Register a SA Forums Account here!
JOINING THE SA FORUMS WILL REMOVE THIS BIG AD, THE ANNOYING UNDERLINED ADS, AND STUPID INTERSTITIAL ADS!!!

You can: log in, read the tech support FAQ, or request your lost password. This dumb message (and those ads) will appear on every screen until you register! Get rid of this crap by registering your own SA Forums Account and joining roughly 150,000 Goons, for the one-time price of $9.95! We charge money because it costs us money per month for bills, and since we don't believe in showing ads to our users, we try to make the money back through forum registrations.
 
  • Locked thread
DMorbid
Jan 6, 2011

Hello! I see you.




In Sumaru City, a rumor is floating around about a "Joker Game". Supposedly, if you call your own cellphone, an entity known as Joker will appear and make all your dreams come true. Sumaru City also happens to be a place where every rumor ends up coming true, and that's barely scratching the surface when it comes to strange things happening in this city.

For a long time, Persona 2: Innocent Sin was the lost chapter of the Persona series of JRPGs from Atlus. Innocent Sin was released on the original PlayStation in 1999, but that version never left Japan due to a variety of reasons (which we'll get into at some point) and only the second half of the Persona 2 duology -- Eternal Punishment -- came out in North America. A fan translation was eventually released, but it would take until 2011 for Innocent Sin to receive an official release in the North American and PAL regions in the form of an enhanced remake on the PSP.

The PSP remake, which is what I am playing here, smooths out some of the late 90s JRPG jank of the original game, but Innocent Sin can still be a bit of a grind at times. Things do get a lot less grindy once you figure out what you're doing and how to best make use of the game's mechanics, but getting there can be a real pain in the rear end unless you have a walkthrough handy. Even then, the encounter rate is annoyingly high and the game mechanics do feel rather clunky at times. However, the story and characters are worth it, and I think this is one of the best games in the Persona series despite its frustrating aspects. Just don't go in expecting a modern Persona game in the vein of Persona 3, 4 and 5 with all the dating sim stuff, because that is absolutely not what you're getting here.

This LP is a story-focused playthrough, and when it comes to combat I'm taking the path of least resistance (aka spamming fusion spells all day every day). I'm doing some of the side stuff, but not nearly all of it because it isn't really worth the effort. I will at least get all the ultimate Personas and (hopefully) the ultimate weapons for all party members, but I'm not hunting down every single demon or talking to every single NPC because I'd rather not end up in the mental ward (although thanks to PeaceDiner, I now have a partial script of Innocent Sin in my hands, so I can include dialog I didn't run into on the playthrough).

Oh yeah, I should probably say something about my update schedule, which is that... well, I don't really have one. If you followed my Jade Empire thread, you know I might post something silly like five updates a week and then go nearly a month without an update (usually no longer than a week or two, though). So, if this thread seems quiet for a while, don't fret too much because the next update will be posted when it's done.

SPOILER POLICY: This is an old game, but please try not to spoil the major story stuff because this game's plot goes places to say the least. If you want to talk about gameplay stuff that hasn't happened in the LP yet, use spoiler tags.

Other ongoing Persona LPs:

Persona 1 (PSP) by PeaceDiner
Persona 3 by Dragonatrix
Persona 5 by Arist

UPDATES:

Part 01: The Joker Game
Part 02: The Curse
Part 03: Guardian Angel
Part 04: Clocks
Part 05: Der Doppelgänger
Part 06: Club Zodiac
Part 07: What Makes a Man

-----

DMorbid fucked around with this message at 01:39 on Oct 16, 2017

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

DMorbid
Jan 6, 2011

Hello! I see you.


reserved

DMorbid
Jan 6, 2011

Hello! I see you.


Part 01: The Joker Game

-----

[VIDEO: Opening]
Unbreakable Tie (PSP intro) / Opening (PS1 intro)

The PSP version of Persona 2: Innocent Sin actually features the original PS1 opening along with the new one. The original intro fits the game's tone better in my opinion and I really love the music, but the PSP version's opening with its new vocal track isn't too bad either. Your mileage on that may vary based on your tolerance for Lotus Juice, though. Also, finding a decent quality version of the PS1 intro was surprisingly hard and Gamespot's upload was by far the best, so I ended up using that one. I could always upload it myself, but uploading Persona music on Youtube has traditionally been a good way to get flagged for copyright and I'd rather avoid that for now.



[MUSIC: Title]
PSP

Innocent Sin on the PSP allows you to change the difficulty in the settings menu at any point, so there is no difficulty selection when you start a new game. You can choose between Easy, Normal or Hard, and we're going with Normal. The original release on the PlayStation didn't have a difficulty selection, but I believe the difficulty level in that version was roughly equivalent to Normal here. Difficulty only affects the amount of damage you deal and take, anyway.

Oh, by the way, I am playing the PAL release published by Ghostlight. This version came out a couple of months after the US release and I want to say there were some minor bug fixes, but aside from that it's the same game.



No characters based on real-life individuals here, got it.



We start off observing a high schooler working on an old motorcycle. Finishing his work, he fires up the bike.



That's probably not the result he expected. It's a bit hard to see here, but the boy was also clicking a cigarette lighter in his hand while attempting to start up the bike.



The boy shakes his head and wonders why this thing isn't starting up.



Less thuggish student: Heheh! That piece of crap ain't gonna start without this.



The "less thuggish student" appears to have something in his hand, but I can't tell what that is. It's clearly something important, since the bike apparently won't start without it.





The motorcycle boy clicks his lighter again, not even looking at the thuggish students. He clearly doesn't want anything to do with these two idiots.



......!?



The thuggish students didn't seem to experience whatever that was just now, so now they're very confused as to why the motorbike kid suddenly freaked out and fell down on his knee.

[MUSIC: Philemon Theme]
PS1 / PSP



Unknown voice: Take... my... hand...

Less thuggish student: S-Somethin's wrong here... This guy's sweating bullets...

Unknown voice: Do not fear me... I am thou... Thou art I...



We in the audience have some idea what just transpired, but don't really know why it happened right there and now.



No time to think about that stuff now, because the principal is here and he's not happy.



Ah, I thought he looked familiar. Hanya is the vice-principal from Persona 1 (I actually thought he was the principal in that game as well, completely forgetting Principal Ooishi's existence), and as his description there says, he was not the most popular guy among the St. Hermelin students, who used to call him "Hamya". He also has more hair now than when we last saw him three years ago.



Less thuggish student: H-Here, we're done borrowing this! Seeya!

...What just happened? Sure, good students are supposed to obey their teachers and all that, but those guys didn't seem like they'd be the type to basically run away at the first sight of the principal.



That goes for you too! Didn't you hear what I said!? Why won't you obey me!? This is unacceptable!

Huh. Looks like there's at least someone who isn't going to obey Principal Hanya just like that.





He may or may have noticed that the principal is there and talking to him. Hanya is asking for his name, meaning that this is where we name our main character.





Tatsuya here doesn't seem like the kind of guy who would enjoy having a childish nickname like Ta-chan.



Still, this is the default name and nickname for the protagonist, so we might as well use them. Persona 2 is the only game in the series where you don't have to enter the main character's name yourself, although obviously the option is there.



If that nasty resonance I sensed from the hall was you, it makes sense... Looks like you're as much trouble as the rumors say. Hahah... Well. I'll let you alone. "He'll" be along to guide you soon enough. Enjoy what few moments are left of your youth.



If that little motivational speech by Hanya was anything to go by, guidance counselors apparently don't mess around at this school.



Male student: Hey, no need to glare like that. I just came to say that Ms. Saeko is looking for you. You've been dodging guidance counseling, eh? She looked ready to chase you all the way to your house. Better go see her.



Great. We'll do exactly that. We now have control of Tatsuya, and the HUD informs us this school is called Seven Sisters High. Let's see if this guy has anything else to say.



Err, sure.



We should probably go inside and find Ms. Saeko at this point.



The loading times were a common complaint among players when the PSP version of Innocent Sin was released. They're not exactly long, but I can see why you might be annoyed by the load screens. I'll obviously be cutting them out.



[Music: Seven Sisters High School A]
PS1 / PSP

We're free to explore Seven Sisters High and talk to our fellow students, but most of them have nothing relevant to say so we'll ignore them for the time being. We have places to be, after all. That said, I suppose it couldn't hurt to ask someone if they've seen Ms. Saeko around (in fact I'm pretty sure we have to ask a bunch people, otherwise she won't appear at all).



Male student: By the way, what's up? Are you looking for someone? Hm? Ms. Saeko? Yeah, I saw her near the stairs a moment ago... Maybe she's on the second floor?



The teachers' lounge is on the second floor, so Ms. Saeko may have gone there. Let's find out.





Ms. Saeko doesn't seem to be in the lounge, but maybe one of the other teachers knows where she's gone.



Mr. Aishi: I saw Ms. Saeko in the hall on this floor a moment ago. So you're finally gonna do guidance counseling, eh? I see! Good luck!

We didn't see her out there when we came in, but let's keep looking. We should also go see what's going on with that guy whose head is all bandaged up.



Male student: Ugh! This is discrimination! My grades were lousy before, but this is just unfair! There's no way that I'd cheat! I've been reborn! I can recite pi to 100,000 digits, right here, right now!

Mr. Oriri: Oh, really? Prove it!



:staredog:



:dogbutton:



Gasping male student: 5... 5... 502841027019!!!!!!! 385211055596446!!!!!!!! 22948954930381!!!!!!!!

Vein-throbbing male student: 9... 9644288!!!!!!!!!! 10197566593344612847!! *pant* *pant* N-no more...

That's... impressive?





I guess these two will be here for a while. We, on the other hand, should get a move on.



Female student: No reason, I was just curious... Anyway, what's up, Senpai? Huh? Ms. Saeko? I saw her go upstairs a second ago. I think she's on the third floor.



This is getting just a bit irritating by now.



"Undie Boss of Cuss High" are all words we know, but they don't make a lick of sense when put together like that.



Male student: Anyway, what's up? You looking for someone? Huh? Ms. Saeko? I think I just saw her a few minutes ago. She said something about going to the courtyard.

I suppose this is one way to get you to learn the school's layout. As for Cuss High, that's the Sevens students' derogatory nickname for the rival Kasugayama High School. In the fan translation of the PlayStation version, the nickname was K'rear end-u-gay-ama, which just rolls right off the tongue (that just might be the clunkiest translation choice I've seen in a fan translation, which is saying something). The original Japanese pun was Kasu High, "kasu" meaning dregs or scum.





Here's the courtyard. No sign of Ms. Saeko so far, but we do have Principal Hanya admiring the statue of himself. We'll ignore him and talk to everyone else first.





This'll obviously be Ms. Ideal, then.



Hm? You're one of Ms. Saeko's students... Don't get too close to the Narurato Stone. We don't know what effect it has on people.



What, this stone right here?



> Legend has it that it's a guardian stone in which the heavenly being Hiremon sealed the evil demon Narurato Hotefu.



Hahaha, then again... It's not as if your dream will come true regardless. "The one under the star of stolen dreams has no right to have his ideals realized." I was told to tell you that. Also, that it's your destiny. Hahaha!

You know, I'm getting the distinct feeling that someone doesn't like Tatsuya very much.



Female student: I think if it did start moving, l'd smash it. But don't get me wrong, it's not because I hate him! He's annoying and fussy and a great guy.

:psyduck:

Wait, we didn't find out anything about Ms. Saeko's whereabouts. Maybe Ms. Ideal knows something.



Back to square one. Doesn't seem like it's too difficult to dodge guidance counseling at this school, to be perfectly honest.



Heading towards the... oh, you have got to be kidding me.



Why thank you, I'll get right on that. Why didn't anyone tell me sooner?





Oh, finally.





Don't worry, guidance counseling is a pretty informal process.

