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Shin Megami Tensei Community Thread: Be Your True Demon
- Thread starter cj_iwakura
- Start date
OMG.
Next SMT as in SMT HD or just a vague "what's next for SMT"?
Edit: Never mind, it's confirmed in another thread. SMT HD it is.
Yep, plus they showed the two teaser trailers right before they showed the date.
Ultimate_Trainer
Member
There's a demon popularity vote I saw people voting on my twitter feed and that reminded me that I never posted my edited red palette swap Vouivre figure that I've been working on here.
Before:
After WIP:
I still need to do the white accents on the end of the wings and feet and touch up a couple of areas but I haven't got around to it
Before:
After WIP:
I still need to do the white accents on the end of the wings and feet and touch up a couple of areas but I haven't got around to it
SMT is a series that should be one of my favourites but I have just never managed to get into outside of its biggest spinoff series, Persona. I really enjoy the atmosphere and gameplay of Nocturne, Strange Journey, Devil Survivor and Digital Devil Saga. All of which I own, but just ended up dropping for some reason or another. Usually completely unrelated to the game. I am tempted to do what I did with Final Fantasy and am in the process of doing with Dragon Quest and just start from SMT1 and play through them all. Which games in the series would you consider must plays, including spinoffs?
cj_iwakura
Member
Nocturne is still the best in the series.
1, 2, 3, Strange Journey, IV and Apocalypse are all well worth playing, even if the first 2 are a little dated.
If... should be good too, but there's currently no english translation available, so unless you can read japanese...
Kyuukaku Megami Tensei is a remake of the original NES titles and many fans seem to agree it's worth the time if you enjoy the SNES-era games. I'd recommend leaving them for later as a curiosity piece.
Digital Devil Saga 1 and 2 are perhaps the most well received and popular spin-offs outside of Persona, so you should definitely check them out.
Devil Survivor 1 is a pretty good "what if SMT was a SRPG?" take and definitely worth checking out. People say 2 has a worse narrative but better gameplay.
Raidou Kuzunoha 1 and 2 should be worth giving a shot too. 1's gameplay is kinda clunky but it has a pretty cool setting.
After that, if you enjoyed the 1st person camera games, you could also try Soul Hackers on the 3DS, which has a pretty cool cyberpunk narrative to it (most mainline titles also do to some extent, but SH leans on it the most).
That should cover all bases.
Lunarwhale
Member
Honestly? Do it. SMT1 is one of my favorite games - such a unique playstyle to it. The dungeon-to-dungeon flow of getting new demons and learning what encounters are and aren't worth fighting is engaging. I love the storyline and general atmosphere of it as well. It's not without flaws (encounter rate is. A Bit Much, get a demon with Estoma), but the wholistic experience that I had with it made it worth it. Make sure to nab the bugfix patch and the automap enhancement one to make it a bit more enjoyable.
SMT1's a fairly easy game for the most part, so take your time to experiment with different setups. It's part of what makes it such a fun title. If you need any help or advice, I'd be happy to give some.
The entirety of mainline is fantastic. Each is a uniquely great experience, and I love them all pretty equally.
Personally, I think the entire series is worth trying at least (even some of the terrible spinoffs are worth a chance out of curiosity. Ronde is something else.), but I'm very biased as it's probably my favorite gaming franchise in general. As for early, commonly recommended essentials:
Shin Mainline (as covered - this being 1, 2, Nocturne, IV, and IV Apocalypse)
Strange Journey (arguably mainline, but not nunbered so counting it separately)
Megami Tensei II (by way of it's SNES remake in Kyuuyaku Megami Tensei - it's aged very well, unlike its predecessor)
Digital Devil Saga Duology
Devil Summoner subseries
Devil Survivor Overclocked
Oh my God. I need to know more.....Apocalypse's take on Maitreya suddenly makes more sense. I just wasn't considering the full range of interpretations available.
I would say try Soul Hackers first if you want to get the SMT classic experience from the SNES games.
By the way, even if Sou Hackers was ported for 3DS, I'm still a bit salty we never got a SMT 1&2&if remake using the EO/SJ engine ;_;
Dragon1893
Member
Yeah, all of the above are worth playing.
If I had to narrow it down to a handful of games while maintaining a nice variety of gameplay styles I'd go with Nocturne, Soul Hackers, DDS1&2 and Devil Survivor Overclocked.
If I had to narrow it down to a handful of games while maintaining a nice variety of gameplay styles I'd go with Nocturne, Soul Hackers, DDS1&2 and Devil Survivor Overclocked.
ASilentProtagonist
Member
I recommend SMT fans to check out Devilman. Masterpiece of a manga that inspired SMT, and the greatest piece of modern fiction ever, Berserk.
Lunarwhale
Member
hell yes, Devilman is fantastic and SMT makes pretty regular references to it. Excellent manga. It's getting its first official US release in March, I believe.
While I think the big majority of the games mentioned are worth playing, for getting started in the series I'd recommend either Nocturne or SMT4. Nocturne is clearly the superior game too, and not being familiar with its predecessors' "QoL" changes may make it an even better experience.
If you like that you can go back to SMT1 and 2, Megami Tensei, etc etc.
That's looking awesome, I love that design. Nice job!
If you like that you can go back to SMT1 and 2, Megami Tensei, etc etc.
That's looking awesome, I love that design. Nice job!
Yeah I'd have to agree with this. 4 was designed particularly in mind with players that are new to the franchise. Nocturne is just a great starting point in general.
Strange Journey is a difficult place to start just because of how brutally hard the game can be. I don't know if Strange Journey Redux will be better for beginners in this regard, but it's hard to recommend starting with it, even though it's an excellent game.
In my opinion, the easiest way to plunge into the series is Digital Devil Saga 1. There is no demon negociation, no fusion, and the system is not particularly punishing because, contrarily to Nocturne :
1. If the hero dies, it's not a game over.
2. You never lose the skills you have learnt.
It's also pretty close to a classical J-RPG : you control a team of several characters and the story is much more present than in, say, Nocturne. DDS is like SMT x Final Fantasy.
So first, I would say Digital Devil Saga 1. Then Digital Devil Saga 2 because you will want to know what happens next.
After that, SMT Nocturne, because it's the best mainline game and you will be accustomed to the mechanics thanks to DDS.
Finally, Strange Journey, because it's awesome.
1. If the hero dies, it's not a game over.
2. You never lose the skills you have learnt.
It's also pretty close to a classical J-RPG : you control a team of several characters and the story is much more present than in, say, Nocturne. DDS is like SMT x Final Fantasy.
So first, I would say Digital Devil Saga 1. Then Digital Devil Saga 2 because you will want to know what happens next.
After that, SMT Nocturne, because it's the best mainline game and you will be accustomed to the mechanics thanks to DDS.
Finally, Strange Journey, because it's awesome.
I started SMT today. It's a lot of fun to name my party members after my best friends. Seeing their dialog and snapshotting it to send to them is very amusing. So far this game actually feels like it aged better than the first Persona, but maybe I am just crazy. I absolutely LOVE the atmosphere. It's so good.
That's because Persona 1 expanded on SMT1's mechanics by adding more of everything; more elements (physical and magic), more interactions with demons, mood systems, more formation planning, etc.. Everything takes three times longer than it should and slows Persona 1 to a painful crawl.
SMT1 is very simple and broken in ways that favour the player. Things like how MP was balanced around having 99MP like Megami Tensei 1/2 instead of 999MP or how status ailments snap the games difficulty in half makes it easier to power through some of the more outdated parts of the gameplay.
cj_iwakura
Member
It's a fantastic game, it can just get very aggravating with how frequent battles are. The atmosphere is wonderful though.
Fair points on Persona 1, I definitely agree with them.
Good to know this won't be a game where I have to save my MP and that status ailments will actually matter!
Luckily I have played so many classic JRPGs in the last few years that I am completely numb to frequent random battles.
TheRazielim
Member
It's somewhat aggravated by the original animation times, but otherwise P1 might be one of the few games were talking your way through is actually very useful, especially getting rid of mobs that your current party setup is not optimized for. So instead of fiddling with formations and swapping Personas for every encounter, you can just be "fuck these little dudes" and talk your way out.
Love P1.
I hope our saviors are drawn by Kaneko and not Doi...
cj_iwakura
Member
With how easy it is to break SMTIV and even Apocalypse, I appreciate that Devil Survivor 2 isn't afraid to lay on the bullshit difficulty. Good ol' Growlanser team.
I would be surprised if it comes global, unless Sega really got behind doing that.
I mean you see how SMT1 being released on iOS working out, and what happened to that Android English localization...
wat
Holy shit the classic Devilman series from the 70s is coming stateside! I am so in!
Devilman Grimoire too!
I think they will. A lot of people like this I don't see why not
snow in jamaica
Member
http://dijeh.tumblr.com/post/166303619313/zeuss-turn-yayspoiler-dois-explanation-is
No kidding!
Zeuss turn, yay Spoiler: Dois explanation is exactly what you thought it would be (minus the Persephone connection, why would you even think about that).
snow in jamaica
Member
I would cry.
