Topic: The Megami Tensei Thread

@Alex90

What I want: Digital Devil Saga 1+2 HD Remaster
What I expect: Persona 3 FES for PC (not that I would be complaining since it's still my favorite Hashino-era Persona game)

English translation and remaster of SMT Nine would be great. Don't care if it's good or not, I just want to play it. In fact, any game before Jack Bros would be great, as most of them have not been translated.

Beat Shin Megami Tensei IV Apocalypse this week. Took 92 hours, including all side quests, with a few deaths along the way, including three runs or so at the final boss. Brilliant game. Really looking forward to seeing the titles to come soon on Switch.

IV and IV Apocalypse have some of my favorite gameplay mechanics of any MegaTen game. The story in Apocalypse imo left a lot to be desired and I didn't connect with the characters nearly as well compared to characters like Walter and Jonathan in SMTIV

People seemed ticked about Apocalypse because of difficulty and the fact it drew heavily from persona in terms of plot things, like a main demon and what not. I never really cared, and I still don't.

@GilbertXI People will be quick to trace the blame back to Persona whenever a game has a lacking story. I don't think that's a great comparison to make considering Persona games can and generally do have good stories at the very least, and extremely enjoyable stories that far outclass other JRPGs at their best

Not having played IV, only Apocalypse, I don’t have that expectation over the story. FWIW, I enjoyed the Apocalypse story quite a bit. Nothing mind-blowing, but enjoyable enough, and certainly didn’t detract from my experience with the game. The characters were a bit anime tropey, but they were fun and raised a smile here and there.

@TheFrenchiestFry It's not me who said that, other people are tramping around saying that. It's getting kind of tiring how persona is traced back to everything that Atlus has done wrong. Yes, it's been milked to high heaven, but that's Atlus's fault, not Persona.

"Flynn, if we don't get the Law ending you know what's going to happen next" lmao

I personally dislike Apocalypses's story and characters, but IV:A is the best gameplay of SMT.

I currently playing Strange Journey Redux, I got some strats: recruit or fuse demons, get the demon source, save the game, then fuse a better demon using the best demon source, check his password, now load the game (before fusing), enter the password and pay macca for the better demon, get the demon source... this way I will have every demon source possible in exchange for macca.

Well today is the 11th anniversary of Strange Journey

It was my first dabble at MegaTen so it is a pretty important game in getting me to admire JRPGs more frequently, even if Persona 3 Portable would end up being the game to fully win me over into being an Atlus faithful

I wouldn't end up completing SJ until the Redux release on 3DS years later though

Exactly two weeks out from Nocturne HD in Japan. Can't wait to see the visual comparisons between it and the PS2 version since it looks a lot more cleaned up than your average remaster in a lot of areas.

@TheFrenchiestFry I think this a lazy port. Everything is the same, except the visuals. Outdated fusion mechanics? It's still the same. I don't give a damn about this game anymore. Nocturne deserved better...

@Alex90 Yes, that's what a remaster is

It's not an HD REMAKE, it's just an upscaled remaster with both Chronicle and Maniax content. Its age will show but it's still a great game regardless and voice acting is very much a welcomed addition

Is the HD Remaster including English voices as well? Curious as to how the cast might be, will probably stick with Japanese regardless. The remaster is worth it just to have 3 on modern hardware, the 'ol PS2's not quite working the way she used to.

@mr_somewhere Yeah the initial announcement trailer showed fully voiced dialogue. It looks like Demi-fiend might have a voice as well but I'm not sure about that one

As someone who has just come from SMT IV:A, how much of a drop in user friendliness is Nocturne? From a throwaway comment, I gather the fusion and skills system isn’t as much fun?

@Krull Here, the fusion system in a nutshell. The selected skills is random, the probability you will get every skill you want is 1%

Can anybody here describe SMT to me in terms of themes and story? For instance, I've played Persona, and let's say Persona is mostly about characters and their inner struggles and growth to develop a stronger "persona". It's all metaphorical in that regard. What, then, would the story in SMT focus on? Is it more of a traditional JRPG series with a darker tone and setting or is there more to it than that?

If it makes the question easier; what makes SMT special to you? World, characters, writing? Just looking to see if this would be up my alley when SMT V comes out on the Switch, I'm interested, just unsure if the storytelling will be for me, even though I'm almost certain Atlus always delivers. The limited amount of Atlus games I've played proved that.

@Varkster SMT is more geared towards ideological war between extremes: Law / Order of the angelic forces VS Chaos / "The might makes right" of the demonic forces. Humanity is caught in the crossfire between the two sides. 0.1% of humans get the power to recruit demons / monsters / angels and fight to free humanity from extremes (there are gods that help humans in this fight). Not all demons are at war, in most SMT games, those of the fairy race just want to coexist peacefully.
Surviving in this devastated world is the main theme of SMT, not only that, but you have the power to choose which path to follow.
Unlike Persona, you will constantly need to recruit or fuse stronger demons. And you are usually alone, so humans fighting at your side is very rare. No power of friendship in SMT!
For me, the best SMT experience is to lose to an enemy, change my party (through a fusion or recruitment) and thus defeat it.
I really like to fuse perfect demons, that's why my dissatisfaction with the mechanics of SMT Nocturne HD: with this system you don't get what you want, the system chooses for you at random. Then you have to roll the dice again and again ... repeat ad infinitum.

@Alex90 Would the SMT series be considered more challenging than the Persona series? I think it's more accurate to ask if the challenge is rewarding for player input? I beat 4 pretty much in a breeze, with an overflow of money and barely any challenge by the end of the game. In fact, the difficulty went spiraling down once you get past the first dungeon, which I found to be a bit of a letdown.

Do SMT games implement more bosses which you have to actually defeat through strategy rather than brute force? To give an example, I like that in some Final Fantasy games you could use elixirs to demolish undead which would otherwise be a struggle to fight against. It may be cheap, but it's rewarding to think outside the box. Another game that comes to mind is Divinity: Original Sin, that game series has fantastic design when it comes to battles where it presents a big challenge, but I'll be damned if it's not rewarding to beat your enemy.

In Persona 4 Golden I felt like every other fight just felt like a chore to get through. This may just be a JRPG thing, as I've played a lot of Final Fantasy, Tales and Xeno games to feel the same way about them.