She says this after Tatsuya turns his back on her. He turns right back around, so I guess that convinced him. Ms. Saeko is of course another returning character from Persona 1, as indicated by the mention of St. Hermelin in her introduction. In the first game, she appears mainly in the Snow Queen questline.





It doesn't really matter what choice you pick here. Let's say Tatsuya has actually managed to decide.



And? Will you apply to college or go job hunting?



Again, pick whichever strikes your fancy. Tatsuya's going to college!



If you're just saying what you think I want to hear, think harder. Do you really want to go to college?



Sure, why not. Tatsuya is totally not just playing along so she stops pestering him.



That being said, Ms. Saeko does seem genuinely supportive and clearly wants Tatsuya to do well for himself.



I really like how much more expressive these characters are in comparison to Persona 1. Tatsuya becomes clearly uncomfortable when Ms. Saeko puts her hand on his shoulder as a gesture of support, and you can tell from his body language in general that something isn't right with him.



Ms. Saeko has made the same observation, but is obviously unable to get through to him.



There's that familiar click of the lighter, signifying that Tatsuya is too deep in his own thoughts to listen to Ms. Saeko any longer.

[Music: Ginko Theme]
PS1 / PSP





The blonde girl pulls out a letter, apparently intended for Tatsuya, but puts it away as soon as she notices Ms. Saeko.





Lisa! What's all the hubbub about?

Sorry-ia, Ms. Saeko! l have important business with Tatsuya here! Can I borrow him?

Well, all right... See you, Tatsuya.

Well, that guidance counseling can wait for a bit longer, I suppose.







Lisa just might be the most expressive character in Innocent Sin, or at least up there. Her theme music (which you should listen to) is also a perfect fit for her personality. If you're wondering why it's called "Ginko Theme", that'll become obvious soon enough.



*rip*



Now that she mentions it, no, we haven't heard of any emblem curse. Maybe some of the students would have brought it up if we had talked to them, but as you saw we already spent quite a lot of time running all over the place and I didn't want to make that segment any longer than it absolutely had to be.



But oh yeah, that can wait! I got a challenge note for you! A guy from Cuss High told me to give it to you!



[MUSIC: Hero Theme]
PS1 / PSP



Haime! Seriously!? Now that's old-school... I dunno, though, rumor has it this guy's really strong!

I also heard a rumor that it was a Cuss High jerk who cursed our emblem... I bet it was this same guy!

Tatsuya... You're going alone, huh?



Click. I think there's her answer.



I can at least show you the way! I don't want to sit around until the curse gets me too. Please, take me along!

[VIDEO: Bike Ride]



Unlike the PSP remake of Persona 1, Innocent Sin keeps the original FMVs intact. By default, they are zoomed in to fit the widescreen display of the PSP, but that looks awful so I used the original aspect ratio instead.



Meanwhile, at Sumaru...

[MUSIC: Comical Route]
PS1



Whew... Thank you for the food.





H-Hey! Is this chica really one of my fans!? That ain't right!





Shogo: Y-Yeah. If we wait just a little longer, I'm sure Tatsuya will show! Er... Oh crud...!

Hey... What's this about Tatsuya? What are you three scheming?



Tatsuya!?

Michel Eikichi, I take it?



Allow me to introduce myself as the genius artist Michel, spreading love to ladies around the world! Hooooooo!



Lisa is the best. :allears:



Shogo: Um... Please forgive us! We used Kozy-san as a hostage to lure out Tatsuya-san!

Takeshi: You know how you were pumped to start a band, Michel-san? We were looking for members. You were the only one, so...

We thought Tatsuya-san would be a good fit. And he's reliable, so we thought you'd be happy to have him aboard...

I mean, if they wanted Tatsuya to join the band, they could've just... well, asked, instead of going through with this nonsense. Tatsuya probably would've just stared at them and then turned away while clicking his lighter (which appears to be his reaction to most things, really), but I doubt this plan is going to work out any better.



Yes, sir! "Cowardice is unbefitting of a real man!" We'll take whatever punishment you have in store!

Um... So that stuff about telling me the mystery of the emblem curse... Was that all a lie? If so, then I'm going to go.

That went well for everyone involved.



Lisa status: Still the best.



I hate to stoop this low... But for the sake of my bros, I can't let you go that easily.

For my honor as the Death Boss, I'm dragging you into my band!

Does Tatsuya even play any instruments?





Oh dear. I guess now we know what that "Undie Boss" was that the guy at school was talking about.



Undie...



What, this again?



And this time, Tatsuya isn't the only one to feel the effects either.





[MUSIC: Boss Battle]
PS1 / PSP

[VIDEO: Persona Awakening] (sorry about the glitch on the battle transition, it was an emulation issue I've since figured out how to prevent)



While most of the dialog in Persona 2 is text-only, there are occasional voiced scenes and this is one of them. That's Troy Baker as Eikichi, back when Atlus could still afford him. He's basically just doing his Kanji voice from Persona 4 here.





Turns out Eikichi is a Persona-user. As for where he gained that power, it clearly wasn't due to the strange sensation just now because it seems he's summoned the "Deathbringer" before. Eikichi's Persona is Rhadamanthus, son of Zeus and judge of damned souls.



Rhadamanthus proceeds to hit Lisa with a water-elemental spell and knock her down. (This screenshot totally was always here and I absolutely did not add it later upon realizing I didn't have an image of Rhadamanthus' attack :downs:)



Haime... Seriously?

I had to check who Lisa's VA was, as she sounded familiar but I couldn't quite recognize the voice. It's Stephanie Sheh, who has been in a lot of stuff but is probably best known to Persona players as Metis from P3 FES: The Answer.



Eros. The god of love and desire, and the Greek counterpart of Cupid. Immediately after summoning her Persona, Lisa collapses.



Eikichi obviously thought his power was unique, and he isn't taking this well.







Hell yes. :black101: The first time you summon a Persona is always one of the highlights of these games, and it's no different here despite the dated presentation.





Vulcanus blasts Eikichi with Agi, knocking him out. I'm kind of disappointed Vulcanus doesn't have a hammer, he's supposed to be the Roman god of smithing after all.



The strain is too much for Tatsuya as well, and he too ends up passing out.



While unconscious, they all dream of a golden butterfly...





...along with a bunch of other, rather trippy things. :catdrugs:







Tatsuya, Lisa and Eikichi eventually find themselves standing right in front of the golden butterfly. Persona 1 veterans will know what's going on here and sure enough, the butterfly suddenly turns into a masked man.



[MUSIC: Philemon Theme]
PS1 / PSP



Phile...mon...?

The power you hold is called Persona. It is the power to summon the selves within you, the gods and the demons you harbor. The self suffused with divine love... The self capable of demonic cruelty... People live by wearing different masks. Your current self is only one of these innumerable masks. Your Persona is also among your countless selves.

That's... me? What are you...?

From here on, you will face a fearsome entity which threatens your existence. From time out of mind, beyond oblivion... The land of Sumaru is now a netherworld where rumors are reality. The battle is begun...



The group doesn't quite seem to know how to take this information.



On that ominous note, we return to the real world.

[MUSIC: Tension]
PS1 / PSP





Yeah guys, don't try to help or anything. At least Kozy seems to be worried about Eikichi's well-being.

[MUSIC: Premonition]
PSP



I knew it...! I saw it, too. It called those things Personas...?

Even the part about rumors coming true, and the stuff about the future...? That's too much for it to be a coincidence.

Hey, I know... You wanna try the Joker Game?

The thing where you call your own cell and it shows up? Why would I want to try that?

That... is a good question, Eikichi. Why would we do such a thing?

To test if that was just a dream or something more. If the rumor really comes true, then it was all real...

Couldn't we try it with another rumor that doesn't involve weird supernatural bullshit like this Joker Game apparently does? Just a suggestion. Also, for whatever reason the sprite rip I downloaded doesn't have the actual "sad face" portrait of Lisa from this scene, only the version with tears in the corners of her eyes. Not that you can really tell from the 75px high image, but just saying.



That's why I'll prove it. Hey... Are you scared or something...?

If you say so... It does feel like we should be doing something after a dream like that. Let's see if this is for real.

Welp, here we go then.







Lisa finishes dialing her number first, and... it's actually going through.



Ken, Shogo & Takeshi: It just...

Um... Hello?

[MUSIC: Joker Theme]
PS1 / PSP



Behind you...



Tell me your ideal...



I think it's safe to say that the rumor about the Joker game has come true.



Your trump cards have been spoiled...





I didn't hear any of them tell him their dreams, but somehow Lisa doesn't get attacked by Joker. Maybe those three just didn't have any dreams to speak of, whereas Lisa does and you don't need to speak it aloud.



You bastard... What did you do!?

Ideals only cause pain to the powerless. l have freed them from that anguish... Better not to yearn for impossible dreams. They are lifeless shells of dreams... They can be seen, but are not. They will be forgotten and become true shadows.

So, basically, Joker took their hearts, turning them into shadows of themselves without any ideals or desires.





It's been ages, Tatsuya Suou... I've been waiting... for the moment you would all summon me!

[MUSIC: Boss Battle]
PS1 / PSP

[VIDEO: Joker]



Wh-What are those things...?



Tatsuya and Lisa get attacked by the bird demons, and things look rather bleak at this point.





That is, until Tatsuya remembers he can use a Persona and proceeds to blast one of the birds with Agi.





Lisa also summons Eros and drops the other bird with Magna, an Earth-elemental spell.





Per Eikichi's suggestion, the trio combine their powers to strike Joker with a powerful water-elemental spell.



Unfortunately, Joker also has a Persona, and a powerful one at that. The fusion spell doesn't even scratch him.









[MUSIC: Joker Theme]
PS1 / PSP

.....?

The poker face doesn't fool me. I know. You wanted to go to college... Isn't that so? Hahaha... Aaaaahahahaha! I'll never let your dreams come true! You should know by now... why I came to you all today!

We actually have no clue why he showed up. I mean, we did play the Joker Game, but that's just supposed to grant your wishes or something and not involve the player getting attacked by monsters and being strangled by Joker.



Wh-What? What did we ever do to you?

No... Do you not remember!? Impossible! This can't be... How could this happen!?



That clearly wasn't in Joker's plans, so he completely freaks out on us for a brief moment.







Joker soon regains his composure and disappears in another ball of energy, leaving behind a yellow iris.



My very brief research on the language of flowers indicates that the iris tends to represent "message" (fair enough, since we definitely just got a message from Joker), although the key items menu description for this flower says its meaning is "revenge". Revenge for what, exactly? What did Tatsuya do to him?

This update has been fairly long, so I'll cut it here. Next time, we'll begin our hunt for Joker.

-----

DMorbid fucked around with this message at 23:33 on Jul 22, 2017

Junpei
Oct 4, 2015

Although next time, you would be wise to heed the ancient Japanese proverb... phone first!
Oh, sweet! I've been waiting for someone to SSLP Innocent Sin. If you finish this, Arist finishes Persona 5, and PeaceDiner finishes Persona 1, that'll mean all the mainline persona games have been LP'd!

DMorbid
Jan 6, 2011

Hello! I see you.


There is actually a VLP of Innocent Sin that got finished a couple of years ago, but nobody seems to have managed to finish an SSLP of this thing. I can't really blame them because this game does get really grindy at times, but if I managed to complete an LP of GTA IV I feel like I can complete anything.

StrixNebulosa
Feb 14, 2012

You cheated not only the game, but yourself.
But most of all, you cheated BABA

:toot:

I am excited for this LP! Good luck!

Booky
Feb 21, 2013

Chill Bug


I'm pretty pumped for this LP! :toot: Only managed to play IS, but it was a fun ride (if broken up due to all the NPC dialogue :v:)

Also, here's Lisa's Sad Portrait from the wiki. I'm pretty sure the wiki has like almost all of the portraits as well (though beware of spoilers!)?

