Persona 2: Eternal Punishment

Persona 2: Eternal Punishment
ペルソナ２ 罰
Perusona Tsū: Batsu
Game Information
Developer	Atlus
Publisher	Atlus
Genre	RPG
Platform	PlayStation PSP
Release Dates
Japan	PlayStation June 29, 2000 PSP Remake May 17, 2012
North America	PlayStation November 30, 2000 PSN - PSOne Classic February 27, 2013

Persona 2: Eternal Punishment, known as Persona 2: Punishment in Japan, is the third game in the Persona series, following Persona 2: Innocent Sin as the second chapter of an overarching story.

It was originally released on the PlayStation, and was released on the PlayStation Store for PlayStation Portable, PlayStation Vita and PlayStation 3 as a classic.

Eternal Punishment received a PlayStation Portable remake, which was also released on the PlayStation Store for PlayStation Vita. However, this version was only released in Japanese. A fan translation of the game has been slowly progressing; however, there are doubts as to whether or not it will actually ever be released.

Eternal Punishment focuses on protagonist Maya Amano. Eternal Punishment takes place on "the other side" from Innocent Sin. Rumors are spread about how if you call your cell phone, the JOKER will come and kill whoever you ask it to. Maya Amano is sent to write a story about the JOKER, when she meets him in person. Philemon grants Maya and her friends the ability to summon Personas, an ability that they use to hunt JOKER.

The theme song of the game is "Change Your Way", by Elisha La'Verne.

Plot

Eternal Punishment begins when Maya is sent to write a story about the Joker phenomenon: according to rumor, if someone phones their own number, the Joker will kill on request. Going to Seven Sisters High School, she, Ulala, and Katsuya find the school principal murdered by the Joker. The Joker then attacks them, forcing each of them to summon their Personas. After the Joker knocks them out, Philemon contacts them and warns of a growing danger to the city. After waking, the three pursue the Joker into the school clock tower, where he attempts for force a student to remember the events of Innocent Sin. They are saved by Tatsuya, who tells Maya to forget about him. After Katsuya is removed from the case by his superior Captain Shimazu, he teams up with Maya and Ulala to find the Joker. They eventually ally with Baofu, who believes that Tatsuya Sudou and his father Tatsuzou Sudou are involved with the Joker. Going to the mental institution where Sudou is held, they discover that Tatsuzou sent Taiwanese Mafia hitmen to kill Sudou. Once confronted, Sudou admits that he is the Joker, and reveals that he is attempting to trigger the reappearance of the Other Side. Pursuing him to the Sky Museum, the party runs into Tatsuya and saves Jun from Sudou after Sudou sets the building on fire. After escaping with the museum's visitors on a blimp, an injured Sudou makes a final attack that damages the blimp before Tatsuya kills him. When the party regroup, Tatsuya has vanished.

Upon their return, the party continue to investigate Tatsuzou's activities, and find that negative feelings are turning other people into new "Jokers", who are in turn being kidnapped by Tatsuzou's agents. The party eventually learn that Tatsuzou and a secret organization he leads, the New World Order, are manipulating Sumaru's government, corporations, and media for his own ends. After this, they hear of two others, Kei and Eriko, investigating the New World Order and their links with the Joker curse and an increasingly prevalent fortune telling craze used to manipulate the spread of rumors: they are involved due to the possible involvement of Kandori, a former enemy of theirs, who is posing as Tatsuzou's secretary. Depending on the party's actions at this point, either Kei or Eriko will join their party as they go to investigate the holding area for the new Jokers. Upon arriving, they find Eikichi captured by Kandori while looking for a friend. While Kandori attempts to awaken Eikichi's memories of the Other Side, Tatsuya intervenes and enables the party and Eikichi to escape. The group then save Lisa and her girl group from their promoter, another Order member, with help from Tatsuya, who again vanishes afterwards. Through a friendly informant in the Police, they learn the New World Order's ultimate goal: to raise Sumaru City in the rumor-generated spaceship "Torifune", and trigger the destruction of the Earth's surface by sacred dragons by creating a concentration of Kegare to create a new world free of sin. The only way to stop the plan's fulfillment is defeating the Order.

