Shin Megami Tensei is Fascinating

**VesperHale** · 05-01-2011 08:12 AM

P3P Intro:
The Chorus is bombarded with psychological and theoretical math terminologies.

Devil Survivor:
I just started playing it, it's awesome. In my opinion.
You play as the reincarnation of Abel! (Though this is unknown in the beginning.)
You discover a device that help you summon demons and foretell future events, which you use to protect yourself from the demon outbreak in Shibuya, as Shibuya is in lockdown due to the government preventing the demon from spreading. You see the numbers above people's head called death clocks which tell how many days they have to live. You have 0. But you can change your destiny! Everyone in Shibuya has only 6 days to live, what will happen then? God's Judgement! As the demons appearances are a test of human's worthiness. The main character has multiple choices, which will affect the ending, Will you become the messiah? the protector of humanity? the king of hell? I just love it.

**PrinceinExile** · 05-01-2011 08:34 AM

I'm interested in the Persona games, I've heard they have a basis's in Jungian Psychology.

**Roze** · 05-01-2011 08:47 AM

If anyone knows me, I'm all about P3. It's one of my favorite RPG's, and one of the first games I bought with my first paycheck ever.

Devil Survivor is really awesome too.

Oh and while I really enjoy P3P's opening, I really love the opening from the FES version. <3

**Somniorum** · 05-01-2011 12:51 PM

i used to be really into megaten - got into it with the original Persona, back when the series was abyssmally localised with terrible translations and the occasional somewhat racist edit (one character, who was a kinda lazy ebonics-talking guy, was turned black. i... erm... didnt like it *because* of the terrible localisations

). Persona was the first game in the series released in the english language, and is responsible for the start of the eventually (briefly) fanatical cult following the series had... Atlus USA was a different company back then, and was very unresponsive to the fans, and subsequently english-language megaten fans were, erm... kind of dicks back then

lots of really rude, hateful emails to Atlus USA. but Atlus has changed a hell of a lot now, and is a very interesting, fanbase-responsive company today, with a clever businessplan that seems to be paying off.

megaten was always different, always hugely dipped into myth and religion. the series did things that other games simply didnt do, and it had such atmosphere while doing it...

unfortunately, i'm just not very fond of the series anymore - i dont totally like what it's become... but i still have a soft spot for it.

i would highly recommend Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne (which was the third game in the *main* series of megaten). in my view, it was the last great megaten game - it has an utterly epic feel to it, and is a bit more mature than the Persona series (though at times admittedly hindered with some immature, out-of-place bits of writing - most of the attempts at humour are just bad and sometimes a bit offensive, particularly in their depiction of the occasional homosexual character).

SMT was always the somewhat more "adult" series for the games, while the various other series were kinda aimed at lower age groups... Devil Summoner seemed aimed at slightly older teens, Persona was very much highschool-focused, the gameboy games were usually aimed at elementary-school aged kids (particularly the Devil Children games, which were ironically pokemon-likes... this is ironic as pokemon kind of took the idea of recruiting the enemies you're fighting as allies from megaten in the first place. current, younger fans of megaten games might not realise this, but one of the major selling points of the series was the ability to talk to the demons you were fighting and negotiate for them to permanently join your party, or give you items or just leave or whatever. this still happens a bit in the games, but it's been watered down over the years or removed - Persona, of course, you can talk to them, but you can never recruit them as actual allies).

**xToXiCx** · 05-01-2011 07:46 PM

I love Persona 3 and 4, I've never played anything like them. Devil survior sounds interesting ^^

**krentz** · 05-01-2011 08:10 PM

I'm a newschool fan, I'm afraid. P3F and P4 are the most recent JRPGs I've laid my hands on and they were fucking amazing. I didn't think games that good were even made anymore - they instantly became two of the best games I've ever played, though the formula can become wearying after too many hours and makes for limited replay value IMO. I've seen Nocturne Maniax and DDS1/2 on YouTube though I haven't played them. It does seem to be a much darker and perhaps more symbolic series, being that Persona is a spinoff, but at first glance it lacks the charm, refinement and character development I like in the newer titles. Still, it's no good judging something before I've played it, so we'll see.

Currently waiting on the P4 anime! Here's hoping it washes away the bad aftertaste of trinity soul!

**Somniorum** · 05-01-2011 10:08 PM

Originally Posted by krentz

I've seen Nocturne Maniax and DDS1/2 on YouTube though I haven't played them (...) but at first glance it lacks the charm, refinement and character development I like in the newer titles.

no, you're pretty right. the DDS games, not quite so much, there's a fair bit of character development (not as much of a focus on it as the Persona games, that said) - Nocturne, however, very little. characters in Nocturne are mainly vehicles to push the main story forward and to give a face to some of the ideals/ideologies/philosophies of the game.

even from the very first Persona, that sub-series has always been more focused on character development than the main series (and probably the Devil Summoner games, though i have less knowledge about them... i played the second game a little, but it wasnt in english and i couldnt understand it, and i played the newest Devil Summoner, which was in english. i was never able to play the original in any form at all, so know very little about it... i gather it was pretty old school and unforgiving, though). in fact, the character development was one of the things i really loved about Persona, when i was still really into megaten games (especially in Persona 2: Innocent Sin).

**VesperHale** · 05-02-2011 01:21 AM

Originally Posted by Somniorum

i would highly recommend Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne (which was the third game in the *main* series of megaten). in my view, it was the last great megaten game - it has an utterly epic feel to it, and is a bit more mature than the Persona series (though at times admittedly hindered with some immature, out-of-place bits of writing - most of the attempts at humour are just bad and sometimes a bit offensive, particularly in their depiction of the occasional homosexual character).

As memory serves, P2: Innocent Sin had Hitler as the final boss right? Along with the Holy Lance, Longinus, as his weapon?
I've played Persona 2: Eternal Punishment.

I've already heard of Nocturne myself. The half-demon kid right?

When I first dipped into the Shin Megami Tensei series, I remember feeling so dark. Like I opened pandora's box.

**Bunker Man** · 05-02-2011 03:12 AM

Originally Posted by oversoulspark

Devil Survivor:
I just started playing it, it's awesome. In my opinion.
You play as the reincarnation of Abel! (Though this is unknown in the beginning.)

Way to spoil the ending for anyone planning on playing it. But yeah, devil survivor is good. That and parts of P4 were some of the most fun I've had in games ever.

But you all need to play Shin Megami Tensei II. It's like the holy grail of all megaten games.

I was going to write a summary on what I put together of the story and ideologies. This is also one of the most misunderstood series's ever, because most people simply DON'T GET what it's trying to say.