TheOneAndOnlyT
Dec 18, 2005

Well well, mister fancy-pants, I hope you're wearing your matching sweater today, or you'll be cut down like the ugly tree you are.
The old Eternal Punishment LP gave a decent overview of this game's plot, but I've always been interested in seeing it in detail. I'll be watching this.

frajaq
Jan 30, 2009

#acolyte GM of 2014


Ohh more of these weird Persona games LPs, excellent

DMorbid
Jan 6, 2011

Hello! I see you.


Booky posted:

Also, here's Lisa's Sad Portrait from the wiki. I'm pretty sure the wiki has like almost all of the portraits as well (though beware of spoilers!)?
Thanks. I actually grabbed a couple of portraits from the wiki earlier, not sure why I didn't think to look there for that particular one. :downs:

frajaq posted:

Ohh more of these weird Persona games LPs, excellent
Without going into any spoilery detail, I can say Innocent Sin gets weird even by Persona standards. :getin:

Materant
Jul 22, 2010

see, what you don't understand is he now has

THE MANLIEST MUSTACHE

it defies physics


quote:





An important thing to remember from the original Persona is that this is strikingly similar to the Persona game from the very beginning of that game. This is very much intended to put people who played the first game on edge.

Glaive17
Oct 11, 2012

What is there left to discover about donuts...?
Pillbug
Man, the dialog in this game is incredibly stilted... It's hard to even understand anything that is happening. I guess it probably doesn't help that I know nothing about Persona 1 or the other Persona 2 game. I started with 4, went back to 3, then played 5 when that came out a decade later.

Rangpur
Dec 31, 2008

I've always wanted to play this, but without a PSP or Vita it looked like I'd never get the chance. At least now I'll finally get a chance to see it for myself.

What are those exclamations Lisa makes? 'Haime!' or 'Fanna!' and such. Something to do with the enthusiasm for Kung-Fu, I'm guessing.

Inferior
Oct 19, 2012

I love how fast the old Persona games start. Here are some radical teens, superpowers activate, demons everywhere, reality's collapsing, go go go!

MonsterEnvy
Feb 4, 2012

Shocked I tell you

Rangpur posted:

I've always wanted to play this, but without a PSP or Vita it looked like I'd never get the chance. At least now I'll finally get a chance to see it for myself.

What are those exclamations Lisa makes? 'Haime!' or 'Fanna!' and such. Something to do with the enthusiasm for Kung-Fu, I'm guessing.

Chinese Stuff from I can tell.

DMorbid
Jan 6, 2011

Hello! I see you.


Part 02: The Curse

-----



[MUSIC: Eikichi Theme (Sad)]
PS1

Last time, Joker took the dreams of Eikichi's three friends, turning them into shadowy husks normal people can't see (or even remember they existed in the first place). Understandably, Eikichi is rather upset about this and blames himself for allowing it to happen.



They've really been forgotten...

We're Persona-users so we can still see the shadowmen, but Kozy for instance has no idea they were ever there.



That's a good question and something we'll probably have to find out sooner rather than later.



It kinda sounds like there might some history between Kozy and Eikichi, although if that was really the case you'd think Eikichi would've said something by now or at least given us some indication that he recognizes her.



I'm sorry... And after I promised...! If only I hadn't made you do that... Dammit!

Eikichi is still clearly distraught over what happened to Ken, Shogo and Takeshi. We can also try to interact with the three shadowmen...







...although, as you might expect, they've pretty much shut down after Joker stole their desires. That's all we can do here at the Sumaru Prison right now, so let's go hunt down that giggling weirdo and find out what's going on.



Eikichi and Lisa aren't going to let Tatsuya run off on his own, though.



Plus, we don't know where to start looking. Let's get someone else to do something about him--like the police!

Who'd believe us!? We gotta arm up and kill that guy, or we're all screwed.

Killing Joker might be going kinda far... and besides, his Persona wiped the floor with us just now so I doubt weapons will do us much good against him. Might come in handy against those demons, though.



While I do that, you should prepare to defend yourselves... That reminds me... Rumor has it that the ramen shop in Kameya Alley sells weapons... Something about the owner being a former spy... With everything that's going on, why not start there?

If rumors are coming true, it's worth a shot... Having just our Personas makes me nervous, so to the ramen shop it is!

Sounds like a plan, let's get going then.

[MUSIC: MAP Sumaru City]
PS1 / PSP



I highly recommend listening to the overworld map music, it's really good. Most of the music in this game is, but that particular track is easily one of my favorites.

Oh yeah, speaking of the music in Innocent Sin, I don't think I got around to mentioning this in the first update but the PS1 and PSP soundtracks are much more similar than they were in Persona 1 PSP. The Persona 1 remake replaced a lot of the original music altogether, but Innocent Sin PSP just remixes the old songs with better instrumentation and that sort of thing. If you don't like the remixed soundtrack for some reason, you can go to the settings menu and switch to the original PS1 music anytime you want.



Blue-collar man: Well, I doubt that, but there's nothing wrong with dreaming. You can focus on your troubles later, once you're older.

We're heading to Kameya Alley, which is the shopping mall right past this guy. We'll talk to those other NPCs in a bit, but for now let's go check out that ramen place.



There's a few different stores we can enter, but of course we'll start with Shiraishi Ramen here.



[MUSIC: Shiraishi Ramen]
PS1



Satomi Tadashi also happens to be one of the writers of this game, and this guy is his self-insert character.



Ah-ah-ah... I heard from the Chief and Tamaki that the "secret dish" is the password to getting an under-the-table deal. I must've just ordered the wrong thing... I heard it was something disgusting. What about the sweet red bean gyoza?

That just seems like they're pulling a prank on Tadashi, but maybe we should look into it anyway.



The Kuzunoha Detective Agency appears on the list of destinations after the scene with Tadashi. This place is of course a direct reference to the Devil Summoner games.



[MUSIC: Kuzunoha Detective Agency]
PS1 / PSP

Th-That thing scared me... What the hell is this?

Come on now Eikichi, surely you know what a lucky cat statue is, even if this one is a lot bigger than these things usually are.





Fun Tamaki fact #1: Tamaki is the protagonist of Shin Megami Tensei: if..., the spiritual predecessor of sorts to the Persona series.

Fun(?) Tamaki fact #2: Tamaki's appearance is based on an idol singer and actress that Satomi Tadashi (the writer) was fond of, and it just so happens that she's dating the writer's self-insert in the game. Very subtle.





That'll be the chief, I guess.



You guys spread those just to tease Tadashi!?

We didn't spread them exactly... We just told him, and Tadashi ran his big mouth.

I knew it was something like that... Anyway, it's not like rumors can magically come true. Like Joker. He must have always existed.



The mention of Joker seems to get the attention of Tamaki and the chief.





Tatsuya tells the two what transpired with Joker back in Sumaru Prison.





Suddenly became a brilliant detective? I'm sure it's all down to hard work and clean living.



Yeah! If rumors are coming true, we can spread rumors that work in our favor!

I'll do this one for free, but I'll need you to file an official request.



This is where we're introduced to one of the major mechanics of this game: spreading rumors to make them come true. It doesn't come up all that often in the main story after this, but we definitely will be making heavy use of this mechanic as we progress through the game.





We can talk to the chief to find out more about spreading rumors, but the tl;dr version is that we need to get rumors from rumormongers around town (or certain demons we encounter) in order to spread them.



That sounds incredibly gross. Great, let's get back to the ramen shop.



Lisa and Eikichi were playing rock-paper-scissors to decide who has to order the horrible, horrible food.



......! I knew this day would come, Eikichi... These weapons are on the house, as a farewell gift. Hmmm... Let's see...

How about that, it actually worked.



But rules are rules. You have to eat what you ordered, or I'll pretend this never happened.

Well then Eikichi, better get to it.





Eikichi somehow manages to eat his terrifying banana pork noodles, and as he contemplates where his life went wrong Kozy shows up. Hopefully she's got some news about Joker.



Haime!? Really? I wonder if that's Joker...

Let's go back to Sevens, Tatsuya! Hanya might know something about Joker!

I'll keep researching the relationship between Joker and rumors.





Tadashi seems quite pleased with himself now that the rumor has been confirmed to be true, and presumably puts in an order for some banana char siu ramen.



Before we go back to Sevens, we should stock up on some armor. The extra protection will help if/when we run into any more demons.

[MUSIC: Toua Defense]
PS1



Weird woman: What, you don't believe me!? Need me to prove it to you? 'Cause I'll be happy to pull out my prize!

We're good, thanks.



We'll just go and buy that armor now. After talking to Lisa, of course.



As we have seen many times already, Lisa tends to pepper her speech with a bunch of Cantonese words and expressions. Why Cantonese? Well...



...that's why. She does a kung fu pose here, too.





We don't have a huge pile of money to spend at the moment, but we'll at least be able to afford three chain mail vests. That's a pretty solid defense boost.



Way to treat paying customers, Whistler.



Next destination: Satomi Tadashi Pharmacy.



[MUSIC: Satomi Tadashi - Hirasaka]
PS1 / PSP

The Satomi Tadashi pharmacy jingle is one of the most memorable things about Persona 1, and Persona 2 features several versions of the song such as this enka-style one here. I still prefer the original, though.



No one at my school smokes! I have a strict rule against it. The same goes for Ken. Shogo, and Takeshi, too...

Kasugayama High has a poor reputation as a school for delinquents (hence the nickname), but apparently it's not all bad.



Composer: Sometimes this causes me to see things that ordinary people can't. Such as the blue door to the Velvet Room... Hmm, that gives me an idea!



Tell me about it. In case you haven't yet noticed, Innocent Sin has an absolute shitton of NPC dialog, and if we want to hear it all we need to check on everyone regularly as we make our way through the game. As I said in the OP, I have no intention of listening to every single line of NPC dialog in this game, because :stonklol: (I'll still talk to a hell of a lot of people)



Heeheehee! Our drugstore is making plans to branch out all over the country! We're starting with Sumaru City! Leave it to us Seven Satomi Sisters to brainwash--I mean, take over this city! Heeheehee!



We're here to buy two of each of these status-curing items. It might have been smarter to just get a bunch of Antidotes since poison (which persists after a battle) is easily the most annoying of the ailments, but might as well be prepared for anything.



The talky face icon means there's someone dealing with rumors at Gatten Sushi, so that's where we're going next.



[MUSIC: Gatten Sushi]
PS1



For whatever reason, Eikichi freaks out the instant we walk in.





Ah, well, I guess that'll explain things.



I-I-Is this a joke? What the hell are you wearing, boy!?



I was practicing for a costume party! R-Right, Tatsuya!? It's for the school festival! It's not like I always dress like this!



Costume practice!? I hope you know what's coming to you if I catch you lying to me! We already decided you're gonna be taking over this restaurant someday! If I find out that's your everyday outfit, there'll be hell to pay!

Ha! Hahaha...! C-Come on, Dad... D-Don't be ridiculous...! Let's GO, Tatsuya-kun. We gotta get the hell outta... I mean, get back to practice!

Unfortunately for Eikichi, we're not done here so he'll get to hide in the corner for a bit longer.



Snrk... Ahahahahah! You Yisi! That's hilarious! Costume practice? You always dress like that!



Why? 'Cause when you add up his karate, judo, and capoeira skills, my pops is 18th rank! If I disobey him, he'll murder me!



Well, I wasn't really trying to talk to Eikichi's dad here, but whatever. Dining in at various restaurants gives you temporary stat boosts, but since we're a bit low on cash right now we won't be doing that just yet.



This rather chufty gentleman at the counter is the guy we were supposed to have a chat with.





Toro's Persona can be seen during the Snow Queen questline in Persona 1. It's... rather unique, let's put it that way.



Toro doesn't have anything for us right now, but we'll get back to him eventually.