After failing to corner Tatsuzou and puzzled about Tatsuya's motives, the party finally persuade Tatsuya to reveal the truth. During the original confrontation with Nyarlathotep, Maya was killed, prompting the rest of the group (Tatsuya, Lisa, Jun and Eikichi) to reset events. Tatsuya refused to forget the events of the Other Side, creating a dangerous loophole: if all the other members of the original group could be forced to remember, the Other Side would be brought back into existence, destroying the present reality. After revealing this, Tatsuya is allowed to join the party in place of either Kei or Eriko. After returning to Sumaru proper, the city is raised by Tatsuzou as part of Torifune. Successfully infiltrating Torifune and defeating Tatsuzou and his "god" Gozen, the city returns to the surface, but the party are drawn into the Collective Unconscious by Nyarlathotep. Making their way into his domain, they discover Nyarlathotep has kidnapped Eikichi, Lisa and Jun in an effort to force their memories of the Other Side into reality. Defeating the Shadow Selves guarding them, the party saves each of them, then confront Nyarlathotep, who mocks Tatsuya for refusing to fulfill his part of Philemon's agreement.

Persona 2 Eternal Punishment - Ending

Ending.

After Nyarlathotep is defeated, Tatsuya fulfills his side of the promise for Jun, and after saying his final goodbyes separates himself from this side self to return to the Other Side. Soon after the city returned to normal as many people will never know the truth what happened, the party return to their normal lives. The final scene shows Maya about to walk across the street until she spots this side Tatsuya on a motorcycle. Instead of rekindling or befriending this side Tatsuya, she decides to move on as she walks across the street as this side Tatsuya drives off. The game ends with screen freezing on Maya smiling as the credits begin to role.

Characters

Left to right: Eriko, Tatsuya, Baofu, Maya, Ulala, Katsuya, Kei.

• Maya Amano: The silent protagonist and writer for a teen magazine. She is a cheerful woman whose demeanor endears her to many people. She is bothered by the boy she accidentally met, the one she calls Deja Vu Boy, but feels compelled by something in the back of her mind.
• Ulala Serizawa: Maya's friend and roommate.
• Katsuya Suou: A police detective investigating JOKER.
• Baofu: A Taiwanese extortionist. He is reclusive and manages a website that that collects rumors.
• Tatsuya Suou: Katsuya's younger brother. The protagonist from Persona 2: Innocent Sin. He saved Maya from the Joker. Maya calls him "Deja Vu Boy".
• Eriko Kirishima: One of the main characters from Persona, currently a magazine model.
• Kei Nanjo: One of the main characters from Persona, an heir of the Nanjo company.

Persona 2: Eternal Punishment PSP

Eternal Punishment received a PSP release on the May 17th, 2012 in Japan. Directed by Shoji Meguro and as before, the new soundtrack is interchangeable with the original one. Instead of Shigenori Soejima, Masayuki Doi of Trauma Center fame handled the character artwork. The new opening was done by Mad House.

There are new additions/improvements to the game:

• Loading times are greatly improved
• A fast-forward option is included for event scenes, as requested by players in the prequel
• On/Off Option to remember the memory of the cursor in menus
• Option to change the speed of the battle, like “Speedy”, etc. With the highest option, battles take marginally less time to complete than the previous Persona games.
• There is a new scenario starring Tatsuya and featuring a woman with long purple hair and a cat named Zula.
• The player can change the color of the menus: gray, red, blue, yellow, pink, and purple in that exact order, corresponding to Persona, Persona 2, Persona 3, Persona 4, Persona 3 Portable (female route) and Persona Q.

Satomi Tadashi (Scenario writer of Persona and Persona 2) states that the new scenario will change everything the player knows about fighting Demons and "won't be pretty", suggesting that it will be very dark.

Due to "unusual circumstances", the specifics of which are unknown, it could not be localized anywhere outside of Japan, however it has been announced that a fan translation is in the works.

Gallery

Box Art and Promotional Art
Japanese PSX boxart USA PSX Boxart Promotional artwork Cover for the Master's Guide PSP Boxart Japanese PSP boxart The cover of May 2012's PlayStation Magazine Promotional artwork of Maya Amano and her Persona, Artemis Not for sale card sleeve

PSP Remake Screenshots
Tatsuya after being grazed by the Spear of Destiny Baofu reacting to Shadow Shiori's sudden appearance The final battle of the Tatsuya story

Videos

• PS1 opening
• PSP trailer
• PSP trailer
• PSP opening

External links

• Persona 2: Eternal Punishment Official site (JPN - PSP Remake)