Currently playing SMT1 for iOS. For some reason I feel like the game atmosphere is better than SMTIV .
The best part of the game so far is the transition between the normal everyday Tokyo into the post apocalyptic Tokyo. The game started with you doing mundane chores for your mom, then slowly encounter bizarre events involving Demons, then martial law declared, then coupdetat, people being experimented,
, American Ambassador which turns out to be Thor nuked Tokyo.
Then there is the whole Roppongi arc with Alice and her two 'daddy'...That 'would you die for me' scene is probably my favorite scene in a JRPG ever...
The combat is soooo janky though. Not a fan of Mag/Money for managing Demons, and some abilities are straight up broken (Zio and Charm lol).
The best part of the game so far is the transition between the normal everyday Tokyo into the post apocalyptic Tokyo. The game started with you doing mundane chores for your mom, then slowly encounter bizarre events involving Demons, then martial law declared, then coupdetat, people being experimented,
your mom get eaten by Demons
Then there is the whole Roppongi arc with Alice and her two 'daddy'...That 'would you die for me' scene is probably my favorite scene in a JRPG ever...
The combat is soooo janky though. Not a fan of Mag/Money for managing Demons, and some abilities are straight up broken (Zio and Charm lol).
You're not alone. SMT I has this retro, dream-like atmosphere that I really dig. SMT IV's is fine for what it is but the 3DS does it no services. It doesn't scratch that old-school dungeon crawler vibe like SMT 1, 2 and arguably SJ, and it also doesn't reach Nocturne's beautiful art direction and production values, so it's just kinda stuck in that low-budget 3D limbo. They really needed a more capable system for what they were trying to achieve.
Which is why I'm so excited for the HD project. If nothing else we'll at least get a good looking apocalyptic Tokyo to roam around.
I feel like IV post apocalyptic Tokyo doesn't really feel as oppressive(?) or as apocalyptic as SMT1, Nocturne, or SJ, the world feels very lively for a post apocalyptic settings. Probably because of the reasons you mentioned (the low-budget 3D and low production value).
I hope for YHVH sake they bring back original Messians and Gaeans for SMT HD. Messians and Gaeans enemies are among my favorite design in SMT1 so far.
That's a cruel joke if I ever saw one... Looked better than the majority of Megaten games in the last decade lmao.
snow in jamaica
Member
April was half a year ago, Atlus!
cj_iwakura
Member
I thought the underground cities felt pretty oppressive.
Dragon1893
Member
Man, that looks so good. What a cruel joke. Hopefully it will end up becoming an actual game.
cj_iwakura
Member
Those bastards.
IMO SMT IV and Apocalypse had a very neat atmosphere. The music really sold the underground cities for me, and is part of the reason IV and Apocalypse have my favorite soundtracks in the series. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZIXqXKiZ7I&list=PLuu7gfeeGV4TKifRVuYQCVEIU1lGJoIhG&index=30
Hearing that with all the bloodstains everywhere, and how dark it was, was a very oppressive atmosphere. In SMTIV in particular, it also helped that you went from the stark contrast of Mikado to Tokyo. I love the way they pulled that off.
I'm really sad that was a joke. I would have loved that to be a real thing.
Maybe Atlus pulls a Pokemon Go with it?
Hopefully they see a bunch of "I wish this was real" from Japanese and Western fans, and make it a reality.
Hearing that with all the bloodstains everywhere, and how dark it was, was a very oppressive atmosphere. In SMTIV in particular, it also helped that you went from the stark contrast of Mikado to Tokyo. I love the way they pulled that off.
I'm really sad that was a joke. I would have loved that to be a real thing.
Maybe Atlus pulls a Pokemon Go with it?
Hopefully they see a bunch of "I wish this was real" from Japanese and Western fans, and make it a reality.
IV still has good atmosphere, specially at some places like
but like, when compared to the other mainline titles (except Apocalypse) and even many of the spin-offs, it's my least favorite.
I went from "oh cool, those menus need work though" to "wait is this gonna be mobile" to finally "Atlus why". What a ride. Maybe this is someone's pet project that they're secretly trying to gauge interest for lol
Reverse Hills and the chaos/law renditions of Tokyo
I went from "oh cool, those menus need work though" to "wait is this gonna be mobile" to finally "Atlus why". What a ride. Maybe this is someone's pet project that they're secretly trying to gauge interest for lol
Pandora012
Member
I don't know how I would take it. I'm only used the Loki designs from Smt3 and Devil Summoner.