Sushi Royalty: Actually, I have quite a taste for sushi and rumors myself. I was asking Taro-san, our Baron Sushi, about rumors just now.



Living the good life, I see.



People experiencing sudden changes in their personality, skills or fortunes is a bit of a running theme in this game.



We don't really need to visit Tominaga Chiropractic because we're at full health and SP, but might as well check it out.



[MUSIC: Tominaga Chiropractic]
PS1 / PSP



That's one hell of an outfit. :911:



Come again if you ever get tired. There's nothing these fingers can't cure! Magic fingers!

Yeah, we have no business here right now. Maybe later.



Or maybe not, because Lisa clearly doesn't want anything to do with Mr. Tomi.



Eikichi doesn't seem to mind him, though.



Sorry, gramps, you'll want to talk to the bald creep in the middle of the room. We're leaving.



Just one more place here in Kameya Alley we haven't visited yet.



[MUSIC: Aria of the Soul (aka Poem for Everyone's Souls)]



We have been waiting for you at the command of our master, Philemon. My name is Igor.

Persona 3 was my first Persona game, so the Velvet Room in the older games has always felt really weird. In the later games it's this super special and important location (and being summoned there is a Big Deal) and Igor is constantly guiding you on your way, here it's basically just another store and Igor doesn't really give a poo poo about you, he's just doing the job Philemon told him to do.

That's enough about Igor, though, because we're more interested in his assistants. Two of them already appeared in Persona 1, but this is the first time we can interact with them.



Belladonna is meant to be the one singing the Aria of the Soul, just like in the first game, and according to Atlus she is still doing that in the later games (at least Persona 3) even though she doesn't appear onscreen.



Nameless also returns from Persona 1. This time he doesn't just play the Aria of the Soul over and over, as he's also learned Gymnopédie No. 1 and Clair de lune and occasionally plays those instead. Just like Belladonna, he's still supposedly residing in the Velvet Room in the later Persona games.



The Demon Painter's appearance is based on Kazuma Kaneko, the artist who designed all the classic Megami Tensei demons.





Summoning Personas works a bit differently here than in the other games, and we'll take a look at that once we've found some tarot cards. Basically, the deal here is that we get arcana cards from demons, and if we bring Igor enough cards of a certain arcana we can summon a new Persona. We can also find Free Tarot Cards, which are blank cards we can give to the Demon Painter to be turned into arcana cards. Getting these blank cards requires winning a demon's trust, and we'll see how that works pretty soon.



The Demon Painter will tell you everything about cards if you wish, but I just explained everything you really need to know.



Though my ears♪
Block out the world's sounds♪
Your words reach me quite clearly♪



To create it, I must confront what is in my heart. That is why 90,000 and 155 nights have passed since I closed my own eyes.

Hm... not taking leap years into account (and if my math isn't failing me, which is always a possibility), I believe that's about 247 years he's spent blindfolded.



It feels like something's rising up from within me, or surging out...



And these people are going to help us get them! We should pay close attention, Tatsuya.

Indeed. As I said, we don't have much business in the Velvet Room until we've found some cards, so we'll be back later.



Young girl: So now I go watch their shows at the Prison. You're kinda cute too, but you're just a Sevens student.

Geez, thanks a lot.



Fighting washout student: Having such a statue on school grounds must be a serious impediment to the education of the students there. As a fighting student, I will bring divine punishment to that vexing statue! Eventually, that is...

The only statue we remember seeing at Sevens is the Hanya statue, and that wasn't moving around last time we saw it.



Healthy young man: The students there have settled down lately, and I like this neighborhood's working-class feel.



The Sakanoue Building? Why would we go there? C'mon, let's go somewhere else.

All right! I was just curious, that's all.



Aiyah... You want to go into Smile Hirasaka?

Let's skip this hole and go somewhere like Zodiac!

Just looking around. Getting our bearings, you know.



Reaching any of the exits on the town map takes us to the larger city map. Seven Sisters High is in Rengedai, so that's where we're headed. Not that there's much choice at this point, since we already explored Hirasaka and the only place we didn't try to enter was Cuss High.





Of course, before we go back to the school, we should explore the rest of Rengedai. Lotus is the local shopping mall with its own set of stores, but since we have all of 385 yen to our name we'll just move along for now.



Well I don't know, all I got was this Misericorde. Apparently, Tatsuya is just walking around with a sword in broad daylight, and nobody bats an eye. At least Lisa and Eikichi have less conspicuous weapons (Eikichi's is a machine gun hidden inside a guitar case).



We'll investigate that shortly.



First off, though, we'll check out this manor here... Silverman Manor? Huh.



[MUSIC: Silverman Residence]
PSP





Yes, Lisa's dad is Steven Seagal. As such, he's a gigantic weeaboo who loves Glorious Nihon more than anything else in the world, except maybe breaking people's arms, and therefore he wants his daughter to be a "proper Japanese lady" as well.



Well, at least he's not threatening her with physical violence like Mr. Mishina was doing with Eikichi, but this doesn't seem particularly healthy either.



Ever looked around at Japanese ladies these days!? They go to clubs and party all night with guys! I'm doing exactly like you asked! And why are you always wearing a hakama!? It doesn't look good! It just looks hot! Arrrrrgh! Let's go, Tatsuya!



We used to spend so much time together... Why has she become so rebellious...?

Lisa's beautiful native tongue, in case it wasn't obvious from what we've seen here, is Japanese. Mr. Silverman did not teach his daughter a single word of English, because of course he didn't.



So that's her dad, and this is her house... She's a white girl who uses Cantonese... What country IS she from!?

Right, that was very enlightening and slightly terrifying. We'll leave Mr. Silverman to his tea ceremonies.



Housewife: I was told it got its name because Rengedai means "lotus flower." In the spring, it looks like a lotus floating on the water from above.



Foxes? What? I have no idea what this man is talking about. Anyone have a clue?



In the northernmost part of Rengedai we can find the Alaya Shrine.



[MUSIC: Alaya Shrine]
PS1



That's kind of strange, but okay then.



Old lady: They never caught whoever committed such a terrible blasphemy... Heaven help him...



Can't go inside the shrine. Oh well, that's all we can do here, let's see what our next stop is.





Eikichi with the deja vu stuff again. In any case, we can't go to Mt. Iwato, so the only place we haven't visited yet is the park to the west.



[MUSIC: Honmaru Park]
PS1 / PSP



Just to make things clear here, Lisa and Tatsuya are not an item. Lisa just has a gigantic crush on him.





I'm currently listening in on the murmurs of society. Listening to rumors teaches you the lies and deceptions of the world very clearly. Would you mind telling me any interesting rumors you know? In return, I'll tell you the ones I've heard.

Once again, we've got no rumors to share with Toku here, so we'll have to come back later.





Looks like this particular rumor is spreading like wildfire for some reason, so at this point it wouldn't be a huge surprise if the statue actually was walking around.



Hanako: But then this boy came up to me and asked me what my name was. And I said, "Hanako." And he ran off screaming, "It's Hanako!"

Hanako is a ghost that, according to legend, haunts grade school toilets and pulls unwary students into them.





Cool guy: It was worth believing that stupid rumor. Your entire life changes with just one phone call. What's the point in living honestly?



Good for you two!



I'd say that's about as many fireworks as the sky can handle.



Now that we're done with our little sightseeing tour, let's finally head on over to Seven Sisters High and see what that commotion was all about.



The students definitely seem restless.







Apparently that's something that shouldn't happen, if Tatsuya's and Lisa's reactions are anything to go by.

[VIDEO: Clock Tower]





Looks like Philemon's watching over us in his butterfly form.







Just like the student said, the frozen clock has begun moving again.



[MUSIC: Tension]
PS1 / PSP

We don't really know why that's such a big deal or why everyone's making such a fuss over the clock. Neither does Eikichi, for that matter.



There's tons of scary rumors about this tower! Like, ghosts appearing and other bad stuff when the clock starts again.

Considering the situation we're in, having a bunch of scary rumors going around definitely doesn't seem like the best thing for us right now.



Take it easy, gramps! There's no need to be scared. Long as I'm around, you got nothing to worry about!

Eikichi still doesn't seem to be too worried about this business with the clock.



Are you talking about... that teacher who died in the clock tower?

Janitor: Yes, that's right... That teacher nobly sacrificed his life to save the children and ensure world peace!



*gasp* The Narurato Stone! What about the Narurato Stone!?

Ms. Ideal rushes towards the courtyard to check on the Narurato Stone, and we still don't have any idea what's going on around here.



Other male student: The big clock's started again, so... I'd say yes!

Female student: Can we really prevent the curse by taking the emblems off our uniforms?



Judging from that, probably not.





Female student: The curse! It's the emblem curse!

We can't see what happened to the girl's face, but the reactions tell us it's not pleasant.



The fact we never see (or even hear a description of) what the curse does makes it a lot creepier in my opinion.

EDIT: It was mentioned in the thread that there are scenes from an unrealized Persona 2 anime adaptation (or somesuch) on the bonus disc that came with Eternal Punishment, and one of those scenes shows what happens to this poor girl and presumably the rest of the curse victims. The video is a little bit spoilery so I'm not linking it here, but in that animated scene the curse is depicted as melting half your face. :gonk: I still think not showing the result at all is the more stylish approach, but there you have it.



Let's hurry and find Principal Hanya! We need to lift the curse before my face and Tatsuya's gets all messed up!



[MUSIC: Seven Sisters High School B]
PS1

The music at Sevens has changed and now quite clearly tells us that we are in a dungeon. The layout of the school has not changed, but now there are demons running around all over the place. That means random encounters, very frequent ones at that. Generally, the border around the minimap gives us some idea when to expect a fight as the color changes from blue (as it is here) to yellow, orange and finally red. When the border's red, a fight will happen very soon. However, sometimes fights just seem to happen whenever, no matter what color the border is.



The immense encounter rate is my least favorite aspect of Innocent Sin, although the battles themselves are usually fairly short so it's not as much of an issue as it could be. The frequent encounters only really become a problem in situations where you're not quite sure where the way forward is and you end up running in circles, fighting things constantly. These situations are rare, but they do happen occasionally even though the map generally gives you a good idea where you should go.

Oh, and the battle transition is still glitched due to emulator shenanigans, but never mind that. It'll be fixed from the next update onward, and besides I probably won't be showing it again anyway.



[MUSIC: Battle]
PS1 / PSP



The first enemy we encounter is a Slime. I kinda love these little guys and the silly onomatopoeia in their dialog.



We're also not going to fight it, because it's here to teach us about demon negotiation.



I know! I'll teach you how to make contact with demons!



Take it away, Professor Slime! :eng101:



You know what demons are? Sure, you're thinking "they're scary, scary monsters," right? Well, that's not true at all! *bloop* Demons are just like you! *squidge* You humans get happy, angry, scared, eager... Those emotions are what create demons! So we're the same as you! *glubble*



Yes, we can kind of tell from that box in the corner of the screen.



This is often easier said than done, even when you know your way around these negotiations.



*squishy-squish* Take a look!



When this is full, we'll be willing to make a "pact" with you! You get good things when you have pacts with us! You could get Tarot Cards you can't normally get, or hear interesting stories! *florb*

Right. So, pacts are the way to get Free Tarot Cards. Demons you have a pact with can also tell you about certain rumors, although I kinda always forget that latter one is a thing.





If this gauge fills up, we end the conversation! We'll be so upset, we won't talk with you again! We might even up and attack you! *glooble* If you have a pact, we'll end it right there and then! So nothing good happens when you make us too angry, got it? *blop*

Generally, I've found that if you make the demon angry once, it snowballs until the demon's anger meter is full and the negotiation fails. You can sometimes salvage things, but often the demons just get more and more angry no matter what you say to them.



If this fills up, we run away!

