We’re willing to guess that until someone finally dares to make The Adventures of Methuselah Jones, it’ll be hard to find a game that’s been anticipated by fans for over a decade.
That’s right, back in 1999—in between all those exciting millennium parties, of course—a new chapter in the acclaimed Persona series of roleplaying games came out in Japan and was ultimately never published in North America. This “lost” chapter, long anticipated by fans of Atlus, the series, and RPGs in general, is extremely overdue. Apart from one other game coming out this year that has teased and tortured its fanbase for a similarly agonizing stretch of time (you know, the one that wants bubble gum but is out of it), there really isn’t much else out there that fans have been waiting as long for.
…Which is why we’re so excited to announce that the wait is nearly over. Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 2: Innocent Sin, or rather, an enhanced version of it for PSP (PlayStation Portable) system, is finally coming to North America!
Innocent Sin stands for more than just its deliciously dark, twisted narrative about a world in which rumors are becoming reality. While the original Persona still had a lot of foundational ties to the core SMT games, Innocent Sin marked the moment in which the Persona sub-series came into its own. Carrying over franchise traditions like demon negotiation and party-building, Innocent Sin was ultimately defined by its far greater emphasis on character and story over surviving long dungeons, discarding things like first-person dungeon crawling in favor of a third-person view of the ever-escalating insanity.
But we’re not just going to give fans the same game that came out in Japan in 1999. Oh no, the PSP version of Innocent Sin is loaded with improvements and additions, including but not limited to:
- 16:9 Aspect Ratio
- Remastered Visuals and Audio
- Remixed Musical Score (with option to toggle between that and original)
- Streamlined User Interface
- New Quests
- New Intro Animation
- And more!
For years, you discussed it, Atlus fans. You debated. You requested. At last, it’s coming, and it’s loaded with enhancements.
Look for SMT: Persona 2: Innocent Sin for PSP system to finally make its North American debut this Fall, in stores and via PlayStation Network.
@FearMonkey
Its fans like you that annoy me the most, why would you want Japanese Audio when the English (In the Persona series in general) is good quality and top tier. Persona 3 English cast was better than the original Japanese, and I could easily say this with confidence! In fact, I heard the Catherine English cast myself, and there not horrible, hardly even bad, Catherine’s English voice is perfect. Katherine voice is good, and I can get use to Vincent’s dub.
For you to not play/buy Catherine, a spin off of Persona 3 (Yes Catherine is technically considered a spin off of Persona 3 due to the Protagonist meeting Vincent in his life, meaning hey exist in the same universe.) due to lack of Japanese audio just proves you never give localizing a chance. I already pre-ordered the limited edition, and I’m extremely confident ATLUS knows what they’re doing when it comes to English cast.
@94 – It’s not a matter of which is better. It’s a matter of having THE OPTION. Back in the days of DVDs and there was a possibility of running out of space on the disc, it’s forgivable to not have the option. But nowadays, with games being on blu-ray, there is no excuse not to give us THE OPTION of having dual-audio for those of us who prefer it.
@101-For the same reason that I prefer to watch foreign films in their original language. The dialogue being directed by the original director means we get performances the director intended. We don’t get this with the English dub. Also, the quality of the English audio is clearly a matter of opinion. P3 and P4 have decent dubs as do some other games. But what I’ve heard of the Catherine dub is pretty terrible from the clips I’ve seen so far. Troy Baker as Vincent sounds like…Troy Baker. Troy Baker is terrible. He was also terrible in FFXIII as Snow. FFXIII, by the way, another game where it was on a blu-ray so there was plenty of room for Japanese audio but it wasn’t included. Apparently Squeenix had no idea fans even wanted such a thing. o_O Bottom line, I am not asking for no English dub, I am asking for THE OPTION to have Japanese audio on the disc for those of us who prefer it. I do not want to take away the English dub from those who prefer that. For a game like Catherine, where the game takes place in Japan, has a Japanese cast, and is heavily story-driven, there is NO EXCUSE for no Japanese language option. Especially when there’s plenty of room on a Blu-Ray disc for it.
