STORY
Thematically split, each game has a completely different feel to it. Innocent Sin follows our (mostly)teenaged protagonists as they consider their future moving forward. It also has deep threaded ties to WWII, not just in that you're fighting nazis but one level is an actual WWII bomb shelter where can encounter dead soldiers who think the war is still going on. Besides that, the characters constantly drag around the shadow of their fathers with them. The way it's posed- fathers who have failed or floundered, fathers who have already decided what their children's lives will be- makes you consider how many of these developers came from fathers who experienced the war and then came back home.
Another thing Innocent Sin does is word play, we have our protagonist Maya and her Persona, Maiya attempting to stop an apocalypse that has mixed Maya(the religion) with aliens associated with the Maya(people). We have rumors running amok, turning everything from vague ideas to conspiracy theories into reality until it threatens to tear itself at the seams. It's a fun way to allow specific plot elements to arise(like fending off aliens) or have you doing fun sidequests like checking out local legends. You can also manipulate the world, itself, such as shops, enemy stats, ect. all by using the rumor system. Now, that might sound like a lot but it's really the chocolate coating on the whole thing. Inside, Innocent Sin is a fairly touching story about five people who have forgotten something very important. Throughout the story, you'll slowly see the pieces and ties connect each other. It's a story about childhood and how both the joys and scars from that time will stay with us well into adulthood. Honestly, it's very touching. This one had me genuinely bawling, something most games have tried and failed to do. Eternal Punishment, however, has it's own identity despite taking place in the same place with virtually the same characters. I won't spoil the events that transpired between the end of 1 toward the beginning of 2 but this time your roster is made up of an (almost fully) adult cast of characters. Now, Maya is the silent protagonist(swapping places with the formerly reserved Tatsuya) and it's her turn to navigate this story. There's something about Eternal Punishment that trades in a strong story(which was Innocent Sin's main pull) for strong characters. That's not to say that it's any less good, but there's a lot of filler and predictability in the story beats that suddenly become more apparent when you've just arrived fresh off the heels of Innocent Sin. That said, rumors still alter reality but, this time, with a twist. So, in the nineties, Japan's economic bubble burst, the people became disenfranchised, and the country experienced a major outbreak of cults. This is something you can't exactly ignore when walking into Eternal Punishment. In fact, this is probably the only game that has a realistic depiction of cults and how they function. Sure, there's still crazy supernatural elements to it, but when it comes to the actual public, it's very noticeable that they're writing from experience. Eternal Punishment has more of an occult vibe to it, actually delving into everything from horoscopes to the soul, fate, and destiny. It's a lot more than just set dressing(and a few pretty good perks to use) the rumor system now functions on making the occult beliefs and superstitions of everyone around you real. This one actually works better as an Act 2, in a way, because how do you upstage conspiracy theories gone amuck? You start threading ideology into reality. It's very good stuff and the cast is stellar in holding the thing together. Our four(five? seven?) protagonists each have a part to play in the central theme which is, not adulthood weirdly enough! I was actually afraid going in that this was just going to be about a bunch of twenty-somethings whining about having a job but, no, I was actually pleasantly surprised! Essentially, our characters have to deal with completely different issues(instead of one constantly reoccurring issue seen in Innocent Sin). They're all fully grown adults so they feel more lived-in as people, each with their own biases, quirks, and troubles. Sometimes one will be chatty, telling you lines and lines of personal confessions- sometimes they'll be moody and unresponsive, keeping their nose to the grindstone. In Innocent Sin, everyone was just...funny and nice all the time but on a very surface level that you seen in young people. In Eternal Punishment, the humor is sharper, more mature- the kindness shown to you is well-earned and genuine. Everybody in this game has their own agenda and end goals and it's never more apparent than when you receive your guest party members from Persona 1. That's right, this game actually is meant to help tie up both Persona 2 Innocent Sin AND Persona 1 in order to round out the trilogy. The Persona 1 cast does show up for Innocent Sin but(except for one) they're mostly relegated to a background event. This game actually sees you meeting up with and guiding several Persona 1 cast members toward their own goals as well(even if you only get two in your party, and never more than one at a time).