Topic: The Megami Tensei Thread

I enjoy Meguro's work (mostly), and he's done a lot to help SMT and Persona form unique aesthetic identities (along with Kaneko's famously unique and unsettling design work), but Atlus has a few really impressive composers working for them.

Ryota Kozuka did an amazing job on SMT IV's OST, for example. The thrashy, synth-heavy, atmospheric sound of that game's OST really sold it to me. And all without any incoherent vocals during the battle tracks.

And, of course, the legendary Yuzo Koshiro does (did, I guess, since I don't expect the series to return) the awesome music for all of the Etrian Odyssey games.

@Ralizah Premonition and Battle B2 are definitely tracks I listen to regularly outside of playing the game. SMT IV's soundtrack is really well done.
Also those Etrian devs are definitely up to something based on that cryptic as hell teaser from like 2 years ago. Atlus just loves announcing things earlier than they're actually put into development

@TheFrenchiestFry I wasn't QUITE as thrilled with Apocalypse's soundtrack, but it was still pretty good. Just more evidence that the series doesn't really require Meguro to stand out musically, despite his rock star status in JRPG circles (which is mostly due to his work on Persona games anyway, lol).

I remember the tweet you're referring to, but I just don't see how the series can continue on a single-screened device. Also, EO Nexus seems VERY much like a farewell title. If I had to guess, if they're designing anything new that's EO related, then it's probably a spinoff of sorts. I don't think Atlus is going to just make Etrian Odyssey VI, but with the central gameplay gimmick the series is known for cut out of it and replaced with pure auto-mapping.

Just a pity we never got EO 3 Untold.

@Ralizah It could be a spinoff specifically built for Switch but with how cryptic the tweet was I'm assuming they could be working on something a tad more substantial to suit the hardware. Also I 100% agree with the fact most of Meguro's popularity likely came from Persona rather than mainline, but it just shows the diversity and variety he has under his portfolio as a composer.

Also I'm pretty used to Atlus not bothering with localizing most of their lower profile catalogue for the West. Still waiting on stuff like Majin Tensei II, SMT Nine, Ronde, the PSP remake of P2EP, as well as an officially translated console release for the first two SMT games (dammit Switch Online)

@TheFrenchiestFry Just their older stuff. Virtually everything they develop comes overseas these days.

On that front, I'm kinda surprised about how many lower-profile releases were localized in the past. Like, I genuinely had no idea that Megami Tensei Gaiden: Last Bible had been localized until recently.

And yeah, SMT I needs a console port. It's IN English already. They translated it for the stupid iphone.

I definitely agree Meguro has more than proven himself in terms of how diverse his work can be. The man can apparently produce masterful soundtracks in virtually any given musical style (although, I confess, I'm not a fan of the guitar-heavy alt rock in DDS)

https://personacentral.com/shin-megami-tensei-v-release-first...

Sega's fiscal year forecast seem to suggest SMT V might come early in 2021. But I don't really see how that's going to line up well with Nocturne HD also having an early 2021 release date. It'd be REALLY stupid to release those too close together.

My guess is SMT V will still release at least a few months later. Maybe Q2? We'll see.

@Ralizah I don't buy it whatsoever. I can't see SMTV coming any earlier than fall personally. It makes a lot more sense to space out SMT 3 HD and SMT V so after the former comes out, they can dedicate a good portion of the year to marketing the hell out of the latter to people whose interests were piqued by playing Nocturne

I imagine the release schedule will more realistically line up with Nocturne being a Q1/Q2 release, P5S' worldwide launch happening in early-mid summer, and then SMT V as either a fall or big holiday third party release a la Dragon Quest XI S last year

If people want Persona 5 so badly, they should go buy a cheap PS3 and play it. The level of entitlement a certain portion of the Nintendo fanbase seems to feel toward that game is just insane. I'd love a portable version of P5 as well, but it's not worth years of tears every time Atlus reveals a new game that's NOT a P5 Switch port.

Pointing to Scramble's underwhelming sales percentage in Japan as being indicative of a lack of interest in a P5 Switch port is a bad take, though. Plenty of third party Switch ports sell poorly in Japan and overperform in other territories, for whatever reason. Ys VIII, for example. Disgaea 5 Complete is another good example.

Anyway, I like how we've gotten far enough away from P4 that it's becoming the one contrarians clutch onto. When P4 was newer (especially after the release of Golden), I heard a lot about how P4 was trash and that Persona 3 was the true masterpiece. Now we've just shifted one game upwards. New game BAD. Old game GOOD.

@Ralizah I’m playing Persona 5 on a cheap PS3 currently. But if it was available on a handheld I would have been able to get more absorbed finish it months ago. I’m managing a palace a week (currently on the 6th). I don’t feel entitled to a port, but I did put off playing my PS3 copy in the hope of a more convenient way for me to play. My kids take over the TV in the day, and my wife at night whilst I’m usually playing my Switch/Vita/3DS (I probably say this a lot, apologies).

@Slowdive I like Simply Dad’s content when he really explored an issue like that. I like him in big doses if that makes sense. If he makes a quick comment without context it can seem aggressive, but I really like it when he goes deep into a subject. He’s passionate and sincere about something, even if I don’t always agree.

SMT V coming out in Q1 sounds a bit optimistic to me. If the update is aimed at shareholders then maybe Sega had their rose tinted specs on for them? It makes me more hopeful it’s coming in 2021. Although after what happened with P5 it’ll be done when it’s done.

@JoeDiddley I played the original release on PS4, but I've sort of held off on P5 Royal for the same reason. I'm not in a rush to replay it anyway, since it's still reasonably fresh in my memory.

How are you liking the game?

And yeah, I'd be flabbergasted if Atlus was dumb enough to launch SMT V anywhere close to the Western launch of Nocturne. I'm not expecting it to happen.

@Ralizah I’m really enjoying P5. But although I’m quite far I won’t know how I really feel until it’s finished.

So far I do prefer P3 and P4. P5 has quality of life improvements, and a lot of style. But beneath the surface I prefer the characters in the other games and as I posted before I prefer the dungeons in other Persona and SMT games (objectively I realise I’m on my own there!) It was nostalgic to have a SMT like switch puzzle in the 5th palace.

9/10 so far for me.

@Slowdive interesting video, thanks for sharing!

@Slowdive Persona for Switch is a cool idea but what rubs me the wrong way about it is that certain crowds feel as if it should exist solely to validate Joker's Smash inclusion or even P5S without any knowledge about how common it is for Atlus to make Persona content for non-PlayStation consoles that aren't necessarily mainline titles. Plus if I was in the non-PS4 owning crowd I honestly wouldn't even bother buying P5 on Switch if it was just a vanilla release like Catherine Classic on Steam. I'm personally not too affected by not having mainline Persona on anything Nintendo related as I still have my Vita as essentially my Persona/Metal Gear/Final Fantasy machine, in addition to a PS4 for the P5 stuff. Plus the people complaining about it are clearly oblivious to a bunch of good as hell Atlus content on the 3DS anyway in addition to what they are putting on Switch now.

Persona is just so synonymous with PlayStation that as a longtime MT fan I know that if I want to keep following the series a PlayStation console is practically going to be a necessity.

@Ralizah P5R is actually a really good expanded re-release imo. It's a lot better than P3FES or P4G in terms of the sheer volume of content and Kasumi as an addition adds a key element to the story that I always felt was lacking in the vanilla release, although I can't really talk about it without spoiling major stuff. The entire third semester that they added to the school year definitely deserves a blind playthrough. I practically went code red on anything talking about it and it was a great first experience as a result. The stuff they did to tweak the presentation was also really welcome, particularly the new character portraits and cutscenes.

@TheFrenchiestFry When I'm keen on replaying the game, I plan to go with Royal, but the changes aren't enough to convince me to immediately pay full retail again to play a game that's likely 4/5ths the same as the original PS4 port.

Also concerned about how Kasumi is integrated, based on what I've seen and heard. Atlus isn't great at really integrated new characters into their games in a way that feels organic and complimentary to the original release.

But, minus the late-game combat, I enjoyed Persona 5 the first time around, and I expect to like an upgraded version of it even more when I eventually get back to it.

@Ralizah At first I was really worried because they seemed to have been using Kasumi in a similar way to Marie in the idea that "x Protagonist has to get together with y female love interest", but especially during the 3rd semester she turned out to be a way more fleshed out and vulnerable character who offered something inherently tragic I did not expect given how light hearted a lot of P5's story is despite the dire circumstances.

@TheFrenchiestFry That's good to hear. Rin and Marie in Catherine FB and P4G respectively were... well, all I'll say is that you can see the seams of where they were inserted, so to speak. Particularly in Catherine, where her story ends up feeling massively anti-climactic unless you go her route.

It's a small thing, but I actually really like how much less grindy the trophy list is for Royal. The original game is far grindier if you want to get the Platinum.

@Ralizah The Rin twist in Full Body still kinda upsets me because I lowkey thought it would've been a brilliant message about how to look past someone's appearance and insecurities to appreciate them for who they are but then it's just ALIEN.

@TheFrenchiestFry I could do without The Crying Game-esque reveal halfway though as well, lol. The cis fixation on genitals gets tiresome.

While doing an errand today, grabbed an eShop card and now downloading Shin Megami Tensei IV. Having only played Strange Journey Redux (found it the same way, though the store had a physical copy at the time), I'm looking forward to playing another entry in the series tonight. Anything I need to know before starting? I'm assuming there will be negotiating with demons and exploiting weaknesses.

@Ralizah Yeah honestly first thing I thought of when it got to that was just, "Japan can you stop being so Japan for one minute". That was stranglely out of place in a game that already had a weirdly abstract set up