Topic: Really Enjoying Shin Megami Tensei IV - What about eariler games?

I purchased Shin Megami Tensei IV when the $30 e-shop digital promotion was going on, and I put it on the back burner to finish up some other great RPGs like Pokemon X and Fire Emblem: Awakening.

Now I've gotten back into it, and I'm impressed by how amazing and engaging this game is. If there are any longtime fans of the series out there, I'd like to hear your take on previous entires into the series, and maybe even provide a spoiler free time line of sorts. As a newcomer, I find the sheer number of sequels, spin-offs, and related games a little confusing and overwhelming.

Also any recommendations of what titles I might want to get next?

If you really like that game then try many more Atlus rpgs. Personally SMT IV was my game of the year last year. My runner up was EOIV so give that a try next and start by dl,ing the demo if you haven't already. Next jump over to another of my personal favorites SMT Devil Survivor; Overclocked. It's basically Fire Emblem meets SMT. Gee where have I headed that before lol! Also other similar game to Fire Emblem would by Ghost Recon Shadow Wars and if you have a Wii U the recently released Advance Wars also made by the people that make Fire Emblem. Atlus has really supported Nintendo handhelds well so look at all there game for rpg enjoyment. I have every game they've released on the 3ds and enjoyed everyone of them. Conception 2 comes out next week and looks to be better then the demo recently released.

I'm a casual fan, so I can't give too much information, but I will say that SMT IV is a solid addition to a franchise with a great track record. I wouldn't call any of the SMT games I've played poor, including the spin-offs. My personal favorite SMT games are Persona 3 and 4, which downplay the dungeon-crawling (though it's still a core function of the game) in favour of a socially-driven visual novel.

For games on 3DS, I really enjoyed Devil Survivor: Overclocked. It's a tactical RPG on grid, like Fire Emblem, but still keeping the heavy SMT vibe. I would consider it the second best tactical RPG on the 3DS right now after Fire Emblem: Awakening.

In general, the main series SMT games are known for their unforgiving difficulty. If you enjoyed the challenge of SMT IV, you may also like SMT: Nocturne on PS2. The PS2 actually has a ton of SMT games on it. There's Digital Devil Saga 1 & 2, a couple Devil Summoner games, Persona 3 & 4, and Nocturne (aka SMT III).

The sheer number of spin-offs is still a little overwhelming to me, but they can be divided fairly easily. Treat all of them as their own entity and it gets a little easier. Whatever the series though, all of them place the same heavy emphasis on demon contracts and fusion.

Main series: Dungeon crawler (recommend Nocturne for PS2)
Persona: Social RPG (recommend 3 and 4 for PS2, you can also play both on a Vita)
Devil Survivor: Tactical RPG (recommend Overclocked for 3DS)
Devil Summoner: Action RPG (can't recommend due to lack of experience)

And I'm not familiar enough with Digital Devil Saga to put it in a category.

there is/was also a SMT MMO but it felt like just another generic MMORPG to me.

Didn't help that it was published by Aeria Games, which is a pretty terrible Pay 2 Win company. Most of their games are dime-a-dozen Korean/Taiwanese grindfests that they milk every last penny they can out of and then discard after a couple years.

I think SMT: Imagine is being published by Atlus itself now though.

Thanks for all the input so far.

Devil Survivor sounds really promising and I have seen it in stores so It's readily available.

The Personna visual novels seem less like something I'd enjoy. My favorite part of SMT IV is the flexibility and sheer variety in combat. I love a dungeon crawl, but also a good classic story driven RPG with lots of party customization and items.

In regards to Aeria games: They were my first MMORPG experience, and yes it was very pay-2-win....I was baffled that people would pay money for items and wondered how it could be fair to "buy" power...haha, obviously I didn't stick around or become a fan of those type of games.

I'm playing through the very first SMT on iOS right now - it was recently released.

It's quite disorientating. And the story is very dark, even more than Phantasy Star. Might post up more detailed impressions if I actually make decent progress.

Oh yeah, Phantasy Star...I actually played through and beat the original one. What an awesome game and so unique! I started the second but never finished.

I hope Sega releases the GBA trilogy on Wii U virtual console.

SMT I and II are awesome games, but incredibly dated. I highly recommend Nocturne, however, as another addictive and thought-provoking SMT game.

The previous 3 MegaTen games are a bit dated, but very good games. Especially Nocturne. They've been ported a ton of times in Japan, but I'm not sure if they got an English release ever. If you wanna check out the story, there's a lot of media around the early titles. The first game was actually based on a light novel series:

http://megamitensei.wikia.com/wiki/Digital_Devil_Story:_Megam...

Theres also an anime ova based on the first game and light novel. Though, it is very dark, and has some crazy visuals:

The spinoffs are really great too. Specifically Persona 3 and 4. They have pretty good story's and the gameplay is very unique and fun. The fifth installment will be out early next year for the PS3 as well, and there's a lot of hype surrounding it. Another game I particularly loved is Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers. It's the second game in the Devil Summoner series, and originally came out on the Sega Saturn and PS1. Though theres a 3DS port of Soul Hackers that came out a little while back. The first entry has a PS2 port that came out in 2002. I never played the 3rd one, but my brother did and raves about it.

Really, all the games are great and compelling. If you want to check out the original story of the first one, just check out the links. :3

Gameplay-wise, Devil Survivor 1/Overclocked is somewhat clunky, and often times, battles will take much longer than desired. Story-wise, however, I really like it, but the whole combat system, especially later on, really breaks the experience for me. I've heard that DeSu2's battle system runs much better, and the game itself holds more monsters and mechanics overall.