since you don't actually need to fight every time, it ultimately wasn't a huge deal.
It baffles me how 20 years later, this is still one of the most progressive JRPGs that have been created. I think it's absolutely great that this game brings a same-sex relationship that is portrayed as normal and healthy (even though you can pick whom to express your feelings for, they're totally canon in my mind).
I couldn't be happier that I decided to give it a chance.
"It's whoop-ass time!"
EDIT: of course I had to mess up something in the title... LTTP.
My very first Persona game was 4 Golden on Vita, I had barely bought the system and wanted some cool JRPGs to play, and this one caught my attention. It had really nice art and turn based combat so I went for it. I ended up falling in love with the series and wanting to play them all.
My next one was Persona 3, then I played 5, and then it was finally time for Persona 2 to shine.
And my non-native English vocabulary fails me when I try to express how much I loved this journey. It has become my favourite Persona game. Granted, I still have to play the first one, but I don't think anything can top Innocent Sin right now for me.
Story & Characters –
I really love that compared to newer Persona games it's much more focused, and while I like the social links system, I find the overall story in P2 to be much more mature and darker, which appeals to me more on a personal storytelling preference level. The characters are very likeable, well thought-out and I love to see how they progress throughout the story. Their interactions are one of the things that make this game great for me.
While the story is not necessarily groundbreaking per se, it is very coherent and well presented, and I very much appreciate the overall atmosphere.
Tatsuya is the least silent of silent protagonists in the series so far, and I very much enjoyed the fact that he's better established as a character both in regards to his personal history and relationships as well as his personality.
Gameplay –
Imagine how surprised I was when I discovered that I can negotiate with demons! Not only that, the system is in my opinion more complex and better implemented than what's in Persona 5. I love the "feelings square" and the fact that based on a demon's type and personality you need to figure out which person from your party is best suited to contact it, and what they should say depending on what you want to achieve.
I had a lot of fun trying out different contact options to see how I can get the demons to react.
It was very refreshing to use the Arcana cards as currency for summoning personas (and I think it's great that you can change any party member's persona, makes for better control over your strategies, if you also take fusion spells into account).
While you can't do persona fusions, they can mutate under certain conditions, and you can equip personas that are higher level than you!
I thoroughly enjoyed the Velvet Room system in this game, and as for combat, being able to define the turn order is a godsend. It was very fun discovering all the fusions spells that my party can do and while the combat itself wasn't very challenging, I still had fun because of these mechanisms.
Music –
I only have one thing to say – it is excellent. Top notch soundtrack, not unlike all other Persona games I have played. I love the upbeat 90s techno vibes that it has. I never got tired of the battle theme no matter how many random encounters I stumbled upon.
Overall –
Near perfect experience for me. The only slightly annoying thing was the high rate of random encounters, but since you don't actually need to fight every time, it ultimately wasn't a huge deal.
It baffles me how 20 years later, this is still one of the most progressive JRPGs that have been created. I think it's absolutely great that this game brings a same-sex relationship that is portrayed as normal and healthy (even though you can pick whom to express your feelings for, they're totally canon in my mind).
I couldn't be happier that I decided to give it a chance.
"It's whoop-ass time!"
EDIT: of course I had to mess up something in the title... LTTP.
Last edited:
