Atlus announced yesterday via their Atlus Faithful newsletter that there will be a limited reprint of Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 2 Eternal Punishment.  The reprinted copies will be available exclusively at Amazon.com.  Atlus explains that the reprint is to celebrate the upcoming release of Persona 4, as well as to thank fans of the series for their continued support of the series.

Before I begin my rant, I just want to start by confirming that I love Atlus.  I truly do, if it weren’t for them I may have some semblance of a life.  But to me this is a bit of a slap in the face.  I feel like Atlus is capitalizing off of band-wagon-jumpers who are just recently getting into the series.

Atlus basically assumes that people who now like Persona started with number 3.  So their way of rewarding these individuals is by reprinting the previous game.  While on the surface this appears to be a kind gesture, it completely ignores the fact that the release of Persona 2 was originally flawed.

In Japan the game spanned two titles, the first being Persona 2: Innocent Sin, and the second being Persona 2: Eternal Punishment.  In the Western world, only the second of the two, Eternal Punishment, was localized.  The reason Innocent Sin didn’t make it is unclear, but some people speculate it’s due to some homosexual undertones and an appearance by zombie Hitler.

While the games were partially stand-alone, there was a good deal of confusion among Western players.  There were some story connections that could just not be established without the preceding title.  Imagine playing Final Fantasy X-2 without ever knowing FInal Fantasy X existed…  You would never know who Shuyin is supposed to look like, what the hell a Yevon is or why Rikku is afraid of lightning.

If Atlus truly appreciated the support of Persona fans they would remedy Persona 2’s release by bringing us Innocent Sin rather than pretending the title doesn’t exist.  It seems to me like Atlus is trying to profit off of the hype of Persona 3 and 4 by taking advantage of ignorant new-comers to the series.  Perhaps I am just reading too much into it…

Anyway, you can pick up your copy of the game for the Playstation console here.  Just don’t expect it to make a lot of sense until Gemini finishes his translation of Innocent Sin.  I am happy…honest.

Related Entries:
Persona 2: Innocent Sin Translation at 98%
Know Your Video Game History: Persona

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I was shocked to check the Persona 2: Innocent Sin translation blog yesterday and find that the progress of the project jumped from 90.5% to 98%.

This is a happy day indeed for Western gamers. The end is in sight, and we owe it all to Gemini. If you plan on downloading the ROM and playing the game, now is your chance to show support for the last stretch of the process. You can go to the most recent entry in the blog and leave comments to show your support.

Just so you guys know, Gemini isn’t just doing a straight translation, he’s also improving on the game. Here is a quote to give you an idea:

First of all, the Persona status page used a stretched version of the tarot image (82×120 vs original 80×120). I have absolutely no clue why somebody would do that. Not only did it looked bad, but it was also hiding part of the panel on the right. Smile now: no more stretched images for tarots. I’ve also fixed some of the Persona cards which had a couple typos (Emperer and Jugdement).

Gemini believes the game is still about 3-4 weeks away from beta testing (which can be a lengthy process), so we have a bit more of a wait, but it’s good to know that playing Persona 2: Innocent Sin in English will be a reality.

Related Entries:
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 2: Innocent Sin Translation on the Way

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Nippon Ichi Software has announced to the gaming world that they will be releasing Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure (マール王国の人形姫 天使が奏でる愛のうた) for the Nintendo DS in Japan on August 7th. The game was first released in 1998 for the Playstation game console, and then again (in Japan only) as a special edition a year later.

The top screen of the DS will be a Navi-Map as well as show the current status of the party when dungeon crawling or walking around towns. During battle, the top screen shows the characters who are duking it out, and the bottom screen shows the status of the enemies and friendly characters The battle systems has been given a renewal although there is little information about the new features. It has been reveled that Kururu will be able to participate in battles unlike the PS version. Rhapsody started to receive some popularity in America shortly after the huge success of Disgaea. While the two games are very different, they are both made by NIS. Copies of Rhapsody for the PS are really difficult to find these days, and will probably cost you a small fortune. If you are at all interested in playing this TRPG I would suggest waiting until the DS version makes it to America.

Considering the popularity that Nippon Ichi Software commands in the west, I am confident we will be getting this port. If you wish to learn more, here is the Wikipedia entry on the original Rhapsody, and here is the games official Japanese website.

P.S I am officially back in America and posting again, I hope you guys didn’t miss me too much!

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As many die-hard Atlus fans know all to well, Persona 2: Innocent Sin will most likely never be making its way to the West. In Japan Persona 2: Innocent Sin was released prior to Persona 2: Eternal Punishment, and while the stories were different, they still had many cohesive elements which created one great gaming experience.

Only the later chapter; Eternal Punishment, was localized in America. The former; Innocent Sin, is considered by most fans of the series to be the better of the two, but still Atlus has refused to bring it over. There is hope on the horizon for us poor English speakers, however.

A fan of the series going by the psuedonym Gemini has begun the incredulous task of creating a translation patch of the entire game. All menus, all characters and spells, all story and dialogue… Did I mention incredulous?

Currently his translation is at 68%, and Gemini believes it is possible to have it completed around Christmas. The patch will allow fans to create burned versions of the game entirely in English as well as run the game on PSX emulators.

If you are as excited as I am (but not nearly as poor) you should check out his site and show your support!

*NOTE* Be weary of a flood of overpriced burned copies of the game appearing on e-Bay–it may be cheaper to make your own.

Related Entries:
Know Your Video Game History: Persona
All Kotowari entries on Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 can be found here.

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click the image for the rest of the cover art

I guess the first Persona game is old news these days, but I was still excited to find the complete 7 volume manga set at Book Off for 500 yen (around 5 dollars). The art is quite good for being an afterthought spawned from the games popularity. The story so far is exactly the same as the game. It may be hard for me to say that with any certainty considering the butchering the American localization received.

The series starts out on a normal day at school. The main character and his friends are gathered in their home room discussing a rumor they heard about “Persona”. None of them seem to be taking it very seriously, and they are egging each other on a bit. Finally, after some friendly bets are placed on whether the rumors are true or not, the characters try to evoke the “Persona-sama” as they jokingly call it.

They form a square with 4 people, and the remaining 3 in the center. After calling the Persona, the characters enter a strange void-world with a young girl holding a teddy bear. She repeatedly asks for their help, but everyone is frozen with fear. Finally the main character enters a world akin to the Velvet room, where a masked man named Philemon bestows upon him his very own Persona. Here the story begins, and the team of teenagers attempt to uncover the mysteries of the increasingly dark world around them.

click the image for the rest of the page

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