Sin is In - Persona 2: Innocent Sin

[Timrod]

Click here for Update 14

: Welcome to Update 14. This is going to be a separate update because the next cutscene contains a MASSIVE plot dump and I wanted to get it squared away before we head into the next dungeon.

: When we leave the beach, we’re alone with Tatsuya and Lisa. We’re supposed to head to the Kuzunoha Agency, but instead we want to make a brief detour.

: Just outside of Mt. Iwato is this guy, who will tell us about…

: Oh no. Oh god no.

: Kuchisake-onna was the bane of my goddamn existence in Persona 1, where she spams the fuck out of instadeath attacks in a dungeon where dying seals your Persona until you go fetch it from Tartarus. We want to do this sidequest because it awards a Megido card, the next best thing to Megidolaon.

: And now back to our regularly-scheduled plot dump. I hope you’re ready for some shit that’ll frame the plot for the rest of the game.

: “We keep asking you… what is this… battle..lion..thing!?”

: “I can’t make sense of this woman’s ravings… seriously, what’s going on?”

: “We spread the rumor, like Maya-san suggested, but… the rest is still up in the air. We should brace ourselves for the worst.”

: “Ciaaao… sorry I’m late..”

: “Oh, uh… okay, I guess everyone’s here now, so could you start by telling us what you know?”

: “Before that, I want to know some things from you. How.. do you know about the Oracle of Maia?”

: I’m just gonna chime in here, because there’s a whole lot to take in right about now.

: So first off, this is a very common conspiracy theory among neo-nazi and white supremacy groups in the real world. The part about Hitler escaping Germany at the end of WWII, not the part about the Last Battalion.

: If you’ll recall, when I started this LP I said there were a few reasons that Innocent Sin never got localized on the PS1, and this is probably one of them.

: On a side note, I actually interviewed an archaeologist who looked into a skull the Soviets found outside the Fuhrerbunker when I was in college. It wasn’t Hitler’s, but he was adamant that there’s no way Hitler escaped that bunker. The Discovery Channel did a thing on it like they do every few years to get views - I think this one was called “Hitler’s Escape”. Anyway, this isn’t even as batshit as this update gets.

: “Th-that’s impossible… I mean, the Masked Circle is…”

: “The Oracle of Maia was left by the Pleiades aliens who gifted humans with civilization… it’s a message entrusted to us by the Maians!”

: So yes, now we’re moving straight into the “Ancient Aliens” conspiracy theory. You know, the one with that dipshit on the History Channel.

: “Did you really think we evolved from apes on our own!? The answers aren’t in the history books! How did man come so far, so fast!?”

: There’s evidence all over the world of their presence in ancient times! It proves that mankind was guided by an advanced race!"

: I mean, think about it, people! Why do you think Waffle House never closes?! It’s because Waffle House was designed by aliens! They’re using futuristic technology to control the weather and stop storms from destroying the Waffle Houses! The only reason they go on a limited menu is because they need to turn the power to their food replicators down in order to maximize their weather control output! Follow the waffle crumbs!

: I should mention that the “Maian” aliens were used as a plot device in Perfect Dark. They perfected the technology of putting Trent Easton’s head on Elvis’s body to cheese hitboxes in multiplayer.

: “But the ancient Maians that thrived here died in an intergalactic civil war.. the victors were the Bolontiku race that controls Xibalba…”

: “The Mayan myths of South America prove it. Though that civilization is an ancient memory now… their ruins were all modeled on Sumaru.”

: Yes, I’m sure the Mayans modelled their cities after a Japanese city a thousand years into the future.

: "Because when the Oracle is fulfilled, Xibalba and the crystal skulls will grand mankind’s ultimate dream… it will end in us becoming Idealians… a transhuman state where we will understand the true meaning of life.

: “Sounds good to me… then we wouldn’t be so upset by trifles anymore.”

: “It’s far from good! In exchange for the evolution of a few, mankind will perish! Organisms evolve when they face extinction!”

: “When the Bolontiku thoughtforms take physical bodies, they will bring destruction to all! That’s why we didn’t go public with this!”

: Don’t worry if none of this makes sense. I’m going to do a summary at the end.

: “No! No! This is all a lie! The Masked Circle is…!”

: "Eikichi! You remember, don’t you!? About playing “the Masked Circle”! "

: “Like I said, that was in my dream..”

