Topic: The Megami Tensei Thread

@aperl19 SMT, if only for the much more well-balanced combat, complex team-building, and atmospheric settings. Before Persona 5, I'd have mentioned that Persona games have terrible dungeons and annoying methods of obtaining new Personas as well, but P5 did a LOT to improve on Persona's weak areas.

Honestly, the Atlus property that rivals SMT for me is Etrian Odyssey. There are some similarities. Both have a reputation for extreme difficulty, often feature minimalistic approaches to narrative and storytelling, are focused primarily on dungeon-crawling, place a heavy emphasis on strategic team-building for taking down tough bosses, and have amazing rock music in their soundtracks.

@Ralizah I still have to get into Etrian. I know a friend from high school who's only started getting into more Atlus games (he beat P4G on PC and dug up his Vita to play the other Persona games; already beat P1 and is playing P2 rn), but he's definitely gushed about both Etrian and Trauma Center (another Atlus IP I love) when we talk over DMs.

I got to the raptors in 2 Untold, and could never get past that part. The game’s pretty fun though, and mapping the dungeons out is probably the best part honestly.

@TheFrenchiestFry IMO, it's Atlus' most consistently excellent series. Six main series entries, two remakes, two cross-over titles, and all of them are excellent. Pure dungeon-crawlers, extremely deep customization and skill load-outs, and the atmosphere in these games is often amazing. People like to look down on the mapping, but, IMO, it's what ties the experience together: it makes the experience of exploring a dungeon feel more like an adventure and less like you're just walking around tiled labyrinths. These are the games that got me into Atlus: I loved the original game, in particular, for years before I'd even heard of MegaTen.

I've also played both of the Trauma Center games. If you go in expecting their plots to get incredibly stupid (I won't spoil anything, but... wow, are these games nutty), you'll probably enjoy the hell out of them. I highly recommend them... on NDS. I tried the Wii version and found it almost impossible to play. These are games that definitely benefit from playing on a touch screen.

@TheFrenchiestFry Interesting take. Persona 4 Golden was actually my first trip into either of the franchises, I am just starting to get into the Shin Megami titles.

So a recent ESRB classification for SMT V mentions online interactive elements

I'm placing bets on them trying to do all the Streetpass functions from SMT IV without Streetpass or a dungeon rescue system like Persona 4 Golden

@TheFrenchiestFry Could it just be related to the presence of DLC? Not sure how these things are classified. DLC is a given following the last few releases.

Latest demons to be revealed.

Kin-ki Boots

Today's translated demon video.

New demon video for y'all:

A bit off-topic, but I couldn't find a thread on it and I can't search for it, I'll say it here.

One of the seven announcements for Persona's 25th WILL be a Genshin Impact crossover. The chances of it have been MASSIVELY increased because of the upcoming Horizon Zero Dawn crossover they're doing with PlayStation.

That being said, I have a feeling that the character is going to be Joker/Ren/Akira/insert name here because he doesn't really fit the weapon system of the game. No one uses daggers nor guns in Genshin. The character who is going to crossover is Yu Narukami from Persona 4. He would be a Male Electro Sword user; which if you exclude the player character, would be the first one. I can see him being the representative for the series because with the release of Persona 4 Golden on Steam (And possibly other platforms in September) he is known enough in the gaming landscape to be added. (Also, Yuri Lowenthal is already voicing a character in the game, that means Johnny Yong Bosch isn't far behind.)

One last thing, if anyone does have the link to the Genshin Impact thread, send it to me.

@NatiaAdamo I mean, Joker has his knife that he uses as a sword I’m pretty sure.

Today's Shin Megami Tensei V Demon Showcase video is on Thor.

I'm expecting him to have some direct relevance with the story a la Nocturne since he was front and center on the demon lineup in the initial Switch Presentation teaser and Odin in particular has been given way more prominence in recent SMT games like being part of the Divine Powers working as rivals against Dagda and Nanashi in IV Apocalypse.

The next demon showcase seems to be focused on Erthys based on the silhouette at the end.

@CactusMan The only DLC I'd say is like actually additive to the game is the Dante one since it fundamentally changes aspects of your party with a completely different boss fight and ally

Apparently from what I heard the SMT music pack only plays when you're in the Vortex World and the extra dungeon is an addition that shouldn't have been paid DLC to begin with

Today's demon is Narcissus. I'm a big fan <3 Nahobino and Narcissus bonding over their long hair is hilarious.

Looks like Legion is next.

Here was yesterday's video:

Manananggal's design and animations are amazing looking. Definitely my favorite new demon so far.

Nice to see representation from other mythologies outside the ones we're accustomed to. I think this might be the first ever demon from Filipino mythology in the series

@Snaplocket I'm so glad Lucifer's back to his classic design after whatever the hell they did to him in SMT IV