Persona 2: Tsumi

I am a huge fan of this series and for me Persona 2: Tsumi is one of the more forgotten and not talked about tames. It is sandwiched in between Revelations and Eternal Punishment and is a damn fine RPG in its own right. When this was first released on the PlayStation many people were desperate for a Western release, but they had to wait over a decade for the game to be released on the PlayStation Portable in order to play this game.

Who Or What is The Joker?

The best part about this game for me is the story. This series of games was very ahead of its time with its clever and thought-provoking storytelling and Persona 2: Tsumi is no different. The main protagonist is called, Tatsuya and you are a student at the Seven Sisters High School.

You along with a couple of your close friends are trying to get to the bottom of this evil being called, The Joker. The Joker comes when people dial their own number into their phone and it always ends badly. The story is fantastic and has many twists and turns and will keep you guessing right until the very end.

Top Down Goodness

The visuals of the game have aged quite a bit, but there is still a real charm to what this game offers from a visual point of view. The action is viewed from a kind of isometric point of view and the camera is pretty dynamic so that it can showcase how good some of the characters and areas look. While I do think the game has aged quite considerably, I do feel that at the time this was a tremendous looking game.

Pick The Right One!

If you have not played a game in the series before then I would not say that Persona 2: Tsumi is the place you would want to start. The game plays very similarly to Innocent Sin and that is not a bad thing at all. The game is an action RPG where you make use of Personas. Personas are demons that you can talk to in the game who will give you a card that then lets you use them as a “persona” during battle.

The gameplay is awesome in that you select what personas you want to use for a battle and it just happens automatically. You can jump in and change things up if you want, but if you plan your tactics right and especially make sure you have the right personas on your team, you can actually get quite far through the game even without being at a high level. I find this kind of gameplay a great deal of fun!

Pros:

• One of the best stories in the series
• I loved The Joker
• It kept me guessing right until the very end
• Lots of interesting characters
• There is more strategy and skill involved than you would think

Cons:

• To play the game in English, you have to play the PSP version
• The visuals can be a bit dated in places

Atlus recently released the first screens and info on their upcoming sequel to their hit RPG Revelations: Persona, called Persona 2: Tsumi (Tsumi means "Sin"). The game takes place a few years after the first Persona. The story centers around a high school that's supposedly cursed--apparently, anyone who wears the school's insignia gets stuck with the curse. Sounds pretty cool. The game will sport multiple paths throughout play, as well as an enhanced battle system. Hopefully, the clueless Sony evaluators who decided that Atlus' Soul Hackers wasn't good enough for the U.5. won't pass up this gem as well.