: “…! W-wait… what did you just say…?”

: “That reminds me… your actual name is Lisa, right…!? D-don’t tell me, him too…!?”

: “I’ve been desperately trying to convince myself that it was just a dream… but.. it was real!”

: Wait. What. The Alaya Shrine was in Persona 1. It’s where the Persona 1 cast meets Philemon for the first time, and is located just outside St. Hermelin High School in Mikage-cho. Anyway, let’s talk to our party quick.

: We can also talk to Ms. Ideal, who has… quite a lot to say. We’re talking probably 50 dialog boxes. I’m going to summarize this with a timeline, which will explain a lot about this game. Any pieces with (According to Maya Okamura) next to them are Ms. Ideal’s crazy alternate history bullshit train. If somehow you’re a kid doing research, this is a Let’s Play of Persona 2 for the PSP and not an actual history lesson. Please do not include me as a source in your research paper, unless you’re writing about how Waffle House is actually run by aliens.

Thousands of Years Ago (According to Maya Okamura)

• The Maian aliens have a civil war between two groups: the Bolontiku and the Oxlahuntiku.

• As the result of the civil war, the Oxlahuntiku flee to the Milky Way, where they contact the Mayan civilization. The Mayans worship the Oxlahuntiku as gods, and in exchange are given technological and evolutionary advancement.

• The Bolontiku hunt down the Oxlahuntiku and wipe out most of humanity in the process. The Oxlahuntiku win, but are forced into hibernation inside their spaceship: Xibalba. Xibalba buries itself beneath Sumaru City.

Mid 1930s to 1945 (According to Maya Okamura)

• Adolf Hitler journeys to South America to learn sorcery from the Mayans and becomes immortal in the process.

• Adolf Hitler starts World War 2 in an attempt to drive mankind to the brink of extinction and force evolution.

• Hitler and the Axis Powers lose WWII despite him apparently being an immortal sorcerer with near-unlimited powers because ???.

• During the final days of WWII, Hitler escapes from the Fuhrerbunker with the aid of the Last Battalion, an army of high-tech super soldiers straight out of Wolfenstein. He flees to South America in order to find Xibalba.

Late 1980s

• Tatsuya Sudou, then a senior at Seven Sisters High School, begins hearing voices in his head. Ms. Ideal claims that he was nervous and afraid of his father, who she describes as “extremely strict” and also a possible pyromaniac.

• Akinari Kashihara (whose ghost we saw at the clock tower), a history teacher at Sevens, meets Sudou. Sudou idolizes Kashihara and sees him as a father figure.

• Kashihara believes that Sudou is a medium who is channeling the voices of the Maian aliens. Believing that the voices in Sudou’s head are the Maians trying to make contact, he works with Maya Okamura to write down Sudou’s ramblings. The book they write is titled “In Lak’ech”, which Okamura states is Mayan for “you are another me.” Wonder where we’ve heard that one before?

• Inside In Lak’ech is a prophecy: the Oracle of Maia, which is supposed to be the method of finding and reviving Xibalba. It revolves around the Maians absorbing “Ideal Energy”, which Okamura describes as “the power of thought held by living beings.. a psychological energy emitted when passionate about ideals or when dreams come true”. The skulls we’ve seen the Masked Circle carrying around are vessels for Ideal Energy.

• Believing that In Lak’ech is too dangerous to exist, Maya Okamura and Akinari Kashihara hide the only copy to prevent the Last Battalion from finding it. Why they even wrote the thing in the first place is unknown.

Early 1990s

• Akinari Kashihara dies, crushed in the gears of the clock tower at Seven Sisters High School. The reason is unknown, although Maya Okamura blames the Last Battalion.

: I sure hope that was a big enough wall of text, because it’s even bigger in-game. I’ll probably do another near the end of the game. Anyway, there’s one last thing…

: This is why I wanted to hide the Oracle of Maia. You’ll notice that the first couple of lines refer to things that have already happened: the “frozen time” was the clock tower at Sevens, the “wild dance” and “shadowed festival” were the Kasugayama High arc, and the “foreign song” was the MUSES arc with Lisa.

: Next time, we’ll go to Mt. Iwato and visit the Alaya Shrine, which has somehow moved locations since Persona 1. We’ll also get revenge on Kuchisake-onna for being a piece of shit in Thanatos Tower.