It's usually not worth it to make demons run away. Making them happy (easy to do once you figure out what to say to each demon) or eager will accomplish the same goal (ending the fight or at least removing the demon from the field) and you can get goodies out of it too.



As much as I like Professor Slime here, I'll just summarize the rest of this or we'll be here all day. Making demons eager is the only way to get Tarot Cards for summoning Personas in the Velvet Room, and if you have a pact with the demon it'll also give you Free Tarot Cards.



Two emotions can also go up at the same time, like eagerness and happiness here. You can't form a pact if they both fill up, and you get different results depending on which two emotions you fill. This doesn't happen too often if you know what to say to make demons happy. The emotions normally fill up in three stages -- for example, increasing a demon's happiness three times will max it.



Next up, we've got demon personalities, which are all listed here. Each demon has up to three of these personality types, and they generally determine what the demon likes and dislikes. Some of their reactions seem to be completely random (especially when a demon asks you a question) so an element of trial and error is still present.



Tatsuya's "Death Stare" conversation option should make Slimes happy, so let's see how that goes.





So, it's like this? Get it? *blorp* Sometimes, demons will ask you questions in response to your contacts. They'll even start talking to you right when you meet them!

That last one is annoying when you just want to get through fights as quickly as possible, because you can't back out of the conversation in that case, at least not immediately.



Totally worth it, thanks!





We don't get to murder Professor Slime because he just runs off... or whatever the slime equivalent of running is, I guess. I didn't really want to kill him anyway, so that works just as well for us.



I tried to make this Ghost eager but it wasn't happening. Oh well, time to fight.



Here's the main battle screen. We can see the turn order on the right edge of the screen, and the two Ghosts (the other one is obscured by the menu) get to attack first on this turn. The options on this screen are quite self-explanatory, to be honest. "Persona" will let you change Personas, but obviously we've only got our starter Personas at the moment.



The skill menu is a bit empty right now. We could use Agi, but instead we'll just do normal attacks this turn. All of this is just for demonstration's sake, really, as most of the combat in this game is best done using fusion spells instead of individual attacks or skills.



These Ghosts are weak to Tatsuya's sword attacks. Hitting weaknesses doesn't give you any extra turns or anything like that as it would in later Persona games and other Megami Tensei games, here it's just a bit of bonus damage.







The Ghost is immune to Eikichi and Lisa's attacks, and on the next turn we can see that those attacks won't work if we try to use them again.



Eventually, we take the enemy out with Rhadamanthus' Aqua spell.



[MUSIC: Battle Results]
PSP

And we don't even level up. Oh well.



Next time, we'll actually get to explore the Seven Sisters High dungeon.

-----

DMorbid fucked around with this message at 22:19 on Jul 26, 2017

PeaceDiner
Mar 24, 2013

Yay, somebody else gets to do this LP instead of me! Innocent Sin is straight-up probably my favorite Persona game, especially when it comes to music and characters. The gameplay is a bit simplistic and doesn't offer as much in terms of strategizing that future games had, but I still like it.

By the way, are you typing out all the dialogue yourself as you go or what? Because I started typing out the script for this awhile ago and am about halfway or a bit more than halfway through with it and I don't want it to go to waste if somebody else needs it! It includes the main story dialogue as well as all the incidental dungeon, store, and city dialogue.

DMorbid
Jan 6, 2011

Hello! I see you.


PeaceDiner posted:

By the way, are you typing out all the dialogue yourself as you go or what? Because I started typing out the script for this awhile ago and am about halfway or a bit more than halfway through with it and I don't want it to go to waste if somebody else needs it! It includes the main story dialogue as well as all the incidental dungeon, store, and city dialogue.
Honestly, if I had known you've already put so much effort into transcribing the text, I probably wouldn't have started this thread at all and would've just let you handle Innocent Sin after finishing Persona 1. :eng99:

In any case, I'm using Capture2Text to grab the text from the dialog boxes, which requires a bit of cleanup but is a little faster than typing everything out manually. I don't know if I really need the script, but if you want to provide it I'd be happy to use it!

frajaq
Jan 30, 2009

#acolyte GM of 2014


Reading the Persona 5 LP at the same time is this is funny considering how the pace of that game goes compared to this so far.

Also lol at that vendor casually giving actual weapons to teenagers so fast

Rangpur
Dec 31, 2008

There's something to be said for just diving right into the plot, especially compared to how long 4 & 5 draw things out. That aside, this already looks closer in tone to the latter Persona games than the first one, let alone mainline SMT titles.

DMorbid
Jan 6, 2011

Hello! I see you.


I would like to apologize for the gigantic PNG files in the first two updates. :sweatdrop: I initially thought ~300 KB was a bit large, but then I saw similar file sizes in other threads and assumed it was fine since people weren't complaining. I've since managed to cut the file size by about 70% without any noticeable loss of quality (and I probably could cut it even more, but then I'd actually notice a difference in image quality and that would bug the hell out of me), so the next update should be a bit easier on your browsers.

PurpleXVI
Oct 30, 2011

Spewing insults, pissing off all your neighbors, betraying your allies, backing out of treaties and accords, and generally screwing over the global environment?
ALL PART OF MY BRILLIANT STRATEGY!
Oh hey, the Kuzunoha Detective Agency. I'm guessing there isn't gonna be a Raidou hanging around.

PeaceDiner
Mar 24, 2013

Doc Morbid posted:

Honestly, if I had known you've already put so much effort into transcribing the text, I probably wouldn't have started this thread at all and would've just let you handle Innocent Sin after finishing Persona 1. :eng99:

In any case, I'm using Capture2Text to grab the text from the dialog boxes, which requires a bit of cleanup but is a little faster than typing everything out manually. I don't know if I really need the script, but if you want to provide it I'd be happy to use it!

I was going to do the LP because somebody requested it and I like P2:IS, so if somebody also likes IS and wants to LP it then why shouldn't they, you know what I mean? People enjoying early Persona games is good. I just started transcribing the script because P2 has a looooooot more words than P1, so it'd be better to start early. And since there's no limit on how many times a game can be LPed, if I wanna do some crazy 100% run of this game down the road then I can!

Anyway, I just thought it might be easier and faster to work on updates if you had the script all typed out and ready to go (plus then you could talk to every single NPC without "ending up in the mental ward," haha).

Since it wasn't mentioned in the update: the music in the Kuzunoha Detective Agency is a remix of the detective agency theme in the original Devil Summoner, and Tamaki and Tadashi are wearing the outfits of Rei and Kyouji, respectively. Makes me happy to see that Devil Summoner was still being referenced.

PeaceDiner fucked around with this message at 20:45 on Jul 7, 2017

DMorbid
Jan 6, 2011

Hello! I see you.


Part 03: Guardian Angel

------



Last time, we explored what we could of Sumaru City and returned to Seven Sisters High, where the emblem curse has really started to take hold and demons have begun roaming the hallways. Apparently, this might have something to do with the fact that the large clock in the tower has started up again after being frozen for years. At this point our best bet is to find Principal Hanya and find out what he knows.

Also, HUGE THANKS to PeaceDiner for providing the script! That makes my life so much easier, these updates take long enough to put together when I don't need to mess with OCR software.



Before we head to the principal's office, we take a quick detour to the school's courtyard...



...where, as it turns out, strange things are happening. The statue of Principal Hanya has disappeared from its pedestal.





Well, there was a fairly popular rumor about this statue walking around on its own, and since all rumors seem to be coming true this isn't that massive of a surprise.



It sure is, Eikichi.



It sure is, Lisa.



I think so.

Gaaaaah! Hell no! That's impossible! How could something this ridiculous actually happen? M-My 3,000 yen...

It's like we heard! Rumors are coming true. Woohoo, I'm 3,000 yen richer now! Let's go get some dinner, Tatsuya!

Maybe later. We've got slightly more urgent business going on at the moment.



Ms. Ideal shows up and, as you might expect, is rather shocked by what she's seeing.



Hm!? What are you kids doing here!? You must leave at once! "Why"...!? L-Look at the statue! I-It's walking around! D-Don't you think that's dangerous!?

Well... not really, no. It's just walking, it's not attacking people or anything. Of course it is weird as hell, but not so much dangerous.



Rumored to walk around, indeed. The statue will shuffle its feet if you examine it here.



Could the two of you at least try to take things seriously for once?



That being said, something like this would've been a better way to test whether rumors were coming true. You know, instead of playing the weird supernatural Joker game and almost getting killed.

Anyway, time to head back inside and find the real principal.



On the way, we have some stimulating conversations with demons.



Ghost: ...But I'll get yelled at if I'm too friendly with you. Let's play later! Here, have 2 Devil cards! Yeah! It's a promise! Let's play together again!

Nice, we managed to make a demon eager. It's not really worth doing so unless you've formed a pact with one, though, since you can get a lot more cards (as well as the invaluable Free Tarot Cards) if you've got a pact.



We can enter many of the classrooms at Sevens. There's nothing hugely important in any of them except for some flavor dialog with NPCs and party members, and since I like to keep things moving at a semi-decent clip I ended up skipping most of the classrooms at this point. We'll go inside all of them soon enough, but some of the dialog will be different by that point.



Ill female student: I had my freckles removed, but now I'm sick... I don't like this one bit!

Classroom 1-A is right along the way, so we pop in for a quick chat with the students. Looks like the curse has been claiming more victims.



Well, he grants your wishes, doesn't he? Or at least he's supposed to.



Male student: I-Is something terrible about to happen...? Oh man, I am now freaking out!







We make such a beautiful couple, too! Let's hurry and get to the principal's office! That Hanya's involved somehow!

Can Persona-users even get the disease? Who knows. We probably shouldn't wait to find out. Also, Lisa and Tatsuya still aren't a couple.



The enemies in this dungeon include various low-level demons, such as Slimes and Ghosts from before and these Poltergeists here. None of them are dangerous, and the biggest threat here is getting poisoned by something.



As I mentioned last time, fusion spells are how you are actually supposed to get through fights. The Auto setting here means that the spell fires, well, automatically once you've set it up and you don't need to confirm it on every turn.





The way fusion spell combinations work is fairly simple, although the game doesn't really do a great job explaining it in my opinion. Basically, the idea is that you target an enemy with two or more attacks in a certain order, and the fusion spell will fire when the last person involved takes their turn. Like, here we set our turn order so that Tatsuya, Lisa and Michel target an enemy with Agi, Magna and Aqua respectively, and Hydro Boost will then activate on Michel's turn.



Of course, Agi and Magna will not fire if you have Hydro Boost queued up, you just see a little "WAIT" message pop up instead.



These cut-in portraits didn't pop up in the original PS1 release of Innocent Sin, they were an addition to the PSP remake. They were obviously meant to be reminiscent of the all-out attacks in Persona 3 and 4.







The reason you should be using fusion spells is that they do a hell of a lot more damage than any of your regular attacks or spells could ever hope to, making the endless random battles go by a lot quicker. Speaking of which, these remakes of the old Persona games would really have benefitted from a fast-forward button.



Like in Persona 1, your Personas will rank up and learn new skills as you use them in combat. Obviously, the more you summon them, the stronger they'll eventually be.



Unlike in Persona 1, every party member gains the same amount of EXP from battles this time around. It doesn't matter how much they do in the fight.



When Tatsuya levels up, you get to allocate his points however you please. For the best min-maxing results, you want to prioritize Dexterity and also keep Vitality at about 1/3 of your Dx stat. I probably would not have figured this out without a walkthrough.





Eikichi and Lisa level up automatically. Eikichi's terrible Agility stat will eventually cause some issues (the turn order is based on Ag), but we'll deal with that when the time comes.



Before we go up the stairs (which are at the opposite end of this hallway), let's check out the janitor's room.





> Tatsuya's party recovered.

