Shin Megami Tensei

[J T]

This series is awesome.

Shin Megami Tensei

Shin Megami Tensei 2

Digital Devil Saga

Digital Devil Saga 2

Nocturne

Soul Hackers

Devil Summoner

Devil Summoner 2

Persona

Persona 2

Persona 3

Persona 4

Imagine

Devil Survivor

Strange Journey

[noiseredux]

I just got Revelations The Demonslayer (GBC) and Demi Kids Light Version (GBA).

[randombullseye]

I agree.

[AppleQueso]

I have Persona 3 FES, but its sheer length has kept me away from starting it.

Heard lots of praise for Nocturne.

[J T]

I have Persona 3 FES, but its sheer length has kept me away from starting it.

Heard lots of praise for Nocturne.

Yes, I've started most of them, but never finished one. They are insanely long, and that is most true of Persona 3 and 4. You'll probably have put in over 100 hours before youre finished with one of those games. I think I've put in 20 hours into the P3 and 60 hours into P4. Individual play sessions can last for quite awhile before there is a save point too. I remember one day I was going to play a little Persona 4 when I didn't really have a lot of time. I played for maybe 20 minutes of fighting through a dungeon and thought I would take on the boss and call it quits. Well, I went in underpowered and the boss battle took around 30 minutes. I finally beat him and was like "damn! I gotta go", but then it started to play cut scenes without giving me the option to save and I didn't want to miss those because you often need the info about what to do next. I was getting really anxious about my time though. The cut scenes and dialogue took another 20 minutes. I was so pissed off at the game for going so long without giving me a chance to save.

As much as I love these games, I also hate the fact that they really don't care if you have a personal life. They are not ashamed to make you play for 30-60 minutes without a save spot. That's one thing I really prefer about PC gaming: you can press F5 and go at any time if you have to.

I now never even sit down to play these games unless I know I have a full hour, and at every major spot with a save point, I make sure I have another 30-60 minutes before I decide to keep playing. I don't play them as much for that reason, but I don't get trapped by them anymore. If you've got a set block of time to play, it really is worth getting into P3, even if you won't finish it.

[chuckbanzai]

Man I just started playing the PC MMO and am having a blast with it. This series so so awesome!

[Hatta]

I'm at about 55 hours into Nocturne right now. It is well deserving of all the praise. If you don't like random battles though, stay away. I don't mind it at all though, your constantly changing party of demons makes you constantly adapt your strategy making the constant stream of battles much more interesting.

I am getting close to the end I think. Nocturne went over really well here, I think my GF liked watching me play it even more than I liked playing it. I may want to play another SMT game on the PS2 when we're done, since I liked it so much. That would either be the Persona series or Digital Devil Saga. Any recommendations?

[MrPopo]

I personally prefer Persona because you maintain the demon fusion system (though instead of being your party members you take on their aspect for stats and spells). With DDS you only fight demons and your character growth is through an equivalent to the Magatema system. Plus, DDS is another one of those Post Apocalyptic games, while Persona is more like Earthbound in that it's modern day. Plus, the social link system is something that you don't often see in games that come to the US.

[Hatta]

Good to know. I find myself wishing I could fuse demons with myself in Nocturne, so that might be the way I'll go. The social sim aspect could be good for a laugh too.

[J T]

I definitely like Persona 3 & 4 better than Digital Devil Saga, largely for the same reasons as Mr. Popo. Digital Devil Saga actually suffers from having too many random encounters. You literally can't walk more than 5 or 6 steps without running into another battle sometimes, which makes it hard to get to a save point in a hurry. I often forget which direction I'm even heading because I get sucked into battles so frequently. Still, Digital Devil Saga has a really cool vibe to it though. There's a weird future-primitive feel to their post apocalyptic world that is really compelling. Persona is the overall better game though, and of the Personas I like 4 slightly better than 3.