Rumors & How They Work - Persona 2: Innocent Sin Guides

Rumors play a big role in the story of Persona 2: Innocent Sin, the plot of this game is centered around the idea that if a rumor is spread enough it will come true. In addition to this being a major plot device you'll also be able to spread rumors yourself and collect various rumors throughout the game by speaking with Rumormongers.

Spreading rumors will do numerous things in this game including opening new vendors, starting Side Quests and changing the strength or weakness of a weapon. The system is a bit confusing at first and will take some getting used to but you should have a grasp on it by the time you reach the half way point in this game.

There are two ways for you to spread rumors in this game, through demons and through the Kuzunoha Detective Agency. You can find the Kuzunoha Detective Agency in Kameya Alley, a small shopping center located in the Hirasaka district of the city.

A good way to remember which type of rumor is spread where, rumors you learn from demons can only be spread through other demons. Any rumors you learn from humans can only be spread through a human. As I stated previously, there are a number of Rumormongers which you'll want to speak to often at the start of the game to learn new rumors. You can also speak to various NPCs throughout the game to learn various rumors too.

Below is a list of the various Rumormongers in this game and where you can find them.

Toku: Honmaru Park in Rengedai

Toro: Gatten Sushi (Kameya Alley) in Hirasaka

Chikarin: Peace Diner (Central Avenue) in Yumezaki

Baofu: Double Slash (Aoba Way) in Aoba

Sumaru: Sumaru Gypsy (Seaside Mall) in Konan

List of all Rumormongers in Persona 2: Innocent Sin

By the time you reach the half way point in this game the Rumormongers almost never offer you new rumors. The only ways to collect new rumors from this point onward will be to speak with various NPCs in the game at the right moment and by speaking with demons. For a list of most rumors that you can find by speaking with people I recommend you check out my Rumors section on the Side Quests page.

If you'd like to learn more about how to coax rumors out of demons I recommend my Contact With Demons Guide. This page has a lot of information about Contacting demons and what emotions are important etc etc. Alternatively, you can also read the section below for similar information - the section below only details acquiring and spreading rumors through demons though and not everything else.

The first thing you need to do in order to learn rumors from demons is contact them during battle and form a Pact with them. You can form a Pact with a demon by raising the Happy emotion 3 times with them, they'll prompt you to form a Pact once you do this. After you've formed a Pact with a demon you'll need to encounter them in battle a second time and raise the Happy emotion again 3 times.

When you raise Happy 3 times and you have a Pact with a demon you'll be given a prompt asking you what you want from them. There are a few options but the two that are important for the purposes of this guide are the prompt asking the demon for information and the one asking the demon to spread a rumor for you.

A good rule of thumb is that some rumors can only be learned through demons and you can only spread rumors you learn from demons through demons. To elaborate further, you can't learn a rumor from a demon then go to the Kuzunoha Detective Agency to spread it. You can only spread rumors through the Kuzunoha Detective Agency that you learn from fellow humans.

In this game there are about two dozen different demon rumors that become available at different times throughout the game. For a list of all these rumors and when they become available I strongly recommend you check out the Persona 2 Demon Rumors Wiki Page.

The final thing I would like to say is that unless you plan to min/max in this game - for the most part the demon rumors will be useless for you and a waste of time to get. I think the most important rumors are probably the ones involving Michel's Ultimate Weapon, Maya's Ultimate Weapon and the Abandoned Factory.

Most of the Persona rumors are 'eh' and the rumors that upgrade the various Ultimate Weapons are really good... But since you don't get the Ultimate Weapons until so late in the game - there's really no point in these rumors either. This is just my personal opinion though and I know others feel differently - if all you care about is beating the game then these rumors will probably be a waste for you but if you want to 100% the game then that's a different story entirely.