SMT series

[Erik_Twice]

I recently got hooked to Persona 3 so I'm grabbing both FES and P4. For twenty dollars it seems a pretty good deal to me so it was a no-brainer.

However now I'm wondering if other Megami Tensei titles are worth it. The avalible information is not much and it kind of feels to me that I'm missing some good titles. Also I feel that the rewiews on the latest installaments are way too variable, some give Digital Devil Saga a 7 and others a 9. That's a big difference and the review themselves do not really point why it's good or bad.

So what titles do you think are good? You can include Japan-only games too.

For starters. Is Shin Megami Tensei if... any good? It has been fan translated and the setting seems cool.

[dlmvii]

Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne was supposed to be amazing, but I havent had the chance to play it yet. It was the only game in the main series that was brought over to the states, but it unfortunately commands a high price on ebay (it used to be much worse though).

[brokenpavement]

I was pleasantly surprised by the Devil Summoner game for PS2; it's a lot of fun, cool setting, and is also very cheap. You can pick it up for maybe $10 max. The digital devil saga is also very good, but it demands a much higher price. Send me a PM if you want some more info; I have to go to work now...

[MrPopo]

Nocturne and the DDS games both use a combat system known as Press Turn. One side gets to go, then the other. At the start of the round you get X amount of turns, where X is the number of active party members. Doing a command uses up a turn. If you nail a weakness then instead of using up a turn, one of your turns starts to flash. Doing a regular move will use up the flashing turn. Nailing another weakness will make another turn start flashing, or use up a flashing turn if they're all already flashing. Hitting a null or reflect will cancel your entire round, while the enemy dodging will eat up two turns (instead of the one turn for a regular attack).

So the combat system ends up being somewhat similar to the One More system of P3/4, but it has enough of a difference that you have to adjust your tactics.

Nocturne's setting and character interactions are very different from P3/P4. It generally consists of moving from dungeon to dungeon with the occational "town" which will let you do things like heal, demon fusion, and shop. As a result, you end up feeling more isolated than you do in P3/P4. As for DDS, I can't speak too much about how that goes, as I've only played an hour.

Devil Summoner is an action RPG. You can have one demon partner out at a time, and all combat is in real time. I've also only played about an hour into this, so I can't speak much as to how it plays beyond that.

That's the rundown of all the "modern" SMT games. There are also fan translations of SMT1&2 on the SNES, there's Persona and Persona 2: Eternal Punishment on the PSX, and a fan translation of Persona 2: Innocent Sin (the first P2 game). Persona is coming out for the PSP later in the year, and there is a new SMT game called Devil Survivor coming out for the DS.

[weasels]

I will say this again, for sure, shin megami tensei 1 and 2 (emulate and find the English patch if you really want to) i enjoy devil summoner for the ps2 and i never played shin megami tensei 3 or any of the digital devil saga games but i herd they were great.

[corn619]

The ones for the PS2 are all awesome and you can't go wrong with any of them. Devil Summoner 2 is coming out in May for PS2 in very limited quanities. Part 1 was great and with a very original setting and good gameplay.

[BCGamer]

Hey, pretty new here, but if you're interested in the SMT series, i started out on Nocturne, and am on my 4th playthrough if that helps. I'm a huge fan of the series after playing Nocturne, and picked up any and every copy of the SMT series i could find in my area . The content is just jaw-dropping too, demons saying *uck, ass, *itch, and the innuendo in the game is just crazy for an RPG!

[REPO Man]

Checked Amazon and found Nocturne for as low as $24, so I may get it tomorrow.

Played Persona (PSP version, but with some experience w/ PS1 ver), and love it.

Heard that Innocent Sin (the Persona 2 game we didn't get) will be coming to PSP this September, though no word on the other P2 game.

Also played the translated SFC version of SMT, but totally wish they'd translate the PS1 version (got a modded PS1), and do same with SMT2. Also wish they'd finish Megami Tensei, finish MT2 and then do the SFC port.

But more importantly:

I WISH THEY'D REMAKE SHIN MEGAMI TENSEI, SMT2, MEGAMI TENSEI 1-2, AND THE MAJIN TENSEI SERIES.

And bring them to America. I mean, there ARE SMT fans here in the States. And you, Atlus, are obligated to give us what we want. And don't give me that bullshit about the controversial religious imagery, because if they can do Dante's Inferno, then give us Shin Megami Tensei.