DIGITAL_DEVIL_DATABASE Community Forum

So, with the upcoming release of Persona 3, I was wondering how the other Persona games are. I have been searching which next SMT titles I can get, and I found Persona 1 and 2 to be the easiest to get next. I doubt I'll be able to find SMT 1 and 2, unless I'm just not looking in the right spots. So, how are Persona 1 and 2?

And is the plot very close between the two installments of Persona 2. Or does the fact that one wasn't released in America hinder the one that was released here?

The original Persona is archaic in some ways at this point. It's not aged super well to begin with, but the awful translation does not help whatsoever. I think it's a good game, but keep this in mind. In some ways I wish this was re-translated by some fan group, but I doubt it'll happen.

As for Eternal Punishment, it's probably my favorite PSX RPG. The translation is much improved (although far from great) and a lot of the elements that aged so poorly in Persona were improved upon.

As for the whole IS/EP thing, obviously keep in mind that IS is not always very easy to find, even on eBay. I really got lucky with it when I got my copy. Plus the Oracle if Maiya translation that is available is not absolutely complete. It makes the game playable, but the extra frustration of having to read everything off paper you printed can be a bit much sometimes.

Storywise, it really doesn't matter. EP does make some references to "deja vu" and characters reappear, but it's completely playable and easy to understand without having played IS.

I haven´t played Persona 1 but Persona 2 Batsu and Tsumi are both good games, in story and gameplay the three games have a linear connection. This games are not the best in graphics but they sure have a lot of Fun Factor (at least for me). Since Persona 2 Batsu was my first megaten game, I can say, the Persona series are the best in story and many other factors.

Thanks guys, and you really cleared that up for me Tony:).

I liked how you had conversations with the demons to get their spell cards in P1, it was funny.

Persona feels pretty clunky, and as Tony already mentioned, archaic.  

Persona 2 got most everything right where Persona had been lacking. Although, I always felt like the battle system was unbalanced and favored the spell combo system a little to much.  But that is a single flaw in what is otherwise a great game.

The gap between the two persona 2 games is fairly large.  There are many references, flashbacks and story segments that you won't get if you haven't played (or at least read about) innocent sin.  But, I agree with Tony that actually getting the references ect. is not necessary to enjoy EP.

If I were to get EP, is there somewhere I could read about IS that would give me a good deal of information about it? I read the summary of IS and it really interested me, also it kinda of mad me angry that it didn't port over.

Here you can find good information about the characters. But watch out, it have a lot of spoilers.

http://www.chthonian.net/persona/tsumi/characters/

I want to know as much about IS as I can if I get EP, so thanks for the link.