Free healing! You better believe we'll be making use of this, even though at this point of the game you don't really lose that much HP or SP in combat. The enemies in this first dungeon barely do any damage, and SP is automatically (and slowly) replenished as you walk around, just like in Persona 1.



uhhhh



I think it's safe to say the janitor might enjoy the work of this actress.



Okay, that's enough of that. There are some boxes and cabinets we can examine in the janitor's room, but that can wait until later.



Now, we'll run around here and fight things for a while to earn a couple of levels before we move on, because there is something I really want to get.



Sometimes when you finish a battle with a fusion spell, one of the party's Personas may undergo a mutation. Usually it's just a stat increase, but sometimes you'll even be able to mutate the Persona into a completely different one (which is completely optional, and is done in the Velvet Room). Mutations are more likely to occur when your compatibility with the Persona is high, which it naturally is with these starter Personas.



While we're talking about the starter Personas, let's take a proper look at them. As you can see, there are 17(!) different types of attacks in Persona 2, and some of those two-letter abbreviations are easier to figure out than others. Here's the full list: Sword, Ranged, Strike, Throw, Havoc, Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, Ice, Elec, Nuclear, Light, Dark, Almighty, Nerve, Mind

Phew! I'm kinda glad the later games streamlined this stuff a bit. Anyway, Vulcanus blocks fire (as you'd imagine) and is weak against water and ice. He is also strong against Nuclear spells as well as Light, Dark (Light and Dark spells are insta-death if they hit), Nerve (sleep ailment), and Mind (panic/charm ailment) attacks. SP cost, by the way, is the same for every skill the Persona has, so casting something like Maragi (multi-target fire spell) instead of Agi doesn't take any more SP like it would in the later games.



Rhadamanthus blocks Dark attacks and is strong against Nerve and Mind, but otherwise has neutral resistances across the board. No weaknesses.



Eros blocks Light and is strong against Dark, as well as Nerve and Mind. She's also the only one of the starter Personas to come with a healing spell (Dia). Oh, by the way, the reason why the compatibility (the face next to the arcana) with Rhadamanthus and Eros looks terrible, that is because I'm technically in Tatsuya's Persona change menu. Obviously, he can't use other party members' Personas, so his compatibility with them is at minimum and he couldn't take them on even if they weren't already used by Lisa and Eikichi.



Here's an enemy called Nightmare. She uses nothing but status effects, and you can tell Lisa has been hit with Illusion status which lowers your hit rate. I don't know if that actually affects anything aside from physical attacks (which you never use) or maybe skills, because fusion spells still hit just fine.





Speaking of which, here's what happens when you use Magna+Straight Slash. Despite being called Earth Slice EX, this fusion spell does Elec+Sword damage and may inflict Shock status which can briefly incapacitate an enemy.





Agi+Straight Slash results in Flame Cut EX, which of course does Fire+Sword damage.



After you perform a fusion spell once, it gets added to the list. I don't really see any reason not to keep all your fusion spells at Auto, as it just makes things so much smoother when you don't have to confirm every single time that yes, I do in fact want to use this fusion spell. Of course, sometimes enemies will block the spell because they're immune to the element it uses, but in those rare cases you can just cancel auto-battle for a couple of turns.





Here's Towering Inferno (Aqua+Magna+Agi). You can probably tell what that does. All our fusion spells thus far are single-target ones, by the way.



I made a pact with Xaphan even though I didn't really need to. There's a very specific demon I want to make a pact with, and it's not him.



There we are. We need 8 Lovers cards for reasons, and Pixie here can help us get them. First, we need to form that pact to get more cards from her.



Every party member has their own special methods of contact. Pixie happens to like Tatsuya's impressions, so here goes.



And by that, they mean "makes actual construction equipment sounds using his mouth". No, really.



You may have noticed by now that this game gets a bit silly at times. This is especially true in these negotiation scenes, which are all completely batshit insane.



Heeheehee!

Close your eyes...



Again, he's making actual motorcycle noises. :allears:



But Pixie can't just run off with you... So I'll make a pact!



Absolutely!



Okay, that went well. Making a demon happy is a cinch if you know which method to use on which demon, the real challenge is making them eager because it's easy to trip up when answering their questions.



Okay, and for our next trick, Lisa shall seduce this Slime. *cue sultry music*





See what I mean about this game getting silly?



Right, now that we've made a pact with Pixie, let's try to make her eager so we can get some of those cards. To make that happen, we shall talk about manly things.







I cut out the other two times Tatsuya talked about manliness, because it was just the same dialog again. The important bit here is that we got our hands on four Lovers cards and three Free cards, so technically we only need one more of either of those. I'm still going to get the eight Lovers cards and as many Free ones I can find.

Want to see what happens when a negotiation goes south? Of course you do.



Well I mean, she kinda is at school already so... why not.



Oh. Wrong answer.



Eh, might as well give it a shot, we've pretty much failed this one already.



Well, that sucks because we still need at least one of those cards. Oh well, I'm sure it won't take 15 minutes for the next Pixie to show up! (:negative:)

Actually, that wouldn't really have been a problem because we could've just used a Free card as a substitute for the last Lovers card, but I didn't quite remember at the time how many cards I actually needed.



Another pact we don't really need, but I suppose we can get some Free cards out of it at least. Right, time to go do some offscreen grinding for those cards we need! See you in the Velvet Room.



Alright, welcome back. We've got the cards we need, so let's go have a chat with Igor.



We actually have more than enough cards to do what we came to do, which is to summon Pixie.



There are special cards we can use in the fusion to either boost our Persona's stats or teach it a skill, or create a completely different and special Persona with the Material Card. Some Personas can only be created using Material Cards, which can generally be found in treasure chests or on certain enemies.



Pixie only knows Dia out of the box, so we'll have to rank her up a little bit to get her to learn Garu, a single-target low damage wind spell. She obviously learns other stuff as well as she ranks up further, but Garu is what we need right now.



Yup. Let's get this show on the road.

VIDEO: Persona Summoning







The tarot cards we give Igor are used to power up that cellphone of his, and that power combined with Nameless' music and Belladonna's singing summons the Persona.







I read that on the wiki, otherwise I would have no idea what is going on here aside from it looking cool.







In any case, we have a Pixie now. Before we can actually use her in battle, though, there are a couple of things that need to be done.





First, we need to move her from the Velvet Room's Persona stock to our party's stock. The Velvet Stock only has 24 slots for your Personas, so if you're summoning a lot you'll have to start getting rid of weaker Personas at some point. Unlike the Persona Compendium in the later games, taking on Personas from the stock doesn't cost you anything.



We'll slap Pixie on Tatsuya to get her to rank 2. Basically, this means Tatsuya will constantly cast Dia while Lisa and Eikichi defeat enemies with Earth Slice EX.



Along with getting Pixie to rank 2, we also had Eros learn Media so we have a party heal available.



Now that Pixie knows Garu, we'll take her off Tatsuya and move her over to Lisa.



With all the preparations complete, we can continue on to the principal's office on 3F.



Huh. Looks like the principal's not here.



Yes, that's what I said.



Male student: Uh, no, we've searched everywhere and he's nowhere to be found. Where'd he go with the school in such chaos...?

Female student: I was so sure Principal Hanya would be able to handle this curse stuff, too!



As you may have noticed, Eikichi's dialog is full of music references, such as this Sex Pistols one here (The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle is a mockumentary film about the band, and also the name of the film's soundtrack album). These were obviously added in the localization, I'm not sure if the original Japanese script had anything similar.



Okay! Time to introduce to one and all the headlining act, yours truly, Mi--

Male student: This guy's got Cuss High emblems on him!

MUSIC: Ginko Theme
PS1 / PSP







The students proceed to mob Eikichi and spin him 'round like a record before leaving.



Lisa appears to find this quite amusing.



Serves you right for coming to Sevens with a Cuss High emblem on!

WHAT!? Okay, back up! This whole thing happened because YOU summoned that Joker! So take some responsibility and do something about this!

That's not actually true. We saw some students afflicted by the curse long before we summoned Joker.



And what's with all your big talk!? You're just an Undie Boss who pervs on people by yanking their pants down! Undie Boss! Undie Boss!



Do you even know what country you're from!? Maybe I should give you a name you can understand easier! You're Ginko from now on! Ginko Ginko Ginko!

Oh dear.



Well, evidently he just did, because Lisa will be known as Ginko from here on out. I think that's actually a pretty cool nickname ("gin" means silver, as in Silverman, and -ko is a common suffix in female Japanese names), but she doesn't seem to be a fan.



While Ginko and Eikichi are having their little spat, the door opens and two women enter the office.



Ciaaao! Wait a sec... Things seem to be getting steamy here. C'mon, kids, not everybody wants to get caught in a lover's quarrel!

How is this a lover's quarrel!? ...Wait, who're you?

At times, I'm an ambitious reporter! Other times, a mild-mannered editor! But my true identity is... A rising star of Coolest Magazine's editorial staff: Maya Amano! Nice to meet you all.



MUSIC: Maya Theme
PS1 / PSP

Me, I'm Yukino Mayuzumi. I'm a freelance photographer... An apprentice one, anyway.



Also a returning Persona 1 character!



Great! Here, babe, take my picture for the cover of the--



Ginko isn't having any more of Eikichi's nonsense right now, so she kung-fu punches him from behind.



We came here to do interviews for a special report we're working on, called "The Rumors of High Schoolers." The "emblem curse" here at Sevens is the best known one after the "Joker Game," you know. But it's been chaos since just after we got here. No one's been willing to give us an interview! What's going on here!? Can you tell us what you know? Is it related to what we came to interview people about?

Uhhhmm... A-About that... We don't really know anything... Right, Tatsuya?

*nod*

Hmmmmm... I'm not sure I buy that.

True stories, babes! We're not looking for Sevens' principal and we certainly never got stomped by any Joker!

Oh god drat it Eikichi you blithering idiot



If you're trying to cover it up, I take it that it's a pretty big scoop! In which case... We're definitely not letting you go!

Now hurry and fess up, or I'll make you regret it!

Yukino is a former delinquent, and even though she's long since changed her ways she can still intimidate folks if she wants to.





Before Yukino gets the chance to beat everyone up, the door flies open again and demons bust into the office.

MUSIC: Boss Battle
PS1 / PSP

VIDEO: Guardian Angel





:zombie::zombie:: blarg *stab stab*



Maya-san, these guys aren't human anymore! They're demons! You have to run!

H-How do you know about demons!?

D... Demons!? B-But if I run...

I'll handle this, so get going! Let's see, it's been a while... but here goes!

Yukino prepares to summon her Persona...





...but it turns out she doesn't need to, because Maya is also a Persona-user. Yukino is as surprised by this as everyone else.



Maia. The daughter of Atlas and Pleione and the eldest of the Pleiades, the seven sisters (hm, wonder if that's relevant somehow). Also the mother of Hermes.



Maia starts off with Hama, an instant kill Light spell. That's one of the monsters taken care of.





Vesta. Roman goddess of the hearth, guardian of home and family. Also the goddess of virginity and sexuality, with fire as her ruling element.



Fire is also the element she starts with, and that's the other demon gone.



It seems that way, but something is a bit odd.

MUSIC: Main Theme B



For reasons unknown, Tatsuya, Ginko and Eikichi are crying all of a sudden.



It's... like a nice memory... Warmer than what I felt with Tatsuya and Ginko... Like a hug from my mom...

How weird... I felt it, too. What was that wave of nostalgia...?

Could you elaborate? I know more than you'd think about demons. Maybe I could help you kids out a bit.



The group summarizes what's been going on.



And wow, I can't believe you're a Persona-user too, Yukki!

I've been a Persona-user since I played the "Persona Game" back in high school... That was three years ago. Have you guys never played it?



I played a kid's game like that in a dream once, but...

A dream...!?

Lisa, right? Know anything about this?

No, nothing... I've never played any game like that...

