One of the phrases I frequently use when describing odder games is "points for originality." Doing a familiar thing well is fine and good, but pulling off something new and relatively untried is far better, in my mind, and so I'm usually more willing to forgive a game's faults if they're balanced by a healthy dose of originality.

Verdict

Persona 2 is not necessarily an RPG for the latter-day post-FF7 crowd, players used to a faster pace of progression, a simpler development system, and a lower difficulty curve. If they have the stomach to hack it, though, I recommend they join the legions of the old school in giving it a shot. After so many comparatively bland fantasy worlds, the wonderful weirdness of Megami Tensei's twisted reality is like a breath of fresh air.

I thank Atlus for giving American gamers a shot at this one, even if I would have preferred a slightly...more natural translation, perhaps? I have a moderate tolerance for that sort of thing, anyway, especially when a game has finer qualities to outweigh it, and Persona 2 certainly does. Its unique visual style, its unusual characters, and its absorbing gameplay systems make it a game to kill plenty of hours with this winter.