@FearMonkey
REALLY, do you even know what the word “Localization” means? Would you take a script of foreign language, translate it to English, and then tell the English speaker to say his lines, with 100% likely half the script is going to have incorrect grammar, and the culture is different that is has to be americanized, making it “different” thenwhat the director intended. I could easily tell you Catherine is not Japanese because she has nlond hair and blue eyes, yet she talks Japanese so fluently. In English its much more realistic, the ONLY one I thought was “Eh” was yes, Troy Baker, but that didn’t bother me at the slightest because it still fit Vincent character. I can also arguably say that the Persona 3/4 English cast is better than its Japanese cast, there are times when American voice actors just do a better job, Persona is one of them.
Regardless of not having an option, it’s just plain dumb that it’s your reason for not playing Catherine. You might as well buy it on Ebay for $80 and see if the Japanese audio is worth the price.
@Samanosuke_JJ
The script is not what I’m talking about. It’s the performance by the voice actors. That’s what a director does. He gets performances from his actors. A director directs his actors to perform roles that he envisions as the director. That’s his job. The English director has his own idea of what he wants his actors to do. This vision is not the same as the original director’s vision. So you get performances that aren’t good and don’t fit the original intent of the characters. Some games get the original director involved and that is fine, but they did not do that with this game as far as I know. Also, I’ll disagree on Persona 4 as I like the v/a for Rise in Japanese way more than the English v/a. But overall, the P3 and P4 dubs aren’t bad. I am not liking what I am hearing from Catherine whatsoever though. Troy Baker is the worst of it, but the rest aren’t very good either. Voice of Catherine did the English voice of Welch in Star Ocean 4. o_O
The voice of Catherine did Rise from Persona 4, again it fits the characters, also I highly suggest you look up the meaning of Localization and how the English Voice cast for Persona 3/4 was praised by critics and fans alike, the majority of the fanbase even think that the English did a better job because Atlus most likely had original producers and perhaps directors on the set. My point is, don’t judge the English performance of Catherine over a minute of video footage, this is a JRPG/Puzzle game, what you saw was likely a grain of salt compared to the full experience.
I’ve already said the P3/P4 dubs weren’t bad. Why are you using those games as arguments for Catherine’s seemingly terrible dub with Troy Baker? Not to mention, Rise is definitely one of the voices I prefer in Japanese over the English one so using Rise’s English VA as a reason why Catherine’s dub isn’t bad isn’t going to sway me to your side of the discussion. Also, I’ve watched more than a minute of video footage of Catherine. Gamespot has posted multiple cutscenes with English dialog. Head on over there and take a listen.
WOW SWEET!
Now on an unrelated note, but related in a sense that they are available in Japan, can we get Einhander and Bushido Blade PS1 Classics, please? I bought them on Japanese PSN, but since the account doesn’t match, I can’t have them on my PSP at the same time as my NA PSN games… just a little complaint. You know, while we’re talking Japanese games.
Also, at the sub/dub war I see blazing here, not to toss a log on the flame, but after playing an hour of Persona 3 dubbed, I had to stop. If the majority of the fanbase thinks that the dub of Persona 3 was better, it is probably because they do not understand Japanese, therefore do not feel a connection to the words. Jibberish, after all, sounds like Jibberish. Before I knew Japanese, I felt the same way, but “suffered through” watching fan-translated anime. How funny that that experience would lead me to learning the language and understanding the language’s inflections, emotion, and subtleties.
So in the end, I think it’s TRULY what you are used to. If you are used to listening to Japanese, even if you don’t understand it, you can catch the emotion in the acting, and the meaning of intonations, etc… but if you just know English, the dub will sound better.
But take my word for it, from someone who is bilingual English/Japanese, that English dub is kind of meh.
I agree with Garylisk being bi-lingual does make the english dubs meh. but what it realy boils down too is personal preference….so please everyone arguing stfu…please this argument is pointless.
This is going to be sweet!! I’ll be one step closer to owning all the Shin Megami Tensei Games (minus Shin Megami Tensei: Online, as that lost all my respect right there)….
Though it would be nice to see some Shin Megami Tensei Games on the PS3 or next Generation systems in the future :)
I agree with Garylisk being bi-lingual does make the english dubs meh. but what it realy boils down too is personal preference….so please everyone arguing just shut the f r a k up…please this argument is pointless.
Awesome. any chance of ‘Eternal Punishment’ getting re-released as a psOne classic? or get the FES part of persona 3 on the psp? please?