Well, we can save your origin stories for later. Let's focus on where we should go from here!

Haime!? Seriously!? You're gonna come along with us?

Well, since we seem to be in a demon apocalypse of some sort, five Persona-users is clearly better than three.



Plus, if we go with you, maybe I can find out how I became a Persona-user.

I'll tag along. Now that I know this guy's in cahoots with demons, I can't sit back and do nothing.

Hold on a sec! Our only lead is Principal Hanya, and he's not even here. There's nothing for us to do even if you come along!

Then let's start by putting an end to this madness! If the principal is behind the chaos like you think he is, won't that draw him out of hiding?

The only slight problem there is that we don't really know how to stop all this.



Hold on. We know the emblems seem to be causing the curse, but is getting rid of them going to fix anything? I don't recall hearing a rumor like that.



If I remember right, Sevens' emblem is based on the Pleiades, yeah? That design must show up somewhere else besides the emblems on the uniforms. Let's look for it!

Like... the clocks in the classroom? Their faces have the same design as our emblem.

That's as good a place as any to start, I suppose.



Our fleeting youth isn't going to wait while we stand around. Let's hurry up and find those emblems!

Time to go destroy school property, everyone! Before we get to that, though, let's take a quick look at our new party members' Personas.



Maia nulls both insta-death elements as well as Nerve and Mind attacks, and her stat spread is fairly balanced.



Vesta repels fire but is weak to water and ice. She resists plenty of other stuff, though. Now, before we continue on, we can talk to everyone in the room for some flavor dialog:

I get this weird, nostalgic feeling from her... Nah, that's impossible! We've never even met before.

The memories evoked by the lady Maya-san... They were warm, sad, and painful, all at once... Like the wringing of my heart... You felt it too, right, Tatsuya? And yet, this is our first meeting... Is this a love that's destined to be?

We were actually looking for you earlier. I mean, there's no way we'd leave without interviewing the famous Tatsuya-kun! *staaaaaaaare* But that aside, Tatsuya-kun... Have we met somewhere before?

Nah, just kidding! Like that'd even be possible! You're just such a fine-lookin' guy that I had to get a good ogle in!

This is a surprise. I never knew there were other Persona-users besides us... By which I mean my old pals. You've heard of it, right? The SEBEC Scandal three years ago. Mikage-cho got completely walled off...

It's a long story, but... That's when I awoke to my Persona. There was me and eight other guys... My pals and me threw down with demons and other Persona-users and took back our town. The news called it an accident, but that wasn't it at all. SEBEC's Kandori... Haha, never mind. Water under the bridge.

That's that, now let's get a move on.



Could I bother you two fine misses for a second? I've got a special present for you as our new allies!



I still like these character reactions.





Why on earth was Eikichi carrying two pink pistols with him? I swear, if he's going to make a crack about pulling the trigger on his love gun...



Sorry... but I'm already carrying my favorite weapon!





As everyone who played Persona 1 knows, Yukino prefers thrown weapons like these knives here. The game calls them razorblades, but that looks like a throwing knife to me.







Maya proceeds to show off her... did she say sweet skills? I guess that's one way to describe what we're looking at. If you squint, you can kinda see the bullet casings fly off in those screenshots.



The rest of the group doesn't seem particularly impressed with Maya's gun skills, and are probably just glad none of them was killed by a bullet ricocheting of the wall.

This seems like a good stopping point for now. Next time, many clocks will be smashed.

------

DMorbid fucked around with this message at 03:05 on Jul 20, 2017

Booky
Feb 21, 2013

Chill Bug


If you don't want NPC dialogue to break up the pacing, you could always put the town dialogue in a separate part of the update, like the Mother 3 or Persona 1 LPs. :)

Also, Maya is pretty great in a game filled with great characters! :3:

GuyUpNorth
Apr 29, 2014

Witty phrases on random basis
Commence the positive thinking :3:

DMorbid
Jan 6, 2011

Hello! I see you.


Part 04: Clocks

------

Last time, we tried to look for Principal Hanya but encountered two fellow Persona-users - Maya and Yukino - instead, and they ended up joining us on our quest to find out what the hell is happening in this city. Before we start today's update, let's quickly take a look at the in-game bios for each of our party members.











Nothing too exciting there, but at least we learn everyone's zodiac sign and blood type. With that out of the way, let's get going. We've got a bunch of Sevens emblems to smash, which may or may not put a stop to the emblem curse.

Actually, there is one more thing. If, for whatever reason, you decide to go BACK to the principal's office, you can talk to your party members for a whole new set of dialog! There is absolutely no reason to go back to the office and I definitely didn't do so, but since we've got the script now we might as well check out that dialog.

You know, I feel like I only just started liking the principal really recently... I think it was when he sprouted all that hair. He's got such a punchable face... Arrrgh! Wanna pound some nails in the photo's eyes?

These photos lined up here... Are they ALL of the principal!? He's got guts, I'll give him that.

I got scolded for mouthing off to the principal: "What are you doing in the clock tower?" "It's rock hour!" Heheh... I'm a genius.

Yeah, there was a guy like him back then... A dork who'd say the dumbest poo poo... I had a friend like him too! Can this really be just a coincidence? Please tell me it is!

It is.

I knew it... There was an antisocial guy like you there, too... Am I cursed or something!?

You can tell Yukino that it isn't a coincidence, but her reply is exactly the same as it is here. Okay then, now we can get to work.



Since we now have two Agi casters as well as a Persona with Garu, we're able to use the best early game fusion spell.





Mega Blaze (fire-wind-fire) is the first fusion spell we get that hits all enemies on the field. For the next few hours, this is going to be our go-to spell for finishing off enemies quickly.



This guy's got the right idea. I'm not entirely sure how everyone knows we're supposed to be destroying the emblems in the classrooms since we just came up with that idea a second ago, but whatever.



We can't get into classroom 3-A with these students blocking the doors, but it seems they've got things under control.



3-B is accessible, so let's go see if there's anything we can smash in this classroom.



Bandaged male student: Oh man! Did you already score with one of them at school!? Geez, you're so lucky... Can't you share at least one of them?

:wtc: We'll just... go over there.



Lisa? Distant? Clearly, she behaves very differently when Tatsuya isn't around.



Ill Yoko: *gasp* O-Of course! She's the reason for this curse! She asked Joker to do this because she was jealous of me!

Huh!? What're you talking about!? I don't need Joker to whip you in a beauty contest! It was your personality that got you rejected by Tatsuya, anyway! Honestly, everyone's like you at this school! I hope they all get cursed!

If we had come here at the very beginning of the game, we could've found out more about Yoko and how she apparently asked Joker to make her prettier so she could beat Lisa in the Miss Sevens contest this year. There is actually a shitton of flavor dialog in that early part when we're running around school, and I kind of regret missing all of that stuff now. I think I might do a bonus update where I go through that section again and talk to everybody.



Hmm... It's not coldness, really... And it doesn't seem specifically directed toward that Yoko girl... She's not bullied here, right?

Ooooh! Ginko's all mad now! One girl's vault is another man's lesson!

I have no idea what he's trying to say with that last sentence. Vault? (This is how the line goes in the script, I actually forgot to talk to Eikichi here so I don't know if he says that in the game as well. I'm good at this. :downs:)

Shut your face, Undie Bastard!

Yeesh, she's scary... She's not really one to talk when it comes to girls' personalities.

Cripes, Lisa's being pretty harsh. I don't blame her for being upset at someone who talks to her like that, but...



Oh yeah, we did have a job to do in here. The emblem we need to smash is on the face of the classroom clock there, so let's get to work.



Tatsuya produces a broom out of nowhere and whacks the clock with it. That's one down.



Well then, time to get going again.



Male student: All the emblems here are destroyed. Would you mind checking the other classrooms, Tatsuya? Let's smash the emblems and the curse!

3-C appears to be doing all right, so we'll hit 3-D.



If there is a rumor going around about the curse being lifted if we smash the emblems, chances are the curse actually will get lifted.



Oh, this ought to be good. Let's hear it.



Horror-loving girl: Rumor has it that the culprit might have actually been a student here... A student named... Tatsuya Sudou.... Bleheheh! Pretty close to your name, isn't it? I wonder if there's some connection there... Bleheheheh!

Huh, how about that. This line doesn't make very much sense if you give Tatsuya a different name, although it would be funny if she just added a D to whatever name you entered. You know, I've never actually tried to do that, so maybe she does in fact talk about rumored serial arsonist Dick Budtt. Eh, probably not.



Oof... N-No, I'm okay. I just felt lightheaded for a moment...

Did you hurt your arm, Maya-san? Oh, you were just feeling dizzy? It looked like you were rubbing your right arm, is all...

Maya clearly had a rather strong reaction to the story about the arson case, even though she's trying to downplay it as sudden dizziness.



This is the first time we hear about Tatsuya's father, although there might have been a line about him we missed earlier. In any event, Tatsuya's dad is a police officer, but it doesn't seem like things are going too well for him at the moment.



Kehhei! What's that guy's problem!? Don't let him get to you, Tatsuya. It's just a rumor!

Well... err, that's the thing, isn't it? Rumors tend to be rather accurate in this city. But never mind that, we've got more important business right now.



Smash it up.



We're on it. That should take care of all the classroom emblems on 3F, so let's head down to the second floor.



The teachers' lounge is also on the second floor and they've probably got at least a couple of emblems in there, but we can't get in at the moment.





All right then, let's go check out 2-B.



In a minute, we need to talk to everyone first.



Noriko: I want to hurry and pick up the search for Sister! She hasn't given up on her dream yet! She needs these shoes!



Hanako? Well, that's interesting.



Bandaged male student: Please, Senpai! Defeat Hanako and bring back proof she really exists, and I'll make sure to reward you a little something!

I remember the rumors about "Hanako of the toilets" from when I was a kid. If she really exists, that'd be a great scoop!

Hey, did you hear what that dude said? Come on... Hanako? In this day and age?

Wait... With demons popping up all over, why would I be surprised if she's real? I gotta get with the program before it bites me in the rear end.

Now that I think about it, you could call ghost stories rumors, in a way... Then could this be...?

Hanako, huh? She's a tough nut to crack... She's resistant to fire and physical attacks.

This is the first demon rumor we encounter in Innocent Sin. If we were to return to the Kuzunoha Detective Agency and spread the rumor that you can find Hanako at Seven Sisters High, Hanako can in fact appear in a random encounter. Obviously, the guy is full of poo poo and was just freaked out because that little girl named Hanako (we met her in the park earlier) had come to Sevens to investigate the curse and happened to tell her name to this idiot, but the actual Hanako demon will show up if we spread the rumor.

Demon rumors aren't really worth the trouble, so I'm not showing them off for the most part. The rewards aren't great, and the quests need to be completed in a very specific time frame as well. If we wanted to hunt down Hanako, we'd have to stop what we are doing and go all the way back to the detective agency in the middle of a dungeon crawl, because the quest expires after we finish the dungeon. The reward for defeating Hanako and bringing the student the nametag she drops, by the way, is Brink Tea (x5) which revives fallen party members and KO's the user. :geno:



In case you were wondering, that's what Hanako looks like. She uses water and sleep attacks. Oh, and for posterity, here's the dialog we'd get if we took out Hanako:

Bandaged male student: Whoa! This is great, Senpai! S-So you brought back Hanako's Nametag, huh? I-I'm gonna show this to all those doubters right now! As thanks, I'll give you 5 Brink Teas!

Bandaged female student: That guy's a riot. He's showing everyone an elementary school nametag that says "Hanako" and insisting it's proof that she exists.

Hey, Chinyan. There might be other demons besides Hanako who appear if we spread rumors about them!

So what did he give you, Tatsuya? Ooh, a Brink Tea? Righteous!

Demons that show up because of rumors... Why don't we call them Rumor Demons for now?

Every city is full of rumors about ghosts, demons, and other urban legends. I wouldn't be surprised if there were others like Hanako.



We sure... cleaned their clock. :downsrim:





Onwards to 2-C, which is also Lisa's homeroom.



Female student: Miyabi Hanakouji was the school paper's editor, now that I think of it.



Eikichi seems taken aback by the mention of Miyabi's name.



Apparently, they call her Kozy because she tends to fall asleep at school. In the Japanese version, Miyabi's nickname was Hanaji (nosebleed) because she once got a nosebleed in the girls' locker room.



School paper writer: M-Miyabi Hanakouji is a student here... She said she was heading to Cuss High. Did you see her there?

No... Just some fatty called Kozy... Wow... So Hanakouji-san goes to Sevens... Haha... Wow...

I see Eikichi is having some trouble putting two and two together...



Aiyah! Stoooooop!

H-Hey, Undie Boss! I know Miyabi really well... What was your relationship with her?

What!? Ohhh... So you know her too! Hanakouji-san isn't a raging bull like you. She's a slim, beautiful, classy lady! Isn't she!?

School paper writer & Female student: S-Slim? Beautiful!?

Gah! Hold it in... Keep it together...

Sooo... Uh... How do you know her?

O-Our relationship? Well...

She's my ex-girlfriend! We were dating in grade school! We broke up eventually, but I still can't forget her face when she cried and said, "Eikichi-kun, I can't bear to be apart!"

Oh god, Lisa is going to have a field day with this.



No wonder Miyabi told me to keep quiet. Heheheh... This should be interesting. Let's not say anything, Tatsuya!

Honestly, I doubt Tatsuya gives a single poo poo about that business with Eikichi and Kozy. Especially now that we've got actual important things to focus on.



Yukino knows what's what.



Female student: H-How interesting... But why exactly did they break up in the first place? I'm dying to know!

School paper writer: I never knew our editor and the Undie Boss used to be lovers... How strange fate can be. This is a huge scoop! Hmmm...

Whaaat!? Eikichi's ex-girlfriend goes to Sevens!?

Whoa, Eikichi, I underestimated you! Whooo! You sly dog!



Bandaged male student: M-M-Miss Sevens is decided by b-b-beauty, brains, and raw s-s-strength! And you speak C-C-Cantonese and English! You're p-perfect!

Apparently, people don't know Lisa doesn't speak any English because her dad is a weirdo. At least this guy doesn't know. Also, I don't claim to be an expert on beauty contests, but since when has raw strength been a deciding factor there?



Bandaged female student: I guess they got a phone call and both rushed out together...

We could've met Sheba and Mee-ho (aka Mami Shibata and Miho Ogishima) earlier. They're supposed to be Lisa's best friends, although she hasn't as much as mentioned them thus far.



That takes care of another emblem.





Since 2-D also has things under control, we're done with the second floor. Only one more floor left, so let's head downstairs.



We'll start from 1-D.



Team manager: There's no way he could've made the team otherwise. He's acting weird, though... I wonder if he's about to break down?

whaaaat



"I have a great idea! I'll call Joker and ask him to turn me into a cyborg, that'll make me a shoe-in for the baseball team!"



*staaaaaaaare* Hm? What am I doing, you ask?

I'm sending a smoldering gaze at the babe over there! Look at her, her face is all red now. She's under my spell!

He's so naive it goes past being funny to just plain sad... I wonder if he's been like that ever since he was little.

Eikichi-kun is so funny! Well, they say that love is the great misunderstanding, after all. Maybe this is how it happens.

"Love is the great misunderstanding," huh? I wonder if that's true...

Right... I think we've got a clock to destroy.





Annnd there it goes. Shouldn't be too many left.



Next up, 1-C.





Yes. Definitely.

If my face or Tatsuya's gets messed up, I'll mess yours up even worse!

Wow, Lisa-chan's scary sometimes. Looks like she's got it for you something fierce. Eikichi-kun, on the other hand...

Ill male student: Waaaaah! Noooo! Th-The curse! It's got me! Th-This is all your fault, Senpai!

Bandaged female student: It's like, everyone's looking for emblems? But I'm like, who cares, 'cause I'm cursed already. Like, haha, you guys are screwed!

Bandaged male student: I just remembered something creepy, Senpai. The janitor said before that "the world will perish if the clock starts"! I didn't believe him, of course, but look what's happened ever since it started ticking again. Could it have been true...?

Again, the weird stuff was already going on before the clock started working.



All right then, let's smash another one.





Can't be more than one or two left at this point.



1-B is blocked off, so that leaves only one more classroom.



Bandaged male student: Now Sevens will be known all over Japan as a cursed school... Heeheehee... I'm done for...





I, uh, wouldn't get my hopes up.



Mmmm, I don't like getting the stinkeye just because I'm a journalist... I'm not here to hurt anyone with my articles.



Lots of staring going on in this update. Lisa also won't tell us what she thinks Maya might be. No time to worry about that now, anyway.





Don't need to tell me twice. That should be all the clocks in the classrooms.



Ah. Hopefully we can get into the teachers' lounge this time around. Back to 2F we go.



At least those students are no longer blocking the door.



Enough is enough! Stop letting random rumors push you around! Honestly... What a headache...



MUSIC: Yukino Theme
PS1 / PSP (ignore the fact the PS1 version is called "Main Theme B" here, the uploader got their track titles mixed up)

Y-Yukino...? It really is you, Yukino! I transferred here last year. But never mind me--what are YOU doing here? Don't tell me you're redoing high school...?

Oh, no, I'm on assignment! I have a part-time job as an assistant photographer, so I came to cover a story.



She was a student of mine at my last school. Your timing in coming here wasn't very good, I'm afraid. As you can see, we're in a bit of a crisis...

That's a bit of an understatement to say the least.



A rumor caused all this!? Then the curse will lift when the emblems are gone... In that case, I'll help too! Tatsuya! I take full responsibility here. You have my blessing to go and destroy all the emblems!

Ms. Saeko status: Still cool. All right, time to get back to smashing.



There's one...



Two... Actually, hold on, let's talk to everyone before we break any more of these things.



Still, this chaos inside the school reminds me of St. Hermelin High three years ago... Oh, sorry! It's nothing.

That would be the Snow Queen questline in Persona 1. The P1 LP is about to get there, so I'm not going to spoil anything here. Suffice to say, a lot of weird poo poo went down.



Of course, Yukino is extremely happy to see Ms. Saeko, who helped her out all those years ago and she repaid the favor when the Snow Queen business happened.



Well, that's the rumor. It's not like we have too many options either way.





Just gotta talk to a couple more people first, and then we'll destroy that last clock.



Mr. Aishi: So the curse will be lifted if we destroy all the emblems? I see! And Ms. Saeko has agreed to this? Ahh, I see! Wahahah!

Bandaged male student: See? It's just like we said. We should've destroyed those emblems a long time ago! Alright, Tatsuya, go crush 'em!

Bandaged male student: It's tough finding EVERY emblem... Not even I can predict where they'll all be! But I'm sure the curse will be lifted.

Bandaged female student: What!? I'm a little busy here! I need to destroy those emblems quick and get my face back to normal!



All right, here goes. Hope this works.



That means everyone should get better!



*crickets chirp, tumbleweed rolls by, etc.*



Well... poo poo.

I don't think we screwed anything up, though. Next time, we'll figure out what went wrong.

------

I actually prepared a much longer update, but figured I'd cut it in half because it would have been gigantic (close to the 50,000 character limit) and I wasn't sure if people would want to read all that.

DMorbid fucked around with this message at 09:29 on Jul 28, 2017

BlazeEmblem
Jun 8, 2013

Uh oh. Do I use Ariadne thread or Goho-M?

Doc Morbid posted:

I actually prepared a much longer update, but figured I'd cut it in half because it would have been gigantic (close to the 50,000 character limit) and I wasn't sure if people would want to read all that.

Yeah, we might want to wait for the next page for that.

DMorbid
Jan 6, 2011

Hello! I see you.


Yeah, there's that too. At least these PNGs are quite a bit smaller now than they were in the first couple of updates.

AweStriker
Oct 6, 2014

Vandalism solves problems!

...or... it can not.

StandardVC10
Feb 6, 2007

This avatar now 50% more dark mode compliant
I have no experience with any of the pre-P3 games, so I should keep an eye on this. I love how expressive everyone's character portraits are.

Nissin Cup Nudist
Sep 3, 2011

Sleep with one eye open

We're off to Gritty Gritty land




Did senpai notice me?

Robindaybird
Aug 21, 2007

Neat. Sweet. Petite.

PurpleXVI posted:

Oh hey, the Kuzunoha Detective Agency. I'm guessing there isn't gonna be a Raidou hanging around.

Not a Raidou, but there's another Kuzunoha that basically jumps from body to body, and is the protagonist/assistant (it's complicated) of the first Devil Summoner game

Now this is a game I ended up petering out near end game just because the grind just got too much for me, and the PSP controls just never was comfortable in my hands.

Thesaya
May 17, 2011

I am a Plant.
I am happy to find this right after the Persona LP finished. I tried to find an LP of this since I like experiencing games in order, whether or not it really matters much in universe so this is great timing. :keke:

DMorbid
Jan 6, 2011

Hello! I see you.


Thesaya posted:

I am happy to find this right after the Persona LP finished. I tried to find an LP of this since I like experiencing games in order, whether or not it really matters much in universe so this is great timing. :keke:
The Persona LP just started the alternate Snow Queen questline, which is well worth checking out even though the main path is finished. A lot of weird poo poo goes down in that quest.

Thesaya
May 17, 2011

I am a Plant.

Doc Morbid posted:

The Persona LP just started the alternate Snow Queen questline, which is well worth checking out even though the main path is finished. A lot of weird poo poo goes down in that quest.

Yeah, I actually noticed right after posting here, will follow it.

CmdrKing
Oct 14, 2012

Maybe if I called it 'Interpretive Stabbing'...

quote:

The fact we never see (or even hear a description of) what the curse does makes it a lot creepier in my opinion.

The PS1 version of Eternal Punishment came with a bonus disc that had... as far as I can tell, it's some sort of animation test/proof of concept/demo reel for an unrealized Persona 2 anime. It does a few early scenes from both halves of the game (so uh... there's definitely some spoilers there. While EP is written such that it doesn't give away anything from IS until way late in the game, it also deliberately plays with a lot of elements on the assumption the player is coming from IS. It's weird.) Including someone suffering from the curse. It's uh.. pretty nasty, for PG-13 kinda content.

DMorbid
Jan 6, 2011

Hello! I see you.


CmdrKing posted:

The PS1 version of Eternal Punishment came with a bonus disc that had... as far as I can tell, it's some sort of animation test/proof of concept/demo reel for an unrealized Persona 2 anime. It does a few early scenes from both halves of the game (so uh... there's definitely some spoilers there. While EP is written such that it doesn't give away anything from IS until way late in the game, it also deliberately plays with a lot of elements on the assumption the player is coming from IS. It's weird.) Including someone suffering from the curse. It's uh.. pretty nasty, for PG-13 kinda content.
I found those clips on Youtube, and yeah, that is kind of horrifying. Basically, half your face melts. :gonk:

I'm not sure if that's better or worse than what I was imagining, though.

DMorbid
Jan 6, 2011

Hello! I see you.


I've been dealing with a fairly severe case of sadbrains over the last couple of weeks and haven't been able to muster up the energy to do... well, much of anything really, but right now I'd really like to update this thing. Unfortunately, we're still on page 1 and I'd rather not murder your browsers any harder than I already have.

In any event, I'm sorting out all the music and video links for the update now. If there are no more replies by the time I'm done with that, I'll just do another one of these filler posts to close out page 1.

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

Pash
Sep 10, 2009

The First of the Adorable Dead
Thanks for the update.

  • Locked thread